Fun in the Sun..... and Sand!

Sunday Riley and I had another play date with our friends from agility! We went to Galveston TX, which was a first for me, it was a blast! The dogs loved it! Riley didn't like the waves so much, but liked to run/jump out about chest deep into the water and then ruuuunnnnn back to shore. The other thing the dogs enjoyed was DIGGING! Riley and William looked like a pair of clowns. Riley would be digging, flinging his dirt into Williams hole he was digging and so on.

A sandy William thanks to Riley

 Who me?

Chillaxin

ZOOMIES!

 Zoom Zoom!

 Thanks for the fun trip mom!

After the trip, we headed back to our friends house where us and the dogs hung out in their pool. How Riley and William still had energy, is beyond me. They swam, ran and wrestled some more! After a quick bath for the dogs, we chilled inside to watch tv and the dog finally took a break and rested.

We had very happy, very tired pups!

What a wonderful Sunday :)

Video!

I finally got around to editing my agility class videos. Riley is still have a lot of trouble with the whole contact concept, as you will see in the video. But we are working on it... The good news is, that he seem to understand that it's not a free for all, and that he needs to follow my directions.

I feel like the "AH HA" moment was yesterdays class, during the jump segment. There I felt like Riley and I really were working together and OH WHAT A WONDERFUL FEELING! Lol :) Gives me hope that we can really do this!

Here is a video from last weeks class. It was not our best day. I had a bad day at work and I think that frustration transferred over into class :( But over all we did ok.

One Of These Things Does Not Belong...

This evening, Riley was bringing one toy at a time over and playing with them next to me. At one point he had his ball, walked over, looked me in the eye, dropped the ball in my purse, looked back at me, then went off to play with another toy.

LOL Silly boy! Thanks for the present :)

Riley finds his Spot

Finally able to post!

It's busy here, or at least I feel that way. So here's a quick post.

I was able to get video of class last week and I promise to post it soon :) But last class it was apparent that Riley still really didn't know the 2o2o contact and didn't know the cue word for it, "Spot". After class I asked my instructor what I could do at home to help him understand. He said since we live in a upper apartment I could use the stairs. I was like "Really?". So today I found a lid top and started training!

Session 2

Raising the Bar

Today was the hardest agility class yet! But the funnest!

Last week we started to run some sequences, ie. tire, a-frame, jump. We are just doing 3 at a time. But last week all obstacles were in a straight line. This week they pushed us harder.

We still did the sequence of 3 obstacles, but this time with turns! We just did all right hand turns but DAMN it was HARD, but super fun! Riley did pretty good. The station that he had the most trouble (as did all the dogs) was the 3 jumps in a pinwheel shape.

Riley and the other dogs wanted to skip the second jump and go to the third one haha. After a couple times through each dog got it, with the help of one of our instructors waving a toy at the second jump :) It was clear here (and at the teeter) that I really need to work on Riley's come command, it's kinda sloppy.

The one sequence we did, that Riley decided to try his attempt flying again, was the dog walk. Sequence was, tunnel, dog walk, jump, each with a right hand turn. First time was perfect, he lined himself up nicely out of the tunnel and was across the dog walk. Well.... the second time, I sent Riley though the tunnel and as he came out, I guess I didn't "push the path" hard enough and he was a little crooked going onto the dog walk.

Up the incline = SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE trying to keep balance!

Half way across the top = SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE, SCRAMBLE! Riley decides "screw the scrambling, I'll just jump!"

Well thankfully for this reason, our instructor stays on the other side and follows the dog as he runs across. So when Riley jumped, my instructor caught him in the air! *Insert sigh of relief here*

So I attempted again, pushing the path harder this time. He lined himself up better, but once again scrambled across the dog walk, but he made it without baling. 

Riley and I are both learning what works and what doesn't, and I am learning how my body language is very important in telling Riley what to do. But my teachers say when I harness Riley's speed and enthusiasm, he is going to do great things!

Riley's new nickname = Kamikaze dog!

(Next week I promise to post  video from class)

Rainy Day Post

Not a whole lot has been going on. With the tropical storm coming through, there's not much we can do outside :( Maybe I'll try to teach a new trick to Riley and post it later. Anyways, we had some fun last night, Riley and I went to another friends house for a BBQ/ another doggie play date. Riley loves to go over there because he gets a lot of attention and gets to play with is friend Skyler, who is about 6yrs old I think. 

Now, you would never know that when we first introduced these two, Skyler wanted nothing to do with Riley. He would growl and avoid Riley at all cost.

...Riley was a bouncing, bold, in-your-face, young kind of dog...

"Meeeee? Naaawwww"

 

...While Skyler was a older, quiet, use to smaller dog play, kind of dog...

"What you want, you youngen?"

But, with some rules set for Riley, learning to be calmer, and not pouncing on every dog you see, and some time/exposure/patience for Skyler, they are the best-est of friends now :) It's so warming to see dogs learn to play and really enjoy each others company :)

(ignore my friends haha they were talking about renting a RV to camp in)

Doggie Play Date

During our agility classes I have become friends with some of the other students. One in particular is William, the Golden, and his handler. Since while in class we aren't suppose to let our dog mingle (we are there to do agility + safety reasons) we had talked about play dates for our boys. So yesterday we went over to our new friend's house and Riley and William hit it off right away! They are both roughly the same age, Riley at about 2yrs 6mo and William at about 16mo (I think).... Young rowdy boys!

One of the cool things was they had an inflatable pool! William knows where the make shift steps are, (weighed down storage containers) Riley not so much haha. So to avoid nails poking holes, the next time we go over we are going to get in the pool to teach Riley where the steps are when he is swimming.

 On land, there was lots of wrestling, body slamming, rolling around, even got some zoomies in there haha. It was so nice to find another dog that has the same play style as Riley. We did stop their play a couple times just to say, "hey guys, the moms are still here" and to give them some breaks, then sent them on their way to continue :)

We both had some TIRED puppies at the end of the day!

Someone is missing

 This post is for my husband.

He is on a boat, somewhere in the ocean, near Malaysia. Riley and I miss him very much! So I decided to take some cute pictures to remind him of us :) What's nice though, is my husband is able to keep up with pictures and what's going on over here, through this blog :) 

So here's to you hun!

Hi from Texas! We miss you!

 "Do you think my big, brown, sad, puppy dog eyes will bring him home?"

-No, Riley I don't think so, but it doesn't hurt to try.

"I is real sad"

- I know Riley, so am I.

 "You have now fallen under the 'sad puppy dog eyes' spell.... you come home now?"

-I don't think it worked Riley, he won't be home for a few more weeks.

"Sigh"

I MISS YOU TOO!

 But, here's a little something to help with being so far away!

Sending our love from one side of the world to the other! We miss you!

Riley the Stegosaurus

 is not amused.

"I is a scary dinosaur!"

"Are you scared?"

Learning to drive

I'm pretty sure learning to "drive" a dog is like learning to drive a manual car. You start out having no idea what you are doing, a little awkward with the controls (push the path). You have to listen and learn how to transition, when to give, when to take, maybe stall a few times somewhere in there. But after a while things start to move together and you and the car/dog are moving smoothly as a unit!

I am still at the awkward stage LOL! But it's starting to make sense.

We learned more about "pushing the path" today, which is pretty much like learning a new language or manual car haha but the more our instructors talk about it, the more it starts to click in my head...slowly. Pushing the path means you are directing to the dog what path to take using personal space, you step in they move away, you step away they move toward you.

.....I'm pretty sure me trying to explain "push the path" made no sense at all, oh well..... I'm still learning.

Riley is just absorbing everything like a sponge! He did very well in class today. His stays were just about perfect, but he did break a couple of the contact holds. We are being taught the 2 on 2 off contacts and today we had to remind Riley to keep those back feet on! Other then that he did splendid! Flew through all the obstacles, even the chute and weave poles (those are his most challenging I'd say). But any mistakes he did make were because of me and my awkwardness. The instructors are all very very patient and eager to help and explain. Riley worked very hard today and once again he did so much better then I expected! His is now one tired, happy pup.

"Tired? Who's tired?!"

"I does not have a tired, I has a toy."

"You can't be talking about me."

"It's not what you think, I'm just stretching my legs."

"Class was fun today huh mom? We had lots of fun."

 "I'm just resting my eyes, k? Just real quick."

 "I'm just resting them...... over here..... on my nice, comfy.....ZzZzZz......"

G'night my little tired puppy paws.....Shhhhh

You done good :)

Time for Updates!

Sheesh I haven't posted in a while.... sorry!

Well in return I have a lot of updates! Lets see...Well as y'all know Riley and I graduated from beginners agility and are now in the intermediate class! All the work is off leash, which is a challenge for Riley. He is such an outgoing, friendly dog that being told he can't play with a dog or new person is a huge challenge. So with class being off leash while running obstacles it takes a lot of focus from Riley not to give in to his impulses. Although he did give in twice, once right in the beginning, he ran to another dog, but came right when I called (which I was so ecstatic about!) the other time was at the A-frame (his favorite), he went before I said to, we stopped him and tried again.

I am overflowing with pride! He did well beyond my expectations! I think I've found what his calling is life is, he just has so much enthusiasm and we both have so much FUN!

Update #2

We have been practicing the weave poles at home, but with it being so hot out (100+) I've moved the poles inside. Hopefully, soon this heat will back off and the cooler temps will be welcomed with open arms.

For the weave poles we use the channel method in class, so I've attempted to build my own, using our clubs dimensions. Riley picked up on it pretty quick, but I have to remind myself constantly not to rush! I get excited when he does so well haha :)

Update #3

I got my first Blogger award! I'm a versatile blogger :) I didn't even know you could get something like that, so I was pretty happy. Apparently there are rules to these thing, so here we go:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award.

Thank you Sprollies 'n' Border Collies!

2) Share 7 things about yourself....hmmmm....

- I've been married for almost 4 months!
- I've never broken any bones
- I've never had stitches
- I love breakfast food! Any kind of breakfast food! The best is when you have breakfast for dinner!
- I still call my mom about everyday
- I like to watch classic Disney movies and Pixar movies. I'm still a kid at heart :)
- I was a pre-school drop out, because I would bite the other kids LOL

3) Pass this award to 10-15 other bloggers you have recently discovered and think are fantastic!

manymuddypaws
BCxfour
Secret's Journey
The story of a girl and her dogs
Wyndson Farm
Live Wire'd Agility
Just Another Dog Blog
365 days of puppy in pictures
Bark, Fetch, Run!
Emma Rose
StickIt Border Collies
Border-Shot
Ricky's Life

A Good Laugh for a Monday

A good laugh every now and again is healthy. After watching this video I probably added a good 2 years to my life! And wanted to share, Enjoy!

(Not my dog, someone else has the joy of owning this dog)