Agility update

Reilly and I are continuing on with our agility classes. But on top of our group classes, I have decided that we need some private sessions to work on some issues that Reilly and I have.

He loves agility, he loves the running and jumping and all that goes with it. But in his exuberance, he does NOT pay attention and starts running around, willy nilly and missing key contact points, which will kill us when we compete. Plus, sometimes it gets too much for him and he can't wrap his little brain around what we are doing and he gets stressed out and shuts down.

So in our private lessons we are taking things slow, and building on some basics trying to get him to a point where it does not stress him out.

Bless his heart - he's a SMART dog - I mean really smart - but I think he's just still immature, even at 3.5 yrs old. I can see him thinking so hard and the wheels are just spinning away when Sonja or I ask him to do something. Then when he FINALLY gets it and gets rewarded, it's all sunshine and happiness.

Now, not to say that he tries to get away with the minimum to still get a treat, but those days are now over. It's all black and white.

I will keep you posted on our progress.....

Long Time No Blog!

I know, it's been AGES since I have blogged, but between the holidays and year end close at work, life has been a little nuts( and if you live in the South, a little WET!).

I can tell you that as much as we need the rain here in GA, I have had ENOUGH. I have especially had enough of standing in the pouring rain in agility class. The kicker is it's never raining when we GET to class, but about 10-15 minutes into class it starts to pour. Now, we all stand in the rain, by our choice ( why not, we're already there) but it's still annoying and bone chilling cold.

Reilly had a wonderful visitor on Saturday night. Angela brought Pixie over. I was hoping they would play, but Pixie was intimidated by Reilly - he was probably the biggest dog she's ever been around, so she was a little shy around him. She was NOT shy around the people though and we got some good cuddle time with her on the couch.

What else? Oh yeah! Reilly and I have entered an agility trial on March first. We're doing tunnelers, which is basically running a course of tunnels, but we are VERY excited! Hopefully there will be pictures.

That's it for now....

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  Its pretty quiet around here today, but we have a lot to do before going to a friend's to spend the evening.

Everyone have a safe and happy 2009!

Merry Christmas!!

I just want to send everyone a virtual Christmas Card and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!

Here is the picture we used for our Christmas Card:

This one is the rejected one. Rejected only because I didn't like the way it looked in any of the card layouts:



Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!

All the best
Reilly, Doug and I!

Pictures!!! Finally!

I am working on my Christmas Card pictures and I am finally able to get to sit at the computer and download some pictures of the cruise!

So here it goes :)

This was our towel animal the first night... We think it was a dog.....

Proof that Doug actually did go on vacation!

Not the best picture of me, outside Costa Maya.  Our ship is in the background.

And this was a cool piece of art on our ship - done entirely out of spools of thread:

There are a few more I want to post, but I have dinner to cook and cookies to bake!  So I will post more later.

We're Home!

After almost 10 days away, we are home finally.  Doug and I pulled in at 10pm last night and picked up Reilly at 8:30 am.  He was very happy to see me and I him. But I know he enjoyed his time there, bc as we were putting him in the car, he gave Mimi a Reilly "hug".... he put his head up against her chest and got scritches from her to say goodbye.  That made me feel really good.

I have spent the day catching up and doing LOADS and LOADS of laundry.

We had a great time on the cruise.  We went to Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel.  It was really nice to just get away and relax a bit.  Lots of fruity drinks and I think I went through 4 books. :)  

I will download pictures and post them along with some stories, but for right now it's good to be home.  Reilly's been asleep all day long :).

More to come.

Being Thankful

Before I head off on the cruise( which I am VERY thankful for) I wanted to take a minute to list a few things I am very thankful for:

My husband whom I love dearly

My mother who is alway supportive

Reilly who brings joy to my heart everyday

All of my friends who keep me sane and make me laugh(and those that let me be crazy)

My Canine-L family.

I am also thankful that both Doug and I have jobs in this horrible economy.  

I am thankful for those of you who read my blog :) - so that I can pretend these arent't the ramblings of a dog obsessed crazy woman.

Everyone have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.