I miss blogging!

I have been so busy the last couple weeks I have neglected blogging. I am still here but our office manager at our dog training school has been on vacation for 3 weeks. I have no idea how we ever did this without her and I will be so glad when she is back on Monday.

In the meantime here a couple more photos from the Cattle Dog National Specialty.

This was Kindle's first foray into the conformation ring. We took 3rd out of 3 little puppy bitches. It was hysterical, she bounced her way through the whole class or was pulling to get to the pup ahead of her, so the judge really could not see her conformation. I know she is perfect though and she had a blast so that's all that counts.

At least I can control her with food. She does love to eat and look how big she is!

See you all again soon. I will have more photos from the Nationals and videos of Kindle's agility training . She is a genius!!!

Cattle Dog National Specialty

We are home and what a week we had! It will take a couple more days to get through all the pictures and for me to write some descriptions of the awesome week we had.
In case you don't know what a National Specialty show is, it's a week long gathering for anyone owning an Australian Cattle Dog. There are AKC Agility trials, Obedience trials, Rally trials, Conformation and Herding competitions. Seminars, shopping at vendors selling dog paraphernalia, banquets and so much more. We entered agility and all 3 cattle dogs did Herding Instinct testing. More about that later this week. We also entered a couple fun conformation competitions. Nothing formal just fund raising competitions for the club hosting and practice for the real thing. So anyway, I'll start with last weekend and describe our week.

The agility trial was great except it poured almost the entire time. Beta and Scott qualified and took first place in their first Novice FAST class. Jackaroo and I qualified in Excellent Jumpers with Weaves taking first place and earning 22 speed points toward our MACH title. I was absolutely floored that he also took High in Trial in Jumpers with Weaves. We won a gorgeous handmade pottery bowl. Doesn't my boy look proud?

I am really proud of him even though the rest of our runs were not spectacular we did a respectable job at our first National Specialty.

On Sunday night Patty and Karl who own Roland one of Kindle's litter mates, hosted a dinner for all of us attending the national who own dogs from Bryn Mawr, the kennel Beta and Kindle are out of. There were so many of us and it was great to show off our dogs and get to know each other. Kindle and her brother Roland had a lovely reunion.

Too bad I didn't also take pictures of all the people. I was too busy meeting people and dogs and watching Kindle play with all the dogs. Cattle dogs are are fun to watch, they are very physical and love a good body slamming game.

Patty cooked us all a traditional Italian dinner with homemade gnocchi, pasta, lasagna and fantastic sauce. It was sooooo good! We became fast friends with Patty and Karl and spent lots of time with them. I didn't realize until tonight that I don't have any pictures of them, only of Roland. Geesh!

This is Gracie another fabulous Bryn Mawr girl.

I'll leave you tonight with a short video of the puppy reunion. They tired each other out pretty well!

I have more to tell you about so come on back.

Off to the Cattle Dog Nationals

We are off this morning to Pennsylvania for the National Specialty show. this should be a hoot. All Cattle dogs all the time. I am sure we will have lots of stories, pictures and adventures when we get back home next week.


In the meantime here a few photos of the dogs enjoying the new Expedition.

They love it and are ready for the trip.

Take care everyone! See you in a week.

Kindle's first stay in the camper

Last weekend's show was Kindle's first time actually staying in the camper. I had given her a tour before so it wouldn't be a scary place.

She was mostly enthralled with her crate in there.

Indeed it was difficult to get her out of the crate.
She liked peeking at the other dogs through the sides.

And let everyone know it was hers alone!

What a character!!!

She slept quite well but then being at a show is exciting for all the dogs so they generally become snoring logs after they eat dinner. Next Friday we leave for the Australian Cattle Dog National Specialty in Pennsylvania for a week so this was a good dry run.

Fall Dog Show Season

Well the fall season is upon us. I have been so busy with my pup Kindle my blogging has gone to a back burner and I have been very remiss in updating you, my 4 faithful readers, on how the dogs are doing in agility.

This last weekend we were at a USDAA show in New Hampshire and it was a bit of a challenge for me. Kindle has been going through a fear/bratty/barking stage of development. If you have never experienced a cattle dog shriek I just can't explain it. But suffice to say it is truly brain melting. Really! I'll tape it for you so you can experience it too.

I digress, Kindle was barking incessantly and I could hear her while in the ring with Jackaroo and it was very distracting. Saturday my handling was terrible. Despite this we did manage to qualify in Master Snooker. The amazing part of that is Jackaroo knocked a bar so we lost about 6 points but still Qualified. A testimony to how fast my boy is.

By Sunday I had settled down, as had the puppy, and Jack and I had a couple of decent runs. We were just shy of qualifying but I loved the courses. Here is our Master jumpers run. Jackaroo knocked 2 bars and incurred a refusal but it was still a nice run. and really fun!

Please no comments on my running style. It's not too bad taking into account I have no cartilage left in my knees.

So to date Jackaroo has won this year so far:

In AKC (American kennel Club):

1. Excellent A Standard Title
2. Excellent A Jumpers with Weaves Title
3. Novice FAST Title

In USDAA (United States Dog Agility Association):

1. Grand Prix Local Qualifier
2. Dog Agility Master (DAM) Team Qualifier

We have a few shows left this fall season and I think we may do a couple winter inside shows so stay tuned to see what my boy will do next. I have to check with Scott On Beta's statistics I can't keep hers straight she is doing so well.

Hold on everyone!

Ok so I thought I was getting that silver truck but as it turns out we found a better deal and it's red!!!

Take a look.

Oh it's just so gorgeous! And my wonderful husband told them to put in a remote starter! Woohoo! No more cold truck when I leave work at 10PM in the winter. Oh joy! I bet the dogs will love it too.

My new Expedition

Here is a pic of my new truck. Pretty spiffy huh? I probably won't get it until early next week and I just can't wait!!!