The Days of Johann, an agility dog!

Gracie learns to turn off the light switch!

Have to say that Mum wanted to teach me this trick too, but I'm a little short in the poop for this activity. She's thinking about using a chair to boost me. In the meantime, we'll show you Gracie's new trick.

Mum started by placing Gracie's target (our yogurt container lid) taped to the wall, but Gracie loves that target so much she used her mouth to pull it off and then ran around the house like a crazy dog. Just a little too stimulating :) So then Mum used two criss-crossed pieces of tape to the wall to get Gracie interested in pawing the tape, starting low where Gracie could paw it easily. Worked great!

Then Mum moved the tape up the wall until it was over the light switch. When Gracie got the hang of pawing the tape on the light switch and turning off the light, Mum then removed the tape and voila! Gracie got it! Then she named the trick and started sending Gracie to the light switch from a further and further distance. Now Gracie can go across the room to turn of the light switch. Sure will save on our light bill, BOL!!!

Enjoy!

Silvia has some updates on how she teaches running contacts. And always good for a little review. Read more...

If you'd like to see the results from the Eastern Regional of the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge held in August in Indianapolis, read on...

Susan Garrett has a few posts about how she exercises her dogs to get in shape for agility. Definitely worth a read, here, here and here.

The debate rages on for the 24" weave pole spacing in USDAA. We've posted about it before, and yes, we are for 24"!!! Would love the opportunity to save my back if I can, fur sure! The latest is a weave poll survey the Susan Garrett posted that we posted about a couple of weeks ago. Here are the results from her survey, as she posted on the USDAA Yahoo Group list:

2658 completed the survey - (The numbers in the bracket beside are the numbers she last reported)

Question one:

1. Do you think USDAA should change their weave pole variance to include the option of having 24" spacing.

Yes 94.7% (94.6) (94.3 in the first 700 respondents)
No 5.4% ( 5.3) (7.7 in the first 700 respondents)

With 428 people leaving a written comment

Question two:
2. Do you think USDAA should eliminate the option for clubs to use weave pole bases that are less than 22" wide?

Yes 87.5% (87.5)
No 12.5 % (12.5)

With 315 written comments

Question 3

3. Do you compete in USDAA agility with your dog?

Yes
60.6% (62.5)
Not yet but intend on it
26.2% (24.8)
No but I would if they made the change to 24" weave pole bases.
7.2% (6.7)
No, I do not compete, nor do I have any plans to compete in USDAA
agility 6.8% (6.0) (mostly Canadians that live too far from
the border to compete in the US)

With 388 written comments.

TajHuttHall has a little post about their class experiment with timing 20 vs 24" poles. Interesting info.

Nice little instructional video on "How to build a tire, Part 1" from Gone To the Dogs Agility.

Great little post about how to make homemade dog boots from Agility Adventures.

The FCI World Agility Championships are coming up and will be held September 18-20, 2009 in Dornbirn, Austria.

The US team was chosen through tryouts held in May in Hopkins, Minnesota after qualifying in seven ISC events held throughout the US from May 08 to March 09.

Small Team:
Marcy Mantell, Wave, Shetland Sheepdog, CA
Katie Conn, Twix, Shetland Sheepdog, PA
Dee Anna Gamel, Kelsi, Shetland Sheepdog, GA
Melanie Del Villaggio, Dara, Shetland Sheepdog, TN

Medium Team:
Ashley Deacon, Luka, Pyrenean Shepherd, CA
Karen Holik, Sizzle, Shetland Sheepdog, FL
Paulette Swartzendruber, Rush, Shetland Sheepdog, MA
Jennifer Crank, Blaster, Shetland Sheepdog, OH

Large Team:
Channan Fosty, Icon, Border Collie, CA
Marcus Topps, Juice, Border Collie, TX
Geri Hernandez, Focus, Border Collie, CA
Denise Thomas, Zippity, Border Collie, PA

Team Captain - Andy Hartman
Team Coach - Nancy Gyes
Ast. Coach - Kathie Leggett
Team Mgr - Toni Osojnicki

The US Team will be competing against the likes of Susan Garrett (CAN), Greg Derrett & Bernadette Bay (GBR), Svetlana Tumanova (RUS), Silvia Trkman (SLO), Silas Boogk (GER) and more top world teams.

www.agility-wm2009.at%2F&sl=de&tl=en&history_state0=">Here's the schedule:

Friday:

Competition 09:30-20:00
Team Jumping Large (Judge: Bernd Hüppe)
Team Jumping Medium (Judge: Manuel Alff)
Team Jumping Small (Judge: Bernd Hüppe)
Team Agility Large (Judge: Manuel Alff)

Saturday:

Competition 08:00-19:00
Single Jumping Small (Judge: Manuel Alff)
Single Jumping Medium (judge: Bernd Hüppe)
Single Jumping Large (Judge: Manuel Alff)
Team Agility Medium (Judge: Bernd Hüppe)
Team Agility Small (Judge: Manuel Alff)

Sunday

Competition 08:00-16:00
Single Agility Small (Judge: Bernd Hüppe)
Single Agility Medium (Judge: Manuel Alff)
Single Agility Large (Judge: Bernd Hüppe)
Final event / award ceremony ca. 16:00 about 16:00

Here's a nice little vid of some running contact training from Ingerid Margrete & her dog Orkan at a clinic with Fanny Gott and Justine Davenport.

Great tutorial about how to teach side legs up, enjoy! Now if I could just get un-maniced and get serious about my back legs, sheesh!

Happy agility!

I love fall, it's one of my favorite times of year. Now only does it get cooler and we get to do more hiking, agility and spend lots more time outside, but it's also the time when lots of new, cool dog stuff starts appearing in stores in time for the holidays.

So we spent the weekend updating both JohannTheDog.com and RaiseAGreenDog.com with uber cool new dogs stuff. And we just had to share some of this new stuff with ya, of course! Here are some of our favs:

This is the new rubber Talk to Me Treatball. Not hard plastic like those other ones. We're in the process of testing it, so stay tuned, but so far we're liking it as a treat dispenser :)

 

Clean Run has some Inov-8 Rocklites on sale, great bargain!

$99.95, Sale $64.95

A couple of months back we officially met the great folks from Dog Sport Magazine on Twitter. So when they contacted us for an interview for their magazine, we jumped at the chance.

In the next issue, September-October 2009 issue, they are featuring an interview with Mum about me, how we came to find each other, about my agility, hobbies and favorite fun things to do and eat, and how Johann (that's me :) turned into JohannTheDog.com, and Rescue Me, and Raise A Green Dog. Mum also talks about what the future holds for us and JohannTheDog.com!

So to celebrate me and Mum being in their magazine, and mentioned on the front cover with the likes of uber celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Susan Garrett, the nice folks at Dog Sport Magazine are offering 10% off anything (and they mean anything!) on their website Store and Subscription Page for my friends. Now how cool is that!

All you have to do is enter the code Johann0910 during the checkout process. But you better hurry, the 10% discount with the code only lasts until September 30th, 2009.

We haven't seen the issue we are in yet, it's due to ship this week or next. But a couple of months ago they sent us the Jan-Feb and Mar-April 2009 issues, and I have to say we were super impressed with their magazine.

I think it had been a few years since we had seen the magazine and we have to say they have grown! They have articles from Brenna Fender about all kinds of dog sports, guest articles from top trainers, info on tricks, health, wellness, training for all kinds of dogs sports, all put together in a very slick package. Start those coffee makers and head on over to their new website for a taste of those great articles.

Oh and BTW! You can even order the issue that Mum and I are in for $8.95! Mum went the other day and order a couple of extra copies for my memory box, BOL!!!

We can't wait to see the article!

In honor of the new movie coming out this weekend, "Taking Woodstock," and of course the 40th Anniversary of the weekend of Peace & Love, I just had to don my favorite 60's attire.

OK, I'm not really dressed like this. I'm pawticipating in a Twitter PawPawty this weekend to help RomeoTheCat and other four leggers raise money for the The Emergency Animal Rescue Service (TEARS).

Nearly every month there is a Twitter PawPawty. It's a great time for all the dogs, cats, bunnies and other furfriends to get together, have some fun, win some prizes (of which we are donating a Marley & Me DVD) and raise some good money for some anipals in need. With all the four leggers at the pawty, guess we're not going to have to worry about home insurance, thank DOG!

So if you're on Twitter, stop by the pawty and donate a buck or two, or three, or five to help! Or just hop on board, Gracie's driving the bus!