Happy Birthday Willy

Willy turned 10 last Saturday! How did that happen? We now have two pugs in the double digit club, and another will be joining by the end of the year.

I'm just not good with this whole aging thing....it's so hard to admit that some of my pugs are slowing down. I really struggle with what's best for them. We're so active and our pugs have always been a part of that, and it's hard to watch them slow down on walks, but even harder to leave them home. Right now, I try to do a mix of hikes, most days are shorter, but we stop once in a while so the "mature" members of the pack can rest a bit, and the youngsters can play and chase toys for a while. A couple of times a week I do a long hike with just Kittie, (who's keeping up pretty good, but even she's slowing down a little) Abby & Indy. Rudy and willy usually come along for a shorter walk with one of my slower clients those days.

A visitor

This isn't a video of our actual visitor, he wasn't even eating strawberries. I knew something was up, all the dogs were going nuts....not just the ones who randomly go nuts at nothing. Our neighbors dogs were barking, but they're always barking....so I just went out to get them to come in, and at first still saw nothing, then I turned around and there it was! Bigger than all of my dogs, of course that doesn't say much when the biggest dog is a whopping 13 pounds, but still this guy was big.

I guess they're harmless, and really like strawberries, and he must not have been afraid of the dogs, or else I would have thought we had a dead possum.

Good bye!

Possibly the most exciting, best news EVER. Our neighbors from hell have moved. We've had various nice neighbors come and go over the years, but these people have been here for at least the past 3-4 years.

Why were they so bad? First off they started with one dog aggressive pit bull who got out of the house on a regular basis. Did they take any measures to prevent more problems?? Oh no, they decided the breed the dog, and then kept 2 puppies. The puppies were about a year old, and I was just waiting to see a pack of angry pits running loose down the street.

To top it off there were three kids.....the loudest, rudest kids I've ever seen......it was their job to walk the pack of pits!! what a combination! I will say the youngest kid didn't seem too bad, and we always felt bad for him, he looked so sad all the time and had a hard time even getting in his front door around the dogs.

Our house and yard are like fort knox thanks to these neighbors. We hadn't taken our dogs on a walk around the neighborhood in years....just too risky. Really this is just the best news ever!!!

When she's good she's great......

But when she's bad....look out!

We went to the WCOTC trial this past weekend, held at the brand new B&D creekside activity center. The facility is great, perfect turf, nice equipment, crating was a little tight (mainly because people have to set up as though they're moving in for the weekend), lots of room to walk dogs outside too. We're lucky to be able to start training there too!

Saturday was just a train wreck of a day. Trial started at 8:30 with fast first, and very small entries, so we show up around 10:00 and fast is still going on, we didn't get in the ring until close to 2:00 I think and then jumpers wasn't until around 4:30 if I'm remembering correctly. Just crazy. I love agility, and really enjoy trialing, but I have limits.

first was standard, Indy was so wound at this point, she was barking her head off outside the ring and was really excited to go! weaves were the 3rd obstacle and She got almost to the end before she came out, darted right across my feet to take an off course tunnel. I could have easily stepped on her! She finished the rest of the course nicely. By the time jumpers finally came around, I think both of us were pretty much done for the day. She has never been so bad in the ring! I don't even know how many off courses she had, and she came bouncing out of the ring, obviously very proud of herself! I think that was the first time she's ever ran at a trial and got no treats at the end of her run.

Sunday was a new day, and she ran pretty much flawlessly. I wanted to make sure I didn't get there too early again, and made prefect timing, the walk though was just starting as we walked in. She ended up getting her 7th MX leg and her 3rd MXJ leg and DQ #2. Earning 1st place in both runs.

Agility induced fog

I don't know what was wrong with me last night. Just running along, fine enough and all of a sudden it was like I had no idea what i was doing, don't think I could have told you my left from my right. About the only thing I could manage was to run in a straight line. I felt really hot, (it was hot, but not HOT), like heat just radiating off my head, and this slight panic feeling.. I think mostly for my poor little dog. I felt better pretty quickly, I've had this happen in the spring when it first gets hot when I'm working in the past....just weird! I didn't eat much that day....just wasn't hungry. Low blood sugar, perhaps?

One good thing though, when Indy was younger she had this habit of shutting down/finding something better to do/sniffing/saying "hi" to everyone if I made the slightest mistake, no matter how I handled it, it was like, if I stopped for a second, she tuned out. She stayed right with me through all my bone-headed mistakes last night. Just looking at me like "what am I going to do with you?!" I'm sorry Indy, I won't let it happen again!

Just a couple of jerks

Had a few moments this past weekend, where bill and I took turns being big jerks.

First Bill pretty much told someone to STOP running their dog, retire him, PLEASE and while i agree, just a little sugar would have been nice to smooth things along. I also think it's one of those things that people need to figure out for themselves, why it's so hard for some people to see i don't know. When your dog is dragging his back feet, crossing them over each other from time to time....it's time to retire. At least from reg. AKC classes, I'm sure a tunnelers run in CPE or nadac would be fine. I don't care if they're having fun or not at a point it's just not safe. Our dogs will have fun doing almost anything we do with them.

Then on sunday it was my turn. I'm one of those really annoying people who are never 100% satisfied with how I do, I'm happy with most of my runs, but there's always something that gets me, that I want to be better, but it's just my personality and I've been this way with everything I've ever done. I've learned to just shut up say "thank you" when someone compliments a run....most of the time. Indy's jww time was good, but it was on the lower end of her avg yps, due to some wide turns, and I was deep in thought about how to improve her times consistently when someone complimented her time, to which I gave a very "meh...it was alright" comment, must learn to just up and say thank you, and keep my obsessing to myself.

Indy N Olmsted April 30-May 1st

The curse is officially broken! Indy had two Qs this weekend, with bill at the trial! Yay!

Still so many things to improve on, but coming along really nicely. Have I mentioned how much i love this dog?! She's just so much fun, and such a good traveler too, no problems at the hotel. She's just 100% about having fun all the time.

The pugs got to hang out with their aunt Danielle this weekend, which i know they love, but still it was tough leaving them behind, especially Kittie, who was following me everywhere sat. morning, she knows when it's a trial weekend and she would love to still be out there. Luckily we don't need to travel too often, there are so many local trials coming up.