It’s hard to believe that Mika, in just a few days will be 19 months old. Time flies when you’re having fun. Love ya, kiddo!
Wordless Wednesday: Where Did My Puppy Go?
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We Have Snow!
It’s official. Winter has set in in some places or it did a little bit yesterday. We’re back up to 45° again today for some reason. Mother Nature really can’t decide on what she wants to do. The dogs were glad for a bit of romp time in the chilly weather, though and I was able to take some fun photos of the kiddos in the snow. Enjoy!
Our Mini Vacation
Well, we’ve got the entire week off from work and decided that it was time for a mini vacation away from home. After some thought and discussion between Bruce and I, we decided on a destination that wasn’t too far from home in case someone in the family needed us for some dire emergency – Monroe, MI.
We’ve been down here, it seems, every single New Years weekend for some dog event or another. This will be the first time that we come here and there is absolutely nothing dog related in the works. We’re staying at our favorite hotel, Red Roof Inn. They’re dog friendly and have loads of room for the pups to romp around the room without being a pain in the rear to the neighbors. We opted this time, thanks to coupons, for the suite. Let me tell you this…it’s huge. Two rooms, king-sized bed (perfect for the pit bulls, let me tell you..they’ve already tested it out!), kitchenette, and a ‘living room’. The dogs (and Bruce and I!) are in seventh heaven.
We’re going to be here until at least Thursday, although we’ve been whispering back and forth about staying into the New Year just to ‘ be away’ for the rolling in of 2012, but we’ll see how that goes in the next 24 hours. Tomorrow, if the weather isn’t absolutely horrid, we’re planning on taking a drive down to Luna Pier and taking some photos and letting the dogs romp on the beach for a bit. They don’t seem to care if it’s cold, but we’re going to bring their Fido Fleece jackets just in case they get too chilly.
All in all, we’ve got a nice little mini vacation planned – even if the weather continues to stay gross and we stay grounded to the hotel. Plenty of local flavors we can enjoy and places to go that aren’t too far from ‘home.’ I’ll post more updates later on since I get to go be the fun police to two brats that keep ramming themselves into the back of my computer chair like sumo wrestlers!
Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours
Gross Weather = No Training Time
Unfortunately, my absolutely favorite place to train when the gross weather rolls in is out of commission for the month of December. What does this mean for me and the beasts? It means that we have to brave the sleet, the snow and the rain to get our training thing done. This is fine for me since I can layer up and be nice and toasty, but the pit bulls believe that they will melt because they are made of sugar, spice and everything nice. Convincing them that they simply will not die when they go out into the cold and the muck is a feat in itself.
The last few days we’ve been absolute slackers. They’ve stayed in the nice, warm house and run on their Grand Carpet Mill and trashed the house with the massive box of goodies ranging from Wubbas to stuffies to Kongs and everything in between. Let me tell you, getting beaten by a Mega Wubba is on my list of things I definitely do not like having repeated. (Thanks, Ryker!)
As it stands right now, I’m not going to be able to travel with my friend Jen to Kentucky in a couple of weeks to try again for Ryker’s Schutzhund BH because of the likely possibility that I’ll have to work a crap load of hours the week before Christmas. I will be glad for the paychecks I get, but it just sucks because I wanted to go and had planned to for weeks because I think we are read – well, Ryker definitely is (my nerves suck!).
Lyric is coming around beautifully with her obedience and I’d love to start working more on it so that we can try for our URO1 in the early part of next year and possibly a UCD the following year if she’s ready. I’m trying to keep it light and positive with her so she continues to enjoy it. She is the kind of dog that starts loathing things if they become boring or restrictive because she is such a free-spirited dog.
Mika’s doing well and has the most phenomenal heeling for such a young dog. We’re not really pushing her very hard because we want her to have fun and not rush things. Being a title chaser can only be benefited if the dog enjoys what they’re doing and I can’t see the point of ruining a young dog like that for a piece of paper. I’m very proud of Bruce for what he’s done with her and what he continues to do with her. The bond between the two of them is amazing – especially since most of the dogs in the house prefer me and if she had to choose, it’d be him and not me she’d run to first. (Traitor!)
Luna and Duo, well, they’re just relaxing.
Luna’s enjoying the fact that she doesn’t have to constantly train and be conditioned for weight pull since I’ve retired her from pulling heavily. We’re going to attempt UKC Rally next year, I think. She knows all of the moves, so that won’t be a problem. We’ll just fine tune those fronts and finishes before we go and be all set.
Duo, on the other hand, won’t be doing much of anything except snoozing with his Grandpa. He stresses out when he leaves and his reactive behavior around other dogs leaves something to be desired. In reality, he’d rather just hold down the bed or the couch than travel with his siblings. The one-on-one time he gets when he stays with Grandpa, I think, is his favorite thing in the planet. How else would he not look plumper when we return than before…because someone feeds him entirely too many goodies while we’re gone!
Ah, well…with any luck, the weather will clear and I won’t have to spend as much time complaining about the garbage weather and inability to train. Heck, the possibilities of taking classes this winter very well may make my life a little less not busy (Ha!) and brush up on a few skills and basic behaviors and before the dogs and I know it, spring will be here again!
Metro Detroit Pet Expo
From November 18th through the 20th we were able to be at the 2011 Metro Detroit Pet Expo with our training group, FUSS U. It was, as always, a phenomenal experience. We were able to educate the public on breed specific legislation and how it is targeting breeds other than the Doberman, German Shepherd, Rottweiler and pit bull type dogs and provided demonstrations on obedience, weight pull and Schutzhund.
The crowds that we drew during the demonstrations were massive. If I’d picked any time to get stage fright, that would have absolutely been the time for me. Working with the dogs, though, allowed me to remain focused on them since I am their whole world, I allow them to become mine in our demos (and when we train and trial).
After we did our demos we allowed folks to come in and try out weight pull and get some training advice on issues they were having with their canine companions. I think the weight pull was the biggest hit (but I’m partial since I absolutely adore weight pull). It was amazing how many ‘non-traditional’ breeds came out to give it a try and it was incredibly encouraging to see folks willing to get involved and DO things with their dogs and watching their faces light up when we told them their dog does NOT have to be intact to do these things. We gave them organization options for the various sports (UKC, APA, IWPA, NWDA, C-WAGS, etc.) that didn’t care if their dogs were mutts or purebred.
Our dogs (GSDs, APBTs, American Bulldogs Presas and Malinois, oh, my!) had an absolute blast getting to socialize with hundreds of new people and do their thing and we all can’t wait to do it again next year to show people the joy of training and working with their dogs and fighting the good fight against breed specific legislation.
Weight Pullin’ Fools
After a week of recovery, the dogs have decided it’s time to drive me batty. We had a wonderful weekend at the Carnation City Kennel Club UKC-sanctioned show doing weight pull, sprint races, conformation showing and Canine Good Citizenship testing. It was brutally hot outside, but everyone worked together to make sure that all of the dogs were taken care of, hydrated and kept cool.
Unfortunately, since this was our first trip out to the venue, we didn’t even think to check if it was indoors or out! Next time, we will definitely remember to bring an easy up tent for our own dogs. Thankfully, however, we have wonderful friends who shared theirs with the four monsters who came with us.
Poor miss Mika was shut out all weekend in conformation, but she did have a good time of it. She had a good time romping with our crew in the hotel room and being a good little ambassador for APBTs. I wish there had been another CGC evaluator there because I’m sure she would have had an easy go of it this weekend!
Ryker was only shown in conformation once on Sunday in show two. He took the Reserve Champion ribbon, however, he chose to give a no pull that day like a goober. He did give us a nice pull the day prior and took Most Weight Pulled by pulling 1,300 pounds in 10.56 seconds for 24.53 times his body weight of 53lbs. He was quite the chunky monkey this weekend since he is normally around 47-49lbs during the nicer months when he’s conditioned for it.
Our little princess, Lyric, finally got her United Weight Puller (UWP) title this weekend when she pulled 520lbs in 11.06 seconds for 12.68 times her body weight of 41lbs. On Sunday, however, Lyric decided she had better things to do and only pulled 370lbs in 7.53 seconds for 9.02 times her body weight. Weights following she decided she didn’t want to pull and went on strike.
We’re absolutely proud of our little black minx – even if she was definitely the heaviest she has weighed ever. She normally is between 33-35lbs, but we’ve kept her heavy for showing in the UKC this year. Thank you, Cheryl Caragan, for giving us this incredible little girl. We think she’s finally ‘got it’ and will make a weight puller eventually!
And the best part of the weekend? Our little princess turned eight years old on Saturday and she pulled 970lbs in 9.4 seconds for 23.10 times her body weight – which gave her Most Weight Pulled (MWP) and Most Weight Pulled Per Body Pound (MWPP – which is based on percentage for weight pulled overall – this is most often won by smaller dogs who pull less, but weigh tons less than the larger dogs). We were so ecstatic that she got those…and on her birthday no less!
She finished the weekend with a bang, though, and didn’t quit there. She pulled 1,120lbs in 32.50 seconds for 26.66 times her body weight (she was 42lbs all weekend) and took home yet another Most Weight Pulled ribbon (but she got her but kicked for MWPP by a smaller dog…hehe). Way to go, baby girl!
We will be headed back down to the Carnation Kennel Club for their July show to do Canine Good Citizenship testing again and have another grand time. We can’t wait to head back down and see new friends and old friends. This is a phenomenal show for anyone who shows UKC. They make sure that a lot of wonderful events for all levels of competitors. Way to go CCKC.
Next weekend, we’ve got the Great Lakes ADBA Club’s first fun show and all breed weight pull. We are getting super excited because this show is going to provide a lot of fun for dogs that aren’t just registered, papered dogs, but valued members of the household – even if they came from a rescue situation. We’ve got a phenomenal raffle planned and another special raffle for some vintage pit bull goodies. This is going to be a GREAT adventure and we can’t wait to have fun on Saturday, June 4th.