A day in the life

I stole this idea from stuff I'm seeing on Facebook, which is pretty darn funny. Welcome to my world.

What I went to college for

What my mother thinks I do

What my mother is worried I will do

What my husband thinks I do

What I'd really like to do

What I try really hard not to do

What customers think I do

What deadlines make me do

What I think I do

What I really do

Open and Utility, here we come!

Phoenix and I are 48 hours out from our first AKC obedience trial in five months. Given that we spent a good part of 2011 spiraling down in flames where obedience was concerned, I’ve got a lot running through my head.

Everything we experienced last year happened for a reason. It’s not like anyone is ever going to stop and explain WHY it happened, it was just part of our journey. Apparently the Supreme Dog Trainer In The Sky felt these were things I needed to know. He was right. I learned a lot last year - about dog training in general (nothing is carved in stone, NOTHING), about my dog in particular (physically hard as steel, mentally a marshmallow), about myself (change is possible!) and what I really want from the sport (another OTCh? A 200? More ribbons and titles? Dunno. Seriously. Still pondering).

All things being equal, I would just as soon have not experienced the level of frustration and disappointment that marked last year in obedience for us but it probably isn’t even close to what Phoenix was feeling. At least I had a choice in the matter - enter? Show? Stay home? Poor guy - he had to do whatever I chose, whether he wanted to or not.

And a lot of times, I think it was “or not.”

While we rocked in the agility ring (the proverbial good time was had by all), obedience trials seemed to bring out the worst in both of us.

I’d never had a dog throw the stuff at me that Phoenix did. I’d never explored the concepts he forced me to stop and think about. Was he really stressed? Did he just want the cookies? Was he just screwing off? Or was he truly confused? To correct or not to correct? Why did my dog not WANT to do this stuff that I thought was so much fun?

I swear the first two OTChs. never caused this much soul searching! (Okay, in reality, they probably did - every dog comes with his own larger than life issues, they just pale in comparison with the current dog’s issues).

In getting ready for this Friday’s trial, I’ve made a list of what’s important to me:

1) having a happy, confident dog in the ring

2) looking for small improvements in both attitude and technical performance

3) enjoying our time in the ring together for what it is: time together with my beautiful, funny boy

4) not freaking out about what kind of score we’ll get

5) not even thinking about being scored

Those last two are going to be easy and difficult at the same time. I am very goal oriented and achievement driven. I think about scores a lot. I like to know my dog can walk into a new environment and show me he totally knows his job. But at the same time, right now I’m so totally focused on enjoying the moment that scores aren’t even on my radar.

So now we’re off to a new start in a new year. Who knows what I’ll learn this time around.

My valentine

Caught this pic of Jamie dozing in the sun on the couch over the weekend. He's my big sweet furry red dog. Very appropriate for Valentine's Day.

Notice there is no equivalent picture of Phoenix, possibly because A) he doesn't sleep or B) when he does sleep, he's usually snuggled on my lap, which makes picture taking a little difficult.

Not that Phoenix isn't my sweet little skinny bitey bouncy bruise-y valentine, too. It's just a little different with him.

An update on . . . nothing

I haven’t been posting much lately because my life is boring.

Wait, that’s not totally accurate.

I live with a malinois who has squirrel OCD, a geriatric tervuren who acts like he’s six months old and a farmer with cabin fever. All of that in the same house is not a recipe for a calm and orderly existence.

The squirrels are a fairly new addition. Believe it or not, we didn’t have squirrels at our place until late last summer. I don’t know why. We had trees. We had birds. We’ve had raccoons, skunks, possums, coyotes, pheasants, deer and groundhogs all within shooting distance (sometimes literally) of the house.

But no squirrels until now.

Our squirrels are on crack.

While I suspect this is the nature of squirrels in general, ours seem to be on the extreme end of the spectrum. They begin each day with an acrobatics routine outside the living room window at 7 a.m. Phoenix lays in wait for them every morning. When the little rodents start flinging themselves around the tree branches, he begins flinging himself around the living room. And yodeling. Somewhere, glass has to be shattering.

The first few times he did this brought me to the living room at a dead run, sure we were being invaded by the zombies from hell.

Nope.

Just a squirrel. Okay, in Phoenix’s defense there were three squirrels. And also in his defense he’s become desensitized to them to the extent that the glass-shattering yodeling only accompanies their initial appearance. Then he backs off to agitated whining and a bizarre little squeaking noise that I think is coming out of the tips of his ears.

He hasn’t caught one yet but it’s probably only a matter of time. The squirrels have not made the connection between the back door slamming and 55 pounds of carnivore hurtling their way. Or maybe they’re just not that bright. They seem to have routine “WTF?” moments before scrambling for the tree. I guess every day is a new experience if you are a squirrel.

Phoenix almost got one earlier this week. He’s got an incredible vertical leap. I was worried he was going to catch the squirrel. I was worried he was going to end up in the tree with the squirrels. I was worried I was going to have to call the Farmer and ask him to please bring the big ladder up from the machine shed so he could rescue HIS dog out of a tree.

In other departments, our weather is boring. Boring. B.O.R.I.N.G.

Not complaining. Just sayin’.

We’ve had virtually no snow this winter. It’s a nice respite after the last four years of record-setting snowfall but I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall. I hope Ma Nature doesn’t decide to start making up for lost time and try to cram four months of winter weather into March.

Jamie is fine. He carries around pieces of laundry and shoes at random, apparently just because he can.

Finally got our farm taxes done, which means I can find the top of the dining room table again. It needs dusting.

I’m actually staying home for part of this weekend. Home. Garage door closed. Not going anywhere. It will be a house cleaning, cookie baking, laundry washing, dog grooming sort of weekend.

See? Boring. Yawn.

All good things will come to an end soon enough. You oughta see the calendar for this spring.

Shopping blues

Seriously, how hard can it be to buy a winter coat in February?

Especially when retailers are clearancing out their winter stock with enthusiasm and putting up displays of swimming suits and sandals?

I have been struggling and failing with this issue for the last month and I'm no amateur shopper.

My current wear-it-every-day winter coat is a a lovely periwinkle and navy blue Land's End product with just the right amount of insulation and a quilted nylon lining so when you put your arm in the sleeve, it actually goes in and your hand comes out the other end - not gets stuck and refuses to budge while the sleeve lining develops a lasting relationship with your fleece pullover or wool sweater.

The zipper is also shot, the wrists are frayed and it's been laundered so much I'm pretty sure the insulation has simply ceased to exist in several spots.

I bought this coat five years ago. I remember that vividly because I got it right before flying to Portland to pick up baby Phoenix. Given that the Portland climate is a little milder than Iowa in February, I did not want to show up dressed like Nanook of the North, which is the category my other winter coat falls into. I'm happy to report I've not needed to wear it much this winter since we seem to be having a non-winter here in the Midwest.

This non-winter has found me wearing my non-Nanook jacket clear through January and into February and I've finally accepted the fact that it not going to last much longer. Of course, winter isn't either so maybe I should just give up this coat quest.

Land's End does not make this particular style any more or I'd just order another one. Nothing is ever that simple. I'm going to have to - horrors - change.

Well, I've spent the last month shopping, trying on, rejecting, ordering on line and sending back. Here's the problem - nearly all the coats I've tried are A) lined with fleece that is toasty warm, assuming you can actually get your arms through the sleeves or B) are tailored so snugly you can't fit anything heavier than a T-shirt under them. In the winter, I wear more than a T-shirt. A lot more. The number of layers I wear is probably why I don't need my Nanook of the North coat very often.

So I sized up. That didn't help. The difference between medium and large in women's sizes seems to be mostly in the chest area. This didn't do me any good. I needed room to accommodate heavy sweatshirts, sweaters and vests, not boobs.

I even started trying on men's jackets to get enough room to accommodate the multiple layers I wear through the winter. This solved the room-in-the-shoulders issue but created two new issues: sleeves that hung past my fingertips and annoyingly snug fits around my hips when the jacket was zipped. Not sayin' I have a big butt. Just sayin' women's butts have different curves than guys.

I've just about given up. I placed an order with LL Bean this morning. Naturally, they were having a great clearance sale. Naturally, the color I wanted was not on sale. Go figure.

If that doesn't work, I'll wear my broken-zippered, frayed-cuffs, washed-out coat with pride the rest of the winter. Which hopefully won't be very long.

The debut, Part II

In 10 days, Phoenix and I are going back into the AKC Open and Utility rings for the first time in 5 months.

I looked at the calendar this morning and had the profound thought of, "Huh. That trial is next Friday. Whattaya know."

Heck, I was just glad our entries got in. A lot of folks' didn't. Glad I mailed mine early. We may be the first freakin' dog in the ring but who cares.

Then I felt a little guilty for not having been training more. Or harder. Or serious-er. (Is that a word? It is now.)

Then I came to my senses and realized that training more and harder and serious-er had a lot to do with the total train wreck that was our UDX debut last summer. Ugh. Been there. Done that. Let's hope I learned something from it.

Yeah, we've been training. And we've been enjoying time off, too. I've been focusing on the good stuff instead of being a harpy about the stuff that's not so good. I think we've fixed a few things. I know there is more that needs fixing.

On the way to a match last weekend, I drove by a business called "Phoenix Repair." I was tempted to walk in with Nix and ask if they could fix his moving stand and fiddly feet on group stays. Probably a good thing I just drove on by.

Phoenix and I are both happier about our training time together. I've quit being OCD about everything being perfect. I've cleaned up some criteria about what gets a treat/reward and what doesn't. We're both still coming to terms with the concept of making effort. Some days, it's an effort.

Our training is more about the "doing" and the "being" than the "getting." Does that make any sense?

So we'll re-debut next Friday and see what happens. I really do love the work-in-progress aspect of obedience trialing with a dog who is still fairly green when it comes to working both rings in one day. Although it would be an incredible experience to get consistent 199 and 199.5s every time we showed, I'm not sure that would hold my interest for long.

Whatever Phoenix and I do, it will be interesting. And we'll do it together.

Happy Ground Hog Day!

I don't know if Iowa has its own official groundhog or not. But any groundhogs around our part of the state didn't stand a chance of seeing their shadow this morning. The fog was so thick I could actually watch it swirling in the flashlight beam when I went out with the dogs at 5:30. That was kinda creepy.

Today is also Imbolc. Imbolc is a Celtic festival marking the beginning of spring. That might be a little optimistic but I'm all about spring getting here ASAP. Most commonly it is celebrated on Feb. 1 or 2 in the northern hemisphere. These dates fall about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

From now on, the sunlight hours of the day start getting markedly longer and will continue to lengthen until the summer solstice in late June, when they start getting shorter again.


Can we have spring if we really haven't had winter yet?