A Visit to the Farmers Union

Tara wowed everyone today when I brought her in to visit my friend Sarah at work. She was practicing her rally moves, lots of stays, and some very cute leg-weaving. I got asked if I was a dog trainer, to which I replied, "Not yet, but I hope to be soon!" Lol. Anyway, she is such a good dog. A local club is offering a freestyle class beginning the first week in Feb. that I might enroll her in. We'll see.

I am now cooking for Tara girl, we've taken a break from raw again because she had a few bouts of upset tummy, even though she did quite well for a while. At least with the cooked food I know that she's getting real food, not anything processed. (Not that there aren't good dog foods, there are, but I feel better about this.) Her coat has felt kind of dry so I started with some yummy Salmon oil which she loves, and her coat seems better to me. She really doesn't shed very much at all. Only when I'm brushing her which is nice. BTW, she has gotten alot better about being brushed too.

Anyway, she is so good that I often forget that she's still a puppy, and I think alot of people are shocked when I say her age too. It's a wonderful feeling to have such an awesome dog. Thank you Kay! : )

We've been hitting our agility class in MA, approx. every other wk. and she is progressing very rapidly, comfortable with all of the equipment now. We're working on our contacts and handling more than anything at this point. Last week when we were there she did the teeter at half height without a problem, I think I'm more nervous then her. We've bought some weave poles and we'll start working on those soon, but not yet. That's the last thing she will learn as the movement the body does weaving is quite hard on a dog's joints so we went to make sure she's done growing before that happens. (I think we're up to about 40 lbs at this point, and the last time I measured her she was 23" at the shoulder) I told Carolyn our instructor, that she was almost as good or better than Orion is at agility, and he and I have been taking classes for a lot longer (about 15 months). She was like, "well, she's a herding dog! This is what they're meant to do!" I really think she will be absolutely fantastic at anything we do. What a well-rounded dog. : )

Tara's goals for 2006

Tara wants to finish her AKC RN.
Hopefully get her CD.
Get started earing agility titles once she turns 15 months.
Get her HIC (herding instinct certificate)
Get her CGC (Canine Good Citizen), we're waiting until she's at least a year though to do this.
Get started on Backpacking titles through the American Working Collie Association.
Get started on learning some freestyle stuff (she's got weaving fig. 8s and weaving through my legs when I'm walking down pretty good!)
Have fun!
Travel!
Smell lots of things!
Play with lots of dogs!
Play with lots of people!
Stay healthy! (We're almost full on raw now, yeah!)
Get bigger and stronger.
Enjoy life.

Tara's got it good! To be a collie puppy. . .

Here are some pictures of Tara having fun with our Holiday boarding dogs.