Friday, November 30, 2012

In Memory of Zig Ziglar - Take 2...

(I accidently hit "publish" instead of "save" on this earlier... So here is the complete post!)
 
 
"Success means doing the best we can with what we have."

"A goal properly set is halfway reached."

"You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations."

"It's not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you."

"When you are tough on yourself, life is going to be infinitely easier on you."

"Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will."



"There is little you can learn from doing nothing."

"The way you see people is the way you treat them."

"Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes."
"Every choice you make has an end result."

"Every obnoxious act is a cry for help."

"Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude."
"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily."

"If you don't see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner."
"Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street."
"It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference."

"Success is dependent upon the glands - sweat glands."

Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph."

"Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be."

"If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost."


"You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure."


"You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win."

Thursday, November 29, 2012

An Update On "Things Stout Has Chewed"


As some of you who are my friends on Facebook know, Stout chewed through 2 leashes in 2 weeks AT obedience class. Yes, we were AT obedience class when he did it...
 
Anyway, this reminded me that it's been awhile since I've done an update on "Things Stout Has Chewed." (All credit for the idea goes to Rip for documenting his chewing journey!)
 
Here are just a few of his latest conquests...
 
 
The new sandals I bought to replace the old sandals that he had chewed


One of the shoes I wore in Megan's wedding - at least it was after the wedding, Megan!

His favorite - the toilet brush


The rung on the barstool


The tray in the bottom of his crate
 
 
Leaves from the (really) spiky plant
 
 
One of the ornaments I bought to decorate for my Cardi Claus recipient
 

And a plethora of toys. Stout stands proudly over some the carcasses...

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Dog Park!

A few weeks ago (told you I was behind!), we took Porter & Stout to the dog park.
 
We met our friend Jodi at the small dog paddock. Jodi brought Lili the MinPin & Dezi, the Portuguese Podengo Potato.
 
We thought Stout would enjoy running off leash with his BFF Dezi.

 
 "Freedom!"
 

"Yee Haw!!"

 

 
 
Once Dezi got a little tired, Stout made Lili his prey.

Lili says "Save Meeeee!"

 
 
There were also frequent "terrier breaks."

No vermin were caught on this trip
 

Cardigan Welsh Terriers

Stout enjoyed showing Dezi his terrier side.

Porter only comes to the dogpark to hunt vermin.


Lili showed them how a real terrier hunts.
 
 Notice the lack of Stout in the last few photos? He was on a "time out" in the car. Whenever he gets tired, he can easily cross the line from playing to fighting. Not every dog came to the dog park to be humped & harassed by Stout...




Monday, November 26, 2012

NADAC Trial

After my lack of blogging the last couple weeks, I have a lot to get caught up on!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we had our first agility in 12 years here in Lexington! (It was actually in Versailles, but whatever...)

It was a NADAC trial put on by the great group in Louisville, RuFF.

If you've never worked "behind the scenes" at an agility trial, let me tell you, the job ain't easy! This was my first time (since I had volunteered to do a lot of the leg work if they brought one closer to Lexington), and I will never attend a trial without gratitude again!

I researched places to hold the trial, I was in constant contact with the owner, I was there for delivery & set up of the equipment. I transported the judge to & from the airport, as well as to & from the trial each day. I set up his hotel accomodations, plus researched other local dog-friendly hotels for the competitors. I had to come up with driving cirections & nearby restaurants for the trial premium...

Don't get me wrong though, I enjoyed doing all the work if it meant that I could actually trial for 2 days & sleep in my own bed each night  :)  And I am SO THANKFUL for everyone who came out & supported our efforts. There were a lot of non-NADAC people who entered, some just used it as a "show-n-go" while others were open to adding more NADAC to their future trialing schedules. And some came out just to support having something so close  :)

And of course, a big thank you to the girls from Louisville for giving us a chance & transporting the equipment even farther than they usually do. I appreciate every trial they put on even more now!  :)

So since I had so many friends there, I actually got some of my NADAC runs taped! I think Porter qualified in 8 out of 12 runs, putting us well on our way to qualifying for the 2013 NADAC Championships.




Regular Round 1
This was a really hard course for short dogs :)  Porter didn't even see the dogwalk past the tunnel until the last minute... Fortunately I watched enough other people beforehand to figure out a strategy. I "called to hand" until he got past the tunnel & the walk was right there in front of him.
And then exiting the dogwalk, I used our "turn" command to send him to the hoop to his right instead of the one straight ahead. Unfortunately, I forgot that I use the same command to flip him into a tunnel from the dogwalk in AKC. He was a little confused  :)



http://youtu.be/JrD-h0xYTMs
Regular Round 2
The same blind approach to the dogwalk. Notice I didn't give him the "turn" command coming down this time :)




http://youtu.be/4PxS9M-7Ud4
Chances
This is the "distance class" in NADAC.
He shouldn't have taken that tunnel  :) But we also haven't practiced these skills lately & my body language was pretty bad!




http://youtu.be/JRrVQD7-_cg
Weavers
Our least favorite class  :(  But he rocked it! So proud of my Cardigan Welsh Weaver!




http://youtu.be/GA9KZDPyfC0
Jumpers
I love getting to use my rear crosses on NADAC courses  :)  It just feels so pretty...
 




http://youtu.be/Gm4rZYK_KZA
Regular Round 1
This was the only time all weekend that Porter missed his weave poles! Great job Porter!
Then I pulled him off that hoop after them because I was so worried about him taking the off course tunnel...  Oh well.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

More Thanksgiving Photos

 So what did the Brews Brothers do over Thanksgiving (besides eat too much turkey)?


We walked around the neighborhood.

We checked out the leaf piles for "treasures."

Stout marked the piles as "clear" when they were done.

Then we all ended the afternoons with naps!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Stout - Trkman Class Update

We did our first real sequence in our online class with Silvia Trkman!

Well, I guess we did one for the last lesson, but it was shorter & easier. And strangely enough, it did not go as well as this one!





This is the fastest he's moved yet. I think his understanding is growing, thus creating more speed. And the brand new toy didn't hurt either  :)

And instead of calling him funny or cute, Silvia called him "a fun dog." I think that's an improvement!

She said:

"He is definitely loving this game more&more!!! What a fun dog! I love how he goes and offers a wrap every time you take the toy! :)   ...  Great job with the teeter too, very cool pushes! That’s high enough for him yes – few more sessions like this and you can try jumping on it as well."


I'm not going to lie, I am very nervous about starting him on the teeter. I've seen so many dogs develop teeter fears from something simple, but weird, happening to them. Hopefully he continues to view it as a game. This was the first time I used a toy instead of food when banging the teeter. He really hit it harder & with much more enthusiasm.

I've also been scared to raise the jump bars. He is a year old now, but it just seems so early yet. I did try a little at 4" but he completely ignored them. There was nothing to reward because he was walking through them  :)