Mom's favorite present!

Mom tells me she is sorry because she forgot to take a photo of her favorite Christmas present so that I could tell you all about it! It's a pawprint of my paw!!! Dad helped me to make it so I could surprise mom for Christmas!

Dad made some mud (we decided to do this on a day when the ground was frozen so we had to make mud!) - he worked at getting the consistency just right - I had to keep putting my foot in it again and again until a clear pawprint was there. And then we put in some plaster of paris. After it dried, dad removed the plaster of paris from the mud and there was a cast of my paw!! Cool, huh?

I also gave mom a card with a tri-color chihuahua on it (closest we could get to a tri-color sheltie!) and when she opened it, dogs barked "jingle bells"! Well mom loved it all - the card and most especially the pawprint! But she says what she loved the most is that dad and I made it for her!

What will we do to top that next year????

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Third Place!

Wow - I won third place in Johann's Howling Howliday Giveaway! Thanks to everyone who voted for me! Congratulations to Merlin and Kaley (the #1 and #2 place dogs)! There were a lot of great photos so I'm excited to have the honor of being third! Here's my winning photo and some of the others we took for the contest:

Johann says he plans to make the contest an annual event so watch for it next year! Thanks Johann for a fun howliday giveaway! And thanks again to all of you for voting!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Our Christmas!

Hi everyone! We hope you all are having a good holiday season! We had a great time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! On Christmas Eve mom and I went to agility practice - it was really fun but really crowded. Guess everyone had the day off from work and wanted to get in some practice. When we got home, we had a little celebration after lunch with just me, mom and dad. Santa dropped a couple presents off for me early because he knew I wouldn't be home on Christmas morning. I had never opened presents before - I knew they smelled good and mom said it was for me, but I was pretty careful. So mom helped a little:

Wonder what it is? I am trying to get it out of the wrapping:

It was a new kong wubba! And I had another present and this one smelled great! It was easier to unwrap (or maybe I was getting better at it)! Look, it's a bully stick! My very first one ever!

Yummy!

After mom and dad opened their presents, we got things ready and loaded up the car and headed off to grandpa and grandma's. I decided I needed some relaxation time:

But soon it was on to more presents!! (Not for me though):

We had a very nice time Christmas Eve - mom and dad and grandpa and grandma had a good dinner, played Wii and played a card game called euchre. We spent the night and on Christmas Day, we got in the car again (all of us) and went to Cousin Wilson's! I love my cousin Wilson, but going there is exhausting! I am constantly on patrol - watching out for the big dogs, the kids, all the grown-ups, keeping an eye on mom so that she doesn't leave without me! The photo kind of shows how unrelaxed I am:

Wilson doesn't have a problem with it all. He just wants to play fetch with anything at any time. But here he is taking a break with his holiday tennis ball:

And poor Sandy - well her expression sums up her feelings about the day:

Wilson got me a present - so I got to open another one! It was a soft snugga wubba! I love it!

We got home to our house late on Christmas Day and boy was I tired! Good thing Christmas only comes once a year. But we are so lucky to have a such a wonderful family to spend the holiday with and we are very grateful for them all!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Happy Holidays to all!

Warmest wishes to everyone!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Beginning Intermediate class 7

We went to our last class of beginning intermediate agility last night. Next month we will be moving on to the advanced intermediate class. We sure did learn a lot in the two sessions of beg.inter. that we went to. Last night was divided into three sections - weaves, contacts and teeter. We started off in weaves - I did some pretty fast weaving for me on those silly weaves with the bars in between the poles. Too bad we can't use stick in the ground poles in the class! Then in contacts, I slowed down. I took the aframe when mom was really showing me and telling me to take the tunnel - so I didn't run hard enough to get the momentum I needed to get up the aframe. That made me have to scrabble and claw my way up there - and then after that I didn't want to do it any more. Mom never really knows what to do with me when I sort of shut down. I'm not sure what to tell her either. We also had the chute in this section and I just didn't feel like going through it, unless the instructor held it open for me. So she worked with us on this and after quite a few repetitions, I did do it. She told mom to change the chute we have at home to darker and heavier material and practice with that. Then we went on to the teeter. We practiced getting more speed - mom tried to get me to run to the pivot point and she gave me a treat there and then I got another at the end. Cool - two treats! It did motivate me to get the teeter to tip.

During the next couple weeks mom has some ideas of what she wants to practice with me - as much as the weather will allow - she wants to figure out a way to get me to run with her to the first obstacle in a sequence. I am mostly very slow to get started (more so in class than at home). She wants to keep working on the chute - she already tried a new one with me this morning using a dark green flannel sheet (I went through before she was ready for me and got all tangled up and had to be rescued but it didn't phase me and then I did it a whole bunch of times after that - go figure - don't know what to tell you, mom!). And we are going to keep working on front crosses to speed me up - mom has to keep finding ways to put them in. Luckily we can go to open practice the next two Wednesdays and get in some good use of the equipment at the club. Also we are planning to make a few more jumps so that we can set up more complex jumping sequences in the backyard.

It's pouring rain outside - our morning walk has been postponed - mom doesn't mind walking in light rain but heavy rain is another story. Guess we're lucky it's not freezing rain and/or snow?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Amazing!!!

We just found out that my grandma Catherine (Zinsky) and her Border Collie Kyle placed third in the National Obedience Invitational going on right now in Long Beach, CA!!! Wow - that is so awesome! In 2006 Catherine and Kyle competed in the NOI and came in within the top 8 but not in the placement - the top four. But this year they made it! We are super proud of their accomplishments!

Also my favorite trainer Deb is out in Long Beach competing in the Agility Invitationals with her Russell Terrier Bug. We don't know much about how they have been doing but according to the AKC website, yesterday they NQ'ed in both the standard and JWW runs but today they Q'ed in both their runs!!! So that is great news too!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Agility class 6, etc.

Thursday night was our sixth class of this session. We actually ran a course during this class. So during the first 30 minutes, we split into two groups and practiced some parts of the course. Then during the last half of the hour, we ran the course. It was really fun. It started with tunnel, dogwalk, chute, then front cross and two jumps. They had a different chute out there than usual and I forgot my new "king of the chute" mentality and I only did it when the instructor held it open for me...sorry mom! Then we did aframe, tire, weaves, tunnel - and then I sped up. The tunnel went to a triple and mom started running full out and I went with her! After triple was teeter, table, 180 jumps, another 180 jumps and then broad jump. Our instructor came right over to us and told mom that we should stop doing 2o2o for the dogwalk and teeter (we were already not doing it on the aframe). She thinks I won't bail on my contacts and she says if I start to, we can just put the 2o2o back in since I know it so well. Cool! Now I won't have to come to a dead stop in the contacts and maybe I'll be a faster dog. She also reminded mom to keep looking for places to put in front crosses to motivate me more. So we did pretty well over all except that I did a little sniffing when I should've been following mom...sorry mom!

Yesterday mom took me to run in the park even though it was only 20 degrees! There was no wind and the sun was out! And the sun is hardly ever out in Ohio in the winter. We had fun and surprisingly there were quite a few people and their dogs there.

Today we practiced in the yard - it was much warmer outside. We practiced teeter without the 2o2o - I rode it down and as I approached the bottom mom just said ok and we kept running. I liked that! We also did table - we don't practice that much and some times I am a little slow doing my down or sit. So mom made sure she really rewarded the fast responses.

We are working on a lot of new tricks too. Every evening after dinner, mom gets out the cheerios and we practice the new stuff - handstand, hide under a blanket, open the door, take and hold the dumbbell (not really a trick but we may need it for obedience some day), and shake head no. Some things are getting better, but they are all works in progress, that's for sure! We really love kikopup's YouTube channel and all of her videos on how to teach tricks. She really inspires us!

This week we have Wednesday morning practice and then our last class of the session on Thursday. Then we have a couple weeks off and start the advanced intermediate class in January! Can't wait!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

We've been tagged!

Diana at 4 Dog Craziness tagged us to list six things I like most:

1. Barking at anything that might be a threat to my territory!

2. Chasing cars (and squirrels and birds)!

3. Food!

4. Agility and learning new tricks!

5. Walks in the park on my long line!

6. All my favorite people! (too many to list here - there are a lot of people that I love)


Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Snow!

On Saturday we had our first measurable snow - a little over an inch, I would guess. I think it's awesome, but mom's not too thrilled.

Over the weekend we went to visit grandma and grandpa and then the next day we went to watch my favorite trainer Deb at an agility trial. She did great and I had a good time because lots of people know me now (although I have yet to step foot in the ring!) and I get lots of treats just for standing around and looking good!

Mom tries to keep me busy even though we can't play outside much. We are working on lots of new tricks and trying to get even better at the old tricks. We practice some agility nearly every day - either inside or out. Yesterday we did weaves and jumps in the snow!

This morning it is raining - the snow will soon be gone. And the sky is gray, the ground is gray....everything is gray. Oh, Ohio in the winter......

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Class 5, agility practice and reminiscing with videos

We've been getting in some agility practice this week in spite of the winter weather. Mom has been setting stuff up in our living room again. We've been using only 4 plungers as weaves because it's easier in the small space we have. I've been practicing entries and distance - mom is on one side of the couch or the other, depending on the set up.

When it's not super cold, we try to do a little practice outside. This morning mom had me doing some pretty fast weaving and also reviewing serpentines with her staying on one side.

Wednesday we did go to the morning practice at the club. Our first time on the course things went pretty well. But the second time we got in there, I found a tasty liver treat that some one had dropped on the floor - and that was the end of my ability to concentrate on what mom was saying. Everything she said to me sounded like "blahblahblah" - I didn't hear "Ricky" or "come" or "jump" or anything like those words. But the smell of liver was so enticing and I could've sworn I smelled it every where! Needless to say, that was the end of Wednesday morning practice.

Last night was our beginning intermediate class 5. We had the week before off for Thanksgiving. I was happy to be back in the class and only suffered from a little leftover sniffing from Wednesday morning. We have really been enjoying the repeat of this level of class. We like the instructors a lot and feel confident with the skills we are asked to perform. And each time we get more advice specifically for us to run better sequences. Like last night our instructor reminded mom that she needs to do more front crosses with me to speed me up and to really show me where I need to go. Other dogs might do ok with a pull or just running on the same side, but every time mom worked in a front cross, we did better. That's something important for her to remember when she starts walking courses and planning the best route. Also even though I am fairly good at holding my start-line stay, I do much better when mom runs with me.

Mom got to looking at some old video of me when I was just a little pup...she found this video of me playing with my friend Ciara when I was about 2 and 1/2 months old. I was so tiny back then, but pretty fearless! Ciara was also a puppy - maybe 4 months old - but look how big she was already! I miss Ciara but she's a lucky dog - she and her mom moved to a really neat house in the country where Ciara has a huge yard she runs in all day long. It was fun watching the video and remembering......

Gotta zoom!

Ricky