Crate Config

With Ike gone, we revamped the crate configuration in the Element. Now everyone is in separate crates and there are three on the platform instead of two. We have the entire under platform and area behind the passenger seat for gear and packing. This makes life a LOT easier. Click on photos for  notes/labels of where everyone fits.

Weaving & Scratching

 Eden is now learning how to do "proper" weaves, aka, no luring ;-) We are using the 2x2 method and it's going really well now that I'm staying consistently working on it. She has one straight set of poles and one angled set and is doing it happily and quickly while looking ahead.

We also had a family "Scratch Off". We were challenged to teach all five dogs in five days to dig on command. At least 4 scratches in three seconds. We succeeded! Of course, we turned it into a competition.... ;-)

Eden was tricky to teach this to. Everyone else (except Eden and Limit), learned how to scratch by finding food under a towel and trying to get at it with their feet. Eden just laid down to chew through the towel! LOL So, I switched to the lid in the video and propped it up on myself and then had her jump into it and slide down - marking for feet movement, it went pretty fast that she needed to do *something* with her feet when I set it down but it took a couple of sessions before she figured out what. By the end she was enthusiastically digging on command and making really hilarious groaning noises :-D She makes me smile!

Brief Park Trip

Still hot, humid, disgusting. The dogs have been cooped up for too long so we took them to the park to run. No toys or food or anything to *make* them want to run, just let them go until they got too hot and then we packed back up and headed home into the a/c.

She's so precious to me :-)

She does enjoy a good roll!

Full pack photo fail.

Our girls :-)

With Kastle:

With Finn:

The rest of the pics are HERE.

Trip North

It was so hot at my parents' when we went for our visit that the pups mostly did this under the shade trees with the humans:

Corgi comparison! Poppy's bone structure is just so much heavier than Eden's.

Tugging with Kastle - she is holding the end with the smallest knot on it - she makes me laugh! :-)

Eden is in Charge

...even if she is the smallest.

Corgi Naptime

They are so darling!

Family Photos

I need to stop trying for group shots LOL They are always a disaster! It was extremely hot, extremely humid and I waited as late as I could for it to cool off and still have sunlight.

The outtakes...

The keepers.

Tug Time

Eden has started to enjoy tugging just for the sake of tugging - including tugging with Kastle, which is soooo cute!

The rest of that cuteness is HERE.

Also, Eden now has another little brother - an Australian Kelpie, named Limit:

She's enjoying playing with him while he's shorter than her!

Dremel!

Getting back into the habit of dremeling the dogs' nails. I used to do it with my other dogs and have failed to get into it with Eden and Kastle. Then, when I decided it was time, the Dremel battery was dead, not available to buy in any store. Well, it finally came in the mail so I got down to it this week. I'm very pleased with how lovely they look.

Eden has the cutest cankles!

Lure Coursing Title!

Eden earned the third and final leg of her CA title (lure coursing aptitude test) this morning! Not that I am surprised at all :-)

Last ribbon needed! :-)

ETA: Her certificate came!

RPM Flyball Tourney Day #2

Singles again for Eden today, she was nervous. The dog she was supposed to be racing (Stewart) did not show up so she was allowed to run against a "courtesy dog", a teammate's dog that she is familiar with. You can see in the video, she gets nervous in between the jumps where the dog from Friday crossed into her but then she realizes it is Phoebe and gets *very* happy. It was wonderful and I was so thankful! :-D She ran her best races today...now I really do need to work on her start times because they're the only thing keeping her from being sub-8! :-D I remember hoping I could get her sub-9 seconds haha Love this little girlie and her heart of gold!

And Di's amazing husband, Ash, got some pics of her too!

RPM Flyball Tourney

Eden ran singles at the RPM flyball tournament in Hastings, MI today. She was feeling pretty spry until her second race when the other dog crossed over and physically dominated Eden's space, not allowing her to continue her run. The dog did not leave until my box loader came and got into her space (thanks Becky!) and Eden felt safe enough to run back to me. She tried to run the next time but the dog crossed early again and Eden totally wilted. I was really, really upset but kept an up-beat, happy tone so that Eden would not think anything was amiss. When she creeped back to me, I took the advice of the sideline judge and ran with her so that she could succeed and end on a happy note while Mom was there to protect her. Poor little Eden :-(

Fire Puppy

My parents dog-sat Eden for me while Jason and I were visiting in Tennessee. My Mom *loves* Eden and wants an exact replica for her very own. This is the photo I got while we were gone:

Fire Puppy

Ike and Eden...

....are best buds.

Pride

So proud of Eden-Pie :-)

UKC Lure Coursing Aptitude Test

Took Eden to a United Kennel Club show today to get the first two legs towards her Lure Coursing Aptitude Title (CA). She earned them and everyone thought she was great and cute - she is SO drivey for the lure! I wish I could channel that into flyball!

Flyball Tuesday

We set Eden and Poppy up so that Eden would be chasing Poppy after her box turn, hoping to incite some more speed into Eden's return down the lane - it didn't work, she doesn't care LOL Then we worked on her box turn, which is beautiful without a ball loaded and much harder when it is loaded because of how slow the release is from the box. She ended up hitting a jump on the way back and that really slowed her down and made her a little more hesitant so after a successful run, I put her up.

Pencil Portrait

Portrait commissioned by Jason for me :-) REALLY neat!!!

The actual photos of each piece are HERE.

Pro Photos

The agility photos I bought of Eden from this weekend from the pro photographer.

GRAC Trial: Day Three

Well, we were seriously late this morning. I was planning on getting to the trial roughly the same time we had showed up the last two mornings and then randomly thought I should double-check...and there was no FAST taking up half the morning, it was just Open JWW and then Novice was up! We flew there, I glanced at the sheet, checked us in and we were up. Talk about adrenaline rush!

She did awesome this morning - was really perky and running. We had a slight mishap when she darted for a bar-setter (this particular judge said that any dog that went for one and didn't call off would be NQ'd immediately) but I was able to call her back by sharply saying her name - thank goodness! The rest of the run was smooth. Very pleased with my little Eden-Pie!

It wasn't until the papers came out that I realized how close we were to the time, we almost didn't Q!! The judge did mention he thought a fast dog should be able to do it in 17 seconds - whoa!

Which rounds out the weekend of agility. Eden managed 5 Q's, 5 first places and 2 new titles - NAJ (Novice Jumper with Weaves) and NA (Novice Standard).

I took loads more Proud-Mommy photos of this cute face, they are HERE. Since she achieved her Novice Standard title yesterday and I had already paid, I had moved her up to Open Standard but after looking at the course map decided to end on a high note and leave Open for another time (she has never seen 12 weaves before!).

Really neat compilation that Jason put together for the whole weekend:

ETA: Eden's Novice Agility Jumpers cert came