Another Year Over...

...and a new one soon to begin!

2009 brought lots of new titles to Token & Dandy, most significantly Dandy's MAD in April and Token's ADCH in August. I don't trial as much as I did years ago....everything costs money....but we continue to enjoy the journey more than ever!

Token became a daddy again this year, not once but twice! On September 22, Shebaa's Meg gave birth to 7 wonderful pups, 2 boys & 5 girls. This is a repeat breeding of the 2006 event that gave me Dandy. Most of the pups went to performance homes, so it will be exciting to follow their careers!
Token's second litter this year was born on November 9 (Dandy's birthday!), and KEG's Blur gave birth to 4 boys and 2 girls, with things like agility & flyball in their futures.
Pictures of all the pups can be found on my website www.MadAboutBCs.com

Tripper continues to live with Mom, where he is King of the Castle. My mom thinks he is weird, but he's just a Border Collie :-) He may like to howl when the news comes on TV, but he's good company for her, and he's stress-free living the simple life!

Toss is now 14 1/2 years old, and in November was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure. He will only eat canned food or meat these days, in several small meals, and he's gotten extremely thin. But despite his bloodwork being pretty dismal, he seems to be feeling OK, and can still act pretty perky. So, one day at a time...

Tempo arrived on the scene in November, and he is now 3 months old. He is much like his dad Token in that he's confident & very full of himself, and has quite the nose for food! He's learning about clicker training, tug toys, the tippy board, ramps & steps, and how to unstuff toys. We could do without that last one.... ;-) I'm looking forward to the new adventure in 2010 known as Tempo!

I continue to take an abnormal amount of pictures, many can be seen online in my Picasa albums.
http://picasaweb.google.com/barkingadchoo

Time to rest up for the New Year!

Flyball: New Record for our Multi Team

December 5-6, 2009 - Flyball Tournament hosted by Jet Set in York, Pa.

Dandy ran anchor on our Multi team in Division 1, and we took First Place while setting a new team record of 17.341!

Token ran as start dog on our Regular Division 4 team and we placed 2nd in a field of 6 teams. It was my first tournament since May, so I felt a bit rusty, and my dogs were passing dogs they had not ever passed before, but it all worked out pretty well! Plus I finally got some nice flyball pictures of Dandy by Swift-Bennett Photography!


Another milestone in Tempo's babyhood, he stayed in a motel for the first time (with no accidents ) and attended his first flyball event. At only 10 weeks old, he was very good! He was quiet all day in his crate at the tournament, he wasn't worried about anything at all, and there were many NEW things to encounter. He met a ton of new people and loved everyone. And he even pottied on lead like a big boy :-)

A fun weekend for all!

Meet "Tempo"

The new puppy came home on November 10, 2009, at 7 weeks of age. His name is "Tempo" as I have a real fondness for music :-) His registered name will be Shebaa's Heart And Soul. I've had him for 3 weeks now, and he's doing great. I've lost count of how many 'new people' he has met but it is way over 100 by 10 weeks of age, so he's getting well socialized during the critical time. He is experiencing many different things to prepare him for an active life of agility & flyball, as well as simply being a well-adjusted and confident companion. He's a very good puppy and I look forward to the journey ahead of us!


Dandy with his baby brother Tempo...

Tempo tries out the agility tunnel!

Agility Season Wrapped Up

We just finished our last two Agility trials for 2009. Token earned a Team Qualifier for 2010, also finishing his Tournament Master title.
Dandy also earned a Team Qualifier for 2010, with his team placing 3rd in the tournament!
Both Token & Dandy earned multiple placements in the team classes.

Dandy has also earned a Grand Prix qualifier for 2010.

Overall, 2009 was a good year, both dogs made progress as all three of us are learning new & improved ways of handling. It will be a work in progress for quite some time, but we are enjoying the journey in spite of the not-quite-perfect runs! Regardless of "Q's" and ribbons won or lost, I am grateful to have happy healthy dogs who truly enjoy playing this game with me.

The Chosen One

Meg & Token's pups are only 5 weeks old, but I have made my choice. Since I want another boy, and there are only two in this litter, both black/white, both marked very similar, the choice was narrowed down right from the start! They are both lovely pups, but for some reason, I've been drawn to one in particular from the beginning. He was the last one born, and the biggest (yikes...) and I still don't know that much about personalites. But... each time I've visited the pups over the last 2-3 weeks, I seem to only have eyes for him, so I can't fight it, I must succumb to his spell and claim him as mine.
He'll be coming home with me in two weeks...the hard part will be coming up with a name!

Dandy's Adventure In The Big Apple

On Sunday, October 18, 2009, Dandy and I ventured into New York City, to the Javits Center. The event was AKC's Meet The Breeds, which was a 2-day extravaganza that invited the general public to meet many different breeds of dogs and to watch demonstrations such as Obedience, Agility, Police Dogs, Earthdog and Flyball. My flyball club, Infurno, was invited to present the Flyball demo. I was not about to attempt driving into Manhattan by myself, so I only went on Sunday when I was able to ride in with Valerie from my obedience club. Knowing we'd have to walk a couple of blocks from the parking lot to the Javits Center, I brought just one dog. And I was glad I made that decision! For Dandy's crate, I used a little pup tent that stores in a small duffle bag...that plus a bag for all of our "stuff" was enough to deal with while walking one Border Collie who decided that every square inch of the streets and sidewalks needed to be sniffed!

Once inside the Javits Center, we were met with thousands of people. Wall-to-wall people. Trying to get through the crowds was painstakingly slow. And everyone wanted to reach out and touch the dogs...and they did!

Eventually we made it to the crating area, which was nice & quiet, behind curtains, away from the crowds. Prior to our demo in the main ring, we had a bit of a Meet & Greet in one of the small demo rings. The dogs showed how they trigger the flyball box, grab the ball, and run back to get their reward, which is a game of tug for Dandy. In between, the dogs were constantly being petted by children & adults alike, with many of them pulling out their camera phones to snap pictures.

Dandy was awesome...he was a wonderful ambassador for his breed, so I had my work cut out for me in convincing people that a Border Collie is NOT the best choice for a family pet! Dandy is cute, he's sweet, and let the kids pet him over & over without any objections at all; he was a model citizen! But I let people know that Border Collies need not only physical exercise but mental exercise as well, every day. And many are not as good with kids as Dandy is. Fortunately, there were over 130 other breeds there for people to investigate.

(And if a dog didn't suit them, there was also a huge section of the exhibit devoted to cats, sponsored by the CFA.)

The most interesting question I got regarding Dandy was when a man asked, "Is that a Bernese Mountain Dog?" Ummmm....not quite.... Well, maybe he was a cat person ;-)

Our Flyball demo in the main ring was lots of fun, and Dandy didn't miss a beat, even though he has not done any flyball at all since May. But what I'm most proud of is how he handled himself in a very overwhelming and stressful environment. He IS my Pride and Joy :-)

Token's a Daddy again!

The Meg/Token breeding that produced Dandy in 2006 has been repeated, and on September 22, 2009, Meg gave birth to 7 healthy puppies (5 girls and 2 boys). Three of the girls are blue merles, one is a classic black & white, and one is a black/white tri. Both of the boys are traditionally-marked black & white.

The pups are 11 days old in the photos posted here.

And I have oodles of pictures of the pups in Picasa albums (online):

http://picasaweb.google.com/barkingadchoo

I'm looking forward to seeing our baby Border Collies develop over the next few weeks!