This month's review is something a little different for us. The boys were a bit disappointed that this was the product I chose to review. LOL!
Tucker came down with giardia back in the winter so that is what spawned our new routine of bagging poop and putting it out for trash. When I saw these bags were part of the review I jumped on it knowing we always need poop bags.
We tried them out the other morning. They are a good size, and do cover up the smell pretty well.
Sniffing for the right spot
Teach thinks he found it
All bagged up
Teach is not amused with this one
We would recommend these to anyone. And right now chewy.com is running a sale on them, 120 bags for $4.49. Not bad!
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.
These months are just getting away from me these days. This post will bring you what all we got into during the month of June.
Honestly, other than an agility trial there wasn't much else that went on. Our hiking and picture taking took a break. No conformation shows for Tucker happened since he decided to start blowing his coat.
Teach continued to do nose work every week and started to do really good with it and catching on to what was needed to get that reward.
I do have some videos to share from the agility trial. This one was held where we wnet back in January, at an indoor horse arena. While it wasn't air conditioned it was at least out of the hot sun. So that was nice.
We'll start with Teach because he really rocked his first class. This Touch 'n' Go course was particularly hard and even the upper level dogs struggled with it. Teach was one of just a few that actually did qualify during this run. And not only that, but also placed!!! I was SOOOO proud of him. If we had to leave right after that I would have been thrilled.
Here's his run and you can see how tricky it was.
Teach got his next Q from the tunnelers class which I'm sad we didn't get on video. We do have his round 1 where he didn't qualify based on time, but he did everything. He's a big dog and not speedy so I was thrilled he did get a Q.
Here's his first run which didn't get a Q but still looked nice. This was also the last class of the day and it was getting hot ... so he was even less speedy. LOL!
He ended the day with 2 Q's out of 4, not bad. And class placements in both. Good boy Teach!!
Tucker had 2 Q's out of 6 (he did the weaves class which I'll get to in a minute) and even stayed on course and only wanted to visit the judge once and I was able to call him off before he got there. So even better than the last trial. It helped that there was no jumps so no need for ring crew to be sitting around.
Here is Tucker's first Q in Touch 'n' Go Round 2. Was really proud of this run for him, he gave me a great start line wait to get to the other end of the tunnel to get a good line for the dog walk.
And here is his tunnelers Q which was also round 2. He's not quite as big as Teach but still doesn't cover the ground like some dogs do for this class. We really need to clean up our lines to get that time down!
As for the weaves class I mentioned earlier, Tucker decided he didn't want to do them. He had one good set out of 3 and after we got that I called it good and we finished the class. For the second round I scratched him. I didn't want to create a habit of blowing by them. After this show we have gone back to really working with them. I did get pretty lax on practicing them (being new to agility) and didn't realize how easily they can fall apart. Lesson learned on my part! Now we try and practice them several times a week and even then it could be more, I think.
Here is a picture of the boys showing off their ribbons.
June also brought a cute little visitor to our house one day. The boys were out back playing when they started checking out our little kid playhouse that we have for Madalynn. At first I thought great, they have a snake in there and Randy is gone. Then I saw brown and thought a chipmunk must have went in and now can't get out. I was wrong on both counts. Check out who was there:
This picture shows where the house is located and the fawn was behind that blue door! CRAZY!
Thankfully the mama deer did come back for it that night and by morning it was gone. It was so adorable!!!!!! Probably won't ever happen again, but I guess she thought it was a safe place to be.
If any of you follow the news or the weather you'll have seen that we have some devastating floods come through southern West Virginia and completely wiped out several small towns towards the end of June. Even now, almost 2 months later people still are recovering. And will be for a long time to come. The lake/dam that is north of us, Summersville Lake, saw its highest levels since it was constructed back in the late 60's. Randy and I took a drive up there 2 days after the flooding to see. Water was in the trees and just 10' shy of cresting the spillway. The release gates at the base of the lake only normally release water during Gauley River White Water Rafting season that starts in the fall. Normally the outflow for then is 2,800 cubic feet per second. The amount of water they were releasing once the levels downstream started to recede was 14,500 cubic feet per second. The campground was completely under water and where RVs normally sit, boats were tied off to trees there that had gotten loose from the marina. It really was something to see and without that dam towns downstream probably wouldn't have existed. Here are a few pictures and videos from the lake.
They have been known in the past few months to have some stress diarrhea issues and some food allergies we have discovered. This is a good way to put some good back into their systems.
So far the guys really lap it up. It comes in powder packets. Sprinkle it over their food and wet it down. No hesitation from them eating it.
As always I was given the Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets FortiFlora Probiotic Dog Supplement 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.
These pictures were taken by Irene from Fur-Fetched Photography. Irene came to the All-American Dog Sports Agility trial in April and took some wonderful pictures. The collies had a great showing. With each getting a Q in their Regular Run Classes, Teach in Intro and Tucker in Novice. This was also the first trial that Tucker did the weavers class. Loved getting pictures of him weaving. Stay tuned for our fast forward to May (I'll get everyone caught up!).
This is going to be a 3-4 part series of catching up on our lives. I've let the blog go and I just kept feeling pulled back to it but no desire to write anything or share anything. I know its sounds strange! If anyone is friends with us on FB or Instagram you've seen some of these updates and pictures and kept up with what's been going on.
So here it is ... Part 1 and we'll take it all the way back to March when the Collies and I attended the Collie Club of America Nationals in Louisville, KY.
Teach and Tucker participated in their first AKC Agility trial. What better way to try out AKC agility than surrounded by all your collie friends.
Teach participated in Novice FAST and I'm happy to report he got his first leg and a first place!
Tucker was there to participate in the Versatile Collie Qualifiers where you have to compete and qualify in 2 of the 4 performance venues (herding, agility, rally and obedience) and also show in the conformation ring and have at least 5 Champion Points.
Tucker rocked this challenge. For such a young dog (turning 2 on the second day of Nationals) he qualified 17th out of 25 (I think). He got his first AKC Agility leg in Novice JWW (and 1st place) and also got his first Rally Novice leg with a 96 and 3rd place.
Picture from the photographer without the versatility ribbon. They forgot to order them or didn't get enough!
Here's a picture with the versatilely ribbon that we got in the mail a few weeks later.
We had a great at Nationals are looking forward to 2018 when its back on the east coast. We were able to meet up with Tucker's 2 brothers and also his breeder. And met so many other wonderful collie friends and also reconnected with so many we had already met being in the breed for just a short time.
3 Brothers L to R: Ruckus, Tucker, Caiden
Stay tuned for Part 2 and we'll fast forward to April!
For this month's review I decided to get a puzzle for the boys to try out. We went with the Outward Hound Doggy Blocks Spinner Puzzle Dog Toy. My guys have had puzzles in the past and I have to say they are disappointing in that it takes no time to figure it out. This one, however, was not the case. Neither dog ever really figured it out. Its one that will keep them entertained for a while longer. They did get frustrated and give up so I had to help them out, but I think with doing it a few more times they'll get it.
Here's some videos:
For Teach's turn I did take a few out to help things along.
As always I was given the Outward Hound Doggy Blocks Spinner Puzzle Dog Toy 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.
Here is what Chewy.com says about these treats: Product Description
Merrick Backcountry Wild Prairie Real Turkey & Sweet Potato Patties Dog Treats feature a hearty, wood-smoked taste that dogs go wild for. These treats are grain-free with no gluten ingredients and have real turkey as the first ingredient. Specially formulated to mimic the ancestral canine diet, Merrick’s Turkey & Sweet Potato Patties Dog Treats are all-natural and packed with the meaty protein your dog craves.
Key Benefits
Hearty, wood-smoked taste
Grain-free with no gluten ingredients
Real turkey is the first ingredient
All-natural and packed with protein
Made in the USA
The dogs couldn't wait to get them open. Even Tucker seemed interested in this treat. After opening I was surprised to find these are a crunchy treat so not real great for training. But we actually needed another crunchy treat in our mix for crate time and just a normal snack.
Tucker couldn't wait to get his teeth on them.
And of course Teach was more of gentleman about it.
The dogs give them two paws up! Even Mr. Picky (aka Tucker) thoroughly enjoyed them and quickly came back for seconds. We'll be adding this treat into our treat rotation.
I was given one bag of Merrick Backcountry Wild Prairie 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.
These guys got to meet up last week at the Collie Nationals in Louisville, KY. Was so much fun getting them together. It was also on their 2nd birthday!! Yes, Tucker is growing up!!
