We got to play!

We finally got to go out and play! The storm was really bad this morning, so I never thought it would be so sunny. It didn't last long, but at least I got to run, play agility and chase some birds AND my bumper.

I am now back in the house waiting on dinner! And then more cookout.. hopefully. And I just think there may be a little bit of shrimp left.

Helping Mom - I am bored!

I am so bored as it is pouring rain and we cannot go outside. Mom is cleaning the office, so I decided to help. I am a really good shredder. So everything she put in the trash can, I took it out and shredded it for her.

Now maybe she will take me somewhere to play!!

My new CHUTE!

While Mom and I were playing rally, Gary built us a chute. Mom was so worried that I would not do a chute since we never have one in class to practice, so Gary built one for us. He set it up last night and I kept running through it, Mom could even send me to it from the fabric end. I think she feels better about me doing it now :)

Cookout!

When we got home from the trial, Gary had all the cookout food ready!! YUM! What a great way to be welcomed home. I helped Gary cook on the grill and supervised my food.

This was our first cookout of the year and I was so excited about all the good food.

The VERY BEST part was shrimp!! I L O V E shrimp!!! Gary always buys it just for me.

6 for 6 in rally!

What a FUN day! Before we left this morning, Mom checked me and I need a little tuneup with the ZEB, but not much. That was a good sign.

We arrived at the trial and took our morning walk and then went in to get ready for our first run. We were 4th in the ring, so he had to be ready before Mom walked.

It was a very busy weekend because Mom worked score table and she said I am high maintenance. I am not sure what THAT means, but she spent time with me before and after our runs! We played lots of attention games before our runs too and big jackpots after.

I was very good in all my runs. A few things here and there, but Mom made some mistakes too! She thought she would be more animated once as she wasn't sure if I felt good, oohh, that was a fun run. I jumped and bounced on the start line. I did a good job of controlling myself until we got to the flip finish, then I leaped high in the air and my paw knocked off our sticker. So we lost some points for that.

All of our scores were 200 or more except for one - when Mom dropped the leash! I may have contributed a little, but she is supposed to hold on to it! We still earned a 196 though. So we had good, fun runs all weekend.

We did better in our Level 2, off leash than we did on Level 1 (probably cause Mom isn't good with a leash :) I even did the difficult bonus exercises like in Utility, doing distance downs.

Mom was going to enter me in Level 3, but her head was hurting and it had been a long weekend with my belly troubles, Mom working, and all our other runs. So we will do that in October! There are 2 exercises in Level 3 that we need to work on, so that is our goal for next trial.

What a really F U N weekend!!!

Mommy worked magic

Mom worked her magic on me tonight and helped my tummy feel better. She used the ZEB to get the numbers to work on me. Everything showed my large intestine.... so she worked on that and tested the homeopathics. After some zebbing and a few doses, I was feeling better.

Now for a good night sleep and I should be READY TO RALLY!!

Enjoying the nice evening at home

I love being outside with Mom!

Another new title

My ribbons and new toys that I earned today!!

Today we went to the Wild Weaver's building for the APDT trial. I needed one more leg to finish my RL2 title. We had level one first, and we are in the "B" class so we are competing with the dogs that have their rally championships as well as all those in Level 3. We did a great job and earned a 4th place! That is great considering the level of competition as well as how many were in our class.

We then had Level 2 and it was a pretty twisty course, Mom was afraid she would miss a sign. She worked really hard on learning the flow so that she would not mess me up. Then she got all freaked out right before our turn and said she didn't even remember the course - great, she is supposed to be the one giving directions and she doesn't even remember what we are supposed to do?? And she wonders why *I* want to check the signs during our run??!!

It all went well, she remembered where to go and I did a good job. We did very good on the really hard bonus too! We earned a second place AND our title!! Woohoo!!

I was a little slower than normal and Mom could tell I did not feel well. By the time we finished my tummy was really upset and I just wanted to lay down. I did get my reward cookies, but went in my cage and crashed.

We had to pull from the rest of our runs as I just did not feel well. Mom gave me some homeopathics and zebbed my tummy, but told me I got to rest today and maybe we can try tomorrow.

Hopefully I will feel better, it is not fun being sick. Especially at a trial!! I wanted to play!

(The judge had the stomach flu so Mom told her that she made me sick... hmm, not sure if that was so smart of mom to blame her :)

Ready to Rally!!

Mom and I went to set up for our rally trial this weekend. We had class tonight too and I was a happy, silly boy! I have not been to a trial in quite awhile and I am excited!!! I did a very good job on my course but as soon as Mom released me I leaped and celebrated.

We are going to have soo much fun and I get to see all my friends!!!

R U N ! ! !

SNOOZE!

This morning the alarm went off and I was excited, I was ready to get up. Then Mom leaned over and hit the snooze button. I sighed, got back in bed and laid down. I know what the snooze button means...

morning walk

Mom and I went to the trail this morning for a long walk. She put good stuff in the back pack so that we had cold water and I had ice cubes. It really is not that hot on the trail as it is through a lot of trees, so a lot of shade. It is just hot when you take a long walk! We walked 3 miles and still did not got as far as we had planned. The trip "down" the path was not bad, but coming back there were bicycles everywhere and most of them were rude and did not announce they were coming. So Mom had to keep an eye in both directions to keep us safe. So the coming back part was not as much fun.

I saw several dogs on the path too. And a father and son were riding bikes and the man told mom what a good boy I was for coming side when bikes were coming.

As usual, mom took pictures of me on our water/ice breaks. One I just got on the bench by myself, thought I might as well pose before she had some other idea.

The first of many...

Mom and I went to class tonight for run thrus. We had excellent level courses so I really had to pay attention. There were a lot of rear crosses and we did them really well, probably the first time that we did them smooth with several in the middle of a course.

Then, I had to save Mom's butt, she sent me to a jump but then pulled off of it and veered to the poles. I had to think fast and went out and did the jump. Goodness, how long has she been doing agility?? and how long have I? I guess this is just the first of many times that I will have to save her!!!

OUCHY Neck!

My neck was really sore this morning and I didn't want Gary to quit rubbing it. I kept pushing harder and harder into his shoulder. Then when he thought he was done, I put my head in his lap so he would keep rubbing. Mom thought it was muscular as it was tight last night.

Mom took me to Dr. Karen tonight and as soon as I saw her I started wiggling and wagging my tail, I was sooo happy. She went over me and adjusted my neck in 4 places. I yawned and yawned and then it felt so good.

On the way home Mom told me I had to rest and let her use the ZEB on me, but I had other ideas as I felt good. I started running and spinning through the house as soon as we got home. She kept telling me to settle, but I need to R U N!!!

I finally just relaxed and let her work on me some, but I really don't think I need it.

Go AWAY Rain!

Well, now that I am home and would like to run, it is raining!! Of course Mom gets really worried about me running in slippery grass, just too dangerous! We have been playing retrieve in the training room, but it is kind of boring....
I hope it clears up soon so I can RUN!!!

Morning After

We went to bed later than usual last night and Mom and I were tired! We slept all night until we heard Gary up this morning. Once he was up I wanted to get up. Hey, I didn't get dinner last night... I am hungry! After breakfast, Mom worked on the computer and I crashed! It is hard work to pay such good attention for 2 days.

GO FOR IT! Day Two

Back for day two, we didn't have to be there until 8:30 today since we were all setup. Last night Mom was thinking about questions and she was going to ask how to put all of this together at a trial. Once I know all the games, how do we use them at a trial? Once we were all settled in, Megan came up to mom and said that we each get a turn to demonstrate one game so that we get to see everything "in action." Our turn was to show how to put it all together, how funny is that?? That was Mom's question :) So we would go last, after everyone else shows all the individual games, then we get to go outside and pretend we are at a trial and how we use CU from the moment we pull into the parking lot to the moment we walk in the ring.

Megan said she and Helix were very excited because they have never been able to do this at a seminar before. Oh, great, now Mom will be stressed!!!

We started our day with some mat work while we listened to all the different pieces. I got more lamb and rice in the food tube too! Mat work is great :)



Then each of the other dogs got their turn to show one of the games in action. Olive got to go first. It was funny as Mom and I thought we knew Olive and then Mom ate lunch with Olive's mom. (Mom also thought she looked very familiar) She found out she was an APDT Rally judge and asked if she had judged at Wild Weavers. She said, "I thought I recognized Edge" how funny, she knew me too!!

Then all the other dogs got a turn and I really enjoyed watching them. The "ring" was in the middle and all our spaces were around the ring, so we could watch what was going on. Rudy is a Vizsla and Rudy LOVED his mat. He had to heel two steps and then got to run to his mat. He was funny as he would "cuss" out his Mom if she got confused. He wanted clear instructions!!

We worked on the "say hi" game and Mom messed up. She kept giving me doggie zen palm up and I knew I was not supposed to bother doggie zen hand. Finally Helix saved me!! She came around and told Mom why I was not touching. Whew, I'm glad someone understood! As soon ash she turned her hand over, I touched it! Then I got to "say hi" to other people too and got treats for it. This is FUN!!

I also had my picture taken with my paws on Mom's shoulders. Everyone was trying to guess who was taller. I think *I* won. But Rudy's dad wanted a picture of the two of us looking eye to eye.

My Turn - Day Two

After break, it was MY turn. Megan told us what we were supposed to do, Mom loaded her pockets with cookies and we left the building.

When we walked in, it was so different. Dogs were standing around, people were opening crates, everyone was gathered around talking and laughing and there was even a dog working in the ring! Boy was I excited! I had to take it all in. Hmmm, guess that was not the example I was supposed to give. But we went back outside and came back in. I did much better this time and turned around and faced Mom like I am supposed to. I looked at Ginger as she is really cute, so Mom and I played the "see it" game and finally I didn't want to look at her. We walked a little and then did some mat work. Then we played see it again... Mom was about out of cookies, but luckily someone brought her my bag of cookies to reload her pockets. We made it to my cage and then Mom went to pretend check in. I was a good boy in my cage, just like always.

Then she came back and we did some mat work and then played attention games. We did eye contact, hand targets, and doggie zen. We approached the ring and Jacq was working and he is just SOO cute, so we played see it again. I am good at that game.

We did some more attention work and then Megan wanted us to demonstrate the GMAB game, but I just couldn't. I was focused on Mom. Everyone was teasing that she couldn't even push me away - but that is GOOD. So then it was our turn, the food had to go away as no food in the ring. We walked up to the ring gates, Mom walked in and I turned and looked at her. Then we did side and I gave her my full attention. Then we got to play on the jump! woohoo!!! We got a standing ovation and zoomed and jumped and twirled. I like for people to watch me!!!

What a fun game to play!! But Mom said the cooler was empty, I ate all the cookies. I heard her tell someone that I didn't get dinner since I ate so much salmon and roast beef. Like she thought I would not realize I didn't get dinner???

Megan and Helix finished up the seminar and everyone started packing their stuff. I thought for sure I would get dinner in the van, but Mom just pretended like she had no idea it was dinner time.

We had a very uneventful drive home, which was good and pulled in a little before 10:00. We unpacked the van and went to bed! It was nice to be home and sleeping in my bed. BUT it was worth going as we had sooo much fun and I think Mom may have learned some things :)

Bedrock

Mom thought this was funny as it was next door to the seminar building. My great Grandpa Rock's ads and name was always in bedrock font and it was kind of his theme. As well as I am from "Rockville" Weimaraners. Just seemed appropriate to share.

Go For It! Day One

Mom and I drove to the training building this morning (well, after our stop at Panera!) We had to be there at 8:00 to set up our space since we were a working dog. The seminar is a very controlled environment and we each got our own "room" of ring gates and we had our own parking place and door to go in. I think Mom made about 10 trips taking all our stuff inside, when is it MY turn?? I want to go in!

After it was all carried in and arranged, here is my great spot:

We had a great area and we could open the gates to watch everyone else, or close the gates and work off leash in our area.

We did a lot of basics today, lots of mat work, warm up type exercises (hand target, eye contact, doggie zen) a lot of thinking type games. We each got a turn in the big ring and got to "be a dog" so that Meghan and Helix could see our default behaviors. I was a good boy and stayed with mom most of the time. I did scan a time or two, but kept my attention on her and ran back when she tossed cookies for me. I also demonstrated my "default behavior" which is to sit and look at mom's eyes! I know that gets me cookies!!

After our big day, we went back to the hotel for dinner and a walk. And then I crashed! It was a long day with a lot of "brain" work!

CU Seminar

Mom sent in my application a long time ago and we were chosen for a working spot in the GO FOR IT! Seminar based on Leslie's Control Unleashed. We have worked some of the exercises and they are fun and Mom thinks they help me focus on her. So, this is the big weekend and we are on our way to Lafayette.

It seemed like we were in the van for a long time. I slept a lot, but also watched where we were going some of the way. Mom told me we were going to play and I saw all the good treats she put in the coolers, so I was excited.

We got to the hotel and unpacked and I was ready for dinner! Mom tried to put hot water in the sink, but couldn't get the stopper to work. She finally had to call the front desk, all upset as she thought we may have to move rooms. But they told her you push it at the drain, it doesn't work from the back. She was happy when she got it to work.

We drove to Chili's and got her dinner (well, OUR dinner) as she has to share with me. We had good stuff! She ordered chicken, beef and shrimp fahitas - YUM!! Then we took a walk, and later another walk. There were birds and bunnies and tall grass, and it was a lot of fun. We walked all over the place.

We were out for our last walk and was in the grass across from the parking lot. Mom and I heard some people moving into the room next to ours and making noise. Then we heard "there's Edge!" I was excited as it had to be a friend. Mom was perplexed because who could know me there??? Then Megan comes over and introduces herself to me and gives me lots of good rubs. Then Helix came over and rubbed me too. Wow, this is nice. Then they introduced themselves to Mom. They said they just knew it had to be me! They were very impressed that I was such a good boy.

Here is a picture of the infamous sink, it was a problem all weekend. It was even too tall for mom to wash her face. She had to go to the bathtub to wash her face before bed. It may look nice but didn't make Mom very happy...

Off to do mat work

Fun Class tonight

Mom and I had fun at class tonight. It was so nice to be able to go play agility again. We have not been able to do a lot outside lately with all this rain. We did contacts, spread jumps, tunnels and table first. I was a very good boy and did everything mom asked me to do. A bar was knocked but Kim told Mom it was her fault for calling me over the double and she agreed - so not *MY* fault!! She did it right the next time.

Then we moved to the weaves and teeter. We worked on driving forward front crosses and luckily mom and I had just worked on those at home last week and over the weekend. So we were able to do that pretty well. I did great weave poles too.

Mom was proud of me to work when Dash came to our class. Two weeks ago he walked into the room with one sequence to go and I just could not concentrate. Tonight he came over and joined our class, well, hung out in our class, but I was able to focus and do the sequence including the weaves. I got LOTS of cookies for doing that!

Happy Mother's Day

Grandma and Gary helped me get gifts for Mom for Mother's Day. Mom LOVES Panera and has breakfast there almost every day. She even finds the closest one to our hotel and goes there in the mornings when we travel. (I really like their cinnamon bagels and egg sandwiches! YUM!) So I got her a gift certificate for Panera and a camera for my collar so that I can take my own pictures to post to the blog. Ha, now I can post pictures of her! Grandma also helped me get some doggie postage stamps so we can mail in all our entries :) I gave her two really cute cards too.

Happy Mother's Day to Mom and Grandma!!! I am a very lucky boy....

Agility Run Thru!

Mom and I packed up and headed to a new place to do agility today. We were the first ones there, so we played a game running in and running out of the ring. And then we played start line and ran out and I got cookies! I really liked that I got all those cookies for just running around and being silly with mom.

Then we played the "see it" game and mom said she was proud of me as it took me less time for focus than the last time we were at a rally trial. We were working together and then a little girl Weim came in the building, her name was Pinky. Oh, she was so cute. I really wanted to go see her, but Mom wanted me to pay attention as we were going to play agility soon. I got to say hi and then I worked with Mom.

I had so much fun and Mom said we did the open course as they really didn't have a novice course. There was an aframe and a tunnel and I had to listen to make sure I knew which one to take. And their teeter really slammed me to the ground really fast and bounced me off, so I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I just stood there and mom rewarded me, so I guess that was a good decision :) But I was able to control it the next time as I knew how it acted. Mom rewarded me after each set of weave poles as I hit all my entries and did all the poles on the first try. I really had to pay attention as we had to do 180s over jumps with tunnels on the other side, but I listened to everything mom said. We ran three courses and I didn't have any off courses.

Mom kept telling me how proud she was of me, but I just had a lot of fun. I got to meet more friends (especially Pinky), eat good cookies AND play agility with Mom. It was a good day!!!

Sleeping with my Pig!!

Massage by Gary

Every morning when we get up, I get in Gary's lap and he rubs me! I REALLY like to have my neck rubbed. I push my head into his shoulder and lean on him. And then he rubs my back and I stretch my legs and body. He does a really good job and makes me feel good. I even gave him a kiss for the good rubs!!!

Busy Week!

Mom and I had a FUN, busy week. We went to run thrus and I did two courses and they were LONG courses. I don't think we have ever done 20 obstacles before. Then we went to class another night and we had a lot of fun and Mom said I did a great job. Then I saw Lilly... I just lost my little boy brain when I saw Lilly :) Luckily we were just about done. And then we went to rally class. We haven't been to rally in awhile and it was fun to see my rally friends again. We did a lot of group work and then we did a course. I really enjoy doing the courses, it is easier to concentrate when I am working alone.

Bad Weather

When we got home from rally class I wanted to go out back and run around. Mom kept telling me it was going to rain. Well, I waited, and waited, and NO rain. So I asked again and she finally agreed to take me out to run. There was no rain, but it sure was weird outside. It was very hot, windy, and the sky was very dark. Mom kept trying to take a picture of me with my ears flapping in the wind... she thought that was funny!

Mom's new phone

Mom got a new "computer" phone with a great camera. Now I have to pose for more pictures as she always has her phone. I was safe a little more often as she would forget her camera. And now she is always checking email... before it was just in the office, now it is everywhere. Not to mention all the time she spent setting it up which could have been spent playing with me!

here is one of many..

Pictures from the weekend

Sunday Fun!

We got up early this morning and went out for a walk and then back in our room to get ready. It was really nice out until time to pack the van, then it was pouring rain. So we had pack all our stuff in the rain. As soon as we hit the road, it quit raining. Mom went to Panera and we had our normal bagel and coffee (well, Mom had coffee, I only shared the bagel. I really want coffee, but she tells me I do not need it!)

We arrived at the training building early and got settled in time for another walk. I was getting lots of attention from Maureen and Cathy and Judy commented how handsome I was, so I looked at her and went flying over and leaned against her. She was shocked that I knew she was talking about me??

Today was a better start as there was not so much talking right away, we got to play much earlier. Today was more fun too as it was more difficult things, so more cookies. We did drop on recalls, signals (everyone was impressed with my POP up sit!! Deb said I sure took that literally!), spins, scent discrimination, and lots of dumbbell games. I really like my dumbbell!

By quitting time, I was really tired. 2 Full days of play is a lot for my brain. But I had a lot of fun and liked meeting all my new friends. Vito's mom, Pinky, came today too and she was really big. She was nice, but not as much fun as Vito.

We learned some new games to play at home too. So I can't wait to get started!

Hotel!!

After our great day at the seminar, Mom and I headed to the hotel. We took a long walk and then I ate dinner. Then we went and picked up dinner for mom and I shared that (yum - 2 dinners for me!) After another long walk, I crashed!! It was a BIG day for me and I had so much fun. We get to go back again tomorrow.

What a FUN weekend!

I had such a great weekend. Saturday morning we got up really early, packed the van and headed to Canton. Mom kept telling me we were going to go "play" and meet a lot of new friends. I was so excited!! When we got there, I saw a lot of friends that I had played with before and some new ones. We set up all our stuff in this great building and then took a walk. There was a dog park next door and lots of dogs came up to the fence to greet me too.

It was then time to start, so we went back inside and I had to go in my cage. HEY! I thought we were going to play. Then everyone started talking... I voiced my opinion once as I thought we were going to play and blah, blah, blah, everyone was introducing themself and talking about this and that. When it got to mom's turn she said that I wanted to know when we got to play. I'm glad she let them know!

Then the bestest friend arrived... wow, a big dog, bigger than me! Vito is a black 7 month Great Dane, I was so excited to meet him. Finally he and his mom came over and sat down with us. Mom said that he reminded her so much of me at that age - ornery and into everything! Thanks mom ??!!! We got to hang out together all day and even "got in trouble" for some grumbly big dog play. boys will be boys...

We did a lot of fun stuff and I got to eat a lot of great cookies. We each got to take turns in the ring, it was a lot of fun as I like to learn new things.