Wendy's Blog » dogs

Triple Q!

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:37:53 +0000

Back to your regular scheduled program of Dog Agility
This past weekend, we went to the St Lawrence Valley Dog Club’s first agility trial just outside of Winthrop, NY. It was a very small trial but a lot of fun. Still Ivan found something to be scared of, starting with the head-set and voice box used in the FAST class. It was very windy on Saturday and as the wind picked up towards the late afternoon, he thought armageddon was upon us as jumps were crashing down around his ears! It was so windy, three tents took off. Mine lifted enough to bend one side and damage the leg. We managed to collapse it. Whether I can use it again, still remains to be seen.
Sunday was much more pleasant as the wind had dropped. Ivan recovered to start the day with a nice jww run with only one knocked bar.
Tyra rocked, going 5 for 6 over the weekend. The only error was her choice to go around the double after the weaves in the standard course on Saturday. She ran everything clean on Sunday for double Q number 3 and first ever triple Q!

Steeplechase Gold

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 19:47:24 +0000

That’s 100 Qs!!!!
Tyra earned number 100 at Wimberway Farms in Powassan. Jennifer Laird & I were judging at a very small but cozy trial just outside of North Bay.

New Title for Ivan

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:53:07 +0000

On Saturday at Morningstar in Kingston, Ivan earned his 10th Master standard Q which gave him his Expert Standard Bronze award. Good boy Ivan!

A Good Start

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:06:46 +0000

Our first trial of the New Year is over and already Ivan has earned himself a couple more titles. At Morningstar in Kingston this weekend he earned his Master Jumpers and Master Snooker titles!
Tyra pulled off Qs in the first two standard runs of the day to earn her Gold Award of Merit (50 Standard Qs and 100 Games Qs). She shared the honour with Jane Buckley’s Fly, who also earned his Gold on the same run.

A Pair of Goldens

Looking Back on 2009

admin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:12:38 +0000

2009 was a good year for us competition-wise

Ivan started competing in agilty at the end of April, just before his 2nd birthday. Between then and the end of November, he earned 15 agility titles in three venues (AAC, CKC and AKC) plus 2 Rally novice titles (CKC & AKC)
I am absolutely blown away by everything Ivan has achieved in such a short time!
Ivan is:
Spiritus Dare Ewe MADC AGDC AGX AGXJ OA AXJ NF (CKC/AKC) RN

Tyra had a most amazing year too. As she began the year as a masters/excellent dog there was no way she could top Ivan’s titling score. However, she showed her all-round skills and totalled 16 titles in 4 venues over the course of the year! She earned 2 regular obedience titles and 6 Rally titles. One of those Rally titles was earned at the BSDCC Specialty with a perfect 100 and earned her high in trial.
To top it all, she placed 5th in her division in both the AAC Regional Championships and the National Championships. She also reached the steeplechase final in both events for the second year running and won her class in the regionals.
The end-of-year stats show her at number 13 in the AAC top dogs list with an amazing 122 Qs! She also made the top Steeplechase dogs list at number 4

Tyra is:
Ch Blackcomb’s Dreaming of Ewe ATChC, Silver AOM, VSA, ExSt Silver, EXJ Gold, EXG Silver, EXS Silver, EXSc Silver, AGX, AGMXJ, HT, AX, MXJ, XF, RACL (CARO), RE (CKC/ACK), PCD, CD, DD

There I’ve done it
That’s my brag for this year (hope I’ve not left anything out )

Oh yes, and Marco started his show career with a 4 point major at the AKC Salt City Cluster show in Syracuse – How could I forget that! He was only shown a few times at the beginning of the year and also picked up a few CDN points too. He’s now being “rested” until he grows up a bit.

tyra at the aac nationals

(all photos by Len Silvester www.ttlphoto.com, layout by Wendy Beard www.muddypawz.net)

Tyra - First place in Steeplechase Finals Ontario Regionals 2009

(photo by Len Silvester www.ttlphoto.com)

Tyra gets her CD!

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:41:05 +0000

At the Ottawa Valley Golden Retriever Club Obedience trials this past weekend (31st October – 1st November 2009), Tyra got her three legs for her CD with two first place ribbons! She had her “Tyra” moments, like trying to stick her nose in the judge’s cosmetic bag on the table and flipping the judge’s hand out of the way during the stand for exam to get a better view of what was going on outside the ring. Still, she did it in style
Thanks to J-P for taking our picture!

Pumpkin Time

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:59:08 +0000

Ok – so this is my first ever attempt at carving a pumpkin.

The template came from the online site of “Better Homes and Gardens” and is supposed to be a German Shepherd Dog.

Here’s Armin modelling next to the finished pumpkin for comparison

What Do Dogs see?

wendy — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:16:38 +0000

It was once thought that dogs see only in black and white. However, this appears not to be true and they can distiguish between some colours.

So it would appear that:

WE see RED, THEY see pale yellow

WE see ORANGE, THEY see pale yellow

WE see BRIGHT YELLOW, THEY see pale yellow

WE see GREEN, THEY see pale yellow to white

WE see TURQUISE, THEY see white to pale blue

WE see DARK BLUE, THEY see mauve

WE see DARK PURPLE, THEY see grey

In the sport of agility, it’s important for the dogs to be able to see the obstacles clearly against the background in order for the dog to safely negotiate those obstacles. For that reason, the contact obstacles are painted in a contrasting colour to the contact area and the weavepoles and jump bars are striped in a contrasting colour. This is where “contrasting” becomes subjective. Bear in mind that dogs don’t see what we see, so what might seem like a contrasting colour (e.g. orange against green) is actually a same-shade to a dog!

Food for thought!

Graphic above comes from an article by Mark Plonsky

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/LA/DrP4.htm

There are two very interesting articles in the January and February 2009 editions of Clean Run covering this subject and more. Well worth checking out.

Going CERFing

wendy — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:06:07 +0000

Three of the dogs are off to Alta Vista today for their CERF eye exam. It’s Marco’s first time with the drops. Should be fun trying to get them in!