The Pawprint Chronicles

SOTC Obedience Day 2

2012-01-08T19:07:00.000-05:00

Tia once again put in an excellent effort! She did not do the drop on the first command today, but otherwise her signals were pretty reasonable. For articles, not only did she check all of them, she selected and brought back the correct one! I was very proud of her. Maybe she's beginning to "get" it after all! The glove exercise she did by the book today, and the moving stand was as good as ever. Our go-out once again did not exist. We obviously need to work more on doing that in strange places so that she will be more confident about doing a full go-out cold without refreshers. She did the directed jumping fine, even though I had accidentally set her up off center a bit.

So no qualifying performances this weekend, but still quite productive I would say. We'll keep training for the June trial!

SOTC Obedience Day 1

2012-01-07T20:10:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of the Syracuse Obedience Training Club's winter obedience trial. I just had Tia entered in Grad Open. We actually got to sleep in for once!

Tia did a wonderful job. Her signals were picture perfect, and the heeling was probably the nicest that she has ever done for me in a trial setting. On articles she did check most of the pile, but not the one that I had scented, so she ended up bringing an incorrect one back. Gloves was a comedy of errors - first she didn't do the pivot with me, then when I gave her a second command for that she immediately took off to get the glove! It was the correct glove though, so whatever. Her moving stand was lovely. The go-out flopped, and then she did the directed jumping perfectly. She really likes that exercise - I can tell that she knows she is right. Gotta love that Aussie smile!

We are entered again tomorrow, and once again our goal is just to have a good experience and do a couple things right.

Eukanuba - Days 7 and 8

2011-12-20T20:17:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we started the long drive home. Popper's crate was just a little too big to fit where I wanted it to, so we had to rearrange some. Talk about a full car!

Clocked in 12 hours and just over 800 miles, landing us in Thornberg, VA.

The hotel was... interesting. It was one of those where they have a special window for late at night and won't let you into the lobby, which always makes me concerned about the area. Then when we went into the room, first thing we find is the handle for flushing the toilet detached and sitting on the toilet seat. Great. So we had to do all flushes manually (luckily that worked fine). Then the door wouldn't close properly, so we had to fight with that for a while. I'm glad we were only there for one night.

Today we hit some rain and snow, but nothing drastic. In the Arlington/DC area the signs said that the restricted lanes were open to all traffic, so I of course took them. Unfortunately I was so excited that I didn't pay attention to which road exactly they were associated with... so we went through DC instead of around it!

It turned out to be a nice adventure - got to see the Pentagon, Washington Monument and a couple other landmarks. It also took us half the time that that area did last week and we ended up where we needed to be, so all was well.

Handed off Popper in Wilkes Barre, PA and then made the last 2 hours home in good style.

Eukanuba - Days 5 and 6

2011-12-18T18:24:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we slept in and then drove out to Flagler Beach, which allows leashed dogs on a large portion of their beach. It was gorgeous! Sunny, not too hot and we basically had the beach to ourselves. Queezle wasn't sure what she thought of the surf at first, but she got used to it and was bebopping cheerfully along with me.

The sand there is almost entirely broken bits of shell, which is really neat. There were some larger shells as well (Queezle tried to eat them...), and sedimentary rocks made up of shells. A couple sandpipers went by, and we could see a pelican off shore. It was a good day.

This morning we picked up Popper the Aussie, Tia's nephew who was competing in some of the junior competitions with his owner. She had to take a plane home, so Popper is going to ride back North with us.

There were 28 Tervs entered under judge Tom Davies. We filled up the entire ring! The Q showed very well the whole time. After a LOT of deliberation, Queezle was awarded second Award of Excellent! The third AOE went to her daughter Demi, which was very exciting.

After showing, Q and I changed into street clothes and went over to the Meet the Breeds booth, where we hung out for a little while and Queezle greeted people who were interested in the Belgians.

All in all, it has been an excellent trip.

Eukanuba - Day 4

2011-12-16T22:20:00.004-05:00

Nothing in breed again for the Q, so we finished up our Christmas shopping and checked out the agility area, where we found some friends from home and some people with Tervs.

After that we went outside to get some photos of Queezle around the convention center. Even though it was overcast, I got some good shots with authentic Florida foliage.

After her photo shoot we packed up and headed back to the hotel to relax and enjoy our vacation. It lasted for a little while... and then people started splashing around in the pool beneath our window. Queezle did NOT approve, and watched to make sure that they didn't start any trouble.

Tomorrow we aren't showing at all, so the plan is to find a beach!

Eukanuba - Days 2 and 3

2011-12-15T22:25:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we set off at 9:30am and an hour or so of travel brought us to South Carolina. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the dead plants in the sign planter made for a perfect photo opp...

This is where the plant life and scenery definitely changed - we started seeing some red dirt and a lot more tropical plants.

The Georgia rest stop was overrun by grackles. Savannah presented no traffic difficulties whatsoever, and we continued on our merry way.

Once in Florida we decided to detour around Jacksonville because it was getting toward rush hour time. Finally we turned west on Route 4, the final stretch toward Orlando.

Orlando in the early evening is quite exciting. Everyone and their mother is out driving, and people change lanes and merge without really looking. We passed several accidents, and it was a miracle we didn't get in one ourselves. Complete insanity, though it quieted down once we left the highway.

Finding the convention center was simple, but finding the correct building was a bit of a challenge. After looping around the block a couple times we finally stumbled across it. The crating area was already packed, so we set up along the back wall. They probably hadn't intended for people to crate there, but a couple other people had already set up camp, we needed a spot and it wasn't blocking anything, so we set up shop. The hotel was on the same road - I of course turned the wrong way first. Swung by Sea World and eventually got to the right place. The hotel is lovely - we have a little one bedroom suite with a pullout couch, fridge, microwave and dishwasher. Perfect place to call home for the next few days.

Today there were nine Tervs entered under Pete Dawkins. Queezle showed well but didn't do anything, so we spent the rest of the day hanging out outside and checking out the vendors (I managed not to buy anything!). Everyone thought Queezle was very cute "shopping" - really she was justchecking all of the tables for food. We then watched Groups and cheered for Lulu, who got a Group 3!

Eukanuba - Day 1

2011-12-13T23:43:00.003-05:00

Queezle, my brother Tom and I departed Ithaca around 10am this morning, bound for Orlando, FL. Queezle was invited to the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship because she finished her Grand Championship last year. What better way to celebrate the end of finals than by taking a road trip to Florida in December?

The trip was pretty straightforward. Gas had gotten cheaper the further south we get ($3.19 in North Carolina!!!), weather stayed clear and still chilly. Harrisburg, PA was a little interesting with traffic and construction, but we got through that fine. Stopped in Maryland, Queezle posed with a sign.

Washington DC and Arlington, VA were insane. Unfortunately we hit it at rush hour and managed to miss the special commuter lanes, so it was bumper-to-bumper traffic moving on average 30mph. Took us two hours to get out of there, including a brief food and gas stop. Didn't kill anyone though, and on we went.

Hit North Carolina a little before 8pm, where we stopped again to get a picture of the Q with the Welcome to North Carolina sign and fill up the tank. I am absolutely loving the 70mph speed limit!

I called it a day at 10, having driven for 12 hours and 620+ miles. We're stopped in Smithfield, NC, which has a dog friendly Super 8 for anyone heading this way in the future. Queezle is thrilled to be on the road - she wagged her tail and smiled when we headed into the hotel, looking for all the world like a kid on Christmas morning. She is such a great dog to travel with.

On to Orlando in the morning!

Leatherstocking Cluster

2011-11-28T20:13:00.006-05:00

On the 19th I got on a bus at 4am to drive to Philadelphia for Cornell's final football game of the season (and thus the last marching band performance of the season). It was a gorgeous day, Cornell even managed a WIN and the band, as always, was awesome. Returned home around 11pm...

...only to get up at 6 for a dog show. Sometimes I doubt my sanity. It turned out to be another good day. Queezle was first up ay 8:30. She was SO excited to be at a show - this was her first conformation show since the first weekend of July, and her first show of any sort since mid-October. After our down and back the judge asked me to slow her down - yeah right! She ended up going Best of Breed. The photo is of the Q with four of the other Tervs entered - from left to right they are Tag, Molly, Storm, Savvy and Queezle.

Next was Belle the Vizsla. She went Winners Bitch over one other entry, giving her her 8th point. She is now officially over halfway done!

I also showed Will the Shetland Sheepdog puppy. This was his third show ever and first indoor show. He still isn't thrilled about the table, but he stands solidly and is a happy camper gaiting around the ring. He won his class.

The Q was even more psyched for going into Group. Talk about fluffed, puffed and ready to roll. Her down and back was controlled, but on the go-around she took off like she thought she was running the Kentucky Derby! Maniac. At the end the judge had each dog go around one at a time, at which point Queezle gaited like a dream. We didn't end up placing, but I was quite pleased with my wicked wild dog and a handler who had been watching from outside the ring said that she is the cleanest dog coming and going that he has seen in years. Go Q!

Next up is Eukanuba. Only a few more weeks...

Dog Etiquette: Puppies in Vet Clinics

2011-11-14T16:05:00.002-05:00

Hokey has come up with cancer in his nose, so for the past few weeks he has been going in to the vet hospital at Cornell every day for radiation. To minimize driving but still avoid Hokey staying at the hospital, I have been picking him up and dropping him off every other day while my mom takes the opposite days (so he spends one night at home, one night with me, etc). He is now halfway through his treatment and doing well.

Today the waiting area was quite busy when I came in to pick him up. One of the techs came out with Hokey, and as I walked over to them a guy came in with a Border Collie puppy, probably between 3 and 4 months old. First mistake: he had it on a flexi. Not even close to appropriate for that kind of setting. Flexis are great for outdoor walks, but should never be used indoors, especially in a place where there are lots of people and dogs. Even if you put it on lock, there is still a chance that button will get knocked by accident and your dog could get into all kinds of trouble before you notice. Second mistake: he is letting the puppy go up to other dogs.

Why is this a poor decision? For one thing, he's in a VET HOSPITAL. He has no way to know why any of the other dogs/animals are in there, and by letting his puppy socialize arbitrarily he could be endangering its health. Second, he has no way to know if those other dogs are friendly! This could start a fight at any point, and considering his puppy's age, a bad experience could seriously impact its future life and behavior. Always, always ask if the other dog likes puppies before allowing your pup to go up to another dog.

Hokey does not particularly like puppies anyway, and the clinic is a stressful place for him, further lowering his tolerance. He curled his lip, which the tech couldn't see and the guy completely ignored. Luckily I got there at that point and pulled the puppy back myself, informing the guy that he should not allow his puppy to approach strange dogs. I can only hope that it sunk in.

SOTC Agility

2011-11-02T19:15:00.002-04:00

The SOTC fall agility trials were a couple weekends ago. Tia was the star of the weekend, qualifying both days in Excellent Jumpers! She is now well on her way to her MJP3. As for that aframe contact...

Queezle was just entered on Sunday. She was WILD and didn't qualify in either run, but ran with me, followed my directions and wasn't obnoxious, which was our goal for the weekend.

I also ran Dani in Jumpers, and she qualified on Sunday. She now only needs one more leg for her MJP!

Flash

2011-10-12T23:05:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I said goodbye to my best and oldest friend, Flash. Ever since we picked her up from the breeder on Valentine's Day 1998, she was my partner in crime. She was a one of a kind dog, and I would not be the person or trainer that I am today without her.

Most of Flash and my exploits belonged on a bloopers reel - barking with a dumbbell in her mouth, barking so hard she fell off the pause table in agility, sailing over contacts, stealing food from kids sitting ringside, going belly-up on down stays, waving at the judge during conformation.

She was, after all, a super-attitudey Corgi paired with a seven year old kid. It's amazing we ever got anything right. But learn we did, and we soared:

- first junior handler team to earn a VCD1

- first junior handler team to earn an RAE (and with only one NQ in her entire rally career)

- Best Junior Handler at the 2007 PWCCA National Specialty

- competitor in Junior Showmanship at Westminster 2009

- 10th Pem to earn a CT, youngest handler to ever do so

There are hundreds of stories that I could tell about Flash. The time I ran into a tree while herding at the National, which ended up being Flash's best herding run ever (and I can't remember it!). The time she swam across a flooded creek to bring our sheep back to the barn. The story of her passing VST track (and the failed tracks along the way). Doing a musical freestyle routine to the Baby Elephant Walk. Marching in parades while pulling her little chariot all decked out with roses. Socializing with kids and adults of all ages. She was truly an awesome dog.

She retired from agility in October last year when she was starting to show signs of degenerative myelopathy, and since then has been in a steady decline. When she, the dog who did everything at top speed, was no longer able to move around on her own, we knew that it was time. Yesterday I went home and we sat together in the sun for a couple hours. I had her in my arms at the very end.

CT Culdi's Hearts On Fire VCD1 RAE HSAs NAP OJP OFP "Flash", November 30, 1997 - October 11, 2011. The best dog there ever was and ever will be.

August and September

2011-10-12T00:26:00.003-04:00

College has a way of eating up my time, especially when marching band is combined with Spanish homework. Getting five hours of sleep on a Tuesday night is a major accomplishment this semester.

Queezle and I have moved into our new apartment in Collegetown, along with three roommates. Queezle absolutely loves having four people on hand to feed and adore her, and has settled in well. For my part, I am enjoying the relatively level walk to classes as well as often having company on said walk (the 11 people in the upstairs portion of the house are also band people).

Tia collected some more Excellent Jumpers legs at the Cato trials mid-August, finishing up her MJP2 and getting started on the MJP3! The Bopper is like fine wine - she just keeps getting better with age. Queezle on the other hand was once again metaphorically for sale, so on the weekend we backed off and just did mini courses for each run. She's entered one day this coming weekend so we'll see what the state of our teamwork is after a couple weeks of very low-stress training (aka next to none).

Beyond that I don't think we've really done much of anything up until the Wine Country circuit the first weekend of October. Queezle doesn't have her hair back yet, so I was just showing other dogs in conformation. Belle the Vizsla went Best of Opposite on the first day for a three-point major, which puts her up to 7 points and one major! She didn't get anything the other three days, even though she showed really well in the super muddy ring on Sunday. Then I also showed Will the Sheltie puppy, who had a grand time and looked like a pro even though it was his first time showing. He didn't get any points, but it was good experience.

Queezle did get to lure course though! When she got out of the car and saw the stationary lures she knew exactly what we were doing. She ran well all three days rain or shine, and now has her Coursing Ability title!

Go dog, go!

Sheltie Trials

2011-08-07T16:04:00.003-04:00

Just finished up four days of agility hosted by the local Sheltie club. The judges were GREAT - Scott Stock and Robert Kripaitis. Some interesting courses and lots of fun.

Tia had a wonderful weekend - two qualifying runs in Excellent B Jumpers and one in Excellent B Standard, all with first places! Her other runs only had minor errors, and she was running very well. The Bopper is quite the dog!

Queezle, on the other hand, was in the doghouse. We were having "bitssues" - she felt she should be in charge and that I was getting in her way, and I said like hell sweetheart. I pulled her off the course multiple times for obnoxiousness, because if she isn't going to work with me as a team, then she doesn't get to play. She didn't like having her runs cut short, but she also wasn't particularly willing to back down - several people commented on her attitudey walk when I was taking her back to the car. It was very frustrating for me, because at our last trial back in June I was thinking that we were really starting to run as a team. We had this problem a few years ago with the weave poles - I would say, "Weave," and Queezle would say, "Make me." This weekend she was doing the same thing at both the weave poles and some tight parts on courses. Not totally sure what brought it on, as we have been able to practice in different places pretty frequently (and last weekend we did a lot of agility during downtime). I think we'll get through this storm faster though because she has really good weaves once she shuts up and does them. It's like when a horse suddenly starts balking at a bridge they have crossed every day - she is testing me, and as long as I am consistent and don't let her get away with bad behavior she will revert to the awesome agility dog that I know and love.

Today she bounced back - we made it almost all the way through Standard before she started giving me grief, and then in Jumpers all I had to do was make her lie down when she started to bark at the weave poles and then she composed herself and we finished the run in fine style. We are entered at Cato in two weeks, so between then and now we're going to make sure we do some quick weave pole practice once or twice a day. And contacts too of course - you can never practice those too much!

I also ended up running Hokey and Dani some because my mom got mild heatstroke on Friday (she is fine now) and then she had other things going on on Saturday. Hokey and I had a nice run in Excellent Standard and the qualified in Exc Jumpers! Dani NQd in Jumpers both days but we had pretty good runs.

Some Photos from the Rodeo

2011-08-04T17:11:00.006-04:00

I didn't get many photos, because a) it took me two days to find the camera in all the haphazardly packed bags from moving out of the apartment, and b) my battery was low and all of my replacement batteries are still in Ithaca. Oops. So here is a very limited pictorial.

Queezle in her expen, which she liked as long as I wasn't off spending time with other dogs (whenever that happened, she turned into a whiny beast).

Queezle and the coyote. She really didn't react to it much when she first saw it. Some of the dogs freaked out, and the following night one Ridgeback went postal and ripped its tail off. I told Queezle to stay away from that one.

June and Clifford doing rally. June was the rally instructor for the weekend. She is doing agility with her young boy Chance, but Clifford is a rescue who just does rally for fun now.

Clifford lounging.

And that's pretty much all I got!

June and July... In August

2011-08-03T15:04:00.006-04:00

On June 17th, Queezle got a Group 2 in Topsfield, MA! We then drove back home for my brother's high school graduation, returning to MA Saturday afternoon. On June 19th she was Best of Opposite.

The 23rd through 26th were the agility trials in Cato, NY. Tia earned two Excellent B Jumpers qualifying runs I believe. Queezle qualified in Open Standard to finish her OA! She is now in Excellent in all three classes. Most excitingly, Flag the Ridgeback qualified in Novice Jumpers in the pouring rain on Friday to finish his NJP! The also means he will get a versatility title from the Ridgeback club.

Next up were the Bainbridge shows. On Thursday Queezle was Select bitch. Friday she won the breed, nothing in the Group. I also showed Flint the young Rottweiler puppy, who went Reserve Winners Dog. It was his first show ever, and he had a grand time. Saturday Flint went Reserve again and Queezle was Best of Breed. Queezle had been blowing coat pretty rapidly over the weekend (the entire Terv entry was), so on Sunday we elected to stay home and went to herding practice in Caroline.

July 9 and 10 we drove up to Hamlin, NY for conformation and obedience. Queezle was entered in breed on Saturday, but severely lacking in hair so she just showed in obedience. Flint was very cute but got second in his class. Queezle's heeling in Open A obedience was not stellar, but she did everything else very well despite the very high temperatures and ended up being the only qualifier! The score was not pretty, but a green ribbon is a green ribbon. On Sunday her heeling was much worse, and we ended up failing on that. On the retrieve over the high jump she got the dumbbell, brought it back and dropped it at my feet. Since we had already failed, I told her to pick it back up. She pounced on it, laying down as she picked it up. Then she looked at me confused, and rolled over with the dumbbell in her mouth! Goofy dog. After that we drove home to Vernon for a week of doctor and dentist appointments for me (eww), plus an impromptu haircut.

On July 22nd I judged the Livingston County Fair for dog 4H. Temps were in the 90s, so we flew through the ten obedience entries and two grooming & handling kids. All of the kids put in a good effort, and there were no big disasters. The two Aussies in Grad Beginner did an especially good job. Hopefully all of them will stick with it and continue training next year! Driving home I bought ice cream for the dogs and me.

Saturday the 23rd we drove down to Binghamton for an obedience trial. Queezle put in a lovely performance in Open A, but sat up with 20 seconds left on the long down. Grad Open took forever to get started, so Tia was pretty deflated by the time we went in the ring, and then I couldn't hear half of what the judge said so we did a pretty shoddy job. Tia really perked up on the glove exercise though, which made me happy, and on the directed jumping took the jump that I told her to (which turned out to be the wrong one - I had misheard the judge - but oh well!).

Sunday the 24th was wild. I went to pick up Queezle's number, didn't see mine on the board so I assumed I had the wrong number in my head and picked up 217 instead. Bad choice. A few minutes later the real 217 came to find me and take her number back, at which point I went to the table to figure out what number I really was. I was actually 214, but since I hadn't been written on the board they put me at the end of the class. Then when Queezle and I got to the ring for our turn, the judge didn't have a sheet for us! He had to go check with the trial secretary that I really was entered, and then we finally got to go. Queezle did a wonderful job, qualifying with a 192 and second place to finish her CDX! She finished both her CD and CDX under Frank Washabaugh - I guess we'll have to watch for him when we're getting close to our UD!

Tia was awesome in Grad Open. She did the drop in the ring for the first time ever, even though it took two commands. The rest of her signals were nice. On the articles she brought back the wrong one, but she did actually bring me one, which is a step in the right direction. She brought the correct glove and did her moving stand. On the go-out, she went all the way to the gate (another first for us in a trial setting), but then instead of sitting came back to me. On the directed jumping she took the wrong jump, but the rest of it was such an improvement that I couldn't really be mad at her. We'll keep working! On the way home we picked up five ducklings for my mom. They then spent the night at my apartment and I delivered them on Monday. Initially I was calling them the Jackson 5, but they have since been renamed the Chocolates - Godiva, Toblerone, Ghirardelli, Lindt and something else that has escaped my mind. Can't really tell them apart anyway, except for Godiva who is the smallest and Toblerone who is the biggest.

Last Wednesday I moved out of Lake Street and dumped my stuff in the new apartment. Lake Street had its faults, but I did love that apartment and will miss it. Next year should be fun though, as Queezle and I will be living with a bunch of band people.

Ridgeback Rodeo - Days 3 and 4

2011-08-02T22:00:00.003-04:00

It has occurred to me that I never put the actual name of the site - Scattergun Reserve, which is an absolutely beautiful place and a paradise for people interested in hunting and shooting when it isn't overrun by Ridgebacks!

Saturday I had a full day with the Ridgies - lots of people showing up to try agility, and some repeats coming back for their dogs to get some more experience. There was only one dog the whole weekend who wanted nothing to do with agility - we were able to coax her most of the way up the aframe, but there was no way she was going to go in the tunnel and it was clear that she was only cooperating on other obstacles because her people asked her to and they were the lesser evils in her mind. Other than that every dog tried most of the obstacles, though for the ones that had trouble learning the tunnel I had them skip the chute - no need to have a scary experience before they have a chance to become more comfortable with a regular tunnel.

Dinner on Saturday was steak grilled to perfection, along with beans and salad. Afterward Eric hooked up the tractor to a hay wagon and took most of the rodeoers for a hayride. Queezle was sure that we would all die horrible deaths, but many of the dogs thought it was a good time. We followed a trail around the farmland on the property and bordering the woods.

Sunday was the fourth and final day of the Rodeo, and brought the ATTS evaluations. For the ATTS, the dogs go through a series of stations that simulate real-life situations that a dog might encounter, and the three testers evaluate whether or not the dog responds appropriately. The handler is not allowed to talk to or encourage the dog in any way. First was the neutral stranger, who approaches the handler and chats briefly, without acknowledging the dog. Queezle sniffed her but that was it. Next was the friendly stranger, who greets the dog. Queezle allowed her to pet her, looking back at me rolling her eyes (classic Queezle in public - she can't understand why strangers insist on drooling all over her, but since they are harmless she allows them to worship her).

At the third station a person shakes a bucket full of rocks while behind a blind, and then reaches out and puts the bucket on the ground. Ideally the dog will investigate and put its head in the bucket to see what's inside. Queezle looked up at the noise, and then ignored the bucket. She did eventually check it out after I made a fuss of admiring the bucket. Fourth was the gun test. A person behind a blind fires a starting pistol once, pauses, and then fires twice more. The dog is expected to startle, and should then recover. Queezle doesn't like thunder or fireworks, so I knew she would have the most trouble with this station. She startled and then plastered herself to my side. She was still a little unsettled after a few seconds, but was composed enough for the head tester to tell us to go on. At the fifth station a person opens an umbrella in front of the dog and puts it down. The dog is supposed to investigate and will ideally touch the umbrella. Queezle went right up to the umbrella and touched it, then continued on (I had to laugh at that - what with Ithaca weather Queezle is very accustomed to seeing and hearing umbrellas!).

The sixth and seventh stations test a dog's reaction to tactile stimulation. First they have to walk over a plastic tarp, and then over a wire ex-pen laid out on the ground. Queezle didn't blink about either one. I was kind of surprised that she did the ex-pen on the first try - I had figured that she would need to investigate that first. She was still keeping her ears turned toward where the gun had been though, so she may have been thinking that a wire grate was nothing compared to possibly getting shot.

The last three stations are all sort of molded together, and deal with a "weird stranger." First the person, strangely dressed, steps out from behind a blind while making noise. The stranger then turns toward the dog and handler and starts to approach while acting threatening. The testers expect dogs to react based on their breed and training (for example, a schutzhund dog would lunge at the stranger), but all dogs should register that the person is a threat. Queezle picked him up right away and moved close beside me, watching him carefully until he had turned back.

Queezle passed! The chief tester commented on how she is very aware of everything going on around her - that's a Belgian for you! The only people who know whether a dog passes are the testers and the handler, so I don't know for sure how everyone else did, but from the dogs that I watched most of them did well. It was really interesting to watch, as there were breeds other than Ridgebacks entered. The behavior and different reactions were fascinating.

After that it was time to pack up and head home. I had a great time, and maybe will be able to go back next year!

Ridgeback Rodeo - Day 2

2011-07-29T21:45:00.002-04:00

Today started out a little rougher than planned. I had set my phone to go off at 8 am... and the phone died somewhere in the middle of the night. Luckily I woke up on my own around 8:30 and was able to be ready in time for my 9 am shift in the agility ring.

As it turned out, no one showed up during the actual shift. Just as I was about to wander off, Magic the puppy came over. He had a total blast, especially with the tunnel, which he ran loops through once we showed him what it was about!

As well as Magic, there were six or seven other Ridgebacks, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, a Cane Corso and a Jack Russell (the other breeds all live with Ridgies and were getting bored hanging out). What was really interesting was that a lot of the Ridgebacks loved the aframe. We could hardly get Logan off it. A few of them didn't like the tunnels, but we got everyone to do the teeter in a calm fashion.

Queezle's main activity for the day was having a herding lesson. No big surprise - I'm the one who needs the most work. So we have a list of things to work on with that.

Tonight's dinner was fried perch with french fries and pasta salad. Someone was handing out glowsticks, so Queezle has been practicing her hold with an orange glowstick. Now she's crashed under the table. Two more days!

Ridgeback Rodeo - Day 1

2011-07-28T22:14:00.002-04:00

Yeah yeah yeah, I'm way behind. We can do catch-ups next week. For now: The Rodeo.

From working with Flag, I was asked to be the agility event manager at the annual Ridgeback Rodeo in Pennsylvania. If you have and/or love Ridgebacks, it is the place to be at the end of July. It is held on a game farm and offers all kinds of hunt tests, lure coursing, agility, rally, tracking, etc. Plus really awesome food (I just had a salmon dinner, the salmon having come straight from Alaska. Talk about winning).

Today I just worked two and a half hours, during which time I had two Ridgeback customers and a couple of the other instructors' dogs. Ridgie #1 was Elke (pronounced Elka, but it is the Dutch version of the name). She has taken a beginner class and was really hot, but ran the entire course and did the teeter for the first time ever! Later her brother Chance came by. He is almost ready to trial, and ran the whole course great except he really loves contact obstacles. His handler is working on making the other obstacles high-value as well. They are aiming to enter the Ridgeback National in September.

When we were off duty, Queezle and I wandered the grounds, socialized and worked some. We ran the rally course, and then after picking up rocks got to try lure coursing. It was love at first sight. One look at those plastic "bunnies" running across the field, and she was off like a feral fuzzy bullet. She ran the whole course the first try, and would have gone again if I had let her, but it was pretty hot and muggy out. We will be looking for a test sometime soon!

Right now she is passed out on the couch in the AC with me. Hopefully tomorrow I will get some pictures...

SOTC Obedience Trials

2011-06-15T22:23:00.002-04:00

Queezle made her debut in Open A obedience and not only qualified, but scored a 191 1/2 and went 2nd place out of 29 dogs! She worked wonderfully, and Judge Bob Self couldn't say enough nice things about her. Good dog!

On day two things didn't go quite so well - it was raining very hard outside, and then something crashed a couple times in the hallway, which Queezle thought was thunder. She held herself together and did a decent job of heeling, but was clearly nervous and we eventually left. Naturally, the bad weather cleared up halfway through the class. Oh well - I'm still very pleased with how she worked on day one.

Tia was entered in Grad Open, which is sort of a stepping stone from Open to Utility. She really wasn't ready to be entered, but since it was our club's big trial we thought why not since she knew most of the exercises. Poor Tia had kind of a meltdown on Saturday when I gave her the drop command in the signal exercise, staring at me blankly. I was surprised because she usually does signals well in class, but whatever, on we went. I tried to keep her happy and "up" but she was acting very lost and confused. She did, however, pass the moving stand.

Our goal for Sunday was to keep Tia up and pass two exercises instead of just one. She was still sluggish, but much better - although she brought me the wrong glove on the directed retrieve, she did at least bring me one instead of trotting around aimlessly. Once again she passed the moving stand, and then to my immense surprise, she took the jump on directed jumping! I was very proud of her for that. Directed jumping and go outs were the two exercises that she didn't know at all when we sent in our entries, and we've been practicing for the 3 weeks since I finished up with finals. I was so pleased with her for that, and it was perfect because that way she ended on a high note.

Some Show Results

2011-06-08T15:11:00.005-04:00

Once classes ended a few weeks ago, the dogs and I started hitting up various shows again.

First was the SOTC agility trial, where Tia had three qualifying runs in Excellent Jumpers and Flag the Ridgeback earned his second Novice Jumpers leg with a second place.

At the Alexander conformation shows, Queezle went Best of Breed both days. Belle the Vizsla showed well in the rain and mud but there was no competition for her.

Then we went to agility trials in Port Byron. Tia had another Q in Excellent Jumpers, and Queezle got her second Open standard leg!

This past weekend Queezle, Belle and I drove down to Wrightstown, PA for conformation shows. Belle went Winners Bitch the first two days, bringing her up to 3 points total. Queezle went Best of Breed every day, and on Sunday got a Herding Group 3!

Close Encounters of the Ithacan Kind

2011-05-23T16:15:00.002-04:00

Our daily walks provide Queezle and I with an opportunity to see and sometimes interact with a wide variety of people. Here are a couple of my favorites from the past month or so.

One day in the park, a man came up to me and asked if Queezle was a Belgian Tervuren. Why yes! It isn't often that people know what a Terv is. Turns out his parents have a Terv from Tacara Kennels in Oklahoma!

Walking home from the park one day, we encountered a large family on the sidewalk. Two little boys came running up to ask if the could pet Queezle. Their first question was typical of kids who meet Queezle - Is she a wolf? Nope, sorry guys. But their next question was a surprise - How much does she shed? I don't think of that as something little boys think about! Their mother laughed and said they had been asking that about every dog they met.

After a walk on the Slope, we were crossing the road near home when a car pulled up and stopped. The guy asked what kind of dog Queezle was, and then said, "What a gorgeous coat. She'd make a great rug!" and drove off.

Today in the park one of the fishermen came over to see Queezle. Turns out he has a Gordon Setter mix and does a lot of hunting, which led to a conversation about versatile dogs, shelters, designer breeds, herding and tracking.

Never a dull moment!

Salt City Shows

2011-04-09T15:45:00.003-04:00

Last weekend was the big Salt City Cluster at the Syracuse Fairgrounds. I was showing Tia in obedience, Flag the Rhodesian Ridgeback in agility and Belle the Vizsla in conformation.

Tia was the star of the weekend! On Thursday and Friday she showed with my mom in Open A. On Thursday she had a really nice individual but laid down in the last ten seconds of the sit stay. On Friday she put in another decent performance and qualified to earn her second leg with a score of 180 1/2! On Saturday I was able to show her. She did a lovely job (probably the best that she has ever worked for me), and qualified with a 184 to finish her CDX!

Flag had a rough start on Saturday, taking one jump and then leaving the ring to look for his owner. For Sunday we decided to have me pick him up at her house and not let him see or be anywhere near her until after his class, so that he would understand that he was stuck with me. It worked! He had a great run, and qualified with second place for his first NJP leg. Only two more to go!

This weekend was Belle's first show ever. I was really impressed with how great she was in the building - she wasn't bothered by any of the noises or the crowds. She showed like a pro both days, going Winners Bitch and Best of Opposite to earn her first point on Saturday.

Maybe I DON'T Want Spring

2011-04-06T00:44:00.002-04:00

Queezle and I were lounging peacefully on the couch doing Spanish homework when I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up just in time to see a 3-inch long centipede race across the floor and under my couch. NOT COOL.

A hell of a lot of expletives, bug spray, furniture shifting and paper towels later, the bug is dead, I am wide awake and Queezle has taken shelter in her crate. I'm going to be a paranoid mess the rest of the night.

SOTC Agility and Ithaca Match

2011-03-11T00:59:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago I drove up to Syracuse for the SOTC winter agility trials. Tia was the star of the weekend, earning her third MXP leg on Saturday with third place and a second place in Excellent Jumpers on Sunday. Her other runs and all of Queezle's were very nice, but with just one error too many to qualify. Queezle impressed me by hitting ALL of her contacts both days! Obviously our training is sticking!

This past weekend there was a match offered at the Oxley Equestrian Center. I showed Belle the Viszla in conformation for her to get some more experience - she did a really nice job! I've been working with her once a week, and he first show will be the Salt City Cluster the end of March. I also showed Queezle in Ladies' Handling, and we won! Knock on wood, but Queezle is currently undefeated in adult handling - she's won twice with me and once with my mom.

Happy 6th Birthday Queezle!

2011-03-04T00:27:00.004-05:00

It's Queezle's birthday!

Happy Birthday Q!

Ithawca

2011-02-18T14:17:00.002-05:00

How not to start your morning: slip on the ice outside while walking your dog and fall, then slide about 15 feet until you land in the remains of a snowdrift. In your pajamas.

That was how Queezle and I started our day, and though no injuries were sustained, I don't recommend it.

It is now a beautiful day in Ithaca - sunny, blue skies and 55 degrees! While exceedingly pleasant, the thaws and freezes that we've been having all week have made life on the hill a very slippery business.

Queezle and my midday walk led us to the park, along with several other people out enjoying the weather. Our outing wasn't to be a simple walk in the park though. Like everywhere else that doesn't get plowed, the park's well-packed trails have turned to ice, and in several places have also become little rivers for melting snow to head down to the creek. These conditions make it the perfect stage for an America's Funniest Home Video bloopers reel.

To get into the park, you have to go down a slope and around an old stone embankment, then up and over a ridge before you reach the level area that leads back to the waterfall. I opted to inch slowly down, picking where I put my feet and hoping the spots would hold (and shrieking and flailing my arms when they didn't). One man opted for the run-and-hope-you-make-it version, and did a 360 as he slid down! A young couple almost got to the top of the ridge, only to slide back down, and a girl came crawling up from the other side on her hands and knees, covered in snow.

Getting back out of the park was just as complicated, because the front of the park is largely blocked by the embankment, a cliff and an old foundation, with the icy entrance path as the only formal entrance. Queezle and I sort of half-climbed the embankment, grabbing onto the park bench on our way and then using the foundation for support. The young couple had parked in the lot up above, so they chose to climb over the foundation. Once clear of all that, it was a quick slide to the sidewalk and safety!

Watchdog at Work

2011-02-17T00:23:00.004-05:00

In our apartment, the room that Queezle and I spend the most time in has two windows that face the apartment complex next door. Queezle has for the most part gotten used to people walking by our windows at all hours of the day and night, but for whatever reason, the guys who live in the apartment on the end like to make their phone calls outside. No problem right?

Wrong. Whenever one of them makes a call, he paces back and forth in front of his apartment, in full view of both my couch and the lounge chair, Queezle's two favorite spots. I can sympathize, as I myself am incapable of standing still while talking on the phone, but to Queezle, pacing is a very suspicious activity, especially where strangers are concerned. Watchdog that she is, she barks and/or growls to make sure that strange guy stays far away from her territory.

The guys probably aren't thrilled that my dog barks at them every time they try to make a phone call, but to her they look like they're planning an attack or have something wrong with them, and in either case she wants no part of it. For my part, I tell her to be quiet and consider myself lucky to have a 24-7, no-batteries-required security system.

What's out there Queezle?

Westminster!

2011-02-15T23:58:00.003-05:00

Queezle and I have been watching Westminster (in lieu of studying... whoops), and while she is unimpressed, I am thrilled that the Scottish Deerhound, GCH Foxcliffe Hickory Wind, went Best In Show! What a stunning bitch, and how cool for her to go BIS over some really top dogs.

This was also supposed to be her retirement weekend - talk about going out with a bang!

Flash's Anniversary

2011-02-14T22:04:00.005-05:00

13 years ago, I was in Connecticut picking up my very own Corgi puppy. Flash is still going pretty strong, running around barking and eating every treat she can get her paws on. I love you Flash!

And a Happy Valentine's Day from Queezle, who does not agree that Flash is the best.

Grand Champion Queezle!

2011-01-19T21:10:00.003-05:00

Back in December, Queezle and I packed up and drove out to Cleveland with some friends for the Crown Classic dog show as soon as finals were done. We had a pretty successful weekend, taking Best of Opposite the first three days to finish Queezle's Grand Champion! On the fourth day she also took a Select.

This past weekend, we headed out to Hamburg for the Nickel City Cluster. On Friday Queezle went Best of Breed and took a Group 4! On Saturday she went Best of Breed again, and got a pull in the Group but didn't place. On Sunday she went Best of Opposite to her friend Charlie.

Tia's First CDX Leg!!!

2011-01-09T18:06:00.002-05:00

It wasn't pretty, but Tia qualified in Open A obedience today for her first CDX leg!!! Overall she did a pretty nice job, though there were a lot of no-sits. On the retrieve on the flat she dropped the dumbbell 2-3 feet away from me. The rule is that if the handler can reach the dumbbell without moving his or her feet, it counts as being close enough. So I knelt down and stretched out my arms and managed to flick it closer with me finger. Then on the the retrieve over the high jump she did a lovely front. Man was I sweating bullets all through the long sit stay! But she did it, and now we're one down, two to go!

The Great Essay Caper

2010-12-28T18:05:00.013-05:00

One night in November I finished writing an essay.

The essay was due at 10 am the next morning. Considering the late hour, and that the next day began my Thanksgiving break, I knew that once I went to sleep I was not going to want to get up to turn it in. However, Goldwin Smith is usually open, so Queezle and I decided to make an adventure of it.

We made our way up to the Arts Quad, which we had to ourselves.

Like any good tourist, Queezle (or at least a werewolf that looks like Queezle) posed with Ezra.

Then we followed the footsteps of the founders...

...and posed with AD White.

Into the building we went, and up to the English Lounge.

At this point I realized a small error in my planning. The English Department mailroom is locked up around 4 pm, after which you can still stick stuff through the slot in the door but it must have the name of the person it is intended for on it. I had not included my professor's name on the essay, and was without writing utensils. So Queezle and I began combing the building, poking through any unlocked cabinets and inspecting bulletin boards. We were very excited to find some unattended pizza boxes, but sadly they were empty (yes, I checked).

We finally struck gold in the basement, where we found a dry erase board and corresponding marker. My essay appropriately labeled, we climbed back up to the second floor and turned it in (note: I did not draw the muscle man).

Then we continued our tourist activities by posing at the Temple of Zeus.

At last it was time to head home.

Mission accomplished!

Merry Christmas! (and a lot of catching up)

2010-12-27T16:04:00.010-05:00

This past semester was rough - guess the honeymoon period is over! However, I did manage to make it through somewhat gracefully. Here's what the Q and I have been up to!

We washed dishes:

We investigated an old cemetery:

Queezle got her beauty rest:

My hibiscus bloomed for Homecoming weekend:

Tia came for a visit:

Queezle nixed Halloween costume 1:

And decided version 2 was much better:

I drank a lot of caffeine:

And we did some good ol' arts and crafts (it's supposed to be a crysknife from Dune):

Then as soon as finals were over we went out to Cleveland, OH for the big dog show circuit, where Queezle finished her Grand Championship!
Merry Christmas!

Dumbbell Games

2010-09-22T21:02:00.003-04:00

Now that we finally have a dumbbell with us (give me a break here - I was packing a lot of stuff!), Queezle and I are back to working on take/hold. She has the general idea of the retrieve, and will take the dumbbell in her mouth for a split second. Right now I'm trying to expand on that.

Today I realized an easy way for us to practice the retrieve during our daily routine. When I'm trying to read/study, Queezle will inevitably bring out her rubber peppermint toy and drop it on my book. Sooner or later when I throw it for her she knocks it under the couch. It's usually only a few inches under - she could easily reach it but instead of using her paws productively she flails around making a huge din and accomplishing nothing. Then of course she expects me to get the peppermint out for her. So now the deal is - you want the peppermint? Bring me the dumbbell. When she makes her peevish two-year-old noise, I slide the dumbbell a little way across the room, and then she's expected to bring it to me. She figured it out right off, and while she gives me a long-suffering look, she retrieves it! Then I fish out the peppermint and we go back to that game.

Ithaca is Gorges

2010-09-06T21:32:00.004-04:00

Stereotypical though it may be, Ithaca really is gorges (and gorgeous!). After a week of walking Queezle in a grassy area around the corner from our apartment, it occurred to me that I didn't know what was up the driveway we usually stopped at. There was no house or anything, just a small parking area, and voila! A little park, complete with gorge access.

The park is absolutely wonderful - packed paths leading through a few trees and along the cliff, plus a wide rocky "beach" alongside Fall Creek. Following the cliffs back, there's a beautiful waterfall with a nice area for swimming.

I loved going down into the gorge to read last year, so this is the perfect study spot! Queezle and I are particularly fond of a little hollow surrounded by trees and bushes along the water's edge.

Although Queezle isn't quite sure if swimming is a good idea - You want me to WHAT? - she is willing to wade and splash around after me. I keep waiting for her to notice the crayfish!

Back on the hill!

2010-09-02T21:01:00.002-04:00

The girls and I have had a very busy past couple weeks. First, at the August agility trials in Cato, NY we had three qualifying runs. Tia earned her 8th and 9th MJP legs (only one more to go!), and Queezle earned her first XF leg! Flash was wild as ever and had a grand time, but didn't qualify at all.

After doing two days of agility, we headed to the Tioga Kennel Club shows for the weekend. On Saturday, Flash got a Veteran Herding Group 3! Queezle went Best of Breed both days over a very large and nice Terv entry, which gave her two 5 point majors toward her Grand Champion! We didn't get any Group placements, but getting all those GRCH points more than made up for that. She is now up to 12 points and 2 majors out of the required 25 points and 3 majors. We won't be doing any more breed shows for a while though because she is blowing coat like no tomorrow - I feel like I fill my trashcan with hair every day!

Moving into the apartment has gone very smoothly, and Queezle is adjusting quite well. As you can see from the photo, she is hardly stressed.

Queezle tagged along for the marching band's second annual scavenger hunt, and also came to the welcome back picnic, so she has met a LOT of new people over the past week. Sometimes I can tell she is irritated with me sitting around reading and writing, but I do think she is happy to be here with me. Although we don't have air conditioning, she has been lounging in front of a big fan almost 24/7. Talk about the dog days of summer.

So Much for Love

2010-08-12T19:08:00.002-04:00

Queezle and I are chilling near Albany for the Ballston Spa shows. So far we have gone Best of Breed both days with no competition, and haven't gotten anything in the Group. Tonight I had fed her in the car and got myself a salad and smoothie from McDonald's.

When we got to the hotel I realized I have a lot of stuff to lug up to the room. No problem - I'll just combine bags and balance stuff carefully and we'll be ok. Got everything up the stairs and through our temperamental door and settled down to dine. I like to save some of the chicken for last, so I put aside a few pieces as well as the tomatoes which I was not going to eat. Fork in hand, I realize that between the cooler, Target bag, McDonald's bag, purse and dog, I had forgotten the smoothie in the car. Rats. I carefully balance the salad on the coat rack thing out of Queezle's reach and head back out to the car.

I had forgotten one thing - the lid housing the chicken and tomatoes, which was sitting on the nightstand. When I returned a minute or so later, the chicken had mysteriously disappeared and Queezle had her most innocent face on. Did she eat the tomatoes? Of course not.

Recent Shows

2010-08-09T21:27:00.005-04:00

Since Queezle didn't have her litter after all, we have been going to shows the past few weekends. Queezle is thrilled to finally be back on the road, and the other girls have gotten to do some agility too.

Queezle showed one day in breed in Stormville, NY and got Best of Breed and a Group III.

In Bloomsburg, PA, Queezle went Best of Breed all three days and got a Group IV on Saturday. The photo is from Friday.

This past weekend we did four days of agility trials in Brewerton, NY. Flash was the star of the weekend out of my three dogs, earning her second Excellent FAST leg with a 1st place! Because she is almost 13, I tried to challenge her jump height so she could jump 4" in preferred. Naturally my little beast hasn't shrunk the quarter of an inch she needed! It would have been nice for her to jump lower, but we can deal. She had a bunch of really nice Jumpers runs but with bars down - here is one of them.

Tia wasn't running quite as well as she did back in June, though we did have some nice runs. In Standard on Sunday she just had one bar down that I hadn't even noticed! She is starting to do that funny cough/gag thing again. We are thinking it may be a bronchitis sort of thing caused by either the humidity or a pollen that is coming out now. Tia says that steak at every meal would fix everything!

Queezle is running wonderfully, except for being a brat at the weave poles. Working at home she gives me no trouble, but when I send her to the weaves at a trial she runs at me barking obnoxiously. I have started removing her from the course when she does that. It kills me because she is doing a really beautiful job even on difficult courses and is so fun to run, but if I get it through her head now that being a brat means the fun stops, she will be better about the weaves in the long run. I am also going to keep working her on really hard entries and doing weaves with lots of distractions at home - my thought process there is that if I can have her 100% confident that she can do the weaves correctly no matter what, doing them at a trial will be easy and not worth putting up a fuss. We are also taking a class with Tracy Sklenar to help with her contact issues (namely sailing over them with a gleefully wicked smile on her face).

Today we took the first load of my stuff down to the apartment in Ithaca. Only a few weeks left until school starts back up again

No Litter

2010-07-18T19:20:00.002-04:00

I have been putting off posting this because every time I say it it gets a little more real. Queezle is not having a litter after all. Her x-ray on the 6th showed no puppies, which means that however many there were at the time of the ultrasound, they were resorbed between then and now. This is not unheard of, but it's sad all the same. To make matters worse, we are probably not going to be able to use Poncho again. Luckily Queezle herself is totally fine, so we can go from here.

The silver lining to all this is that now Queezle and I can get to some shows this summer! I go back to school in August and she will probably blow her coat in September, so between then and now we are cramming in as many shows as possible. Queezle says it's about time we started taking her places again!

4th of July and Bainbridge

2010-07-03T21:39:00.003-04:00

While many dogs are hiding in corners from the booming fireworks, Tia is bounding around the house with her giant pink and green flounder. A few fireworks can't bring her down!

On Thursday we went to the Bainbridge shows for the one day of obedience. As well as Tia I was also showing my mom's Terv Hokey. Neither of them were stellar, and neither of them qualified, but there were moments of brilliance. Hokey has been having some dumbbell issues but did both his retrieves perfectly, and Tia did both her drop on recall and the broadjump correctly. Showing outdoors is harder for the dogs, as there are a lot more scents and distractions. The biggest distraction of the day was a train going by during the middle of our stays, but Tia remained in her down!

Cato Trials

2010-06-27T19:12:00.004-04:00

We just finished up with 4 days of agility trials in Cato. Tia was the star of the weekend! She was running in Excellent Standard and Excellent Jumpers, and I was also running Flash in Excellent Jumpers and Excellent FAST and my mom's Terv Hokey in the same classes as Tia.

On Friday, Tia qualified in both classes, also known as a double Q! Then on Saturday she qualified again in Jumpers. She now has two double Q's toward her PAX title and 7 MJP legs. Almost all of her runs were under time, and she ran with me very well. Our nonqualifying runs just had minor errors and were still very smooth.

Hokey and I had a lot of nice almosts, though he was having trouble making his weave pole entry. He is very silly and had a good time.

As always, the Flash was fast and furious. Our main issue was knocking bars. I did notice that she knocked the double and triple jumps fairly consistently, so I think I'm going to challenge her jump height at the next trial we go to. Several years ago the AKC changed the height limits for the 8" division, but I never remeasured her because she was doing just fine as a 12" dog at that point. If she measures within the 8" division, that means she will be able to jump 4" as a preferred dog, which will make all the jumps a lot lower for her. We'll see!

Miss Tia Bean is still basking in praise, and got a burger on the way home each day that she qualified.

Mayflower

2010-06-24T19:13:00.003-04:00

Flash and I spent last week at the Mayflower Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club's regional specialty show. We were staying with one of my aunts, so Flash had a great time being the only dog in a house with several adoring humans.

Monday and Tuesday we drive up to Amherst, NH for the agility trials. We didn't have any qualifying runs, but she did a really nice job on Monday. On Tuesday the club was also offering Time 2 Beat as a fun run. T2B is a new class in AKC agility that is totally based on how fast the dogs in the class run. The fastest dog at the end of the day would get 10 points, and then dogs within a certain amount of seconds of that dog's time would get 9 points, etc down to 0. In order to title your dog would have to earn 100 points. I'm not sure exactly when they plan to add it as a titling class, but it's in the works.

Wednesday we took off to visit my grandparents and aunt and uncle who live near Worcester. We had a great time visiting, though we did get somewhat lost on the drive home. I told Flash to keep her head down when we drove through one interesting neighborhood!

On Thursday we headed for the official show site in Boxboro, MA for obedience. First Flash and I showed in Grad Novice. She did a really nice job, but was confused on the dumbbell recall. For Grad Nov the dog is supposed to hold the dumbbell while you walk away and then bring it to you when you call them. Flash was confused and dropped it when I left her - she's used to a full retrieve! We also showed in Veteran Novice, which is Novice level obedience for old dogs only, and a non-regular class (which means you don't have to have a qualifying score to get a placement!). Despite some barking on Flash's part, we got 4th place! Ok, so it was out of four. But we still got a neat little pottery mug!

Friday was conformation day. Flash and I aren't exactly serious contenders in the breed ring, but we have fun and Flash enjoys putting on a show for everyone. We didn't place in any of our classes, but lots of people commented on how much spark she has for an old girl!

SOTC Obedience Trial

2010-06-23T17:30:00.004-04:00

June 12-13 were the Syracuse Obedience Training Club's annual June trial, which is always a fun event for the club and other exhibitors. People travel from all over to enjoy the show and then the wine & cheese party Saturday evening, which features a ton of excellent food cooked mostly by club members!

Having recovered from January, I once again had Tia entered in Open A. Though I was prepared for another heavy dose of humility, I focused on how great she has been doing in class and on keeping her up beat and psyched before we went in the ring.

Saturday was a bit of a bummer. I had Tia really up and timed our warm-up perfectly so that we could do some quick review in the hallway and then relax in a chair ringside to watch the dog and handler before us. Into the ring we went, Tia smiling up at me and promptly sitting in heel position when we lined up for the heel pattern. Her heeling started off great, but in the middle of it she started reverse sneezing, a weird snorting noise that a lot of small or smush-nosed dogs do every now and then. Aussies are not a breed that typically does it, but it can still happen either when they choke on something, are pulling on their lead a lot or as a stress thing. For whatever reason, Tia started doing it and wouldn't stop, so the judge excused us. Often when something like that happens the judge will let you come back later and try again, but this judge said that we were done for the day.

On Sunday I didn't time our warm-up quite as well, but Tia was still reasonably up when we got in the ring. Her heeling wasn't bad at all, and she even did some automatic sits! For the figure 8 she did the first half very nicely and then got a little messy on the second half. Her drop on recall was lovely as always. Then on the retrieves she must have started running out of steam because halfway out to the dumbbell she stopped and looked lost. This caused us to NQ, but I was still very pleased with Tia's performance!

Ultrasound Results

2010-06-21T18:20:00.003-04:00

Queezle had her ultrasound on June 11, and is indeed pregnant! From what the vet could tell, there are 2-3 puppies. Ultrasound counts are often inaccurate, but they are very good for telling if your bitch is pregnant or not. To get an accurate count, we have to wait a few more weeks and then can do an xray, which will show the puppies' little skeletons (it's really cool to see all of them in there). So now it's back to waiting!

Tia and the Ball

2010-06-08T16:02:00.006-04:00

The other day, Tia detected a ball in the corner behind our big armchair. The ball had been there for months, and none of the dogs had shown any interest in it (we don't even know how it got there). But of course, despite having multiple bins full of toys ready at hand, once Tia noticed it she just had to have it.

Her first step was to crawl through the small space between the chair and the shelves behind it.

On the far side of the chair, there is a table that sticks out a little and presented Tia with an even narrower space to get through. This challenge gave her pause for a moment.

But she was determined to get that ball, and with a final heave, she was free!

Having claimed the ball as her own, she wiggled her way back out from behind the chair and proceeded to parade around the house.

The Puppy Process

2010-06-02T18:23:00.005-04:00

Back in May, my mom and I drove to Michigan for Queezle to be bred. The lucky guy is Poncho, CH Blackwater's Side Kick.

You know those programs on TV every now and then about how your food is made and all the crazy shipping and processing, etc involved in getting it to your grocery store? Well, for dedicated, responsible breeders, the process of having a litter is equally complicated, not to mention expensive.

The first step for me was to have a top-quality foundation bitch, aka Queezle. The Q came from a very nice litter with parents who had done very well in both the conformation and performance rings, not to mention having great health. Even so, this did not guarantee that Queezle would be worthy of being bred. To get to this point, she had to finish her conformation Championship to prove that she adheres to the Belgian Tervuren breed standard and pass numerous health tests - hips, elbows, heart, thyroid and eyes every year. Even with all the health tests and her CH, she still might not have been deemed nice emough to be bred. However, luckily for us, she has turned out to be a stunning bitch, sound in both body and mind (temperament plays a huge role in your dog's life - a spooky or aggressive puppy is not going to have a good life, and probably won't have a good home, so why would you want to produce one?).

Next, I needed a stud. The catch to having a really nice bitch like Queezle is that you then have to find a stud dog that a) will not take away from any of her good qualities, and b) will hopefully improve on her weaknesses. Obviously there is no perfect dog, and so concessions must be made. For me, my first priority is that the puppies be healthy and sound, capable of living a long, happy life free of pain or genetic health defects. Then I would also like those puppies to be excellent examples of the Belgian Tervuren breed. My ideal Terv is capable of excelling in both the conformation and performance rings.

Finding that perfect stud was a long and arduous process. I must have spent hundreds of hours poring over photos and pedigrees - every time I came across a dog that had the right look I wanted, he turned out to have underlying health issues in his close relatives that I did not want to risk bringing into my lines. Fluke things happen - there is no way to know all of the recessive genes your dog might be carrying - but if you know that a dog has a genetic health issue behind him, you then have to decide if you are willing to risk producing that issue in your puppies. My deadline for making a choice was December, but I just wasn't quite happy with what I'd come up with at that point.

Finally, I was flipping through an old Tervuren News Tales and saw an ad for a very nice looking young male. He was just barely two years old, and so wouldn't have had all his health clearances yet, but one of the mantras many breeders throw out is that if you like a dog, look to his sire. His sire was Poncho. A health check and many phone calls later - to his breeder, the two people who had already bred to him, other respected breeders in the area that would have seen him at shows, etc - I was satisfied and decided that Poncho was the dog I wanted. Both the bitches he had been bred to had been looking to improve the same things I was, all of his puppies were healthy at 2 and 5 years of age, and his littermates were consistently healthy and good-looking. Luckily his owners agreed that it was a nice match, and we were on our way!

Now we are waiting on Queezle's ultrasound the end of next week to see if she is definitely pregnant, though she has been having some morning sickness which is a very good sign (not all bitches get morning sickness, but some do and Queezle did with her first litter). Then comes the x-ray a couple weeks down the road to see how many puppies, and then the munchkins themselves, and all the care, feeding and cleaning that comes with them. It is a lot of work (not to mention a lot of money - it is generally considered in the dog fancy that if you do it right, you are lucky to break even on a litter, and breeders usually lose money), but getting over all those barriers - the health testing, an objective analysis of whether your dog is truly breeding quality,picking a match who meets those criteria and can help make your bitch better, then the care - makes it even more special when you finally have those beautiful puppies climbing over the ex-pen and digging holes in the yard. We breed because we love our dogs and are dedicated to improving our breed, not to make money.

Keep your fingers crossed for the Q!

Flash NAP

2010-05-24T21:20:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago Tia, Flash and I went to the Syracuse Obedience Training Club's agility trials. Tia had a great weekend, qualifying in Exc Jumpers the first day and with a nice run in Standard, and then on Sunday getting her first double Q towards her PAX (Preferred Agility Excellent - basically the agility championship for dogs running at the preferred jump height)! However, although Tia was outstanding, my most exciting brag comes from Flash.

Flash is over 12 years old, and a maniac when it comes to agility. She runs fast enough to beat big dog times, and will do anything to go faster - including knocking bars and leaping over contacts, both of which are mistakes that cause you to NQ. Flash moved down to preferred 7 years ago. The lower jump height helped a lot with her bar problem, so she is now in Exc Jumpers (and got her first leg on Saturday!). Contacts on the other hand were still a major problem, particularly on the dogwalk. We managed to pull off two qualifying runs, and then have been hunting that last leg for almost two years.

Sunday before her Novice Standard run, I told Flash that if she qualified she would get a double cheeseburger on the way home and another one when I got home from college later in the week. Into the ring we went, I took off her leash, and she zipped right up and over the dogwalk and hit the contact! All the bars stayed up and she hit all the contacts, and at long last Flash finished her NAP with a first place!

Flash is now officially retired from the Standard class, as I don't like her doing the a-frame at her age any more, especially since she runs so fast and crazy. She will still be blasting through Jumpers and FAST as long as she is happy and sound. Gotta love my crazy old dog!

ABTC 2010 National Specialty

2010-05-23T19:11:00.005-04:00

I have lots of exciting news from the past few weeks, so I figure I will spread it out. Firstly, my mom and I drove from central New York to Pottsboro, TX for the Terv National, which was the week of May 1. Queezle and I showed in agility, obedience and conformation.

In agility, the Q was WILD. Considering she hadn't seen me in weeks and had just spent three days in the car, it was a miracle she stayed in the ring! She ran fast and a touch out of control, but we had really nice runs in Excellent Jumpers both days. The one day *I* caused her to knock a bar because I called her name right when she was going over a jump. Although we didn't qualify at all, I was pleased with her runs for the most part.

In obedience we were just entered in Wildcard Novice. In the Wildcard classes, you can praise your dogs throughout the runthru and can choose to skip one exercise and get full points for it. Queezle and I chose the offlead heeling as our Wildcard, but I opted to still do it for practice (the judge just couldn't take any points off even if we had errors). Queezle did a very nice job, and we ended up with first place! The whole class was a lot of fun - my mom and her boy Hokey got second, our friend Debbie Deuth with Trixie was third, and Sue Fregien with Ember, who is Hokey's niece, was fourth.

In the Best of Breed competition Queezle made the first cut but didn't make it any further than that. Considering there for over 50 other Terv bitches and over 60 dogs, that is still an accomplishment! I also got to show Queezle's daughter Lexi in Puppy Sweeps and her mother Diva in Veteran Sweeps. Lexi did not place, but Diva got second out of a large class. The old girl's still got it! Queezle had one other daughter at the show, Demi, who also made one cut in Best of Breed.

Salt City Cluster

2010-04-12T22:45:00.003-04:00

Two weekends ago the dogs and I went to three days of agility trials at the New York State Fair grounds. We had a great time and did pretty well!

Flash was WIRED and on the first day was out of control even for her (at 12 years of age she still burns up the course and screams and quivers at the startline). We didn't pull off any qualifying runs, but had some really nice runs, especially in Excellent Jumpers with Weaves. In Excellent FAST, which has a distance challenge where your dog has to work a certain distance away from you (it is marked on the ground with tape), she had two "almosts." The first day she ran back over the line and was going fast enough to make it move, which caused the judge to think I stepped over the line. Oh well. On the third day *I* pulled her off a jump - with fast dogs the slightest motion can change everything!

Tia had a dynamite weekend. She was undertime in all of her runs, which is saying something for Tia. She qualified twice in Excellent Jumpers, which means she now has three MJP legs (she needs 10), and also finished her AXP in Excellent Standard. This means that she is now going for her PAX, which is the agility champion title for dogs running in preferred (this enables them to jump 4" lower than their actual height). I'm not planning to seriously pursue it, but we'll keep trialing and if it happens, it happens. For the PAX she will need 20 double Q's, which means she has to qualify in both Jumpers and Standard on the same day, 20 times. The photo is of her a couple summers ago, taken by Mike Weir.

Like Flash, Queezle started off the weekend a bit out of hand. In Open Standard the first day she tried to make it a longjump competition, taking off up to 10 feet before the jumps. It didn't work. Over the next two days she calmed down, and we had some decent runs. On Sunday she came through and qualified in Excellent Jumpers to finish her AXJ! She ahd me a little nervous, as there was a big loop around the outside of the ring where she started to take off early, but she corrected herself and kept all of the bars up.

All in all it was a good weekend!

Happy April Fools' Day!

2010-04-01T23:37:00.003-04:00

It was a gorgeous day here in Ithaca, with temperatures in the low 70s and bright sun. The kind of day when I wish I had a dog with me to just wander around campus - all the college dogs were out enjoying the weather with their people. To make the day even better, marching band has started up again! For anyone in town, we'll be having our Spring Concert on April 17th, starting at Barton Hall and then marching and playing to various locations on campus and in Collegetown - if you can't see us, you'll hear us!

I also got an excited call from my mom to say that she and Tia almost qualified in Open A obedience! If you remember the last time Tia showed (January), it wasn't pretty. Today she was great, working with spunk and animation and overall putting on a great performance. I'm beginning to think the best way to get obedience titles on my dogs is to train them and then hand them over to my mom for polish and the show. Luckily obedience isn't my favorite sport, or this trend of my dogs doing better for her would be quite vexing! Her only error was that she needed a second command on the broadjump, which she has only gotten the hang of within the past few months. I am very proud of the Bean.

Starting tomorrow, I get to go to the dog show too. All three of my girls are entered in agility, so it will be a long three days. It should be a lot of fun though, and for the most part all of my runs are in the same ring. Tia was just entered in obedience today. I must say I'm a little surprised she didn't qualify, as my best day of agility trials ever was on April Fools' Day a couple years ago when I had three runs, three Qs (qualifying runs) and finished three titles! It was fitting, because the norm is for my dogs to make me look like a fool, so on April Fools' Day they reversed it. I guess the magic only works every once in a while though. Now we'll see how the rest of this weekend plays out!

Happy Birthday Tia!

2010-03-15T22:42:00.003-04:00

Today is Tia's 7th birthday! She is now officially a veteran. Tia loves birthdays, and feels that she should be treated specially every day. According to tradition, she will get to choose a toy - as you can see from the photo, Tia takes her toys very seriously!

This past Saturday Mom drove down and we both attended the Breeders' Symposium held at the Baker Institute by Cornell. It was an enjoyable and informative day, with talks covering all things canine health and reproduction. I had to laugh during the Canine Health Information Center presentation when the speaker mentioned how many hits their website has gotten recently - their data is probably inflated from me looking up potential stud dogs! Mom had brought Queezle along. She was perfectly happy hanging out in the car during the talks and was thrilled to see me. Her undercoat is starting to come back, but we don't have any conformation shows planned for a while.

Happy Birthday Queezle!

2010-03-08T23:36:00.003-05:00

On March 4th, Queezle celebrated her 5th birthday. She has come a long way from the little ball of fluff I brought home from Oregon in a Sherpa bag! On their birthdays, our dogs always get a special treat of some sort (a turkey melt this time) and then get to choose a new toy. Needless to say they think birthdays are pretty cool!

On Saturday I drove up to Syracuse for the last weekend of the Syracuse Obedience Training Club's agility league, which Queezle and I have been participating in. We had some really nice runs on very tough and twisty courses, though I did have to make her re-do the a-frame once when she cheated and jumped over the contact zone. After the official festivities were over, I ran Flash through the course just for fun and we practiced some contact obstacles.

In other news, the Cornell women's hockey team won its first ever ECAC Championship this past Sunday! We have also had four straight days of sun and temperatures reaching 40 in Ithaca, which has many of us wondering if the world has ended and we've all gone to heaven. I am really looking forward to spring, though hopefully we can go straight from snow to grass, and skip the mud stage - even though in the dorm I don't have to worry about keeping dogs clean, I have a bad habit of going cross-country when the paved walkways aren't the most efficient path. The one sad thing about the coming spring is that it will be the end of the snow igloo in front of my building.

Lots of Good Things

2010-03-02T00:16:00.004-05:00

I know, I know - I've been slacking again. But I've been busy! Firstoff, on February 25th Queezle's puppies turned one year old. They've come a long way from the little munchkins that could eat out of a muffin tin!

Second, this past weekend I met my mom in Syracuse for an agility trial after watching the Cornell hockey team beat Union 4-1 Friday night (Go Red!). I gave a couple other pep band members a ride to the game, which was good because the guys dug the car out a three foot drift that night as opposed to me doing it at 5:30 the next morning!

As always, I had a great time at the trial. Flash was her usual wild self, and although she didn't qualify in any of her runs, for the most part they were really nice. At this point in her career I'm just glad she's still active and having a good time - qualifying runs are icing on the cake. Tia started out with some very lackluster runs, but rose to the occasion for our last class of the weekend and had a nice run with only one error.

Queezle decided to celebrate her puppies' birthday and her own approaching birthday by earning her second Excellent Jumpers with Weaves leg with a first place! She was the only 20" Excellent A dog to qualify. Her weaving is really coming together, and she was very good about following my cues. She has also figured out that I often appear when Mom takes her to Syracuse - Mom said she went nuts as soon as they arrived Saturday. I'm sure right now she is mad at me for having disappeared again. That said, I know that she got a hamburger on the way home for her clean run, which must have made her very happy.

So Happy Belated Birthday to Lexi, Rebel, Joy, Mozart, Demi and Tenor and congrats to everyone else who did well at the trial!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T23:38:00.002-05:00

In many ways this is a bittersweet day for me, as this is the first Valentine's Day since 1998 that I haven't been able to celebrate Flash and my anniversary with her. We have both come a long way from that day 12 years ago when my little bundle of trouble came home, but I can honestly say she was the best Valentine's gift I ever got (and probably ever will!). She really is an awesome dog, and hopefully next year we'll be able to eat cookies and sit around together.

I was, however, able to go up to Syracuse for an agility seminar with Tracy Sklenar, where I met Mom and Queezle. The Q was very happy to see me, and we had a good time and learned some things we need to work on with her jumping style and confidence (Mom didn't bring Flash because it was too cold for her to be outside and she would have just barked like crazy the whole time if she was inside).

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

February Already?

2010-02-10T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sigh... I've been slacking. In my defense, I was attending 3 extra classes on top of my actual 5, so the world will just have to forgive me. The good news is, after two weeks of going to four different Creative Writing classes, I got in three! I was then able to pick the time slot that made the most sense for me and politely declined the other two offers. So I am now down to 5 classes and 18 credits, and I'm even enrolled in all of the classes I'm going to!

In other news, I finally found a reason to be glad I don't have any dogs with me. Yesterday coming in after my last class I discovered that there was barbecue sauce all over my sneakers - by sticking my hand in it as I went to take them off. I washed most of it off but they still bring back memories of summer picnics, and would be very enticing to any canine companions.

I haven't seen my own beasts since January, but I did have a brief run-in with an elderly Border Collie near one of the dorms. When I first saw her she was moseying around in the open area between two buildings, and then she headed to one of the doorways. She looked kind of lost and there were no other people around, so I went up to her to see if she had contact information on her collar. She wagged her tail and smiled at me, and as I checked out her star-studded collar a man talking on his cell phone opened the door, said, "That's mine," called the dog in and shut the door. Granted, I was not going to steal his dog, but a college campus is NOT the place to leave your dog unattended! I haven't spotted them since, so I don't know if they live in that building or if they were just visiting.

Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin'

2010-01-28T22:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I survived Week 1 of Semester 2 at Cornell. Apart from Queezle's hysteria at being left behind, moving back in was painless, and I am taking full advantage of the heating - let's just say my dorm room is the tropical paradise that Ithaca, NY is most definitely not. I have an awesome schedule: 9th Century Baghdad on Monday/Wednesday, and The Gothic Novel, Renaissance Poetry and Chaucer on Tuesday/Thursday. I love this stuff, and having Fridays off is extremely exciting.

The one complication in my schedule is Creative Writing. Apparently everyone and their mother wants to be in it. I didn't get in during the initial enrollment period, but the day that Add/Drop began a spot opened up. I immediately sent an email to the department, and after that yielded no results decided I would just show up at class on Monday and claim my spot.

Wrong. Firstoff, the class is actually capped at 18, rather than the published 21. Second, 43 people showed up for those 18 spots. That session's professor said that we should get on as many waiting lists as we could (there are 13 sessions of the class at different times and on different days), so I took up a new hobby: stalking any and every Creative Writing class that I could possibly fit in my schedule.

Amazingly, 9 different sessions fit my schedule, in 6 different time slots. On Monday I attended two sessions, and emailed the professors that I had missed because I hadn't realized just how desperate the situation is. Tuesday only had one class that I could fit in, but go I did.

I was gearing up for 5 sessions on Wednesday, 4 of which were right in a row, when I started to get email responses. Several professors said that there was no hope for me, especially since I'm a freshman. This was probably a good thing, as it saved me from getting an overload - I only had to go to 3 different sessions. By the time the second class had rolled around, the numbers had dropped to more reasonable dimensions - ranging 21 to 27. I decided I'd stick with it through the first two weeks.

The catch to all this is that I'm doing work for three versions of the same class. Combined with my "real" classes, I'm doing the work for a 24 credit schedule! My friends think I'm nuts, but if I get in, it will have been worth it. It's a good thing I enjoy writing!

Queezle's Back in Blue!

2010-01-19T21:41:00.000-05:00

Between the litter, losing coat and my starting college, Queezle didn't get in the breed ring much in 2009. Literally, we got to two days of shows! This was a huge drop compared to the previous two years, where we showed enough for her to be ranked as one of the Top 25 Belgian Tervuren in the US. So you can imagine that I was excited for the three-day Nickel City Cluster in Hamburg, NY.

It felt so good to be back at a show. As Queezle and I walked in the building, I relaxed, and I could see her go, "Oh! A dog show!" and settle into the routine. She is very good about walking through the crowds - either she follows me or goes straight ahead, not bothering any of the other dogs and occasionally sniffing people's pockets to see if they have food. We crated with some other Terv people, caught up on how everyone's dogs were, and settled in for the weekend. On Friday one of the male specials (term for dogs that already have their Championship), Wayne, took the breed. I cheered for him in the Herding Group with all the other Terv people while Queezle snoozed in her crate.

The next morning Tervs were on early. Though I don't like mornings much, I can handle them for dog shows. Queezle just needed a quick fluff and puff after her thorough grooming the day before, and we were ready to roll. In Best of Breed there were three male specials and the Q. After going over all the dogs and having us gait around the ring several times, the judge pulled Queezle and I out to the front! He then called out the Winners Dog (the best male who doesn't have his CH yet), choosing him for Best of Winners. Next he pointed to one of the male specials, intending him to go in the third slot as Best of Opposite. Instead, the handler tried to bring his dog up in front! Queezle and I both puffed up, but luckily the judge corrected him before I had to. In the end Queezle was indeed given Best of Breed, which meant we could go on to the Group!

Queezle and I both love showing in the Group. For the Groups they open up two of the rings, so there is plenty of room. This is great for large dogs and ones with good movement, as you have tons of space to stretch out. And to me at least there is very little pressure - once you've gotten out of the breed, anything beyond that is icing on the cake. You have already gotten a stamp of approval.

So in we went, making sure we were behind the larger and faster dogs such as the German Shepherd and Bearded Collie. As it turned out, our position in the lineup put Queezle and I at the corner, where there is a diagonal strip of matting that meets the two long mats. I like getting the corner as it allows you to set up your dog so that it can be seen well no matter which side of the ring the judge is looking at - and in the Group ring getting noticed is often the hardest part. I also sometimes tell Queezle to stay and then step back so I am hidden by the dog in front of us, which draws attention because it looks like she is in the ring all by herself. After the first look, the judge started going over the dogs and Queezle and I settled down to wait, which consists of doing tricks to entertain both Queezle and the crowd and, whenever we were at a good point in the matting, posing the Q so the judge would see her while watching another dog do its down and back.

When the dog ahead of us went for the down and back, I stacked Queezle for her exam. Our judge, Janet Turnage Nahikian, asked us to do the down and back going the long way of the ring. As Queezle is very clean coming and going, we went all the way down. When we got back to the judge I had Queezle freestack. Her front was off, so I told her, "You can do better than that!" She fixed it and the judge laughed, then sent us around to the end. After that we were on break for a few more dogs.

The final look is when the suspense really builds, with all of the handlers trying watch their dog and the judge at the same time. She went down the line slowly, pulling out some of the dogs. She pointed to Queezle! Glad to have at least made the cut, we joined the other selected dogs at the other side of the ring. Once she finished her cut, the other dogs were excused. She looked the six remaining dogs over, then sent us around again. After looking at the dogs a moment more, she pointed at Queezle and I and said, "One." I beamed and we flew out to the little Number 1 sign, Queezle leaping in the air and our friends outside the ring screaming!

Though Queezle and I have won the Group before, it is still incredibly exciting, and I was on cloud nine. I had been hoping for any placement, and never would have expected getting first! After doing our photo I put Queezle in her crate to rest up while we waited for Best In Show. All of our friends were thrilled, and I called my mom at home to let her know the good news.

Sadly, we did not go Best In Show. The judge ended up going with the very nice Rottie. Queezle didn't mind - in her opinion she is always Best In Show. One of these times we'll get it.

The next day Queezle took the breed again, and while everyone else packed up to go home we lounged about waiting for Group. Just because we did well the day before didn't guarantee anything, so I didn't have my hopes up too high as we entered the big ring once again. After examining all the dogs, the judge pulled out the Australian Shepherd, Queezle, the Old English and the German Shepherd. After looking at the lineup once more, she said, "That's how I want it - one, two, three, four!" The only thing better than getting the Group II was seeing the face of Bryan, a friend of ours who was showing the Aussie. He couldn't believe it! Since it was getting late, Queezle and I ended up heading home after wishing him luck in Best In Show. The results still aren't up, but I don't think he got it because there haven't been any posts to our local Aussie list.

Two Group placements, and one of them a Group I, was a fabulous weekend. In honor of her stardom, I got Queezle a large roast beef sandwich on the way home. She says it's about time she got some appreciation!

Exercise in Humility

2010-01-12T20:53:00.000-05:00

This weekend reminded me why I haven't done any serious obedience with Tia in a few years. She got her Companion Dog (CD) title a few years ago, with terrible scores mainly because she refused to sit on the heeling. Tia's theory is that there's no point in sitting if she's just going to have to get back up again. Otherwise she did a pretty nice job, but those no-sits cost us a lot of points. Each run was also always a trial as she feels she shouldn't have to do anything for free (and unlike Flash or Queezle, she doesn't feel obligated to do something because I asked her to). But we got through it.

After that, we took a break to concentrate on more fun things like agility and herding. I gradually started teaching her the exercises for Open - she thought the dumbbell retrieves were pretty fun and has a fabulous drop on recall. This fall when my mom's dog Hokey got lymphoma, she was looking for dogs to work in obedience. Queezle was pretty much ready for Novice, so she entered her and got her CD. Next project - Tia. So Mom brought her out and had her do all the Open exercises, which she did beautifully! So we signed her up for a class to get more experience and started seriously working on it, mainly with me handling while I'm on break. This past weekend was our local club's (Syracuse Obedience Training Club) obedience trial. Since Tia knew everything and had been doing fabulously in class, we entered her. I figured she may not qualify because she hasn't been doing Open for very long, but was expecting a semi-decent performance.

She was awful. As soon as we entered the ring, my cheerful, perky Aussie deflated into some sort of furry mush. On the heeling she was barely with me, wandering around the ring looking lost. On the figure 8 she goosed both of the people acting as posts, which she thought was hysterically funny (they didn't). The judge's comment was, "It's like she's never seen people before!" Setting up for the drop on recall, she refused to sit, and even braced her hind legs when I tried to push her down. Once I finally got her to sit, she did do the drop correctly. On both of the retrieves she refused to sit, and needed a second command for one of them. When I said, "Over!" for the broadjump she just stared at me blankly.

In Wildcard Open - where you don't earn legs toward a title and can choose one exercise to get full credit for without actually doing it - she was even worse. I opted to use heeling as my Wildcard, but to do it onlead so she would be forced to stay with me. She didn't do anything the first time. For the retrieve on the flat, she just sort of meandered around the ring. For lack of a better idea, I ran up and "stole" the dumbbell, a technique often used to make dogs be quicker about getting their dumbbell. She didn't care and just sort of looked at me like she was saying, "Why would you want that?" When I finally got her to move on the broadjump, she zombie-walked over and through the boards. When the judge pinned the class and came over to give us our score, he said, "Ah..." and sort of trailed off. I smiled and said, "Yes, we were the disaster." He laughed and just left it at that.

Her only redeeming quality for either run was her stays, which she did perfectly, even casting disdainful looks at any dogs that got up or moved. Despite this minor victory, we did not show again Sunday.

By classtime on Thursday I'm sure I will have the attentive, eager-to-work Tia back. However, it will be a long time before I'm fooled by her cute face again and take her out in public. While Flash and Queezle can be taught something and be able to fairly quickly do it in a competition setting, Tia is clearly the type of dog that has to go through much more training and proofing and drawing-the-line-in-the-sand before she'll quit the mind games and work. My dignity in shambles, my wicked grinning dog at my feet, I am going to do what any self-respecting obedience handler would do in my situation -

Go to a conformation show. With Queezle.

Educating Queezle

2010-01-08T19:50:00.000-05:00

In light of obedience class with Tia, I was inspired to get back to teaching Queezle to hold and then eventually retrieve a dumbbell (plus, after she finished her Companion Dog title in three straight shows in November, we need to start seriously preparing for Open!). As the dumbbell that will be hers was MIA, I just pulled out a metal article - they are the same basic shape and size, and dogs tend to like the metal less than the plastic, so it's good practice. Plus this way I can say that I'm training her for Utility, the highest level of obedience, as well!

I had started her out with the article a couple years ago, so tonight's brief work session was mostly review. For teaching the dogs to pick up a dumbbell or article, I use a clicker. The clicker is used to mark when the dog is doing something right, and each click is followed by a treat. The article starts out on the ground, and at first I click if she touches it at all with her nose or paw. After a couple repetitions, I get pickier, and only click if she touches it with her nose. From there she has to touch the centerpiece of the dumbbell, and then eventually pick it up. The amount of time spent on each step varies dog to dog - Flash likes to pick up and throw things, so with her I got that far really fast. With Tia it took a little longer. The idea with clicker training is for the dog to figure out what you want, and then perform the action to "make" you click and treat.

Queezle already knows that I want her touching the middle of the article with her nose, and now we're working on actually picking it up. She is being very sneaky about it - she has figured out that touching the article with her teeth (and the resulting noise) gets her a treat, so she will just click her teeth on the metal bar and wait there until I click and give her a treat. I'm starting to be stingier with my clicks, and often only clicking if she moves the article with mouthing it. If we work on it a little bit every day, she'll get it very quickly - she loves the game, and gets very excited whenever she sees me pull the clicker out.

As for the other Open exercises, Queezle already has a good foundation. She knows heeling, though that can always use more polish (especially because both the dogs and I are bad and tend to work more on the exercises that we find more fun - like the retrieves!). She already knows the drop on recall, and stays are coming, though we have to work on out of sight stays (where the dog is supposed to hold position even while the handler goes out of the room). Once she has mastered take and hold with the dumbbell, retrieves will be very easy to teach as she loves to play fetch. The broadjump will take a little work though she has seen it in an agility setting. For now Tia is my main focus for obedience, but the Q is off to a good start!

After we put away the clicker and article (much to Queezle's dismay), I came into the living room, which is where my laptop is set up. A little while later I heard my mom in the kitchen say, "Take this to Kate." A minute later Queezle came trotting in and brought me a rubber peppermint dog toy. She was very pleased with herself, and I told her how smart she is and thanked her for the gift. Of course, she then expected me to give it back - I guess we still have some work to do on the theories of sharing and giving.

Lots of Indoor Fun

2010-01-06T22:35:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Diane's for another agility session. She had us doing lots of contacts and weaves, which was excellent practice for my girls. I worked Queezle again and brought Flash to do mostly contacts at the end. As Hokey had chemo this week, my mom worked Tia. All three dogs were thrilled to be there and had a blast. Queezle and I had some lovely runs and - knock on wood - Flash hit all of her contacts. We have until mid February until our next trial, but the more times she does them right the more likely she will be to succeed at the trial. It never ceases to amaze me how much energy she still has at 12 - even now it takes about a full course for her to settle down and focus.

Once we got home, Tia started throwing toys around the house and in general playing around. Eventually she ended up on the footstool. One of her favorite things to do when getting off a couch or bed is to put her front feet down and then slowly drag her hind legs off - it's quite a production and she always looks very proud of herself once she is finally off (she is capable of jumping off like a normal dog). So today she was trying to do that on the footstool - the problem is that the footstool isn't even a foot high. So, as you can see from the picture, she kind of got stuck. She would probably be horrified if she knew this was going on the internet.

Steam Cleaning with Deb and Kate

2010-01-02T17:13:00.000-05:00

Step 1: Establish who in the household knows how to operate the steam cleaner. If the primary user is absent, determine who has used it once a long time ago (Deb) and who has avoided any knowledge of the device whatsoever (Kate). The latter may exit at this time, but should stay within earshot of the room being steam cleaned. The next few steps are directed at Deb.

Step 2: Put water and soap in the appropriate locations and begin the steam cleaning process.

Step 3: Realize that, although the water is exiting the initial tank and getting to the rug just fine, it is not then being sucked back into the recovery tank. This should be done after the entire room has been gone over, and so is soaking wet.

Step 4: Start taking steam cleaner apart to find out what the problem is - after all, it is similar to a vacuum (for more information, stay tuned for "Vacuuming with Deb"). Consult the world-wide-web for information on the suction system of the steam cleaner.

Step 5: Successfully remove upper tank, and then develop complications with the retrieval tank. It has to come out somehow, otherwise how could you dump it? Consult the world-wide-web in vain.

Step 6: Get mildly pissed off with the lack of useful information and call Kate to look for an obscure button that may or may not be on your steam cleaner model.

Step 7: Kate - Get filled in on what Deb is trying to accomplish. Poke around the cleaner some, then pull on two gray wings/tabs that free the retrieval tank. Deb - Discover a test to see if your suction whatevers are clogged, thus negating the need for the removal of the retrieval tank.

Step 8: Deb - In reassembling steam cleaner, flip the top tank over, causing a small leak. When Kate exclaims against this action, panic and fling the tank at her. Luckily your tank should be mostly empty by this point. Finish assembling the steam cleaner.

Step 9: Kate - Poor a cup of warm water on the floor of slanted kitchen. Deb - Try to get the steam cleaner to suck up the water before it all runs south (this will fail). Kate - Clean up water.

Step 10: Flip stupid machine over and start taking it apart to unclog it if at all possible. Discuss whether a Philipshead screwdriver more accurately resembles a square or a star. Establish that it doesn't matter as long as both of you know what it is.

Step 11: Successfully remove the outer clear cover thing that the water should go through. As that isn't really clogged, clean it while you're there and then put it back before continuing the search for the clog. Kate is in charge of not losing the screws and cleaning up any water.

Step 12: Attempt to remove the green scrubber-dealies. Of course, the sadistic nature of the manufacturer and designer will have ensured that this is impossible. Consider forcing them out with the screwdriver, then decide that that must not be the problem area. Put steam cleaner right side up and look into it with a flashlight just for kicks. Kate - Get excited about a screw before realizing it doesn't actually connect to the green things.

Step 13: Decide that maybe cleaning the clear piece will have made a difference after all, and start putting the steam cleaner back together for another attempt.

Step 14: Deb - Comment that the retrieval tank doesn't seem to be shut tight enough, even though that's how it was when you dragged the cleaner from its lair in the back room. Both - attempt to force lid down further. Deb - Mention that the tab part always seems to go down right. Kate - Check out tab, decide that maybe it's really a latch and the back part is a stoneage-style hinge (a machine with this many screws ought to be sophisticated enough to have real hinges on the lid, don't you think?). Take lid off and reapply it with the appropriate method for a latch of this manner. Lid closes tight.

Step 15: Get very excited and return to the sodden room. When machine begins to successfully suck up water from the rug, celebrate and finish the job in high spirits.

Step 16: Return steamcleaner to the back room until the next poor fool gets the bright idea to use it again.

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

I have always stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve, but usually it is reading in my room with the dogs. However, this year I went over to a friend's house for a small gathering/party complete with sparkling apple cider for the midnight toast. We weren't sure what we thought of J-Lo's unitard, but the cider got 5 stars from everyone. Then once the festivities wound down I made my way home to let all the dogs out and give them each a biscuit (my mom's Terv bitch Dani has been known to slurp various drinks out of people's cups, but for the most part the dogs prefer biscuits and treats for celebrations). Though Queezle felt that 2 am was the perfect time to play frisbee in the snow, we all then went to bed.

I've tried convincing the dogs to make resolutions every year (trying to be less barky for Flash, better work ethic for Tia, being nice to the other girls for Queezle, etc), but they aren't buying it. From Tia I get things like, "I resolve to only eat steak on weekends," from Queezle I get, "I resolve to share my old toys with the other dogs once I get new ones," and Flash just plays the Champion Tracker and old dog cards and asks me if I have any questions. In the end, I'm better off playing New-Year-resolutions in a corner by myself and hoping that Flash doesn't come over to remind me about my success rate for resolutions in years gone by (let's just say the whole self-improvement thing isn't all it's cut out to be). To avoid the somewhat inevitable failure of grandiose resolutions, I generally go with some slightly less intimidating goals.

One of my constant goals for every year has always been to work the dogs more, be it honing our skills in agility or working on harder surfaces in tracking. This week was already quite successful, as we did a private agility lesson with Diane Eggleston on Wednesday and obedience class on Thursday at Dottie's Dog School. Queezle was the main dog I worked at agility. Diane had us doing several drills to work on tighter wraps and back crosses. This brought out a handling goal for me - stop waiting. Instead of trusting myself to give clear signals and the dog to take the obstacles I indicate, I end up waiting and looking back to make sure that they did it. My micromanaging is ultimately slowing Queezle down, as I'm not giving her information on the next obstacle or turn fast enough. She's fast enough that we don't have issues with making time at a trial, but we could be a lot faster.

At the end of the session I brought Flash in to do some contacts (obstacles such as the dogwalk, a-frame and teeter totter have a yellow section called a contact zone that the dog has to touch for safety reasons or else it will be disqualified). Flash is perfectly willing to sacrifice accuracy for speed, and leaping off or over contacts has been a problem for us for years. So I baited each contact with some cheese and also had her wait for me at each one to give her another treat. The theory is that by repeatedly having her stop in the contact zone and rewarding her for it she will get in the habit of stopping and so will hit the contact even at a trial where there is no food. As Flash is now 12 years old and our intervention came way too late, each run is hit or miss (literally). She only needs one more leg in Novice Standard (Standard is the class with the contact obstacles), and after she finishes that title I'm going to retire her from Standard. Though she doesn't act it, she is an older dog and the contact equipment puts unneccessary strain on her body. We will continue to do Jumpers as long as she is in shape though. The one good thing that has come out of our contact issues is that I am much better at training them.

Tia got to go to Open Obedience class. Open is the second level of competitive obedience, and as well as the basic sit, down and heeling stuff also includes fun exercises like jumping and retrieving. Obedience isn't my favorite dog sport, but I do enjoy training the upper level exercises. Tia is coming along quite well, though we are having some issues with the broadjump. Our class is excellent, as it is small and has several very experienced handlers who have been able to give me some good tips. One thing that really made a difference with Tia on the heeling was my arm and head placement - just like in agility, if I am looking back to make sure that she is doing her job I cause her to slow down and lag. I knew this from working Flash in obedience, and so am pretty good about keeping my left shoulder forward. What I didn't realize was that although my shoulder was forward, I kept dropping my elbow back, so I need to work on that. I also need to make sure that I am focusing my head forward, and trust Tia do keep up with me.

What it comes down to is that I need to keep refining my handling and training techniques to give clearer signals to the dogs. The more experience we have, especially with the help of knowledgeable people who can point out my mistakes, the better we will get.

Here's to another year of learning and (hopefully) improving!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T21:41:00.000-05:00

Flash and Tia thought they would share their holiday photos as well :) We had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope that everyone else has had a happy holiday season as well! All the dogs got to have real bones in the morning, which they absolutely love and keeps them busy while the people open gifts. Then this evening they got their gifts - Flash got a fuzzy bone squeaky toy, Tia a purple cow with really long legs and Queezle a red rubber bone. All three girls were quite happy.

One of my best gifts this year was a tackbox for keeping grooming and showing supplies in. I've wanted one for quite a while, but every time one was offered as a prize at a show it was guaranteed that I'd be last place! So my mom had gotten it for me as a graduation present. Naturally, she put it in a safe place... so safe that she couldn't find it when I graduated. So then it was supposed to be my birthday present, but in all the holiday bustle she forgot about it. Finally last night she stuck a green bow on the box and this morning it made it into my eager hands. I've already moved all of my brushes, show collars and leads and other grooming supplies into it, and the Q and I can't wait to take it to the shows in 2010!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Night Before Christmas

2009-12-24T20:36:00.000-05:00

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through this house of mine, every dog came to ask me, "Is it 9? Is it 9?"

Of course, they ask that every night. 9 o'clock is when they get their bedtime chews, and they know it. Of course, the dog-alarms start going off up to an hour and a half ahead of time. I say that patience is a virtue, they say to be early is to be on time. The nightly battle of proverbs generally ends in a stalemate when 9 o'clock is finally achieved.

I heard a really funny song on the radio with a little kid saying, "I ain't gettin' nuthin' for Christmas 'cause I ain't been nuthin' but bad." I've been singing this to Queezle (substituting "you" for "I"), but she just laughs at me. She has been pretty good this year, so I guess she'll get something for Christmas after all. She even put on a nice expression while wearing her hat!

For the most part Christmas Eve has been pretty tame, though I was woken up early this morning for a surprise dentist appointment. My mom did take Tom and I out to IHOP afterward, so I guess that was ok. After that it was a good day - got all of my gifts wrapped and talked to various relatives on the phone.

Flash (who gets an automatic "good" card for her Champion Tracker this year) came down to the barn with me like she usually does. She absolutely loves it, and goes zipping down leaving a cloud of snow behind her. Then she roots around in the barn while I get everything done. Afterward I took Queezle for a walk. I picked up a handful of snow, and she leaped up and grabbed it out of my hands! We had a mini snow war, then played hide-and-seek around the shed and one of the cars. She thinks these games are a ton of fun, and always grins and wags her tail joyfully.

But for now, it is 6 minutes to 9, and I have three pairs of eyes looking at me balefully. You would think they never got fed.

Feliz Cumpleanos A Mi

2009-12-22T22:39:00.000-05:00

One of the few phrases I remember in Spanish :) Today was my 19th birthday, though I must say I don't feel any different! Started out the day with Tia buzzing me around 9 o'clock in typical Aussie fashion (she had already gone out and been fed by my mom, but snuck upstairs to do a sneak attack). She probably would have settled down and gone back to sleep, but I had been thinking I should get up. Yesterday one of our sinks developed a leak, so I ended up being woken up to do morning barn chores. As I am not much of a morning person, I did the chores in my pajamas (penguins!) and then Tia and I went back to bed for several more hours. Tia is the only one of my dogs that understands and appreciates this - Flash is ready to roll at 6 am sharp and the Q thinks frisbee at 3 in the morning is a wonderful idea.

Anyway, since I was up, Mom and I went out for breakfast and then on a couple errands, namely to buy grain for the horses. Then in the afternoon I joined several of my best friends from high school, a troupe of Advanced Placement and Honors kids affectionately known as the Fringe because the table we sat at during lunch was in a corner off by itself beyond the garbage cans. We had some good times at that table. There were only a few of us there, but Megan and Amy had made me a birthday cake and we watched the tail end of Prince Caspian and then Up in its entirety. Up is very cute, and I love Dug - there is one point where he is kind of apologizing to Carl and his posture is exactly like Queezle in that situation - head low, ears back, eyes soft, tail wagging low and slow.

My mom hadn't seen Up so I borrowed it from Megan afterward and brought it home. Mom, my brother Tom and I went out for Chinese. I got a pathetic fortune: You can't choose how you will die, but you can choose how you will live. Naturally, that sparked a discussion of the ways in which you can control how you die. Not exactly normal dinner conversation, but then again, my family isn't exactly normal. I do have a father by the way, and even saw him yesterday after doing the barn (he was somewhat amazed that I actually went to the barn in my pajamas). He is a nephrologist (kidney doctor) and works crazy hours - hence the fact that I have seen him for a grand total of 2 minutes in the 6 days I've been home. Luckily he loves his job, or else it would probably get ugly.

After dinner, we broke into the creme de menthe cake that my mom had made for me. I love that cake, and the dogs are all sure that they would too! Then we settled in to watch Up. Flash was unimpressed, Tia wants a giant bird of her own and Baloo, Tom's Aussie, barked at and attacked the screen every time the dogs came on. Life is never dull.

Tia Issues

2009-12-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

Over the past couple months Tia has been doing a funny cough thing. Recently it has been getting worse, so today we took her in to do bloodwork, a tracheal wash and chest xrays to see what's up. Haven't determined anything for sure, but heartworm or lungworms are definite possibilities so she is getting Panacur for a couple days. For her part, Tia doesn't seem overly concerned, though she was a little miffed that she didn't get breakfast today. Unlike Queezle, who absolutely hates going into the clinic, Tia doesn't mind and likes visiting with all the people.

Hello World

2009-12-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone and welcome to The Pawprint Chronicles! My name is Kate, and I have been an avid dog enthusiast since forever. I got my first dog, Flash, when I was 7 years old. As of now I am almost 19, and currently share my life with 12 year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi Flash, 6 year old Australian Shepherd Tia and 4 year old Belgian Tervuren Queezle. I compete in an assortment of dog sports and activities with all three dogs, including agility, tracking, conformation, rally, obedience, herding and musical freestyle. Flash and I were the first junior handler team to earn the American Kennel Club's Versatile Companion Dog 1 title, and this past summer at 11 1/2 Flash passed her Variable Surface Tracker test to earn her Champion Tracker!

The CT is considered the most difficult of all the dog championships, and requires your dog to earn her Tracking Dog, Tracking Dog Excellent and VST titles. In tracking, the basic idea is that your dog has to sniff and follow the path of a person she doesn't know, as well as finding anything the tracklayer left behind on the track. For TD and TDX you work in fields and woods, but for VST 1/2 to 2/3 of the track is on nonvegetated surfaces such as parking lots and sidewalks. There are only just a little over 200 CTs in the nation right now, and I am the youngest handler to ever do it. By far Flash's CT is my proudest accomplishment, as it is a lot of work, especially for the dog! Flash is a very neat dog, with tons of drive and a great personality.

Tia is more of a princess, and would like to be admired by everyone and not have to work. Though she isn't as fast as Flash or Queezle, she is a very reliable agility dog, and earned both of her Excellent level titles at full height and just finished one of them in the Preferred division. She is the most materialistic dog I have ever met, and loves large toys and gifts of any kind. Ironically, she also enjoys playing with (and eating) cardboard.

Queezle, the "baby," is my star showdog. She is from the reknowned Chateau Blanc kennel, and has done well in the conformation ring from the start. As of now, she has four Herding Group I awards, a Best In Specialty Show and numerous other Group placements. We were invited to the AKC Eukanuba National Championship two years in a row, and have also shown at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. We took this year off for Queezle to have her first litter, which was born on February 25. Frankly I should have started a blog then, but alas, I did not think of it at the time. One of her daughters, Demi, has already finished her Championship, and the others are well on their way. Though I love Corgis and will always have one around, Tervs are the breed that I wish to be involved with as a breeder. Queezle is the foundation bitch (not a bad word in the dog world!) for Coyote Run Belgian Tervuren, run by myself and my mother, Deb Eldredge. Right now we are stud-hunting for the perfect sire for Queezle's next litter, which is a daunting task.

I just finished my first semester at Cornell University (woohoo!), where I am studying as an English major with a focus on creative writing. Writing has always been one of my passions, and I have had several columns for dog magazines. I also currently have two books out - Head of the Class, an all-round guide to dogs geared toward kids, and Amazing Pet Tricks, a trick book written with the ASPCA. I also have a rewrite of an Italian dog picture book in the works - I've sent in all the captions and it should be coming out in print sometime in 2010. My dream is to live off writing, which may or may not happen (Tia says if I write about her every book will be a bestseller!).

I am also a member of Cornell's Big Red Marching Band, which I absolutely love. I did 7 years of marching band with my high school, and definitely wanted to continue my involvement through college. Marching band is second only to dogs on my list of favorite things. I play the tenor sax in marching band, and also currently play the clarinet, my original instrument, in the Cornell Pep Band. Though I love marching band, my favorite sport to play for is hockey. Unfortunately marching on ice probably wouldn't work out too well.

The only thing I dislike about college is that I can't have dogs in the dorm (I do love my dorm though). Though I have adjusted well, it's hard not having my fourlegged friends around. However, I just put down a deposit on a dog-friendly apartment for next year!

That's enough for now, but stay tuned - and warm depending on where you live.