Spotty Leprechauns

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Remember, on St. Patrick's Day, EVERYBODY is Irish!!

CPE Weekend

We had a great weekend in CPE agility at Washingtonville, OH. It was a three-day trial, and we had a blast meeting up with our friends and staying in adjoining hotel rooms with Mariann, Jim, Rocky, and Sammie.

The video above is from Tess' Wildcard run on Sunday. In Wildcard, there are three places where there are two obstacles side by side and you must make a choice. You need two of one kind and one of another. Just when you think you have a good plan, the dog can change all that by making an incorrect choice. Tess did a great job on this tough course.

Overall, Tess had eight qualifying runs, three of them in the Championship level and all with placements. She even got to run with "Aunt Mariann" on Friday evening and was a very good girl.

Next up is Jazz's Full House run from Saturday. In Full House, you need three jumps, two round obstacles (tunnel, tire, chute) and a Joker (usually contact obstacles). You also must accumulate enough points to qualify. After the whistle, the dog has five seconds to get to the table to stop the clock. For each second you're late to the table, you lose a point. As you can see, Jazz did a great job on this run and had a fun time with it.

Jazz also had a very nice weekend, qualifying in five runs, with three first place and two second place. She also earned her Level 2 Handler Games title. Go, Jazz!

National Nap Day

So if the "Opposable Thumbs" holiday wasn't quite up your alley, today is National Nap Day! Now, this is a holiday that I'm definitely willing to celebrate, but, unfortunately, I didn't have that opportunity today. Jazz, however, was in full holiday spirit as she napped on the couch! There's nothing this girl loves better than a little sunshine and a comfy place to snooze.

Silly Holiday?!!

According to Modern Dog magazine, "March 3rd is What if Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs? Day, one of the most important holidays of the year. Sit back and think about the chaos your furry friends could cause if only they hadn't been shafted by evolution." I kid you not...it's on page 14 of the Spring 2010 edition!

Well, I've sat back and thought about it, and I can't imagine what life would be like if Tess and Jazz were in charge of the remote (although Jazz does seem to enjoy hockey) and they could text me their demands for a comfortable life (treats, treats, and more treats) or phone their friends while I was at work (Hello...Sammie? Let's get together later for some agility or maybe some wrestling). Although we treat these two as if they were children, there are certain advantages to them being just, well, dogs!! For now, I think we should leave this opposable thumbs business to the humans :)

Top Spots for Agility 2009

I'm so proud to report that Tess has once again been named one of the Dalmatian Club of America's Top Spots for Agility for competition during 2009!!

This year -- drumroll, please -- Tess was ranked #1 in Open Standard and #9 in both Excellent A Standard and Excellent A Jumpers with Weaves. This is for AKC competition only and does not include her many accomplishments in CPE, USDAA, and NADAC.

Big congratulations to Tess and her awesome handler, Jim!! These two embody all that agility should be...building a relationship with your dog and having FUN. Tess and Jim continue to grow as a team and we look forward to their continued success in 2010!

Early Valentine's Wish

We're heading out early tomorrow morning for Valentine's weekend at a USDAA trial. Not exactly spine-tingling romance, but, hey, it's what we like to do! Anyway, since we won't be home to post on Valentine's Day, we decided to send our Valentine's greeting to all our blog friends a little early.

Tess and Jazz hope you all have a Valentine's Day that's way cool!!

A Little Bit of Snow!

We had quite the snowstorm last evening, dumping more than 20" of the white stuff on us overnight!

The first thing we had to do at 5:30 this morning was shovel the yard so the girls could go! It's hard to tell from these photos, but the snow is higher than Tess and Jazz! Tess is 22" at the withers, and if she jumps in the snow, all that shows is her head!

Here's Tess and Jazz trying to dig an escape tunnel. The snow is so high that it's like a natural dog fence!

Tess is sure the yard is under there somewhere.

Agility, anyone? The blue poles sticking out of the snow are our jump standards. The bar set at the 20" jump height is not even visible! You can also notice how much of the dog walk is buried. Something tells me that the girls won't be running this course any time soon!