Portrait Session

When Sadie or Elliott get a new title, I like to get a picture done so that in future years I can look back to see a time when I didn't have grey hair, and to remind myself what it was like when I was first competing and getting titles. I hope that these will be really nice mementoes to have when these wonderful dogs have passed on and new ones come along to train me.

Today we took a drive over to Bingeman's where the Elora Gorge Kennel Club show (traditionally the last of the year) is usually held, and where our favourite photographers were today. I packed up the freshly groomed dogs, the box o' bling, and got myself somewhat put together. The bonus part of getting pictures taken after the fact is that there is no bleary-eyed, rat-bag-hair effect that usually is present on the third day of a long weekend of showing. As a result, I usually like the way these sorts of pictures turn out, since I don't end up looking like - well, like someone who's been showing dogs for three days and not sleeping or eating properly.

We got some great pictures taken today. First of all, I wanted to mark Sadie earning her Rally Advanced (RA) title. Here is the shot we chose for a print:

Then, we wanted a picture for Elliott's RAE, especially since he is the first English Springer Spaniel to earn the Rally Advanced Excellent title from the CKC. Here is my handsome boy, draped in bling:

Taking pictures with dogs is always an adventure, and today was no exception, as we also "ended up" with these two pictures, which I think I like almost as much as the portraits.

Elliott's Opinion: Do you think four thousand pictures is not enough, really? Because I do.

Sadie's Opinion: Oh, I am sooooooo done with this, mother!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you springer joy now and for 2009. From our Christmas Eve get-
together with Elliott's cousins - this lineup is: Elliott, Sadie, Tom
and Libby.
It was nice to spend time with our extended family!

The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name

In a recent interview, Elliott declared: "Cats? No way, man, I hate cats. They're always doing gross things like puking up hairballs and cleaning their toes. I mean, come on, cleaning your toes? Get over yourself. Cats are ok for some, but I don't really like them. I mean, I wouldn't choose to have one in my house."

Yet look what our camera discovered just this morning.

CAT LOVER!

You Gonna Eat That?

Obedience Class

Today Elliott attended an obedience workshop in Georgetown. Here is a
shot of the group of dogs doing sit stays. Elliott is the one in the
middle in the lawn chair.

Winter beauty

One of my favourite things about winter - Christmas cactus!

Flying Springers

Here is our Christmas gift to ourselves - a portrait of Elliott &
Sadie based on a photo I took last winter. The painting is by a very
talented local artist by the name of Mary Lou Hiller. We are thrilled
with the result and would like to say thank you to Mary Lou for
working with all our requests so graciously and giving us this great
painting to enjoy for years to come.

Sleek Sadie

Here is Miss Sadie looking very sharp and sleek!

Shaggy Sadie

Miss Sadie was becoming very shaggy & due for a haircut! Here she is
in her before picture:

RA is not just the sun god

Here we view the Princess Sadie in a typical attitude of repose.
Surprising to know that she is in fact capable of moving at high speeds!

I was very proud when she kept her act together enough to finish her
RA (Rally Advanced) title in July. She even placed 4th in one of the
trials. So as you see, you can be a RA and be a little princess!

K9KRAZEE

I am nothing if not dog crazy. Let everyone driving around me be aware
of it!

Goodies for Good Dogs

Elliott and Sadie also benefitted from the generosity of the ESSCC at the SD&G show. We got some great goodie bags just for being there, and Elliott got a small goodie bag for each qualifying score in Rally. Here is Elliott showing off his stuff. Sadie is supervising from the background.

Sadie is a Titleholder Too!

At the English Springer Spaniel Club of Canada National Specialty show, they had an event which I had never participated in before. It's something called a Parade of Titleholders, which you can enter with your dog if they hold any type of titles. I put Sadie and Elliott in this so that we could get some fancy ribbons and run around the conformation ring (also a first for us).

The ribbon they get is really neat; it's huge, and has the dog's name and titles printed on it.

Here is Sadie with her lovely ribbon listing her 6 obedience titles.

Away in Painting Land

I have been out of the world for several days. Enough days to prepare and paint 2 full rooms including a set of french doors.

Our dining room and office needed painting. Badly. The dining room was a sickly green colour and had a lovely border of butterflies flitting around at ceiling level.

Here is a before shot of the dining room, but the butterflies have already been ripped from their mooring near the ceiling! The primer has been cut in along the edges.

Up in the office, the before vision was dark red on the upper half, and then wallpaper border around the middle and wallpaper on the bottom. Here's the lovely paint colour.

I must have been hungry when shopping for paint. The colours I chose were "Cantaloupe Slice" for the dining room, and "Pear" for the office. The Pear colour is a neat yellowy-green that looks more green in natural light and more yellow in artificial light.


Here are a couple of the dining room, after the transformation. And may I just say that I never want to paint french doors again in my life.

Here is an after of the office. I am sooooo happy with this colour. The room looks twice as big and the colour reflects the light instead of sucking it all into a joyless void.

This is why I've been offline for a few days. I re-entered the world yesterday. It is still full of people who don't know how to drive.

Long Trip Home

Elliott was all tired out from his weekend of trials. Poor boy.

Long Sault Motel

A great place to stay! They even have FREE wireless internet access.

Even a Bucket Bitch Should Have Ice Cream

Recently we learned that a term used for those at dog shows who do all
the fetching, toting and carrying, and running around like a maniac to
support the poor sap who's going in the ring is - bucket bitch. My
longsuffering better half revels in the term and even has a tshirt
proclaiming his status as such. Here is my BB enjoying his ice cream!

Ice Cream - Blech!

Our little Diva does not wish to partake of the common vanilla ice
cream, thank you all the same.

In Summertime, One Must Have Ice Cream!

Here is Elliott enjoying a cup of ice cream to celebrate his latest
title. Miss Sadie didn't like the frosty treat!

Hard Work At The Dog Show

Bling from SD&G

Elliott earned qualifying scores in his Rally trials and for each one got a lovely blue rosette from the ESSCC. The beautiful big green ribbon is from the Parade of Titleholders and has his name and all his titles inscribed on it. Very good bling from our first time at the ESSCC National specialty!

Elliott Earns His RAE Title!

I am very proud to say that Elliott successfully completed his Rally Advanced Excellent title this weekend at the Stormont Dundas & Glengarry dog show in Long Sault. He found competing outdoors very difficult but managed to hold things together enough to qualify in the 4 rounds to get his last 2 RAE legs. To the best of my knowledge he is the first English Springer Spaniel in Canada to earn the RAE and I am very proud of him. This is Elliott's tenth obedience title and his third this year after his CDX and RE. For the rest of the year he will concentrate on practicing his Open skills and this fall we will start training for Utility. I am very proud of Elliott and all the hard work he has done this year!

You Want Me To Do What?

At the end of May, Sadie and Elliott competed at Rally trials in Powassan, Ontario.

Sadie, being the social butterfly she is, finds the meet and greet aspect of going to dog shows more entertaining and satisfying than actually going into the ring to compete.Upon arrival at a hotel, Sadie loves to start her visit with ceremonial leaping from bed to bed. This is an essential component of any dog show visit.
When reminded that she is at the dog show to compete, and hopefully get a title, this is the typical reaction:

HUH?

Sadie went into the trials that weekend already having 1 leg towards her Rally Advanced title. She only needed to pass twice in order to finish her title. In the 3 trials she competed in, she managed to pass only once. The trials were outdoors and so very challenging for her as she fought to ignore all the distractions!

Like,

GOATS

and GEESE!

Her big brother Elliott got 3 RAE legs and his first perfect score in CKC Rally, coming first in one of the trials. Sadie, I think, was busying partying with the goats at that point.....

Poor Neglected Blog!

I'm sorry, my blog! I have neglected you!

Ok, now I will get back to posting semi-regularly...

Springtimes Past

Sadie as a tiny pup a little over 2 years ago.Elliott in his first few days with us, lounging between legs.

Diva's Titles

In spite of being the consummate Diva, Sadie has earned two new obedience titles so far this year. Here is her picture to commemorate earning her RN (Rally Novice) and CD (Companion Dog) titles.

She performed wonderfully in Rally, earning her title in her first 3 Rally trials.

She also earned her CD in one weekend at the age of 2 years and 9 days old, with one placement. In this respect she is way ahead of Elliott - he got his CD in grand style with placements, but we had many nq's before we had success. She had already been entered in a second weekend of Rally and Novice trials as we worked on her titles, because I didn't know how well she would do. So what happened was that she got to do another weekend of Novice as a bonus, if you will. She again qualified 3 for 3 in the Novice class and that weekend managed to get 3 High in Class placements. She also placed in 4 of her Rally Novice trials, hence the lovely bling on the left of the picture. She is now the proud possessor of 5 obedience titles at just a little over 2 years of age. I am really proud of her accomplishments, and I know she will go very far, especially if we can adjust her attitude!

Sadie has earned one leg of the 3 needed towards her Rally Advanced (RA) title in the one trial she has been in so far. With any kind of luck, she will have her RA title by this time next week. Fingers crossed!!! The trials are outdoors so it should be.....interesting.

Diva's Dinnertime

Sadie is a Diva. Divas have attitude. Sadie has attitude. This affects my success with her so far in the obedience ring. Cheryl, my training mentor, recently suggested some strategies to help me bond more closely with Sadie, to have her view me more strongly as a leader; in short, to try to DE-Divafy the DIVA. One of Cheryl's suggestions is to hand-feed the Diva. I have been doing this for about a week now. Apparently it will help her view me as the Boss with the food who is worth listening to in a general way, not just when she feels like it. In the mornings particularly, the dogs are fed a variety of things that end up resembling soup (or gruel) in the bowl. This gets messy when hand-feeding. The first morning Sadie ended up with green veggie glop all down her chest as the food dribbled out through her flews. So I tried using her snood (this is the pink boa visible below which is attached to the rest of her snood) in combination with some paper towels clipped around her neck. The paper towels didn't stand up so that's when the tea towel entered the scene. Behold the dreadful result. Fortunately, because she is a Diva, she thinks that all this effort befits her status.

Fuzzy Feet

The English Springer Spaniel is a dog with needs. Grooming needs. Do not get a springer if you don't want to spend 15 minutes a day brushing out the coat, especially those tricky armpit areas, or cleaning out the canals of the long, pendulous ears on a very regular basis. Springers have "furnishings", long, luxurious feathering that grows on their ears, their underside, and especially their feet. These furnishings are magnets for dirt, mud, burrs, grass, leaves, little sticks, and lots of other crap! I always know it's time for a groom when the feet start to get messy. Here is the harbinger of need, the fuzzy foot:

Now, as fuzzy feet go, this is not too bad. And I have to say that I am, as groomers go, an amateur. My dogs will never look as good as those dogs going into the conformation ring. For one thing, I cheat and use clippers on their backs. Which is cheating. Real groomers strip the coat on their backs. But I don't have time to strip them. So I cheat.

He is always thrilled about the prospect of having his grooming done. (Actually he doesn't mind at all, and is usually waiting with his front feet up on the table for me to pick him up and put him up there)

After about an hour of attention with comb, brush, scissors, electric clippers, rake, etc., here are some prettier feet.

There are wonderful instructions for doing your own grooming of an English Springer Spaniel at Jan Martin's Ariel ESS site.

Of Cars and Memory

So, am I the only person who is losing my mind, losing my memory? I can almost feel those brain cells withering away, shriveling up and dying some days. Over and over again, I drive somewhere, park the car, walk away and then think, "Did I lock the car?" So I go back to the car, feeling around in my purse on the way, trying to find the remote, which in only 20 seconds has dug its way to the very bottom of my purse. I get as close to my car as I need to, to engage the remote - my car first flashes its lights at me to tell me it is locked with the first click, then beeps with the second click to tell me the alarm is engaged. I play this game over and over again. What does this have to do with Sadie & Elliott? Well, I am their chauffeur and they spend a fair bit of time in that car some days! Here's an entertaining site to visit that connects dogs and cars - it's titled, appropriately enough, Dogs in Cars.

Rally On

One of the dog sports that we enjoy most is Rally Obedience. Rally combines traditional obedience exercises with a fast-paced, enthusiastic environment. Judges create a course that is unique each time. That keeps it very interesting for the handler as you don't just go in and do the same old, same old each time - you have to think! The goal is for the teams to run the course briskly and happily - no harsh corrections are allowed. It's like a little obedience party that you and your dog have been invited to. The link above is to the Canadian Association of Rally Obedience. They are one organization in Canada that offers Rally competition. The Canadian Kennel Club also offers Rally-O, but they didn't start until 2007. Sadie and Elliott both have Rally Novice titles from CARO and Elliott is going to start working on his Advanced CARO title later this month.

Meet Elliott

Meet Elliott, also known as Society's Lone Gunman, PCD, CD, CDI, CDX, CGN, RNMCL, RN, RA, RE. That's quite the mouthful, but all it really means is that he and I have been enjoying a fun and productive obedience career. Elliott was born in October 2004. He came to live with us in March of 2005, and I started training him immediately. We took many classes and made progress, to the point of obtaining our Pre-Novice (PCD) title in July of 2006. It was late in 2006 when a friend recommended me to a new school, Elite Dog Training. We started training there and Cheryl, the owner, spent a great deal of time helping me get Elliott ready for more work in the obedience ring. Elliott and I have become a great team since then and have had a lot of success in the ring. In 2007 Elliott earned 6 obedience titles, and so far in 2008 he earned his Rally Excellent title in one weekend and his CDX in 4 trials over his first 2 weekends in Open. He is the first English Springer Spaniel in Canada to earn the RE title. What a great boy he is. All those brains and handsome too. The picture above marks his CDX and RE titles. The picture below shows how tough life is at home.

The Many Faces of Sadie

Meet Sadie. Sadie is also known as Darkover Come Dance With Me, and she is a pistol! Among Sadie's favourite activities are: tearing up the house at top speed, preferably with Elliott following along behind, bringing toys up and down the stairs all day and sleeping curled up preferably on top of her people. If no people are available, a comfortable couch or chair can substitute. It may seem astonishing, given her Diva status, to know that Sadie, who is just a little over 2 years old, already has 5 obedience titles, including her CD, which she earned in her very first weekend of competition. She is a Diva, but she is also very smart!



Here is Sadie having just earned her Rally Novice title - she finished her weekend with 2 second placements and a fourth. Not bad for a diva!