August is for holidays! We have been away most of the month enjoying the wonderful sunny weather in Kelowna and Fairmont B.C. The dogs have been lucky enough to enjoy lots of boating, walking, ball fetching and just plain lazing around in the sun. A few more days of this and then we are back home and getting ready for fall classes.
As you all know Spryte was bred to Dylan the first weekend in August. We are now pretty sure the breeding took and she is about 3 weeks pregnant. Spryte has been off her food the last few days, a pretty sure sign that she is "with pup" :) So princess Spryte has been treated to lots of scrambled eggs and yogurt. Hey whatever works!
Both "Dylan" and his owner are brand new to agility, and they competed in their first AAC agility trial last weekend. Dylan was confident and speedy with lots of great distance. I am even more excited (if that is at all possible) for the litter after seeing Dylan in action. His videos are below. Well that is about all the updates right now. Enjoy the videos.
There have been several "change of plans" around here the last few weeks. It all stems from Spryte coming into season a week ago. It was sudden and unexpected. She had been on a 7 months cycle so I wasn't expecting her in until September at the earliest. So we had planned on attending the AAC National Championships this coming weekend and the UKI Nationals end of August in Edmonton. She also only needs one more snooker Q for her ATCh and I was looking forward to finishing that too! I was ready and excited to enter these big events and test our skills against the best in Canada. And then the night before we were supposed to leave on holidays to Kelowna for a week and I noticed blood on Spryte. Well that just changed everything!
So we have withdrawn from the big events and now breeding plans have taken over plans for competition. The other big change of plans around here is the stud dog we are using. Originally it was supposed to be Flash, an amazing agility dog owned by friends of mine. But a few weeks ago the breeder of Spryte and Strider (my mentor) had voiced concerns that Flash might not be a good match for Spryte after all. I wasn't too concerned at the time, thinking I had lots of time to find a mate for her. We discussed a few dogs, but one in particular peeked my interest. This dog was "Dylan" (Ch, BPIG CanyonView Free Wheelin SJATD RN) from CanyonView Shelties. I had done some mild inquiries about him from people who knew him, but had not yet contacted Brenda Newlove the owner of Dylan.
With the sudden heat cycle I was now in a bit of a panic! I emailed Brenda at midnight on the night
I was leaving, hoping that I could meet Dylan (lucky for me they live in Kelowna), get more information on him and his lines and if everything seemed to fit then arrange to use him as stud. Well I often think things happen for a reason. And so far the whole breeding seems to be fitting perfectly into place. Brenda got back to me right away and we went out for a visit to meet Dylan and Brenda. Brenda is a very knowledgeable, long time breeder of Shetland Sheepdogs, and her dogs are wonderful. They are very outgoing, happy and confident. Like myself, Brenda also strongly believes in all round dogs and good temperaments. So her dogs are training and competing in rally obedience and agility and they are certified Saint Johns Ambulance Therapy Dogs.
We will start breeding this Thursday and do three breedings, two days apart. So everyone keep their fingers crossed that all goes well and we have a nice healthy litter of puppies born beginning of October.
On a very sad note, it is probably time that I announced the passing of our Labrador Retriever Kloee ( Hotchoklit'sKloeeKisses CD RE RAMCL RL2 RNT AGIS AADC SGDC CGN). She passed away three weeks ago from a spleen tumor that had erupted. We never knew she was sick. Right up until the day before she was swimming, playing, eating popcorn, generally acting like a happy and normal dog. And then that night she was wobbly, couldn't walk, was weak. We brought her in to a clinic the next day, ran some tests and she was then diagnosed with her fatal condition. She had severe internal bleeding and there was nothing we could do. We had to let her go. She would have been 11 years old in August. It was tough, tragic and so unexpected. Our only consolation was that she never suffered and never felt any pain. She lived her life to the fullest right until the very last day. Even her last moments were not painful, she was only sleepy and out of it. RIP Kloee, we miss you and hope you are chasing a ball, while splashing through streams on the other side of the rainbow bridge.
(all pictures in this post are of Kloee)
The Shelties and I spent the past weekend at the Lethbridge CKC agility trial. This was my first time attending this event and I am so happy that I did. The venue was great, the trial ran smoothly, the organizers did a wonderful job keeping the trial flowing and the judges had some wonderful courses.
The Shelties did very well. Strider ran 6/8 clean. He kept sliding off the table so we kept getting faulted for that. And Spryte ran 4/8 clean and finished her Agility Excellent title. It was a very successful trial.
Cricket and Snap were also there to watch and cheer on dogs. So we took advantage of all the open space and had a couple of play times with mommy Spryte and her two daughters. Cricket hadn't seen Spryte in probably 6 months and she came unglued when she realized who Spryte was. She kept following her around, kissing her, wiggling her bum at her and would then take off and do some crazy zoomies around the park. It was adorable.
Snap had a great time with her mom too. They have seen each other a lot more often, so the play is more intense. Lots of jumping on each other, wrestling and body checking.
Below are some pictures of the dogs playing and some of our agility runs from the weekend.
I haven't had much to write about lately. Or maybe I would just rather be outside than on the computer! So no blog posts for me. But I did want to post a few recent pics of the Ace/Spryte puppies. Now almost 11 months old. I can't believe it has been almost a year since they were born. Wow how time flies!
Here is a picture of Snap taken about a month ago. The next two pictures are of Spryte and daughters Snap and Izzy, taken two nights ago after agility class.
Well first off I AM EXHAUSTED!!! It's Wednesday and I still feel like a zombie. The long days, crazy weather and stress of the competition has taken it's toll on me. I have spent the majority of the last few days in bed. Good thing I have nothing planned this coming weekend. It will be a weekend of relaxation.
So now onto the standings. I couldn't be more pleased with my two shelties. Strider gave me an exceptional weekend. He ran all six rounds in regionals clean and 3/4 clean in the warm up trial. Strider had a "senior" moment in the steeplechase run on Friday, running past the chute. If I had of just thought enough to bring him back, that round would have been clean too. Guess I also had a "senior" moment!
It's amazing how consistent the little guy is. He is that "comfortable pair of old shoes". We know each other and we know what to expect. I can walk into the ring with him and just focus on having fun. We have nothing to prove and we have reached all our goals together. Now each run is about having fun and enjoying the time together.
Strider accumulated 685.97 points, qualified for nationals and placed 2nd overall in the 10" vets class.
Spryte also had a great weekend. The highlight for me was our jumpers run in the Friday warm up trial. It was tough! Back sides, threadles, serps. Everyone was complaining about how hard it was and how this didn't bode well for the courses to come in the actual regional event. I kept telling myself that we can do it! We've run equally hard courses at home and we were ready for the challenge. And sure enough Spryte gave me her best run of the weekend. We ran it clean and with 6.17 yards per second. We were one of the only teams to have Q'd that run. I felt connected with her and my timing was bang on. It was one of those rare moments in agility where you feel like one with your dog. It's a great feeling and one I won't forget soon.
Spryte ended up running three runs clean in the regional event. She had an amazing gamble run were she racked up 71 opening points, completing both mini's twice and the main gamble. It was another highlight to the weekend. Spryte ended up with 525.36 points, qualified for Nationals and took 3rd place overall in the 16" specials class.
The most important thing after a big event is to reflect on what went right and what we can improve on. The 2 weeks before regionals I purchased the book "With Winning in Mind". A book on the psychology of winning. The biggest message in the book being to picture a great performance, and not allow negative thoughts to creep into your mind. I spent several minutes before each run getting into my "Zen" state. I focused on calm breathing, a great run and enjoying my dogs. It also talks about having a ritual statement before starting that promotes the positive thinking and doesn't give you a chance to think negatively. So as I approached my start line I would think to myself "I love my dog, I love agility and I am ready". I have to say I have never felt so calm and in control at a big event. It helped me focus and stay in the game. I highly recommend the book and plan on implementing the steps in the future.
The other thing I took away from the event was to "handle each obstacle!" Something stated again in this months Clean Run magazine. In one of the standard runs with Spryte I took for granted a tire after a tunnel, assuming she would take it. I was focused two obstacles down the line were there was a bit of a discrimination. The lack of handling cost me a clean run. She blasted out of the tunnel right past the tire, earning us a refusal fault. If I had of been handling each obstacle I would have called out the tire and she probably would have taken it.
I have started Justine Davenports foundation program for her handling system in agility. One of the things she does is name every obstacle on course. Right up until this weekend I thought it was a bit funny. I come from the training that you only talk to your dog when you need to get it's attention. Yelling out each obstacle sounded very basic and beginner like. So I admit I have not adopted this part of the handling system. I did not see the point in the behaviour.
Well let me tell you I get it now!!! If you call out each obstacle it means you are HANDLING each obstacle. It's really hard to brush past or ignore an obstacle if you have to cue your dog to take it. It forces the handler to stay in the game and stay focused through the whole course. Right down to the last obstacle. A lesson well learnt and now I will make more of an effort to adopt this new practise in my training.
As a side note, the social side of regionals was a blast. I enjoyed chatting with people I haven't seen in a while. Sitting around our portable campfire at night with friends talking and laughing about everything dog and some non doggie topics too. I also really enjoyed watching my students compete in the events. Many of them it was their first regional event. They all made me proud and stayed positive even when things didn't go as planned. They handled like pros and their dogs were having a great time. You all did a wonderful job this past weekend!
I've been planning on breeding Spryte to the very handsome and highly driven Flash (aka Heartstrings Rhythm and Blues AGDC AADC) for some time now. The only thing we have been waiting on are the health tests. A little while back Flash was xrayed for hips and this weekend he had his eyes CERF tested. I am happy to report his eyes came back normal and OFA rates his hips as "good". He is cleared by parentage for Von Willebrand's disease. So now he is ready to be a father :)
I haven't had a chance to post recent pics from Spryte's first litter with Ace. Here are a few photos of the puppies around 7 & 8 months of age.
Breeanne with "Izzy", and "Izzy" at Easter. Bree and Izzy are such a wonderful team already. Izzy is a little spitfire with tons of attitude. She just wants to go FAST! Forget those start line stays, it's way more fun to just RUN! This little dog cracks me up every time I see her. She wants to do things her way and she has no problem telling Bree what she thinks. She is one feisty little dog!
Cricket at 8 months. I haven't seen her in months, but she looks beautiful in her pictures. I will get a chance to see her this month at our agility trial. Her owners tell me she is doing great and just loving all her training and play time. I've seen several videos of her out walking in the coulees in Lethbridge . She is a lucky girl to have so many walks out with her buddies, and plenty of time learning fun things like agility too. I'm looking forward to seeing her in a few weeks.
Quinn at 8 months. This guy is a total lover! Every time I see him he wants to give me a big hug. He is cuddly and outgoing and he just wants to have fun. I don't think Quinn has a serious bone in his body. He is all about playing and socialising and loving life. He is busy too. With multiple classes a week in agility and obedience. Which is great for him because he has energy to burn.
My most recent pics of Snap are the ones in an earlier post from the Camrose Dog show. Snap is so much like her mother its scary. She looks the most like her and her personality is all Spryte. She is very serious and loves to work. She has great focus and drive. She is also a bit talkative like her mother. She likes to bark with glee during her rally runs. She takes direction really well in agility and loves the work. She will be out there tearing up the rings in no time.
I took the dogs out to the Sandy McNabb area of the Kananaskis today. It is just west of Turner Valley and has camping, hiking and day use areas. I haven't been out that way in many years. But today the sun was shining and it just felt like the right thing to do.
Here are some pics of the dogs from our walk:
