More Lita Pics

A few more pictures of Miss Lita... :)

Meet Lita!

Lita is one of Indy's favorite agility trial buds. I spent the day in Tampa with her and her mom and we had a great time! Lita is so sweet, and she is probably one of the nicest and well behaved dogs I know. :)

I just love her pictures...I'm having a really hard time picking favorites, but here are a few!

Yee-Haw!

Here's a short little video of Peyton's two (partial) runs in his first NADAC trial. At least he was having fun, right? :)

I've also included Indy's Elite Chances run, which was a really good effort, but she took the wrong jump in the distance challenge, and her Elite Tunnelers run, where she went off-course, but otherwise it was a really fun run. :)

Surprise!

I entered Peyton in a NADAC trial in Ocala on Friday - Can you believe it? And I'm pleased to say that we both survived. :)

It was kind of a last minute decision on my part, and while I know he isn't really ready to trial, I decided to give it a shot to see what he would do. I entered him in tunnelers first and he took two tunnels and then ran around the ring, stopping a couple times to bark at who knows what, and then took another tunnel before we made our exit. I decided to give it another try and entered him in touch n' go - he gave a similar performance only this time he jumped out of the ring, barked at a couple of photographers, and then jumped back in the ring and zoomed his way back to me. Oh, and he managed to jump out of the ring again on our way out.

Honestly, I'm not too surprised - I really had no expectations...I just wanted to see what he would do. And on a good note, I learned quite a bit from our little experience.

First, I learned that he is going to require a LOT of time working on focus and attention before we run. Because I was running Indy in this trial, I had less than 10 minutes in between her run and Peyton's. This was definitely NOT enough time to get *any* focus out of Peyton before our run. We were pretty much doomed before we even got to the line. I also learned that I have to work on developing a very structured start-line and end of run (or end of zoomies) routine.

I entered Peyton in a NADAC games trial next weekend - only because I think this trial location is about as good as it gets for novice dogs. It only has one ring, and is almost entirely fenced in. I think it will be a good training opportunity, and hopefully with a little more time to work on attention before we run, we might make it past the first two obstacles. But if not, we'll go back to training and try trialing again when we're a little more ready.

Indy ran pretty well at this trial, but small mistakes here and there left us with no qualifying runs...all we came home with was a nasty sunburn. :)

In other news, the spotties had a nice Christmas. Peyton thinks opening presents is the best game *ever*. He had so much fun and as you can see in this first picture, he tried to start a little early with the shopping bag. :)







Hope everyone had a nice holiday! I might post Peyton's runs later - I have to admit, they were entertaining. :)

Happy Howl-i-days!

The spotties and I would like to wish all of our online friends a very Merry Christmas!

Training Update

These past few weeks of agility class have been interesting. I think Peyton has managed to find an extra gear or two when running - which is great, but I don't know that I'm quite prepared yet for the extra speed and intensity he's been giving me. :)

Last week was a really good week. On Tuesday night, for the first time in a long time, Peyton did not get the first run zoomies. He was awesome - great focus and lots of speed. Then on Thursday I had a private at another training club that he's never been too fond of - and other than a slightly rough start, he worked wonderfully with me and we had a really great lesson. This week has been a little more challenging. On Monday night he started off great, but after a few runs he was a wild spotty. And tonight he started off as a wild spotty, but was working nicely by the end of class.

Would a little more consistency be too much to ask for? :) It's really difficult to develop a plan for our training when I never know when the wild spotty will show up...

I definitely think we've reached a point where doing agility has become almost *as* rewarding as the treats and toys I use when training. This is a new challenge for me - Indy would never pass up a treat to keep running, but I'm starting to see that Peyton would rather go-go-go. The challenge is now how to get him to go-go-go where I want him to, and not just him self-rewarding on the obstacles of his choice. Last week he must have run through the same tunnel four times in a row - without any direction from me - he was just having a lot of fun doing it. :)

So while I think Peyton has made a ton of progress lately, we still have so much to work on. And while I'm happy to see him running with a lot of enthusiasm, we definitely need to work on some self-control. Peyton needs an off-switch when running big time - this is really apparent on our start line stays, as they have recently gone down the drain.

On a good note, his contacts are looking great and his weaves are smokin'. Actually skill-wise I have no complaints...it's just finding the focus and control needed to bring it all together that's the big challenge for the moment. :) I do feel like I'm starting to get the hang of handling him...for now at least.

So that's our training update - my apologies for the long winded post, but I'm finding it somewhat theraputic to put all my training thoughts in writing. :)

Meet Splash, Rogue & Kazoo

First up is Splash - who really had no interest in having his picture taken, but made up for it by just being very cute... :)





Next is Kazoo, who has the best bark ever - he sounds like a duck! He is very sweet, and has gorgeous eyes...







And last but not least, a few more pictures of Rogue. And in true lab fashion, she provided some great water shots!







What a fun bunch! :)

Funny Faces - Lab Style!

This is Rogue, a lovely 2 1/2 year old chocolate lab. I photographed her and her two older brothers yesterday. I'll be sharing more pics soon, but I couldn't resist posting some of these great funny faces first. :)

Meet Mack & Indigo!

Question: What do you get when you cross a Weimaraner and a Jack Russell Terrier?

Answer: A Jackeatingweim perhaps? :)



These two were so much fun! They just reminded me of the somewhat odd, yet absolutely perfect dog couple. And talk about some energy!

First up is Indigo, aka Indi (what a great name, right?) - the Weim. He is gorgeous. This first picture ranks right up there with some of my all-time favorites. It's almost haunting...









And next we have Mack, the JRT. I love, love his ears - they go in all different directions. Too cute! :)









A special thanks to Indi and Mack's mom for letting me meet these two, and for picking an absolutely perfect location!

I Love My Job!

Because I get to spend time on a beautiful Sunday afternoon photographing some of the *cutest* dogs ever...like these two!











More to come! :)

Reindals!

I'm happy to report that (with a little help from the spotties) I finally got my Christmas cards designed and should have them in my hands on Monday. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

In the meantime, here are a few shots of my little spotted elves. They were surprisingly cooperative this year. :)

First up is Peyton, the saddest reindal ever...



He says antlers are *not* for spotties!



By now, Pongo is a veteran reindal.



And Indy thinks being a reindal is rather b-o-r-i-n-g.



She says she's Miss Spotty Claus thankyouverymuch!