Play Ball

Ryddick loves to play ball. He also gets to go to herding lessons. One of the exercises I do with him is, send him out and have him lay-down. Then call him and lay-down and call and lay-down. Then I release him and he gets to fetch the ball. He is getting the hang of the game. This also helps him built his muscles in his rear. He used to pull himself up with his when he was going through the PANO phase.

Considering Trialing

Rylie got to go to Huntsville with me and the boys. She usually stays home with Michael, but I thought I'll give her a break from the heat and let her go swimming in the pond, which she loves to do.I decided to run her a bit on the Agility course, too. First she barked at me, but then ran the course real nice. She is and has always been a Velcro dog. She never goes further away then 4 feet. But she did good. Her weaves are great, she runs the contacts and she only has to jump 12 inches in AKC preferred. ASCA does not have a lower jump height option unless the dog or handler are seniors or the handler is a junior. USDAA she would have to jump 16" in preformance. In DOCNA she could be entered on Select at 12". I really like DOCNA.

Seal Ears

Rylie has the biggest ears. However when she sees someone she knows, her ears go back and look like seal ears. Itty bitty and close to her head.

Teeter Trouble

Ryddick has been having difficulty with the teeter. While he is going forward on it he will go into attack mode. This weekend I have had the opportunity to do some Teeter work in Huntsville. He did really good and by the end of day 2 he was not showing any sings of attacking the teeter. At first I would work on some low "slam it" exercises. Gradually leave the teeter higher. Once I felt he could get on the full teeter I would click as soon as he stepped on it. That way he was looking forward to a rewards instead of thinking about attacking the teeter. It worked great. I was watching for sings of stress and always stopped before he would have a raging fit. I hope to be able t do more teeter work in different places. I can't trial him unless he is "healed" ;-)

Swimming

We were up in Huntsville the past two days and Ryker got to swim a lot. He is a swimming fool. Our pond has not have any water supply for the past 3 weeks and is down to a yucky green mess. I won't let the dogs go in it. Not even sure if it is deep enough to swim in it. I am seriously thinking of investing some money for a building and a pool. I could give doggy swimming lessons.

Sheep

Raygen is so excited. This evening our neighbor got his Summer lamb. He will keep them until about September. When Raygen got outside he was so excited to see them. He ran to the fence and whined and ran to me and gave out an exciting bark and ran to the fence and came to me again. Look Mom! Sheep!Can' wait to continue herding with him.

USDAA Trial June 21-23

I entered Ryker in the Teams competition. Our team mates where Cayenne and Monty.Our Team name was PG (Parental Guidance). Eric, Monty's dad, designed a great iron on and provided us with the T-Shirts on the morning of our run. We had a great time. Our PG dogs had some mishaps and surprise performance throughout the day. It was hot and we were tired at the end. Ryker, again, fell of the dog walk. It is a very slippery dog walk and a lot of dogs are having minor issues. His speed and inexperience makes it dangerous for him to attempt it the way he does our dog walk at home.On Saturday and Monday we entered all the other classes and even though we had some fantastic runs, we only qualified in in one class. Seems like there is just a bit missing. I had to stop a run, when Ryker started to not wait for a release on the contacts and ran the course without me. Even though he took the correct sequence of obstacles, we weren't a team. He did much better at our Standard run that followed.

Happy Birthday Ryddick!

Mr. Boister is turning 2 today. We didn't do anything special. CU class was at 6:30pm and he was so good. Happy Birthday Ryddick!

USDAA Trial 21-23

Ryddick didn't do much this weekend. We did some calm mat work and he got to jump over the practice jump a few times. We walked calmly around the agility field and I sat for about 5 minutes by the ring giving him treats while being quiet. It was hot, so most of the time he slept in his crate in the open van. What a good boy! He did get to run around with a ton of other Border Collies. And we played a bit of tug and he got to go into the baby pool and .... I guess he did get to do some stuff.

USDAA Trial June 21-23

Raygen With Bill McDevitt

I don't recognize Raygen anymore. He is faster and more enthusiastic about Agility then ever. He was so exited when I sat him up for Snookers, that he almost got away from me and started on his own. Whoohoo! His weaves are getting faster and faster. We have to work a bit more on the teeter in different locations. He did the gamble in the Master Gambler, that included a teeter. I was very proud of him.Can't wait 'til our July trial.