NEBCR Reunion & Agility!

Hiya everybody!!
This past weekend was super fun! It was the NEBCR (that stands for New England Border Collie Rescue) Annual Reunion! I got to go dockdiving and play soccer and lots of fetch and I got to camp with my mom and sister Caper in Auntie Lynn's camper! All my brothers and sisters came with mom and me to the reunion! One of the other volunteers, a nice lady named Caitlin, took lots of pics and said mom could share them, so I hope you like 'em!

First is the best of a whole bunch of tries of a group photo of mom and me and all my brothers and sisters! Dust was kinda tied so he ended up trying to nap instead of paying attention, but the rest of us are, kinda, at least! So, from left to right its Dust, Saga, Lacy, Mom, Caper & Me!

This is sister Caper being tailed by one of the rescue dogs! Mom says she really looks like a portie here 'cause she's holding her tail the right way!

Here is another shot of mom trying for the family photo. Dust and I decided the best course of action was to just play dead, 'cause we couldn't figure out what the heck she wanted! WOL!

Sparkle turned 1 year old on Monday, but she got her birthday present from mom early. It was a toolbox full of toys! She loved them but I thought they were kinda scary at first - they make real tool noises! This is a pic where she is taking a breake from playing with them. You can see the drill and saw. There is also a hammer!

Here I am diving!! Wheeeeeeeee!


























This is my mom and my brother Dust. He's old! But he still is the King.


























Here he is about to get the Fiz!


























I sure have to bring a lotta water outta the pond with me, huh?!




























Here's a great picture of my GrandPaw and Sparkle! He's her person, that's why she is my Auntie.


























Here is sister Lacy, mom, me, 'n Sparkle walking around the pond!




























Here I am running super fast with my cool Ruffwear water fetching toy.


























Soccer Ball!! I haven't gotten to play with a soccer ball for a long time! I almost forgot how to pick it up, but then I remembered!


























Here I am swimming with my cool Ruffwear toy!


























Here is my brother Saga!


























So! If all that wasn't cool enough, after I was done swimming and fetching and running, I saw my favoritest teacher EVER! It was my Auntie Abbie Tamber who gives my momma and me agility lessons! And sure enough, we got to play! The best part was, Auntie Abbie said that it was finally time for me to start doing sequences! That means I got to do more than just one or 2 obstavles in a row! And mom had to learn to keep up and tell me where to go! We had fun and mom and Auntie Abbie said I did a *very*good*job* and they were proud of me!! Yippee! I try very hard to be a *GOOD*DOG*!

And so that was my weekend! Caper got to play more agility on Sunday because she was in Abbie's seminar, but that's ok because I get to go to a JUMPING CLINIC in a few weeks and she doesn't get to go!

Mom says we are going camping again tomorrow in Auntie Lynn's camper (thanks Auntie Lynn!!!) and we are go to MASSACHEWSETTS so Caper can do agility some more. Hrmph! Mom says it's special because it's the Nationals. Whatever!

Well, bye more now!
ArthurGOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!

Lots of news!

Hiya everybody! It's been almost a month since I got on here to give you all an update! Sorry about that. My mom was real, real busy finishing up her second semester in grad school, wow, glad she's done with that for a bit, I was getting annoyed with her schedule!

Sooo, so much news to share with you, where to start??

Well, the good news is that my delightful foster sister, Layne got adopted and went to live with a great new family in Maine and she works at a bookstore - cool, huh?? The best part is, she doesn't have to interact with the customers if she doesn't care too, 'case she can be kinda 'fraidy like me sometimes. Well, she doesn't do the whole barking thing, but still. Anyway, here is a picture of her with her new family!


Hmmm. The next news is that after Layne left, I got another new foster sister. Actually, I didn't get to meet her for a while after she came here 'cause she's got "issues." But, my grandpaw named her Foxy and my mom calls her The Fox. Here she is:

Cute, huh??

She's kinds annoying though, because she doesn't understand how to herd me without diving in for a bite now any then. Huh! Mom says she is improving on her issues, though, so that is good news.

Oh, another cool thing is that my momma won 2 more jumps at a raffle that she entered when she took Caper (and NOT me, NO fair) to an agility trial! The coolest thing about that, she says, was that it meant she could now set up jump grids with me. I have fun jumping these! First I jumped them 8 feet apart, then 7, then 6, and then 5!! Once when I was jumping the ones that were 5 feet apart, I jumped over two of them at once! Ha! Mom was very excited that I was doing so well and she wrote and told me agility trainer, Abbie Tamber. I love Abbie! I get to have a lesson with her next Saturday after the reunion, how cool is that??? And in June, I maybe get to go to a special jumping clinic with one of her friends! Hooray!

Me jumping 8 feet apart jumps.


Me jumping 7 feet apart jumps.


Me jumping 6 feet apart jumps.


Me jumping 5 feet apart jumps!



Also, my mom has started us doggies on a new exercise regime, so we can get more tired and in better shape too. And her too! So, she has this thing she loves called the k9-Cruiser! It goes on her bike on the back tire, and then we get hooked up to it and we can zoom along next to her. Well, I zoom along so fast she doesn't even have to pedal! But Caper and Saga just trot along at whatever speed she goes. BooooOOOOOOOooooooorrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnggg!! She even tried The Fox out on it and she did good too! She has been taking Saga and Caper together, and me by myself, everyday. It's so fun! I get so excited whenever I see that bike now! Here are some pictures of the other dogs, mom hasn't gotten grandpaw to take any of ME yet. (Unfair!) Oh, and mom says to please excuse her dirty dog jeans!

That's mom with Caper and Saga!


That's mom with The Fox!

Mom says she's way more outta shape that she thought and is complaining of being soooo sore in her neck, back, bum, and legs. What a weeny! I run so fast and I'm not sore at all! And besides, I pull her along so she doesn't even have to pedal, she really doesn't have anything to complain about!

In other news, mom sent my brothers Dust and Saga to the groomer. I thought the looked funny and smelled when they got back but she exclaimed how wonderful and good smelling they were. Humans! I suppose they did look kinda handsome. What do you think?

That's Dust. He's 15.5 years old!


That's Saga. He's 10 years old!

Now, the bad news?? Mom just told me that my old foster brother who I didn't get along with, is coming back! Oh no! And this after she promised me I wouldn't have to have any more foster brothers at all! Luckily, she assures me she'll keep him away from me. Whew. Remember him?

He has to come back, she said, because he isn't listening and he is getting away from his family and harassing the livestock on the farm they live on. What a dope! He didn't bother the cows at Auntie Lynn's house when he stayed there for a week when mom was on vacation, but there he had other doggies to obsess over and chase. Aw well, mom says he's actually a real nice dog that gets along great with all people and even ignores our cats so hopefully he'll get a real forever home soon! And then I can go back to NO MORE foster BROTHERS. (Sisters are fine by me.)

Oh, one more bit of good news! Next weekend in the New England Border Collie Rescue Reunion! Wheeeeeeeeeeee. That means me 'n mom and all my brothers and sisters get to go to Sugarbush Farm and Camp and Swim and Play! What fun! I'll try and remind my mom to bring her camera and take lots of pictures so I can share them with you!!

Ok, I will go for now but I promise to try and update this here blog a lot more often than once a month! Geez!

'Til Later (but not THAT much later!),
ArthurGOOD

The Moon! The Moon! The Moon came to play!

Wow, everybody!! You will never guess who came to play with me tonight! It was the moon! I had a lot of fun playing with the moon, and I even took the moon swimming! My GrandPaw came over to watch me play with the Moon, too. He thought it was really COOL! Check us out!
~ArthurGOOD!

a tragic loss

I don't think there is anything more difficult to come to terms with than the loss of a young life, so filled with potential.

Dear Cate, a delightful, energetic, driven, wild child of a border collie pup was taken from this world much, much, much too soon. And the world is a grimmer place without her shining, delightful soul in it.

It was just a senseless accident. An inopportune opening of a gate, the unfortunate appearance of a truck, the undirected drive of a young pup, and the uncooperative anti-locking of brakes, all combining to bring an abrupt halt to a promising young life.

We are so, so sorry little Cate. We are sorry we could not keep you safe. We will see you on the other side dear girl. Run and play with PQ, Nell, and Julie. You can herd PoppyQuest while she plays ball with God, and Nell will herd you, while Julie will be ready to play and wrestle, until we meet again. You are missed. Nine and a half months on this earth was just not long enough. We only knew you for such a short time, but it was long enough to love you. We surely wish we could have shown you everything life had to offer.

Tearfully,
Your foster mom and your foster grandPaw.

Sparkle and Fly's videos

Here are the links to 2 videos of Sparkle her first time on sheep:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH79rdAP_JE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPCPgrhWp20

And here you can see 2 video's of Fly's first time on sheep. The first one is right when the trainer takes him in and unfortunately doesn't have his giant q-tip which would have been hepful. So he had to use his hat. Fly was too into the sheep to be scared of Warren at this point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfbCZl26K90
Then he actually settles a bit and seems to be going well when he realizes that Warren really is a scary monster person and gets spooked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JVv-uxRVSk

Cate's herding video's

Can be seen here:
http://vimeo.com/user364736/videos

Sheep time!

Today, I got to go sheep herding again! It's been a very long time since I went last time, and I was so excited I left my brain behind. At first I was very, very, naughty and outta control. I made one sheep leap the fence and I bit the other ones. Mom says I even made one bleed a little bit. But even at my worst, I still listened and lied down and came every time my mom asked me to, so that's something, she said.

The sheep's dad, Warren, came in to work with me and he had a monster Q-tip with him. Well, my mom had had it too, but I didn't know then that it was a monster. He kept swinging it at me when I tried to dive in and bite the sheep. But I was pretty quick, and I wasn't sure exactly what he wanted from me. Even though he lets me work on his sheep, I am still a little nervous around him.

It turns out, I was right to be a little nervous, because when I went to bite the sheep again, he attacked me with the giant Q-tip! [Arthur wasn't really attacked, but he did get bopped with it. -Amy] I was really surprised and scared and I went to the side of the pen away from him to think for a minute. But then he kept talking to me and encouraging me and so I went back to him and the sheep. I was doing pretty good circling around behind them as long as I could go counterclockwise. He wanted me to go clockwise too but I was still not trusting him after he brandished that monster Q-tip at me! I was figuring out that he didn't swing that thing at me as long as I stayed back from the sheep a bit, and also, I was finding that they didn't go so fast when I stayed back off them, either. And that made me want to bite them less.

Warren let me mom come back in to work with me and I was glad. I try really hard to do just what she wants and I really trust her. So when she told me I should try going clockwise, I tried to listen to her and I went around the sheep that way. At first, she had to call me to her and help me go the right way. Then she told me, "Yes! Good job, Arthur!" and that made me really happy and I started to understand more.

By the end of our time, I was able to go way on the outside of those sheep and not go close to them (my mom carried the monster q-tip too, but she didn't brandish it at me, thank goodness.) I wasn't running, either I was trotting nicely, keeping my distance and changing direction when my mom changed hers. It was still harder for me to go clockwise but my mom was really encouraging and I was getting the hang of it. Finally my mom told me to lie down, and I did. She told me what a great job I did, and took me away from those sheep, and the giant monster q-tip.

I'm really tired out after my big day. Mom says I get to go back again soon and that if I can keep acting like I did the second half of the time today, I might be able to work sheep that are closer to home. I hope they don't come with a giant q-tip.

Here I am working with my kind-of-friend Warren:

Here is a picture of why mom says I got to know that monster q-tip so well:

I wasn't the only doggie that got to work on the sheep today. My Auntie Sparkle did too, and they said she was a "natural." My foster sisters Cate and Layne did too. But Layne just wanted to play with mom, she didn't care about the sheep at all! Cate was kinds wild, but she was getting into it too. Warren said, "she's not for the uninitiated!" My Auntie Lynn came with my dogmom Flicka and her foster Fly, too. They were both kinda scared, but they did ok, I guess.

Here's Sparkle:

Here's Fly:

Fly again:

This is Cate watching:

See, I wasn't the only bad dog.
This is probably Fly, but mom isn't totally sure.
It's not me, though!

Mom's got some videos of Cate and Sparkle and Fly uploading so she'll probaby share those as well when they are done. None of my though 'cause nobody else was able to video my mom when she and I were working together.

'Kay, I'm gonna take a nap now!
ArthurGOOD!