Changes!

Click to listen while reading!  :)

What is this thing here?  A blog?  I sort of remember that I have a blog.  Clearly I’m not a good blogger.  I do much better at short snippets of info than long ones i.e. Facebook status updates, but the drawback there is that I can’t easily go back and re-read them to recap what I think I’ve learned or said over time.  I can’t promise I’ll blog more often but I’ve had some thoughts fluttering around in my head that I want to put down so here goes at least 1 blog entry for 2012.  I suspect with having a new pup in the house I might manage to blog a few more times this year.  We shall see…

A new puppy?  Yep – a new puppy!  I imagine anyone who reads this is also my Facebook friend and thus already knows about Ziggy.  Quick recap in case you’ve missed it somehow… Ziggy is an ASCA registered Aussie from Terri Carver of Maximum Aussies in Brenham, TX.  He is out of Mojo (Slash V Midnight Cowboy) and Maggie (Maximum’s Steel Magnolia).  http://onedropaussies.com/ziggy/  He is a ½ brother to Spice through Mojo.  We are still working on a registered name for him.  Currently I’m leaning towards Maximum’s Catch the Wave but haven’t settled on it.  Catch the Wave is a lyric in Ziggy Marley’s song “Into the Groove”.  It also fits because of Ziggy’s crooked (or wavy) natural bob tail! 

So with the addition of Ziggy we now have 7 dogs.  “That’s a lot of dogs” is pretty much what everyone says when they find out we have 7 and they are right, it is a lot of dogs, especially when management is required within the pack and one is a pee pot!  We are adjusting and managing it all pretty well though Jack is complaining that he can't remember dog's names anymore.  I must admit I've had a few of those moments myself!  To add to the fun we’ll be dog sitting for a friend for much of August so that will make things interesting but luckily Kicker is well liked by all but 2 of the dogs in my house so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Some folks have asked how Ruckus is handling the stress of the new puppy.  For those that don’t know Ruckus is in congestive heart failure and doesn’t have too much longer to live.  Most things I’ve read state that most dogs live 6-12 months once they go on the meds he is on.  We truly thought we were losing him a few months ago but the meds have done wonders for him and he’s living quite comfortably right now.  We took several weeks to decide whether we wanted another puppy right now.  I had been on a list for a Spice sibling and that litter was planned for this spring but it didn’t happen and the Maggie x Mojo litter happened instead.  Other than size there were a lot of reasons to go with this litter over waiting for another Fly x Mojo cross however we weren’t sure it was a good idea to bring the pup in with Ruckus doing so poorly.  But it became apparent that Ruckus was going to do rather well on the meds and we decided to go ahead and get a pup from this litter.  How’s Ruckus handling it?  Pretty darn well actually.  Probably the best he’s handled any new addition.  He’s more focused on stealing Kongs and chew bones out of Ziggy’s ex-pen than he is on Ziggy, to the point that when I let Ziggy out Ruckus is right there to go in the ex-pen.  In the past he’d have stayed far away.  They’ve even been loose together in the front yard once or twice and Ruckus just ignores him and Ziggy seems to get that Ruckus isn’t a dog you approach.  Kudos to Ziggy on that!  Ziggy is very respectful of Mickie too!  His Uncle Max and Aunt Sadie taught him well!

How is everyone else adjusting?  Groovy likes him though is only allowed to interact through the ex-pen.  She’s funny – she tries to guard his ex-pen from the other dogs but Ziggy is allowed to have all the stuff in there.  Mickie appreciates that he is respectful of her and she’s even been spotted play bowing to him when outside.  Inside she lets him know she needs her space and he complies.  Spice… well Spice doesn’t like him.  The little queen feels like she’s been dethroned but to be honest she probably needed to be.  J  She hasn’t been allowed loose with him much at all.  She isn’t aggressive with him but definitely tells him she doesn’t want him near her or her stuff.  Hopefully they’ll eventually become good friends, time will tell.  Jam is very tolerant of him and occasionally likes him.  She hasn’t taken to him like she has to other puppies that have visited.  Maybe because he’s staying… I’m not sure.  She does play with him on occasion but isn’t in love with him.  And then there is Tali.  What a fantastic dog she is!  She loves the puppy and plays well with him and he loves her!  They are so fun to watch.  She is always a good big sister/momma dog to our new additions.  

So overall everyone is adjusting pretty well.  More to come on Ziggy and what he's like.  Look at that... already the promise of 2 blog posts in 2012!  Till then here is the new addition!

Ziggy at 8 weeks in Texas

Ziggy at 14 weeks at the Wiregrass Mall

Ziggy and his brother Moses at Wiregrass Mall - 14 weeks

Spice = Genius

Yep... that sums it up.

Wow - I suck!

Has it really been since July since I've blogged?  I guess Facebook is my blog.  That suits me better.  Short and to the point.  :)

Well let's see... had a great time at Skyhoundz.  Tali qualified for freestyle at the last chance qualifier which is probably one of the hardest competitions around.  We were amazed and surprised.  Spice came in 1st in microdog at the qualifier (very cool but not as hard to do as what Tali did) but that qualified her for worlds as well!  A very very exciting day for us!  Tali didn't have enough oomph to do 2 days of competition so didn't fare well at the actual worlds competition but she at least did better than last year.  Spice did great for a baby dog with no routine finishing 8th in microdog!  Can't wait to see what they do when they have a routine!

On to AWI Finals at Purina.  Jack and Tali were qualified so we drove 17 hours to Purina Farms.  It was a quick but fun trip.  Tali did well enough to make the cut to the 2nd round but speaking of cuts, she cut her tongue in the 2nd round and that pretty much ended her routine right there as she isn't the type of dog that can work through that.  :(  One great thing from the weekend is that Jack played Groovy in D&A on Sunday and she did great!  She's been doing pretty well at doing FS in public the past year or so but just hasn't been brave enough to play D&A - guess she has to get too far away from "dad".  Well she did it at Purina and did awesome!

Canis Major season is upon us and Tali is doing well in SuperSport D&A with both Jack and I.  Jack is judging freestyle again this year so isn't competing.  I haven't been able to practice with Tali so I am just doing D&A instead of freestyle.  Spice did well at the 1st Canis Major with me but has been dropping discs at the last 2 Canis Major.  Not sure what that is about since she is normally a catching machine.  The HUGE Canis Major news is that Groovy attended the last one and played D&A with Jack.  Not only that but they placed 1st!  Soooo awesome!  I am so proud of her, she's come a long way!  This event last year she would play FS but wouldn't play D&A.



We have 2 more Canis Majors and that will be it till January or February!  It's been a great disc dog season and I expect next year will be a lot of fun.  Jack's been putting a lot of foundation on Groovy and Spice the past few months so hopefully it will pay off come 2012!

One last new thing for us is our logo.  We've finally got one for One Drop!  Personalized DK Vaulting Vest and discs coming soon!

Oh yah - Jack and Groovy won best Freestyle in the Spooky Jam contest with PVybe.com - that's how he won the vest!  Their video is below!

Spice's first beach trip!

Had a great time though next time we'll go when there aren't waves bigger than her!  :)

DACOF 2011 is complete and we rock!

DACOF 2011 was a BLAST and to top it all off our team ROCKS!  Victorious Secret came in 3rd place out of 55 teams!  One spot up from last year where we placed 4th out of less teams (can't remember how many from last year).

More importantly though it was a lot of fun and Tali ran really well.  She hadn't been feeling 100% leading up to the competition so I was worried that she'd miss a lot of weaves and/or drop bars.  Well she only messed up 1 set of weaves, had 1 dropped bar and looked very comfortable running so I consider that a huge success.  She was able to contribute to the teams score on 3 out of her 5 runs - she's a nice consistent dog (minus 1 rd anyway) for an event like this.  Check out her runs... thank you to Sarah and team for videoing!!


Tali VS DACOF 2011 from Sarah Duke on Vimeo.


Spice came along to be a cheerleader and because I wanted to see how she'd handle the environment.  She was awesome.  Super friendly with everyone, curious about the dogs running, willing to tug near the rings, etc.  Just her general awesome self!  :)  Hopefully she will be running in Novice on Team Victorious Secret for DACOF 2012!!  :)

Worrying is over and DACOF is coming!

All went well with Spice's hip xrays last Friday.  She came through the procedure just fine - the staff loved her AND her hips look great.  We'll get the official word in another week or so but the vet who did the PennHIP eval said she felt confident they were nice.  Take a look yourself.... this is the OFA view - 1 of the 3 views they do for PennHIP.  We also got her elbows done so those are going off to OFA.  I'm not sure if her hips will go to OFA too or not.  The drawbacks of having your hubby do the deed.  I had to hear about it all after the fact.

This weekend coming up is DACOF - Dog Agility Competition of Florida.  Love this event!  Tali is running in Open again - just goes to show how little we trialed in the past year!  She earned her OA title but she's still eligible to run in Open in DACOF until she earns her AX title.  No worries there!  Hopefully she does well... she's been a little off lately.  I don't think she can handle cross training.  That or something involved in either doing weaves, the dogwalk or 20" jumps bothers her in a way that doing freestyle and D&A does not.  We've done very little training this week and kept her to just toss n fetch - hopefully she can stay sound for the weekend!  In any case we'll have fun running with the team!  Power of the Pink!  And little Spice gets to come along to cheer everyone on - yay!!

Sitting here nervous...

while Jack is en route to a new vet we've never been to before with precious cargo known as Spice!  She gets her hips done today... fingers crossed all goes well with the procedure and that she's got no orthopedic issues!  We don't have a good track record in this department (2 out of 4 who have been tested have issues)!  Here's hoping and praying we can beat the Fahle dog odds!