My Very Own Dog Walk!!!

Well, as you read in my last post, my mom promised to make me a dog walk so I could practice some of my agility class work at home. She went to Lowe's and bought the supplies to make me a dog walk! I helped mom do some yard work around the house this morning, and then it was time for the construction to begin...My mom was feeling pretty confident she could get the dog walk made. First she laid out all the boards and counted the hinges.



I of course walked all around and inspected the materials. They seemed okay to me. I was a little worried about how slippery the boards might be, but mom said she had some ideas so that I wouldn't slip.

Then she assembled the hinges. It connected all three of the boards she bought and made them bendable so that the height off the floor could be changed. My friend Uncle Pat brought over a couple of cinder blocks to start me off on conquering the ramps...

Then before my very own eyes, I had a mini-dogwalk in my room at home!! My mom did good work!!

She even put some wood pieces on the ramp parts so that I wouldn't slip. Then mom decided to try it out. Since Uncle Pat was around my mom had him take some video of me trying it out. After the practice...my mom and I were both a little worn out. Check out the videos below!!!

Attempt Number 1

Attempt Number 2

Mom's gonna make me a Dog Walk!!!

Wow!! My new classes are fun and challenging. I had a lot of fun in my Rally class. It was like solving a puzzle. Mom has to learn how to read the signs better! She kept going left when it would say right. It's the first class though so I wasn't upset with mom. We did lot of turn things today. The teacher said next week they would be introducing cones. I asked mom what that meant and she didn't know so we'll just have to wait until next week to find out! Then it was off to agility.

I was surprised to be at school for so long. I mean my mom has been telling me that I'll be taking 2 classes back-to-back, but tonight I really learned what that means. There are some familiar faces in my agility class. Tyson, who is a german shepard is in my class with his mom. Tyson was in my Novice I class with me. Mr. Jerry and his boxer Jack are in my class. Dovie and her dog are in my class, and Nancy and her dog Mocha are in my class. So it was nice that there were some familiar people. Neither my mom or I knew either of the teachers for my agility class. My teachers are Ms. Jonnie and Ms. Tracey .

The first thing that I got to do was walk through a ladder that was laid on the floor. I was a little nervous at first, but mom showed me part of a pupperoni and I just trotted through the ladder. Even Ms. Jonnie was impressed. Mom and I did that a couple of times, and by the third and last time I had my little prance going and was feeling confident. Then it was time to Jump!! We did 3 jumps in a row. I would always try to skip one just to see if mom was paying attention. Then it was time to try the dog walk...I was terrified of it!! I didn't even want to put my paws anywhere on it. Mom lifted me up and put me on it and I jumped off. The teacher told mom to give me some extra treats...I didn't care at treats at that point..i just didn't want to be on the dog walk! Mom then put me on the top of it and i scurried to the end. Mom said we will have to work on it. Then it was on the the A-frame...the A-frame was flat on the floor and it was no biggie. Then came the tunnels!! I love tunnels. Mom has been preparing me for tunnels though by making tubes with the sheets and I crawl through them!! I went through the tunnels before the teacher could even explain it!!
On the ride home, mom said she was gonna try to build me a dogwalk for the back yard so I can practice and get over my fear. Wow, I'm wiped out! I think this round of dog school is going to be exciting!!!
Mom snapped this photo after being home for 15 minutes!!

Hot Temps=shorter hair cut

Sometimes being so handsome and fluffy has its disadvantages!! The temperatures have turned hot, Hot, HOT!! I have already told mom that I don't want a silly shaved cut this summer like she gave me last summer:


To prevent the silly haircut, I have been trying to hide how hot my fur is making me. I do my best to cool down on tile or wood floors rather than carpet, but I think people are catching on. You see, I typically like to be wherever the action is...and it's not usually on the wood or tile floors.
So today, mom decided she would attempt to give me a shorter, still hip do...She set up a beach towel to catch all my fur she cut off. It took mom about 90 minutes to give me a haircut. I was such a good dog though...with the first sound of the clippers I felt cooler. I was so cooperative and was so thankful that I wouldn't be so hot, and that she wasn't shaving all my awesome hair off. Mom snapped this photo to show how much hair she cut off. Can you believe that? It's like I lost half of me...

Then it was time for the bath part. I am really good about taking my baths, but today's was AWESOME. Mom kept the water nice and cool. I felt so comfortable. I don't mind smelling like a clean dog for today, because I am enjoying just feeling cool, after so many days of feeling hot!
Sorry there is no "after" picture right now...my mom, well sometimes she forgets that part! Now I'm ready to curl up an take a good nap!

Moving on to Agility and Rally and an update on my buddy Thor

Mom told me that I got into the Wednesday night Rally and Agility classes. This will be my first attempt at both of these types of classes. The rally class is supposed to be kinda like my obedience class and the agility class will be my move around class. I am very excited (and a little nervous too as it will be new).

My good buddy Thor has had quite an adventure during the past week. He was out hanging out in his yard with his dad when a loud sound startled him and he hurried to take cover. His mom and dad looked all over for him. He was first spotted by some strangers who claimed he was a black deer. Now I'm not so great with with other animals, but mom said I was correct in that there are no black deer anywhere. Finally a gentleman approached Thor and realized he was an injured dog and called the number on Thor's name tag. Thor then got to go on an adventure to the vet to get checked out and start his recovery process. Thor's mom kept my mom, who kept me updated on Thor's condition. Thor got to head home on Friday! On Wednesday, I talked my mom into taking me to the pet store to get Thor a get well soon card and a goodie. I had fun shopping for Thor. I picked out a hysterical card. I tried to get mom to take a picture of it before she mailed it, but you know how 2-leggeds are they don't always listen. Then I got him some awesome camouflage cookies and a small stuffed dog to remind him of me!

Mom said Thor got the care package and he and Vixie loved it! Thor's mom was nice enough to send us some pictures of Thor now that he's home still resting and recuperating. Here is my good buddy with the great blue dog I sent!! Get well soon Thor!!

So much to tell...

First things first...mom says that there are some people out there (TZ) who don't think I am responsible for my own blog. So I had mom snap this photo of me before I began uploading the pictures for this blog entry. Mom directs the Internet to my blog page and then I do all the dictating for what she types. I make sure to keep a close eye on the whole process..

I apologize in advance for the length of this entry. I tried to get my mom to do it as a couple of entries, but she said there wasn't time. So today you are going to get a recap of my adventures from the past 10 days...and boy was there a lot of adventure and excitement.

I have to start by saying that I got my first qualifying score in Novice A Obedience at the Tulsa Round Up Dog Trail on Sunday May 29! I was so excited and so was my mom!! We rocked it out. Our judge even got around using an electric scooter. My mom thought it would make me freak out and panic, but my day 3 of the trial I was used to how it all worked! I even got 3rd place for my group on that day.

I was dog number 16 so you can see my scores and the official ranking of me in 3rd place. Isn't that awesome!! My buddy Thor was with me in this session and he rocked it out too taking 1st place!!! During the stay portion of the test, Thor kept looking over at me reminding me not to wiggle a muscle. There was a lot going on in the agility ring and whatever was on the other side of that curtain but I just stayed focus on Thor and we both made it through with flying colors!!!

Here I am with my 2 ribbons!! I decided to put on a studious look since I was now in the running to get an obedience title. To get to write my name as Boca II, CD I will have to get 2 more qualifying scores. A qualifying score is a score of 170 or above, with a perfect score being 200!
I did so awesome my mom bought me this great new blanket at the show. Little did I know that I would become very attached to this blanket over the next week! As son as my group ended on Monday, it was off for a big long road trip! Mom said we were going to Florida and that I was going to get to meet my cousins and human aunt and uncle.
We hopped in the car, I got to sit on mom's lap for the first day of the road trip because Gramma drove. The funny thing is we didn't take mom's car or Gramma's car...we were in a different car. I didn't really pay too much attention, I was pretty tired out from my 4 days at the dog show. Then on Monday, it was a really long day in the car. I rode some in my car seat and some on Gramma's lap, mom did most of the driving. Once we got to this place called Florida I was a pretty wiped out dog. I know I met my cousins, Nicole, Megan and Jason and my Aunt Jamie and Uncle Tim the night we got there, but I was so tired I didn't really get to play with them much. We got keys to Gramma's Florida house from Uncle Tim and went to where I would call home for the next 3-4 days. The following morning, mom got up and took me out in Gramma's back yard. The grass in Florida looks and smells so different than at home. I sniffed around everywhere. Then I got this weird kind of bark stuck in my tail. Mom told me it was palm tree bark. I asked what was a palm tree and she told me it was a type of tree that could be found in tropical places. So I told her to take a picture since I didn't know when I would see palm tree bark again.

Later that evening my cousin Megan and cousin Jason came over to Gramma's house to play. We had so much fun!! Mom didn't take any pictures because we were all too busy playing. My cousin Megan loved to pet me and talk to me. My cousin Jason loved the game of fetch. My friend Thor had given me two tiny tennis balls, and mom put them in my condo. Jason would throw one of the balls I would go touch it with my nose and then he would throw the second one. I would carry the second one around while Jason fetched the first one. We did this for about an hour mom said. I was so ready for bed, and slept pretty well in the new house. The first night I was in Florida there were two huge popping sounds in the middle of the night. Mom told me that those were from the space shuttle breaking back through the Earths' atmosphere, they were called sonic booms. It was cool. The next day mom and gramma went out and I napped most of the day. It was nice to just rest for a little bit. Then that evening we went over to Uncle Tim and Aunt Jamie's house.

They had this big bathtub outside. I don't really like the little bathtub inside, so I kept my distance. I didn't need to take a bath in front of everyone. The 2-legged people got in and that's their choice. I explored the yard some, but it smelled the same as Gramma's back yard so I just hung out with mom. There should be a video somewhere in this entry that shows how crazy my cousin Jason is...when Uncle Tim dove in the bathtub, cousin Jason followed getting Gramma all wet too. It was fun to watch.

The next morning, mom said I needed to see the beach and ocean since I was in Florida. The beach was awesome. It was like practicing in the dirt again only fluffier. I liked the beach part! Then I ran into some brown stuff...mom said it was called seaweed...it smelled weird. Then it was time for the ocean. Mom put me in a sit stay and took this cool picture of me sitting on the beach of the ocean. Truth be told, this is as close to the water I wanted to be. Mom made me get my paws wet, and then I was ready to go.

I helped Gramma arrange the furniture in her Florida house and had my own nice little cozy area. I broke in the carpet, and mom got me some steps so I could hop up on the couch easily.

I took part of playing games in the designated hang out room. I liked to hang out in the hang out room while mom was showering or getting dressed too. I learned how to play Apples to Apples. I was on a team with mom and cousin Jason and Megan were on a team, but Gramma had to play by herself. My cousins won...they were really good at the game!

So I talked them into playing a different game. Cousin Jason and Megan set the board up and I studied it.
Of course, some say dogs can't see colors, but I was willing to give it a shot. I don't remember who won this game, but it wasn't me...I had fun playing though!
Then it was time to chill out and cool down. I love the tile floor at Gramma's when I don't have to run on it. It is great to cool down a dog's tummy. Then mom and Gramma started packing the car. Since they unloaded most of the stuff they had in the car, I got to set up my condo in the car. Wasn't the inside of my condo awesome!
Then we hit the road back to Oklahoma. We rode in the car for a really long time one day. I decided that I would rest on the way home so that I didn't get so tired. See how comfy I got!
Once we made it back to Oklahoma I had one day to rest up before my Novice II test at Tulsa Dog Training Club. Mom was nervous that I would be too tired to do well on my test, but I did great. I passed my class with flying colors and got a score of 183. Mom signed me up for two new classes at school She says I get a week off and then I am going to start a Rally class and an Agility class. I'm sure I'll have more great stories to share!

I had to go to the vet this week to get my annual checkup. I am not fond of the vet, but who is. They said everything is great with me and I am a happy/healthy dog!! Woohoo.