New Dog Sport in my future?!

So yesterday morning I woke up and did my morning ritual of going outside then coming in to watch out the window for people that actually think it's ok to walk or drive down my street. I usually do that for about half an hour before mom feeds us our "breaky" (Which is one of my favorite times of the day, that and din-din time). Well what a shock I had when breaky was called and I was the only one without a bowl :( What the heck!?!


Mom put the others in their crates and put my leash on me! hmmm, maybe no breaky isn't so bad if I get to go with Mom and I saw her pack mine in a baggy :) woohoo, roadtrip!

So of course I was thinking we were going to agility but imagine my surprise when we get to the hall and we go in...no agility equipment! There are some funny looking small jumps that I have seen the odd time we go to Ottawa and visit Grandma Tiff & Pam and my mom Rio and then go to their flyball practice. Could we be going to flyball practice?!?

Yes, that is exactly what it was. I heard my mom talking to the trainer about coming EVERY Wednesday morning to learn flyball. I was a superstar though and did a great job. We first worked on recall where Morgan (the trainer) held me by my back end and Mom was a bit away from me teasing me with my tuggy. They were both yelling "Ready, on your marks, get set, go" and then my Mom was running down the lane holding my tuggy between the jumps. I totally got it (I have done it before a few times) so I flew down the lane after my tuggy. We did a bunch of those until both Mom and I couldn't breath :) and then we did some turns on a board. I am awesome at those too because it is like when I jump back onto the A-frame contact :) We then did ball work and then they stuck the ball on the board. I actually did a turn, grabbed the ball and flew back for my tug. Morgan and Mom seemed very pleased with me and I had a BLAST!

Last night Mom told me that I am going to get to do warm-ups (which is like the recall today) at a flyball tournament next weekend! Grandma Tiff's & Pam's flyball team has asked us to join! My mom Rio, Auntie Piper, sister Brie, 1/2 sister Flare (Ripley's mom) and nephew Smash (Ripley's brother) play on the team. Wow, things sure do happen fast. I will let you know how that goes.

Too FAST?!?!

Well I had a great time at the Royacker's AAC Agility trial on Saturday. I even made my mom eat her words about Snooker...she hoped I would get to do more than 2 obstacles and I got to do 4!! OK, so that still didn't give us a Q and I didn't listen to mom when she told me to come but at least I got to do the tire jump! That is my favorite piece of agility equipment. I can get to the tire from anywhere if I try!! :) So I came home without any Q's but mom was very happy with my contacts. She says I need to work on my start lines but I can't help myself, I am just so excited. She also says I am going "TOO FAST"?!?! How can a dog go too fast?

Peso's friend Patrick came to watch and took lots of video for us. You see if you think I go too fast.

This is me in Advanced Jumpers:



This is me in Steeplechase:



This is me in Advanced Standard: (I didn't even need mom for the first half)



Unfortunately Abbey didn't get her last Masters Standard Q (she got sucked into taking the frame instead of the tunnel...silly terrier!) So I heard my mom say that we will be going to the Acton Agility trial on Feb 8th, can't wait!!

Fun with Dante

Last Sunday my mom and I got the opportunity to do a private agility lesson with Dante Camacho, a Brazilian Agility Team Member. We shared the 2hrs with my doggie friend Peso and his mom Andrea. My mom learned to use a different method of handling that actually works for me better, I can now see when she wants me to turn into her rather than keep on running (which is my favorite thing to do, lol) Dante even took over and did some jump work with me.

Here is me with my mom:



This is me with Dante:



Tomorrow we are off to Guelph for an AAC agility trial. My mom keeps saying she entered me in the Advanced Snooker class and that she hopes I get more than 2 obstacles before we get blown off...how rude! What a stupid game it is anyway. She says we have to play it go get a Q someday :( I am also in an Advanced Jumpers and an Advanced Standard. I will update my blog on Sunday to let you know how it went. My sister Abbey is doing a Master Standard (she only needs 1 more for her Masters Dog of Canada Title, so we all have our paws crossed for her) and a Masters Gamble.

Two Handsome Border Collies!

My favorite photographer, Laura Campbell, was at the disc trial yesterday. She was taking pics with the proceeds to help support the Agility Association of Canada's Canadian Agility Team heading to Belgium in May for the IFSC World Championships. (my 1/2 brother Fly and my "grandma" Tiffany (who is my breeder) are on the team!)

Mom wanted to support the team so she had Laura take a bunch of pictures of Ripley and I. They turned out great but of course, how could they not when we are so handsome! I thought the world might like to see the best looking red & white and black & white border collies:

Look at us handsome boys!

What is that noise you are making?!?

They made Ripley stand on a rock to pose but I was smart enough not to do that!! you could fall off!!

OK, but a picnic table is fine....food could have been on there! Plus it reminded me of the agility table, lol.

What a copy-cat Ripley is, getting on the picnic table. (But between you and I, he is a pretty handsome boy!)

January's "Deep Freeze" Disc Trial

Well we headed west on a 2 1/2hr drive yesterday so that my dad and I could compete in the January Deep Freeze Disc trial. I would love to say that I got another Advanced Q but I have to hang my head and admit it didn't happen. Now having said that, I do have an excuse (or at least I think I do). My dad always takes a practice throw and so he threw it real far over the 30 yard line very close to the wall. I caught the disc and then all of a sudden...I hear a scurrying noise coming from the wall! Now what is a boy to do, I had to go check out what critter is living in the wall. My dad had to come down and grab me to bring me back into the reality that we were playing disc. I came back and we started our official round. It was good at first, the first throw I tracked and caught around the 35 yard mark but then I just don't know. Then next 3 I tracked, jumped, caught them in my mouth and then I just couldn't hold on. The disc was cold, maybe that was it...or was I thinking about that critter...not really sure what it was.

The next round was better, I was on my game! The first throw over the 30 but then dad messed up (ok, so he did 5 in a row over the 30) but his next throw was about 28 yard :( We missed the Q by just 2 yards. I caught the next one but that wasn't enough. My dad and mom still said I was a good boy and gave me tons of treats and attention....a good day in all.

Here is me catching the disc, what style I have (oh and did I mention that I love to look at the cameraman? You don't want to have a bad pic so you have to pose)

One tired border collie...

Man am I ever tired! I didn't get much sleep last night. It all started 2 nights ago when my mom put us in our crates for the night. For some reason, I just don't want to be in my crate. I have always been such a good boy who has loved sleeping on his back in his crate at night. But I have just decided that I need to be with my mom on the bed! So two nights ago I screamed my head off about 2 minutes after she closed the door. She came right back down and let us all out thinking maybe we needed to go outside...silly mom. So I just ran to the gate leading up to the bedroom :) She let us all outside again, we all came in and got another cookie to go back in our crates, hehe. I gave her about 2 minutes again to get upstairs when I started to scream again (and trust me, I can scream!) She came down and let me out and up to bed we went!! Score!

So we had a nice night sleeping together, I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. The problem is, she seemed to have caught on and last night she just ignored my screams! She came the first time and told me to lay down and be quiet, so I did. I must have dosed so when I woke again an hour later, I tried again! Scream, scream, scream!! She came down again and just told me to lay down. I tried it every hour and still, no luck. hmmmm...what should I do tonight. I will let you know what I decide :)

Even though I made everyone tired, we headed out for our huge Saturday walk to the park to play frisbee. We walked for about an hour and then headed for the ball diamond where they throw me my disc. My brother Rip came along too but he won't try to catch the disc unless my mom is holding me or feeding me, he knows better. He is kind of a pain though because he herds me and gets in my way running to the disc. I caught tons of them and let Rip catch a few. We were both so tired that we headed home. I think I will head to my favorite spot for a sleep :)

Welcome to my blog...

I am so excited, I have my own blog! When my friends find out they will be jealous because I also have my own agility school (I am the one on the logo...that makes it mine right?) and they are jealous about that ;) It must be because I am a star!

I will write about my training and competition in agility and disc dog so check back often to find out what's happening. I might let my brother Ripley, or Rip as we call him, post sometimes too (aren't I the nicest border collie you ever met?!)