Future Dock Diver?

Derby was introduced to the "real" dock diving pool last weekend! He did great!

We took a little intro class where he learned to jump off the ramp for a toy. Actually "learned" is a stretch since he pretty much dragged me up the stairs and right into the water! This spotty boy most definitely does not lack confidence. :)

Nothing overly exciting at this point, but I thought I'd share a little video:

He really had a such a fun time and it was a little challenging to get him *out* of the pool. In the first clip you can hear me calling him and he was all LALALALALALA I can't heeeeeeaaaaaaar you. I'm sure he just had water in his ears. :) Naughty spotty.

Next time we'll try him off the actual dock. I'm excited! Now I just need to work on getting rid of my horrendous farmer's tan. And to think I live in Florida. :)

On a different note, GOOD LUCK to all of my friends competing in DACOF this weekend! I'm extremely bummed that we won't be there, but it just wasn't in the cards for this year. Happy fast, FUN, clean runs to you all!

Beach Spotty

I think it's safe to say that Derby is *officially* a swimmin' spotty. A few weekends ago (yes, I'm a bad blogger) I took him to a little dog beach on the bay and he had a grand time!

While I can't say juggling a spotty, a toy and my iphone *in* the water was the smartest thing I've ever done, these events have to be documented, right?

Please forgive the mediocre, unedited iphone pictures. :)

Bar Hopping

I thought bar hopping sounded like more fun than bar crashing. :)

We had a really fun agility weekend! Aside from one spazztastic, stressy FAST run on Sunday morning, Peyton was pretty darn super for the rest of the trial. We ended up with just one (insert word of choice here) bar in each of our jumpers runs, had a flakey spotty moment followed later by a flakey blonde moment in Sunday's standard run, and he went around the tire near the end of a tricky standard course on Monday. So another Not-Quite weekend, but fun, nonetheless.

I find it funny (in a not-so-funny way) that one bar down in an otherwise clean run is starting to become a bit of a trend. This coming from the dog that very rarely (unless I am *super* obnoxious in my handling) knocks bars. Considering he really is a talented jumper, I don't take the bar knocking too seriously, but it is a tad bit frustrating. I'd like to say it's the footing or the heat or the stress or the ?...but honestly I just think it's bad luck. I've heard that this game is humbling, but at this point, I think I'm quite humble enough, thank you very much. ;)

Here are two jumpers runs on video. In the first run, I don't think that the judge noticed the bar at first, and not that I ever want a "gift", but I found it amusing/annoying that someone felt the need to tell her even after 2 bar setters ran in to fix the bar *right* in front of her. Too funny. :)

I was really, really happy with these runs! I thought he was pretty sluggish on Sunday (it was super hot and humid), but that was still a 29 second run and would have good enough for first in a large 24" class. Good spotty!

I think we are now "officially" on trial break until September and now that it's getting pretty miserable outside, I'm not going to complain too much. Breaks are definitely good (physically and mentally) so hopefully we'll come back well rested and ready to rock-n-roll in the fall. :)

No More Thinking!

Not too much exciting to report around here! Peyton has been in an especially good mood lately. We haven't been doing a ton of training, but he has been working so nice and happy. I was just thinking this week about how happy he's been and the fact that we haven't had any odd issues and sure enough that same evening, goofy Peyton returned. During class, Peyton decided to run his a-frame and when I stopped to fuss at him, I must have leaned down while he jumped up and I accidently (barely) poked him near his eye. Of course he screamed and proceed to trot around with his tail between his legs acting like he had been beaten. He recovered enough to have some decent runs, but he was definitely suspicious. See, that's what I get for thinking! Poor Peyton. We have a local trial tomorrow and Monday so we'll see if he remembers. If he remembers anything, hopefully it is to stop on his contacts. ;)

As for Derby, he seems to be 100% so we've pretty much resumed normal activity. Hopefully he stays sound...I don't think *I* can take any more extended crate rest! After such a long break, we're trying to get back in the swing of training and of course, during the break his hormones decided to kick into gear. Sooo...return of the brainless puppy. Fabulous. :)

On a good note, he loves his weekly swimming sessions at the Golden pool! While he probably won't make any canine Olympic swimming team, he is doing really good. I've included some recent video - it's probably not very exciting to anyone but me, but having a dog that enjoys playing in a pool is still a novelty to me. And of course, he is soooo stinkin' cute!

Peyton joined us during a night swimming party and while he had a grand time running around the pool, I would be very surprised if he ever decided to get in. Derby figured out pretty quickly that if he kept his toys in the water, they were safe. :)

Since I'm playing catch up, here are a few pictures from last week. I had to test my lights and the spotties are always good subjects.

Peyton is *the* biggest camera hog! He is always happy to play model and was not very happy that Derby was in *his* picture...

And just for fun... :)

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!

Swimmin' Spotty!

Derby pup is learning how to swim! I've been itching to get him in the water for months, but up until a few weeks ago, it's been just a little too chilly. I can't say much good about having an injured spotty pup, but it did get me motivated to get him swimming!

He's not exactly a natural, but has made quite a bit of progress! Here's a little video of his third swim lesson.

Gah, isn't he cute!? He's definitely figuring out how to use his legs and is doing a much better job of moving forward and not just splashing in place. :) He seems to really enjoy it...a few times he jumped in on his own and he loves just standing on the steps and splashing in the water. SO CUTE.

I hope to get him over to the "golden pool" at least once or twice a week. I think it will be great conditioning for him and who knows, maybe it will help with his (lack of) coordination. :)

Breaks, Birthdays and Bubblewrap

Breaks. I don't think I'm doing very well with the whole "break" concept. Is there a support group for agility trial addicts? I ended up entering a local trial last weekend and then entered another one at the end of the month. I just can't help it...it's too tempting when we have trials so close to home! After that we're done for the summer. Maybe.

We had a *really* good day on Saturday...just one bar from a QQ. Peyton was running so well and was probably the most relaxed (for Peyton) he's been in a while. We qualified in JWW (!) and despite one ugly tunnel call-off (bad handler!), he still took 3rd in the class. Good spotty!

Sunday was a different story; our standard run was all over the place and JWW was just messy. I think I had 5 front crosses planned in the first 10 obstacles and each one I got just a little further behind and the last one I was so behind I sent him off course. Poor Peyton; I think he might have been a little mad at his handler after that run. :)

Overall, it was a fun weekend. Still looking for that magic recipe for keeping Peyton relaxed and happy, but even a bad (using that term loosely) day at an agility trial is better than most other good days. Love my wild, moody, complicated spotty boy!

Birthdays. Indy turned 7 last Sunday! She might not get a whole lot of blog time, but she *is* the only spotty who gets to go to Dairy Queen on her birthday. She thought that was pretty awesome. It's hard to believe she's 7...I swear she never changes. A (very amused) couple sitting next to us at DQ asked if it was her 1st birthday. :)

Bubblewrap. Apparently one should not joke about wrapping a puppy in bubblewrap unless they are 100% serious. Poor Derby. We're about to start week 4 of "taking it easy" after he (most likely) pulled a ligament in his left hind knee. Exactly *how* he did it is a mystery; he just started holding his leg up one evening.

Sigh. There is nothing fun about trying to keep a 7 1/2 month old Dalmatian puppy down. He was really good the first week, but since then he has made it perfectly CLEAR that he's over this "take it easy" nonsense.

On a positive note, he has been looking really good and I've not seen any obvious signs of limping since a few days after we saw the vet. Hopefully he's on the mend. I am, of course, a little nervous about his recovery. Did I mention he's not exactly graceful?

At least we got to take home pretty pictures. :)

Happy Birthday Peyton!

In addition to celebrating Easter today, we also celebrated Peyton's birthday! He's FIVE. That might be a pretty mature age for most dogs, but Peyton would like to remind everyone that he's still a baby. A really big baby. :)