Time Flies When Your Having Fun

Saying you're busy is so cliche anymore, but seriously, where does time go?  Lots has happened since my last post...Gracie got the tiniest, cutest frisbee ever...she loves it!

She also earned her MACH 5 last weekend at the Wilmington Kennel Club trial!  MACH 5, 100 Double Q's at 4 years old...wow!  I feel so lucky to have my little Grae as my teammate.  She is my first agility dog and I couldn't have asked for a better partner, teacher & friend.  I really do love her! 

Sadie & Lucy have been busy practicing some new tricks!  Sadie is learning "peek".

Lucy has been perfecting her balancing a treat on her nose and flipping it up and catching it...waiting is the hard part for her!

                                        Got it!!!

Gracie's brothers Wally & Randy also stayed with us for a few days...Gracie loves her brothers, but they were not really into taking this picture!

Puppy love until next time! 

Finding a better view

The other week while at the farm, Gracie found a scrap of hose that I was about to toss in the trash...since then, it has been her favorite toy. 

Does she know it's trash?  Does she even care?  She is happy with what she has.  My little Grae taught me a lesson, a lesson about not only being happy with what you have, the blessings in your life, but she showed me that you can look at things, material or event, as trash, or you can take that trash and make it one awesome toy! 

Grae & I have been working hard on our handstand trick and it's coming together!  Here is one of her very first at Dream Park!

                                And handstands on trees!






And just one other picture cause it's too cute!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

And So It Begins...

Last weekend marked the start of our spring agility season, and Grae and I kicked it off with a trip to the Nita Nee Kennel Club Trial at Penn State.  It wasn't our best agility weekend ever, in fact, it seemed at first the slump we were in before the winter break was going to continue.  But even though we only q'd in 3 out of 6 runs, I am happy.  Mind you, I didn't feel like this at first!  In fact, I was furious with myself after messing up our last run.  I am a very competitive person and I set some lofty goals for myself, so coming up short isn't something I accept easily in myself.  But last weekend, even though it wasn't our best ever, taught me some important lessons, especially to trust my instincts.  And like every time I run agility with Grae, it reminds me how lucky I am to have such an awesome girl! 

So...even with a little snow, it was good lessons, a great trial site and awesome friends in Penn State!  And what agility trial would be complete without a game of tug?

This weekend we are trialing at Dream Park, close to home.  The weekend started out great today with a double Q...let's see what the rest of the weekend has in store!  Let the agility season begin! 



When life gives you snow...make pumpkin treats!

      I am not a fan of snow, so I was less than thrilled to wake up this morning to a couple inches of the white stuff.  However, after last year I am very happy it was a couple inches and not a couple feet!  My girls do not really share my dislike of snow...in fact, Sadie seemed positively giddy this morning as she ran laps around the yard, kicking up the snow! 

    So instead of moping around, sulking because I could not go outside and play agility, I made pumpkin treats for the girls!  Below is the recipe!

Pumpkin Treat Squares

2 eggs            
1 Cup Pureed Pumpkin
1/3 Cup Oil
2 Tablespoons Honey
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
3/4 Cup Oat Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt

Mix eggs, pumpkin, oil, honey & peanut butter.  Add dry ingredients and mix till combined.  Bake in a 8x8 greased pan at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

All Done!

And this picture pretty much says it all!

Hello!

     Well, here I am world...blogging!  My name is Rebecca, most often I go by Becky.  I have 3 amazing dogs.  In fact...I think they are so amazing that I feel the need to share their wonderful, sometimes silly, sometimes crazy antics with the entire internet world! 

      I have been surrounded by animals my whole life.  I grew up raising rabbits, goats and chickens and had a plethora of other pets.  While I do love animals in general, I have found there is something incredibly special about the relationship between a human and a dog.  My very first dog was a Maltese named Katie.  Oh the things I did wrong in training her!  I will never forget the night I was eaves dropping on my parents discussion about whether or not I should have a puppy.  I really wanted a puppy of my own (my family had a dog already) but I was very young.  I remember listening to my mom telling my dad that this puppy was something I needed, a relationship that couldn't be duplicated any other way.  Needless to say, I got her (thanks mom!) and I loved her for 13 short years.  

     After Katie passed on, I was heart broken.  My mom encouraged me to look for a puppy, but I resisted, insisting I wasn't ready.  Knowing better, my mom decided it was time and found me a Cavalier puppy.  I had talked about liking the breed before, but I didn't think my mom would go and pick out a puppy!  And the perfect puppy she picked, even though I didn't think so at first.  Sadie came to us scared, dirty, flea and lice infested.  But Sadie became my angel, my confidant, the best friend I could've ever imagined!  Sadie wants nothing more than to please and be loved.  She has taught me so much about dog training and I continue to learn from her every day.  

     A couple years after I got Sadie, my little brother decided he wanted a dog.  My parents put me in charge of finding him a Cavalier of his own, and a breeder with a lovely, energetic, ruby female puppy was found.  He named her Lucy and he did love her, but the problem was she loved me!  I'm not really sure how it happened, but it did, Lucy became mine.  And she is ALL mine!  I always say that if I were to die, Lucy would jump in the grave with me!  She is headstrong and often lacks impulse control, but she has shown me what true unconditional love really is.  

    Lucy and I entered a brief stint in the conformation ring (dog shows) before I realized it wasn't really for me.  Lucy was bought under a breeding contract and we bred her to a male owned by her breeder.  Wanting to keep a female for myself, I was all nerves as Lucy gave birth to 5 male puppies only to save the best for last, my little Gracie.  Gracie, or more often Grae (like Gray) was born with not so perfect markings on her face, making showing her in the conformation ring unlikely.  Still, I loved her more than anything the very second she came out.  When she was about 6 months old we started our first agility class and have been hooked ever since.  I love to look at her sweet face and tell her how much I love every freckle, every brown hair on it!  It’s those freckles that lead me to find agility, my passion, a passion which not only pushes me as a dog trainer to achieve my goals, but has taught me more about the relationship between human and dog than one could imagine!