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

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

I'm Lost

(Cottonwood, AZ) An update on 2iggie: She is acting a little more herself today. Her tail doesn't work a whole lot better yet but her mood is improving which I'm guessing means she is in less pain. She is doing a lot of stretching though.

Boogie went to agility practice alone this morning - meaning he was the only dog that got to go. Mike said they had a great practice.

Late this afternoon Mike set three tracks for Boogie. It was intended the age of the tracks would be 13, 16, and 16 minutes. In actuality, they turned out to be aged 25, 30 and 35. And instead of being on totally flat ground as in all previous outings, the ground had many small hills every 20 yards or so. The green lines of grass are the fronts of the hills.




The last track was in a grove of trees.




If you look closely you can see the small hills every 10 - 15 yards.




Overall he did a great job but we did have some troubles. Poor guy was trying so hard but he did go pretty far off track a couple times. Probably due to the age of the tracks. But he never gave up. And he was always very excited for the next track.

We've definitely got a long way to go. But Boogie's game that's for sure.

Debbie
3/24/10

Gesundheit

(Cottonwood, AZ) We got up bright and early....okay 8:00am...so that we could get ready and head over to the agility field. There is a person in town that has a huge yard. A portion of it is set up as an agility ring, there are two obedience rings set up, and there is lots of empty land to do other various activities. If you join their club then you can practice as much as you want for the year. Even though we are only in town a couple weeks a year, we sign up each year.

We took Sparkie, Wazzu, and Boogie with us - Wazzu came along just because she wanted to be with me. Sparkie and Boogie got to do some agility practice but Boogie got too hot in just minutes. (Guess we'll have to come even earlier tomorrow morning so Boogie doesn't get so hot.) So I laid a few tracks for Boogie to practice his tracking.

The ground material was shorter, mostly dead, grass. There was a little breeze but you really had to take notice to know it was there. I decided to set shorter tracks today as I was going to age them and not let him watch them being laid.

Boogie started out great! Look at his little nose right to the ground.




He was perfect, leading me right to the end. Whoops, he went right past the glove. He had his little nose way down in the dead leaves. I could hear him sniffing. He finally found the glove and gave it to me (you can see it under my arm) so he was getting lots of treats.




But then the trouble began. He must have sniffed really hard and got something up his nose. He couldn't stop sneezing. These sneezes were so violent they would knock him over.

So while he was sneezing, I set up another track. He didn't do so well on this one. I'm thinking he couldn't smell because he had something up his nose. So we let him rest for close to an hour before he could stop sneezing. Then I set one last track.

This one wasn't long (neither were the others) but as I was setting it I realized it was going to be very hard. I had to go right over gopher holes and next to a fence where dogs were barking furiously at me.

I was so proud of Boogie on this track. He stopped once to try to dig up the gopher. I let him dig a few seconds then said "Go Track". He immediately stopped digging (wow, that's a first!) and started tracking again. We had about 15 yards to go when one of the barking dogs came under the fence, barking and trying to follow Boogie. He was within two to three feet from Boogie but he didn't pay one bit of attention to the dog. He was completely focused on his track and found the glove perfectly. Good Boy!

2iggie has been learning so many things from the other four dogs. But I noticed that Boogie has picked something up from 2iggie. She always stands with one paw up when she is the slightest bit interested in anything.

So now Boogie is doing that.




Oh, I forgot! Over the weekend at the agility trial in Boulder City, NV, Boogie reached a big milestone. He earned his 2,500 NADAC point award.

Debbie
3/16/10

Stormy Weather

(Ft. McDowell, AZ) We had an unexpected breakthrough last night. All five dogs can now peacefully co-exist in the RV without any doors or blockades separating them. That sure makes things so much easier on all of us! Of course we still have to manage them carefully as there are some hurt feelings among the bunch and they can get testy easily if there is too much commotion. But hopefully that will fade as well in time. I'm very proud of our bunch for being as acceptable as they are to a new dog in the mix.

For 2iggie's part, she is trying ever so hard to fit in. And she's a huge copycat! I think about 80-90% of what she has learned since she has been here, she learned by watching the other dogs. Our biggest problem is that she is so completely attached to Mike. Today Mike took a couple dogs out for a walk and left 2iggie back with me in the bedroom. The second she heard the RV door shut she started howling, crying and jumping around. There was nothing I could do that would calm her down. This kept up until she heard Mike return home. Then she was quiet and calm as could be. We've never had a dog like this before...even with all our fosters...so we're not sure how to help her change this unwanted behavior.

We can't do much outside today as it is hailing so hard. The hail is just a little smaller than the size of ping pong balls. That's big for hail. And inside the RV that is very loud! Mike and 2iggie had to run fast to get inside when that started as neither of them thought that felt nice at all. 2iggie really didn't seem to care too much. As long as she is with her daddy she is the happiest little dog you've ever seen.

After the hail and rainstorm passed by in a few hours, we decided to take Boogie out for his tracking lesson. What a little trouper that guy is. The wind was blowing steady at 35-40 mph and it was in the low 40's. Of course the wind chill was much colder than that.

Boogie absolutely loves tracking. He lies at the start and shivers to beat the band. Then when I tell him to "Go Track" he races off. I am not ready for running! Today was painful as he was too fast for me. He did great on this first two tracks but the third one was very difficult. The wind seemed to have shifted between the time we laid the track and the time he was to start....3 minutes. The poor guy was trying so hard but he kept losing the track. I could tell because he would stop and look back at me and cry. Poor guy. So I helped him a bit and we celebrated big time at the end. But this was just too much wind for a new little tracker.

On our way home we stopped at the little off-leash area so Boogie and 2iggie could play. And play they did. We just can't believe how fast 2iggie can run. And jump! Oh my goodness she jumped over a five foot long puddle like it was the size of a dime. If Mike can ever harness her attention she will be an awesome agility dog. I think she has the potential to be a good distance dog....like she'll forget she's playing with Mike and she'll run off to the next county! Guess they better work on a recall.

Debbie

3/9/10

My LBD

(Ft. McDowell, AZ) Mike and Boogie left this morning to go back to the Fiesta Cluster. Unfortunately, the past couple days had taken their toll on me so I was unable to go along. I was very disappointed...but I'm actually pretty used to that.

They were in Excellent Jumpers with Weaves today for the first time....along with LOTS of other dogs. There were many border terriers there and Mike said he knew most of them. Not all were Sunkist dogs but many of them were. Boogie ran well for Mike except that he just wasn't focused in the weaves. Mike said Boogie was weaving but not paying attention at all. Finally at pole number seven, he popped out...mostly because he just wasn't watching what he was doing. Mike didn't want to demotivate Boogie so they just kept going as though nothing wrong had happened. Boogie may not have been paying attention today but, as you can see, he does know how to concentrate.



Early this evening, we headed out to try tracking again. It was only Boogie's second day but he made such improvements just since yesterday. He was tracking fast, staying right on the track and even passing up some treats to get to the article at the end. So far he is very excited about this new game. And why not? His favorite thing is to walk along sniffing the ground anyway!

Here you can see how intently he watches the tracklayer....Mike.



A few weeks ago we had some pictures of taken of Boogie. He is such a clown...and oh so cute. Here are just a few of the tricks Boogie learned in just two short three-minute training sessions before our photo shoot.

Hello!




He is getting quite good at walking on his hind legs and staying up like this for well over a minute.




He literally learned this pose after me asking him to do it one time. And he'll stay in this position until you release him. I think we took thirty pictures of him like this without him moving....and only then because we released him.




Nothing fancy here, just my cute boy.




Debbie

3/6/10

photos on this page (except tracking photos) by Karen DeLong Photography

A First for Mike

(Ft. McDowell, AZ) Bright and early we headed out to the Fiesta Cluster again. It was really difficult for me but I was determined to go again today.

Boogie had to get measured before he could compete and his event was the first of the morning. We got there about an hour early so that Mike could walk Boogie around a lot to get him to relax his muscles so he would stand "shorter". This is also why we had Boogie groomed as short as possible. Let me tell you, as it turned out we needed every single hair off of him that Alison pulled and shaved. That coupled with a bit of work on Mike's part to get him to slouch this morning, he measured exactly on the limit. Phew!

The borders were showing (conformation) at exactly the same time as Boogie was scheduled to run in agility. I got to watch a couple minutes of conformation before I had to head to the agility ring. These two pictures are of our Sunkist friend, Simon, with Alison handling him. Unfortunately I had to leave before little Book'n got to show.





I could kind of see the people walking around the conformation ring from where I was standing to watch agility. I saw just enough to see that Alison stood in the Best of Winners spot again. How cool!

But Boogie wasn't concentrating on Alison today (he never got to go over to the conformation area today). He had agility on his brain. We only entered him in one run a day - Open Jumpers with Weaves as he just needed one more Q for his title.

As it turned out Mike and Boogie were to run right after a cute Italian Greyhound. Man, that dog was fast....but it ran fast right out of the ring after just a few obstacles to check something out. It eventually came back and ran like a flash.

Boogie was next. He and Mike were beautiful. Boogie got distracted for just a second at one point when he looked over to see what the IG had been looking for. But Mike got his attention right back.




They were so smooth! When the scores came out, Boogie ended up in 1st place! And there were over twenty 12" dogs. His time was faster than any of the small or medium dogs. It wasn't until you got up to the Border Collie times that he started having any competition. Way to go Mike and Boogie!




We decided we might as well move him up to Excellent for the remaining days. Get this: there are 54 dogs just in the 12" Excellent class. Excellent jumpers for tomorrow is expected to go from 7:45am - 2:00pm. This is one huge trial! We've never done anything in Excellent in AKC so this should be interesting.

Even though we had only been there two hours, I could barely walk at all. So unfortunately we had to take off right away. Darn, I really wanted to hang out in the sunshine, watch our friends and visit some more but it just wasn't in the cards.

We were home by 10:30am and the plan was for me to stay in bed the rest of the day. But at 4:30, Mike went up to check the mail and Boogie's tracking harness had arrived. I'd been anxiously waiting for that for a while so I was excited to go out for Boogie's first tracking session.

So we hopped in the car and went to the grassy area around the fountain at Fountain Hills (where Mike and I used to own property). We did three tracks, one each of 10, 15 and 20 yards. Since all three of us are totally inexperienced, we fumbled around and I'm sure we didn't do it exactly right. But Boogie was excited and participated with much vigor. Even though I don't know what I'm doing, I did find out one thing we need to work on. Article indication. We had worked on it at home and he was great. But out in the real world there was just too much excitement.

Even with Mike being tracklayer, I'm finding that tracking is very difficult for me with my current health status. It's so frustrating. And doing it when I was already in so much pain wasn't such a good idea. I know, Mike told me so. Blah, blah, blah.

This isn't the difficult part.


Debbie
3/5/10