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The Labradors at play in the first snow of 2009. They certainly seem to be enjoying it...................

My Goals for 2010, Perhaps if they are in writing,.....

My goals, perhaps if I put them in writing, kind of like telling folks that you are quitting smoking because then you are committed since you have told everyone!

My goals, are not weight related, cosmetic related, or thing related - because no matter what, I know now that those things if changed, or altered or purchased, won't make my life better. I know that when obsessed by my weight gain or looks, I become more obssessed and unhappy with everything. I know that effects my day to day life, my relationship with Al and with everyone else.

My goal; to work on the little things with my dogs and to progress slowly with with purpose and success, and to remember to modify goals as needed and not give up.

My goal; to become better satisfied with who I am, what I am and how I am and not let myself fall into the trap of my feeling bad or guilty because of someone else. Difficult for me to grasp, but I do understand that only I have control over how I feel.

My goal; to be more patient with everyone, but especially Al, who loves me in the same manner as my labradors, with no rules or restrictions, no matter what.

My goal; to always remember the day I knew that Al was different, the day about 4 yrs ago when he helped me clean up the biggest nastiest dog mess you can possiblyn imagine which we found when we come home from a lovely dinner date one night while still in the dating mode.

Happy 2010 I hope,...........

Lucy's Rally Video from November 8th show!

Just click on the title to see Lucy's first official Rally showing!

Pip's Rally Video from November 8th Show!

Pip's Rally video from November 8th show. Just click on the title!

Dog Agility Insanity!

Well, managed to do 4 days of agility at the West Springfield Thanksgiving Cluster without any mishaps and even managed a couple of qualifying runs. Running in agility were my labrador Pip and Fitty, a border terrier that I train and run. Pip had some nice runs but unfortunately no q's this weekend, however Fitty managed to get his Novice Title over the weekend. This was Fitty's first time at doing an agility trial for more then one day so it was a lot for him. The Cluster is very stimulating and long days. It was a fun weekend and I did manage to get a picture of Fitty with his ribbons!

Lucy and Pip at Play!

Well, Lucy and Pip continue to play. Just a quick picture of the 2 of them on the dog bed hanging out. The reason this is so nice is in the past, before Lucy, if another dog had come to lay on the bed where Pip was she would have got up and left, probably gone into another room. Pushy Lucy just plops herself right down on the bed and insists on playing nice nice. Kinda cute.

Hard to do black dog pictures, but you should see most of it.

Izzy and Others at the Door

I've had fun taking pictures of all of the dogs looking out our front door. They like to watch the cars go by, they can see down the driveway. At night Lucy is fascinated by the lights on the cars. And of course there is the ever popular squirrel and bird festival to watch on a daily basis. Well, I guess Izzy has been doing some observational learning since I was able to get some great shots of her looking at the door also! I'm hoping for a dog and cat shot soon. Here are who I have so far,................

Rally Weekend

We had a busy Rally weekend in Coventry, CT. The Nathan Hale Obedience club put on their yearly obedience and rally show. Its a nice little show, small, held in a local high school. They always have nice judges, low key, low pressure.

We are trying for Pip's RAE Title. This means we need to do 10 successful trials of entering and qualifying in both Advanced and Excellent on the same day/in the same trial. This was our first attempt. Pip's excellent run was okay, our big errors were handler (me!) errors. Considering I teach Rally classes, I should have known better but think I was blown away somewhat by the first exercise which was the Offset Figure 8 exercises, which consists of 2 cones and 2 food bowls with toys sitting in them that you have to go around. Challenging as they sit on the start line staring out at the bowls! But we got thru it and qualified. Pip's Advanced run was much better. She received scores of 84 and 98 respectivally with a nice second place in Advanced.

This was also Lucy's debut in AKC Rally. She spent much of the time giving me puzzled looks as to why we were doing this and when was the fun going to begin! We made it around and qualified with a score of 88. It was an interesting experience. Lucy did a cute high 5 and bow as we were leaving the ring and got nice laughs from the audience.

Relaxing at its best - Izzy has mastered it!

Izzy had found a new spot to hang out in. She jumps from the new window perch we have to the top of the refrigerator, and I discovered today, sleeps in the basket up there that we normally use to put chips or crackers in when we have guests. I think I'll be using a different basket the next time folks come over!

Pip's Agility Weekend

Pip and I did 2 days of USDAA agility this past weekend. We have one nice qualifying ribbon to show off, for Snookers, this crazy crazy game that gives me anxiety as I try to figure out the strategy before we run. Its crazy, similar to I guess human game called Snookers. Anyway, she did a nice job and we qualified in that. The other runs were nice but no qualifying scores for a variety of reasons; over time, missed contacts, poor handling on my part. I find USDAA much more challenging then AKC and I definitely don't know all of the rules yet. Pip tried her hardest, except for the time when she shot off to visit an old friend who literally she has not seen in over a year - was that a surprise! We are entered in Rally this coming weekend and we'll see how it goes. Lots of training this week for sure. No pictures of this weekend, but it was a nice one to spend the 2 days with Pip by herself. I know she enjoyed it!

Izzy Girl

Wow, has Izzy come out of her shell. She wanders around on the floor with the dogs around, is determined to catch Ben, our Betta fish hanging on the wall, and if none of that works, hanging out on the counter and/or kitchen table are almost as good. We ordered a window ledge platform for her, its in the mail as they say.
I am hoping that will somewhat satisfy her urge to be "up" and also give her the opportunity to be entertained by watching the birds outside the window at the feeder.
Izzy is one of the most "balanced" cats I have known, check our her balancing act on the basement stair railing.

Zenny's First Official Therapy Visit

Zenny had his first offocial Therapy Dog visit in October. It went very well, we have 2 more to go as "supervised" visits and then we can be on our own. See how handsome he looks in his vest! He's pretty convinced that he can't move once the vest is on but I"m thinking he'll get over that soon! I hope,......

The Izzy Adjustment Period

Our new cat "Izzy" is adjusting well. Too well perhaps since she has now turned into a frisky never predictable kitten that you just never know where you will find her. Last night we heard a noise in the kitchen and went to investigate, looked all around, nothing. I see that Lucy is looking up with a very curious expression on her face, there is Izzy on top of the kitchen wall cabinets, in other words she is about 4 inches from the ceiling. Have no idea how she got there, well, I know she jumped, but would have loved to see that. We removed the glassware that she was sitting amongst for management sake.......

Izzy and Lucy are coming to an understanding as can be seen by the picture. Best when Lucy is tired, she was exhausted this particular day. Its fun to see them figure each other out. No one else really cares about her and Lucy is getting more used to her, still, the "chase" is the most fun........... In the basement, we see that Wookie, our other cat, has come to terms. Dinner time, Izzy runs around the basement leaping over Wookie like she was some moving leap frog.

Its fun, everyone should get a kitten, keeps you on your toes. We've gotten much better at picking up stuff from the counter and putting things away, otherwise we find them on the floor the next morning.

Perhaps I'll get better at laundry also, but I doubt it!

the Beach! Silver Sands State Park

We went to the beach on Sunday. In the past, the only beach that I have become familiar with for taking my dogs to is in New Hampshire. A little bit of a drive and we got a late start on Sunday. Al suggested a beach in Milford, CT where he used to live. We headed out, beautiful day.

When we got there of course there are many signs indicating no dogs on beach, dogs on leash, etc. I always respect those signs during the beach season, but off season usually things are pretty loose. We checked it out and there were quite a few dogs on the beach. We put Zenny and Lucy on long lines and off we went. I'm very glad that Lucy was on a long line, she is very birdie and was extremely interested in the seagulls. Not to be negative, but I"m pretty sure I would not have gotten her back out of the ocean if she had been loose. I used the opportunity to work on "no bird" and reward her for returning to me. Lots of work needed on this before I"ll feel comfortable letting her off the line. Too bad, but every dog is different and I just need to remember that. Zenny was very into the smelly seaweed and dead horseshoe crabs. We spent over 2 hours on the beach, got some ice cream at a local Marina and in general had a beautiful day. We packed clothes for coldness on the beach and could have used shorts and sandals instead!

click on the title of this blog for more information about Silver Sands State Park.

Our WC

I have no pictures of the Working Certificate (WC) event that we attended on Saturday. As anybody in CT would know, it POURED on Saturday, buckets and buckets and buckets. Not good picture taking or video taking conditions.

This was Lucy's second WC attempt, she passed last year but we are still working thru some challenges so I entered her in the WC again. She passed but with different issues then last year. I obviously have more training to do. It was Pip's first WC attempt. And as I think about it, I only started training her for this type of work about 5 months ago. Pip does a great job of marking and racing to the bird, but I discovered this week that she is not comfortable picking up birds. She does awesome with the bumpers. She refused to pick up the bird on land so I was unable to continue. I"ll need to get creative with my training with her. Probably do some using her dinner and/or chicken necks, her favorite high value treat.

I did discover that my LLBean Rainjacket is no longer waterproof. I"ll be going to LLBean today to see if there 100% guarantee is really for ever! The water soaked right through my jacket. The pants were fine - probably because I haven't worn them as much. Who knows! Brrrr, nothing worse then wet raingear.

Zenny's new friend Otto

I have been lax in introducing Zenny and Lucy's new friend Otto. Otto is a german shepherd who came to one of our puppy k classes. Otto has the best of all worlds in our minds, he gets to walk out of his back yard into my favorite hiking place, Bolton Notch. We are lucky enough to have become friends with Joanne and Ron, Otto's parents - and get to hike from their house quite a bit. What a treat.

Pip's First Night (NOT New Years Eve!)

Last night was Pip's First Night at class. I am fortunate to have a job teaching family dog and puppy classes at Tails U Win Canine Center in Manchester, CT. Classes consist of 8 1 hr sessions, with the "first" night ( or session) an informative one with just owners, no dogs. But we as instructors bring a dog or dogs if we want. I like to bring a dog or 2 to show what I love to do with positive reinforcement training and to talk about how I have incorporated it into my many different dog personalities. Pip has never been to first night. She is rather impulsive and I've always been concerned about how she would reflect on the training. Its always been my goal so I took the plunge and went for it. I have been working on having her lie down on a grooming table. Gives her a "place to be" and being up high which she lives, also keeps her from getting to enthusiastic with folks. Between that and tired Lucy we had a pretty successful evening. More things to work on for the next time.

Our Tracking Weekend - Zenny and Tessie and Welcome Izzy!

Unfortunately, we have no pictures of this, but Zenny and Tessie, his favorite golden retriever friend, attended a tracking seminar in NH this weekend. It was awesome - the weather could not have been better and the instructors were great. Both Tessie and Zenny were upbeat and interested both days, ready to go. You could tell they understood the game and liked it. Definitely I will do more with Zenny on this in hopes of getting his TD title.

The Monadnock Humane Society in NH is awesome. This is the 3rd time I have been there for an event and each time I have threatended to bring home a kitten. Well this time I did! Welcome Izzy (short for Isabelle), a 6 month old kitten. Right now she is being introduced to the dogs by hanging out in the bathroom with the expen up so they can all see and smell each other. I don't think Wookie, the basement cat (her choice not mine!) knows she is here yet. A couple more days perhaps of this and we will go for the gusto. She is very cute, petite and hopefully she will stay that way. We could not believe that she never made a peep the entire 2 hr ride home. Didn't start talking until she go into the house and the dogs were sniffing the box.

Its Official!

We received Zenny's therapy dog information in the mail. A slight correction was needed, they had him listed as a chocolate lab! An identity crisis for sure - mostly because the picture taken was pretty off in the color. We have that all corrected and are now waiting for our first surpervised visit with Christine.

Therapy - Its Zenny for Sure!

Zenny, he's my only boy dog. Zen goes to the beat of a different drum. He's the best house/pet dog a person could have. If he lived in a different house and was the only dog, I'll bet he would be very different. But with the 3 girls ahead of him and then Lucy after, he's pretty much the mellow boy. Zenny is 3 and is a wonderful dog to hike with and hang out with. My husband and Zenny hang together a lot, Zenny likes to supervise while Al works around the house. And sometimes they just hang out on the couch together.

I had hoped to do obedience or at least Rally with him but it does not seem to be his cup of tea at all. I decided a couple of months ago to try Therapy, we went thru the training at Bolton Vet and he passed the test in August. We are still awaiting his vest and official information so that we can begin our trial/supervised visits. Meanwhile I have been taking him to the various pet stores and other places where we can continue to work on distraction and meet new people.

Zenny also has a wonderful nose! We have signed up for a Tracking Clinic in a couple of weeks - and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does. Its a full 2 days which can sometimes be a little taxing for his brain.

More to come on all of that - and pictures too!

We are back,.....

Well, been quite a slacker with my blog. I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything since May. I went into heaving training mode for Pip's Excellent Rally title, then did no training at all - went thru a slight rough patch but hope to be back on target now.

Pip did receive her Excellent Title for AKC Rally in July. She did a nice job, and I know works really hard.

Now we have started training for her WC (Working Certificate). This is a certificate offered specifically for labradors. Similar to a Hunt Test but with less criteria somewhat. Pip is a hot ticket with this - it certainly feeds into her prey drive thats for sure. We have only done land work so far. I don't think that she will have any issue with water but will need to get a couple of tries in. I am also going to give my Lucy another shot at the WC. Lucy received her WC last year - but I am currently working on her "visiting" social piece of the retrieve - so am repeating before I move onto bigger better things. I haven't quite figured out how to stop the visiting,.....

I've also decided to make this blog about my dogs in general - not just Pip. My oldest Sarah, who is almost 14 is struggling with many things - and everyone in my house has a story at one time or another. It will be fun to write about them and I think soothing to me also.

Activity Update!

We have been busy the last couple of weeks.

Pip was successful in getting her Rally Advanced title 3 for 3. As I had begun to work on heeling with her quite diligently, the heeling for the last trial was much better then the first 2. We even survived a very excited dog barking in the next ring that totally blew Pippi's mind. Just as we approached the first station, your basic Sit, Down, Sit - the dog started barking and Pip lost her focus. I had quite a time getting her focused and on task, we reapproached the station and we got threw it. Pip even started barking herself, I think she thought it was play time or something. In the end, we had a score in the 90's - that first station was our only blip. Getting her back on task after that is such a big achievement and by far the best thing we did that day! Now onto the Excellent level. Many of the shows now are outside and we are not ready as a team to have that experience. I'll wait for inside trials and start heeling work and attention work outside now.

We've also done quite a bit of USDAA Agility. Pip was able to get her P1 level titles in JWW, STD, Gambler and Snookers - over the course of about 4 or 5 trials. We have moved up to the P2 level and ran for the first time at that level this past weekend. The courses really become quite a bit more challenging. We managed to do 7 runs in 2 days - needless to say both of us were tired by the end of the weekend.

Our hiking needs some additional work - while she is very aware of where I am, when that nose gets to the ground she is like a blood hound or something. I still get nervous when hiking her because of this and I just need to trust my dog! That will be my goal for tomorrows hike.

I've been a slacker in the picture taking department. Need to get on the stick with that. Thats all for now - not to exciting.

Good for Pip (and thank you to Lucy Goo also!)

Today we went to Rhode Island for Pip's second Advanced showing in Rally. We have never been to this building before and starting time was scheduled for 8:35 am.

Other then some stress related sniffing, Pippi did awesome! We received a score of 100 and First Place! I was very surprised - I'm not sure I would have scored it with a 100 - but I am not the judge. As the judge handed me the ribbons she indicated that she does not give out 100's very lightly - How awesome is that. I will say that there was not a single exercise that Pip did not perform for me or correctly. Her walking/heeling was not up to her standards - but we will continue working on that.

We had a lovely ride back as well. After doing a tail gate lunch in the parking, Al and I hit the road. Looked back into the doggie condo and Luchy was passed out on Pip's back and Pip was sleeping on Lucy's leg. Once again - an example of how much Lucy has brought to the house and Pippi. She has never curled up wth anyone - and there is plenty of room in the doggie condo for her to move away if she cared to. Every week I see changes since Lucy joined us.

Next week we are entered in Rally again both Saturday Sunday. We will continue to work on all until then.

The Loveseat,.........

The loveseat in the den has seemed to become a place of calmness and peace for Pip and Lucy together,..........stay tuned for more

A Weekend of Ribbons

We had a great 3 day weekend and birthday celebration. Since I am the Rally Obedience instructor where I work, I wanted to continue working on Rally with my own dogs. In addition to agility, I decided to focus on Pip's Rally skills as well. We've been practicing walking around food bowls, front from the side and all of the other Rally adventures. Pippi already has her Novice Rally title so I am working on Advanced. By entering 4 trials it sort of forced me to get moving on specific things!

Our first Advanced trial was this past Friday. I walked the course, pretty basic, nothing tricky. They did have the dreaded Offset Figure 8 exercise - which is normally a Figure 8 around pylons with food bowls (and food!) as a distraction. This judge 2 giant stacks of stuffed toys - lucky me, Pip isn't really into stuffed toys, she did fabulous. I lost a little attention at an outside corner of the ring -but all the rest was awesome. We received a score of 97 and a third place. VERY HAPPY with the day and Pip's ability to work under distration of the building.

The rest of the weekend we did USDAA Agility. Pippi did well there also, receiving 5 qualifying scores, a couple of second and third placements AND gained 3 titles over the weekend. Pip did awesome - poles were fabulous, her attention was fabulous - couldn't not have asked for more. As this particular weekend was also my birthday, this was a great present for me in addition to the awesome Murder Myster dinner with my husband!

Monday was day of rest for Pip - and we are off to Rhode Island on Friday for another Rally trial - I am somewhat rethinking this entry as I must be there by 7:30am at the latest but am hoping I do not use that as an excuse,..... I've certainly done it for agility!

More training at Petsmart this week for sure - our favorite spot is working together in front of the giant bird cage!!!

One of the Best Dog Days of the Year (so far!)

Today, Pip and I went on a hike together. Traditionally, if I am hiking by myself and want to get Pip out, I just take her. She is easier to manage that way and I am more relaxed. We had a fantastic hike - over an hour. Pip had a great time wallowing around in slimey mud and sniffing the deer trails.

As we were headed back, about 10 minutes from where I parked, someone I could not see started yelling loudly - those of familar with yelling for our dogs would have recognized the sound, pitch and excitement in the womans voice. I look at Pip and too late, she has heard it also and is jazzed up, "where is it, what is it!!!" look on her face. I know it will be useless to try and get her or call her. I look around and I see this brown streak headed towards us and I realize a dog is coming full speed and it looks like a pitbull to me. Nothing I can do, I start looking around at something I can throw if I need to and start scrambling for my pepper spray. Pip and the pit run to each other, do a little side dance, no play bow but no hair up on Pippi's back and the woman is still calling and running. I take a big breath and turn around to leave and Pip follows me! Leaves the other dog and comes with me. Unfortunately the other dog, who's name is Mica follows us as well. I turn back around and head back towards the woman so she can get her dog. She apologizes for scaring us and for her dog running.

I'm happy to say I tell her no problem, I was actually very happy with the outcome and with what did not happen - I leash Pip up and off we go. I had to keep her on a leash to the car as she kept zipping off looking for her new "friend".

Whats the big deal? I didn't scream or yell for Pip, I didn't panic, I in fact did not say a SINGLE WORD until I had her leashed up and then it was praise. Pip had no over the top reaction and in fact was more then comfortable to say hi and then on her own come back to me. Now, would I suggest that we should have hung around for a while and let the dogs play? No, I'm fairly sure but not positive that it might have gone down hill after that - but if I can manage and survive initial encounters like this and move on - I am so far ahead of the game!!!

A good day for all,.................

Pip's Arrival - February 2002

Pip was born on February 11, 2002. A friend of mine had bred a litter which resulted in 3 puppies. Unforutunately, one pup passed away and other injured while still in the litter and was taken care of separately. As a result, both girls were raised as single pups.

I had no intention of getting another dog at this time. I had 2 already and was not even considering. My friend wanted to keep this particular pup but with working full time, 2 young boys at home and a husband it was a bit much. Somewhere around 5 or 6 months, she asked if I was interested in co-owning. I said yes - which the knowledge that if it did not work out she would go back - knowing full well that of course once the puppy arrived in my house she would never leave. Pretty much nothing leaves my house once it arrives!

Pip came with the name "Paige", named by one of the little boys. I was very into dog agility at the time and could not envision calling on the agility field "Paige go right!" so I asked to change her name.

So, it was going to be Pippi Longstocking (?? don't ask me why) but I ended up with Pippi Tail Up High since as a puppy, she held her tail up in the air - very unlabrador like. My friend was not thrilled with this name, probably still isn't, but it works for us. My husband now calls her "Pippi Doodle" which suits her VERY well.

The Tail - How it Wagged

I am a dog lover - in particular, labradors, to be more specific, black labradors. Yes, I am slightly one sided with this.

This is the story of Pip, her official name is "Calsam's Pippi Tail Up High" (which her breeder was NOT happy with). But it wasn't my fault, her tail did go straight up in the air, very unlabrador like. I wanted to name her Pippi Longstocking but was not able to fit the entire name on the AKC form.

This is the story of how Pip came to live at my house, fight over peas, and how she has taught me that every black labrador is NOT the same, but like people, their behavior can be modified and things can get better. A good friend continues to say "Love the Dog You Have, Not the One you want" Thanks Leslie for that!

I've learned so much in the past 7 years with Pip that it seemed important to document our travels together. Enjoy - it starts with her arrival and continues into the present day.