Yesterday we went tracking after missing out most of summer due to dry conditions and injury (after injury... after inury!) it was great to get out on the end of a pulling machine!

I had the brilliant idea to lay a track before walking the dogs, hoping to age it about 60-90 min.  So we came back, I laid another track, and I helped a friend start her dogs tracking on straight, short lines.  Her dogs did really well!! I think they'll be tracking monsters in no time.

So I get on the younger track as a warm up. It's been maybe 40 min since I laid it.  He nearly pulled me off my feet and off we went.  Did really well, marked the articles and made the correct turns.  Made it to the end and he said "MORE!"


Off we go to the older track... which incidentally has now been aged about 2:15!!  A little longer than I had wanted. To top that off, I had laid down 4 articles (which I did on purpose), some strange dude for an unknown reason chose that section of the field to run through... and about the last 150 yards, including over the gravel path and the last turn had been inundated by a flock of geese  So, Logan had his work cut out for him.

He was dead on, straight down the line.  Found a piece of trash... ignored it. Kept going, made it down to the first turn, AWESOME turn, very true on track.  Indicated then retrieved the senond gloves. Whoo-hoo!!  Lots of hotdogs and "Find it, let's go!" off he went.  This is where Strange-Jogger-Man had cut through, track was much fresher than mine and it was right at the second turn.  It took him about 5 min of casting around and trying to take me off to find Strange-Jogger-Man before he was back on track.  No help from me, we just stood and waited and let him figure it out.  Back on track.  Finds and retrieves 3rd article, WHEEE!!! GOOD BOY!!!  Lots of hotdogs.... and off again "Find it! Let's go!" off he goes... takes the 90* left turn and then straight across the gravel path, doesn't even hesitate.... onwards as the geese run for their lives.  He finds and retrieves the last article!!  WHOOT!! Thatta boy!  Very pleased with this!  A very old track, not practiced in months and months... and he got the glove retrieval!! We had been working on that separately, finding and retreiving gloves and he was doing well, but this was the first time he did it consistently while tracking.  This dog never ceases to amaze me.



I'm a very proud mom and excited to get back out there tomorrow for more training!  But tomorrow will also include starting his son, Leo (Skye x Logan)  Very exciting!

GOOD BOY LOGAN!!!

After a very long hiatus.  Obviously.

Shortly after Logan's shoulder injury was healed up, he stepped on some broken glass and sliced his hind right foot open.  At first I undersestimated the severity of the injury, as it should have received stitches. It went through his pad and then through the webbing! I'm very, very lucky it didn't hit a tendon.  So that gave us another 2-3 weeks off as it healed up (and allow me to assure you it was a BEAR to heal up, we went through metric tons of vet wrap and bitter apple.)

Logan is now back in action!  We've gone to the last month of Agility instruction (now on break through the holidays).  We are working on jump exercises in collection and weave poles during our break.

We've been working on our field retrieve work with the Lucky Launcher.  He's giving me a VERY reliable, to the hand retrieve.  Next, we start work on a double retrieve, which will be fun :) I would like to get back out on live birds soon, but time (days are short through the next few months) and $$ is keeping me a bit closer to home for the time being.

Tracking, I am looking forward to working with aging tracks upwards of 3 hrs.  Problems with that are pretty obvious.  Time (lay a track then come back 3 hrs later... iyee!) and then, less obviously, are crows.... who steal all your rewards you've so carefully laid out.  Those stinkin' birds have stolen more hotdogs than I can count.  Bastages!!

Next I've been very excited to share a couple of puppies with their new owners!  We have Kaylie who is out of the Bartland litter who lives in Lakewood with Jen and Terry.  She's a DOLL, love to hang out with Jen and Terry and Logan's "mini-me" (as I've nicknamed her :) We also have baby-Leo out of the Anson litter who lives in Puyallup with Gary and Robin.  Leo is the happiest puppy I've ever met and so very handsome!  We spend 1 night a week in conformation class (with both Kaylie and Leo) and then try to get together for walks or other training every few weeks. It's such fun to watch those little babies grow up.  They are both beautiful and the sweetest little monsters you could dream to meet.  Their humans are beyond fabulous. I so very much appreciate them allowing me to play with their babies regularly!

So, that's my update, now that we're back in action I'll try to be more reliable in my postings!  Thanks for checking in :)

Major bummer, Logan's hurt his front right... I'm not sure exactly what is sore on it, neither is the vet (it's an intermittent limp) after x-rays to verify no breaks, he's been released from work (no agility, tracking, bird work... nothing!) for the 6 weeks and put on a heavy dose of MSM, Glucosimine/Chondroitin (which he was already on, but it's like double and tripple what he is on for maintenance).  We are guessing he hurt his shoulder while boxing with his lab friend.  OR it could be a stress fracture the x-ray didn't pick up. 

We were 2 week into (we did a daily walk, light stuff) and I tried a little longer of a walk, he was doing great!! The next day I could see him favoring it.  SO.  *NO* exercise for the next 2 weeks, no walks, nothing.  Major bummer!

Gonna try swimming him as rehab work... see if that strengthens versus stressing it.  ((Sigh)) We were doing sooooo good too!  Agility was going great (had to miss an entire 6 week class!), I had just signed up for a TDX class and we were getting into the feild.  Puts a crimp in everything.

I hope he heals up to 100%  soon.

The term "bird dog" is not specific enough apparently, it does not indicate game birds... just birds in general.

Out on our walk Marcie discovered a tiny, dead humming bird laying on the path.  As we stopped to examine it, Logan ran up.... decided as a bird dog it was his job to carry it with us. 

I wish I'd had my camera as he carried this poor, dead, extremely TINY bird very carefully in his front teeth (so it was partly sticking out) after awhile he finally he dropped it and stood over it as if wrestling with the dillema of what to do, "do I carry it.... but, where to?  Do i leave it here?  No. I'm a bird dog, I enjoy carrying birds.  AHHH!" Poor guy.  So, I saved him from himself and asked him to leave it. Which he did, but only hesitantly.

*mental note* always carry camera.

This girl is BIRDY.  She loooooooves to hunt 'em up!

So, we went for a long walk yesterday afternoon at the lake so they could swim to cool off, grab a beverage... etc. My friend Marcie and her black labby-boy Pedro came with us.  They romped and played and had a wonderful time.  As did I! :)

I was throwing sticks in for Logan to retreive and at one point there were some ducks so close he got his stick and put on the afterburners chasing them... dropping his stick.  Well, he quickly realized that was a dream that would not materialize.  So he turned around, got his stick and came back in....

JUST THEN Aryn has an adolescent duck in her sights.  She goes charging in.... swimming furiously after this duck.  This duck led her on a wild goose (ahem) chase.  Out... out, farther out still.  She dissapears among the lillypads.  I'm calling and calling and calling her... I use my whistle I do everything I can, still no Aryn.  So I start stripping down passing stuff to Marcie.  As I realize, she may not be able to make it back in.

The duck of death has led her way out there among a maze of lillypads.

So, I take off my shoes as I see her coming back in.... waiting to make sure she's OK, before I step into the (disgusting) lake. She snags on a lillypad and is not making any headway.  So, I start wading in.. I'm up to my knees when she busts loose and makes it the rest of the way in. 

Wet blue jeans are very, very heavy.  I had left my socks on, so I take those off, roll up my jeans.... put my shoes back on and we head out. I think that was enough for the day!

She got several cookies for coming back in, she seemed tired, but not stressed out and overall she was fine.  I think the swim was refreshing on a hot day.

For good measure, DAMN THOSE DUCKS OF DEATH!

So, we had a blood hound impression going on this week.  Bug (Logan) had a very swollen neck area... drooling blood, general not good-ness.  So off to the Vet we go.  Turns out he has a two-inch cut under his tongue at the back of his mouth!!  So, antibiotics and pain meds and 4 days later, we seem to be doing great!!

I didn't dare take a photo of the blood hound impression (he's quite vain, this dog knows he's hot stuff) ... but, the next day he was feeling much better, so we met with Stephanie and her girls and went for a run.

Left to right: Logan, Aryn, Olivia, Stella and Nina :)

Here it is, Fathers Day is upon us and my dad is the BEST!!

My parents came up for a visit (which helped tremendously with my girl in heat... extra eyes were truly a blessing! Though I'm fairly certain they were unappreciative of the timing... heck, I'd have left I could have!)  and while here I mentioned how badly I wanted some agility jumps but, I'm completely overwhelmed by anything along the lines of building/creating/making something with PVC pipe (or well, with practically anything, really!)

So, one day my Dad comes home with PVC pipes, cutter, joint-thingies and ... other stuff (I have no idea what it was!) and voila in just a few short minutes I have a set of 4 jumps!! 

This is just one small, tiny example of how exceptionally wonderful my Dad is.

THANKS DAD!!!  So, before they left back to Reno we all went to Red Lobster (his choice) where he enjoyed a fine meal and I got to thank him for being the wonderful Father he is.  HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY!! (and to all the fabulous Dad's out there!) 

Aryn has come into heat... all the nose whistling coming from various, crated dogs in different rooms is enough to make you want to cry, scream or run yelling for mercy from your own home.

She's on Day 8.  So... only 2 more weeks of this!!

So, to make Boy Dog tired I've started him on road work.  Today I loaded him and my bike and took it out to the river and we rode (well I did... he happily ran along next to me, w/o a leash) for about an hour and a half with a few breaks.  We were on our way back out when we ran into some hunters who warned us to head out as there was a semi-agressive bear back where we were coming from!  They were in a jeep so we biked near them till we were out of the (literal and figurative..) woods.  We saw no bear. 

But here is a picture of my boy enjoying his run!



Aryn has begun tracking and basic competition OB.  So we are working on healing, sits, downs and stays... she's doing quite well.  I've yet to meet a dog who is as food motivated as she is!!  No pictures of this, yet. But I'll have some soon.

The 3 weims representin'.  See, weims, with the correct training, can even stay in one place for minutes at a time! :)

Yay!! In agility we did our first mini-course of 14 obstacles on Wednesday. I'm very fortunate to be in a class with 2 other weim gals.  So there is just 3 weims (and sometimes a standard poodle) in the class with us. It was so hot on Wednesday (even at 8pm!) that we needed to hose the dogs down to work them.  They all did SO well!  I'm so proud of my boy who did a clean run!... and I even made it through without falling over!

Stephanie Horner was kind enough to take a few shots for us.

I swear she's asking me, "So you wanna bird dog, huh?"


So, I take my terrier with me when I work on retrieving with the Weims.  She used to be terrified when I'd shoot off the launcher (which uses blank .22's) ... now she is just as drivey about the whole situation as Logan, the main difference is he points the launcher and she barks at me, ordering me to shoot it off.   I've tried and tried to get photos of this, but as you can imagine that is difficult.

I FINALLY have some shots of her getting the bumper, when I threw it (just for her) and held back Logan.  Sorry the quality of the images are low, but, I was hanging onto a weim as I took them... and allow me to assure you, it was no small task!

Notice she's about the same size as the bumper!!