A Day in the Life of a Welcome Wagon Lady

Along with my duties as a Chamber of Commerce director, I am also the town's Welcome Wagon lady. It's fun for the most part and has taught me how to turn cold calling into a successful meeting.
Back in the Good Old Days, I could call information and get new resident's phone numbers, call and make an appointment to come welcome them and give them gifts. However in these days of cell phones I must drop in on folks unexpectedly with my basket of goodies. Again, 99% of the time it is successful, and if no one is home I leave a card behind, explaining who I am, I'm not selling anything, and call me and I'll come by with gifts.
I'm in a small town, which means sometimes I drive to really, really remote areas. This weekend included one of those difficult-to-reach homes. It was a large,beautiful home and I was hoping the person would be inside so I could, along with welcoming them, glance around for decorating ideas.
A large German Shepherd appeared. This happens frequently as most homes don't have fences in this part of the country. I try to assess if the dog is friendly and whether or not it is safe to get out of my car. Not only is this dog friendly, he appears delighted to have company. So I open my door.
OH NO!! He's WAY too friendly. He leaps into my car, tail wagging frantically, covering my steering wheel and the side of my face with slobber. I quickly exit the vehicle and now he's even happier, leaping and bounding off my body, leaving scratches from his long nails as I shove him off me. I try to walk to the front door....when all of a sudden...OH NO!!! An enormous, well-fed Lab appears, equally as delighted to have company. Now I'm fending off two jumping, covering-me-with-slobber dogs. I quickly look to the house. No lights are on, no one is coming to help me. I decide to cut my losses, nix leaving a card as I'll never make it to the front door and, fending rapid-fire enormous tongued kisses head back to the car. OH NO!!! The German Shepherd is back inside my car. Noooooooo! I grab a rock from the driveway and pretend it is a ball, the funnest ball in the world and I have it. I have his attention and the Lab's attention. I throw it and say "get it!!!" and they fall for my ruse. I'm in that car in a flash and backed out so quick their heads are spinning. They are sad to see me depart and are jumping on the back of the car. Finally they see I'm not coming back and trot back to their home.
I assess the damage. I have so much slobber my clothes look like they are covered with giant snail tracks. My hands are covered with scratches. I'm no longer fit to welcome other folks as I might frighten them with my appearance.
Home I go, for a shower and change.
Just another day in the life of a Welcome Wagon lady.

Thank doG for Dogs!

This is the time where we are to express our thankfulness for our great abundance, and we do so by inviting our family to gather and shower them with food. It's a wonderful tradition and one I've cherished more and more as I get older.
While I'm in a grateful mood, this year I'm more focused on being thankful for my dogs.
First and foremost, I'm thankful for Dusty. He'll turn 17 beginning of February and he's in great health. I hug him and kiss him every day as I know each day with him is a precious gift.
I desperately miss my beloved Shiloh at the Bridge, but I am thankful I shared 11 wonderful years with that dog. As one song says: "my heart beats because you showed it how."
I'm even thankful for Daisy, my husband's Border Collie. We've not gotten along well over the years but since Shiloh's passing she seems to be trying to fill that painful wound. This touches me deeply. I'm amazed by her insight and depth of emotion.
There's my little Blitz, affected by DM. I'm thankful for his daily life lessons. No matter how bad a day it is, he always makes me smile.
There's my sweet Moto. While maybe not the best student of Obedience, this dog touches me the way no other dog has. I'm so lucky to have another Heart Dog in my life.
Last but he certainly wouldn't let me say least - it's baby Pinch. At age 1 he's earned four titles already, even more accomplished than Shiloh was at his age. I'm thrilled to have an exciting show prospect, but behind all that drive is a dog of tremendous emotional range. He's the first dog I've had that can laugh loudly, squeal with delight or show genuine hurt.
My dogs - each one has brought their own story, taught me important lessons, and my life is better because they shared their life with mine.
What great creatures they are!
There definately is a reason doG is God spelled backwards, and I'm thankful for that.

Great Last Hurrah

We ended our show year with a Bang, and a good one at that!
Both Pinch and Moto received the PT title (Pre-Trial) at the last herding trial of the year, and both did so with very nice runs!
Well, except for Saturday. Moto was good. Pinch was, er, well, let's just say Naughty.
Moto only needed to qualify one more time to earn his title. He was in first, and made it look easy. It was simply a beautiful run and he did a great job from start to finish. He's usually the variable when it comes to showing, so I entered the arena with Pinch with great confidence. What happened next was stunning.
I sent him to gather the sheep. Instead of that pretty going-around thingie you see in the herding movies, Pinch dove right through the middle, scattering sheep all over the ring. I commanded him to sit. He kept on running. Then he decided to pick on one particular sheep and was having a great time chasing it. This is not herding, and the judge warned me to call him off. I abandoned the rest of the group and took off after my black blur. He finally stopped, and when he looked at me I saw he had no brain. Just a silly, glassy-eyed hyper stare that he was having the time of his life and didn't care what I said.
I made him wait a bit (hoping some brains would re-enter that cavity in his head) and we tried again. We went thru the panels, and I was getting ready to pen when the judge said "um, you're not done. Remember, you need to go the OTHER way around the course, too." CRAP! I was so rattled by Pinch's errant behavior I forgot we need to do a stop and a turn and go all the way around...again. We did manage to do so, but it wasn't pretty. Not at all. Our judge was kind and since he DID do it - albeit completely lacking style of any kind - he qualified us.
So that was Saturday.
Sunday, I moved Moto up to Started. It was a big step but we'd trained the Started course just in case. But alas, Moto needs more confidence and when I saw he was really stressed and needed more help than I could give him, we called our run. I didn't want him to have a bad first experience in the "big field". I'm fine with that, we'll practice this winter and try again next year.
Good boy Moto!
My theory that Pinch was out of control because it was his first time in a strange arena with strange sheep proved correct: day #2 I had the dog I knew back. When we were at the halfway point where we needed to turn I asked the judge "shall we turn here?" to which she replied "it's lovely. Turn and go." Once out of the ring a gentleman came over and remarked that I should be thrilled to have such a dog, that he was going to have a brilliant herding career.
Bursting with pride inside, I thanked him for taking the time to come over and say such kind things.
Title total for 2011: Moto - 3 Obedience titles - BN, CD, GN. Herding - HT, PT.
Pinch - 2 Obedience titles - RN, BN. Herding - HT, PT.
Not a bad way to finish the year! Well done boys!

Time for the Annual Holiday Argument

Ah yes, it's that time of year again, a time that causes strife between my husband and myself.
It's the Annual Christmas Picture.
We always send out a picture of our dogs, which to us is a very cute idea. However, we have a lot of dogs and like children, each one has their "issues".
Most difficult each year is Daisy, who firmly believes the camera is out to Steal Her Soul. To get her even remotely near a camera, she needs to have the beejesus run out of her. So, if she looks happy in the picture, it's because we ran her so much she is too tired to care.
We now have a new issue, and that is my sweet Dusty. He's turned a bit senile, and add blindness and a bit of deafness to that. Oh he's still a very happy boy. But he can no longer follow simple commands like "sit" or "stay". He can hear "cookie" but often can't tell where it's coming from - interesting the way sound waves bounce off of walls, I've discovered.
So here's how it's going to go this year: run Daisy like crazy. Erik will do this as I set up the photo shoot area.
Good, now she's exhausted. Quick! Line up the dogs.
Me to Erik: make silly noises.
Erik tries, but he's not very good at it.
This is where the arguing starts.
Me: Say "cookie"
Erik: "cookie"
Me: Say it with some EXCITEMENT, will ya??
Erik in a girly voice "Cookie! Cookie!"
Dusty will probably wander off.
Daisy will take that cue and slink off.
Me: You didn't run Daisy enough. Go run her again.
Erik grumbles.
You can get the drift of how it's going to go.
We will begin our picture-taking efforts over the next couple of days. Hopefully we will come up with something printable.
I'll put some outtakes on this blog.
Meantime, we're getting ready for a herding trial this weekend. I'm excited and hopeful, but of course it's always a crap shoot when it comes to a herding trial. So here's to dogs that listen, calm sheep and good draws!

Too much "wiggle room"

Pinch is a fast worker.
This can make training really fun.
The reverse is also true.
We are taking a Beginning Utility Class and Pinch is loving every single second of his training. But in his enthusiasm and my greediness to do too much too fast, this class has exposed some training holes.
When I trained his signals, I had him stand on a small doggie cot so he would learn not to move forward. While he can work on the cot just great, turn the cot upside down or just put him on the ground and you have a dog that is all over the place.
Backchaining here we go again.
I have now made a small box that is perfectly Pinch-sized. He cannot stand and move his rear. I absolutely cannot move foward. He cannot inch up on the sit.
He's such a fast little guy and I need to get faster with my rewards and/or praise. Learning to mark the right behavior is every bit as important so he can learn what is right.
All releases are given moving backwards. Sometimes I place a treat behind him, and after he does his signals he can go back and get it. Other times I just throw a treat behind him to get. Sometimes he has to back into his signals. The message here: moving forward earns you NOTHING. Going back is goooooooooo-ooood. But I am, once again, only 3 feet away from him. But better to discover this now than have our Open title. It would be awful to have to delay a Utility debut because of a problem like this.
But we are having the time of our life. Went out this brisk morning to work signals and directed jumping and before I realized it 45 minutes had passed. It's great to have another dog like Shiloh where training is just so much fun you have to MAKE yourself stop!
So grateful for my little black flash!

This is the Face of DM

This is my Blitz, now age 4. DM is short for Dermatomyocitis, aka Sheltie Skin Syndrome. It is not to be confused with mange, and it is NOT, I repeat NOT contagious. It is hereditary and unfortunately Blitz won the lottery and got one of the worst cases to be had. Along with hair loss his disease also involves the muscles and at this point in his life his rear is weak. He can still do the stairs but he has to think about it first.
I only had two weeks of his puppyhood to enjoy him before he became ill. First it was a scab on his head, then it hit hard and fast. After the skin biopsy and the firm diagnosis of DM his breeders and I were devastated. His case was so severe the specialist - who worked with Texas A&M in the beginnings of his diagnosis - only gave him two years to live. His puppyhood was a constant of visits to the dermatologist clinic, the vet, many many rounds of drugs and steroids and more drugs to counteract the effect of other drugs. There were so many pills to be taken on a daily basis half the kitchen counter was covered with them.
But you know what? Through all he had to endure, being a dog, it was he who taught me to buck up, stop crying, and enjoy life. I remember the moment well. He was still a tiny puppy - very sick - and I was carrying him with the laundry in a basket to do the wash. Tears were pouring from my eyes as I looked at my puppy covered with lesions. He licked my face and looked in me in such a way that I was thunderstruck by the wisdom shining from his eyes. We shared that look for a moment, and I haven't cried for him since.
Oh yes, my heart hurts for him. He's an amazing, brilliant, devoted and very talented dog. He could have been amonst the best of them in the Obedience ring. But he's shown me there is so much more to life than a brilliant performance in Obedience: he is a brilliant performer in LIFE. Because of his upbeat attitude he has beat the odds and is still here, two years past he was supposed to be. And even though his looks may take you back a bit, inside beats the heart of the most beautiful dog you could ever meet.
Each dog comes into our lives for a reason, and Blitz came here, I believe, to help us remember that every day is to be greeted with great joy and wonder, no matter what the cards have dealt us. Through these difficult past couple of years his lesson has helped me remain strong.
I've attached his only and only YouTube video of him doing a fun match at the age of 10 months. He was in remission and feeling and looking pretty good. I'm so glad to have this video reminder of how much he and I shared our mutual passion of Obedience, and now, our mutual passion of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI2M7tACT90