Belated Gotcha Days!

We hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! Ours was pretty low key, staying home and going to bed before 10:00pm, but that's the way we wanted it.

With the start of this new year, we begin with celebrating Grace's 3rd Gotcha Day! 1/8/11 we welcomed this wonderful dog into our family and I love every minute she has been with us.

Not to take away from Grace's limelight, but, can it really be 5 years?! Riley's Gotcha Day was 11/3/08! We celebrated his 5th Gotcha Day! I do not feel as if it has been that long, time truly flies by.

I haven't officially celebrated their Gotcha Days, as it has been a little busy around here, but I will do something special for them soon and I will make sure to share it with you. I will leave you with a short video of my spotted duo :) Grace was trying ever so subtly to get Riley to play with her.

Here's to many more Gotcha Days for my spotted duo! LOVE THESE DOGS!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Just a picture of my boy, Riley. I just love his ember eyes!

I have taken a step back, and realized how blessed I am and I don't want to miss a thing, even the little stuff. This is most likely my last post until the new year, as we will be busy celebrating with family, so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and New year!

I will leave you with this outtake from trying to take Christmas pictures of the pups, enjoy!

Riley and Grace have something to share.

I hope y'all forgive my lack of blogging, but we have been a little preoccupied as of lately and Riley and Grace will tell you why!

That's right! We are pregnant and Riley and Grace are becoming a big brother and sister!

Between, not feeling very well, exhaustion, work and daily life, I hadn't had time to sit and blog. I want/need to make a little time each week to write something down. Not only is this a blog, it in a way is journal of our life and I need to make a better effort to write something... anything. I want to be able to look back and see where we went and what we did.

So my personal promise, which will benefit my fellow bloggers as well :), is to write more! I guess in a way I am making my New Years resolution!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!!!

Red spent the weekend with us, and now I have some tired pups for a little while! My new header is just a sneak peak of the little photo shoot we had :) More pictures of the weekend to come.

Riley's First AKC Agility Show!

We did it and survived! Our first agility show was a blast! And not only did Riley and I have a ton of fun, we even earned some Q's! Going into the show, my only real expectation was to not have Riley run zoomies around the course. Which at some points I could tell he was fighting them off!

Day 1 was nerve wracking and COLD! Which didn't help with my shivering! I got there in plenty of time and got Riley measured, then my friends talked me through some of the finer points. The first course of the day for me was, Novice A JWW. I walked through the course over and over, and was having trouble figuring out how to get to the weaves, which was a really tight right turn. I got my game plan and went to get Riley and in literally no time I was up, my knees were shaking (and not from the cold) and I walked to the start line.

I decided to do a big lead out, as I had planned to do a front-cross at jump 3, but I was nervous and you can see in the video, I all of a sudden go, "oh yea! move!". The first sequence was good, but then Riley caught a whiff of Daddy in the stands and decided to go say hi! I called him back and had a good second sequence, then came the weaves. We tried our 3 times and just couldn't get it, so the judges called for us to move on. The 3rd sequence was awesome (you can kinda see him fighting the zoomies here). We NQ'ed but I was so stinking happy! We ran our first course and didn't look like idiots!

Our second run of the day was Standards, and I felt much better, I wasn't as nervous and had the first run jitters out of the way. My only hope here was that he would hit his contact and again, not run out of the ring. And just in case Riley decided to say hi to Dad again, I had hubby video from the elevated booth above the arena. Riley did AWESOME, he even got the weaves! We had a few little blips, but we earned our first Q and even a first place!!!!

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Day 2 was so much better! Riley and I both figured out what we were doing and both were a lot more confident! Again, our first run of the day was JWW, and wasn't as nervous as the previous day, but still nervous. When they started I was suppose to be dog #7, but there were a few absent and a couple who were late. There was one 24" dog and then they called me to the line since I was there! Yikes! I got Riley lined up and waited for the jump height to be change, and off we went! We had a couple refusals, Riley doesn't seem to like/understand rear-crosses yet, so I got some spins, but other then that we had a wonderful run! With our first JWW Q and a 1st place!!!

Next was Novice STD. Over the course of the weekend, with each run, Riley was more and more focused and that was no different for this course. This was our best run of the weekend, earning us our 2nd STD Q and another 1st place!

This weekend, Riley and I earned 3 Q's and three 1st places! We had so much fun and learned a lot! Thank you, to all of you who gave me words of encouragement and support! Our first trial was a blast and I could not have asked for more from my awesome dog, Riley! I am so proud of him! I can't wait for the next trial!

End of day 1 after earning his first STD Q and 1st place!

Riley earned 2 Novice STD Q's and a Novice JWW Q!

Also, in earning our first Q, we earned our club crate sign and shirt!

Ready or Not

Okay guys, this Saturday and Sunday can way too quick! Ready or not, this weekend is Riley's agility debut, and I am so nervous! I thought I had my nerves under control, but the more I think about it, the more I think," Oh shit! We are really doing this!". I know the nerves never really go away, but still.... I don't like them. I think the only thing really keeping me from going into total panic mode, is the fact that I will have my husband and my whole group of agility friends there to help me.

I signed up for Novice Standard and Novice JWW both days, and I am pretty confident in our ability to run the courses, IF I can keep him focused, if I got, that then I think we may have something. I am not expecting to Q, but if we do, awesome, all I am hoping for is a somewhat collected run. I am going to make sure I get there plenty early, so I have time to set up, get Riley measured and most importantly, calm down.

Besides being busy with worrying about our first trial, work, and life, the other reason I haven't posted in a little while is because, we bought a NEW CAR! Well, certified pre-owned, but basically a new spankin car! Now I have a proper dog car! I LOVE it! And we got it just in time for our first trial. Going from my little Corrolla to the Pilot takes some getting use to, I just have to remember I now have a bigger kuboos, although the back-up camera helps a lot!

This will most likely be my last post until after the weekend, and come next week I should have a few pictures and videos to share! So until then I leave you with some cheesy, posed, fall pictures of Riley and Grace.

Wordless Wednesday

My girly girl

Wordless Wednesday

Reliant AKC Dog Show Weekend

This past weekend was the Reliant AKC dog show. It was at this same show a year ago, that I entered Grace in her very first rally event, so it was fun to back a year later. Leading up to this show, we already had one leg towards Graces RA title, and needed to Q both days to earn it. What I was most looking forward to this event, was all the friends that I knew would be there. I had Obedience friends, Agility friends and rescue friends all there! Plus, I made a few more!

Day 1: Saturday was the most difficult day for me. It started off with not being able to find the right lot to park in.  Finally after driving to 3 different lots and asking a half a dozen attendants, I found it! After unloading and getting Grace settled, I checked in and watched the Excellence people finish up their runs. I didn't want to stray too far, as my small Advanced group was next, and I didn't know if the judge was going to start early (they were ahead of schedule) or at the arranged time.

Right around then one of my Agility friends came to find me and was nice enough to record our run for me. The course we did that day, was one of the hardest I have ever done, and I think my nerves got the best of me and Grace.

It wasn't our best run by far, but we did earn a Q and 4th place, with a score of 73.... Like I said, not our best. Grace did everything I asked, but was just lagging a lot, and I think most of it had to do with my nerves and uncertainty. When I look back at the video, it looks better then it felt! When I was in the ring, it felt like she was 10 feet behind me! We had trouble at 2 stations. The "Off set figure 8 w/ distractions". Grace was quite weary of the bowls LOL! But we worked though it. The other station was #16 "Leave dog, 2 steps, call to heel, forward". The station everyone in my group "failed". After taking our 2 steps, we all stopped, called dog and continued. We weren't suppose to stop after the 2 steps. So a rookie mistake and I now know for next time.

Leg #2 and a 4th place!

One tired pup on the way home.

Day 2: Sunday was a much better day! Score wise and my for my nervousness. I got there and just chilled, I didn't do much warming up, per the suggestion of one of my Obedience friends. I just played and added a few finishes and stuff in there. Our run felt so much better, far from perfect, but much better. We earned our last leg towards her title with a score of 93! and a 1st place! Grace even got the zoomies afterwards and eagerly played with the toy she earned, which is pretty rare for her.

RA title and a 1st place!

Grace and I! Photo thanks to my friends 3yr old son :)

 Introducing Chloe Grace RA CGC!!!

There were more titles earned by all my friends! Obedience and Agility alike! My friend, Courtney, over at Amstaffs in the Garden, and her dog Charlie earned their CD title! and had a pretty good debut in Utility with her old girl Violet. My agility friend and her dog Red (you've seen him here on my blog many of times) earned their MXJ title! What a great weekend!

The other highlight of the weekend was hanging out with Graces' rescue group and running into the the vet that treated her during her time as a foster dog! We were literally leaving, walking to the car, when we ran into a lady pottying her 3 English Setters and asked if this was Chloe Grace. It was really fun talking to her and hearing her stories. Shortly later an another lady comes up and says there were about to take a picture of all the working English Setters and wanted to know it I would like to join them! I said SURE! I hope to contact the vet and get a copy of the picture :)

Great weekend all around!

Big weekend ahead!

This weekend is the Reliant dog show, and I have signed Grace up for Saturday and Sunday. I am excited but very nervous at the same time. If we do good both days, she can earn her Rally Advanced title. I hope she doesn't get too distracted by all the new smells and noises, but if I can keep her focus, I have no doubt we will do fine.

I am excited to see all my Rally and Agility friends! I will know a lot more people this year and that just makes it all that much more fun. Watching and cheering everyone on! Also on top of seeing all my friends, Grace's rescue group will be there and are so excited to see her compete! Unfortunately, her old foster mom couldn't make it, but will be cheering us on from afar.

Between all my friends there, I hope to snag someone to get some video for me :)

LET'S GO GRACIE!

Rainy Dog Days of Summer

Waiting for a break in the rain. We've been stuck inside for the past few day and most likely will be for the next few days as well, due to all the rain. Which is a complete 180 in comparison to last summer! And I am grateful for that, last year was one of the hottest, driest summers Houston has seen. So, Riley, Grace and I have just been being lazy and taking it easy (I also happen to have to week off!)

At one point in the afternoon, the dogs and I went out to play in the rain. I think they enjoyed it. When we came back inside we all cuddled in nice fluffy towels.

Heat wave and training

Ok, so I know I haven't been blogging lately.... sorry about that. Things here have gotten slow and HOT!!! And I mean hot, not like "oh it's warm today" or "yea it's kinda hot", I mean like "HOLY SHIT SHERLOCK HOT!". It has been well in the upper 90s and 100s with humidity sky high, which make doing things outside very difficult and unpleasant. So, in turn we have been doing tricks and training inside, in the A/C.

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First off, Riley still was not getting the concept of weaving. We were stuck on the treat stick and I was frustrated we weren't moving forward. So what do I do? Push it away and forget, out of sight out of mind....right?

Of course that's not the right thing to do, but it's all I wanted to do at the time. Then one day in agility class a friend (who just switched to the same time as Riley and I) asked how we were doing on weaves. It was like he knew we were having trouble! I said "weaves? what weaves?" He laughed and asked if I heard of 2x2.

He explained how he and his dog did it and I had also seen the 2x2 method done by some fellow bloggers. I was a little wiry about doing it because Riley isn't really toy motivated. Shoot, what the heck! I'll give it a try!

I started with a treat container I threw, but even then, Riley only cared for a few reps. Then I used a squeaky tennis ball and BAM! Crazy Riley appears! Followed by progress! Did you hear that? PROGRESS! We are just up to two sets of 2x2's but he actually looks like a weaver!!!

I'll post a video of his latest weaves soon.

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Second, I've been working with Grace and her Rally skills. She is doing great but just needs some fine tuning on the basic things, she has a tendency to swing her hind end out when she sits. We are participating in a 'show and go' this weekend and it will be our first ever competition like setting (mid July we are participating in a official rally event at the Reliant Center!). I am nervous but excited at the same time. We have been practicing here at home (which is easy) and I've taken her to the petsmart that's close by and working her there (which is harder), getting her use to noises, sights and distractions.

Most definitely will be posting video of the show and go and of us at the Reliant Center!

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I really need to get my camera back out and start taking pictures again!!! And I promise to write more then once a month!

Oh, P.S. I ordered the pups new collars so you are guaranteed pictures in the near future LOL :D

Wordless Wednesday

The way they see it,

technically they are still out of the kitchen!

 :)

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I've decided I'm not quite right in the head.....

I am pet-sitting for a friend over the weekend and she has offered to pay me, I said not necessary, but she wanted too.

Most women, given the chance, would use the little extra money to spend it on themselves, manis, pedis, shoes, perfumes, etc. ... not me... is it weird that the first things I think of to get, are things for the dogs??? I bought a couple things so far and have a couple others in mind hehe. Although I might be preaching to the choir here LOL!

No worries though! I am thinking of spending a little on myself :) I am in the need of some new workout clothes. I've been trying to run a few times a week with Riley and Grace, and the two pairs of shorts I have just aren't cutting it!

Riley goes dock diving.....kinda

Haha! Well Riley never actually jumped off the dock, and I never expected him too, it was his very first time up there. Although, he did enjoyed the exit ramp very much! So while Red and Mojo were resting in between their jumps Riley and I just had some fun playing in the water :)

"Awww now why did you go and thrown in the water?"

Riley decided right then and there was a good place to try and dry off. Silly boy!

I brought him to the exit ramp to get his toy, but it was off to the side and he was unsure how to get it.

So, I got his toy and threw it ahead and ta-da, Riley goes for it! Yay!

I love this picture :) Such focus!

Splash! He was actually jumping off the ramp into the water once he got comfortable.

That's my boy!!

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Now it's time for the Golden puppies! Red has gotten so big! I remember when she first brought him home, now look at him!

Red getting some air!

Another great picture of Red. I swear the ears on these Golden puppies help them fly!

Getting ready to practice a speed retrieve!

GOT IT!

Mr. Red

Good job! Now he gets to play tug with momma!

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This is one of Red's siblings Mojo! Saying he LOVES to jump and get his bumper is an understatement! Once he gets in the water and to his bumper he does not want to come out, so his owner is training him with a long line to help teach him to come back.

Mr. Mojo!

Being a good boy and coming back when told, without the assistance of the long line.