Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: rally


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School and camping!

I love to run through tunnels!

I love to run through tunnels!

Katie here. I know! It’s been like forever since my mama let me have her blog to tell you all about me! And as we all know, everything is all about me. Me, me, me, me!

It’s all about me because, as you know, I am the princess. Well, some of you might not know as you are new to my mama’s blog. Just to get you up to speed, I am the center of the universe and once in awhile my mama lets me tell you all about it. I tell her all about it daily. Sometimes hourly. I’m a sheltie you know. We like to talk.

But I digress.

So as most of you are aware, I retired from competition a couple of years ago. I got my CD (Companion Dog) in AKC obedience and I figured that was plenty. Especially because I got my Novice and Advanced titles in Rally too. And mama was all stressed out at work, so we stopped going to school, even though I love school (mostly cause of the treats you know). We never did go get my Excellent Rally title, and mama has always been sort of sad about that.

I didn’t care, because I already know I’m Excellent!

Mama started me up last winter in a nose work class which I loved, loved, loved! All you have to do is sniff a few things and treats arrive from mama’s pocket! It’s the greatest thing since gravy! Then mama and I got all busy with traveling and camping and stuff and we couldn’t make the class. She says we’re going back tonight though! I am stoked! I remember everything about how to do this and I’ll show her that we shouldn’t have ever stopped!

Then, last week we started up another class with my friend who used to come walk me. She’s teaching rally and some agility and some obedience. I’ve been to two classes and mama is amazed that I remember so much! I don’t like to heel, but I never did like that. Mostly I’m having fun getting out and about and seeing people again. Mama is OK, but it’s fun to be told by lots of other people how beautiful and smart I am! I try to look indifferent but secretly I really like it.

Sometimes mama forgets to give me enough attention, you know?

And for even more fun mama and I have slept out in the back yard in her tent the last two nights! It’s been so warm here that we couldn’t resist giving camping one more go before winter sets in. I was very very good and slept straight through the night both nights! I think we get to do it one more time before it gets too cold here. I’m going to miss camping this winter, but if mama keeps me busy with school it will be spring before I know it!

That’s what she says anyway. I’ll believe it when I see it.

So I guess that brings you up to date with me. I know you’ve been wondering. I’ll let you know if we decide to do any competition for Rally or Nose Work. I think I’d nail it.

What do you think?

Hurry up mama! It's time for school!

Hurry up mama! It’s time for school!


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The princess gains a new title

Katie here.   Mama says she is just too exhausted to explain everything that happened when I got my new title yesterday.  So I guess it’s up to me.  Geeze.  I have to do everything around here!  Besides, my view is the accurate version of the day.  No matter what anyone else says.  Because I’m the princess.

So anyway, Mama never got anything in the mail about what time stuff started, or how many dogs were entered, so we didn’t know when to get to the big event.  It was a HUGE show, about an hour away, where they had conformation dogs, and people in fancy clothes running around in circles with dogs who had their fur poofed up and hair sprayed.  Huh.  How silly is that!?  I mean, Mama didn’t even poof me up and everyone said I was beautiful.  Except for those people over on the other side of the building with their fancy shelties who were too busy spraying their dogs to notice me wandering around.

We go the the venue at 8 a.m. because that’s when the website said stuff started.  Turns out they were doing stuff already!  But our class wasn’t schedule to run until 1 p.m.!  Mama was a bit peeved, but there was another person from our school already there, so we set up camp next to her and Dad and Mama and I hung out for 5 hours together.  We went on lots of walks, and sometimes I stayed in my crate, but mostly I was content to lay in my Dad’s lap.  That surprised Mama a lot because I’m not a lap dog at all.

Sitting with my Dad

Sitting with my Dad

Finally it was our turn.  By then I wasn’t sure what we were doing there at all.  I figured I was there to judge all the other dogs as they came and went.  Sure were a lot of beautiful dogs and their crazy owners there!  I was getting really sleepy and was all warm and snuggly when suddenly Mama plucked me off of my Dad’s lap and said we were on!  On what Mama?

So we’re hanging out at the gate waiting for our classmate to finish her run, and the registration table is right there and there’s this really big lady sitting there, right next to me, and suddenly she laughed really loud and hysterically and that scares me a lot!  And I jump up and try to get away from her and my Mama is telling me to sit, and the floor is slippery and I can’t sit and that lady is making a bunch of noise and my Mama is talking to me and the whole thing is just too much and then Mama tells me to heel and we’re inside the ring and I don’t want to be there, and the judge lady must be really tired because she asks Mama if we’re ready and I’m still looking over my shoulder and Mama doesn’t even get to ask me if we’re ready to work, and the judge lady says forward before we’re ready and Mama sighs and starts to move.

So.  I figure when Mama moves, I move so I come along too…and that’s when I see it…a lovely jump about half way down the ring!  Well.  You all know how much I love to jump so I start moving faster, fixated on that jump.  I just know Mama wants me to fly over it, to show off all my fur and how beautiful I am.  But then my Mama is sort of pushing into me with her leg and saying Katie…KATIE! and back BACK!, and  then she herds me!  Can you believe it?  Mama is herding ME the herding princess!  She sort of pushes mes into this big circle left and right then I realize….we’re WORKING!  OH!   OK then Mama, why didn’t you say so?  I thought we were just having fun, I didn’t realize we were working!

You all know I take my work very seriously, so from that point on I watched my Mama very carefully and did almost everything she wanted.  OK.  I sat crooked on one part but whatever.  Everybody said I looked beautiful and I don’t think anyone else besides my Mama knows that I was going to take that jump early.  We got either a 94 or a 97, Mama forgot to go read the scores after, she was too happy that the whole thing was over.  We got first place too!  Well…there were only two of us, and the other doggie walked out of the ring in the middle of his run…but still!

I stayed awake all the way home.  Mama says my eyes were closed and my head was bobbing, but I was just resting my eyes.  No sleep allowed for the princess.  Cause I’ve got to do everything around here.

Mama says there will be video once she figures out how to upload it.  Geeze.  Mamas are so slow to learn stuff.  I could probably do it myself, but I don’t want to upstage her.

A princess is always polite.

Resting my eyes at home.

Resting my eyes at home.


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Katie here

Hello everybody!

Hello everybody!

Hey you guys!  I bet you’ve been missing ME.  ME ME ME ME ME ME…oh wait. I get carried away sometimes but you know it’s all about me.  My Mama has been soooooo busy that I hardly ever see her.  And when she comes home from work she’s usually too tired to play.  But I make her play anyway.  She can’t ignore me….not me!  I don’t give up either.  I have an endless supply of toys to drop at her feet.  And while she’s at work I practice the BIG EYES and sharp whine so that I can make her crazy when she finally shows up.

Guess what?  It works!  And for the small fee of a few dog biscuits I can teach all of you doggies the skill set.  Oh wait.  You say you already  have that down?  Well!  Doggies rule!

So anyway….Mama and I are going to do a big dog show this weekend.  On Sunday we’re going to try to get our Advanced Rally title!  Mama says she’s stressed again.  Sigh.  I don’t know why she gets like this.  It’s just another day to spend watching people and doggies do stuff.  I like to go to these, and when we’re in the ring I watch my Mama very carefully.  If she can just read all those crazy signs correctly I promise to do what she asks.  So it’s all up to her.

Me?  I’m just having a good time with my Dad while my Mama is at work.  And I’ve been dreaming about Mama and me going camping next spring.  It’s almost spring, right?  Well it should be.  After all I’m the princess…and I decree it’s almost spring!

Cause it’s all about me.  Yes it is.


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Silly girl

For a little comic relief I present…Katie!

Yes Mama?

Yes Mama?

She and I have a Rally trial coming up this Saturday.  Last night I was telling my husband that I spent my lunch in the car reading the Advanced Rally signs and practicing commands out loud.  I demonstrated for him; “siT! Down! Back!  Circle!  Katie – HEEL!”  He started laughing and pointed behind me.

There was Katie dutifully sitting and downing, all the time cocking her head to one side as if to say “GEEZE Mama, not so fast!  You know you were using your SCHOOL voice!”

And now she tells me if I laugh at her she just might not be so responsive come Saturday.  So I guess I better be more respectful.  Because you never know what a Sheltie is going to do.

You just never know.

You called?

You called?


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Rally report

Mom! Can we get to work yet?

Katie and I survived and she’s pretty full of herself too.  Cause she has a pretty red ribbon to add to her collection.  She thinks she looks particularly good with red.   But of course it’s a much longer story than that.

We arrived early, way too early, again.  Lesson learned.  We were there for 3 hours before it was actually time for me to walk the Advanced course.  By then Katie was pretty much over it, but she waited patiently in her crate for me to go through the course.  There were only two of us in Advanced A; a woman named Kim and her sheltie Mona.   Mona is just the sweetest girl I’ve met in a long time!   Kim and I did the walk through together.  Good thing too, because I fixed something she had a misconception on and she pointed out we had missed station #4 totally the first walk through!

I’ve been working on memorizing the signs and perfecting my footwork all week.  I practiced pivots on my lunch walk yesterday.  I called ‘”come!” and “down!” and “heel!” on my commutes.   I worried about her popping up from downs, following me too fast when she was supposed to stay.  I worried about forgetting to ask her to sit when I should, or asking her to sit when I shouldn’t.  I worried.

What I didn’t worry about…ever…was her jump.  She loves to jump.  She’ll jump anything…and then she will often turn around and jump it again.  So the fact there was a jump at station 2 was not alarming.  Until she walked around it and then looked at me like ….”What?  You wanted something else?”  So there goes 10 points right off the bat.

I sighed and shook my head and we finished the rest of the course.  Other than a couple of crooked sits she was perfect.  The things I had worried about were beautiful.   She’s something else, she is.

Then we were out of the ring and I told her she was a good girl, which she was.  I think I just wasn’t going fast enough to get her running, and she didn’t realize she was supposed to leave my left leg and go jump.  We watched the other woman in our class do the course and they did great too.

Afterward Kim was excited for me because the score they put up for me was 99.  Her score was 95.  But I knew that wasn’t right, with no jump the best we could get was 90.  So I talked to the steward and at a break we talked to the judge who was grateful that I told her.  I was glad too.

So we ended up in 2nd place of two…but I’m proud of Katie and her score..the judge gave us 90 and I’ll take it!

Katie says it was a long day for a little ribbon…but she’s willing to do it again, and if I give her enough warning she’ll even do the jump!

Maybe.

Mine!


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It’s rally time

Katie here.  Mama says she’s too stressed to write tonight.  But I tried to make her feel better.  Really I did.  It’s not my fault she keeps signing us up for stuff and then gets all freaked out.  Not my fault at all.

I guess I should start at the beginning.  Mama, signed us up for our first leg of Advanced Rally.  Next Friday.  When she signed us up it seemed like a really far away date.  Lots of time to practice.  And stuff.  But now here it is.  And she just got the latest book with all the new signs and she’s freaking out!

But we went to the park today, my Mama and I.  She read the book and we heeled around and around.  I sat when she told me to sit.  I turned when she told me to turn.  I backed up when she told me back.  I did MY job. But it’s HER job to read the stupid signs.  And all those arrows and halt marks get her going good, that’s for sure.  She keeps telling me I need to learn to read real quick, so I can do it right even if she tells me wrong.  I think that’s a silly idea; how’s a dog supposed to read AND execute I ask you?

So we did a lot of signs out of the book.  I was off leash and everything.  I even ignored the chipmunk I heard off in the field.  I debated, but I ignored it.  I figured….Mama with CHEESE  or chipmunk…Mama with CHEESE or chipmunk.  Mama won.  She said I was a good girl and I got two pieces!

But after about 10 gazillion pages of signs I had enough and wanted to play!  After all we were at my park!  So Mama put the leash back on me and we went for a walk for awhile.  I got to sniff lots of stuff.

But pretty soon Mama wanted to finish the rest of the pages of signs.  I thought that was a good idea too, but I let her think it was her idea.  She’s so SLOW though, reading the signs, thinking about it.  I just want to go Go GO!

By the time she finally got to the last sign I was huffing at her.  Enough of all this sitting and downing and sitting and standing and heeling and turning and coming and stopping.  GEEZE Mama!  Can’t you see that I’m PERFECT?

She says we have to practice all the signs every night (except Tuesday when she’s practicing at band) the rest of the week so that we are all set for Friday.

It’s gonna be a long week.


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Contemplating too much

The sidewalk last week.

I got out of the office for about 30 minutes today at lunch.  We’ve been so busy, but it was jean day and I was already wearing running shoes…so no excuses not to get my walk in.  Most of the week I’ve been trapped in my cubicle.

As I walked (with camera of course) I noticed how much the color has faded since my walk earlier this week,and certainly since last week’s walks.

Trees reaching for the last bit of warmth.

Still, it was pretty.

I was thinking about how stressed I am at work, and how busy I am there and outside of work.   I’m headed to Washington next week for a couple of days to do a little truck safety stuff.  And I’ve registered Katie for a Rally trial near the end of the month, a couple of days before the community band’s first concert.

Small groves of trees watch me walk by.

Someone at work, learning I’d be out of the office for a couple of days next week, wanted to know how I did it…he said every time he talked to me I was off doing something else.  And a couple weeks ago Bruce’s uncle asked me if I was doing too much.  Something to think about I guess, and it’s not like I haven’t considered letting some stuff go before.

Walking and thinking.

But still.  All these extras are the joyful aspects of life.  Who could give up that moment during a concert when it all comes together and something beautiful emerges?  So few people get to experience that.

And when Katie sits at attention next to my left ankle waiting expectantly, and moves seamlessly with me as I call “HEEL!”and pivot to the right, all the while grinning at me…well…who wants to give that up?

Trees and clouds shot with the ‘dramatic’ setting.

And the opportunity to go to DC and make a tiny bit of difference, to know your efforts and those of your family and friends have saved lives.  Well.  It’s not possible to give that up.  At all.

Looking for answers.

In the end I finished my short walk with no solution.  It’s not the extras I want to walk away from.  It’s the work that consumes me for so many hours each day.  But I know I have to wait my turn for retirement.  Mom used to tell me that when I complained about work.

Ok.  I’ll wait.  But I’m making a list of stuff I want to do once I have my freedom.  And it’s getting pretty darn long.

Walking toward the future.


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Reality check

Katie and I went to school today.  We’re hoping to enter a Rally Trial at the end of October to start working for her advanced title.  Before we did our practice run this morning I put her in a down and walked the course with our instructor.  Ok.  Maybe a few things to worry about, but as I told Katie just before we begin…”if it goes wrong girl it will be your mama’s fault.”

Mama needs to learn to read better.

And it was.  I was so worried about whether I could send her over a jump while I stayed behind that I skipped two or three stations entirely!  Entirely!  Well that would be a NQ for sure. Plus I misread a sign and didn’t ask her to do a down.  At all.  Katie on the other hand did pretty much everything I asked, including correcting herself on one of her sits.

I myself learned to read when I was quite young.  Just saying Mama.

We’re going to try again at class next week.  Katie thinks I am a total goof.  To make it up to her when we got home we played a rousing game of frisbee.

You want THIS frisbee Mama?

Mostly she just got to run and run and run.

Let’s race! I win!

She’s napping now.  Nothing like a fun class, a good lunch and a good romp.  Yep…it’s a beautiful day in Sheltie land.

Nighty-night. (sigh)