Our Crisp Mas

 Hey, dere everyone, it be me Beckett. I gets to tell you all abouts our Crisp mas. Crisp mas Eve, we wents over to Mums sister's house. The peeps had dinner and then they went out to something called church. Keltic and I stayed back at da house but we gots to have some treats.  Our dog cousin Merle was dere too but he went to stay wid his other cousins when da peeps went to da church thing.

When da peeps got back, they opened dere Crisp mas stockings.  Mums didn't bring ours, she said we'd get to open dem in da morning.

Da peeps sure had lots of stuff in dere stockings, look at all da rapping paper.

We dogs sorta got kinda bored with it all.  And all of us laid down for a winter nap in hopes that Santa Paws would come.

Cousin Merle and Keltic

It's me, Beckett by Mums feet.

Cousin Merle at the foot of the stairs.

Then we went backs to our home to goes to bed and guess what, when we got up in da morning Santa Paws had come and we gots to open up our gifts.

We must have been pretty good this year. We gots new place mats, a bed, toys, and loads of treats, although Mums said they have to last quite a while.

Beckett and Keltic open their gifts.

After we finished with our gifts, we went back over to Mums sisters house.  Dere is where da peeps were going to open dere gifts. Da littlest peep was already opening some of his gifts so we watched him for a little bit.

He and Keltic liked da bag of paper. I think Keltic thought he was gonna find some good stuff in da bottom of da bag. I'm not sure dat boy will ever learn there is nothin but paper in da bag. 

Da peeps opened lots more gifts and dere was a couple for us too, one from Auntie Julie and one from Merle. We gaved Merle a gift too.

After dey was done opening gifts da peeps ate and talked lots during da day.But da best part of da day was dat Keltic and me gots to have turkey dinner. We had to wait until after da peeps had dere supper but dere was lots so we didn't mind. Mums made us each a plate with mashed taters, apple, sweet potato, turnip and carrots, turkey with gravy on top. What a swell Crisp mas!

At de end of the night, Mums packed up our car and we went home. I sure was glad to get in my bed after such a long day.

Keltic and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

And the Stockings were hung...

Merry Christmas to One and All!

Da Tree in da House

Hey dere everyone, it's me, Keltic. Mums brought a tree in da house agin this week. She broughts it home wid her when she came home from work one day. She putted us out in da backyard until she gots it set up in da livinroom.

The tree was kinda wet seeing as how it was raining outside but Mums still poured water into da stand at da bottom. I tooks a drink from da stand but Mums said I got to leave it alone.  She didn't do nuthin to it that night. The next night she putted the star and lights on da tree and then putted the tree in da corner. She gave it more water too, sure does drink a lot dat tree.

Last night, since it was Friday, Mums decorated da tree. She played Christmas music while she put da decorations on. She takes a long time puttin on the decorations. Some is very special. Dere is one for each of us fur kids, me and Beckett, da old guy Tucker and de other furkids I has only heard about Duffy, Gryffon and Ceilidh. Dere is also special one for her Mum and Dad.  Mum's Dad, I never met, he is at da Bridge with Duffy, Gryffon, Ceilidh and Tucker. I did met Mum's Mum when we goes on vacation. She lives in a home and when we goes to see her we has to stay in her room or our leashes.  But back to decorating da tree, Mums says its kind sad decorating da tree, a happy kind of sad. Me and Beckett just finds it kinda boring. Once Mums finished with all da special ornaments, she putted berries,an ribbons, an tinsel, an snowflakes and icicles dat don't melt, they be made of glass on da tree to fill in all da bere spots and to make it all twinkly.

So dere you has it da tree is all decorated and it won't be long now for Santa Paws arrives. I has tried to be a good boy dis year.

Today Mums tooks some pictures of us with da tree in our Christmas collars. We didn't want to sit nicely though so Mums said it was okay to lie down.

Mums liked da last picture of us so she said we was done and gave us a cookie for staying for the pictures even though as you can see we dids get a little bored with the flashy thing.

We hopes everyone has a very nice Christmas and dat Santa Paws is good to you all.

Lots of Licks from me Keltic and from Beckett too.

Mish Mash Monday

ATChC Triadics Glenciaran Beckett ADC, SGDC, AADC, AGDC, MJDC, MSDC, MGDC, MADC, MSCDC, Ex Bronze Std, Ex Bronze Jumpers, Ex Bronze Steeplechase, Bronze, VBA, with his latest title - Masters Team Relay Dog of Canada (MTRDC).

Agility Review

We did three trials between 24 Oct and 9 Nov. In the first two trials, neither Beckett or Keltic managed to Q. That's a bit unusual for us, I usually have the odd trial where we don't Q but not normally at two trials back to back. Anyway, not going to review those trial runs.  Except to say that Keltic was bang on in some parts of our runs and a little s***head in other parts. He's back to not wanting to weave or to do tires and he's started to pull at my pant legs when he gets frustrated. I think with him we are going to finish the trials we've entered and take a bit of a hiatus. We'll go back to agility classes in January to work on some of the basic skills.

This last weekend we were at AARF on both days of the trial so Beckett could run Steeplechase and so Keltic could run in both Starters and Advanced. Saturday, Keltic had only one run, Starter Standard, what a mistake. I should have put him in one of the Starter Games for an "exhibit only" run as he was just wild in the Standard. He broke his start line, refused the tire and went in the wrong end of the tunnel which was only obstacle 5; then when we got to the A-frame he just flew off. I put him back on twice and both times he did another flying leap. We left the ring then with him tugging on my pant leg.  Beckett had Steeplechase and two Master Standard runs.  In the first run, a Master Std, we had a very nice 5 fault run; Beckett missed the contact on his A-frame.  But I was a bit worried as in the Steeplechase course you needed to do the A-frame twice. Beckett is fast enough that he can make up 5 faults in Steeplechase but we can't usually make up 10.  Beckett was just great in the Steeplechase running down well into the yellow contact zone. We only had one little spin and since there are no refusals in Steeplechase it didn't matter, it was a clean run, well under time. That was Beckett's 25th Steeplechase Q and so he earned his Bronze Expert Steeplechase and since it was his third bronze expert title, he also earned his Bronze Versatility title. Beckett finished the day with a Master Standard Q.

Steeplechase - Nov 2014 

Beckett - Bronze Expert Steeplechase Run

The next day, Keltic had two runs, Advanced Jumpers and Advanced Gamblers. The Advanced Jumpers was pretty tough. The Special and Veteran dogs ran first on Sunday and when Keltic entered the ring as the second regular dog no one had yet Q'd.  We didn't Q either but had a beautiful run until the last obstacle that dreaded tire where Keltic ran underneath incurring 20 faults for a non-completion. Only three dogs in the whole event got a Q. For Keltic's Advanced Gamblers, we worked on contacts and tires in our opening, we had enough points to Q but Keltic wouldn't get out to the far jump of the main gamble.  I was much happier with his performance on Sunday than I was with Saturday's run so he got his hot dog reward. Beckett had two runs too, a Master Standard and a Master Snooker. He didn't Q in either of them but we had already achieved what I wanted so I told him we could have fun. His Snooker was nice run but in the close I couldn't get to the end of a straight tunnel fast enough to give him direction and he started spinning so we were faulted for a refusal and whistled off.

Advanced Jumpers - Nov 2014

Keltic - Advanced Jumpers Run

We have two more trials this month and then it will be a bit of a break until after Christmas. I love agility but the break will be nice.

Beckett Loves Bronze!

Happy Halloween

I carved two pumpkins this year to add to the fake carved foam electric pumpkins that I have.  The two I did this year are of a scary jack-o-lantern and flying bats. I think that they turned out quite well.

Have a spooky but safe Halloween, don't let the ghoulies get you!

Wordless Wednesday

Soldier Killed at War Memorial

Happy Thanksgiving

One Lovely Blog Award

The rules of the “One Lovely Blog Award”:

1. You must thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.

2. You must list the rules and display the award.

3. You must add 7 facts about yourself.

4. You must nominate 15 other bloggers and comment on one of their posts to let them know they have been nominated.

5. You must display the award logo and follow the blogger who nominated you.

I would like to thank Chase for nominating us; we're so excited, it's our first award.

I'll add facts about me, Beckett and Keltic since the blog is about all of us.

1) I'm (Helen) the oldest of six children, five girls and one boy.

2) Beckett has one dew claw; the breeder missed removing it, he was such a wiggly puppy.

3) Keltic likes to have his tummy rubbed.

4) Keltic goes absolutely crazy mad when he sees squirrels.

5) I've been told that Beckett's tail looks like it has a white hair extension; it kinda does as the white is only to one side.

6) Both Beckett and Keltic love sweet potato chips.

7) Keltic doesn't like to ride in the car and I have to trick him to get him on leash when he knows we're going in the car.

My nominations but I don't have 15 so I'll just nominate those I enjoy and follow (you do not have to reciprocate):

4 Dog Craziness

Cowspotdog

Lassiter Chase and Benjamin the Shelties

Mitch and Molly

Pippa Sheltie

Sara's Blog

Seaside Shelties

Susie and Sidebite

Yvonne's Shelties

Wordless Wednesday

Mish Mash Monday

My sisters and me at the National Air Force museum for the dedication of this year's Ad Astra stones, including one for our father.

Beckett - Award of Merit!!!!

This past weekend Beckett got his Bronze Award of Merit at a Morning Star Dog Academy trial. The title is granted to a dog that has earned ten qualifying scores in the Master Standard event and twenty-five qualifying scores in the Masters Games events. That might not sound like a lot but first you have to get into Masters and then you have to earn your Agility Trial Champion (ATChC) title as the Award of Merit is a post-ATChC award. Some people earn it faster than we did that's for sure but most of them trial a lot more than us and their Q rate is probably better than ours. After being injured this past spring I didn't think we would see this goal being reached this year but Beckett got three Master Standard Q's out of  four Standard events. That's much better than our average Q rate which I would estimate is about 20% to 30% even less for Master Gamblers.

This was the course that gave Beckett his 10th Master Std Q, he already had the 25 Games Q's. It wasn't the prettiest of runs, I wasn't sure we had even Q'd as out of the chute Beckett headed to the tire (obstacle 10) and I had to call him back for the teeter. I wasn't sure if we had been called either for a refusal or for not having a good line to the teeter. The rest of the course ran quite well. I worried about the tunnel (obstacle 14) after the dog walk, I thought Beckett might spin too much and get a refusal, but he was good. He did one spin off the dog walk and then scooted right into the tunnel. Unfortunately, you'll have to trust me on how it went as only half of the run is on the video; the person who was videoing the run tried to zoom and accidentally shut off the video. The next Standard run was a train wreck, one refusal, one knocked bar and an off course so thankfully we already had the Q for the title. I should say the two titles as with this one Q, he also earned his Expert Bronze Standard title for the 10 Std Q's.

Beckett - Master Std 3 (the first half)

We also did two Master Snooker runs. The first one I thought was our best chance for getting a Q but Beckett knocked a bar in the closing and so we were out before we had enough points. Snooker is so unforgiving that way; as soon as you fault in the close you're done and there are many ways to be whistled off in the opening too.

The next Snooker was quite a difficult course. When I walked the course, I decided we were just going in to have fun so I didn't focus on my plan as much as I normally would have. I didn't think that I could get to the end of the straight tunnel in time to get him to the tire without having him start to spin on me. Just before I went in to run, I changed my plan and decided I would just run to the tire and cross behind him on the landing side of the tire. So with that I got him through obstacle 4 then in the few seconds until the first jump of obstacle 5, I had to recall what direction to take 5a. Luckily my memory didn't fail me; it was a lucky thing that while walking the course another competitor thought the jump was numbered incorrectly so we had taken a last look at the course map. I also wasn't sure about which way to take obstacle 7, the combination obstacles are usually multi-directional in the opening but as numbered in the close but I just did what seemed right and waited for the whistle which didn't come. We had enough points after 6 to Q so it wasn`t a big risk. Another Q for Beckett, he now needs only two more Master Snooker Q's for his Bronze Expert in that event.

Beckett - Master Snooker Q

The day before Keltic also had a good day at a More Dogz Starter and Advanced trial. While he didn`t get a Starter Standard Q, he did get an Advanced Snooker Q in his first time out in that event at the Advanced level.  

I did, red jump, frame, red jump, obstacle 6 (jump, tunnel, jump), red jump and obstacle 6 again before starting the close. Keltic missed his weave entry so we were whistled out then but we already had enough points to Q. 

Overall another awesome agility weekend and the weather was beautiful too. The only down side was that it was my last weekend before going back to work after 5 weeks off. 

Awesome Agility Weekend

We went to Paws 4 Fun Agility's first trial this past weekend. They are a new club in the area and are located only about an hours drive from my house. They also host the K9 Kup that Keltic and I take part in, This is their first year at this location, last year they used fields that belonged to another club for the K9 Kup so they didn't host any sanctioned competitions. I wasn't sure about entering this trial as we were just getting back from our vacation and neither Beckett or Keltic had done any agility in weeks, nearly a month for Keltic. I thought they might be absolutely crazy.

Saturday was Advanced and Starter events. I entered Keltic in Advanced Gambler, Starter Standard and Starter Snooker. First up was Advanced Gambler, I thought this run would be just to give Keltic a run where he could just blow off some energy. Surprisingly he ran well and although he didn't do the mini gamble, he did the final Gambler, where he had to get out to a jump, stay out to take a tunnel and then on to a final jump. It was his first Advanced Gamblers Q.

The next run was the Starter Std, I thought he had missed all of his contacts, the little monkey made no effort what so ever to slow down when I said target. It turned out that he had at least touched every contact zone. The only faults he had was for getting off the table. Something caught his attention when he got on the table and he just had to get off and sniff. He did get the best run for all regular dogs in this event as he had the fewest faults.

Next was the Starter Snooker, Keltic needed a Q in this run for his Starter Games title. I planned a course that used all four reds and was fairly smooth and I just hoped he wouldn't take down any bars. We did the first red and I got him in the tunnel. The judge was standing near the end of the tunnel, I think that helped Keltic get a little better line for the next jump. I told him to target on the dog walk and this time the monkey leaped off. The rest of the course ran really nice. The dog walk was the last obstacle of the close, I hoped that he would hit the yellow, if he didn't we would be one point short for a Q. This time Keltic was a good boy and slowed down when I told him to target and waited until I gave him his release to get off the dog walk.

Keltic - Starter Snooker Q

We had to wait until the next day to get our title ribbon as the club forgot to bring the box with the title ribbons to the field. I was okay with that since I was back on Sunday for Beckett's runs.

I told Beckett that he had to live up to his little brother but Beckett had other ideas and wasn't about to let Keltic show him up. Beckett's first run was a Standard, it wasn't very pretty. I had changed shoes from the day before and they didn't have a lot of grip on the wet grass. As a result, I got behind Beckett a couple times so he started spinning but luckily each time he did we had enough space to get him set up again for the next obstacle without incurring any refusals. Pretty or not it was a Q, the course was 172 yards and the course time was 59 seconds and Beckett ran it in 46.51. 

The next run was another Standard. This one ran really nice. There were places where I could have done a better job in handling. Before the dog walk I called Beckett in a bit too hard and the front cross before the A-frame was late but both times Beckett saved me. This course wheeled a 177 yards with a course time of 61 seconds. Beckett ran the course in 40.32 seconds. Two runs, two Q's, one last run to go.

The last run was a Masters Snooker. We like Snooker but it is very unforgiving in the close anyway, as soon as you fault you're done. But in the opening there are no refusals so we can try things that I wouldn't do in a Standard course. I planned for Beckett a course with two sets of weaves in the opening so we started on the far side and did obstacle 3 then the back red to the weaves, then the red jump near the 7 obstacle and back to the weaves then on to the close. It ran great. Beckett did the course I had planned in 48.92 seconds getting 45 points. You need to accumulate at least 40 points in a 55 seconds to Q.

What a weekend! Six runs, five Q's, five best runs! Keltic got his first title and with a five fault Std, his second agility title looks like it won't be too far away. Beckett now only needs one more Standard Q for his Bronze Expert Standard title and for Bronze Award of Merit. Looking forward to this weekend.