Agility soon?

Well surprise surprise Tara might be starting agility classes alot sooner than I expected, and I also can't wait to get her started in Rally after going to watch the other night. Hopefully we'll start Rally in a couple of months with her. I think she'll easily excel at Rally, we'll see. Anyway back to agilty news, so I was in agility with my dog Orion today and asked Carolyn about her next agility class for puppies and said how I'd really like to get started with Tara sooner rather than later, and then this other woman in class who has greyhounds was talking about how she'd really like to start another of her hounds in agilty and when the next beginner class was. So Carolyn said there was supposed to be one starting soon in the time slot right before Orion and I's agility class and shw also said Tara could start if I wanted in the Beginner because its pretty much the same as puppy. Woo-hoo! Obviously she will be very limited in what she can do for almost a year, because before she can do any serious jumping, climbing or weaving (which is actually one of the most stressful things in agility on a dogs joints) we have to wait for her growth plates to close which happens around 14 months or so, so if class starts in a couple of weeks thats 9 whole months away, but we'll see classes get postponed if they don't get filled. Anyway I can't wait to start doing all the really fun stuff with her, I feel like we have most of the basics down at this point. Our major focus this weekend is going to be really working on her stays, that's something I have really been slacking off with (bad Jenn!) and we're going to get cracking on it. I also really need to work on her manners at doors (cause she really just wants to barge out-my fault for not working with her enough). I can't wait til our boarding dog goes home because he cramps my regular training style (poor excuse I know!). So yes, Tara is making good progress even though I have been slacking a little. This week in her obedience class it was just us and a collie (a merle headed white) that is exactly one month older than her. IT was funny and they got to play together after class and he kicked her butt which she needs every once in a while, lol. She's a very good girl thouhg and when I was hanging out with the puppy class instructor, Bridget on Monday night she said how good of a puppy she was for only 18 wks. Well of couse she is! She's a brilliant collie who got started on her education early. : ) Tara also met a sheltie puppy today while we were waiting for my car to get inspected and sitting outside together (with ORion) in the shade at the gas station. The poor sheltie puppy's mom hadn't a clue though, the dog was skittish and the woman asked me if I wanted her and told me she was for sale. Poor dog, not starting out with humans on the right foot. The dog looked of such poor quality to me to, and I immediatly thought she must've come from a crappy byb (backyard breeder) or a pet store (puppy mill). Poor thing. I hope for the best for her though. Hey I would've taken her if she was giving her away, No - not to keep!, but to find a good home for. I already have a perfect puppy I don't need a sheltie. stuff like that really makes me sad. I wanted to grab the sheltie and make a break for it with her. :( Hopefully her life will turn out okay and someone that's caring will find her. Anyway, I'm procrastinating about going to bed. yes I still ave pices to post from a couple of weeks ago and I also finally took a few at her puppy play group this week. This weekend I hope to make it to a local agility show with her so she can start getting used to the chaos of shows. Hope you're all well. Tara's sleeping at my side (as is Orion!), goodnight!

Ho hum

BTW, i obviously expected Tara to shed, don't think that I didn't. : ) I just didn't expect it so soon! : )

Anyway, we went swimming yesterday in a beautiful local lake, and afterwards brought Tara out to check it out. She was initially like, "Hell no! I'm not going in that water!" PRetty funny from a girl who loves playing in our stream when it has water (it's dried up right now, unfortunately). I guess she was like whoa, cause it obviously must look different, it had a much sandier beach, it felt different, smelled different, there were kids way out in the lake screaming and leaping off of a dock, etc. With some play around the waters edge though, she worked her way in and out and eventually walked in up to her shoulders a few times. Everytime she got out, she walked around really funny with her wet legs, kinda the way Orion does when I put his mutt-luks on him in the really really cold snowy weather. Silly girl. We might make a water dog out of her yet. She's sleeping on her back next to Luke right now. I love that she sleeps on her back.

I know, i haven't put the pics up yet. I will, I just have to do it when I'm back in Maine again now, I can't do it from MA. Sorry, you'll all have to just be patient. :)

Woohoo

Tara is now registered as Tamarack's Autumn Rain with the AKC! Sweet! : )

BTW --

anyone else's puppy shedding like crazy? I went from life with Orion who doesn't shed to having hair everywhere! I keep finding it in my mouth damnit! And we do vacuum, and we do brush (not as much as I would like yet, cause I have to catch her in the right mood, but we do!).

This week's update

So this week has been a long week. We spent last Fri-Sun in MA, Sun night in ME, and then M-F in MA. yuck. We were staying at my friend's house taking care of her two dogs, a chinese crested and a bagel (beagle/basset mix). They are not too fond of puppies and didnt like Tara and took every oppurtunity to snap at her they could, especially Lulu, the bagel, Tara would get up and be clear across the room from Lulu and she would snap. They aren't real used to puppies at all and she was taller (obviously) than both of them so that didnt help. Right now Tara and Luke, the 9 month old shepx I'm boarding for 20 days (I picked him up last night) are rolling around the living room wrestling and biting each other. Even though Luke is about 20-25 lbs heavier than Tara, he's not much taller and they seem to be a pretty good match. They are both herdy and try to grab each other's legs and Tara gets really frustrated (it seems) when he evades her. It's funny to watch. They take turns pinning each other and when Tara is underneath belly up she kicks him repeatedly with all of her legs and makes me laugh. : ) Anyway, puppy class was fun this week, everyone commented on what a good little herding dog she was being, keeping everyone in a group, lol. She played alot with a new husky pup in the group and a corgi. So far her dog skills seem impeccable. Then we had obedience on Tues. night and that was good too. Her heeling is just awesome. We had a 9month old cockapoo in class new this week that she played with too. On Wed. she had her boring day, and then we spent the night at Gemini, and I worked with her on walking through a ladder on the ground, in preparation for agility. I also want to start working with her on tippy boards and stuff like that to get her ready for the teeter-totter when the time comes. Boy do my dogs have a blast tearing around that huge space. She's not crazy about the gravel dog runs outside, but she's getting better about it. Pretty much the rest of the week I wasn't feeling so well, so we were pretty lazy about getting out and doing things. I want to get back to Cambridge with her again soo. Hopefully this week coming up. I also sent a letter to join the Collie Rescue LEague of New England today and to volunteer to be a foster home, a letter to join the American Working Collie Association, and an email to hopefully joing the Collie Club of Maine. I also ordered a bunch of books from dogwise on all kinds of good stuff (obedience, backpacking, tracking, training a performance dog, and the working collie book). So yeah, lots of good stuff coming, and I also plan on doing her AKC reg. online this weekend too. I'll post some pics later.

I'll start the long update

I guess I'll start with last Sunday, I don't know how far I'll get though! Last Sunday we had to go down to MA early to take care of our cocker friends Sage and Tupelo, so I figured I'd hit up this puppy play group that happens on Sundays with Tara cause I'm never in MA on Sundays. So it was at a petstore and Tara was wonderful with the other dogs of course, and ORion was even invited to play because it wasn't just a puppy groups it was for any dog. So they both played with a 6 month old puggle, and 2 dachsunds, apparently the rest of the dogs that usually come couldn't make it. They both had a fun time. on Monday night Tara had her puppy class at Gemini and she was the biggest puppy there this week! That's never happened before, but all the other bigger dogs graduated apparetnly. She ended up spending most of her time playing with an nine week old lab puppy who was almost as big as she was, at least in terms of weight, not in height though. She also played with a pug puppy and this silly looking puppy that's in the class that's half beagle and half shitzu. Silly looking dog really. She is so good in puppy class. When we practice recalls she is so wonderful at returning to me and sitting. What a good girl. On Tues we had obedience class and since none of the other puppies showed up there we had a nice private lesson. Her heeling is just phenominal, and even Paul was impressed I think, and I don't think he's easy to impress. So we had a fun time then too. She is so eager to please. We had actually gotten to class early and went to a different pet store down the road where she met a ridgeback and a goldendoodle. We also practiced our sits and downs in the store and in the parking lot. She's a very good smart puppy. Wednesday's are pretty boring for Tara in comparison, because I'm very busy, but she still gets to play with Orion and Dreamer (my mom's poodle) so I think its still a good day for her. On Thursday evening we went into Cambridge and went for a 30 min walk around Harvard Square. All in all I think she handled it well. She met a few firemen and a police officer which are on our socialization checklist (it's important puppies get to meet these important people in case there's ever an emergency and they need to come barging into your house or car, it's helpful if they aren't afraid of them) and lots of other people. A few people actually guessed she was a collie and not a sheltie, yeah! : ) She was very well-behaved and was always paying more attention to me than everyone else. Sometimes I wish she would check everything else out a little more so that I would know that she's actually seeing everything else and getting socialized to it! : ) On Friday we picked up our four friends and I drove up to Maine in 4th of July weekend traffic. Since then there has been a lot of fun going on and not so much training. I think she's been really tired though with all these dogs here which is good. We did get a chance to train a little bit the other day and we reviewed all her basics and then started working on teaching her to spin. She caught on pretty quick. I thought it would be fun to teach her something cute. We went for a long walk, just the two of us last night, and I let her drag her leash pretty much for the half hour, even though we were walking on the road, it was a dirt road and not very travelled, I think 3 or 4 cars came and there's usually fewer cars than that, I think they are visitors for the weekend. But she was very good on the walk and we practiced all the basics (sit, down, come, heel) and she had a good time. Now that she really likes water she wants to go investigate any stream we come to. : ) We are trying to find a kiddie pool to put out in the backyard for the dogs to play in , but have yet to find one!

and more

And here are some pics

Boy do I have a lot to write

but here is this for now. As I said previously this is the 6 dog weekend. : ) Tara is having a blast. Here's a video of her playing with Tupelo a 1 yr old cocker.