I Was Tagged!!

I was tagged by my buddy Metta

Here are the Tag rules. Each player starts with seven fact about themselves. Dogs who are tagged need to post in their diary the rules and their seven facts. Then choose seven dogs to tag and list their names. Don't forget to send them a pmail that they have been tagged and to read your diary, or, send them a Rosette telling them they've been tagged.

1. I'm really scared of thunderstorms. So scared that when the sky even starts to get a little dark, I start shaking and go in the bathroom and *try* to dig an escape tunnel.

2. I love to dig using both my paws and mouth. Then I'm SOOOO happy I show off my big muddy grin.

3. My least favorite agility obstacle is the tire.

4. I got my name because of the way I stand up on my back legs and "wave" my front legs. I did this when mom came to see me when I was behind bars at the shelter. I even do it when I lay on my back and want my tummy rubbed.

5. My nails grow really slow. Mom only needs to clip or file them once in a great while.

6. My only really bad habit is going on panty raids. I steal underwear out of the hamper and chew a hole in them.

7. I *USED* to be friends with the cat. We used to play and wrestle. But then one day something (?) happened between us and now I won't let him near me. Luckily for him, he's got my little brother, Ollie, to play with.

Okay I'm tagging these fellow dogsters:
Abby
Mika
Cotton
Winston
Sierra Mist
Cody
Sailor

Perfect Dog - Perfect Weekend!

I knew something was up because I saw mom packing up the car on Friday night. Then we all had to get up VERY early on Saturday morning and we drove and drove and drove. Finally we got to this place that was really weird inside. One part had this strange green carpet with agility equipment set up and the other part had all kinds of dogs in crates. Mom put Ollie and I in our crates and we didn't like that too much. Ollie just stayed in his crate most of the day except for going on walks, but I got to come out and run agility 4 times. Then on Sunday we got up early AGAIN and went back and I got to run 3 times and Ollie got to run twice.

I had SO much fun playing agility! I did really well and qualified in all 7 of my runs - all clean. Mom says that's called a perfect weekend and that I'm a perfect dog! I also placed in all my runs, including 5 first places, and earned my last two CPE level 1 titles and then went on to rack up several legs towards my level two titles. You should see all the ribbons I won!! I was SO happy and proud of myself. I love running around with my mom.

Show 'n GO 'n go!

I knew something was up! Mom put both wire crates in the car last night, chopped up some treats, put some stuff in the RED BAG and put on my special competition collar. I was so excited I could hardly sleep! I woke up all excited and did my butt bump dance with the couch. Then it seemed almost like the usual morning routine and I got sad because maybe mom was going to work, so I laid down and sulked. But then mom said "Come on Wavey, you're going too!" and it was the happiest moment of my life. I was down the stairs in a tenth of a second and doing spins on the steps and then I had to drag mom to the car 'cause she's too slow when I'm excited.

We went to this place where there were a couple of dogs I've never seen before. Mom went inside a building for awhile then came out to get Ollie and me. When we went inside I saw AGILITY stuff and best of all - it was nice and cool inside, which I love.

Ollie ran first so I had to stay with mom2. I could barely contain my excitement. I wanted to get out there and show him how it's done. I waved and howled to get mom's attention. "Pick me! I wanna go!"

Then finally it was my turn. Time seemed to go by so fast. I was fast! Mom says I was acting like "Winter Wavey" instead of "Summer Wavey" - which means I was fast and excited. I need to tell her that I would act like that all the time if I could always run when it's that cool. I want to run in air conditioning all the time for the rest of my life.

Wow! Did I ever have fun! Then my time was up. :( I wanted MORE, but then we got back in our crates and left. I don't get any ribbons for my effort? Mom says it was just for practice. I sure did want to run more. But I'm glad I got to run in the first place. I came home all wound up with a big smile on my face and mom was glad to see that because I've been hot and cranky the last few days. I even played with the brat for a few minutes when we got home. Thank you mom for taking me! Can we do this every day? PLEEEASE?!

Have Red Bag, Will Travel

Something out of the ordinary happened yesterday. I saw mom getting my red bag ready and I know that means AGILITY! I got so excited. I didn't think too much that's it wasn't the usual time of day...maybe my class had changed. Or maybe I was going to one of those things like before where I get to win ribbons.

Well, mom didn't drive too far and then we just sat in the car and waited for a few minutes. I kept whining because I wanted agility. Then someone pulled up in another car and mom unloaded the big wire crate and got me out of the car and put me in the wire crate in the other car. Once I got in, I saw one of the big dogs from my agility class. But this was really odd. I never see him in a crate like this.

Then we drove for a quite a long time. I cried for a while because I didn't know what was happening, but finally made up my mind to just go with the flow.

When we finally got to where we were going, no one else was there. There was a fenced area with all kinds of jumps and tunnels set up, but instead of going in there, we went in the building. There was more stuff in there and some kind of fence that split it in half (I had to jump over that once when I was convinced mom was leaving me...she claimed she was just walking over to get something out of the bag). We practiced agility in this new place...they had everything...teeter, weaves, A-frame, tire, jumps, tunnels, etc. We played until I was happily exhausted. After it was done, I had to go back in my crate where I had my own personal fan blowing on me and I took a long nap until we got back to our own car again. It was fun to play agility someplace else.

My First Agility Trial

It's been a long time since I wrote here, and lots has happened, but really...the reason I haven't had time to write is because mom says I've been "in training". I told her I thought I was always "in training" and she said, "yes we are always training, but now we are training for a special event". Moms sure are confusing!!!

Anyway, last Saturday we got up very early in the morning. The moms loaded a bunch of stuff in the car. I saw my red bag being loaded and that got me excited, but I was a little perplexed...why would I have agility class so early in the morning? We got in the car and drove and drove and drove...as we started to drive it rained and rained and rained. Finally we got to this place in a field where there were a bunch of other dogs arriving with their humans and part of the field had agility equipment surrounded by a really odd looking fence. I sat in the car while the moms set up some weird tent...just when they got done it started to rain even harder, so mostly we spent the day hanging out in the car...which was warm and dry and it let me get some nice naps in.

Three times on Saturday, mom got me out of the car and we had to go stand in the pouring rain to wait our turn to play agility out in the field. When I ran, I had to run naked, but mom did not. Mom said I did very good for my first time out, especially since it was pouring cold rain on our heads. I won a big blue ribbon in my first class and a red one in another. Finally it was time to go home. I was looking forward to being warm and dry and resting up.

But then Sunday came and we got up early AGAIN and went for the long drive AGAIN! This time our tent was still up and it was nice and sunny, but cool enough for me not to get cranky (I hate being hot). I got to run around the ring naked again several times throughout the day. I guess mommy 2 had been video taping my runs on Saturday, but, maybe because of the rain, I didn't notice she was there until Sunday. A few times on Sunday during my runs, I had to run over to the fence near where she was to make sure she was capturing my most beautiful side. Mom 1 didn't seem to appreciate this much though.

I won lots more ribbons on Sunday...including 2 more blue ones (which mom says are the best). Mom says we earned lots of legs this weekend...but I don't see why I need more than 4! Mom says I also got some fancy letters to put after my official name to keep my CGC company. She says I may now call myself: Weather and Water CL1-H CL1-F CGC. But my friends can still call me Wave.

This is Weaving?

Well, I don't have a lot to write about my class this week. I had to wait in the car again while Ollie had his turn. I don't think that's too fair.

We started to learn weaves. All I had to do was go between two posts and touch an Alley Oop. (These Alley Oops looked different than mine, which was confusing at first. I wanted to touch it with my foot.) Well, if that's weaving it doesn't seem very hard to me. Mom says there's a lot more to it. I'll reserve judgement for now.

We also did some teeter and some jumps. Mom took me around the building when we weren't busy and did some tunnels and tables too.

Not much else to report this week.

Teacher's Pet

We'll this last week in my class, that little brat tagged along again. This time mom made me wait in the car while she and him went to his class. I used the time to catch up on some Zs.

Finally mom came and woke me up. It was time for me to shine! Yay!

First I started out by doing the dog walk twice. I did it perfect BOTH times. After the second time my teacher told me what a good dog I am and how proud he is of me. I soaked up the attention...looking at him and wagging my tail.

We did low teeter next. Which I hadn't done in weeks, but still remembered how and didn't freak out when it moved. Mom says I've come a long way from those early days on the tippy boards.

Later on we did jump sequences with a tunnel. One of the dogs in my class got all crazy and zoomed around like a nut. I took it upon myself to try to get his attention and get him under control. I howled and barked and waved at him like crazy, but he didn't listen. Silly thing. Can't he see that this is serious business?

This week mom has pulled out the alley oop and we've been working a lot on my targeting that. Mom says we'll be starting "weaves" this next class...whatever that is...and we'll be using it to help me learn, so I've gotta get back in practice.

Back to School

Well, it's been a while since I've written here. That's mainly because we had a break from class. Mom says it was because of the holidays, but the best holiday I can think of would involve going to agility class.

On the weekends I've been doing jumps and tunnels here at home, but it's just not the same thing. So I was SOOOOOOOOOOO super excited when I saw mom getting the red bag ready. That can only mean one thing. But...wait...something really weird was going on. For one thing we left the house much earlier than usual. The second thing was my bratty little brother was coming along too. What was going on?

When we got to the building mom took a big case inside and left us in the car. Then she walked both of us and we BOTH went inside. Then I saw it...that thing they bought me as a "present"...I can think of 1,000 other things I'd rather have thank you very much. I had to go sit inside it for a really long time. I couldn't see out, but I could hear lots of dogs and people and I could hear Ollie barking and that made me want to bark and try to find my way out of that thing. This was very upsetting!

Finally mom came and sprung me from jail. She decided to put Ollie in his little crate in the car and then it was just me and her just like it should be. That made me very happy.

It was just me and the Corgis tonight. We started with the dog walk. It was higher than the last time I was in class. The first time I ran over it, I realized it was different near the top of the ramp and I jumped off, but mom said it was okay to run down the whole thing. So I did a couple of times...and this week I remembered to touch my little plastic thing at the bottom to get a treat. Mom was very proud & so was teacher man!

Next we did jumping. I was a little spaced out because of my weird night at first, but then I figured out what we were doing and to watch mom where to go next. Teacher man had me do a few different sequences. Then me and mom went off and ran up and back over the jump chute a few times by ourselves while teacher worked with the Corgis because they were having problems staying and paying attention to the task at hand. I used to have trouble concentrating on things in front of me like that...I liked to stare at mom's face and never look at anything...but we worked on it together and now I do pretty good.

Next we did the A-frame. I didn't remember it too well. I was pretty good at hitting my target, but I ran around it a few times when mom wanted me to climb it. I haven't had a lot of experience with it yet, so it was okay. I did a really good climb in the end. Mom said I caught a little air on top...which is good, I guess.

The last thing we did was tunnels and table. We were using the littlest table because of the corgis, which confused me at first because I'm not used to going down on a table where I barely have to jump to get on. But the second time I did it I figured it out and went down much faster. Then we did this weird thing where I had to go from tunnel to chute to another tunnel to the table. Mom had to learn to keep changing her position like we were dancing together. We did it good the first time through. Then the night was over and Ollie and I got to come home.

Revving my engine in the cold

I FINALLY had my agility class again last night! I guess we are still going...yay! Mom thought it was super cold, but it felt just right to me. Between being so excited to be back in class & enjoying the crisp cold weather I was full of beans. We started class with the dog walk and this time we got to do the entire obstacle. I zoomed across so fast the first couple of times I totally forgot about my little plastic thing I'm supposed to touch at the end & jumped off too soon. Finally mom reminded me by telling me "easy" as I got toward the down slope and "target" and then I remembered just perfect twice in a row. Mom's fellow people told her I raise the curve of the class way up & that I'm super focused. Mom says..."well...sometimes..."

Then we got to do lots of jumps. I got so excited about running around in the cold with mom that I was growling and barking. I've never done that before...it was fun. Mom said I was full of myself.

We did table and I remembered to lie right down and wait for further instructions. Next I had to go through a tunnel before going to the table. At first I forgot what I'm supposed to do about tunnels...it had been a while...but then I remembered and it was okay.

Back at it

I was sad because I thought we had quit agility. I haven't had class for 2 weeks! I wasn't too sad because we had gotten snow on the ground, which I love...I love laying on my back and making "Wave Angels" all over the place whenever I step out the door. But mom says snow is the reason our class has been cancelled and, also, snow on the ground means I can't play with my own agility stuff, so I may have to rethink my opinion about snow. Personally, I think agility should always take place in the snow...that would be awsome...the best of both worlds!

Well, Thursday night we had rain and it washed some of the snow away. Mom said it was enough for her to drag some jumps out today. I had lots of fun jumping and getting myself incredibly muddy in the process...but I sure didn't like sitting my butt down in the cold mud! A girl has to have some standards after all!