Disasters - but minor!

I had hoped to have good news, but despite lovely conditions, Hokey and I muffed up a turn and failed our TDX test in Cleveland. I was crushed since it is so hard to get into a test, we started well and he was working just great. Still these things happen. No passes at all.
We were late alternates the previous weekend and are again this coming weekend, so no more tries for a while. With every entry I send I add a prayer that Hokey will still be feeling fine IF we get in.

This trip was not that fun except for the actual test. The Cleveland folks are wonderful and the site was great. The drive out and most of the drive home were in pouring rain. On the way home I ended up in the post football game Buffalo traffic. This slows things way down - as in 10 miles in 30 minutes plus you have to beware plenty of drunk drivers. Not fun!

Halfway home I also started itching and quickly realized I had bed bug bites from my motel stay! ARRGH!!! This meant doing laundry literally as I walked in the door at 9 pm and spraying my bag, car, etc. Kate keeps telling me I will find this funny at some point. I am not sure I will live long enough!
Deb E

From Hokey:
Yeah, we blew it. I had visions of my double cheeseburger dancing through my head and then suddenly there was fabulous deer poop - like everywhere! Kind of lost it a bit. But I am sure we will pass soon!

Hokey's "official photo" & a great present

We got the digital file for Hokey's official CDX title photo today - Kurtis Photography. I figure he looks great and the judge and I at least look decent!

Hokey is also lucky to be part of a very supportive family - the Sensation Terv family. We got accolades from all his relatives. Then, today, from his favorite sister, T, Hokey got a GREAT toy! He loves the "wubbas". This one is a cute fox and has a great squeak. The one problem will be keeping it away from the other dogs.

Deb E

OH yeah, LOVE my sister T! Her humans are pretty darn nice too :). And their taste in dog toys is fabulous! I consider this to be all mine so I may have to hide it from the other dogs - especially those sneaky Aussies. I feel like the song from the Lion King - "It is good to be king!"

Hokey

Hokey continues on his road to excellence!

On Saturday morning, up in Amherst NY (near Buffalo) the Western Lakes Training Club was holding obedience trials. I drove up the night before and stayed at a Motel 6 with Hokey and Kate's Aussie, Tia. Both dogs were entered in Open A.

In the morning, our judge was Diana McKienzie - lovely woman from Canada. Hokey ended up going first to separate Tian and Hokey. It was not pretty but he was qualifying going into the stays. The dog next to him got up and looked around during the Long Down but then laid back down. He stayed and qualified - finishing his CDX and taking second place!

Tia did her best work ever and was qualifying going into stays as well but laid down with 20 seconds left, so she nq'd. I had told Hokey he never had to do Open again (except next Sunday at Interclub) so he was done! Tia went back in the afternoon and was terrible so she was "removed".

It was great to see a bunch of freinds that I only run into at obedience trials and many, many local friends had great successes. A special tip of the hat to Barb Handelsman who took 4th with her St. Poodle in a very tough Novice B class. This was Barb's first time back in the obedience ring after a 16 year hiatus! And to Pam Cox and Schuyler who pulled off two qualifying runs in Utility A back to back!

Hokey got a double cheeseburger on the way home to celebrate and we had steak yesterday so he got a bunch of that too :). Coming on what is very close to his one year anniversary of his diagnosis of lymphoma, this is even more special. And best of all, he is still feeling fine and in remission.

Deb E

Oh yeah, who, who, who was THE dog?!! Hokey, Hokey, Hokey! Tia fell flat on her face (lying down with 20 seconds to go - how lame!) and *I* was the star! Deb was trying to be cool but she definitely had trouble. Mt double cheeseburger was excellent and the steak yesterday was a nice touch too. Oh, and I got to choose a toy for a prize so I picked out a tiger stripe fuzzy squeaky. It is mine, all mine! Ooooh, and a stunning dark blue and gold title rosette to go along with my red rosette for 2nd place! Yep, I AM the dog!

When my official photo comes in I plan to share it with all of you.

Hokey, now known as Sensation Coyote Heart Dance CDX VST HSAsd RAE AX AXJ XF plus obedience, rally, herding and tracking titles in other venues

Duckling sort of a day

Whew! The ducklings are growing like weeds - or maybe even faster! Today I moved them down to the barn - with an ex-pen in a stall and a cover just in case Firecracker, our barn cat, thought duckling might taste good. He has never bothered the ducks but since these guys don't have a mama duck with them I want to be safe.

I then put them out for about an hour in the smaller pen inside the big duck pen. That way they can become acquainted with the older ducks and vice versa. Since everyone was safely confined, I went off to hang laundry.

When I came back down to move Pip and Squeak back into the barn, I realized that Pip, the tan duckling, had squeezed under the fence in one area and was in with the big ducks! Luckily, no one had gone after him.

The main duck stall inside is smaller than the outside pen so I don't want to mingle them until the ducklings have some more size. Just in case anyone gets territorial!

Never a dull moment!

Deb E

From Hokey - I don't know why she was worried. I LOVE ducks and I would have guarded the babies. (Editorial comment here - he would have, he does love herding the ducks and he is great with them.)

I am working at my obedience. I really like the retrieving and the jumping but the heeling is kind of boring. Deb has promised if I just hold it together one more time at a trial and pass I can stop ever doing this. She says we will work on Utility which is all fun. I hope she is right. I also get a double cheeseburger when I get that last Open A leg!

I track too. We are working on TDX out in the fields and woods which is also fun. I sometimes get distracted in the woods but I am working on it. Deb says when I get my TDX I will get a double cheeseburger AND a steak since that would be my CT (Champion Tracker). Good thing *I* don't feel any pressure!

Busy summer!!!

Boy this has been a busy summer! Making Tom's concerts at Eastern US Music Camp at Colgate University, doing agility and obedience, training in tracking and moving Kate back to Cornell, this time to an apartment with Queezle!
Hokey has continued to do well - even adding his second CDX leg with a first place! Best of all, he feels good and has stayed in remission so far. The end of September will mark one year since his diagnosis.
We have two new family members - Pip and Squeak - ducklings who hatched here. Unknown sex, but they "seem" like boys to me! Pip is the tan one and Squeak is the multi colored one. They are growing daily but at two weeks of age are still too small to join the adult ducks. No female claimed them so they are living in the back room at this time :)

I am now writing three examiner.com columns - Utica Dog, Utica Pet Health and a national Belgian Breeds. Subscriptions are free - just hit the subscribe button on the top of the columns if you want to.

Some days are golden

I am behind - I know! But I am still smiling as I go back to June 12. I was in Burlington, Vermont, heading for the campus of the University of Vermont. It was about 6 pm & I had Hokey with me. We were going to the draw for the VST (Variable Surface Tracker) test - the toughest competition within AKC.

What happened is here below:
I will try to go over the track to give you all as much info as possible. I have
one copy of the map (from Mike) & the writing is atrocious plus my mind blanked
out a bit but I will try :)))

Draw was at 7:45 pm & we had gorgeous huge clematis blossoms with the numbers
taped to the bottom. Must be a hybrid as my clematis doesn't look like that! OH,
and they had food from 6 pm on - chips, cookies, pizza, fruit, drinks. We got
track 3.


Dog 3 - us! Right off the bat there is an error as this says 667 yds & I KNOW it
had to be at least 6000 :)). We started at 9 pm, still a little natural light. I
did not use my headlamp.
The first leg was about 30 yds on grass, then a small dirt path, then grass,
then some sort of nonveg (either cement or brickwork, these were interchanged
frequently on campus).
As we started on our track, a large group of people who had been at some sort of
award thing started coming out of the bldg we were headed towards. All walking
more or less across our path. Hokey did accost one or two over their bouquets
:)))
First turn went right on the nonveg area & was fairly short. Then a turn down a
double set of stairs (all of this nonveg - cement or brickwork). That may have
been my MOT turn.

Hokey started out gangbusters & did this first third of the track in about 5
min. NOT ideal. As I was flying down the stairs I kept thinking that if we were
wrong we would quickly be beyond the chance of fixing things. At the bottom of
the stairs was article number 1 - a crushed tin can. Major relief!!! This was on
nonveg. I could hear the judges & gallery running (literally) after us!

Shortly after the article, a left turn (done on nonveg). We now had a leg with
multiple changes of cover - grass, cement, brickwork, paved area, dirt, mulch.
Hokey had checked out to the right thoroughly & at one point acted like article
search but went back to work.

We were working along a bldg & headed towards a cement patio & another bldg. He
was back to trucking all through here. Turned right before the patio - a short
leg on grass. Then turned left at the end of the bldg into another multi cover
change leg which had the next article midway (on grass). This was a leather
glove which worried me as that meant the last article would be plastic. It was
now dark & cooler so spotting it might be difficult & less scent due to the temp
change.

That leg ended with grass to a road which we crossed & then onto sidewalk up to
a bldg & a right turn. He had trouble there, but worked it out. The track then
went around the bldg, so now a left turn. This put me in a dark area on all
grass.

Now I am VERY worried about the stupid article as I know neither of us will spot
it. Still Hokey trucks on, working quite fast (which also worries me)down the
hill on grass, crosses a road & onto a sidewalk. I thought I could spot
something shiny under a lamp post off to the side on the grass but Hokey was
cruising down the middle of the sidewalk. And suddenly there was a plastic cover
(like for a dog food can). Hokey sniffed it & before he could even sit the
judges & gallery came running up! 30 min total.

Everyone was so excited :))). Two dogs later, my friend with a Bullmastiff also
passed. So two out of six. She also does not have a TDX yet, so no CTs.


The night ended at 1:30 am. We got a large rosette, a photo frame, a cute
notepad made up by the club - "things to keep track of" & a big toy. Plus a
basil plant.

Hokey got roast beef back at the car after his track. Then there was an all
night McDonald's right by the Motel 6 so at 1:30 am he got a double
cheeseburger. We are having steak tonight :)))

For those who may not know – Hokey was diagnosed with a very aggressive lymphoma last September. He is currently about 9 weeks post chemo so this victory was even sweeter! Hokey is now officially Sensation Coyote Heart Dance CD VST HSAsd RAE AX AXJXF & lots of other rally & agility titles.
Deb E, still grinning :)))
PS Both Lisa (with Bullmastiff who passed) & I were entered at SOTC in obed - we decided we
were very glad we went tracking instead!
PPS The photo was taken on June 19th at a tracking clinic that both judge Mike Clemens & I were at. it wasn't ideal for photography at 1:30 am!

Working that nose!

Hokey and I have been working hard at tracking. Actually HE works hard - I try not to get in the way!

For tracking, the dog follows a path walked by another person anywhere from 12 to 5 hrs earlier. Along the way, they leave a couple of items which your dog must find. Dogs love the sport as they are in control - after all, they have the great noses! They work on a long line (up to 40 ft) and we humans simply follow behind.

All of our dogs love tracking. Dani, my older Terv, has her Champion Tracker title as does my daughter Kate's older Corgi. while they did their top tracking as older dogs, puppies and young dogs love to track too as it is a natural behavior.

Hokey is working towards passing his VST or Variable Surface Tracking title. He has to work on nonvegetated surfaces (so blacktop, pavement, cement, etc) as well as grass and often in and around buildings. This is difficult and so far only about 220 dogs ever have passed this test in AKC.

Last weekend we were at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass but had no luck. Hokey started strong but got muddled up partway through. I do have to wonder if his snuffling at the broken vodka bottle along the way was a factor :).

This coming weekend we will be at the University of Vermont in Burlington, VT. This was a fun test last year even though it rained and I had no passes. Lovely campus.

The photo, taken by Ed Presnall, shows Hokey working at a training camp on the SUNY Geneseo campus in upstate, NY.

From Hokey:
Man, I LOVE to track! Sniffing is fun & when you find articles, Deb gives me great treats in training! I love to eat too! I don't understand why I have not passed yet - I guess I get distracted or something. I hope I am a BIG star this weekend & then I can get steak treats for a WHOLE Week!!!