Lookout Portuguese Water Dogs

Water Trial article

2012-01-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

In early January, myself and another PWD fancier were chosen (names drawn randomly from a pool of volunteers) to be interviewed for an article on PWD water trials to be written for Dog News magazine. It was fun to talk to the author about my favorite activity. She wanted to tie in the fact that healthy, sound dogs are more able to do the jobs they were bred for, so she asked us to provide pics of our dogs that were conformation Champions, as well as water titled. Cooper and Ecko are going to be so snooty now that they are "published"... The article starts on page 64, I think...

Open publication - Free publishing

Celebrating Decker

2011-12-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

Our last blog entry was in celebration of Decker's 9th birthday and this one is mourning his loss to Hemangiosarcoma just a few short weeks later. Happy and energetic one Saturday morning, he was gone by the following morning. We miss him very much,

Decker's Birthday

2011-10-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

Decker celebrated a birthday yesterday. Our household would surely be less fun without this sunny, happy boy in it.

The whole gang got pig ears and cupcakes (Decker got 2!) as a special treat and Decker got extra tummy rubs. The cupcake brigade is awaiting orders to "charge" in the top photo and cupcake slaughter is imminent in the bottom pic.

Agility

2011-10-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Immediately after our last agility trial I was a bit disappointed. I have since re-evaluated.

Out of 9 runs, we only had 2 qualifying runs.

Chili had a 100% Q rate. One run. One Q. She was the 5th fastest dog in her class and we had a nice, flowy fast romp around the Excellent Jumpers course. Nothing beats special moments like this, especially when they are with a senior dog.

Chili loves those Jumpers courses...

Stoker had a 0% Q rate. Four runs. No Qs. All four of her runs were really fast, happy and confident on everything BUT the weave poles. She does them in class and at home now, but obviously we need to take this behavior on the road more because it goes away in a trial. Still, we are running well together and she is running with intensity and confidence, which is huge for us both.


Stoker was really charging and had that "wild child" look in her eyes.

Ecko had a 25% Q rate. Four runs. One Q. We felt disconnected this particular weekend. We have been focusing on water work all summer and our agility has probably suffered because of that, especially since she is younger and less experienced than the other two. Although our Q was on a Standard course, our weakness is still on contacts. Must train contacts!!!

Ummmm..... I think we need to work on contacts....

Water Trial Pics

2011-09-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of Ecko for earning her Working Water Dog title this Fall. Thanks to Nancy Gaffney of Gaff Photography for the terrific photos that captured our weekend of fun. There are a few pics of Decker's son Port too.

The "pretty" gear bag.

The "wild thing" gear bag.

Waiting for the judge to give us the go-ahead.


Big jump off the boat.

It was very fun to get to see Decker's son Port and his owner Alex earn their JWD certificate too.

Eyes on the prize - my dummy is out there and I'm gonna get it!

Nice water entry.

Getting back in the game

2011-07-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

I just love our Ms. Stoker, but I'm not sure she is a girl that most Portuguese Fisherman would have had much patience with. She's a bit of a diva, not terribly focused, has lots of energy that is difficult to channel and is a sensitive soul that is hyper-aware of her environment. She does love to swim, is food-motivated, an eager retriever and has no problem flinging herself off a boat - attributes that made it easy to breeze through her Apprentice Water Dog (AWD) and Working Water Dog (WWD) titles. She's a girl of many contrasts in other areas too, but there isn't space here to go into that!

Unfortunately, we've been stuck in Courier training for a few years now. Two bad training sessions where she lacked understanding of what I wanted and where we had equipment problems (causing a constantly shifting sight picture/context...) and we hit a wall in water training. We did some recreational swimming and retrieving and I would put her up on the boat platform with me from time to time to see where her head was at. It was not a pretty picture. She would turn away from me and shiver, going from happy play retrieves off the shore to shut down and pathetic on the boat in the snap of a finger.

This spring, she happily decided that maybe she could do some easy jumps off the boat with me on the platform next to her. We've had about six training sessions at the water so far since then and I am so excited that Stoker wants to play again. With a better understanding of how little pressure Stoker can take in training and what she thinks IS pressure, I am enjoying the challenge of figuring out how to "explain" the Courier exercises to our little silver fox girl. We're not setting any real goals for now, just exploring the Courier level exercises from Stoker's point of view and enjoying the journey.

Rolling with the punches

2011-07-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

We had hoped to breed Ecko this summer, with pups due in the late summer/early fall. We did several progesterone draws and left for California to visit the boyfriend we chose for her when the reproductive specialist told us to. "Do a breeding on Wednesday and another on Friday" we were told. Sure, no problem!

Well, Ecko had other ideas in mind and was not interested in cooperating with our plans. Due to the holiday weekend, many of the reproductive specialists in the area were not available, so we made a drive to UC Davis on Thursday to get a little help from the experts. Imagine our frustration when the specialist there confirmed via cytology that Ecko was going OUT of season and we had missed the window to breed her this summer.

Trying to take something good from the experience:

The drive down and back passes through some beautiful country. From the golden landscape of California, to the inviting waters of Shasta Lake, the grandeur of Mt. Shasta and the Siskiyou Summit and back home to the lush green of Oregon - makes you realize how beautiful our country is and how fortunate we are to live here.
Had a really nice visit with Elaine and Chris and some yummy meals including amazing Sushi that Chris prepared.
Opened up a summer of water work with Ecko and a few more months of agility when the weather turns cooler again.

Puppy Trip

2011-05-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

This week saw a whirlwind round-trip to Utah with a good friend to bring back a puppy. Decker is the proud Daddy of the new baby we brought home. Here are some photos from our adventure.

The pup's pretty Mama "Foxy"

Trying to get the puppy in the mirror to play...

The little silver fox marked boy is the one we came home with. His brothers are terrific too and it was a tough choice which pup we should take. He was great on the trip home, going from car to hotel room to plane with confidence and a wagging tail.

Great Expectations

2011-05-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

Did you ever think about how much we expect of our dogs? We want them to:

Be tolerant of other dogs and people even when they are obnoxious
"Power up" easily when we want to play, but "turn off" quickly when we do not
"Walk away" from confrontations rather than getting agressive or defensive
Be able to distinguish with absolute accuracy when something is a threat or not
Be confident in all new situations and with all new people no matter how stressful
Love us unconditionally no matter what.

I'm sure we all *want* many other things from our dogs too. We would never have these high expectations for another human, would we?

My wish is that we can all learn to cut our dogs some slack and simply accept some of their characteristics as part of their unique personality instead of always feeling we need to "fix" every little thing we don't care for about them.

Spring has sprung.

2011-04-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

Flowers are beginning to bloom, grass is growing, the sun makes an occasional appearance (a sure sign of spring in the Pacific NW!) and Cooper and Ecko had a great time romping at the park last weekend...right after we made them pose for a few pictures first....

Posing by the pond

Sittin' pretty

Ecko gittin' da brother
and then....
they're off again!

Thankful and hopeful

2011-02-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Ecko's "new champion" photo came in the mail yesterday. I think the photo is the best win pic we have of her so far, but I still love the candid shots I get of her posing herself in the back yard and on walks the best.

A dog's successes can be attributed in a large part to the dogs that came before them. It seems fitting, in a way, that the last dog we bred that finished a Championship was Ecko's sire Kilo back in 1998. Ecko owes a debt to her Mama Stoker and Granny Chili too. Even though those two did not like to show and are not Champions themselves, they passed on many good qualities to their progeny. Many other dogs in her pedigree also contributed to make her who she is. On this day, I am thankful for the dogs of the past and hopeful for the dogs of the future...

Tickled Pink

2011-02-15T20:46:00.000-08:00

In my last blog entry I was trying to psych myself up for some upcoming conformation shows. It has been a whirlwind ride since then, and I am tickled pink with how things have been going!

from left to right Reef, Ecko and Cooper
following the last day of judging at Rose City
*thanks to Heidi Erland for the pic

At the first weekend of conformation shows we attended in January, Cooper and Ecko each earned a major, on the same day, with me handling them! What a thrill! The following weekend, Julie was back on the end of Cooper's lead and they won two of the four days to finish Cooper's Championship! Cooper is Julie's first show dog and she has done a super job with him. He was the first of his litter to finish.

Ecko giving Shea a kiss at Rose City
*thanks to Heidi Erland for the pic

I decided that Ecko deserved a more talented handler than I, that could get some points on her a bit quicker, so I turned her over for the Rose City shows to Shea Skinner. Shea did a great job winning Ecko over and making friends with her and he got her to really shine in the ring. They earned three points together at the Rose City shows and then went on several weeks later to win the first two days of a four day show and finish Ecko's Championship too! Ecko was shown as a special for the final two days of the show and took Best of Breed on Valentine's Day. Ecko is the second from her litter to finish.

Lest you think we did not stay busy between shows, Ecko also ran in an agility trial during the same few weeks and earned two Open Jumpers legs and finished her Novice Standard title.

I am so proud of my pups and their accomplishments and can't wait to see what the future holds for them.

Wish us luck

2011-01-14T15:31:00.001-08:00

Ecko weaves, originally uploaded by Suz&Jan.

Ecko and I are off to three days of dog shows tomorrow morning, with another four day show the following weekend.

We have been spending the last few weeks readying ourselves for the shows. We've been practicing stacking in front of the mirror in the bedroom almost every night. We've worked on gaiting in the cul de sac with the goal being to encourage her to not trot at top speed dragging me like the tail on a kite. We have gone to handling class a couple of times to give her some dogs to practice not chasing. We've been going biking in the cold, dark rain several nights a week to make sure she is in good shape (I dislike this, while she enjoys it!). I even broke down and spent some money on a new jacket and shoes to wear while showing her.

Lets hope these efforts pay off and the "great white hope" earns some more points soon. We would really like her to become officially the champion we know she is in our hearts and would like to be able to focus more on other games where we get to wear casual clothes (me) and get dirty (Ecko).

The goal for me this weekend is to take a cue from agility - where I try hard to succeed and get those "Qs" but also enjoy the journey with my parti-girl regardless of the outcome at the end of the day.

Dexter Update

2010-11-18T10:46:00.001-08:00

Dexter is one of Decker and Shasta's pups (a littermate to Jazzy whose pics I posted recently). His owners (Kristin, Dave and family) were in touch with Cindy recently with an update and a photo, which she thoughtfully passed on to me:

"We are so happy with Dexter. He is a wonderful puppy and gets along so well with everyone he meets, dogs and people. He has such a calm, easy-going personality.

He graduated from his puppy school and we're thinking of doing some agility classes with him in January. Here is a picture of him after his first grooming done by Jonathan and Mike.
Thanks again for trusting us with Dexter and giving us a wonderful addition to our family."

What a super report! So far these pups are getting an "A" in the personality department and I think they are looking quite nice too.

Jazzy's Dentist visit

2010-11-11T10:48:00.001-08:00

Decker's pup Jazzy had to have a couple of puppy teeth extracted yesterday. Sometimes puppy teeth are retained past when they should be and letting them stay can cause problems and throw the puppy's bite off. I hope Jazzy weathered her dental procedure okay. I'm sure Karen will let me know...

Since I'm thinking of her, here are some cute pics Karen sent me a few weeks ago. You can see that Jazzy and Karen's older PWD Roxie love to play. I think Karen's kids might be pretty fond of Jazzy too...

Road Trip to the National Specialty

2010-10-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

My recent road trip to CA for the PWD National Specialty brought lots of memories, as well as being very fun!

Here are some random thoughts on the trip:

I am always fascinated by some of the junk art near I5 in the Weed area so this time I searched the internet when I returned home and found some photos of the dragon and cow sculptures. That is Penelope the dragon to the left. Penelope is the creation of Ralph Starritt of Yreka.

Another of Mr. Staritt's creations is "Moodonna".

The town of "Talent" Oregon (we drove past the sign on I5) was the inspiration for the call name for my friend Jessie's dog.

The last time I headed that far south with the dogs was when we went to the National in Ventura in 2007. Kilo died just a few months before that trip. This was truly a special week for me as I got to see his kids and grand-kids having fun with their people at the National. Kids Bella, Cooper, Ecko, Reef and Sydney represented him well at the National, as did grand-kids India and JoJo. Kilo came back to me in a dream recently, but he lives on every day in our house in his daughters and grand-daughter. Makes me teary just thinking about it...

It's not all about the "stuff" anymore

2010-09-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

My birthday was yesterday and, no, I am NOT telling how old I am! Reflecting back on birthdays past, I can remember when I was young and my birthday was all about the "stuff". I would spend a month prior to my birthday thinking of all the great gifts I would like and counting the days off on the calendar until the grand day arrived and I got to dig into all those presents.

Karen sent me a birthday photo of Jazzy (Decker's daughter - right)
and her housemate Roxie - too cute!

In addition to noticing the sprinkling of lighter blonde highlights in my hair (I refuse to acknowledge that they might be GRAY highlights!) I also realized yesterday that, at some point, my birthday has come to be more about celebrating all the good things that are already in my life instead of wishing for more. I spent the day celebrating lots of birthday wishes from friends, the beautiful sunny day, the flowers my hubby surprised me with, the extra TLC and great training sessions I had with my dogs and the knowledge that I am blessed to have the most important things in my life on an everyday basis.

Pupdate

2010-08-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Decker's son Port has been off staying with my friend Julie and her family for a few days. He is coming back to our house tonight to spend the next two days, then we will head north to meet up with his new owner, Alex and turn him over for his travels to his new home in Canada. It will be a little bittersweet enjoying these last few days with him, but it is time for him to move on and we hope to get to see him occasionally and get frequent updates.

Ecko has surely been enjoying having him around and I got some pics of them playing on the back patio last weekend.

I have gotten reports on several of the pups and hope to have contact information for all their new owners soon, so I can keep tabs on the little guys.

Piranha Puppy Port

2010-08-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Decker's 10-week old son Port has been staying with us for the last 10 days and I am exhausted! It's so easy to forget how much work puppies are when you haven't lived with one for a while! I am a firm believer in puppy "management" when the situation does not allow for supervision, but the bottom line with puppies is you have to do a whole lot of following them around and teaching them what the rules are. If all you ever do is tether or crate your pup, he won't learn the rules very quickly, if at all. In addition, the little guy needs to get up in the middle of the night for a potty break still. I am SO missing having an uninterrupted nights sleep...

Port has been sleeping nicely in his kennel at night. During the day, he is in a spacious kennel run in the garage. I run home from work on my lunch hour to let him out for a romp in the yard, then it is back into the kennel run with his lunch. He gets free range of the house and yard in the evening when we are home and gets escorted to the yard frequently to remind him that he is to potty there and not in the house.

He has been to the river twice and swam like a little fish on his second visit.
He went for a walk to the end of the block and back and made friends with a scary fire hydrant.
He likes to tug with the braided fleece toy and gets quite fierce about it.
He likes to retrieve for a few tosses, then loses interest (no attention span yet).
He eats like a little piglet. He has been getting mostly kibble with a ground raw prepared food, but this AM he had his first raw chicken wing, which he took to with gusto.
He has teeth like a piranha and the adult dogs and humans in the house are doing their darnedest to teach him how to use them appropriately.

Altogether a fun little dude and I think his new owner Alex will have a blast with him when he heads north to live with her in another week. Some day when Decker is retired from agility, I think we will have to find one just like this for Jan to run

Catching Up

2010-08-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know if that is actually possible, as things seem to be moving at whirlwind speed lately.

Last week saw a quick trip to watch the Decker x Shasta litters temperament test, followed by a flurry of communication between Cindy and I to discuss puppy placements; the arrival of a new girlfriend for Decker; a private lesson with some nice folks with a 14-week old Lab puppy; and a three-day trip out of town to judge a water trial (leaving Jan behind with all the hormonal dogs!).

Most of the chaos revolves around fun and exciting things, so I remind myself to just hang on and enjoy the ride.

Recently I blogged an excerpt from an article by Kathryn Lanam regarding behavioral development in dogs. This article is one that is included in Pat Hastings book "Another Piece of the Puzzle: Puppy Development". I really enjoy this article and reread it every time we have a litter of puppies. I have not compared them side by side, but I believe the link below is the same article as can be found in the book:

http://www.briardbreeder.com/info.html#Behavioral_development_of_a_puppy

Photos are of Decker and Sydney (his new girlfriend).

Puppy Pics

2010-07-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

I drove to Snohomish and back yesterday to watch the puppy temperament test, play with the puppies and visit with Cindy and Nancy. Poor Cindy and Nancy got stuck with all the work and I had all the fun. It was a fun trip, the temperament test went well, and the puppies are looking really nice.

Here are some puppy photos I took. It was difficult to carry on a conversation, fend the puppies off who were tugging on the camera strap and still remember to actually USE the camera, but I did get a couple of cute shots.

6-Week Birthday

2010-07-15T13:19:00.001-07:00

Decker and Shasta's pups will have their 6 week birthday this Saturday (17th). Can you believe it? Seems like they were just born...

As of around 5-weeks of age, the pups are in the "socialization period" of their development. That stage can be broken down into several other stages, but this link to a blog entry from my last litter will give you an idea of where they are at developmentally:

http://lookoutpwd.blogspot.com/2008/01/socialization-period-5-16-weeks.html

I had fun looking at some of the entries from this time back in 2008 and checking out some of the photos of our "deadliest catch" litter.

July 4th Weekend

2010-07-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

Drove north to visit Decker and Shasta's puppies this weekend. It's around a 3-1/2 hour drive from Beaverton to Bothell, so we opted to drive up on Friday evening and stay at Sandy and Jim's house on Wye Lake in Port Orchard. Its always great to visit with Sandy and Jim (although Sandy was not there this visit) and the dogs and I always have a hard time tearing ourselves away from the relaxation of the lake when we leave.

Saturday and Sunday morning both dawned cool and overcast, but we forced ourselves to take the dogs down to the water and get some training in both days. The dogs enjoyed themselves and the less seasoned dogs are making nice progress. I traveled with Decker and Chili this weekend and gave them a review of some of the tasks for Versatility since they are entered in a trial in a few weeks. I did a little grooming both days too, with a bath and some brushing and light trimming for Decker and his great-Aunt Sabrina.

We visited the pups on Saturday evening and enjoyed them so much that it was hard to tear ourselves away. They are a sleek and healthy bunch of pups and I am excited to see how they mature.

Ivar - wavy male

Chandler - curly male

Port - wavy male

Salty - wavy female

Elly - "wurly" female

Ray - wavy male

glimpses of PWD history

2010-07-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

I came across these two articles on PWDs recently. Enjoy!

1983 AKC Gazette article

1975 Sports Illustrated article

Decker x Shasta Pups - Week 4

2010-06-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

Here is what the following week will bring for the babies:

Week Four (Days 22-28)

Begin to eat food
Begin to bark, wag tails, bite, paw, bare teeth, growl and chase
Use legs well
Tire easily
Depth perception starts

Cindy has scheduled appointments for the pup's CERF exam and temperament evaluation already, although those won't be taking place for several weeks still.

A CERF examination is a typical eye screening examination that is done by a veterinarian specialized in ophthalmology. The pup’s pupils will be dilated with eye drops and the examiner will examine the eyes looking for major abnormalities. This ensures that the pup's eyes are healthy when they go to their new homes.

Less is More

2010-06-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Isn't that a phrase on the "Life is Good" clothing?

Ecko and I went to the agility barn on Saturday. The round-trip drive takes me about 1:20 and we trained for about 20 or 25 minutes. In twenty minutes, we got a lot done. Ecko was panting pretty good, but still eager to go when we quit, so I think it was perfect. We worked on:

Jumping 20 inches (I have been jumping her 16 but she is ready for the "big time"). She is pretty much fine with this, although we did spend a bit of time gradually increasing the height on the tire jump. I will need to do this for a couple of more training sessions before she is quite on-board with the tire being this high.
A fun sequence of about 4-5 jumps and 3 tunnels. We ran this a couple of different ways and it was a really motivational way to be able to let her run pretty fast while still working on some crosses and those higher jumps.
We ran the dog walk and a-frame a couple of times working on contacts and also speed on the dog walk.
Did a full set of weaves about 6 times and....
Done!

On Sunday (cool and rainy, argh!) I took the same approach to water training.

Decker theoretically already knows all the exercises I will be asking him to do at the trial in mid-July, but he hasn't actually done them in about 2 years. His "review" went really well.

60 foot retrieve from shore - Nailed this, including waiting for me to send him. Sometimes he gets a bit over-eager.
Gear bag drag. Did this twice nicely and in turbo mode both times.
Float line retrieve off shore. He took direction from the boat to shore nicely, especially since he definitely did NOT see the line on shore. He spotted it as soon as he got close and did an amazing, lightening fast snatch and booked it back out to the boat.
We ended his session with some buoy ball drop training. We did one send to the marker and target without the buoy ball, just to make sure he remembered his cues. He did that part with no problems so we did the next one with the ball and he nailed that too.

Stoker has been acting slightly stressy ever since some sessions went south last summer. For a girl who seems a bit ditzy sometimes, she has a memory like an elephant.

I rowed the boat and Julie sat on the platform and fed her cookies. She asked her for simple behaviors like hand targeting, sit, down, changing sides (left to right and right to left). Stokie settled down nicely and enjoyed all the treats.
We decided to ask her to jump off the boat and here is where it got interesting. With Julie off the platform calling her and throwing the toy, Stoker would jump into shore, or parallel to shore from the boat. Several times she decided she couldn't jump and we just didn't push the issue. When she did jump, it was really fast and she hurled herself off, so that is promising.
After a bit of a break, we worked on sending to the marker and secondary target in the water for a thrown toy reward, followed by treats. She did super well at this and we only did about four repetitions.
Finally, we worked on her swimming at my side as I walked 5 or 10 feet at a time in the water. I asked her to hold a rope in her mouth and when I cued her to drop it, would reward her with the toy and treats. Just a few repetitions of this, which she did very well at, and we ended on a positive note.

After we put all the gear away, I got both dogs out and let them have a good romp play-retrieving in the lake. It's good exercise for them and they love it!

Puppy Update - Week 2

2010-06-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

Decker and Shasta's puppies continue to thrive. Cindy is quite pleased with their progress and says they are a strong and active bunch.

Here is where they are at developmentally (they turned 2 weeks today):

During Week Two (Days 8-14):

Eyes should open around days 8-10 (eyes are open on all the pups)
Ears should open around days 13-17

Week Three (Days 15-21)

Teeth begin to erupt
Puppies stand up and start walking (Cindy says they have already started to do this!)
Begin to lap liquids
Defecate/urinate without stimulation
Start becoming aware of environment
Start playing with littermates
Develop sense of smell
Puppies will start to discriminate as to where to relieve themselves

Cindy hopes to have some video clips of the little ones soon.

Pics from the Weekend

2010-06-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Chili-girl loves to go to the lake and doesn't get to go as often as she used to with two younger dogs in training for titles. Here she is taking a nice snooze in the sunshine on the way home from the lake on Saturday. Just love her!

Deck-man is such a goof-ball, but loves to strike dignified, thoughtful poses in the back yard (and I love to capture them with the camera). A study in contrast, that's our guy.

Puppy Pics and Theme

2010-06-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

There are pics of Decker and Shasta's pups now in the "media gallery" on Cindy's website at:

http://www.cascadepwd.org/

They still look like little aliens, but it is fun to look at their markings. Cindy said they were quite active and squirmy during their photo session.

The litter theme for this litter is Northwest's Best Seafood, with the pups litter names being seafood restaurants. Here is the line-up:

The boys are:

"Port" (Anthony's Home Port)
"Chandler" (Chandler's Seafood)
"Ivar" (Ivar's Seafood)
"Ray" (Ray's Boat house)

The girls:

"Salty" (Salty's)
"Elly" (Elliot's Oyster House)

With the cool, rainy weather we have had all spring, typing the list of names made me long for a nice hot bowl of clam chowder! :-)

Whirlwind Weekend and Puppy Progress

2010-06-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

Woke up Saturday morning to cool, overcast weather (was supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny), a splitting headache, and the realization that we were supposed to meet at the lake for water work at 8:30 AM. Ugh! After spilling coffee all over Julie's car and launching the boat without the plug in (fortunately, we caught that quickly, loaded it back up, drained it and relaunched with the plug in before it sank!) the day began to improve. After the clouds burned off, the temperatures really did hit 80 and the lake was beautiful. The water was reasonably warm and I was smart enough to take Chili (who is a blast to train at the water) and Ecko (who is training on easy, baby-dog working stuff) so I had successful training sessions despite the fact that my headache would NOT go away.

Returning home from the lake around 2:00 PM, I found that Dick and Ginny had already arrived for their visit. They let themselves in and were lounging on the patio with Reef, Decker and Stoker when I walked in the door. Jan arrived a few minutes later and we all had a nice late lunch on the patio.

After lunch, Reef got his monthly haircut. Dave and Rebecca arrived with their two PWDs from the agility trial in time to watch Reef endure the final snips of his grooming torture, then we all enjoyed a relaxing evening hanging out with the dogs and chatting.

It was up early again on Sunday and out the door to the agility trial. Decker and Jan were entered and we timed our arrival just slightly too late for him to walk his Excellent Standard course. Ugh! The guys did a creditable job on the course with just a brief detour over an off-course jump. Both Deck and Jan were hot and lazy by the time Jumpers rolled around in the afternoon and missed the weaves there, although the rest of the course was smooth.

PUPPY STUFF

No pics or videos of Decker and Shasta's babies yet, unfortunately (I think Cindy and Rick have their hands full!), but here is some of what the pups would have been up to during their first week.

90% of time spent sleeping, 10% eating
Susceptible to heat/cold - cannot regulate their own body temperature
Instinctive reflexes: crawl, seek warmth, nurse
They can right themselves if placed upside down
Need stimulation for urination/defecation (Mama cleaning them does the trick.
Rapid development of central nervous system
Rectal temperatures 94-97 degrees Farenheit
Pups may lose 10% of weight after birth, but should start gaining again and weight should double by end of week

The pup's eyes should begin to open during the next week.

And then there were six...

2010-06-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

It isn't unusual for one puppy from a litter to not survive those crucial first few days, and we said goodbye to one of Decker and Shasta's male pups yesterday, leaving 4 boys and 2 girls. Sorry little guy, wish you had the chance to grow up strong and happy like your siblings hopefully will, but it wasn't meant to be.

My report from Cindy says the rest of the bunch is gaining weight like crazy and that they feel like little sausages, they are so round and full.

They're here...

2010-06-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

Decker's puppies were born on Saturday morning. Shasta did a good job with the delivery and is being an excellent Mom, as she was with her first litter. Apparently Decker and Shasta didn’t get the message that I am looking for a girl puppy, as they had lots of boys!

There are five males and two females. All pups are black with white markings with one being Irish-marked. Two are curlies (both males) and the rest are wavy.

I can't wait to see the little guys in a few weeks and will share photos if Cindy sends some...

The clock is ticking....

2010-06-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

The countdown is getting close on Decker's puppies being born. We only do the puppy thing every couple of years so when there is a litter due, even long-distance (Shasta is with her family in Washington), it is very exciting.

Perhaps Shasta will follow Rick's plan and have her pups on Cindy's birthday on Friday? Cindy reports that Shasta is very big now and all she wants to do is sleep and eat. She got her pre-whelping haircut last night. Hopefully all will go well for this sweet girl and there will be a lovely, lively litter of pups to show for it.

Until then, we will continue to wait expectantly for good news...

I took some time tonight to dig out some baby photos of Decker and his siblings and reminisce a bit.

Decker's brother "Marlin"

Decker, keeping cool...

Come on people, I'm trying to nap here....

Decker was one of the "Ocean's Eleven". Yes, there were really 11 of them, so this is just over half! Their litter names were sea critters, Otter, Squid, Marlin, Moray (that was Decker).... I can't remember all the others.

View from the top...

2010-05-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Or, it's all down-hill from here...

I took this photo of Ecko at the top of the steps up to the back yard early Sunday afternoon shortly before my cold kicked in full force and proceeded to kick my butt for the rest of the weekend.

Groomed a pretty six-month old pup this weekend. Menina was VERY well behaved on the grooming table and got to have some down-time exploring in the yard and playing with Ecko.

Ecko doing her best "kung-fu" impression while playing with Menina.

Actually had a pretty good day on Saturday, with a trip to the river with a couple of the dogs for a training session. We couldn't coordinate taking the boat with us and the weather was kind of crappy (high 40s and cloudy/rainy) but we still got a good session in.

Did some sending to the marker and secondary target with Stoker who did very well with that. I also worked a bit on her float line retrieve from shore with me standing in the water (brrrr!) and sending her to shore for the line with a food tube attached. She loves to swim and retrieve despite the cold, and we only saw small glimpses of her stressy behavior from last year's Courier training fiasco.

Ecko wasn't excited about swimming and I didn't push it because the water really was COLD! Played with her a little retrieving the food tube and then attaching it to her line for her to retrieve. We also worked on some multiple article retrieves in wading depth water and she did a good job fetching the buoy ball with the sinking line. I think she will be one of the clever dogs that figures out bumping the ball with your nose will kick the line up out of the water...

We ended with all four dogs taking a turn at doing the Courier pouch exchange in the field near the car. This was a good way to warm them up after their cold water swimming and a fun game for them to play.

Resting up from the weekend.

2010-05-17T12:42:00.001-07:00

What's one extra PWD? Or three? Or four? If you said "exhausting", you got the right answer!

On Wednesday, 6-month old pup "Willa" arrived for a weekend visit. She was really a very good girl for her age. She didn't chew anything she shouldn't, she ate her meals when they were offered and she slept nicely in her crate (after a few minutes of complaining the first night).

She did give us a good scare when she decided that we were no way, no how gonna catch her in our extremely large back yard on Thursday afternoon. I spent over an hour after I got home from work trying to persuade her that I really wasn't scary and that being caught wasn't a bad thing. I finally enlisted Ecko's help and by pretending to ignore Willa and play with Ecko instead I finally managed to capture her. Needless to say, she spent the rest of her stay with us dragging a leash so we could catch her when we needed to.

Willa and Ecko had fun playing on and off while she was with us and she followed Decker around like he was her hero.

Ecko engaging Willa in a game of "chase"

Willa with a toy. Isn't she cute?

On Friday evening, Julie dropped off Ecko's brother Cooper and his housemate Tsuzi. These two have stayed with us before and are always easy to have around, but still..... seven PWDs in one house? Yikes!

On Saturday morning, Dick and Ginny arrived to spend the weekend with us, bringing Ecko's brother Reef with them and the total PWD headcount hit eight. The dogs all got on amazing well. Fortunately the weather was amazing so the patio doors could be open to the back yard pretty much the whole weekend.

We had a yummy dinner which Dick and Jan cooked on the barbecue Saturday night to celebrate Ginny's upcoming birthday.

On Sunday, we had a visit from this beautiful bird. We heard her first, and thought it was the Pileated Woodpecker that visits each year. After looking at some bird websites on-line, I think it is actually a Northern Flicker, which supposedly makes a sounds very similar to the Pileated Woodpecker. Flickers are members of the woodpecker family. The Northern Flicker is 11 - 12 inches long, has a wingspan of 17 - 20 inches and weighs 3 3/4 to 5 1/2 ounces. They are common in open woodlands and suburban areas. They nest in a cavity in a tree or post.

Reef was the first PWD to depart, heading home with Dick and Ginny Sunday morning. Willa's family came to pick her up mid-afternoon and Cooper and Tsuzi left late in the afternoon. Amazing how peaceful the house seems with "only" four PWDs.

One may go a long way after one is tired.

2010-05-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

The title for this morning's entry is supposedly a french proverb. I hope it's true because I am feeling particularly sleepy this morning and have no "get up and go". I suspect it has something to do with being Monday and having a full day or work ahead of me instead of a day of playing in the sunshine....

Left - Chili posing with her Daddy's slipper before we headed out into the sunshine.

We had a gorgeous weekend of sunshine and warm temperatures. I spent almost the whole day outside on Saturday.

Saturday tally:

show-groomed one dog (Photo right - Cooper resting after his trim...)
pet groomed one dog (short lion trim for Stoker)
brushed one dog (Ecko kept flinging herself on the table....)
biked three dogs
walked one dog
did some laundry
kicked back with a Marguerita and had a lazy evening.

On Sunday I called my mom to wish her "Happy Mother's Day", then scurried around the house and raced out the door to meet Julie for the drive to Elma and back for the dog show. Cooper was only entered one day and did not win his class, but we had a fun day anyway. We stopped at the lake on the way home and did a casual training session with Cooper, Tsuzi and Stoker - the highlight of the day.

This morning.....I'm tired.

It's the little things

2010-04-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Had a lazy Saturday morning (photos on the patio and in the yard below), followed by a trip to the lake (in cool, overcast, rainy weather) to test out Martha's newly repaired boat. Picked up the pace a bit on Sunday with tomatoes and basil to plant and yard work to do...

Chili posing on the retaining wall.

Stoker showing off her toy.

One hand on the camera and the other tugging with Stoker...

Stoker and Ecko tugging.

Deckers turn to pose.

Siblings learning to jump from the boat. Ecko (right) and brother Cooper.

Argue for your limitations,...

2010-04-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

...and sure enough they're yours. ~ Richard Bach

I love this quote and the book it is in (Illusions of a Reluctant Messiah) and passed out a stack of business cards printed with motivational quotes like it at my last water workshop. After we ate lunch on the second day and everyone was getting a bit tired, we sat around and read quotes and discussed them. In the same vein, I really enjoyed this recent blog posting by Susan Garrett.

Maybe it is the spring weather, but I am feeling motivated to get working (well, playing really....) with the dogs.

Yesterday, each of the dogs had a quick, energetic five minute session with the weave poles. I worked on weave pole entrances with all of them and limited myself to only motivating them with a toy. That was a bit of a challenge with Stoker and Ecko but they did really well and all of them made a bit of progress and pushed their understanding of how to find the correct entry.

Having done a few workshops this spring, there was money in the budget for chiropractic adjustments for Chili and Decker today. Both of them were moving a little tighter than I like to see and Chili had even been a little off in the front for the last week. They need to take it easy for a few days following their adjustments, but Stoker and Ecko each got a follow-up weave pole training session tonight and did really well. Stoker was really bounding out after the toy and even barked at me to get me to play with her with it. Ecko also did super and was very enthusiastic for the toy tonight. Brilliant dogs, just need to push the buttons right....

How does your garden grow?

2010-04-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?"

My garden seems to be growing quite well right now and I am feeling very thankful today. In no particular order, here are some photos I took this weekend of just a few of the things I am thankful for.

Spring! Love this photo of four happy, healthy doggies playing in the yard.

I am thankful they are happy!
I am thankful for the beautiful spring weather and the big yard we have for them to play in.
I am thankful for having such a great agility instructor who lets them channel their athletic ability. Thanks Venita, hope you will forgive Ecko and I for not practicing between classes....

Shasta, Decker's girlfriend who came to visit a few weeks ago.

I am thankful Decker got a girlfriend and will be super thankful if he and Shasta have fantastic puppies who give their owners as much joy as Decker has given us.

A magnolia in our backyard. The velvety black background was provided by a PWD who wandered underneath...

I am grateful for the beautiful things around me and for paying attention enough (sometimes!) to actually see them.

Our patio beautification project on Sunday.

Time are tough all over and, like most, we are on a tighter budget than usual, but I am thankful that we can still spend money to make things pretty and bright around us.

Chili keeping a close eye on the patio beautification project.

Thankful for our Chili-girl and the fact that the oldest member of our canine pack still has plenty "get up and go".

Stoker

Thankful for the constants in my life: dogs that are always at my side, my honey Jan (who puts up with an awful lot), and good friends who are always there for me.

Weekend Fun

2010-03-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

Had a terrific weekend, which could only have been improved by being a bit longer.

Spent a sunny Saturday morning brushing dogs and cleaning the house, then visited with a couple who were interested in meeting and learning more about PWDs. After meeting the dogs, they decided that the breed was a bit too big for them but we had a nice visit and they are doing a good job doing their research to find a breed that is suited to them.

Julie and Jessie came over with Cooper and Talent, so Steph and Dave were able to meet quite a number of PWDs all in a brief period. Once they said their goodbyes, we loaded Ecko, Cooper and Talent in Julie's SUV and drove to the river for a quick romp.

We had fun letting the young 'uns romp in the water, then took them up on the grass to run around and dry off a bit before heading home.

Dave and Rebecca came south for the agility trial in Ridgefield and stayed with us on Saturday night. We used that as a good excuse for a barbecue and had a great feed and lots of good folks to visit with. Rebecca and Mandy and their dogs Lucy and India had a super day at the trial on Saturday with 2 Qs for Lucy and 3 for India!

Slightly the worse for wear from the stiff Painkillers Jessie was mixing and pouring the night before, Jan and I pried ourselves out of bed and hit the agility trial ourselves on Sunday. Decker and Jan were the only ones entered from our pack, but they had a nice Excellent Standard run with a weave pole problem being their only issue. They had an awesome Excellent Jumpers run in the afternoon and Qd with a 2nd place to finish Decker's AXJ title. This is the first agility title for Jan.

A Thousand Acres and a Squirrel

2010-03-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

The weather was beautiful last weekend and it is supposed to be nice this weekend as well. Woohoo!

Last weekend, Julie wanted to check out the Thousand Acres/Sandy River Delta dog park in Troutdale and it wasn't too tough for her to persuade me to join her.

Chili, Ecko, Cooper and Tsuzi really enjoyed their outing. Cooper got a little barky and full of himself with other male dogs, so Julie had to get on his case about that a bit. Ecko enjoyed barking at the other humans we met along the way to let them know she was "large and in charge". We met several horses along the trails with their riders and the dogs were pretty blase about them. We walked out to the Sandy River, where Chili went swimming in the freezing cold water and super strong currents. We made sure she stayed close to shore and swam her upstream from an eddy where she would be carried in to the bank if she had problems. Cooper, Ecko and Tsuzi were more sensible then Chili and limited themselves to wading....

Here is the squirrel I mentioned in the title of the entry. A big, sleek fellow with the confidence to perch on the railing right near the bay window where Decker likes to nap.

Here is Ecko blasting through the dead grass on our walk.
The rest of the dogs were in hot pursuit...

Tsuzi really thought Chili needed to stop running so fast and was trying to get her to slow down. Cooper and Ecko thought the running was a good idea but were letting Chili take the lead.

Chili and Ecko

Winter Water Dogs

2010-02-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

It was a balmy 55 degrees and sunny in Beaverton this weekend, so a trip to the river seemed like a good idea. Even though the water was quite cold, Decker, Stoker and Cooper thought a swim was in order... Cooper's housemate Tsuzi waded.

Decker

Stoker
She is just a BIT bossy and the dummy
was not getting thrown quickly enough for her...

Cooper
Stoker's son and my friend Julie's dog

The crew warmed up and dried out with a retrieving session at the ball field after their swim.

Win Photo from Albany

2010-02-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Lots to Love this Valentine Weekend

2010-02-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

For Valentines Day (well, it was one day early - on Saturday), Ecko and Jessie got me a 3 point major! Pretty nice of them, don't you think? Jessie had a smokin' day, taking Winner's Dog for a 3 point major with her boy Talent and then going back in on Ecko to win Winner's Bitch too! Ecko and Jess pulled off a 4th place the following day (the only curly, retriever trimmed bitch in the ribbons).

Ecko celebrated her success on Saturday with a new toy that Dick and Ginny gifted her with, while we humans enjoyed a bottle of champagne in the form of some Mimosas on Sunday when we got home after the show.
Ecko's siblings Cooper and Reef were entered this weekend too. Both boys were owner handled in the ring and Cooper took 3rd place both days, while Reef got 4th place on Sunday.

Cooper is really starting to sparkle in the ring as Julie gets more confident there. He is such a "mama's boy" and she has learned to ignore him (or comb him!) outside the ring, and only give him the attention he wants INSIDE the ring.

Reef really enjoys himself outside the ring, and is coming along nicely inside too. Living in a rural area, it is difficult for Ginny to get Reef to matches and classes, so they have been forced to get their practice time in the show ring. Reef is standing really nicely on his exam and for the first time on Sunday we saw a hint of that happy tail when he was gaiting in the ring.

Here are the three siblings together after they were done for the weekend.

Agility Weekend

2010-02-07T20:34:00.001-08:00

The highlights of the weekend:

An Excellent Jumpers Q with a third place for Jan and Decker.
A nice visit with Dave and Rebecca and the chance to watch Rebecca and Lucy "double Q" in Excellent Standard and Jumpers. Rebecca and Lucy have lovely teamwork together and their runs always seem so smooth, even when things aren't going as well as they did this weekend.
A fun Superbowl get-together with friends. Jan pulled it all together while Chili and I were off having fun in agility and I just got to come home and drink Margueritas and eat chili...

Agility photos thanks to Joe Camp.

Sunshine in January?

2010-02-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

Sunshine in January may not be such an exciting thing in some parts of the country, but here in Oregon it is a real treat which finds us searching for those sunglasses that we haven't used in several months! I snapped a couple of photos of Decker and Ecko out enjoying the sunshine on Sunday afternoon.

The year ahead promises to be a busy one and January brought planning and budgeting for upcoming seminars, show and trial entries and vacation time. Cooper, Ecko and Reef were entered in their first dog show of the year. Cooper and Ecko were fortunate to end the weekend with class placements in some large and competitive classes. They turned two in mid-December, so we will likely start showing them in earnest now.

We got to visit with Stoker's sister Maggie when she came for a haircut on Saturday. It's always great to see the pups when they return for a visit or for grooming. As a puppy, Maggie was super people-oriented and loved to retrieve and she has maintained those qualities as she has gotten older, while adding the job of guardian to Jarvis and Jennifer's kids to her skills.

February brings an agility weekend for Chili, Decker and Stoker, a show weekend for Ecko and hopefully, if we are lucky, a little more winter sunshine...

Naughty PWDs and Sourdough Waffles

2010-01-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

Starting off the New Year, the dogs have been a bit naughty. First Chili "marked" a spot where Stoker likes to sleep. A little power play going on with the girls? They seem to be getting along fine with their usual play wrestling, but we will have to keep an eye on them.

The next incident involved some soft chews with glucosamine and other joint supplements in them. They managed to get a big tub of them off the counter and ate the whole tub (3/4 full). They then proceeded to vomit all over the house and yard. All three girls turn positively green when you offer them a joint chew now, but Decker still thinks they are just fine. Hmm, which dog do you think was not involved in the stealing and eating of the joint chews?

Their most recent incident involved finding something REALLY stinky in the yard to roll in about an hour before we were expecting guests at the house for dinner. Four PWD dog baths later, grrrrr...... Taking this photo of Decker in the tub almost made me forgive him. Doesn't he look miserable?
We mixed up a new batch of sourdough starter a few weeks ago and ate our first batch of sourdough waffles last night. It made me think of our time in Alaska and of Kilo who LOVED sourdough waffles and pancakes. The current crew of PWDs seemed to think they were pretty tasty too.

2009-12-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

Jan got the electric outlets working in the kitchen island, so he was able to make progress on tiling the backsplash.

The day after Christmas we ran some errands. I boxed up some books and we took those and some other household items to Goodwill. Stoker and Ecko took turns helping by climbing in my boxes.
Christmas Day was sunny and bright, but also cold and windy. All the dogs got to go for a walk, which also burned off some calories for the humans. Jan went with me on my last walk so we got some photos of Chili and Stoker.

Monday Road Trip

2009-12-22T16:42:00.001-08:00

Ecko and her brother Cooper went on a drive with Julie and I to Aumsville (about an hour) to go for their OFA x-rays. Brother Reef met us there with Dick and Ginny. Ecko and Reef got both hips and elbows x-rayed, while Julie opted for just hips for Cooper since PWDs are relatively low risk for elbow dysplasia. The vet gave all three pups a "thumbs up" on their x-rays. They have been submitted to OFA and now we wait for the official opinion....Couldn't resist getting a quick photo of Ecko (above) andCooper (below) with my iphone. I ran them through some filters and "posterized" them.

Cooper's Win Photo

2009-12-19T19:05:00.001-08:00

Julie, Darlene and I got together for a walk in the woods with the dogs today, and Julie brought along Cooper's win photo from a couple of weekends ago. We're still so tickled that he got his first points so quickly! He was QUITE done with stacking by the time they tried to get the photo, so he got to sit instead. Thanks to Shelby for the super handling job.

Happy Birthday

2009-12-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Ecko, Mako, Cooper, Subi, Chloe and Reef (in birth order so as not to show bias!)
Happy Birthday to you!

The Deadliest Catch litter turned two on 12/13/09. It is hard to believe they are two years old already. Hugs to the pups and a big “thank you” to their people for loving them and making them part of your family.

Subi is visiting with us for a few days and we got some photos of her and Ecko on Saturday. The two sisters are enjoying playing together and we keep doing double-takes because Subi looks so much like her Granny Chili (especially that face!).

Photos are of Ecko reclining on the back of the couch (Subi is better behaved and does not go on the furniture), Subi lying in the back yard, and Subi playing keep-away with a stick as Ecko follows behind.

Cooper Jumps for Joy

2009-12-08T13:12:00.001-08:00

Cooper is a winner!

2009-12-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

Cooper, Ecko and Reef were entered in a dog show this weekend.

Cooper showed on Saturday only (Julie had to work on Sunday) and took Winners Dog for his first two points! It was his first time in the ring with my friend Jennifer's daughter Shelby, who is an accomplished Junior handler. Cooper was pretty worried about the situation, but Shelby stayed calm and upbeat with him and they pulled off the win.

Ecko and Reef didn't fare as well on Saturday but basked in Cooper's reflected glory. On Sunday, Reef won his Open dog class and took Reserve Winners dog and Ecko won a competitive Bred-by class. No points for these two, but a nice consistent showing for the weekend from the three pups.

The puppy that took Winners Bitch on Sunday looks like she could be Ecko's sister doesn't she? Not related at all! This pretty pup is owned by Mara Hertzberg.

Reef & Ecko, relieved to be done with all the grooming for a while...

Thanksgiving Agility Weekend

2009-11-30T07:24:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a relaxing agility weekend at "Camp Stargazer" with Sandy and Jim. Arrived on Thursday afternoon after a long slow drive up from Beaverton in the rain and traffic to enjoy way too much of a tasty turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We all kept our eyes open just long enough to watch a movie that Sandy's niece Cari and her fiancee had brought with them and then fell into bed for the night.

Jan and I ran agility with the dogs on Friday and Saturday.

Jan had two really nice runs with Stoker on Friday for their first time out together. They missed a Q in Novice Jumpers with one knocked bar and a Q in Open standard when Stoker fell off the dog walk. Their runs were really nice, so it was a little disappointing that they didn't Q in either. Stoker likes running with Jan.

Chili spent the entire weekend looking for Jan on the course while I was running her. She still had a good Exc Standard run, with an off-course due to my handling. Grrr! Bad handler! Her Jumpers run was a complete and total train wreck and I am not sure there was room on the scribe sheet for all the faults. She even ran up to the judge to ask him if he knew where her "daddy" was. On Saturday, we tried having Jan stand at ringside near the start line so Chili would know where he was. That seemed to work a little better. She had a decent Standard run again but NQd with an off-course early in the run. We kept things together with a nice run in Jumpers in the afternoon for our only Q of the weekend and finished her AXJ title.

Jan and Decker are running better together with every trial. No Qs this weekend, but two nice Excellent runs on Saturday. Decker bailed off the up side of the A-frame and knocked a bar on his standard run and had a refusal in his Jumpers run. They got good weaves in both classes, which has been an issue for them. Learning Decker's signs that he is committed to an obstacle (and/or teaching him to send better) might be this team's next step. Think smoothness and flow....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHILI

2009-11-23T07:38:00.000-08:00

Our little PWD princess is eight today. It's so hard to believe that eight years have gone by...

I wrote a sentence for Chili once upon a time when I submitted her for a cover contest and I think it captures her well: "This petite PWD goes from pillow princess to performance powerhouse in the blink of an eye". She truly is a powerhouse in the water and not too shabby in agility and obedience either. She's smart, energetic, playful, sweet, manipulative and co-dependent and has Jan and I wrapped around her little paw. Her prey/chase drive can make her a sharp l'il thing when she is in that mode and she gets in trouble for biting at my leg and anything else in mouth range when we first leave the house to exercise with the bike.

Chili and sister Sydney got a great b-day card from her sister Bella (with the help of owner Mandy's keyboarding skills). Chili, Bella and Syd are the three "performance" girls from the "sweet sensations" litter of eleven and since myself, Mandy and Val are all friends we get to see each others girls from time to time. Their daddy Kilo and mama Sabrina truly graced us with some wonderful companions.

We're looking forward to many more happy years with our Chili-roo and can't even imagine life without her.

Agility Weekend

2009-11-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

The photo with this post really should be of Decker and Jan, but this photo of Chili is the only one we were able to get instant gratification on this weekend.

Decker and Jan got their first Q together with a 2nd place finish in their Excellent Jumpers run on Sunday. Jan has been running Decker for such a short time and this is only their second day trialling together, so I am very proud of them. Their jumpers run was really pretty and smooth. Woohoo!

It was a jumpers weekend for our PWDs, apparently, as Stoker Qd in Novice Jumpers with a 3rd place for her 2nd Novice Jumpers leg and Chili Qd in Excellent Jumpers with a 1st place for her 2nd Excellent Jumpers leg. No Qs in standard all weekend...

Chili & Decker Tearin' it Up

2009-11-09T14:52:00.001-08:00

Chili and Decker in the Leaves, originally uploaded by Suz&Jan.

After grooming Stoker's sister Maggie in the morning (when it was still nice out) on Saturday, I got together with Darlene and Julie to go for a walk in the afternoon. Ecko, Cooper and Tsuzi were wet to the skin within minutes but had such a blast powering up and down the trail in the fall leaves that Jan and I were motived to take Decker and Chili out for a walk on Sunday. Gotta keep those agility dogs in shape, you know! Ecko and Stoker had to settle for biking that day...

What a weekend for the PWDs!

2009-11-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Chili's daughter JoJo (Lookout's Wind and Rain and Fire) earned her WWD title in Arizona with her owner Val Tangen. Val has done a great job with this spirited girly earning a CD title and assorted agility titles with her as well.

Also on Saturday, Dixie Matson earned a MACH with her girl Jude (CH Bayswater Jubilee Jude CDX MX MXJ CWDX). I got to watcyh Dixie and Jude run several times last spring and they are a smooth and pretty team to watch.

On Sunday, Stoker's cousin Sailor earned her AWD title with her co-owner/breeder Mandy Ford. Sailor really deserved the title as she did an awesome job in training with her owner Martha all summer.

Also on Sunday, Jan and I went to an agility trial in Albany with Decker and Chili. Jan ran Decker for the first time in competition in the Excellent class after having trained with him in classes for only a month. They didn't manage to Q, but had two really nice runs. I don't think Jan really has any idea how quickly he is coming along as a handler. Chili earned her final Q in standard with a first place to earn her AX title (three straight Qs in this class for her!) and earned her first Excellent Jumpers Q too.

The somewhat blurry photos are clipped from a video of Jan's jumpers run with Decker. You can see a video of their run here.

Sittin' on the Stairs

2009-10-28T15:00:00.001-07:00

Sittin' on the Stairs, originally uploaded by Suz&Jan.

The steps up to the back yard are one of Ecko's favorite places to hang out.

Glamour Girl

2009-10-28T14:59:00.001-07:00

Glamour Girl, originally uploaded by Suz&Jan.

Stoker lives up to the nickname Mandy gave her on a daily basis.

Multi-tasking

2009-10-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a busy day for the dogs. Decker, Chili and I left the house with Cooper, Tsuzi and Julie fairly early in the morning and went to a fun match. Cooper and Julie played conformation (and quite nicely too), Tsuzi hung out and kept us company, and Decker, Chili and I did Open obedience run-throughs. Both Chili and Deck were pleasantly surprise to see that their "Auntie" CJ was playing "judge" for the match. Confidence is always Chili's "issue" and she was quite happy in the ring on most of the exercises. Most of her errors were anticipation errors which I am happy to deal with as it means she is really "in the game". We have a bit of confidence building and proofing to do on the drop on recall and broad jump. Decker was his usual merry self. Never the most precise worker in obedience, he always has a good time and puts smiles on the faces of those watching. He does a pretty job job "getting her done" too, just not quite as smoothly as Chili.

While we were off enjoying ourselves, Jan was left dealing with naughty Stoker and Ecko at home. The two bad girls slipped into the garage as I was hurrying out the door to the match and helped themselves to a box of chicken necks I had thawing there. Ten pounds of necks later, Jan discovered them and had the delightful chore of inducing vomiting to relieve their distress from their gluttony. Stoker was so full of chicken necks she couldn't even jump on the couch!

After the match, Julie helped mind Chili while I laid a few short tracks for her. Chili seems to be catching on to this new game pretty quickly and I just need to hope that I don't do anything to mess her up before I get another chance to track with a friend who knows how to do this better than I....

We goofed off for a couple of hours when we got home, then did a little agility (just jumps and weaves) in the front yard before dinner. Ecko is doing 6 closed up weaves pretty accurately now, even with a little more difficult entry and she is gaining speed and sequencing with jumps before and after too. After I worked her, Jan came out and worked all three of the other dogs. Wow! We worked with Decker on rear crosses and I think he is finally starting to "get" them. I can set things up in our small yard so it doesn't really make sense for him to spin the wrong way and just do small sequences to help him get things right. Stoker ran really well for Jan. He asked a lot more of her than I usually do and she hung in there with him and didn't try to quit on him at all.

A full time job

2009-10-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with the four dogs is a full time job, and one I wouldn't trade for anything. Here is what we did in the last couple of days:

Friday PM: spent about 1-1/2 hours brushing Chili out while watching TV (note to self - if you would do it more often it wouldn't take as long!)
Saturday: Got up at 5:30, drove 3 hours to a tracking workshop with Chili, spent the day learning, drove 3 hours home.
Sunday: Bathed Ecko and Decker, biked Ecko and Decker (thankfully Jan walked Stoker and Chili!), played around doing Rally with Stoker and Ecko (and Julie, Tsuzi and Cooper), went to a friend's house to help groom her PWD that is recovering from a cruciate tear
Monday: agility class for Decker. While Jan was running Decker in class, I laid a couple of short tracks for Chili in the field outside the agility barn. Gave Chili a bath when we got home.

Now if only I didn't need a full time job to help pay the bills, I would have even more time to spend with the dogs.

Looking on the AKC website the other day I was pleasantly surprised to see that Stoker had finished her NA trial with Jessie at the trial a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking she needed one more leg, for some reason. Way to go Jess and Stoker!

Colorado Vacation

2009-10-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of my teeny-tiny vacation (just under 3 days) was that I got to go riding with my Dad and sister. Not a single photo of Mom and my three nieces! I really need to get a small, inexpensive camera that I can take with me when I am travelling light on my judging assignments...

My sister Taunchy on her Appaloosa (yes I do mean that) gelding Lucky and my Dad on Haflinger gelding Ike.

My sister Taunchy and I with mare Ginger.

Taunchy on Lucky takes the lead and Ginger and I follow along behind.

Having not been on a horse for around 20 years I was extremely out of practice! Riding Ginger made me think of my endurance riding days.

Reef

2009-09-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

Some photos of Reef at 22 months and one shot with sister Ecko and mama Stoker. Ginny was stacking him in these photos and I "cloned" her out using Picnik. This was my first attempt to use the cloning feature and I obviously need more practice!

Weekend Get-Away

2009-09-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

We loaded the dogs in the car on Friday evening and made a break for Dick and Ginny's house in Florence. They have a lovely house on Sutton Lake and we got some photos of the mist rising off the lake in the morning. On Saturday we drove a few miles to Carter Lake and the dogs got to have a romp and swim. It was a weekend of eating too much, napping and basically goofing off. Followed by a return to reality on Sunday evening....

Castaic Lake Sunrise

2009-09-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Got home late last night from a weekend Water Trial judging assignment in California. A perfect, albeit extremely tiring weekend: sunny weather, beautiful venue, well-run trial, nice folks and a decent number of passes. I took these photos with my iphone as I was eating my breakfast before judging began on Sunday.

Wednesday Morning Photos

2009-09-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

Ecko keeping watch on the stairs.

Chili in the flowers.

Rosebud in morning sun.

My favorite rose. Beautiful colors and aroma.

I'm Walkin, Yes Indeed....

2009-09-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago, I would get up every morning before work and go for a run. Half an hour, five days a week, rain or shine.... I was in decent shape and the exercise had the added benefit of giving me more energy and a mood lift too.

This morning, I got up at 5:45 (my usual time), fed the dogs and, instead of taking a nap on the couch for another hour before getting ready for work, I went for a 35 minute walk! The goal is to try to keep this up, but I know from past experience that it takes a week or two before this routine will become ingrained enough for it to be easy to get out the door in the morning....

The dogs had a blast on Saturday with a couple hour visit to the river at Cathedral Park. My friend Rosie and her friend Kim met us there. Kim thinks PWDs are pretty neat and is hoping to get one in the next year and Rosie has always been a big fan of Ms. Chili. We ended up with quite the gathering. Julie was there with Cooper and Tsuzi, another friend of Rosie's stopped by with her Lab and Dick and Ginny came by with Reef. The PWDs are loud and rowdy when they are in free-for-all retrieve mode at the water and if people still want one after they see them in this state, it's a good indicator that this is the breed for them.

Which Came First?

2009-09-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well, Decker did obviously....

When Decker and I are out and about we get asked a lot whether he is an "Obama dog". My nieces spotted the Beanie Baby version of "Bo" in a store recently and told my sister they thought I would like it. They sent me a little care package, which was really fun to receive in the mail.
There is a strong resemblance, don't you think? In the second photo Decker is being a really good boy not to pounce on Bo and fling him around. He couldn't figure out why I didn't want him to play with the new toy.

My two older nieces visited us in Beaverton when Decker was around 8 or 9-months old. They really liked Chili and she would accompany them to the back yard to play, but they would always ask if we could keep the "baby bulldozer" (yes - that was Decker's nickname) locked in the house as he was just a bit too rambunctious for them.

Ups and Downs

2009-09-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

I've been a little down lately due to some minor upsets. I really can't complain, things are going pretty well, but.... I had a pretty lazy weekend and thought I would focus on all the" good stuff" from the weekend:

I got to sleep in three days in a row!
I finished a good book that I've had a hard time finding time to read.
Got to play agility twice with the dogs. We all enjoy that!
Jan and I cleaned the garage just enough to feel like we had accomplished something but not enough to feel like hard work.
Reconnected with a friend I hadn't talked to in a while.
Gave Stoker a haircut. They always look so good when they are freshly trimmed.
Jan made a batch of fresh spaghetti sauce from our bumper crop of home-grown tomatoes. Yum!
Woke up with an achy back only to have Chili curl up against my back like a warm and supportive hot water bottle. What a good girly.
Took Chili and Stoker for a walk on Sauvie Island. We got soaked, but had a good time. Photos below.

All in all a nice relaxing weekend to sing in the rain and stop and smell the flowers.

Water Trial Weekend

2009-08-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Returned home exhausted last night from a weekend at the PNWPWDC water trial, but pretty pleased with how things turned out for most of our canine "family". In alphabetical order for fairness sake (VBG):

Bella (Kilo's daughter/Chili's sister) and Mandy got their Courier (CWD) title on Saturday (and I got to steward for them!)
Cooper (Kilo and Stoker's son/Ecko's brother) and Julie earned their Apprentice (AWD) title on Sunday after a super effort on Saturday that fell just short of qualifying
Ecko (Kilo and Stoker's daughter and our "great white hope") and I earned her Junior Water Dog (JWD) certificate on Saturday and AWD on Sunday
Pansy (Kilo grand-kid and daughter of Mandy's girl Bella) and Mandy earned their JWD with great enthusiasm
Rebel (Kilo grand-kid and son of Mandy's girl Bella) and Jessie earned his AWD title on Sunday after coming REALLY close on Saturday

We're super proud of family members Martha and Sailor (Kilo grand-kid and daughter of Mandy's girl Bella) and Val and JoJo (Kilo grand-kid/Chili daughter) who both had super and enthusiastic performances but had just enough go awry to miss out on that elusive "Q".

Some random "post-trial" thoughts:

Those in our training group that were fortunate enough to "Q" were NOT those that did the best in training during the summer. There is a definite element of luck involved sometimes!
The Deep Lake trial site was a stressful one for Ecko and perhaps for other dogs as well. It has a curved shoreline and is surrounded by trees - much less open than any place we have trained. Having strangers floating in boats and standing quietly on the shoreline seemed to unnerve her when she had practiced with people she knew all summer. I've only worked this site at the upper levels before with more seasoned dogs so didn't anticipate this.
Sharing a common interest can make an opinionated bunch of people from different walks of life come together and work like crazy toward a common goal quite successfully.

Trial photos will be posted on the photographer's website at http://www.petscapesphoto.com/petscapesorderinfo/ when they are available. Can't wait to see them!

2009-08-22T20:13:00.001-07:00

Cooper is a Champ!

2009-08-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

Julie called me last night to say she had received an envelope in the mail and was surprised to find it was Cooper's UKC Championship. We knew he had enough "competition wins" but thought he needed points still. What a nice surprise! Julie and her family have done a super job with Cooper. Super duper Cooper! Now on to that next water title and AKC championship....

In honor of Cooper's accomplishment, here are some photos of him from earlier this spring.

Showing off his nice side gait.

Posing for the camera.

Roly Poly Fish Heads

2009-08-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

About once a week or so, the dogs get fish for dinner. I buy 40 lbs of Tilapia at a time and keep them in the freezer in the garage. Each fish is bagged individually, which makes it easy to grab a couple bags in the evening and thaw them in the sink for the dog's breakfast. The fish are gutted but otherwise whole (fins, head....). Two decent sized fish make a meal for the four dogs, with each fish getting cut into appropriate portions for the dogs. Cutting the fish up early in the morning is not a task for the shrinking violet....

One evening a week or so ago, Chili got on the bed in the middle of the night (she rarely gets off once she settles in for the night, so that in and of itself was unusual...). She stood next to me doing a little nervous tail wag and licking her lips. I wondered sleepily whether or not she had an upset tummy, but since she settled down and went right to sleep when I encouraged her to, I didn't think much more about it. Until the next morning......

A certain some-dog had mosied into the kitchen in the middle of the night and managed to snag a fish out of the sink. Chili is a bit height-challenged, so I think the fish must have been leaning up against the front of the sink and the plastic bags they were in must have been JUST within her grasp. I was immediately sure of who the culprit was given the telltale signs during the night. The little sneak had taken her midnight snack up into the back yard and eaten every last morsel, leaving only some shredded plastic bag pieces as evidence.

Needless to say, naughty Chili did not get breakfast!

Whenever I feed the dogs fish, it makes me think of the song by Barnes and Barnes:
Fish heads, fish heads
Roly-poly fish heads
Fish heads, fish heads
Eat them up, yum!

find the birdy

2009-08-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

We've been enjoying some little birds that have nests in some of the shrubbery in the back yard. Jan caught some on them with the camera a few days ago. The baby birds are really noisy at feeding time!

Can you find the bird?

There, we made it easier for you.

This little bird is flashy with it's bright red head.

too hot for words

2009-07-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

With record high temperatures in the Portland area over the last few days, it is truly too hot for words. In an area of the country that rarely has more than a few days over 90 all summer long, it isn't surprising that many people have no air conditioning. We've been hunkered down trying to do as little as possible the last few days with the roar of many fans in our ears and glasses of ice water in hand.

Here are some photos of Stoker trying to beat the heat with a little help from Jan.

weavin' and retrievin'

2009-07-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

We've had a busy couple of weeks.

Jan and all the dogs accompanied me last weekend to Gearhart, Oregon (on the coast) for a weekend water workshop. Since I was the presenter for the workshop and am a big believer in being prepared, organized and having extensive handouts, I was hustling around almost until we pulled out of the driveway getting ready. The weather was fabulous and the attendees for the workshop were super. The weekend was lots of fun and Jan entertained the dogs each day by taking them away for a swimming and retrieving session. A number of us shared a rental house and we had lots of extra visitors drop by for dinner each evening and it was truly amazing to see how well all the dogs (11 of them, I think) got along sharing the house and yard.

I took Monday off from agility class since it was really hot and I was still tired from the weekend. On Tuesday, Ecko and I made a trip to the river and had an excellent training session despite bunches of loose dogs tearing up and down the shore and periodically trying to steal some of our equipment. On Wednesday, Ecko and I attended her weekly Foundation agility class. Today, all the dogs got to do a little retrieving and training in the front yard. After practicing the weave poles and a few dummy retrieves with Ecko, I decided to practice the Apprentice level dummy carry. The dog is supposed to take the dummy from your hand and walk 20 feet at your side before delivering to hand. After a few "boring" repetitions back and forth across the yard, Ecko took the dummy on my cue, accelerated smoothly through the weave poles and met me at the other side of the yard to proudly hand me the dummy. What a funny little multi-tasker!

Foot Sore and Fat

2009-07-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

Aye Chihuahua! We had quite a day yesterday!

Jan took Chili, Stoker and Ecko with him to run an errand. He stopped to take them for a walk on the way home in a vacant mobile home lot. He has been taking them there for months. The lot is very large and almost fully fenced. All the homes were pulled out and plans were in place to make the property into a residential subdivision with new homes, right up until the economy took a dive... Within minutes after turning them loose, he glanced down to find Stoker glued to his leg and limping badly. She tore the top layer of skin off the pads on both front feet. She did this in a much more minor way a couple of months ago. Not realizing the extent of what she had done, I wasn't too upset about it. After seeing the damage for myself when I got home, I was almost moved to tears.

Poor Stokie is hobbling around with bandaged feet (need to get more vet wrap today) and any plans for taking her to the river to train for water work this weekend are way out the door. This may actually put our efforts to attain her Courier title in jeopardy this summer because I don't know how many days or weeks of training will be lost waiting for Stokie's paws to heal. I doubt Stoker cares about the title, but she will miss her time at the water for a bit.

Upon arriving home, Jan finds that Decker has somehow scaled the kennel run in the garage and escaped. Of course the top was not screwed all the way on the dog food bin and Decker helped himself. The good news is that Bella (who is visiting with us) did not follow him on this adventure. Arriving home from work, I find Decker looking miserable and HUGE through the middle. I immediately became worried about bloat, so kept a close eye on him all evening and slept on the couch where I could monitor him last night. After a night of belching and passing gas, Decker is acting much more cheerful this morning and seems to have come through the experience with nothing more than a tummy ache.

Summer Projects

2009-06-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

We actually had two projects recently that did not involve the dogs! Shocking, I know.

On Sunday we purchased some perennials for the new bed in front of the house. In the foreground are a row of Basil plants. Yum pesto! Hopefully will we have some nice hot dry weather so these will flourish. The bushy plants with the pink flowers in the back row are 'Passionate Rainbow' Wand Flowers and the tall skinny plants with the purple bell-shaped flowers are "Angel's Fishing Rod". In the front of the bed we have alternating 'Silver Edge' Lavender plants and 'Silver Brocade' Worwood. We are pretty pleased with how the project turned out and it gave the front of the house a nice face lift. We're debating filling in a bit with some kind of brightly colored annuals.

Yesterday, Jan spent a good part of the day cleaning his RX7 up to get it road-ready. He is debating driving it a bit this summer or selling it....

The old girl still cleans up pretty nicely with a good coat of polish.

Family Photos and Weekend Fun

2009-06-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

A photo of Dick and Ginny's boy Reef (Ecko's brother) following his latest haircut.
The "deadliest catch" litter is 1-1/2 years old now.

This is Chili's son and Stoker's brother Fresno from the "fire" litter. Fresno will be living on a ranch for the next year or two, so he needed a super short haircut to keep the worst of the debris from sticking in his coat.

Chili (left) and her daughter Maggie.

Here is Chili's daughter Maggie again. Maggie is a full sister to Stoker and Fresno. She came for a haircut on the same day as Fresno and it was good to see two of the "fire" litter together.

We had a fun day of water training this Saturday with Julie (with Cooper and Tsuzi), Martha (with Sailor), Dick and Ginny (with Reef) and myself (with the whole pack 'o four) getting together to play at the lake. I think everyone had a good session and the weather was beautiful for us! I was particularly happy with Stoker who is coming along nicely on her Courier buoy ball drop exercise. She has way more focus and intensity in the water than anywhere else and it gives me just a little hope that some of that may carry over into other venues some day... Ecko was a bit more distracted than usual, but we still had a productive training session.

Chili and Decker waited on the sidelines until the others were done and then got to participate in a maniacal free-for-all retrieving frenzy at the end. Chili went on a marathon "recreational swim" both when we were setting up and taking down the boat, so she was happy and well exercised.

On Sunday, we were all quite lazy. I bathed Reef and Ecko in the morning and gave Reef a haircut. Dick and Ginny left just after noon and took Ecko with them for the week. After lounging around for a couple of hours, Jan and I went to the nursery and bought some perennials for the new planter bed Jan made in front of the house.

Fast Twitch Muscles

2009-06-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

Chili fetches the ball with Stoker, Reef and Ecko hot on her heels.

The last two nights I got back into the routine I had been keeping all winter (before it got hot for a few weeks) and took the dogs out for a quick training session and 10 minute bike around the neighborhood. With both mind and body exercised it is amazing how much more peaceful the doggies are!

Tonight I wasn't as motivated, but thought the dogs still needed entertainment, so I dug four tennis balls and the chuck-it out of the closet and treated the dogs to a retrieving frenzy in the back yard for about 15 minutes. Chili and Decker are the most obsessed, with Ecko quite involved in the game too. She has really good focus and acts as the ball spotter, nabbing it when the two older dogs don't find it. Stoker just runs around and has a good time - a little "fluffier" than the rest of the gang. The photo above is of Chili with the ball, being chased by Stoker, Reef and Ecko, and it is NOT in my back yard (I wish!).

We are done showing and trialling for a while and are starting to focus on training in the water for the summer (well, Stoker and Ecko will train and Chili and Decker will join them for exercise). It's great that access to the river is free because there really is no room in the budget for shows right now anyway. If the dogs had their choice, they would choose the water any day no matter what, and I think I just might as well.

An Excellent Weekend!

2009-06-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

Chili (above) was originally entered in Open Standard this weekend, because I was sure we would still need at least one Q in that class. Due to her solid performances last weekend, I was able to move her up to Excellent and she qualified BOTH DAYS in her first two attempts at Excellent Standard!

Decker (below) was his usual happy, steady self and qualified both days in Excellent Standard, finishing his AX title. We were not as successful in Jumpers, with some handling issues on my part on Saturday and focus issues on the weave poles for Decker on Sunday. Jumpers has never been Decker's best class, but we are awfully close to a Q there too, I think.

Although both dogs are a bit slower and more tentative at a trial then they are in class, they are both having a good time and running nicely. They have both had pretty limited trialling experience and my hope is that speed and intensity will increase with experience.

Good times!

Red Hot Chili Pepper

2009-06-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Chili and I had an awesome weekend at the CRAC agility trial.

We went into the weekend with Chili needing one "Q" in Open Jumpers to finish the title and 2 "Qs" in Open Standard to finish that title. Chili qualified in both classes on Saturday with first placements in both classes. On Sunday, she qualified again in Open Standard to finish the weekend with both her OA and OAJ titles. Wahoo! We moved up to Excellent Jumpers on Sunday, and if it hadn't been for a handling glitch on my part, Chil would have pulled off a Q her first time out in Excellent jumpers too. What a girl!

I think the Young at Heart and Joint Strong supplements I have had her on since mid April have definitely had an impact on her overall well-being. She seems to have more energy and be more playful and interactive with the other dogs. I have high hopes that if I can get a bit more more weight off her and work on keeping her in condition with exercise and periodic chiropractic adjustments we can continue to have fun for many years still.

Photo Update

2009-06-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Jessie found a car in the parking lot with this plate on it and snapped a photo with her cell phone. Perhaps the car's owners are cyclists? The term "stoker" is used to denote the "power" person on the back of a tandem bicycle... Now our PWD Stoker is going to think she needs a drivers license.

(three generations - Ecko, Chili and Stoker)
Janet B. and I have decided that any more than three female PWDs is definitely a coven. Apparently her three live up to the name as well.... Strong-willed and assertive, that's our girls....

(Ecko and Stoker)
Jan took lots of photos on our last jaunt to the river. I love the light shining on the water in this shot and the feeling of power and freedom as Ecko and Stoker blast through the water together...

(Decker)
Decker isn't nearly as "in your face" as the girls, so he doesn't get photographed as often. This photo isn't as exciting as the others because I chose one where you couldn't see the orange booty that was protecting the cut on his left front foot! He runs around as much as the girls do on our outings, he just isn't quite as intense about it.

Ecko's Loot

2009-05-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

When Ecko won her UKC Best in Show, I ordered photos. The photographer was talented but really slow. After five weeks, I finally got an e-mail today with the images I ordered attached and the prints are supposedly in the mail.

Here is a photo I had them take of Ecko in a folding chair with all her ribbons attached. Recognize that chair CJ?

On Winning, Grokking and other things

2009-05-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

I recently went in search of a quote about having to play the game in order to win. I think I may have been thinking (at least in part) of this quote by Robert Heinlein (click on his name for more information on Heinlein):

"Of course the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you--if you don't play, you can't win."

In learning more about Heinlein, I found that he coined the term "grok" which has apparently become part of the Oxford English Dictionary. To grok (pronounced /ˈɡrɒk/) is to share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity. Heinlein coined the term in his best-selling 1961 book Stranger in a Strange Land. In Heinlein's view of quantum theory, grokking is the intermingling of intelligence that necessarily affects both the observer and the observed.

From the novel:
“Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because of our Earthly assumptions) as color means to a blind man."

I always feel compelled to get inside the dog's heads when I am training them and to strive to optimize the teamwork aspect of competing with them. I am certain if I could only "grok" the dogs, we would be unstoppable at whatever we wanted to do. I'll sure keep trying - after all, "if you don't play, you can't win."

Ecko goes to the Coast

2009-04-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

Jessie and I made a quick round-trip to the Gearhart/Astoria area today to check out a potential water trial venue. Cullaby Lake County Park is a beautiful park and, although not perfect, it looks like it could have potential to meet our needs. Ecko went along for the ride and went for a little swim to test the waters.

Before getting wet, she demonstrated why PWDs are such naturals at agility...

C'mon Jessie, throw it already!

Almost at swimming depth...

Splash down!

CPE Agility Weekend

2009-04-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

Stoker and I and Rebel and Jessie were entered in a CPE agility trial this weekend. Pam and Val were there with Mira, Sydney (Chili's sister), JoJo (Stoker's sister) and Dudley, so that made the weekend even more fun.

Stoker had a great weekend, qualifying in 3 of the 4 Level 2 standard runs we did and earning two 3rd placements and a 2nd place. On her final run, we did not Q, but she had her fastest run of the weekend. Pretty cool that she ran the fastest at the end of the weekend in the heat. It tells me that she is really starting to enjoy herself. Her weaves were a little more solid this weekend then they have been, so we are making progress there too.

Jess and Rebel had a great weekend also, qualifying in 3 of their four Level 1 runs. I think Rebbie got 3rd, 2nd and 1st place wins for his three runs.

Thanks to Joe Camp for the photos.

A Matter of Feeling

2009-04-16T13:29:00.001-07:00

Age is a matter of feeling, not of years.

~ George William Curtis ~

In the eyes of the AKC (American Kennel Club), Chili has officially been a veteran since her 7th birthday in November of last year. With maturity and spay surgery, Chili has become like her human owner in that her metabolism and eating habits are increasingly mutually exclusive of maintaining her girlish figure. She runs as hard as ever at the beach, on walks or playing with the other dogs, but is more likely to show signs that she is a bit stiff after this type of exercise. She also seems to me to be a bit more selective of what activities she thinks are fun. It might be just me, but it also seems like she is not quite as enthusiastic about obedience as she used be.... Noticing these minor chances, we've begun working on keeping Chili feeling as youthful as possible. That's "Granny" Chili retrieving a dummy last summer with grand-pups Ecko (left) and Cooper (right) on either side of her.

Chili LOVES her outings on the bike. With the Springer attachment mounted on my bike, we can get a good brisk 10 minute jaunt around the neighborhood at least 3 or 4 times a week. This provides her with much more intensive exercise than I could give her on foot and is likely a better cardio workout and easier on muscles and tendons than tearing around the back yard (pictures lots of fast starts/stops and occasional body slams) with the rest of the "pack".
Chili LOVES her food, but has been getting less of it later. I've taken to feeding chicken necks which are easy to dole out in small amounts, or to cutting chicken backs in half for her instead of giving her whole ones. Her meat/veggie meal has decreased from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup recently.
Since I went back to work full time and don't have quite as much time (or maybe I'm just too lazy?) for doggy food preparation, I have been using a "complete" supplement with the dog's meat/veggie meal rather than adding some of the "extras" (like kelp, yogurt etc) that I used to use. The supplement I am using as added glucosamine/chondroitin. As the senior dog in the house, I feel like Chili deserves a little extra to help her maintain her youth, so this week I am starting her on her own personal regimen of "Young at Heart" and "Joint Strong".

I'm eager to see how Chili does on her newly intensified diet and exercise program. Who knows, maybe it will inspire me to start making some of the same changes in my lifestyle too!

Keeping the Dogs Busy

2009-04-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

How to keep all the dogs entertained while working a full-time job.

I got home from work today and helped Jan throw together some cornbread and a pot of Chili to simmer on the stove. While Jan tended dinner, I set about entertaining the dogs.

Chili went first and I worked with her on weave poles. My goal is to have her doing a full set of 12, slightly offset, with nice speed and rhythm, before progressing. I set the jumps up so she would have an obstacle before and after the weaves and we could run a little circle of jumps with the weaves in the middle. The entrance from both ends was a bit difficult, but she handles weave entrances fairly well, its the rhythm part that is her real issue. She did a nice job and was really happy to be rewarded with a quick lap around the neighborhood on the bike when she was done.

Ecko went next and I kept the weaves sightly offset, working with a set of 6 poles with wires on them. She is starting to move through them pretty nicely and I added a jump before and after to keep her focusing ahead as she works. Her jumping style is just like Stoker's was as a pup, a straight in the air levitatation with just enough forward motion to get her past the jump. I'm glad she is so enthusiastic, but we will need to work on that. We worked on some stationary drills to teach her to turn away from me on both sides, then went for a quick exercise jaunt, returning to work with......

Decker. Rear crosses, rear crosses and more rear crosses. We will be practicing them A LOT until we get them right. Luckily, Decker is happy to work and work and work because it takes a wee bit longer for the light bulb to come on with him than it does with your average PWD. We did some groundwork stuff first, to warm up and remind Decker that he can bend (he is pretty thick and musclar and not terribly flexible) and then worked on the little drill to the right. You can find more like this on the agility nerd website. We just did the first four obstacles since I don't have a tunnel and broke it down even smaller by practicing just the rear cross between 1 & 2 a number of times, then the cross between 3 and 4. We had some success, but not lots and then headed off for a bike.

Took a quick break for dinner, then got Stoker out to work. She REALLY tries my patience some times and we worked hard to hold it together tonight. Even with a high rate of reinforcement she will stress out and head for the garage if she is "pushed" at all in her training. I did some of the same stuff I did with Decker, but also worked Stoker on weave poles since we have a trial this weekend and she needs more practice on those. She was not terribly thrilled when we went biking at the end of our practice session, but she needs the exercise so we did it anyway.

Time to hit the couch and put my feet up with a glass of wine! Whew!

Lawn Art and PWD statues

2009-04-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my day to run errands and one of the places I stopped was Home Depot to buy PVC to make some agility jumps. I purchased jump cups from Clean Run a while ago, but the kitchen remodel had taken over the entire garage so the jumps had not been built yet. Jan and Jessie pitched in to help and, with a nifty plan for building jumps and about 45 minutes time, we had four sturdy agility jumps. Jessie is working on Decker's rear crosses (not too successfully since Jess is going right and Decker is going left) in this photo while I am in the garage putting the last of the stripes on the jump bars.

I'm sure my neighbors are thrilled that the "lawn art" in my front yard now consists of four jumps in addition to 24 weave poles!

The photo below is Rebel and Jessie's "new champion" photo from last weekend.

Super Saturday

2009-04-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Jessie finished Rebel's championship on Saturday by taking Best of Breed! Rebel is now CH Astrud's Lookout Rebel Yell RN NA. Yippee!

While Jessie was headed north to Centralia for the AKC show, Julie, Ginny and I headed to St. Helens for a UKC show. These shows are always fun and have a relaxed and supportive atomosphere, providing a great opportunity to get Reef and Cooper back in the ring to increase their confidence showing in the conformation ring.

Both Cooper and Reef did well and are getting more relaxed in a show environment. Julie showed Cooper at both shows (there were two shows in one day) and took Winners Dog both times in. Cooper stood well for the judges exam and gaited with his tail up most of the time. Reef was a little less enthusiastic than his brother, but is learning that the show ring is not such a bad place and that judges are not all that bad even if they do get "up close and personal" awfully fast! Both judges were complimentary of the boys and encouraged Julie and Ginny to keep working with them to build their confidence and enthusiasm in the ring.

Ecko and I had a truly amazing day. She took Best of Breed and a Group 2 in the first show and Best of Breed, Group 1 and a Best in Show the second show! The judges were a husband and wife that had owned a PWD themselves at one point. Now granted this was a small show, but there is still something amazing and humbling about knowing that in an entire building with multiple breeds and numerous dogs, the judge thought your dog was the very best of all. The other exhibitors were very supportive and I got compliments from everyone on my pretty puppy and her beautiful movement.

Show Report

2009-03-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my last entry, Chili, Stoker and I were entered in a dog show in Albany this weekend. Jessie was nice enough to shuttle me down to the show on Saturday - picture five PWDs and two humans with very efficient packing in a tiny little car.... Once at the show grounds, I stayed with my friend CJ in her amazing Class A motor home on Saturday night and then Jessie shuttled the pups and I home again Sunday afternoon.

We had a great weekend, running into lots of folks we know and hadn't seen in a bit.

On Saturday Chili earned the first leg of her Rally Excellent title with an enthusiastic performance and Stoker earned 3rd place in her Rally Novice class to finish her title. Unfortunately, I only got to catch about the first 5 minutes of the conformation ring, but it was long enough to watch Jessie earn Winners Dog with her boy Rebel. This win leaves him only one point short of his CH title.

On Sunday, the girls and I shifted gears and ran agility. Chili and I had a very "crunchy" Open standard run, but I blame it mostly on her handler (yup, that's me!) along with lack of training time for Chili due to a minor injury that required some down time. Chili had a really nice Open Jumpers run and qualified with a 2nd place so that was a nice way to finish out her weekend. Stoker had a super Novice Standard run and Qd with a 3rd place. Her Novice Jumpers run was really nice too, but she couldn't quite stay focused enough to get through those weave poles. She is really starting to run with speed and intensity now that she is starting to understand the game.

In conformation, Stoker's cousin India (owned by Mandy Ford and handled by Jessie) took Winners Bitch for two points, leaving her very close to her Championship. I also got to visit briefly with Connie Hansen and her girl Gabby, a Kilo daughter that I don't get to see very often. Gabby reminds me a bit of Chili. She's a smaller, compact girl with nice spring of rib and a super personality.

Caos, Chaos and Catching Up

2009-03-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

The "caos" are keeping things hopping as usual. In addition to our own dogs, we have two more PWDs staying with us over Spring Break. Never a dull moment, at our house, especially since we are also in the middle of remodeling our kitchen!

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Julie and I loaded Ecko and her brother Cooper into her car and headed for Hansville, WA to attend a land-based water workshop put on by the PNWPWDC and taught by Lauren McDermott. The workshop was great, with Lauren breaking all the exercises down in an approachable manner and illustrating everything with lots of video clips. As you can see from the photo, it snowed on our workshop! Since the workshop, I have been motivated to start playing with Ecko on some of the behaviors she will need to tackle apprentice this summer. We've been dunking for treats (to work on the underwater retrieve), practicing taking and carrying a small dummy with a delivery to hand (for the Dummy Carry and Boat Ride) and working on lots of static retrieves with deliveries to hand. I need to get moving with Stoker too and pick up where I left off on training her buoy ball drop.

On the way to the seminar we stopped with the dogs to check out the Simpson Timber Camp and see if it might work for the Club's summer water trial. It is a gorgeous location, but it looks like it may not work due to some constraints in the way some of the existing dock structures are located.

This weekend Chili and Stoker are going with me to a dog show in Albany. The girls are entered in Rally obedience on Saturday and agility on Sunday.

birthdays and haiku

2009-03-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday the 26th marked the 4th birthday for the "fire litter". Birthday wishes to Chip, Ellie, Fresno, JoJo, Maggie, Serena, Shuma and Stoker. Almost everyone responded to my birthday e-mail with reports on their dogs activities. I even got some cool photos of several of the pups. It sounds like they are a lively bunch still, but starting to settle down a bit.

I was updating the website last night and realized that Ecko was the only one of our "pack" that didn't have her very own piece of haiku. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that combines three different lines and a noticeable grammatical break. The break is often indicated with commas or hyphens in English haiku. Haiku usually includes nature and everyday things and situations. Haiku is written in three lines, the first with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables and the third line with five syllables. Here are my efforts to convey Ecko in haiku:

Bouncy pinto girl
Spirited, self-willed and smart -
She’s our great white hope

and

Ecko, well, echos...
Full of fun and sweetness too
The world - her oyster

what's in a name?

2009-02-24T12:14:00.000-08:00

Ecko's name started as an anagram of her Mom and Dad's names (Stoker and Kilo). You can make some pretty neat combinations with those two names, but the one we stuck on was "Eko". I was concerned it wouldn't get pronounced correctly, but wanted something a little different from "Echo" so we decided on "Ecko". Little did I know when we named her that there is a clothing line named Ecko Unlimited. They have some cool logos featured on some of their tee-shirts and other items and I stopped by our local outlet center last spring to buy some "Ecko" tee-shirts for Jan and I. The logo below is an example of one of the many on their website.

It got me thinking about making a logo for our very own little parti-girl and here is what I came up with.

I had fun with the project, but I wonder: do you suppose the other dogs will be jealous because they don't have their own logos?

fun with words

2009-02-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

I found a cool new website today that will make "word clouds" out of words you submit. You can change colors, fonts etc and tweak the layout until it is pleasing to you. Here is a "wordle" I made for Ecko. If you click on it, it will take you to the wordle website and display it full-sized.

another day, another dog show

2009-02-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

There was a two day show in Albany this weekend and Cooper, Ecko and Reef were all entered. We entered Reef and Cooper to help build a major in males, and also because this is a small show and a good place to give the boys some experience in showing. Judges Edd Bivin and Karen McFarland were both extremely nice and patient with all the pups that were entered.

The only big win for our crew was Winners Dog and Best of Winners for Jessie's boy Rebel on Saturday. This is Rebel's second major and he only needs 2 more points to finish his championship now. Way to go Jess and Rebel!

Reef and Cooper went head to head in the 12 to 18 puppy class with Reef getting the nod on Saturday and Cooper on Sunday. It was great to have three Kilo pups (Reef, Cooper and Luke) and one Kilo grand-pup (Rebel) showing in the dog classes both days.

The Dog Burglar...

2009-02-12T18:37:00.000-08:00

Jessie and Julie met at my house (sort of a half-way point for both of them from their houses) to groom Julie's dog today. Jan and I were gone at work, and the pack 'o four was extremely happy to have people arrive to entertain them. While there, in addition to grooming Cooper, Jess practiced weave poles with all four dogs and dremeled all the dog's nails. I wish Jess would stop by my house more often while I am at work. What a concept.... Sort of a caped crusader for dog owners and their bored pups.

I got Chili's RA title in the mail today. 2009 has started off with a bang with two titles earned already so far (Chili's RA and Decker's OAJ). It got me thinking, just how many titles could a somewhat motivated dog owner with four eager dogs and a bit of an undersized budget earn in a year? I'll keep you posted as the year progresses...

Excellent Decker

2009-02-01T09:51:00.001-08:00

Decker was a very naughty boy on his excellent standard run at the agility trial we went to yesterday, running behind my back to take the off-course dog walk for his second obstacle. Bad Decker! Luckily he redeemed himself later in the day by qualifying in Open Jumpers with a fourth place finish to earn his OAJ title. With some more weave pole practice and work on our rear crosses, I think Decker and I will really be rolling in agility... What fun!