Captain Jack Sparrow

Life has been busy lately and I feel like I am racing to keep up. I saw this photo in Groomer to Groomer magazine recently (you can read the magazine on-line at their website) and had to share it. This was the winning dog from a grooming contest and is a parti-colored Standard Poodle that belongs to the groomer. Can't you just picture this 'do on a Parti or Irish marked PWD?


We've had lots of visitor dogs staying with us recently as friends are going out of town on trips. Gibson the big, brown PWD came for a week while his family was in Maine. The day he left, Cooper (Stoker's son) and his housemate Tsuzi arrived while their family left for Sun River. Jet arrived on Monday evening, bringing the total of PWDs in the house up to seven! Cooper and Tsuzi went home last night and Kaia and her housemate Hobie came to stay this morning. Jan thinks it's a bit crazy having this many dogs around, but it is a good reminder that four PWDs is enough!

There's a dog show this weekend in St. Helens and Stoker and Ecko are entered on Sunday. Stoker's brother Cooper and uncle Rebel will be showing both days and Cooper's housemate Tsuzi is entered in Rally on Saturday. Fingers crossed for good weather and good results!

Looking Back

Cleaning out some boxes of craft items and paperwork the other day, I came across some old photos to sort through. I plan to upload some photos of the dogs to the PWD pedigree study group and thought I would post a few of them here.

The photos are of Kilo's brothers Leo and Seeker. This was the first litter of PWDs we bred and they were co-bred with Barbara Schmit of Sunnyhill, from whom we purchased our bitch Tango. Three pups from the litter finished their championships: Kilo, Leo and Seeker and three of the pups (Kilo, Seeker and Simon) earned performance titles. Four of the pups from this litter of nine lived to 13+ years, with Leo passing away shortly before his 13th birthday.

CH Sunnyhill White Crown Leo
"Leo"

CH Lookout Sunnyhill Seaquest NA NAJ WWD BROM
"Seeker"

Poor Chili-roo and Ecko's Big Weekend

Jan tried to scoop Chili up on his lap when we got home from agility class on Monday and she screamed. We knew she was a bit tired and sore from the weekend, but had assumed it was her legs or shoulders or.... When Jan scoops her up, he picks her up from under her chest and holds her upside down on his lap. She usually relaxes into it and sprawls out for a tummy rub. We are guessing that all the muscles in her stomach/truck are really sore and strained. We've been giving her some mild pain medication for the last two days, which seems to help, and encouraging her to move around enough to keep from stiffening up too much. She was very sore when I got home from work yesterday, because she had likely been sleeping all day. She's not been jumping on and off the furniture like usual and has been slow to go up and down the larger steps around the house and yard too. She is wagging and happy as always and is eating fine and even playing with toys. She seems less sore today and I always used to find that the second day after a running race was the most painful for me, so hopefully she is on the road to recovery.

Since I was gone all weekend and Jan golfed for most of the day on several of the days, Ecko got to go on adventures with friends Jessi M and Leah. Here is Jessi's fun report:

So I thought I would let you know what little Ecko got to do while she was with me Friday to Saturday.

We came home from Pup and she ran the Bassets around the backyard. Chasing them and barking up a storm, having a blast. They think she is just the most exciting pup they have ever met. They obviously remembered her from when she came to stay before, however they seemed surprised at how much bigger she is. She can now stand right over the top of them, which she seemed to enjoy doing. Ecko and I played some fetch with the tennis ball in the backyard and then went in the house for a few minutes to relax and wait for it too cool off a bit.
She then proceeded to raid the doggy toy box, taking out all of the toys and then taking them one by one and hiding them around the house. She put one under each pillow on the love seat and on the couch. She stuck a couple under the coffee table, and took one and put it under the desk. Then hid one under one of the rugs in the kitchen. I don't know if she does this at home but it was quite amusing to watch, if only I had the video camera handy.

Once it cooled off we went on a walk around the neighborhood. She was very alert the whole time we were walking, looking at me often to make sure she would be ok and receiving praise, as she did seem a little nervous of the new surroundings. She sat nicely at the intersections while we waited for cars. We walked past the community center where the square dancers were playing loud music with the doors open. A couple people were standing and sitting outside, creating sort of a tunnel of people she had to walk through. She was obviously concerned about it and wasn't sure if she should continue walking. So cookies in hand we proceeded to walk towards the tunnel of people and stopped to talk to them for a few minutes because they were asking questions about her. She visited with the ladies sitting on the ground and received lots of yummy salmon treats from them, and soon thought they were great! They were fascinated with her markings and "lovely curls". She visited with the others who were outside and then we continued on our way. We passed by the fire station and she received a nice scratching from a cute fireman who mistakenly thought she was a "doodle-something". So we educated him and continued on our way.

We walked through the park where some nice younger children asked to pet her so I gave them some cookies and Ecko made friends quickly with the kids once she realized they had food and lots of hands to pet her. We left the park and headed home, meeting nobody else on the way, as the park is half a block from my house.

We got home and she had a big drink of water and took a nap by the fan in the living room. Apparently as we were walking through the park she picked up some sticky leaves and tree debris on her legs. So I brushed her and she looked nice and fluffy, quite cute in my opinion. Soon after we went to bed.

Ecko entertained my mom during breakfast as she just chomped down on her thawed chicken wings. My mom was impressed by Ecko being able to just crunch the bones. After breakfast I loaded the crate back in the car and Ecko and headed back to Pup. We stopped to get gas in my car before leaving Newberg and the guy at the gas station amazed me, because he took one look at her and said, "Oh a Portuguese Water Dog! Don't see many of them around here." I was impressed, never thinking that this guy would have known what kind of dog she was, since there are none that I have seen in Newberg and most people often mistake the breed. He said she was gorgeous, so I bragged about her being a show dog. (I couldn't resist)

So she seemed to have a great time. Meeting about 20 new people, and romping around with the Bassets.

Ecko stayed with Leah on Saturday night and 'til Sunday afternoon. Ecko played nicely with PWD Gibson as always and enjoyed following Leah around, but was a bit naughty barking in her kennel during the night. She is used to sleeping in the kennel right next to our bed and apparently thought that being kenneled downstairs while humans were sleeping upstairs was not acceptable. It was a good learning experience for her and Leah was great to not let her out while she barked. She settled down for the night at some point. This is a good indicator for us that we should work on crating Ecko in situations other than she is used to, so she learns to be comfortable when kenneled "no matter what".

Hood River Agility Weekend

This is a photo of Decker taken sometime last year, but it seemed only fair that his photo should be included in this entry. Decker competed in Open Standard and Open Jumpers agility for the first time this weekend and he and CJ came away with two Open Standard "Qs" and two first place ribbons. He didn't suceed as well in his Jumpers runs, but still had some really nice runs that were SO close to qualifying...

Chili, Stoker and I just couldn't seem to get things in synch and ended up with just one 3rd place Novice Standard Q for Stoker and one 1st place Open Jumpers Q for Chili all weekend. Chili did get her weave poles on most of her classes, which is really an accomplishment for us as that has been her most challenging obstacle. She stayed really happy and enthusiastic for the entire three day weekend too, perhaps celebrating a little TOO much with a bit of a "touch and go/trampoline" effect on her pause table the last two days. She knocked quite a few bars during the weekend, perhaps due to her being a bit overweight despite our best dieting efforts or because she is running faster than ever and not judging her take-off points as well. We've gotta work on our contacts too. I realize I am always running them the exact same way in class and if I do it at all differently in a trial, both girls spring off. Always something to train!

The weather was great all weekend and we were able to stay at the fairgrounds in Hood River in CJ's new RV. How relaxing to wake up, take the dogs on a nice potty walk on the grounds and then just head on over to the ring to walk the course.

Water Fun

Photos from top to bottom:
Ginny and Reef soaking in the sun.

Dick earned the nickname "cart man" from Jan in helping ferry hospitality items and gear from the parking area to the site.

Cooper, Ecko and Reef at the end of the weekend.

Cooper, Ecko, Stoker and Reef. The kids are as big, if not bigger, than their mom now!

This weekend we headed up I5 to Auburn for a water workshop and trial at Nolte State Park. We attended the water workshop on Saturday and I worked Janet's dog Booty who has been staying with us for several weeks. Janet is sidelined with a broken ankle, but is getting around well enough now that she took Booty home with her at the end of the day. Booty was very happy to be reunited with Janet, but still managed to go a great job working with me while Janet looked on.

On Sunday, there was a one-day water trial and Stoker's baby Cooper passed at the Junior level to earn his JWD (Junior Water Dog) certificate. We are SO proud of Cooper and Julie. Julie credits her husband Roger for getting Cooper swimming and retrieving so confidently and hopes to tackle Apprentice with Cooper next summer. Click HERE for a Photoshow of Cooper and Julie's performance.

We entered Chili in Versatility on Sunday just for fun. Versatility isn't a titling level, but provides a place to "show off" for PWDs that have already earned their CWDX (Courier Water Dog Excellent) title. With little training this summer, Chili came through for us with an enthusiastic pass in Versatility and brought home a lovely rosette and embroidered towel.

Weekend at "Camp"

Every July I get to enjoy a long weekend of water play at the lake at Sandy Overton and Jim Smith's place in Port Orchard, WA. The last two years, we've shared our weekend fun with Kathy Simmons and Kathleen Jose and their spouses. This weekend was as enjoyable as anticipated with a litter of 7-week old pups to visit with, beautiful weather, warm water, excellent food and good friends.

Stoker made excellent progress on her Courier exercises. We worked on a "go boat" cue and retrieving an item from someone on another boat, as well as sending to the marker and a secondary target. Stoker really enjoys the send to the marker and past more in the water than on land. We don't have the time and resources to make getting her Courier title this year a reasonable goal, but starting to introduce some of these tasks will make next summer's training even easier.

Puppy Ecko finally did a "big girl" swim for the first time. She's been enjoying bounding and splashing in her flashy orange preserver and has even swum a few strokes here and there. This weekend I finally got in the water with her with some treats and she came zipping in right after me like she had been doing it all her life. She did several 25 or so foot retrieves each day, swam to the marker and back with me and recalled from shore to the boat. She loves to train and is going to be a blast to work with.

Chili came along to see where she was at with all her water skills. We practiced a few exercises from each of the levels each day. We practiced the buoy ball drop every day, since that had fallen apart a bit last fall. Chili is such a joy to work with at the water - super motivated and biddable. On the final day we were there she did one of her "recreational swims" and spent about 20 minutes just cruising around in the lake enjoying the water as several of us watched from the dock. I think Chili may have spoiled me for all future PWDs when it comes to water work.

It was great to see how all the other dogs (Cha-Cha, Jazz, Kota, Sabrina and Tramper) had progressed since I saw them last summer and what a great rapport they all have with their handlers. Jim's new little spitfire Galley (the same Galley that went on our trip to the Montana dog shows) is going to be an excellent water dog and is already certified to enter a tracking test at under a year of age. Wow!

Workin' Dog

Chili is a real daddy's girl and loves to hang out with Jan. Jan is a surveyor and sometimes when he is on a job away from the hustle and bustle of busy roadways, Chili gets to go to work with him. I had a talented friend of mine embroider a vest for her for Jan as a Christmas present. Clever Jill took my idea of embroidering the vest with the simple words "work crew" and expanded it to include Chili's name, a little black PWD sporting a hardhat and the words "PWD Crew" on it.

Chili looks to be all business in these photos with her vest pockets full of survey flagging, but I have a feeling that the fact of the matter is that she spends the majority of the day getting spoiled and fed doggy junk food. I heard tell that today's menu included Beggin' Strips, french fries and dog biscuits.