Six months later

Happy spring fellow dogsters! It's been six months since I was last able to check in on you guys and a few big things have happened since the last time I posted. I am still competing in agility with Mommy and now my bratty little sister is competing too! Rhyval is turning into a better agility dog than I am - or so Mommy says. Pfft. Rhy definitely seems to like it and her little legs are going as fast as they can (while she beaks off at Mommy when on course). She's running only a second or two slower than me on some of the courses so I have to admit she's pretty impressive for such a baby dog. What a keener!

Agility has become the major focus in our house (since when is it not - BOL) as we get closer to the Regional and, hopefully, National Championships. Regionals are being held in the southern area of the province this year so we're going to be going on a road trip in about 6 weeks. Woohoo! Both Rhyval and I are entered in Regionals and the Steeplechase Challenge so Mommy will have twice the pressure this time. She says she isn't expecting much from Rhyval but I know she's expecting something from me. I am the veteran dog of the family so I guess I should be the one who can work under pressure. We shall see. I know I'll try my best and I guess that is all Mommy really wants from me. Nationals are being held in Ottawa so Mommy is still undecided if we are all going to be heading back east again or not. It's a big deal to travel that far two years in a row. Money is still a big issue with Mommy working for herself doing websites and other design work. Times are tough for everyone so decisions are not being made lightly... especially since I was picked to represent Canada at the FCI World Championships this year in Austria. Yeah me! It's a huge deal to be going to Worlds as only the best of the best get picked usually. How I squeaked in I'll never know but Mommy is exceptionally proud of me nonetheless. ;-)

Beyond agility both Rhyval and I have been performing in a few dog shows this year and will be part of Superdogs at the Rainmaker Rodeo in a few weeks. Hopefully it won't rain as much as the name implies. BOL. It should be fun and I know that Mommy is looking forward to something other than agility for a change. She's so stressed about fundraising for the World Team that she needs to unwind and just have fun. I'm trying to show her how with lots and lots of fetch. Doesn't seem to be working so far. Hmm... might have to rethink that a bit.

Hope everyone is having a great spring with lots of tummy rubs, treats, and fun times with their Mommys and Daddys. Always thinking of you all.

Wagz n' Lix

Still alive and kicking

Allo fellow pups. As you can see I am still alive and kicking. Mommy was laid off at the beginning of the year and thus she lost the ability to use the internet on a regular basis. She has been able to use the library's connection on a semi regular basis but pups aren't allowed in and thus I couldn't dictate a message to you all. She brought me to a friends place hence I can talk to you now.

Life has been going along smoothly and agility is still a numero uno priority for me. My little sis is busy learning the ropes from me and will be competing really soon. I went to our region's Championships and came in 3rd in my division which qualified me to compete at Nationals. Mom got enough money together to take me there (it was in Sussex, NB - the other side of Canada) and I showed her that is was worth it by placing 5th in my division. Since the fastest dogs in Canada compete in my division it is very hard to do well so I made Mommy very happy. I started competing in CKC agility and have quickly risen to the top of the field. Now we are training towards possibly competing at the 2009 FCI World Championships. Mom is getting everything together to submit me for contention and if I am picked I could possibly be on my way to Austria next year. Very exciting.

Mommy is still looking for a job, Rhyval is still a thorn in my side, and internet is still not available out where we live so my next entry might be next year or maybe in a few weeks. Just know that I think about you guys all of the time and I hope that your year has been going as well as mine.

Wagz n' Lix n' Nipz,
Abbi

Valentine's Tags

I was just Valentine's tagged by Abby and Sadie. My first Tag... Woohoo! I am going to tell you 5 Valentine wishes, and then tag 5 friends with a p-mail or rosette. They will then write a diary entry and tag 5 friends with a pmail or rosette, and so on and so on...

i. I wish that agility courses were 30 minutes long instead of 30 seconds long
ii. I wish that all pups around the world had safe, happy furever homes
iii. I wish that the horses lived in the house so I could herd them whenever I felt like it
iv. I wish that there was a course with just weave poles - I love them despite my battle scars
v. I wish that Rhyval was bigger so we could really go hard when we wrestle with each other

I'm tagging
i. Ben - the sweetest boy in the world
ii. Bodhi - for filling the empty space that Pongo left behind
iii. Rajah - for being such a gentleman with his new girl, Nali
iv. Bella - just for being an agility freak
v. Quincy - for allowing Tika to be her own girl despite the obvious lust, I mean, jealousy (BOL)

WTF???

I was just emailed by a friend who visited Abbi's page and said that her latest trial video was removed due to 'infringement reasons'. I guess by using an old song that was recently sampled by Kanye West and made popular again I was a bad girl to use the original song, not West's crappy version. Since all of my other videos here have songs that aren't 'popular' right now it seems like they are okay in Dogster HQ's mind or they would have been pulled too. I guess being smacked across the ass with a rolled up newspaper by Dogster HQ is supposed to smarten me up. Yeah. We all know how well that works with dogs.

Abbi's Mom

I always boogie

Ahhh. Now that the hubbub involving Christmas is over the real excitement of a new year of agility can finally begin. Yeah!!!! Don't get me wrong, Christmas is a great idea. Since this was Rhyval's first Christmas Mommy decided to go a bit overboard. Hence, between her and Gramma, us pups got a ton more toys, treats, and chews than we could ever imagine. Most of the toys all made great sounds - such as a frog that ribbits, a gorilla that shrieks, a star that yells out 'WEEE", and smaller toys with weird sounds I can't explain. I think Mommy and Gramma were regretting the sound toys by the end of the week. BOL! The treats we got were all homemade filled with blueberries and apples and cinnamon. Plus, we got a bunch of bully clubs in different sizes which we didn't get through until two weeks after Christmas. Rhyval didn't realise how great Christmas could be until she tried turkey for the first time and then she was hooked! We were spoiled and I'll be the first one to admit it. Since Christmas only comes once a year Mommy figures it won't ruin us. Yeah right!

Anyways, because of the holiday season there was no agility to be had for a long time. Four weeks is a very long time when your life expectancy is around twelve years! Thankfully Mommy signed me up for the first trial of year, yesterday to be exact. It was just a one day trial with two Standard runs, a Gamblers run, and a Snooker run. Mommy figured we wouldn't do very well since we had so much time off with no practicing, but I showed her how wrong she can be! She did insist on me holding my start line and reset me MANY times before I was allowed to get on the equipment. I wasn't happy with that and tested her many times yet she never wavered. When she mentioned to the judge that she might pull me off the line I realised that she was taking it very seriously. So I stayed where I was.

The first Standard run Mommy was really nervous as I was really high. But I did what I was told, held my bottoms when asked, and ran clean. That made her happy. Then the second Standard run came up and Mommy became really relaxed for some strange reason. Everyone kept mentioning to her that this was the run for my Silver title yet she didn't seem to really care. She brought me out, made me hold my start line, again, and when she released me I was off like a bullet. Thirty-two seconds and nineteen obstacles later it was over. We ran clean again, except... I didn't want it to be over so I decided to go back and took a jump back on the course. Oops. Not a good thing. All of the humans held their breath while the judge checked with the timer on whether the time had stopped before I took that one extra jump. Luckily for my skin it had. So now I have my Silver Award of Merit and a very surprised Mommy. Turns out she figured we wouldn't get it until the next trial so she didn't stress out about it like she normally would have. When she is relaxed then I am relaxed and things usually go pretty well for us. So now I need to have 50 Standard Q's and 100 game Q's for the next title - Gold Award of Merit. Luckily I'm only 25 Standard runs away from it. That should take over a year. BOL!

By the time we were on the third run of Gamblers I was finally relaxed and Mommy was getting tired. She planned a really good opening course for me that led perfectly into the final gamble sequence. It was a hard one as it ended with the dog coming out of a tunnel and looking directly at the dog walk 15 feet away in front of the tunnel. But we couldn't take the dog walk, nooo. We had to move out laterally to a tunnel 5 feet away from the dog walk. All of this with the humans behind the gamble line 22 feet away. Very nasty for all of the dogs. Mommy and I ran an awesome opening sequence and hit the main gamble just after the whistle went. Unfortunately I knocked a bar on the spread but Mommy told me to go on cause she wanted to see if I could do the rest of the gamble with the nasty tunnel/hidden tunnel combination. Guess what? When Mommy yelled out 'Out tunnel!' I went out to the tunnel without breaking stride and a big roar erupted from everyone watching. Even though we didn't officially run clean Mommy was very proud of that gamble since we had the highest amount of opening points (67) and we were the only ones to do the main gamble sequence in one fluid motion. My friend Piper was the only dog to run the gamble clean (yeah Piper!) but he was stopped and resent to the hidden tunnel so I had one up on him in that run.

By the time we hit the Snooker run everyone, dogs included, were running out of steam. Mommy and I usually crash in Snooker, except the last trial where I had my first perfect run in Masters. Mommy wasn't expecting much and wanted to do a safe run of just three '7 point' obstacles - which happened to be, once again, the weave poles - my fave! Piper's Mom convinced Mommy that four '7 pointers' was possible to do and thus the chance to run a perfect Snooker again. Mommy took up the challenge so out we went, weaving past obstacles I so wanted to take, and ran the course of four sevens along with the closing sequence to achieve the perfect score of 59. Go figure, two back-to-back perfect Snooker runs after over a year of not even qualifying. Mommy was really shocked, then she was amazed when she found out I was able to do it ten seconds under time! I guess the time off from agility really did me some good. Someone mentioned to Mommy that I was really boogying on my runs and Mommy said that I always boogie, I just happened to want a dance partner this day. I guess I did cause it was a perfect day of agility for me and a great way to start off the new year.

Yappy Howlidays!

Hey everyone. Mommy is going on vacation for the next two weeks so I won't have net access to update my diary. It's not such a big deal since that means Rhyval and I get Mommy all to ourselves for those two weeks. Yeah!!

I want to wish all of my pup pals a wonderful howliday filled with lots of treats and toys and barking good fun. May Santa Paws spoil you and your family cherish you. As Mommy says - Happy Ho Ho!

For my agility friends out there Mommy has written a carol for all of us addicts to sing until the new trialing season starts up again. Hope you enjoy it.

It's Agility Time
(sung to the tune of Little Drummer Boy)

1. The name just called was mine
It's agility time
I'm next up on the line
It's agility time
The judge and scribe are set
It's agility time
The course I won't forget
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
The team in front is done
It's agility time
Without a clean run.


2. We're told to go ahead
It's agility time
I'm suddenly filled with dread
It's agility time
My dog has no start line
It's agility time
I'm told we'll do just fine
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
Will we complete this run
It's agility time
And say it was fun.


3. The first bar doesn't fall
It's agility time
My dog heads to the wall
It's agility time
The contact she does make
It's agility time
The tire is hers to take
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
The course is going fine
It's agility time
When we run the line.


4. The tunnel's beckoning
It's agility time
My dog is offering
It's agility time
A call off must be done
It's agility time
To safeguard a clean run
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
My dog pulls up with me
It's agility time
The way is now free.


5. The weaves are now in sight
It's agility time
The poles are wrapped so tight
It's agility time
At ten there is no pop
It's agility time
We move without a stop
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
The jumps are cleared with ease
It's agility time
This course is a breeze.


6. Within the next metre
It's agility time
My dog's on the teeter
It's agility time
It slams down suddenly
It's agility time
She does it perfectly,
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
We're really making tracks
It's agility time
I start to relax.


7. The table count was five
It's agility time
My dog has too much drive
It's agility time
She hates to lay so still
It's agility time
This is our weakest skill
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
I hear the magic 'O'
It's agility time
We're on the go.


8. 'Go tunnel' I yell out
It's agility time
She goes without a doubt
It's agility time
The spread did have a tick
It's agility time
The judge my eyes do flick
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
She smiles as we move on
It's agility time
We are almost done.


9. The bridge has come and gone
It's agility time
My cleats rip up the lawn
It's agility time
We see the chute is last
It's agility time
This run went by too fast
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
The course is now just done
It's agility time
It was a clean run.


10. My heart doth fill with pride
It's agility time
It was a glorious ride
It's agility time
The memories of that day
It's agility time
Will never fade away
It's agility time
Agility time
Agility time
Now old my dog is done
It's agility time
Her very last run.

Freak of nature

A lot of stuff has happened since the last time I wrote. Or better yet, since Mommy could take dictation from me. Two weeks ago we went to the last trial of the year and it was my anniversary trial to boot, being my third year competing in AAC agility. Mommy was very happy with me throughout most of the trial. She said she had no expectations going into it due to the lack of training and trialing this year from my injury. I guess that was a good thing because I was very excited throughout most of the weekend and it was hit or miss with most of the courses.

We started with Gamblers and I just loved the dog walk so much I had to perform it four times, only getting points for it once. Mommy wasn't too pleased. When it came time to do the main gamble I was feeling a bit lazy so I knocked the second bar in the gamble and we were whistled off. The only saving grace was that even though we had a crappy opening I was able to accumulate 66 points which won us a consolation prize - a 15lb turkey! Standard was next and I ran it clean which surprised Mommy - she didn't expect that to happen since the course was very technical. Next came Snooker and the nice judge offered a money prize to who ever had the fastest perfect run of 59 points. Snooker is very much like the game it is named after. You have to do a 'red' jump successfully, then an obstacle of choice, back to another red, obstacle, etc until you finish all of the reds before moving onto the closing numbered sequence. Each obstacle is worth a certain amount of points up to 7. So to have a perfect Snooker run you need to do a red, 7pt, red, 7pt, red, 7pt, red, and 7pt then onto the closing 2pt, 3pt, 4pt, 5pt, 6pt, and 7pt sequence. If you do it all perfectly in under 55 seconds you have a perfect snooker. On this course the 7pt obstacle just happened to be my absolute fave - the weave poles. I was so excited I couldn't settle down at the start line. Once Mommy released me we were off and I was in agility heaven for 48 seconds. That's how long it took us to complete the perfect snooker and win the money. Mommy was ecstatic as it helped pay for the gas to get to the trial. We ran Steeplechase next and Mommy was being a lazy handler so I incurred an off course.

The next day we started with Standard and once again I ran it cleanly which brought me within two clean runs of achieving my Silver Award of Merit. By the time we got to Team Mommy was so relaxed she became miss lazy handler again and handled me into a refusal. I didn't care as it was the first time I got to run with my friend Reese and she had great fun running her half of the course. The last course was Jumpers and there was a money pot for the fastest clean run. Mommy entered our names as we had a good chance since we've won money about 5 times in Jumpers so far. I sensed her nervousness as we walked up to the line. The chute was the first obstacle beckoning me, tempting me to run through it right NOW - so I did. Mommy was very vexed at this sudden development and ran after me. By the grace of Dog we ran clean, thanks to Mommy's quick thinking, but not fast enough to win the money - that went to my friend Piper who beat us by half a second. Yeah Piper!

Once the trial was over Mommy started coughing on the drive home and by the time we got home she had a bad fever. For some strange reason she always gets sick at that trial and this time was no different - she ended up with a really bad flu. She's still trying to get over it but at least she's back on the computer allowing me to update my diary. Happy happy joy joy. The first week of her flu was very boring for me as she didn't throw me any balls or do any agility or even let me chase the horses. It felt like we were both on bed rest even though I was perfectly healthy. By the second week Mommy was feeling better. She felt sorry for me so she took me to a fun match where she signed me up for a ton of runs. The only bad thing was she decided that I needed to go back to start lines 101 after the Jumpers fiasco. This meant a lot me of laying down in front of a jump, her walking a few feet away, me having to hold the down, and then getting rewarded. The reward part wasn't so bad but I only got to do an actual course three times out of eight runs I was signed up for. I felt totally cheated! Mommy was very demanding as she didn't want me to lift my butt in the air or shuffle my feet while I was in the down. The moment I moved I was put back in my place and we started from scratch again. Mommy kept saying to her friends that she was going to get a solid start line on me through hell or high water. Now I don't know what hell is but if it's as bad as high water, which I don't like, then I'm in trouble for the next few months. Dog help me.

With Christmas coming down the pipeline the house has been spruced up a bit to make things cheerier than they normally are which curtails a lot of my indoor activities. Don't want to ruin anything, doncha know? Since this is Rhyval's first Christmas Mommy wanted to mark the occasion by having us go see Santa Claus. Now I'm not a huge fan of picture taking at the best of times and was especially upset when I had to sit in front of a large man in a red suit and a flashing camera. Rhyval didn't seem to care at all as our picture was being taken but I did and tried to hide my face. I thought I was doing a good job at it until I heard mommy exclaim 'wanna do some agility?' which perked my ears up in spite of themselves and made me look at her. Flash! Our picture was taken and I was tricked. I should have known better. We've never done agility at a mall before and why would we start now. The real pathetic thing is every year she does that and I fall for it every time.

Now every once in a while I do something that makes Mommy call me a freak of nature. Being afraid of cameras doesn't make me a freak - it makes me a sensitive soul as my Gramma says. Now she usually calls me that after I've done something she least expects. It happened a lot with agility when we were first learning but after a while it trailed off. Last night I showed Mommy why I deserved the title. A couple of weeks ago Mommy bought a receptionist's bell for Rhyval to ring when she wants to go out. So far she had been ringing it herself when we all went out and hadn't started with Rhyval's bell lesson until last night. I could hear it ringing through the walls as she was teaching the little hellion what it was all about. When she thought Rhyval had enough of lessons she let me out of our room and then sat in the living room with Gramma. Now I had to go pee so I stood by the sliding door and waited for Mommy to notice me. She eventually caught my eye and said that if I rang the bell she'd let me out. Now I have jingle bells hanging on a door by Mommy's room that I flick with my nose when I need to go out but I was feeling lazy that night and didn't want to move away from the sliding door. So naturally I did what any good freak would - I saw the receptionist's bell on the floor close by and hit it with my paw which rang it loud and clear for all to hear. Mommy jumped up and let me out with an incredulous look on her face. Ha! Who would have thought a dog can reason. Both Mommy and Gramma talked about it for the rest of the night and I got a few extra treats for being such a good freak. You gotta love it.

Winter's fury

Mommy and I were hoping it would hold off but it didn't - winter has arrived in full force. Yesterday morning Mommy let us dogs out onto the sundeck and we had the shock of our lives. It was -25 degrees Celsius with blowing snow. Poor Rhyval didn't realise how cold that really is until a few moments later when her paws started freezing up. So she did what every sane dog does - she lay down and waited to die. Well, maybe waited for rescue is more correct. Mommy kept calling her but Rhyval wouldn't budge so Mommy had to run out in her bare feet to scoop the little hellion up. It was only a few moments later that I started to feel the effects of winter's fury and quickly made my way inside. The only one who didn't seem to have a care was Gucci! It must be all of that hair of hers. Needless to say going outside isn't as much fun as it has been the past six months. Mommy said that with the wind chill it felt like -35 degrees and I believe her. Yeah - six months of this to put up with now. Happy happy joy joy.

The only thing that makes up for the fact that my outdoor activities are now severely curtailed is that Mommy is taking me to an indoor agility practice once a week. It's a small training facility but there is enough room to do some helpful sequences and the big equipment can go up. Yeah! Last night we went to the first practice and it was two hours of glory. I got to do weave poles, the teeter, the dog walk, and a whole bunch of tunnels and jumps. The teeter was especially fun since it's very bouncy so I got to really slam it down at the end and make it jump up. Mommy was at first worried about me due to the fact that for some strange reason my body temperature had dropped while she was at work. She noticed it when I gave her a greeting kiss and my cold tongue touched her cheek. She checked my gums and said that they were white. Not good. After a small meal Mommy let me chase my stuffed soccer ball in the house which seemed to have done the trick. My gums pinked up and I was no longer cold inside. Exercise can do wonders for a chilled pup. Why I was chilled I'm not saying but Mommy figures it's because I stayed under her bed the whole day without moving so my circulation slowed down. She could be right. Either way she was happy and I was happy by the time we went to bed.

As I sign off I want to say g'bye to a brave dear pup named Pongo who was diagnosed with the big C just a few weeks ago. Before he even had a chance to start fighting it he passed away in his sleep a few days ago after receiving his bedtime kisses from his Mommy. You will be forever loved and sorely missed by everyone here on Dogster. Good night sweet Prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

I'll be waiting

Yesterday Mommy came home from work all agitated. The stress just oozed off of her as she let us all out onto the sundeck and started checking windows and doors. It was only until Gramma came home that I found out what had Mommy so worked up. Turns out her car was burglarised in the parking lot where she works. She was telling Gramma about all of the things the guy stole: a ton of electronic stuff plus her set of keys to the house, work, mail box, etc along with her car's bill of sale. Mommy was afraid that the guy would come out to our place to rob it since we are out in the country and easy pickings as she put it. Gramma said that no one would dare come into the house with me around but Mommy wasn't so sure. This morning Mommy got up early and took all of the locks off the outside doors and then left. I stayed at the top of the stairs guarding the entrances. About an hour later she returned and I barked really loudly, along with Gucci, when I heard someone approach the front door. Turns out it was Mommy and she told me I was a very good doggie for barking so loudly. She even encouraged Gucci to bark which is something she never does. When she put the locks back on the doors she was much happier and gave me a cookie. Before she left she told me to guard the house so here I am under Mommy's bed listening for any sound out of the ordinary. Why would someone ransack my Mommy's car? I've said in the past that humans are strange creatures but they are also cruel, thoughtless things. Hopefully Mommy will feel safe with the new locks and eventually get her property back. Hopefully the person who violated Mommy's space won't come here to do even more damage. If he does, I'll be waiting.

That would be sweet

Guilt is a wonderful thing. Mommy must have picked up on my misgivings about Rhyval's new freedom and came home Saturday with bully clubs. Now normally she brings home three 6" clubs for us dogs but that day she had just two for the little ones and a big 12" club for me. I was so excited when I saw her place the clubs on the kitchen counter I actually whined for it. Something I don't normally do. There they sat for the rest of the day, within my grasp for the taking, but being the good dog I am I didn't try to take them. All I could do was balance on my hind legs close to the counter to sneak a peek at them from time to time. Paws aren't allowed on the counter tops but spying out what's up there is okay as long as you only look and don't touch. Poor Rhyval and Gucci also knew they were up there but being little dogs all they could do was lift their noses to try and catch a whiff. Rhyval even tried mimicking me by balancing on her hind legs which only added a couple extra more inches of height - not even close. Sucks to be little sometimes. Gramma felt so sorry for us that she eventually put the clubs away so they would be out of sight and out of mind. After dinner Mommy finally gave us our bullies and I was ecstatic. I took mine to Mommy's bed and happily chewed on it till it was gone. It only took me about half an hour but it was bliss. Rhyval wasn't too thrilled about hers and kept wanting to switch with Gucci who would have none of that. Usually those two switch off every five or so minutes and are happy to do so. Not this time. That little sucker even tried switching with me but a few growls changed her mind. Gucci eventually finished hers up the following day and Rhyval was left with hers almost untouched. I was so tempted to partake in the extra club, since Rhyval didn't obviously want it, but Mommy said not to touch it so all I could do was sniff it every once in a while when I walked past it. I'm thinking Mommy might relent and let me have it since I've been such a good doggie the past few days. That would be sweet.

In other news Mommy just got confirmation that we made it into the Dogs at Large trial in December. It is the last trial of the year and it is my anniversary trial. It will be exactly three years ago that I first started competing in AAC. I love going to DAL's trials since all of my pup pals are there, music plays throughout the day, and the runs are usually challenging yet fun. I can't wait for the day to arrive. It'll be an early Xmas present for me!