The Case Of The Missing Eggs

On Friday September 24th at approximately 4:10am Maggie and Bosley were fed their breakfast. They were given a meal of beef, organ meat and a raw egg. The very tired Food Giver forgot to put the eggs back in the fridge and left them on the counter.

At approximately 4:40am the Food Giver left the house where she last saw the dogs sound asleep in the bedroom.

At around 1:45pm, the Food Giver came home to find a crime had taken place.

Somewhere between 4:40am and 1:45 pm, 2 eggs were stolen from their carton and have disappeared.

Evidence Exhibit A: One destroyed egg carton with contents missing.

Evidence Exhibit B: Sofa with bits of egg shell left behind.

The Suspects:

Maggie.

Maggie is a well known counter surfer with a long list of charges and convictions. She usually shows no remorse for committing her crimes and previous punishments have not deterred her from repeat offenses.

Bosley:

Bosley is an opportunist rather than a ring leader. He will take advantage of any situation to suit himself. He is often seen following Maggie around reaping the benefits of her counter surfing ways. He has had charges against him in the past but the charges have always been dismissed.

The suspects have both been interrogated and neither are talking. Paw prints taken at the crime scene reveal very little as both prints from Maggie and Bosley have been found. Since they live in the room were the crime took place, we expected to find their prints. However, no other paw prints were found in the vicinity. We still do not know exactly who stole the eggs. We still do not know the whereabouts of the missing eggs, but we have our suspicions and we are not holding out much hope of finding the eggs alive. This crime is still under investigation.

If anyone has any further information regarding this heinous crime, please call:

1-800-BAD-DOGS

Trials and Tribulations

On the weekend we were at an agility trial in Medicine Hat.

It has taken me a few days to blog about it because, well, I was quite frustrated and disappointed. I thought if I had a couple days to think about how things went, I would feel better. I don't.

It wasn't all bad - there were some really great moments with both dogs.

The good:
-On Saturday, Bosley made his Masters Gamblers debut. The gamble was a tough one (of course, we are in masters now). Bosley got the final gamble! I was thrilled! Unfortunately, we ran out of time, but he did it!
-Bosley's weaves on Saturday were amazing! I mean, really, really amazing. I don't think he has ever weaved so fast as he did in his standard run.
-Maggie earned her first Masters Standard Q
-On Sunday, Maggie got the main gamble in her Masters Gamblers run. I totally underestimated her and didn't think she would get it. There was a dogwalk in the final gamble, and she missed her contact, so we didn't Q, but now I know she can do it!

The not so good:
-I don't think Bosley broke out of a trot all weekend. This is the slowest he has been in a very long time. We were over time on several runs.
-After having amazing weaves on Saturday, on Sunday Bosley seemed to forget how to weave at all.
-Bosley totally blew me off on our last run Sunday. He smelled something delicious and was too busy sniffing the air to pay attention our run. I excused ourselves from the ring. He hasn't done this in a very long time.

I guess am very frustrated because Bosley has been so "on" for the last few trials. I don't know what the difference was this weekend. The weather was very cool (I wore long underwear all weekend) so that wasn't a factor. I did the same warm-up routine and he seemed fine before each run. The only difference I can tell is that we didn't go home at night. When we don't sleep at home, he is restless all night, so I don't know if that made a difference or if I am just grasping at straws, trying to figure out what happened.

The final results for the weekend:

Maggie - Masters Standard 'Q'

Bosley - Advanced Snooker 'Q'. Advanced Standard 'Q'. Advanced Agility Dog of Canada Title. Moves to Masters Standard.


Here are a couple videos:

Bosley Advanced Standard. Awesome weaves!!!!!





Bosley Advanced Snooker. I usually play it safe in trials, but I took a chance and did the weaves.

Finally !!!!

Today I finally received Bosley's Draft Dog title certificate in the mail.  We passed the test exactly 15 weeks ago today.  I know that the CKC is doing some major cutbacks, but 15 weeks to get a title certificate??  The weird thing is that he earned an agility title the same weekend and I got that certificate over a month ago.

Scenthurdle

Bosley is still working hard on his scent discrimination and practicing to be on our scenthurdle team. So far he hasn't got kicked off the team :)

Bosley is careful and thoughtful when it comes to the scent work and last night was the first time we have practiced with a fully loaded box. In practice he has slowed down over the jumps on the way to the box. When we first started training with only one dumbbell in the box (no discrimination) he would fly out to get his dumbbell. Now that we have added discrimination to the box, he is much slower going out. I am hoping that once his confidence goes up, his speed will get faster.

I am pleased with his scent discrimination - he is making the correct choice more and more often now. Of course, at home he is more accurate than in practice, but hopefully with more practice he will get more confident. I am still very happy with his progress. If 2 years ago, someone had told me Bosley would be on a scenthurdle team, there is no way I would have believed it.

Here is a little video of our practice last night introducing our team. There are 4 dumbells in the box for each dog, and the dog must choose his own dumbbell.

Trial Goals

After every trial, I look at how well we did or how well didn't do, and decide what I need to work on in my training.  I did the same thing after the trial we just had and I have a few training goals in my mind to work on over the next few weeks.  This post is NOT about those training goals.  It is about something personal I need to work on when I am at a trial.  That is taking care of myself.
When I am at a trial, I get so wrapped up in what is going on - pottying dogs, getting ready to run, warming up dogs, cooling down dogs, volunteering, visiting friends, watching people run their dogs, etc, etc.  I get so wrapped up in all of this stuff, that I forget about eating until I start to feel ill.  I also never drink enough water and so by the end of the day I have a headache from being dehydrated.
My goal for future trials is to take the time so sit down and eat properly.  That does not mean grab a couple snacks (although I really enjoy snacks), instead I need to eat some real food.  And drink more water or energy drinks.  And eat breakfast before a trial - I am really bad about eating breakfast.