4th of July

Hi, this is Zeeba speaking: I had a great time on the 4th of July, Gramma Toni brought me some playmates so I could have fun while the peoples were having a picnic. She brought cousin Andrew Corgi and a whole bunch of baby shelties. They had to stay in a X-pen most of the time to keep track of the babies because they poop a lot and somebody has to clean up after them.

Here is a picture of Andrew Corgi. He was able to come out and play but he didn't like me taking his ball away from him.

We brought the puppies out one ot a time to play with me. This little brown girl was the oldest and I thought she was real cute.

We moved around kind of fast so it was hard to get clear pictures but here I am (my tail end) playing with the little bi-black girl who was my favorite. I wish mom would let me keep her but she said that one "devil dog" at a time was enough.
Then I showed everyone how I used the picnic table as agility equipment but nobody appreciated it because they had their food on the table. Not fair!!! But still it was the most fun I had in a long time.

Oh and I should mention I liked the fireworks the neighbors had, something else to bark at--Robin did NOT. She hid under Dad's desk

F*A*S*T Robin

Hi there, Robin speaking: This weekend was our last scheduled agility trial until Fall since Mom and Dad and black dogs don't like to compete in the hot weather. Dad and I decided to try something new--the F*A*S*T class -more like a game just in case we still had energy after doing Standard and Jumpers. Fortunately the class was scheduled first thing so it was cool and we still had our N R G. We got to design our own path over jumps and obstacles and sort of like "Beat the Clock" collect as many points as we could in 32 seconds when the buzzer sounds and we have to get off the course. There is also a "send challenge" for a bonus where I get to do the obstacles without Dad being too close. On Saturday, the first time we had ever tried it, we picked a course where we got the required number of points to Q as well as completed the Bonus. Well we crossed the finish line with 10 seconds left over so on Sunday Dad made a better plan and we stayed on course until the buzzer and racked up 75 points. Guess what?????? That was enough to Q and to take first place and get another blue ribbon for my collection as well as a new squeaky, tug, frisbee toy. So today I get to lounge around and enjoy--too bad when Mom took the picture she had a tree growing out of my head!!!

Zeeba starts agility class

Hi, Zeeba here: I've had fun the last two days! Sunday Mom took me to a match show to parade around like a "pretty dog". Well I had a hard time behaving myself because my Uncle Andrew Corgi was there and I thought we could just have a play date. No such luck. I had to trot around and up and down and pose on a table but I was the only sheltie puppy there so I got Best of Breed. Didn't win the sweepstakes tho cuz I was having trouble keeping all four feet in contact wilth the ground when we gaited--DARN.
Then last night I went to my first agility class where I wasn't just a sistant. I got to skip Introduction to Obstacles and started in Obstacles II because of what I learned helping Mom teach Foundations class. And guess what??? the teacher was a friend I already know called Heidi. She makes sure I SIT for greeting. The first night was just a review of what I already know with four stations: one for the pause box, one for tunnels, one for jumps (I have to do them real low because I'm still young) and one for flat work--this is hardest for me because when Mom runs fast I can't resist trying to herd her--it's just in my blood and besides I am being raised with a border collie. Heidi calls this "shadow handling" and I didn't see any shadows cuz we were inside but I still wanted to jump up and catch mom--so Heidi said GAME OVER and I had to stop. I did good with the "equipment" tho because I've been practicing that at home.
Mom didn't take any pictures at class because the flash from the camera might disturb the other dogs so here's some pictures taken at home:

I do an automatic DOWN on the pause table.



I run fast to the end of the see saw and stop really nice and wait till I'm told I can go on.

Robin's new title and Zeeba's new skill

Hi , It's Robin here with an update on our adventures and accomplishments. It's been a boring week for doggies since Mom and Dad have both been sick with colds and other complications, which means that doggies have to find ways to amuse themselves. I'm cool just hanging out in the yard and keeping the squirrels and chipmunks at bay (unless the neighbors are shooting off their guns , then I hide under Dad's desk). Zeeba, however seems to find other ways to keep busy. Mom didn't realize that he was using the picnic table on the patio as agility equipment. Mom looked out the patio door, squeeked and grabbed her camera--and this is what she saw:


Now she has to find another place to put things "out of reach". That scrub brush was destined to go the way of the missing bath sponge.

Anyway, on Sunday mom decided to drag herself out to a Match Show and parade Zeeba around the breed ring since so many folks have been calling him a pretty boy. Well he didn't have much competition so he brought home all blue ribbons. It's no wonder he won the"group" since there were a bunch of dogs without legs--Corgi's I think they were called. But true to form , when it came time for "Best puppy in match", he got bored and real silly and just wanted to play instead of "gait" so a scary dog called a Malemute took the trophy. Serves him right!!!!

On Monday, Dad felt that he was feeling better so we went to the last day of the Southern Adirondack Agility trial. I tried really hard for him and Q'd in the Jumpers class which was the first of the day. That was the third leg for my AXJ title. I also tried hard in Standard but Dad was tired and let me do an off course jump by mistake. So here's the picture Mom took of us with our ribbons.

Hi, it's Robin speaking. I am exhausted!!! We went to the border Collie Rescue reunion yesterday at Aunt Kathy's Sugarbush Farm. All those BC's running around loose makes me nervous so I didn't try playing in the pond. Dad just took me around to see my people friends and then we went to play agility. Above in the picture you can see just a few of the border collies who have a new lease on life thanks to the the New England Border Collie Rescue people and the adopters. Zeeba came too and acted like a fool as usual. Mom is still having trouble with that Control stuff. She had him off leash in the agility ring and a boy came in to watch and Zeeb just left Mom to go visit in spite of all the fun equipment and Mom having really yummy cheese. Will he ever GROW UP????

Then after lunch Mom and Aunt Kathy arranged a surprise for Dad (his birthday number 75 is coming up soon--let's see, that's only 10 in border collie years--so it's no wonder he is still pretty spry). There was a cake with MY picture on it and Happy Birthday for everybody to share. Dad was helping BBQ hamburgers for lunch and he was REALLY surprised. Then in the raffle he won a basket of party stuff. I'm glad to be home with MY OWN pond and no other border collies to crowd me. (Zeeba doesn't count cuz he's not a real border collie). Here'a a picture of the cake.

Camping at trials and the trials of camping.

Hi, Zeeba here. Took all week to finish this blog entry cuz Mom's computer was slow. Don't know why that happens sometimes. I'm never slow but Mom wishes I'd slow down once and a while.
We went to agility trials at Granby for the Memorial day weekend .Sometimes when we camp there are "Hookups" but at Granby we were "dry camping" (except for one downpour when Mom was a ring crew and got pretty wet). Dad had checked everything out on the RV the weekend before but we had Hookups. He didn't check out the strength of our battery which meant that unless we ran our very noisy generator we didn't have electricity. We found that out the first night when a beep beep alarm went off which woke us up and scared Robin so she had to spend the rest of the night sleeping with Mom--and it was a hot night to sleep with a Border Collie. The trials were fun for me cuz I met lots of people and dogs and Mom bought me some new chewy things to keep me from getting bored and squeaking and standing on my head. Robin didn't get any of those Q things but she did get a weave entry in a course that no other 'A" dogs could get so I was proud of her. She tells me that DAd is really too slow for her and she has to yell at him a lot.
Mom wants to go to bed now because today we spent the day at the Rescue Border Collie reunion at Sugarbush Farm. Robin will tell you about it tomorrow. Here is a picture of our RV with Robin and I in our Xpen outside. We're in the shade so you can't see us too well.

A Prentiss Therapy dog

Hi, it's Zeeba here. Mom's been too busy for blogging so I thought I'd better get on her case so she could post my latest adventure--which was actually last week. I think I found a new career to persue. It's called Therapy Dog, but I'm still a prentiss. I went on a visit to a Nursing Home with the Canine Company of the Albany Obedience Club. Lots of people live there who have to be in chairs with big wheels . Mom thought I might be nervous but it didn't bother me a bit. We greeted all the folks , then did "demostrations" of how good we were trained and did tricks and stuff. I didn't xactly heel but I came when called, stayed, and retrieved my dumbbell and ran thru a tunnel and got mom a tissue when she sneezed (another dog did that too so it wasn't such a big surprise). I also practised my weaving thru her legs--yes she was actually able to take me off leash without my running to play with the other dogs. This was all fun cuz I got lots of treats and all those people let me put my paws on their laps so they could pet me. After about an hour I started getting restless and squeaking and standing on my head so Mom said that it was time to go home tho I did wonderful for the first time visiting.

Here is a picture of me standing on my head--while dad was trying to sweep up stuff from the floor at home. That's what I do when I want attention.


Since everybody has been telling me what a handsome boy I am I thought I'd ask Mom to post my latest "glamoor shot". I don't much like standing still and posing--I'm really all for action. Mom says I need to learn "impulse control". Does that mean I can't go down stairs three at a time?