The APDT Conference

I've been away from the blogosphere for over a week but Barbara has a good excuse this time. She was at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Annual Conference in Oakland, CA and Ambrose and I were at K9 Kindercare. This is a 5 day educational conference for dog trainers so it is very important. There were 1121 trainers there listening to the top behaviorists and trainers such as Dr. Brian Hare, Sue Sternberg, Steve White, Nicole Wilde and many others.

Since Barbara is the president of the APDT, she had lots of jobs to do while there. I feel that as First Dog, I should have been there too. Especially when I saw that she got to stay in the Presidential Suite. Look at the size of that place-I could have had a good time playing there.



Unfortunately I would have had to fly in the belly of a plane to get there, and of course I will not do that. The conference is mostly lectures and demonstrations so I think I would not have enjoyed it that much. I'd much rather be playing or doing tracking. And if we brought Ambrose, he would have wrecked the place for sure.

Barbara did get to go to San Francisco by ferry which I would have enjoyed. The sunset looked lovely.



The best part of the conference, as far as I am concerned, is the trade show. Vendors sell all sorts of cool dog products and Barbara always buys us lots of toys and treats. I was very excited to see that her training bag was crammed full of good stuff.



I inspected the bag very carefully. There were Wubbas, Kongs, chew toys and this great giraffe with a braided fleece body and a good squeaker in his head.



Of course I had to check out all the treats. Last year, you may remember, I did a very scientific palatability test on the various treats so that I could let you know which ones were delicious and which ones were icky. I am very willing to put my efforts into doing this again for you so that you don't have to suffer eating boring tasting treats. We will try to post about it this weekend.



Of course goofy Ambrose had to try to get in on the act. Barbara says that I have to share. Boo! Hiss!



I have the giraffe. It is mine.



If Ambrose thinks he can have it, he is goofier than I ever thought. I am going to take this giraffe onto my bed and keep Ambrose away so he doesn't get his puppy cooties all over it. He can have the Wubba!



As much as I enjoy going to K9 Kindercare and I know that it is important for Barbara to be at the conference, I am glad to be home with all my new treats and toys.

My New Bed

I have always liked my round bed. It used to be nice and puffy but lately it has gone sadly flat. I blame it on Ambrose of course. He is always jumping on it and smashing it down. He tore up his own bed and so has to sleep on a bath mat. He tries to get on my bed when ever he can.



Barbara decided I needed a new comfy bed. Look what she brought home from the dog show last month! It is the most comfy, puffy bed that I have ever had. I know that those bed afficianados, Agatha and Archie, would approve.



I love it and am doing my best to keep Ambrose off of it. I don't want his adolescent puppy cooties on my lovely bed. My old bed has been demoted to his bed! Ha!

Goat Patrol

I had a busy weekend. On Saturday morning, before she had lessons, Barbara took me over to the Durham Kennel Club to practice my freestyle. We are working on a new routine and I am practicing ignoring the people on the sidelines (I love to visit people). This is hard. Here I am checking out my training bag to see if I can snag a few extra goodies.



I sent Ambrose over to Scout's house to play in her yard.



The two of them play really rough. They like to run and bash and play bitey face. Since they are both adolescents they really need to run off their excess energy. I am so glad that they like to play like this because after Ambrose has played with Scout, he behaves better at home.



We went to the dog park first thing this morning. When we pulled into the parking lot I was astounded to see a herd of goats in the woods next to the parking lot!



They are The Goat Patrol. Their person drives them around to places that need the weeds eaten up and they graze on the vegetation! I love goats and once I saw them I didn't even care if I went into the dog park.



I could see that this goat really wanted to play with me. I wish I could have joined her but there was an electric fence around the goats to keep them in the woods (and to keep the dogs out).

Show Dogs

My sister Tori is a show dog. Barbara tried to get me to be a show dog but I thought standing still and looking pretty was boring. I am a go-girl and like to do freestyle and tracking. I also can not stand dog grooming torture and if you are entered in conformation shows you have to do a lot of it.

In July Tori went to a big show in Salem, VA. It is the same show where Fenway had a big win. I wish I had known Fenway was going to be there because I would have told Tori to go and play with him. I am sure that it would have been more fun than standing around in a show ring.

Anyway Tori did great. She got a 4 point major at the Friday show and a 5 point major on Sunday. This means that she had to beat lots of other Gordon Setters to get that many points. The judge who gave her the 5 points is very famous and knowledgeable so that was a big win.



I think she looks quite beautiful and regal and she will be a champion soon.

Now Barbara thinks that Ambrose should enter the show ring. This must be a joke! What judge in his right mind would give any kind of ribbons to this goofy boy?



Me? I'll stick with tracking.

Royal's 2nd Birthday Party

My Drill Team buddy, Royal, turned 2 and invited us to his party. Last year's event was a social success so I didn't want to miss it even though Ambrose was invited too. I was a little worried that Ambrose would act crazy and embarrass us.

Doesn't Royal look handsome? He is wearing a decorative collar from Jing-a-ling Dog Bandanas. We all got these nice reversible collars as party favors. Check out the site for the ruffled collars and bandanas.



I think that I look pretty spiffy in mine.



We had a great time running around with all the other dogs (and we were very well behaved, even Ambrose) but we really wanted to get up on the deck for the refreshments.



Royal's person, Jenn, made us dogs a terrific carrot/peanut butter cake with cream cheese frosting and dog biscuit decorations!



Everyone got a slice. I was drooling in anticipation.



Barbara put the plates down for us and by the time she reached around to grab her camera, we had inhaled the cake and licked the plates clean!!! Very yummy!



Thanks for inviting us Royal. We had a great time. And I'm glad that goofy Ambrose didn't ruin your party.

We Are Trying This Again

She has promised me that this time we will get back to regular blogging. I have heard the excuses and they all lame. Unfortunately, Barbara is the one with the opposable thumbs and I am dependent on her to type my dictation. Just think what I could do with thumbs!

I've had lots of adventures since I last posted. I've been to a birthday party, went to Virginia to visit my siblings, gave some freestyle demos, helped Barbara with her students and gotten back to tracking now that the weather is a bit cooler. All Ambrose is doing is growing and being bad. If I listed all the bad things he has done in the last two months you would be reading for a week!



We've had some good times in the dog park. I will give Ambrose credit for being a good player. Here he is making friends with a little Boston Terrier.





Even though Ambrose is now as big as I am, he still is really goofy. Look at all the dirt on face and on his tongue. What a mess!



I'll try to post photos of some of my adventures in the next few days. I can't wait to catch up on all your blogs. I've missed you guys.

Ambrose Does It Again

You may be wondering why there are no photos with this post. It is all Ambrose's fault. To be fair, it really is Barbara's fault. She was the one who fell asleep on the couch one evening while Ambrose was loose in the house and not in his crate. This was a serious mistake!

While she was sleeping Ambrose stole the little cable that goes from the camera to the computer and chewed it into 5 pieces! Then he fell asleep. When Barbara woke up and saw the destruction she said many HBO words. She knew Ambrose was the culprit because I have never been that interested in wires or cables and all the pieces were lying next to him on his bed!!

So now we can't show any of our nice pictures until the mini usb comes. She tried a card reader (whatever that it) but it didn't seem to work. I have some good photos to show you about a special package that I got from Scotland but they are trapped in the camera for now.

The big excitement today was that Barbara and I got attacked by yellow jackets! We were walking in the woods and Barbara wanted to go down a certain path. I did not but she said to anyway. There was a reason I didn't want to go there. Yellow jackets swarmed around us and stung us. Barbara tried to get the horrible things off me and they stung her hands. I got stung on the face several times but my fur is thick so the ones on my back and legs didn't get me. We ran back home to escape them. We each had to take an antihistamine and the swelling and the hurt went away. I am never walking on that path again.

Bad Ambrose

Ambrose is almost 7 months old now and he is huge! Almost as big as me. His paws are enormous and he still has a lot of loose skin so he is not nearly finished growing.

The first picture is us today. The second picture was taken in March when he was only 2 1/2 months old.





You can see the difference.

He has grown in spurts. Sometimes his front legs grow and sometimes his back legs grow. One day Barbara was horrified to see that his hips were higher than his shoulders! I think that we should lock him in a closet so that no one can see him and think that is what Gordon Setters are supposed to look like.

He is also growing goofier by the day. Look at that face!. This week he forgot what sit means. Barbara gave him the cue and he just stood there and stared at her like he never heard the word before. She has only been practicing that with him since he was 8 weeks old!



Completely clueless.

Barbara says that he is the most destructive puppy that she has ever had. Even though we have lots of appropriate chew toys, stuffed kongs and other treat dispensing toys, he still likes to chew up things that shouldn't even be in his mouth in the first place. If Barbara leaves the closet door open for a second or leaves something out on the table, it is in his mouth in a flash. I have done a few bad things in my day but nothing like this and I was never destructive.

THE GALLERY OF DESTRUCTION

Ambose's registered name is Albannach Almost Famous. His breeders sent Barbara a baseball cap with their kennel name embroidered on it. She had it in the dog-crate-on-wheels on the console between the front seats. Ambrose's crate is right up next to the console. While she was driving he pulled the hat into his crate, chewed it and got his puppy slime all over it.




He stole her sandal from the closet and chewed off the end before she got it back.



I took my head off my dragon for just a few minutes and this is what he did to it.




He stole the camera off the table. Fortunately he only messed up the case and not the camera.




He is also a counter surfer. We used to have four of these Canine Freestyle Federation mugs. Now we have one. Barbara gets really upset when Ambrose knocks over anything glass or ceramic. Many HBO words are said while Ambrose gets shoved in his crate and I get told to "leave it" so she can clean up the mess. I think she is worried that we might eat the glass or cut our pads on it.




I really don't know how I am going to survive his adolescence. It was so nice to go to the competition in TN and leave him at the kennel. I had Barbara all to myself and didn't have to put up with his goofiness. But Barbara missed him. Why, I do not know. She is always kissing him and playing with him and trying to train him (a lost cause, I am afraid). So I am stuck with him.

Falling Down on the Blog

It has been a whole month since I've blogged. I can't believe that Barbara has not been able to help me in all that time. Of course she has many excuses. Keeping her training business going, her responsibilities to the APDT, training Ambrose (who takes ridiculous amount of work) blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Of course we were also getting ready for my very first Canine Freestyle Federation competition.

I am waiting my turn to practice. All of our freestyle friends were so helpful giving us advice and helping us train.



We worked really hard on our routine. Now competition is different than training. You will be shocked to learn that there are no treats or toys allowed in the performance space!!! Your person can give you treats before and after but they can't use treats in the ring or even have any in their pockets. This is very difficult but we practiced a lot.



Then Barbara worried about what she would wear to the competition. I, of course, planned to wear my lovely black and tan fur. And I don't know why she was worried about her outfit since everyone would be looking at me! Unfortunately she felt that I needed to spend a lot of time on the dog grooming torture table and have a bath before we went to Tennessee.

It was a long drive to Chattanooga, TN but I am very good in the dog-crate-on-wheels. We stopped a lot so I could stretch my legs. Many people at the rest stops admired me. I like staying in motels. There are lots of good smells and interesting noises. One morning I heard a noise at 6:00 AM and woke everyone up by barking very loudly.



On Saturday morning Barbara was a little nervous because it was my first competition ever, I was going to be off leash in the ring and of course there is no food allowed. I have to admit that I didn't do very well. I was quite distracted by the location, the floor and the audience. About 1/3 of the way through I left Barbara to visit the music steward! She called me back and we continued but I went visiting again so Barbara asked to be excused so I wouldn't practice running away. She wasn't mad at me and still gave me lots of treats, just a bit disappointed since we had worked very hard.

On Sunday she stopped at Burger King to get me 2 sausage biscuits, my most favorite treat. During warmup I got some bits of it and I was really primed and focused. We did great!!! Everyone said that we did a good job and our routine was very enjoyable. I was into it and Barbara was so pleased. We got good scores and I came away with a first place medallion and toys! After my routine I got to eat a whole sausage biscuit which was the best.



Barbara gave her camera to someone to take pictures of the awards ceremony but they forgot to do it so there are no pictures of me getting my awards. Bummer. Here I am at home with two of the toys I got. I am guarding the yellow dragon from Ambrose who covets it (Ambrose went to K9 Kindercare while we were in TN).



Since we didn't get any pictures of the awards ceremony at the trial, I thought that I would model it for you here at home.



A close up of the medal.



While we were in Chattanooga, Barbara and some of her friends took the opportunity to visit the Aquarium. That is a big place with lots of fish. I am very sorry that I didn't get to visit the Aquarium. I love to eat fish.

These spotted flat things are freshwater rays. I wonder what they taste like.



Jelly fish.



A coral reef.



I promise to make sure that Barbara helps me with my blog more often. When we get the video of the competition, I will try to post the routine. I also have some pictures of Ambrose to post - he is huge! I'll be visiting all your blogs in the next few days to catch up with all your activities. I've missed you.