Wednesday, August 24, 2011

It's Been Too Long!

Time passes so quickly and before I realize it, many months have passed without an update on our lives with our five aussies.  My apologies...life has definitely gotten in the way!

I'll do a short update for each of our wigglebutts!

Harley Girl!
Harley has had a tough year... Last October she injured her left shoulder and endured a twelve week crate rest in order to heal.  In February, we started working on conditioning so we could get back to playing; however, come spring we were dealing with a new injury, a hyper-extension of the right carpal ligament. So another nine weeks of crate rest... Oh, and did I mention she destroyed two soft crates during her confinement??!! My little girl has NEVER been destructive so I was rather shocked the first time and not happy at all when she destroyed the second one! Harley celebrated the end of her recovery by playing on the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi, so hopefully all was forgiven!! We are once again conditioning with the hope of returning to the ring in October of this year!! She got her first opportunity to play at Happy Dog Ranch this week where she did several low jumps, the weaves and the dogwalk! Thankfully, no lameness afterwards!  WOOHOO!

Chopper Man!
Chopper is doing great other than he misses his Daddy soooo much! After travelling with all the dogs so much this year, staying at home the last couple of weeks has been a little boring for the big boy...so yesterday we headed down to the agility field for a little mowing and swimming in the creek, two of his favorite home activities. By evening, he was wet and smelly, covered in grass with a few nettles and burrs thrown in for good measure, but all in all, a very happy boy! We get to go have fun with all our friends this weekend at the German Shorthair Pointer Agility Trial in Murfreesboro, TN, this weekend so keep your fingers crossed that we can get that much sought after first double Q!

Chevy
Chevy continues to be the clown of our family! She is full of grins and snorts, and loves to crawl backwards on the carpet just to crack us up! She made her official AKC debut earlier this month at the Dalmation Club/Clarksville Kennel Club Agility Trial in Murfreesboro, TN, and earned two Novice Jumper legs! A "Q" in Novice Standard still eludes us, but maybe we will get it together and pull it off this coming weekend! I'd love for us to earn her first title here at home! The beautiful ribbons GSP awards would be icing on the cake!

Dodi
Dodi is our official love bug...she loves everyone! But I believe her most favorite human of all is our four year old grandson Colton...he can do no wrong in her loving eyes. Dodi is quick as lightening but has yet to make her agility debut due to a short attention span! However, after working her a little in the backyard on my novice mini-course this morning and afternoon, she may be getting close to ready! I better pack my best pair of running shoes to keep up with this little speed demon! She is also getting ready to give flyball a look to see if that would be something she would enjoy...I'll let you know how it goes!

Freedom
Ahhh....Freedom...sweet little Freedom...what can I say??!! Well, he definitely lives up to his name, Spring Creek's Skyrocket In Flight, and is still very much a puppy! Sometimes this is good, sometimes not so great! He is in that stage where he is so rambunctious, even goofy boy Chopper finds him obnoxious! He spends more time airborne than he does with his feet on the ground. I swear that boy has kangaroo in him somewhere! I regret that he has not gotten the time and attention he deserves...his training is lacking to say the least...something I am hoping to improve upon over the next couple of months...hopefully, we will be home enough to achieve this goal.

Well, that's about it for now! I'll update again after the show and let you know how Chopper and Chevy do at the German Shorthair Pointer Agility Trial. Looks like we'll have the month of September off in terms of AKC agility, so we may have the opportunity to do a little flyball training with Dodi and possibly some Search and Rescue/Tracking with Chopper!
Wiggles, Grins, and Kisses to All!!