Some Vintage Videos

September 2002 - Brace Class at USDAA Agility Trial in Maryland
Brace is just for fun and not offered very often at all, but it's a hoot to run and watch! I ran Robin & Chad as one brace team, and Toss & Tripper as another team. The weave poles in this course were 2 sets of 12, the 2 dogs could do the same set of 6, or they could each do one set, and if they did this simultanously, it was worth 5 bonus points. With a time plus faults scoring system, it was not worth the extra 5 points to 'set it up' to have them each do a set of 6 poles, so I was just planning to have them do the same set consecutively. However, when I ran Toss & Tripper, Toss had his own plan to get the 5 bonus points, and he performed the far set of weaves while Tripper did the closer set, and besides wowwing the crowd, they took First Place :-) Toss was always a very creative Border Collie, and this is such a perfect memory of him. I am so thankful to have these runs in my video library:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnbbXZi7zbo


August 2003 - Toss participated in a Dock Dogs event, at age 8, and though he only jumped 10'-12', he had a great time! This was his first practice jump, the only one on film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVw2f2Q5C1A


July 2004 - Robin & Chad have one last run together in Brace at Agiledogs in NY. They were 11 years old at that time, and were able to jump 16" as their Performance height. Those two boys adored each other, this is a very special memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Hwm2g4IC8

Toss - 4/16/1995 - 1/20/2010

I said Good-Bye to Toss today. Suffering from kidney failure, it was time to let him go.
Toss earned lots of titles in Agility, including Agility Dog Champion, and he even earned his Companion Dog title in Obedience. In 1999, he won the 24" division of the PupPeroni Eastern Regional tournament. In 2000, he was part of the winning team in the Dog Agility Masters Team Tournament in Saratoga, NY. His teammates Elan & Quincy have already passed on to the Rainbow Bridge, so maybe they will join forces again :-)
But more important than his accomplishments...he was a very unique & special Border Collie. He was very careful & methodical in the agility ring, but he would dive off the dock at the lake with complete & utter abandon. The lake was one of his favorite places to be.
Toss also had a unique ability to look at photographs of dogs and recognize them as such. He even showed "preferences" towards certain breeds (he would bite the picture if it was a Jack Russell Terrier!) He was also an avid TV watcher, his favorite movie was "Babe", of course :)

So easy to live with, a gentle soul with a real creative streak, he will always hold a very special place in my heart.

January 2010

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.