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!