We here at Intrigued wanted to extend a hearty Merry Christmas to each and all! Mr. Freeze has decided to insure we have a white Christmas for a change – at least here in the Midwest Tundra. Sprinkle in some wicked windchills and you have the perfect conditions to stay inside and enjoy some hot chocolate nestled around the fireplace…or basking in “the soft glow of electric …”.
Hit the jump for our holiday wishes!
Continue reading Time for Reindeer Games 2022!For the last two weeks I’ve woken up, looked at the day’s to-do list, covered my dog’s ears and let out a string of colorful words. In big bold letters is the word “POST”. Although that probably is obvious but it is short for “Get your lazy butt into the den and get a post out you lily-livered, bow-legged, flea-bitten varmint”. Yes, I’m retired, yes, I still have to-do lists and yes, my to-do list entries mock me. This month it isn’t so much procrastination, just too much stuff going on, but today we are going to take another bite out of the self-imposed monthly post quota.
Going to start with another brag introduction. I previously mentioned Raven did well in the TDAA National competition held last week in Minnesota. He is starting to slow down a bit, but he is getting the job done qualifying in 4 out of his 6 runs. I’d be sleeping on the couch if I didn’t give some of that credit to Linda ha!
I think Raven is starting to feel the pressure from the newest member of the agility family. A long way from the steady runs of his brother, Ruger is just starting out, but showing amazing talent – Linda just needs to get him focused. We laughed at this shot of him “doing” his first ever weave poles. By “doing” we mean running right through them to get to his favorite obstacle the teeter-totter. “That isn’t how it’s done Ruger!” Raven was absolutely embarrassed and went and hid in his crate after that fiasco.
As they Say’s, hit the jump to see today’s featured feathered friend!
Continue reading It Say’s I’m the BestWow, has this been an event packed month and we are only halfway through it. Just got back from the Teacup Dog Agility Association (TDAA) Nationals up in Maple Grove, Minnesota (just outside of Minneapolis). Raven was the primary competitor, but Ruger got to run a couple of runs at the beginning of the event. 4 out of 6 qualifiers for Raven – Ruger… well let’s just say he still has a full head of puppy in him. I’ll give more details in upcoming posts (waaaayyy behind on my July quota, that’s for sure). On our way back we had the opportunity to get Ruger introduced to Dock Diving. He has zero fear of anything and thought he would enjoy the sport – his brother is also getting his” feet wet” so to speak in the sport as they apparently both have a love for driving their owners crazy with their endless energy.
This first session was just to start introducing him to deep water. His breeder introduced him to water features when he was just a few weeks old (part of his performance familiarization). This was the first time since then he had been in water beyond his groomer baths. By the end of the session he was getting much more comfortable with his swimming skills and would leave the dock to get his favorite ball and come back. Everyone was shocked when he put his head completely underwater to go after his ball – apparently that is an extremely good sign! Needless to say we will be signing up for more sessions and finally getting out and filling the 6’x10′ pool we bought him last fall. We can’t wait until he takes his first leap off that dock!!
Being that we just got home from the week long trip, I had to pull today’s featured feathered friend off the wayback queue.
Hit the jump to see more graceful swimmers.
Continue reading Baby dogs in the Water, so Baby Geese on LandI just might have to go back to formally working as I can’t for the life of me figure out how I can be busier now that when I was spending over 40 hours a week fighting the ghosts in the machine. Those hours are being sucked up into the vortex somehow and it isn’t a result of naps! (truth is I have NEVER been able to take a nap since they stopped giving me a carton a milk and a carpet square in kindergarten). Admittedly, part of the time consumption is a slew of national and local dog competitions that have had us traveling to compete. Time for a proud pappa to do some quick bragging. Ruger had his very first agility ring showing last weekend. Now that he’s finally had his first birthday, he is ready to impress.
Hit the jump to read more about Ruger’s debut and to see the latest add to my birding life list – hint, he’s a beauty!
Continue reading Burning in the Dirt and the TreesHello everybody. For those wondering, we have been a bit out of pocket for the last week or so. It all started when I woke up to my wife looking at her phone in absolute joy. All my groggy ears could make out was garble that sounded like someone meeting a new baby for the first time.. “how cute”, “adorable”, “oh my” .. the usual fare. I had a moment of “my god what have I done” until she showed me her screen with a YouTube video playing of a puppy. Apparently she had just been alerted by a friend that they were looking for a qualifying home for … well, THIS!
We had been looking for a new addition to the family now that our youngest, Raven, had recently turned seven (link here). While finally getting the sleep removed from the eyes, Linda explained how the puppy I was looking at was a performance bred toy Poodle and they were looking for a home where he could continue his champion line in the performance sports – agility, dock diving etc. To be honest, it sounded too good to be true. This puppy was going to be slightly bigger than Raven which is what Linda wanted due to the difficulty our Raven has with the teeter being so light. The video included scenes of him already doing introductory apparatus familiarization, treat awareness and a number of other skills which he already excelled at – far earlier than our other agility champions.
Hit the jump to read more about our new addition.
Continue reading Say Hello to Our Little Friend
Wildlife Intrigued 