Blue Ribbon Boo-Boo

Thanks to Gary Platt for sending me this picture! What a great weekend! I saw some friends I haven't visited with in quite awhile, and everyone had a good weekend, too. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised with the performances Moto turned in this weekend. No, it wasn't what I had in my head as the perfect picture, and he was a bit distracted but he stayed on the money and had a great first experience in the ring. As you can see from the picture he had as good a time as I did. We were shocked to find out that on Saturday we had a perfect 100, earning us 1st place. Today I made some handler errors and walked on the wrong side of the Rally signs. We still qualified but had some substantials which cost us a placement. But the good news is Moto really did well and again a bit distracted but stayed on the marked and did better than I had ever expected him to. He definately needs more ring experience so we will be continuing with Rally and looking for some Wildcard classes.
I'm pleased he enjoyed himself and did his job. There's obviously room for improvement but what a guy, and what a wonderful start to his obedience career - well done, my Boo Boo Bear!

Holding My Breath

Here we go, Moto's Rally Novice debut tomorrow! For it being just rally, I'm rally, rally nervous. Sorry for the pun. We've worked very hard on conditioning and it's paid off but Moto is not completely over his nervousness in new areas. He does recover much faster though. What is unfortunate is thunderstorms are due to roll into the area tomorrow. If it's thundering loudly and it affects Moto, I will pull him as I don't want him to think the ring is a scary place. The Rally Novice class is HUGE! 17 dogs. We won't focus on doing the exercises fast; rather, we'll focus on doing them as best as we can and most importantly, it's up to me to make sure he has a good time and learns Ring Time is Special Time. He needs to feel I'm proud of him and we're a team and let's go have fun. Ultimately my mental picture was something like doggie dressage but that's just not going to happen. My picture now that I hope to bring to the ring is a smiling, confident dog that will do all the exercises and we can celebrate together when we leave the ring. I've packed some super-yummy baked chicken for the weekend.
I hope my next post is a happy one, going over all the fun we had! I'll enjoy the weekend nonetheless as it will be fun watching the other classes and competitors. We have two fun matches to do - one tonight which is fantastic, a great way to get Moto used to the environment he will be showing in. I look forward to hanging out with my show buddies too.
Here we go.....!

MOTO

With Blitz out of commission I was desperate for an Obedience pup. When Elizabeth offered to breed her lovely "Heather" (Damask Celtic Mystic Morning NAJ) to Shiloh I was very excited. This would be the first time these two great herding lines came together. Erik fell in love with Heather when she stayed with us and her sweet demeanor was a perfect pairing to Shiloh's over-the-top temperament. Four puppies were born - sadly one was born dead, and another beautiful pup lingered for a few days and then passed. Breeding is HARD and losing a pup is more difficult than I ever imagined. My sorrow pales in comparison to what Elizabeth must have felt however. The two survivors were a male and a female. Since Elizabeth wanted to keep a female for future breeding purposes and I tend to do better with males the deal was done and the pups were named Belle and Moto.

Here's a picture of him when he came home at 10 weeks of age. What an adorable little puppy! He was a rubber stamp of his dad. I enjoyed having a healthy puppy and getting to do puppy things with him. Like his dad he was not quick to bond with me. Shelties overall are not instant bonders: it takes time to build up a rapport with them so I was not concerned with this. Unlike Shiloh, however, this dog loves food more than anything in life and ate with a ferocity and intensity that left me awestruck. I knew he was going to be oversized. As he grew some body parts would grow out of proportion with others. He became a Daschund at one point:

Yes, I took it from an angle that intensified the contrast, but still, he had one heckuva LONG back. Still does but it's more in sync with the rest of his body now. Then his ears grew, giving him a Helicopter Ears presence.

We had begun training but things weren't coming along as I expected. Hence the birth of this blog so I could track our progress.

Then, the car accident and everything changed. With nothing to do but rest and recover, it was then I discovered Moto's natural ability to read weakness and show gentleness. While I loved him before, it was during my recovery time that I discovered he would be my next Heart Dog. Those are big shoes to fill as Dusty is the love of my life but Moto seems up to the job.

We are still on our journey together and the road ahead is uncertain. But no matter which direction it will take I know I have a very special dog to hug and laugh with as long as we are on this earth together. Here is my favorite picture of him as it captures his personality:

He's just so darned happy he doesn't even notice the grass hanging from his mouth. That's my boy!

BLITZ

This is my favorite picture of Blitz, at about 7 months of age. It's my favorite for many reasons - one, because it captures the essence of his personality and two, it was taken after his second serious bout with dermatomyocitis and three, it's a special pic as after this, the disease began taking its toll and disfiguring him.

I was looking for a performance/conformation champion as my next Sheltie and when I saw Blitz as a puppy I felt he'd be that special dog. I was most certainly right on that count. Blitz came home also at 10 weeks of age but sadly we only got to enjoy two "normal puppy" weeks with him before the disease began manifesting itself. First it was a tiny blister on top of his head. When the scab fell off so did some hair. The hair loss continued and after many vet visits a biopsy was done and it was confirmed that he had Dermatomyocitis or DM. It's a devastating skin, muscle and blood disease found most commonly in Shelties, collies and their crosses. It cannot be tested for and Blitz's breeders had done everything right. It was just an extremely unfortunate case. Blitz's breeders of course offered to take him back but I decided to keep him and give him the best life possible.

When he felt well we trained and I discovered I sure made the right choice Obedience-wise. Blitz was an amazing learner and I didn't even have to work at attention training - he watched and pranced alongside of me for the sheer joy of it! By the time he was six months old he was trained through Utility. By 10 months he was feeling well enough so I entered him in Wildcard Novice. Kathy had also entered her amazing Buoy and we had a great time showing together: Buoy won with a 199 with Blitz right behind with a 198. The next day I discovered showing 2 days in a row was too much for Blitz: he could not concentrate and acted as if he hadn't been trained. We still won the class with a 191 (Kathy had not entered that day) but it was not the same dog. Immediately afterward we were back in the vet's office as the disease had flared up again. With a broken heart I had to accept the fact that Blitz could not endure the excitement of training and showing.

We've had our ups and downs since then but he is largely stabilized for how. He was stable long enough for me to enter him in Rally Novice this past year. He had no training whatsoever and qualified all 3 times. But even that took its toll and he developed a terrible lesion on his right rear leg that took several months to heal.

Blitz and I are still learning life lessons together. I am still dealing with the fact I cannot show the dog every obedience person dreams of having. Blitz cries like his heart is breaking if he sees me train Moto so I make sure he is crated or in another room if we are training around or in the house. Life certainly hasn't been fair to him but he truly is the happiest dog I have ever met. He awakens with a joy of simply being alive by running to my bed and giving me a series of swift kisses at 5:00 a.m. every morning as if to say "get up! It's morning and there's air and isn't that GREAT???" He gives me inspiration to enjoy this precious short time on earth we all have been given. He's defied the odds as he just turned 3. His specialist said he would probably only live to be 2. His quality of life is pretty good most of the time. We take things day by day as his health changes rapidly and he can go downhill very fast. He has lost muscle mass in his lower jaw and we may be looking at changing his diet to more of a soft diet if it becomes to difficult for him to eat.

As for when it's his time, I am leaving that up to Blitz. I believe he will tell me. For now he still has a spark in his eye. His internal flame isn't burning as brightly as it did in the past and he is very slowly slipping away from me, an inch at a time it seems. But as long as I awake to joyous Blitz kisses urging me to get up and experience the wonders of the day before me, it's another day Blitz stands firmly here at home.

DAISY

Daisy is primarily my husband's dog. We'd resided in Missouri for about 1 year and Dusty and Shiloh were loving living in the country on our 5 acres. Erik decided that he wanted a dog of his own and enjoyed coming to my herding lessons. Our instructor had rescued a Border Collie she thought would be a good fit.

She had a rough start in life we found out - when our instructor rescued her (some man brought her to a herding trial and said "does anyone want this piece of sh*t?") she was starving and pregnant. When brought home the puppies were aborted - she was in too poor health and too young to have the puppies. Several months of rehab and good nutrition restored her health, and then Erik and I came over to have a look at her. She had issues - people shy for one, of course with good reason. But a sweet temperament. Erik fell in love and so she came home with us.

What followed was a good scenario for what life would have been like if we'd had a child together. Hubby is pretty much a Disneyland dad while I tend to toe the line on discipline. We've finally come to the conclusion that he needs to back me up on discipline (this wasn't too long ago) and balance is slowly being restored with the pack. The best part of it is I am seeing that Daisy now seems to care what I think and would prefer to please me as opposed to pissing me off. Ahhhhh.....life is so much better now.

She is a lovely little herding dog with a smooth flowing style I much admire. And with the arrival of Blitz and Moto she took on the mothering part which really kept a nice balance in the pack. With Blitz's illness the mothering was greatly appreciated. While I did everything in my power to provide comfort when he had those first scary downward turns, I believe Daisy's kisses and snuggles meant the world to my sick young puppy.

She also helped the oversized rambunctious Moto learn his big size could hurt and knock off balance. Part of his gentleness was learned from Daisy.

We've gone from War of the Roses to A Peaceable Kingdom. Yet another valuable lesson in dog training.

SHILOH

Shiloh is the dog who made my dreams come true, but he sure didn't start out that way. I'd been bitten by the herding bug and began looking for a pup with herding lines. This led me to Linda Rorem and her amazing dog "Minka" (HC Northlight Milenka). I'd never seen a Sheltie herd like her. She told me she was planning to breed her to Terrie Van Alen's "Rustler" (HC Dancer's Rustler TakinStock). This was a conformation/herding champion who had a good dose of chutzpah that I loved. While I was warned this could produce a litter of sable merles, from a performance standpoint it was a breeding to die for. I was in! Six healthy pups were born with only 2 sable merles. The rest were beautifully marked sables. I went every week to see the pups grow and when the temperament test was done I knew it was Shiloh that I wanted. He was the "spiciest" of them all, stubborn and willful, but boy could he retrieve. A doer and not a thinker.
He came home with me at 10 weeks. I had purchased a home with a large back yard for my two dogs. Erik had entered my life by then and was a serious boyfriend. Grandchild # 3, Jenna, had been born.
Shiloh had an explosive temper for a young pup. Dusty patiently turned his head aside when Shiloh railed at him. When Shiloh did the same at me, I thought it was adorable. Oh yeah, I know now. HUGE MISTAKE.
As a young dog he quickly became a Flyball champion, started amassing agility titles in all the venues and raced through the test portions of herding with ease. But then we hit the wall, and it was all because of my indulging his brattiness. When he HAD to do something, not because he wanted to, but because I ask, the wheels came off. In herding he would stomp off and hide under a shed. My herding instructor said she had never seen a dog so willing to cut off his nose to spite his face. Obedience lessons were immediately signed up for.
Shiloh enjoyed Obedience and again, I'd made the mistake of play-training the dumbbell retrieve. Oh, that dog loved to retrieve. But there came a time at a group lesson where Shiloh was not in the mood to retrieve. I threw the dumbbell and gave the "take it" command. His ears flattened and his eyes bugged out and you could almost see horns sprouting out the top of his head. He was NOT going to take it. My trainer said "give him a collar pop forward" and that really set him off. Next thing I knew I had an enraged Sheltie wrapped around my arm, biting at my hand making sounds like a rabid raccoon. I shook him off, stunned. My trainer dismissed the other students and said "we need to take care of this....NOW." He closed the door and what ensued I can only liken to the Helen Keller dinner scene from the classic movie. He was one stubborn dog, but one hour later I had a dog that would retrieve the dumbbell.
We had a few, much smaller battles later on, and during our Obedience journey Shiloh NQ'd in many creative and embarassing ways but never, never again was it on the dumbbell retrieve.
I began dreaming of the OTCH when he debuted in Novice with a 199. We had many 198's in Novice and in his Open career. By the time we were ready for Utility I'd decided that we wanted not only an OTCH but I wanted to go to the National Obedience Invitational. After studying the qualifiers over the years, I determined we'd need to amass at least 140 OTCH points in one year. A tall order, especially for this green handler.
Our Utility title was thrilling as we won the Utility A class at the Sheltie Nationals. Our scores, however, were not. One year later we had our UDX, 19 OTCH points and only 1 win - and that was from a Sheltie specialty. We needed two all-breed wins. The clock was ticking and we were way behind schedule. We had slowly moved from getting 4th and 3rd place wins to always being second. But then if finally happened: we won a large utility class and open class and had amassed about 40 points. I didn't know it then but we had gotten our OTCH. I didn't think so as one dog had been excused, and if that dog wasn't counted we would be at 99 points. Next weekend at our Sheltie specialty he won both the Utility and Open class and it was definate we had 100 points. And it was great to do it at my home club - thrilling!
Shiloh was peaking and we showed at a frantic pace. We did 2 back-to-back, 4 day clusters and he got HIT/HC at 4 of them. By the time the deadline came we had amassed exactly 140 OTCH points. When the other Shelties across the country scores had been tallied, we had made it in: not one point more or less, but exactly to make it into the top 8 to be invited that year.
We caravanned to the NOI with several friends and the drive cross country was half the fun. We had many adventures along the way to reminisce and laugh about for years to come. Shiloh showed beautifully at the NOI and I was proud of him. But Shiloh was again creative with his unique NQ style. This is a dog who would NQ in such a way that there was no way you could prepare or proof for it. We were in the running to make it to the finals as we'd qualified in 4 rings. But in ring 5, on the Drop on Recall, Shiloh decided to do a play bow instead of a drop. There he was, butt up in the air, tail wagging, as the judge kindly waited for him to drop. 30 seconds ticked by and it was no use. We'd NQ'd. We'd come so far and done so much and I love him so - how could I be upset or disappointed? It's a moment that still makes me laugh.
Shiloh retired from Obedience after the NOI to do what HE loved, which was agility. He would have had his MACH but I cannot remember the courses. He goes fast and I get lost. Not a good combo. But we took classes weekly just because he loved it so.
Shiloh will turn 10 this June. He continues to recover from his spinal injury and that is his current "job" right now. I am grateful to him for stretching my training abilities. And I learned if you believe in your dog and in yourself you can accomplish amazing things. He also taught me to be humble - he'd turn in a 199 one day and the next day NQ in such a way I'd say "my dog never did THAT before!". And with that, he also taught me to have a sense of humor while competing. I indeed made the right choice picking him out of that litter.

A Five Dog Introduction: Dusty first!

My blog is called Five Dogs and a Blonde and while I've occasionally mentioned all five dogs, I've never formally introduced them all. So one of the next five entries will devoted to how each one came into my life, starting with Dusty, who arrived on the scene 15 years ago.

I'd finally stabilized my life after a divorce and my daughter was on her own. I had a townhome with a teensy back yard and set about looking for the Sheltie I'd wanted all my life.

I'd been put in touch with a gal who told me the difference between backyard breeders and responsible breeders. She was good enough to take me to look at several litters. But, the one I REALLY wanted a dog from didn't have any available pups. I would have to wait. And, since I was a first-time owner I would have to co-own. To endear myself to her I would drive there every few weeks (it was a couple hour drive) just to get to know her dogs and her better. One day I brought my sister with me and that is when Serendipity reared its head. She had a puppy available. The to-be owner decided they did not want a male. I could have him if I wanted him. It was Dusty, then a tiny 10-week old. It was love at first sight. The answer was YES. She then gave me a checklist of things I had to have before she would let him live with me. I acquired all of them at light speed and by next weekend he made the trip home.

That was 15 years ago. We've moved twice since then and I've remarried. Daughter had four children and is expecting her fifth.

During his performance career Dusty achieved a UDX (despite a 2 year rest from a shoulder injury), was a nationally ranked herding dog in 1999, we got his Herding Intermediate title, and Novice agility titles.

My eyes still tear up with the memory of his last obedience trial in the Veterans class at 13 years of age. I was fine until the Long Down, when I realized it was over. Rivers of tears streamed down my cheeks for those 3 minutes. But we did it and he won the class and got thunderous applause when the judge announced it was his last time in the ring. It's a good memory.

I learned a lot from Dusty and it reaches far more than just dog training. Dusty has taught me about courage, determination, sportsmanship, humility. Anything that has to do with character-building I have learned from this dog.

His eyesight is fading and his hearing isn't quite the best, but he is still the loving, sunny playful guy who still rules our ever-growing household. Of all the dogs he's seen the most change and has dealt with it all with grace and style.

I couldn't have been blessed with a better first dog. Now that he's 15, I kiss him and tell him I love him every day. It's a gift I'm supremely grateful for.

Grass, what a concept

We haven't seen the sun in days but the snow has FINALLY melted - all of it - and we have been above freezing for over a week. I know spring is definately coming because there are a lot more birds singing and at our feeder. The dogs and I did something we haven't done for ages, and that's go outside for a nice run and play. I was delighted to see green grass growing and the flower bulbs are sprouting shoots in the garden. Let it be said I adore winter and I love snow, but this winter was too much of a good thing. This spring will be especially appreciated - as will the eventual warmth and sun - as it's been such a long, cold, and dark winter.
After work I loaded Moto in the car and we headed for our downtown area. Mondays are quiet as most of the shops are closed today. My office has a fountain and a grassy area and lots of big sidewalks. Traffic very light but a few doors down on the other side there were some roofing guys. It would be challenging but I was curious to see if Moto could go into "work mode". As with every other place we go, when he first gets out he looks anxiously around. Rather than walk him around I told him we were going to work and did our Lining Up/Getting Ready to Heel routine. While he didn't snap into beautiful attention he did go into Work Mode. It took one positive pop (hey, we're working here) and off we went. Whenever he looked at me I spit food. Very very quickly we made repeated heeling attempts and went a few steps further each time. By the end of our session (about 20 minutes) he was relaxed and happy and I could see he was also in learning mode. We ended with some play time and belly rubs and he returned home a very happy guy. Once home all the dogs were let out and I admired the pretty green grass as I threw various toys and Shelties (and one BC) swirled around me.

So happy for Kathy!

One of the positive things that have come of my run of bad luck is I've undergone a change for the better, in terms of dog showing. When I had Shiloh and Dusty in good health and we were at the peak of competition I was pretty self-involved in getting my goals achieved. I struggled with other people's "good luck" (translation: hard work) and sometimes would even get jealous of their accomplishments.
I haven't had a healthy dog or a show-ready dog for several years now. But I am an obedience addict and I still go to shows in the area just to watch and keep updated on who is doing what in the show ring. You'd think I'd be envious but it's been just the opposite - I'm genuinely interested in what everyone is doing, and when I get a call like Kathy's I am floating on air!
Kathy had a great weekend - her dog got 2 200's, both in Open. Under two separate judges. It was one judge's first 200, and she had tears in her eyes, she was so excited. Kathy is truly an amazing person whose accomplishments are far too many to list here. But even for her, scoring 2 200's in 2 days is phenomenal.
I feel as if I got those 200's myself I am so happy for her. It's just the neatest feeling to be happy for someone else - I think it feels better than when it's your own accomplishment.
Next weekend is one of the biggest shows in this area since 2005. Many friends are going. I cannot wait to see who wins Utility. There are a few that are closing in on their OTCH. Oh, to be there and see for myself! Instead I'll be hoping for an excited phone call from someone, who has just done something amazing.
And I couldn't be happier for them!

Hmmmmmm......

Moto has me scratching my head. Obviously I still haven't figured him out. He's a completely different temperament than his sire Shiloh, but like Shiloh he has an extremely complex personality. Shiloh and I made a great team as we were more alike work-wise, where this guy is a creature unto himself. Before we ever enter the Novice ring I need to get a handle on what makes him tick to get the best performance out of him.
I've been taking him everywhere and exposing him to lots of different places/people/things/sounds. Our latest "big" outing was to the local Orsheln's Farm & Home store. The store clerks were wonderful and warmly greeted Moto and were anxious to pet him. He was extremely shy and didn't want to be touched and refused offerings of dog biscuits from them. We walked around the store and he quickly recovered and began to be inquisitive about his surroundings. He showed his usual sweet self when we looked at the baby chicks, looking at them calmly and quietly. Honestly if they were loose I imagine he'd either lay down and let them crawl on him or he'd gently nudge them to a safe place. He's that kind of a dog.
When we got to the doggie toy section I let him pick out a toy (a huge rubber Kong) and then his lips parted and he became his smiley self. With our new prize in hand I wanted to see how he'd do in the outside portion of the store. It was a perfect training ground with stacks of fertilizer on large pallets. The wind was making the plastic rustle slightly for a mild sound distraction. Moto again became nervous and was looking around. I tried some heelwork without asking anything of him at all and had a dog who looked like he hadn't been trained at all. But then something interesting happened. Instead of luring with the yummy chicken in front of his face, I tried another tack: gave a positive collar pop and asked him to do a favorite trick - "get close" and when he did he was rewarded with food spit from my mouth for attention. He quickly snapped into work mode and I had some beautiful heelwork. It was only 4 or 5 steps but I didn't want to push my luck. Good boy!
This Saturday I trained with some classmates and our instructor at the Open class. Our run-through wasn't anything to write home about but with a few collar pops he worked and tried and displayed a good attitude. I ran him through off-leash and it was too early to do that. I think we'll go to a light line as I don't want him to think he CAN go wide, lag, etc. What fascinated me was he seems to understand "work mode" and can switch to that now. If the distractions aren't too overwhelming that is.
I'm hoping I have some sort of a foundation now that we can build on. We're only two weeks away from his Rally Novice debut. I know it won't be the performance I was hoping for. However, I believe he needs the ring experience, and lots of it, in order to get what I hope he can deliver. So we will move forward and show him and the goal will be for him to have a good experience and be able to do all of the signs. Once that's under his belt, I'll assess the situation and see what our next step will be.

Baby Steps

We are making heelwork progress now that I've stopped nagging at him about attention heeling. Moto needs to remember his position - which in the real world of Obedience is far more important than attention - and we're getting back to that very nicely. He's been in some pretty interesting places, too. His biggest challenge was the car wash. First had had to sit with me in the car as we went thru the wash. I was pleased to note that he didn't panic at all the scary noises of the brushes and hoses. I did note he was watching me closely so I simply stared at the windshield and acted as if I was driving. I felt if I said anything to him he'd flip out so doing nothing was the best choice. Once out of the car wash it was detailing time so we went out into the parking lot (empty) to do some heeling. This didn't go so well for the first few minutes but his recovery time is getting quicker and quicker. I try not to use the leash to correct him into position and this too is working out nicely. I want a dog to heel and do just as well off-leash as on-lead. Moto even took food at the carwash and outside which is a huge improvement. He's also greeting people better.
Yesterday we went to the training center as Dee had her Rally signs there. I wanted Moto to get used to a ring with the cones and signs. Some other people with their dogs showed up too so we all three were in the ring doing Rally which was just great for distractions. By the end of that session he looked Novice Obedience ready. I was very proud of him.
Then this morning we trained in our front yard which by now is extremely familiar to him and I had an OTCH dog. Yes everyone's dog works a 200 in their yard but it was still great to see the attitude and drive. And oh, being outside without 3 layers of jackets, hats and gloves was delightful. Those probably can be put away but the weather report says we will need our raincoats for the remainder of the week. Once again, training go-outs and jumps are thwarted. Toto, we're not in California any more.....

Cabin Fever

We had several inches of snow last weekend and we are now in the melt/refreeze stage. This makes for tough going for eldest Sheltie Dusty as their pawmarks in the snow refreeze. Our back yard looks like a mini-sea with tufts and curls of snow. Poor Dusty slips and slides out there in the morning. We only allow the dogs to QUIETLY go outside to potty - Dusty because he is elderly and we don't want him to fall, Shiloh because of his injury and we don't want him to fall, Blitz because his bare legs can be cut on the ice, risking another infection, and the other two, well, just STOP IT. So getting exercise is challenging. Erik has taken to putting Daisy on the treadmill and she adores it. I run the other dogs when the snow is slushy but this leads to very muddy dogs, which then need to be washed/toweled/dried before they can re-enter the house. With five of them this is a major undertaking.
The dogs hadn't been run since yesterday afternoon and Moto and Blitz were extremely squirrely this morning. Shiloh had had his morning therapy and was resting comfortably, Dusty - well, he pretty much always rests comfortably these days and Daisy was downstairs doing the treadmill with Erik. Moto decided to entice Blitz to play "catch me if you can" which is pretty darned cute when it's outside. But a 50-lb Sheltie in a small home scooting around is a dangerous undertaking. Lampstands swayed, cords got tangled up and sent phone chargers flying, silk plants were banged into and the thundering of scittering Shelties made doing anything else impossible. I should have stopped it but hey, the TV wasn't that interesting early in the morning and Moto is so clumsy it made for cheap entertainment. Blitz is like a WWF wrestler, launching himself from the stairs onto the waiting Moto. Dusty begged to come onto the couch to get away from the scrabble. He and I watched - Dusty clearly wanted it to stop but I sipped my coffee and giggled at the two silly boys.
It was all over in a few minutes and they are now taking a morning nap with the other three. It's to get above freezing again and we might even get RAIN at the end of the week, getting rid of the rest of the snow for good.
Now that the house is quiet, I'll go work out on the Wii fit. It's not been very kind to me lately. Maybe this morning I can make it happy.

YAY!

I thought today was going to be one of those work until I drop days - the first Monday of the month is always my busiest, and to top it off I had to go to a county meeting. I'd planned a quick-to-prepare dinner as I thought I'd just have time to rush home and bang something out quickly.
As it turned out I got everything done at work, made it to the county meeting and we were first on the agenda and the LET US LEAVE rather than stay through the rest of the stuff that didn't apply to us. Hooray!
I was home with a few hours of unplanned free time and energy to boot. So did Shiloh's therapy work (I can see he's doing more weight bearing on his left leg), did some heeling with Blitz (who was over the top delighted) and then slipped and sloshed and slid down our driveway to work Moto on our country road. The melting snow is still several inches deep I discovered and it was like walking in a giant slushie. The packed down snow that our cars drove on was still a sheet of ice. It was a fun walk to the street. But it was worth it as Moto worked great. Yes, it was not challenging as it was our house but it was refreshing to see no skittishness whatsoever. We enjoyed working fronts, finishes, heeling and some Rally exercises. Then I decided to challenge him. I removed his collar and told him he was "free" and he made a beeline to the watching dogs in the yard. I called for a Sit as if he was doing a go-out and wow....lovely turn and sit. Released and again he was running full-tilt. This time I asked for him to Come. Lovely, he did. Release again and asked again for a Come.....down, to which he dropped like a rock, beaming with pride. Too cute! He got a hug, kiss and a release and this time really got to run back to his buddies watching from the yard.
Tomorrow is our class so I'm anxious to see how he does with no pressure on attention. Moto is an interesting dog. We will see.