Goodbye to Pax

O'Bay Peace on Earth CDX,HS,MX,MXJ
Winner of the 1999 ASSA Most Versatile Sheltie Award
UK Grade 7 Agility Dog and two time Crufts Finalist

We have been preparing for losing Pax since October. I knew from July that there was something seriously wrong with her but it took the vets until October to figure that out. Bladder cancer. The worst part of this disease was how Pax's mind and heart was so strong but her body was failing her. Right up to the end she had a great appetite and her mind was active. She still wanted to be with me and I wanted to give her every chance possible to stay. Yet when the day came; I did know it was the right time. On that morning neither Pax nor Jordan got out of their beds when I came downstairs. I sat with them on the floor, one on each side of me, for hours that morning. Pax was, as always, on my right side with her head turned towards me.

I can hardly remember life without Pax. Our journey together was so much fun. We did so much together; showing in breed, obedience, herding, agility. She gave everything her all and I loved her for that. The only thing I was never able to do was to get a puppy from Pax. At around 1 year old she starting having seizures and we thought we were going to lose her when she went into a seizure that lasted for hours. She came out of those episodes and, except for the occasional partial seizures for the next 3 years, she was healthy and never needed medication. That was a dark time when all my thoughts of a future in sheltie breeding was over for me.

Yet instead of proving herself as a mother; Pax proved herself as a fun working dog. Precision and self-control were not necessarily her trademark but she barked her way around the agility ring and occasionally closed her mouth long enough to do a great round in obedience. When she barked in herding I knew her naughty side was coming out and there might be some sheep wool in her teeth! We learned so much about herding together; she could show such self-control and balance at times that it would make me just tingle. That feeling of total "one-ness" of dog, handler and sheep. In obedience she just could not hold back that one bark which would make me laugh as the judges frowned and marked us for that. I preferred her expression of joy and could care less about points lost. In agility she barked the entire course and I never noticed as I was having too much fun.

Pax was totally 100% MY dog. She was my right hand and my soul. Yet it was because of Pax that I was never able to bring in any other adult bitch to our home. Jordan was the only adult sheltie girl that she accepted into our house. She took an extreme view on any other sheltie; True and Hob-b had no chance! Once Pax decided she hated another dog; that was it for life. Pax never did anything by half. Yet I loved her anyway; flaws and all. During the last year of her life I was so happy to find that little Itzy made Pax happy. I had not seen Pax play with another dog like that since we lost her mom Joy.

From the day she was born into my hands and I nick-named her "Bad Girl" to the day I layed on the floor and let her go, Pax loved me and I loved her. How lucky was I?

Goodbye to Sweet Jordan

Throughout her time with us Jordan was a ray of sunshine and a sweeter sheltie would be hard to find. She came to me during a difficult time when I was very sad about Pax's illness and she brought much joy to our house. And now, as if it was always destined to be, Jordan walked side by side with Pax to the Rainbow bridge. Thank you Jordan...we love and miss you.

Until we meet again

OBay Peace on Earth "Pax"
18 Sept 1996 - 17 Feb 2010

Ringsend Sundown Consort "Jordan"
14 Jan 1996 - 17 Feb 2010




For us this is a tremendous loss. I am still in disbelief and our house feels empty. My only consolation is that for Pax and Jordan there is no more pain and they are together.

At the end the vet asked if they were sisters and, although I said "no" at the time, I was wrong. They could not have been more like sisters. I could never have imagined losing both of them together; up until one month ago Jordan was not even ill. In some strange cosmic way I believe that Jordan knew that Pax needed her.

My three gorgeous girls Joy, Pax and Jordan are now together somewhere running and barking with abandon. Goodbye my sweet girls; until we meet again.

The Many Faces of Zen

We have to give back the Working section sheltie trophies soon so we took this photo of Zen. These were the Sheltie of the Year and Agility Sheltie of the Year trophies. I think Zen won them every year for the past 4 years except for the year that Hex won. The Sheltie of the Year trophy is absolutely gorgeous and I will miss that one. But Zen has done enough winning and I know that she will always be the Sheltie of a Lifetime for me; so I will pass these trophies on this year and not apply for them anymore for Zen. Maybe one of her babies will be lucky enough to win them another year.

Zen looks so relaxed and mellow in this photo. You could not tell that she actually hates cameras and would like to launch off the table and attack the lens!



Zen does not care about trophies or ribbons. Give her a ball and she is happy (or actually slightly crazy!) I love this photo as it is so very ZEN.

Zaz and Itz training Jan 2010

I have started entering agility shows for the next season and realized that I can start entering the dynamic duo in UKA shows in April and KC shows in June! That was quick!

Zaz and Itz are almost 14 months old. I am just blown away by how much they know already yet realize there is so much more to teach them. Not being able to work in our garden for 4 months has really slowed down their training. So right now I have two lovely pups who enjoy training and enjoy running in agility. The fine tuning and details will come later.

I am constantly amazed by how quickly dogs learn agility. While they are certainly not polished; the pups are now doing full upright weaves. How did that happen so quickly? Weaves are one obstacle that I really admire the dogs for understanding. We have alot of proofing to do working on entries and exits and speed but they both have a nice foundation already.

We did a little training this week and I tried to do video with my new Iphone. Not the greatest video quality but not bad for a phone! I am not sure what happened at the end of the clip; it must have had something to do with the editing or transfer to You tube as the skipping did not show up on the original video. How consistant am I; Zaz and Itz both have iffy startlines! I think it must be genetic rather than bad training? VBG Here are the Naughty sisters.

Noel and Tess 1993

In the "olden" days I used to do obedience with my dogs. I really did enjoy it and wish I had more time to do obedience here in England. I dabbled with obedience with Joy and Pax when I first came here but have not put in the training to do it with my younger dogs. Zen is trained up but we have not competed. Obedience heelwork here is so different and I really do not like the extreme heel positions needed so I will stick with agility for now!

These photos were taken at the same venue where we took the photos of the dogs with the Twin Towers in the background. It was a beautiful park in NJ (Pallisades Park) that looked over at Manhattan. I loved that show and have so many photos from there in my many boxes trickling in from New York. The obedience took place in an old railway station and was so pretty.

Now don't laugh (really stop laughing! I am warning you!) I was so proud of that outfit! I have never been a fashion expert that is for sure!

This was my lovely rescue GSP Tess. One of the best dogs EVER. I was so proud of her that day as we had a run-off for 3rd place. Unfortunately we lost the run-off but I did not care and I still had to have a photo taken.


Noel was my first sheltie. We picked her up as a puppy on the day we returned home from our honeymoon. She was a shy and ornery but we loved her anyway. She got over her fears and did quite well in obedience considering she was the first dog I had ever trained.

Everyone Loves Jordan: 14 years old

There is a great TV show in the US called "Everyone Loves Raymond". That show used to just crack me up as it was based on Long Island and I could just relate. For the UK folk: it was kind of a "Gavin and Stacey" for Long Island. VBG

Anyway that is just an introduction to my "Happy 14th Birthday Jordan" blog post. We have a saying on our house about Jordan and it is "Everyone Loves Jordan". All dogs and all people cannot help but love Jordan. Sweet, friendly and good hearted is our Jordan. She has never known a stranger. From the time I met her at 10 months old to the day I brought her home at 2 years old to today 12 years later... she has never changed. She is the dog that taught me the most about clicker training. She came to me knowing nothing, had no training foundations and was not even housebroken but quickly caught on to training and went on to complete her MX and AXJ in agility. She had breed points but the same injury caused her to gait strangely and I decided not to waste my money anymore.



Most people in the UK do not really know Jordan as well as my other dogs as she never did agility here. During her last year in agility in the US she slowed down tremendously and it took me a long time to realize it was due to an injury. I was always sad that I did not pick it up sooner and retire her earlier. But here she is now at 14 years old; happy and healthy and sound. You would never know she was 14 except for her white eyelashes. She has no stiffness, no lameness and no arthritis. She jumps out of bed in the morning as she never wants to miss a meal. She constantly trips us up as she lays at our feet hoping that she will catch us if we head to the kitchen for anything.



Happy 14th Birthday to my beautiful Jordan. Nite nite.

Lots going on yet nothing going on!

We have had more snow today. It really puts a damper on puppy training! I actually got my clicker out and started working on new tricks with Zaz and Itz. It made me laugh as I realized I have done very few tricks or basic obedience with these two hooligans. Zaz was killing my fingers grabbing the chicken when I tried to reward her and all I could think of was "Susan G. would think I was a crap trainer"! I must be reading too many Susan Garrett blog posts lately!

I just puttered around with trying to teach either pup to pick up a dumbbell (waste of time as all they wanted to do was target it or hit it out of my hands with their feet!) and trying to teach them to weave between my legs. Zaz got the weave between my legs but was killing my fingers and Itz thought all she should do is go behind my back and try and do her "set-up" routine. Hmmmm not a productive morning!

We have alot going on that is exciting. We have sold our New York house and hopefully it should close next week if the new buyers don't try anymore shenanigans. Also we have decided to sell our house here in England and look for another place nearby. I would like something a little more quiet and off the main road. This house is great but I wish I could just push it a few hundred yards away from the road. We have started looking and that seems like it will be quite an adventure. I get so excited when I see something that looks good only to find out it is on a main road, too close to neighbors or under the Gatwick flight path! The right house will come along but I do hate to wait for things!

The nice thing about the snow is that the road in front of us had been quiet lately!



Our New York house is now empty and slowly boxes are coming over. It is so exciting to open the boxes and see things that I haven't seen for years. Some things are so sentimental that I cannot help crying. I just opened a box with my Scrapbook photo albums from Joy, Pax and Jordan's show careers. I was amazed at how much I did with each dog from herding to breed showing to agility and travel all over the US, Canada and Bermuda. My three gorgeous sable girls. What great times we had. Maybe I cannot get my next sable girl as she will have a hard time being compared to those three.

Here are my gorgeous sable girls (and one handsome black boy!) when we first came over to England. (L to R Pax, Monty, Jordan and Joy)



Now I have loads of old photos to scan and I also realize how nice it was to have those scrapbooks. I really need to do the same with Zaz and Itz so that I have something I can look at without opening the computer.

So opening boxes, talking on the phone with ten gazillion estate agents and scouring the internet for houses is taking up my time while I watch the snow fall. The pups get exercise by running around like fools in the snow while I watch and laugh. Occasionally I get out there and run around with them!

Hob-b and Max

Before the "big snow" we had a lovely visit from Hob-b and Max. Max is Hex and Indy's full litter brother. And, of course, you all know little gorgeous Hob-b! Little Hob-let, Hob-noxious or Hob-stinate as she is fondly called by all who know and love her. She is now spoiled and living with Max and his family a few towns over. I love this photo of Hob-b as it epitomizes her life's philosophy! She is a little diva and still as cute as a button.



It is always a little heart-wrenching for me to see Max but it is getting easier. He is so similar to Hex; right down to his mannerisms. Max and Hob-b are so well matched; two little fluff balls. I am have been so lucky with the homes I have found for my pup-lets.



Well we are still bored here but the snow is thawing slowly. All training classes cancelled again this week. sigh.

Bored now!

The BIG snow hit the UK this week. I have been stuck in the house now for 3 days and we had no electric and no INTERNET for one of those days! Dennis was very resourceful and got the caravan generator out to fire up a space heater for us as I was worried it was going to get too cold for Pax. We also fired up the caravan and were able to put the cold food in the caravan refrig. The frozen food went into bags and into the snow!

Sadly all my agility classes have been cancelled and I cannot train the pups at all. Boo hoo! But really I cannot complain as this is so unusual for us here in England and we used to have to put up with the snow and ice in New York for the entire winter. That said, at least when in snowed in NY you could still travel once they cleared the roads. Here in the southeast of England they don't do snow plows and salt. They are just not prepared as it is an unusual occurrence. So it can be very dangerous to head out and I am keeping any driving to a minimum. On the positive side it has been so peaceful and quiet without cars driving by on the road in front of our house. Heaven!

Dennis actually had to shut down the factory for 2 days. They finally opened today but only after a few hardworking employees (including Dennis) came in and shovelled snow all day yesterday just to try and clear an area to park. They only had ONE snow shovel between them and the rest had to shovel with garden spades. Folks in the US probably could not imagine a factory not being able to even hire a snow plow but they don't have them here.




The other crazy thing is that yesterday after he left the factory he stopped at the supermarket only to find out that it was practically empty! No milk or bread to be found! Crazy!

We did have a chance to play in the snow and build a snowman but I am bored now! The pups love it and Itzy will whine at the door just to get me to let her out to play. Strangely, before the snow, we received a pirate chest in the post. Not just any pirate chest but a pirate chest that may be used in a Crufts Freestyle routine in the main ring. Don't fall off your chairs; it is not me that will be doing a Crufts Freestyle routine. Johanna and Soda will be at Crufts this year representing Denmark in the International Freestyle Competition. So she bought this pirate chest on Ebay and sent it to me until she can come get it at the end of the month. I just cannot let a pirate chest hang around doing nothing so Zaz and Itz got to play. The first photo is funny to me because Pax got tired of hearing the pups carrying on and getting the attention and she just wandered into the photo.



Zaz is so cute! But, please, when is her coat going to come back? She looks like a little tiny waif with no hair. Itz is just now going through the same major coat shed and pretty soon the two of them will be totally bald.




Just to keep me motivated; here is a little clip of Zaz and Itz weaving just after Christmas. Luckily we took the little video clips because we were just trying out a new camera (which we returned). I am glad now as it gives me something to look back on over the next few weeks of no training! They were getting the idea and I am glad I waited to introduce weaves until they were ready to progress quickly. After watching the video, I wasn't happy with the way they slipped on the patio slabs, so I moved the weaves back into the grass. Since they are little girls, as long as we did not do too much work in one area, we could keep the mud down now that the ground is frozen. Of course all that was before the snow! Now all training has come to a halt. I look forward to the thaw!

I have two questions..Why do I use the same praise all the time?! and Why did I not fix that one weave pole that was tilting?! LOL Enjoy!



Tidy!

Christmas Part 2

Another Christmas has gone. Dennis knows really well now how to give me the best Christmas pressies! I am now the owner of a new PINK and WHITE A-frame and See-saw! No photos yet as the weather has been so wet and I don't want my new Pink agility obstacles to get wet!

We had a few nice relaxing days with long walks, some visits and relaxing at home. Dennis and I took a great 6 mile walk with Shimmer, Zen, Zaz and Itz on Christmas day. Shimmer was really well-behaved unlike my two hooligan pups who had to run at least 12 miles that day! On boxing day we met up with Nancy and Andy and they took us on a great walk in Ashdown forest.



It is sad not to be able to take Pax walking with us anymore and I hate leaving her behind. She is more comfortable at home and I make sure to take her out in the back garden each day to have a wander around. She cannot walk very far as she is uncomfortable walking. But, like a true OBay sheltie, she still has a great appetite and can still boss the other dogs around. Shimmer had no chance as Pax was determined to let him know that he was the bottom of the pack. He actually perked up up a little as he gave her a reason to get up (to bite him!)

Sonia and Bob came to pick up Shimmer on the Sunday after Boxing Day. He was a good dog but I am glad to be back to just five! They have renamed him "Skipper" and he seems to be settling into their house. This is a photo of Bob when he came to pick up Skipper. Lucky realized what was happening and planted himself on Bob's lap as if to say "This is MY Dad"!



On Monday we met up with Karen and Hannah for lunch and then had a lovely walk in Chobham common.

It was nice going to a house that had a Christmas tree! Dennis and I have not put up a Christmas tree since we came to England in 2001. It just never seemed appropriate as we don't have family coming to visit. Also all our Christmas stuff was back packed up in New York. I had to take a photo of Zaz under the tree.



We got to meet Hannah's new addition, Deece and I got my puppy fix.



Zaz vascillated between loving to play with Deece and trying to put him in his place. She learned well from Pax!



After lunch, we took a walk in Chobham common. It was lovely but a little muddy (again!). I am glad we took the time to take this photo. What well behaved dogs!



Zaz and Itzy are usually in their own world when they walk together. I often have to put one of them on lead to stop them from constantly chasing each other.



No one believes me when I tell them that Itzy can be a little naughty! She loves to chase Zaz and hang onto her tail which is why Zaz has no tail hair! Luckily Zaz is going through a major shed anyway so hopefully, with time, the tail will grow back. I just need to keep Itzy away from it!

Karen did not believe that "butter couldn't melt" Itzy could be naughty. That is until Itzy decides that Yaz has a tasty tail also! Watch how fast Karen can move! This photo is so funny that I had to include it even though it is blurry.



We were trying out our new camera (another pressie!) and tried to take some photos of Todd. He was funny as everytime the camera came out he would grab a toy and shake it around. At least he is better than Zen who will try and attack the camera.



I tried to be very domestic this Christmas and not only cooked Dennis a Christmas roast dinner but also baked the dogs Christmas cookies. I used a recipe from Cadie (Acadia Shelties). I liked the recipe because it did not involve any cooking of liver! (Yuck!) Itz, Zen and Zaz wait to be allowed their cookies. Ahh bless!



The rest of the week flew by and now it is New Years Day 2010. I am looking forward to 2010 and realize everyday how lucky I am to have my wonderful husband and my fantastic dogs. We spent New Years eve at home following my mother in law Helene's tradition. At midnight you must have keys and money in your hand to insure that you always have money in your pocket and a roof over your head. I have added to that tradition and make sure that I always have a sheltie by my side. This year we had 5 shelties by our side and each one has a special place in our hearts.

Happy 2010 to All! Let us all enjoy life as much as these two!

Christmas 2009 Part 1

Christmas always seems to start with Olympia; so here, finally, is the video clips from our two runs at Olympia 2009. It took me 2 weeks to get up the courage to watch them! I have no idea why Zen pulled off that penultimate jump in the final; she was fully committed to it and at the last second looked like she thought I wanted her to come away from it.

No matter; I was happy to be there with my amazing dog and enjoyed every second. The noise is absolutely deafening and I was so proud at how she handled it all this year. She just has gotten so mature and so much more confident. The courses at Olympia are just so big and she is just so little compared to the other dogs. For the first time watching the video I could see how hard she need to work to run on that surface and jump those jumps. What a little star!



Christmas was a pretty quiet affair for us this year. It would have been nice to go back to New York or get away for Christmas but Pax is not well and we could not leave her. Sadly Pax has bladder cancer and we do not know how much time she has left. We are glad for the time left with her so that we can just enjoy her and remember all the wonderful times with my special girl. Here is a photo recently scanned (from the days of non-digital photos) of Pax when she was younger and I still tried to do breed showing. I cannot say I miss the breed ring! For me there was nothing more boring or semi-ridiculous! I give people alot of credit who do it successfully every weekend because I know they love it just as much as I love agility. But it was just not for me. Pax was such a good dog to show in everything; we did so much together and it seems like we have been together much more than 13 years. But I refuse to get sentimental about her yet; she is still with us and I did not think she would make Christmas this year. She is my little Christmas miracle.



Our other "oldie" Jordan just keeps plugging along as Jordan always does. She never does anything wrong; she just "is" Jordan! Perfect, happy and always hungry! Here she is with her Christmas present: a rawhide shoe. The shelties love it as a special treat because I do not let them have it very often.



Our other little Christmas "miracle": Both Tickle and Shimmer have found new homes! Tickle went quickly as I knew she would. She went home with her new family during the week of Christmas. Shimmer took a little longer and spent Christmas with us. Then I got a call on Boxing day from Sonia asking if Shimmer had been adopted yet. It seems like Bob had finally given in and said YES they could take Shimmer! Hurrah! I think it will be a great match. Below is Shimmer with his Christmas pressies; he enjoyed himself with us over the holiday but I am sure glad he now has a permanent home. As much as I enjoyed having both dogs; I am glad to get the house back to normal.



Our Christmas activities included alot of muddy walks! Itz and Zaz get so much muddier than every other dog; I think because they are constantly chasing each other and rolling around in the mud!



More later!

Some new additions to the household

Well Olympia is over for another year. Zen was fantastic in both her runs; she ran her little socks off over two HUGE courses. I will eventually post the videos but it takes me a few days to be able to watch them!

Meanwhile we have two little additions staying for a little while. Don't worry they are not permanent additions! I have been very careful to keep our little OBay household numbers down so I thought it was time to take in a few rescues for christmas. I have not done fostering for at least 9 years when we used to run the sheltie rescue on Long Island. Back then it seems like we constantly had a foster dog or two living with us and it can get very stressful after awhile. Once I "retired" from sheltie rescue I made the sad decision to not take in anymore fosters. I would support with donations but my own dogs were being neglected and being exposed to alot of disease as I did not have the room to keep them isolated.

Luckily time helps us forget and I offered to take in two rescues last week. I expected to get a little mixed breed and was surprised when the rescue asked me to foster a sheltie! So on Wednesday night I came home with two little foster dogs. Each had their own sad story but I like to forget the sad stories and just help the dogs look to their happy futures. I think dwelling on their past only keeps them down and they need to be happy now.

Meet Shimmer (the sheltie) and Tickle (shitzu x JRT)



Shimmer is only 10 months old. He was badly matted and did not smell very nice when he arrived.


After a bath and a few hours of grooming! Shimmer is a beautiful boy and needs a home. You can contact Many Tears Rescue for an application or for more information.



Tickle is a tiny shitzu x JRT. She is 14 months old and absolutely adorable. She loves to lie on the back of the sofa like a cat. Tickle is also needs a home and you can contact Many Tears Rescue.



Isn't she adorable?

Nordic Championship winner!

I am very proud to announce that Susanne and Unique (OBay Truly Unique) won the Nordic Championships in Sweden yesterday! What a great partnership they are and we are very proud!

Luckily they were able to drive from Denmark to Sweden or they would not have been able to bring home all the loot!

Zaz's 1st full course!

Today we went to a practice show as an Olympia warm-up for Zen. I wanted to only do the agility runs with Zen; so I tried Zaz around the simple jumpers (with no weaves) course. I was amazed at how well Zaz handled the new venue and an entire course of 20 obstacles! What a little star. I drank a few mulled wines during the day and have decided that nice warm Mulled wine is a great beverage to keep one warm at a cold agility show!

Here is a little video of Zaz but ignore the sound as for some reason it did not sync and I cannot be arsed to try and download it again. I regret not bringing my actual video camera as I cannot edit the video from my little digital camera with Movie maker. My digital camera only takes video clips in Quicktime and I just cannot seem to get on with the quicktime-pro.



Karen and Yaz also ran the jumpers course even though Karen was convinced that Yaz could not do more than 7 obstacles in a row. Luckily Yaz showed her that she was ready for the big league and I have video proof! I just have to upload it and I am sure Karen will put it on her blog.

Sadly Itzy did not get to come with us today but will go with me tomorrow to different practice show. I decided to spend one day alone with each puppy this weekend. Of course now I do wish I had brought Itzy today so that she could have had a go also. Unfortunately the practice show tomorrow is a little more "official" so Itzy won't get a run. Poor Itz! She showed her opinion of being left home today by howling during the X-factor semi-finals.

Using the Manners Minder to teach contacts to Zaz and Itz

First I just want to say that I am NOT an expert on running contacts. I am playing around with them with Zaz and Itz simply because I wanted to see if I could train it. It took me awhile to feel inspired to train the pups and trying something new helped me get some enthusiasm back. I watched videos and analyzed blogs from people who have seemed to have been successful teaching their pups from beginning training through to competition. (Cflyrun and Adventures of the Millers Four Pack). These two trainers are now successfuly running their dogs in competition. I also read and re-read Sylvia Trkman's Running Contacts Information on her website. Obviously Sylvia is the running contacts guru! All this information was free! Amazing in this day and age when everyone wants to hide their "agility secrets" or charge ridiculous amounts of money for information. I also watched Nancy and Zeki work through the process and was inspired by Zeki's lovely running Aframe.

What I did find was that I either needed another person to reward the dog for me (to prevent the pup from looking back at me) or I needed to invest in a Manner Minder Treat Dispenser. Luckily Dennis was back in NY and he brought one home for me! (Now you can buy them in the UK).

I looked through some of the videos today to see if I could find any that showed how I used the manners minder. Unfortunately I did not take that many videos as I found it was too much to try and train both dogs, set up video, look at video, download video ect ect. The earliest videos I took (of the pups on the plank on the ground) were with Quicktime video and I just cannot easily make a movie of those. If the pups end up competing successfully with running contacts I will eventually show those early videos as they are very very funny!

So here are two clips of the more advanced stage where the plank was first propped up on a caravan step and then propped up on a table. The Manners minder is set up about 15 feet away from the bottom of the plank. I tried to work through sending, recalling, running with ect ect at each stage. You cannot see the Manners minder but you can occasionally hear it beep and you can see the small remote in my hand. I took the videos focused on the contacts so that I could see if I was rewarding the right behavior. The most difficult thing for me was trying to decide in a split second if the contact "hit" was as I wanted it. So I took some videos to watch back after training to see if I was correct in my calls. These videos were taken in June and July. I found the Manners minder very helpful as I could concentrate on watching the dog's performance and not worry that they would be looking at treats in my hand.



I hope some of you find this interesting and take it all with an understanding that I am also learning something new. Use what you can from this information but realize there is no substitute for just getting out there with your dog and working on it! I am so glad we did the majority of the work already as my garden is now flooded and I think puppy training is going to be limited over the next month or two as this rain seems to be never ending! My weave poles have now been moved onto the patio slabs and I may be able to do some weave pole training only if the rain and wind would stop.

More OBay pups at the Girlpower 1st Birthday party

I invited the pups from Zen's second litter to the Girlpower pup's party. This was the litter with Zinna (puppy name Mouse), Zeki (Zest), Ziga (Linford) and Zev (Fathead). It was so nice to see them all run; they all are just loving their agility and have great trainers and handlers who love them. What more could I want?

Nancy and OBay Tiz Zensational "Zeki". Zeki is named appropriately! Doesn't she look so much like Zen on the Start line?



Christine and OBay Tiz Wild "Zev". Zev was "Fathead" in Zen's last litter. Hmmm I think he has changed a little!



Elizabeth and OBay Tiz Magic "Ziga". Ziga was "Linford" in the same litter. He is such a fluffball now!

Girlpower Pups 1st birthday party!!

Zaz, Itz, Zavvi and Yazoo will be 1 year old on 4th December! What a special litter they are and I had to celebrate this milestone for them. I could have never believed I would have kept two puppies; yet I cannot imagine not having both Zaz and Itzy. They are Yin and Yang; Frick and Frack and The Terrible Twosome all rolled together and I love them both dearly.

We had the GirlPower Pups 1st Birthday Party a week or so early as Johanna was in this weekend for a Freestyle Competition with her Border Collies Soda and Spooky. So I thought it would be nice to have everyone together so Johanna could see all the pups. Johanna is such a big part of all these pups especially as she owns the Daddy Tazz and Grandaddy Monty. If it was not for all her help over the years I would not have any of these special little shelties.



Of course we couldn't have Johanna over without putting her to work setting us up some courses. I had the great idea of inviting everyone from this litter plus everyone from the previous Zen x Tazz litter to come do a little training with Johanna in my back garden. Best laid plans and all that....the weather turned unbelievably awful and I thought I would have to cancel. Luckily we have a small local agility club nearby and their venue was available for a few hours on that day. I was able to contact everyone to meet at the riding hall instead and the training still went ahead. Phew!

It was so cool to see all the pups running agility. They are all so similar yet all so different! First Johanna set up some complicated sequences with Zeki, Zev, Ziga and Kizzy and Todd as they are all competing already. Then we did about 30 minutes training with the Zaz, Yaz and Zavvi(Itzy got left out as I couldn't run two pups!). Johanna thought we were all so funny as all three of us (Karen, Marilyn and myself) told Johanna that the pups haven't done much yet so do not give us anything complicated. Yet the pups acted like they had been doing it all their lives and made us all look like great trainers! What good pups!

I took some videos of all the OBay pups at the training day. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my video camera and used my little digital camera instead. It fustrates me as it uses Quicktime and I do not know how to make movies from Quicktime clips. So I have to publish each clip seperately instead of combining on one movie. Sorry! So it may take me a little longer to do any of the older dogs videos but I will start with some clips of the puppies. I have been very fustrated trying to do these videos! I think I need a new compact video camera; we just need to decide which one!

Here is a little jumping sequence with Yazz and Karen.



Here is Marilyn and Zavvi on her jumping sequence.



While the older dogs trained Karen and I did a few Aframes with Zaz and Yazz. (yes we often get those names mixed up!)

Here is Yazz.



And here is my gorgeous amazing Zaz.



After the training session we all went back to our house for lunch and cake and birthday presents. All the shelties joined in on the gifts and there was alot of paper shredded around the living room!

Zeki looks like she is saying that she had NOTHING to do with the mess.



Little Vinnie was invited to the party since he won't have any littermates to join him in his own 1st birthday next year! We were all surprised at how small he turned out. Shelties are not easy to breed and you never know just what you will get! He is adorable anyway and he doesn't realize how small he is!



We had cake for the humans.



But even better was the "doggie" cake that Marilyn and Zavvi brought to the party. It was gorgeous and had all the 4 pups names on the cake and had "here come the girls" on pink ribbon wrapped around the cake.



This doggie cake was made with liver and other things but actually smelled delicious! The dogs all waited patiently for their piece of cake. Well most waited but you cannot blame Zavvi for stealing her piece off the table. She had to endure the 4 hour ride with the cake in her car and just could NOT wait any longer!




It was great to see so many of the OBay shelties together. Zen and Tazz did a great job producing these puppies and it is so gratifying for me to see them all in loving happy homes. Thanks to all who came to the GIRLPOWER 1st birthday party! And PS it was not as noisy as expected!