pick-a-lick and loony tunes did obedience this weekend at the summerfest trial in ventura.  pick was entered in utility a for the first time and hunda was entered in novice b.  i only entered hunda two days because he does better not going back to back.  but pickle was entered 3 days in a row.  the end result was one more q for hunda towards his CD, with a score of 190.5 and 2nd place and one UD leg for pickle, he was the only dog that qualifed out of three days worth of utility a dogs and so he got first place!

obedience is fun but going to ice cream is a blast!  especially when hunda and fancy get to ride on the front seat into town.

the hunda rally chronicles continue...we did rally again today which i must say took a lot of guts on my part after being booted out yesterday.  but i spent yesterday and this morning clicking and treating for heeling around a rally sign so i was pretty sure i could do about 20 seconds in the ring.  so i walked the first four signs, which included a SLOW sign as the first thing we had to do (sucks for the poor novice rally dogs to have to do a slow right off the bat).  hunda was a TOTAL spazz and the ring steward had to back away because he thinks he should go up and visit everyone.  then he tried to visit the judge but i got him back and started.  needless to say, there was no SLOW in hunda's today so we just heeled past the first sign and got to the normal sign which put us almost at the ring rope which was a left turn to a stop and down.  hunda and i got all the way to the stop and down which he is amazing at with a verbal cue only and i paused for 2 seconds and then ran for the exit thanking the judge on my way out who was standing with her mouth open.  hunda and i ran for the tree where the treats were stashed and bailed for the car.  the comments i got for the rest of the day were great:  "you should teach him to watch you when you heel" (really??? it's a vallhund, it took me 2 years just to get eye contact during a stationary sit), and "does that dog do agility? he sure is a spazz" (i don't think hunda's spazzyness is due to doing agility), and "he sure is cute" (of course he is!!!!).  i am proud that we were able to function together in the ring and have a rally show n go planned in two weeks to practice more.

pickle held his sit stay during group today in open!!!!  woot!!!!  he had already failed for not jumping the high jump after the retrieve so pressure was off.

a story i wrote a while ago:

Clear

By: ffluffy

Dedicated to: Goop (who used to live at Magic Carpet Golf) R.I.P.

I saw a sky bigger than anything I could fit into. And green hills rounded and mounding and a black rock or two, darker than what’s inside and rivers twisting through steep canyons. The backing was peeled of the mirror and I could see straight through myself into nothing. I wasn’t even sure I was alive. But the space between the ground and the clouds was painfully visible. Foxtails tickled my ears, I looked so hard it hurt and I held on too tight, my hand wrapped around the air, knuckles dug deep.

Goop

the most hilarious thing happened today.  and before i begin you should ask yourself this question - how many people do you know who have been kicked out of the rally obedience ring??  as of today the answer to that question is: 1!!!  hunda and i were asked to leave today because he was being a spazz.  the BEST part of the whole thing is that hunda wasn't just being a normal spazz, he was trying to offer behaviors with the signs (you can tell i have NEVER practiced rally with signs and that hunda is a super operant dog).  he offered nose touch on sign, paw sign, go around sign, jump on sign, bite sign, etc.  i carried him out of the ring and by the time we got to the car i was laughing so hard i was crying.  only hunda.  after a time out in his crate we went to the agility practice jump because i don't want hunda to not be excited in trial situations and i felt like he had gotten the point of being carried out of the ring and put back in his crate.  so i started out like nothing had happened and we went and did some jumping at the practice jump where it turns out running a muck is ok and actually welcomed and he was happy and barking and jumping and tugging and in awesome drive mode.  then we went out and did some rally stuff outside of the agility ring and he was great.  so i'm going to try again tomorrow AFTER i glue a piece of paper to a pvc pole and heel around it today.  i don't know if hunda will ever be able to do rally or agility in a real trial but it doesn't matter.  he is an amazing dog.

(hunda's fav rally sign)

pickle got his cd today 3 for 3.  the long sits and downs scare me in open, pickle pretty much crouches for any sit so crouching for 3 minutes with me out of sight may turn into a down...

thanx to lynn i am reading this great book about writing, check out this line by Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird:

"writing motivates you to look closely at life, as it lurches by and tramps around"

i can't wait to lurch and tramp through 2010 with hundalootodo do do do doooo at my side!

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I pretty much just sit back and laugh after watching Hunda do stuff.  He is the funniest dog EVER!!!  He has no fear and is bomber with balance and offering behaviors!

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Truly it is a miracle that Hunda is finally sequencing and staying with me and reading front crosses and all that!  I think he does 6 tunnels in a row here!!!  And I think he is actually having fun?  If you listen closely you can hear the theme song..."do do do doooo".

Video: 

Hunda is so glad Kerm gave him a vacum for xmas.  And you can see Pickle's physio ball in the background...wait until you see the trick Hunda is doing with that huge thing!!!

holy crap!  we have over a foot of snow here in Littlerock!!!  took the dogs sledding, wait until you see the video of pickle riding the sled all by himself and then carrying it back up the hill!

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tricks.

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Pick a lick had a lot of fun this weekend.  I think he looks sound.  He knocked that last bar because I was veering out of the way of the ring post.  Should have converged...duh. 

Little Hundaloo was kinda bad yesterday and today.  Just when I thought we were getting somewhere.  He ran away and wouldn't let me catch him yesterday and today he stopped doing a down at class.  It was my fault though.  I tried to train too long doing the same thing (CAN'T do this with Hunda's) AND then when he gave up on doing the down it became a power struggle (DO NOT get into a power struggle with vallhunds, they are stubborn).  So we ended on a good note but it was only after I put him up to train another dog and gave him a break.  I am going to set my alarm for 15 minutes next time and stop BEFORE it goes off.  He just can't do the stuff all these dogs are doing: down stays for 5 - 6 minutes from 30 feet away.  BUT Hunda CAN climb up the light pole backwards...none of those GSD's and doberman's can do that, so hah!  Class was so bad that I was going to be good and have a tuna sandwhich and tea with Kathy at Camille's, but instead I had a beer and chocolate cake.  The mound was very happy.

Have some character development for my story: the familiy pet, named Pirata.  He/she is a hermaphrodite chihuahua with one eye.  Hence the name Pirata (pirate in spanish).  Who knows what adventures might befall an animal like that.  And I think I will give the main character an imaginary friend, even though he is still in high school.

Also, the main character lives in Nadaland, CA which I drove by today on my way to dog training and I googled it when I got home.  Check it out!

Get it?  A book titled no title, about nothing, where the main character lives in a place called nothing land.

Little Hunda-loo-to-do snuggles me ass up.  It's weird.  I'm used to Moose on my pillow.  I woke up from my nap with Hunda's butt in my face.  And it's the same warmth and softness as Moose on my pillow, just sometimes a little smelly becuase he farts.  Today Hunda did his rollover trick and his pony trick and almost his hand stand trick all for egg noodles.  Who would have thought he would be motivated by egg noodles.?  And his running dog walk is coming along, I think.  Need to post videos on you tube for Daisy to look at.  Just in case you thought you had it figured out you don't