HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZIE!!!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful blue girl - aka "Sparky", "Spunkster", "Suzie Uzi". She's a handsome bluetick, don't you think? UCDX Daugherty's Blazin Blue Suzie UDX2 Bh

I've been delinquent, but since it' Suzie's birthday, I thought I'd better post!  :o  Above is a picture of Suzie and one of her famous works of art.   She chewed the center out of the pool and drug this part around, making quick work of it.   She must have known I wanted to get rid of the pool.  She's probably 12 to 18mo old in this picture.  Above that is  Suzie Cool (like Joe Cool, ya know? lol) from a trip to WI  and That's My Dog! (www.thatsmydog.biz) quite a few years ago for a gather of graduates from the school there.

Today, May 1st is my little May Day girl's day!   Suzie is 7 today and it's hard to believe.   Today she not only got to enjoy time on the greenbelt with her "boyfriend" Barry, but she enjoyed a bully stick from Aunt Tiffany (Jack and Jeb enjoyed one too).   We also fussed over her quite a bit and I had her "dressed" in a pretty collar.   LOL    Of course, Suzie has no idea why all the weirdness, but we enjoy it!

Suzie came to me at 11mo of age and she was a train wreck.  Now she's working on her OTCH! We've come a loooong way together.  I didn't get very into her at first.  She didn't seem like she'd work well for SAR, no confidence.  I observed her and saw in her what I needed in a SAR dog, so I set out to train her in obedience to build confidence and bring out that desire to hunt.   It worked.  Suzie is a terrific trailing dog now and working on other SAR work.   Finally, in the last couple years I've totally bonded with her (yep, it took a while) and see the full potential in her and I myself have the confidence to go for it in obedience.   She's tough and has thrown me some curves, but she's doing fantastic with a UDX2 and 38 OTCH points.   I love my girl!

Suzie at 11mo when I first got her. Shaggy from living outside near Chicago and much lighter than now.

Back to the dogs....I'd like to post more of Suzie.   We'll see if I can blog regularly for a few months.  :o  You never know what might happen.....   Thanks for reading!   Paula & the hounds

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEB!!

Happy Birthday to my very special momma's boy Jeb!  Today is Jeb's 10th birthday! Below are a lot of pics of my boy, so enjoy.  The one at the bottom is from October--the old boy is looking good!  Enjoy!  It doesn't need saying, but I love that hound dawg.

The top picture is from the day Jeb arrived, he was about 12-13 weeks old and it was love at first sight.  Below are some more pics of young Jeb.  Jeb's breeder and family (L to R:  Isiah, Caleb, Charlie and Dorothy Hildenbrand; Blueticks:  Jeb's Brother Jim, Dam/Mom Sadie, Brother Popeye and Jeb).

Jeb's litter, January 1999.  The one looking up at momma is Jeb, go figure!  Below that is the picture I chose Jeb from, his litter name was Crybaby.  No surprise there, lol!  Below that is Jeb at about 4-5 months with his buddy Ian Kreisle.  Two very cute boys!

Here Jeb is about 14 mo old and waiting to take his CGC test.  That's how it all got started...a simple CGC that we had to pass to do K9 SAR.  :o

Jeb in UKC Novice.   He earned his UCD and UCDX at his first two UKC shows.

Jeb at the October 2008 Boise Show--looking handsome as ever!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Jebbie Dork

I hope everyone has a relaxing Thanksgiving!  We will be enjoying Cracker Barrel food here at the house and playing with all the critters and watching football.  Aaaahhhh.   

 I know I have a lot to be thankful for and I remind myself of that daily.   Here are a few of those things I'm grateful for ("the family zoo"):

Rick, Suzie and Rowdy Yates

Jeb and Tiger

Jack

Rowdy Yates on Suzie's head  :)

Esmerelda (aka Pookie and Fang)

Jeb and Suzie

Salem, OR Obedience Trial Day One

We're in Salem, OR this weekend showing.  Today was quite a surprising day! Suzie blew my mind and tied for 1st in Utility B in a class of about 20 dogs.  She didn't win the run off, but the 2nd place was good for 7 OTCH points!  WOW WOW WOW!  She had a 195.5.  Jeb was lovely today, but he decided to blow off an article.   I told him he was wrong and asked him what he was thinking.  He did the 2nd article with great enthusiasm.  I told him trying to make up was nice, but it was too late, lol.  He did some lovely heeling after that too.  Oh well....he went about 1 and a half years or more without ever NQing on articles...he's allowed to mess up once in a while.  ;)

Suzie showed in Open B as well and earned her 15th UDX leg!  She continues to improve on her heeling.  I'm very proud of her!!  I was really happy to see video of her and see how up she was.   We're getting there!!!  Enjoy the video of her heeling in Utility B (Signal Exercise).

Paula

More Day Care Fun

Day care continues to be a blast.  Our Monday crowd is a big one so we took more pics of the fun to share.  I'm happy to report the ditch is about dry so no more baths needed before going home!

As you can see, this Monday was a few weeks ago (I was sidetracked and didn't finish this post).  I thought the mud pics were too funny not to share.  That bloodhound (our Jack) is lucky he was ever allowed back in the house, ha ha.  Hunting those skater bugs in 3" deep muddy water took it's toll on him.  :o

Happy Heeling

Before the Boise show, I captured some video of some of my students in a recent basic obedience class.  I was very proud of the work they were doing and how far they'd come since week one.  Notice how nicely the dogs are heeling and the absence of corrections.  Happy dogs and loose leashes = happy owners.  :)

Boise Show Day Four

I have more exciting news today!  It was a great four days overall.  Four new titles for students of mine, OTCH points for Jeb (158 now) and UDX2 legs for Suzie (she has 14).  We were in the ribbons every day but today.  Not too shabby!  :)

Phyllis and Misti got a FIRST place in Novice A for their CD Title!!!!

Sue and Tessa earned their CDX today!!!!

Ann and Watson earned a 3rd place in Novice B today (and that was with a no sit--nice, nice run overall!!)

Tiffany and Mica earned a FIRST place in Novice B today with a 197 that held up for High In Trial!!!  

Carla did much better with Indi today, but he got the itchies on his sit stay and stood up just as she came around to heel position.  I am proud to say that Carla is not discouraged by Indi's creativity.  She knows they'll get their CD.  She's right!

Now time for some much needed rest!