Three steps forward and one step back!

Last night Toby and I headed out to our obedience class. It was not a very good night for us. For one thing, my boss kept me until 6:00 p.m. when he knows I have class on Thursday nights. He just doesn't care if we have a life out side of work. All he cares about is $$$. Anyway, I was extremely rushed to get to class. I think Toby felt my frustration. Toby did great with the heeling and the down stay. However, last night the sit stay was a huge problem. I could not get Toby to remain in a seated position. He kept sliding into a down. I gave him several corrections but that did not get through to him. So Elizabeth tried to give him a correction. Well, I think that it became a battle of who was going to win and it wasn't going to be the instructor. What a pistol! A couple of my class members just turned and looked at me with astonishment on their faces. Man! Toby can be very stubborn! The instructor even tried to pick him up and put him in a down. Toby was not going to do it! No way in hell was he going to obey that command! Then when the instructor tried to grab his collar, Toby let out I huge scream! No! it did not hurt him. He was just being a brat! As some of you know Toby can really be a brat. I do have to be careful with Toby because one time in a different class he was really hurt. But last night he was not. I tried to give him a correction with the collar and pulled his hair a tad and he yelped. It did not hurt my baby! He was being a total brat! Anyway the night did end on a good note but man! What a dog! Just as I thought that we were back on track. Well we will see how his new agility class goes on Monday night. It will be a new class. We are still going to do obedience on Thursday night as well. I was hoping that Monday nights would be a nice reward for doing so well in his other classes. Now I am not so sure. I will let you all know how things go.

The Best Friend Like No Other!

Today I am going to speak of a most precious gift from God. I have this wonderful friend who lives in Iowa. I thank God every day for putting her in my life. She is the most dearest person I have ever known! She is always there when I need a friend to lean on. When we talk on the phone we can talk for hours and never run out of things to talk about. She knows all the things that I hold dear to my heart. She always finds the most perfect gifts to send to me. I just wish I could be just half as thoughtful as her.

For my 50th birthday she sent me a gorgeous print of a Sheltie barking because a lamb has fallen in the snow. This has to be my favorite picture to ever own. Yesterday I got it back from the framers. They did such a wonderful job. So I am posting for every one to see and admire.

Thank you Karen, not only for this beautiful picture but for being the friend that you are! I love you with all my heart. And I thank God every day for allowing us to be great friends!

The Tobsters has done it again!

Tonight was our last night at DDS. This was also the second half of the P3 test. We Passed! Toby did just marvolous! I was worried that he would not touch the plactic lid several times like A chichen. But he did. We have been working on this all week. Toby has a wonderful toy drive now. And his recalls are amazing! The joke tonight was that I will have to learn how to stand in the middle of an agility ring and point to the obstical I want him to take. Everyone commented on how fast Toby was tonight. The instructor even told me that Toby was ready for agility now. She also told me that the next agility class will not start for about 6 to 12 weeks. I have made other plans for Toby's training. I just could not see repeating P3 or just sit and wait for an agility class to start so I found a class at another place. Toby will fit in nicely there. I have been in class with some of the students before and Toby has made friends with some of the dogs. I have also worked with the instructor before and I really like his style of teaching. I think we will be in good hands.

Well, I have had a long and hard day. It is time to go nighty night. I don't think the Tobsters has settled down from having a good night in class. Right now he is playing with his blanket. I think he thinks that it is going to come alive any moment. He does the same thing with his cookies. I will give him a cookie and he will take it and run to the front room. Then he drops it to the ground and does a play bow and barks at it. It is just too funny. You would just have to see it. It is the cutest thing ever. Never a dull momment with Toby!

The ups and downs of training with Toby

The first thing I need to talk about is the Tuesday night P3 class. This past Tuesday we had our first half of the test that we have to pass to go on to agility. Toby did great. I was very proud of my boy! His sit stays and down stays are rock solid. The one thing that we had just a little problem was his drop. Toby has been doing the drop by verbal only. For some reason during the test I had to give him a quick push on his shoulders for him to go down. Other than that he was perfect.

The instructor asked everyone of what our plans where. Did we want to repeat P3 if there was not an agility class starting until Mid April. I think everyone said they wanted to move on into agility. However if there was not going to be an agility class they would all repeat P3. Well, at the end of the test the instructor told us that we all passed the first portion of the test. Great! The next day I got an email from the instructor saying that after talking with all of us and watching our dogs there will not be enough dogs passing to make up an agility class and that we needed to retake P3 and wait until Mid April to start an agility class. This did not go over very well with me. Toby is far from being perfect; however, I feel Toby needs to move on. I can see the bordum in his face and actions by the end of class both on Tuesday night and Thursday nights. I have already pulled him from the agility ring for foundation work which he is doing. I think it is time for my big guy to start haveing more fun. Just to watch him turn his head and look everytime he hears the teeter hit the ground pulls on my heart strings. I have always told myself that I would know when it is time to move on and start working on the equipment. Well that time is now. The only problem is where. I have been looking hard for a class that starts around 800 P.M. Right now I am out of luck. I am going to try to make a 6:45 p.m. up in McKinney on Mondaynights. I hope it will work out for us.

Our Thursday night class is really coming along. Toby was in a sit stay. The instructor come out of the shed with a toy that looks just like Toby's favorite toy. Do you remember when I was working on Toby getting a toy drive. I talked about this long stick with a rope attached to it and a fuzzy squeeky attached to the rope. Well, it seems that the instructor has a bigger and better one than what Toby has. When she come out with that all I could say was this was not fair. Just wrong and mean. The instructor walked over to Toby and kept dangling it in his face. I thougth for sure Toby was going to break his stay. But no! My big guy did stick his nose out and sniffed it but he did not move from his spot. What an awsome dog! Now all we need to do is work on his stand and stand stay. We have been working on it and I thought that it was comeing along nicely until we got to class. I guess we need to work on the stand stay outside of the house. I think this week is going to be a stand stay week.

Healthy Dog

On Wed Toby spent the day are the Vets office. He had his teeth cleaned, his hips x-rayed, thyroid, liver, and kidneys checked. I know poor guy was poked and proded all day. But everything came our just great! No worries for my big guy! He is also loosing weight. He started his diet at 48lbs. He is now 46.4 lbs. We are aiming for 44 or 45 lbs so we are almost there. Yeah!

Next week will be our first test week for P3. There are 2 weeks of tests before going on to agility. I think we are going to pass! Toby is getting very good at his sit stays and down stays. Last week the instructor tried to get him to grab a tuggie toy while he was in a sit stay. His ears perked up but he did not move. Great Job Toby!

As far as his obedience class on Thursday night we need lots of work on the stand. I have a very lazy dog. Instead of standing he wants to sit. Instead of sitting he wants to be in a down. As far as a stand and stay, Fat chance! We need lots of work on this!

It won't be long before Toby is back on the agility equipment. He is really getting anxious. Last night while doing obedience there was an agility class going on beside us. Every time Toby heard the teeter hit the ground he had to look and stare and whine a bit. I know his misses being on the equipment but until he learns that he has to do what I want, he can't do what he wants. Mean, Mean mommies.