Long time readers of this blog will remember this rule very well!
Today TWooie thought it was time to revisit this rule.
Chickens … turkeys … chickens … turkeys. Poor TWooie, he can’t decide which flock of fowl to harass, so he just goes back and forth between the two fences making everyone squawk. Then when I try to go get him, he runs away into the paddock and perfects his sad, he’s-so-beaten face.
But they’re so much fun. Don’t be mad. Also, please move as you’re blocking my view of the turkeys.
Now he has more chickens to harass, as today I picked up three more laying hens. These little ladies are just over 6 months old, so they’re laying every day. But the original chickens are stepping up to the plate … yesterday I got another egg, and this morning I got TWO! We’re up to 4 eggs in 3 days. We almost have enough for every dog to get one for breakfast some time soon. It’s very exciting for this city gal.
Our weekend of agility was not so exciting. Tweed opened our weekend with a beautiful Gamblers run on Friday night, a 1st place and a Q. Good boy! After setting the bar this high, he then proceeded to shame me for bragging on our many opening Gamble points by demolishing all three Standard runs he was entered in. Contacts? What are those? Barking and spinning at my feet? Sure why not, it works for Piper! Etc. And then in his last Standard run, he pulled a very strange move that I assumed was a fault, so I just ran the rest of the course balls out and didn’t make him stick his contact on the last obstacle. Ironically, it turned out that he hadn’t faulted in the beginning at all and if I had worked that contact, we would have had a Q. This old man dog will be the death of me.
It’s true. I’m trying to kill you with a variety of weapons.
As for Piper … well, her Advanced Gamble we can blame squarely on me because I forgot I entered it, didn’t walk it, panicked when I found out I was in it and it was, in fact, our turn … pulled her out of the truck, hurled her in the ring and then proceeded to fling her around the course at breakneck speed, generally in the wrong direction. She sure tried very hard to do everything I asked of her, and did a stellar job of racing into the wrong tunnel mouth in the closing Gamble, *exactly* where I sent her! Good girl.
Poor thing looked a little like this when the blessed whistle went and we finally could leave the demolished ring:
But in Advanced Jumpers, I guess she decided that if I was going to send her into the wrong tunnel mouths, she best not listen to my instructions in the future. So what might have been a beautiful run was destroyed when, halfway through the course, she second guessed my indicator and didn’t go in the tunnel. In watching the video, I can see that I dropped my arm and turned my body, which would normally be a cue to come with me … except that I was pretty sure she was committed to the tunnel, otherwise I would’ve held out longer. This little dog has NO commitment point to speak of, I swear.
Thanks to Auntie Jody and her iPhone, I can share the video with you!
She dropped the bar because since we had already gotten a refusal at the tunnel, I figured we may as well have some fun and just RUN REALLY FAST and I was talking to her the whole time, egging her on. Don’t talk to your dog over the bar when you run!
At the trial, I made the COLOSSAL mistake of musing aloud that perhaps, possibly, maybe, I had gotten lazy with my handling a little bit. The Sadist jumped on that one like TWooie on a turkey. If I never post to Wootube again, just listen for an Austrian screaming “I SAID AGAIN, FASTER!” and you’ll locate the man who killed me, somewhere in a barn in Langley.
For no reason at all, I end this post with a picture of Wootie, which at first appears lovely, until you notice his rather creepy, collegiate looking human teeth. *shudder*
There’s a rumour I may get five whole days off in a row next week, so hopefully I will have some more time to blog!
Sarah says
Wow, Piper’s teeth are about as worn down as Hannah’s. Her run was pretty nice overall.
Also, I find it a bit creepy how this thing knows my name and email address…(I clicked on the link through facebook but the email that it has above isn’t the one thats linked with my FB account).
Amy says
Awww Piper looks like she enjoyed that run. She got to do zoomies!! =)
Miriam says
I really miss your old header. : ( But I love your blog anyway and look forward to it al lthe time.
Tracy says
When I had Caiman in agility our instructor said that he committed to a jump once all four feet were in the air. I’m just not coordinated enough for that kind of responsiveness!
Vicky says
I love your new site….aweseome.
MIdwinter says
I was just about to ask if Piper’s teeth are worn down, but it seems they are. Is that from tennis balls? I ask because my BC has worn hers down, too, and I’m wondering how careful I should be and how bad I should feel.
clairesmum says
I have a BC/black lab cross who is 11 years old and has terrible looking teeth – she LOVES tennis balls, including stripping off the covering! She can tell the difference between real tennis balls and the pet store kind, and won’t even pick up the pet store kind. Mouth/teeth don’t seem to bother her, even when she picks up frozen ball and bleeds from her gums. Breath is fine, too. My vet is an older guy – 60+ – who is very practical and said not to worry about them. Dog teeth are not the same as human teeth and can seal themselves over so if she is not having symptoms, leave the teeth alone.
As someone who hates the dentist, and not wanting to spend oodles of money for something that Claire will hate to have done, I’m fine with doing nothing until/unless she has some difficulty.
The Food Lady says
Piper does indeed have worn teeth, and it’s not an overuse of tennis balls – it’s an overuse of anything she puts in her mouth and then chews on! We used to use nothing but non abrasive hockey balls, but because of the way she chomps on anything in her mouth, she wears her teeth down. She also has several broken and missing teeth for a variety of reasons (some knocked out, some removed for being broken). My vet is not overly concerned with the shape of her teeth … I am just to watch for signs of pain or infection, or cracks or fissures that would cause pain or infection.
Sheri says
I know you haven’t solicited comments on your new website but I thought I’d send my two cents worth anyway! :) What happened to the donate button? Did you take that off the site or am I oblivious and don’t see it? Also, some of the fonts both in the header (Photographer, 3 border collies … and the WooTWoo) and in some text of the blog itself (particularly older posts) are quite light and are hard to see. Perhaps that is my computer??? Anyway, all that is just an aside because I really just love your wonderful pictures, your wonderful dogs, and the commentary you write to go with them! I know next to nothing about agility (it would be absolutely nothing except for the information you have written already for those of us who are clueless), but I thought Piper looked like she was doing really well all the way up until she didn’t go through the tunnel…
pam in oz says
because of the way my internet was working the last pic of Wootie came up slowly.
first his ears
then his eyes
then his mouth
SCARY !
(by this time I was shrieking ! LOL)