Recovered

Rugby had a rough night Friday, which ended in a trip to the emergency vet. :-O He wouldn't eat his dinner and was having some serious pains in his tummy. Long story short, they shot him up with some stuff and sent us home and he was feeling much better Saturday morning, but not 100%. We planned to go to a Show n Go this morning but I wasn't sure if Rugby would be up for it. I decided to head there anyways and only show if I thought Rugby wanted to.

When we arrived, Rugby immediately started running his mouth and while we were waiting to register for our run, he was whining a little in excitement. I think he was making it very clear he was happy to be there!

We had time to kill before we went in the ring so we hung out with a couple of our training buddies as they did their run-thrus in Open. I even had time to get some studying done. (Remind me to pre-enter next time!)

I was a little worried about today since we didn't train Friday or Saturday because of the whole being sick thing, but we were already there so...



We have some things to work on still, but I am very hopeful about the trials we entered! (Yup, its officially, Rugby will debut in the Utility ring in the middle of March!!!)

The Day Before

A muddy dog is justification of our weekly bath, and Rugby knows he works hard to earn his bath each week. He takes this very seriously and Tuesday was no exception.



We went to the barn just as the layer of ice on the ground was melting and turning the whole place into giant mud pit. Rugby loved it.



He begged us to let Joyful outside to run and play with him, he just could not leave without seeing her! All the running around helps to keep him warm longer, and he lasted a whopping 2 hours Tuesday before he said he was cold.



You all know already how this day ended...
...with Rugby licking the soap of his face and smiling at me!

Help!

What would you do if you found THIS in your bathtub?

This is the month!

January is APDT's National Train your Dog Month. I am not usually a fan of APDT, but I do think Train your Dog Month is a great idea! Rugby has taken some extra measures this month to make sure National Train your Dog Month is a success.

The most notable of these is the addition of 'Demo Dog' to his list of titles. This month isn't the first time he has performed as a Demo Dog, but it is when he decided to make it a permanent and official position! He made his debut as a Demo dog this past fall, teaching our first ever Novice Group Class with Roxanne and Sugar (her Demo Dog). Since he was so wonderful he got to come back as the Demo Dog for the new, improved Elementary Class at Applewoods this month!

While class is in session, Rugby waits off to the side on his cushion, under my chair until he is needed.

When I call him, he runs out to my side and goes through the motions of the task at hand. Afterwards, using the place command, he is sent back to get comfortable on his cushion!

Training has served Rugby well in the past too. Our Holiday Photo Shoot, Going on Vacation, Wrapping a Maltese Video, Placing on Children, Winning Dog Days of Summer, Treat holding, Putting on Shows, and The Tunnel of Legs to name a few, all required a trained dog.

But the list doesn't stop there. There are plenty of activities that rely on Rugby's training that he does frequently that don't ever make the blog. Like when he picks up change dropped on the pet sore floor, or returns fallen glasses to their owners, or babysits brand new cousins. Rugby loves the status and opportunities that come with training and can't wait to get to work each day!

January is far from over, so spend some time training your dogs! It is worth it!

Betrayal

Rugby has a special place in the Applewoods pack and he follows his own rules. One of Rugby's rules is that he is NOT the dog that does the play retrieving.

Rugby is of the opinion that the labs are there specifically for him to chase while THEY are doing the play retrieving. This is a good plan since most of the toys in the yard are not Rugby-sized and working so hard to play with a toy sort of takes the fun out of it.

Rugby is not bitter about this at all and rather enjoys chasing after the big dogs. He was having a great time playing with Holly, the lab, and Sandy, the golden retriever, as THEY did the play retrieving with this little red ball today. It didn't matter that the red ball is an unusual pick for the pack who much prefers the jolly balls.

I guess Rugby got a little too excited about the snow and forgot the game he was playing. He was so proud of himself for being first to the ball the next time I threw it. That never happens and he was feeling really good about the whole situation.

That was until he found out he wasn't the first dog... he was the only dog. The puppies had moved on to better toys and he had no one to carry the ball back for him, but more importantly he had no one to chase.

He was devastated... and embarrassed... I think the picture speaks for itself.

He spent about 30 second staring at me from out in the yard (as if I had betrayed him by throwing the ball) before he finally wandered off to pee on the stump.

Accomplished

Oh how I love Winter break! Rugby and I have been busy training and he has been giving me that extra somethin' when we work. I love it! It doesn't mean he is doing everything correctly all the time, but he is doing it with overwhelming enthusiasm! It also means he is wearing himself out and once we get home all he does is go from bed to bed getting his beauty rest. A tired dog is a good dog!

Tonight was Applewoods' Annual Holiday Party (not to be confused with the photo shoot) that got postponed until now because of snow. We set aside some time to Congratulate all the people who earned Obedience Titles in 2010. Rugby was one of the dogs in line up!

He not only earned his Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) Title last year, but also earned his Rally Novice (RN) Title. That means he got TWO prizes, a big bowl for the CDX and a little bowl for the RN. I tried to have him sit in the big bowl while holding the little bowl but he was overflowing a little.

Pete, the lab was there to accept his prize for earning his CDX Title, but we had to accept Lily's prize for her. Lily, the golden retriever got a bowl for earning her Companion Dog (CD) Title.

I am so proud of Rugby, Pete and Lily as well as the rest of our dog training buddies! We have big plans to earn more bowls for this year! ;-)

Good Start

Rugby finished out the new year on a high note with a photo shoot at Applewoods. This photo shoot was intended to be a Christmas photo shoot, but we didn't get to it soon enough. It turned into a more general 'holiday' photo shoot.

I had this great idea to have Rugby hold one of the bows, and even made him a little handle by folding the unpeeled sticky side so it stuck out. It looks like Rugby is being censored though, doesn't it?

All the dogs thought we were being a little silly and loved playing along with us. We were using Brandy, Pete, Rugby, Sanity, Sugar, Caruso and Ellie for the pictures and got a couple worth sharing.

We were welcomed into the new year with really warm weather, so off to the park we went! Rugby was just ON today. I love when he has days like this. There are some days that he just has something extra to give and he is so much fun to work with.

We did directed jumping, signals, gloves, retrieve over the high jump and the broad jump. The only thing he wasn't so great on was the broad jump, where he kept going to fast and giving me crooked fronts. We worked on that and just as we were about to go, our audience asked if they could meet him. My answer was, "Of course, and you can help us train too!"

The two girls scented up articles for us and watched Rugby work them. While I collected the jumps, they helped Rugby get out some zoomies that he had and Rugby ran and ran and ran with them. I think we are ready for 2011.