2nd Puppy Agility Class -With Video!

Dhali is so awesome!  He's so awesome that I got lost on the way home from puppy class, because I was re-living each moment of class.  We made it home, but it was dark, snowy AND foggy.  Fog and snow - that seems unfair.  Only added another 30 mins. to our trip, so not too bad - 3 1/2 hours total round trip.

This is a video of just a few seconds of class.  We did the same order of obstacles right before the video was taken - except we didn't do the chute.

I feel bad about Dhali getting caught on the little fence by the teeter.  I also feel bad about the dog barking at him when he was going through the tunnel.  It surprised him and he was a little hesitant.  You can see I take him to the table instead of the chute.  That was because of the dog barking at him and also I thought a 90 degree pull into the chute would be awfully hard.

I really wanted to say something to the guy with the aussie that barked when Dhali went through the tunnel.  His dog barked every time another dog ran through the tunnel.  It was a reactive sort of bark.  I felt bad for him though, because he was already being so hard on himself.

This was Dhali's first time on a table.  He jumped right up on it when I asked him to - yay for playing climb on this games!  This week I have been trying to teach him to lie down.  It's really been hard and I've started trying to lure it, because we weren't getting any where.  I really, really want to teach one of the dogs to roll over!  I have had this goal FOREVER and I still haven't been able to do it.  So simple and so difficult.

Anyway.  Dhali did really good at class.  There ended up being 2 classes for puppy agility, because 4 new puppies came that hadn't had any exposure to agility stuff.  It was fun to watch them - lots of people crawling into tunnels.

I crated Dhali for the first break - while the other group was working.  He did really well.  I could watch him in the big mirrors on the wall and he was just sitting there, watching the other dogs.  And there was a tiny baby Toller (same one as before) screaming in the crate above him and another Toller chilling in the crate next to him.

I think I will always crate him, because it is more relaxing for him.  When we had the 2nd break I took him with me into the little waiting room (first I took him outside to run around a little bit) and he whined and was not as happy.

There were 3 puppies in Dhali's class - Dhali and 2 Aussies.  In the new group there were 2 cattle dogs, a BC and a doberman.  The class is fun, but I still don't agree with puppies on pinch collars at an agility class.  I'm glad I have taken a lot of online classes and gone to a lot of seminars.  It makes it a lot easier to pick out what I want from the class and ignore what I don't want.

Last time he wasn't interested in food at all and wanted to play.  This time he was more into food and not that interested in playing with toys.  He still wanted to play with me.  It was a lot busier class and there were more dogs.

This was also Dhali's first time doing a chute with a hard barrel.  He's done the chute in the basement, but that has a soft barrel.  And I think we've only done that maybe....twice?  He didn't have any trouble going through the chute.  Even after the instructor accidentally stepped on him when he came out of it one time.  She feltt so bad and Dhali was like, "What?"  It didn't phase him.

The first thing we did in class was an L shaped tunnel and Dhali was like - I can't do that!  With it straightened a tiny bit he was fine.  So work on L shaped tunnels!  We did table/hoop/red tunnel/yellow tunnel the first time around and Dhali was the only puppy to get the hoop.  :)  Good boy!  Not like I did anything!  I just run with him and if he takes stuff - yay!
I'm glad we didn't have the silly orange cones tonight - I was going to sit that part out if they were doing that again.

I was really proud of Dhali - he makes everything so easy.

Hint? Hint?

Which is worse?

1. Tibby did this.
2. I let Tibby do this.
3. I took pictures of it.
4. I let Tibby do it many times so I could get pictures of it.

My Mom said maybe we should just get Tibby a high chair, so she can sit with us at the table.

Interesting that she only does it to my Mom.  Maybe it has something to do with my Mom giving her food when she is jumping up on her?

*sigh* All my hard work of raising my girl ruined by one Subway.

"I'm not getting any, am I."

Black Friday

So I was one of the people standing outside Target this morning or yesterday night or whatever.  My little cousin wanted to get a laptop and I took her shopping.  We ended up walking away without buying anything.  Yay for us!  The thing I hate about black friday is the pressure to buy RIGHT NOW.  I like to think about and compare things before I buy them.  I know there were some great deals and I'm happy for the people that were able to find them, but the things I want, they don't sell in Target.  When they start selling training seminars and agility equipment at Target - I will be the first in line. 

So after Target and a couple other stores where also didn't buy anything we went to Perkins for breakfast (it was like 2am).  So bizarre.  There were whole families with kids, mom,dad,grandma, ect. all sitting and eating dinner/breakfast - at 2am!  Weird.  I was having a very hard time staying awake by this time.  I had to work Thanksgiving day and had been up since 5am.  Work was crazy and I was coming up on my 23 hour without sleep.  I can usually go for a few days without sleep, but I'm sadly happily out of practice.  I once worked 36 hours straight without sleeping.  This is not a good idea, because the amount of empathy you can have for sick people goes down quite a bit when you are on the edge of falling asleep standing up. 

Tibby was happy to see us when we got home.  She thought it was very suspicious when we left in the middle of the night to go shopping. 

Then finally we got to sleep.

This afternoon I took my cousin to a movie.  We have a tradition where I take her to a movie on Thanksgiving afternoon.  I was on call yesterday, so we went today instead.  This was our SIXTH year!  We started doing this when she was six.  I can't belive how fast the time has gone by.  We saw the Muppets.  I'll bet it is a funny movie.  I don't know, because the sound on our movie didn't work.  It would work for 10 mins and then be out for 15 mins.  Work for 5 mins and then off for 5 mins.  Ect. ect. ect.  Well, we won't forget this year's Thanksgiving movie!!!  The silent movie.

In case you're wondering......Tibby had a nice day too.  She LOVES my cousin and Tibby got to show off all of her tricks to her. 

Tibby also learned that if someone leaves treats on the table and then leaves, it is easy to jump on to the table and eat the treats.  Next time she won't take the box of Kleenex next to the treats.  Finding shredded Kleenex in her bed made her look a little guilty. 

Fun day for everyone.

Except maybe the box of Kleenex.

Table Double Trouble

Who knew a tablecloth could be so much fun?

Peeking out from behind it.

Attacking it - argh!

A cozy fort.

For two friends.

Dancing On the Table

Someone once asked me, "Do you ever say 'no' to Tibby?!?"  Not really.  I've had scared dogs before and I wanted Tibby to be very brave, unafraid and willing to try anything.  I try to redirect her if she is being especially obnoxious to Catty or the bunnies.  If she were in danger I would swoop in - very helicopter mamma, but yelling 'NO!' wouldn't help very much.  She figures things out for herself pretty quickly.  For example, she doesn't push on the gate in the dining room any more, because it will fall over on her and she doesn't like that.  Now she gives it a wide berth.

So last night Tibby jumped up on a dining room chair for the first time.  I didn't reward her, but I took a picture.  Then things got crazy.....

"Hmmm, I was down there and now I'm up here."

"This is where the food is right?  So food me already!"

"Dancing! Dancing on the table!"

Hmmm, I think we'll need to work on this.  Tables are not for dancing dogs.

In other funny Tibby news:  Last night I took Tibby for a walk in the pouring rain.  I had just come home from work, it was about 11:30pm and I was still wearing light blue scrubs.  I took an empty bread bag to use as a poop bag.  After the bag was filled all Tibby could think was, "Bread!  Bread!  Give me some bread!"  She jumped up on me with her dirty paws - "Ah my scrubs!"  Even after I showed her that it was just poop (her's!) she was still convinced that it was bread.  She gave me some nice heeling and loose leash walking -LOL!  But I didn't reward her with the 'bread'. 

We also found a huge toad on our walk.  TT's are supposed to have a low prey drive?  Yeah right.  She tried to eat the toad.  It was in her mouth!  She also tries to eat every squirrel and bird we see on our walks.  And Catty?  Well, she's just a snack that fights back.