CSSA 2010 Sheltie National Specialty

First things first, sending a BIG shout-out to the people that approached me this past weekend having recognized Gio and/or Romeo from the blog! It's very humbling to realize that real people actually read this blog! It was awesome meeting you all. Sorry I couldn't chat much, but I was working hard on literally running my feet off.

This past weekend was the Canadian Shetland Sheepdog Association 2010 National Specialty in Saskatoon, SK. Of course, I just HAD to enter the boys!

With well over 300 Shelties entered, it was quite the sight! The Specialty offered conformation, obedience, Rally-O, and agility. I had both dogs entered in Brace Obedience and Rally-O, and Romeo entered in conformation.

Despite the really long days, we had an awesome time! It was so amazing to see all of the Shelties there doing what they do best ... looking cute and working hard!

Since the Specialty was offered in conjunction with the Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club show, I was also signed up for obedience and Rally-O stewarding the whole weekend. I think this played a significant part in the less than stellar performances that the boys showed on Friday, but even so, they did really well!

We were fortunate to have Michel Calhoun judge the obedience and Rally-O trials. He is an awesome judge and so much fun to show under! Definitely added to the experience, even if he did tease me mercilessly the entire weekend (good-naturedly, I hope!).

This was our first attempt at Brace Obedience, and while it wasn't perfect, it looks decent on the video and was enough to earn us a score of 190.5/200 and 3rd Place!



Rally-O went along the same vein, with both dogs entered in Advanced B and Excellent B. They finished off their CKC Rally Excellent titles last year and, since I wanted to enter in the Specialty, I decided to try for a leg of their RAE titles (even though I have no real intentions of pursuing it very far). Romeo had two scores of 99/100, one earning him a 3rd Place spot in Advanced B. Gio had scores of 95/100 and 97/100. To give an idea of what the competition was like, I will state that there were 11 Shelties entered in Advanced B and 15 Shelties entered in Excellent B. Of the bunch, I believe there was only 1 non-qualifying score, 2 scores below a 90/100, and the VAST majority of the scores above 95/100. In fact, in Excellent B there were 2 dogs tied for 1st place with perfect scores of 100/100 and a 6-way tie for 3rd place with 6 dogs earning 99/100! It all came down to who could make it through the course the fastest. That is the most intense Rally-O trial I have seen, with a lot of fabulous working Shelties from across Canada!

Romeo and Gio earned 3rd in Class in Brace Obedience, and Romeo took 3rd in Class in Rally-O Advanced B, under judge Michel Calhoun.

Rounding off the weekend was Romeo's first adventure in the conformation ring. He was neutered long ago, but probably could have finished his Championship had he been allowed to keep his boy bits. I entered him in the Altered Class and his breeder, Brenda Newlove of CanyonView Shelties trotted him around the ring for me, where he took Reserve Winners Dog! I always knew Romeo was a good looking dog, so I guess his success didn't come as too much of a surprise. But that doesn't dilute how proud I am of his accomplishments! Huge "Thanks" to Brenda for primping and preening my little man and putting in the leg work to show him off for me.

Romeo took Reserve Winners Dog in Altered Class under judge Judith Kelsey.

Now, on to the fun stuff!

Our obedience/Rally-O judge, Michel Calhoun, asked a favor of some of the Rally-O dogs after the trial on Friday night. I missed most of the story as I was running to my crating area to get my camera, but it is something along the lines of promising to do a favor for a class of children at a local school. He is carrying Flat Stanley (a colorful paper doll of sorts) around with him and documenting Flat Stanley's travels in photographs. So, to prove that he was at a dog show this weekend, he wanted a picture of Flat Stanley with a Shaggle of Shelties*. So here are just some of the dogs entered in the Sheltie-only Rally-O trial, with Flat Stanley front and center. (Sorry I couldn't get a better angle, but it was difficult to elbow my way through the throng of handlers urging their dogs to "stay" ... you try keeping that many Shelties sitting so close together without them spontaneously breaking out into zoomies and play bows!)


Just a moment of serious stuff, now. I have to share a pet peeve of mine with you all. Well, maybe this is a little more than a mere pet peeve. It is bordering on downright disgust! There were a lot of dogs in the trials this weekend, Sheltie-only as well as All Breed. And, with pressure running high and crazy competition, nerves flare up for both handlers and dogs. In cases like this ... shit happens. Literally. There were a fair number of dogs having accidents in or around the rings this weekend. Some newbies and some seasoned vets. And, while really stinky and not pleasant for your friendly neighborhood ring stewards to have to clean up, it happens. We all understand it. What I CANNOT stand is a handler chastising or blaming their dog for soiling the ring! It is NOT their fault! If you want to scold someone, smack yourself upside the head because it is your own darned fault! I do NOT want to see you leaving the ring yelling at your dog and yanking the hell out of their collar all because they had to do a number 2. It is YOUR job to make sure your dogs are pottied before they enter the ring. It is YOUR job to monitor their diet and their nerves before and during a trial weekend. And if, after all your efforts, they still end up soiling the ring, the proper procedure is to quickly apologize to the judge (and stewards for good measure, as it is them picking up your dog's droppings) and rush your dog outside to finish its business without causing a scene. Scolding your dog for doing what it has to do, especially when it is clearly attempting to PREVENT soiling in the ring as you dawdle around trying to finish your performance while blatantly ignoring the dog's distress, is the very LAST thing you want to do. Both for your dog's sake and the sake of your own reputation. I know I'm not the only person tasting bile after witnessing you jerking your dog around after their accident. Smarten up people!

There. That feels better.

Following the "Sandwich Protocol", begin and end with something positive while sticking the nasty bit in the middle, this weekend was absolutely awesome! Lots of great successes from the Sheltie side of things as well as the All Breed side. HUGE congratulations to everyone on their accomplishments! When my feet stop throbbing and I catch up on some sleep, I will post more pictures of the boys with their prize haul. And I have heard rumor that there are some ring-side pictures of Romeo's conformation debut floating around. When I get my hands on those, I will certainly be sharing them here!

* For the definition of a Shaggle of Shelties, check out this previous blog post.

Pets in the Park 2009

Today was Saskatoon's Pets in the Park, an event hosted by the Saskatoon SPCA, New Hope Dog Rescue, and SCAT street cat program. Local vendors and pet-related groups set up tables and displays by the scenic Saskatchewan River and various dog groups give sport demos throughout the day. A stage provides live music, and there is lots of room for pets to gather and play with new friends!

Posing at the booth with therapy dog buddy, Lily, and her handler, Liz.

Gio says "PFFFT!" to standing still for pictures.

Romeo and Arthur relax in the shade while on the job.

The boys and I spent a long (LONG!) day at the event, working the St. John Ambulance therapy dog booth and helping out with the Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club booth and Rally-O demonstration.

At the end of a long day, all that is left is two Sheltie-shaped puddles.

The St. John booth was located in a prime spot, right at the head of all the action, so we got lots of attention and hopefully a lot of interest from new potential therapy dog teams and facilities.

There was a really great turn out this year, with an estimated 6,000 visitors! Hopefully there were lots of funds raised for the great dog and cat rescue and shelter groups!

Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club Dog Show

This weekend Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club is hosting their annual dog show in Saskatoon. Conformation, rally-o, and obedience trials. Including a Shetland Sheepdog specialty and a Saluki specialty.

Conformation judging runs Friday May 1st to Sunday May 3rd, starting at 9:00am each day.
Rally-O trials are at 9:00am and 12:10pm Friday, and 9:00am Saturday.
Obedience trials are at 9:00am Saturday, and 9:00am Sunday.

Held at Prairieland Park, Hall A. Spectators are more than welcome, though only exhibiting dogs are allowed in the facility, so please leave pet dogs at home.

Obedience and conformation fun matches are being held Thursday evening, also at Prairieland Park. Registration at 6:00pm.

More Weekend Photos

A friend of mine, Liz, sent me a great photo this afternoon that she took of Gio in the obedience ring.

Look at my handsome boy, being so obedient!

Thanks Liz, I love the picture!

SKOC Obedience Trial

Thank you to everyone for the crossed fingers and positive thoughts! It sure paid off, Gio did wonderfully today!

I had him entered in two obedience rounds at the SKOC trial. He qualified both with scores of 191.5 and 189.5. Not his finest work, a little sloppy in some portions of the heel and forgot a few sits, but other than that it was really nice looking! And he nailed BOTH long sits! The mats weren't all that slippery this time around, and I was able to position him on a seam where two mats met for extra traction. That earns him his CKC Novice (CD) title, with an extra round as "gravy".

Here is a video of the 191.5/200 round. Thanks to Jae for filming for me.



As a whole, our club (Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club) made a great showing at the trials! We had five dogs entered and all earned legs today, with two (Gio and Lily) earning their CD titles. Here is the happy bunch ...

From left to right: Liz with Cairn Terrier Lily, Elaine with German Shepherd Dog Harley, Gisele with Miniature Poodle Katie, Dayna with Shetland Sheepdog Gio, and Jeannette with Cairn Terrier Piper.

Elaine and Liz are entered in more rounds tomorrow, so here's hoping they do just as well tomorrow as they did today! Good job, everyone!

And a neat little tidbit, the two Cairn Terriers, Lily and Piper, are related. Piper is Lily's dad. So the whole family was in on the winning today!

Obedience Gong Show

This weekend is the SKOC obedience trial. As with most CKC obedience trials, there was a fun match scheduled for this evening. It serves as a fund raiser for the club, and also allows people entered in the show the next day to bring their dogs to the building and get them aclimated with the new surroundings.

I have Gio entered in two trials tomorrow as he only needs one more leg for his Novice CD. I took him this evening so that I could introduce him to the new building as he has never worked there before. The building that SKOC rents for this purpose is a community Metis center. Apparently some wires got crossed somewhere along the line as, come 6:00pm fun match start time, the building was still not unlocked. I don't know where the mix up was, but regardless, there was no way for us to get into the building for the match. Calls were made, and after much bitching and complaining and debating "What to do now", everyone went their separate ways. Some people went back to the SKOC training building, others spread out to the Paws n' Train building, and still more decided to heck with it and went home. I am part of the latter group. Since the sole reason for me to go to the fun match was to introduce Gio to the new building, there was no reason for me to trek across the city to a familiar building to practice. He doesn't need the practice, if he doesn't know it now then he certainly won't know it tomorrow in front of a judge. So we are home now. I can't say I am completely upset by it. It's been a long week (even though I only went in to work for 1.5 days!) and I'm quite tired for some reason. Looking forward to a quiet night at home with a bowl of popcorn and a good strong Cesar (the yummy drink, not the crazy dog "trainer", or should I say "behaviourist" ... same BS either way).

I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow at the trial. I am confident that Gio will do wonderfully and give 110% as he always does. The only questionable area is the long group sit. It's not that "stays" are a problem for him, but with his messed up back end, the sits are a cause for concern. On the slippery trial mats, he just cannot keep a grip and really struggles to remain sitting up for the required minute. More often than not he ends up sliding into a down at about the 40-50 second mark. We've been working on conditioning hoping to build up some muscle in his back end to help with the sits, but his legs are just getting worse as he ages so it isn't helping much. It's a shame really, as everything else he does in the ring is stunning! It's just that darned long sit ... and I can't even blame it on a training issue. He just can't physically do it. Poor guy, he tries so hard. I have decided that if he does not get his final leg tomorrow, we are going to call obedience quits for him. It's not an important title for me, and there is no question of us moving on to Open or Utility. The CKC jump heights are ridiculous and there are no allowances for disabled dogs. I'm not going to put him through that, what is it going to prove? So if he gets his CD tomorrow, great! If not, no big loss. I will just stick to Rally-O, tracking, and therapy dog with him. At some point in the future, I may decide to toss him into another Novice round and see what happens. But it is certianly not going to be an active pursuit.

Wish us luck tomorrow, anyways! If he can just hold a sit for one minute with minimal sliding, this will all end on a positive note! If not, he'll still get his cookies and cuddles because I know he will work his hardest.

Cramming!

In a couple of weeks there are a few local trials. A CKC obedience trial February 21/22 and a CARO rally-o trial February 28/March 1, both in Saskatoon. As such, it seems that everyone is doing some last minute cramming! There was a huge turn out at the rally-o drop-in time tonight at Paws n' Train. Usually there are 4-5 dogs present, but tonight there were at least a dozen (and I'm probably missing someone in my quick head count). As usual, we had an Advanced course set up for the first half, and then an Excellent course. Since there were so many dogs, it took quite a bit longer than it normally does for everyone to run through each course a couple of times. Fortunately, it is a great group of people that show up for the drop-ins so we all help each other out on the side as we wait out turns, doing stand for exams, discussing how to get that "back up 3 steps" sign down, etc. Since there is also an obedience trial coming soon, we took the opportunity to practice a couple of long sits and downs as well. I love long sits and downs! There is something about having a whole bunch of dogs all sitting together nicely that makes me smile.

For the rally-o portions, the boys did great, as usual! Gio was really "on" tonight, but he is having trouble staying on his feet. Because of all his meds, he is lacking a little in the coordination department, so tends to slide out a lot. I need to remember to be less abrupt when doing chances of direction so that he has time to find his feet. It is difficult as we began training when he had all his faculties about him, so I got in the habit of making very abrupt changes of direction. It looks beautiful when the dog is able to work like that, but with Gio losing his balance all over because of it, it doesn't look so pretty anymore. If I could just remember to change my pace for him, it would make it so much easier for him to stay on his feet. I guess I still see that former Gio in his face when he is working and delude myself into thinking that he can perform the way he used to. In his mind, he can, his feet just can't keep up with him. Despite my poor handling, he did VERY well. Nailed his end of the bargain perfectly, even got the broad jump on the first try. Romeo did well, for the most part. He was very distractable tonight and just couldn't leave the little bits of fluff on the floor alone. He did each rally station perfectly, but the in between parts were sloppy. Normally he doesn't have that issue at all, so I'm just telling myself that "it was one of those nights". We are all allowed one of those now and then, right?

There is another drop-in obedience time tomorrow evening, but I think I am going to have to skip that one. I really should get some more packing done, and I definitely need to get Romeo all trimmed up for his therapy dog visit on Friday. That, and I'm getting pretty broke. This past month has been hard on the bank account, and next month isn't going to be any better! Of course, I just keep reminding myself about the positive aspects ... you know, new house, out on my own, peace and quiet, just me and the dogs. Perfect! With that, I am happy to accept a little stricter budgeting and a little more penny pinching!

Back in the Swing of Things

I guess holidays are officially over. The boys' "dog stuff" is back in motion, after a couple weeks off.

Tonight there was a CKC Obedience fun match to support Italian Greyhound rescue with the Italian Greyhound Club of Canada. I took the boys with the intention of only running Gio in Novice. Gio needs one more Novice leg, and there is a trial in town at the end of February. We haven't done any "formal" obedience work since the last trial in September, so we were a little rusty. Gio still did very well (considering that he hasn't really found his feet yet after the introduction of his phenobarbital), and pulled off a 195.5/200 and High in Class! Since all the money raised was going to a good cause, I decided to throw Romeo into the Intermediate class as well. I had never seen Intermediate before, it is one of the new non-official classes that CKC has introduced and fits between Novice and Open. Considering that I had never seen Intermediate before, and some of the exercises Romeo had never tried before, he did really well, getting a 189.5/200. He just lost one or two points per exercise, except for the heel free portion where he lost 5.5. Those I am attributing to the fact that he was just SO FREAKIN' EXCITED to be back working, that the first half of the heel pattern he bounced along side me instead of walking and I needed a couple extra commands to remind him of what we were doing. Nothing major, and I'm certainly not going to fault him for his enthusiasm!

Gio just needs a bit more polish and he will be primed for the SKOC trial in February. If I can get Romeo cleaned up a bit, I might even enter him in Intermediate at the same trial. I was going to just skip all the non-official classes, but what the heck, why not!?

Tomorrow it is back to flyball, then Saturday Rally-O and agility. Things are finally getting back to our normal routine!

Tricks

This time of year is quite slow for training. The different dog groups that I belong to take a break for the holidays, and most other classes and drop-ins are canceled for a couple of weeks as well.

I have to keep the boy's brains going during this time, or they will pester me to no end. As it is, the toy box is emptied and refilled a couple times a day.

I just have a small space to work them in, but small area work is beneficial as well. It would be glorious to have a great large empty room with good flooring and all the agility/rally-o equipment I could ask for ... But alas, I only have a 10'x6' opening in the living room if I push the coffee table out of the way. I try to use it to my advantage and get in some "tight space" work when I can. I have found that small crowded spaces have their advantages, though. The dogs learn to work in small spaces and around obstacles, so heeling into walls and pivoting amid physical barriers serves as great distraction practice for trials. You never know how a Rally-O course will be set up, if you will need to heel into a corner, send for a jump into a wall, or maneuver your way around a support beam.

Here is a video of our session from the other day ...

Pet Expo Day 1

Today was a very long day! But lots of fun.

It was day 1 of Pet Expo (see yesterday's blog post) and the boys and I had a couple of shifts at various booths throughout the day. In the morning we were at the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog booth. The boys had a great time being greeter dogs, checking everyone out and gathering all the pets and hugs.

They both behaved very well and were great examples of therapy dogs. Each of the boys had a particularly shining moment during the shift. Gio's was about part way through our shift when a small girl, maybe 2 years old, ran up to him at full 2-year-old-speed, grabbed his muzzle with both hands and started shaking his head up and down. What a good boy, he just stood there and let her man-handle ... err ... child-handle? ... him. He is so endlessly tolerant, it's almost pathetic! Romeo had his big moment near the end of our shift. He was chilling out beside the booth when a pair of children approached him. One started petting his head very politely, but the other small boy decided that he really wanted to rub Romeo's belly. So he proceeded to try and flip Romeo over to get to his belly. I would have expected Romeo to jump up and try to get away from the boy, but he just resolutely lay there, refusing to be rolled over, but still being very calm and polite about it all. Of course, I'm much less polite than Romeo is, so I told the boy to bugger off and not to treat dogs like that.

After our SJA shift, we went and practiced some Rally-O in the practice course that they had set up. Since Rally-O isn't really a spectator sport, they didn't give it a designated demo time, but they did rope off a corner in the back and allowed us to set up a Novice course for whoever wanted to give it a go. There were enough Rally-O dogs present that we had a pretty good flow of Rally-O demos going most of the afternoon.

Then it was on to the Hub City Kennel and Obedience Club booth for our second shift of the day. This was a fun shift as many of the boys' "friends" were around so they got lots of socializing in.

Gio and Romeo with Tetley, their English Cocker Spaniel buddy.

Part of the Cairn Terrier crew. Piper, Zephyr and Rascal. Then Rascal again, and Duncan.

The Miniature Poodle twins, Katie and Gina.

Duncan took a shining to a small girl and decided to entertain her with his gopher impression.

By this point of the day, the boys were quite tired. They spend a while laying behind the tables and staying out of the crowds.

I put the boys away in their kennel for a while to allow them to rest. Previously at an obedience trial, Gio had scratched a hole in the front of their soft-sided crate in attempts to get me to work with him instead of with Romeo. Romeo quite likes this hole, and finds it nicely convenient allowing him to rest in his crate while still watching what is going on around him.

At the end of the evening, the boys participated in the parade of breeds. They gather a couple dogs from all the different breeds that they can find at the Pet Expo, and parade them around the demo ring one at a time as the announcer talks a bit about what the breed is like. It's lots of fun, and afterward the crowd is encouraged to come forward and meet all the dogs. So yet more pets and cuddles, and lots of comments on how handsome the boys are. It's good for the ego, and I'm sure the dogs enjoy it as well.

Back tomorrow for some more Pet Expo fun. It's a shorter day tomorrow, only lasting until 5pm. So that should be much nicer, and still allow us time to get our stuff together for agility practice tomorrow evening.

Another fun moment from today, I got to pick up the prints of the Halloween pictures that were taken last weekend at the agility club. I've already posted the individual pics of the boys because they were posted online. But I also had a double photo taken that wasn't posted online. Please excuse the quality, I had to take a digital photo of the print in order to get it up here.

SKOC Trial -- Day 1

Day 1 is over!

Gio was entered in one obedience trial this morning, Novice A. He did fabulous! Qualified with a score of 192.5, placing him 2nd in class (the dog that beat him got 193.5, I believe). But he was high Sheltie in class, so got a nice big ribbon and a monetary prize that covered his entry fees for the day. Not too shabby for his first time in the obedience ring!

We got to meet Bosley and Maggie (and Kim, of course), and watch Bosley in obedience. He was in the same class as Gio and took High in Class. Good job, guys! Because it was a Bernese Mountain Dog booster, they walked away with a lot of cool prizes. Congrats!

After our run through the obedience ring, we manned the St. John Ambulance therapy dog booth for a couple of hours.


Gio worked really hard ...


Romeo wasn't entered in anything so got to stay home and relax until tomorrow. Off tomorrow for another obedience trial and a couple of rally-o trials.

Novice Obedience Fun Match

The crazy weekend has officially begun! There was an obedience fun match held at the venue this evening, so I took the boys over to get them acquainted with the building. I put them both in Novice Obedience, even though Gio is the only one entered in obedience this weekend. Romeo already has his CD, but the Rally trials are being held in the same ring so I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce him to the ring. He occasionally gets ring nerves and ends up lagging, so I treated this novice run as if it were rally-o and made sure that he had a good time.

Gio, on the other hand, IS entered in obedience this weekend (as well as rally-o), so we treated this as if it were legit. He did awesome! Wound up with a score of 195 ... I couldn't be more proud! Here is a video of Gio's Novice fun match run. (Please ignore the view of the handler ... all focus on the dog, please!)




Big "Thank You" to Liz for manning the camera for me!

Outdoor Obedience Practice

One of the trials this weekend is being held outdoors. Last summer, most of my training was outdoors. But plans were a bit different this year so we have been doing most of our training at an indoor facility. So in preparation for the many and varied outdoor distractions, I took the boys over to a nearby parking lot to work on some outdoor obedience practice. A school field backs onto this parking lot, so I thought it would be a good place to hone our skills.

Starting with some long sits and downs (see the school play ground full of children in the background?). In case you are wondering, I do normally train stays with the leashes off. But with all the kids around and it being an active (though empty at the moment) parking lot, I didn't want to take any chances, so left the leashes on this time around.



As I was standing silently, mentally willing the boys to keep their sits, I glanced down at the ground and lo and behold ... a PENNY! A very tarnished, but potentially lucky penny! It's a sign ... I'll have to remember to stick this in my pocket before the trials this weekend!


Next was some heel work. And as we were heeling along, I began to think to myself that I see an awful lot of the boys from an upside down viewpoint! Granted, I think I have a better view than they do!
































After a job well done, the boys earned themselves a quick romp in the soccer field!

They ran out ...



They ran in ...



And they ran round and round and round!

Friday!

Today was our last opportunity for a drop-in practice before the big trial next weekend. I still have all next week to polish things up a bit, but I don't like to do too much training right before a trial. I took both boys over to Paws 'n Train again and ran through the bits and pieces that they needed to work on for Novice Obedience (for Gio) and Novice CKC Rally-O (Gio and Romeo).

A training friend of mine was there and she put Gio and I through our paces (Thanks Heather!). Gio did wonderfully, and if he does anything like that next weekend, we should be golden! The big issue that we have been working on is the call front. A couple of weeks back, Gio decided that when I called him front, he should lay down in front of me instead of sit. I have no idea where he got that idea from, but it was pretty firmly implanted in his head. So with some repetition and the help of some stinky garlic salami, I think we have it re-affirmed that he should sit, and not down! Everything he did tonight was beautiful, I really have high hopes for next weekend.

Romeo was his normal enthusiastic self. We did a lot of heeling drills tonight. I'm hoping that that will help with his lagging issue. He tends to get nervous in the ring (could be a reflection of me, even though I try to not let it get to me and honestly don't feel that nervous myself). And when he is nervous, he lags. It's never been bad enough that we NQ, but I know how nicely he can heel so I would like to be able to show that off in the ring. An exercise that I found has really helped with that is one that a different training friend of mine showed me years ago (Thanks Ferne!). While in an off-leash heel, whenever Romeo is nice and close and making eye-contact, I click and toss a treat out to the side. I keep walking and as soon as Romeo catches back up to me and makes eye-contact, I click and toss another treat. So he is doing a lot of running away from me and back again as I keep up a random heel pattern around the room. This really seems to work in reminding him that if he ever ends up out of heel position, he should run to catch back up again so that he can make eye-contact. We will keep playing with this over the next week and hopefully it will transfer over to the ring. Though this time Romeo is only in Rally-O (he got his CD this spring and is not ready for Open obedience yet) so I have a bit more leeway in encouraging him to keep up.

I wasn't able to take any pictures this time around, so I will just share some Rally-O pictures from past trials. These are from a CKC rally fun match held in North Battleford, summer of 2007. Nice heeling, boys!


(Wow, I never realized how much coat Romeo has grown in the past year! He looks so scrawny there!)

Friday Night Obedience Drop In

Every Friday evening we have a drop-in time at a local dog facility. A varied group of people show up sporadically and work on whatever they need to work on. With the SKOC trial coming up in a few weeks, I'm working the boys in CKC obedience and CKC Rally-O. Whatever we are working on, they are always excited!

"We're here! We're here! We're here!"

We started with some long sits ...


Then some long downs ...


Then I worked each of the boys individually on some obedience and rally tasks. I'm not yet talented enough to hold a clicker and treats, signal the dogs, and take a decent picture ... so you will have to use your imagination.

We always end with some play time. This week a fellow trainer was there with her husky cross, Addy. Addy is a real sweet-heart, and oh so keen, especially for Fishy Fudge treats! I love her expressive face, with the one floppy ear.


Romeo really likes Addy, and tries persistently to get her to play with him. But Addy wants none of that ... Shelties are too loud and barky for her. She's content just watching them run around like fools, and monopolizing the treat bag in their absence.