Training Challenge #8

We got home from cousin Wilson's house around lunchtime and after lunch we did my training challenge for this week. Nothing too strenuous or demanding today but something that mom does not do enough of - she and I walked my neighborhood walk with dad! I bet you can't believe this is a challenge but it is! I behave totally differently when I do stuff with mom and dad together. Dad's presence gets me really excited so it's harder for me to control myself. We hadn't even tried to walk all together for months and months. I am happy to say I did a good job today! One time I spun once (but did not bark) when a car went by and other than that, I sat and watched each car and then looked to mom for a treat just like I do when it is only me and mom. We all felt good about the challenge and are planning to try it again soon.

I am taking a break from agility for awhile and resting my right back leg. Mom got some conflicting advice over the weekend that upset her but now we have a plan (thanks to Diana who is so good at analyzing video and seeing what is happening) and we're going to rest and see if I get better. Mom is not going to panic or anything. The only thing I seem to be having any trouble doing is pushing off my hind legs to jump - I am acting completely normal where everything else is concerned - so if it is a tight muscle in my thigh then not jumping and using some heat and resting should help. Paws/fingers crossed. I guess it is lucky we have the three-week break from class and if I need to miss the trial on this Sunday, I will. We will wait and see how I am this week. Thank you for everyone's concerned comments from yesterday! We truly appreciate you all!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Training Challenge Week 6

We didn't do an agility training challenge this week, but today we did our morning walk in that other neighborhood - the one where we have to cross the busy street to get there. Mom can't believe how difficult it is for her to get out of our normal morning routine of walking in our own neighborhood and doing something different! She and I are both really into routine! Any way crossing the street went very well as did all of our walking on the quieter streets over there. But as we were heading toward home and were on a slightly busier street, a car went by and I lost it. I have the most trouble with cars on a walk when I know we are going in the direction of home! Too exciting! Just as I was recovering from my meltdown, mom looks up and sees this lady jogging by. The lady is someone mom has seen and spoken to occasionally at agility trials. She has a multiple MACH and OTCH dog. Mom smiles and says Hi expecting at least face recognition from the other woman (you know, you recognize a face but don't know the name?). The lady didn't recognize us at all and she said, "Learning how to walk on a leash?" Mom was mortified and mumbled something as the lady ran on. What? I'm three years old and I know how to walk on a leash! So I go crazy a little. Do dogs with MACHs and OTCHs never have any behavior problems? Well, needless to say, FAIL on the walk training challenge! I guess to really get mom and me out of our comfort zone, our next training challenge needs to be that busier street pointed in the direction of home. That would be so tough and it will take a lot for us to get up the nerve to tackle it.

My other training challenge this week has been a socialization one. Mom and I have been taking care of the terriers since Friday while their mom is out of town. So I have been making lots of trips over there to check on them and to let them out. Yesterday we all (mom and us 4 dogs) hung out in the yard and I actually felt comfortable enough to lie down and relax! Then when Indie and Sarabelle started playing, so did I!! This is the first time I have ever played with them - well, it was a lot of barking on my part but I did chase them too! Very fun! Today we took some pictures. Mom had very little success with groups shots but 3 out of 4 isn't too bad!

Here I am watching over the flock! Those terriers always have their noses on the ground and they need me to keep an eye out!

Memphis and Indie:

Sarabelle attaches herself to mom's leg a lot - very annoying to me cause then I can't get close enough to mom:

I look relaxed, right? LOL!

Beautiful and enormous hibiscus flowers!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Training Challenge Week 4

Happy 4th of July everyone! Today is also my grandma's birthday so Happy Birthday Grandma! We'll be going to visit her later and Cousin Wilson will be there!

We didn't do agility for our training challenge this week so no glitzy video (LOL!). On Wednesday we went to the park and practiced my emergency whistle recall - we have been really neglecting that lately! I did well though. And mom says it's hard to practice with me because I check in with her all the time when I am off-leash so she finds it impossible to surprise me with a whistle! Sounds like a good problem to have!

Then this morning we did a real challenge - we went walking in the neighborhood that is across a busy street from our neighborhood. You know I have a thing for cars. Well in our own neighborhood, mom has been working very hard with me that if I see a car coming, I am supposed to sit quietly and wait for it to pass and then look up at her. If I am quiet (that's the most important part of the criteria), I get a treat. Mom is crossing her fingers right now and knocking on wood, but she thinks I am starting to get it. We've been having more successes than failures, so she thought it was time to try me out in a new neighborhood. (We had tried walking there over a year ago and it was a disaster - I pulled and acted like a crazy dog the entire time). This morning I did much better! I was very good when we crossed the street, I walked right next to mom the whole time we were over there, I sat and was quiet when cars passed by - until we were on our way back to my neighborhood and I knew we were closer to home and two cars passed by at the same time - and well, I lost it for a second! BUT after we crossed the street, I recovered my composure and we walked the rest of the way home. So mom thinks it was a huge success (and believe me, it took a lot for her to get up the courage to give the whole thing a try this morning!).

I am beginning to wonder who these weekly training challenges are for - me or mom? LOL!

Next week we don't have our class so we hope to get out to at least two other places to practice agility. It's going to be very hot here again so training might depend on the weather. This week we had a wonderful break from the heat and humidity. Too bad it didn't last!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Saturday

It's windy and cool here today but we went and had lunch by the river and then went walking in a new little park and on a supposedly quiet little road along the river.

This is large-flowered trillium which is actually the official Ohio state wildflower! It is very pretty and we had never seen it before!

These photos were taken before I lost my mind over some cars that went by and had to be carried back to our car because I was barking like a maniac and pulling so hard on the flexi lead that I was choking myself. Mom was not amused.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Another Autumn Walk

Last Monday we went for a walk at another one of my favorite parks! There is a pet trail that goes through the woods and down to a creek. There was no one else there so we had the whole place to ourselves! We couldn't have asked for a nicer day!

When we set out I had to encourage mom and dad to get going - they are so slow sometimes! See the big sycamore tree leaves on the ground?

The sky was blue and the maple tree leaves were so yellow and pretty against the blue sky.

I jumped right up on this log and started walking it like a dogwalk.

Looking down the creek and then up:

Mom liked the tree roots:

Nearing the end of the trail:

Pondering the great outdoors:

Yesterday we went for a walk at the cemetery - we hadn't been there in a long time. I had fun but mom got annoyed with me because I kept running too far ahead and didn't come when she called me. So we didn't stay there long........

Today mom took me to the park really close to our house and I was much better and listened to her so we got to walk around for quite a long time! I know it pays to behave!

We are really savoring these nice weather days because we are afraid that there won't be many more of them until spring!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

My Neighborhood

The trees in our neighborhood are absolutely gorgeous this year! So mom brought her camera along when we went for our walk this morning - here are our attempts at trying to get photos of the beautiful fall colors right outside our door!















The photos just don't do it all justice - every where you look there is another spectacular display. Unfortunately it doesn't last long. Yesterday's wind brought a lot of leaves down and soon you won't be able to see the yards, sidewalks or streets because they'll be completely covered with fallen leaves. But for now it's like a fantasy land!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Autumn Walk

Mom and dad took me to my favorite metro park yesterday for a walk and a chance to see some fall foliage! The sky was blue and the sun was warm! Don't get too excited about these pictures though. They're not very good!






Tomorrow I am going to visit my cousin Wilson! I saw him a few times over the summer when he was at grandma and grandpa's, but I haven't been to his house in a long time. I don't think I told you but we lost my cousin Sandy very unexpectedly in June. She and Wilson were visiting at my grandparents' and Sandy collapsed! My aunt and uncle took her to the emergency vet right away and the vet said it was cancer and that they probably couldn't get her stabilized enough for surgery and if they could, surgery would not prolong her life for long. So Sandy crossed over the bridge that very afternoon. It was so sad and shocking that I couldn't write about it at the time. So when we visit Wilson tomorrow, it will be our first time there without Sandy and we will really miss her!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Metro Park walk

Today was a gorgeous day - high in the low 70s and sunny! Makes you think spring is really here (as long as you don't watch the weather forecast and hear about the rain/snow mix predicted for Monday!). Mom and dad took me on my favorite Metro Park walk. We had a blast and saw lots of cool stuff - dad got photos of some of it:

The first part of the trail is through the woods and then you get out to this prairie area:
Garter snakes were out enjoying the sun - here's a bigger one that I scared out of the path:

And here's a baby one that we almost stepped on (you could hardly see him in the grass!):

There were some birds around that have come back from their winter sojourn - tree swallows, field sparrows and this eastern bluebird:

The pond which rarely has anything of interest in it had some Canada geese, a couple mallards, a couple of ring-necked ducks (not in this photo) and a pair of mute swans:

I smile a lot when I'm HOT:

We were really lucky to be able to get out and enjoy the weather today! Hope some of you did too!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Cabin Fever (and agility and tricks too)!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything! The weather has been so COLD and mom and dad have been working a lot, so I've been doing almost nothing! Mom and I are real diehard walkers, but Thursday morning I cried "Uncle!" because the ground was all snowy and the temperature was 8. I'm tough but my paws just couldn't handle it. So yesterday morning and now today we haven't even tried to walk - yesterday was -12 and today is -5! The good news is that today's high should be 20+ and mom says we'll walk in the afternoon!

Enough about the weather! Thursday night was our second class in advanced agility. We missed practice on Wednesday morning since mom had to work, so I was raring to go on Thursday night! We did a lot of sequences again and worked a lot on rear crosses again. It was really good for mom - she learned more about how to keep her shoulders straight approaching the jump and to use her dog-side arm to push me over the jump while she then rotates her shoulder in the new direction and moves laterally in the new direction. Homework is to practice rear cross on the flat so we've been doing it several times a day.

We'd like you to know that we finally mailed in our entry for our first trial - we decided to run on just one day - February 14 - JWW in the morning and the Standard course in the afternoon. There is another trial two weeks later and we might run both days then. We'll see how it goes!

To keep busy in the house, we are still working on tricks - here is our latest:



Hope you all have a great weekend! I hear that I am off to visit grandpa and grandma! Yay - finally some action around here!

Gotta zoom!


Ricky

Leaf zoomies

I promise to write a real blog entry soon to catch you all up on what a great agility week we had! But until then, here is a video from our walk in the woods today. The thing about zoomies is you just never know when they might hit you!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky