The Definition of Awesome

Cedar at the trial last weekend, photo by Randy Gaines.

I love my dog <3

Trial Recap

Why is this (admittedly poorly taken) iPhone photo one of the best things I've ever seen?



It's because it marks the occasion of our first (non-FAST) Open Q!!!!! And on a really tricky Standard course, no less! We have struggled mightily with the weave poles since moving up from Novice back in March (or April?). In trials, Cedar has been popping out pretty consistently at the 10th pole. And, being a Border Collie, she pattern trains very easily, which is a concern when it's a "bad" pattern :-P. After a few trials with weave troubles, I have decided to significantly step up my proofing efforts.

This weekend was the Idaho Capital City Kennel Club's summer AKC trial. I've always wanted to run at this trial because it's close to home (well, my old home) and I have watched agility trials at this venue for years. This year, we finally got a chance to compete. Being in July, it was freakin' HOT, and the metal roof did not make things better. But all in all I had a blast. We ended up with 2/6 Q's, one in FAST and one in *(yay!) Open Standard. We had a lot of really nice runs that weren't Q's, with just small mistakes. Saturday we NQ'd both Standard and JWW because of the weaves. Yesterday, after spending some time after the trial proofing, we managed to get the weaves (all 12 :D) and Q in Standard. We would have had a JWW Q as well, but for an uncharacteristic back jump during an awkward moment on course. Oh well.

Overall, I was super happy with how Cedar ran for me this weekend, as well as my handling. I just felt like we both pretty much had our sh*t together and were working well as a team. There was a lot of good to be found in our runs from this past weekend, that's for sure! I am confident that once our weave pole issue is fixed, we'll be unstoppable!

Here's a video of our Open Std Q from yesterday:



Onward and upward!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CEDES OF CHANGE!!!!

It's a birthday double header this week.... first for Cedar, and now for the blog itself :-P Today marks our one year "bloggerversary"-- can you believe it?


A few stats:

Total number of views: 11,478
Total number of followers: 54
We have been visited by people from the following countries: USA, Canada, Russia, UK, Malaysia, Germany, New Zealand, Ukraine, Slovenia, Australia, Argentina

I also just discovered (this morning, actually!) that we were selected as one of the Top 5 Agility blogs by VetTechSchools.org!!! Wow!!! What an unexpected and amazing honor, especially considering how many awesome agility blogs are out there on the web.

VetTechSchools.org

This has been a really fun project, and I can't wait to see where it takes me in the coming year. It has been a very positive influence in my life and helped me deal with a lot of crap that has happened over the past year.

I already asked this on the Cedes of Change Facebook page, but...

What is something you've done in the past year to change your life in a positive way?

Wordless Wednesday: Goooo USA!!!!

Happy Birthday, Cedar!!!

My Cedes is FOUR YEARS OLD today!!!!!! I can't believe it! I'm going to bake her a tuna cake this afternoon and have a little party with the other two dogs. Not that she doesn't already feel special enough :D



The day I brought her home at 8 wks:


Last weekend on the beach:


She is my best friend and the most beautiful dog in the world <3

Happy birthday, Cedar... may we have many more birthdays together.

I'm still working through editing all the beach photos... there are so many, I have to pace myself or I'd go insane :-P

Life's A Beach

We're baaaaack.... refreshed from vacation and with a new look :D

I have 800-something photos to edit, and will post more about the trip later this week. But, in short, it was AWESOME.

Here's a taste of just how much fun we had this weekend:











More later...

Guess where we're headed?

Here's a hint:



That's right, we're headed to the beach! The Oregon coast, to be exact. I am SUPER excited!!!