Six Puppies, Four Wranglers and a Bottle of Bubbles

As some of you may know my other passion, (besides my dogs), is photography. In December I was hired by a fellow dog club member to photograph her litter of Nova Scotia Duck Toller Retriever's.  What a blast we had. There were 4 people to "Wrangle" the puppies, which basically means keep them on the table!  We started out by putting the puppies in the wicker hamper.  Did you know a basket of puppies can be like a can of worms?  No sooner were all the puppies in the basket, I gave the word to release the wranglers, and those puppies were out of the basket, often giving me only 1 shot where they were all looking in my general direction.  Was a ton of fun.

After playing with the basket and group photos we moved on to individuals. Much easier and we only needed two wranglers.  As is true with any litter of purebred dogs the puppies all tend to look alike. There are some distinguishing markings but they can be hard to pick out in a photo. My solution to that was to use a different prop for each puppy.

This fellow was so comfortable in the basket we just left him there.










This one took a moment to smell the flowers.













                                             Can you say "Pretty Girl"



                          

                                






Yes I can look at the camera!












You don't smell like a Toller?



                    

                              


And finally the ring leader of the litter.
This little girl was one active puppy.

Santa Who?








Ahhhhh Puppy's who doesn't like them?
Check out all the photos at my web site.

A Year in Review

Well it seems I've been off the blog for quite some time. I was gone looking for inspirational stuff to blog and I think I got sidetracked cause I'm still looking!

So I will start this year off with a review of what me and my dogs have been up to. Let's start with my club's trial in March.  Zoe completed the last leg of her Companion Dog title to earn her CD from the AIOC.  Sassy Girl also competed in the same trial and earned 2 legs towards her CD. 





We had been waiting for our CKC registration numbers to come through and finally received them in April. Just in time to enter Zoe in Nanaimo's Rally Obedience Trials. We entered in the Novice A class and Zoe did me proud getting her very first CKC title with three very lovely scores of 97, 98, and a perfect 100!
What a good girl she is.




Next on our agenda was a Freestyle dance competition put on by our club in Victoria. We had a great time. Both girls competed but only Sassy Girl earned a title, Canine Dressage Novice - Level 1. This was Sassy's debut in dressage and she did a great job.  For the first level the dog and handler only have to show team work, the dog must stay in the heel position and the handler must not use a tight leash or any corrections.  Sassy did me proud, she stayed connected with me the whole time and even threw in some side passes that had me scrambling to keep up! We finished 2nd in our group. 




Next up was our trip to Victoria for a weekend of Rally Obedience in August. This was our first "Away" event and I have to say we had a blast, hanging with our friends and competing in the same venue as our Freestyle competition. Zoe earned 2 legs towards her Advanced A title and had a great time doing it.  Sassy was not quite ready to compete in either Rally or Obedience so she stayed home keeping Bo company.

Our next big adventure wasn't until November when we traveled to the mainland and partook of a Gala event put on by the Paws 2 Dance group we belong to. This group was celebrating their 10 year anniversary and had been working on a play involving their dogs and indoor kite flying.  What an event it was too. Was great to watch. The next day we entered the dressage competition. Zoe was entered in Dressage Novice 3 but found that she could not possibly back up on that stage so we didn't qualify. Sassy Girl on the other hand had no problem and passed her Dressage Novice level 2 and has now caught up to Zoe. We will have to work very hard this year to enter our groups competition in June. I think the 3rd time will be the charm for Zoe and I have a whole new routine to work out with Sassy Girl.


Also in November we entered our club's CKC Rally Obedience trial. Zoe completed her Advanced A title and earned 2 legs towards her Excellent title.  One more leg and then it's back into the obedience ring for her to earn her CKC CD title.  This is a photo of us competing.  Look at that team work and footwork. Looking good!




Sassy Girl finally got to enter a trial, she told me she was ready and don't you know it she was!  Sassy earned her Novice A title with 2 perfect scores and a 99. Have to say I am very proud of this little dog. She has battled shyness and fear to come out on top.  Way to go Sassy Girl.



So we have had a rather busy and fun year in 2010, and we're looking forward to just as much if not more fun in 2011.

This coming year I hope to enter Zoe and Sassy in Rally Obedience in March, Zoe in a tracking test and Sassy in some regular obedience trials.  We are also working very hard towards entering another Freestyle/Dressage competition coming up in June.

I hope to keep you posted on a more regular basis as to where we are and what we're doing.


Cheers Everyone

 

Here's to a Happy and Event Filled New Year to All

Arlene, Zoe and Sassy Girl