Gang symbols?

Do we have a new gang starting here at the Fahle Ranch? And to think we moved out to the country to get away from all of that type of influence!

CPE Night trial - Tali and Groovy news

Last night we (Tali, Groovy and I) went to a CPE night trial at Pasco Paws in Zephyrhills. We had a lot of fun even though we didn't get home until 3am in the morning! SOOOO glad we aren't entered tonight.

Tali had a good night - Groovy did too but more on that later. She was very focused and as the evening cooled off her speed increased. She's such a good girl now! We NQ'd our first run which was Gamblers. She came out of the tunnel and crossed behind me which made me almost step on her which made the whistle blow before I was ready which put me way to close to her at the gamble line too soon. Oh well...

Next was Wildcard. She did awesome and we Q'd and got 2nd!

Standard followed and we had a beautiful run with nice weaves. I screwed up and forgot to front cross in the beginning which caused a bobble but we stayed on course however the next to last obstacle was the teeter and Tali flew right off of it despite me gearing down and telling her "Easy" because I could see she was going too fast. My fault for never training a solid "you stay on it until it goes down" teeter. It's her first fly off in a long time though so no big deal in the overall picture of things.

Next was colors - another beautiful run with a Q and a 1st place!

The last run was snooker. Not sure why snooker at 2am is a good idea but it always seems to come last on these night trials. I tried something I've never tried before and that was 3 - 7's in the opening and the 7's were weaves! (6 poles) Tali didn't get a good entry on the first set but nailed the other two and the weaves in the closing. It was a lot of fun and we Q'd and got 1st!

As for Miss Groovy Girl - she did awesome! This is the "same trial" that all of Groovy's fear issues started. That was 9 or 10 weeks ago. What a difference some time makes. Last night she got out of the car happy and bouncy. She greeted everyone with wiggles and affection - men included. It was like a whole new dog! At the end of the evening I even pulled out Kelli's wobble board and ladder and she was tugging like a maniac on the wobble board and did good work on the ladder. I've got my fingers crossed that this Groovy is more of the "real" Groovy because I sure do like her! :) There were a lot of aussie people there and she was a hit. I got to see her brother Seven. He is much bigger than her though we never had them side by side to see an up close comparison. Overall it was a great night for all 3 of us! Next trial isn't until the first weekend of October but disc season is starting in mid September! Woo hoo!

Groovy at 10 weeks

Groovy 2 weeks ago at 19 weeks

Jam's doing good!

Jam's spay went well and she is recovering nicely! Her hips look good to the vet and they look good to me. Hard for me to see what is going on between the ball and the socket in terms of space but everything else I know to look at looks really nice. We'll see what OFA says. I never count my chickens before they hatch when it comes to orthopedic issues! Keeping her on R&R for another week is going to be a pain in the butt but she's doing really well with it so far.

Tonight is a CPE trial with Tali - should be fun - just hope we don't get too rained on!

Jam's "big" day

Tomorrow is a big day for Jam... she'll hate every minute of it though since she is getting spayed and her hips xrayed. Why is she getting spayed at the same time she is getting her hips done? Because while she is an excellent pet and companion and is absolutely adorable she just does not have the focus and drive to be what I consider breed quality. Maybe someday she will but even so - do I really want a pup from her and have to wait 3-4 years for the focus and drive to kick in? Nope... I don't. I bet she would have made a great mom - she's doing a bang up job of being a big sister to Groovy. I've known for a long while though that I wasn't going to breed her so that part of it isn't going to be hard on me tomorrow. The hard part for me will be the anticipation that 1) everything goes safely and 2) to see what her hips look like. So say a little prayer for Jam Jam that all is well tomorrow... we love that little red headed airhead!

A pic of Jam in one of those moments of focus and drive! Maybe someday she can sustain these moments for more than 30 seconds at a time! :)

Groovy graduates and more...

This week was a busy week for Miss Groovy. On Sunday she went to the park with us to watch Jack practice frisbee with Tali and practice pairs with Gary and Bayer. She had a nice time practicing her behaviors for her Puppy K graduation that was coming up on Tuesday.



Monday night was her first agility class. It's a foundation class that is safe for young dogs to participate in - no jumping or anything until they are old enough. This week we just talked about playing with our dogs, tug, etc. We had to get up in front of the class and play with our dogs without any toys. That was an easy one with Groove - just run away from her and a game begins! Then we had to get up in front of class and tug. This I was worried about because while she likes to tug she is hit or miss in strange places in addition to the fact that she is losing teeth. Well she tugged and even more impressive is that she tugged with our instructor who she didn't know before that evening! She was a very good girl and I was so very pleased!


Tuesday night she graduated her Puppy K class! She graduated in the top 13! (that's a joke - there were 13 in the class and the instructor kept telling folks that) She did sits, downs, stays and loose leash walking with flair and success and her "pattycake" trick was a hit. Even more impressive though was her saying hello to the small children and men and not minding at all when Mike the instructor put her graduation cap on her head. I was shocked and surprised. She's like a whole new dog lately! Hopefully it sticks!

Thanks to Sarah and Jack for the photos!

I'm a copy Kat - Vote for which of my Hi-Fi Aussies is your favorite!

My friend Sarah who is the one who got me to blog to begin with put up a poll on her page to vote for which of her dogs is her readers favorite. I thought it was a cool idea so I put one up too! So go vote and feel free to leave a comment about who you voted for and why! I'm curious to know!

Interesting week...

It's been an interesting week for Miss Groovy. Tuesday was puppy class 5 of 6. Groovy was so well adjusted and "Miss Social". She was giving kisses and love to the guy sitting next to us... yes - I said the GUY! She was totally at ease the whole class - didn't even mind when I handed her leash off to the instructor to do a recall.

Today was dock diving. I think Jack and I had visions of it going a lot better than it did however as I know with other dogs of ours - just because you love water at the beach doesn't mean you love it in a pool. She wasn't about to jump off a dock that's 2 feet off the water for a toy or even for cheese or even for me or Jack. We worked on her just swimming from the top step instead. We'll have to build from there. There were still some very "braggable" moments today though. For one Groovy was again "Miss Social" yet she has never been to this place before or been around any of these people before. She was loving up on everyone and had no reserve at all after about the first 5 minutes there. Amazing and wonderful! The other great moment was after the class was over Jack played a little frisbee with Tali (who we took as a "backup" dog but who never tried the dock diving today). Groovy was totally into what they were doing so when they were done Jack put Tali up and did a few rollers with Groovy. She did amazing! Woo hoo! :)

This week we start a new adventure too! Beginner Agility on Monday nights! Tuesday is puppy class graduation as well. She had to learn a trick for graduation and our trick is "patty cake". Will have to get it on film once it's perfected. It's a trick I taught Mickie but haven't taught anyone else. Groovy got it pretty quickly! She's a smart girl!

Things are never simple with the Muck Man

Well it doesn't look like it's a cracked nail so they did xrays. The Xrays showed degenerative changes in the foot (this is a foot he hurt previously so we have other xrays from 2 years ago). It doesn't appear to be a bone infection or cancer - so that's the good news. The specialist is somewhat concerned about the soft tissue inflammation though. What it is and why his toenail was bleeding we have no idea. So... anti-inflammatory, antibiotics and rest are the course of action and we'll reasses in a week.

The good news is that as of last night and today he isn't limping hardly at all. So maybe he just hurt his toe and had I given it a few days he would have been fine but since we xrayed we saw the degenerative changes and only think it's something worse. We all have our fingers crossed that with a couple weeks rest he'll be good as new and ready for the Canis Major season and for USDDN Finals in October! At 9.5 this is very likely his last season competing in toss n fetch (he's already retired from freestyle) so we were hoping to make the most of it... we shall see. The most important part is that he stays healthy and happy!

Tiny Bubbles

Jack and I were at my nephew's 5th birthday party today. They had bubbles for the kids and had tons left over so I brought a bottle home to see what the dogs thought. The only dog even remotely interested was Groovy. She couldn't figure out where they went when they "disappeared". Pretty cute! Ruckus in the mean time found a tennis ball and proceeded to bark at me to throw it. Um... no hopalong - you can't play ball if you can't walk good on all 4 feet!

Poor Ruckus...

The poor little man cracked a toenail while playing ball yesterday morning. :( We took him to the vet today and since it is at or below the base Dr. Hooks recommended removal for a faster recovery. Frisbee season starts in 5 short weeks after all! So on Tuesday Ruckus will have his nail removed and a dental. Hopefully the poor little dude is feeling better soon.

New use for a Chuck-it?

Groovy is slowly getting the concept of fetch... in the mean time while the other dogs run off after the ball this is what Groovy sometimes stays to do! I never really thought of it as a good tug toy...