Wordless Wednesday: Watch Your Head!

Artistic Photos?

I tried to get a little artistic with these photos.

 

I thought the textures & perspectives would be cool.

 

Eh, they're still just corgi photos  :)

 

Wordless Wednesday

More Snow Pics

Porter has perfect camouflage

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm really getting into this PicMonkey stuff... Thinking about upgrading to Royale...

Valentine's Day Celebration

Last Saturday, we attended a Valentine's Day party at our favorite store: The Bluegrass Barkery! 

 

Dally & Mesa met us there, which turned out perfect because everyone got a turn in the Kissing Booth with their valentine!  :)

 

Stout & Mesa

 

Porter & Dally (& John)

 

 

The dogs had some heart shaped cake:

 

 

 

Porter ate his before I could even get a photo...

 

 There was also an activity that included bloody paws...

 

 

 

Just kidding, it was pink paint  :)

Pink paws all around!

They made their own valentines!

Porter's is perfect & very artistic...

John says Stout's looks like something a serial killer would paint...  :)

Wordless Wednesday: Snow & Sunsets

Westminster!

Every February, the dogs & I are glued to the TV for 2 nights watching the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show!

Last night was a little more exciting than usual, when the beautiful Cardigan, Coco Posh, took a Herding Group 1st!

This is the first time a cardigan has ever done this!

Congrats to Coco Posh & her handler, owners, & breeders!

A Chilly NADAC Trial

The chilly temperatures this week reminded me that I never posted about our last NADAC trial!

 

Way back on January 18 & 19th, we went to the annual Frosty Paws trial held by RuFF. Our last trial had been clear back in November... So I was expecting to be a little rusty. And very cold!

 

In the past, the Frosty Paws trial has separated the casual agility competitor from the die-hards  :)  The first year, it was so icy that there was a back-up of cars waiting to "gun" it up the hill into the parking lot. If you didn't get a running start up the ice, you weren't making it...

 

That was also the year that we had no bathroom facilities, because the pipes had frozen! The 2nd year was even colder. I remember that year vividly because I picked up Stout on my way home  :)

 

Last year was tolerable, only because they had sweatshirts made to commemorate the occasion. So of course it wasn't near as frosty!

 

Anyway, this year the location was moved. We were assured that this horse barn never got below 55 degrees. I was cautiously optimistic and packed as if it would be completely unheated (it was about 30 degrees outside).

 

 

Doubled up on blankets & beds!

 

 

And wouldn't you know it, they were correct! It was almost pleasant in there!

 

The dogs only needed their (new, bought just for this occasion!) coats when I took them outside to pee.

 

Ok, they probably didn't really need the coats outside. But I bought the coats, so they were going to wear the coats!

 

 

I thought they looked quite dapper.

 

The trial itself went pretty well. Porter got an Elite Chances Q, so now he only needs 5 more for his NATCH  :)  He also got to run his favorite classes instead of the few that he still needed for the NATCH. 

 

 

 

Stout showed some improvement. I had him entered in 4 classes on Saturday & 3 on Sunday, many more than he has ever done before. I was going to use it as a training weekend to try to figure him out a little bit more.

 

Things I learned:

•  Playing with him on the way to the startline just gets him a little too excited. The excitement manifested itself in humping my leg. He also humped my leg on course when I asked him to retry the weaves...
• His startline was better when I asked him to go between my legs & lie down. He was happy & waggy to do that. I did try simply running with him, but I couldn't keep up...
• He only ran to a bar setter once! And came back almost immediately! He did run around quite a bit in Tunnelers though (first class of the day). But of course there was no one to run to.
• If I rear cross, it's like giving him permission to run wide & scope out his surroundings. It's like releasing the feral wolf back into the wild.
• If I run fast & purposeful, trying to get in my front & blind crosses, it keeps his focus more on me. Duh.
• If I speak to him & keep him engaged then he is less likely to run off. Again, duh.
• Getting him out plenty early & working with the clicker also seemed to help get him in the right frame of mind.

He did pull off a jumpers Q. The rest of the runs we were either eliminated or had way too many faults. I took what he gave me & made the courses short & simple if needed. I wasn't actively trying to Q  :)

So back to the drawing board. He is quite the complicated little guy...

Winter Olympics: Stray Dogs

I spotted some of those stray dogs at the Olympics...

 



Looks like they are fighting on the Cross Country course...

 

Hey, they kind of resemble corgis...

Clear the course!!

I'm not trying to make light of the serious stray dog situation... but when I read the story above, it really reminded me of something these 2 would do (walking into an Olympic venue & peeing on something).

Wordless Wednesday: Squirrel?

Photos at Waveland

Occasionally on cold or wet days, I'll take the dogs over to walk at Waveland.

It gives us a change of scenery without having to drive far. And the dogs can spend most of it off leash without me having to walk much :) It's kind of my lazy day walk.

Porter Is In The Power 60!

 

 

I found out Friday that Porter is in the Preferred Power 60! This is kind of a big deal  :)  Or at least it is to me!

He is number 11 in the 4" rankings - the only Cardigan on either list!

Porter at the 2013 AKC Nationals - he looks fast in this photo  :)

So what is the Power 60 list? You can click on the link for all the details, but in a nutshell:

• The list recognizes the fastest 60 dogs in AKC agility running at the Masters level
• It uses average yards per second, rather than QQ's or speed points
• It does not take into consideration qualifying rate
• Ranked dogs must have at least 5 qualifying runs in both Standard & JWW
• The formula for the actual score can be found here (it's complicated...)

I was shocked when I saw the list. While I knew Porter was "fast," I had no idea just how fast he was relative to other dogs. Especially nation-wide.

2013 was an interesting year for us anyway. He was re-measured in May, which put him into the 4" division (he had already been running in 8" Preferred). I knew this made him faster since his hang-time over jumps was greatly reduced!

I also lost 60 pounds this year, which in turn made me faster. But it also made him appear slower, at least to me  :)  I suddenly found myself so far ahead on course and I thought he was really showing his age & slowing down... Duh. Thank you to my friends for pointing that one out!

I dug up some old videos so I could compare how we've changed over the years  :)  I knew there was a reason I uploaded these, long before I had a blog...

One of his first Excellent runs. He started out at 12"

Another Excellent Level run at 12"

 

 

One of his first Excellent runs at 8" Preferred. We had to work our way back up from Novice.

 

 

And a fairly recent run at 4" Preferred. Maybe my better handling has helped his speed, too  :)

 

Happy Groundhog Day!

From our own corgi-groundhog, Stout!