Champion Trick Dogs - Poodie Girls!

Last Sunday we videoed most of the girls tricks for their trick championship title! Friday the certificates and metals arrived. Penny approved of the metals - they had a border of rhinestones. Bling is "in" as far as Miss Penelope is concerned. Penny's video is on Youtube.

Our own personal photographer, Kim, took all these cool pictures (and most of the video as well). Maggie and Penny were the first champion poodles - we were the third and fourth dogs to obtain the champion title and we are still the only ones that weren't handled by certified trainers! My thanks to all those the wonderful trainers that have trained me and especially to Kim for all her consultations!

Kyra Sundance really liked a trick we threw in last minute for Maggie where Maggie opens a garbage can, finds the "scented" tennis ball out of over a dozen identical tennis balls. Maggie's video is also on Youtube. I'm very proud of my Poodie Girls!

Card Shark

Kim and I are teaching our girls to do the majority of tricks from Kyra Sundance's "101 Dog Tricks"." Sunday I worked on teaching Penny how to pull a single card from a deck. This is challenging because both Penny and Maggie are professionally trained hunting dogs (thanks Jenny Broome!) so they have fetching any object hardwired in to mean that they grab the entire object. I'm having to teach them to grab just a tiny corner. Penny picked it up pretty quickly.

The next photo is earlier in the training session and she's grabbing "too much" of the card.

Kim let me borrow (and slime) these cool cards she found on eBay - they are nice and big to make it easier for the girls and also so the audience can see what card the dog pulled. That way I can show the cards to Penny and say - pick out the card that is the most like you!

OK, now pull out the card that matches Maggie!
Smart Poodle!!

Now, you may ask how Maggie is doing with this trick? Well, she grabs an entire card, drops it, tackles it and starts chewing it up. I owe Kim a few cards ;). So we "back-chained" today and just worked on Maggie taking a single card from my hand and holding it. Sometimes you just have to go in teenie tiny baby steps!

The Slam Dunk Kid

We have been working on our trick titles and so far Maggie is an "Advanced Trick Dog" with help from Kim. Kim lent us this very cool basket ball hoop. We got Maggie to start throwing the ball into the hoop while standing on a stool. Then we took the stool away. I've been spending a couple weeks with the hoop next to my computer and the only way I will throw the ball for Maggie is for her to put it in the hoop.

Now that Maggie is conditioned to throw the ball in the hoop with her reward being me throwing the ball, we literally raised the "bar" and put the hoop over Maggie's head by about 6 inches. This forces her to jump up, keep the ball in her mouth, and put her head over and then drop the ball in the hoop (this is harder than it sounds for a dog with really long legs.) She got it in about 2 tries!
Maggie is staring at the ball telling me to "Stop holding the basket stand and throw the flipping ball!!" I don't have full weight in the basket stand and didn't want it to fall over on her - a great way to regress in her training!! We'll keep raising the basket for Maggie until it is well over her head and she will be slam dunking with the best of them! ;)

Lover of Life

Here's a little sketch from my 4" x 4"kraft notebook. I was trying to capture Maggie's complete love of ... well, anything. She is such a joy to have around!

Oki is Off to the Lexington Horse Park!

Oki and his young owner Mallory is off to the Lexington Horse Park to compete in the National Junior Young Rider's Program!! AND we're invited! Len already knows where he wants to eat ;)


I have been very lucky to have my horse's new owners keep me updated in what they are up to and even invite me to events. They have been VERY generous. Anni is doing great and I better get out to one of her driving events soon before Ilyana stops inviting me! Aikman is doing great in upstate NY. Of course we can't give away Mr. Mac the evil one. He is doing great here with Jennie Meyer at Meygas - we are keeping our fingers crossed that he makes it without any sickness through this August (a bad month for him). So all is well on the equine front. May it stay that way!!

Oh - and Oki's trainer/seller Jennifer Baumert is off for Olympic try-outs!! Wish her luck! And thank you Jen for staying in touch with me - it's been over a year since you sold Oki!

Road Trip!

Here's a "catch-up" post. We went back home to Indiana to visit my Mom with the girls in May. Maggie slept the whole 15 hours, Penny hyper-ventilated for 12 of the 15 hours: despite herbs, a Thunder Shirt, and all other suggestions. We arrived on Mother's day and invaded my Mom's small apartment.

Upon introduction, the girls made an impression - "Wow! Your dogs SIT!" This was rather funny to hear. I was annoyed with Maggie because she was pulling harder than she should. I forget that I have a very high bar on behavior!

We put on a performance for my Mom's independent living residents and a large number of assisted living people came over as well. We got a great turn-out: people on two sides of us. It was the first time I had ever done this and I was nervous. Luckily the girls were wonderful! Penny did her "Singing in the Rain" debut. She did great considering all the distractions.


Maggie did her "Agila-Dance" routine to "76 Trombones". I brought some jumps, a short tunnel and Kim's weave poles (thank you!!). Maggie did a great job especially considering she was really sliding on the carpet. When we warmed up she was sliding all over. I put on her boots and it was just as bad. So I had to really slow down her down in the routine.


I also did a short hunting demo with Maggie for the crowd explaining the origins of poodles. People really enjoyed it. I demonstrated a bit of obedience with Penny - not too much to bore people!

I brought both girls out together which was new for them since I work with them singly. People asked questions and everyone had a great time. The facility's organizer Nan was thrilled with our program.


After the show one resident with very young great children stayed and Maggie "adopted" herself a little boy. It was sooo cute to watch. She'd bring the ball to him, put it in front, and patiently wait for him to throw the ball!


Not bad for a pup that couldn't figure out toddlers earlier in her life ("what's up with these short people?!?!")

The next day we went to the "Memory" building. Early stage Alzheimer's patients were in that locked facility. I didn't know what to expect - I thought we'd be going to individual rooms as we do back home every week for therapy dog work. I decided to "visit" Maggie and have Len hold Penny. Technically I can only visit with one dog at a time. I was surprised when I walked in on a large space rings with chairs and lots of people. Probably 20. Maggie never visited this way before and she was a champ! Everybody wanted to pet her at once.


Since I had room, I put Penny through a lot of dance moves. Everyone loved that. Penny was great - even better than the performance the day before. I considered to bring my music - I should have.

At the end of the week, over a dozen photos of our performance were on the TV - the facility has its own TV channel. It was all very exciting and the girls did fantastic.

My Mom loved seeing Penny again (she wanted me to leave her) and thought Maggie was pretty funny.

Happy 4th of July!

Here's "Uncle Mac" wishing everyone a happy 4th and GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!

I've been having a lot of problems with my right hand/arm (thus the absence of posts). I tried 5 different tries on this cartoon. I just couldn't do it. Since doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of insanity I decided it was time to change my technique. My "old" technique I just couldn't execute with my current issues. So I spent 4 hours watching some Sandra Angelo tapes and going through some books and came up with something I could do until I get better. Different paper, different style. But at least I can draw again!!