I hope this Blog proves to be both fun and educational for anyone interested in Showing and/or Breeding Dogs. Spend some time with us and you will really understand the time and effort and emotions that goes into this hobby. Join me here for the good times and bad times, the joys and sorrows, the wins and losses. Welcome to life at Vista Dei!

Oh Gosh, we were just awful at agility tonight.  Darby refusing jumps, me bumbling along like a beached whale trying to move over land from the Atlantic to the Pacific.  I believe I need a new bra.

Posted by: Vistadei at 19:42 | link | comments

Tonight I cut all the dog's toenails.  Now I cut toenails every week because I hate hate hate long toenails on a dog.. can't stand to hear them click on the floor, or see the toes all splayed out.  Anyway, I counted toenails tonight.. I cut and file 149 individual toenails every week.  Just thought that might interest you!

Posted by: Vistadei at 22:49 | link | comments (2)

Waaaaa Hooooo.. Just measured Destiny and she is definately lifting up the 13" wicket from the table, so she is officially OVER 13" and within Sheltie Standard.. woooooo hoooooo.... Now we will get the OFA preliminary hip xray done.  I am ordering more microchips this afternoon.  I have 4 that need done, have never done it myself, ohhh that is a BIG needle to insert. yipes

Posted by: Vistadei at 14:32 | link | comments (1)

Wet soggy rainy day = wet soggy smelly puppies! blah.. will probably turn into a carpet scrubbing day since I have the day off work.  Sure won't be a GROOMING day! Perhaps use this afternoon to work on teaching Darby to "touch it" some more and to Turn (right) and to turn Left.  Just noticed a part of the roof over the out door run needs re-set, it is tucked under and instead of the water draining clear to the end, it is running down into the middle of the run. It needs re-set on a dryer day.  I had re-done it a little a few weeks ago after a cleaning, but I guess that wasn't an improvement!

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:09 | link | comments

I am whipped, I took Darby, Decker, Daisy and Destiny on the Walk-A-thon fund raiser for the Beaver County Humane Society.  We walked a lonnnnnng way!! hahahah got the donation of almost $40 so that was good, the dogs enjoyed all the attention and walking with huge groups of other dogs.  I had fun, Denise came with Drifter, and her mother in law Dorothy was set up there with her animal art work (see my web site for a page of her art work) and she gave me a very nice painting of a sheltie she did.. very nice indeed.. her prices are WAY more reasonable than I thought they would be!!  Everyone should check out her work and give her an order for Christmas presents.. I bet you would be so pleased!

Posted by: Vistadei at 22:07 | link | comments

Wew.. just got back from the Pet Fair, where I took Darby and Decker for a "Meet The Breed" part of the day.  The amount of Mis-Information out there amoung sheltie owners, pet lovers, and pet proffesionals is absolutely staggering. Wow.  I think you could do this all day every day and not even make a drop in the bucket educating people about proper pet care and about just this one breed!! Wow. Feel very tired and discouraged and still shaking my head in disbelief.

Posted by: Vistadei at 19:17 | link | comments

Agility class went well again last night, getting lots of good instruction, learning allot of small things that are refining our performance.  I feel like my brain doesn't co-ordinate with the rest of me, the dog is doing well but I am flapping off in all different directions mentally and physically.  This is very challenging for me, and the different training is part of what makes the goal of versatility so  lofty! (Versatility means the dog gets titles in many different areas, Conformation, Obedience, Agility, Tracking and Herding)  For instance in conformation, you run with the dog on a leash, and the dog is taught to stay a few feet away from you and gait at their own pace, when you stop, the dog swings around to face, you stands four square and gives a nice expression looking at the food in your hand but doesn't move his feet or body to get it.  Then in obedience, the dog is taught to stay glued to your side, to match each step you take with his own weather it be a fast pace or a slow one, and when you stop, he auto sits without being told, and receives his treat from your left hand, is taught to ignore any food that is on the floor, and ALWAYS works on your left side, even off leash, he is to come in and work on the left.  Then you move to agility.  Now the food rewards are always given on the targets that are mostly on the ground, so the dog now must learn to pick up his reward from the ground where he has never been allowed to before. He must NOT stay with you or stay on your left, he has to work at a distance from either side of you.  In obedience each command is prefaced with the dog's name, the command and nothing else.. ie "Darby - come" "Darby-sit" in agility you don't use the dogs name, just "Tunnel" "Tire" "Chute" but you can cheer and hollar and talk.  Ok, my brain is having a heck of a time making these transitions, especially since we are not "done" with one when we go forward to the other.  I mean in a few months from now, we will be back in the conformation ring with Darby and he must do the correct things there.  And he still has one more win needed for his Rally title (obedience) so he must hold together the rules for that in his little brain.  The main goal this winter  for Darby is the agility though, and that is what we both need to focus on!

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:26 | link | comments

What day is it? Wednesday? Ok, agility class for Darby tonight, have to be sure to take the bag of treats out of the freezer this time.  I added some Beef Roast to the bag of treats, trying to keep in interesting so it isn't just hot dogs and chicken when he does good. Found that the Beef is harder to dispense - it is big and chewy.  I need to cut the pieces ALOT smaller. 

This weekend will be quite busy.  I just asked to switch off days at work so I can take Saturday and spend it at the big "Pet Fair" at the local Community College.  The Beaver County Kennel club will be doing agility demo's and I am taking at least Darby and probably several if I can handle them for a "Meet the Breed" program.  That means I need to design and get printed some hand outs, and need to get more business cards printed up too.  I think I will do a brief history of the breed, the size, some characteristics, grooming etc and maybe a little blurb for them to call the senators and oppose the PAWS bill You all ARE remembering to call and oppose PAWS aren't you?  Remember it will bring more dog and cat breeders under the inspection of the USDA, which sounds good on the surface, but the end result is.. if a breeder falls under the inspection of the USDA, NONE of the dogs can be kept in the house, they all must be keep in outside cages with concrete or wire floors to be sanitary.  That means no more home raised puppies, the kind you all want to get, the ones that are well socialized to people and vacumes and TV's etc.  So anyway, call your congress people and Oppose PAWS.  I will dig out the phone numbers and the actual bill numbers again for you! Besides being a bad bill, at this time the USA doesn't need the extra expence it will cause to have the USDA inspecting millions more breeders, there is so much that needs paid for in the after math of Katrina.

Off my soap box now, we are also doing a fund raising Walk -A -Thon on Sunday with the dogs to raise money for the Beaver County Humane Society. I am going to try to take a huge group of them, hope to get some pictures! Oh, got to start giving baths tonight I guess so they will be smelling all clean and puffy for the weekend.

Posted by: Vistadei at 07:32 | link | comments

A few months ago, we were on this blog debating back and forth between Destiny and China, which of them would stay in size, what should be done, etc.  This week Destiny and China turn 7 months old, it is the time when we can with some certainty say that they are done growing taller, and now will only fill out.  Destiny is just 13" tall and Wanda reports that she will be keeping China as she is 15 1/2" tall.  I took a picture of Destiny this morning, but don't have a current one of China, as this is the rather "uglies" for them, the time if they were young teenage kids they would be leggy and pimply!

We have updated some of the puppy pages on our web site.  I said a week or so ago that I would post pictures of Sampson here, but instead I put together an updated web page for Sampson http://www.VistaDeiShelties.com/sampson.html

and for his brother Aslan http://www.VistaDeiShelties.com/aslan.html

and a page in progress for  their littermate Regis http://www.VistaDeiShelties.com/Regis.html

and Updated the page for Destiny http://www.VistaDeiShelties.com/destiny.html

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:25 | link | comments (2)

Regis did great his first time in the agility ring Saturday.  He competed in Standard and Jumpers with Weaves and took a first place in both!  He had a clean run in the Jumpers and finished the course 22 seconds under course time.  He now has one leg towards each his NA and NAJ!! He was not entered for Sunday but sure got off on the right foot for his first show!! Go Regis Go Regis Go Regis.. 

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:01 | link | comments

Ohhh one of the pups we sold is going to be competing in an official Agility Trial for the first time this weekend.. keep your fingers crossed for REGIS...

Posted by: Vistadei at 14:48 | link | comments (1)

Everyone is probably wondering if I can tell yet about Diana and Dew-oh.. are they pregnant, or aren't they?? Well a small glitch in that process.  Of course at this point in their pregnancy (almost 1/2 way through) we would start to look for some weight gain to clue us in to the possibility of pups growing.  HOWEVER.. When we went to the shows this past weekend, I left my son in charge of taking care of the dogs we didn't show.  Now I wrote out long detailed lists and time schedules of care, and of course I could be reached at any time via cell phone, but he never called with any questions.  The girls Diana, Dew-oh, Daisy, Mysty and the older neutered male Dusty were to be baby gated in the dog room/laundry room so they could lay around and play with toys and chewies.  Well, I came home from the shows, the good news was that all the dogs were alive and healthy and even better, no messes in the house BUT.. my son for some reason thought my feeding instructions were inadaquate, so he decided to leave the lid off the huge bin of dog food.  That group had unlimited 2 day access to 88 pounds of dog food.  Keeping in mind they never get more than ONE CUP each day to eat, you have to understand that they thought they had died and gone to heaven.  I would guess between them they ate 20 pounds of food, didn't get sick, tho the farts were real KILLERS for a couple days.  Now ALL  of them have gained about 3 pounds each and they ALL look pregnant, even the neutered male.  So we are still clueless as to the status of our breedings!

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:49 | link | comments (2)

Last nights agility class went particularly well.  Darby has encountered a problem in prior classes with the Chute, when extended full lenghth he would get tangled and turn around and come out or panic.  The instructor this time showed us how to target with food on a lid on the floor so he came through with his head down looking for the treat, and that allowed him to plow through the whole lenghth without tangling and stopping.  That is a major thing for us.  We were having some trouble on 3 things, the chute, the teeter and the weaves.  Now the chute and teeter issues are pretty much worked out. So on to the weaves!!! 

Ricky pee'd in the house again this morning  Come on Ricky.. you can do better...

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:17 | link | comments

It is Tuesday and I am STILL trying to catch up from being out on the road at shows all weekend!  The car is still not all unpacked, the towels and stuff still need to be laundered.  I just spent a half hour putting away all the show leads, cleaning hair out of the brushes, re-filling the water spritzers etc.  This weekend we camped over night and so there is just all that much more to tend to, coolers, tents, multiple changes of cloths left in the car, the xpens and crates all have to be drug up to the house.  There are arm band numbers and rubber bands to hold them on, chip rappers, water bottles, dog dishes etc all need gathered from the car, brought up to the house and cleaned and put away for next time.  I am seriously thinking of getting a van for next year, if I could find something like a conversion van and set it up permanately with crates and xpens etc that would stay in it and not have to be moved all the time.  I do not know that I show enough to justify that expence however!  My station wagon has 126,000 miles now, so I am going to have to at least start thinking about something else for a vehicle.

So anyway, I am still putting stuff away, and of course I wasn't home, so my regular routine has fallen behind also.  I always wash the dog bedding on Saturdays, but now it still needs taken care of, I do my "home blessing" on Sunday mornings, that is a quickie for each room of the house, the vacume, dust, straighten up and of course that wasn't done.  I am a FLY BABY if you are familiar with the FLY LADY program of life, and I have certain routines that I do on a regular basis, that is the only way for me to keep up with this amount of dogs in the house and still have a happy healthy atmosphere.  If you would like to know more about the FLY program here is the link http://www.FlyLady.net  it is such a blessing to have routines and to have control over your life through them!

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:20 | link | comments

Ahhh yuk.. went to 3 UKC shows this weekend, needed only one more win for Darby to get his Championship and that didn't happen.. booo hoooo.. now there isn't another show close till like next May.. booooo hooooo.  Decker did get one more win and more points, so he too just needs one more win to finish.  Destiny went to the shows too, and got best female puppy 3 times and reserve best female 3 times, so she came home with 6 ribbons and 30 points!  Not bad for barely 13" and just 6 1/2 months old.  They can not be shown till they are 6 months old.  So do I drive 5 hours each way looking for that one more show for Darby and Decker??? or do I wait till May??? poooie! 

Posted by: Vistadei at 21:42 | link | comments

Darby started agility classes again last night.  We had trained with the Butler county Kennel club a couple years ago until I hurt my knee in an unrelated mis-hap.  Now my knee is better, but Butler doesn't have class anymore, so we went to the Beaver County Kennel club classes.  Of course he has to start all over again, can't go in the intermediate class until he does the intro class with that club.  It is ok cause it has been a long time.  Now I need to loose 50 pounds by next week's class.  It is hard to get to the other end of a 12 foot tunnel by out-running your dog!  He got really excited when we started with the tunnel, so I think he remembers that it is alot of fun to play on the obsticles.

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:35 | link | comments

Life lesson here.. never tell all your good friends you are looking for Odo-ban product!!! I am now the proud owner of 7 gallons of Odo-ban with several more gallons on order by other friends.  Sam's club must think there is a run on the stuff, with every customer from Beaver county coming and asking for some for me! It is going down pretty fast tho, I have used up about a half gallon of the stuff.  I find it lasts in the yard for about 1 week, 1 mowing or 1 rain which ever comes first, then has to be re-applied.

Posted by: Vistadei at 13:50 | link | comments

I started to answer SF's question of weather Aslan was a tad oversize, and my answer got pretty long for a "comment" so I moved it to a post. Yes, they have said Aslan is slightly over, which is probably an agility measurement, but I hope one day to be able to measure him myself, stacking as we do for conformation, as I am really quite suprised based on his puppy growth chart that he would have been over, plus seeing candid shots with him and his young handler, he doesn't appear to me to be much over.  When people stack and measure for agility they are not as... well.. "determined" as we are in conformation.  Of course in conformation over 16" disqualifies your entry, therefore we learn to set them for every advantage, then let the head drop with hands off the dog.  If you hold a dogs head up in a stacked position, the neck arch can add almost an inch! Agility measurement for the card isn't usually so careful as to drop the head and such unless they are right on the line that will make the difference between the different jump heights.  Aslan lives with the other littermate brother Sampson, who is definately a big boy, but we knew that from the get-go!  He is very handsome too I will include a picture today after I get back on the computer to load it.

 

 

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:29 | link | comments

I thought maybe SF and Genni would like to see some new pictures of one of Genni's littermate brothers.  This is Vista Dei Luvme Tender CGC,TDI "Aslan". I am trying to update and make individual pages for each of our sold pups on the new web page, but it is slow going.  Perhaps when it is cold outside and there isn't so much to DO!!

 

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 19:13 | link | comments (3)

What a wonderful day here, sunny blue skies, our hearts go out to the people in the south affected by Katrina and those separated, probably forever from their beloved pets.  Our prayers are with them all as we give thanks for our blessed life.

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:58 | link | comments (2)

I keep our dogs in the house, with a fenced in yard for exersize and one nice big run that is 24 feet long, 8 feet wide, has concrete floor and a roof over.  I think I would like to double the size of that run, for days when it is pouring down rain, the dogs could go potty out there on the confined concrete floor and not have to stand out in the yard getting soaked and muddy.  I called yesterday for prices, it will be well over $1500 to double the size of that.  Perhaps we will have to do it in stages.  The fencing will be $785 plus renting a truck to pick it up, so a little over $800 for the exterior fencing..  then the concrete slabs, that is ALOT of work, I remember it well!  Then the roofing, that is easy, but not cheap.  Still wouldn't be able to actually leave them out in the runs too long, as barking could disturb the neighbors, and of course can't risk someone stealing them or something, but it still woul b nice to have it set up like that.  I guess I shouldn't be dreaming until it is a cold night and I sit around figuring spring time projects, huh?

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:03 | link | comments