Wow! Can you believe it is fall already??! As always, we hope our latest blog finds our friends and family well. The pups and I are going crazy with the start of fall. We are currently running two dog sports at the same time and are struggling to keep up with it all. I think the pups are probably the happiest with the onset of fall and all it entails with snow soon to come.
Clea is still being her normal grumpy self and has taken to her dog box with more frequency. She seems to have enjoyed the peace and quiet of the house while we were on vacation. I wonder if that enjoyment had anything to do with her grandma and grandpa coming over and spoiling her daily with ice cream treats, biscuits, and dog cookies while we were away??! When we came back, she greeted us happily, but she definitely looked disappointed that her free run with the cookie jar was over LOL
Sarge is still doing well in agility. Our last competition at ARF did not go as well as we had hoped, but since we had never competed there before, we were not sure what to expect. Sarge slid often on their flooring and had a hard time with the tight turns necessitated by the size of their building. For a big dog like Sarge, he doesn't turn on a dime, but more like the ninety pound tank he is. However, we have learned from the experience and have put it behind us. Now we are looking forward to competition this weekend at our home base, Flashpoint Agility. Sarge needs three more Q's to move out of level 2 and be eligible for the random draw for CPE nationals. He is level 3 or 4 in almost everything, which is amazing considering that he just started his career in June! We are so proud of his accomplishments!
Shelby and Tundra are pulling together quite nicely for our fall training and have been bikejoring both during our September vacation to Michigan and during our cooler weather as of late. They are making amazing progress and some of our mushing friends are encouraging us to enter in the bikejor competition at the Trailbreaker's Sled Dog Challenge. While undecided on entering, we will definitely be in attendance and have the pups on picket line to accustom them to the stress of a race environment. Maybe the pups and I will even see you there!
On a really exciting note, our kennel has expanded by plus one as we welcome a new five month old, female puppy we have named Revvy. This poor girl was tossed in a ditch and left like garbage as her family pulled away. She spent a few hours there waiting for them to come back, but as is typical in these cases, they never did. When I got the phone call and went to evaluate her, I fell in love with her- who doesn't love a puppy?! So their loss is my gain. She is extremely intelligent and an eager learner. After less than an hour of observing her new siblings, she figured out how to truly pull and made friends easily with both Tundra and Shelby. While she is extremely dog friendly, she is skittish around people, especially those she has never met. We are currently unsure whether this is from abuse or from low socialization or from a combination. We are currently working with her using pack therapy, agility confidence building exercises, and obedience training with only positive reinforcement training, She is still young enough to overcome her past and we have great hopes for the future of this little girl. Special thanks go to the family that pulled her out of the ditch, invited her into their home, and called me. Thank you goes directly out to the Scheidler family for their inspirational compassion and kindness to a special girl in need.
Well the time of day to train has arrived, so we must bid you fair-well and send our wishes out to our friends that you have an amazing fall. Please, if you haven't already, take the time to enjoy the fall colors on God's canvas. It's a spectacular season for hiking, going for a picnic, or if you are like me, enjoying some amateur photography.
