Owner: Tip Tail - From Agility to Zen URL:http://www.tiptail.com Join Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 20:19:20 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog all about dog training, agility, flyball, drive shaping, clicker training, collie rescue, and fun! Site statistics:Click here
We are going to Flyball 2007-05-25 13:24:02 Okay, we are going to do Flyball in St. George. Actually, it’s Flyball in Hurricane, Utah. I will probably bring Levi, too, my agility collie. Just for fun and he likes to get out.
I really want to go to Laramie, Wyoming, for Flyball in July/August, to see my friend from Denver. And so we will go do Flyball in St George to get our feet wet. Though I’m only going to go Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Run singles on Sunday, and maybe Doubles.
I really think Chase will handle it just fine. We do need more box work, he needs to get that down pat before we go. And sometimes he cheats and doesn’t do a nice turn. He is better with the cone to help him around. So we will do lots of cone work to get that muscle memory going, so that he’ll know how to turn. It’s really cool to see those dogs that do perfect box turns in Flyball.
Technorati Tags: flyball, flyball dogs, utah tailblazers, collie agility
Collie Bumper Stickers 2007-05-25 11:24:35 I love bumper stickers and I am always looking for places I can get them made up for Utah Dogs, and for Utah Collie
Rescue, Inc. I really want to spread the word. I have some Utah Dogs one, but I don’t have any Utah Collie Rescue ones, and I’d love to have some.
I want some cool bumper stickers that I can sell for a fund raiser for Utah Collie Rescue. I wonder if they would sell at all. I sometimes don’t have much luck selling things. But then again, I was donated some things to sell for collie rescue, and those have been working out rather well. So maybe these would be good, too. And they don’t have to be Utah specific, they could just be collie specific and I could resell them on the internet.
And these guys do unlimited colors for one price. So many places want more money for more colors. I wonder if reselling them is acceptable. Read more:Bumper
, Stickers
Flyball Stuff 2007-05-25 07:18:05 Hrmph. Flyball. Practice is fun. Going to a tournament is boggling my brain. I want to go… but the tourney is in St. George, Utah. Which is 5 hours away. Gas, Hotel, Time… all for just one singles run, and practice runs.
Well, it seems like a lot of money. But, there is one bonus. There is another tournament in Wyoming in August… and I want to go to that one! Really bad! Because a friend I met at dog camp last September is going to be there. And I’d love to see her again, and I might even share a hotel with her.
So, in order for Chase to be on a team, he has to go to a tournament and run single or do warmups. I’m not so sure I like that rule. I think he’s really be fine. He is very stable in high-drive environments. But if that’s the rule, then perhaps I’m going to St. George.
I still have a day or two to decide.
Technorati Tags: flyball, dog training, border collies, flyball dogs
Cars at Trials 2007-05-25 07:14:16 I’ve always wanted a cover for my car. To keep the sun off, and to keep the rain and snow off. And I think it’d be great to have one for when I go out to agility trials. I could cover it up so the heat stays out, and the rain, too, if it’s raining (I don’t like to drive in the rain).
And maybe it would be a little bit more secure, too, to dissuade any thieves who might see my stereo. My old truck was stolen, because of the radio. I wonder if trucks that have truck covers are less likely to broken into. These sure keep the sun, rain, and dust off better, and you can find covers by your car’s make and model.
My husband could use a car cover, his car isn’t in the garage. We only have a one car garage. Read more:Trials
Personal Space 2007-05-24 19:30:10 As I sit down to watch Pirates of the Carribean, Dead Man’s Chest from my Blockbuster movies-in-the-mail account (not sure what it’s officially called), I have to think about these poor dogs of ours and how good they are really being with the extra dogs.
Dogs have personal space, just like humans do. And for each of them it’s a different distance. Chase needs more personal space, and Angel needs less. She probably needs the least of all our dogs. Chase is the most, then Levi, then Lucy, then Angel.
And so bringing these other dogs into our house, we can’t just expect everyone to get along. Dogs are dogs, and they show their discomfort in dog ways. Teeth, growling, body language, tail height, etc. And I feel like we have to always be aware of this, and make sure each of the dogs is comfortable.
We also have Glitter this week, a little sheltie girl. She is one of my friend’s dogs and we love to watch her, she is just a doll. So that brings us up to 7 dogs, Read more:Personal
, Space
New Camera + YouTube = Scary 2007-05-30 09:44:34 You know what you get when a blogger gets a new camera, and an account on YouTube
? Well… I’m sure you can guess. LOL.
Here is Mac, our foster smooth collie boy. Very short clip only a few seconds. But it’s fun to see this boy play!
Technorati Tags: collie rescue, collies, foster dogs, dog adoption Read more:Camera
, Scary
How Many Dogs on a Hammock? 2007-05-30 07:21:12 Well, as I sit here on the couch with a sheltie girl next to me, I think about 20 shelties could fit on a camping Hammock
. But how many collies? If it were Sam, then only one. If it were Levi, then two, because he would only tolerate Lucy with him. If it were Chase (not a collie, but still a dog), then one, because he can be cranky. But my husband and I’d be able to lay with him on the Hammock because he loves people.
These pawleys island hammocks look really nice. I love hammocks, though I don’t have enough time to spend in them. Check out the site if you are interested in hammocks. They even help you chose a Hammock and understand the materials.
Do they miss their old homes? 2007-05-29 21:46:44 This is a sad thought I’ve been having and it almost brings tears to my eyes, but I just wonder.
I play with Sammy and Mac and we goof off and scratch and snuggle and have a good time. But do they miss their old families? Do they think about them? Remember them and want to see them again?
How can they not? If nothing else, they formed bonds with their old families and those bonds don’t ever go away.
Dogs seem to adjust so well to a new home. They really do. And in rescue, we often say it’s harder for the humans than it is for the dogs to adjust to living in a new home. Dogs live in the moment. But they have memories and feelings too.
What are they dreaming about? What are they thinking about? They don’t think in words like humans do, but they think. And even though they bond to me, and then will bond to their final families, still…. do they miss their old families?
Technorati Tags: collie rescue, collie, collies, foster, dog adoption, dog re
Natural Art 2007-05-29 21:26:53 I love art. I’m always looking for some great dog art, original art, that I can put up in my house. I do have some original art and I love it. I would love more. I really love animals and nature the best. Natural
landscapes and impressionistic varieties.
The Park West Art Gallery has a lot of original artwork. They also conduct fine art auctions around the US and Canada. I have never been to an art auction. I think it would be a lot of fun.
I’ll have to go and look around for some dog art from them. To see what artists they have that do nature and animals and landscapes. I can just loose myself in a beautiful piece of art, gazing into the colors and the depth and wondering what the story behind the painting might be.
Ankle is Swollen 2007-05-29 10:48:17 Well, just like a dog I ran through my sore ankle all weekend and guess what? Today it’s nice and swollen. Ugh. Well, Wednesday I need to do flyball because we are in the tournament end of June, so I will probably just take it easy today and tomorrow. I still want to go to obedience class tonight. So I might just do some retreiving and not much heeling with the boys.
And I am SOOO excited! I bought a video camera. A friend of mine had one yesterday at the trial. And all weekend I was thinking of buying a video camcorder that burns right to DVD. Well, my friend D with the Malinois, bought one on Sunday night and brought it with on Monday. It’s nice! And it was on sale through Memorial Day. So I went and bought one last night.
Yeah yeah I should have gotten it before the trial, not after. LOL. But no worries, there will be more trials. So I’m going to be a recording fool. I got some DVD-RW minidiscs, too.
It’s a Sony Handycam with a 40x Optical Zoom. Read more:Ankle
Monday Agility 2007-05-28 19:55:56
Well then! The trial is over. We had fun. We have to work on Levi’s brand new weave problems. But what’s new? LOL. It’s always something. Levi is such a good boy. He gives me his all and does his best.
This run is an excellent run. This is his Standard run, Excellent B, on Monday
. First run of the day. Small to tall. He did an awesome job. However, you’ll see a good shot of his latest weave problems. He’s entering on the second poll, and he’s actually popping on the 10th. This one he didn’t, I really revved him up mid-weaves. But that also made him skip a poll, but it got him to exit on the correct side.
Anyway, it was a great trial. Next weekend we have a break, then we have another 2 day trial. I am going to shape Levi’s entry in the next two weeks, with the clicker, to see if that will help him get better at entering. And also put guides back on the front and the end, to see if that helps, too. I love my boy.
Fly Home for Medical Care 2007-05-28 16:21:01 When we leave the dogs and go out of town, or even out of the country, I actually worry a bit about getting good medical care. My husband and I both have insurance, and we have pretty good insurance at that. But still, I really would prefer to be treated at a hospital at home, or at least in the USA, if anything would happen to me if I were out of the country. And you know what is cool and I didn’t know about, is there is a air ambulance company that will actually fly you home if you get injured or sick out of the country.
AirAmbulance.net is amazing, and kinda a crazy idea at the same time. I mean, who would put together a company that’ll fly you home if you have a critical situation? It sounds like a great idea.
And the internet really helps us find niche health care services when we want to find things in addition to the traditional. I will have to bookmark this information and take it with me when I travel abroad in case it’s needed. Because you never know w
I get to groom Smokey! 2007-06-01 21:28:58 I’m excited. I told Smokey
(aka Cheyenne)’s new Mom that if she gave a donation to Utah Collie Rescue, I’d groom
him for them. They are having a hard time finding a good spot to have him groomed. And when I had him in, they didn’t wash all his soap off and he got Seborrhea and was really itchy and bad off. When I gave him a bath myself, as soon as I put the water on him, he sudsed up. Pissed me off.
I am not a professional groomer, but I can brush out a rough collie, bathe him, and trim him up. And yeah, I’m picky about my rough collies. I like them pretty. Well, my smoothies too. Though my own dogs need a bath. They smell so nice after a bath.
I’m just excited I’ll see him again. It won’t be for about 3 weeks, since the next two weekends, after this one, will be agility again. But then the weekend after that I’ll do it.
Articles by Experts 2007-06-01 16:13:40 Are you interested in Recreation & Sports, and want to know more? Well… check this out. Encyclocentral is like an encyclopedia of all different sorts of articles. They even have a Pets & Animals category, and some dog training links.
They have information about trophies, now wouldn’t it be cool if agility offered trophies? But it doesn’t, just ribbons. Though if you are in a big conformation show, you might get one.
And sometimes I wish I had a swimming pool. Then I could teach the dogs to swim. But they wouldn’t be around it unsupervised, too dangerous. Read more:Articles
, Experts
Happy June First 2007-06-01 10:53:32 Well, it’s the first day of June, 2007. Yay! I love the spring and the summer. I’m so ready for some warmth. The dogs don’t like it much. Angel will go for a walk.. go two houses and lay down in the shade. She is such a doll. And Chase and Levi don’t like running in the heat much. But they can do it.
Today my work friends are taking me to lunch for my 40th birthday that was on May 26th. Should be fun to get away and get into the sun! Read more:Happy
, First
Addicted to Agility! 2007-06-01 09:53:04 Seriously, I am addicted to agility! Actually, I liken it to gambling. You run the course, and if you don’t Q, you want to try again. It’s like a slot machine… next time I’ll win, next time I’ll win…
Agility season around here is going to be slowing down soon. Two trials in June, then one in July, and then that’s it. AKC anyway. If I get too many withdrawals, I’ll have to enter some of the other trials. Which will be a good thing. There is a DOCNA trial this weekend. Good thing I’m not entered, because my ankle is still hurting me pretty good.
Anyway, seriously though, drug addictions are serious things. Any addiction is, really. And it’s best to get some drug treatment for them. If any habit becomes destructive or hurts you or your family, it’s time to take a serious look at it. Even agility! (Mine hasn’t quite reached that point… yet. ) Read more:Addicted
The Boys Weave 2007-05-31 20:15:32 Okay.. yes yes, more movies. I’m sure I will get tired of it eventually! LOL.. well, maybe. So here is Levi weaving out in the front yard. We are practicing every day for cookies (hot dogs). He is a doll. See how good he is? This clip is only a couple seconds, enough for Levi to get through 12 weaves:
And this one is of Chase weaving. He’s slow at the end because I stopped encouraging. Though I want to get him to go fast all the way through without it mattering. Independent weaves!
Read more:Weave
Digital Dog Pictures in Frames! 2007-05-31 17:18:57 When I went to visit my Aunt and Uncle in California in February, my Aunt showed me this way cool picture frame she had. It had a memory card in it, and when you turned it on it would show a slide show of all the pictures on the memory card. She had a digital picture frame that was so totally cool!
I want one for work! I would keep my pictures of the dogs doing agility, camping, and just having a good time, and watch it all day. Okay, that might be bad, because I might watch it instead of work. But hey, it would be fun to have. My Aunt thought I’d already known about digital frames, but I’d never seen them before.
So now I have something else I want for my birthday… a digital picture frame. But I might have to wait until Christmas. Read more:Digital
, Pictures
, Frames
Chase on the Flyball Box 2007-05-30 23:23:11 Took the new camera (of course, did you think I wouldn’t? lol) to flyball practice tonight. Got a couple of good videos of Chase on the flyball box.
Have a look!
Dogs on the Couch 2007-06-04 20:20:56 How many dogs fit on the couch? I was cleaning my basement today because I really needed to wash clothes and put them away. Okay, I just needed to put them away, mostly they were washed. So you can see the clothes on the couch. So I was sitting on the floor, and the next thing I know I look back, and three dogs are on the couch. Levi, Chase, and Lucy.
And of course, then a little bit later I take them all out (today is my day off, I work 4 10 hour days), and then go back downstairs for some more cleaning and what do I find? But Sammy has gotten the whole couch. And why not. Since he’s 99 pounds, he can pretty much be where he wants to be.
So then while Sammy is on the couch, Levi decides that he really needs to be on the couch, too. And no one stops Levi from being on the couch. If he doesn’t get his spot, he will yap and whine until he does. But this time, he didn’t let Sammy intimidate him. Nope, he just crawled right up next to Sammy. Which is quite unlike L Read more:Couch
Newsroom - A Dog’s Healthy Coat 2007-06-04 18:25:30 I’m always looking for good dog related information to put on this site. I love reading about dogs, talking about dogs… heck, at my birthday party, most of the conversation was about dogs. Yes, addicted, but I love it! Dogs are my life. And so there is the The News Room, that lets me put relevant, timely news on my site. And it was super easy to embed this video/article, and it was free, too.
So check out this article about a Dog and making sure your dog has a healthy coat. Chase blew his coat this spring, at is was awful. But now it’s growing back in very nicely. We are very happy about it. Because really, a healthy coat does reflect a healthy dog. We feed raw, and although many places said that your dogs will transform with raw and have awesome coats, we didn’t really notice that. Their coats are great either way. Maybe the rough collies would show more of a difference, but the smoothies coats are very nice either way.
So check out The News Room and
Glitter & A Story 2007-06-03 19:16:56 This is Glitter the sheltie! She stayed with us for a week while her Mom, Dad, and brother Nick the sheltie went to California to do a NADAC trial. Nick has his NATCH, and his Mom is trying to get him his V-NATCH. He needs, I think, one Touch-n-Go leg. Well, he got every other run he was in, but didn’t Q in Touch-n-Go! Ugh! That is so frustrating.
Glitter is a doll. She slept on the bed with me. She is so small, we might have walked on her once in a while. She weighs 16 pounds. Compared to our 65 pound collies, she is tiny. She likes to walk all the way up your body in bed and flop right down on your chest.
As for the story? Well, it’s a bit funny… after I fed the dogs today and afterwards, Angel goes right out to potty. She was a bit runny, poor girl. I saw her potty on the stone patio (she likes to do that better than the icky wet grass). So she is a bit runny and poop-walking. I go back to playing fetch with Mac. After we play some fetch, I go inside and wha
Tip Tail and SEO 2007-06-03 19:07:29 Over the last few months, as Tip Tail has become more and more interesting for me to blog in, I’ve been reading a lot about SEO
. What is SEO, you ask? LOL. I didn’t know for a couple of months until I started reading about it. It stands for Search Engine Optimization.
It’s basically what you can do on your website, or blog, to make your page come up at the top of search results like google. I would love for this website to come up when a person googles “collie agility” or anything related to that. It kinda does, but not as much as I’d like.
It’s very important for a website to have good website optimization. There are a number of website optimization services out there, and sometimes it’s best to hire one when you have a business and you want good search engine optimization services. Getting good search engine placement in search engine results is very important for companies. And it’s important for niche blogs like this one, too
Rest Day 2007-06-03 18:38:45 This afternoon is a day of rest. *sigh* I’m tired. I had a birthday party yesterday. Weirdest thing. Lots of people came. Dog friends, work friends, and family. I was so stressed afterwards. But now I’m better. Being the center of attention is not my favorite thing.
And one of my friends, coming from an agility trial, brought her dogs. Raygen is the sweetest cattle dog ever. Not heard of a sweet cattle dog? Well, he is. He’s mostly white with some red mottling. Very cute. And she’s clicker trained him to sneeze on cue. It’s the cutest darn thing. She captured it with the clicker. She’s awesome at clicker training.
So it was a fun party. It’s dinner time for the dogs now, Lucy is bringing me toys, means she really wants to eat!
Up in the Sky 2007-06-03 18:34:17 This isn’t really dog related, but relates closely to my past life. And hey, I used to take my dog with to star parties!
You may not know it, but I used to be a complete astronomy buff. For my 16th birthday my Dad got me an RV-6 Telescope. A 6 inch reflector. And a membership in SLAS, the local astronomy club.
For many years thereafter we went to lots of star parties, both public and private. I even worked at the Hansen Planetarium for a while (though it no longer exists, bummer).
Anyway, after my RV-6 I upgraded to a Celestron C-8 Scope. I still have it, though I haven’t pulled it out in a few years now. The dogs keep me up during the day, as does my job, so staying up at night to observe is difficult.
Although I have a Celstron, I also love the Meade scopes. There are some models that are very similar. And Meade used to be black, where Celestron was Orange. Always a point of teasing in the old club. I also loved to use my astronomical binoculars. I have some 11×
Agility Weekend! 2007-06-08 22:37:21 Crap! That reminds me, I better go look at the premium and see when judging starts tomorrow morning. I think it’s 8. Which means I have to be there by 7am to set up my tent and crates, check in, and walk the course. Which means I have to get up by at least 6am, probably 5:30 am.. to shower, and it’ll take me 30 mins to drive there (I better check the place, too). Ugh.
So no sleeping in for me this weekend. I really love to sleep in. But it’s true, once I get there I’ll have fun. And hopefully I can leave early. The running order will be Exc/Exc/Open/Open/Nov/Nov, so maybe I can just leave after both of Levi’s excellent runs.
Oh, and I get to use my new camera to video our runs! So look for YouTube videos tomorrow! (If I’m not too tired.)
OH! And cool, my hotel in Blackfoot, Idaho, has internet access. Woo! That means my camera and my laptop are coming with, and I can blog at night and load videos! And up in Blackfoot there’s going to be a p Read more:Weekend
Tip Tail Hosts a Meme 2007-06-08 13:26:15 And so we have a new meme! I was lying in bed last night, and thinking before I fell asleep, like I do way too much, and came up with this idea of a meme.
I think memes are fun. I haven’t done very many of them. I haven’t found very many animal related ones! If I did, I would do them. So I thought hmm… there needs to be an animal related meme out there that everyone can participate in.
So here is the Animal Site Review Meme. You don’t have to have an animal site to participate, you just need to review an animal site. And it doesn’t matter if it is a pet, wild animal, or even animals from other planets. It just has to be a non-human animal.
So I hope you will participate in this meme and we can get some good animal related sites exchanged!Technorati Tags: meme, dog meme, dogs, animal meme, review, thursday meme Read more:Hosts
Incorporating 2007-06-08 10:39:27 I have blogged about in the past, Utah Collie Rescue, Inc., recently incorporated. Believe me, it was a confusing process. I had to scour the web for information on how to go about doing to. And even more complicated was finding information on becoming a non-profit organization.
There is a lot of paperwork that you have to fill out. Incorporation documents, bylaws, applications, etc. If anyone has any problems incorporating, leave me a comment or contact me through the contact me page here on this blog. I would love to share my knowledge.
If I were to do it again, and it was going to be a for-profit business, I’d look into a place that would help me out. IncParadise is one such place. They can help with Wyoming inc, and Utah incorporations, and even all over the country. It’s just best to know all the laws in case something happens in the future. That way we are all covered.
Read more:Incorporating
Johann the Agility Sheltie! 2007-06-07 18:21:58 I wanted to write a bit of a review of one of the dog blogs I regularly visit. I have to say, Johann
is a very talented, quick, and smart sheltie. (Sheltie is short for Shetland Sheepdog.) He is a bi-black sheltie, which means he is black and white. Many shelties, and collies, have brown mixed in there. Collies don’t come in bi-black, collies always have brown in their coats. Tri-color shelties also have brown, black and white, just like tri-colored collies. Johann is a very pretty boy, he is black and white, and he is very striking indeed! This picture of Johann’s website has him on the right, and one of his sheltie friend’s on the left.
When you visit Johann’s website, you’ll find many interesting options. You can Shop from Johann’s shop, you can watch Johann’s agility comeback video, and you can read all about Johann.
Agility Sheltie
Johann is an excellent agility sheltie. I love to see how quickly some dogs move up through the Novice, Ope
Gifts for Dog People 2007-06-07 16:37:26 Father’s day is coming! I know there are a lot of fathers out there who love dogs. And entire families who love dogs, too. Well, sometimes dog people are really hard to shop for. I’ve had a hard time shopping for my dog people friends. And I know that I, too, can be hard to shop for sometimes. Dog people, and any people, might like Fruit Baskets.
I love fruit, though it rather scares me. I’m always afraid of eating bad fruit. So it’s nice to find fruit that is always yummy. Though quite often my dogs don’t mind eating fruit that I don’t like anymore. LOL.. Lucy will eat anything, except mushrooms. She spits those out. Ewwww.
I need to buy my Dad something for Father’s day. I’ll be in Blackfoot, Idaho, doing agility, so I’ll need to get him something before I leave or after I get back, Or something that is mail ordered. And I really like buying from family owned businesses, and The Fruit Company is family owned and has been Read more:Gifts
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