"Way Back" Wordless Wednesday

2006:




2007:

Stout's First Trip to the Dog Park

Stout got to experience the dog park for the first time last week. To say he enjoyed it would be an understatement  :)

 

We traveled over to Wellington Dog Park so I could hang the banner for our annual Dog Padddle.

 

 

Stout chased...

Stout helped dig holes...

Stout sniffed butts...

Stout wrestled...

Stout played...

Stout chased some more...

And Porter looked on disapprovingly.

Stout didn't care what Porter thought  :)

An Eventful Weekend

Someone shake me, because I swear I must be dreaming  :)  Porter earned 2 more QQ's this weekend! That's 5 QQ's in a row! From the dog that couldn't even do 5 weaves in a row last year!!

 

He now has all the QQ's needed to compete at AKC Nationals! We just need 126 more speed points.

 

Earlier I had refused to seriously consider going to Nationals because I really didn't think it would happen. I wanted to take 1 run at a time & not put too much pressure on us... But there's no denying I feel the pressure now!

 

 

 

We traveled up to compete at the Queen City Dog Training Center Saturday morning.

 

I find I am running much more conservatively now since QQ's have been on the line  :)  My handling looks a little loose & deep when I'm trying to keep all the bars up & create really obvious lines. I'll sacrifice the tighter corners & harder crosses to make everything absolutely obvious.

 

But not everything went stellar over the weekend. I left Stout & Porter in the car Sunday morning as I carried stuff into the trial. When I came back out, Stout had eaten some of my Orbit gum. After some googling, we finally found that it did contain xylitol.

Fortunately, a friend carries hydrogen peroxide with her. I gave Stout a couple good doses (he just opened up his mouth & let me pour it down!). He puked up his breakfast kibble, part of an egg mcmuffin, some un-identified plastic bits, some stuffing from his toy, and 2 pieces of gum still partially in the wrapper.

Then he was as good as new!





And a good day at a trial should always end with a good walk with friends in the park:

A parade of dog breeds:

2 Cardigans

1 Pembroke, 1 Swedish Vallhund

2 Pyrenean Shepherds

2 Chihuahuas

2 Jack Russells

Dog Shaming

Have you seen this site?

 

 

 

 

Let's just say that it's the perfect site for Stout...

 

He even looks a little ashamed, doesn't he?

Dog Paddle 2012!

If you're anywhere near Lexington, KY, come on out to the Dog Paddle!



http://youtu.be/lo7iBZprprs


I spent a VERY long time putting that video together... Might as well share it everywhere!  :)

And yes, Stout & Porter may actually get to come this year!

www.friendsofthedogpark.org

Question About The Outer Banks





The Brews Brothers will be traveling to the Outer Banks soon for vacation. Our first time ever at the beach!

 

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to go, what to do, where to eat, what to see...? Any places that the dogs would really enjoy?

 

Oh, and here are some unrelated photos from the weekend to make this post more interesting  :)

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

Time To Water The Corgis!

The Brew Crew loves it when the hose comes out!

"Wheeeee!"

Stout got to take his first ride in the "corgi cart" as John tried out his new bike!

"Hmmm, this is ok..."

"Ok, I kinda like this..."

"Faster! Faster! This is slower than I walk!"

"Done already?"

More Obedience Adventures

Stout is doing remarkably well at obedience class!

But he did have a little corgi meltdown this week, complete with a gator roll:



(View Larger)

Slamming & Running



Stout continues to learn some agility foundation skills after my classes on Monday nights. We're still taking things slow so I can try to keep them fun for him. And I'm tired after teaching for almost 4 hours!

We did a little teeter slamming:

(View Larger Here)

I believe Stout has mastered this skill  :)  I should have been tossing treats to get him to release from the teeter, but I hate to throw all those treats all over the floor... Next week I will pull out the matt to cover the floor.

Although the way things are looking, I think he's finished with the slamming for awhile. It is time to raise the criteria! I'll lower the teeter way down and let him run back & forth across it. I'd like to see him jumping on from the side with all 4 feet to ride it down & slam, but I'll need to figure out how to do that with only myself to hold it  :)

We also did some plank work:

(View Larger)

This is the beginning stages of Silvia Trkman's running contact work. Although I'm not currently enrolled in her class, I've watched enough of other people's videos & talked to friends who've taken it that I know the first couple steps to teaching it  :)

It may not look like much right now. Most of the time he's not even running on the plank. But I am so pleased regardless! What I like:

• He's fetching! I am throwing a ball & he's excited to chase it & is even bringing it back!
• He's running! Sure, he's not going "lure coursing speed," but he's not trotting!
• He wants to play with me! He's not wandering around sniffing and he's bringing the ball back to play.

So why are some parts in slow motion? I'm looking for "hind feet separation." It's not as important now, but eventually that's how you can tell if they are striding down the contact vs. jumping off. A dog that launches is going to have feet together where a dog running will have their rear feet separated. And thankfully Stout was going fast enough that I had to slow it down to look for sure  :)  This also helps familiarize myself with Stout's running style & stride length.

I probably won't do this again for a few weeks. I just wanted to see where he was at. I'm not ready for the committment of lowering the dogwalk and performing the multitude of repetitions needed. And Stout's not ready for that either!

Dinosaurs & Agility

On our way to the agility trial over the weekend, we made a short stop at Dinosaur World! I'm a sucker for a photo op... Plus we all had to pee.

Stout was a little wary of the pterodactyl

Stout loves dinosaurs. He has a dinosaur blanket & a dinosaur on his id tag. RAWR!

Unfortunately we could only take photos from outside the fence. I really wanted a photo of them with the T-Rex...

Porter is doing his best impression of the triceratops

I'm pretty sure this is a recreation of Stout hatching from his egg...

Run Stout! The pterodactyl is right behind you!

And this is Stout's impression of the triceratops

Oh, and about that agility trial  :)

Porter did really well! He was one of only 3 dogs to qualify in Chances. This was our first trial to start earning points for the 2013 NADAC Championships as well. Earning 4 out of 6 "Q's" sure helps!

The RuFF group from Louisville always puts on a great trial. This was their first one at this location. We'll definitely be back, we still need to get photos in front of the Corvette Museum!  :)



Wordless Wednesday

Tunnels!

I think Stout likes tunnels!

(View Video Larger)

Herding Lesson

Porter had his usual Thursday night herding lesson last night. I was able to convince John to come along - so I could get some photos & videos  :)

Actually, I gave him a choice: either he & Stout could come with us, or they could stay home together. He chose to come...


We squeezed our lesson in between storms.

We have been working a lot on driving. That was part of the reason I asked John to come along, I wanted videos of us driving so I could watch my body language. Unfortunately, most of John's time was spent trying to keep Stout occupied and he missed photographing & videoing that part of our lesson   :)

But that's ok, I'm just happy he got to see Porter do so well. I think it's really starting to click for us!

We actually drove them from around the cone into the Y chute! I won't say how many times we tried before we were successful...

The rest of the time we did some paralell driving, driving out in the middle (not up against the fence), inside flanks, and started & ended with outruns & fetching.

Here is a video of part of Porter's first outrun last night, followed by some the fetching at the end:

(View Video Larger)

Yes, that is Stout causing all the commotion. I think he was trying to get to some sheep poo...

"That'll do, Port."

Another Obedience Class for Stout

Stout had his 2nd obedience class this week. We've been pretty pleased with his progress!

This week we worked on more heeling, small circles to the left, and the usual sit, down, & stand.

We also added in very short stays & a recall.

Stout is a much better pupil when you have cookies in your pocket!

Cookie induced focus

Non-cookie focus

(Looks like I could use some "cookie focus" too!)

Stout's first recall

(he was more interested in Beth's strings on her shorts...)

"This obedience stuff is exhausting!"

"You're embarrassing me, PuppyDaddy! Not in front of the other puppies!"

There was an incident in class this week where a pup peed on Beth's sandals (while on her feet!). Fortunately it was not Stout!  :)    A+ for the corgi!