 |
My Blog |
Please be patient while this page loads, it's worth waiting for!
My Blog 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008 and beyond!
Week 4 - I was featured in Joy Ward's Dogster for the Love of Dogs, Dog Blog today. Joy mentioned my drawing by Larry Merrill and the Dog Each Day website. And she mentioned my website, thanks Joy! See it here!
---------------
Artist Larry Merrill is honoring the Year of the Dog on the Chinese Zodiac (January 29, 2006-February 17-2007), by providing a piece of original art for each day of the year - a Dog Each Day. And we are very honored that he picked me for December, 24-2006! Here's the cool drawing! And here is the link to the Dog Each Day website!
Thank you Larry for picking me! I love the drawing. All of your drawings are amazing. When I get my bandage off, I'll be sure and get right to that ball, I'll give it a good chase in your honor!
--Johann
---------------
Went in to get my cast off today! Yippee. But they put a soft cast on me. Have to have this one on for two weeks, then I have x-rays to check the bone, then either they take off the bandage entirely, or I keep the soft cast on! Will it ever end!!! I'm routing for the darn bandage to come off! What do you think?
------------
Hope you all had a terrific holiday! We sure did. We celebrate Christmas at our house. And boy, what celebrating we did!
On Friday and Saturday we had cleaning and shopping to do. Then on Sunday morning, we cooked a bit and waited until Auntie V arrived. She got here about Noon, and we were both so glad to see her! We slobbered her good!
Then we settled down and what did I do? You guessed it, I laid right down in front of Auntie V for my rubdown. And she obliged! Good girl Auntie V, you get a treat!
That night we watched a moved - Winged Migration; and BTW, if you haven't seen this movie Gracie and I highly recommend it. It's like an entertaining documentary on bird migrations all over the world. Gracie sat watching those birds through practically the entire movie! She loved it!
The next morning Mom and Auntie V took off to go see Mom's Mom. Then they were back in about four hours or so. So when they got back we slobbered all over them. Then we had brunch and opened presents. It was very exciting! I had a hard time containing myself. But I managed for a few photos:
Here we are just before opening our presents! Ahhhhh, Mom, it's cruel to do this to us!
Then we got to open our cool presents! Sometimes the paper the presents come in is just as fun as the presents, themselves!
We got treats, cookies, cool bandanas, winter coats, and some really neat toys. Auntie V even got us a car window air temp regulator to help keep our car cool when we go to agility trials, thanks Auntie V for all the neat stuff. And thanks Mom, we love our cool presents.
This is one of my favorite toys! We played for those new toys for hours!
Then we cleaned up and Mom took this shot of us with our new bandanas!
After the presents, we had Christmas dinner and then watched another movie -- "Dreamer". Auntie V is from Kentucky Horse country, so that was a fun movie for all of us to see.
After that, I was beat! Had to take a break from all the excitement. Have to be fresh and alert tomorrow. I GET MY CAST OFF!!!!! What a fun few days we had.
Week 3 - Oh, I've just about had it! What's up with the 'pecking order' thing, anyway. I want to be fed first! Instead I take a back seat to two cats; yep you heard me, two cats! Mom says it's supposed to help me respect them. I already respect Wiggy, he scratched me, ouch! But Wolfie? And he's the alpha? Doggone it, I don't think it's fair, just because he was here first. But I guess life isn't fair. At least Mom can feed all of us in about 5 minutes. Otherwise, I may just have to take over.
---------------------
Mom and I worked on our Holiday Card and sent it out this week with a little video. Hope you like it!
--------------------
With all the holiday activity, I get pretty beat. My favorite way to sleep is in the S curve, probably just like you. Mom let me nap on the couch one day, ahhhhhhhh!!!!!
---------------
Mom and Gracie had training yesterday. It was very muddy on the course, and a bit difficult for both of them to get through the it. Mom ended up pulling a muscle in her leg, and could only do short sequences with Gracie the rest of the hour. But Mom's better all ready and practically back to normal. She's got to be in top shape for when I come back to training, that's all I've got to say!
Gracie did well, Mom said. She didn't run away from Mom one single time, and came when Mom called her every time! Wow, what a different dog from a couple of weeks ago. Their modified ruff love program has REALLY paid off.
After seeing it in action, I totally recommend it. Mom did it with me when I was younger and wilder. Gracie also seems like a much happier dog. She wonders where Mom is when she leaves the room, follows her around and wags her tail a LOT when Mom comes around. Just like me! They have a much better relationship now. It's kind of amazing to see. I'm happy for them both. Now Gracie can enjoy much more in life. Knowing her boundaries, helps her understand life much better. Way to go you guys!
----------------
Only five more days and I get my cast off! I'm so excited! What a great Christmas present that will be!
Did you know that six weeks of a dogs life (the time I've had my cast on) is nearly the equivalent of 1 year of a humans life? What the heck would it be like to have a cast on for one year?
Did you ever wonder why a dog has such a sense of urgency? I think it's because our life is shorter than a humans. If we have to wait to go out to pee for just 10 minutes, that could be nearly a day to a human, YIKES! Something to think about, huh? Ha!!!
------------------
Since I'm on hiatus, Gracie has been in full force training mode. Check out her latest training video!
-----------------
Well, well, well -- who would have ever thunk it! I'm the Time Person of the Year! Yep, that's right, you heard me!
Time Magazine announced it's Person of the Year last Wednesday. And chances are you may be the Person of the Year too!
Read all about it here!
----------------
Gracie had training today, while I had to waited in the car. Sniff, sniff! But it was good to see her having fun. She got a real urge to visit with her classmates for the first two runs. But then she really focused on Mom on her last four runs. Yippee! We'll have some video soon to show.
Then Trainer J asked Mom to continue with a couple of the other beginners in the class. So Mom got to train a bit today! She had a blast helping out the newbies. They worked on weaves and a jump chute. And did really well.
After Mom was done training, she took me out to visit with everyone. And she let me go into the tunnel a couple of times. I was so psyched! Thanks Mom. Fun day!
Week 2 - Had another check up with my Ortho today. My cast had turned a bit, so I needed a re-bandage. My Ortho says that I have to keep the cast on for two more weeks. So it comes off two days after Christmas!
I'm getting pretty psyched! Can't wait. Was hoping that it would be off for Christmas, but they wrapped it in a nice green so I guess I'll be OK with that.
After the hard cast comes off, I'll get a soft cast for a week or two. Then if all goes well, I'll be cleared for TAKE OFF! Yep, I'll be able to go back to training. Gotta take it low (jump height, that is) for a while, but the Ortho says I should be raring to go soon after the soft cast comes off.
Mom is sure happy. She really misses running me in agility! But she has been working a lot with Gracie to try and get her ready for Spring trialing.
Happy Holidays if I don't talk with ya!----------------
On Thursday Mom took Gracie to training class. You may remember that last week her training session was pretty much a disaster. She acted up, ran around like a mad woman, and totally disregarded most all things Mom asked her to do.
So Mom came up with a program to help her gain her focus. She needs that, 'cause you know when dogs don't have focus (or a job to do) they can get pretty destructive and unhappy. That's one of the reasons Mom got me into agility in the first place, I needed a job. And it's exactly why Gracie needs agility, besides the fact that she absolutely loves it!
Well, I had to watch Mom and Gracie work through this program for a week. Gracie worked for her food (which she loved doing by the way), and they worked real hard on comes and stays. The stays were great, the comes, not so great. They even worked a bit with agility jumps in the back yard, with front and rear crosses. (Man, was I jealous!).
But the time they spent really paid off. Gracie was awesome at training this week. She only ran off two times during the entire hour. She listened to Mom and ran her little tooshie off in the ring.
I have to say that I was pretty proud of those two. Just goes to show you that hard work can really pay off. (BTW, when we call it work, we don't mean WORK! We mean fun work! 'Cause us May's love our work, always have.)
Gracie and Mom will have to keep up the program for a while. It's just helping Gracie know who is boss in the house. Since she grew up pretty wild (at the hoarders) it's just taking her time to understand the order of the pack. Our pack!!!
------------------
Been kind of quiet around here since I haven't had training. I'm resting a lot, and Mom is working with me on small stuff, like sending me to my mat and bed. Just small stuff, but stuff that will be beneficial in our trialing.
We have been busy on the computer though. Mom and I have been working up some pages for Me, so I can meet more buds around the world. Check this out! You can visit us on any of these sites now -- just click on them to bring up the page.
Soon you will also be able to view our blog on
. Oh, you will be able to see it here too, but we thought it was about time we joined the rest of the blogging world and join Blogger. So on January 1, 2007, my blog will have a new look and you'll be able to leave comments. We're kind of excited!
We also started a new Squidoo lens. For those of you who don't know about Squidoo.com, it's a great site that has all kinds of pages (or lenses) with great information, written by experts in their field. Well I'm not exactly an expert in agility, but I'm an expert in getting started in agility. So I put together a Lens on Dog Agility. You can visit it here:
If you stop by any of these sites to visit, be sure and say hi! We'd love to hear from you.
Hope you have a great weekend and week!
Week 1 - Our local newspaper, the Carmel Topics, wrote up a mention of my website featured in The Bark Magazine today. Very cool. Check it out here!
-----------
I so miss agility training. Mom took Gracie today and left me at home. She told me when they both got home that the session was kind of a disaster. Gracie so misbehaves, running off and do whatever she darn well pleases. She is such a free spirit, which we both admire; she takes everything in stride. But she is so bad about not doing what Mom wants her to do, when asked. So Trainer J and Mom decided she needs a more disciplined training approach. So Mom is putting a program together for Gracie for the next 4-6 weeks, loosely based on Susan Garrett's book "Ruff Love."
I hope it helps Gracie. 'Cause I know, if you do agility, you really gotta pay attention to Mom. At least if you want to do it right, BOL!
Mom told me she really misses running me. I miss it too Mom! Can't wait to be back in action with ya!
--------------
I had my cast (and myself) checked out yesterday. Since Saturday, after I had my cast re-bandaged, I had been very lethargic, laying around all the time, and I wouldn't even get up and go to the back door when Mom went out.
My Ortho says that the bandage was too tight and that's why I hurt. So he fixed me right up. He also took another x-ray to check the healing of my bone, and says I am healing nicely. I go back in two weeks to get another re-bandage and then another x-ray. And he thinks I may only have two-three weeks with this cast, and then he'll put on a soft cast after that.
I am tired from being at the Dr's., but feel much better! Thanks for all your good wishes.
----------------
Yesterday I got my cast fixed and now I'm not feeling so good. I've laid around all day, which concerns Mom. I was even so still at times that she had to check and see if I was breathing! I was, whew!!!!
So tomorrow, Mom has lined me up to see my Ortho again. Just to be sure that everything is OK. I'll keep you posted!
-----------
This is so cool! We are a Dogster Daily Diary Pic! How cool is that! We are so honored to be among all you Dogster bloggers. Thanks Dogster!
or
-------------Take this peg leg off of me! I don't want it anymore! It itches like crazy!
Mom and Gracie and I were out in the yard this weekend. After all the wind we got another ton of leaves in our yard. So Mom was raking away. She went in the front yard, and I and Gracie stayed in the back. We weren't doing anything that we hadn't done in the past week, I swear!
But when Mom checked on me, my cast had completely turned around in my bandage. I have to say it looked pretty weird, like I had broken my leg now or something. My leg was bending the WRONG WAY! What the......????
So Mom rushed me over to the emergency room, AGAIN!!!! And they took the cast off and repositioned it. And not only that I have to go back a week from Monday and do it all over again with an x-ray too!
Mom and I are just sick of all this. And it makes us edgy. Gracie walks up to me and I snap at her, Wiggy too. And then Mom has to get order. It's really getting out of hand. I'm tired of being injured.....make it go away!!!
Well, thanks for letting me vent! Maybe I'll get some rest and it will be better. Going to take a nap now!
Week 4 - Got an email today from one of my buds, Eileen Newsome. She has a great DVD out "Good Dog Massage DVD" The Good Dog Massage DVD takes you through the ABCs of at-home canine massage, step by step, beginning with gentle soothing massage and concluding with the advanced warm-up sports massage. You can learn techniques that will help enhance mobility, increase vitality and calm your dog’s temperament. 46 minutes, 2005 DVD Price: $24.95. Hmmm, wonder if Auntie V has seen this! Click below to check it out.
Good Dog Massage DVD ....
DVD by Eileen T. Newsome, LMT, NCBTMB-------------
The Monday after we got back from Thanksgiving, I had another appointment with my Orthopedic Surgeon. He just wants to check on my cast and see if it's still placed well. That morning I got the zoomies in the backyard with Gracie and my protective bootie (for the cast) came off, so I got my cast pretty dirty. The surgeon looked me over and talked with Mom about how I was doing. She told him I'm doing well, it's her that's all messed up. But he's a dog doc and couldn't really help her. Too bad!
Well, I needed to have my cast rebandaged and checked out. So they took it off, cut my nails. The surgeon grinded down my cast a bit to get off the rough edges; and they bandaged me back up -- It's blue now!!! Yeah!!!
When they took it off there was no irritation on my skin; that was real good news. Dr. S thinks I'm healing up quite nicely, and says the cast didn't move at all over the past two weeks, which means I've been good! I did lose a lb., so Mom and I are going to work on that. I go back in two more weeks for an update x-ray to see if it's healing well, then probably a couple more weeks on the cast and I may have this sucker off by Christmas! That would be so cool!
Mom is going to take me to my regular vet in a couple of weeks and start me on Chiropractic and Acupuncture treatments; to help with my healing and muscle soreness. That should feel real good!
-------------------
Been a pretty busy week. Mom took Gracie to training class on Tuesday. It was really hard for her, she had a bit of a melt down. Guess helping me and getting me taken care of and then not being able to run me in agility, really got to her. But she's going to be just fine, 'cause that's my Mom!!!! She's pretty tough. Just ask me!
Then on Thursday, which was THANKSGIVING, we drove down to see Auntie V for a few days. I was really looking forward to it, because Auntie V gives the best massages ever!!!!! And what did I get when I first got there? Oh, yeah....a massage....
Then it was time for Thanksgiving Dinner. Mom and Auntie V had just about the same meal as we did. Vegetables and Chicken. Wow was that Chicken great! No photo, cause it was gone before the camera got out. But after, well Gracie had to have the obligatory nap....
And boy what a nap she had. I was so bored that I had to take a rest....
Then we discovered something out the window, just couldn't believe our eyes! We saw them the last time we were there, but not like this! Squirrels, Squirrels, and more Squirrels....so we took patrol in advantageous positions....Gracie at the back door....
Me at the front door....
We thought we had them cornered, but Gracie's got away, so she joined me in the hunt at the front door.....
Then we were exhausted, running back and forth.....barking like mad! So we rested again. Gracie took he couch....
And I got another massage....yummy!.....
We had a great time. Auntie V is so kind to let us come visit. She's allergic to dogs you know...but it sure doesn't keep her from loving on us. Mom got some rest too and we headed home after a couple of days. What a fun time to spend with loved ones.
Week 3 - Had my visit with the orthopedic surgeon today. And we have good news. The break in my paw isn't so bad that I have to have surgery for a pin to be inserted, yeah! And there is just a small amount of strain in the tendon of my wrist, no tearing, so that's great news too!
I have a new brace since they had to reposition it for optimum healing and less stress on the surrounding tendons, and it is the coolest brace you have ever seen! See......
I have to wear the brace for about 6-8 weeks with check ups every 10-12 days to make sure it stays in place. Then I'll graduate to a soft but sturdy brace, then a softer and softer one until I'm totally off the bandaging. Helps my muscles build back up gradually. Sounds like a great plan!
The surgeon also said that the only way I could have gotten this type of injury was if I got my toe caught in something, because there aren't really any other injuries surrounding the break. Mom so wishes I could tell her for sure, but stuff happens right?
After the bandages are completely off, then its a few weeks of rehab, then I should be back in action with my agility - taking it slow of course. So that means I may be competing again by Spring! Yeah! That makes Mom and I both real happy.
Also the nice folks at Dog Dayz called today to see how I was doing. They feel horrible about what happened and really can't figure out exactly how it happened. They particularly feel bad because they didn't try harder to contact Mom or Mom's emergency contacts when the injury occurred and will work harder at that in the future. And they said they would help pay for some of the cost of my getting well. That made Mom very happy. They are being real 'stand up' folks. Secretly I think it's my winning personality that has them under my spell.
------------
When we went in last week for our shots for the day care Gracie had her urine checked. She's been eating and eating and hasn't gained any weight. And Mom has been a bit concerned.
So the Doc said to check her pee and poo. Well turns out she has crystals in her urine -- the kind that come from being too acidic. So she has to take urinary supplements and needs to be on different food.
Mom and Dr. T talked at length about food choices, since if she changes Gracie, she'll change both of us and it's a big decision. They decided it would be a good idea to, of course, keep us on the best food available, but to also change it 3-4 times per year. That way we will get a wide range of nutrition throughout our life and reduce the likeliness that we will ever become deficient in anything that would bring about illness. Hey I'm cool with that -- we get different food! Yeah!
So we're keeping a close eye on Gracie through this. But she should be just fine with some tweaking. But she is always hungry!! See.....
After she's done eating, she'll sit at her bowl and hope for more!
---------
Well what started out to be a really fun weekend at Dog Dayz Day Camp, turned into a disaster. Mom had to go out of town on business and had to leave us for the first time in our whole lives with someone else. So she booked us a weekend at Dog Dayz Day Camp. We were so excited when we arrived. Here I am arriving at the kennel...
I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. Then Gracie and I got to check out our really cool room. It even had a TV mounted up high for us to watch Animal Planet! Way cool!
And those great folks at Dog Dayz missed me so much they kept a picture up of me in their lobby! Wow!
Well, then Mom took off and flew to Las Vegas for business. We missed her but she checked in on us from time to time. She called on Sunday and they told her that we were eating and playing and having a good time. They even said that I was playing well with others -- that made Mom really happy.
Then she called the next morning and they said we were still doing just fine, having the time of our lives!
So she flew home after her work, and got in real late, about 1:00 AM and she slept a little. She got up early to drive over to pick us up. She told me she was so excited to see us, she just couldn't sleep in. When she arrived, she paid for our visit and then the person at the counter said to her, "did you get my messages?"
Mom said no, that her cell phone didn't alert her to a message. Well the receptionist said I was injured. She told Mom that sometime when I was in the play room the day before about 10 or so AM, I yelped and the attendant turned around and I was limping. But they didn't see what happened to me. They called Mom on her cell phone around 11:00 AM, but Mom was in a meeting and her phone didn't ring. So she didn't think to check messages after her meeting.
The Dog Dayz folks didn't try to call Mom again, and they didn't call the emergency numbers that Mom had left with them in case something happened. So Mom didn't find out anything was wrong until she was there to pick us up the next morning. She got kind of scared and wanted to see me right away. They took her back to us and I was only walking on three legs. I wouldn't put any weight on my left front leg or paw. Mom asked them why they didn't seek emergency procedures; because I was obviously hurt. They said they didn't think it was that serious. What the heck?????? I couldn't walk!
So Mom rushed me to the emergency room, and they checked me out after a long wait. I got x-rays and what did I have?
A broken bone in my paw. Mom and I couldn't believe it. No wonder I couldn't walk on my paw. It hurt!!!!! And it had been hurting real bad for nearly 20 hours. So they bandaged me up, see....and gave me some pain medication. They told Mom that they have only seen this type of injury caused by a couple of things....either I got my paw caught in something and twisted it real bad, or someone stepped on my foot. Curious......
Mom wanted to be as certain as possible that I was getting the best care to heal up my paw, so we had a follow up visit with our vet that same afternoon. Mom and Dr. A talked for almost an hour and decided it would be best to get the opinion of an orthopedic surgeon. We all want my paw to heal the best way it can so I can continue to do agility at my usual 100%. So I have an appointment this afternoon to see if I will need a pin inserted in my paw or not.
Needless to say it's been an ordeal. Mom is pretty upset about the whole thing -- the fact that I didn't get care for nearly 20 hours; the fact that the folks at Dog Dayz didn't try a second time to get in contact with Mom; the fact they didn't try to call my friend and trainer that were listed as emergency contacts; and the fact that I hurt, and can't run and play like I love to do; and the fact that we won't be able to do our absolute favorite thing in the world -- agility -- for quite a few months. It's going to be a long road back...but I've got my Mom, Gracie, Wolfie, Wiggy, and my great Friends to see me through.
We'll keep you posted and wish us well, --K?
Week 2 - Had my annual check up today and got a couple of shots. I was really nervous going inside the office (shaking a lot!). But I was a good boy and settled down, after Mom gave me all kinds of treats. You rock Mom!
First Gracie weighed in, then I weighed in.....do you think we are welter, middle, or heavyweights?
Then it was into the exam room, yikes! I got checked over real good, 'cause it was my annual exam. She looked at my eyes, ears, stuck something up my butt -- wooo!, the started poking me all over. But it wasn't too bad. The best part? I got a chiropractic adjustment. Love those! My shoulder let out a big pop! Ahhhh.....
Then it was time for the eye exam...here we are after we passed!
Gracie is so relieved she past her first eye test. See the chart on the wall? We had to bark once for one bone, twice for two bones, etc...got kind of loud in there! BOL!
But we are in really fine shape, yippee! All samples, A-OK.
---------
Oh my, what a day we have had. First of all I am very proud to announce that I am now an official member of the Amazing Canine Road Trip. The ACRT is a posse of pups who met though MySpace. They travel from location to location visiting each of the posse members, learning about the area and participating in bunches of fun activities.
You can read about the beginnings of the Amazing Canine Road Trip here!
Well, lucky me! I'm now a member of the posse, see?
And today was a very special day, because they came to the great State of Indiana! Yep, that's right; we got to visit the Indy Motor Speedway, Indiana Dunes State Park, Wyandotte Caves, shopped in Nashville, hear the Wolves howl at the Wolf Park; and much, much more!
Read and see about all of our adventures here!
And a really neat thing, is the posse made this great photo of me! Like it?
Thanks Pieces and Kodie -- great to be your new friend!
Week 1 - Woo Hoo! We got to train at the barn today. Man I just love that place - sandy dirt, just like at a beach; I can run and stir up lots of dirt; and I can really get a grip on my weaves; and run super fast. I just had a blast and Mom did too.
It was Gracie's first time in the barn, boy did she want to smell everything! Needless to say she was really unfocused on Mom in the beginning but came around after awhile. She did a great job today. We learned that her favorite obstacle is the A-Frame, guess she likes to rise above it all! You go girl.
And on Saturday, we're going to take care of Trainer J's sheep, OH, can't wait to get my eyes on those sheep again. And the smell, hope it rains!
Week 4 - We had a great time this past weekend. Gracie and I went to the Jay Davis Memorial Disc Dog-a-thon to watch our friends compete and had a blast!
We got to see the Davis clan -- including Mom Kristie, and 'fur' kids Sadie, Brindi, Darby and Cosmo. Cosmo is one of my best buds, she came to visit us when we were working with Great Lakes Border Collie Rescue to find me a new sister/brother.
We got to see Kristie and Darby compete, and they ended up 2nd place in the Team Time Trials - Way to go you guys! Here is a photo:
Cosmo and I got to get reacquainted. We hadn't seen each other since Spring. And boy did we have to get reacquainted! I had to nip at that feisty girl; then she had to bark back at me. But Mom walked the two of us together for a while, and before you know it we were play wrestling like we had been doing it for years.
After we settled down we got these shots of us - one serious, one fun:
I know, I know -- we look a lot alike. We get that a lot!!!
Gracie had a blast too, she got to meet a lot of new people and so did I here's some more shots:
That's Gracie with Kristie; Me, Mom and Gracie, and Me with my friend Mary Jo.
----------------
Mom says tomorrow is going to be fun, we're going to a Halloween Party at Pawsitive Partners Dog Training Center. And we get to run agility! Yippee! I'll report later in the week.....
Week 3 - Guess what? I'm entered in the Dogster World's Coolest Dog Show - very fitting for a dog that sells cool dog stuff - don't you think?
Need your votes!!!! Click below to vote for me!
And don't forget to vote for Gracie, Wolfie and Wiggy!
-------------
Mom and I stopped by our former haunt -- Dog Dayz Playhouse & Retreat - you may remember it's on my "I Dig" list!
Mom wants to sign up Gracie for a training class sometime in the next month; so we stopped by to talk with them. And who did we see? Gabi - HeadDog at Dog Dayz. Here's a photo of Gabi with her Dad.
Gabi looks fabulous. And she's one lucky dog! About a year ago she was diagnosed with cancer. In the next month she had surgery and radiation to combat her illness -- and through it all she was a trooper. Well, now she is doing extremely well, a little grey around the muzzle, but I think it makes her look very nice. Gabi must be one of the hardest working dogs I know -- greeting all the dogs that visit Dog Dayz. And it was terrific to see her come up and greet us today. You go Gabi!
Click here to read read more about Gabi and all that she went through!
And you know what else? Gabi and her dad have hooked up with a great organization, www.pet4pets.com. Pet4Pets is selling really cool collars that help raise funds to support pet cancer research. And they are a really cool orange, my favorite color!
Sales of Pet4Pets collars support the Animal Cancer Foundation (ACF), an organization that helps fund new research in advanced and novel therapies for cancer in companion animals.
To get your collar click here!
-----------------
Wow, I'm the featured dog on Bowzer.biz daily newsletter! Cool! Bowzer.biz has over 5,000 unique subscribers to their email newsletter and is growing! They deliver daily "bones" to readers via email in a tasty, engaging and drool-worthy manner. Check it out!
Photo:
Johann, aka JoJo
Owner: Leslie
Doggy: Johann, aka JoJo
Doggy's Age: 2 Years
Breed: Bi-Black Shetland Sheepdog
Hometown: Carmel, IN
1) How do you like to unwind?
Roll around on my back and make snorting noises, then nap on my Mom's bed.
2) What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
A mouse, eek!
3) Who do you most admire and why?
My Mom, she rescued me!
4) Describe your ultimate day.
Running in an agility trial, getting first place, and then going home for a nice raw bone, a short nap, and a good chase with my sister Gracie in the yard.
5) What's your motto for life?
It's a perfect day!
6) Describe your personal fashion sense.
Sporty.
7) What's your beauty secret?
Plenty of exercise, whole foods, water and an occasional bath in Buddy Wash.
---------------
Fun thing happened to me at the trial this weekend. Someone came up and asked my Mom if I was Johann. Mom said yeah! But didn't know this nice lady, and thought she had heard about us from a friend at the trial.
But no -- she said that she had searched on the Internet one day and found my website. And was so surprised to see us at the trial this weekend; not sure she could believe it was really me, but she said she recognized me from my pictures.
That is so cool -- I'm a bit of a celebrity! What fun! She was really nice and gave me a good neck scratch. It's so great to meet new friends and fans!
Hope she gives me a bark someday soon.
-------------
Wow are we tired! Had the USDAA Quantum/K9Athletes trial this past weekend. Had a lot of ups and downs, some successes, and boy did we have fun!
On Friday we had five runs. We really wanted to get our Advanced Standard Q's and Standard was run of our first runs. We did great through the entire course, but I dropped a bar on the final jump, Aaaahhhh! Well it was not to be, but Mom was very happy with my run. After that, we got our last Advanced Snookers Q, so we got our Advanced Snooker title, yeah! And we did great in our Adv. Gamblers run, made the gamble with no problem at all, but the buzzer sounded just as I was going over the jump -- another Aaaahhhh! It's OK though, because we are so not ready to go into Masters Gamblers!
Had our first run in Masters Jumpers, did pretty well, but were a few seconds over course time, so no Q there.
It was incredibly windy on Friday, and I got kind of freaked out in one of the rings, so I was kind of freaked out in that ring all weekend. But Mom did her best to give me some confidence, we continued to run in the other rings which helped, but I still didn't feel confidence in that other ring.
Saturday was a pretty good day. We got our Advanced Pairs title, yeah! - with one last Q in that class. Did our Adv. Standard run and despite the fact that I landed chin first on the table we Q'd. Mom was proud of me for bucking it up!
Then we had our second Masters Jumpers run. We were doing really, really well -- I was super fast and the run was terrific. But Mom did her final front cross after the second to the last jump and missed her spot, she ended up just inches in front of the final jump, yikes! She had so much forward momentum going that she was going to trash the jump, WHAT? So she saved us all and jumped the jump with me! That was kind of fun -- and the crowd just roared! We were the comedy for the day. Way to go Mom! Even the judge said she was laughing so hard, that she hard a difficult time judging the next run! She thought Mom was fun and so do I! According to our time, we would have gotten third place, even to a national USDAA champion dog in our class! Yippee!
On Sunday we had a pretty great day. Got another Snooker Q, even though we didn't need it, so we worked on speed and flow -- that was the most Mom had run in any run we've ever done. She was so winded! But we did really well and got 45 points! We even were one third through the weaves (the final obstacle) before the final buzzer sounded. And we got in four reds this time, so Mom was psychied.
We were getting ready for our standard run on Sunday and they said we were next. Then the ring manager changed the running order, just as we were going out for our run. Sometimes they do that to accommodate the Masters folks that are running in our class. But we thought that was so unfair! We were just stepping out to run! At least they could have given us some warning. So Mom put me back in the car to rest, while she figured out when we were going to run. I was so mixed up! What was going on? We'll consequently I was totally unfocused in the ring when we did get to run and I had a real hard time concentrating, so Mom took me off the course. It just wasn't meant to be. Even others said that was so unfair to treat us that way. Next time Mom is going to really speak up! You go Mom!
We were able to redeem ourselves later that day in our third Masters Jumpers run. We did really well. It was a very open flowing course, and that's my absolute favorite -- I get to work away from Mom a bit, and we run like the wind. I think Mom was running faster than she's ever run before -- just for me! We Q'd, Yeah! And were only 5 seconds from the 1st place finisher. We have great potential -- especially in jumpers. And I'm still just 2 years old!
Overall it was a fun weekend. Probably our last trial until Spring. That's sad, but we always have training, and we want to work on speed more and tightening our jumps, etc. So this will be great to have the time to work on that this winter.
Mom - I just want to tell you, thanks for getting me involved in agility. I have a blast running with ya! And I think we did great for our first season. Imagine -- we've made it to the top levels in AKC, got our first DQ, have 46 MACH points to start in with next year. We've started in Masters Jumpers in USDAA, are ready now for Masters Pairs and Snooker; and we've blasted through the Starters and Advanced titles. I just can't wait until Spring! Thanks again, Mom -- I love ya!
Week 2 - Trial this past weekend. Fun times! We had some bobbles though. There happened to be something in the tunnel that was drawing a lot of the dogs as we made our way through the courses on Saturday. Well -- I found something really great in there during my first standard run and was chomping on may way out! Mom was like -- WHAT???? Oh well, got a good snack out of it and went on for a pretty darn good run. Just got a little crazy going to the table and jumped off. But we ran pretty fast.
During my afternoon Jumpers run, I really thought there was something still in that tunnel, so I took a major off course right for it -- totally ignored Mom. Well I had to pay the consequences -- she took me right off the course and I didn't even get to finish! WHAT??? Well learned my lesson.
Had a couple of pretty good runs on Sunday -- just knocked some bars during standard, but we Q'd in Jumpers with a fourth place. Not too bad for our second Exec B weekend.
Got the big USDAA trial this coming weekend. Can't wait! Have 5 runs Friday, 3 Saturday and 4 on Sunday. We'll be busy!
----------
Had training today -- I was Rocket Dog² (that's means super fast for me). Mom just wasn't prepared -- so she messed up pretty bad, but I did great! Followed her completely. Worked on a couple of gambles, and did pretty well. Some bobbles, but would rather have them in training than out on the course this weekend.
Gracie did great -- she did her first full jumpers course, missed a couple of jumps, but started working away from Mom -- that's cool. And she did some standard run drills -- nice work Gracie! Think you'll be ready for Spring trialing?
----------
Had a nice surprise in the mail when we got home. Our friends at Affordable Agility (we are one of their affiliate companies and resell their product on our site), sent us some stick in the ground weave poles! Very, Very cool! Gracie really needs them and we were so pleased to get them. They sent them to us because we have a surprise coming up!
The Bark Magazine called Mom and interview us for an article they are doing for the November/December issue on dog specialty stores. So we're going to be in the article. And they wanted photos of some of the agility equipment that we offer through Affordable Agility -- so we worked with those nice folks there to get the photos to the magazine. We also sent along a couple of photos of moi! Just in case. Hope they make it in -- and we can't wait to see the article! Thanks -- Bark Magazine! You guys rock!
And by the way they a have a couple of great books out -- check 'em all out!
Rex and the City: A Woman, a Man, and a Dysfunctional Dog
Dog Is My Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World's Oldest Friendship
Week 1 - Mom's been helping me put together a MySpace and Dogster page. What fun is that to be able to network with all kinds of buds around the world! Check out the page -- and say hi there if you get a chance! And don't forget to add us!
Hey did you all know about GoodSearch.com? Its cool. You can search on the Internet and earn money for your favorite charity! We chose the Southside Animal Shelter - since that's where I came from! But you can choose your favorite charity too! Here's a link -- try it out!
---------
Hi Ho! We are on cloud nine, again! Had the Terre Haute Kennel Club AKC Agility Trial this weekend. What a rush! It was our first time in Exec B, the highest level of AKC Agility. Didn't know exactly what to expect after our so-so showing at the USDAA Trial in Grove City; and our great showing at the AKC trial in Corydon a few weeks back.
First run on Saturday was fast, but I got a bit distracted and pulled my weaves. Woopsie! But Mom was happy that I was fast -- again. We got a lot of congrats from the crowd on that one. Second run was Standard; and we got a Q and third place. Wow! That was so cool. And I wasn't even as fast as usual on a couple of obstacles. (That's me coming out of the tunnel this weekend!)
Sunday was even better; we had our Standard run first -- ran clean and ran fast! We got a 2nd place finish. There was one section of the course where I almost went off course about 15 feet away from Mom, but she turned sharply, so I turned sharply and just got the jump in. Whew! Close call.
Then we had JWW; Mom experimented with a two jump lead out to see if I would be faster if she ran with me or with a lead out. Trainer J says I'm faster if I run with Mom, after she saw us run. We sacrificed a bit of time, but it's early in our Exec B game, and we just wanted to give it a go. We still had a fabulous time, but ended up one half a second from 4th place. There was only about 2 seconds between the 1st through 5th dogs; so we felt great about our performance; and great to be among the fast dogs.
The best part? Well second best part; was that we racked up 43 Mach points and got our first Double Q. And our Yard Per Second (YPS) increased about a full second on all our runs from previous Excellent runs. Not a bad showing for our first time in Exec B.
And the best part? Being with our friends -- especially Willow, her Mom and her new brother Simba -- they haven't been able to trial with us all summer. And we got to sit with Trainer J and talk about runs and handling techniques and get ideas on what we need to work on. And we got to see some great old friends. That was the very best part!
After Mom had to work so much last week, it sure was great to get out and be with her all day, run agility, and just be a dog. Thanks Mom for a great weekend! We're beat!
Week 3 - Ha! -- Look what I helped Mom make. I wear many hats!
-------------
Hi all! The nice folks at www.therealmartha.com, sent us a couple of real cool new dog toys that they make to test them out! The are called U.K.O's - Unidentified Knotted Objects. The cool part is when you purchase a toy a portion of the proceeds go to rescues and shelters.
They are so cool. We play with the blue and red one pretty often, although Mom likes to take it away from us before we chew it to death -- she says it's for tugging!
Here are a few photos from our testing:
What I like most is the cloth part, rubber just isn't my thing. But Gracie? She loves the rubber part. So makes for a great game! She takes the rubber, I take the cloth and we go at it! And it stretches like crazy! Makes for more fun for us and saves Mom's arms - she likes that.
If you get a chance check them out here! And don't forget to mention Johann sent ya -- and tell them what shelter/rescue you want to support! Or mention the Southside Animal Shelter in Indianapolis, that's where I came from!
----------
Wiggy and I were having some fun the other day -- Wiggy is my brother, the cat! This time of year the crickets like to make their way inside and boy does Wiggy love crickets - chasing them, torturing them to death and then eating them, they are good protein, you know. Mom likes it that the cats like bugs, rids the house of them. Here's a pic from the episode, the darn thing got under the armoire!
---------
Poor Gracie. Mom gave her a bone (like she does for both of us about once a week). But this time Gracie ate the whole thing. What was she thinking. Well, of course, she got sick. She woke us up in the middle of the night and had to throw up and she got the big D. It went on all night, poor girl.
Mom didn't let her have any food for about 24 hours. She stopped throwing up and the big D subsided. And she is all back to normal in about 48 hours. Thank goodness! We were kind of worried. But she's back picking on me more than ever.
Mom had a meeting out of town today so was gone for about 5 hours. We rested -- which wasn't too bad. When she got home she took us for a long walk around the neighborhood -- and we got to go down to the pond. We saw, up very close, the great blue heron that comes by our pond frequently. Oh, man -- did I ever want to herd that! But I'm little, and it could have gotten the best of me! Ha!
Training tomorrow -- yeah!
Week 2 - Hey, how is everyone this great Friday morning! We are up and raring to go this morning. Gracie's been in the litter box three times already! Drives Mom nuts!
Looks like the weekend weather is supposed to be top notch! Mom says she has to catch up on cleaning and yard work since we've been gone the past two weekends. But that means spending time with Mom outside, which we both love! Maybe she will even take us for a long walk in the woods. We all love that. Very relaxing!
She also says that we need to work on our weaves and outs this weekend -- to get more ready for the USDAA trial coming up in a few weeks. We'd sure like to get better at gamblers. I'm really starting to love the independence of working away from Mom.
Had training yesterday -- another private lesson. It's great to have a private -- get lots of individual attention and great tips from Trainer J. I went first and did a standard run; had a bobble on a discrimination -- Mom just didn't get in the right position. I was fast, but I wasn't slow -- then we did the run a couple of more time -- worked pretty well together.
Then it was Gracie's turn -- she's really coming along. She did (for the first time) a perfect 2o2o on the dog walk. She took that dog walk like she'd been doing it for years; and when Mom gave her the command at the bottom, she did it! And she did it 2x's in a row -- so guess it's not exactly a fluke! Way to go Gracie!
She's still trying to read Mom's command with jumping, and she worked on the weaves and teeter -- did very well.
Then it was my turn again -- guess Trainer J thinks I was a little jealous, because I went a lot faster in the standard run again. And Mom did more crosses with me to tighten me up on the course. Now that we are in the upper levels of competition, saving seconds and fractions of seconds on the course is crucial. So we are working a lot on fast downs on the table, tightening up the turns, and faster weaves. It's so fun.
Mom was talking with Trainer J about how far we've come with agility this past year. It's been our first year of trialing and we are already in Excellent B in AKC and moving close to Masters in USDAA. I heard Mom say -- just think what he will be like in 2-3 years! Can't wait to see. But for now we're just taking it easy, enjoying learning (always!), and having fun. We'll be in the top levels for years to come and that suits us just fine.
Better go -- Mom's giving us a bone!
--------------
Been pretty darn quite around the house the last couple of days. I think Gracie and I are very tired from the past two weekends. It was just today (Wednesday) that we finally had a good chase around the yard. And Mom took us for a nice long walk -- we loved that! Especially since we get treats when we sit at the cross walks before crossing the street. She makes us every time!
--------------
Auntie V sent us some photos she took at the Corydon trial a couple of weekends ago! They are cool! Thanks Auntie V!
Hey, we're back from Ohio and the USDAA trial in Grove City. It was kind of a long trip, three hours in the car -- I need a massage! Wonder where Auntie V is!
We arrived Friday night and stayed in a hotel for the first time! It was so weird, I didn't know where I was and OH the smells in that hotel room. I think there were thousands and thousands of people that have been in that room and i can identify them all! Mom was really proud of us though -- we didn't get us all kicked out for barking or being loud or anything! And we didn't mess a bit.
Saturday I had three runs -- we ran indoors in a horse arena so it was packed dirt and very fun to run on. And the crating area where we stay between runs was air conditioned, that was really great! My first run was gamblers -- which looked pretty easy -- I was running fast and got two a frames, two dog walks and two tunnels in even before the buzzer sounded. But then Mom was in a bad position to direct me through the gamble and I didn't know what she wanted me to do -- so no Q. We had our standard run -- Mom really wanted to get some Q's this weekend on standard because we only need three for our AAD title. But it was not to be.
&nb
