Chasing RAE

On Thursday I had Ryker entered in the Rally Trial in South Jordan. He did great. The PA came on full blast during both my Excellent and Advanced runs in the ring.
He did his usual bark over the jump and bouncing at me during heeling. We earned a 96 in Excellent 1st place and a 99 in Advanced 2nd place.
That is leg #4 .... 6 more to go.

USDAA Trial April 26th and 27th

I am learning every time I take this dog on the course. He was very good with his SLS. I am not going to lead out to much until he has overcome the bar knocking issue with chasing me. Nevertheless, he stayed for as long as I asked him to. I was expecting to get his AD this weekend. He only needed one leg in Jumpers. On Saturday he did great in Standard and earned his SSA and SG. He still is not getting into the weaves from a jump. Pairs was a disaster, he was all over the place and I lost my connection with him, but we finished the course.Sunday was a lot better. He earned an extra leg in Standard (no move-ups in USDAA) and even though he didn't Q in Jumpers, he had an great run. I was going to handle Snookers the same a I did with Raygen. The A-Frame was my major concern. It was close to the red jump and I tried to do a title left wrap around (taptaptaptap). He took the frame, no big deal, but I had to go all the way to the other side of the frame to get to my closing sequence and hesitated for one second and he put his rear legs back on the A-Frame. That was the end of that, but maybe he will try to do better contacts next time. I praised him as we left the ring. What a good boy!!!

USDAA Trial April 26th and 27th

I entered this trial with some high expectations from both Raygen and Ryker. This does not mean that I won't have fun or get mad at them for not performing the way I wished.Raygen earned his first leg in PIII Standard and had a great run in PIII Jumpers, however handler error cost us the run.I only needed one PII Gambler leg and one PII Snooker leg to get his Versatility Title PD II. Gamblers was a breeze. We did chute to dogwalk (with a tunnel "trap") and to my great surprise he took the dog walk. Without going into more details.... my timing was perfect, I was approaching the first gamble obstacle when the buzzed rang. Tire, tunnel, which was under the A-Frame, jump, jump. Really no big deal unless he would not take the tunnel. He did great and we only had Snookers to go. Last class of Sunday, with the great insight from my friend Cynthia, he ran an almost perfect course. There was a little slowing down when I had to disappoint him not to let him go into a tunnel. But that was only for a few seconds since the tunnel came after that. What a good boy!!!Raygen is the #1 Australian Cattle Dog in Utah at this time. He is 1 of 13 to hold a PD II title in the country.

Rylie Monster

Rylie was bottle fed by her foster dad for 2 weeks until they found a Rottweiler bitch that had some puppies and was able to be a mommy to Rylie. After filling out an adoption application I was contacted when she was 6 weeks old and told that the owner of the Rottweiler is getting rid of the puppies and she had to go, too. Ugh! She was way to young. She came to me on a rainy day. Oh my, was she cute, but she was sleeping, too. Little did I know that this little girl was going to turn my life upside down.

First time Herding (again)

I went herding yesterday and is was O.K. He was better the first time I had him on sheep. That was on December 8th of 2006. So long ago. He had to outgrow his Pano and we had such a long winter or I would have started last fall. Can't do herding in 5 feet of snow.I am planning on getting a lesson in every week. This is what I got him for. So much for me to learn and I hope that Shauna is going to be patient with me.

"Say Your Prayers"

This winter I have been teaching my dogs more tricks. In this picture is Ryddick saying his prayers. This one was easy to teach. He already knew the foundation and all I had to do was put is together. Foundation needed for this trick: nose target behavior, understanding of the clicker, front feet on chair behavior. Items needed: non slip chair, clicker, treats, piece of duck tape, in a quiet room. First I asked him to put his paws on the chair and relax. The elbows should touch the chair surface. Then I put the piece of duck tape in between his legs, near his paws. First thing he does is touch it with his nose. That was Easy! I let him do this a few times and then move the tape further back towards his elbows. Again, Easy! Pretty soon the tape is all the back almost under his chest. Continue to shape the target and then start adding the cue.You and your dog should have some knowledge of shaping.

Slick's Crown Jewel aka Ryddick

Never go to a friends house that has a litter of puppies or you'll end up with a present.

SlickCrownJewl aka Ryddick

Nickname: Mr. Boister
Breeder: Jan Krehbiel
Sire: One Slick Buck aka Slick
Dam: Tuff's Jewel aka Jewel
Born: 6-24-06
Black & White Border Collie

Red Baron aka Ryker

Pick of the Litter, two days old and squirmy

Nickname: Baby Boy
Breeder: Jan Krehbiel
Sire: Flash Kruger aka Kruiser
Dam: Tuff's Jewel
Born: 6-11-05
Red & White Border Collie

Danielle's LiL' Dude aka Raygen

This picture is of Raygen as he is coming out of the Humane Society

to meet Rylie for the first time

Nickname: Angel
Rescued at 4 month old from Rancho Coastal Humane Society
Born: 4-25-04
Australian Cattle Dog (red)

Rylie-Floribel aka Rylie

This picture is of her only two weeks old. Her mother was dumped at a vet while being in labor. Rylies 6 brothers, sisters and her mother died due to complications of larbor, leaving her an orphan.

Nickname: Princess
Rescued at 6 weeks old from Help For Homeless Pets in CA
Born: 1-17-03
Blue Australian Cattle Dog