True Colors Thursday

What? Oh I've missed so many Thursdays I've lost count and FINALLY we remembered!
We did find some things around here rainbow-like...

An old soda-can insulator-thingy Mom got at the beach 4 years ago:



Some little snake-y stuffed toy:



And here I am, Mom made me pose with some multicolored toys we have. I have a new haircut too so I'm cool as can be now!



Happy Thursday!
Rudy

Show Biz?

Hmmm... I'm thinking about branching out into show biz.... this dog is auditioning for a talent show. Maybe I should stick to dog agility? He does have some good moments though!



Rudy

It Pays to be a Judge...

So Mom came home from judging today with a green bag of goodies. This club really has some good stuff for their judges!

There's a bag of chocolates for Mom on the left, a purple toy, a pet store gift card so Mom can buy us more treats, a bag of TREATS FOR US, and a coupon for Mom to get a pic of me painted on an art tile. Of course she'll have a pic of me on it!!

If you look close there's a tile near the bottom of the page with a pic of our Deerhound buddy Coll on it. Small world! He takes Obedience class on Mondays when Ollie has his agility class. Cool.

I hope Mom goes judging more often!

Love,
Rudy

New Arrivals!!!!

Cigars for everydoggie! Ollie's new kids are here --- 3 boys, 1 girl! They were born Friday morning (the 6th), and they are what we call 'blue'. They are born black and will lighten up to near-white or light gray by the time they reach 6 months. Human Mom has already been over to see the little babies. They all have a patch of white on their chests and all they do is drink and poo.... Doggy-Mom Jamie and kids are fine!

Ollie is my great-nephew so I must be a great-great-uncle to these pups?

Mom is staying up late studying something really hard. She's going to judge a Rally Obedience trials for the local 4-H Fair! Hey I used to do that -- we got all our titles, but I always loved agility better. Mom uses me as a guinea pig to test out Rally courses for the class she teaches. To me it's just another thing I can do to get cheese!!! mmmmmmm..

I better get her to stop and go to bed or she'll be one sleepy judge tomorrow -- later!

Love,
Rudy

Running with a Substitute

Hi Gang!

Looks like it's time for my monthly report. I'm so slow with the blogging, you know Mom hogs the laptop all the time and I can hardly get it away from her. I do a lot of snoozing instead!
A couple of weeks ago at our last agility trials Mom pulled a hamstring (what is that -- sounds yummy!) while running me that Saturday. She couldn't run with me anymore so she got a friend of ours to run with me on Sunday. Hey I know the course, who needs a human?? I can read numbers... I don't mind running with another person unlike some dogs. I love running and I love people.

Anyway we did really well together and we qualified in Jumpers and almost got it in Standard. Mom got a video of us running in Jumpers. She's feeling better but still she gets people to run me AND Ollie in our classes..

Enjoy --


Mom hopes she's well enough to run me weekend-after-next. She better take care, I run pretty fast!

BTW Ollie may become a daddy very soon -- first girlfriend Jamie is very close to having some. Puppy watch!

Love
Rudy

Just for Fun Friday

OK I just made that up... Mom found me a CUTE video of a little brown puppy trying to jump for the first time that she thought we should share. That little pup is having such a good time!

Huh, I don't remember my first jump, I was born jumping!

Enjoy and HAPPY JULY FOURTH!!!

Love,
Rudy

Earthdog Fun Weekend

Hi guys!

No I haven't fallen off the edge of the world; I'm still around but boy is it ever hot today. Mom only lets us out a little while before we have to come back into the cool house. I don't know why; we can sit under the trees but she insists... could it be the tick she found on me the other day?

We all went up to New Jersey over the weekend of May 29/30th for an Earthdog Training and Fun Weekend. We get to see our old buddies and make new friends. This time there were a total of 15 Bedlingtons in attendance! Wow -- I got to see so many other doggies that looked like me, how about that.

I got to meet some great people, they have my year-old little boy Fizz. They all live in Vermont and made the long trip to NJ to see us and have some fun! I'm hugging Fizz's human mommy and his human dad is hugging Fizz's roomie, Willow. I LIKED their Mom, she had the BEST cookies for me!



Fizz is watching me eat cookies...



They had an ice cream truck come for a visit and he was pretty popular with the people! Mom kept wondering if the ice cream guy would come... but she's very bad about sharing any of it with me -- hmpf.



It sure was hot there -- here I am hanging around our tent campsite. Mom was good about keeping me cool. We Bedlies come from the north of England so I'm not a hot-weather type of guy.



There was a good turnout -- here I am in front of some doggies waiting in line for one of the games on Sunday.



Emmy said she wasn't interested in Earthdog anymore so we could go without her, so Mom took her over to our breeder's house and got my 8-month-old son Ringo to try doing Earthdog; he's never even seen a rat before. He gets along with everybody so we had no problem letting him ride in the car with us.
Here's Ringo sizing up the situation before his beginner class started:


Fizz thought if he barked loud enough he'd scare that rat out of its little cage so he could go chase it!


Fizz knew he couldn't get that rat so he's just looking at it:


Ringo, however, watched another Bedly pal of ours (the lady came over from IOWA!) bark at the rat, so he started barking too! Ringo did so well he got to run through a short tunnel a couple of times. That's my boy!


Ollie got to do some training that day, too. He's got some work to do but he's young yet, he'll get it. He's already doing the short underground tunnel and loves to bark at rats under there.

I, on the other paw, got to play the games the day after all the training. I got to play the 'Chuck 'n Pull' game where they have a groundhog skin over a liter bottle and they pull it through a tunnel and we doggies are supposed to grab it and pull it out. It's on a string so the people try pulling it back. I Looooove this game... grrr grrr grrr....


There were lots of other activities and at the end of the day they had the "Jersey Junkyard Challenge" where they put a rat in a PVC tube, mix it up with other empty tubes, and then place them all in a pile of boxes and junk in a fenced ring. Then we doggies get to go inside and find the right tube. Our mommies stand outside and tell the timer (yes it's timed) to stop time if they think we've found the tube. After every turn they'd mix 'em up again.
Mom couldn't get pics of me or Josie playing, but here's one:

This guy was from PA and he's not quite sure what to do!


When it was my turn, I found a tube in a tire and started chewing on the tire to get the tube out, so Mom stopped time and she was right! Of course I found it -- my time was 7 seconds which got me 2nd place. Josie went in and did it in 12 seconds so she was 4th place. I think 6 Bedlingtons were in the top ten, and we all got prizes.. I got a big stuffed skunk toy! Ollie likes it too...

So we all got together and posed for a pic with our club banner. Say cheese!!!
(Mom is the one in the red shirt in front) I'm standing by myself on Mom's left -- she had a hard enough time keeping Ringo, Josie, and Ollie in line!


So that was our fun weekend -- more is going on around here but I'll leave that for another post.

Stay cool and in the shade!
Love,
Rudy

So Long, Mom

Hello again!

Been a long time since I posted --- so much has happened, where to begin? I've been to 2 or 3 weekend's worth of agility trials, met a doggie blog friend at one trials (small world!), ran at one Earthdog test, and just came back from a weekend of Earthdog training and games. This time of year is pretty busy for Mom; she's always taking us somewhere!

But for now I must mention we lost a member our our family... my doggie mom Clancy. She turned 14 on May 1st, and 2 weeks later suffered a stroke and passed away. All of us were pretty sad about it. She was a grand old girl; the first Bedlington girl to get a Master Earthdog title, got a Novice Rally Obedience title at 12 years old, became a conformation champion, and had 5 litters of puppies, all of whom survived. I'm out of her last litter.
Old uncle Nathan was the first Bedlington ever to get that Master Earthdog title, and now he and Clancy are at the Bridge, chasing rats and rabbits ... Emmy is the most senior of us now and she's 11. She and Clancy were roommates and now Em has all that space to herself in the laundry room.








'Til we meet again, mom.....


Rudy

A Little Down Time...

Ya know, we're not always running around doing fun things.. we do have our down times...between fun things!

Ollie has discovered social media sites ---



I like to catch a few rays when I can --



On a nice day Mom and Dennis will do dinner outside -- yum, steak!! Dennis' latest hobby is wine-making, so that wine is his.



Josie and Emmy get some beauty sleep --



Uh oh Ollie is bored! (hmm who chewed the fringe off that rug?)



"What -- I'm not going to bother the girls, I'm just sitting here"



So what does he do -- he's making out with Josie!



Get a room!



Don't give me that innocent look... I'm telling!



Ollie spends 'wayyy too much time on the Internet!

Love,
Rudy

Tribute to an Old Friend...

Hi all --

I'm back again! Mom has GOT to get off that FB site and let me blog more often!

But she did find me a sweet video of an old classmate of mine who passed away very suddenly last year. Jazz was in our agility classes and we saw him and his mom at agility trials a lot. He sure was a lot of fun!
Today is the one-year anniversary of his passing so I'm taking a moment to remember --
(sorry this is cut off -- we can't figure out how to make it FIT)



His mom found another little brown boy and named him Jeter (after the Yankees ballplayer) and he's a cutie. He's learning to follow in Jazz's paw-steps and become another awesome agility dog.

Fun fact: Jazz came from the same kennel as the President's doggie!

Run fast, run clean, old pal...

Love,
Rudy

On the Road Again

WELL --

I'm finally back to tell you I'm going away! Not too far and not for long; we're going back to Kentucky to that big dog show and agility trials tomorrow morning. Mom let me blog tonight to tell you so you won't think I got buried in a snowbank.

We just had a lot of rain so MOST of our snow is gone, but boy did we ever get a lot. Here is what our back yard looked like while Mom was trying to dig us out some paths back there. She got tired of letting us poop on the deck!



This was the deck, believe it or not --- I'm off to explore the great white yonder!


But the snow didn't stop us from going out and having fun. A few weeks ago we went to a little agility trials, me and Josie and Emmy, at the place where we train. I was very good and the only one messing up was Mom!


I spent my share of time snoozing in a sweater on the couch. Shut that camera off so I can rest!


And this past Sunday, Dennis cooked a lot of food and he and Mom went out to the basset hunt, and while the bassets went out in the fields and woods, they fixed up all that yummy food and set it out for everybody when they came back. Ummm... smoked salmon... pork BBQ...potato salad...cole slaw...cheeeeezzzzz...crab salad...scallops...brownies.. cobbler...yum yum... We didn't get much of a taste; there wasn't much left.



All their friends sure liked it!


Well it's bedtime and Mom promises to get us up at the crack of the crack of dawn.. Josie and I are going to do 4 days of agility and Ollie will be in the dog shows on the other side of the show site. We're going in our breeder's van with 6 other dogs and altogether we'll have 6 people and 2 vehicles. Oh yeah and a trailer behind the van with all our stuff! It's a long drive to Kentucky from here -- at least 10 hours.

I packed my treats and my copy of PlayDog (shhh don't tell Mom!).

Later, sports fans!
Love,
Rudy

A Little Humor, Dog Agility Style...

Hi all,

It's boring staying in the house all day with only snow to play in outside. It's cold out there! We found a funny video to keep us entertained ..

First the Bernese Mountain Dog shows what it's like to run a BIG dog (ouch!) and then the white Bull Terrier tries to convince her mom she Just-Can't-Do-It today! I recognize her from other trials around here. She's a riot!

This was taken where we trial up in MD a lot. I love to run there.

Love,
Snowed-In Rudy

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

It's the Big One!

You've all heard of the blizzard that's hitting the VA-DC-MD area? We are right in the target zone, and I think it's the biggest snow storm that I can remember!

Hoo boy have we ever been "SnowPocalypse"'d up one side and down the other! It all started yesterday morning and just now looks like it might be winding down. Mom won't let us in the back yard at all. She says she can't find it! Huh??

You can see it from the upstairs bathroom:


And here's the other part of it:


But you can't see it from the back door:


Those trees in the yard aren't supposed to be touching the ground -- that's at least 2 feet of snow, maybe more. There are garden stakes 2 and 4 feet tall and the tall ones are almost gone in the second picture.

Mom let me go out on the deck and stand in a spot they cleared out to show you what 24 inches is to little ol' me...


The table on the deck in the previous pic measured 23 inches, but Mom just went out with the stick again and now it's officially 26 inches! Who knows what it's like in the yard....

Hey someone get me out of here! (the new measurement is 25 inches on the deck)


We are quite snowbound... the Jeep can get out but not everyone can!


Last night I stood on a snowbank and directed the snow shoveling: (9 inches on the ground then)


And checked around the corner for rabbits, there were none..


Mom's truck was covered,and overnight collected about 14-15 more inches around it ..


We had to be taken out front to do our business all day, and at one point Ollie made a break for it! Don't know where he was going but he said something about running to somewhere warmer...


He didn't get far! Maybe tomorrow Mom will let us find us just how DEEP our back yard really is --

Stay warm guys!
Love,
Snowbound Rudy

Snow Day Fun Video

Hi all you snowy doggies!

Since we in northern VA are going to get up to 20 to 28 inches of snow this weekend, we found a great video to watch to keep us occupied. After watching this, Mom is getting ideas! Oh noooo...




She WISHES she were as good as this trainer!

Love,
Rudy in the Snow

Punxsutawney Phil Take That!

Today is Groundhog Day, and that little fuzz-ball just said we're having 6 more weeks of winter! Oh Nooooo.... our area has had more snow so far than the previous 3 winters, and 15 inches over our average! What is that little guy smoking???? This week we're having not one, but two snowstorms and it might keep us from going to agility. OK little buddy, I have an answer for you --

Someone in our town put this video up on You Tube and this is what we have to say to "Phil".... (don't watch if you like groundhogs)



We want spring!

Rudy
(and why did they name the groundhog??)

Dog Show!

Oh yes, Ollie went to another dog show a couple of weekends ago in Fredericksburg VA. His pal Darcy went along too. We wanted to show you all, like Fenway did, what a dog show is like.

At our breeder's house, Ollie had to give Mr. Darcy the Deerhound a pep talk over the door so he'd be psyched to go in the ring:



Ollie doesn't usually like bigger dogs but he and Darcy are special pals. Here Darcy's thinking about what Ollie told him, to behave in the ring for once!!


So at the show Darcy started looking around -- he's either thinking about getting a massage or he's girl-watching... Hey Darce, get your head in the game!


They were judging Deerhounds first, so Darcy here is getting a pre-show rubdown from his mom (our breeder):


"Now remember what I said -- no shenanigans out there!"


He's standing up lookin' good...that's his pal Selina handling:


And he's just a big gray blur!


There he goes!



Heyyy he won a ribbon! yeaaaa! Good boy Darcy!


The judge loved him so much she came out of the ring afterwards to say how good she thought he was. He still has to grow up a little (hey isn't he big ENOUGH already??) but he should do well.

This dog looks like a bear! He's just a little guy but Mom knows the handler is a good one so he should do well in the future... he's a Leonberger. They get gigantic!!


I bet the same Poodles were at this show that were at Fenway's show in Annapolis...
They are such patient dogs being groomed so much.


This guy looked like he came for some fun --


And this pic came out strange 'cause a clip got in the way over this dog's head, but this is a different-colored Borzoi than we're used to seeing. Our breeder used to show Borzoi but hers were the white type, not like this one. Cool!


Ollie had a long time to wait before his class so he spent the time napping in a crate.


Only a few minutes 'til showtime so it's time for the brush! Here's Jamie, I think she's Ollie's half-sis, getting a little scissoring... most of our grooming had been done already at home.


Now it's Ollie's turn --- not the face! not the face!


Now for a final back-comb and they're all set --


Mom had a tough time getting pics of Ollie 'cause she couldn't get too close to the ring. Everything is blurry if you embiggen the pics but they look alright like they are here...


Long story short, he won Best of Breed! He's such a pretty kid, I must say. They didn't get a pic with the judge, but the weekend before in NYC he won the breed over more dogs, so here's a pic of that win:


Now Ollie needs one more point to get his CH title, so next week they're taking him to NJ again. Good luck little man!

Love
Rudy
(I'm so glad I'm through with dog shows - I had a couple of placements in the Terrier Group and that's plenty for me!)