Counting down for puppies

We're on countdown now for puppies.  Kiah is back home from being bred. I had the chance to meet Quade and what a sweetheart that dog is.  Absolutely fabulous temperament.  Even more lovely considering he's a working farm dog- not a dog who's out at shows every weekend.  I got cuddles and kisses and just fell in love with him. 

Quade- blends in with the carpet!

Kiah's doing fabulous and we expect puppies around February 16th!  We'll ultrasound and Xray in a couple weeks to confirm and try to get an idea of pups.

I have my fingers crossed for a lovely Bi girl to keep back.

Waiting waiting waiting

We're oh so not patiently waiting for Kiah to come into heat. She's due any day now.  Come on kiah!



So while we wait we continue to practice at flyball, hang out at home and make ads for the CNASA Quarterly. This is our ad from the Winter issue.

Our list for this litter is almost full but we do have a couple spots left. Please contact us if you are interested in more information on Kiahs' puppies.

Kiahs new trick

Ok its not completely reliable yet- but she's learning to talk on command.  Still has to be pretty excited to do it but it's a cute thing. I think she's just figured out I'm a sucker and love it. 

Kiah's Ofa and CERF results

Well not that i expected any differently but happy to announce that Kiah's OFA and CERF results are done. 

She received an "Excellent" on her hips and clear on her elbows.  Her Cerf (Eyes) result was normal for both eyes.  With this she's cleared all the testing for breeding.  We're still waiting on her MDR status but that's just for knowledge not so much this breeding as Quade is Negative/negative for MDR. 

Im so excited about this litter.  We still have room on our list for this litter contact us or fill out the puppy application found on our website!

Herding pics from this summer

Finally got pictures from the last time we went herding.  Unfortunately we've been so busy between horses and flyball tournaments we haven't gone since July- we're missing it!  Hopefully we'll get over to Dog Tale again this fall a few times. 

We're also in the midst of getting all of Kiah's health clearances done.  Her hips and elbows were xray'd 2 weeks ago and given "excellent and clean" by the vet college.  We're just waiting on OFA's grading on them.  Eyes are booked to be checked and CERF'd this month.  and all this leads us up to our big announcement that will be coming in the next week!

a new personal best for Kiah!

We zipped down Sunday to join the rest of the Furry Flash gang for the last day of the KAOS Turning on the Heat Tournament.  This is the largest tournament I've ever been and had four lanes running!

Kiah ran part time as we just came down for the one day.  The last race we put her back in the start position.  I got some help on my timing and Kiah posted some great starts down under .010 (yeah us) and really put on the gas in this position resulting in her best time ever of 4.980!  that's almost .2 off her previous personal best.  She's starting to love racing and gives me dirty looks when it's not her turn.

We have a couple week break and then will be heading to Craven for a tournament for the long weekend in September and the Diamonds in the Ruff tournament the weekend after.  That will be the last tournament we are planning for as after that we'll be busy getting ready for puppies!

Of course after running only part time we had some energy to burn so back home we went and worked on some disc stuff

Flyball Flyball Flyball and exciting news is just around the corner

Yes its the theme of our summer.  The end of July saw us down in Craven for another flyball tournament.  Once again running with Furry Flash- we ran on an open team with several new dogs from another team.  Kiah also ran start position for the first time.

The best part though is kiah is starting to LOVE her job at this sport- she gets revved up- she wants to run and be fast.  She knocked an entire second off her previous running times with a new personal best of 5.134 seconds.  And she's just starting to put some speed on she's got lots more left to use.

We have three more tournaments in this season- we head back down to Regina in august and Craven again in september then we'll be back home in Saskatoon for the Diamonds in the Ruff tournament.


And then our winter is going to be full of puppies.  I will be announcing in the next few days who we're breeding kiah to.  And I'm very excited with what this pairing will bring us!

Shiney and cute after a bath this weekend

Disc Seminar

This weekend we were so lucky to take part in a disc seminar.  Kiah loves playing her frisbee and now i know  bit more of what Im doing! aka 'im not screwing her up quite as much as before and sometimes throw even sorta straight.

By the end of our weekend we came out with some tricks, a better understandng of how to compete in disc, a small freestyle routine started and a really bad sunburn!


Kiah is typical aussie, her air and flips are by far her strong points.  So far we have  good start on:

• back vaults
• front vaults
• over the legs
• weaves
• scoots
• around the worlds
• Leg vaults

We are going to practice all winter and are aiming to take part in some demo's next year!

Kiah loves her frisbees

Air is her specialty

Yes please bounce on mommy- this goes against her life rules and took a while to talk her into but once she got it she loved it

Working on flips with Lara

More flips

An awesome flip

Our attempt at a flip

It was very hot this weekend and this was the doggy dunk tank.  Apparently it also served for some snorkling for my kid!

Another Flyball Title for Kiah!

This past weekend was yet again another flyball tournament.  Racing with Furry Flash Kiah is showing herself to be one solid little flyball dog!  She raced with several different team line ups- passing in and back into strange dogs she's never met with barely a blink of an eye.  She finished Sunday up with her next flyball title FDCH-S (1000 points).   She now has to run quite a few more races to get her FDCH-G which is 2500 points. 

I'm so proud of how this girl is coming along and she's a blast to run in the lanes.  She's fun to travel with- easy at the tournaments and gets along with almost everyone.  She also showed she had a lot of heart.  She cut her leg thursday and it was quite the bleeder but was in the lanes saturday with out a thought.  We wrapped her leg to keep it from tearing and run she did.  She's quite the work horse- even when she started to tire she did her job.

Furry Flash Tournament-FdCh Title

We've  just  gotten back  from  Kiah's  third  tournament.   Kiah  ran  part time  on  her  team.   Sunday  the  team  won  their  division!    Kiah  also  earned  her  FdCh  title this  weekend. 

Kiah  showed  how  solid  she  is  becoming  as a flyball  dog.    We  had  several  bobbles  happen  around  her and  she  did  an  awesome  job  keeping  her  eye  on  the  ball.  :) 

Kiah loves babies and spent lots of time kissing Lilly.  No lilly isn't riding her here... I  think 

Kiah  showing  off her  great  box  turn

Starting  to  put some pedal to the metal

Herding day #2

Monday we headed out to do some herding again at Dog Tale Ranch.  Arlette is great at reading the dogs and is teaching us lots.  So far like anything i'm learning it's ME who needs to learn more then the dog. 

Kiah was not feeling 100% as she had an upset stomach the night before (That's what happens when you break into the meat and eat 2x what you should!) but she still got some good movement with the sheep. 

Next weekend we're off to another flyball tournament!

What a Busy Weekend! Flyball and then our Herding Debut!

May brought us the first official tournament for Kiah.  She was given a part time slot on Furry Flash's Shot of Tequila team.  She ran 2 full races on Saturday and then 3 full races on Sunday.  We couldn't be more proud of her- she was awesome- super well behaved the entire time and only had one small bobble all weekend!

You could see the wheels turning in her head the entire time- Kiah is a thinker.

 

Kiah in warm ups

One of Kiah's races

And yes that pass was GIGANTIC woops my bad

Monday we headed out to Dog Tail Ranch  for our first herding lesson.  Kiah loved working the sheep and did very well.  Me? i'm still not sure what the heck I'm doing which is why we're taking lessons.  We're heading back again next week or so for another lesson and plan to do several this summer.

Video of Kiah with the sheep.  This goes right from when she was first let loose with them.  The last two clips are her second time in the pen with the sheep. 

We went with a friend and her Border Collie who had also never seen sheep before and it was really interesting seeing how the breeds differ when working the stock with no training. 

Bella's CARO Rally O debut

April 30th and May 1st showed Bella's Rally O debut.  She is young at just coming 1 year so our hopes were not too much puppy brain and don't get lost.

First round we had puppy brain and well i got lost.  Second round was better but we had a NQ .  But i was super happy with how focused she was.  She NQ'd because she was anticipating- there are worse things in the world that's for sure!

Sunday brought us our first Q.  Our second round was fabulous- but i got lost again.  So our gut feeling from this weekend is that Bella is pretty much fabulous.  The judge on sunday really liked her and complimented her often with comments like "Fabulous working dog who will just get better as she grows up".  I must go back to school on how to read signs and follow directions!

A huge thanks to Venessa at Paws N Train for hosting this trial.  Dayna for helping organize it and anyone else i forgot to mention who put this on.  It's greatly appreciated.  

Sorry no pictures from this weekend but here's bella in her new hair cut at the dog park this week.

Bella celebrating her Rally success at the dog park

Flyball!!!

This past weekend we traveled to our first flyball tournament.  The plan of the weekend was for Kiah to run warm ups.  This lets the green dogs get used to the tournament setting, get practice in but not be actually running so no pressure- no worries if they screw up. 

The good news was Kiah was really good and ended up actually running 2 heats in one of the final races on sunday.  Unfortunatly it was the one race we didn't get taped but we did get some pictures of her from warm ups.  She LOVED the weekend and came home pumped and wanting to go do more.  Our next tournament is planned for Mothers day weekend. 

Kiah was also awarded her FD title for the runs she did.  So Kiah is now Risk'n Hope's Almost Famous FD

Recalls on Sunday

not gunna touch that fence!

Practice run sunday

Kiah loves that ball! A huge thanks to Ashley from KAOS for the photos! 

Bella practicing her rally

And yes that's kiah whining in the background.  She thinks she should be the only one being worked with.  I'll have to get some video of Kiah once she gets doing a bit more rally.

Bella has 1 month before her first competition.  She's got MOST of the things down for novice (must learn to stand) so that gives us lots of time hopefully to make it even better. 

Sorry it is a long video as i just taped the whole session. 

Another Custom Collar finished

This gorgeous purple collar is going to be on a pomeranian soon.  Very happy how this one turned out using some of our newest beads.  Purple and white swarovski crystals as well as two swarovski rondelles.  Purple florite, hematite and cat eye beads finish it off. 

Contact us today to make a special collar for your best friend!

Springs coming really it is

Today was warmer.  Ok no where near melting but now the sun is out later, and it's finally warming up.

Last weekend we headed up Sunday to the Prince Albert show.  We came home with lots of pretty ribbons 2 best of breeds.  Ok it would be more exciting if we weren't the only aussie.  But Kiah  behaved herself and we tries to remember how to do this show thing it's been a while.


And with spring I need to finalize my plans on what we are going to do this summer.  The plans for the dogs are as follows:
Kiah

• Flyball  we have about 10 tournaments planned for kiah to run at.  She will be going to her first tournament end of march and doing warm ups.  If all goes well she will start running part to full time through the summer. 
• Rally O.  Yup I finally bit the bullet and made the decision.  Kiah is going to start working towards Rally O  novice title.  Yup the show dog is going to learn to sit :) 
• Showing.  This will be on the back burner.  Our summer is so busy with flyball this year we will be thinknig about a few shows but will put flyball and obedience as our priority for 2011
• Puppies!  We are looking at a fall litter for kiah  We are very excited about this- watch for more information this summer.  We are taking names for puppies so if you are interested please let me know. 

Bella

• Rally Obedience.  Bella will be working towards her Novice title this summer.  We're hoping to do both CARO and CKC this summer/fall season.  She loves practicing and gets so into it- it's so fun to work with her
• Flyball.  We're working on it.  Bella isn't sure if princesses are suposed to touch boxes and pick up dirty balls.  But boy racing over the jumps SURE is fun! 

Jackson

• flyball.  Jackson is special he has a lot of issues that put this boy on death row two years ago.  Flyball our goal isn't to get him running, it's not to get titles.  It's to give him something to work on, get him out around other dogs, and build his confidence
• rally O.  Well maybe we'll try it- he gets stressed when kenneled.  This has been the biggest road hurdle in doing things with Jackson- he still is stressed around busy places.  He needs more work. With the news that he can compete in CARO with a thundershirt on we are tossing around the idea of working towards rally o for him.  When we adopted him i hoped he would be something the kids could run in flyball.  Maybe he'll be their Rally dog instead.  

Bodi- Well bodi's job is to stay home.  He's turning 13 this spring.  He's an old boy- getting a bit stiff here and there.  But he is finally happy and settled at the new house and has combated his seperation anxiety. N ow to just make it through firework/demolition season in Dundurn.  Hopefully this old man will be around for a few more years.  

Winter's Almost Over

Right? Thank goodness for flyball the dogs are going a wee bit crazy.  We have two puppies in fostering right now.  Gizmo and Tobey came to us at 7 weeks old.  (Yup that's young) they are now 9.5 weeks old and sleeping through the night in their kennel.  They are hungry lil buggers. 

Gizmo is the more adventorous of the two.  She's big on entertaining herself taking on the world and occasionally likes to stop for a snuggle. 

Gizmo

Tobey is the shy one.  He takes some time to find his confidence and tends to get scared.  but he's a huge cuddle bug and does awesome fetches! he'll fetch up to 15' feet now.  He'd be a fabulous obedience dog. 

Tobey

Their mom was a BC x Shepherd and we're not too sure about dad.  They should end up medium/large in size.  If your interested in either pup contact www.NewHopeRescue.org

I also just finished up another custom collar for a customer.  This one headed down to the USA.  I love the color with Purple being my favorite color of all time. 

Collar features Lavender Miracle beads, Lavender and Clear swarovski beads, Swarovski rondelles, Cat Eye beads (two sizes) and purple florite beads.  Collar SOLD to Michelle D

Beaded Collars

A new venture for me.  I've started making beaded collars (and browbands for the horses).  These can be custom made with your choice of colors!.  The collars are 1.25" wide and are padded black leather.  Prices start at $55.00 and go up depending on the beads chosen.  We have a large selection of beads in stock for you to choose from!

Three beaded collars.  brown features Tiger Eye beads, the outside collars feature Hematite

Custom collar.  When the order is "hot pink and no such thing as too much bling" this is what we came up with.  This collar features Swarovski Rondells and pink beads, magic beads and hand made light pink beads.

Gearing up for Flyball Season

This year is going to be exciting for us. Kiah is pretty much ready to run for flyball.  We're going to the Edmonton Tournament mid February where she will run warm ups.  Then if all goes well part time to full time through the summer.  Very excited she's just having a blast with this sport. 

Unfortunately it does mean less conformation shows for us this year.  But we are still aiming to show in Saskatoon, Regina and Yorkton this year at the least. 

Bella the poodle has also started training for flyball now that she's over 6 months.  Quite different from training an Aussie that's forsure but she's having a blast at it. SHe's also proving to be darn fast for a Standard Poodle on the recalls home.  Will be fun to see how she develops.  Plan is to have Bella racing next year.  This year she will concentrate on Rally O.