Thursday, February 28, 2013

At Least I Didn't Cry...

Yeah, anyone who knows me & herding, knows that there is a likelihood that I will break into tears while doing it  :)

Why?

I wish I knew. Because then I could stop myself from doing it! It’s freaking embarrassing!

The seminar went well. I learned a lot. I wish I could say that Porter & I did a lot. But once again, all our time was spent on fixing things that we should already have perfected by now.

And the reason we continue to need to work on these things?

Well, I think it’s because Porter is too stubborn. But in reality, I’m too soft. Or I let too many little things slide until they are a big heap of crap that we can no longer work around  :) 

Every time we move forward, we find even more holes in our foundation.

Is it the curse of a newcomer to herding? Yes.

Will I do better with my next dog? Yes.

Will my next dog have as much natural talent as Porter? I don’t know.

I think that’s what makes it even harder (and emotional) on me – knowing how good Porter is, and the fact that he would absolutely shine with anyone else but me.

But I’m going to do this, damn it! And eventually, maybe, I’ll finally get it right  :)



Monday, February 25, 2013

Deja Vu


What was it that I said on the blog on Friday?
 
I believe it was something to the effect of: Porter runs all over me & doesn't believe that I have any control over his behavior? Or that he has no respect for me?
 
Wait, no. That's what I was told this weekend...
 
Damn it.
 
Ugh. Herding is hard  :)
 
Watching a collie herd ducks - the only photo I got all weekend  :)

Friday, February 22, 2013

Herding Clinic!

Porter & I have a working spot in the Tenley Dexter clinic this weekend being hosted by Central Kentucky Herding Group Club.

I was unable to attend the clinic last fall (trying to get Porter qualified for AKC Agility Nationals) so I was not going to miss it this time around!

So Monday morning hopefully I will have some video and tidbits of info to share  :)

In the meantime, here is a photo & video pulled out of the Porter Archives...



Porter's first ever herding title: JHD
This picture still cracks me up every time I look at it...
Dana was the judge and is also one of his breeders.


 
 



Porter's 2nd exposure to sheep  10/21/06
I have always loved how she says he runs right over me. Yep, still true to this day...   :)
 
 

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Porter's Bio


I have been thinking about Porter's Bio for the announcer to read at Nationals. So far I have this:

Porter is the reigning Weenie Bob Champion and a former gold & silver medalist in the Cookie Toss. He is an avid sheep herder, rodent hunter, lure courser, & cat chaser. He also enjoys long walks on the beach.

What do you think?  :)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Porter & His Little Friends

 I am in the midst of uploading & editing new photos & videos, so unfortunately I have nothing new to share...

So I'll share some old photos of Porter with the most diminuitive of his friends!


 

 

And Porter in a chihuahua sized pool  :)

Sunday, February 17, 2013

More Valentines!

The boys not only made Valentines, they received a couple!


From Dally




From Mesa

Friday, February 15, 2013

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stout spent all night making Valentines... He is quite the ladies man  :)


(Click for full size)
 
 
 
Porter is a little more fickle:
 


The first puppy Porter ever tolerated  :)

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

No Wordless Wednesday Today...

... Because I have got to share this!

My caption was chosen for the following photo on Dewi & Jon Farleigh's blog:





Thank you Elizabeth - the Brews Brothers & I love your blog!

Your blog (along with A Tail of Two Cardis) are what inspired me to start a blog in the first place  :)

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Full Height Teeter!

Stout did his first full height teeter last night! And he rocked it!  :)

I don't have any video of it uploaded yet, but I do have video from last weekend when he did an almost full height teeter...  It was only 2 or 3 inches shorter, so just pretend that this video is full height  :)






The above video was also our last one submitted to Silvia Trkman for our Agility Foundations class  :(     (Thank you to Beth & Megan for filming!)

I am soooo going to miss our online class. I even took my video camera to practice last night, before realizing that I didn't really need to tape anything anymore... But I recorded anyway.

So now I have to decide whether to take the class again (most people do) or continue to work on our own. I really like having the oversight of someone else. And it gives me the push to actually practice & train  :)  Which may be the biggest benefit for me! I can be fairly lazy...

But in the mean time, Stout will be attending another agility seminar. And I need to start actually teaching him the dogwalk & a-frame. And seriously start training weaves. And running novice type courses. And work on his jumping. And... I think I'll stay busy until the class starts again in May.

And... I did enter him in his first agility trial. Let's hope it goes as well as his first rally trial did!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Herding Lesson

Porter says the best part of herding...



Is the ice cream afterwards!

Friday, February 8, 2013

The Great Toy & Bone Purge of 2013


Last weekend during the snowy weather, I conducted the Great Toy & Bone Purge of 2013!
 

 
The pile doesn't look as large as last time...
I think it's because none of the toys have stuffing anymore!

 
Stout was very worried about what was going on. He kept stealing toys & bones from the pile to hide under the bed.
 

 
Surveying the carcasses (or is it carcii?)
 

Porter only wanted to keep the hotdog.
(Don't be fooled, Stout tore up this one too - the whole backside is missing)
 

I found this in the pile. It looks just large enough for one of the kitties...
Stout, do you have something you want to tell us?

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Snow Pics!


Since today is 61*, I thought we'd look back to when we had snow (just 5 days ago - is the weather weird this year or what?)   :)
 

 




"STICK!"

"I'll just grab it myself..."








Don't worry, this is a pedestrian bridge that I tied them to  :)

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Porter: A Top Ten NADAC Cardigan

The 2012 Top Ten Breed Lists were released yesterday for NADAC.

Porter made it in 4 out of 7 classes! And there was actually quite a bit of Cardigan competition  :)

I thought it would be fun to pair each of his rankings with an old video from that class. Most of these videos were from our 2nd ever NADAC trial, way back in 2008.

So without further ado, I give you Porter's 2012 rankings:

#2 Cardigan Welsh Corgi in Chances!


Novice Chances were so easy back then...


#5 Cardigan Welsh Corgi in Jumpers!


Porter was quite the jackass even back then  :)



#3 Cardigan Welsh Corgi in Regular!


Yep, a little corgi jackass.



#4 Cardigan Welsh Corgi in Tunnelers!


Finally a decent video  :)
 
 
And obviously, Porter did not rank in Weavers  :)
 


Believe it or not, this was probably one his best Weavers runs in Novice ever!
 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Groundhog Day

Our groundhog did not see his shadow yesterday...


Yay!  :)


Friday, February 1, 2013

Celebration!

We also had some celebrating to do at the trial last weekend!
 
Congratulations to Small Dog Possee members MACH Molly & PACH Dally!
 
 


After a few servings of the world's best cake, we went out to enjoy the sunshine.


James Brown & Gussy sniffing around
 

Everybody else moves in on their sniffing
 

Porter had to get one last whiff
 

Time to chase the vallhund!