Summer Camp Begins in Hillsboro!

It’s late on the eve of the beginning of what I have officially dubbed ‘DockDogs Summer Camp’. Although it will all play out a little different than last year’s multiple event weekends, it will still be a blast. Last summer we had nearly 3 weeks of fun in the sun and on the dock with all our other dock jumping pals from around the country. This year we have nearly 4 weeks, but I actually have to come home for a 3 day break in the middle of it all (in other words, I have to show up to work in order to support all this galavanting around the dock).

First stop on the list is the Washington County Fair in Hillsboro, Oregon. We had a great time here last year, and I’m looking forward to visiting again. This was the first fair I had ever been too where someone can purchase beer without having to stay in a beer garden to drink it. We have much different rules about that sort of thing here in Washington. This year I promised myself that I would get tickets to go watch the truck pulls, too. Last year I caught a glimpse of this madness through the back gates, and vowed to grab a seat for the show next time.

This will be our first national event since April, so I’m hoping that Henna will put up some big jumps. But as always, even if she doesn’t we’ll still have blast just hanging with our friends on the dock. Speaking of friends, Henna is all set to wear her Chase Away K9 Cancer donation vest. We’ll be walking around the DockDogs venue in hopes to raise money in the name of our good friend ‘Chase’ who passed away from cancer just one year ago. When she’s not wearing the special vest this upcoming weekend, Henna will be racing the speed gun on the dock for charity. We’ll also be joining Cera Reusser and her labs, Rikki and Smokey on local news station KGW’s morning show on Friday. All the dogs will be getting some early morning air time and letting folks know about the DockDogs event at the fair and the Chase Away K9 Cancer campaign. I am not usually much of a morning person, but I’d walk through fire if it would help raise awareness for K9 cancer. It’s just one of those things that hits so close to home; and I just hate it every time I see a family have to go through the heartbreak of losing a dog to cancer. I believe that I read somewhere that nearly 50% of all dogs die from some form of cancer. 50%!!! That’s just simply unacceptable!

See you on the dock!

No longer a pup

My first ever blog. Well, we’ll just see how long it will be before I’m too busy to update it!

I can’t think of any more appropriate first topic than my pup.

Yup...that’s her in the picture, playing in the sand at the beach. My little stink, ‘Mossy’ Oak. On August 9th she’ll turn 1 year old. I can hardly believe it’s been almost a year since I brought this fluffy little package of chocolate dynamite home to our family. Well today she went into heat for the first time ever. Wow...she really IS a stink (her timing is impeccable)! Just one week before we take off for the start of 2 months of whirlwind DockDogs events. Looks like she’s going to have to stay home with dad for this first round of events. In addition, I have a seriously bummed out 13 year old with no dog to play on the dock with. Mossy will be my first experience with an in-tact female, so I am trying my best to make sure we do everything perfect. In a few years, my goal is to breed her and keep this wonderful line of field dogs going strong. Today we double checked all the fences in the yard, installed a new, stronger screen, on the back door that we usually leave wide open in the summer, and bought a bag of doggy diapers (now, that was funny). We had a family meeting about Mossy supervision (even in the fenced back yard) and kennel time. The Baird house officially goes into lock down for the next few weeks.

I call her my little ‘stink’, but really I love her to death. She has such a different personality than any other dog I’ve ever had. She’s actually quite independent. But also very serious, hard working, and has a great desire to please. She also just happens to be a great guard dog, quite the bed hog, and a wonderful early morning cuddler.

When I look back at the puppy stages we’ve been through, it’s just hard to believe that that 8 week old pup, cautious and unsure of the waves at the beach, has turned into a confident and strong adolescent dog. Sure she’s still learning her way around the dock and continued obedience (but learning is a continuous process in our home). Even with the encouragement from my breeder, I remember being a bit nervous about taking on one of the boldest dogs of the litter. My older lab, Henna, taught me a lot about working with dogs with an incredibly high drives and a true desire to work and please. Who know’s what the future will bring with dogs for me, but I figure this is all just a learning process for me, too!

When Mossy was 6 months old I took her to an open agility session that was being guided by a friend that I had taken classes from in years past. We both watched in awe as I guided this little pup over equipment and through tunnels that were tripping up experienced dogs. I kept telling her it was the ‘drive’. She kept telling me it was the connection between the handler and the dog. Mossy had a HUGE desire to please (which I’ve decided is slang for ‘she makes me look good’).

Yup...My tiny pup is growing up. And I’m growing right along side of her. Just when I think she’s mastered some new skill I’d been working on with her, I learn that the reason it took her so long was because my body language wasn’t saying what my voice was (chalk up another learning experience for the trainer...from the dog). Sometimes I’m sure that if she could talk, she’d just look up at me and say ‘Duh’. But I’m sure it would be followed by a forgiving tail wag and tongue waggling puppy grin.

Someday I’ll catch on. Then I can look back at yet another dog that has since passed on, and remember all the years of unconditional love and training they have given to ME. My favorite quote is probably one of the most overused one’s ever used; Carpe diem (or seize the day). But if you let time get away from you, which can happen so easily in our hurried society, you will miss the most important days of your life. Even if sometimes those are the days when your furry family members lie peacefully at your feet, wearing little doggy diapers, while you type your first blog :-)

I used to keep a quote on my locker at work for all my co-workers to understand my ‘live free’ attitude. It reads: “The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too” ~ Henry Voge l