Happy 3rd Birthday Mia!

Today was Mia's 3rd birthday! I can't believe how fast time flies. She's been such a joy to have and I feel truly blessed to have her in my life. I'm looking forward to what will hopefully be many more birthdays.

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She started the day the way she usually does - with a nap, of course.

After a relaxing morning, we decided to go down to one of our favorite places, the Carolina Beach State Park, for a walk on the trails. Even though it's just the end of March, it's pretty warm (80 degrees already) so I tossed a stick out in the water and let Mia go for a swim to cool off.

We then headed over to another one of our favorite places - the North End of Carolina Beach. What we love about this beach is that dogs are allowed off leash as long as they are under voice control. Mia had a blast retrieving her bumper and showed no hesitation running out into the waves.

Mia finished her all day celebration with cake and ice cream especially for her. The cake was carob chip with cream cheese icing. She also got a peanut butter and cheese ice cream treat made especially for dogs.

I can't believe you are making me stay with my cake right in front of me...and on my birthday, too!

What's in the tree?

The other day, I noticed that Mia seemed particularly interested in a tree in the backyard.  I didn't think much of it...until I watched her go up on her hind legs.  I still don't know what's got her so intrigued, but she likes checking it out.  So today while I was working in the yard, I decided to take my camera and get a few pictures of my goofy girl:)

Checking it out

Mama, do you smell that??

Back to check it out again

I'm exhausted now...investigating is hard work!

Mia's Thanksgiving Visitors

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Mia had some visitors staying at our house.  My aunt, who comes down every year from Virginia, had 3 doberman puppies she didn't want to leave with the dog sitter.  Mia did an amazing job with them (even my aunt was impressed with how well she did).  They tried to nurse on Mia a few times and Mia let them know there wouldn't be any of that.  She then redirected them and invited them to play instead.  Good girl, Mia!

 It was really interesting to watch the puppies over several days.  Even at a young age, you can really see personality differences.  They were very good house guests (or sun room guests)...but I think Mia was pretty worn out by the end of the week and was happy to have her yard back to herself:)

Don't worry, I won't be getting a puppy anytime soon.

Fall Show-N-Go

Retrieve over the high jump

We participated in the Azalea Dog Training Club's Fall Show-N-Go at a nearby park.  A show-n-go is like a practice competition. I entered Mia in Open Obedience and Novice Agility Jumpers.  I don't have any pictures of the agility runs but Mia did pretty well and improved with each run.  Her drive and enthusiasm is quadrupled in a trial/show atmosphere (practice or not) so it will probably be a while until we trial.  We both have to learn to control all of that energy:)  Mia did really well in her obedience run.  Since we NQ'd on a down stay at the Simpsonville shows, I was ready to correct her if she moved too much.  Sometimes in practice, dogs don't make the mistakes that they make at trials so you don't get the chance to correct them.  Mia did move a little on her down stay so I did get the chance to correct her.  We still have some work to do but overall, I was very pleased with how she did.



Drop on recall - I purposely waited to drop her, because you never know when the judge will signal



Figure 8

Retrieve on the flat - I'm trying to get her to straighten her front

A Run on the Beach

A great start to the weekend!

What?? 

Mia's First CDX leg!

We traveled to Simpsonville, SC this past weekend to compete in Open Obedience.  Mia had a nice run on Saturday and qualified for her first CDX leg with a 4th place.  We competed on Sunday and even though Mia had a beautiful run that would have earned us a 194.5/200, we NQ'd on the 5 minute out of sight down stay.  Apparently, the princess had a hard time getting comfortable and shifted around too much. Even though we didn't qualify, it was great to have such a nice performance.  1 leg down, 2 to go!

Requirements for Open Obedience:

• Heel off leash (including a figure 8)
• Drop on recall
• Retrieve on the flat
• Retrieve over the high jump
• Broad Jump
• 3 minute out of sight sit stay
• 5 minute out of sight down stay

To qualify, the dog and handler team must earn at least 170 points out of 200 and at least 50% of the points on each exercise.

Novice Retrieving Dog

I just wanted to share some pictures from the ratings practice and test last weekend.  The first 2 are from the practice and the others are from the actual test.



 

Mia has a really nice retrieve and delivers the bird to hand every time - which is not required in novice but something that I've come to expect from her





 For the RDX test, I was asked to throw the second bird (a dead pigeon) and fire the blank pistol.  In the picture above, I'm getting a lesson from Mary Ann Hall on proper throwing techniques.  In the picture below, I think I'm telling Debbie (who was taking the picture) that 2 years ago, I never would have believed that one day, I would be carrying a bag of pigeons while holding a dead one and a blank pistol...my how life has changed!

 Getting ready to send Mia on the land retrieve

 Mia bringing the pigeon back (with a lot of enthusiasm)

 Water retrieve

 Delivering the bird to hand...at this point, I knew we had passed and was *so* proud of my girl!