Jimmy is Getting Insurance!

After another trip to the Vet...this time, another toenail removal...the human parents of Jimmy High Hopes Lannigan have purchased Vet insurance. They hope this will put an end to nose bites from squirrels, torn toe tendons and any other medical emergencies. In the meantime, he is now being called, Jimmy "High Maintenance" Lannigan!

Happy Birthday, Betsy!

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!

We love you!

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!

May all your dreams come true!

When you blow out the candles,

One light stays aglow...

It's the love light in your eyes

Where ere' you go!

We love you Aunty Betsy!

Nanny C and Zoe

Marty and Jimmy...Hangin' Out

Marty and Jimmy spent the afternoon at Zoe's house. They are BFF...Best Friends Forever!

Okay, so I had to buy the pictures...

The "Cairn Posse of Argus TDAA of 2009"

Humans from left to right. Heidi, Ryan, Vicki, Val, Betsy

Cairns from left to right. Bow, Brindle, Sammy, Mary, Kula, Kona, Happy

Here is Kula. She did it, she has come back from two ACL repairs to run agility again! We have some mental stuff to figure out, hopefully work through and trial in the future. She does deserve at least one agility title. She is THE one! Hopefully Ryan can help me problem solve this one.

Kona ran his first and most of the courses with so much promise. I am very excited about getting in classes with him. He really had a good time, went on every piece of equipment and in spite of the fact that he had never been on a full course and never had an official class had very little confusion regarding what I was asking! He had never been on an A frame or through a tire jump before. He had a wonderful time and I think we will have many more trials, both TDAA and AKC!

Now I can include them in personal stuff. ... I only bought my dogs and this one.

Betsy's version of Argus TDAA Experience

Val and I arrived at Argus Ranch early Friday afternoon. What a wonderful place to be. I left from my home in Beaverton Oregon about 10:30am heading to Auburn Washington’s Argus Ranch for a Teacup Dog Agility Assn trial. The weather was horrible, raining cats and dogs and blowing like crazy. I seriously thought I was truly insane traveling 3 hours to the north in the cold and rain only to be cold and wet in a barn doing agility with Happy. Then I thought ‘Wow, I’ll be with Val, Heidi, Mike, all our dogs and staying in Val’s warm, dry motor home. It will be fun! And to further the fun Ryan, and Vicki will be joining us on Saturday night. PARTY DOWN!

The further north I traveled the nicer it got. By the time I got to Chehalis the sun was out, dipping only occasionally behind some clouds. Still a few rain showers to tend with but nothing like what was in Portland/Vancouver with the windshield wipers on fast and still not getting it all and no cruise control allowed.

I arrived at Argus shortly after Val… about 2:30. The first and only sign on the driveway I saw was “Water turned off at 33 degrees”.. uh oh. Oh Well…the sun is out and although it is a bit chilly, not bad at all. What an awesome place. Fenced paddocks everywhere and a big field for the dogs to run in (on leash of course in most) but wide and open. Mike and Heidi came a bit later. They started from their home in Yreka California on Thursday and stopped in Salem Thursday for the night. Walmart parking lots are the best places for motor homes and travel trailers to spend the night. I heard that Mike actually bought some slippers that night.

We set up camp, parking the rigs next to each other so we can see one another come and go J X-pens with tarps to ward off the cold wind and rain. Leave the canopies low just in case the wind gusts too hard. Eat a nice dinner, walk dogs then settle into the night with knitting/crocheting and Nintendo DS. Bedtime wasn’t too late, we had a busy day in the morning.

Val was up first, as usual. She’s so careful not to make any noise to wake me. I was awake anyway, excited and anxious to find out what teacup agility is all about. Cold cold cold… Yes, it was warm inside but the furnace and the heater had to work hard. We had our Lattes then walked the dogs. Frost on the pumpkin, fence, grass and ice in the kiddy pools!! BRRRRRRR!! It was cold. Now I understand the water shut off notification. No clouds so it should thaw but OMG is it cold… How I miss my hot flashes.

The barn was only about 100 feet from our camp… nice huh? We had set up our spot the night before so it was pretty nice, right under the heaters in the barn. Happy, Kona and Kula needed to get measured so we did that and went and checked in. They had an “Equipment familiarization” area adjacent to the agility ring. It had all the contact pieces plus a tunnel, chute and weave poles that you can try out. Happy nor I had never seen the stuff so we headed over. I was amazed! Yes, it is small in comparison to the huge regulation stuff but it is so Happy friendly. The top of the A-frame is about 4.5’ tall, the teeter is not a huge, noisy, slamming pile of wood and steel and the dog walk is not as tall or as long (I don’t think) but a lot narrower. Best of all; the contact items are sprayed with a rubberized texture. Since Happy has been…. Neutered he’s struggled getting to the top of the standard A-Frame but not on the Teacup stuff.

At first I was hesitant about using this small equipment, afraid that if and when we went to the full sized venue the dogs would balk at the size. SILLY ME! I know these dogs, they are terriers and nothing frightens them. Now, I can’t wait to do it again. I think this is perfect for Hap to build up his muscles again and Oz will love it too.

Our first time in the competition ring was exhilarating! Happy and I went thru a good portion of the obstacles, teeter included, until Happy saw another dog & handler running in the familiarization area. Off he went to tell them, in no uncertain terms, they should NOT be there while he is “performing”! After some persistent “coaxing” by me from a distance, he came back and finished the course with me, not perfectly but better than me carrying him out. The good news is we were only 8.81 seconds over time and NO faults. So, if he hadn't taken interest in the two practicing on the side we would have qualified. bummer.

The rest of the day I worked the ring. I find it keeps me moving (good thing for an overweight 50+, diabetic woman) and I get to watch all the different styles of running/handling. There was a great potluck all day and a wonderful raffle with drawings both days. I think I’m going to start doing that at the CRCTC events.

We ended the day having dinner with Heidi and Mike in Val’s motor home. Mike had made some very yummy Clam Chowder (my grandsons would be soo jealous), nice warm garlic and cheesy breads, and I made a salad. Good food, good friends and wonderful conversation. Heidi (another knitting evangelist) wanted to show Val a new knitting stitch so Mike went back to their trailer, I started my own fun with crocheting. Vicki and Ryan got there about 8:30ish. We were all pumped and stayed up too late sharing stories.

To save you from more boring blow by blows of our day on Sunday I’ll dig right in. It was raining... hard! I’ve pretty much blocked the first run from my brain, Happy and I did finish together but not without me working hard to convince Happy to come with me. He finally came but not quickly and with we finished with faults. He now has an aversion to the teeter… I know it’s my fault but no matter, I need to fix it. I’m still happy with what we did, even tho it was well below what he is capable of doing.

I wasn’t signed up for anything else so when they asked if we wanted to do a “For exhibition only” run I jumped on it! My strategy was to make Happy want to come with me so I told everyone not to be surprised by what I did if he “wandered” off. The “game” was called “Helter Skelter”. A spiral made up of jumps and tunnels that you start from outside to inside then back out again. We made it to the center and were heading out when he broke out. I started to turn to try to coax him then remembered NO, I HAVE TO GET HIS ATTENTION. So.. I turned away from him, Screamed “AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH” and hollered silly things as I ran the course on my own. I didn’t see his face but I’m sure he was a bit surprised. He caught up with me at about the fourth to the end obstacle. Did all except one and finished with me. Hopefully I can do that a few more times to ingrain that being with me is fun.

We had a blast this last weekend. I can’t wait to do it again and again and again. The people in the group are warm and welcoming and fun! One word of wisdom for anyone that is skeptical… Try it! The 3 hour drive was so worth this trip, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Val gave me a window sticker about two years ago that I put on my van. I felt kind of weird since I had never really 'done it' --> Addicted to Agility. Well, now I am!!
We had so much fun. Ryan and I drove up late Saturday night and bunked with Val and Betsy. Argus ranch is incredible!
In the morning we all helped out. I was resetting the jumps for the first 'game' and decided to try it For Exhibition Only - FEO. We did it and I survived.
I had signed up for both Standard Beginning Courses. I qualified in both with a fourth place and then a second place. We then signed up for another game called Helter Skelter (18 jumps/tunnels in a spiral in and then spiral out. Mary was only 6 seconds behind Sammy earning her another second place ribbon. Ryan and I changed dogs for FEO. Mary did great for Ryan and Sammy did OK for me but was definitely looking and heading to find Ryan. We then hit the last outer spiral and Sammy kicked into high gear and I was flat out running to keep up with her. We had such an awesome time. The best was the Agility A-Go-Go guy game me a set of weave poles to practice with for the next 6 months!! We then took the dogs -- Rain, Mary, Sammy, Tally, Padme, Jasmine, Oz and Happy into the off-leash field for a romp.
We all slept in this morning even Spirit. I think she had fun at Nanny Cindy's.

TDAA more fun than we could imagine.

This weekend was spent trying something new. Teacup Agility. From what I can see this is a burgeoning sport that will be catching on fast. It is agility scaled to the small dog. The equipment is smaller, the courses tighter, the people mostly a bit more laid back than I have experienced in other venues and really welcoming and friendly! Our friend Heidi got us interested when she mentioned that she was coming up to the Northwest to trial. Ryan, Vicki, Betsy and I jumped on it and decided to join her.
I took the motorhome down meeting Heidi and her husband in their 5th wheel and we stayed on site at Argus Ranch. Betsy met us on Friday, Ryan and Vicki on Saturday. Argus is a great facility (I would highly recommend staying on site if you can. The "bunk house" and showers are terrific!)
The dogs and I had a wonderful time. No "Q's" for us this time, but Kula was so happy to run again and Kona did an amazing job with no lessons and no training the last three weeks due to an ankle sprain (mine).
So the agility bug has bitten us again and Vicki is now officially an "Agility Addict" as her car window sign has predicted for a couple of years now! Ryan did his usual amazing job with what ever performance event he participates in. Betsy and Happy were the delight of many as Happy did his best best to ignore her and Betsy took off running by herself convincing him that indeed he DID want to run with her! They were the best! Heidi and her crew did a wonderful job, #1 driving the farthest :-), #2 teaching me to knit with two colors, #3 introducing us to TDAA, and #4 Quallifying several times and earning a new title!
Thanks Heidi! More to follow from the rest of the gang in attnedance!

Rally Bust, Conformation prize

Saturday Oz, Happy and I drove to Salem to partake in Rally competition. Happy in Excellent A, Oz in Advanced B.

Happy and I were first competitors in the ring... Unfortunately, Happy always picks up on my performance anxiety so he lagged behind. He did OK but his unwillingness to participate in my anxiety pretty much blew the whole thing out of the water. Once I decided we were screwed (the third from the last obstacle) and we wouldn't pass, Happy hopped into step and pranced proudly at my side, doing the last 3 obstacle perfectly... Damn... gotta take drugs or something to solve MY issues!! We were the only Excellent team NOT to pass!! And, I did the offset figure 8 wrong!!

It was Oz's first time in the competition off leash. Our practices were OK, he still has quite a love for the smells, but all in all they went well. My fear was the off leash, not the obstacles. He actually did pretty well considering. The 2nd obstacle was the broad jump and he hit it with his rear leg... I think it hurt. He sniffed the bowls in the off center figure 8 then came back to me and did the rest pretty good. Still not passing but not bad for a first timer.

Sunday Vicki, Cindi, Padme, Jazz Jimmy, Oz and I drove back down for Conformation... Cindi with her new shoes (yes, they can be worn to confirmations also). Oz won Winners Dog and best opposite, Poor Jimmy, he looked so good too... Padme won winners bitch, Jazz had fun :)

Happy stayed with Mary at home... Evidently he didn't look at any of her chewies cuz he was still alive when we got home.

On our way home we stopped at Rockin' Rogers on Market street for a late lunch. Cute little 50's style diner with nothing but yummy comfort food (they do have nice salads tho). We all stuffed ourselves as best as we could and headed home.

Nice time, great friends, good weekend. I'm taking beer to agility next weekend!!

Pal Joey

The name of this scruffy little character in the movie Pal Joey, is Snuffy.

This clip is the best one for capturing a bit of the terrier persona!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNTLcieagcY&feature=related