Last track of 2011

Today we went tracking.

We did two turns and three legs that each had 20 steps, that is the longest we have tracked so far. Joey did very well. I did not lay an article on the track today. After the tracking we took a walk and I took some photos.

 

 Joey struggling through very tall grass

 More struggles

Happy birthday Ian

Today is Ian's second birthday.

 Who is Ian? Ian is Joey's brother. Ian and Joey have the same dad but different moms. Ian is also three months younger than Joey and he is a little smaller. Joey and Ian are very close and are always playing with each other. Here is a picture of Ian.

 Happy Birthday Ian!

Day 25 - Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Today is the last day of our countdown so there is lots of pictures.

 Joey pulling presents out of his stocking

 Ian trying to see what Joey got

 Finishing up the stocking

Joey holding his Christmas stocking stuffer. All the dog toys are to big to be fun for Joey so I usually get Joey cat toys for Christmas. Which is why he is holding a stuffed mouse.

Day 24 - Lots of practice

Today I got to practice three different dog sports with Joey. First, early this morning we went tracking. Joey did very well except that he did not want to down on the article. We need to work on articles at home now. Next, we practiced agility Joey's weaves are coming along but he is not quite done on them yet. Finally, we did a little  obedience practice. I think Joey is ready to start competing except for the stand for exams. Even with all the practices, Joey still had motivation to pose for the camera.

Joey posing for the camera. We did a lot of practicing today so we are going to be taking a break from any training for a least two days.

Day 23 - New jumps

Today I was finally able to use the two new jumps that my mom made for agility. The weather has been really nasty ever since we came back from Florida, but since it was not raining today, I was able to use the new jumps and do some agility with Joey. To make Joey excited and fast I put him in his crate while I set up the agility course, and even though my little brother let him out of the crate Joey was still very fast which is amazing because Joey usually does not like to run on wet grass.

The new Jumps were very nice and they were easy to put away. 

Now that I have five jumps (including a tire jump) I can do many more alphabet drills from the Alphabet Drill book that I bought a few months ago.

Day 22 - Ready for Christmas

I am all ready for Christmas now. I finally got my last present wrapped and under the tree. To celebrate this fact I took Joey's countdown photo under the Christmas tree. Here it is.

Joey looks really bad and shaggy, he defiantly needs a trim around the legs. We could not do agility today because of the nasty weather so we did obedience. Joey did pretty well except that he started bumping me on his recall. Other than that he is doing very well in the obedience routine.

Day 21 - Picking the stuffing for the stocking

Today we socialized at Petsmart. Joey did very well with being petted by strangers whenever I had treats, but when I did not have treats he was still a little shy. . While we where there I also picked up a stocking suffer for his stocking.

Joey at Petsmart, among the Martha Steward collection.

Our Countdown picture.

Day 20 - Back home again

We are back home again! All the dogs seem very glad to be back.

Mica and Ginger did very well, they got first place in there class! Overall, the NJOC was very fun, and it was so fun to see other juniors competing with their dogs. My goal is to compete in the 2012 National Junior Obedience Competition with Joey. Joey is almost ready for Obedience but he sometimes moves when people examine him. To make him less shy of people I am going to start taking Joey to pet stores and asking people to pet him. I hope that will help Joey be more sociable.

Only five more count down pictures to go. Christmas is coming up!

Day 16 - Day at the convention center

Today, around 8:00 me Mom drove  me and Mica to the cook convention center. After spending 30 minuets looking for a parking spot my Mom decided to just drop me and Mica off in the front of the building. The juniors were very fun to watch, but they they were so advanced in agility that they made me feel all novicey. After lunch I discovered the obedience ring and saw Rugby and his owner. I finally left around 1:00 and spent the rest of the day with Joey. I can't wait to to watch Rugby and Mica compete tomorrow. 

 Our Countdown picture. I took this picture about a week ago while I was decorating for Christmas, but since I have to conserve the camera battery this will have to do.

Day 15 - Drive to Orlando

Yesterday, we drove thirteen hours to Orlando. Joey of course did very well with the long drive. He has been on so many long drives in the last year that he is totally used to long car trips. I took lots of pictures on the trip, then I found out that I  did not pack the camera battery charger. Since I need to take pictures of Mica (my sister) competing in her NJOC, I can't take any more pictures for now. But anyways, here are the pictures from the trip.

Joe Cool

Joey and his brother Ian sleeping in the car together

I am finishing off with our countdown picture. Tomorrow I will watch the Juniors compete in agility in the morning, and Volunteer in the afternoon.

Day 12 - Practice at Petco

Today I took Joey with me to Petco and we did some training there.

Joey started out a little nervous but calmed down after a while and we were able to do some training in a new environment. Here are some pictures I took of Joey at Petco.

This is Joey on a shelf. He is not 1.39 as the label above his head says.

Just a picture of Joey.

Here is Joey with some toys. He could almost pass as a toy.

And our countdown picture. Tomorrow we leave for my sister Mica's national obedience competition with is in Florida.

Day 11 - Tracking Time

Today we went tracking.

This was only Joey's third time tracking on grass but he did very good. Joey is still a little scared to down on the article but he did down on the article, as you can see in the picture below. 

Joey's tracking has really improved and I am very happy about that.

Day 10 - Grooming day

Today I took the opportunity to groom Joey and make him mat free. Recently Joey has been getting a lot mats so quickly, I think it is because he has been wearing a lot of sweaters lately.

We are starting to run out of picture ideas and we still have fourteen more days to go.

Yikes

Day 9 - Wrapping Presents

Today I wrapped all my presents. Joey wanted to help so I let him carry the scissors, then I thought this would be the perfect picture setting so I grabbed my camera and here is the result. Countdown picture number nine.

Today we also were able to practice some heeling and some of the rally exercises that Joey has a problems with. Joey did very well. I defiantly plan to compete with him in March.

Day 8 - Hold session is effective

 Today I could not train Joey at all because I had a lot of school to finish. But I was able to shoot our daily photo though, so here it is.

Joey had no problem holding the candy-cane, so I guess our "hold" session was effective. 

Day 7 - First Snow

We finally got snow today!!! 

It snow all night so this morning there was already a few inches of snow. Since we don't get much snow, I decided to get his countdown picture in the snow. So here is Joey in the snow with his favorite toy.

   

After his picture I thought Joey might run around in the snow or at least look like he was enjoying the snow, but he just acted miserable for a minuet than ran for the house.  So much for Hutsok's Snow Storm. Actually, Joey's AKC registered name was going to be Hutsok's Oil of Joy but his name got signed on his brother Ian's paper and vise versa so now he is Hutsok's Snow Storm. Maybe that is why Joey does not like the snow, that and the fact that the snow is cold and wet and he weighs about seven pounds. I guess we will be training inside until the snow goes away.

Day 6 - Agility day

Since we did some agility today, I decided to also take some photos and use them for our count down. Joey did pretty well but I have seen him go faster. I could not take a good photo of Joey on the See-saw,  but I got a great picture of Joey jumping through the tire jump.

 Joey carefully creeping down the see-saw

  My favorite picture.

This was the best photo I could get of Joey coming out of the chute

Our countdown picture

                              Joey zooming out of the tunnel

Day 4 and 5 - Ornament Trouble

I thought I posted this yesterday but I guess I did not. Oh, well this post will just have to be for the forth and fifth days of our count down. Anyways, we set up our tree! Joey acted like nothing was different and just ignored the tree. But when I decided to take advantage of this and take a picture of him holding a ornament by the Christmas tree, Joey decided that he did not want to hold the ornament. He already knows "hold" but for some reason he decided that he did not want to put the yarn of ornament in his mouth. After a fifteen minute "hold" session, and some threats to tell Santa-paws about this, Joey finally decided to hold the ornament, and I quickly snapped a picture of him.

 A good picture of Joey dropping the ornament with disdain. This was the photo I was going to send to Santa-paws as proof that Joey was being naughty if Joey continued to drop the ornament.

Finally. Here is the result of all my hard labor.

About time Joey.

Day 3 - Nothing exciting

Here is our third picture.

Joey is definitely a pillow dog. He love every thing about pillows. He loves digging on them dragging them and hiding them under couches  but he especially like sleeping on top of them. 

We will also get a Christmas tree later today. I wonder how Joey will react to the tree.

Day 2 - In the Santa suit

Here is the second picture in our Christmas countdown.

Right now we have been able to upload some Christmas themed photos but we will probably get desperate towards the end of our countdown and use any photo that has red and green in it.

Day 1 - Start of Christmas countdown

I decided to accompany Rugby and do a Christmas countdown. Every day I will try to post a picture of Joey with both a red and green object. Just one picture a day, every day 'till Christmas.

Here is our first picture

 

The couch almost looks gray in this picture but it really is green.