Today is a day of lasts and firsts.  We began our last trial of the year this morning, our local fall NADAC.  I love this trial, and Dunc loves these courses because there aren’t any pesky tables or teeters to slow him down.  He must have tied on his Go Fast shoes this morning, because he was flying today.

Desmond also got to spend his first full day together with us, and he was a gem.  He snoozed in his crate in between charming everyone he met.  I let him watch a couple of dogs run from the vantage point of my arms, and he was riveted!  He had the same look on his face that I saw on a baby bird dog the first time he saw a pheasant flush.

All of that would be enough, but this evening while I was letting the boys do hot laps in the yard, a magical moment happened.  Duncan and Desmond started to play together.  Dunc is the boy we affectionately call Captain No Fun, because usually when two other dogs play, he wades in the middle, barking, clearly telling all parties to ‘break it up, move along, this is a zero fun zone.’  Des has been playing with our girl and Boxer since day one, but Dunc has generally avoided him, as he does most dogs.

Did you ever see the first of the ‘new’ Star Wars movies with all the CG silliness and that hideous Jar Jar Binks?  Ignore that and fast forward to the scene where Yoda battles the evil Darth so-and-so.   Yoda starts jumping and spinning and becomes a little green blur. Duncan looked like a little merle version of Yoda (without the light saber) when playing with Des.  He would crouch, then leap and spin, then circle and leap straight up like he was spring-loaded.  I’m not sure if this is normal Aussie play since I’ve never really seen Dunc play with anyone but our Frenchie, and she has a full-contact-tackle brand of play all her own.

Of course, the moment passed, and Des made off with Duncan’s favorite ball, so the détente was temporary.  But…the Fun Police put his badge away for a little while.  What a lovely thing to witness.

I took a few pictures of them, unfortunately the light was fading and they are a little blurry, but they’re still special to me.

I didn't do anything!

When I was thinking about the perfect pup, I wanted a little people lover with drive, who was full of play.  A little sass and sense of humor wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Careful what you wish for!

Des is a boy with moxie!  He wants to play and play and play.  And when you stop the play (say, to hold him still) he demands that the game continue.  He’s quite adamant about it, too.  Now, I thought…I’ve had Boxers.  If there is a hard-headed breed, it’s a Boxer, so I have the experience to show this baby that sometimes we need to sit still.  The problem is that Boxers are more than happy to sit next to you on the couch and watch reruns of Globe Trekker, even as babies.  They’re a playful breed tailor-made to those of us who think watching three movies in a row on an icy November day isn’t an unusual activity.

As a result, this week I decided to show Des that I can hold him still, that he can sit with me and the world still rotates.  He wasn’t convinced, and insisted that I stop being so boring. Then Duncan gave me a nudge and reminded me I’m dealing with an Aussie.  So in Aussie-speak (which is just English because obviously they speak it perfectly), I explained to Des that he needed to trust me, that in the years to come, I’m going to ask him to do some really weird things (like jumping through tires) and to just go with it.  Darned if the little guy didn’t just shoot me a look that plainly said “WHY didn’t you say so in the first place??!!”  And then he flopped upside down in my arms and went to sleep.

I LOVE these dogs!  So smart, so willing…and I know they can read your mind.

Last week Des was weighed at the vet.  At 12 weeks, he’s 9.2 lbs.  He’s also starting to get a little more body to go with his LONG legs.  Love his floppy ears!

I am cute. Feed me.

The Boys and I trekked to the eastern half of our state this weekend for an AKC trial.   It was a new location for us, and turned out to be a great opportunity to try out our running dogwalk contacts in competition.  Little Desmond was a gem, and was often found upside down, napping in his crate in the car.

I switched Duncan to running contacts (instead of stopping him at the bottom) about two years ago to keep his motivation high throughout the course.  As usually happens without any extra training, running turned to jumping, and in the excitement of a trial, jumping the entire yellow contact zone was pretty easy for my little guy.  I’ve been taking an online running contact course since the spring, and am starting to see Dunc figuring out that his job is to run off the end, with no leaping.  He still does the Flying Puppy imitation from time to time, but more often, the faster I go, the lower and faster he goes, and he’s coming down the entire board, running right off the end.  Retraining his contacts has been a long haul, with the acceptance that we’re going to miss some Q’s.  While we’re not done yet, I can see definite progress, and his confidence and speed are on a steady increase, too. I adore seeing my boy run with joy like this.

Here’s a short video of our running contact progress in trials this year:

And if you’d like to see the entire run of the last part of the clip, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OugPzzEcgbo

Get off my board, Des!!

Desmond has been home with us for just about two weeks.  I didn’t want to start in on working with him right away…I wanted him to figure out his new home and siblings, first. And every 20 minutes, (and inevitably at 3 am) we’re outside singing the “go peeee…go peeee” song to him.  If our neighbors were closer, they’d think there were quail, pheasant and some sort of endangered GoPee bird in the neighborhood.

In two weeks, he’s not only settled in, but he’s starting to take over, so we’re off and running!  Manners are coming first.  Things he needs to know…like not only staying off the table, but not walking on my plate of food sitting on that table.  (I know, rookie puppy mistake, it’s been a few years).  Not sharking my fingers when I give him a cookie.  Sitting nicely to take the cookie (ouch, shark, my fingers!!).  This baby is food motivated and I love it!

I introduced shaping to him right away, and he demonstrated immediately that he’s a very bright little boy.  (Apologies right now, I’m going to be a gushing puppy mama, so if this offends you, you might surf elsewhere).  He caught on right away that I wanted something, and started to offer behaviors to get his cookies.  He gave me a sit.  And a down.  And a bark, a jump up, a high-five, spun a circle, then started repeating them all, with random jumping bean imitations thrown in for fun.  I sat there, clicker in my hand, mouth open, thinking “I’d better pack a lunch if I’m going to stay ahead of this kid!”

I. Am. Ecstatic!  He’s going to be a hoot!  I’m sure we’re going to have challenges, but again, Dunc has taught me never to underestimate energy and desire.  I will try to remind myself of this when Des turns into a teenager…

Welcome to Dunc and Des’s blog, a compilation of our canine adventures!

Duncan is my four year old Mini Aussie…a sweet boy and ball fetching machine.  He is the pup who opened my world to dog training beyond sit/stay/beg (that would be me begging for the sits and stays).  He has taught me patience, empathy and how to find different ways of finding success when the traditional way just wasn’t his speed.  He is my first agility dog, and we’ve been venturing all around the NW this year trialling up a storm.  He is a very special boy, who continually reminds me that running around agility courses is all about having fun with your special teammate.

Desmond is the new kid.  He is a baby Mini Aussie who came home to live with our pack in mid October and is quite full of himself.  In the coming months, I’ll be writing about new adventures working and playing with this fun loving and outgoing little boy (in between chasing him around the house trying to retrieve whatever object he just made off with).

Welcome to our adventure!