Kinmount Fair

In early September, I jumped at the chance to be part of an agility exhibit at the Kinmount Fair. I go almost every year, and usually take a dog. It's only a half hour from the cottage, so its nice and close. There are great socialization opportunities (crowds, kids, dogs, horses, midway noises, food on the ground), but I love watching the horse shows and performers as well. This year my mom and friend Laura came with me. Laura had never been to a rural fair before, so it was a very new experience for her.

We were part of a relay class, so our run was timed and paired with a young horseback rider's time. Both dog and horse runs were jumper runs. No real handling practice unfortunately, since it was just a row of jumps, tunnel at the end, and another row of jumps. But it was a chance to get Piper out in a public venue, and to run in an unfenced ring in close proximity to horses and spectators! It was a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to participating in the same event next fall!

Toby, Ace and Piper hanging out on the dock at the cottage

new town, new job, more agility!

Well, the happy event finally occurred. I landed my first full-time, permanent, professional job as a Junior Planner for a planning consultant in Muskoka. I interviewed around the end of May, and was hired two weeks later, with a start date the third week of June.

That left me two weeks to find a place to live... no easy feat when you have two dogs and two cats. I looked at apartments in several towns, up to 40 minutes from my new workplace. Several were extremely scuzzy (no thank you!) and several were too expensive, or too far away. But I eventually hit the jackpot. I found a building 8 houses down from my office, with one apartment available July 1, and a larger one available August 1. I really wanted the bigger apartment, so was able to make arrangements to move into the smaller one for a month, then move across the hall to the bigger one! The building is clean, the kitchen, flooring, bathroom, and paint all very fresh looking. It is smaller than my beloved Guelph apartment, but big enough for my needs.

My job is also going well. I find the work interesting, and am able to get out of the office for meetings and site visits periodically. I am able to go home at lunch and let the dogs out, and have flexible hours. I am paid a professional wage that will allow me to live reasonable comfortably and pay off my debts. The best part is that when I get home in the evening, I am ready to go and do things! I don't get home from work and feel tired and grouchy - I want to run - bike - train my dogs - cook supper. No shortage of energy here. It's a fantastic feeling.

Now that A) I have the time and B) I have the money, Piper and I have been back in regular agility classes. We have been going out to Huntsville and taking classes with Muskoka Agility Dogs, specifically Lynda Yielding. She is a lot of fun, and is helping me to understand how to walk a course, how to weave, and do contacts. The only crummy part is that they don't hold classes through the winter, so we'll see what will happen then. I'm saving my pennies so hopefully I can purchase a few pieces of equipment that I can store in my trunk and practice with in the park.

I am only an hour from the cottage, so we have been spending many weekend there. Ace just adores it, as he can swim all day long! It makes me feel better that although I'm back in an apartment and leashes are once again required for even the quickest pee break, the dogs can go the entire weekend at the cottage without even wearing a collar. They are just my little stars.

Piper and I have been exploring a few of the many trails in the area. All have been beautiful and quiet, my favourite trail characteristics. Since Ace has been swimming so much on weekends, and I have to be careful not to over-tax his elbows, he has been staying home.

I also started volunteering at the OSPCA last week. I'm hoping to focus on training rather than just walking, to improve my training skills, and hopefully increase the adoptability of the dogs at the shelter.

Piper standing on a log over Muskoka River. Wilson Falls Trail.

Piper climbing on rocks. Wilson Falls Trail.

Piper standing on a log, overlooking Lake Muskoka. Huckleberry Rock Trail. She was wearing a harness because I knew it was a lookout, and was not sure how steep it would be. Thought I would leash her, just in case she accidentally took off running toward the edge! It ended up not being too bad.

training and vacationing

During the summer, I spent most of my dog training time at home. I was all over the place with my research - literally from Ottawa to Bracebridge to Niagara - as well as trying to pick up hours at work, so decided against any classes.

However, Piper and I are back in the saddle! We are currently enrolled in the Jumpworks class at Companion Dog Training, which teaches us common jump combinations and exposes us to different manuvers such as front and rear crosses. Piper just adores it, I think if she could jump all day long, she would!

We also enrolled in a 3 hour workshop at Companion called Games for Obedience that took place last Saturday. We learned a few tricks, and fun things to do while training to keep it fun. Most of it seemed to be to throw in variations when you're teaching things like heeling and jumping, so they don't know what to expect and to teach them to recover if they don't do it quite right the first time. Piper had cut her foot at the cottage a few days before, but seemed to be ok so I took her anyways. She is not quite healed enough to run around off-leash, but I am leash walking her still. Anyways, we very much enjoyed the workshop, and look forward to continue to practice our heeling. I also want to bring out the dumbbell again, and our scent recognition tubes, as we haven't worked with those in a long time.

The next class I would like to take is Attention One, however I am running out of money, so will probably have to wait until I get a full-time job. The jumpworks class was a birthday gift from my parents.

There are however a few meets coming up, including the Monster Match (also at Companion) about a month from now. The run obedience, rally, and agility fun matches - I will probably take both Ace and Piper. My friends have asked me to help them teach their yellow lab some Rally, so maybe I will enter Rogue as well!

As mentioned, we spent a few days at the cottage last week with my sister Rebecca, who flew out to Thailand on Friday afternoon to spend about 6 months teaching English. We had a relaxing few days, and were quite entertained by Ace, Piper, Archie, Morgan, and my parent's dog Toby.

Ace and Piper racing to get the ball in the water. Ace always wins.

Swimming back with the ball.

Piper standing on the beach, waiting for me to throw the ball.

Toby, looking cute!

Piper looking expectantly at the camera. "Can I run yet?"

Ace taking a break from swimming. It does happen! Usually so he can poop.

winter at the cottage - pt 2

A few weeks ago at the cottage, I had a great time testing out my new camera! I took a few landscape shots...

Night shots... 

And action shots!

Ace had a blast playing fetch on the ice with his chuckit frisbee. I do have doubts I should be letting him jump around like with with his bad elbows, but I figure once in a while is ok since he loves it so much!

Don't forget the game of tug with my reluctant mom!

And once in a while, a big miss...

Although we didn't see much sun, a fun weekend was had by all!

winter at the cottage - part 1

Today is a short post, I have more photos to add, but no time to add them. I love my new camera, but so far the main downside is that the photos take FOREVER to load! Must figure out how to make them just a little bit smaller.

 

 Toby hanging out in his favourite spot - beside the woodstove!

Venison stew cooking on the woodstove...yum :)

willow at the cottage

Last weekend at the cottage I kept Willow out of the sand and the water, since she had open sores caused by excessive itching. Although not a happy camper, she still managed to relax and enjoy being outside!

oops

Wow, have I been negligent, or what?
I've spent much of the last month travelling, working, and preparing myself for the next phase of my education. I still have massive lists of things to do in the next week. Yikes.
In the meantime, here are some photos of Ace and Willow at my friend's cottage, playing with her husky, Lynx.
Enjoy!