Winter

Well, it's cold & snowy again! Last week we had some nice weather so I let the dogs out of the dog run to play in the snow-

Blast was making snow angels, but here he is waiting to pounce on Critter!







Boo - posing for the side profile!








This is Critter jumping through the snow!









Here's Cactus checking out airplanes!









And Bizzie, well, she had a look & went back to bed... She was bred at Christmas time, & I'm quite sure she is pregnant since she's very mopey & gaining weight.

Weekend Trial

Last weekend was our first trial of the year. I entered Blast in everything. I was quite pleased with his performance overall.
Gamblers was first & he was very distracted by the dogs warming up right behind him.. still has major distraction issues. He did the first mini gamble (a pinwheel) & then left the ring to find the "fun" dogs. In retrospect, I should have kept him moving away from the startline.
He would have Q'd the Challenge course but came back out of a tunnel close to the end of the course - still have to remember not to leave too early. I had a few brain farts on the weekend - guess I need to work on my walking the course skills! The only other issues we had were a slip off the teeter, & a couple of weave pole entry problems. He actually earned his Masters Snooker title! He also got a Masters Standard Q, so he was a pretty good boy.

I didn't run Bizzie, as she was bred over the Christmas holiday.

I did however, run Cactus & Critter on Sat, since Wayne couldn't come. Wow, Cactus is very evil - I'm sure she tried to kill me! Anyhow, it was an experience trying to run her - on the up side, she did get all her contacts - yup - that's what I said! Critter only ran 2 runs & got her starters gamble, but was worried & slow in the jumpers round.

I let Boo run the jumpers course & he was so excited! He ran well, but we took an off course jump (I never did run that course clean after 3 tries!) Anyhow, it was fun to see him be so happy to be at a trial & visit all his old buddies - just for the cookies of course!

This & That

Well, it is now 2011! Hard to believe, but true!
Last year was a difficult year for me, I had to retire my little Boo at 6 yrs young due to disk problems in his back. Bizzie also had back issues, which thankfully we got sorted out with some chiropractic & massage. I had some minor surgery so was not able to run for a couple of months. Then my mom was in hospital for about 2 months, so I was visiting her daily. Anyhow, all of these things took time away from any kind of training plan. Hopefully we can now get back on track.

Bizzie was just bred over the Christmas holiday, so she will be out of commission for a few months. This should be her last breeding, so hope all goes well.

Blast is always a work in progress! He is running much faster with more confidence now, but now I have to really be in the right place at the right time. When he is paying attention, he is very responsive to the slightest move by me, so it is a challenge to keep him on course. He is such a goofy boy - he gets freaked out by anything new or changed in our home. We just got a new front load washer & dryer & he's absolutely freaked by the washer - it makes new sounds & you can see things move inside the washer! Very scary!

My goal for him this year is to try to find a way to get him to work with more distractions. He is much better at indoor trials since there is less to distract him. My goal for myself is to get into better physical condition so that I can run faster myself!

I have been doing rally classes with Boo, & he's doing quite well. His heeling position isn't great, but because he is so small, it's hard for him to stay right beside me cause he can't see my face. We're working on a straighter sit & he has to learn a "stand", which is something I've never trained before. We may take him to a trial this year just to see how he does.