Goodbye 2012 Welcome 2013

2012 was a gigantic year for us. We really kicked our dogs into high gear. We started off the year with Kiah welcoming her first litter of seven puppies. We found fabulous homes for each and every pup and there's nothing I enjoy more then seeing their updates through out the year. Hush has remained with us and is a total blast to have in our home.

2012 was filled with some heart ache. April brought Kiah a devastating injury. Our plans of herding and flyball and showing for the summer were put on hold while she recovered from a severe tear of two muscles in her neck/shoulder area. We were not given good prognosis for this injury with out comes of life long limps thrown around and one of a few dogs who has ever injured these muscles so severely world wide.  A huge thank you to Dr Cook (Frontier Vet) and Dr. Pinto (WCVM) who helped with diagnosis and Kiah's recovery.  We lucked out however and Kiah's personality showed what a great dog she is as she was a stellar patient. Three months after her injury was she not only well healed she entered back into the show ring and by September she finished her Championship (CKC) handled by myself. September brought Kiah off of restrictions and she is back to playing and running.

2012 was a huge year for Bella. Bella showed off her stuff in the obedience and rally ring. Bella and I have been learning this stuff as we go.  A few lessons years ago for me, help from friends and thank you Youtube for helping me figure out some of the signs.  We took advantage of the drop in Rally practices at Paws N Train and then hit the trial ring. Between May and September Bella completed three titles- CD (Obedience Novice- CKC) RN (Rally Novice-CKC) and CRN (Rally Novice-CARO).  She achieved 5 high in trial/classes.  Bella also did her first set of Agility classes and absolutely loved it. We hope to do more in the future.

A thank you to all of our clients, friends and family who supported me and the kids with the dogs over the last year.

2013 brings exciting plans.  We're going to continue herding with Hush and hopefully will be ready for a trial come summer. We're finalizing plans for a litter of Standard Poodles with Bella for spring/summer 2013. Kiah is doing obedience/rally classes with Jillian and will hopefully get into the ring with her this year.

Krystl

Bella and some more agility videos

Bella is really enjoying agility. She does wish however her mom was a fair bit faster cuing her! It wears her right out- exercise mental and physical- what more can you ask for!

Thanks again to Aiden for keeping me company and videoing

Bella's Agility Adventure

Last month we started into Agility lessons with Bella.  She is absolutely loving it- (though that tire sorta made her think "why" for the first time this week). We have a few weeks left of classes and then a break until spring.

Here's a video of bella working the teeter.  This is the first the teeter has been high enough to really TIP she did really well with it.  (Ignore our bobble with the last jump- Teri and bag= treats the rest of the lesson so why not now? )

Thanks to my son Aiden for coming out and using his new playbook to get this video for me 

Kiah Finishes Her CKC Ch.

We've had a successful September!

Balgonie was our last planned show for the season- on sunday Kiah got Winners Bitch and Best of Opposite for 2 points finishing her CKC Championship.  Now we get to put those great little two letters in front of her name not just letters behind!

Kiah will retire from the show ring and go back to concentrating on performance stuff.  She's currently doing obedience lessons with my daughter Jillian and is getting back to working with the sheep.

Thank you to Judge Davida Brown from NZ for this wonderful end to our show season.

Back to Herding

Well after a huge delay with Kiah's injury this spring and then her recovery we are happily back herding.

Kiah would like to state she's a bit out of shape. 
Hush wants to say "Sheep ROCK"
Bella wants to know why she got left in the car :)

Hush showed some great interest n the sheep and had a great first introduction to them. Hush's litter mate Kacie was out as well and showed good interest in the sheep though she was not too sure how close she wanted to get today.

Kacie

 

Hush

 

 

We have the dog show next weekend- but plan to do herding weekly as long as the weather permits!

Saskatoon Show- A Success

We had a very sucessful weekend at the Saskatoon Kennel and Obedience Club show. 

Bella finished her CD title (Novice Obedience) with another High in Class.

Kiah gained 3 winners, 1 best of opposite and a total of 6 point.  She is now just 2 points off of finishing her Canadian Championship.

Overall a very good but busy weekend!

Girls go Swimming at the lake

We really haven't gotten to the lake much this year- which is sad since we live 5 whopping minutes from it.  This weekend we packed up the trailer and headed to Danielson provincial park. Bella has never gone swimming.  Usually she just has too  much hair for the amount of work it will take to dry her out and prevent matting.  But right now she's clipped down short so she got to swimming.  Hush has only ever waded into the water once (Other then the swimming pool) It was awesome to see how much both girls really enjoyed the water.  Kiah as always loves the water

 

Hopefully we'll get out to our lake near home a few times before it's too cold to go swimming!

Little Miss Chill

Hush is such a laid back girl. It's sorta weird.  All the dogs go running she's up for fun.  But lazy time? this girl loves her sleep.  She was always the one annoyed by her sisters (who all enjoyed 4am way to much).  And she has perfected the art of total relaxation. Most evenings find her on her back wedged into the back of the couch.

Bella finishes her Caro Novice Title

Bella went to Paws'n Train's CARO trial this weekend. We had 3 sucessful runs.  She had one Q from last year.  First run- would have been a decent score in mid 180's but I forgot a sign WHOOPS! 2nd run scored a 186. Her tail knocked a sign down near the start and it spooked her a bit but she did great staying focused otherwise.  And sunday morning we finished our last leg with a 195, and high in class.  Good job Bella! She's my poodle rock star.

Hot day outside- Photos

Was a hot day outside and the girls were lounging- so I grabbed my camera and got a few quick photos of the girls.

Ruby

 

 

 

 

Hush

 

 

 

Bella gets her first Novice Obedience Q

This past weekend we went to the Evelyn Kenney Show in Calgary.  We took all 3 aussies and Bella for obedience.  It was our first time in the Obedience ring and although we hada bit of a rough start we finished our weekend with her first Q and a high in trial again (That's 3 now Bella!)

The Aussies did well- but Kiah brought no points home. A good show and a fun experience for the whole family.  Jillian went into the Junior Handling ring for the first time with our Camping neighbours Spinoni.  Thanks Daina from Standfast Spinoni's for lending Jillian this cool boy. Both Jillian and Aiden are now interested in junior handlers and we'll try our best to get them working on it a bit.

Growing up

Hush and ruby are growing up. Looking more like teens and not like little puppies anymore.

Just a short video

The girls were busy playing tonight. Apologies for the barking- bodi was in his kennel and was sure he should play too (but really he's just a party pooper)

Puppy visit

Today we were out near Kacie's family for work so we arranged a play date.  Sadly its very wet and rainy out- so didn't get any pictures of the girls playing outside.  Kacie is looking so grown up her adult coat nicely coming in.  She's a bit bigger then hush- a lot thicker and makes Ruby look so tiny!

Some video of Hush and Kacie tugging:

Ruby on left- Kacie on right- you can see how much smaller ruby is but this pic doesn't really show it 

hush in back- ruby in center, Kacie in front 

Ruby was DONE playing

Kacie all tired after the big play time

Hoping to set up a play date in July where we can get all the local pups back together!

Doggy Camping and Puppies First Show and Token heads home

May Long weekend we headed to Regina to take part in the ASCA show. Token's new family met us in Regina Saturday to pick her up.  It worked out perfect with Regina a lot closer then Saskatoon.  Token has found the best family and is heading to be a small town dog who will learn to herd at the farm on the weekends! I foresee a very spoiled future for miss Token.

Puppies did very good at the show- met lots of people and got lots of new experiences which was our goal!  Hush got shown by Grandma Kelly Saturday and by myself Sunday.  Ruby by myself Saturday and by Zoe a Junior handler on Sunday.  Ruby wasn't too sure about this showing thing.  Saturday she thought it was fantastic- ALL THOSE TREATS on the ground! to heck with running with mom lets eat!  Hush won her class both days over ruby- because she decided both days that running around wasn't the end of the world.

Didn't get any pictures of the girls showing but here's some cute puppy shots from camping.  they were very well behaved camping.

Showing is exhausting!

Ruby hanging with Jillian

Bella's Photos from her Novice Title

We got our pictures from the fabulous Lisa @ Jumpstart Imagery. Thanks for taking such fabulous pics Lisa

Some nice heel work

Halt Down Walk Around

Bella Earns her RA title

This weekend Bella competed in her first CKC Rally trial.  She got 3 Q's out of 3 turns and earned high score in her class 2x!  Im very proud of her.  We did not do a lot of prep for this and have not really done any practice over the winter. 
Hopefully She can get her CARO novice title this year, and we'll start working towards Advanced, and the Obedience ring as well.

Bella with her Ribbons and Prizes from this weekend

Puppy Play Time. 11 weeks old

11 weeks old tomorrow we only have 4 pups left in the house right now. Ryder starts his journey to the USA with his new family this weekend. 

Puppy Videos

Got some videos of the puppies who are still here today.  In the next week they start going out the door again- we're going to miss them- they are so much fun.  Even if some are sure my jacket is a great chew toy.  :) The joys of puppies- they remind you to put your stuff away!

Play Time with Aunty Bella

Im not sure what animal Bella our poodle sounds like some days- the best I can get is it sounds awfully like Dory speaking whale. Anyway she quite loves the babies and has been their playmate from day one.  Being that she's still an overgrown puppy at 2 years old this works out quite well.  5 puppies 1 poodle seems to be a nice ratio she says right now. 

The barking is our old boy Bodi who is well fairly deaf and just jealous- he wants to play but REALLY doesn't actually want to play.  So his participation is barking in that ubber annoying way.  We love him anyway though :)

And then there were 5

Mako flew off to his new family in victoria yesterday. Cooper (puppy #2) goes to his family next weekend. Ryder (puppy #4) goes in may. Ruby (3) and pinky (5) are still looking for their families.

Pics :Mako ready for his flight and cooper and hush learning to be polite at the table

Playtime

Please ignore the dog nose print covered window.  If I go outside the puppies don't play with each other but instead swarm me for attention.  So cute outside shots when I'm home alone must be through windows.  Anyway how many toys outside of course the favorite is the destuffed monster toy that is flourescent pink monster :)

Crate Games

I'm a big believer in Crate Games (By Susan Garrett, check out her fabulous website I highly recommend her videos) and today the puppies started working the first three games.  The pups have all been eating their meals in crates now- but still spend most of their 'inside time' in the ex pen so they get the socialization time. 

Today in the crate games we did the first three games- reward for staying in the crate when the door opens, ability to leave the door open move out of the way etc and have the pup remaining in the crate and then a few worked on the 'your in your out' game.  they really think those crates are cool now- crates= cookies!

Here's a couple clips of Mako and Ruby working on the second game.

8 Weeks old

8 weeks old.  Where did the time fly? Over the next two weeks these guys will start leaving our home and making their way to their new home.

7 weeks old

We want to Caitland Aussies on Thursday to have Cathy take photos of the pups.

Puppy #6 George will be going to Victoria

Puppy #4 is staying with us for now

Puppy #1 Hush is staying here with us

Puppy #3 Vivi is going to a Show home

 locally

Puppy #5 Pinky is looking for a performance home. She'd love to be a agility or disc dog! She is the smallest of the litter and has a lot of get up and go.

Puppy #2 Chub.  He's looking for a home who will do anything with him.  This guy is laid back boy who's got some get up and go when you want to.  He's pretty easy pup who loves being around his people. He'd be a great Junior handling dog as well!

Red (Puppy #7) is available.  She's a sweet loveable dog who really likes spending time with people.  A total cuddle bug she'd is a nice show dog prospect or performance dog!

Outside play time

Now that the weather is hopefully done blizzard.  We're getting an outside routine with the puppies.  They go out in the morning after breakfast and as soon as we get home in the afternoons and then a final outside before bed.  They are brave and curious and can almost get up all the stairs to the deck they are Big stairs compared to the puppies

This was a "we just got home" play time- so the big dogs are a bit hyped up as this is their run around and be loud time (mornings loud is a big no no in our house we try to be good neighbors!)

playtime video

Kiahs' starting to enjoy spending time with her puppies now that they will PLAY with her.  She thinks this is much more fun then little shark puppies hanging off her nursing with sharp little teeth.  This was quite a bit into the playtime so they are winding down

Aunty Bella is still a huge hit with the puppies.  She thinks these interactive squeaky toys are fantastic.

Bath Day

Today everyone is getting their second baths and having their pictures taken.  They like to be dirty.  They like to swim in their food.  So cute and fluffy is short lived so we're taking pics right after each one's baths.

Puppy #1 Black Tri female

Puppy #2 Black Tri Male

Puppy #3- Red Bi Female

Puppy #4- Black Bi Male

Puppy #5 Black Tri Female

Puppy #6 Black bi male

Puppy #7- Red Bi female (baths are sure tiring!)