Posters, Luck and Jinxes

Flyball dogs in the Sky!

This week, I worked on a poster for the team.  It was fun.  I drove myself crazy constantly rearranging the dogs, though.  Hopefully, it will be eyecatching, silly, and fun enough to provoke some interest.  We still need new people.  Our teammates keep moving away, unfortunately.

Demon Puppy is at that stage where she wants to do so much more than she should.  (Actually, she's always been at that stage, it's just more so now)  It's very frustrating, for her and me.  I think I lucked out, again, on my puppy.  I have been consistently amazed at how wonderfully each of my dogs do.   I honestly don't know why.  Yes, I have some frustrations with Weasel in her agility, but, they are fine tuning, training type frustrations.  She in sound, fast, and has a blast.  Spoiled One, at nearly eleven years is also healthy and happy in mind and body.  He is a rodeo to run at flyball, but he does sub 5 seconds at tournaments.  For my starter dog, my geezer dog, that I completely screwed up teaching the boxturn to, he does pretty darn good.

Then there is Demon Puppy.  Honestly, what do you know at 8 weeks?  They're cute and fuzzy.  But, I love how she is turning out, how she is built, her size, her temperament, everything. She seems to have gotten her angles and proportions from her mother, her heart and biddability from her father, and her size from I don't know where.  To have an 18 - inch dog was an unexpected bonus.  I was just hoping for under 21 inches.

The puppy is young, and things happen, sometimes.  I really hope I don't break her, somehow.  But, I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the happy that is now.  Hopefully, I don't jinx myself, or something.

Little Demon Puppy Goes Visiting

The little Demon Puppy is getting far enough in her sequence of shots that I am feeling more secure taking her out and about, and she needs to get socialization in. So she has been meeting other dogs,






and other people, including some young children and an infant, which I am thrilled she gets a chance to be around. (There are some VERY cute pictures of her with the baby, from flyball practice, but she's not my kid so I'm not going to post pictures on the web without asking her family. But they are VERY cute. I mean, seriously, a puppy, a baby, what more could you ask for in cuteness?)

Sekhmet and her Aunt Shock (in the picture above) went on a walkabout in a local pet store to see new things and new people, and lots of strangers skritched the puppy. I am amazed at how many people know exactly what she is:

"Oh, they are so cute! What color are their eyes?"
"The puppy has one blue eye and one brown eye"
"Akitas!"
"?"
"Akitas!"

That was a new one. I am used to people thinking she's an aussie. Maybe a cattledog. But an Akita?

I suspect it's karma coming to get me because I have a pound puppy border collie that I fake registered in AKC as a mixed breed so she can compete in events (I couldn't find the ILP link at the time), that people keep picking on me and telling me "that is a purebred border collie." Now I have an AKC registered purebred border collie that people are calling an Akita. Karma.

Bennie

There is a cute puppy running around my house. His name is "Benny" and he is visiting until someone falls in love with him and whisks him off to an adoptive home.

I don't know much about Benny. I believe he came from a shelter West of here, an owner surrender. He appears to be at that gangly adolescent stage that Labradors tend to live their entire lives in. I don't know his parentage. The guess seems to be border collie/hound. Maybe he's border collie/Labrador. Anyway, he's a cute black and white medium size bundle of legs and tail and questing nose, probably seven to ten months old.

He's very gentle for a puppy that age. He doesn't mouth at all, so far. Benny is respectful of the cat and the other two dogs without being frightened or intimidated. He likes everyone he meets. When trying to get your attention, he is very tempted to jump up on you or at least paw at you, but he is working on that. He does well on a leash, for a puppy. Benny has little or no recall, but, again, he's working on it. He has mastered "sit" and "down" in a couple of very short lessons. He doesn't get fetch yet, but can see there are possibilities.

Inside, he hasn't had an accident or destroyed anything yet. He stayed in his crate nicely overnight. He doesn't understand that people food doesn't = puppy food, but he's working on it. When opening the car door or crate, Benny tends to rush off and so the concept of "wait" is being introduced. Benny has a wonderful "off switch." Each time I've come to my computer, he has curled up on his bed and dozed off. Puppies often are prone to car sickness, and Benny is no exception.

Anyway, that is my impression after 24 hours. If you are interested in Benny, check out http://www.broandtracy.org/broandtracy/index.shtml Benny is the smooth-coated dog at the bottom of the page.

Holly - Aussie/bc mix Available Through Bro & Tracy

I was sent this information from someone in the rescue organization who wanted to get the information out on this bright-eyed girl.

The foster describes her as "Holly is a 3-4 yr old medium sized Aussie mix. She is a happy girl who will give you kisses & roll over for you. But when it's time to get serious, Holly is very bright and follows commands. She is capable of being a good working dog & could also be good at dog sports. Holly needs daily exercise and prefers to be interacting with her humans.
BTW, she gets along with other dogs. I hear she co exists with cats too (ignores them), from her last owner. She can also be found on the Bro & Tracy rescue website: http://www.broandtracy.org."

Imagine that face looking up at you and wiggling with pride over a Q agility run, or begging you to throw the frisbee, or staring down a flyball lane! She is a bit of a chunky monkey in her pictures, but that is nothing a little playtime and proper diet won't fix.

Poor Weasel

Weasel Puppy

Weasel Puppy

Breed: Border Collie

DOB: March 2006

Most expensive thing she's destroyed: She ate a paycheck. Can't beat that.

So, why do I call this cute little border collie "weasel puppy"? Well, if you look at the picture, you'll notice her suspicious, wary expression. She tends to have that expression on most posed photographs. But that is not why she is Weasel Puppy.

Oddly, most people who see her in person do not question the little nickname. She is a conformation nightmare - roach backed, cow hocked, with a long, snarky muzzle. She is also blessed with a ridge of fur along her backbone that stands straight up - several inches high. We call it her backhawk. She has the border collie tendency to carry her head and tail low. All of which result in some pretty weird looking pictures. A pound-puppy special, she may or may not even be purebred border collie. Despite all of this, I think she's a rather pretty dog, and she's certainly very sweet and affectionate.

She is a little over a year and a half old and is in training for flyball. She's mastered the box turn but still has some puppy ditziness to work through. If we can get some team practices in, I plan for her try singles at a UFLI tournament in the early spring.

http://www.cafepress.com/weaselpuppy