Weaving Munsterlander!!!

Last month I decided to take a leap of faith and enter Cookie in his third agility trial as a full trial...  Which means we had to learn to weave!  YIKES!  On our way to Calgary November 10th I picked up the practice weave poles.  Giving us exactly one month to learn to weave.  We have been practicing pretty much every night since we got home from the last trial and tonight... SUCCESS!  I removed the last gate and voile... he can weave

Down...

Back...

I even had Dan come down and watch a couple runs, and he still did it.  It's a great start!  Can't wait to see how he does in the barn on Tuesday.  Go Munsterlander Go!

2nd Agility Trial

Well we officially have our second agility trial under our belt / collar :-)  

We didn't come home with any q's from our weekend in Calgary but I was really happy with how Cookie did.  The only terrible run we had was our very first one.  About 3 seconds after I took the lease off him he ran to the far side of the arena to sniff, sniff, sniff!  Holy Mr. Sniffy Pants was gone until the final gamble buzzer went and then I hauled him out of the ring.  Not his best effort!  I think Dan's reaction to the run pretty much summed it up... I had just gotten out of the ring and he said "I recorded your run on my phone, but I quickly deleted it!"  LOL!  Yup no need to post that run!  Thankfully his second run on Saturday went much better!!!  Our second run was jumpers... although he is not yet ready to run a whole course he had some awesome moments.  He stuck with me (no sniffing) and his contacts were awesome.  We have been working really hard on the contacts at home so I was glad they were good at the trial.  

Sunday was a lot of fun... We did three runs, gamble, jumpers, and snooker.  That was our first time playing snooker and I must admit I was confused.  Once I got the rules down (thanks Shauna)  I had a lot of fun.  He did well, we managed to get through our opening sequence and the first couple obstacles in the close before the buzzer went.  Considering we had never played snooker and I was confused I was happy with how it went.

So... the next big weekend for The Munsterlander will be December 10th and 11th.  We are headed back to Calgary for the 2X4 trial.  We're practicing our weaves so that we can be ready for standards that weekend.  After this weekend I can't wait to see what we can do next month :-)

Yeah Long Weekend :-)

So excited for my self made long weekend... Can't remember when I last had one :-)

My long weekend started at 5:15 tonight- I even managed to leave work early!  I ran home and picked up the Munsterlander to get him to his agility practice.  Our agility group has moved indoor for the winter, and tonight was our first practice in the barn.  What an adjustment for Cookie... so many new smells.  I think I spent half the night trying to get him to stop sniffing around for horse shit!  Even though he was really distracted he did AWESOME!!!  His contacts were really good... he's come a long ways.  Most impressive were his weaves... he was actually getting the rhythm and driving ahead.  I even managed to do a few front crosses with him... a huge feat for both of us!  I couldn't have been happier with how the practice went.

This weekend we are headed up to Calgary for our second agility trial.  After our practice tonight I'm so excited to go.  I think we are going to have a great weekend.  Here's hoping for a "q" or 2!      

All the thinking tonight made the Munsty tired!

Congrats Cookie Munster!!

Yeah for the Munsterlander!!!  He is sporting his new Scenthurdle Team racing vest.  We joined the No Nonscents group this spring.  After six months of practicing Cookie has finally made the racing team :-) He will be making his scenthurdle premier on Saturday November 19th in Lethbridge!

Check out the No Nonscents Blog to read more about our team!  If you go to the April 3rd and 4th blogs you can watch some videos of the team in action.  I'm hoping Cookie doesn't make the blooper reel too many times!    

Happy Anniversary!

I wrote this blog a few weeks back, on our anniversary.  I couldn't figure out how to convert the tiff files to jpegs on my macbook.   Today I had a customer that was into Macs and he was able to explain it to me!!!  So here you have it some marriage advice from me.  Enjoy :-)

September 24th was my sixth wedding anniversary with my awesome husband Dan!  We've lived together for eleven years now... sometimes it seems like we met just yesterday and at times it feels like we have been together forever!  For any of the non-married / attached people- marriage isn't all long walks on the beach and lazy evenings cuddled up by the fire.  LOL!  Somehow everyday things like bad days at work, bills, cleaning the house etc seem to get in the way of the fairytale romance.

You've all heard of the seven year itch.  Well a few years back I was there!  More like I was CRAZY!  I had this weird idea that Dan was suppose to spend every waking hour of every day with me.  The more clingy and obsessive I became the less Dan wanted to hangout with me- can you blame him?!?

Around that time I was reading a Chicken Soup for the Soul book.  In it was a story about a women that was just as crazy as me!  The moral of her story was if you want dog like devotion get a dog!  Shortly after I read that story Cookie came into our lives.  All of a sudden the evenings that Dan wanted to go out with the guys didn't seem like such a huge deal.  I decided to get Cookie into some activities... we have joined agility, and scent hurdle, last winter we hung out at the Paws on the Run indoor dog park on Sundays.  What do you know I managed to get an awesome dog, new friends, and a stronger marriage!

So there you have it... my borrowed words of marriage advice.  If you want dog like devotion, get a dog.

Happy Anniversary Honey.... I love you more now then I ever have before!

Saddest Day Ever!

Tonight my bestie Emily, Cookie and I went for a walk down to Popson Park.  We walk from my place in Sunridge down the hill to the off leash park.  Cookie is so funny because he knows as soon as Emily shows up in the evening that we are going to go for a walk. Popson is our favourite place to head to as there is easy access to the Old Man River.  Cookie is an awesome swimmer and I love to tire him out by sending him over and over again into the river to fetch his toy.

This blue toy that we ordered through Paws on the Run is by far Cookies favourite river toy.  I love it because it floats and with the long rope on it I can "wing it" out into the middle of the river.

Tonight Emily and I were taking turns throwing it for him.  It was all fun and games until I threw it out and he didn't see where it went.  Of course the current caught it and away it went.

It was so sad.... we kept going out and looking for his toy.  I would call him back, and he would come to the shore only to return to the middle of the river.  Poor Munsterlander!  His favourite toy is no more  :-(

Cookie Munster's first Q!!!

I decided to start blogging my adventures with Cookie this summer because we have had a very fun summer full of lots of new experiences!!!

When Cookie Munster was six months old we started agility training.  Oh boy, did I quickly learn that Munsterlander's are not the easiest dogs to train!!!  I had trained a sheltie previously with a "just for fun" agility group.  Munster's are NOTHING like shelties.  We had a long road of training ahead of us!

After our first year of training we joined the Go Dog Go K9 Sports team.  Please find the Go Dog Go blog under the list of blogs I follow.  With GDG we had found a great fit.  The trainers are knowledgable, fun, and most importantly patient.  I quickly learned that Cookies shortcomings were often times a result of my lack of handling ability.  With the Go Dog team we have been able to work on the skills that both of us need to succeed at the exciting sport of Agility.

In August we finally felt that we were ready to compete... Yeah!!!!  Two and a half years of training andFINALLY we were entered in our first trial.  Apparently Cookie sensed my nerves because his first run of his first trail ended with him taking a huge poop in the agility ring.  Yup that's right my dog took a huge crap on the course.  I had to do the "walk of shame" with my steaming bag of poop as he was kicked off the field.  Not the best start to Cookie's agility career.

Day two went much better.  Our first run of the day was in the starter gambles class.  My friend Shauna did an awesome job coaching me on how to handle the course.  We stepped out onto the field with a plan!!!  I learned something very exciting during our gambles run... Cookie actually knows what a tunnel is!!  The courses mini gamble involved going from a jump to a tunnel.  I'm not going to lie I was shocked when he did it!  I almost stopped to hug him right then and there.  We continued along the course and at the whistle to start the gamble portion we were actually at a good spot to attempt the gamble.  When he went out and took the first tunnel I was pretty happy.  When he continued on to the jump I was ecstatic.  When he actually took the finally tunnel to complete the gamble I was "over the moon" thrilled.  I couldn't believe it:  The Munster did it!!!  We did it!!!  Two and a half years of training all came to fruition in under a minute (56.89 seconds to be exact).  I hugged the dog, I cried, I took in the moment.  All I could hear while I was leaving the ring was one of our trainers, Sarah, yelling "stop hang-bagging your dog"!  So, we have something to work on... don't drag the dog off the course :-)

Not only did we get our very first "Q" that day we also were the first (and only) dog to Q in our height / level class.  So we got the 1st ribbon too!  The best part about the Q was that it happened at the Go Dog Go Lethbridge trial.  It was awesome to share that moment with the group of people that really made us a team.  The trainers and the other team members of GDG.  Thanks ladies for all your hard work and support!  Cook and I couldn't have done it without you guys.

 

Cookie Picks His Momma

So how did I end up with a Small Munsterlander?  My mom and my step dad were sharing their home with three Munsties.  On September 5, 2008 Jules had a litter of eight Munsterlander puppies.  From the time I met the Munster babies I just knew that I had to have one of my own.  The problem I faced was convincing my husband, Dan that we "had to have one"!!  At that time we were a one dog family with a ten year old no hassle sheltie. Dan had watched my folks raise three wild and crazy Munsterlanders... this was not going to be an easy task!

Being that I love dogs I would go out to play with the pups on a regular basis.  I picked out this cute little runty puppy that I loved to pieces.  I would go out and sit and watch the pups play in their room and then later in the dog run.  I loved to sit in the middle of the pile of pups and watch "my puppy" play with all the other pups.  When I would sit with the babies "The Ugly Mostly White One" would come and sit on my lap.  Didn't matter what I was doing, whether I was just watching the pups, or clipping nails, etc he would constantly be trying to sit on me.  When I would leave "The Ugly White One" would follow me to the door and watch me leave.

Fast forward seven weeks to the time the pups were going to their forever homes....  The only girl was going to my stepdad, Rob's moms house.  They were keeping one (who they later ended up naming Mocca).  Three of the other pups had homes already.  That left "my puppy", "The Ugly White One", and Bolt (he had a lightning bolt marking).  Despite me dragging Dan out on numerous occasions to see the puppies I still hadn't convinced him that we NEEDED a new dog.  Finally I got the phone call I dreaded... my mom called to tell me that "my puppy" had sold.  I was heart broken!!! 

A few days before Halloween my mom was having a little bit of a panic attack because she still had two puppies that needed homes.  I'm not sure what finally convinced Dan that we should have a puppy... I had let up on my new puppy campaign since "my puppy" was sold but finally just after "my puppy" was sold Dan said we could have one.  I was happy but devastated, and honestly kind of mad, if he had said yes a few days earlier I could have picked the pup I wanted.  The only condition of the new dog coming to live with us was that Dan got to pick which one we got.  I lobbied for Bolt because I REALLY didn't want "The Ugly Mostly White One"... his colours sucked plus he was really annoying because he would never leave me alone.  Which pup did Dan pick?  "The Ugly Mostly White One" of course!!  

Finally after eight weeks Cookie Munster got what he wanted... he picked me out and he was coming home!