Ollie on Tour

I'm not sure...but I think I must be famous and am now on tour showing off my agility skills because this weekend we went to another place to demonstrate my abilities. This was called USDAA, whatever that means. First I got to run a course where I did all the agility obstacles. Mom says this is called Standard. Mom says I Q'd and got 2nd place. She showed me the ribbons, but they weren't as fun as the squeaky toy I won. Then I ran in a class called Gamblers. It was fun running around fast trying to get as many points as possible. Then the whistle blew and mom told me to run really fast over a line she couldn't cross and do some stuff before I could come back to her again. Wheeeee...that was fun! I Q'd and got a blue 1st place ribbon for that one...but the squeaky toy was the best thing! I wanna do this every weekend so I can accumulate more toys! Mom won't let me chew on ribbons, so winning them is no fun at all!

I'm a Winner!

This weekend was one of the strangest of my life. On Saturday, mom got Wave & I up really early and we went for a very long car ride. Then we got to this building where there were a lot of other dogs in cages and a place where they had agility equipment set up. Now on Saturday, all I did was sit in my crate and go for occassional walks with mom. Let me tell you...I wasn't very happy at all. There were too many dogs walking around and barking and even though I couldn't see them because mom had a sheet over my crate...I had to let them all know very loudly, not to mess with me. Wave got to go run around the agility part with mom and she won lots of ribbons. I was so jealous. When was The Ollie going to get my chance to shine? By the time we got home Saturday night, I was so tired from throwing hissy fits in my crate all day, I didn't even have the energy to jump up on the bed. THEN mom had the nerve to get me up early AGAIN on Sunday morning and go for that long ride AGAIN and put me in that crate AGAIN. HURUMPH! I'd had it! I wasn't very happy at all.

But then something good happened in the afternoon. Mom took me out and we got to go over to the place where the agility equipment was. Finally - Ollie's turn to shine! This is what mom meant by saying I was going to my first trial. I got to run around twice and mom said I qualified both times (whatever that means) and I also won two blue ribbons. Mom says that means I won first place both times! I always knew I was the best. Now I have tangible proof! Mom says I also got some letters to put after my name. CL1-F. The "F" stands for Fun. And here I thought I already had the fun title without having to prove it in a trial! So, see Wave, you're not the only award winner in the family. I'm a winner too. Thhhppppttt!

Anniversary

One year ago today, I finally found my forever home! It's so nice to be loved and have people who love me back - even when I chew things up. (Today I obliterated a pen and the thumb of an oven mitt. Yummy.) Best of all...I got a nylabone to CHEW on in celebration...mom calls that appropriate, I call it heaven. This is one stray who has come along way! Guess what...this weekend I make my agility trial debut. I don't know what it means, but mom says she *hopes* it doesn't mean d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r. Awwww...come on ma...you know I can spell! I will *TRY* to be good...............maybe.
I love my home.
Licks, Kisses, & Chews,
Ollie

Shaping Up

Hey everyone. I wanna tell you all about these games my mom has been playing with me. It's been so hot that mom said we need to find something we can do inside in the air conditioning. She decided to start playing some shaping games with me in order to help me keep my mental sharpness well developed.

Let me tell you about shaping games! They can be fun, but they can also be VERY frustrating. Basically mom stands there with some food and a clicker and doesn't say anything and I have to guess what she wants me to do. Sometimes I get frustrated because mom doesn't tell me what she wants and won't click me for the stuff I do, so I huff, sneeze, whine, yip, stare and look very cute. For some reason, mom does not consider this behavior click-worthy. Hrumph!

One game we play was called 101 things to do with a box. I haven't figured out all 101 things, but I have come up with a bunch of creative stuff that got me rewards. We've also played with a tennis ball. I taught myself to roll it across the floor with my nose by playing this game. We also play retrieving games. Mom is working on getting me to teach myself just to bring her one certain toy for now. The problem is that she puts it right next to my bee and everyone knows I can't resist the bee! I have magnets in my mouth that are strongly attracted to the bee. I think I'm catching on what she wants me to bring her though.

Something else we've been playing - mom decided it would be a good idea for me to work on some hind-end awareness/coordination. We started out with me moving back on a flat piece of cardboard and would get clicked for touching it with my hind feet. Then I graduated to doing this with the box. Earlier today, mom thought it would be a good idea for me to teach myself to walk up the stairs backwards - "this will be good for your muscles" she said. I already have a rippling, muscular hiney though - I don't need more muscles back there! Silly mom. Well, it was fun anyway. First we did one step at a time - click, treat. Then 2 and a click treat. I'm really getting the hang of it and soon will be racing up the stairs backwards! WOOO-HOOO! That'll be useful in a sneak attack on the cat. He'll think I'm going out the door, but I'll actually be coming up the stairs right at him. Heheh.

This morning mom took me and Wave to something called a "Show 'n Go". All I did was run around and do some agility stuff. Mom says I was a little zoomie and distracted, but this was the first time I've ever gone someplace I've never been and then do agility right away. She says it was good practice for me. Wave watched me run, but I didn't get to see her go. When she came back to the car, she said "I did better little squirt. Eat my dust!" I'll show her someday. She doesn't walk up the stairs backwards. I'm going to be champion at that!

Working Hard

Woof All! Once again, it's been a long time since I've put my thoughts down. Let me tell you, mom has been keeping me B-U-S-Y!! I barely have time to CHEW anymore. (Although I did manage to wreck mom's summer shoes the other day...they were delicious!)

Mom is on a mission. She says I *HAVE* to get used to being around other dogs and not reacting because she has big plans for me and wants me to trial in the future. I have no idea what this means. All I know is that she's been taking me lots of places and giving me lots of treats for paying attention to her instead of other dogs. She seems to think that this the easiest work I could ever do in order to achieve a reward, but I have news for her - it's HARD!!

Even our agility classes are different now. We started going back to that indoor place where there are other dogs. Now we run one at a time over a whole course instead of there being dogs running every which way and acting goofy. Mom and teacher say I do AWESOME! Orginally mom had just brought me to Wave's class to hang out and work with me practicing being around the other dogs, but teacher saw how good an agility dog I was and invited me to stay and run in the class after Wave's. Technically, it's a slightly more advanced class than Wave's and I've been doing this for a lot less time than her, so obviously I'm smarter and more talented! tpppttthhh!!! hehe.

I'm still going to my private lessons too. The past couple of weeks we've been starting off having what mom calls "Golden Retriever Practice". I particularly despise those dogs because that's what got me scared in the first place. Mom makes me pay attention to her while the big red dog walks around us or vice-versa. The first week I couldn't help it...I had to tell the big dog off a lot. But mom said I was much better with the big red dog the 2nd week. Mom likes "improvement". I guess I'm getting improved a bit.

Mom says she has a short-term goal for me: she entered me in a couple of classes at a trial in Mid-August and hopes I'll be ready to go through with it by then. I don't know what that is or when, but it sounds like it might be exciting. But mom says she hopes I don't find it TOO exciting.

I've been having a great time doing agility lately. I've been working hard on getting my weave poles down to a science and mom says we are almost there! I love it. Weaving is so much fun that sometimes I decide to go do them even when I'm not supposed to. Mom says she doesn't want to dampen my enthusiasm, but we'll need to work on doing only what she says. I've also been working on a lot of obstacle discrimination and layering...whatever that is.

Agility is fun except when you are outside and it rains hard. That happened during my last lesson and, being the only reasonable creature out there, I naturally made a bee-line for the A-Frame and curled up underneath it. Much to my horror, mom expected me to keep working! Now THAT'S crazy! I let her lure me out a couple of times since she had good things to eat, but I was VERY reluctant. Honestly, humans have no common sense. It was a miserable thing and I'm considering contacting a lawyer to see if I can sue for abusive treatment! How dare they think The Ollie should deign to get wet playing their silly game! Hurumph!

Ollie vs. Ugly

I finally got to go to my agility lesson again this week. My mom said had our instructors dogs had been sick and I couldn't go there for 2 weeks because they didn't want me to get sick too. Well, without my activity, my alter-ego, Mr. Chew, had too much opportunity to take over my personality. I...ahem...I mean Mr. Chew was very naughty! ha.

As I was saying, I got to go to my lesson on Thursday. I did great if I say so myself. I didn't forget anything in those 2 weeks. We ended the class by doing something called the Ugly exercise. You wouldn't think myself and "ugly" would be thought of in the same sentence, but here it was...me vs. ugly and I had to prove cute ALWAYS wins over ugly.

The exercise was tire-A-frame-6 weaves-A-frame-6 weaves-jump-teeter-jump-table. I did it TWICE. So take that ugly! Cute is triumphant once again.

After class I got to play ball for a few minutes. Mom bought me these great tennis balls...they combine two of my most favorite things in the world: tennis ball and squeaker! She was mad though, because when she gave me the first one, I broke the squeaker within 10 minutes. Doesn't she know squeaks are for killin'? Anyway, it was fun to have mom throw the ball really far and me go get it. Since there's jumps out there, I also had fun taking those on the way out and on the way back too. Why go around them? If they are in your way, just jump 'em!

I'mmmm Baaaaccckkk!

Woofers to all the Ollie fans out there. It's been a real long time since I last wrote and I'm sure you must be wondering if you'd ever hear my bark again. Rest easy, Mr. Chew is fine. I've just been so busy CHEWING on everything, I didn't have time to write.

Here's the deal. My mom decided not to take me to agility class for awhile because ever since my scary incident in obedience class months ago, other dogs made me very anxious and when I get nervous at other dogs I want to lash out. Even though I was the star of the class (of course!) when it came to doing the exercises, mom didn't like the fact that the environment made me so nervous. She wants my training to be a positive experience. So we stopped going.

Without a positive activity to do, I reverted back to my old evil Mr. Chew ways. I broke new world records for destroying the squeakers in any new toy that entered my home, the cat and I became obsessed with wrestling each other from dawn 'til dusk, and I started CHEWING things I shouldn't - just like when I was younger. Today I did an excellent job of obliterating the television remote control. Heheh...don't watch your boring DVDs people...play with the Olliemon instead!!!

Well, mom said that was the last straw...time for me to put my brain power and energy to more positive use. Actually, I think mom had what happened next planned out ahead of time, but I'll continue to let her think it was my search & destroy mission that pushed her over the edge.

Tonight we went back to agility class. But this class is way different than the one I was in before. First of all, it's outside in this big grassy area surrounded by a fence. This lets mom practice keeping my attention off of all the birds I saw around (but actually, I'm WAY TOO smart to fall for that...I could see they were on the other side of the fence...so even though they looked delicious, I wasn't stupid enough to try to run after them). Second of all, I'm the only student in the class. Wave says it's because I'm "special"...which I thought was a good thing, but she just snickered and said "you have to go to a *special* school". But Mom told Wave to go lie down and explained it's because I'm talented & gifted and she wants to cultivate that talent in a positive environment. So PHTTTTPPPTT on you Wave!

I did LOTS of stuff I've never done before (and I few things I have). We did this thing called a teeter...it's like the tippy board only a lot longer. Mom said it was lower than it'll be eventually, but that I did awesome because I wasn't scared of it at all and I did a good job touching my target at the end of the board. We did a bunch of tunnels...including that funny one that you have to push through like crawling through sheets...jumps, something called a dog walk where I got to touch my target at the end, and the tire, which I had a little bit of trouble with...do I jump the middle or side? Mom said Wave had the same problem for a while, not to worry, I'll get the concept down soon enough. I also did something called backchaining on the A-Frame...but I don't know what that means...I didn't see any chains involved...all I did was used the table as a step onto the A-Frame, walk down to the bottom and touch my target. Mom said we started out backchaining the Dog Walk too...but I was so good at it and seemed so eager to do the whole thing...teacher let me do it all!

Towards the end of class we had some fun combining jumps and tunnels and doing them different ways. Mom says I'm a natural and that I already do distance better than Wave. HA! See, I AM gifted and talented. My new teacher even told Mom that I'm amazing several times. "He's AMAZING" she kept saying. She says she needs to come up with good ways to keep me challenged because I'm so damn smart! Next week I'm going to start learning weaves, which Wave is still working on learning. I bet I'll get them down before she even does. So who's the "special" one Wave?

Signing off for now...gotta go find something to CHEW on.

All Eyes on Mr. Chew

Last night was agility class again. It was real fun. The funnest thing happened at the end of my class. We got to play with those boards that move around and bang real loud. This week I didn't get the slightest bit freaked out about it at all. I'm one brave pup! It's super fun. All I got to do is run across the long ones and I get a treat or 2. On the square one I just ride it around and get treats for that. How simple can you get?!!? I get to have fun being on the boards AND get treats for it. It's the closest thing to paradise in a young dogs life! The only thing better than agility class would be a good class in chewing!

Then at the end, we had to watch a classmate trying to show the rest of the class how to do something. I kept looking at the board near me and trying to pull mom to it, but she said we needed to be still and pay attention. Spoil sport! :( HRUMPH!

Then it was my turn to be demo dog. Step aside all you other pups...let me show you how it's done. I got to run across the tippy board and mom dropped my plastic square at the end and all I had to do was touch it with my nose. EASY!!! Then we did it again. Boy, was I cruisin'. Then mom just left the plastic thingy on the ground and I ran right across again and touched it. Mom says I am one amazing little dog! I have to agree.

After class I had to sit out in the car for a long time while Wave had her turn. BORING. But at least I could CHEW to my heart's content. When we got home I burned off the remainder of my energy by tossing my only living squeaky bee around and CHEWING on it. The bees are the best because they are Ollie mouth sized and they go SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK as I chew. However, the primary time to CHEW on squeaky toys, loud and repetively, is when the moms are watching an important part of a movie or when they are talking on the phone. heheh. How dare they pay attention to something other than the Ollie! That should NEVER happen.

King of the Buja Board

Wave can no longer make fun of me for going to the "baby class". Mom says I don't have to go there ever again. See, a couple of weeks ago I had something scary happen. I was coming to mom at my usual supersonic speed when one of the big dogs in class got away from her owner and tried to eat me. That freaked me out big time! I'M Mr. Chew, NOT Mr. Chewed on! The next week I was super scared of all the big dogs in my class and it didn't help that one of them decided to jump on me when it was supposed to be coming to its owner. Now that was the last straw! Mom said I didn't have to go back there ever again and I was relieved! Now we're going to concentrate on the agility class we recently started. However, I am afraid of the other dogs in my agility class and I try to tell them off if they get near me...Mom says it's unexceptable for me to do that...that she's the boss and it's up to her to protect me...she says we have some work to do together to help me get over my scare and feel confident again.

We got to do some fun things in class. First I got to touch the little plastic thing with my nose and get lots of treats. I'm VERY good at that! Then we did this thing where someone held me and mom ran away...boy did I ever want to go with her! Finally, I got let go and ran superfast to catch up with my mom and got a treat. Then we got to ride these funny boards. Mom said the first one was a "tippy board" I climbed right on & went halfway up. Then it tipped down and that was a little freaky, so I jumped off. Mom kept her foot under the tippy side after that, so it wasn't too scary. Next we tried this square board that tips on all sides. Mom says that's a "buja board". I got right on and rode it all the way around a few times. Mom was very proud of me for being so brave. She told me Wave took several weeks to get comfortable enough to get on it like that. Who's the baby NOW Wave??!! THPPPTT!

This week we've been practicing targeting, that funny thing where mom runs away, and this thing where I have to sit and stay then when mom says, I jump up and tug on a toy. So far, this is WAY more fun than that boring sit, down, heel, stay stuff.

The only bad part was that it was FREEZING in that building and I couldn't wear my coat. When Wave had her class I had to stay in my crate in the car with my coat on. That was boring, but at least I had a rawhide to CHEW on to help pass the time. It took FOREVER!!

Mr. Chew's Night O' Barking

Last night was kinda strange. Wave got all excited about going somewhere & so I had to join in and get excited along with her. Usually I don't get to go with her when she and mom leave the house with the red bag. But last night I did. I think that means I'm a big dog now.

Well, we drove and drove for what seemed like FOREVER! I was getting so restless. "Are we there yet...are we there yet?"

Then when we did get there, mom disappeared for a bit before she came back and walked us. We went inside this building that was kinda cold inside and Wave had to go live inside the green monster while all the attention was on me...as it should be! Wave didn't really like staying in the green monster and I could hear her complaining. It made me feeling like barking a lot too. Everything was just so EXCITING and I had to make my thoughts known! There were all sorts of dogs there (I don't think I like them because *I'M* the best!) and new people. After awhile, I decided this was lame...kinda cold and boring. Pretty much all mom did was sit in a chair. I hope it's not like that every week. I felt I had to keep barking, barking, barking..."Let's DO SOMETHING! HUFF!"
Mom fed me cheese when I was quiet, but it was way too hard to be quiet with all those dogs and Wave kicking up a fuss. Finally we got up and did some things for a few minutes and that made me shut up 'cuz I could concentrate on something fun. But it didn't last for long.

Then mom tried putting me in the green monster, while she took Wave out. I wasn't having any of that!! All my fuss got me, though, was an hour of solitary confinement in my car crate though. It wasn't too bad though. I had a big rawhide to CHEW on.

What a weird night. If that's what big dog class is like, I don't know if I want to be a big dog. Big dog must equal BORING!