Pam's Poodles

Sapphire's first ever trial

2011-10-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

So... I was too nervous for our first trial to compete locally, where my friends and instructors could watch. I went to my sister's club's local trial instead, in Champaign/Urbana. Finally sharing the video. I only entered standard - JWW still was too easy for me to get lost in. So, here are Sapphire's first 2 runs ever. Both were Qs/1st places....

brief look at clicker work

2011-10-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Luna Playing and Jumping at Lisa's

2011-10-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

need a description ? read the title again :)

jumping not in a chute

2011-10-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

8" then 12"

record of Luna's jumping

2011-10-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

8" first, then 4"

The long awaited Sapphire teeter video

2010-12-26T07:45:00.000-08:00

Sapphire's teeter performance at trials is ... well ... not. She doesn't. 99% of the time she won't do the teeter at a trial. I'm pretty sure at least some of the other people there don't think she will do the teeter ever. Truth is, in practice, her teeter performance is wonderful. And, here is the proof. Thanks to mom for recording.

May 2010 Agility

2010-05-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

Lots of good runs, only one Q - Sapphire in JWW. I was being very lazy and just made one movie of all of them instead of separate movies for each run.

March 2010 Agility - McKinney TX

2010-03-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

Lucky and Sapphire had a great time this weekend in McKinney. Sapphire got the last 2 legs for her MXJ while Lucky got the last leg for his AXJ. Lucky's was even a 2nd place :)

The video is two clips shoved together - one of Sapphire's Qs and one of Lucky's not so good runs. Most of Lucky's runs were amazing. Too bad they aren't on video. But he had a very good weekend with lots of almost Qs :) Sapphire did great too - she did all the contacts in one standard run !

Phone Survey laughs

2009-08-14T04:51:00.001-07:00

So I get a phone call last night - promises they aren't selling anything. The caller goes through all the questions to establish how old I am, are you between 18-34 etc. Then, after I answer to the correct range, she asks "what is your age". WTF was the point of doing the ranges if you are going to get the exact number in the next question???

Then the questions begin.

In the past 4 months have you read 'insert magazine name here'

that question repeats 40 times. Each with an answer "no."

She says thank you and hangs up.

This survey could have been over in 10 seconds with the following 2 questions:

How old are you?

Have you read any magazines in the past 4 months?

I hope knowing that I am 39 and haven't read any of their magazines in the past 4 months is useful to their survey results. So glad I could help.

Part of the problem

2009-06-06T05:03:00.000-07:00

Everyone spends money they shouldn't - but some companies try a little too hard to waste money.

I get 2-3 credit card applications a week from the same bank. What makes them think that I'll want one Wednesday if I didn't want one Monday ?

Recently I got a letter from a Warranty Service, pretending to be a local car dealership. It was a sales pitch to get me to buy an extended warranty - 6 years, 100,000 miles. The car they are trying to sell me the warranty on - the 2003 car I bought that the manufacturer had to buy back in 2006 under the terms of the lemon law. I didn't just trade it in, three years ago, they bought it back - as a lemon. They should have removed that car from their database.

April Agility

2009-05-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

We went to the April Champaign/Urbana agility trial. Lucky did really well, but did not qualify. Sapphire got two Qs - a first place and a second place - in STANDARD ! Those were her first two standard legs in 3 years. So, I was very encouraged by two in a row. She was around 7 seconds under standard course time each day.

My brother-in-law took some video, but I don't have it yet. When I get it, I'll post it.

Muddy Agility

2009-03-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sapphire finished her TDAA Games I title, and Lucky got his first leg towards his Games II title. It was a little muddy and cold. Thanks to Mugwump's dad for taking the pictures.

Honest Pizza Ingredients ?

2009-02-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

I was going through the on-line coupons before ordering pizza tonight for dinner. Under the "real taste and a real deal" special, the description stated "Every pizza is made with honest ingredients"

which brings to mind the following questions:

Have I been eating dishonest pizza ingredients in the past ?

Do the other guys sell dishonest pizza?

How do they decide which ingredients are honest? Are they hooking mushrooms, pepperoni, etc up to a little lie detector? Do all of their pizzas get the honest ingredients or just the ones bought under the "real taste and a real deal" special??

Maybe I'll just skip dinner tonight ....

Sapphire's favorite ball

2009-02-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

I have been looking for a replacement for Sapphire's favorite toy for a long time. When I say favorite, I mean the only one she will play with.

Last Sunday, I ordered 2 balls and they came this week. One is perfect ! Sapphire played with it three days in a row like it was THE ball ! She has been driving me crazy trying to get me to get it out so she can keep playing. I ordered some spares today.

Another fun agility weekend

2009-01-25T16:49:00.000-08:00

We went to the Lone Star Poodle Club trial in McKinney Tx this weekend. We got to visit with Gene, Patti, Patti's sister Karen, and Melissa and all their poodles !

Sapphire did great ! She Qualified on both of her runs, earning 13 MACH points this weekend ! This brings her total up to 34 !!!

The discussion about poodle nationals in Hawaii is a joke by the person taping.

Lucky didn't do so well...

Interesting use of laundry

2009-01-08T04:21:00.000-08:00

In the smaller laundry basket is clean laundry. Not folded, but clean. In the taller basket is dirty laundry - the stuff on top was the shirt/jeans I had worn that morning training the dogs, so treats had been in the pockets of the jeans. It's always a bad thing when Sapphire isn't hovering where I am, and this is where I found her. Of course when I found her, her nose was actually in the taller basket. But she saw the camera and posed.

TDAA Agility

2008-09-28T14:38:00.001-07:00

We participated in our first TDAA agility trial this weekend. Lucky Qd in his first 3 games, getting two second places and a 1st place, and finishing his Games I title ! ! ! His first place was in a game called "Jumplers", which is scored by taking the dog's time - bonus points + fault points. Low score wins. Lucky got 1st with a -11.72 !!! Sapphire was right behind him with 2nd place and a score of -9 ! In another game, "Wild West Pinball" Sapphire got 1st and Lucky got 2nd.

Playing in water

2008-06-09T16:07:00.001-07:00

Sapphire just demanded to go out in the pouring rain. She got into the yard, went to the corner of the house, and kept trying to catch the water coming out of the downspout ! I've seen dogs try to catch water out of a hose, but this was new to me. Of course, now she's soaked ! I hope the gutter water tasted good.

More email issues

2008-04-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

My friends and family have been getting bounced emails occasionally all year. I have called, on-line chatted, and now sent an email support request. wonder what will happen ? me too.

here's my email to them today (you can see the online chat support results on Patti's blog (poodlebugs, link at right) from January 28):

first, the problem is not happening all the time. i use web mail on 2 pcs and a mac, outlook express on my pc, and mail on my mac. one pc has vista, the other has xp. my mac has leopard and safari. i don't think any of that information is relevant.

people who email me all the time are _occasionally_ getting bounces - saying i don't have an account. these are family members who email me sometimes more than 1x day, friends who almost always email me more than 1x day, businesses like my credit card companies telling me my statement is available. none of these people/companies are in my blocked list, and most are actually in my address book. this has been going on all year. i called once and was told that you are in a maintenance period and it would be fixed in hours. i did the online chat support once and got told that i must have added them to my blocked sender list, which was not true. the person sent me one email and said "see your account works" and would not offer any other help. day before yesterday, my mom, who i will swear to you on the bible is not on my blocked senders list, emailed me a text only email she wrote and got this bounce that i don't have an account. this has gotten so annoying i am considering changing internet service providers. please fix it, tell me it's fixed, tell me what was broken so i believe that you actually might have fixed it. by the way, i have talked to other people with EDITED accounts who are having this same problem.

Barking in the car

2008-04-13T17:25:00.001-07:00

I've always had Sapphire and Lucky in separate crates in the back of the SUV. This weekend, I decided to try one larger crate and see if they'd get a long. It's a wire crate instead of two plastic crates. They behaved wonderfullly. None of the barking/growling any time the other dog bumped into one of them.... UNTIL we went through the drive thru ! I guess they could never see the person at the window before. But the minute I got to the window to pay, they started barking ! they never barked at the drive thru before !

Changing Dog Foods !

2008-03-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Because Sapphire has been sick, until I get a final diagnosis, hopefully after another test April 7th, the vet suggested changing dog foods. Because I prefer both dogs getting the same food, Lucky gets to change too. I am gradually adding the new food (and taking out the old food) from their twice daily feedings. As of today, have progressed to half of the old food and half of the new food. They have both come to the realization that the new food is MUCH better than the old food. Sapphire eats all the new food out of her bowl, then eats the old food. Lucky, on the other hand, eats all the new food and then just walks away. If by some accident he gets a piece of the old food in his mouth, he spits it out beside his bowl.

Sapphire Qs

2008-03-04T16:44:00.001-08:00

Same course as Lucky. There were a few dogs inbetween, so I did have enough time to almost catch my breath. Sapphire got 2nd place :)

Lucky almost Qs

2008-03-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

This was the same day as the horrible run I posted yesterday.

I can't believe I'm letting anyone watch this run.

2008-03-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

Joining the blogging world

2008-03-03T18:51:00.001-08:00

I finally got talked into setting up my own blog.