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The Dynamo Dogs are ready to perform this coming Saturday Sept 15th. There'll be two shows that day - with great fun for dog lovers of all ages!
Click here for full information.
And then come on down!
It'll put a smile on your face as big as this one!
This weekend the Dynamo Dogs will wow the crowds with their fast flying antics at the RAINMAKER RODEO!
Click here to see the complete Rainmaker schedule of FUN! Just look for wherever it says:
"Dynamo Dogs presented by Tudor Glen Veterinary Hospital".
We'll be in the parade on Saturday morning too!
Just one question....
Why is this gentleman dressed this way?
Gotta come to Rainmaker to find out..... Hope to see you there 🙂
UPDATE as of morning of May 26th.... Another Question:
What are these strange things?
So we were off to Nationals today. Kirstin and I flying together from Edmonton to Hamilton, Ontario, with our 6 dogs (Kirstin is running Euro and Beckham and bringing Radical Rabbit along for the ride); and I am running Dart, Havoc, and Fysti. 
Kirstin and I ended up getting to the Edmonton airport for our flight a little late, always takes longer than I think it will 🙂 so it was a bit of a rush, but everything seemed to be in our favour; from no one having time to "weigh" any of our kennels or bags; to the security guard who pulled us from waaaayyyyy back in the security line all the way to the front, so she could "swab us"; to the person in security who let Kirstin keep her dog nail clippers because the security guard was also dog friendly; and onto the airplane, where we were so late that rather than making us go to the back, to our assigned seats in a crowded section, they let us sit up in the front in an empty section, so we had lots of leg room. There was even a movie on the plane that we actually wanted to watch!
Our good fortune continued when we landed, with incredibly helpful and nice folks at the Hamilton airport. There is a reason we flew into Hamilton! No trouble getting the van, or with any of our bags, or picking up Teri from the next flight coming in.
We did have a bit of trouble figuring out the map that we got from the person at the airport, so I have to admit we passed by Burlington, once, twice, three times on the 2 hour drive (well turned into 3 hour drive :- ) ) to Barrie, but it was a beautiful day for a drive, and we weren't in a hurry anyway.
The hotel is great, with indoor AND outdoor pool, great grass area in the back, a restaurant right in the hotel, helpful staff, and we don't have to navigate stairs or elevators to get to our room... the room even has a balcony.
So here we are, tired but feeling pretty good about the trip so far... we just need to find some food for the dogs tomorrow, and figure out exactly when we are supposed to be onsite at Nationals.
The contact training is coming along well. Havoc is in the process of retraining her Frame. Of course retraining can be problematic and we don't have consistent access to a Frame to practice, so it is a work in progress, but she is coming.
Teri is working on Pryme's running Frame and Dogwalk, and smack it down teeter 🙂 and Kirstin is teaching Radical a running Frame and a 2 on 2 off Dogwalk and Teeter.
Havoc is really coming into her own, and trying to really read my handling on course. She has set the time for 26" regular in her last two Challenge courses (which were also her 1st two challenges courses). Even though there are still times when for just a moment I am late, or she is overly eager to try to figure it out on her own, those mistakes always come because she is trying too hard, and never because she is not trying enough.
We were also entered in the last UKI Masters Final Series Qualifier, and Havoc took top 26" dog in both the Standard and the Jumpers run for Top 26" dog overall in the Qualifier. What a good girl! Here she is navigating one of the recent Challenge courses.
Some days I really wonder why we are doing this thing we call agility.
So last night was agility drop in night at the arena on the other side of the city... The unattached equipment trailer was still sitting in front of my house, because we had discovered that pulling it was literally pulling my van apart, so the hitch had been removed from my vehicle...
As drop in time grew closer I began to realize that the person who was tasked to come and pick up the equipment trailer and take the equipment to practice, was not going to be showing up. No answer on cell phone. Hmmmm. Scramble to look for another way to pull the trailer to practice. Found a vehicle, now to go out and hook it up. Starting to get chilly out. As I backed up the borrowed vehicle I realized that the trailer was too low for the hitch, no problem - it was already on a Jack. Hmmmmm. The person who had unhooked it had not left the handle of the jack so there was no way to actually jack it up. Have to find another jack. Time is ticking. Getting colder out.
Found another jack and after threw it under the hitch. Pieces of that jack were missing as well so I had to rig something together but after a couple of failed attempts I finally got it high enough to hook up. The block that it was sitting on was frozen solidly into the road in about an inch of ice (keeps thawing and freezing here) so I leave just it there.
Finally on the way! Sent Kirstin ahead in her little car to tell people that I was coming with the equipment. Got to the practice turnoff road. There was Kirstin in a snow bank. Some guy with a big rig had not given up enough road so Kirstin had pulled over a wee bit too much and got caught by the snow. I stopped to help her out, and blocked the road, so the two vehicles behind my couldn't get up the driveway eithor (subtle way of making people stop and help 🙂 ). We tried to push but it was sheet ice under two tires, and 4 feet of snow around the other two tires. Someone behind me offered to try to tow it out. So I got out of the way and continued to the arena to unload.
Unloaded, no problem, YEAH! Except that my cleats finally gave up the ghost and seperated right from my toe to my heel, so my snow covered feet (from trying to push out Kirstin's vehicle) were a wee bit chilly. The borrowed vehicle had some duct tape. YEAH! Tape up the shoes and ready to go. Still no Kirstin. Turned out the guy trying to pull her out had only gotten her deeper into the snow, which was now up to her hood. Found someone with a tractor and sent them out to pull her out. Now to go unhook the trailer so I could practice. Biting cold wind now. Yeah.
I get the trailer out of the arena and to the parking spot, only to realize that I have no block to put the jack on. Hmmmm. So I use the wooden yardage markers for around the agility field to put the jack on, and start jacking it up. It keeps catching on the hitch, and will not lift enough. So a couple of people get on the back and start to jump up and down to take the weight off the front. It works, it comes up enough to get off the hitch, and off the jack, and I realize that the whole trailer is heading downway fast toward my leg. I managed to just pull my leg out of the way as the trailer hitch crashed to the ground inches away. Hmmmm. Time to practice.
So, not much else can go wrong. Well, turns out they are changing out the heating system in the arena, so the biting cold of outside is also the biting cold of the arena. Great. There is a heated room in the entrance, so I hang out there, and take off my shoes for 15 minutes so I can feel my toes again. NOW time to practice! Hmmmm, looks like while I was unhooking the trailer the dogs got into all the treats, so I now have fat dogs and no treats. Awesome.
Borrow some treats and a frisbee. Havoc first. Try simple stuff because I am not in the mood at this point to get things wrong. We have been working on "tight" wraps, so I put two jumps side by side about 6 feet apart. Over one, back over two. Over one, back over two. Send over one "tight" and despite the potential for pattern training, and the closeness of the second jump, Havoc figures it out and comes between! YEAH!
Dart's turn, she is perfect as always.
End with Fysti. She is very frustrating at this stage of training, because she is loves to offer but hasn't figured out that it is a team sport, or what the heck I am doing out there with her. But, to push my training, I have her entered her in a trial next weekend; just a few runs because her weaves are still problematic. But tonight I decide to see what I have gotten myself into, and how bad the jumpers class is likely to be on the weekend. So I decide to work on some jumping sequences, and see whether I can get three sequencial obstacles. 🙂 Lo and behold the lightbulb goes on in Fysti's head and she suddenly realizes that what I am showing her is the path I want her to take! She jumps she turns, she pulls through, she does serps, she pulls off the wrong end of a tunnel and sends 20 feet into the right end. My little girl is growing UP! Yahoo! It might be a disaster next weekend, but I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and with some more time, some weaves and a decision about our contact performance expectations, I may have another agility dog! Good thing I entered her in Regionals in two months, time to get in some more training!
Suddenly all the other stuff is worth while, just to get to that agility practice and finally GET that agility connection with my dog.
Well we are 0 for 2. It is amazing that I can be so sad for something that I never had in the 1st place. God’s way of telling me that I should be out working my dogs and not playing with puppies. Time to get training! Darn snow.
So tomorrow is the big day... we find out whether they are chunky because they are chunky or they are chunky because there is something in there. Here are pics from today ... what do you think?
Yes or No, and if yes ... how many? Anyone who is right one gets a prize 🙂
Well, the Ultrasound for both Havoc and Fysti is scheduled for March 16, so that will be the day we find out for sure. Havoc is definately looking a little thicker around the middle but it is only 2 1/2 weeks, so ... Fysti is really is impossible to tell anything with all that hair, and the chunkiness of a long, cold winter.
Last time Havoc couldn't even get up at the end cause the pups were so big, and there were so many of them, so this time I was determined to work her like crazy to keep up that muscle tone, but the -37 degree days, and snow and ice that never seem to be letting up are making it difficult.
Yesterday I just left the front door open and kept throwing a frisbee down the short hall and out the door into the front yard. The dogs would all pile out and Havoc would grab the frisbee from the snow, with Fysti nipping at her and the frisbee, and Dart a safe distance back barking like a banshee, and everyone getting covered in white snow like frosted cupcakes. Then Havoc would leap back into the house with the Shelties on her tail, drop the frisbee in the hall expectantly, and wait me to throw it again. Fun for everyone, but a whole pile of snow in the hall by the time we were done! 🙂
Hmmm, Havoc does look a little thicker about the middle. But is that because there are pups in there, or is it because we ran out of raw, so for the past couple of days she has been eating salmon steaks and spagetti? 🙂 Harder to tell with Fysti, because she is both hairy and rather chucky to start with.
I am leaning toward an ultrasound for both of them, which can be done at about a month (in about two weeks). If neithor one still looks promising at that point it will help rule out the one pup hiding scenario, even if Havoc has "shown" herself at that point it will still help to know numbers.
Seanna