Photos from an agility trial: Page

More photos from the Pawsitive Partners USDAA trial on Sunday. This is Page. Awesome candids!

Photos from an agility trial: Devon

Thanks to Virgil Sweeden of Paw Prints Life who took these awesome photos of Devon in action at the Pawsitive Partners USDAA trial on Sunday. It tops off a great day of Qs and placements!

Funny, funny girl

Page has a sense of humor, and she's very smart. Yesterday she had some extra time outside to enjoy the sunshine and lack of snow. She also took some time to, well, "clean up" the yard a little. We had agility class last night, and we were about 10 minutes away when I heard something in the crate behind me ... then I SMELLED it!

Yep, Page had thrown up in her crate. Even though it was cool outside, I instantly cracked all the windows. I thought, oh great! How am I going to clean this up and will the smell ever come out of my car!

I glanced back at Page, and she was contemplating her situation. Gross poop puke in her crate. I thought, oh great! She's going to be a mess and the car will never smell the same. We were sitting at a red light and I looked back again to check on her. Page was taking her nose and flipping her crate blanket over the puke. I watched as best as I could as she systematically nosed the blanket over the mess and even took her paw to give it a pat. Once it was completely covered, she laid down in the crate giving herself a couple of inches distance from the blanket as if everything was normal. You could almost read the thought bubble over her head: "Momma will NEEEVER notice!"

I wondered where I could stop to clean up the mess and was scoping out a Walmart when I saw a Goodwill store. Perfect! I went into the store, looked for the "color of the day" (it was yellow), found household goods and grabbed two twin sheets and a small baby blanket. The total was $5 and I asked for a large bag for my items. Out in the parking lot, I realized what a great job Page did in cleaning up and keeping herself out of the mess. I cleaned up the crate using just the small blanket I purchased. I stowed Page's stuffed animal, crate blanket and soiled blanket in the bag and tied it up tight. I put one sheet in Page's crate and had one to spare! All that and I was only 5 minutes late to class! And the bonus: my car doesn't even smell!

Thanks, Page, for cleaning up for me! What a funny girl!

Photos from the ACI trial

Thanks to Virgil Sweeden and Rebecca Forrest of Paw Prints Life for their awesome photography at the Agility Club of Indianapolis trial in June. Virgil is a very talented photographer, and Rebecca is the best at helping pick out just the right shots. If you see them at an upcoming trial, make sure to ask Virgil to take shots of your dogs. You will have fantastic memories!

Devon's photos:

See, I can do the teeter!

Mom, it's a sit on the table. Can't you hear she's not counting?

Told ya!

Page's photos:

Wordless Wednesday: Hummmm, this is comfortable....

I thought these two photos were funny. The first one is Devon curled up in "Page's lounge chair." It's not really Page's chair, but it is the one she spends the most time in. Devon has hopped up there several times in the last few days as if she's testing it out for comfort. Maybe it's more comfortable than where Devon usually spends her time? I'm not sure Devon's convinced.

And here's a recent shot of Page testing out Connor's couch. Again, not really his couch, but since the weather has been warm, 10-year-old Connor prefers to spend his days on the couch where the air conditioning is the coolest. You can see I'm once again protecting my furniture with fleece!

Rain, rain go away!

We got hammered by a series of storms last night. Twice we were all crowded in the little bathroom below the stairs, once around midnight when the wind and hail got bad and a second time at 3 a.m. when a tornado warning was issued. Connor hates storms, and Devon decided last night she did, too. Page took everything in stride, even laying down in the tiny bathroom as her brothers and sister panted at the baby gate. Wish I had a photo of the profile shadow Ian cast on the wall from the bathroom nightlight. Belgians really do look like wolves!

This morning the yard was completely flooded. I didn't get pictures for a few hours, and the water had receded quite a bit by the time these were taken. Page, always one to make lemonade from lemons, decided it was a blast having a lake in the back yard! Once she took her first all out run through the water, Connor got into the act and has enjoyed the water all day. Silly Goldens! From this video clip you'd never guess Connor was 10 years old!

When good agility judges go bad (for charity)

Many agility enthusiasts have probably already seen these video links circulating on email lists, but I thought they were worth posting. At the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of America's agility trial in Murfreesboro, TN on March 5-7 a special fund-raising event took place to benefit Chase Away K9 Cancer.

The judges for the weekend were Scott Stock and Blair Kelly (one of my favorites). Scott made a challenge that if $500 was raised by the exhibitors, he would run the Excellent Standard Course as if he were the dog. He also challenged Joel Lavalley (one of my favorite competitors) to run the course if $1,000 was raised. Blair Kelly, known for his white pants, challenged that if $2,000 was raised, he would run the course as well (in his white pants)!

I understand that more than $4,000 was raised over the weekend, and the resulting videos are hilarious! Boy I wish I was there! It's a good thing agility folks are always armed with video cameras, because we can all enjoy it!

Scott Stock expertly handled by Gene in his souped-up wheelchair:

Joel Lavelley handled by his wife Jean:

Blair Kelly handled by 4-year-old Lauren Denereaz (you will see that Blair followed all AKC rules by coming into the ring on leash!):

And Stacy Moss (another of my favorite competitors) of the GSPCA who was the chief fundrasier also ran the course, handled by Jamie Herrin with a dislocated elbow (I heard Stacy "won" the competition!):

Happy (Belated) Birthday Devon!

Devon turned 4 years old on Friday. The end of last week was incredibly busy for me, especially with the trial over the weekend, so her birthday post got delayed. Even if she knew, she wouldn't be too worried.

Devon knows she's the joy of my life. She's my heart. She wakes up each morning by burying her head into my neck as if to say, "Oh mom, just 5 more minutes! Make those other dogs go away!" But then she's up to start the day helping me carry down the food bowls.

She's a joy to live with and a joy to train. If the agenda calls for a quiet evening watching tv, she's all for that snuggled in next to you. If the day calls for field training, she's right there demanding her turn. She's great at anything you ask, and if there's an audience watching all the better! I have to keep her from taking her tracking articles back to the judges or the gallery when we track. In agility class, she gets her reward by getting a toy and taking it to the instructor or laying on her back and joyously playing with her toy to the sound of everyone saying how cute she is. I'd get a complex if I didn't know she'd only go home with me!

Last fall Agile Gold spent an evening here and got to witness Devon's demanding routine if I'm too slow to deliver her dinner. Kathy said this would be a perfect blog post, and I thought there is no other time than on Devon's birthday. I'm not sure if you can appreciate the foam around her mouth because she's so excited for her meal. Sometimes that goes flying when she barks at me. One editor's note: please forgive the large chunks of black fur on my floor. Ian is blowing coat and I've had to vacuum every couple of days lately, plus Page goes in and plays in the fur sometimes. I took this video clip pre-vacuum!

A found a few photos of Devon from this past year. The biggest event in our life in the last year was earning Devon's Senior Hunter title last fall. What an accomplishment for both of us and something I'll remember for a lifetime! This weekend Devon gave me her AXJ for her birthday. Frankly, the title and ribbons were the icing, the cake is having a great run with her!

So happy birthday baby girl! You're so very special and I'm so fortunate to have you in my life!

Wordless Wednesday: Watching snow

This is how Devon spends her day. Today she's monitoring the weather conditions from the second floor daybed. Usually she's on sentry duty for cats that come across our yard and hunt in the creek.

You see the snow burst has caught Page's attention and she came to investigate when it suddenly fades. Makes you wonder what Page thinks about the sudden loss of snow. Devon's been watching for several minutes, so she acts bored with the whole thing.

Happy Birthday Page!

Here it is! The day she's been waiting for! Page is 1-year-old today!

I cannot believe Page is a year old. In some ways it seems she just came home yesterday and yet it seems like she's been here forever. Page is full of energy and lives to work with me. She's a training joy. Yet she's not all work and no play. In fact, the best comment I've heard about Page is that her personality is bigger than she is. Everyone who meets her smiles.

Page's first year has been mostly documented in video and posted on the blog. But today I went through photos of her taken in her first year, and I thought I'd share some favorites...