In Loving memory "Kodiak"

Today is such a sad Day. Kodiak a gift from God. Although her life here on earth was short, she still lives on in my heart!









Run free and Happy Kodiak!

Love Terrie and Toby

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My how time flies! It seems just like yesterday that Toby and I were braving the cold out at DDS doing pre agility training. I can still see the lights on Patty's house as we drove into the parking lot and the tire jump made out of a Christmas reef. Toby has come a long way since last year in his training. No zoomies in the past month and a half. Great progress! His teeter is coming along very nicely. In fact last week we worked on a moving teeter. The instructor told me to feed Toby at the top of the teeter while she moved it with her feet. She said that it was not going to go down as far as the table top that we used to keep the teeter from going all the way to the ground. Well, when Toby laid down on the teeter while it was moving up and down the instructor decided that it needed to move more so she said all hell its going to the table. Toby rode the teeter down with out even a flinch! Toby has an awesome teeter! The last piece of equipment we have to conquer is the weave poles. We have been working very hard on them. I think he is going to be weaving by the end of the year! Yeah! I guess my Big Guy just had to mature, and that he is doing! It just doesn't seem like he will be 4 on the 30th of December. It seems just like yesterday when I found him out on the pack porch making himself a home in the Chimnea! LOL

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Toby is becoming a star!

Toby had class last night and it was AWESOME! He still has not zoomed. I think it has been at least a month since his last self rewarding behavior took place. I am so excited about his training now. We are have loads of fun in class. We are now ahead of all of our class mates. Next week we get to start working on a moving teeter. And I might add that Toby is the only one progressing. It might be just because he has done all of this before. But at least we are finally getting some where. Toby has learned to crouch at the end of the teeter so he can ride the teeter down safely. His two on two off on the dog walk and a-frame are coming along nicely. I need to spend a lot move time with the weave poles. That is one obstacle that we have not been working on very much. But we will have it down by next week. I am sure of it. The instructor has had only wonderful things to say about Toby here lately. She is loving his focus and how fast this guy picks things up. She totally gets Toby and is helping me get Toby. She told me that he is going to be a star when we start showing. She loves this package! I think some of it has to do with the fact that I have decided that we will not show until I find a job. So the pressure is off when it comes to getting him into the show ring. Before that was all that I could think about. That pressure was getting to me and Toby. I worried that maybe he was getting to old to do this sport and that I should have had him trained and ready to go by the time he was two years old. I thought that I should have had to spend only one year training. That might have been so if this was my second or third agility dog. Toby is my first and I have had to learn a lot of things myself. I think the biggest thing that I learned is that working with Toby in the mornings and making him work for breakfast has been the best thing ever. Not only does he love this but I am finding that teaching Toby tricks is a lot of fun. For the past week I have been teaching Toby to put Frankie in the box. Then we started putting his sheep in the box. I am hoping that soon he will be able to pick up his toys and but them in the box. I have also worked getting Toby to put himself into the box. I think Toby loves his shoe box!

Carpets look great!

He still loves his chair!

Much to my surprise all of the Red GA clay come out of the carpets. So you guessed it, Toby has been band from the areas of the house that has white carpet. Poor Toby, he gets to hang out in our huge kitchen when his paws are red.

Toby is doing great with his training. He has not zoomed in several weeks. I sure hope this keeps up. I was reading an article in clean run that talked about dogs that liked to run off and they said exactly what we did in class to stop his zooming. It works! I am still working on being able to work with him in the back yard. There are just too many distractions to let him off lead while working in the back yard. Maybe some day. Back to class, this week we worked on teeter, A-frame, and dog walk. Toby loves to hang out at the top of the teeter. I can't wait until I get to watch him ride it down! He is going to have the perfect teeter! The A-frame is going good. He hits the contact every time. I think that little incident at the park a couple of months ago may have taught him that it just doesn't pay to bail out early. Toby has an awesome dog walk! I on the other hand need to learn to keep my entire body out of the mix. When Toby is at the contact area I have been using my whole body to reward and treat him. No! it doesn't look pretty! And that is what I love about my instructor! She shows everyone just what they look like when running their dogs. What a rude awakening! So when we start competering I will look very graceful. LOL