Canine Carcass Shots!! Plus a bonus picture!

I knew that would get your attention!!!!

Saturday when we got back to the hotel at a decent hour and the dogs were EXHAUSTED!!

Let's step back a minute and compare how the Humans and Canines spent there day.

The Humans -

Up at 5:30 am.
Dress and take the canines out to potty.
Feed canines.
Load Van with coolers, dog bags and camcorders.
Head down to the break area where it's NOT ready.
Get coffee.
Drive to the trial site.
Unload coolers, dog bags and camcorders.
Potty dogs, take them inside to their crates (these were hauled in by the humans the day before)
Fill water bucket.
Get running numbers and course maps for the day.
1- Walk courses, watch other heights run the courses, make strategy plans and visualize smooth handling and a fast clean run.
2 - Retrieve dog from crate, take it out to potty.
3 - Walk the dog to warm it up, give it a body massage and some treats.
4 - Run dog, reward dog, cool dog down.
5 - Return dog to crate.
6 - Refill water bucket.
Repeat steps 1-6 twice with each dog.
At the end of the day, pack up coolers, bags, camcorders and dogs and drive them all back to the hotel.
Potty and feed canines.
Haul coolers, dogs bags and camcorders back up the the room.

The Canines

Wake up when the alarm goes off.
Go potty.
Eat.
Go for a car ride.
Go potty.
Drink.
Go into kennel for a nap, it's been a busy morning!!!
1 - Mid morning wake up call.
2 - Go for a walk, go potty.
3 - Get some treats by doing stupid tricks for some human.
4 - Run a course, who cares if it's the right one!
5 - Celebrate with human and go for another walk.
6 - Back to my crate for another nap.
Repeat steps 1-6 twice.

So honestly, who do you think works harder??????

Look at these poor dogs!

So tell me, which would you rather be????

Pauly getting his ears rubbed after a tough day of agility!!! Carrie would move him and his head would just drop back and forth. Total lazy DEAD WEIGHT!!!

Kruz and Mad Dog taking up 1/2 the bed. NO FLOOR for these TWO!!!

Addie and Pauly crashed on the bed. I sure hope Addie doesn't have GAS!!

Seeker takes the floor, next to the air conditioner of course. It's been a tough day!!


Although he had a very long and trying day, Pauly wanted to show off his talents. He not only DQ'ed on Saturday, he wanted to tell the WHOLE world about it with the message below.

Yes, that IS what you think it is!!! VBG

An All Time Low!!!

We're in McCook, IL this weekend for an agility trial!! We (Bill, Carrie, Mike and I) did the early morning trip again, leaving at 2 am Friday morning for this 3-day event. We arrived about 6:30 am and what a wonderful facility. It's a HUGE soccer complex with 4 soccer fields. The dogs are using 3 of them. You would think with 3 rings and a max of 990 runs it would be a 3-ring circus. Not so, it's run very well and you don't feel like there are that many dogs. We are crated on the second floor with a bird's eye view of ring #2.

Friday the dogs did FANTASTIC!!! The handlers on the other hand had a few "mishaps". G
Pauly had the only "DQ" and since Mike was a bar setter for both of his classes we decided he was putting GUM on the jump cups! G

We got done around 3 and we were TIRED!!!!! Headed off to the hotel. Mike left us in charge of Carrie and went to stay with his brother in Naperville. Left to our own devices, we of course ordered PIZZA!!!! We're pretty hungry and we are all grabbing our 1st piece out of the box. As Bill grabs his piece the box flips onto the floor. OH NO!!!!!!! We're talking face down....cheese side up...right onto the hotel carpet!!!

So, Carrie and I finish off our first "fresh" piece of pizza and then ask Bill if it looks like their are any "extra" toppings on it. He didn't think so, so Carrie made the plunge. She claimed her second piece was better than the first. Oh, what the heck....it was pretty good.

So needless to say, our saying for the weekend is, "Your worried about that! You'll eat pizza off the floor." Yes, I think we've reached an ALL TIME LOW!!!!!! G

Water Trial Weekend!!!

WOW!!! First let me say...."dear blog" it's been WAY TOO LONG since my last post!!! I have NO excuse! Okay, I'm busy, but honestly!! Get a grip!! SORRY!!

We went to a Portuguese Water Dog Water Trial Sunday/Monday (we just got home) in Coon Rapids, MN. We had a great time and the weather was PERFECT!!!

On Sunday I took my first step toward becoming an official "Water Trial Judge" OH THE GLAMOR!! I completed my "observe judging assignment". That is exactly what it implies, I had score sheets, I judged the participants independently of the "real" judge and we would discuss some things as needed. It was quite ENLIGHTENING!! It's HARD!! G

Overall it was a fun day and the dogs did GREAT!!! The only down side of the day was that I couldn't enter Mad on the day I'm doing my Observing. RATS!!!

Mad got her chance as Versatility today. Her turn was first thing this morning and she did SMASHINGLY.

Mad passed and earned herself a NEW REWARD CHAIR!! Complete with a complimentary blue sheep. Shown to the right. (':

We were pretty happy too. We didn't practice a whole lot, with this summer's weird weather, and we'd just taken the boat down to the pond last Saturday.

In Versatility you have to complete one exercise from the "Apprentice" level, and two from the "Working" and "Courier" levels. The Buoy Ball drop or the "reverse retrieve" is always included in the class.

The judge drew the "D" package, so we did the Working Gear Bag Retrieve (land), the Apprentice Float Line retrieve, the Courier Double Directed Retrieve, the Working Blind Float Line Retrieve and the Courier Ball Drop. YIPPEE!!!

On the way home we of course HAD to stop for a DQ Treat!! Of course everyone gets to share in the celebration!! Seeker is a gulper and can literally put away a baby cone in 3 quick bits! Talk about your BRAIN FREEZE!! So, Barb showed us a trick that we now use with him, you simply empty the water out of his water pail and then turn the cone upside down and smash it up inside. It WORKS!!! It now takes him a little longer to eat it!!

Kruz and Mad seem to enjoy their cones a bit longer. Although, Mad tends to get ice cream on her nose a lot! (': Below - Kruz and Mad enjoy their cones outside in the DQ parking lot.

Mad could have used a couple napkins!!