Nature Boy

  We took Jackson on a hike at Ball's Bluff, a beautiful wooded regional park along the Potomac River.  It's the site of a small battle of the Civil War and also the smallest national cemetery.  It was a very windy day with strong gusts.  When I saw the amount of downed trees since my hike last month, I questioned the wisdom of hiking in an isolated area on such a day!  But, we had a great time and emerged from the woods unharmed.
  Jackson had a ball!  Not only did he not have to share his time with us with the rest of our dogs, he had lots of smells to explore among the leaves, trees to jump over and sticks to chew on.  While pausing to take some pictures, we met a father and his two young sons.  Lots of pats for Jackson and the two little ones took turns "feeding" Jackson sticks.  I could tell he thought little people were great!
  After our hike, we went to Panera for lunch.  Even though it was breezy, it was warm so we brought Jackson to the patio outside while we ate.  I shared the bread crusts off my sandwich with him but I could tell he rather have had the chicken salad!
  We finished our day with errands at Petco and Home Depot.  Jackson was so interested in those new surroundings, he didn't notice he was walking on the floor surface that scares him!

Along the Potomac.  Notice how the wind gust is ruffling his coat!

Meeting new people

This looks intriguing!

Jackson learns little boys are fun!

But the woods are full of sticks and he can find one to chew on by himself!

Getting some local history

Re-hydrating after that long walk!

Lunch!

Lap Dog

Is Pick Pocketing Next?

 We have two very adept gate latch flippers.  Little Bijou can open a gate so quickly, I sometimes don't have time to put the lock on it before she's flipped the latch, I'm hit by the gate and the stampede of her siblings.  We don't normally lock the indoor gates but are trying to get into the habit of consistently locking the puppies' run.  Bijou was only occasionally opening the gate at night and I'd open the kennel door in the morning to shredded poop bags and the foraging of rawhide toys.  Then she learned that Mosby also has a latch on his kennel and I started to find puppies in his run.  One night, there was a complete switch--Mosby was in the puppies' kennel, they were in his and they had moved all their toys in there, too!
  Her uncle, Gibson, can also open a gate but he only does the one from the main play yard (thank heavens for double fencing and double gates!)  But, he's very sneaky.  The other day Gibson was watching me clean kennels while he eased up the latch and slipped through the gate.  Then, he bounded over to me, so pleased with his accomplishment!  Fortunately, Gibson hasn't realized that all the latches are the same and he could open his own kennel gate as easily as the play yard gate.  I think I'll stop by Home Depot to buy some snap locks before that happens!

YUCK! (Doubly So)

  We finally have some warm weather.  But now, my floors look like this:

Because the dogs' feet look like this at the end of the day:

As their yard looks like this:

It's now endless rounds of sweeping, mopping and washing crate mats.  I was hoping for real spring weather--clear, blue skies, gentle breezes and dry yards with the first grass shoots poking up.  Instead, we have snow islands, rock hard ice slabs and where everything has melted, squishy, muddy paths that squirt water as I walk.  

  There is some hope that this is the worst of it and conditions truly will improve soon.  A chillier day is forecast for tomorrow, but right now, we're having very high winds which should help to dry up the ground a bit.  By the end of the week, temps might reach 70!  The dogs will definitely get a play day then!  I just might need to add a round of baths to my chores but it will be worth it!

Puppy Updates

  The puppies are five months old today!  From this litter, we are keeping one smooth male (Ref) one smooth female (Gemma) and one rough female (Treasure).  The other smooth female (Bijou) is available, preferably to a show home.
  We're starting to look at upcoming shows where they can make their debut.  In the meantime, I have lots of work to do with these guys!  Ref has been to two matches and Gemma to one.  Ref did well in his first match, but this past week-end showed me what I need to do get them ready for competition.  With our snowy weather, I had not been working with the puppies on walking on a leash nor had them on the grooming table.  Neither Ref nor Gemma would let me trim their nails for the match.  I quicked Gemma, which hurt her feelings and made her uncooperative the rest of the day.  Both puppies would not walk properly at the match and would not let the judge examine them.  Gemma did better for Group competition, coming in fourth.  So now my day starts with a short walk for the pups, some time on the grooming table and lots of treats!  We're going to take Ref, Gemma and Treasure to another match at the end of the month, hopefully it will go much better!

Treasure

Gemma

Ref

Bijou

YUCK!

  I do appreciate a fresh snowfall (especially if all my loved ones are home safe) and enjoy letting the dogs play for moments like this:

  But now, it's a week later.  A week of melting, more snow, some ice, some rain and re-freezing.  We've had just enough melting to make muddy paths in the runs but not enough melting to get rid of all the snow.  Cleaning kennels has become a horrible chore.  Each day brings a different surface to walk on.  This morning, some of the runs had pretty solid sheets of ice, usually where a slope is, of course.  In all of the kennels, I have to chip the poop loose.  The bags fill up rapidly as I'm scooping ice and gravel, too.
  Ben and Sophie are pretty content to sleep their days away inside.  Even though we've had milder days, there's too much snow left on the ground for them to be in a yard for too much time.  They don't seem to enjoy navigating across the frozen paths.
  Gibson, Sadie and Lauren seem to ask every morning for another play session like last week but it's either too frozen or too slushy in the play yard.
  I know it's only the beginning of February and that spring will get her, but I want it to HURRY UP!
 

Jackson's Show Debut

  Jackson had his show debut and what a great experience that was!  I didn't expect anything to come of the five days of shows, just experience for him and me.  His very first show in Fredericksburg, at the Northern Neck Kennel Club show, Jackson was Reserve Winners Dog!  The next day, at the same show, he was Winners for his very first point!  What a thrill for me to put the first point on him.
  The next two days (as blogged earlier!) didn't go as well but I was pleased with how Jackson was learning the routine and how well he adapted to new experiences.
  The Collie Club of Maryland specialty was another good day.  Jackson finished fourth in the Sweeps (earning six dollars in prize money!!!) and he continued to gain confidence each time he went into the ring.    After Sweeps, a highly regarded handler and a specialty judge came over to see Jackson.  She said she couldn't understand what the judges were missing that he wasn't placing higher.  The judge told me that Jackson has a real ring presence, then they both gave me some tips and assistance with my grooming.  A good friend who is a long time breeder also saw Jackson for the first time.  She told me he is the best we've produced so far.  It felt so good to have people appreciate our boy!  We haven't completely decided on a show schedule for Jackson, but I'm sure this will be an exciting journey as he works towards his championship!

Here we are at the Mason Dixon Specialty

Judge Mary Benjamin examines Jackson

Collie Club of Maryland Specialty

Sweeps Judging

Judge Mike Esch goes over Jackson

Show Escapades

  Tomorrow, I'll blog about Jackson's results at the Fredericksburg shows and the Maryland Specialties but today, it's about the side of dog handling people don't normally see.  Actually, anyone who knows me, probably sees these things all too often!
  After two good days of showing, I was probably more than a bit over-confident that the final day in Fredericksburg would be successful and stress free.  Right off, I got shampoo in my eye during my early morning shower.  I should have seen that as a sign of things to come, but unfortunately, didn't.  The drive to Fredericksburg was event free and I arrived with time to spare--which I should have spent finding an easy parking space!  Instead, I took a close one amidst all the larger vans.  I pulled in at an odd angle which  left my rear bumper close to the van on my left.  I got out, took one load into the show building, then decided I really should straighten my vehicle.  I think I'm a good driver and can normally park in a straight line, but not that day.  I don't know what I was doing, but it wasn't moving the Sequoia over to the right, instead I kept getting closer to the van on my left.  I was so close, I had to move my mirror to prevent hitting the van!  Finally, I gave up and took Jackson inside.  With all my jerky attempts to fix my parking error, he was getting car sick!
  I asked Ellen if she was good at maneuvering a large vehicle in tight spots.  Instead, she knew who belonged to the van and took me to the owner.  He moved it forward as soon as he could, giving me some space to work and Ellen directed me while I fixed my parking errors.  (what would I do without Ellen???)
  Before I could move my vehicle, it was time to take Jackson into the ring.  The parking fiasco had unnerved me, but I was able to calm down, get Jackson brushed out and I was looking forward to handling him again.  Jackson, however, was on the wrong time table.  Waiting to go into the ring, he was antsy, then started barking.  Something was off, but I didn't know what it could be.  He didn't want to use the exercise pen when we arrived and refused a drink of water before he got off the grooming table.  In the ring, he was hard to handle, not paying attention and then moving too fast when gaited.
  While waiting to go back in for Winners, he started spinning in circles then squatted.  I didn't have time to get him back to the ex pen, asked the ring steward for a paper towel but then he acted like things were fine.  During the competition, though, I could tell he really needed to go.  It seemed like the judge took forever to make his decision!  I got Jackson out of the ring as quick as I could, then ran him to the inside exercise pen.  He didn't like the pen and refused to go.  I made a quick stop at our setup so I could grab my jacket to take him outside, but then Jackson decided he was thirsty and drank half of his bucket of water.  By the panicked look in his eyes, I could tell he still needed to get outside and we made it out the door just in time.
  I thought I had avoided disaster (well, except for the parking fiasco) and that the next day's show, the Mason Dixon Collie Club Specialty, would be just a fun day.  We took our equipment up the night before and I made sure Jackson had plenty of exercise time at home the morning of the show.  Once again, he refused to use the exercise areas at the show site, but I wasn't too concerned as I knew he had gone at home.
  During Sweepstakes,  Jackson was silly, wanting to romp and play.  He settled down for a nap in his crate during the Smooth competition.  I was told there was going to be a break between the Smooths and the Roughs, but instead, the judge went right to the Rough Dogs competition.  I had just awakened Jackson from his nap and was going to take him to the exercise area.  Instead, we were running to the ring, me grooming him along the way.  In the ring, he was nicely settled and I was relaxed.  We did our first go around and the dog ahead of us was being examined by the judge.  I looked at Jackson to make sure he was standing correctly--he was spinning in circles!  Suddenly, he started to squat!  Thankfully, someone at ringside gave me some paper towels which I was able to get in place to avoid a huge ring mess.  (I was complemented on my towel placement ability!)  Judging was suspended while Jackson was busy, but then he seemed to be distracted.  He was still squatting while looking at the ceiling, then the people ringside then the dog next to him.  How do you get a puppy to focus on the job at hand???  Finally, he was ready to show again, I apologized to the judge and we continued.  Surprisingly, he didn't place first in his class!
  All in all, it was a good set of shows for Jackson and excellent ring experience for me.  I learned a lot and am ready for the next shows at Howard County this week!