ASCA 2014

On the August 1st long weekend, I packed up Piper, Ace, Percy, and Archibald to head south for the annual ASCA show. We stayed with my friend Karen in Waterloo (about 3 hours from home), and traveled another 1 1/2 hours each way to get back and forth from the show, which was in Niagara Falls. The cats had to come since I was going to be gone more than 2 nights - they would get hungry!

Saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn (about 5 am) to get ready. Piper and I needed to get there before 8:30 as we were doing day-of entry. We arrived bleary-eyed, but excited! Piper was entered in altered conformation with Wendy, one Rally Novice run and two Agility novice jumper runs with me! Busy day :)

I love the ASCA show, because I love to see all the Aussies...young, old, working, show, and everything in between. They offer outdoor conformation, rally, obedience, agility, and herding on ducks, sheep, and cows. It's an awesome venue!

Piper did not win anything in conformation, although a few kind competitors came over to tell me how nice she looked. There is a specific gait they need to have in the conformation ring, and I've never taught her to run a certain way. So because she paced, no wins for us.

We did pretty well in Rally, with a score of 186. We lost 10 points because I circled left instead of right at one of the signs...super annoying! But, it was her titling run! First performance title ASCA RN...yay!

Agility was in the afternoon, we were entered in 1 jumpers run, as we didn't have contacts at that point. Runs were only about $10 each, so I treated them as practice, and a good opportunity to get used to the trial environment. The first run was a mess, but live and learn! I think I know now what my mistakes were.

The second day Karen went with me to volunteer at the agility field and socialize her puppy Spark to the trial environment. Since the paperwork had been sorted out the day before, and jumpers wasn't until later in the day, we arrived around 10am. We did two jumpers runs. The first one wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. The second one was pretty great! Only one bar down, so I was actually pretty happy with that. More work to do for sure, but it was heartening.

The trial was over by 2:30, so we made friends with a few collie owners who were competing, and headed to the Lake Erie beach! Piper and Spark had tons of fun playing in the water and with the collies. Everybody headed home happy and super tired.

sledding

Twice this winter, I have taken Piper out with her new friend (and cousin - his uncle is Piper's grandsire) Blaster to go sledding! Blaster's owner has the appropriate harnesses and a sled re-fitted for the dogs to pull.

Blaster (left) and Piper (right). Standing in their harnesses, waiting to go!

It's been lots of fun, but it's lots of work too. Because the Aussies won't just run ahead, we take turns on the sled, while the other person runs ahead to give the dogs a goal to run to. We encourage them as they run, shouting "YES" and "GO GO GO", but they rarely go more than a few feet past the running person. They just want to chase us! It's more work than just an off-leash run, which they seem to appreciate.

Blaster and Piper stopped... "we don't want to run past our people!" Silly dogs, barking their heads off.

Last time we went out, they certainly did a better job with their "go-ons" than the first time. Often Piper will out-pull Blaster, she just loves it! And barks her head off the entire time, which drives me nuts, but I try to tolerate it since she's just doing something she loves.

I'm not sure we will get out again this winter, but it's definitely something I would look into continuing with her next year.

Blaster and Piper pulling Wendy

Blaster and Piper pulling me.

post-move in update

Well, I have been neglectful. Two months since I have posted anything! Here is an update:

The move went well, and we have all settled into my parent's house better than expected. The cats pretty much get free run, and except for a bit of bagel-snatching (Percy), and railing-scratching (also Percy), they have been great. My dad even plays with Percy once in a while. Archie tries hard to stay out the way, and spend most of his time sleeping at the top of the stairs or on my sister's empty bed.

The dogs stay downstairs quite a bit, either with me in my bedroom, or hanging out at the bottom of the basement stairs. The first week after I moved in, I went out and bought mats for my bedroom floors and for the bottom of the stairs for the dogs to sleep on. I would have liked to cover all the floors, but just couldn't afford it. Every evening (and days my dad goes to work) Ace and Piper don their indoor boots and take over the available couches and laps. My mom is quite smitten with Piper, who loves to cuddle and lick her face.

I have been working part-time in a Paulmac's Pet Food store, which is ok. I work by myself quite a bit, or with the grouchy owner. I definitely miss my friends at Rens.

My thesis was defended on December 17, and accepted by the University of Guelph on January 6. Yay me! I have been diligently applying for jobs, but no interviews yet. My fingers are crossed every day, hoping that I will hear from a prospective employer.

Piper and I made some new friends shortly after our arrival in Ennismore, we met a woman and her two Aussies on a trail, and became fast friends. We hike with Tucker and Blaster (who is actually Piper's great-uncle) nearly every week. Through our new friend, we have also joined the Peterborough and District Obedience Club (PADOC), which is fantastic because now we get free obedience classes! We are also signed up to take a class with agility instructor Dante Camacho, recommended to us by Chad, our Guelph instructor.

Piper and Ace hanging out on the couch.

That's all for now! Piper and I are heading to Hamilton in a few weeks for our first CKC trial, so expect another post shortly :)

aussie play

I will say this for the Aussies, they keep each other entertained nicely!

puppy visit

 

About two weeks ago, Josh and I went back to visit Piper and Baron's breeder. They have a new litter of four puppies (half siblings to ours) that we got to cuddle and play with. Puppies are so adorable, I just wanted to take them all home! There are three females and one male. The breeder decided none of the puppies were good enough to keep as a breeding dog, so they will all be going to pet/performance homes. The little black tri male was my favourite, Josh's favourite is the red tri female.

We had also brought along Piper and Baron, who got to come play once the puppies were tired. They played a bit with their sister, Party. They also got to hang out with their mama. Jynx is definitely more of a people dog than a dog dog though, and she and Piper got into a bit of a tiff. But still, it was neat to see her interact with her former babies!

Piper, Jynx, and Baron

Jynx, Piper, and Baron. Everybody's sniffing!

almost swimming

Piper looks like she is almost ready to go swimming! She really wants to catch up to her friend, Jazsy.

family playdate

Last week Piper and I drove down to visit her breeder, Wendy at NoRulz Australian Shepherds. It was very snowy and she had lots of fun playing with her sister, Party, also a red merle. Party is a little obnoxious, more than Piper even, and definitely more of a barker. But still they had fun.

Party and Piper in the backyard

Piper are Party wrestling! Teeth bared, most of their feet off the ground.

Stare-down between Piper and Party

Piper leaping like a deer! Party trying to chase her down.

After a while Wendy put her back inside and brought out Tawny, her 11 year old female. Tawny is also a red merle, although with less white and no tan markings. Her spots are also more uniform, so her colouring altogether looks quite different from the younger sisters. Tawny is a great-great aunt to Piper and Party. She had surgery on the same day as Piper's spay (January 25) to have a few lumps and teeth removed, so I couldn't believe how energetic and enthusiastic she was! She was more than happy to run around and play with her 8-month old relative. Must be good genes :)

Tawny leaping for Piper, legs tucked up in the front. Piper trying to run through all the snow, can't go fast enough!

Tawny also does this hilarious butt-scratch thing. I wish a had a video. She stands between your legs so you scratch her bum, wiggles like crazy and kicks her back feet out in a little dance. I think she might be the most endearing Aussie I've ever met!

Piper and Tawny on the deck