Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tuesday pigeon & weekend update.

So I showed Saturday and Sunday at Greater Racine Kennel club. Bell did alright. Her heeling is really really really terrible lately. She paces and just really gives NO effort. She can do it though! My handling is really really really lacking also. I need to get back on the obedience horse and get working on both of us!!! She Q'd in Open on Saturday with a 197. Not to shabby. On Sunday she Q'd in Utility with a extra heel command so the score is not worthy of being shown here :) But one thing that is going well is her fronts and finishes! I am trying somthing new. I ask her to front and if she is strait the first time she gets a reward. If she is crooked I say an unemotional NO and encourage her to try again untill she gets it correct. Then I praise her and set her up the exact same way and only reward if she is correct the first time. Well she is a fronting fool! I am SOOO pleased with how she is understanding it! Usually I just had her try again and then rewarded her where I wanted her to be. But this way is working SOOO much better. Her finishes are great too. Sometimes she is a little behind me. But we are working on that. Everything else she is doing super at! But Heeling we are on two different planets. Yvonne helped me out a ton on Saturday and we met today again and worked too. I have LOTS to work on and am seeing some good success already. HOPEFULLY it keeps going in that direction. I am entered the second weekend in April at Fond Du Lac in Obedience so I have some time to work on it.

I have off this weekend for an Agility show in Libertyville Illinois. Qwik and Bell are entered. Qwik is entered in some "big girl" classes and it will be interesting to see how she does! I am sooo excited to begin showing that lill curly dog! I just booked my hotel and sent in my entries for the Curly-Coat National Specialty the end of April! I CANNOT WAIT!!!! She is doing so well in her training and I am polishing everything up! I just hope the weather coperates with me since everything is going to be outdoors we have to be able to train outside! Ohhh well.

My pigeon babies are doing OK. the Darker one is fine but the lighter is a lill sick today. I am gonna buy some antibiotics you put in their water. Hopefully that will help it out. The parents of the babies just laid 2 more eggs in the new side by side condo by dad put up. And the dark couple finally laid an egg too. I dono how good of parents they will be though.....we will see!! I would get some more pictures of them but its raining out and I dont wanna go outside again!!!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

My Tuesday Pigeon update!

Well since I kinda have been updating my pigeon status on Tuesdays I thought I would continue for a little bit! My dad put a side by side nest box up and it's cool! Hopefully more birds will pair up. I only have the 2 pairs still. But the pair that already has the babies is already nesting in the new box. I bet they will lay some more eggs soon! Here are the updated pictures from today. They are growing so fast!



This is the "Blue Bar" Notice the bands on it's wings.


This one is the "Blue Check" The wings will have checks on them sorta.


I hadn't really noticed they are two different color patterns. I cleaned out the coup today and watched them for a bit. The dark blue checker pair really are flirting and guarding the top nest box. Hopefully they will lay some eggs soon!

Last night we hosted a Wild Tree Party with Ginger. She works for Wild Tree as a on-the-side-job and did a great job! Lots of good food and company! It was nice for my Moms birthday n all.

Today me n the girls started out with field training at 8am...yawn...too early for me! Both girls went wild when we pulled into the drive way. They were eyein up the pond when we went past it. Its almost totally thawed. Kyle won't do any water marks untill the water is warm. So it will be awhile for that. Both girls did GREAT! Qwik only had one little bobble. On her way back to me on her second retrieve she just HAD to check out the water!!

"It's thawed!!! We SOOOO could be doing water work!! Please mom!!!" she said!

But otherwise I was VERY happy with how Qwik did. She gets cocky when she brings the bumper back...she will bring it right to me and let go if I ask her too. But if I don't she shakes it and like stands there all proud like "Yeah! Whos the bitch!" She always makes me laugh. Nerd...

Bell did great and only had a little trouble with a really long mark. But otherwise she is steadying up nicely and I barely have to hold her anymore. She also got some honor work in and is starting to keep her mouth shut instead of whining. She has to get back into shape! She was huffin and puffin towards the end!

Here are some pictures from outside today after training. They LOVE to be outside.

Qwik being the cocky bitch she is....


Bells almost got it!


Qwik trying to steal from Bell.


HMMmmmmmm Could this be open thawed water?


IT IS! IT IS! YEAH!


I LOVE MUDD N WATER!!!!


Bell's looking at her out of the corner of her eye...your such a dork, look at your tongue.


The Turkey.


The Beans.


I got 2 days of obedience this weekend at Racine Kennel Club. Should be fun!!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Obedience Disapointment.

Bell was entered in an Obedience show in Madison today. She did really great things and a bunca not-so-great stuff too.

Before Utility she was in a GREAT mood! I was so excited she seemed to want to do somthing and was all happy n all. To start it off she didn't sit when I told her to on a Go out (-3) points. It's not a failure. It's kinda a good thing for her cause she was excited about doing her jumping. So I didn't tell her to sit again which would have failed us. But she had some nice fronts and finishes on that excercize. Then came the Moving stand which she NAILED! She has to stop when I tell her to while heeling and then stay there untill I call her back to me. I tell her to jump up when she comes to encourage her to come fast. Usually she does great but this time she LEPT up with ALL FOUR FEET and came racing to heel. LOVE IT!! Next came Gloves and for the first time EVER she took the wrong glove. I must have pivioted too much and she took the middle one instead of the far right one. I haven't trained Gloves lately though. So that failed us. Then came Scent Articles. We have always had a hard time with them. She shops around by picking the right one up and then droping it...then looking around some more...then picking up the right one again and coming part way....then she will throw it at me then go back and seach the pile again to make sure. Then she will bring the right one back....all as I am sitting there stressin out! Well today she went out picked up the right one and came directly to me and gave me nice fronts and finishes to boot....ON BOTH LEATHER AND METAL!!! WHOOO HOO!!!! HUGE in our book! We have been training that ALOT lately! So our work paid off! Then came signals. You cant talk to your dog at all, you can only use hand signals. Bell started off great but then went back into her old anticipation/stressin out crap. She did awful for part of the excercize. I was ticked. We have been working so hard on it!!! I am at a loss for where to go from here. I have tried so many different things. It all comes down to that I didn't teach her correctly from the beginning. Poor dog was my first dog and had to put up with my crap. Qwik is SOOOO much farther along in the beginning stages of heeling cause I taught her correctly. Unlike Bell. I dono if I can ever get her to the point of being competitive again.....we will see!!!

Bell did sorta better in Open. But same exact thing with her heeling. She also was being a brat and kept trying to suck up to the stewards and leave the ring to go get some liversausage! I have LOTS to work on before this weekend. I have her entered on Saturday and Sunday in Racine. Its a busy show with LOTS of entries.

One other side note is I worked both girls at a park today, outside on a soccer field! It was very dry! Prolly the only NON soggy grass in the county!!! Well Miss Qwik is having her Novice Debut the end of April, at the Curly Coat National Specialty. The show is being held ouside though. I have a hard time walking a strait line on matts indoors...we will see how it goes outside! But Qwik did AWESOME! I was soo proud of her! I have to remember to keep working with her outside. Being the little scatterbrain, I gotta keep her focused. I am getting so excited to start her actual showing!!! :)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Could the baby pigeons have gotten uglier????

YIKES! Glad human babies don't get uglier with age! YIKES!


It looks to me that they are doing well though! Wouldn't you say? I ordered some Bands from FOY's pigeon supplies. That way I can mark the pairs so I don't split up the happy couples. I also want to mark the babies. Hopefully I will be able to turn them loose and they will come back to the coup. Or if they escape while training they will return home. Me and my dad are hoping to do some remodeling of the coup soon. Giving them a bigger oustide area to chill and some more bigger next boxes that are easier to clean. Hopefully if I have more boxes the others will pair up. I ordered some paper mache nest bowls so I won't have to have straw in there to make more of a mess.

This past Sunday I had a private lesson for Agility with a friend of a friend. I worked both girls in the indoor horse arena. They both did good and I learned some new things and saw some spots that I need to work on! I had a really good time and got some GREAT ideas to train! Qwik did better than I thought she would in the new place. She was a bit distracted but still worked nice. Bell had a hard time with the barn cats....she likes to chase cats and it was a tough distraction for her. But did well otherwise.

We start field training today with Kyle from Chesapeake Waters. The girls are WAY excited. Its kinda cruddy out rain and fog.....but they like to get down and dirty.

I took the girls swimming at my old bosses new place in Oconomowoc. The girls just LOVE the pool. I have some video I want to make a montage of once I have a few hours to waste. I really should get a laptop for when I am sittin around at shows!!

Bell has an Obedience show on Sunday in Madison. I dono how we will do. She is just stressin! I use lots of food and toys and rewards. But she still kinda goes "over the edge" with stress! Hopefully once we get back into the swing of things in the ring we will get our rythem back. I have off next week Saturday for an Obedince show in Racine. We will see how she does!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

more odd topic updates....

My pigeons had laid some eggs that I posted about a while ago....well those eggs ended up freezing into eggsickles. Then I noticed that they were sitting in the corner again.....So I shooed them away and they had 2 new eggs! Well these eggs have been around for a while and I checked on them today and they HATCHED!!!



Yin n Yang...the babies!!! AREN'T THEY CUTE!!! hahahaha Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!




The proud parents and part of the babies. I nailed the coup shut so it won't be as cold in there. Hopefully it will warm up soon!


Then the other odd topic news is my Orcids!!! I bought one for my mom for Christmas 2 years ago at Home Depot. It has lasted this long and is SOOOO pretty! The blooms last for like a month! Way cool. The branches had died off and just grew back and the flowers just opened! Aren't they pretty!


But the news is I bought another one at Steins. It had TONS of blossums and they are starting to open. It's cool too.


I am finally getting some rest after a busy but EXTREMLY fun weekend. I had a good friend stay over from Minnesota. Darcy and her two golden boys Sota and Rouser. They are from Yvonnes breedings and I welped Rouser when he was born. She was attending the Susan Garrett seminars too. Fun Fun.

Sounds like it supposed to be a warmer week....lets hope they aren't lying!!!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Lotsa learning and a new obedience title!

I attended a 3 day dog training seminar last week Thursday-Saturday. It was put on by my old boss Katie. She owns www.thinkpawsitivedog.com. She had Susan Garrett come down from Cadada and put on several seminars. I went to the Advances in Dog Training on Thursday and Friday. Friday night was a weave pole seminar and Saturday was a jumping drill day. Fun Fun Fun. I have LOTS to work on and I started tonight at work. I got lots to do before the Curly National Specialty the end of April!!! Qwik won't know what hit her!

On Sunday I entered Bell at an obedience show held at State Fair Park in Milwaukee. She did OK and Qualifyed in both Utility and Open. By Qualifying in both classes on the same day she earned her 20th UDX leg, giving her a new title!! UDX2 She did kinda crappy in Utility. Her heeling sucked like usual. She stresses in Utility and just goes in this autopilot mode....sucks. In Open she did really well. But everyone else did well too. No Placements but I'll take the Q's!!!

I am fighting cold...hopefully it wont last!