Club does well on all counts

Great turnout for Rally and Obedience at the Cowley Hall last weekend!  Members from Calgary, Claresholm, Lethbridge and Kimberley as well as a good contingent of local talent ran through everything from Rally to Obedience and Conformation as well as socialization of pups and old-timers alike.  Emily, Carol Solkshinitz's new Bernese puppy made her debut and captured everyone's heart. What a beautiful little girl.  Hunter, the bionic GSD, made a visit and showed that he is, indeed, a superman!  When people tell me that they don't think pups under four months should be doing obedience, I have proof that this is not so and that time is not wasted when obedience is introduced to young pups before 16 weeks of age. Hunter has spent 8 months of his 22 month age in a 4 ft. X 4 ft. covered puppy pen when he wasn't on a six-foot lead to do bathroom duty. Yet he came out to the hall and did a wonderful job of focused heeling complete with left and right pivots and circles and finishes.  This couldn't have been achieved had he not had previous exposure to obedience. Lucky me.  He is a very large dog.

Our APDT Rally group came home with qualifying scores & fourth place, (Russell and Mojo)  a title in Level 1 with High Scoring Mixed Breed (Shirley & Krissy) and a title in Level 2 (Denise and Jagged) Four High in Trial Awards (Denise, Viper, and Jagged) and an award for the Fastest Duo, (Denise and Jagged).

What a bunch!

Judi

All work and no play

I absolutely so hate doing 'the books', especially when I leave it until the twelfth hour to do data entry. And so I have been plodding along with it and trying to balance three careers, none of which includes accountant. It has come down to the crunch and luckily for me, Deb volunteered to help this weekend. Boo hoo. No herding. No dogsledding. Instead........... the books. Doom. I have to tell ya, the very word, reconcile, brings panic to my mind. I'd rather no think about it. And who in the world ever thought Quick books was quick. One mistake and it's fifteen minutes to backtrack! I hate it! Because before one ever reaches the point of 'reconciliation", one has to have all the 'info' and receipts to back up the info entered. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Anyway, by 3 a.m. both Deb and I had endured all we could take. It was the tax prep marathon of the century. I fell into bed and could not believe it when the dogs woke me at 7:00 a.m. I NEVER sleep until 7:00 a.m. My God, half the day is over by 7:00 a.m.! I hit the deck running and had everyone fed ,exercised, and rekenneled by 8:00. Made pancakes for breakfast as a reward and also as a soother because I couldn't go herding and then started on 'the books' again. Things look vastly different when one is operating on four hours of sleep. The entire day was an exercise in giddiness, but we are armed and dangerous eight hours later and ready to input the last of the data into the computer, back it up on a floppy, and present it to the 'accountant' for approval in the next couple of weeks. I deserve a medal, I tell you, for being able to sit still this long. It's a miracle. If I had wanted to be able to sit still for this long, I would have taken meditation classes instead of dog classes. Deb deserves a medal for being so patient and having such a great sense of humor through the entire two days of torture. I think a mammogram is less painful than this! So, tomorrow, NO tax prep. NONE! I quit. Instead, I will work on a plot which will enable me to stay overnight next Thursday at Fort Macleod and work at the feedlot on Friday morning with Token alongside Chris and Marshall. Tomorrow I will practice Rally with Token, Mesa and Swayze and will let Atlas play with RoZe in the pasture. Tomorrow............ NO BOOKS.
Later,
Judi

New CD's High in Class

I am absolutely beat! This weekend, Shar, Lee, Hank and I headed for the Big Four Building to try to gain titles for our dogs in Novice Obedience. What a good weekend. Saturday morning,Bess go ther first leg towards her CD degree with a score over 190 and High in Class. In the afternoon, Ryder got his CD with High in Class and a score over 190!!. RoZe finished her CD, too, with 186, which is great for RoZe. :) Bess would have had High in Class over some very tough company, Kathy Stoner and her lab, but she blew her sits and downs. Rats.  But Sunday morning, we got another leg towards a CD with scores over 190 so two down, one to go.

Today, was the pits!!! I took the day off work to do books and spent the entire day doing flood control. My arms and wrists and back are sooooooooooo darn sore I could cry. Typing this is an effort. I don't even know how I will manage to stay awake until 11:00 to put all the dogs in their kennels for the night. Ahhhhhhhhhh! 

Oh, our club got an invitation to Pet Expo in Calgary in April. Free booth for two demos per day.  If there is anyone who is willing to take this on in any way, please, please, let me know. We can most likely pay for a room at the Days Inn if needed. It would be great for the club.

Judi