Disc Dog and Birthday weekend!

This weekend was the CFDDC Christmas Party and also my birthday!  Our friends Jason and Andrea came up from south Florida mid day Saturday and stayed overnight with us.  My friend Sally came over Saturday too and we had some disc dog fun!  It's cool that Sal is getting more into the sport and I see disc dogging in Tex's future!  Jolly of course already loves it and is a natural.

Anyway... Saturday we played with the dogs.  Groovy did great!  I wasn't sure if she'd be willing to play with strangers here but she did - she even played a little disc with Jason!  She and he were buddies by Saturday night!  Spice did awesome too - she was very happy to play with whoever would play with her both people and dogs alike!

Saturday night was the party and as always the Walkley's put out a huge spread of awesome food.  This time the theme was Southern food.  Couldn't have been more perfect for my bday!  The gift exchange was fun as always and the Fahle's did quite well at the awards ceremony too!  Jack and Tali won Supersport and Tali and I won Open!  Woo hoo!

This morning Jack had to fly out to Pittsburgh, KS.  His high tomorrow is 19 degrees.  Crazy!  Jason and Andrea hung around a bit and all the dogs (well not all) many of the dogs got to hang out and play together.  Spice and Kai love each other!  Tali loves Kai too!  It was a good experience for all of our dogs and a good "warmup" for our North Carolina vacation over New Years.

Some pics of our weekend...

Groovy checking Jason out to make sure he wasn't the boogey man!

Frisbee is a dangerous sport!  Actually she had no clue she was hurt!

One of every color!

Kai fits in perfectly with our red girls!

Identity Crisis 2010

I think that 2010 will be known as the year of my dog identity crisis.  We started the year as Hi-FiAussies - then tried out the name Jammin' Aussies for a while but for a variety of reasons didn't hang on to that (see older blog post on this topic for more detail).  Then I decided a few months ago to go with One Drop Aussies and for the most part I still like that name BUT... while searching for names for Spice I came across a word I hadn't seen before.  The word didn't work out for a name for Spice (though might name a boy dog a portion of the name in the future) but I shared it with Jack and we've been discussing switching from One Drop to it.  We haven't gotten any banners or discs or anything with One Drop except for the website - somewhat because I haven't been willing to pull the trigger so to speak.  So what is this new name we are seriously considering?  Zimzala!  Zimzala Dogs to be precise.  What the heck is that?  It's a surf term that means "a free spirited person who finds peace with the sand between their toes".  That pretty much sums up Jack and I both.  Of course it means ocean sand but maybe sand from the disc dog field counts too!  ;)  One Drop connected us to our love of the islands through it's reggae roots but I felt a bit constrained by the reggae theme.  This gets us more where I wanted to be originally.  I've run it past a couple of folks and it got the thumbs up - more enthusiastically than One Drop did.  So... very likely you'll see this blog name change again!  :)  A new website too of course!  Hopefully this one will stick!

Spice's 1st Disc Dog Training Video!

Spice Monster

Well Spice AKA Spicy/Spice Monster/Baby Spice/Spice Girl/Spicer/Short Stuff/Short Spice/Spices (and the list goes on) has been here for 1 week and 1 day so far.  Let me just say she's awesome!  She totally knows her new name, she's got "drop" down quite well.  She's a very very quick learner!  She is great in her crate and she did very well at the agility trial this weekend with the hubbub and people.  She had no issue at all playing disc with me off to the side.  Total focus on the game - it was awesome.  I have to keep reminding myself she is only 7 months old!

Now before you go thinking "Come on Kat - no dog is perfect" - you are right... no dog is.  If I had to fault in her it'd be her dog skills.  She's somewhat of a dog nerd and is too insistent on being a dog's friend - even if said dog is growling at her and telling her to go away (Mickie and Groovy) and the ones that don't do that to her (Jam and Tali) get pummeled by her in your face kind of play and then don't want to play with her for a while.  Hopefully she'll learn some more doggy social skills as we go.  Tali is a good teacher - she just needs to feel more confident around Spice to feel comfortable giving those lessons.  I just watched them play tonight and Tali got on to her for being too rough while stealing a toy.  Spice is now sitting near Tali wanting the toy but just glancing over occasionally to see if she still has it.  I think a little learning occurred!  :)

Jack is head over heels for her already - after every disc session he comes in singing her praises - even when I'm there to watch!  It's so cute!  Here are a couple of pics from this week...

Pooooor Groovy

This weekend in Texas Groovy got to do a lot of herding and unfortunately that has resulted in a torn pad.  Well really it has resulted in a torn off pad.  An area about the size of a nickel and couple millimeters thick is missing from the main pad of her front left paw.  Poor thing - she can't walk without limping and worse yet for her - she's on crate rest!  Hope it heals quickly.  :(  Here is a pic of her from herding this weekend.  It was fun for a while!

Groovy herding with Terri Carver of Maximum Aussies (Spice's breeder)

Groovy calmly watching another dog work

We have a name!!

Introducing Spice!  (Registered name still in the works)  And no that wasn't on the list of names and no it isn't a name I love but Jack likes it and we are going to have fun with it.  Sometimes she'll be Frisbee Spice and then other times Spicy and then other times Super Spice... it'll be a fun name so I'm cool with it.

She's beautiful, drivey and focused!  Can't wait to learn more about this girl.

Names...

It's fun to think of puppy/dog names but can get tiring too.  Of course if I wouldn't obsess about it before I meet her it'd probably be better but that's the problem - dog names is something I think about sometimes even when I'm not getting a dog!  LOL  Last night I wrote down all the ones I liked and then had Jack tell me which ones he definitely did not like.  That left us with 12 or so.  Here's the list in no particular order... and some pros/cons/extra info about each.

Cricket - I LOVE the name - Jack just likes it.  A con is that Groovy has a littermate named Cricket but that doesn't really bother me.  Another Con is that is sort of sounds like Mickie - I'd think she'd get used to it though since it isn't Crickie but Cricket.  Registered name would be something related to Jiminy Cricket I think.  "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" or something.

Penny - Jack and I both like this name - neither of us love it.  It's not unique or super cool or anything but we still like it.  Registered name would be something to do with "Lucky Penny", "Find a Penny", etc.

Chili - Jack really likes this name - I'm OK with this name.  Don't have any ideas on registered names and such.  The name was inspired by the fact that she's from Texas.

Gidget - we both like this name.  Registered name would be Little Surfer Girl or something like that and as such ties into our island thing Jack and I have going on.

Ting - we both like this one too and it's actually been on the list since Jam's list.  Ting is a pineapple soda we drink when we are in the islands.  Also folks down there say "thing" as "ting" so to say everything is great is everyting is great.

Jelly - goes with Jam!  :)

Bunny - is just darn cute.

Grits - "Girl Raised In The South" cause she was...

Love Bug or June Bug - cause they are cute to say

Dandy - from the movie Tombstone "You're a dandy if you do".  It means a fine or good thing.

As you can see by the length of explanation some of these have had more thought put into them than others... but they are all on the approved list.  I also LOVE the name Friday but Jack doesn't care for it.  I think my next dog that's mine alone will be Friday - even if she isn't born on a Friday (Fern was born on a Friday and we are meeting her on a Friday).

We'll see... we have to meet her to know for sure but we certainly have plenty to go on!  :o)

I leave you with a pic of "Fern" taken while at school with Terri the other day.  She comes with an off switch too!

Getting excited for our Texas trip!

Two days from now we leave for Texas!  Of course I'm excited to go meet our new dog (new name still undetermined) but I'm also excited for all the fun that is planned the short time we are there!

It'll be a whirlwind of a trip leaving here Thursday after Thanksgiving lunch and returning Sunday afternoon.  We hope to get to Baton Rouge on Thursday night and then arrive in Brenham, TX by 2 or 3pm the next day.  At that point we'll get to meet some online friends Kim Dostie and her husband.  We've emailed back and forth a few times over the years but have never met in person.  And Jack will get to meet Terri as well.  Terri I had met a few years back.  We plan to play with dogs that afternoon doing both herding and disc dog stuff.  Groovy is coming along and will get to work the sheep.  She hasn't seen any since early October and it's supposed to be 50 something degrees so it could be a rather insane event!  :)  We'll finish off the evening with dinner out.

Saturday morning we get to do more herding and then we'll take off around 1pm heading back home.  We might get to see our disc dog friend Brian Muck at some point as he is going to try and come out (he already herds at Terri's on a regular basis).  And apparently at various points throughout our short time there we will get to meet a variety of other folks who love Fern (our new dog's current name) and want to meet her new family!  Apparently she comes with a pre-installed fan club!  LOL  No pressure there!

It should be fun and I can't wait!

Canis Major #5 - Tali, Groovy, Jam and Ruckus all rock!

This past Saturday was the final disc dog event of 2010 for us - Canis Major #5.  We had a great time as always and the Fahle's cleaned up quite nicely in terms of success!

Tali and I... our freestyle was not as nice as last week but it wasn't too bad.  I changed some stuff around and didn't get it nailed down in my head so we kinda ended up making up crap as we went.  I also have failed to successfully pull off the "KatBat"/"Katamaran" at a Canis Major - kinda bummed but we'll keep practicing - I can nail it in practice 80% of the time or so - just can't when I'm a little pumped and nervous!  (The KatBat is the behind my back throw followed by a backhand brush with the other disc).  I also STUNK up D&A - have no idea why but oh well.  We finished 2nd.  Sadly (sort of) this means I have won the Open Division for the season.  I say sadly because I only competed 3 times so really winning shouldn't have been an option but that's how it goes in that division.  The good news is my winning kept our director's 4 year old daughter from winning.  Why is that a good thing?  Cause whoever wins has to move up to the higher division in September.  I don't think it's cool to make a 4 year compete against the likes of Gary, Jack, Andrea, Jason, etc.  Of course me competing against them won't be much different but at least I am full grown and an adult!  :)



Tali and Jack needed to place well to win the Supersport (D&A) division and they did just that even with a less than stellar showing!  The less than stellar part was Jack - he wasn't throwing as long and threw some out of bounds - Tali caught every single disc though.  And to that point when I was doing so horribly and threw one into the scoring tent she actually went in and got it - that is HUGE for her!

Old man Ruckus had some nice D&A in him the other night and placed 4th in Supersport with Jack!  Old red dogs rule!

Jam... Jam caught 3 whole frisbees in D&A the other night.  That's a record high for her!  She also wowed the crowd with her high flying leaps!  Maybe with another 6 months of bite work practice under her belt she'll catch 5 or 6 in one competition!  LOL  Luckily what she lacks in drive she makes up for in cuteness and temperament!

Groovy - Groovy got another chance to "compete" again this week.  Again - she and Jack aren't competing against anyone but are going out there and jamming and getting a score.  She was much better focused this week AND she played D&A and she played it very well!  Jack kept her close - nothing out of the 1 point zone - but she caught all 4 tosses and they did a lot of tugging at the line for reinforcement.  She looked awesome and that was with a leash attached!  Here is their video... and again I'm supposed to say "this is not a real routine - it is not a finished product, etc.".  He's so sensitive about that (and hence her videos aren't posted on Facebook).  There is definitely hope for her being a real competition dog some day.  Problem is we'll have to "start all over" this spring since our competitions aren't usually at this same park then.  But we are really working to increase her disc drive even more so that the game overrides the environment.  Keep your fingers crossed with us that it works!

Groovy's freestyle debut! (and Tali rocks too!)

Jack hasn't been competing in Freestyle this Canis Major season because he's been judging.  That's OK when it comes to Tali because that let's me do freestyle with her but the drawback we didn't consider that meant he wouldn't be able to play with Jam, or do his once a year routine with Mickie or debut with Groovy.  Shoulda thought that out a little better!  Well we talked with the club folks and they said it'd be cool for Jack to "compete" in the lower division.  He'd earn a score but wouldn't be up against anyone in terms of placements or points.  That worked for us!

So.... this past week we signed Groovy up.  We hoped she'd get out of the car (sometimes she finds competitions too scary for that) - and she did!  We hoped she'd be willing to play on the field (we'd been playing with her on the field after the competition) - and she did!  We hoped she'd stay focused and not worry about the crowd or judges and she mostly did!  Here is her video though I must - for Jack's sake - tell you that this isn't a real routine... they don't have a routine - just a few segments - thus this is in no way a finished product!  We also felt the music was pretty appropriate for Groovy!  LOL



As for Tali and I... we came in first again (I was only competing against 2 other people!)!  :)  I even wrote down a routine and remembered 3/4's of it!  Woo hoo!  Here it is...

New and exciting events coming up!

This weekend we took Flash with us to the disc dog competition.  He LOVED everyone.  Couldn't get him to acknowledge that a frisbee existed but he loved everyone and he played with a rabbit fur tug for a short time.  So... Flash is definitely just a foster and is looking for a permanent home.  Several of the folks who met him this weekend concurred... he'll possibly play disc one day but it'd take some work and there is no guarantee.  Should be easy to find him a home though... he's just about perfect other than his continued lack of interest in the disc.  We got him to pounce on it some and bring it back to us but he won't tug on it much and has zero interest in it outside of our garage training room.  However hand him a green tiny stuffed bear and he'll entertain himself in the backyard for 10 minutes with it!  :)  He's so cute!  Jack and I both agree though... if we are going to get a 6th dog it's got to have disc drive right off the bat and the mental stability to handle competing.  Flash had one - not the other.

Well... enter the new and exciting thing.  A friend of mine saw me with Flash this weekend and realized I might be open to adding a 6th dog to the family.  She told me about one she knew was potentially going to be available because of not growing big enough for the breeder's needs.  This breeder herds with her dogs over acres and acres of land.  Said dog is only 16" at 6 months and isn't likely to make it to the needed height to cover the ground she'll need to.  (This in an of itself is an interesting statement on aussie size but I don't have time enough to blog about that).  Anyway... I didn't think much about it that night but decided to run the news past Jack the next day.  He was quite interested.  Additionally there was some chatter about this dog on Facebook later that day so I shared the chatter with Jack and he asked me to email the breeder for the story and I did.

Long story short... there will be a new dog in the house soon!

More info to come but the basics are:
- 6 months old
- 16" and 20#'s
- red merle
- already catching short tosses
- tugs like a demon on the disc
- awesome temperament (currently spends her days entertaining special needs kids at a school)
- related to a slew of dogs that rock at frisbee including our very own Ruckus AND Groovy!

We are very excited!  She'll be arriving Thanksgiving weekend!  Gobble Gobble!

Tomorrow's blog post will be about Groovy's freestyle debut and mine and Tali's 1st place finish in novice freestyle on our 2nd time competing!  :)  It's been a good week so far!

Introducing...

Press play before scrolling to get the full effect of this post!  :)

Flash - our foster dog!

The solid colored girls (including Mickie) LOVE him!  The merled girl and the red boy... not so much!

He came with the name Flash... and since he arrived I can't get this song out of my head when I say his name!

More info to come as we continue to evaluate this little man.

Basic Flash Stats:

10 months old

28 pounds

18-18.5" tall

Great temperament

Likes to play fetch with soft toys but isn't crazy about the disc yet

Fahle Dog Training Center is now open

I'm sure we'll come up with a better name for it... but for now FDTC will have to do.  Of course it's only open for us... well other folks can use it - but it's purpose is mainly for us to have a place to train our dogs when 1) it's too dark 2) it's too cold 3) it's too rainy and/or 4) when we want to work something in a contained non distracting area (and that something might be a someone - like Jam!).

What is the FDTC?  It's our garage with foam matting covered by turf.  I'll post some pics in case whoever it is that reads this blog didn't see them on Facebook.  We've worked in the garage, I mean FDTC every night this week.  Jam is a frizBEAST in there.  It's awesome.  Groovy is too but Groovy is a frizbeast in the yard too.  All the dogs love it in there. Well... Tali isn't quite sure why we play in there... but she's getting the idea.  It's been great.  We are hoping we can build Jam's drive in that environment and have it transfer outside come spring!  We shall see if the little princess plays along with that plan!

Rolling out the carpet

The finished product

Tali rocks!

Maybe someday I'll write up a post about how awesome she did at USDDN (way better than we expected considering how she's been feeling lately) but for now this is a brag on Tali and how well she did doing freestyle with me!  :)  We still have a TON of work to do but for only practicing for 3 days it came out pretty OK and more importantly we had fun!

Tali and Kat's First Freestyle!

Two pics of Jam from her agility trial

Here are two pics of Jam from her agility trial.  HUGE thanks to Betsy Walton for getting these for us!

Yes... we have an over-jumping problem!

Jam prefers kisses as her post run reward!

Jam competed in a real agility trial!

In two weeks Jam will be 4.  A few days ago she debuted in agility!  Nope - we don't work fast - well Jam's brain doesn't anyway! 

I haven't been training Jam in agility for a while.  She just never really seemed to enjoy it all that much and it was a battle getting her to focus.  Over the past several months though Jam has been offering agility behaviors in lieu of doing disc.  Like we'd be working on disc (we being her and Jack) and she'd go do a dogwalk and stop beautifully at the bottom and be all proud of herself.  While up in Michigan at Pawsitive Vybe we'd have dismissed her to go do her own thing while we talked and after a few minutes of sniffing she'd go do the tunnel WAY out in the corner and then come to us all happy with herself.  She did this with the teeter too.  Very odd but cute - then again pretty much everything she does is cute!  The trial this weekend was the last one being held at my friend Cindy's place and Cindy encouraged me to enter her since Jam was somewhat comfortable there because of herding.  I warned Cindy she'd probably pee on course but she said it'd be fine. 

So this past weekend I day of show entered Jam.  Day 1 we ran colors.  She stayed with me the whole time and didn't pee!  She skipped some jumps and I didn't fix them so we didn't Q but she did GREAT!  No peeing!  On Sunday she was in Full House and Standard.  In Full House she got to do contacts and loved it.  She missed some jumps again and I only fixed two of them so we didn't Q since you need 3 jumps but again she had fun and stayed focused!  I had zero hopes of her Q'ing in standard cause there were 18 obstacles and many of them were jumps.  Since when does Level 2 standard in CPE have 18 obstacles?!?  Obviously when I entered her I was expecting fewer but no big deal - this whole thing was an experiment just for fun anyway.  Well rather than describe what happened I'm linking the video.  The closing was 4 or 5 jump and had I not overly praised her for the next to last jump she would have ran that portion smoothly!  Unbelievably she Q'd and even more unbelievably she placed 1st!  Woo hoo!  (and I like to clarify since it's CPE and Level 2 - there were actually other dogs running in her class in her height that Q'd!  LOL)

Jam's First Agility Trial

She very obviously needs jump work. I knew this already but hadn't bothered since I always figured she'd NQ us by peeing on the course before we ever got to a jump.  So I guess now we'll work on that a bit more (and did so last night in fact).  She also is used to jumping 20-22" at home and I entered her at 16" thinking that'd be easier for her but I think it messed with her a little.  I think I'm going to practice her at 16" at home some more and see how she does at the next CPE trial.  Even if she measures over 18" for AKC I'll probably enter her in preferred should the day ever come that she does AKC agility.  And same for USDAA... I'll just run her in performance I think.  We'll see though - I may change my mind if she starts turning on for real!

As for Tali... she did very well this weekend.  She's definitely not running 100%.  I had to stretch her out a lot before her runs to get her to jump normal on the practice jump.  She is going to the chiro today.  Hopefully we'll get some sort of info about what might be going on.  But none the less she ran well once stretched out and Q'd all but 1 of her runs and in that one she got the gamble but due to my bad planning we were 1.5 seconds over course time.  :(  A few more steps closer to her C-ATCH.  Lots of standard legs to go but we are getting closer to finishing out some of the Level 5 games!

This weekend coming up is Canis Major #2.  Jack is judging freestyle so can't compete in Freestyle but hopefully Tali and Ruckus will do well in D&A for him!  I'll be throwing for Tali (provided she's feeling better) and most likely Java Bean!  Should be fun as always!

I'm buried in photos... be back later!

No time to blog lately... was editing and posting photos from AWI and our trip up north... just about the time I got those done we went to Skyhoundz Worlds - now I'm working on those photos.  This coming weekend I'm shooting the CPE agility trial in Groveland so then I'll be buried in those!  Oh and crap - still haven't finished Canis Major #1 pics.  Good-Dog Sports - come see us! >

Soooo... no time for blogging.  Here's a summary though.

Trip up north was awesome... Groovy did awesome... we learned tons of stuff.

We officially quit our class at KETCH.  Just can't make it to the 6:30 time slot often enough and don't practice enough to keep up with everyone else.  Disc dogging is where its at anyway!  :)  Agility will come eventually...

Trip to Skyhoundz sucked... loved hanging out with our friends but hated many of the results we came home with in addition to the fact that something is wrong with Tali.  She's doing better but is still hesitant to jump up on the bed and into the car.  Saturday night she wouldn't do either on her own.  Extremely depressing...  more on this trip and the last one later once I'm caught up with pics.

Today was Jack's 40th bday - I gave him my blessing for him to go car shopping.  He's a happy camper now!  :)

More to come... someday!

One cool pic from the weekend - thank you Sarah for taking it!

V A C A T I O N ! ! ! !

Tomorrow we are off for a long overdue vacation.  Haven't been on a "real" vacation in 2 years - like the kind that lasts at least a week and where you go somewhere for that week.  This one is different in that it is totally dog oriented but it still counts!  Can't wait!  Here's the plan...

Drive A LOT, visit Wolf Park, visit Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, go watch last chance AWI qualifier, Jack and Tali compete UFO competition, Jack and Tali compete at AWI competition, hopefully visit the Disc Dog Hall of Fame, sight see on the way to Michigan, Disc Dog B&B with Apryl and Ron and then more driving A LOT and see some stuff along the way.

The one glitch in our plans?  Groovy came in heat last Wed. or Thurs.  Should be fun!  Sat. and Sunday will suck cause she'll have to stay in the car or at the hotel but she's got the green light to be at the B&B so we are looking forward to working her there on both disc stuff and fear stuff!

Now I'm off to bed... got to go to work for half a day before all this fun can begin!  Just can't begin to describe how happy I am to not be working for the next week and a half!

All hail Dr. Latter

This past Monday I took Tali to Dr. Latter (chiropractor).  She's been slowing down lately (see earlier post about her getting older) and more recently hasn't been jumping as high or putting in the extra gear needed to get the longer tosses on double throws.  She even hit Jack in the head on an over which has never happened before so I figured something had to be wrong and hopefully it was something Dr. L could fix vs. her hips having taken a fast turn for the worst.  Dr. Latter found 2 spots out of whack.  We waited till Wednesday to try a little freestyle... she seemed to do a little better.  Then Jack worked on her routine Friday and Saturday night.  Friday she looked really good and Saturday she looked awesome!  Hooray!  Gooooo Tali!

Saturday herding

Today we went herding... it wasn't a great day - the sheep were being buttheads but Groovy did a great job of getting them out of the corner (with my help and encouragement) but she definitely had more confidence in that situation than she has in the past.  They weren't budging for Clue (Cindy's dog).  We had about 5-10 minutes of good herding but somehow Groovy bit her own tongue at some point and we had to stop to get her some water.  After that the sheep were done - they had been "bad" all day so we called it quits early.  Sal and Tex weren't having any success either.  Something had the sheep upset.  I'm excited about next week though.  Groovy is going to learn pen work in preparation for the ASCA trial in November!  We might also work on some directionals too!  Very cool!  :)

Groovy herding a few weeks back

Book update...

Since my last book update I have finished listening to Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson.  Loved it!  Highly recommend it.  Bev is listening to it now even though she hasn't listened to gods in Alabama yet which has connecting characters.  I'm interested to hear how that changes ones perspective.  I keep trying to come up with my favorite Joshilyn Jackson book but really I love them all.  The best I can do is say that The Girl Who Stopped Swimming is my 3rd favorite and the other 3 flip flop for 1st and 2nd place depending on what part of the book I'm thinking of at the time.

I also just finished a book called Belong To Me by Marisa de los Santos.  Belong to Me on Amazon  I enjoyed the book.  It wasn't Joshilyn Jackson good but it was still very good.  Funny thing is when I was almost done with the book I happened to notice the quote on the back of the book.  It was a quote by Joshilyn Jackson about how much she enjoyed the book.  WEIRD but neat!  I picked it up on sale and thought it sounded like it might be good but never noticed the quote till I was almost done!  Belong to Me is mostly a story about friendships with some family drama thrown in.  I give it a 3 paws up (out of 4 paws of course!).

I am just about to finish up a book by Sandra Brown called Bittersweet Rain.  I don't believe I had ever listened to Sandra Brown but I'm not sure.  The book is good - definitely kept my interest.  It has a lot of um... "romantic scenes" in it.  Sometimes I had to laugh at the many ways to describe various body parts in various states of "romance".  I'll just leave it at that.  Nothing wrong with diving into a "trashy romance novel" now and then.  Not that it was trashy per say but you know what I mean.

Picked up 3 more books today on sale... this is becoming an addiction...  :)  At least I can sell them back once they make all the rounds!

Herding Rocks

This past weekend Groovy and I went herding again at Cindy Elliott's place.  For the first time *I* did good at it.  Cindy had "obstacles" out - a Y chute, some gates (using barrels), a cone, etc.  I asked Cindy to tell me where to go.  Magically once I had stuff to do it made all the difference in the world in my ability to actually herd with Groovy.  I guess it made it more like agility - I had a course and knew where to go and had to figure out the right handling moves to get there.  Whether or not that's the traditional way to learn herding I don't know but it worked for me!  :)  Here are some pics that our friend Liz McGuire took - thanks Liz!

The look of the feeling of satisfaction!

BUSY weekend but FUN!

Wow... what a busy weekend but busy with fun stuff!

Friday evening I took off from work about an hour early and Jack, Tali, Groovy and I headed up to Chris' house to have Chris, Jack and Kota practice pairs.  Tali and Groovy both got to practice as well and did well.   Groovy was pretty confident (for her), she willingly got out of the car (sometimes even that is a struggle), walked around a bit, was very cautious of Mike and Julie but functional and she even practiced some (just so long as the discs went nowhere near Mike).  After practice we went to Chris' next door neighbors how for folks to cool off in the pool (Chris is long term house sitting).  Tali let me put her in but would get right back out.  I didn't try it with Groovy cause scary Mike was in the pool!  :)  She did well with the other dogs running around the pool area and although nervous handled herself well.  After the pool we put the dogs back in the car and grilled out and hung out for a while till it was time to head back home.  Got some neat pics of an Osprey that flew by with a fish in it's claws... here's one.

Saturday AM Groovy and I went herding at Cindy's.  We split the lesson with Sal and Tex.  It was HOT but Groovy did really well.  She has the proud title of being the first student dog to ever work Cindy's ram!  :)  And said ram (as well as 1 other ram and 3 wethers) didn't give her a bit of trouble (apparently those aren't the easiest kind of sheep to work).  I got lucky and didn't have to work Groovy - Cindy did it all (thank goodness as the ram head butted her once).  It is much more enjoyable to watch my dog work than me be confused about what the heck to do but I know I have to get in there and learn so we can get ready for the ASCA trial in November.  Groovy had no fear at all working those sheep and to prove that she's becoming a good little stock dog she even voluntarily jumped in the stock tank to cool off!  That was a first.

From herding we rushed back home, packed up and headed down towards south Florida to hang out with our friends Jason and Andrea.  We had been planning to do a big disc practice day here at the house for CFDDC members on our new field but the tractor STILL isn't working so those plans just weren't working out.  As an alternative Andrea suggested we come down there sometime so we took her up on it.  It was a good little trip for several reasons.  1) It was a good test drive to see how Groovy might do on the upcoming road trip to Illinois and Michigan.  2) It was fun to jam with some of the south Florida disc dog crowd.  3) It was a good way to get to know Jason and Andrea better and 4) they have an AWESOME pizza place by their house with awesome chicken parmesan pizza.  I must have some more of that some day!

Saturday evening some friends of Andrea and Jason's were there and our friend Donna came for a bit as well to check out a dog that the Rigler's are fostering.  Everyone played with their dogs getting tips and hints from everyone else. Jack showed the Rigler's some different tosses and we all talked about routines and such.  It was pretty cool.  Groovy did awesome!  She came out of the car and played right away.  Didn't care about the people there at all!  Tali was kinda slow and pokey but it was HOT.  Later on we had that awesome pizza and watched a movie.

Sunday AM we ate breakfast and headed out to Jam some more.  Their friend Amanda joined us as well.  Interestingly enough Groovy had more trouble with this small crowd than the larger one the day before.  She also had a big problem with Jason and was barking at him a lot.  We tried something new and put the girls in an expen (Groovy, Tali and Jam came along for this little trip) instead of their fold up crates.  This gave Jason the opportunity to toss Groovy treats from a distance and slowly work his way closer.  In the end he was petting her and feeding her treats from his hand!  BONUS!  She played really well and Andrea and Jason helped Jack work on his disc placement for back vaults.  Groovy has been learning vault foundations for the past few weeks and had been doing takes from me and from Jack but we hadn't progressed to an actual toss yet.  Sunday the first vault toss Jack tried with her she caught and it was beautiful!  Here's a pic below... nothing great in terms of a pic but still cool that I got her first one on "film"!

Groovy has good hops!

The girls watching Jack play with Moxie

 (Recognize anything in this pic Sarah? Remind me to give it to you when you drop off or pick up the dogs this weekend.)

It was an exhausting weekend but a great one!  Groovy made some real progress and that was the best part! This weekend coming up should be low key - or will hopefully be low key.  I'm dog sitting Trinity and Java Duke all weekend and herding on Sat. AM with Groovy but other than that it should be a chilled out weekend.

Joshilyn Jackson books

I am really enjoying her work. She has written 4 books so far and I'm listening to the 4th one now. I listened to them in the following order:


The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

gods In Alabama

Between, GA

Backseat Saints


They were written however in the following order:

gods in Alabama,

Between, GA

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

Backseat Saints

Without having finished Backseat Saints I'd say that gods and Between are my two favorites but I'll say for sure once I'm done with Backseat Saints. I really love the stories though and find myself continually interested and wanting more. You know the "I can't wait to drive home from work so I can hear more of the story" feeling. I came across Joshilyn's work via a sales table at Books A Million in Columbia, SC on a recent road trip. Normally books discounted to $10 are just OK but I really enjoyed The Girl Who Stopped Swimming enough to look up the author and order 2 more of her books on Amazon. I wasn't 1/2 way through gods in Alabama when I got back on Amazon and ordered Backseat Saints.

I could sum up each book but then I’d be afraid I’d give something away… just know that they are VERY southern in nature. That’s obvious with the gods and Between books just by the titles. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming takes place in Pensacola, FL and Backseat Saints in Texas. Joshilyn reads her own books in all but one. I love her voice and accent and therefore take pleasure in having her read it to me. I find that I hear a southern accent in my head when I write about her books… LOL! You likely won’t have the same issue I’m sure – I just tend to pick up a southern accent pretty easily.

A few more tidbits… Two of the books connect and those are gods in Alabama and Backseat Saints – there is a minor character in gods who is the main character in Backseat Saints – her name is Rose Mae Lolly. I’m on disc 5 of that book and am enjoying the connection. I don’t think it’d be an issue to read Backseat Saints first but again can’t say for sure quite yet. Also, there is a supernatural element to The Girl Who Stopped Swimming that isn’t found in the other books. One other last tidbit… just as you can’t experience living in the south without religion being a part of it Joshilyn’s books bring that in as well. The main characters in her book aren’t necessarily actively religious but they bring their religious upbringing and/or religious family into their character… it’s a part of their personal baggage. I find it not only amusing but quite accurate. I have heard members of my family or friends say things folks say in the books as it relates to church, God, morals, levels of honesty and chasteness, being Southern Baptist or Catholic. It’s pretty funny and Joshilyn knows her stuff here.

I guess that’s all I’ll say on this author and these books… as you can tell I really like her work. Another gal at work has listened to 1 or 2 of her books and enjoyed them very much as well and her background and life experience is pretty different than mine so that tells me that Joshilyn is good despite the fact that I connect with tiny portions of various characters of hers. I hope you’ll check her out!

Books I've been reading lately...

OK - well since I'm just starting this I have to catch up so I'm gonna do a quick listing of the ones I can remember of late... this is more for me than for you so feel free to not read this post!  :)  Might take me a while to actually post this one and certainly these books will not be in any particular order.

• Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card - Science fiction - quite good - would recommend.  I call it Harry Potter in space minus the magic and instead of going by school grades you go through Ender's life from kid to adult.  Of course really only the first book is Harry Potter like but that kinda set the tone.  It's good stuff overall though - if you can handle reading about life in space, aliens, alien wars, etc.  Here is a link to learn more:  Info about Ender Series  Some day I might listen to the Shadow series mentioned but I was kinda Ender'ed out and moved on to other things.
• Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - this is a great book and I highly recommend it.  Sorry Sal and Bev it isn't mine to let you borrow but I bet you'd like it.  Sarah's Key on Amazon  It takes place in two time periods - modern day France and WW II France.  I learned a lot about how the Jews were treated in France at that time and it was a very moving story.  It's been a few months since I've listened to this book and it's the one of the ones that stays with me the most.
• Picture Perfect - Jodi Picoult - kept my interest but wasn't anything special.  Sal already listened to this one and agreed it wasn't one of Jodi's best by any means.,
• Pirate Latitudes - Michael Crichton - decent book though you have to listen/read through a lot of sea battles between pirate ships.  It kept my interest and there were parts that I really enjoyed.  Of course with my obsession with the Caribbean it was neat hearing about some of those locations from a pirate perspective.
• Dog On It - Spencer Quinn - This is a private detective/who done it type of story however it's from a dog's perspective.  The PI in the story has a dog and it is from the dog that the story is written.  Kinda dorky but kinda fun.  The author certainly inserts very cute dog behaviors in to make it more authentic.
• Your Heart Belongs to Me - Dean Koontz - A pretty typical Dean Koontz story though not one of his best ones.  It's about a heart transplant patient who is haunted about the transplant.  Interesting twists and turns but again not one of his best.

That sums up most of the ones as of late that I can recall.  I'm know there are a few more but I'll remember them as they make their way back to me in the rotation of audio book listeners that surround me.  Of course there are 4 books I haven't mentioned and those are the ones from Joshilyn Jackson... I think I'll write about her books in a separate post as I really like them a lot.  This post is getting long enough.  :)

New subject - non dog related

Lately I've been going through audio books like there is no tomorrow.  I enjoy each and every one of them - some more than others of course - but they are becoming a blur in my mind as a result.  I've been listening to audio books on and off for probably 5 or 6 years now and I definitely can not recall all that I've listened to.  I started thinking I need to make a list but I know myself well enough to know that I won't remember to keep up with said list.  So, what to do? 

Last night I had checked out my new favorite author's website (which is odd in and of itself as I don't often have favorite authors much less look them up) and then landed on her blog and then ended up on another blog about what books various authors were reading of which she was one.  I started thinking that maybe I should write a little something on my blog about each of the books I listen to.  That maybe if I did it here I'd keep up with it a little better - maybe.  This would serve 3 purposes.  1) It would help me keep track of what I have been listening to.  2)  It will let my friends Bev and Sal know what books I have and they can let me know which ones they definitely want to borrow (though I know the answer for Bev is "all" cause she, like me, will listen to most anything to help the long commute go by faster.  3) For everyone else besides those two who are bored enough to read my blog it may at times let them know about a good book out there.  This DOES NOT mean I'll always be writing full fledged reviews... I know there is no way that is going to happen but I'm sure I'm likely to say a little something about the better ones I listen to - maybe!  And if I don't, well #3 is less important than #1 and #2 anyway!  :)

I think I'll write a separate post about the books I've been reading lately so I'll be able to tell at a glance what book(s) I'm talking about... more to come...

Groovy rockin' it in toss n fetch

A video of Groovy playing toss n fetch tonight with Jack.  He brought home a video camera from work so I wanted to try it out and what better subject?!?!   :)

Groovy Toss N Fetch

AKC Agility in Perry, GA

This past weekend was really fun - very tiring - but really fun!

Tali and I drove to Perry, GA (5 hours away) on Thursday evening for 3 days of AKC agility indoors, on dirt with AC.  Can't beat that in July down here that's for sure!  I had been to a trial at Perry once before a long time ago with Mickie but this was Tali's first trip there and it was my first trip "alone".  Last time Sally and I carpooled and shared a room.  This time I drove up on my own and stayed on my own (Jack stayed home to do schoolwork).  I'm such a big girl!  ;o)  LOL  It's been a while since I've been away on my own like that... back it the day it was nothing at all to drive 8 hours to Columbia, SC and live by myself but I guess we get more cautious as we get older?!?  Dunno... All went well though and I'd definitely do it again.

As for the actual agility part - well that went awesome.  Going into the weekend I needed 3 legs in Open Standard and 3 in Open Jumpers with Weaves.  I did not expect to come home with agility titles.  I thought that if we got lucky we'd get 2 legs in each but that we'd see how it went. 

Friday and Saturday we ran jumpers first and standard 2nd.  I don't really even remember those runs at this point.  Bev has them on video and I'll get them at some point.  What I do know is that we Q'd them all though none of them were "clean" Q's.  We had weave issues on every run.  I believe Friday JWW was a 10th pole pop, Friday in Standard was a pop mid poles - she was stressed from coming from the teeter and I suspected we wouldn't have clean weaves with a teeter to weave sequence.  Saturday in JWW we had sniffing at pole 3 and the weaves were the 2nd obstacle and in Standard we AGAIN had teeter to weaves and she was stressed and went and sniffed in a corner as opposed to weaving resulting in a refusal.  I have GOT TO get an aluminum teeter!  Mine just does not compare in speed or noise.  Mine is slow and creaky as opposed to fast and "bangy".  (Is bangy a word?!?)  The jumpers runs minus the weave were awesome... she was really drivey and faster than normal.  It was a lot of fun.  One of the standard runs (don't remember which) was a train wreck in terms of how it felt but we Q'd anyway!  The other went well enough if I recall.  Her increased speed definitely threw off my handling some... or more accurately required me to be more timely which I wasn't a lot of the time but we still managed.

Sunday we ran standard first and then jumpers.  Sunday standard was a blast... we had a bit of a mess in the opening but the rest ran so smooth including perfect weave poles!  That was a run I won't soon forget.  A clean Q and a 2nd place not to mention her OA title!  Woo hoo!  Our only NQ of the weekend came Sunday afternoon in JWW after waiting around ALL day to run.  That kinda sucked.  Had I known we were going to NQ I'd have gone home many hours before!  :)  Tali popped at the 10th pole and I attempted to fix it at that pole and she went in between 11 and 12.  We fixed it again but that was already 2 refusals so I knew we were done in terms of a Q.  We had a missed jump a bit later and just kept on going on but overall the course was really fun to run and again - even on the last run of a 3 day weekend Tali was drivey and fast so I was still quite pleased. 

Take aways from the weekend... 1) obviously we need more work on our weaves - she's pretty good at entries but we have a popping problem while in the poles - very often at 10.  2)  I need a louder and faster teeter at home so she can get used to it and be confident during our trial runs with that obstacle.  3) Apparently I have "running" contacts now!  LOL  Not once did she stop all weekend but she also didn't miss at all.  She stops at home 100% of the time.  If her not stopping in a trial means she only goes to 90% accuracy... well I'm OK with that.  Problem is that I have no way to know if letting her run in a trial setting is going to cause issues down the line.  Being that she is almost 7 years old I think I'm going to lean towards letting it go and see what happens.  We don't have visions of a MACH or nationals in AKC simply because we don't trial enough to have those visions.  Frisbee takes priority...  4) She was faster than normal this weekend... I hope that sticks though it may have been a function of running in the AC when it was near 100 outside!  We shall see!

So all in all we ended up with her Open Standard title and 2 legs towards her Open Jumpers title.  Considering Ruckus is still (and always will be in Open) and it took Mickie months to get out of Open, getting through Open standard in just 4 days of trialing is a pretty good improvement!  LOL  We'll be in Exc A forever though if I don't get those poles fixed.  I busted out the treat and train this week... we'll see how that works and go from there!  She likes it - that's for sure.

Here are some photos from the weekend.  A HUGE thanks to Sarah for being willing to grab my camera and take these photos.  Since I take photos at several of the trials we attend I don't get a chance to get any of Tali and the trials I've been to lately where there has been a photographer has resulted in just OK pics and certainly not worth the high prices they are selling them for.

Our running dogwalk  ;)

DACOF 2010

We had a great time at DACOF 2010!  Team Victorious Secret of Good-Dog Sports finished 4th!  Everyone did a great job and contributed to the outcome!  Tali ran great - we had no teeter issues (hooray) but a few popped weaves at the 10th and 11th poles.  She ran clean in terms of no off courses (except one caused by the popped weave pole) so that was great.  Already looking forward to DACOF next year!  Up next is AKC agility in Perry next weekend!  Hopefully we'll get a few Q's but more importantly we'll be sure and have fun!

Groovy's progress

I haven't talked all that much about Groovy lately and that's because she's been going through a bad period.  Since about February she's been really scared of stuff again.  We had highs and lows in Feb and March but April and May were just full of lows and "just OK".  In April she did really well one day at a disc dog competition however the next day she freaked out completely.  Other than agility class I made a point to not take her anywhere major to kind of let her brain reset.  In May Jack tried taking her to that same park the competition was at but with no one around and she couldn't handle it at all.  In agility class she did OK but not great.  The past several classes I've had to pull her out of her crate in the car to go - but she does OK once we are there.  I started to get really concerned which prompted me to do some research online about homeopathic treatments for dogs with fear and stress.  One of the first things I read about was supplementing with Vitamin B complex.  I recalled hearing that from a woman on a aussie health list a long while back and so I thought I'd give it a try.  It's something I had around the house already and it's water soluble so why not.  Groovy's been on it about 3 weeks now I think.  Whether or not it is the reason for our recent progress I'm not sure but I do have a different dog on my hands lately!  I've noticed more confidence around the house... she wasn't getting spooked by noises in the yard as easily.  Two weeks ago when our friend Allison came over with her dog Kicker that we were dog sitting she did really well with her being here.  This past Friday our friend Chris came over to practice disc with Jack and Groovy did really well with him too - she even played frisbee WITH him.  Saturday I took her to Sally's house and she got out of the car right away, walked in like she owned the place and was happy to greet Sally and Kathryn.  She's only been there once and that was a year ago.  She played disc with Jack in Sal's yard and did a little agility too!  On Sunday we had a fathers day gathering at my mom and dad's and since my brother and his kids couldn't make it I decided to take her along.  She did pretty good.  She warmed up to my sister right away, to my brother in law after a while and sort of warmed up to my teenage nephews later on.  The big win of the evening though was that she'd play the entire time.  Sure she was eyeing them up suspicious of their next move but she'd chase frisbees and balls that they'd throw.  She begged food from them and did tricks for food during dinner.  She just wasn't all that sure about them when they moved around but overall did really good for not knowing them at all and the behavior I saw was more typical of aussie adolescent angst that I've seen before.

So... hopefully this is a new leaf we are turning over.  I know I've said before it's 1 step forward 2 steps back with her but this sort of feels like maybe we are doing 2 or 3 steps forward and maybe 1/2 or 1 step back.  We shall see...

In other good and related news her disc drive has increased A LOT over the past 1-2 months.  Jack is REALLY enjoying playing with her in the yard and she's got some neat moves they are working on (some of which can be seen in the video I posted the other day).

So hum, burn incense, pray and keep your fingers crossed we continue heading the right direction!

Aging friends...

Tali is such a good girl... she's a completely different dog than when she arrived here.  Gosh I guess that was... 5 years ago or so!  I swear she had been punished for putting toys in her mouth before getting her because everytime I'd pick one up around her she'd turn her away from it - very much an avoidance behavior.  Now she's a disc dog and a pretty darn good one especially if one factors in her beginnings!

At the end of May Jack and Tali competed at Freedom Weekend Aloft in South Carolina.  They were already qualified for Freestyle but we like the competition and wanted to get Ruckus qualified in toss n fetch so we went.  Rucky did get an alternate spot so that was cool.  Tali and Jack just did OK.  I think they finished in the top 15.  Certainly not either of them's best but not horrible either.

Last weekend we competed at Florida States.  Jack and Tali finished in 11th in freestyle for the 3rd time at that event I think - they placed 9th in toss n fetch.  Again not their best but not horrible.  Jack messed up his opening and closing but the middle was really nice.  My encouragement and recommendation to Jack was that he had all summer to figure out his routine and get it down pat so that he and Tali both would know what to do whether it was hot or cold, they were nervous or not.  He's got a routine but he's constantly tinkering with it.  That's admirable because you want to push yourself to be better but with two big competitions coming up in September it's time to get the sucker nailed down.

With all of that said though Jack started going back and looking at Tali's freestyle videos from years past.  A few lessons learned there!  1 - They have both come a long way.  2 - Jack has improved a lot.  3 - Tali has slowed down a lot and doesn't get near the height she used to.  That last tidbit is kind of depressing... I mean yes she is getting older and that's to be expected but she's only 6.  Her athleticism scores haven't gone down - in fact they've gone up over the years but I suspect that is because she is more focused, drivey and accurate now than she was before.  While she may not be flashy and big air she can catch almost any toss with any spin at any angle practically and turns on a dime to adjust for them.  It was just sad to see though how much more conservative she is now with her speed and height.  We knew her speed was down because she's not getting to the 2nd disc on several of his 2 disc throws lately but we didn't really realize how much slower and we didn't remember that she had height at one point.  I guess since it was never big air we didn't notice.  Overall in the larger scheme of things this is not a tragedy and it's something Jack just needs to adjust for, but it just is no fun when you first start seeing signs of aging on your dog.  She's still got a long life ahead and plenty of playing time to come (God willing) so we aren't freaking out or anything... just adjusting to our little smack of reality we just got.  She does have that one bad hip and that could be a factor as well.  A trip is planned for the doggy chiro sometime in July and who knows... maybe we'll see a new dog after that though she doesn't seem to be in pain but you just can't ever be sure with dogs.  In any case in another 3 months we'll have 3 veteran dogs in the house... with that said though Ruckus seems to be doing great (he and I placed 4th in intermediate TNF last weekend!) and Mickie is hanging in there and plays toss n fetch in the yard most everyday.  Most folks wouldn't guess that they are 10 and 11 years old.

Below are some pics from the last two competitions... we love that Tali girl!  Next weekend... DACOF (agility)!  We are running on our own team this year - Good-Dog Sports Victorious Secret!  It's Sal, Bev, Sarah, Gary, Brenton and Kathryn.  Should be a lot of fun!!

The photo above was taken by Steven Donahue at Freedom Weekend Aloft - thanks Steve!

Freedom Weekend

Florida States 2010

Also, one last thing - BIG congrats to Gary and Fergie for winning Florida States! 

Groovy Disc Doggin'

Here's a video of Groovy and Jack practicing last night.  She's really doing very well with her disc skills!  Now we just have to get her to be brave enough and willing to play the game in front of other people!

Groovy Disc Doggin'

CPE Nationals

June 25-27th Tali and I attended CPE Agility Nationals in Kissimmee, FL.  We had a fun time hanging out with some agility friends during and after the event!  I don't attend agility trials that require an overnight stay all that often.  There really is no reason to since there is so much local agility and we travel for disc dogging quite a bit.  This competition was drivable but our friend Andrea offered to share her room for the weekend and Tali and I took her up on it!  That was really nice to only have to drive 10 minutes to the event and back.  Razzy (Andrea's BC) wasn't thrilled to share her space with Tali but Finnegan (her Papillon) was very happy to hang with us.  He's such a cutie... I definitely have to get a Pap someday!

As for the actual agility portion of the weekend... we had a lot of fun and did quite well! 7 out of 9 Q's and 1 placement in standard!  Tali ran very well in that environment and she and I had a fun time just hanging out with each other - no other siblings attempting to steal time away!

The event was really well organized.  We got a GREAT goodie bag when we arrived - LOTS of good treats and some toys.  Shopping the vendors was a lot of fun too!

Overall I give the weekend a big thumbs up!  I doubt I'll go again next year - I believe it'll be somewhere WAY up north but I'm glad we got to go this year!

This is a picture of Tali during one of the down times at nationals - like I said - she was quite happy there!  We'll be attending DACOF at the same location at the end of June - I'm looking forward to that quite a bit!

Purina Incredible Dog Challenge - Eastern Regional

I started this entry about a month ago but just haven't gotten around to finishing and posting it... I finished writing it a week or so back and wanted to wait until I got home to post so I could include pictures.  Apparently I am incapable of remembering that once I am home so I'm gonna go ahead and post this without pics cause I'm really far behind!

April 16th and 17th we spent at the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge - Eastern Regional.  We had a lot of fun as it is a great event and they treat the competitors really well. 

Friday was just practice for those teams that were invited and a try out for those teams who were looking to earn a spot for Saturday's competition.  I was really pretty worried about how Tali would do with the environment.  Big crowd, camera guys on the field, etc.  Friday was not near as crazy as Saturday - small crowd, no camera guys, etc.  Tali did OK... a little slow and not too drivey but not bad overall.  Our friends Chris and Chuck earned spots for the competition Saturday so that was very cool. 

Saturday was a much busier day and it was a lot of fun watching the other dogs and handlers in agility, dock diving and Jack Russell racing.  I took pics during each event and was pretty happy with the results.  Steve Donahue let me try out the Canon 300mm lens that he rents for these events.  NICE lens.  Someday when I win the lotto I'll have to pick that one up!

As for Tali and Jack... Tali did really well!  She didn't care at all about the cameras or the camera guys.  She had nice speed and drive for her.  Jack did really well too.  He did a good job interacting with the crowd at the beginning and end of his routine and did a great job with his tosses.  He was the last to go and the wind kicked up for his round which messed them up a little but not too bad.  They ended up coming in 4th overall which is about what we expected.  Donna Schoech and Diva came in 1st, Preston Dean and Sienna 2nd, Mark Muir and Rocket 3rd, Jack and Tali 4th, Chris Engel and Kota 5th and Chuck Hensley and Rico 6th.  The only negative part was that it was pretty evident that Tali is not a Purina type of dog.  The crowd oohs and ahhs over large vaults, big leaps and fast running for long bombs.  Tali does none of those things... one of the drawbacks of her lack of insaneness for the disc but hey - she has come SO far and has taken us so many more places than we would have ever predicted that it's OK with us.  She's such a good girl.  She plays this game because we ask her to and she plays it well!  She really is a very versatile dog.  Not an MVA type of dog mind you but a versatile one none the less!  We love her so much and are so proud of her and all that she's accomplished thus far!

Tali is a rockstar!

This past weekend was the Skyhoundz Southeast Regional Qualifier. Always a great competition and we always have a good time. Jack has been fortunate enough to qualify every year we've attended. In 2006 with Ruckus in distance and accuracy, in 2007 Gary and Bayer in Pairs freestyle (and then qualified at the Open qualifier with Ruckus in microdog freestyle - placing 2nd at Worlds), in 2008 with both Tali and Ruckus in distance and accuracy and with Gary and Bayer in Pairs FS and finally in 2009 with Tali in distance and accuracy and Gary and Bayer in Pairs. Fortunate is actually even an understatement considering only the top 4 go in D&A and FS and only the top 2 in Pairs FS. Not to meniton the southeast is FULL of talent in both D&A and Freestyle.

This year Skyhoundz changed the rules to make room for a new youth division. Only the top 3 freestyle and D&A teams would be moving on. This got us a little worried though Jack had never finished below 3rd in D&A in the years he qualified for it. As it was, we never expected he'd be able to make the top 4 in freestyle much less the top 3 considering he hadn't even made the cut to a 2nd round at a Skyhoundz event though he came close to the cut last year.

Well... on Saturday it was pretty windy and a lot of the competitors had trouble with the wind. Jack considers the wind his nemesis so he was pretty nervous about it. He just hasn't gotten to the point yet that he can think about where the wind is coming from and adjust accordingly all while remembering his routine and getting his disc placement just right. He and Tali went out there though and had a good round in round 1. Not their best ever by any means but apparently good enough because they made the cut and were #1 going into the 2nd round. We were SHOCKED! Happy but shocked!

Next came the D&A round that goes towards the overall freestyle score. Jack was nervous again because of the wind but he managed to sail the discs right down the middle of the field. He and Tali came away with a decent round of D&A of 13.5 points. Not their best but hopefully enough when all was said and done.

Then it was on to the 2nd round of Freestyle. Jack and Tali went out there and rocked it - probably one of their best competition rounds I've seen. Not perfect by any means but still quite good considering the wind. Tali was on too - very drivey and focused. Would it be enough though to stay in the top 3? We had high hopes and sure enough - they not only made the top 3 they won the whole darn thing! Woo hoo! Definitely not an expected outcome but certainly a very exciting one!

Day 2 of the weekend was the Pairs Freestyle and D&A qualifier. Jack, Gary and Bayer did awesome in their round and came away with 1st place. If they can do as good as that at Worlds they have a real shot at the podium! We will all have our fingers crossed for that! New this year though was Jack joining our friend Chris Engel and his dog Kota as a pairs team. Chris lives about 1.5 hours north of us so it's hard for them to get together and practice but they managed to a few times. I personally didn't expect them to qualify this year however Kota must have because she was a catching fool and did a great job - the best ever for her in their pairs routine and they actually qualified after having to do a 10 second tie-breaker against our good friends Bob and Colleen Heygi who have qualified in previous years.

As for D&A... again the wind was tough and the cut off for the top 6 was 11 points or something close to that. Pretty bad... Tali and Jack managed to make the cut and land in 3rd going into round 2 however they only got 2 points in their 2nd round so no qualifying spot for them this year. The wind was pushing the discs down at the last minute and Tali just wasn't kicking it into gear to snag them for some reason. Oh well... no big deal... she more than pulled her weight on Saturday and pulled off a very unexpected win so we'll cut her some slack about D&A! :) Ruckus tried for a spot as well but the wind and such just wasn't working in his favor and he didn't make the cut. I'm sure that we'll try again at the open qualifier with them both but we won't be holding our breath on that one - SOOOO many teams compete at the last chance qualifier - it makes it tough but we'll see!

All in all it was an awesome weekend! Couldn't have asked for more and couldn't be more thrilled. Now we have to gear up for the upcoming weekend - the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge! That should be a ton of fun and certainly the win last weekend takes some of the pressure off of this weekend coming up. The goal for this weekend is to just get out there and have some fun in front of the crowd as a "celebration" of their win from last weekend. Whatever happens with the placements happens... they will just enjoy the moment in the process!

Here are some pics of Jack and Tali from the weekend. I'll likely post later tonight or tomorrow with Pairs photos and videos from last weekend so stay tuned!