Holy Flyin' Furball

A friend, Rebecca, caught some pictures of Romeo at a recent agility class. We were practicing jump work, so she really caught the fur flying!



Beautiful pictures, Rebecca! Thanks for sharing them with me.

Romeo's 1st Agility Trial

Today Romeo and I were entered in our first AAC agility trial! The club that we train with offers an annual Starters Trial, with only Starters rounds, to encourage new dog and handlers to get started competing in an environment that is somewhat less intimidating. No crazy Advanced or Masters dogs around to make us feel like fools!

I had Romeo entered in two runs, a Standard and a Jumpers. I knew going into this trial that whether we qualified or not would be completely in my hands. If Romeo were in charge, we would definitely qualify, no problems. But I hold the handicap in this team, and my handler skills are seriously lacking. Sure enough, Romeo did beautifully in the Standard round, but I was in the wrong place with the cue for a tunnel and Romeo ended up trying to take the dog walk instead. He went exactly where my body language was telling him to go. So I can't fault the boy. In the Standard round, everything Romeo did was awesome! He nailed all his contacts, took the teeter like a champ, and even got his weave pole perfect on the first attempt! The teeter and weave entries are our sticky point at the moment. We ended up taking 5 faults for the tunnel-dog walk snafu, but wound up placing 2nd in our division!

The Jumpers round wasn't quite as nice, but again Romeo held up his end of the bargain admirably. I wound up pulling him off the tunnel ... TWICE ... by starting my turn before he was completely committed. We took 15 faults, but it was good enough to get us 3rd in the division!

To make it all even better, Romeo pulled off these great debut performances in the most nasty weather! It rained all day long, not enough to reduce visibility or safety enough to warrant me pulling him from the trial, but just enough to soak you through to the bone. Add the frigid temperatures and wind on top of it and it was a nasty NASTY day! We've been home and in dry clothes for an hour how, and I am still shivering.

Despite the horrible weather that made me into a whining, grumbling she-beast, it was a lot of fun and a very positive first adventure in agility trialing! Now, we get to rest up and do it all again next weekend at a huge Jumpers trial! We'll be aiming for qualifying scores this time.

You Are My Sunshine ...

Just one of those days where all you want to do is find a nice patch of sunlight and have a nap!

Beatrice's New Friend

Meet Gertrude!

Gertrude was originally Guinness. Guinness had a piggy friend that passed away recently. Then her owners had to move to a condo that didn't have enough room for Guinness and her paraphernalia, so Guinness was rehomed to a friend of mine that teaches grade 5. Guinness was to be a classroom pet, and was renamed Bugsy. But one of kids in the class had horrible allergies, so Bugsy had to go. My friend knew that I had Beatrice and asked if I was planning on getting Bea a friend. I was, have been talking to a local lady that does small animal rescue and rehoming, and have been waiting on a good match for Beatrice to become available. So Guiness aka Bugsy came to me this afternoon and became Gertrude.

Gertrude is about 3 years old ... and has a bit of a weight problem. She was loved ... really really loved in the way that guinea pigs appreciate most, through food. But her super long coat is in great condition and her nails are nice and short, so I know she was doted on before an unfortunate series of events lead her to me. Gertrude will go on a bit of a diet now, if that is even possible. I guess portioned and measured feedings? Though with two guinea pigs in one cage, I don't know how I will monitor who eats what. And I have a feeling that Gertrude is going to hog all the food for herself. Might end up being Beatrice that goes on the diet!

The piggies had some floor time and a nice treat of mixed greens while we introduced ourselves. Gio and Romeo are perfectly fine with the guinea pigs, and Gertrude took the introductions like a champ. At least Romeo isn't terrified of Gertrude like he was with Beatrice in the beginning. The Shelties have just accepted that I am insane and take the new additions in stride.

In their cage, Gertrude and Beatrice aren't getting along swimmingly just yet. They were happy to eat together on the floor, but in the cage they are trading off teeth chatters and whining. And, so the interweb tells me, these noises are noises of unhappy piggies. Apparently a little bit of animosity is normal with introductions, so hopefully they will sort it all out between them soon. They are currently both resting in their individual hidey-holes, but Gertrude keeps venturing out to check that the food supply is adequate. That draws Beatrice out, and the chattering and whining begins. It has escalated to Gertrude chasing Beatrice around the cage a couple times, but nothing more than that. I have hope for them!

Red Fish, Blue Fish ...

I would like to address this to all dog owners, dog enthusiasts, people that work in the dog industry, or volunteer their services to dog-related support and aid.

Following is a brief educational explanation (ie. rant) of basic dog color. Specifically brown versus red. There are two basic forms of pigmentation that a dog can make: Eumelanin (black) and phaeomelanin (red). Each pigment can be altered, made more dilute or more intense, but the base pigment type is always the same. So red can become yellow, gold, cream, or tan, while black can become brown, grey, or blue.

Let me focus for a moment on "brown". Brown is controlled by the Tyrosinase Related Protein 1 gene and is inherited in a recessive fashion. That means that two copies of a mutated form of the gene must be present in order for an effect to be seen. That effect is the dilution of black pigment to a brown color. "Brown" only affects eumelanin pigment, and when two copies of the mutation are present, will effect ALL eumelanin pigment on the dog's body. This includes hair pigment and leather pigment (nose, paw pads, eye rims, lips, etc.). To that effect, since ALL black pigment is changed to brown, it is IMPOSSIBLE for a dog to express BOTH black AND brown at the same time. Think about that for a minute ... a dog CANNOT be "black and brown". Impossible, not gonna happen, try again!

Here are some examples of BROWN dogs ...

(Everyone together now ... "awwwwww!")

And now for some dogs that are commonly called "black and brown", but are NOT BROWN! Pay attention now, see if you can notice what separates these NOT BROWN dogs from the brown dogs above.

Genetically, this dog is "fawn sable". Caused by the ay allele of Agouti. Red with a black mask.

Everyone is familiar with "black and tan", like in Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers, etc. "Tan" is a form of red. So technically this dog is black and red. Another form of "sable". Red and black.In some breeds, this is called "wheaton". Again, a pale red and black.I'll give this one to you, the light parts on this dog LOOK like they could be brown. But notice all the black ... she cannot be brown and black. Brindle dogs, like this one, are always stripes of eumelanin and phaeomelanin, in this case it is black and red.Another brindle. Red and black.This Great Dane is what is sometimes referred to as "fawnequin". Harlequin is the more well known color, the same pattern on a black dog. This is the harlequin pattern on a fawn dog. Red and black.Doberman Pinschers and Rottweilers are not the only black and tan dogs. Add white to the mix, and you can get "tri-color" dogs like this Jack Russel. Again, red and black, this time with white.This Sheltie pup is sable. Sable is RED, not brown. I suspect this handsome fellow is recessive red. Not sable like some of the above dogs. But still, no brown.And yet another "sable" dog. Red and black, no brown.

So, did you see the difference between the brown dogs and the not-brown dogs? Go back and look again, I'll give you a minute.

Did you see it now?

THE NOSE!!

Brown dogs will ALWAYS have a brown nose. If the nose is black, then the dog CANNOT be brown! Go look again, I'm not lying to you.

Now here are some tricky ones ...

This dog is "saddle tan", which is a red dog with a dark patch of eumelanin on their back, sort of like a horse's saddle. In this case, the dog is also brown! So all of the black that would normally be on her saddle area, ears, and face has been changed to brown. So she is red and brown, instead of red and black.
This is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. They are all this color, which is recessive red caused by a mutation in the Melanocortin 1 Receptor gene. That mutation means that it is impossible for the dog to produce any black pigment in their hair. Normally, the dog would be able to produce black "leather" pigment, so their nose and paw pads would be black. But in this case, in addition to being recessive red, the dog is also brown. So his body coat is all red, while his leather is brown in color.

Yorkton Show Picture

My pictures finally arrived! At the Rally-O trial in Yorkton a couple of weekends ago, I had some professional pictures taken of me and the boys. I had a picture done when they finished their CKC Novice and Advanced Rally-O titles, so thought I should round it all off nicely when they got their Excellent titles as well.

Odd, though, as I don't believe they checked the order before they popped everything in the mail to me.

The carbon copy of the order form that was placed in the envelope with my order clearly has the option for "One show photo (8x10 or CD)" selected, with a great bit circle around the "or CD" part. I have no use for hard copy pictures. But I do like an electronic copy for posting on the blog and sending to friends and family. However, in the envelope with the order form, (you know, the one that clearly has "or CD" circled) are included TWO 8x10 hardcopy photographs. Not one photograph. Not a CD with one image on it. Rather TWO photographs.

Odd.

Very odd.

I'll have to make sure and check my credit card statement to be sure they only charged me for one (one photograph is the same price as one CD image).

But whatever. The picture is really nice. The dogs look great, instead of their usual goofball expressions. And I don't look half bad either, considering that I am highly allergic to cameras. Oh, you didn't realize that people could be allergic to cameras? Yes, it is true! A surprisingly large number of people are dangerously allergic to them. The key symptom is extreme puffiness, especially around the midsection, face, and upper arms. Deadly!

Anyways, seeing as I did not get an electronic copy of the picture, you will all have to make due with a picture of a picture. Not too bad ... slightly warped looking because the original has a bit of a curve to the paper and I couldn't get it to lay flat properly. But you get the idea!

Sheltie Agility Fun Match

Today Saskatoon Area Shetland Sheedog Association (SASSA) hosted a CKC sanction agility match as a fundraiser for the Canadian Shetland Sheepdog National to be held in Saskatoon next spring.

Since Romeo is entered in a couple of agility trials at the end of September, I am taking every opportunity possible to get him running in "trial conditions". Even if this is CKC and he will be running AAC for his first few trials. Plus, I like to get out and support the Sheltie club whenever possible. I'm SUPER excited about the National in May, so it's fun to be around other people that are just as excited as I am!

There were lots of Shelties at the sanction match today, even though all CKC breeds were allowed to run. Seems like all the local Shelties wanted to come out and support the cause as well!

A veritable shaggle of Shelties!

Among the furry crowd was Romeo's momma! She is a super sweet girl, and her and Romeo love to play when they see each other. Now that Romeo has grown into a "big boy", I wanted to get a picture of him and his dam. They look so much alike, and have very similar temperaments (and love for agility!).

Baby Romeo and his mom, Holly.

Big boy Romeo and his mom, Holly.

Like momma, like son.

As for the actual agility part of the morning, that went really well also! I am very pleased with my little man! We ran a standard course where Romeo plowed through the chute after not having seen one for nearly a year. He also met a few new jump types (like the plank jump) that he had never seen before. Those tripped him up a bit, but certainly didn't slow him down. Just a knocked bar, but he kept on his way. Everything else about the standard run I was very pleased with, no complaints for me! Our jumpers with weaves run was also very nice, in my uneducated opinion. Romeo LOVES weaves, it's just a matter of getting IN them. We are working on entries, and they are coming along nicely, but don't always hold up in exciting "trial" situations. But once we were past the weaves, everything else was very nice! I messed up and forced an off course by sending him "go" jump instead of calling him into me and sending to a different jump. He did exactly what I told him to do, so can't blame him at all. I just need to learn to handle on the fly.

I'm quite happy with the outcomes from this morning! Makes me feel better that we might not make fools of ourselves (read: I might not make a fool of Romeo) in our first trials in a couple of weeks!

Now off to a Rally-O fun match that I am hosting out at a friend's acreage!