Suns out! finally!

It rained here all morning. But finally the sun came out and I took the dogs out to potty and we played their favorite thing! As you can see both Hunter and Alex like water, but more importantly they like the spray off the hose! Hunter dig's it and Alex bites it. What a team!

We miss our friends!

We are the cairns who live in Kirkland. Kula, Kona and Hattie otherwise know as Crofterkids (clever huh? mom morphed us all into one identity). We really love the pictures of Happy and Mary that were in the last article. Mom tried to get dad to go to agility last night, so he could take some pictures of Kula, but he "had work to do"....I think it may have included a baseball game on TV! It is the big weekend for Kona. His first time to compete in rally. Mom thinks he will get higher scores than Kula did...hard not too and qualify! She really doesn't like that stuff. Maybe if mom would move faster....like she does in agility. Kona is getting really good about the sitting stuff, that is mostly all that novice rally is. Hattie is starting to move through the weave poles better. At first she was afraid of the poles that are on the ground! Silly girl. I think mom is going to set up the fence around the poles so Hattie and Kona will run through to get the treat at the other end. I hope she makes the new set of poles so that Kula still can do them the grown up way! Well, better get off the computer, mom wants to see if Dena is up yet....woof for now.

These Hips Don't Graze

Happy and Mary went to their first agility class. It was great as there are only two other dogs in the class. As you can see from the picture Mary was tired after a day of obedience and agility.

I was a bit apprehensive as I thought the cost was too much and it is on the (evil :) west side of town. But I was pleasantly surprised. The instructor, LISA, was great and got us right to work going over poles in a pick-up-stix style. Happy was the star. The only ‘slow’ dog was a Border Collie mix. hehehehe The other dog is a Keeshond who also does conformation and was not as good as the “CAIRNS.”

I can see now, as I knew before, it will be me as Mary’s downfall. But we will plug away.

We then started on the jumps.
Happy went perfectly and then I did the four-line jump and everyone was laughing. Mary did it all and I didn’t fall down so what was it? Lisa said that Mary had so much energy going over the jumps she didn’t know what to do with it all…... her legs were going everywhich way… another missed photo-op. She then had us work on our position and she said to go down the line with our body straight forward, trying not to turn into the dog and graze the jumps with your hips. Betsy says, “These hips don’t graze.” It is going to be an awesome time with Betsy and Happy in class and well worth the time and money. The other pictures didn’t turn out of the dogs going through the tire so we will try to figure out a different camera. This is of Happy going through the tire if you can make him out.

We just might make it for Montgomery.

NW Paws Across America

(I thought I already posted this.) If you are reading it, you found us again! Yet another name for our little tribe! Dena found another group with the name we had been using....hard to believe that one. Anyway, this sort of says who we are a little more clearly. Be sure to note that our focus is on doing stuff with our dogs!

Has anyone heard my story

about Kula being launched from the rear window of Greg's Camry a few years ago? Well, this afternoon, Hattie tried to one up her. We were all hanging out in the upstairs room that is my little "retreat". It is where I watch TV (not a 46 inch one), blog, IM you get the picture. Speaking of which. The pictures above need some explanation. The one on the left is the screen from the window of the afore mentioned room. That is where it landed when Hattie jumped against it barking at the sound of the neighbor dogs collar tags. She landed just short of it and to the left. Thank goodness we had an awning built last year! I have no idea how I got out the window as fast as I did. Meanwile, Kula and Recee are barking their fool heads off for all sorts of reasons. Number 1; the dog tags that sent Hattie over the edge (literally). Number 2; unauthorized exit by Hattie. Number 3; unorthodox exit by mom! Everything is fine. I am happy to report. I am also quite sure my heart is healthy, cuz it would have stopped from the adrenaline surge!
Now, back to the pictures. All of you who have traveled with me or even visited house or motor home will recognize what those are. They have now found yet another alternative purpose (in their original life, they were organizational cubes. I purchased 24 of them at Value Village for $5.99). It may have been the most useful $5.99 I have ever spent. Anyway, these 3 are now permanently wedged into the offending window!
I sure hope Kona doesn't decide he needs to join the flying club, I have had quite enough.

Looking for an art angel.

As you may have noticed (or not depending on your style), we are in need of a new banner for our blogspot. It was brought to my attention that we should change what we are using, so takers anyone. Anybody out there a "banner angel"?

Cascade Cairn Terrier Fun Days

Mark your calendars. Saturday August 4 and Sunday August 5 at the home of Curt and Joyce Whall in Kent. Saturday is open to all breeds to come and play. Sorry, Sunday only cairns can participate. There will be all kinds of fun things. Try obedience, agility, canine good citizen testing, fly ball demonstration. Games of all kinds as well. Hot dog bobbing, kissing contest, fire hydrant (you know what), a fun conformation match, costume contest just to name some of the things we will have available. Lessons on grooming and conformation for pet owners or new prospective show dogs. There will be lots of chances to volunteer (a great way to get to know people). We are looking forward to seeing more people than last year!

Our own identity...

Today our mom signed us up for a google account and invited us to joing Paws Across America blog. That is so we can give you are perspective of what is going on now and then. We think it is a good idea since some times humans can get wrapped pretty tight! Before we had to ask her to let us use her identity on the blogspot. Now we can be the independent terriers we should be! Watch for our blogs!

By the way thanks again to John Schuster for this terrific picture. It is one of our favorites!

We are so excited!

Our mom just told us that we are going on another road trip to Montgomery! She said that Kula gets to do agility! That we are going to focus on the preformance events this year. Kona gets to do rally and earthdog. Hattie is a little sad, cuz she doen't have any preformance stuff she does yet. That is okay, she is starting to learn some of the agility stuff. Maybe if mom gets on the ball she could do something in novice. We are going with the Aunties and about 12 dogs! Should be so fun.....another adventure. Yipeee!

Udate on Augie

Augie is one of the puppies rescued from a "puppy shop" Absolutely Puppies in Bellevue. He and two little girls were found in this shop one year ago in terrible condition. Augie did not know what steps or grass were! He had live his entire 5 months inside a box in a pet store. As it happened, the puppies were rescued just prior to a Cascade Cairn Terrier Club Fun Day weekend. So, the power of "the network" went to work. All the dogs were placed as a result of that weekend.

Augie ended up as the youngest dog in my son's family. He and his wife have a lab mix, Laney. When Augie met Laney on the lawn at the Whall's on that sunny August Sunday, he lit up. There had been dogs around all weekend and he just acted overwhelmed and uninterested. Those of us watching were brought to tears. It was so absolutely right!

One year later and Augie is flourishing. His new mom and dad applied for and recieved his ILP and is allowed to compete in AKC preformance events. He participated in his first such event last weekend, again at the Whall's. He made several visits to the Intro to Quarry den. Each time understanding a little more of what the game is about.

He is still a young dog, who had a pretty rocky start. He remains a bit "pack retarded" not quite getting the whole pack rules thing, so sometimes is a bit hard to have around other dogs. He is fun and happy and full of terrier antics, much loved by his family!

My children

Well little did anyone know it, but these last 3 months, I have been "with child." No wonder I was having leg cramps back at Centrailia, it was a potassium deficiency as I was preparing my womb.... This was also why I just couldn't stay in the agility ring at the last few trials, all that jumping and running, it's just no good for the little ones, you know?

Well last Thursday I whelped, under the back porch because no one made me a whelping box, thank you very much. Then I had to clean Stiller's clock because he tried to come under the porch to see my babies. And Tally had to be chased away, too. I couldn't even leave the kennel to go out front for fear my babies would come to harm.

Then, on Friday, the car gets loaded and I am scooped up and put inside! My children, my children! I proceded to spend Friday night and Saturday in x-pens at an earthdog, attacking anyone who walked by in case they were going to harm my puppies.... who I couldn't find.....

By the time we returned home Sunday night (after I got to run Masters as a "spare," I thought about passing the whole thing just to blow their minds, but you know, I've never really been into the whole barking at the rats thing. After all, the rats have mothers, too.) I couldn't remember exactly where I'd had my puppies, or when.... it seemed so long ago. I guess they're weaned and have gone off to their familes now, so I needn't worry about them any more.

Although my mothers keep using words like "false pregnancy" to describe my condition, THEY weren't the ones putting on weight, getting sore nipples, and then having to worry about the little ones. Isn't it true that my perception is my reality?

97 DEGREES

Holy cow! I am officially old now. 97 degrees and all I am thinking about is keeping the dogs cool and the house cool enough tonight so Greg and I have a chance of getting to sleep! I am now ready to concede the heat to the young. I even had my herding cancelled! That is really what I am so cranky about.
70-75 degrees with the sun shining...that is prime weather!

Experimental Pet Exerciser

Still needs some work! Thanks to our lab "rat" Happy. He did a wonderful job on the first ever "roll-a-bout". We believe this type of exercise was instrumental in his achievement the next day, earning his first ever junior leg in earth dog.

If you too would like to use the Happy Hamster Ball prior to your entry in earthdog contact Happy at : BetsyP@anthonyross.com

The Best Team Ever

What a team we are! I love these girls. We had another terrific weekend together...Betsy and Dena tented it! Sissy girl Val had her RV (and her husband). The first night I thought that Dena was going to go into Betsy's tent and dognap Happy. He was having a challenge getting settled for the night. All night we kept hearing Betsy, "Happy, this and that...." . Early in the morning, I popped my head in to get him and let Betsy catch some sleep. To my shock, he was rolling around the tent in a tiny red soft sided crate. He looked like a giant rodent ball! I laughed so hard....it was such a goofy looking thing. Dena had her daughter Sheridan and a friend with her. They went to the water park and spent Saturday playing in the park. Dena spent the day earth dogging and having fun with us. It was a perfect combination. I think Dena got pictures on her phone. I hope she can download them. It was another fun adventure for "The Three Mouse Keepers".

A different look.

We have a new title. I may be able to figure out how to change our blog address, but for the time being, it is still pawsinmontana.blogspot.com I will let everyone know if I figure out how to have it reflect our new ongoing image.

Several of us decided that it is so fun sharing our adventures that we would broaden the name to allow us to continue.

Maybe down the road, someone could make us a new banner. Although the one we are using certainly works for the new title!

300,000 miles!

Pat cursed herself as she prepared to fire up her trusty old truck on Sunday. She proclaimed it had over 300,ooo miles on it and still going strong! As she said it, it failed to start. No problem, Curt to the rescue. He grabbed his mammoth jumper apparatus (like they have at car dealerships) and fired her up. Well, as I was giving Maggie a final goodbye hug through the window, that is what appeared to be going on....FIRE! As it turned out, just smoke. I freaked out trying to remember how those darn seat belts unhook on kid car seats and Maggie freaked out at my freaking out. Greg and Curt ran to their rigs for the fire exthingishers. I finally got Maggie out and into the trailer yard next to where Pat's rig was. You may wonder, "What was Pat doing?"......she was trying to make the silly truck stop moving. Every time she took her foot off the brake the darn thing would lurch or roll at any rate moving....Next I started hauling dogs out. If you have ever tried to get the dogs out of Pat's truck without moving the seats you know this was a hurculean effort! Maggie's car seat was in the way on one side and Pat on the other. Finally all living creatures were safe in the trailer xpen yard and we could access the situation.

Apparently it was an electrical fire (acrid smell hanging over the truck was the first clue). It was out, now what to do. Pat's rig was smack dab in the middle of the exit route for our motor home. Again, Curt to the rescue. With the help of Robin (a Border Terrier person) with a wonderful tow strap, he hauled Pat's truck up far enough to get her trailer hooked up to his truck, then hauled it down next to the house. (No, the picture was staged, Greg didn't move it by brut strength.) The path was clear and we were off. Just a few hours after we thought we would be leaving.

A little aside. As Curt backed up pulling Pat's truck, Joyce notices that he is running into one of the orchard trees. It is as if Curt doesn't even see it. But the really funny part was that he stopped basically while he was still inside it! Opened his truck door as if nothing was there. As he is doing this, Joyce just comments "that probably isn't the best place to stop.." I was in stitches I was laughing so hard!

JUNIOR LEG FOR HAPPY!

Congraulations to Happy and Betsy!

The cairns learned a lot, but not many qualifiers. Joyce got a Masters leg with Xena, Vicki got a Junior leg with Zoe and Hattie qualified in intro one day.

Cairns who played were: Oliver, Stiller, Fiona, Kona and Xena on the Masters level. Sammy got to be the bye dog in Masters one day.

I am not sure of the levels and names of all of the cairns in attendance. So, I will name the owners and numbers of cairns. Those I get wrong, can correct me in the comments! Vicki had only 3 of her own, but helped Barb with 5 of hers she was running in intro. Katrina was there with Fiona already mentioned. Greg and Val had 5 cairns, only 4 ratting though, Carol Onstad came in with 3 on Sunday, Curt and Joyce had 2 they were running, but baby Hiedi joined the fun. Vicky Montgomery was up with her 2. Loren and Greta from Sabastopol (with her wonderful wine).Pat Gentry with 4. Dena with Hunter and Alex, Betsy with Happy, Rachel with Sammy and Talie, Susan Harper with Emma and Jefferson. I sure hope I haven't forgotten any one! There was even a family there with their pet cairn (for some reason refusing our advances of friendship...I am sure convinced we were/are lunatics!) In all there must have been about 30 cairns who we shared the weekend with. Of course there were other breeds there, firmly reinforcing the fact that Cairns are the terrier for me...certainly NOT that breed we all know I am referring to.

Team work at Camp Oz

Val Perry. Such a strong word for such a cute, petite woman of wisdom. Val drove Dena and I well over 1,400 miles without complaint. Dena, her trusty co-pilot, rarely dozed off and kept us chatting about the normal subjects like kids, siblings, dogs, men and vermin to mention a few topics. My contribution to conversations was varied and seldom.. I did tell a tale of BenWah balls that seemed to be amusing. Dena also came up with our musical accompaniments, my favorite being "Val-dereee, Val-derahhhh, Val-dereee, Val-der-hahahaha, my knap sack on my back!!" I'm having a hard time getting this out of my head, thank you very much.
Never before have 3 women been matched so perfectly, we never argued, bitched, complained about each other. If something needed to be said, we said it.... WHAT A CONCEPT!! We all pitched in and "Got 'er done!!" willingly and with a smile (well, when I wasn't playing Tetrus).
I'll never forget the morning we were awoken, quite rudely at about 5am, in Missoula by gusts of wind shaking our accomodations (Dena thought it was Val doing exercises). Our entire encampment being blown helter-skelter, soon to be taken to Oz by the next gust. As I trotted toward the MH door to start securing items I looked out of Speed-Racers window and saw Val, bathrobe and jammies flying in the wind, with a few others troup members battening down the hatches. The rest of the crew joined them very quickly to drop, flip, fold and stake every thing down. During our wind blown frenzy, Pat asked Vicki if she should ride her bicycle down to the grooming area to see if anything was in danger of taking flight. Vicki and I looked at each other and broke into laughter. Not that we didn't think Pat could do it but the picture of Pat riding down the road in a windstorm possibly with Elizabeth in her handlbar basket left us in mortal fear that our encampment of Toto-like dogs, complete with Wicked witch of the west bike, would brand our encampment OZ of the NW. So, once Vicki and I saw that our camp close to being secure we ran down to the grooming area. Vicki and I ended up under the "pop-up" canopy holding one side out because it was trying to collapse into itself Others (including Pat with no Bike) were close behind us and moved all our gear (and you know there was lots of gear) inside the building. Litterally just moments before the rain started here comes Val, carrying rain coats for all us jammie clad people. We're not talking about a rain shower, we're talking about the bucket rain drops that will soak a Bichons Frises with a single drop. This is truly teamwork at it's finest, it made me proud to know all these marvelous people.