Smile for the camera!

Todays post is one I recycled from the vault: Reading facial expressions in dogs.

(We were actually trying to get a photo of this sweeties underbite. It was not a social commentary nor done as a joke. She was a very good girl.)

Wordless Wednesday

The great LAND search is on

My dream was to move to Alberta, get sheep and move on with trialing my Border Collies Jet and Ted. Below is the sign I had on the walk up to my little field back in Thunder Bay.

When I moved here, land prices were at an all-time high. So, I put things on hold and have made the best of things in my cute little Penhold house. But suddenly, it's a buyer's market with a lot of acreages for sale. I hear some may even come OFF market until prices go up again.

I miss having sheep so much! Watching the US Border Collie Nationals really rubbed it in. Below is a view of my sheep in my little field on my 5 acres back in northern Ontario. I never dreamed it would be so hard to replace that when I moved here! But I just don't feel like myself without sheep. I feel like a person in limbo. And it's hard to see my dogs get older as I bide my time to find a place!

So I've been desperately wading through listings and am seeing about three or four places this week! They are all within driving distance of work - from 20 to 45 minutes away. They range from 4 to 32 acres. A couple have more land adjacent that can be leased or rented.

This is Hazel in front, and Pebbles behind. I miss my girls.

By Thunder Bay standards, the properties I am looking at are outrageously priced, but by Alberta standards, they are pretty good prices. I guess a mortgage is a mortgage and it is important to listen to your soul's calling, right?

Having sheep and land for the dogs would be SO AWESOME! The dogs would be so happy. I would be so happy. River used to help bring the bucket back after bringing water to the sheep. I love this shot I took of her a few winters ago, below. She is so proud.

Caden was just a pup when I moved here. But he comes from herding lines and needless to say, it would be very cool to expose him to sheep. In the photo below, he is a wee pup looking into the field towards the sheep! Boy, has he grown. And there is my Shaman hanging out with us. Don't you love the sheep on my fencepost? It is in my front entry right now, sitting in a window.

AND I KNOW TWO DOGS WHO WOULD BE THRILLED TO HAVE SHEEP AGAIN...





Naturally, this is all happening just before the snow flies. Wish me luck!

PS, my friend sent this link to me - it is my old house in Thunder Bay - now owned by a couple who have started to breed Standard Poodles. Oh, it hurts my heart to see these photos. That's MY field, my deck, those are MY trees and my flowers! Oh, it's hard. There are days I am very sad I left, but here I am, and I am making a new life...

Here is the link - (NOT an endorsement of any kind as I don't know these people) - http://www.balsamridgepoodles.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=28

A K-9 Corrections update

Check out this cutie pie. His name is Nico and he is an 18 month old akita mix. He is our newest resident in the K-9 Corrections program. He needs to learn not to jump on people when he greets them, not to pull on leash, and not to freak out when he sees other dogs. It turns out he used to go to dog parks when he was young but had a bad experience where he got attacked (and hurt) by another dog. He has since become afraid of them. His response when he sees one now is to get offensively defensive. In simple terms it is: attack first, ask questions later.
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I don't expect to get him to want to be social with other dogs, but we at least need to teach him a different emotional response to seeing them, and impulse control. With people he is super social and everyone there already really likes him. They keep trying to label him a pit mix though which I don't believe he is. You can definitely see the akita though. (Sidenote: Pitbulls aren't allowed on the program at this time. I hope that may change in the future but unfortunately it's not my call.)

Walker went to a new home on Saturday for a trial slumber party. The bad news is that he only lasted about 3 hours. He chewed on the recliner, did some counter surfing and scared the young child in residence when he barked at a visitor. It's ok. We learned some more things about him and we will find a better match next time. He did great at the Fur N Foliage shelter event playing with the other dogs there. He is now staying at the shelter so he can be seen by potential adopters. (and play with other dogs daily)

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I have another dog on deck to start the program on Saturday. I'm going to keep that info under wraps for now in case something changes. I'll just say she is very cute and needs to learn that all people aren't bad.

Fall Day in Markerville

So beautiful and sunny today, went for a drive to the historic town of Markerville with my Dad who is visiting. It was beautiful! Here are some pics. Not much to add. River and Ted came for the ride and we looked at the historic bridge, and the old creamery. This was originally an Icelandic settlement in 1888. The creamery was built in 1902 and is now a restaurant - kind of like the HOITO in Thunder Bay!

The Power of Dog - Ryder (aka Boo)

Every day is a lesson. Sometimes they are good lessons and sometimes they are heartbreaking.

Today my friend’s, Katie and Andy, lost their young Golden Retriever to a blood-type of disorder. For the average human reading this, some may wonder how the loss of a dog is blog-worthy. For those of us who are into dog sports, they understand without another word. But regardless of which side of the fence you’re from, this blog subject is worth the read because it talks about the power of love and the power of dog.

It’s no surprise that dog folks often equate their 4-legged kids with 2-legged human children. Today it dawned on me why this analogy is so correct!

When people have human babies, they put time, energy and a part of themselves into that little life. They teach them, shape them, impart information, create their world, oversee the life lessons that are a part of growing up and open the deepest parts of their soul to share a vulnerable side reserved only for special individuals. Human parents do all of this with care, thoughtfulness and with a relish for this labor of love.

It may be hard to imagine, but dog parents do the same for their 4-legged youngsters. While we don’t give birth to our chosen young, just like those who adopt, we look into that little sweet face and fall in love. A maternal/paternal instinct kicks in. Maybe it’s the want to care for the innocent or maybe it’s just the need to develop a bond with something warm, interactive and emotionally stimulating. Whatever the reason, the 4-legged surrogate children worm their way into our hearts and become members of the family.

This brings me back to Katie and Andy. Today they lost one of their kids and at the moment there is a place in their heart that is aching, empty and pleading for their beloved Boo to come back to them. While this is the hard side of loving and loosing, we have to remind ourselves to never lose sight of how it felt while our dogs are with us. Forgetting the time together would an injustice to the one who touched our heart and it would negate the love they brought into our lives.

In the case of Boo (also known as Ryder), he was amazing. I didn’t get to see him on a daily basis, but what I noticed immediately was that he brought pure joy to Katie and Andy’s life. He made them smile. He worked the two of them by pouring on the puppy love, adding a full-bodied tail wag and a look that said “I love you so much”. They couldn’t help but shower him with kisses, hugs and smiles. From my vantage point, I’m certain these warm feelings poured over into their marriage and that it brought the two of them closer as a couple. They smiled and laughed together over Boo and his antics and those happy feelings overflowed and was shared among their friends.

Boo’s reach was far beyond his immediate family. While judging him in agility, I couldn’t help but smile and root him on. He gave his all in each agility performance and was a force of good that swept through the course. Nobody could resist the happiness watching him brought!

But what I’ll remember most was the whirl of energy Boo and his handler (it didn’t matter if it was Katie or Andy) produced. They were like a micro-burst of fun on the agility course. It started the moment they came to the line and the impact continued even after they were gone. Dan (my hubby) and I would see them hours later and smiles would still be plastered on all of their faces (humans and dogs alike). It was infectious and a feeling that sucked us in. That's how we became friends with them, in part, thanks to Boo.

So while Katie and Andy work through their grief, I wanted to salute Boo for having touched so many lives in such an amazingly positive way. He did touch many hearts and he brought joy to everyone who watched. He was amazing to see, lovable to all and so very special. I know that we are all better humans for having known that 4-legged little fuzz ball of joy.

Thank you Boo for sharing your gift with all of us and our hearts are with Katie and Andy during this time.

With Love,

Lisa & Dan

Schutzhund Sunday with my Dad

 My Dad came out to Schutzhund Club practice yesterday. Below, he is sitting with (L-R) Tom, Terry, my Dad, Dan. We were saying how nice it was to finally have sunny weather! And then...

...we saw this coming from the north! And huddled on the deck for one hour, while there was wind, rain and hail! 

...after which the sun came out again! I worked Caden and got this photo of him with a rainbow behind.

Last night, I took this photo of Caden on my bed. Such a tough guy at club, such a sweetie at home. He is such a balanced dog, with strong work drive and prey drive. But able to turn it off and be a nice boy in the house. I just love this dog!

Working through my anger

I was thinking about a couple of posts I wanted to write today. One is about ear cropping in pugs, and the other was about the changes in the breed over the years. I have a book fetish and one of the things I do besides internet reading is to buy history books on breeds that I am interested in. (usually of the breeds I share my life with) I recently picked up a couple new books on pugs from ebay. (Sidenote: The secret to ebay is to NOT go unless you are looking for something specific. If you go on just to browse it is like a lawn sale on crack and you will go down! Consider yourself warned.)
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The books I found are "The Goodger Guide to the Pug" by Wihelmina Swainston-Goodger (which is really two books in one: "The Pug Dog, It's origin and History" originally published in 1930 and "The pug handbook" published in 1959 both written by Mr's Goodger.) and "The Complete Pug" by Milo G. Denlinger second edition 1953. (copyright 1947)
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So why am I angry you ask? Well if you could see the photos in the old books it would be clear. I tried to scan some of them to share here but couldn't get my scanner to co-operate. (which just irritated me even more) Yes Virgina pugs did have a defined nose once upon a time. And they weren't all round either. And I'm not just talking about old photos of random pugs, but pugs that had their championship titles, pugs that met the standard of the day. Since the standard hasn't really changed since then either, one can see that it is all about interpretation when it comes to breeding.

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I recently subscribed to Pug Talk magazine so I can stay in the loop when it comes to pug stuff. (and submit the occasional article) The difference I can see in the faces of pugs of yesteryear and some today is so drastic it makes me cringe. Now I'm not saying those dogs aren't healthy, one hopes that breeders ARE breeding healthy dogs especially if they are showing, but it makes me wonder how that can be true? Of course I am not a breeder and therefore I assume I don't have all the information. I only know that when I tried to find a breeder of pugs doing health testing I struck out.

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Sometimes in my daydreams I consider becoming a breeder. My dream is to build a better and healthy pug. Of course in reality I can't see it ever happening. For one thing the thought of trusting anyone with a puppy is hard for me to imagine. I see to many asshats at work for that. (my apologies to all the non-asshat owners out there for lumping humanity together like that) The other is the expense. Breeding done the right way isn't cheap. I work at a vet so I get to see all the costs involved. And that's if everything goes right.

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To be clear breeders have a tough job. They, the good ones, are trying to breed healthy dogs to continue keeping the breed they love strong. I'm not picking on them. I am just disgusted by those that have taken advantage of the uneducated people out there. There are to many people who breed them to make a quick buck preying on the people who fall in love with them simply because they are cute. (Which I think they are. More on that in a future post.) I know an adorable pug owned by a friend that is a rescue. You can tell that she was bred multiple times. To say she is not put together well is an understatement. Tack on to that she is allergic to everything. As an owner of an allergy dog I can attest that continual itching is torture to dogs. Why would anyone want to pass that on? I can answer that, it's because they didn't give a shit.
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There are just to many dogs out there suffering because of those irresponsible asshats. (I'd say breeders but that is to nice of a word for them.) This is why the term back yard breeders is one used with such disdain by people. To the people who truly love dogs, and only want good things for them, BYB's are not helpful. Not to mention the fact rescue and shelters end up picking up their slack. Cuz the typical BYB certainly doesn't take back dogs of their breeding if the home doesn't work out. They got their money. Game over.

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I am angry because when I see so many pugs struggling to breathe, itching themselves raw, and destroyed in so many ways over time it gets to me. But I am aware you can say the same for many other breeds as well. I am sure I am not alone.

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OK so this was a venting post for me. If anything I hope it illuminates the need to support a reputable breeder if you feel the need to buy a puppy. If you can't find one then breed rescue or your local shelter is always another great option. Just be patient for pete sake! I think many people jump for the first dog they see when they are looking because they get impatient. Remember it's a living being, not a paperweight. You will be living with all the consequences of your choice for many years after all. Be secure in those choices.

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Hello, my name is Marie and I support responsible rescue groups AND reputable breeders. Please consider doing the same.

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(As I finish this Jenny is curled up on the couch napping. Her tail is wagging.)

US Border Collie Nationals! Here's how it went...

**AND HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED...

Congratulations to Patrick Shannahan and Riggs who won this year's Nationals with a 531! 2nd was Tom Wilson and Sly with 505. Third was Alasdair MacRae and Nap with 439.

And to Alberta's Wendy Schmaltz who placed 4th with her dog Gin with 422! Scott placed 5th overall with Maid - 405! Wendy had such a cool head during her run, and backed the sheep into the pen with ONE SECOND TO SPARE! You can imagine the cheering that went on for her run. Scott and Maid did a fantastic run, after a re-run was given because of set-out horses for a 405. And Scott and Don had an amazing, awesome run, but Don gripped right at the end for a heartbreaking DQ. He is only 3 years old and has a string of accomplishments already, so we know Don has a very bright future and is a dog to watch, having made it into the top 17 of 150 of the top dogs and handlers in North America. Congratulations to all!

Jenny Glen sums it up nicely here - http://altapetestockdogs2.blogspot.com/
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Scott Glen and Don from Alberta held first place with 192 until midday when Amanda Milliken and Roz of Kingston Ontario earned a 197! Tom Sly (US handler) topped that with a 204 for first place today. Scott's Maid (my Jet's mom) earned a spot in the championship round tomorrow with 186 and a few rounds later, Wendy Schmaltz and Gin (Alberta) pulled off a great run and a single with seconds to spare, for 188!

I can't believe I have sat here for 9 hours glued to my screen. The webcast has been amazing. I took a picture of my computer screen when Maid was doing her single, and cropped it so it is pretty grainy. Here she is, Jet's mom. She ran for a dip (again) - before she was done. NOW I know where Jet gets her tub fetish!

Tomorrow the top 17 handlers compete for National Champion. The webcast continues, starting at 8 AM Eastern time. Very exciting to see this on the computer. I am so thankful to those who set it up. Finally putting names and faces and dogs together has been awesome.

A clean slate tomorrow, and a double lift with an International shed. I can't wait!

Test Drive the Dogs!

When I was younger and well before driving age, my parents would let me go out and start the car so it could warm up before they headed off to work. Even though it was 10 below zero, I loved that moment behind the wheel. It was a thrill, a job I had proven I was capable of handling and for just that one moment, a glimpse into my future.

Later, my role evolved and I was allowed to back the car down the driveway and not long after that, my Dad let me drive his truck around the property. All of these skills prepared me for real driving on real roads.

Training a dog in agility is much the same thing. We start our puppies/dogs off by instilling the safety rules of agility skills. Next we let them sit behind the wheel by sharing the keys of handling and soon they’re backing down the driveway of sequencing. Before we know it, they’re driving courses in the safety of our property…all in preparation for real driving on real agility courses.

This analogy came to mind when I recently took Zulu out for a little test drive in agility class. I have to say, it was a thrill! First, his contacts were amazing. As I pushed, he gave me 2on-2off contacts that were fast, confident and accurate. The timing couldn't have been better as my 2on2off DVD will be available via download next week and soon available for shipping. It was a nice reminder that the training is GREAT and dogs just love it!

But back to my Zulu test drive...next, he sequenced with relish and was clearly enjoying himself while working with gusto. I couldn’t help but be proud of his skills and I have to say, it was fun to get a glimpse of our agility future together.

You may remember when a few months ago I took Rouge out for a few test drives on the open road at an agility trial and again at the Stacy Peardot-Goudy seminar. Those times gave me confidence that her visitation days were behind us.

It also means that it’s really time to start driving her like the little race car she is and to see exactly what’s under that sporty hood of hers. So I grabbed my best treats and off we went to race around the agility training course. To my surprise, she was just as hyped about the experience as I was. It seems the more I pushed, the more she gave. Pretty soon I was giggling, she had a smile on her face and we both learned how to burn a little rubber!

The lesson I'm reminded is that there reaches a point in each dog’s training where it’s time to buckle up, hit the road and see what’s under the hood 'cause it’s time for a real test drive. Relish that moment. You're sure to have some great moments and if you're lucky, you'll walk away with a few specific items to work on. 

Your mixed breed dog is..........

So we did a genetic test on a dog at our clinic because the owners were curious to see what their dog was made up of. She is a medium sized brindle colored dog that has the body type of a border collie. She has a feathered coat. They were told she was a golden lab mix.

Her results came back as follows: 25% Golden Retriever, 25% Alaskan Malamute, 25% Finish Spitz, and 25% Yorkshire Terrier. So what I want to know is, where does the brindle come from? Which one of these dogs has a breed in its' ancestral history that might have had that color gene in it?

My only guess is the spitz because Pomeranians are also a spitz and they have brindle in the gene pool.

http://www.americanpomeranianclub.org/colors/brindle.htm

But that may be a simplistic view. I admit I know nothing about colors when it comes to genetics. One wonders a little about the validity of the test. It's just hard to imagine that specific combination running around breeding.

Any other ideas or thoughts? I wish I had a photo to share.

USBCHA National Border Collie Finals in Virginia are happening!

My Ted, a son of Scott's Pleat, flanking sheep earlier this summer near Bowden
Wow, I look at this photo and am in awe of how well he moves and is built



As usual, I root for the Canadians, but especially for Scott Glen who is a World Class handler from here in Alberta. He was the first Canadian to win the US Border Collie Handler's Association Nationals, and with his own homebred dog Pleat, and that year also took reserve too! He has sort of "lived the dream" of so many Border Collie people, and is a wonderful person and great teacher on top of it. He was featured in a news story earlier this week, before the trial started. You can read that here. 

I also root for Jenny Glen, who keeps a fantastic trial blog. Today I read about Jet's mom Maid who made it around the course, in very hot weather with very difficult sheep. There is one photo on the blog where she looks just like my Jet (her daughter). Here is the link to her blog.

Plus, there is a webcast with live action - http://www.nationalsheepdogfinals.com/webcast/ and there is Twitter live feed too. I re-tweeted the last tweet for Scott and Maid which you can see to the left in my Twitter feed. If you click on the link to the time stamp, it will take you to a play by play Twitter account of each run. For diehards only, LOL. But very cool use of technology. Thanks to Heather Nadelman of California.

Go Scott! Go Jenny! Go everyone! I wish I was there. I wish I was working sheep anywhere, actually. But one day, will be at the finals (even as a volunteer...)

I was lucky enough to get Jet and Ted from Scott and Jenny. They are classy dogs with no sheep. Am I whining again? Oh, forgive me. It is hard this week to not think about it. Working on it, but it's hard to find something to afford here in Alberta...very hard to replace what I had in northern Ontario, and that's just a fact. In the meantime, we track, and do Schutzhund and dream of sheep.

Wordless Wednesday

Can you see me now?

Introducing......Drum roll please

Prones that's my girl RL1 (AOE)!!

So Jenny earned her Rally Novice title yesterday at Finish Forward Dogs in Saco. (Who hosted a fabulously fun trial!) We even got a first place in that class. It was close though. We had 3 trials and in the first one our score was to low to get a qualifying ribbon. (missed by 1 point!) The second trial got us a 191 and our 3rd leg. (And the now infamous "Title" wave from the group. To funny!) The last trial we NQ'd on the halt sit exercise. I screwed so much stuff up it was ridiculous. BUT I have to say I learned a ton from it so it was worth every second. We also got a couple lovely comments about her fabulous heeling. It's always nice to get a compliment!
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John Woolley Photography was there so there will be photos of the trial posted soon. Keep an eye out because there is a super fun photo of a boxer doing his own thing in the ring. It is adorable! I didn't bother taking many pics this time. After getting up at 4:30am to get there I had moments where I was just lucky to be awake! I am so not a morning person!!

The day was not without a moment of worry. Jenny jumped out of the crate and landed badly on the pavement giving herself some road rash. (This was after her first turn in the ring.) Fortunately that was all that she hurt. No limping or soreness meant she could continue the day. It didn't seem to phase her at all.

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Now I am going to go for her Rally Novice Excellent title. We'll also start training for level 2. With food bowl distractions, lord help us! Our next trial is the end of October at Wag It in Lincolnville.

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Not only did she earn some ribbons she won a cute squeeky stuffed toy. I'm sure her favorite part of the day was the trip through Wendy's drive thru and the chicken patty for dinner. As you can see from her photo above, dogs just aren't that into ribbons. It was a great day filled with lots of really nice dogs. Nothing beats that in my book.

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(Side note: The dog on the ribbons is Brina. I am her official dog stalker so this makes our title just that much more exciting for me. :-)

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(Edited 9/24/10. Thanks to Kathi for letting me know it is RL1 in APDT and not RN, which is an AKC title, as I had it listed. The AOE means she got it with scores above 190 on each of the 3 legs. I'll get it right eventually! VBG)

My dog tattoo quest fulfilled.

I have a confession to make. I love tattoos. I think they are beautiful and can showcase some really great art. There are the exceptions or course, the scary ones make me wonder about the person sporting them. But overall I find them an interesting self expression of their owners. I even have a few.
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Well of course my admiration of tattoos and love of dogs meant that eventually I would want one that was dog related. I struggled with the right design and placement for years. The tricky part of a dog tattoo is that I wanted it to encompass so much. Having had many dogs though my life of various breeds and contact with them in such various ways I was looking for an idea that wasn't exclusive of any dogs, and represented my feelings in a clear way. Not an easy task.
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I had a few thoughts of Disney dogs but couldn't decide which ones would be the best representations for me. Unlike some others in the dog world I love the Disney dogs. Yes I cringe when a breed becomes popular due to any movie, but my first contact of a dog came in the form of Lady and the Tramp at the local theater with my dad. As a grown up I learned quickly that Disney dogs do NOT represent dogs in a realistic way. I don't think we can blame people that have unrealistic expectations of dogs completely on the Disney franchise. I mean, once we are adults we learn life isn't like the cartoons and movies don't we? But I digress.
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I was also limited by size parameters in the space I had available. I also like to see my tattoos because they are for me. Why have art you can't enjoy? I am lucky enough to be married to a very understanding husband in my tattoo admiration. He isn't into them and wasn't all that thrilled that I was. (perhaps a side effect of being a police officer) But he loves me and likes to see me happy. My children were also very vocal on what and where I should have any of my "ink". As a mom I never want my children to be embarrassed of me. (Well, beyond the normal reasons kids have to be embassassed of a parent that is.) So their input was important to me. And for those that think I'm to old for tattoos, my tattoo guy told me about a 79 year old woman he did a foot tattoo and tramp stamp on recently! Life doesn't stop just because you age. VBG (tho one can say I am beyond ever looking "hip" again LOL)
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Well recently the planets aligned and an idea finally fell into place for me. My daughter helped me with some design elements. Fortunately I have a great tattoo guy at Atlantic Studios that took my ideas and translated them perfectly for me. (Thanks Chris!!) So Friday night after work I went and got my new ink. I thought since this was a dog blog I would share my new art here:

The words say: "We strive to be worthy of their devotion". I admit the paw print is not my design. I found it in the header of another blog called (ironically) Finnegan's Paw Print . I don't know who originally designed it, but as a fan of Celtic art it struck me the day I saw it.

The quote I adapted from a t-shirt I bought recently. Some will read it as a romanticised version of dogs, however what I was trying to represent is that it is amazing what humans have done to dogs over the years and how they can bounce back to trust us regardless. We make mistakes with them time and time again and yet so many of them keep giving us the benefit of the doubt. Heck some people even abuse them daily and they still try to show love. Thankfully dogs ARE so resilient for our sake. I think (we) humans fall flat in many ways. Look at the need for breed rescues and animal shelters for instance. (and animal abuse laws) But at least some of us are trying to make things better for them and to treat them well. Anyway that is what I saw in that quote.

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The forget-me-knots represent dogs I have loved and lost over the years.

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It is up high enough that I can wear scrubs at work and regular long sleeve shirts and keep it covered if I choose. I am aware that not everyone likes tattoos nor think they are very professional. This way I can have the best of both worlds. I am super happy with the results and love it.

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Anyone else have a dog tattoo they love?

Judging - UKI Trial, Wilsonville, OR (Sunday)

 Today was Day 2 of the UKI trial and today was GREAT!

First, we got the whole jump height movement thing worked out and it was so nice and orderly! My feet were so happy

Better yet, today we had AWESOME courses (thanks to my hubby Dan) and we added Gamblers to the mix.

Oh and did I mention the weather was sunny?!?!

Yes, it was a great UKI trial and something worth checking out.

Enjoy the attached courses.

Lisa

Judging - UKI Trial, Wilsonville, OR

Today I judged my first UKI Trial.

UKI is a new agility organization that is geared to be more European in course design.

Here are the pros and cons of my first experience with UKI:

Pros:
* Love the courses. The main thing that attracted me to UKI was the difference in course design. I like a bit of challenge since I think this creates better handlers and more experienced dogs.
* I love how Novice-friendly UKI is. There is a nursery class and even better, you can call "Not For Competition" or NFC, which means you can use a toy during your training time and you're not judged on performance. It's a great way to get ring experience.

* I love a good strategy game and UKI provides those. Today we had Snakes and Ladders and tomorrow we'll have Gamblers.
* Thanks to nesting, easy course changes.
* Love the relaxed environment.

Cons:
* Well, it's a new organization and they have a few bugs to work out. For example, the Snakes & Ladders written guidelines are missing a few important details. (The good news is the exhibitors were all easy going and we figured it out)
* Holy cow, with all of the classes running similar courses I think we were changing jump heights continuously! I'm positive I put more miles on doing this than actual judging.
* I felt like a lump of coal when handlers called NFC since my sole job was to stand there and be sure handlers weren't mean to their dogs. Ah yeah, since they were coming in with toys to play, that wasn't an issue (an nobody beat their dog with an udder toy ).

Overall, it was a positive experience and I would definitely consider entering a trial with my own dog.

Enjoy the courses everyone!

Lisa