Celebrating Decker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.