With Teach gone Tucker has had to step in for reviews. He can be a picky eater, but he decided that these Boo Bars we received from Chewy.com for a review were excellent treats.
Tucker gives these treats two paws up! Which is saying a lot coming from such a picky eater.
As always I was given the Frisco Refill Dog Poop Bags, Scented in exchange for a honest review. This review reflects the opinion of myself and my dogs. Chewy.com is not responsible for anything that I wrote.
As many of you already know, that follow us on social media, we lost Teach unexpectedly on Oct. 7, 2016. He was just shy of 5.5 years old. I'm not going to get into the details of what happened, just know we were with him and comforted him until he passed. And there was no suffering.
The last picture I have of Teach on my phone, taken 10-6-16
Teach was far too young to be taken so soon. He was full of life until the very end.
Just a week before he passed he had fun playing agility at a show-n-go at the Festival of the Dog. This was the first time I had ever asked him to weave all 6 poles in the middle of the course. And of course he rocked it. He tried so hard for me all the time!!! Anything to please his mommy. #mommasboy #mommyissues
I won't lie, he's left a HUGE hole in our hearts. Not a minute goes by that we don't think of him. And the outpouring of support from family and friends (near and far) has been overwhelming.
Our good friend April made this collage of Teach from the spring agility trial.
Teach was named after Blackbeard the Pirate, Edward Teach. I have a huge love of the Outerbanks and all the history from that place that we thought it would be neat to give him a unique name from down there. But Teach wasn't a pillage and plunderer. He actually was a teacher for us. He taught me (and so many others) what it is to be a good dog trainer. He taught me more patience than anyone else has. And to also never give up!
Before Teach I was of the mindset of the traditional methods of dog training, use correction until they do it right. Well that didn't work for Teach and I almost broke him because of it. He introduced me to the world of Positive Reinforcement training (+R). And let me tell you ... you can get farther from praise than you can from correction, Teach taught me that. Poor Teach was my guinea pig, LOL!
Forever running free
He also introduced me to the Fenzi Academy, a fantastic network of +R trainers that offer online classes. It was through them that I brought Teach back to a very happy working dog. This is one of my favorite videos of his last Rally Excellent leg. Look how happy he was.
Teach was also turning into quite the nose work dog. I wanted to find a sport just Teach and I could do together. Tucker does so much with conformation, rally, obedience, agility, and hopefully herding. Teach was done with obedience and rally. He would never be a conformation dog (although we think he was Champion). And he did love agility, but they both did that sport so he had to share his mommy time. Here is a video of Teach practicing for his Odor Recognition Test. He never got a chance to take it, but I think he would have passed easily.
I started this blog because of Teach, and I'm undecided if I'll continue. I have really gotten bad about posting. But regardless I'll still be active on Facebook and Instagram. As a matter a fact on our Instagram account I started #teachiethursday. Its a way for me to remember this awesome dog that I am grateful to have been able to share my life with, even if for a short time.
With that I'll leave you with one more happy smiling Teach (the way I'll always remember him!) and a poem (grab a tissue). #teachforeverinourhearts
R.I.P.
Hunybahr's A Pirate's Life For Me BN, RE, NADAC IAC
I stood by your bed last night, I came to have a peep.
I could see that you were crying, You found it hard to sleep.
I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear,
“It’s me, I haven’t left you, I’m well, I’m fine, I’m here.”
I was close to you at breakfast, I watched you pour the tea,
You were thinking of the many times, your hands reached down to me.
I was with you at the shops today, Your arms were getting sore.
I longed to take your parcels, I wish I could do more.
I was with you at my grave today, You tend it with such care.
I want to re-assure you, that I’m not lying there.
I walked with you towards the house, as you fumbled for your key.
I gently put my paw on you, I smiled and said ” it’s me.”
You looked so very tired, and sank into a chair.
I tried so hard to let you know, that I was standing there.
It’s possible for me, to be so near you everyday.
To say to you with certainty, “I never went away.”
You sat there very quietly, then smiled, I think you knew…
In the stillness of that evening, I was very close to you.
The day is over… I smile and watch you yawning
and say “good-night, God bless, I’ll see you in the morning.”
And when the time is right for you to cross the brief divide,
I’ll rush across to greet you and we’ll stand, side by side.
I have so many things to show you, there is so much for you to see.
Be patient, live your journey out…then come home to be with me.
This brings us to May. Which was another busy month, especially for Tucker.
He showed at his second Rally show the first of May and earned his second Q with a 92.
After the show I stopped by Cascade Falls (where we had taken Teach a few years ago) for something fun for Tucker to do. As usual when taking him places, he was a great breed ambassador to everyone he met along the trail. This is such a fun trail to hike, and the end is very rewarding for the strenuous hike to get there.
Towards the end of the month Tucker attended a conformation show where we were hoping for a major, but that didn't happen. Tucker did fantastic showing though. This was his first show since the Collie Nationals and we had been working hard on getting that free-stack down. I felt very good about his showing. Tucker was the only dog entered and took Winners Dog each day and also took Best Of Winners as well. This got us 2 more points bringing our total to 11, but we still need those elusive majors to finish him up.
This was our first time staying at an AirBnB with a good friend of ours, also showing her collie. It was a great experience. And even though I was really nervous about staying with people I didn't know the hosts were very welcoming and made you feel at home. Its something I would consider again in the future. And Tucker LOVED their dog ... of course he loves everyone.
As with the Rally show I took Tucker to a park to visit some waterfalls and get some pictures.
Teach was at home taking it easy while we were running the road. He didn't seem to mind.
No problems motivating Rufus to roll over when you're rewarding him with a bit of beef jerky! Wellness Pure Rewards Grain-Free Beef Jerky Bits Dog Treats are made with over 90% pure, high-quality beef and are the ideal size for training. The wheat-free, grain-free formula makes them perfect for pups with sensitive stomachs, too.
Key Benefits
Dried Chicory Root reduces the risk of worms
Mixed tocopherols are great for the eyes and protect against common ocular diseases
Wellness Pure Rewards Beef Jerky Dog Treats contain no artificial colors or flavors
I liked the sounds of these treats for their limited ingredients. You know what you're getting in the treats.
The boys are pictures below getting to try them out for the first time. Tucker couldn't wait to tear into the package.
Tucker trying to open it while Teach looks on!
Being good while I take pictures for the review
A great size for training
And it tears up nicely for even smaller rewards for training.
Sitting politely while waiting.
Taste testing!
Teach gives these treats 2 paws up! He loves them and even loved learning his freeze alert drill for nose work working for them. We have video of that.
In this video he needs to keep his nose on the scent container while the treats are in the other hand. We are learning this drill for nose work class. Teach is hard to read when he is on the scent so this will help me out. And he really loved working for these treats.
Tucker actually didn't like these treats, but Teach said that is okay as its more for him and he's just a silly puppy who doesn't know what is good. Tucker, recently, has become picky with things so I'm not really surprised.
I like these treats for training. They aren't to smelly and only a tad greasy feeling. But with the limited ingredients and knowing what my guys are getting makes it worth using. We would recommend these treats to others.
We're looking forward to doing another review next month for Chewy. And we're excited to have joined the Chewy Blogger family.
I was given one bag of Wellness Pure Beef Jerky treats in exchange for a honest review. This review reflects the opinion of myself and my dogs. Chewy.com is not responsible for anything that I wrote.
We're joining in the Positive Pet Training Blog Hop this month, hosted by Cascadian Nomads,Tenacious Little Terrier and Rubicon Days. The theme this month is recall, but since I didn't have a post for that I decided to go with what Teach is up to these days.
Last Friday Teach had his first nose work session. I have been wanting to find something else to do with Teach where I do so much with Tucker. Teach has made it be known he isn't a fan of formal obedience and where he does love agility his build is going to hinder him the long run for it. So we'll continue to have fun with that but in the back of my mind I know he won't last forever in it and won't go far.
So that brought me to doing some research on nose work and finding out what it was about. What I read sounded like a lot of fun. Lucky for us we have a good friend that competes successfully in it with multiple dogs having upper level titles and even getting invited to the Nationals. So I reached out to her to see what we needed to get started. While we were chatting she offered to teach a class to anyone else that was interested. This brought us to Friday night and our first class.
Teach LOVES it. He had a lot of fun in class but when we practice here at the house and he sees me getting boxes ready he's ready. He'll pull you from the porch which I use as the staging area for him so he doesn't see where I put the boxes and then pulls me through the rest of the house trying to find them. Its great having something else for him to do.
Our group has grown too in just a week. We've added several more people to our class for tonight. Unfortunately I can't make class tonight (Tucker has his weekly advanced agility class) but Randy is stepping in to take him. He has also been working with him and seeing how fun it is.
Now I don't feel as guilty doing so much with Tucker knowing that I've got something else fun to do with Teach. We'll work towards competing, but that isn't our ultimate goal. My goal is to have a good time and a truly positive experience. This sport is nothing but praise and reward, just up our ally.
