Finally… finally!
I am very happy to say that, as of yesterday, I was finally able to change the sidebar to read that we only need TWO legs towards our NA title…
Yes, finally, finally, after ten tries, Auggie qualified in Novice Standard. SCT was 74 and Auggie’s time was 74.42; he ran up to the table and then stopped to just stare at it so got a refusal, so our score was 95.
I am SO PROUD of my little guy. Saturday we had a pretty rough day at the trial… the surface was TERRIBLY muddy, full of potholes, and the grass was that nasty, stiff stuff that you sit down on and it feels like you might as well be sitting on nails. Not to mention we got measured into 16 again because he stood on the measuring table so terrified he was trembling. Sigh.
But he made up for it on Sunday with a really great performance in JWW (NQ) and his fabulous qualifying run in Standard, proving once again that he can take just about everything in stride and bust it out, to boot.
We drove home blasting “Bad to the Bone.” I also was singing “baaad to the bone… baaad to the bone… b-b-b-b-bad… b-b-b-b-bad…” to him while holding him at the start line for standard while the bar setters were finishing raising the height on the table. I’m pretty sure the volunteer sitting near the start line could hear me and she must have thought I was nuts, but hey… it seems to have worked!
And would you believe it – I completely forgot to put his target out and practice with it before we went in the ring, but he STILL performed every one of those contacts excellently.
Auggie and a sheep
Forgive my baby talk. We were having a really good time outside today, just hangin’ out, bonding… enjoying my day off together. (And DANGIT I’m sunburned.)
This is the sheep. It was $5. It’s about the same size as Auggie.
Hmmm…
Auggie isn’t really impressed by it now. When I first brought it home I set it outside his crate and he just sat there, staring at it until I finally gave in and opened the crate to let him out.
Okay now he’s laughing at me.
And the rest of the pics from today (not all that exciting):
BLEEEARGH
Easter Egg Hunt 2009
It was nice and sunny outside, warm enough that I just needed a jacket – so OUTSIDE WE GO for the egg hunt this year! I had the camera but was slightly less inclined to throw myself on the muddy ground for photos the way I can lay on the living room floor and get photos whenever we go the egg hunt indoors, so my angles are a little different than usual.
This egg was hidden inside the gator’s mouth – I didn’t get a shot of him knocking it out of the mouth to pick it up.
Cookie treats inside the eggs!
Ohhhhh egg.
Nosing it over to me so I can open it for him…
…until he decided it was easier to open them himself.
This is the third year we’ve done an egg hunt, and this year he was pretty good at remembering how to open the eggs with just enough to pressure to pop them as opposed to actually chomping down and breaking them. (He broke a couple the first year… oops!)
EGG NOM.
MORE EGG NOM.
All the eggs are in the basket! He wouldn’t sit nicely next to them so I gave up and told him, “Fine – get up and do something cute with the basket.”
Which means he pushed it over with his paw.
Yeah okay, I admit it – that’s pretty cute.
Trying to open them again in case he missed a cookie somehow…
He still wouldn’t sit down nicely next to them. But okay that’s pretty cute too.
He nosed the basket over to knock the rest of the eggs out…
…and resumed opening them to make SURE they were really empty.
You see, he doesn’t trust that when I say “No, the treats are REALLY gone,” that I’m being honest. I don’t know why. I’ve never lied to him.
About all the treats being gone, anyway.
Naturally Jumping Method – Week 4
Week 4 went pretty good! Moving the jump heights up to 10 inches didn’t seem to throw Auggie off much at all, so I’m glad. All of the jumps are still set at 90 inches apart.
During day 1, I ran with him on all of the jumps. Every now and then he does knock a bar… but Clothier says not to worry about dropped bars. She says it is a natural part of the process of re-learning how to jump and that every time they knock a bar it helps them think stuff over. I’m not sure why I don’t have all 6 jumps recorded – I must have had another issue with my memory card.
Day 2 was REALLY windy – apologies for my camera wrist strap blowing into the shot during one jump! I was worried the wind might throw Auggie off a little, but he did fine.
For day three… there is a reason I only have five jumps shown here and it’s not a memory card problem. But I’ll talk about the video itself first! My mom was operating the camera and she made a few observations. Auggie still stutter-steps up to the very first jump before he gets into the rhythm of the last four jumps. The first jump is the bar he usually knocks, as well – probably because of the inefficient jumping.
I tried a few other things with these jumps, including sending him ahead (wasn’t sure if he’d do that, but he did!) and standing right at the end to call him through. Usually when I call him through I’m standing back several feet and sometimes even run backwards as he approaches to build up his drive, so that was a little different for him – but he’s pretty much unphased by it, which is great!
Another thing I’ve been noticing is that he hugs the standard pretty tight. Clothier wants the dogs to run and jump in the middle of the jump, but because Auggie has done agility training for so long he has learned how to hug the standards and try to make things a little more efficient when it comes to turning, crossing, and so on. When I run with him or am behind him, he always takes the last jump right over the middle because he’s in the process of turning to me – if I’m right ahead of him, he doesn’t make that change and stays to the side, hugging the standard. I’m not exactly sure if I should be concerned with this or not. My instinct is to not be worried about it…
NOW… why there are only five jumps shown in the third day. My mom was working the camera for me that day because it was raining – just a light drizzle, but still raining, so I asked her if she would come out and stand over the camera with an umbrella so my camera wouldn’t get wet.
Right before we did our sixth jump, it started POURING down rain. I’m standing there going “Oh holy crap – hurry Auggie, hurry, go through the jumps!” I’m flailing around with training treats in my hand, trying to get him back into the channel to run through the chute, and for a split second Auggie stands there, tries to blink the rain out of his eyes… gives me a Look, and proceeds to run back to the house – leaving me standing out in the pouring (did I mention it was COLD RAIN?!) rain, yelling “YOU GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT AND DO THOSE JUMPS!!!”
Thus, there are only five jumps in the video… because Auggie was standing up on the deck wanting to go inside and refused to come out and jump one last time.
Here, have a picture of my dog, after I came in and toweled off my hair and had to change my clothes because I was soaked through.
Look how proud he is of himself. Brat brat brat BRAT! He later asked to go outside, and when I opened the door and informed him it was still raining, he proceeded to go out in the still pouring rain and prance around going “La la la, I’m playing in the rain, la la la~” BRAAAAAAT!
Oh yeah – I bought a ton of PVC and spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon in the garage, listening to it thunderstorm outside and cutting pipes down. The two jumps at the beginning are my “Junior AKC” jumps from Toys R Us, and are now four feet wide, so they match the rest of my jumps (finally!) and I am now all set to add additional bar jumps to create an oxer for the coming weeks of the jumping series. I need to break out my coloured tape and start striping stuff again!
Sadly, it is quite cold again today. The beautiful spring weather has been replaced by… well, icky spring weather.
Blaze Comes To Play
How did I not post these? A few weeks ago, Blaze came over to play. Blaze belongs to Auggie’s breeder, and we “borrowed” him. It was FREEZING so we ran inside and outside over and over again – outside playplayplayplay inside so I can warm up outside playplayplayplay inside so I can warm up, repeat.
Blaze says “Oh hai. You’re the cookie lady. You have cookies in your pocket.”
OH BOY LET’S PLAY.
Auggie’s favourite game of chase. These pictures are really hilarious, because Auggie was running at top speed, and Blaze was kind of just loping along behind, like “La la la I chaaaase yooooou~” and Auggie’s going “OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG WHEEEEEEE!” the whole time.
Blaze is all SERIOUS BUSINESS and Auggie’s like “I LIEK TO PLAY BALL.”
Wheeee!
Poking around the yard by himself. Auggie was off that way somewhere. *waves hand*
Blaze was gonna get the ball…
…but it tastes like Auggie-breath. Ewwww.
So Auggie has to carry the ball back to me.
Thinking about getting it again – BLEH TASTES LIKE THAT DOG.
Running with a ball or a toy in his mouth is rather Default Mode for Auggie anyway…
Having a blast.
OMG WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE QUICK LET’S GO SEE
More running around having a blast, Auggie still running around with the ball in his mouth because he’s a tennis-ball obsessed dork.
“Do you want the ball Blaze? You want the ball? YOU WANT THE BALL?” He says “OMG YES I WANT THE BALL *sproing sproing sproing*”
I GET THE BALL wait it still tastes like Auggie-breath.
Auggie is so darn happy to have another dog to play with it causes him to levitate.
They were both very interested in gobbling up snow.
Mmmm snows.
THE END.
More Snow Pics
I meant to post these last week; right after I accepted that we wouldn’t be getting any decent snow, we got decent snow. We got more yesterday, even, and will get more tomorrow. Of course, it does me little good when I’m sick. Now that I think of it, standing outside in the snow taking photos of your dog is probably not the best way to get better, either. Oops.
Anyway, here we go!
This was the night we got the snow. I left work, raced home, let Auggie out immediately… but still didn’t really have enough light to get good photos. The few that turned out are pretty cute since he plunged his whole face right into the snow.
Sound effect: PLOOMPH.
These were taken Saturday afternoon, once I got out of my all-day class. It was about 4PM so the sun was starting to go down, but I still had some sunlight. This is how Auggie plays best. He will fetch, yes, and wrestle and tug… but he loves, loves, LOVES to run.
Specifically he likes being chased. He gets a kick out of me going “AAAH’M GONNA GETCHA” and starting towards him. He’s like a little kid, going “Eeeee hee hee!!” and running away squealing or something.
I’d like to make Auggie a slot car and race him on a track. Wheeeee!
The next day, Sunday. I stood out there, feeling sick, nose dripping with snot, hollering “RUN, AUGGIE! RUN RUN RUN!” And he ran.
He ran so far away.
This photo reminds me that I should live every day with Auggie’s mentality. That is… “WHEEEEEEEEEE!!”
Okay, to me, in this one he looks like he’s going “Huff… huff… can I stop running now? Huff… you’re right, Mom, I did get fat… huff… oh God I’m out of shape, huff… why… why…” I later found out that my dad, who thought he was doing everybody a favour by feeding Auggie breakfast the two weeks he was off work for Christmas, had been over feeding him. I KNEW IT. I knew he was fat. See, I wasn’t just being mean – he was being overfed and he really DID get fat.
Anyway, that was a month ago and I’m pretty sure Auggie is back down to his regular weight now. He got a bath last week and his body shape under all his fluffy fur looked correct to me, so I think we’re good.
Okay, I got some cute Auggie + snow pictures. My Midwestern winter for 2007-2008 is now complete.
Not-a-lot-of-snow Pics
A few days ago, I looked on The Weather Channel to see how the weather would be for the weekend. The front page reads in ominous letters, “BIG FREAKING SNOWSTORM COMING RIGHT FOR THE MIDWEST WHITE DEATH IT’S AWFUL!” (Okay not that exactly, but you get the idea.)
Unfortunately, upon checking our local forecast, I discovered this big snowstorm was actually only going to hit the NORTHERN parts of the Midwest. You know, like Chicago isn’t getting enough snow anyway, right? Of course, it didn’t really give a decent snow when I was IN Chicago, but it sure is snowing there now that I’m back in Central Illinois.
It’s almost mid-January and I’m resigned to the fact that we probably won’t get a good snow here this year. We MIGHT get a blizzard around Valentine’s Day… that happens on occasion, though we had one two years ago or so and I think we’re good for another 8 years until it happens again. So I’m not counting on it.
Therefore when I looked out the window today and saw big snowflakes floating through the air, I bundled up, grabbed the camera, and hauled Auggie outside for snow pictures… less than an inch of accumulation or not.
I attempted some Auggie-running shots, but he wouldn’t run unless I threw the tennis ball.
I shoot action shots on auto-focus, and in the unfortunate case of snow, the auto-focus seemed to be more interested on… the tiny little snowflakes rather than the DOG bearing down on me.
I threw the ball a total of three times; Auggie only retrieved it a total of 2 times. He was far more interested in searching the backyard for rabbit poop and trying to eat it. Therefore all of the rest of these photos are rather static.
“Shake off first, Auggie. Auggie, shake off. Shake off. Auggie…”
Nope. He insisted on going inside with all that snow on.
And now, some blooper photos…
I love when people are like “Oh your dog is so handsome!” No he’s not, he’s an idiot.
I frequently catch shots of my dog burping. Like this one.
Christmas Auggie Photos
I took a TON of photos of Auggie in front of the tree, and only a handful turned out how I really wanted them. But this one is worth the whole photo shoot:
Nabbed Mom into helping me with this shot. Several of these turned out, actually, so I had to pick the best one out.
Most of them turned out like this one… ugh!
He also got a stocking on Christmas morning!
Auggie… no, no, Auggie, no – there’s something sticking out the top – the TOP Auggie – I KNOW WHAT’S IN THE BOTTOM JUST GET THE TOY OUT OF THE TOP… Auggie, the TOP… AUGGIE…
I gave up, took the toy out myself, and squeaked it a few times. THAT got his attention.
I held open the stocking and told him to pull out his next present.
No, Auggie, no… pull it OUT. OUT of the stocking. Auggie… AUGGIE…
I gave up again and pulled the next present out myself again. Okay, so he’s not excited about a new lead, but I sure am!! (I love leads.)
Fine, Auggie – go ahead, get what you’re REALLY interested in…
Yes, THOSE you will pull out of the stocking. You mock me, dog.
These cookies were a gift from J, but I saved them for the stocking.
What’s that you say? You would like one of these? These things that I have in my lap? (Note the DRAMATIC LIGHTING.)
One of these, maybe? Is that what you want? (MORE DRAMATIC LIGHTING.)
The whole haul (still in the DRAMATIC LIGHTING.)
Shot of the haul again. This is a lot less than he got last year, since I couldn’t get it all to fit in the stocking last year and decided to go easy this time around.
Now we play with the reindeer toy!!!
I was setting up his Christmas toys to take a shot and he came over, with his “OH HAI you has cookie for me plz?” look on his face. Or his stupid look. Or his smiley look. Whatever you want to call it. THIS FACE.
This is what he got on Christmas night (no pics because it was way too dark in the house for them to turn out) – a big stuffed bone, and a carousel that has three little squeaky toys (a lion, a monkey, and an elephant) stuffed into it.
Note that Auggie is completely uninterested in me and is walking away in this photo since he found out I didn’t still have his cookies.
And that’s it! We haven’t had hardly any snow at all this year or I’d have some more photos – all we’ve had is ice. And Auggie standing on two inches of solid ice in my backyard doesn’t exactly make for a pretty picture.
Dear Mother Nature: SNOW SOON PLZ, K? THX. Love Beanie.
Auggie’s progress with children
First… I disclaimer this post. I am upset about what happened because of the parenting involved, but also upset because I failed to be watching. It could have gone HORRIBLY wrong and I would be (at least partially) to blame. In hindsight, this was not a good situation to put Auggie in. I screwed up and I’m lucky it didn’t end bad.
On Monday, I took Auggie to the mall to have his photo taken with Santa. There was a young boy ahead of us… maybe 6 or 7. His mom and dad were with him. Ahead of them was a guy and his CUTE CUTE dog, I’m not sure what she was – maybe a mix – but she was a pretty good sized dog.
Kid is being a huge pain in the butt. He almost hit the other dog, he almost stomped on her feet and her tail (while the owner has her in a sit-stay), just generally being an obnoxious brat.
“Great,” I think. This kind of behaviour – erratic, flailing, strange movements – is what Auggie doesn’t enjoy from children. To a lot of dogs, particularly herding dogs, they “see” children a little differently. Their weird movements can startle and frighten them. I have no idea what to expect with this kid or from Auggie as we stand behind them, but I’m pretty much prepared for the worst, and keep Auggie back as far as I can.
Auggie sits down next to me, looking at the kid. His tail is wagging and he’s smiling. At first it seems like everything will be a-okay. The kid starts leaping around – this is where he almost stomped on the other dog’s tail – and I expect Auggie to react, and I get ready to take Auggie on the OUTSIDE of the line and climb back over the wall when it’s our turn… but he does nothing. He just sits next to me quietly and watches, tail still wagging, still expecting if he behaves he will get nice pets and maybe a cookie.
See, this is the result of the careful, positive socialization this summer. Children are a good thing. If you see a child and behave well, you will get petted, you will get praised, you will get cookies. I think to myself “Oh! This is some real SUCCESS!”
And then – and this is my fault, I let my guard down – the kid all of a sudden LEAPS at Auggie, and sticks his face RIGHT into Auggie’s face.
HOLY S***. I FREAK out and take a HUGE step backwards, yanking Auggie back with me – I expected Auggie to react. And it could have been teeth right into that child’s face.
NOTHING. HAPPENED.
Auggie didn’t react at all. He was startled at me hauling him backwards, but he didn’t bark or make any kind of motion towards the kid.
Of course, at the time I was terrified and shaking, but later my mom pointed out how GOOD Auggie did. She’s right – he was wonderful. If somebody had told me a year ago that a small child would leap towards my dog and stick his face into Auggie’s I would have thought the end result would be DEATH for sure.
At that point, I should have gone ahead and stepped over the wall, separating Auggie from the kid… not because of Auggie’s behaviour, but because of the kid’s. But the kid’s dad hauled him back and told him “DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT. Don’t stick your face in a dog you don’t knows face – NOT EVEN WITH A DOG YOU KNOW!!!” He starts telling him that it’s not safe and he could be bitten and not to do it ever ever again.
“Good dad,” I thought, and figured the kid’s dad is watching now, and the kid has been told not to do it. Maybe the kid will settle down a bit?
WRONG. He settled down for a while, and about fifteen minutes later (the line was terribly long) he looks at me, smiles… and then suddenly propells himself forward and LEAPS INTO AUGGIE’S FACE AGAIN.
SON OF A… Auggie, to his credit, doesn’t react again. He keeps sitting.
But get this… the kid tries it a THIRD time, immediately after he straightens up.
This time, the kid lunges straight into my LEG – because I’ve now stomped my leg down and physically placed myself BETWEEN him and my dog. “DON’T do that,” I flatly tell him. I am not about to play nice, this kid has just crossed the line. I was wearing my snow boots, and if I’d stomped down on his fingers with my boots getting between him and my dog… I wouldn’t have felt bed. I was PISSED.
Oh yeah – and that “good dad?” He wasn’t paying attention. Mom hauls her kid back this time (she wasn’t paying attention either, but me stomping down and snarling at the kid apparently got her attention) and the dad scolds him, then goes “Oh, what’d he do?” What you just told him not to do, you big goober!! Dad lectures the kid again.
And then they stand there in line for another, I dunno, probably 30 minutes so the kid can go sit on Santa’s lap. While the kid continues to flail around, kicking the set the mall put up, hanging on things, yanking on things… great parenting at work. Kid does something dangerous, gets lectured on it, does exact same thing TWICE not twenty minutes later, and then gets to go see Santa anyway? Sigh.
Kid is on the Naughty List, I’m telling you.
I moved away from them about ten feet and put Auggie behind me anyway. The people behind me were very nice and understanding about the huge gap in the line.
Seriously, I can’t believe Auggie behaved so well. And I can’t believe how stupid I was to not have trusted my instincts. I could have picked Auggie up and held him, or gone ahead and stood outside the set wall like I thought, or moved all that way back in the first place… and certainly the second time around, I should have done more than just try to move back even further.
I know better. I NEVER trust children around Auggie. I’m not really sure why I did this time – maybe because our socialization was going so well this summer, and because Auggie’s initial reaction was encouraging that I dropped my guard. There was no bad ending… but there definitely could have been.
So, folks… trust your instincts when it comes to your dogs. If you think a situation is bad, it probably is. If you can do something to avoid the situation, don’t wait. Do it.
Hopefully that kid learns his lesson or he’s likely going to end up getting his face bitten off.
REGARDLESS… Auggie saw Santa. Santa loved him. Auggie tried to give Santa kisses. Santa thought that Auggie had been a very good boy (for THAT performance he just gave? He’s a FREAKING SAINT.) and that he wanted a steak for Christmas.
A steak? Well, maybe some raw one way or another.
Secret Santa has come to see Auggie
Auggie and I participated in a Secret Santa swap on the dog forum I belong to, and his amazing gift came today!!
“You say it’s for ME? Really?”
“What’s this? Oh a card… can I eat it? No? Then who cares.”
“Now THAT’S what I’m talking about!!” Peanut butter & blueberry soft cookies – these are AWESOME! They smell delicious and he loves them!
Posing pretty with his packages…
It’s a little sheep for my little sheepdog!! (He was nomming on it until I took the pic; the flash distracted him!)
Hmm, what’s in this one..?
It’s a little reindeer with rope legs… he is OBSESSED with this toy!!
I threw it. He brought it back and put it, for some reason, in all the packaging and things…
Then I threw it again…
…and again… (seriously – OBSESSED with this toy.)
And then – this is the BEST. PART. OMG. This is SO NICE, an AMAZING leash. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!
Auggie thinks it’s pretty manly. “Surely nobody will call me a girl dog when I’m wearing this!”
I made him pose with it… I LOVE IT AAAAH I LOVE IT. I’m obsessed with it like he’s obsessed with his reindeer toy.
“And now,” says Auggie, “the best part!!”
NOM A COOKIE!!!
Best Birthday Ever – In Photos
Our day started out pretty good.
Then it became the Best Day Of Auggie’s Life:
OMG, I get french fries?! REALLY???
Yes, really.
Then I made a cake.
It looks really good.
I was going to try it, but then I remembered the peanut butter jar I used is the one specifically marked “DOG.” The one I put a knife in, scoop up peanut butter, stick inside of Auggie’s nasty slobbery goopy Kong, and then plunge back into the jar. Yeah, I don’t think I want to try it.
He’s THREE. So I lit three candles.
Ta-daaaaa!
MMMMMM!!!
Blow out the candles, Auggie!
Cutting him a piece…
I made him wait for it. ON HIS BIRTHDAY. I’m horrible.
NOM CAKE
ALL GONE!
I put half in the freezer and the remainder of the other half into the fridge for him to snack on throughout the week. THAT’S A LOT OF CAKE.
Happy third birthday, my little guy.
Auggiesaurus
I like knitting – so I decided to knit Auggie’s Halloween costume. I decided on a dinosaur.
So… Auggiesaurus!!
The Auggles Return
For those of you that have George Thoroughgood in your music library, I recommend you put some on now.
I stopped at PetSmart to pick up a tiny harness for The Mythical Harley since they are on sale this month, and while I was there I spotted something that I absolutely, completely, and totally NEEDED for Auggie.
It was this:
So I took Auggie outside, dremelled his toenails, clipped his whiskers and trimmed up his feet, then stuck this shirt on him. Well, the shirt just needed something more… so… I brought out the Auggles.
Ahhhh, my Auggles!
Pretty nice day for a motorcycle ride, actually. A bit warm, but overwise lovely.
“HI MOMMY I HAVE GOGGLES ON.”
Grimly surveys his backyard… I mean, his turf. (Oh God, his dreadlocks… he needs the hair behind his ears thinned out again…)
All is well on the turf! Smile time!
He could do with a shirt that reads “Bitches Love Me” too. Right after I get that one that reads “I’m A Boy Dog.”
People don’t believe me when I tell them “Bad to the Bone” is his theme song – but YOU guys understand… don’t you? DON’T you? I mean, c’mon. Just look at him.
Tuff guy.
This is like some kind of badass Elvis lipcurl. I am related to Elvis, so maybe it rubbed off on Auggie.
He came up on the deck to get a cookie.
Can has cookie plz?
And now I present to you the newest Favourite Auggie Photo/Best Representation Of Auggie’s Personality In One Photo Ever:
There you have it. Auggie in a nutshell.
Farmer’s Market Photos
Well, no Farmer’s Market this weekend. I did take Auggie to a remote for work and could have slapped myself for not taking my camera (I seriously seriously ALMOST took it and decided at the last minute to leave it at home.) There were bales of hay set up and pumpkins EVERYWHERE. Also lots of small children, many of which asked to pet Auggie, and he just ate up all the attention. Some guy took photos of him while I was holding him and asked me a bunch of questions about shelties – then declared “My next dog is going to be one!”
Auggie – Sheltie Ambassador.
Anyway, these are the very few Farmer’s Market photos from last weekend. If the weather stays nice there should be several more weekends of FM trips for us to go socialize and train in public settings with lots of people around.
Waiting patiently while Grandma buys some bread.
Somebody had just said to him “Oh, aren’t you a cute little puppy!”
“Why yes, yes I am!” Auggie says. “Thank you for noticing!”
He kept looking at those flowers, then looking away every time I snapped a photo. Brat!
Playing in the Leaves
We were going to head out to the Farmer’s Market this morning, but didn’t get to. So instead, we played in the leaves in the backyard!
It’s lovely weather today.
Auggie is rather proud of himself. For what, I’m not sure, but he is indeed proud.
Warning: Dog Never Stops Smiling.
Pounce into leaf pile in three…
two…
one!!
Knuckle Bone For The Knuckle Head
After a lot of consideration and recommendations from other people, I decided it would be a fun treat for Auggie to get him a knuckle bone. He has some tartar built up on his teeth that I cannot get at to scrape off (his top tooth closes over the bottom tooth RIGHT where I need to scrape) and I want to do whatever I can to avoid having him need a tooth cleaning at any point in his life.
So I requested the butcher at the grocery save me a knuckle bone, and I went to pick it up yesterday.
The bone is BIGGER than Auggie’s head – but why should that stop him?
Fancy Auggie gets his raw meat on a plate. (I couldn’t think of a good reason to take it off the styrofoam from the butcher before he started chewing it.)
Auggie says “What do I do with this? Do I… lick it?”
“Ohhhh, I do THIS!!”
“This is delicious!”
“Ommm nom nom nom nom”
“Now I nom on this side of my mouth!” (That’s right, buddy, get those teeth clean on BOTH sides.)
“Sinew is a delectable treat.”
It’s gotten nice and filthy by this point…
Dirt is just like sprinkles!
I gave it to him for about fifteen minutes, then washed all the dirt off it, chucked it into a plastic bag, and stuck it into the freezer. He’ll get it again tonight, and hopefully after a few days he’ll be able to start really getting to work and getting his teeth nice and clean!
Don’t go, Mommy…
Auggie knows. He knows.
Last year I packed for my vacation in secret… he was already in his crate sleeping. He did see the bags before I loaded them into the car in the morning, though, and I think that was enough.
I’ve only gone on vacation once since I’ve had Auggie (he is two and a half.) This is my second time… and I knew it was going to be harder on me, because I felt so much closer to him after our first agility trial a few months ago. I can’t explain it, but we bonded so much more just in that one time. I didn’t think I could love this little dog any more than I did before, but I do.
So… I got out the suitcase. I put it on the floor. I opened it. I turned around to grab some things to pack into it.
I turned back around…
He wants to come with me. =<
He didn’t understand why I started crying.
Agility Practice Photos, starring other pups!
Dragged my Rebel out to J’s house for agility practice. After shooting the whole night, I realized I had it on the wrong setting. Bah! Some of these are just a teeny bit blurry and could have been clearer if I were shooting properly.
But, regardless… pics!
Mom took this one of Auggie on the a-frame. (Obviously, I was handling at the time!)
Kaia, a miniature schnauzer, comes over the a-frame. I LOVE this shot and hate that it’s just slightly blurry!
Up the a-frame she goes!
Neeko, related to Auggie in some way that I can’t recall at the moment!
This is Lucky, a rescue sheltie. A great little guy. Down the a-frame!
I just got a new camera!
Holy crap I don’t think I could be any happier!! I wish I’d bought this thing YEARS ago!! Some of these were even taken by my mom, who always always always takes blurry photos. She was so excited that she could take photos and they came out clear.
Barking at the neighbor. GRRRRR BIG TOUGH DOG.
This. is. hilarious. I cried laughing. WHY IS HE SQUINTING. I think he felt like I was going to poke his eye.
Glamour shot Auggie!!
This is Auggie’s emo puppy impression…
Auggie Plays Outside
Today I took Auggie outside to play with his brand new frisbee.
This is his new frisbee! It was a dollar at my favourite land of dollar goodies… Target!
Okay, frisbee is really just like fetch, because Auggie doesn’t know how to catch the frisbee in his mouth.
Auggie gets a drink from the garden hose, because I forgot (again) to bring out his new outdoor water dish.
This is Auggie’s transformed stage… he turns from Regular Auggie into… SOGGY AUGGIE.
My little smiley guy.
Laying underneath the bush to chill out for a little bit.
My little guy. If only his front wasn’t soaked in this photo!!
Agilty Trial #1, Day 2
Not as good of a day as yesterday!
But first, a lovely picture:
Left to right is Auggie’s uncle, Auggie’s gramma, Auggie’s aunt, Auggie’s full brother, Auggie’s dad, and then Auggie, looking teeny tiny next to his relatives!
Standard:
I managed him on the teeter fine – because of his fly off yesterday, I was very concerned about that. He was doing great. He went through the weaves and it was lovely… but then something on the ground was suddenly very smelly. I yelled, I hollered, I cheered – he was sniffing away. You can’t touch your dog in agility so I went over to him, put my feet right next to him, and cheered, “AUGGIE let’s GOOOO!” and finally got his attention back. Everybody congratulated the heck out of me for my great handling after our run, but it was sort of bizarre! After that, I was a little thrown off so I missed getting him into the chute. Still no problems… except when he came out of the chute and through the tire, then up the a-frame, I was a little taken by surprise at his speed and total willingness to go up the a-frame. I didn’t catch up in time, and was desperately yelling “TOUCH TOUCH TOUCH” at him in an attempt to stop him from flying off.
No good. That lovely 2o2o video I posted the other day? Forget that! He leapt off the a-frame halfway down. UGH. I had to reel him back in to get him over the last two jumps because I was so frustrated about the a-frame, but hey, it was no big deal. An unfortunate automatic NQ, but it was still a pretty good run for Auggie. Most of it was handler error, and reportedly, a skunk was out on the course in the morning, and we were guessing that remnants of skunk is what smelled so interesting by those weave poles!
Then jumpers was awful. I don’t know if he was tired of jumping 16, (that’s REALLY hard for him) or if it was because a rainstorm was about ten seconds from hitting us, or if he was picking up on my confusion after the whole sniffing around the weaves/flying off the a-frame thing, or maybe a bit of each.
He again found something really smelly before the weave pole entrance and it took me FOREVER to get his attention and get him through the weaves. Then I thought, okay, it’s time for a bunch of jumps – he should really be into this now. He went over two, but then…
I saw it, and J saw it… he suddenly slowed down. His whole body and demeanor changed. He took the two jumps funny and then slipped away from me, and I had to holler to call him back.
At that point, it was official: I was totally thrown off. I almost sent him over the wrong jump, realized I was doing the wrong thing, and screamed to pull him off them at the last second. He came back to me and I went “Wait – I have no idea what I’m doing.” I looked at the judge, looked at Auggie, then looked at the tunnel… THE TUNNEL!!! That’s it!!! I looked back at Auggie, and before I could tell him to go into the tunnel…
I kid you not, he barked in my face – gave me the canine equivalent of “f(%# off!” – and started to run away from me. I was so terrified of him running out of the ring that I SCREAMED at him, pulled him back, and got him through the tunnel. I put him over a jump, then he… took a wrong jump, knocking a bar as he did. And then the buzzer sounded, and the judge called “That’s time, thank you.”
We got whistled off for going (way) over time. We didn’t even finish. Yikes!
I’m not upset about the lack of a Q. I was very upset at losing control of Auggie – again.
It was like I was back at our first fun run months ago, standing in the ring while my dog completely ignored me and I desperately tried to regain control. It was a really, really awful feeling – probably the worst feeling in the world. J tried to calm me down, and I still had several people coming up to tell me I handled REALLY well in standard… but I was too icky feeling at the moment to be able to come out of my funk. I wanted to say a lot to J about how I was feeling, but all I could manage was, “I just hate losing control of him.”
“I know,” she said, paused, and then said “I mean – I really… know.”
She told me it was a long time before she ever even got her first Q, and I got one yesterday in my FIRST TRIAL, so I really did do a good job in her opinion…
but it was pretty hard to go from a great experience to losing control like that.
In hindsight, it is somewhat funny that my dog literally barked in my face and told me “Hey, Mom, screw you!!”
There are a number of factors to consider, but ultimately, the biggest thing to take away from this trial is… that my dog is a novice, and I am a novice handler. He is two and a half years old, and he is my little baby dog, but we are still learning a lot about each other and working on our relationship together. There is nothing to replace experience, especially on my behalf. I make so many mistakes and do so many silly things that, actually, Auggie does WONDERFULLY, to his credit!
Hunting for eggs
I do what with this..?
Oh, I get to hunt EGGS. Okay.
LOOK MA I FOUNDED ONE
Oh oh here’s another!! Miiiiine!
OMMMM NOM NOM NOM NOM
I founds them all… I puts them in my basket.
I lieks eggs!
Hurray for Auggie! He remembered just how to do this from the year before… and remembered there were cookies in those eggs.
My dog is more hardcore than your dog.
Sup.
Auggie doesn’t know how all those kids walk with the seat of their pants hanging down to their knees. He has enough trouble just walking with baggy sleeves.
First big snow of 2008! And winter’s almost over.
The sun was starting to go down so the light wasn’t 100% great…
Head buried in the snow… munching rabbit poop under the snow, no doubt…
This is his “I hope I hope I hope” face he makes when you have a treat… he was sitting nicely for a snowball, which was all the “treat” I had to make him sit so I could get the pic of the snow on his nose!
My handsome boy. Who needs a bath. Because the night of the snowstorm he thieved a BROWNIE out of a bag my mom left sitting on the floor (facepalm) and thusly he got the hydrogen peroxide treatment and I spent twenty minutes outside in the snow with him waiting until he puked it up, and now he’s dirty and nasty.
Hanging out in the path we made out to his ex-pen.
Obligatory “running to get me” pics. I wish the light had been just a biiit better, and these would have come out perfectly clear.
ROFL… I THINK he’s running in this one…
Shake shake shake!
aaaand last one. That’s my boot in the bottom right corner there.
I’m going to guess it’s about 9 inches. At this point, the top of the snow is really wet and dense… you sink down about three inches and then stop before you hit the ground from all the densely packed snow. It’s starting to melt fairly good though.
