Just checking in...

Wow, it has been a long time since I logged onto Dogster, but mom put a password on her computer so I couldn't get on, but I finally figured it out. I have been busy doing obedience and agility. I completed both my novice agility and obedience titles last year and am now being trained for open stuff this year. Mom is so proud of me, she must have gotten me like a thousand toys. I have learned lots of new things: how to retrieve a dumbbell, staying in place while my mom leaves the room, dropping on recall, just to name a few. It is proving to be a little more difficult than either of us thought, so we are taking a break from obedience showing and concentrating more on agility, which I absolutely love! I'll still have to do obedience training, but no showing until August, at which time I know I'll be ready. Well, I gotta go, mom is getting ready to give me a doggy massage.

Yah Zooby!!!!!!!!!!

Zoobs and I got our Companion Dog (CD) title from the AKC in early September. We focused on obedience all last winter, since Zoobs was having trouble "concentrating" while doing agility. It has improved his agility performance so much we are just gonna keep going with it too!! Zooby and I are still training for agility and only have one more leg in each Standard and Jumpers to go to get our Novice titles. I am so proud of him (and me too, my handling is MUCH improved)!! He qualified in the first 3 shows he entered in to get his title, with a big win at K-9 OTC with 3rd place out of 16 qualifying dogs (we won the run-off)!! This winter we will be training on both open agility and obedience and will make our debut in those next year sometime. Zooby is also going to try some herding this fall/winter, just for fun, afterall he is an aussie. Other than that, Zooby has been doing great. Last weekend, we went to the Harvest Festival and Zooby dressed up as a cowdog, complete with hat, badge, bandana, and holster. It was adorable (Why didn't I get a picture, duh!). I'll dress him up in it again for halloween and snap one then. We are both eagerly awaiting the snow and have done a lot of camping and swimming this summer, and frankly, are pretty worn out. Well, keep a look out for us in the Wisconsin area next year.

Third Trial's A Charm!

We went to our third trial last weekend and woot, what a blast!! It wasn't very far from home and it was indoors. But outside, it was very cold and some lady laughed at us cause we had "snow" on our car. I like snow, and we get it here too, just like in Colorado. But mom says Michigan snow is way different than Colorado snow, I just have to wait a little longer and see. At the trial, I just laid around and rested, no barking, mom was very proud of me. I am turning into a really nice dog now that I am starting to grow up. My runs were all qualifying and I even got my first title. There weren't any weave poles, which was kinda weird, but mom said it was because we were at a "UKC" trial. Anyways, I could tell mom was very happy with me compared to what happened at those other places we went. She was so proud, she has even let me do agility stuff at the shop again. I am trying my hardest to make her happy. Well, I gotta go, I need to finish my homework before mom makes me go to bed.

Mom sucks!

Well, my mom and I went to our second agility trial a couple of weekends ago. We left very late at nite and I had to sleep on the car floor on the way there, which was quite crowded. We finally got to the hotel, I took a piss, then we went straight to bed. But, I couldn't sleep, I kept smelling "sheepy", which mom hid someplace I couldn't get to cause it was too "noisy." I spent the rest of the night looking and looking, to no avail. A short time later, mom got up and proceeded to drag me outside, I was tired from lack of sleep, and it was quite cold and windy. We got in the car and drove a short distance. Once in the parking lot, I knew where we were, and there were dogs all over, so I proceeded to bark excitedly, which I was rudely reprimanded for. Once outside the car, mom decided to get me tired, which I already was, so I wouldn't be so "hyper" on the course. She made me play tug-of-war and many games of fetch, which I dutyfully did, since afterall, I am a dog. By this time, I was beat. Mom gets me all lined up to run, which I didn't really feel like doing, so I just sniffed around the course and did a tunnel or two, which made mom very angry, but I WAS TIRED, HELLO! I didn't do much better in the later run and was glad to get back to the hotel to catch some zzz's. She brought my kennel into the room and set it up for me to sleep in, the one smart thing she did all weekend. The next day, I did 2 more runs, I did pretty well on the first run, but didn't qualify, and decided to go looking for the geese I heard on the second run, mom was not pleased. To make matters worse, she said no more agility for me until I learn some "obedience." Now she has me walking around with her doing "heels" "readies" "fronts" and various other boring stuff. I am doing my best hoping she will let me do agility soon again. She also decided that I am fat and has put me on a diet and is making everyone in the household enforce it. I have to give her credit for that one, it was pretty clever of her to let everyone know not to feed me stuff. Shoot, I gotta go, mom is calling me to come and practice holding a dumbbell, if she knew I was on her computer, she would kill me.

My First Trial

Mom and I went to our first agility trial this past weekend. We stayed at a really nice hotel and I even got to go for a walk around a college campus called St. Norbert. The lady at the front desk really liked me and gave me cookies everytime I came back in after my walks, so I didn't mind at all that she kept referring to me as a border collie instead of an aussie. Can't she see that I have NO TAIL! The trial was a blast. I behaved very nicely, staying in my ex-pen and not barking, even when mom was away for a bit. Mom was very excited that I went straight in the weave poles after a jump, something I never did before. I also did the A-frame like a pro, even though it was only my 4th time on one in my entire life! Needless to say, we didn't qualify, mainly because my mom wasn't watching me enough to notice that I missed SEVERAL obstacles, forgot to tell me what to do, and put me in the wrong height class. I had to jump 24" when I was supposed to jump 20 inches. It was impossible for me to keep up with those bigger dogs! We did have a lot of fun though and my mom is very proud of me. I wonder when we get to go to another trial? Check out pics of me burning grass in my picture library.

Agility Rocks!

Last week, mom took me to my first agility class. When we first got out of the truck, I barked for a minute straight cause of all the dogs, but mom wouldn't move, so I stopped, and then she did. I got to do all kinds of obstacles: jumps, tire, walk, weave poles, paws table, and the tunnel, my favorite! Afterwards, I went swimming and then came home and crashed. I did super in class this week, I went so fast, stupid mom couldn't even keep up with me! She even gave me the wrong command when I went for the tunnel (she said "tire" instead), so I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the tunnel and didn't know what to do. Stupid mom better get her dog poop together if she wants to do agility with ME.

"Camping"

This weekend we went "camping." Mom kept saying we were going camping, I was excited, but I didn't really know what she was talking about. I have to say, camping is even more fun than the beach! First off, we drove really far to get there, I thought maybe we were moving again, but mom didn't take quite enough stuff for that. The roads were really windy, and mom drove really fast. When I stuck my head out the window, the air smelled great: bugs, birds, trees, water; I thought I was in heaven. Finally, we got there, and everybody was there, including my best buddy, Gretchen. There were lots of buggies to eat and oodles of woods to run through, I even got to go "swimming" for the first time! At first mom threw my ball out in the water for me to get, but I just left it there, who wants to fetch a dumb old tennis ball when you have all kinds of smelly sticks to fetch! I dunno what happened to my tennis ball, maybe some other dog will find it and be really happy. I got yelled at for barking and running after dogs, but I didn't care, I just kept on barking! I can't wait to go camping again next weekend.

"Beach"

I went to a really cool place today mom called the "beach" I was just sitting there, wondering what she was talking about, but knew it would be fun. We went there with my doggie friend, "Maggie" and we had a blast! We ran and ran, then ran some more, it was endless. I would get so mad at the white roaring things that were trying to get me, so I would try to eat them, mom said they are called "waves." I don't like the water too much, it's very cold, and I only go about to my elbows. There were lots of sticks to go fetch and mom even tried to get me to catch a frisbee, but I didn't and it was lost at sea. She was mad at first but said some other doggie would find it and be really happy, so that made me feel better that I didn't go get it. Afterwards, we went to "Frosty Treats" and I got to eat some "ice cream," then me and Maggie got into a fight, so mom said no more ice cream, aww mom!

Woot, where am I!?!?!

I went on a very long trip with my mommy and aunty this week. They packed up the truck and made me sit in this little tiny space next to the kitty kennels. They drove and drove, and drove, then drove some more. I had a lot of fun smelling all the new things, whenever they decided to stop, that is. Finally, late at night, mom dropped off aunty and went to her mom's house and I got to meet Gretchen, a keeshond. And boy, do I love her! We play all the time and keep everybody up all day and night, right now I am in timeout cause I was "getting out of hand", sheesh, I was just playing mom!

mysterious red bug

Ruff!

What is that little red thing?! I can't get it... Ooh, there it is again. Oh wait, it's gone now, where did it go? I'll chase Madeleine instead now, maybe it will come back again.