You can't always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes,
you just might find you get what you need. 
(oh that Mick Jagger is a smart guy)

To say our home as been empty for the last year is an understatement. As the saying goes "Life is merrier, with a Jack Russell Terrier". I was hoping for a Border Collie and after 2.5 litters didn't take (yes there is a half, because I was only half committed) the Universe was telling me something, so I listened. Don't fuck with what the universe says. I had "liked" his photo on Facebook when he was born - not thinking in a million years, he would actually be ours. Like I said ... the universe works in strange ways. A great friend of mine who is my go to for some big life decisions and reality checks asked me what I REALLY wanted in a dog, what was my CRITERIA. What was it that I TRULY wanted in my next dog. And by me I mean WE. Pete is part of the equation too. 
Here is my list:
• Outgoing Temperament and a spunky dog who loves people and loves to play with me.
• Structurally sound to put up with the demands of dog sports
• Healthy
• A dog I can excel with in Agility -  being my #1 sport above all others
• A dog from working lines - and what I mean by that, is a pup from lineage where they are required to use their brains, and their doG given talents and instincts. Proven in whatever field it is they were bred for. I can use those instincts to form training a way that will work for the dog. doG willing :)
• A jogging, running partner that has great endurance and can handle all weather conditions
• A dog that will like to swim - or can be taught to learn to love it!
• A dog that can be trained to hunt with Pete, and go fishing with him
• A bed warmer


















 

I would like to introduce you too ...
Mr. Fitz.
AKA F-Bomb
AKA Phife Dog
AKA Fitzgerlad Bojangles III (his formal given name when he is wearing a bowtie)
And I have have to give the credit of naming him to Pete. As soon as he spurted it out. I knew it was it. My long list of dog names is being saved for another time.

Seriously. Could he be cuter?? And Already at 7 weeks sporting his first Nearly Naked Neckwear collar. I outfitted the litter in matching Collars and Leashes. Only the best you know for these classy pups.

Handsome lad. He should be around 13 - 14". This is him at 7 weeks.

Did I mention he was cute?

He looks like a little old man. I love the wise look in his eyes. He is a great outgoing pup.

His first time outside. I'm glad the snow is melted here, or we might lose him in the field.

When you are this cute, they call you Mister  .... Red Trail Mr. Fitz.

We are looking forward to this new chapter in our lives. I feel like we already know him through the nearly daily videos and photos we have seen of him since birth - and esp. over the last 3.5 weeks. His breeder is awesome and if I am going to get a JRT this is the place, this is the litter. Every health check you can imagine, great temperaments & builds, great hunters, a lineage of proven dogs, they are all raw fed and have been introduced to many proteins already. And she puts up with my questions - of which there are many. She wanted to make sure we were getting the best pup of the litter. He is 7.5 weeks and will be joining the fam in 9 days.  We can't wait!!! Let's get this party started!!!

Here are his parents Ursa and Ike and his Grandpa's ... can you see the resemblance to his family ...

Mom - Sow's Ear Ursa

Dad - Sandbur's Icon (Ike)

Grandpa - Sow's Ear Julien

Grandpa - Sow's Ear Spago

i know the party was like 10 days ago, but ...

 I just love these photos Andy took at K's party ... I'm stinking busy and I'm not sure when I will blog next, so I leave you with these until I appear again!!! (hopefully soon!)

 

11 Years Young Today!

"It's not everyday yer young man turns eleven, now, is it?"
—Rubeus Hagrid (Harry Potter series)

And because of that. I threw K an party with more than 20 of his closest friends. Liz and Andy of Blazingstar Flatcoats generously allowed us all to spend the afternoon on their property. We dunked for wieners, had a timed scurry (a timed distance retrieve) - which Gyp won much to the dismay of the retrievers!! And a fun scavenger hunt/free run. Seeing all of those dogs running together was awesome. It was a day I will always remember, and I am so appreciative of everyone who came, brought gifts (enough to fill a Pet Store!!!) and celebrated with him while he's young enough to do so!! He's ONLY 11 you know!! Happy Birthday to Kaleb and his 9 littermates, who as far as I know are all still alive.

Kaleb, getting all groomed up by Jolene (One Collie), for his big day!

Who's ready to Party!!!???

Watercolor by Liz (Blazingstar)

Poem by Liz and Andy ... they know K-man well ...

Check out the Album Liz and Andy uploaded!

 Blazingstar's Birthday Party Photos!!!

if you would like to watch it with a soundtrack ... I suggest the song below ...

What weather?

Oh treadmill how i love thee!

A year without you.

Like everything she did in life, she left us on her own terms, with Pete and I by her side at home, she took her last breath. It's been one year today, and we miss her like it was just yesterday. Little dog. BIG personality. We love you Janey.

Jane AAC Nationals 2005 - she placed 6th that year.

Me and Jane 2006 Butchart Gardens, Victoria BC

Baby Jane and her favourite person - Grammy!

6 week old Jane and Pete :)

I'm not gonna lie this year has been rough, there are some days it feels like we just lost her. There are no words to describe the loss. I miss her so much. There is still a void in our house, and an emptyness I can't shake. They time heals, what they never seem to say, is just how much time.

What's up Doc?

Dr Devall was here this weekend - I've been trying to organize her coming every 8 - 12 weeks and this was her first clinic day and it was a big success. A full day of dogs for her - some new and some ol' regulars :) She was happy with the variety of dogs and that people are taking their dogs physical well-being in a proactive approach which is better than only seeing her when your dogs are injured. And thankfully for me, the last 3 visits are on the proactive approach.

The K-man checked out OK - not great, but not broken by any means. He's not getting old. He IS old. Veronica said this was the first time she's ever seen him looking like an old dog, and I have to agree. His overall condition is good, but he was really sensitive to adjustments, especially on his front end and jaw, where I have been concerned - not pain responses, but he was more uncomfortable/fidgety with that than anywhere else on his body. She couldn't pin point anything specific, but we could see he wasn't comfortable. He's due for his senior work-up in March so hopefully all checks out there is nothing bad going on.

 

Pleat had his first vist with Dr. Devall. I wanted him checked out because of his stroke/vestibular - and the fact that his head took the brunt of his episode (the tilt). His neck had MANY adjustments and a few in his back. But overall for a REALLY old dog, he is in good shape. She'd like to work on his neck some more the next time she sees him. She could tell he's been a hard-working dog but wasn't too worried about anything major. He loved Veronica and kept coming to see her while she worked on K and G. It was pretty cute.

 

Gyp was her usual bendy self. Veronica commented on her muscled lean condition - all 25 pounds of it. She worked on her main issue - her lower back/lumbar area. Psoas palpation and test was ok, which is good news. Her flexion good, and her left extension as usual was less than her right. I won't go into great detail, but I was given a few more options/exercises for treatment for dealing with her lower back and to keep her flexible in her hind end. She checked out her freaky flexible abducting shoulders - esp. right and all was good too. It's all about maintenance and watching with Gyp, knowing her physical limits so I can keep her strong and fit, and recognizing when she's had too much - and knowing how to treat it. I left happy and so did Gyp :)

And what? who's that? It's TANGO!!! My favourite little cuban refugee :) She's here for a couple of weeks and on her second night - she had already went on her first date to an Oscar Party that Pleat was hosting. He was a great host and a total party animal .... he showed us all that apparently it's OK to steal Fajitas off of people's plates, get on the coffee table with all fours and lick the plates afterwards.

Pleat and his date Tango.

bling? yes, please.

My sidekick ... Ready for whatever

oh, right, last weekend.

As much as I love agility - it's about spending time hanging out
with the pooches and friends on a weekend away.






















I went up to Calgary to do 4 runs with each dog over 2 days.
Why not just run 4 runs in one day, you ask? 

Well that would mean I wouldn't get to hang out with Jan and Dave at their place, and I wouldn't get the delicious soup Jan made - Kaleb helped me with the chopsticks:) They make us feel so much at home, I look forward to visiting with them and the rest of the gang on these fun weekends.

Each dog brought home 3/4 Qs from the runs they were entered in. Kaleb is showing his age more all the time - but as long as the boy still wants to play, we will - he Qd in Gambler, Standard and Snooker, he was 1 second overtime in Challenge. Gyp ran great and it took a bit for us to really click (I'm sadly out of practice with her), but we finally did - and we rocked our Standard, Challenge and Gamble.

Here are a few highlights from each dog ...

The most handsomemest 'ol boys in the whole wide world.

If this face doesn't melt your heart, you are dead inside.
Everytime I look at this face, I melt.

Pensive Pleat, wondering what to Pee on next.

Portrait of a nobleman. Sir Alta-Pete Pleat.
He has made a remarkable recovery from his Stroke/Vestibular, the only side effects
have been his slight head tilt, which I swear is better every day, and he's a little more blind
in his right eye (which you can see in the photo), but none of that slows him down.

Portrait of a gentleman. He will be 11 next month. And everyday I love him more.
If only he was this easy to live with when he was 3 or 4.
Don't get me wrong we still ring his neck atleast once a week - but it's not daily anymore :)

You know what they say about friends who hang out too much together ...
It's funny, Jenny and I have talked and chuckled about this UNLIKELY friendship. K would NOT have like
Pleat even 3 or 4 years ago, and I think the same for Pleat. Kaleb would have been
WAY too obnoxious for him, and well Pleat has balls the size of tangerines -
something Kaleb is always jealous of. But, Pleat is a man comfortable in his skin,
and Kaleb respects that. Kaleb is comfortable being obnoxious and goofy, and Pleat also accepts that.
They TRULY like eachouthers company, it's the cutest damn thing you will ever see.
2 OLD TOUGH, PERSISTANT, STRONG WILLED, HARD HEADED working dogs ...
who never had time for other dogs, are now buddies, I think they can relate to eachother.

 

Symphony of Destruction

My training journey with Gyp, has always involved "taking a step back, to get further ahead". The first time I saw this was when we were training for Weave Poles, many moons ago. I beaned her in the head with a tennis ball when I was rewarding her. Well dear god, the world ended, and poor Gyp wouldn't go near the weave poles for 2 days! For real. Took a step back - came back, and within a short time she was weaving fully and fine - and I rewarded with something softer ...

It's showed up in all training - Obedience, Rally, walking her in the coulees and being scared of the gun shots and wanting to run to the car. She is not a dog you can flood or force to work it out. It has to be on her terms, and I'm fine with that. In Obedience training for her CDX, most of what I did was on my own - and I dealt with many shut down moments - so we stopped, I worked K and we tried again the next day. She would NOT work in my basement, it echos, the furnace kicks in and it's weird. She also wouldn't work in my Garage near the door, esp. when it was windy. So we would stop. I would trhow the toy so it landed my door - want the toy? Go get it yourself. And reluctantly she did, then she did with no problem. Come back to it, super high value rewards with no expectations - and she worked it all out in a the matter of a week or so. And she conquered that pressure and rocked her CDX in one weekend. It's like building layers for her, and getting it through her little cute head that she can do it, and doesn't need me. It's the opposite of Kaleb - get it through his thick skull that he DOES nees me - and ya, buddy we get that you think you know more than me.

So now I am dealing with this in herding ... She ran her fist Arena Trial in November - round 1 - she placed 3rd in Ranch! Wow we can do this! Round 2 she could not move the sheep, she tried to bite a little, I tried resending, we did all the moves we know, which are like 2 moves. She would come running back to me to save her :)  I've always said, I don't care if I look like a fool - but I don't want my dog discouraged - and she was. So we've taken a step back - well 5 or 6 really. And we are getting the BAD back. We worked so much on finesse and control she lots some of her guts. We are working on Jazzing her up. So now we are trying to get that back - even better than it was. I had a couple lessons with Scott to get more boldness back. We've been trying to teach her it is OK to grip when told - and it's working and helping her confidence - so she doesn't think biting it bad (when needed) - and that feeling of walking in boldy should start to transfer without the bite. I adapted what we've been learning with Jenny and Louanne - it takes a village ...

I don't have huge goals for herding - my dog is 8. But I do want to see her be happy and bold like she is in Agility - if only I had the same dog in both sports! I hope with my next pup the lessons I've learned will make us a great team, from the get go!

Some nice bend on that outrun, good job Gyppie!

Shit. um they shouldn't look like bowling pins - someone has a leg somewhere.

I am the Orchestra conductor in this Symphony of Destruction.

HUH? I say as Louanne tells me I shouldn't use my grip command on the outrun -
hence the bowling pin sheep. OH, right.

WEE!!!!! I have the cleanest teeth in the West!

Walk up, looking good Gyp!

Um. that's maybe a bit too much.

I had to call in reinforcements because my dog was trying to kill me.
*Note my death grip on Louanne's arm.

She did good getting them out of the corners with some boldness and power.

That was fun, can we go again?

I leave you with a little Megadeath ... Symphony of Destruction ...