It Was the Worst of Times, It Was the Best of Times

I bought some pictures, but, alas, the cd is lost.  Too bad.  They were good pictures.

Anyway, the debut of Weasel and the Spoiled One was . . . interesting.  The drive wasn't.  Bits of it are pretty, and the scenery is kind of cool with the striped mesas and tortured geography.  It's a looooooong drive to Utah.  Fortunately the person I rode with was one of those nice, cheerful people.  Not so cheerful you want to conk them over the head with something, just the right amount of cheerful.  When I went to empty the water bowl out the window, and dropped it, and had us turn around and go cruising back down the road to find it where it had sailed off into the bushes, she didn't even swear at me.

Demon Puppy, who pees on command at home on promise of a game of tug or whatever, decided not to

Isn't she a good car puppy?

pee.  At all.  Twelve hour car trip, lots of stops.  Nacho happily watered bushes and grass shoots.  Weasel squatted and did her undignified duty.   An archeologist (a really bored one who needs to get another hobby) could track the course of our trip from evidence of Spoiled One's pee from New Mexico to Utah. But, not a drop from Demon Puppy.  After a day of this, I got rather obsessed about Demon Puppy juice.   I mean, honestly, doesn't it seem like holding it that long would rupture something?  Yes, puppies can be leery of spreading their scent, or whatever, but for more than a day?  Usually my dogs are rather too leaky for my preference.  Anyway, eventually, on the afternoon of the second day, I looked over at Demon Puppy in her crate, and she was standing on her tippy toes in one corner, looking rather sheepish. Finally.  You wouldn't believe how much that puppy peed.

Weasel watching cars

 We got to the tournament, late, (which I am sure had NOTHING to do with the adventure wandering around in the sagebrush looking for a cheap plastic water bowl that flew out of the truck.  Or then, a half hour later, retracing our route due to some missing sunglasses.  Nope.  Nothing at all.)  Anyway, we got to the tournament, at the last possible minute, ran in with Weasel and Spoiled One, lined up and ran the first race.  Then we gibbered about trying to get ready for Nacho's race, and Gracie's.  Then, I lined Weasel up for her singles race.  The first two heats were fine, a close race with a dog we knew and loved.  Then, the other dog got a little too excited, broke away from his handler and mistook Weasel for a tug toy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

She got past him, went to the box, got her ball and came back.  I didn't realize she was hurt until she got back and I brushed at some spit in her fur and saw the gaping hole bitten into her side.  I think I was numb as I started leading her off the lanes and then fumbled around on our team table for the emergency vet number.  People said things to me, but I had no idea what they said.   The person whose dog bit her was immediately there, and drove us to the vet, paid for everything and was as shocked by it as I was.  My team had to scramble around trying to scrape together a lineup for the real racing on Saturday and Sunday, as we had just lost our young, whipper-snapper start dog to injury.  We hadn't even considered a back-up start dog.  It was a shockingly horrible start to the tournament for everybody involved. 

Spoiled One sleeping off his efforts

But, though Weasel's star was going behind a cloud, Spoiled One's star shone.  We ended up using him as the start dog for the "real" team.  For once, he got to run for real with people who know him and weren't scared of him. (Spoiled One is a 60 pound german shepherd mix who is so frenzied at the start line he foams at the mouth.  Literally.  Foams.  As in rabid dog symptom.)  He was absolutely consistent and ran perfectly, every heat, for the entire tournament.  He was so consistent, I got a .000 start with him.  My ten year old, geezer, butt of the joke flyball dog ran with the real dogs and shone.  He didn't slow down at all the entire tournament.  (He also didn't do a single box turn, but he wouldn't be my Spoiled One if he did)  We took first in our division the first day, and second in the second day.  The dogs that got to run on the pick-up team that Spoiled One vacated got a chance to shine.  Little Red Dog got to show she was FAST, and Speckled Dog learned to not cross over.  We didn't break into the newer, faster time range that I was hoping for this tournament, but we did okay, and Spoiled One had a blast.  My dog having a blast is the whole reason I do this, so it was a glorious success and  really was the best of times.

Here's hoping I recover from the flu quickly and that Weasel soon escapes the cone of shame and gets the nasty staples taken out, that I find the cd of pictures, that Demon Puppy leaks just the right amount, and that Spoiled One doesn't drive me too crazy.

Lord Help Us

Our team is planning on going to JnJ in Hurricane, UT.  The singles and pairs are on Friday, with the regular racing on Saturday and Sunday.  Usually I don't do singles or pairs with my two because they run on the other teams and it doesn't seem fair to wear them out for the team races.  However, I have always wanted to do a pairs with Weasel and the Spoiled One, and it looks like I'll get to, this tournament.

I don't expect to win anything, I am just playing.  Plus, it gives someone else a chance to handle and run Weasel, which she needs, and which we will need if we want to ever use Spoiled One as an alternate in the "real" team.  Also, Demon Puppy seems to be catching on quite quickly and might be ready to run for next years' tournament (yes, I just jinxed myself) and if her and Weasel's flyball careers overlap, they often might end up on the same team.  It just makes everything more flexible if dogs can be handled by others. 

We had a nice practice this Saturday, though I showed up late.  Weasel was a good dog.  Spoiled One refused to do anything boxturn like and consistently turned the wrong way.  People keep wanting to switch the ball to the other side when he does that, but I keep insisting it go in the one side, because I think the switching back and forth just aggravates the problem.  His habit of switching and blowing off boxturns certainly aggravates me.  The green dogs were doing nicely, except for distraction issues. 

Demon Puppy ran her recalls with a distraction in the other lane and did just fine.  She's entering a more destructive phase, so dog beds and wicker work boxes, shoes, socks and carpet are all not safe from her.  When Spoiled One tries to nap, she also likes to wander around him in circles while he growls half-heartedly at her to stay away.  I have caught them in several chase games, which are very cute.  They take turns being "it." 

Bad Doggie

The Crime:
The perpetrator:

Practice, Practice

Another day of flyball practice in the beautiful back yard of one of my teamates. The dogs did reasonably well, but there weren't many people there, it was hot, and, well, we kinda screwed around a lot.

The dog's didn't mind. There was a chuck-it involved.

What I like about that picture is that all of the other dogs are just blurry swirls, but Spoiled One is clearly riveted by the tennis ball with a demon glint in his eye. It kind of sums up my monster perfectly - well if you could add sound. Got to have the barking. Anyway, that is all for this post. I will try to take better pictures, but, like, my camera has been a doggie chew toy, been dropped on the tile floor several times, and other adventures, so no guarantees.

Http://www.weaselpuppy.com

Blurry Photographs of Mythical Events

"Okay, now what's that supposed to be?" you are asking. It is PROOF, documented, incontrovertable, PROOF that Z-dog, my Spoiled one is perfectly capable of doing a box turn with all four feet on the box. He just chooses not to.

"Yeah, right," you say, "it's just some dude in a gorilla suit pretending to be sasquatch."

No, it's true, I tell you! Look closely, you can see his ear flying up and if you squint, you can kinda see. . .

"Somebody just stuck two pie plates together and tossed it up in the air and photographed it. It's probably grainy so that you can't see the tape and string."

NO! It's TRUE. It's REAL. He REALLY does it, at home.

"Yeah, right."

Well you try to aim a cell phone camera while juggling a dog, a tug, a very soggy tennis ball and besides, the light in the hallway has burned out and I haven't replaced the bulbs and cell phones take awful pictures and. . .

"Sure, whatever"

But, really. He really does it. at home, anyway. really.

Anyway, have a good Easter!

Spoiled One Offered a Box Turn!

This picture shows Spoiled One's typical smash and grab. Horrible, isn't it? Tonight, I was dinging around with the practice box, a tug and a jump in the hallway and Spoiled One OFFERED a real box turn. I'm not talking lure him over and lure him back. No step in and back. I was standing halfway down the hall and made a vague gesture with the tug and he zipped down the hall, planted all of those tootsies on the box and zipped back.

WOW

I thought it was a fluke, and tried again. He did it again. And again. And again.

OoooOOOOooooo

I'm excited. Even though I doubt I will ever get a repitition of this momentus event, it shows he can, physically, do it. It also kinda shows that he knows what I've been asking for all along. But, the idea that he is a PITA, obedience is optional, make up his own rules type of dog shouldn't really surprise me.

Anyway, I just had to share this brief flash of joy. It's hard to resist making him do it over and over and over, just to relish the moment, but I know better than to drive him into the ground.

At least for this brief instant of time, he is a Good Dog.