May this day go down in history...

...as the first day Reckon lifted his leg to pee!! It was quite an unexpected, but great surprise.

At approximately 9:45pm after agility class, I let the dogs have a pee before getting into the car. The place we do agility is in an industrial building set high up. Therefore, we park below the facility, right next to a large cement wall.

Reckon immediately started to pee when we reached the lower parking level, he was quite close to the cement wall, and I guess that's all it took. Up his left leg went!! He was a little unsteady, but held it for the entire pee. What a big boy!!!

So of course I ran inside to announce his big leg lifting debut. Nobody seemed to be that impressed. I'm curious to see if it continues tomorrow, or if it was a fluke incident.

Sorry, no pictures. Although that would be very impressive if I did have some...

P.S. Beezer was a superstar in class too. His weaves (2 sets of 2) are soooo close to being in a straight line. I don't think he'll be ready for 6 poles this weekend at the trial, but I'm hoping he can have them by Regionals!

training is hard...

...I'm trying to be a good puppy owner. I'm trying to take at least 5 minutes every day and teach Reckon something new, or at least practice some obedience, or fun games. But it's HARD! I get overwhelmed too easily. I know this is supposed to be fun, but there's so much stuff to teach him!! Plus, I'm still working on Beezer's 2by2's, which is going well, except that I may be pushing him a wee bit too far too fast. My head feels like exploding whenever I think about training, so I just don't. Baaaddd momma!

Forget it. I'll just not do anything with anybody. I can unleash fat, out of control, under trained, never reaching their full potential, furry creatures into the civilized world. Don't panic. We'll blend in just fine...


First Amigo is going to suck you into her cookie vortex




Then rip your children to shred. Especially if said children looks like water logged sticks.




But wait!



Here comes Beezer.


He's going to knock you off your feet with his log a la Bam Bam style


Hmmm, maybe not. 'Cause he's a little afraid he may not get it back...




Anyways, here's some videos of Reckon doing some training! His beach pictures suck. He's either barking at someone, or running in circles. In this video we are trying Susan Garrett's game "it's yer choice"

Downtown

Auntie Susan finally got to meet Reckon, and it was love at first sight for both of them!


She got to try walking him around the bustling choas of Denman street. Which basically means she was dragged from person to person, dog to dog...


Awwww.


What's that?? A bird, airplane, a waving hand...??


Maybe a ....Squirrel?


A cold but fun day out on the town.

Hard news to process

It's been a rollercoaster week. Beezer had a successful first trial, Reckon is,well, a biting, energetic machine, and Amigo is feeling better, but I got some hard news on Wednesday.

You may recall that Amigo was limping last week. After resting her, medicating her and worrying about her, I finally decided to leave her at the vets for a day of poking, prodding and maybe even some x-rays. The doctor just needed to feel around a bit and look at her previous x-rays from November to tell me that Amigo's agility career was over. So were long uphill hikes, and stairs. Her lower lumbar spine has fused together in 2 places, and is working it's way up her spine. I know she's no spring chicken, but this was hard news to swallow. She and I had a pact that she wasn't to age!

I'm not sure who this will be harder on, me or her. She's my everything dog! I can't imagine not running her in agility. The vet did say she can do 6" jumps and tunnels, so we're not totally out of the running. And as a friend mentioned, she isn't taking this as hard as me. All she knows is "COOKIES!" And she'll definitely be getting lots of those. Her dream of becoming 600 pounds is slowly becoming a reality...

Who said "Cookie!?"


Give Amigo the cookies...



As Amigo's career is coming to a close, Beezer's is charging full speed ahead! His 2by2's are almost in a straight line, and his speed, distance and passion is growing!


Reckon won't be too far behind. That baby has no fear!


I can do this whole teeter thing no problem!



At Reckon's last weigh in on March 15th, he clocked in at 34.5 Lbs. I also added a new protein to his diet, Beef. So we'll see how he does with that. He has decided to add dog poop to his list of delectable edibles. We're trying to break that habit asap.

I also can't help but notice that he's become super barky inside the house. Every noise from upstairs (which he has heard every bloody day since he's moved in) is something to bark his head off at. It doesn't help that he just isn't setteling after 2 hikes either. Maybe it's a fear stage, maybe the beginnings of the dreaded teenage stage. Or if I'm lucky, probably both. His habit of hanging off your pant leg, arm, any item of clothing, bedding, or anything else besides an appropriate toy, is increasing ten fold. Yay for Malinois puppies!!

Appropriate tugging:


Reckon's version of tugging:


Beezer is slowly starting to accept Reckon as part of the family, or at least accept the fact that he's not leaving anytime soon. Here's a picture I took of the two of them as close together as I could get them:


Will they play one day?!

Beezer's First Trial

Today was Beezer's big debut in the Agility world. He turned 18 months on the 25th of February, which is the youngest a dog can enter an AAC sanctioned trial. I decided to just enter him in 1 run, Jumpers. Originally I had planned to run Amigo in 4 courses, but she ended up going lame Friday afternoon. (Today she is almost 100% back to her regular self, but it took a few days of Metacam, rest and worry to get her here)! Anyways, since Amigo was out for the weekend, I put Beezer into Starters Gamblers.

He NAILED it!! Besides getting the zoomies and not doing the tire, his run was fabulous! I can hardly believe it. His first trial, his first run, and he gets a first place and a Qualifying run! 58 points all together. Go little dud puppy!! I guess I have to pick a new nickname, because he is flying out there, and having a good time to boot! Exactly what I like to see in my agility dogs:)




His second run of the day was Jumpers. I was a little worried, not only was this our first trial, but you may have noticed he missed his tire in his Gamblers run. Twice. Zoomies are wayyyy more fun!

It was a beautiful run, full of speed and joy. And it would have been a Q, if he just did the damn tire! Oh well, I've learned that I should have taken my time in gamblers and fixed it then. We had enough points at that point, so I could have taken my time and worked on it. I blame nerves for not thinking clearly!



Overall I was very very pleased with Beezer. I mainly want him to enjoy this sport, and he clearly does.

And don't think I forgot about Reckon. How could I? The little biting beast is really finding himself! Everybody he passed, whether they be human or canine, was his best friend! His prey drive is really coming out as well. Before the cats weren't that interesting, but now, we can bark and chase them for hours! Fun! So I have a few things to work with him, besides his obedience and agility foundation work...

Here are some pictures of our day out in Cloverdale.

Socializing with new people


Watching his future sport


Learning to chill


Photo op!


Ride Home

So busy!

Hello all! Things have been super busy in the Sandberg shoe box! I've had up to 7 dogs in my wee little tiny basement sweet for 2 weeks now. With a Reckon, the energizer bunny, Itsy the foster dog I want to put in a meat grinder, and Snoop the incontinent Rottweiler, I've had my hands full!

We have all been very busy, Reckon turns 5 months on the 10th, and Beezer has his first AAC agility trial this Sunday. I've decided to put him into Starters Jumpers only, mainly because I want to take my time and make sure he's having a good time first and foremost and secondly we don't have our weaves yet. We're almost there though! We're at 4 poles at about 10 feet apart. He really should have them by now, there is no excuse. He loves doing them (what a strange dog, he gets the zoomies EVERY time we do a session), and I have the equipment etc. Lazy, lazy, lazy!

He can practice his 2on 2off anywhere!


In Reckon's part of the world, things just get better and busier! We're taking a handling class out in Cloverdale every Tues. Even though it's not really my scene, it's great socialization, and it gets us out and doing stuff. We were the laughing stock of the class our first time around the ring because Reckon, instead of trotting around the ring like a civilized young man, he would bite the back of my legs or jump up and grab my arms. Ouch!




I met a nice lady out there who has a Mal and does French Ring, so we're going to head over to her facility sometime soon and learn a few more obedience moves and see what else we can pick up!

I've also been taking him on a hike everyday, because without a little exercise grandma can't handle the furry ball of energy.





He also comes to agility class on Wednesday and Thursday nights. He's doing very well with his restrained recalls through the tunnels!




Although he's full of piss and vinegar, I can't seem to stop his on again, off again diarrhea. It's soooo frustrating to have a puppy who can't put on weight because he'll have regular poops one moment, then liquid soup, then back to normal all within a 24 hours period! We're going to send in some fecal samples to the lab and hopefully we can get this under control. Furthermore, his left ear is starting to sag a bit from teething. I still thinks he's quite a looker for a underweight floppy eared dog:)


And here's a lovely picture of Angel in the snow....which Amigo ruined because there were cookies involved and she didn't want me to forget about her...

Hai...cookies??!?