Ryddick and Chocolate

This is Ryddick with his BFF Chocolate. He is a 7 lbs Yorkie/Shi-Tzu mix. Smartes little dog I have ever known.

Gotta Love Me!!

Ryddick and Dexter

Ryddick loves puppies. This is Dexter, who at the time the pictures were taken was 9 weeks old.

Ryddick and Dexter (Corgy)

About the choking incident on August 30th, 2007

Someone on Facebook posted about how to do the Heimlich and CPR on your dog. It brought back a very scary memory about an incident that happened two years ago. Here is the email I wrote to my friends.

This morning, Ryddick, my 15 month old BC, was choking on some of his food and stopped breathing. He was close to loosing consciousness and his live was in our hands. My husband did the Heimlich and I tried to give him breaths into his nose. I could not get any air in. It was closed! His tongue had turned blue and his gums white. He wasn't moving and had this horrified stare into nothingness. My puppy was dying and all we could do was to push on his belly and hope for the best. It took forever, but IT WORKED!!! He recovered within minutes and there seems do be no sing of brain damage. We were so, so, so, sooooo lucky. I guess the Infant and Adult CPR class finally paid off! I am going to invest in a grinder this weekend.
We were very scared. We knew that if we did not succeed he was going to die. That is why it is so important never to leave dogs unattended when they feed. I would have found him dead. I don't ever want to have to do it again, however I know that I can.

My poor Raygen

Today I went to the vet with Raygen and by "accident" he found a growth under Raygen's tongue. It was not there on August 8th, when Raygen had a tooth fixed. Growing that fast is a bit scary. The Dr. took a biopsy and send it in. Results are not going to be available until next week.

Even if it is benign it still has to be taken care of. It is very close to the salivary Gland and

Under Raygen's tongue. Note that the growth looks like two, however it is one with an ulcer in the middle.

This is after the biopsy.

Great Pratice

I had a great Agility practice tonight. Ryker and I where connected. He read my deceleration and acceleration cues perfectly. At one point I decelerated to soon and he was not sure if he should go or not. What a good boy. I did not have enough time to run any of the other dogs. I did get to practice some jump chutes with Ryddick and Ryker this morning. It was nice and cool and they did really great. A bit later Raygen and Rylie both joined in the one jump practice I was doing with Ryddick and Ryker. Raygen was actually working very nice for me. He usually does not want to do much practice. I will try some more in the morning after Sammy and Baxter are done with their private lesson.

No U-FLI Nationals

UTB Flyball Team BOD has decided not to go to U-FLI Nationals this year. A few team members where very angry at the decision. Other than the BOD nobody knows why this decision was made. Frankly, I am to sick and tired to care, maybe I will have some feelings about it later. I canceled my hotel reservation and made peace as much as I can with whatever is happening or going to happen. Can't let this get me down. Great news is that Ryker really doesn't care. He is as happy as a clam. Ready to go play and fetch a toy or swim in the pond or jump over jumps or just sleep. Sure helps when the world keep turning and nothing really matters. My happiness is my dog happiness. Maybe I am trying to hard?

Surprise, Surprise!!!

Today I was pleasantly surprised when I got my mail and found a title certificate from the AKC. I keep track of every leg that we earn and this one must have slipped by me. According to the AKC, Raygen has earned his AXP.
I will double check online to see where he got his first two legs. I will also contact the AKC on Monday to make sure that this is not an error. I sure don't want this to nip us in the butt later.

Ryker earned his AAD and more

This weekend we were entered in the Wasatch USDAA Agility trial in Farmington. We took Friday off since it was the day we got back from C-Spot Win Camp. I am glad I did. I got home at 11pm Thursday evening and the dogs wanted to run around the yard for a while before going to bad.
So, Friday was a slow day, doing laundry, watching the yard getting watered and visiting frinds at the trial.
I decided not to run in all the classes. I split up Ryker and Raygen. Ryker ran in STD Advanced on Saturday and earned his Std title and AAD. Now we can move up in all future trials to Masters classes. Way to go Ryker!!!
Raygen ran in Snookers and Jumpers. I took an off course in Snookers, it was such a nice course. Jumpers was really cool. He Q'ed in that.
On Sunday I had Ryker in Masters Gamblers and Advanced Std. Gamblers was really confusing me for some reason. I ended up taking advice from G and Ryker earned 3rd place. All three dogs that placed were withing 0.50 seconds of each other. Way cool!
Ryker's Std run wasn't as pretty as I failed to see the "serpentine" challenge that included a teeter. The approach to the second jump and teeter was totally wrong and he took an off-course jump. I realized that only after I watched another competitor handled it like a serpentine.
I was so focused on getting Ryker through the Gamblers course that I totally forgot that Raygen was in the same class. I had no plan for him when I entered the ring. For his running style the course was a good one to just run as fast as I could and let him take whatever was in his path without much handling and get the minimum points. Even though Jim Basic was drilling us with some "panic" drills, I messed up and did not take my time getting Raygen set up to get a nice Gamble over the first tow obstacles. He is such a Velcro dog. BUT he got the points.
Also, great news, my battery charger cable has been found, thanks G, and I can finally charge my camera again to take movies and pictures again.

C-Spot Win Camp

C-Spot Win Camp has again been a great success. My electives were with Karen Holik and Stacy Peardot-Goudy. Two days we had 2.5 hours with our elective and then 4 hours with one instructor each..... Stepanie Spyr, Ann Braue, Stacy Peardot-Goudy and Karen Holik.
The courses were challenging and we were pushed to the limit. I would have loved working with all of them more.

Ryker was sore on day two and one of my team mates, Kathy Owens, let me run her awsome dog Johnnie. It was sooo much fun.
Thanks Kathy.

I am looking forward in implementing what I have learned to my Agility classes.
Lots of work to do!

WW Flash Moy of Spunk

Ryker's GGGGrandad Flash Moy of Spunk aka Flash

1994 ONYX

1996 NAFA Hall of Fame