Wordless Wednesday

Just when you think you've heard it all

You really have to check out this unbelievable post over at Never Say Never Greyhounds. (Ignorance 09/13/10 ~ Sorry it didn't have a direct link.)

What is it with rescue groups these days? Do they not realize their purpose is to find homes for dogs? I guess in the case of the European group one might say they are looking out for the dog if they really believe that doing agility is akin to torture of the dog. But in that case I have to wonder what decade are they living in? When did dog sports or competing with your dog become torture exactly? I always thought Europe was more progressive on the dog front than that kind of idiocy. I guess it depends on the country involved.

I've had my own issues with rescue recently. I tried to volunteer with a pug rescue group back in June. I sent multiple e-mails to multiple people and even left a phone message on the leaders phone in case my e-mails didn't get through. It seriously started giving me a complex! I finally contacted a former member I knew (I didn't realize she had left.) who clued me in that they don't like to share their volunteers with other groups. Maybe that is why they weren't interested in my help. It is obvious on my blog I work with all dogs and several groups after all. So I gave up and contacted another pug rescue who seems happy to have me. I find it interesting that I was good enough to adopt to but not good enough to be a member of the group.

I have a friend at work who finds herself in a similar situation. She has two rescued purebred dogs and loves the breed so she e-mailed to volunteer with that breeds local rescue group and has yet to hear back from them. Even a "Thanks for your interest we'll get back to you." or "No thanks we need foster homes more than what you can provide us." screw off letter is better than just leaving us hanging. Is that asking to much? I mean, we are volunteering to help them after all.

It really makes you wonder about some people.

Walkers big day out

Today was the Woofstock event. In a word it was awesome. Walker did fabulous and was a perfect gentleman. I wasn't sure how he would be around so many other unknown dogs which is why I had him wear his gentle leader. Turns out he is incredible! I had hoped to show off his Rally skills but we missed the demo. Here we are at the shelter booth. Now how cute it this guy? The word dapper comes to mind.

Walker met all types of dogs today.

They had all kinds of fun stuff at the event including a costume contest. Check out the disco diva.

Walker even met a long lost older twin sister. Turns out she is a pointer/lab mix. Since we are guessing at what breed(s) Walker is this may be our answer. I wish I got better pics of them together. They were quite taken with each other and had a bouncing good time.

We also learned that he is fabulous with small dogs and puppies. He knows to lay down all on his own to get on their level to play.

As you can see he was also very tolerant. It was a great doggy filled day. Many more photos of him from today can be seen on the K-9 Corrections facebook page and the K-9 Solutions facebook page. Hopefully this helps get him seen by a potential match and he finds a home.

I also picked up a great new t-shirt from SandraB Designs.

I love the back:

I think that says it all don't you?

Cooper goes home

Cooper went to his new home yesterday. All reports thus far are excellent. Let's hope at's all blue skies ahead for his future. Yay for Cooper!

A dog show weekend

My local kennel club joined forces with another kennel club and we put on a 4 day show Thursday thru Sunday this past weekend. I had to work Thursday and Friday so only got to attend Saturday and Sunday. I typically steward for obedience when I can. This year was slightly different as instead of regular obedience I also helped cover Rally. I'm glad I've been doing Rally on my own or I would have been seriously lost! I have been stewarding for about 10 years now which is ironic as I only started seriously participating in obedience showing this last year. Stewarding is a great way to learn about the nuances before getting into the ring yourself. This is what greeted us saturday morning thanks to Earl:

Not a fabulous photo but it was raining. (& the only photo I took on Saturday) All things considered it could have been much worse. No tents blew down and there was no flooding. Not bad for the tail end of a hurricane. Thankfully as soon as the show actually started it cleared off. Here are some photos from Sunday. (The photos are not in the best order as blogger isn't as user friendly as it used to be.) I took about 150 shots to try to get a bunch for our clubs facebook page. (which now won't co-operate and let me upload them Grrr) I couldn't get many obedience pics as I was just to busy trying to pay attention to the stopwatch or wait for the judges direction. These are just a few random photos from the day.

A Saluki in the Rally ring. She actually did quite well. I personally love seeing non-traditional breeds in the obedience rings.

And I always love seeing happy dogs at work too.

Hmmm familiar yet so different.

Speaking of akitas, I got a pleasant surprise when a woman stopped by that adopted a deaf akita a few years ago. I had given her some advice about training him and she brought Kami to see me again. He is now a registered therapy dog and has his CGC. Yay! He looks great. I wish I had thought to take a photo of him to share. It's always great to get happy updates. (I never did get into showing like my past post mentions. I wish they had alter classes like Canada so I could dabble in it without having to own an intact dog. A topic for a future blog post perhaps.)

Did you know Saluki's also come in a smooth coated variety? Funny how I had never seen even one in person or at past shows. Suddenly they were everywhere!

Does this guy look familiar to anyone? He was on the cover of DownEast magazine (see link for story) and went to Westminster. He was very cute in the fur and super sweet.

Sorry Joanna, I didn't realize I had taken a pic of your boy (well Dawn's boy now) until I was looking through them afterwards. I would have tried to get a better shot had I been paying attention. I was literally running through the grounds snapping as many pics as possible at the time. I will smack myself with a wet noodle the next time one is available as my punishment.

I know this one is blurry but I had to share. His name is Stuart Little and he gave me frenchie kisses. He made me think of our Moo. He is 11 months old and I talked his poor owners ear off.

These were the winners of the groups: Borzoi, Doberman, Springer Spaniel, Australian Shepherd (which is an American breed for you trivia buffs) Keeshond, and Havanese. Best in show on Sunday was the Springer Spaniel. (Saturday it went to the Borzoi.)

All in all it was a great show. I spent today recouperating and getting my brain back since I had the day off from work due to the holiday. I am also very excited to have scored a new 1/4 inch leather leash from Hogan Leather that is FABULOUS. I have been looking for a new leash since the demise of my last favorite leash. I hate to say it but this one is is even better than my previous leash. It is already soft and supple and has the braided end features. I'll probably buy another one since this one is only 4 feet long. The vendor didn't have a 6 footer but I wasn't about to let that stop me from getting it. I knew I would have kicked myself later had I passed it up. We can't have that!

I hope everyone else had a great holiday weekend too!

Wordless Wednesday ~ shelter dog edition

Sometimes when I am over at the shelter I snap a few quick photos as I walk around to say hello and see who is there. They aren't the best photos but I thought I'd share some. All these above dogs are available at The Humane Society of Knox County in Thomaston Maine.

Lessons learned the hard way

You want me to do what???
OK so just call me stupid. As I mentioned I am entered in an APDT rally on September 18th. (actually 3 trials on one day) Jenny and I only need 1 more qualifying score to get our APDT rally level 1 title. That's very cool. I entered all 3 because I thought once we got that title I'd continue in level 1 to go for my rally level 1 excellent title. Well it turns out that to go for that specific title you need to get qualifying scores in both a level 1 and level 2 at the same trial. I am not sure of all the exact details (I need to go read more on the APDT website.) but this means I would need to move up to the next level on the 18th if we get that level 1 qualifying score.

Umm have I mentioned we don't know those signs yet? Did you know that level has a jump in it? And heeling off leash around bowls with FOOD in them??? My husband laughed when I told him about this exercise. He thinks we don't have a chance in hell passing this one. It is definitely going to be a challenge given her fabulous nose and predilection for anything edible. The off leash part of level 2 shouldn't be an issue thankfully. (aside from the food exercise) She has a beautiful heel.

~sigh~ Well I know we will have fun but I admit I am probably going to be stressing out trying to get all this practice in before the trial. It's all my fault. I was unprepared and made assumptions that were wrong. The good part is that Jenny loves to train, AND I have a jump we can practice with. That helps alot. I also managed to download all the signs today. I just need to go get some cardstock and page protectors so I can add them to my binder.

This may be an epic fail on my part. I need to learn and teach 18 new signs not counting the 6 bonus signs. Thankfully some of them are a variation on signs we already know. Let this be a lesson to others to read all of the rules BEFORE you enter a trial. Know what you are supposed to be doing before you are supposed to be doing it.

Methinks the video from this might be a doozy! VBG