A New Tracking Partner

(Woodinville, WA) Even though we were fairly busy this week, there wasn't anything real exciting to report. Just the normal stuff...obedience class, K9 Nose Work class (Boogie does the class then we practice with all five dogs at home), agility practice, swimming, and tracking.

The weather wasn't all that good this week. In fact, one of our activities (lure coursing) was even cancelled due to weather. It was pretty dreary most of the time which brought out the worms for this little fellow. He has one hanging from his mouth but you can't really see it in this picture.




Tracking wasn't just Boogie's activity this week. Poor little Slugger doesn't get to do much any more as his left rear leg is really giving him a lot of trouble...arthritis. So we decided to take Slugger along on one of Boogie's tracking outings.

He was excellent! The only thing Slugger loves better than sniffing is swimming so this activity was right up his alley. I think as much as the tracking, he just loved getting to participate in any activity.




Needless to say, Boogie thought he should be getting all the turns and didn't exactly wait patiently. The grass has grown even taller since we were here last. Boogie really is in the field with me...in front and to the right of me...I'm not hunting for the glove by myself! I'd never find it.




While you may not be able to see much (if any) of Boogie, you can at least see how pretty it is here.

I think if you look closely in this picture you can see he really is in there.



Today he got a little tuckered as he really had to bound the entire time if he wanted any chance of seeing out of the "forest".




Maybe someday I'll show you tracking pictures where you can actually see Boogie!

Three of the kids wouldn't be happy without a pool session at least once during the week. Just before it was time to swim I opened a new chew toy for the dogs that they all really like. It's a deer antler. They all wanted the antler. Since we only had one antler and they all wanted it, Mike put it in his pocket and took the dogs all out to potty before swimming. The antler fell out of his pocket and Boogie found it. The dogs all chased him but no one could get the antler from him. After some time, the others all gave up chasing him. But Boogie wouldn't let Mike have it either. Boogie kept playing keep away then taunted Mike by lying down to chew on it until Mike got close. Then off he'd go again.




So Mike and the other dogs all left the yard. Mike opened the pool yet Boogie still wouldn't come. I called and called. Nothing. (Bad boy!) It wasn't until Boogie heard the splashing that he decided he was missing out!

About half the time, we had three dogs in the pool at a time. They are totally fine all swimming at one time and never go after each others toys. To make things a little more interesting we had some swimming races.



In actuality, it wouldn't be much of a race. Sparkie would definitely come in a distant last. And while Boogie is an extremely strong swimmer, Slugger has amazing muscle strength and would definitely win any swimming race amongst the three of them.



All three dogs have very different diving styles as well. You've seen pictures of Boogie's amazing diving style. Let's compare some landing styles. Here's Boogie landing.




If you can see amongst the splashing water, you'll notice Sparkie.



Slugger looks so graceful leaving the side.




But not quite so much while landing. Looks more like a belly flop.



Sparkie got done swimming way before the boys. While it's nice and warm in the pool house, it's not warm enough for Sparkie. She'd think 99 degrees would be too cold!




The boys kept swimming...it's hard to ever get them to stop.




Boogie isn't particular about the color of his ball but it must be a Squidgie ball or the won't even think of retrieving it.



When Mike had to tend to Sparkie (dry her off a little more), Boogie set his ball on the pool edge and looked at Mike as if to say, "Will you please throw my ball?" He was so patient!



Much to their dismay, we did have to stop swimming at some point! So Mike closed up the pool, dried Sparkie some more, and then dried Boogie.




After Mike finished drying all the dogs, he closed up the pool. Boogie was trying to look under the pool cover to see what happened to his pool. He didn't much care for the fact that his pool disappeared.



Don't worry, Wazzu and 2iggie weren't left out. We had them in the pool house with us but they wanted nothing to do with the water. They both stayed well out of the "fun"...or "torture" as they see it.

Debbie
4/26-30/10

Double B'day

(Auburn, WA) This weekend we had a three day agility trial at Argus Ranch for Dogs in Auburn.

The first thing we did when we got there was to lay a track for Boogie. After waiting for it to age 30 minutes, Boogie and I set out to find the glove. It's a really good thing we were looking for a glove and not an injured person! It wasn't our best showing that's for sure. I now know I need to work with distractions. There were off-leash dogs playing in the field, people racing horses around the track, and a fairly new born pony playing in the pen next to us. Way to much going on for Boogie to concentrate. It didn't help that I couldn't understand the flags and kept trying to tell Boogie he was wrong....when he was really right.

Friday evening we had two runs...Hoopers and Touch N Go. We had only entered Sparkie and Boogie. They both did well with Boogie Q'ing in both runs.

Saturday was an up and down day weather wise. It hailed...sideways many times throughout the day. In between, the sun would come out just long enough to tease us. But the weather didn't dampen the dogs spirits. Wazzu was really happy and went three for three. Even though Wazzu was perfect on the day, Sparkie had to be the star as she earned her Versatility NATCH-15. Boogie was fast today getting a number of 1st place Q's. He was also the clown for the day. For some reason on one run he decided to go UNDER a jump. He lowered his head and shoulders but forgot about his tail and knocked a bar. Leave it to Boogie to be so creative.

What a difference a day makes! The weather was beautiful today (Sunday). The dogs had a great day. Wazzu was perfect once again and even got 1st place in Touch N Go in the 20+ division against all the young and old dogs put together! Boogie went 5/6... the one run he didn't Q was the one I was most proud of. Sparkie went 5/6 as well. What a team!

In the middle of all this, a friend came to visit. Her dog (Makana) and Boogie were good friends when they were puppies. So we took Boogie, 2iggie, and Makana out to the field to play. And play they did! Even though Boogie still had three runs to go, he doesn't get to play with Makana much so we let them run until they were about to drop.

It didn't seem to slow Boogie down in his runs. He was just all the more excited and seemed to run even faster! When the trial was over we let the two little ones go out in the field to run since it was their birthday.

Yup, both Boogie and 2iggie have a birthday today. Boogie is three today and 2iggie is two. I can't believe Boogie is already three!

For Boogie's birthday we let him do his most favorite activity. Vacuuming. He is over the top for vacuuming. He chases the vacuum and barks at the top of his lungs. He bites at it, running back and forth following it every inch of the way. He is always tired afterward and pants for quite some time. Since it was his birthday, we had an extra long vacuum session. I was sure he would be totally out after that since he'd already done a lot all day long.

But five minutes later he was at my bed barking and barking wanting a training session. Yes, Boogie "asks" to be trained a couple times a day. So I got some treats and we had a training session. Then I made him lie down even though he was sure he needed to do another activity.

About 11pm Mike decided to take the dogs out for their last walk of the night. Normally at the slightest move of Mike's foot, Boogie jumps up and runs to the door. Tonight...no movement whatsoever. Mike nudged Boogie...still nothing. Finally Mike picked him up. Still absolutely nothing! Boogie hates being held so he is definitely out as he would never put up with this. As you can see, he is sound asleep.




I guess we finally, after three years, managed to tucker him out.

Happy birthday to Boogie's litter mates: Stevie Ray, Mimi, Rowdy, and one other pup whose name I don't know.

Debbie
4/23-25/10

Family Swim

(Woodinville, WA) Another fun day for Boogie. Today he got to go tracking on a very large multi-purpose field. The grass had just been freshly mowed which my have distracted him a bit. But he had a great time nonetheless.

He then had a great time at his K9 Nose Work class. Boogie goes to the class then we come home and do it will all the dogs. It is so fun (and funny) to see the different way each dog approaches the task. Some methods are very efficient and others....well, not so much. They each enjoy it in their own way though.

Then it was time for the big swim party! Mike swam our five (okay, two of them just watched) and then swam Karen's three. That's a lot of swimming....and drying! But they all love it so much that it's worth it.

Mike was easily able to keep the three dogs all swimming for their toys at the same time without anyone having to get out. If you look carefully in the background you can see 2iggie watching from a safe distance.





She still had no interest in getting in the water. But she wasn't hiding behind me anymore and she was at least watching the others play. Big improvement from last time. But she and Wazzu had no intentions of joining in the game. But at least 2iggie looks interested. Wazzu, not so much!




Boogie on the other hand has to always be involved in some way.




Yup, that's Boogie in there somewhere after diving off the edge...




...all just to get his favorite ball.




I always love how Slugger swims out before the ball is thrown and looks over his shoulder for it to fly by. He could be a great outfielder or a great wide receiver...if they played in water. He won't play with toys outside the pool.



The fun is over. Now the hard part...getting everyone dry!

Debbie
4/22/10

Our Dogs Aren't Spoiled

(Woodinville, WA) Other than a doctor appointment and a couple physical therapy appointments I didn't have any activities planned for any of us today.

I think Mike enjoyed that. In fact, he and Slugger took advantage of the down day by taking a much needed nap.




Not only do they nap like this but this is Slugger's favorite way to sleep at night and does it quite often. And for people that don't think dogs should be on the couch...technically he's not on the couch.

Mike often has peanuts for a snack and Boogie loves nothing more than to share. But he always chews on one side of his mouth and pulls his cheek way up. Too cute.




Of course he always wants more.




Debbie
4/21/10

Real People Have So Much Fun

(Woodinville, WA) Can you believe I actually found a doctor that I kind of like! He actually said he might be able to help. Now that's a rarity. Okay, so it's just my hand but I do need my hands to work. I ended up with a couple injections in my hand. We'll see if it helps but he warned me it would take a long time and I'd never get all way back to normal. Gee, where have I heard that before.

Boogie and I went to our new obedience class. It is so much better than our original class. I need to give it another week or two to see if it really works for us but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

This evening we were invited to a Pizza Party at Karen's. We started out by each of us making our own pizza. I sure make a good pizza! Of course Karen did the cooking of the pizza so I guess she should really get all the credit!

After dinner it was on to play Guitar Hero. I've never seen it before this but had heard Karen talk about it for the last couple years. I had a blast! I actually got to participate fully in an activity...with no help from anyone. I think that's the first time in eight years that I've felt like a normal person (even though I did have to play my guitar while lying down part of the time). But that was no biggy.

I started out by singing while Mike was on drums and Karen and our friend Theresa were on guitars. After that we all switched around and took turns doing everything. I found I liked bass guitar best - not too surprising since I used to play bass guitar in a band (a gazillion years ago).

I can't thank Karen and Theresa enough for letting us join in on their Guitar Hero night. That was truly the most fun I've had in a very long time. I actually almost felt normal. Way cool.

I'm thinking maybe it wasn't just me having a great time....



Debbie
4/20/10

Where's Boogie

(Woodinville, WA) Today we invited someone to meet us a little outside of Monroe to go tracking. It's a huge field (hundreds of acres) with grass much taller than Boogie's head. Well here, I'll show you. Can you find Boogie?




The whole time he was tracking he had to bound through the field. In the above picture he was on the ground. Here he is in the middle of a bound. Look quick before he goes down again!




He was so cute bounding the entire length of the tracks. He did two tracks. The first one was 450 yards and the second one was 200 yards. That's a lot of bounding for a little guy.

It was only 60 degrees out but he was one hot little guy when he emerged from the field.




In fact, we couldn't get him back to the car as he kept lying down to cool down.



No wonder he overheated in Texas when it was 95 degrees. He just doesn't handle heat well at all.

We took Wazzu and 2iggie along with us today. While the track was aging we let 2iggie loose on the long mowed portion of grass. Mike and I stood about 75 yards apart and called her back and forth between us. She thought this was a great game!

Wazzu just went into the deep field grass and rolled around on her back. She was a very happy girl.

What an enjoyable day.

Debbie

4/19/10

Chasing the....Rabbit?

(Woodinville, WA) Thursday evening Boogie started not feeling very well. He was up all night...which means Mike was up all night as well. Darn, the little guy has been doing so well for quite some time.

We decided to let him try tracking Friday midday as he seemed in better spirits by morning. He did his most difficult track to date...450 yards with five turns. All things considered he did extremely well.

Saturday he seemed to be worse. Poor guy just doesn't seem to be able to shake it this time. So I put my foot down and insisted he rest all day. That almost happened. We did do a very small amount of obedience work and then some box work - for his K9 Nose Work class.

The other dogs all seemed to like the past two days a little better as Mike took them each on various hikes, walks, and did some training activities.

Sunday was a beautiful day - sunny and warm. Sure wish all days were like this! Our activity for the day was Lure Coursing. We took Sparkie, 2iggie, and Boogie.

The location was beautiful. There were fields in every direction.




You can't see it in my pictures but we could see some mountains with snow on them in the distance. It was a really pretty place to spend an afternoon.




Sparkie and Boogie have done Lure Coursing before and absolutely loved it. Because 2iggie is part Italian Greyhound we thought she might enjoy it as well. I must say we didn't see any other Italian Greyhounds there....maybe they are too delicate. But there were lots of Whippets there (probably 99% of the dogs there)...and were they ever fast. What a beautiful thing to watch! Even Boogie and 2iggie enjoyed watching. We couldn't let Sparkie watch as she just screamed and jumped straight up in the air nonstop.

They were doing straights today. This means the dogs run in a straight line chasing the lure which is a plastic bag. I guess the dogs think they are chasing rabbits....or maybe they could care less what it is....maybe they just like chasing. Whatever the case, they are FAST! Here is what the lure looks like. If you look closely you can see a very small rope on the ground that the plastic bags are tied on.




These are pulled down the course just ahead of the dogs by a machine run by the lure operator. One person would hold the dog (the releaser) and the other person would walk 130 - 200 yards, depending on how far you wanted your dog to run, to be the "catcher". In this picture you can see the lure box (I'll explain that later), a guy getting ready to release his dog, the lure course operator (in the distance on the right), and the catcher (the person in the middle 130 yards away).



I couldn't really get much in the way of pictures of our dogs since I was either the releaser (for Sparkie and 2iggie) or the catcher (for Boogie). But here is a glimpse of the start. The boxes you see in the back are starting boxes. They put one dog in each spot in the box. Then when the lure starts to move, the front pops open and the dogs go zooming out. Here you can see three dogs that are going to race against each other. When more than one dog runs at the same time, the dogs must all wear muzzles. Here you can see everyone getting the muzzles on the dogs.



As you can see, none of the dogs minded wearing a muzzle. In fact, they were anxious to get them on as they knew that meant it was their turn to race.



Of our three dogs, Sparkie got to go first. She was screaming bloody murder waiting for her turn. She was the oldest dog to participate today...10 years old.

Since Sparkie is so old, we just had her run 130 yards. She had a blast! She didn't slow down one bit until the lure stopped at the end. What a big smile she had on her face.

2iggie went a few dogs later and since she was new, Mike just went 130 yards. I released her as soon as the lure started to move. She took of like a shot and ran directly to the lure operator who was standing on a tall ladder 130 yards from the start. We're pretty sure she thought he was Mike because as soon as she got close to they guy she realized it wasn't Mike and she turned and ran immediately to Mike. They let her have another turn immediately so she could hopefully learn to chase the lure and not just run to Mike. But once again she just ran to Mike.

Then it was little Boogie's turn....finally! Since he has such short little legs I decided he should only go 130 yards as that's a long way for a little guy. I told the lure operator that Boogie knew just what to do. He was very skeptical about the skill of a Border Terrier in this activity. But I assured him it wasn't going to be a problem.

Mike released Boogie and he was on a mission. He ran just as fast as those little legs could possibly go...and of course he was barking at the top of his lungs! When he caught the lure at the end he used his terrier attitude to tear up the lure. Good thing it's easy to get more. And suddenly the lure operator was changing his tune. (He was a super nice guy.) He was very impressed with Boogie and couldn't stop with the compliments.

After all the dogs had a turn (maybe 30 dogs) there was a break for lunch. The property owners had a barbecue for us. Then it was back for one more turn each. We didn't let Sparkie do it again due to her age.

We decided that if 2iggie could watch Boogie and then immediately have her turn maybe she would get the idea a little better. I went down to be the catcher, Mike held 2iggie while some nice lady offered to release Boogie. Here they are getting ready. 2iggie is supposed to be watching intently...hmm, not so much.




This time when I went down to catch Boogie I went 170 yards. He had just as much energy this time and easily went 170 yards. He was just as fast, just as loud, and just as damaging to the lure. The lure operator asked me if there was anything this little guy couldn't do. I told him if there is, we haven't found it yet. Here's a peek at Boogie lure coursing...hey, 2iggie's watching!




It's hard to tell in these pictures but Boogie is running just as fast as his little legs will take him.




Mike said Boogie probably could have run faster if he would have stopped barking the entire way!




Just like the Whippets, he back legs are up under his front legs.




He's determined to catch the "rabbit".




A full 170 yards later and he's still not even panting!




When we got home the girls were tired but Boogie wanted to know what was next. Since Slugger hasn't gotten to swim yet since we go here, we decided today would be a great time. So Slugger and, you guessed it, Boogie got to go swimming.

Slugger was so happy! He swam and swam like he was a dolphin.




He can really move the water when he swims.




Boogie barked, swam, jumped and was a little monster. He loves diving as you'll see. By the way, the little donut around his neck is just to help keep his head above water when he lands so he doesn't get so much water in his lungs.




Have you ever seen such form? I give him a 10!




Still nice and extended for the entry.




Notice how he tries to keep his head above water as he lands.




Good thing he wears the donut as the rest of him goes totally under water upon completion of landing.




Ah, now you see the whole purpose of all this diving and swimming....to get the magic squiggy ball. It's the only ball he wants. Every other toy he just leaves in the pool.




After a few minutes, I brought 2iggie in to watch so that maybe someday she would like to swim. We thought if she watched the boys having so much fun she'd want to give it a try too. Ha! Not so much. She just hid behind me the entire time...she didn't even like the splashing. It could take all summer just to get 2iggie to come out from behind me.

Boogie is so funny when it is time to dry off. He gets right in front of the nice warm heater and rubs himself all over the floor. Sorry about the blurry pictures...fast moving dog and very low light.





He just keeps going and going. I'm not sure if he just likes rolling or if he's enjoying the heat and it makes him wiggly.




Whatever the case, I think everyone had a great weekend.

Debbie
4/16-18/10