We have had our first significant snowfall of the winter. As a kid I looked forward to snow since it meant we could go sledding or maybe school would be canceled. Now as an adult who doesn't like to drive in the winter stuff and loves agility it isn't so great. We were to have our first organized agility practice of the new year and it was canceled because the ground is covered in snow....now what. Well after some thinking there are several items Mac and I need to work on that doesn't require equipment. One in particular is our start line approach. Mac hates being touched on the head, has since he was a puppy at 14 weeks. Most venues require the dog to run without a collar so I have nothing to use as a gentle placement to get him in place before a run. I see so many dogs come to the start line and the handler places the dog between their legs and can step away using a stay or wait to keep the dog in position. We will work on that over the next few weeks of winter. I will keep you posted on our progress.
I have found a behavioral specialist that I hope can help with our problem dog Tucker. So far we have gone several weeks without a dog fight so that is great. He is certainly a challenge and I think will be for some time to come. Seems that if we have all the dogs lose in the house and he is on a leash we have no problems. He stays on his bed and it isn't as though we have to hold the leash just having it on allows us enough control that should things escalate we can break it up using the leash. Not the ideal perfect world but I have to remember dogs are pack animals and there have been pack issues in the past. Still it seems that he has issues relating to an incident at doggie daycare. Hopefully the behavior specialist can help us understand his body language and how we can better manage the situation. How does this relate to winter? Well we can't get out and exercise the dogs like we would prefer so they tend to get a little punchy when the weather isn't good.
Here's to hoping Spring is just around the corner and we can get back to agility very very soon!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
My first post
Given the new year I have decided to start a blog of my own. It remains to be seen how much time I have to post but I am hoping for frequent updates. A little about myself...First and formost I am owned by 4 Corgi's and a Lab. That is right there are 5 dogs living in my house with me and my partner Janelle. No I don't live on a farm, wish I did, but instead in a nice home in Manhattan, KS. Let me introduce the crew...
Emily is a four year old Yellow Lab and came into my life when I met Janelle. Emily is small for a Lab only weighing about 70lbs. She is a pretty typical Lab, mild mannered (most of the time), starving for affection, and generally a pretty good dog.
Mac is a three year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He was my very first dog since I left the family farm years ago. He is my little agility star of the pack and the biggest reason for me starting this blog. Most likely you will have more than enough introduction to him later on in the postings. Afterall he is the one this blog is named after!
Tucker is a two year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Janelle decided to get Tucker when she lost her Black Lab Porter a couple of years ago. Tucker is the only fully AKC registered dog in our pack. He is also the biggest pain in the butt of the whole group. Tucker battles fear aggression and resource guarding and has probably taught me the most about dealing with difficult dogs.
Macy, also known as "Moo Moo", is almost two years old and is also a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. She is the little queen bee weighing in at only 19lbs but thinking she is at least 190lbs!! I got Macy from a little of puppies that were rescued by ForPaws rescue. She flew on a plane at the early age of 7months. She is my little sweetheart who loves to cuddle and is working at agility.
Ray is a rescue and we are unsure about his age, probably four or five. Ray came to me when I was helping found a rescue Corgi Connection of Kansas. He was turned in to the Topeka Humane Society where he came down with kennel cough that moved into pnemonia. He had a 50/50 shot at making it but funds from THS had run out when our rescue was contacted. We helped Ray get better but when we picked Ray up he rode in my lap the whole way home from Topeka and that was that...after a few days of thinking about him I had to bring him into my home.
I look forward to sharing more stories about this clan and hope you find them entertaining. The excitement of having these wonderful animals in my life is something I just have to share. They are amazing and have formed a big part of who I am today. Dogs are with us such a short time that I hope this blog can serve to also remind me of all the happenings and shenanigans that go on at my house. Already I look back at what an amazing journey this has been.
Emily is a four year old Yellow Lab and came into my life when I met Janelle. Emily is small for a Lab only weighing about 70lbs. She is a pretty typical Lab, mild mannered (most of the time), starving for affection, and generally a pretty good dog.
Mac is a three year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He was my very first dog since I left the family farm years ago. He is my little agility star of the pack and the biggest reason for me starting this blog. Most likely you will have more than enough introduction to him later on in the postings. Afterall he is the one this blog is named after!
Tucker is a two year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Janelle decided to get Tucker when she lost her Black Lab Porter a couple of years ago. Tucker is the only fully AKC registered dog in our pack. He is also the biggest pain in the butt of the whole group. Tucker battles fear aggression and resource guarding and has probably taught me the most about dealing with difficult dogs.
Macy, also known as "Moo Moo", is almost two years old and is also a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. She is the little queen bee weighing in at only 19lbs but thinking she is at least 190lbs!! I got Macy from a little of puppies that were rescued by ForPaws rescue. She flew on a plane at the early age of 7months. She is my little sweetheart who loves to cuddle and is working at agility.
Ray is a rescue and we are unsure about his age, probably four or five. Ray came to me when I was helping found a rescue Corgi Connection of Kansas. He was turned in to the Topeka Humane Society where he came down with kennel cough that moved into pnemonia. He had a 50/50 shot at making it but funds from THS had run out when our rescue was contacted. We helped Ray get better but when we picked Ray up he rode in my lap the whole way home from Topeka and that was that...after a few days of thinking about him I had to bring him into my home.
I look forward to sharing more stories about this clan and hope you find them entertaining. The excitement of having these wonderful animals in my life is something I just have to share. They are amazing and have formed a big part of who I am today. Dogs are with us such a short time that I hope this blog can serve to also remind me of all the happenings and shenanigans that go on at my house. Already I look back at what an amazing journey this has been.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)