White Shepherd Stories

Andiamo Visits Home Depot

"Oh, I love this place mom.  Let's go find my friends."

 

"Oh look, we could plant flowers mom".

"These would look cute out in the yard mom".  

 "Lets plant some of these, they really smell good."  

Andiamo really likes guys, cause they rough house with him.  He met one guy he really liked a lot.  Then we moved on, going down another aisle.  I was looking at a box with a hanging lamp in it.  I pulled the box out from a lower shelf and suddenly Andi pounced into the spot where box had been.  He barked.  Scared me, and also the guy in the next aisle that was looking at something on the shelf behind where the lamp box had been. So funny!  It was the guy he had played with before.  He is such a kick!  

 

Later he put his front end down, butt in the air, tail wagging, with his nose stuck into a pallet, which was holding some stacked bags of grass seed.  I really think there must have been a mouse in it, but it did not come out.  He is so funny - so confident and amused by different things.  He is so much fun to take places!  

" Mom, are we still going to stop at Dairy Queen to get treats for all of us?"

 

"Okay mom, I told them what we brought home and everyone wants some.  We are all sitting very nice."

Journey, Andiamo & Pirate waiting for their Dairy Queen treat!

 

Journey's CPE Agility Trial - March 12 & 13, 2016

What a weekend we had!  Terrible weather to be in a cold barn; in and out walking three big white dogs through mud and water in a parking lot that had such deep puddles that there were Mallard ducks swimming in some of them.  There was a high wind alert and torrential rain.  We even had warnings about trees coming down and power outages.    

Our family all had to go, which makes for a lot of loading and unloading of a soft crate for Journey and a cabana for Pirate and Andi. Then there are treats to prepare; tarps to spread on the dirt floor of the barn.  We brought blankets; my chair; water and bowls; coolers for food; and lots of stuff I can't remember. I had thought of taking the RV until the high wind warnings.  Decided the car would handle better under these conditions.  

Journey got to try out the cabana as I took him in first.  The other guys stayed in the car for a while.  I was hoping for a break in the rain and maybe a little warm up.  

  Journey, Andiamo & Pirate

Pirate and Andi had fun wrestling as usual.  They enjoyed watching all the dogs and we had front row seats to the arena.  In between Journey's runs I let the other guys have turns walking around in the barn with me, and going outside during the periods when the rain stopped for a little while.   

Our friend Mona came to watch on Saturday and she was such a help.  I am sure that is why I did not hear barking while Journey and I were in the ring running events.  To some people, this probably does not sound like an enjoyable weekend, but to agility sport fans, well that is just the way it is sometimes, in the northwest corner of the United States.  We still had a great time.  When I lived in Southern California we just dealt with hot, hot and more hot weather. A good many agility folks didn't even attend events during the hottest months of summer.  

The club that hosted this event, CAT (Columbia Agility Team) did a wonderful job of moving games along, and we all got to celebrate the birthday of the wonderful Judge of this event.  I should have taken a picture of the big cake! That was in addition to the well stocked hospitality table which was loaded with cheeses, sliced turkey, ham & chicken, crackers, hard boiled eggs, veggies with several types of dip, chips coffee, tea, muffins, donuts, and cookies. 

*Toss the lead ... on the line, getting ready to run...

Journey displaying his normal easy form over the jumps.  Ten events this weekend and not one bar dropped or even ticked.  What a guy!

Wish I could say the weaves were as smooth ...  I don't know what was bothering him about the weave entries.  The poles were checkered, but I think he has done those poles before.  The only other difference was that there were only six poles and he is used to doing 12. He was just having a problem with entries, for the most part.  After he got past pole 3, he was usually okay, although he popped out of the last pole once.  This is so unusual for Journey.  Weave poles have always been his best obstacle and he loved them.  When ever I let him run free on our course, he heads for the weave poles by choice. One of our instructor's dogs (who is also normally very good on poles) also had trouble with them this weekend.  Tomorrow is our agility lesson, so I will work him on the poles and see how it goes.  While I was looking at these weave pole pictures it occurred to me that the poles look closer together than usual.  It may be the angle of the photograph, but it might also be that someone accidentally used the old bases with the shorter openings.  The short openings are okay for little dogs, but would feel strange to a big dog like Journey.  I believe the difference in the spaces is at least 4" shorter, between each pole.  I will check with our instructor.  At least that would explain the mystery with Journey's performance.

 Guess what is wrong with this picture!

Statistics:  Five events per day.  Journey got 7 for 10 and they were all 1st place Q's.  We also got one new title in Handler Games (Colors and Wildcard).  One more Jumpers Q and we will be in Level 5.  

Saturday: 

Jumpers Level 4    Qualified 

Colors Game Level 3   Qualified 

Wildcard Game Level 4   Qualified

Snooker Game Level 3    Qualified

Jackpot Game Level 3    No Q   

Sunday:

Full House Game  Level 3   No Q  - My fault.  We were late and I could not walk the course before running.

Snooker Game Level 3  No Q - My fault - forgot my own course plan.  

Wildcard Game Level 4   Qualified

Colors Game Level 3    Qualified

Jumpers Level 4    Qualified 

 

Our Sunday Snooker course is worthy of description.  Journey did an amazing thing that I have never had a dog do before.  When our team finishes the course, or when the buzzer sounds (whichever comes first), Journey is supposed to run fast, to the table and touch it. He needs only to touch it with a toe to stop the clock/timer.  Most dogs jump on it, then off.  That is normally what Journey does too. This time he touched it with his nose and did not get on the table.  Then he turned and looked at me.  I knew it did not matter, as we had not qualified on that event, and I said (just kidding him) "did you touch it?" He looked at it and went back and put his foot on it. Sure was funny!  If I decide to purchase the video I am hoping the video photographer got him doing that.  

*All the action shots on this blog are taken by Joe Camp, our favorite agility photographer.

So much stuff to pack and getting harder and harder to fit it all in the Subaru.  This time Journey & Pirate shared the passenger seat.  Loading took about 6 trips to the car, sometimes in rain and sometimes with sun coming through - so bright it was hard to see. Home and in the garage I unloaded the car.  The storm continues today and is only supposed to be over on Thursday, maybe.  

 

Andiamo's Busy Day With Mom

"Oh boy, mom, where are we going?"

I had to do the Emissions check thing with my RV, so decided it would be a fun thing for Andi to experience (plus having his company would make the chore less boring, in addition to being a good training opportunity).  He was happy and behaved like an angel.  He is enjoying occupying the passenger seat in the picture above.  

I noticed that one of the rear tires was a little low, so decided to stop at Les Schwabs to have the pressure checked.  Well as great service as Les Schwabs normally provides, what I had figured might take 20 minutes, ended up taking a couple hours.  Not really sure why it took so long, but it would not have been a problem under normal circumstances.  On this particular day though, I had to be at the fairgrounds to help with set up of the agility course for the CPE trial on the weekend.  That was to be at 2:00 PM and still should not have been a problem until it became one, after waiting until after noon.  It seemed that the inside rear tires had problem stems and they were leaking air. Schwabs employee suggested replacing the old stems with new metal coiled ones that would probably last much longer, and make checking the air easier too.  

Although Andi was having a wonderful time in the showroom; meeting people, by shaking hands and doing silly things to attract attention, I was starting to get nervous about being where I was supposed to be.  I asked if I they could just fill the tires and I would bring it back on Monday, for the new stems.  They had already pulled the tires though, so not possible.

"Let's see, I wonder who would like to meet me next."

"Maybe this will make someone else notice me"

By the time our RV was ready to go, Andiamo was convinced he was the most important customer in the waiting room.  He managed to meet and get to know at lease two dozen people.  Without exception, the people he met all raved about his beauty and asked many, many questions about white shepherds, etc.  

When we went to collect the keys, these wonderful employees just apologized for the wait and told us there would be no charge, not even for the new fancy valve stems.  Wow! What a wonderful company to do business with, as usual.   

We headed for the emissions testing place. It probably took us less than five minutes there, and we made it back home about ten minutes after two.  Oh well.  I decided to switch dogs and vehicles to go to the fairgrounds.  We missed most of the work of setting up for the agility trial, but we still needed to set up our own equipment. 

Pirate went to the fairgrounds with me and our friend, Lisa was so kind to help set up the dog cabana for the weekend.  (Pictures of the cabana will be in the next blog post, about the CPE agility trial over the weekend.)  

Andiamo proved to be a wonderful buddy to accompany me on errands.  He is not quite as trustworthy waiting for me in the car.  I am ever so anxiously awaiting the time he will outgrow his chewing on stuff - my stuff in the car - and even the car itself!  But I love him anyway!