Videos from the Barn - January 28th, 2012

With the busy day yesterday it took me a bit to get videos processed and uploaded.
Here's Teller working on his obedience:


And Kipling working on Figure-8's and speed circles:

Busy Saturday...

After my week oncall with the pager we needed a good sleep-in this morning - very pleased that my perfect dogs all slept until 9am this morning giving me approximately 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep - after 10 straight days of sleep in 2 hour increments, it was much needed!

1/28 - Family Portrait
Teller (5), Kipling (9 months), Murphy (7.5)

After all that sleep we hit the ground running! First to partially thaw, separate and re-package 60lbs of duck necks and 20lbs of chicken necks. Then I decided I'd had enough of furry ears and grinch feet so all three dogs got tossed up on the grooming table for brush-outs and trims. Off to the barn to work Teller and Kipling - great sessions with both - and some video to post tomorrow of their sessions.

Then we headed off to the school where the entire pack had a playdate with the absolutely adorable and totally handsome Gusto! Another rare (though certainly pretty common this winter) 40 degree January day, it's been so icy lately that the boys just haven't had the chance to really get out and run. With temperatures hanging above freezing for the last 72 hours there was some ice leftover from storms but mostly just MUD, MUD, MUD - so home we go where all three dogs got bathed (rinse, shampoo, rinse, shampoo, rinse, conditioner, rinse, towel dry, blow dry) to get all the sand and grit out of their coats and nether regions don't recall the last time I had to spend so much time rinsing just to get all the grit out from the undercoat!

Then it was my turn to hit the treadmill for two miles - done, done and done! I don't feel like I got to sit down at all today - until I sat down to edit and tweak photos of course.

Some pictures from today:

1/28 - I told the boys not to run on the ice..I left out the part
about doing so with grace.

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1/28 - Murphy

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1/28 - Teller staying off the ice

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1/28 -  Two CLEAN goldens eh?

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1/28 - Yellow dog is now grey.

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1/28 - "Alright white-boy, you're goin' DOWN"

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Friday at the Barn...January 27th, 2012

It was another obedience night for Teller at the barn this afternoon - Of course I left the camera at home tonight because both boys had sessions I would have liked to watched...Teller is so brilliant, he's heeling like I've actually worked obedience with him recently - just right there where I want him to be. Fronts are great, drops are fast and clean and his up attitude is just perfect!

Decided that Kipling should do some speed circles and variants of speed circles - something he hasn't done yet. I mention to folks that he's a pretty clean slate - he's got some fundamentals on-board, but he hasn't gotten a lot of formal agility training, my philosophy is that there is still so much time to do that when he's more physically and mentally mature.

Nevertheless, one of the next things I want to help him with is looking for the next obstacle. He's at the stage where he has his favorite things 'to do', the things he's gotten a lot of reinforcement for doing (the dogwalk, tunnels, etc) and he's at the stage in his understanding where he's offering equipment a lot. That's great Kippie, but I haven't introduced you to the whole a-frame, kindly get your furry bottom off it please :-) On the one hand you applaud the enthusiasm, but you need to interject a bit of control into the situation.

So when I setup said circle I delibrately put jumps near the dogwalk ramps, tunnels and a-frames. I broke down the initial speed circle into about four pieces, clicking and treating for working WITH me. Tough lesson Kippie! In typical Kippie fashion he figured out the new game pretty quickly and had some nice sequences - I'm particularly impressed with his ability to SEE the tire in a pinwheel. In the process I also introduced some baby-rear crosses (you want me to do what while you almost run me over?) and a few blind crosses as well. No biggie says Kippie.

Here's what we worked today:

Tuesday at the Barn - January 24th, 2012

A light agility day for Teller at the barn today - it's been months since he's worked any formal heelwork (or any of the open/utility exercises for that matter). If my goal is to get that CDX this year I need to train a bit of obedience here and there. So here is a very rusty Teller-Woo pretending to be an obedience dog. He loves to play the game - any game...this dog is such a huge piece of my soul.



He did get to play a bit of agility after all that 'work':

Kipling got off easy tonight - no obedience for Kippie, but probably the hardest sequences he's seen to date. He was particularly amazing in the baby sends to the jump #1 while I moved away for crosses. Don't quite remember teaching him that trick :-)

And Kippie the video:

Winter Birding - January 22nd, 2012

I love cardinals!
Canon T2i

This little fellow chatted with me a bit - totally unphased by my intrusion.
Canon T2i

Canon T2i

Canon T2i

Canon T2i

Canon T2i

Canon T2i

Artsy Crabapple
Canon T2i

Canon T2i

Obviously the squirrels are unphased by the cayenne pepper in the bird seed.
Canon T2i

Teller says: "Please stop messing with the birdies and let me inside"
Canon T2i

Sunday at the Barn - January 22nd, 2012

Teller had the last week off after the SAAC trial, but today after a week of not so much exercise Teller (and Kippie too) needed to work. So, just a simple setup before launching into a busy week of working and teaching.

Book Review: A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire

A Lion Among Men is the third novel in Gregory Maguire's "Wicked Series". Reviews for the first two novels: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (the novel from which Broadway's Wicked is based) and Son of a Witch.

The Audible Publisher's Summary
In the much-anticipated third volume of the Wicked Years, we return to Oz, seen now through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion.

While civil war looms in Oz, a tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before her final hour, a figure known as Brrr - the Cowardly Lion - arrives searching for information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West.

Abandoned as a cub, his path from infancy is no Yellow Brick Road. In the wake of laws that oppress talking animals, he avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.

A Lion Among Men chronicles a battle of wits hastened by the Emerald City's approaching armies. Can those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets to claim their own histories, to live honorably within their own skins before they're skinned alive?

Gregory Maguire's new novel is written with the sympathy and power that have made his books contemporary classics.

It took me a bit of time to get back to Gregory Maguire's Wicked series - actually it took the release of book four "Out of Oz: The Wicked Years" and that novel's subsequent appearance on the New York Times Bestseller list for me to pick the series back up. As noted in the publisher's summary this novel is written from the perspective of the Cowardly Lion (Brrr) and Yackle (as interviewed by Brrrrr).

My complaint with A Lion Among Men is that there really wasn't a plot. The writing was OK, the narration was fine - I just kept waiting for something-anything to happen. There was background information on Glinda and Leer. Obviously we learn more about Yackle (the creator of the ruby slippers, the oracle at the montery, she who gave Elphaba her broom, etc) and Mr Maguire set up the war of Munchkinlanders and the residents of Oz in a post-wizard era. Just about the best part of the novel was that many of the characters made reference to "the great and wonderful WOO" (wizard of oz and of course Teller's nickname).

A lot of this would be forgivable if the fourth book (the recently released 'Out of Oz: The Wicked Years') didn't spend the first 45 minutes or so catching the reader up on everything we learned in A Lion Among Men. I'm partially through Out of Oz and finding the plot points MUCH more entertaining - there is hope for the series to end as strongly as it began.

A Lion Among Men was written by Gregory Maguire and produced byHarper Audio, copyright 10/14/2008. A Lion Among Men was narrated by John McDonough and has a runtime of 12 hours 1 minute.