FMKC day three

All three girls that needed points....Ell, Martha and Mallory, got at least one point this weekend. Congrats to Barb and Steve for getting points on both girls this weekend.

Mitcham was head shy again and was excused. There is NO rule stating that a dog that gets excused only has three chances before they can't show ever again. That is only true if they measure OUT of the appropriate height in breeds that can be wicketed.

Mitcham has never met a stranger and has always been a happy boy. Saturday I know he was pissed because we were fussing with his ears. Sunday I was probably too nervous about the exam or the judge was a smoker or something so I'm not going to let it bother me. Plus the judge was very helpful in trying to be slow and take it easy and not wreck the dog. That is very appreciated although I'm still in shock he was shy. Mitcham doesn't have a shy bone in his body.

I've had nothing but praise about Mitcham from both Briard people and handlers, other breed owners etc so I won't let it get to me. It was his first show.....we'll get 'em in Cambridge ;)

Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club

Friday was Day 1 of the FMKC show. Barb Peterson's puppy bitch Martha (a red and white) was WB and BOS for 1 point. Mick was BOB and made the cut in Group.

Saturday Ell was WB and BOS for 1 point. Ell now has 11 points needing another single (maybe tomorrow) and a major. Mick was BOB again today.

Today was also Mitcham's first official show and he was RWD to a seasoned 4 year old black boy with natural ears. Mitcham's ears aren't up yet and he was a little head shy after having his ears "fussed" with all weekend. So after the show we worked a lot with his head and mouth being gone over and he is doing much better with that. I also didn't realize they were a 'full dental' exam breed. The judge did say however that he was a GORGEOUS puppy with beautiful movement and type, and that 'in time' he will be just stunning. So that was great to hear!!

Zoe was entered at the show but was not shown Friday or Saturday. Apparently someone who had said on their website that they were coming to Fargo, did not enter or come, so the major was not made and therefore Zoe stayed home. I wish I would have known as I now wasted 70 dollars on entries that I didn't need to pay for had I known in advance. Perhaps they forgot to let me know, but even after the closing, a simple "sorry" would have been nice.

More news tomorrow. I'm off to take a nap now! :)

Thank you Friends

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime..

When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that
person..

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need
you have expressed.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with
guidance and support,

To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.

They may seem like a godsend and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,

this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an
end.

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire
fulfilled, their work is done.

The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.



Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has
come to share, grow or learn.

They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.

They may teach you something you have never done.

They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.

Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.



LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons,

things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional
foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson,

love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other
relationships and areas of your life.

It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.


Thank you for being a part of my life,

whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVER!!

This tiny 'man' was born 4 years ago today! He came all the way from Finland from his breeder Eeva Lampikari. These first four photos are of him in Finland before he came over.What a cute face!

From the side.....
Chilling in her backyard
Trying to get one of her Pem's to play with him

And now, four years later Oliver has earned two titles, his RN and CGC, both of which were huge accomplishments due to his soft temperament. He has scoliosis, hip dysplasia and fused discs between his vertebrae. Monthly visits to the certified massage therapist vet and acupuncture are helping, plus his daily supplements. Oliver is very loved boy who has overcome a lot of fears and now who is finally warming up to strangers much more readily than in years past. Its been a long hard road with huge bumps along the way but I'm very proud to be his owner and very proud of his accomplishments that he has made.

Extra ice cream for the Big O tonight (and the other babies) and he will rightly take his place with his head next to mine on my pillow tonight. :)

Oliver at the National about a month ago
(photo courtesy of DreamEyce Studios)

I missed Mitcham Monday AND Wordless Wenesday!

He likes to stand with his head pressed to the top of his crate (which doesn't help his ears at all) so we now have a super tall Xpen for him :) And his ears WERE UP i just missed them in the photo....I also moved him to the kitchen where it is cooler. I find he gets hotter sooner than the corgis.

LOOK! Ears up!!

Sadie's middle finger

What happened to my finger? Well I was working and got my finger in a place it should not have been.....between the tongue of the trailer and the jack holding it up :) It wasn't quite on the ball of the hitch and i went to move it over and it did go on, but unfortunately i didn't lower the jack low enough and my finger got smashed/cut/chopped/squished/compressed/squeezed in there. I didn't hardly yell, but I did start to profusely sweat. I did end up going home to get aspirin and a band aid and went back to work. The next day i could hardly move it. I'll probably lose the nail, it looks hideously blue and black with the nail cracked in half. Not a pretty sight. That night Sadie jumped up and bit it as she though it was a 'treat' in my hand. I fell to the floor in pain and she high tailed it outta there only to come back and lick my face....she just knows when you need a good face lick ;)

So Sadie's middle finger....Ah yes. Well she didn't hurt it but she sure showed it to me at the Agility trial!

The Fargo-Moorhead Kennel Club had an AKC agility trial last weekend. I only entered one day as I thought Sunday was Mother's Day when I entered ( I was off by a week and was notified by my sister that i had two days to prepare a Mother's Day gift lol)

So Saturday I get up at 5:30am, out the door by 6;15. I figured it started at 8 and I'd get there just in time to help with pole setting. I looked at the schedule and noticed jumpers was first and they were doing tall to small. I race there and realize that they didn't start until NINE AM on Saturday. UGH!

We help during Excellent and Sadie is entered in Open, so we go potty, do some stretching and head to the entrance. We start the course beautifully and Sadie is RIGHT with me the whole way...watching which way I turn, moving where she needed to be, going 'out', and turning when I asked her. Just beautiful. The last two obstacles were a jump and the tunnel was the last obstacle. As she jumps the final jump and I yell "GO TUNNEL" i hear the pole hit the ground. Sadie came out of the tire with that "Corgi Smile" like she was thinking 'HA HA UP YOURS'. I couldn't do anything but laugh. Shoot. Sooooo close!

After our run an older gentleman approached us as we were getting water for Sadie Princess and he said that every agility even there is usually one dog that stands out as a good listener, jumper and just plain all around good dog for agility. He said she (meaning Sadie Princess) was that one dog at this trial. I thanked him and listened to him gush about how she watched me and turned with just the slightest movement from me. Gosh I think I need him to come with and give me pep talks prior to running!

We then braked for lunch after Novice and then got the course out for Standard. I helped again with Excellent and Open Standard and then it was our turn for Novice. Please Sadie let's do this! In our run throughs the week before she went through the tire on the way around the course but on the way back she went under it. repeatedly. Until we moved it back down to 8 inches. then she zoomed right through it.

So obviously I was nervous. I brought her to the tire and made her look at it and told everyone to think happy thoughts about the tire and Sadie going through it and to send good vibes and say 'go tire! over!' when she got to it.

So we start the standard course and things are going well. The 9th obstacle was the table and it was a down. Great! we have no problem with this, we know how to down. we do it everywhere. I said Sadie table! and Down! and she stood there like she knew nothing. Her mind went blank. Like hell it did! Corgi smile and all she TURNED away from me and faced the judge. After a good 15 seconds of embarrassing "Sadie come ON! DOWN" the judge finally said "you can continue on" and I was like "HEY! this is novice! I can!" So we barrel onto the rest of the course and on the VERY last obstacle it was the tire! I figure I can get two refusals and still qualify so we WILL go through the tire! I yelled "Sadie! Go! TIRE! OVER!" and she went ZZZZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOM right underneath it. CRAP! I went back and made her look through it and said "Sadie! OVER! TIRE!" and she went under again. SO now I KNOW we NQ'ed and she struts up to me, smiling, like she had just told the funniest joke at the bar! (or showing me her middle finger) Oh you LITTLE .....I trailed off as I kissed her head. "WHAT A STINKER!"

I told her the sooner we complete the titles the sooner we can do other fun things like herding!

I guess we'll be going to MORE agility events :)

My little Sadie Princess. *sigh* what will I do with her? :) :)

Sadie Princess

Ever tried typing with one finger missing from your left hand? Its harder than you think! And lots of backspacing :) :)

Sadie Girl and I will be going to Fargo for an AKC agility trial. I entered only one day as I thought Mother's Day was this coming weekend when I entered. Oh well I did have work that needed to be done!!

Hopefully good results tomorrow night!

Ell Bell

Well my little Ell Bell Miester Girl is a riot in our Beginner's agility class that we are taking along with Mac and my sister. On Monday we did the jumps again and the tunnel (which she was way better at this week) and then we did the A frame again but were introduced to the table and the weaves. Ell was never really taught to sit (as per dog showing you want them to STAND and WAIT all the time) but she learned really quickly that if she sat, she got some cheeseburger from McDonald's which I think is a bargain for .89 cents for an hour of treats!

However today marks her official 2nd heat, about 3 weeks after I expected her to come in. I wasn't surprised she took a bit longer as her first heat wasn't until her 1 year birthday (literally on her birthday she started her first season) and I didn't know if she'd be one to only cycle once a year or if she would do it every six months after her first time. So now I have to call the training facility and see if she can still be brought to class there or not. I know at FMKC she cannot be in training while she is in season in case there would be males fighting or trying to breed her or something. I may have to take Zoe instead for the next few weeks just to be safe. And since we started just a few weeks ago, I figured Zoe wouldn't be TOO far behind if we started her!

Today I made an exciting new contact with a black/white male for Zoe that would have somewhat of a line breeding, but just over 5% line breeding coefficient. I've asked that he be DM tested. If he is a carrier or clear/normal I will probably use him so we shall see. I will keep you posted. Zoe 'should' be in season sometime in August, which would make for October babies if she comes in when she should and whelps when she should.

Now comes the part where I have to start saving newspapers and towels and such and get all the dog supplies ready for the pups and whelping. I'm going to have to check Jinnie's blog again to see where she got her whelping box from.

Any suggestions on what i should be preparing for what always comes in handy? Its better to be TOO prepared than not enough (if you dno't believe me, check out my farm blog about the supplies i had for my lambing...I didn't a single thing out of it except the ear tags!)

Wordless Wednesday

Mitcham Monday

Ok its a tad early for Mitcham Monday but since Sarah had to miss out last week here are a few after his bath and brushing ;)

A thousand thank you's to my MOM who on MOTHER"S DAY helped me groom Mitcham. He loves her so much too :) Those ears want to come up....slowly....
Here is my Mom and Mitcham. Doesn't he look so sad :( ;)

Its always hard to have non dog people take photos for you as you just never know when they will take the photo or how the dog looks. After about 20 photos these two were the best for today. Oh and it was kind of windy......if you look closely at his hair on his belly ;)
Maybe a little stretched out too far?

And of course when we are done he gets to run......he runs REALLY fast and always such a happy boy! I did do a video of him trying to gait but the pants I was wearing have a broken zipper....and i didn't want to embarrass myself by posting it ;)

The Finnish Duo!

I was in checking my email early this morning and realized it was windy. Like gale force winds. So windy I heard the grain buckets for the cattle bashing around. A lot. That's odd......let's go look.

Oh dear God the cattle are out!! I took one step towards them and they took off running. Ok plan B. Oliver. He hasn't worked the cattle much but has shown great interest.

So off I go to the house and out we come running. I immediately say ' go get em' and start clapping my hands...he takes off and the cows are out in front running with their tails up. Half of them in the pen yet and the other half on the outside of it. I, in the meantime, run back to see where they got out....hmm....no fencing down...wait....THE GATE IS FLIPPED ON ITS SIDE! They somehow got the bottom hinge off the gate and managed to keep the top one on so it was on its side, in the air and lots of hair rubbed off of cows while trying to crawl underneath it. Those smart big S*&#s!

I fix the gate and open the other gate (we have a cattle lane and a tractor road that run through each other...kind of like an X. So we have two gates to open and close when we drive thru so the cattle stay on either side of the lane. well I opened the gate that they SHOULD have come in...as Oliver is driving them around the far side of the pasture to me. IN the meantime the cows remaining IN the pen come and see that only ONE gate is open and its open outwards, not inwards like normal...so WHOOOSH they come running out too. "GOD BLESS AMERICA" I yelled as I tried to get ahead of them. Stupid cattle...ugh stupid farmer for not thinking of this predicament first!

I run around the other side of the buildings to cut them off....the turn around and run right past the open gate again and Oliver is sitting under a wagon in the shade....HEY YOU AREN"T DONE YET!!! GET OUT THERE!! I exclaimed and he took off and took them around the pasture fence again.....I closed the first gate and opened the other gate so when they came around the pasture it would be open. I hopped on the 4-wheeler and drove wide around them so Oliver and I could bring them up together. Oliver hasnt' been around the 4-wheeler much but he trooped along like he'd been born on it. In the cows go and for good measure Oliver followed them in and down the lane to the pasture to make sure they didn't come back.

His poor tongue was really hanging out but the glimmer in his eye was all that was needed to see he was just wild with excitement! Lots of praise and lots of water and a long nap at my feet where his just rewards

Oh and the title? Oliver came from Finland...and so did my Grandma so I'm 1/4 Finnish too. :)

Monday

Well there was no Mitcham Monday as per Sarah's pointing out due to a long day at work and then I had Ell's first night of foundation agility in Detroit Lakes. Mac and my sister Lindsay also are in the class and it was really fun to see Mac out and doing something. he was so excited to be doing something and with other dogs! He slept all the way home and once he got to his home with Grandpa and Grandma he slept the entire rest of the night and ALL night long until my dad's alarm went off in the morning! My dad asked if we could take Mac every night ;)

It was so fun to see Ell doing agility...she really is a natural. Although the tunnel she didn't really like when it was fully extended as the tunnel itself is kinda spongy and soft and she didn't know about that....but it was only her first day.

Oh its outside too! I think that is great as there are WAY more distractions outside and with all the smells and birds and noises and other dogs it really is a good way to start out the dogs. Its in a 6ft high chain link fenced in area so no fear of the dogs getting away. If it rains they do move it inside.

Not much else new on the doggie front. I have Sadie entered in the Fargo agility trial just one day on the 16th hoping for that 3rd leg at Novice Standard and maybe a leg in Open JWW if she doesn't give me the middle finger and go off course again :)

Mitcham photos soon...he doesn't change much any more ;) >:)