So either Falkor is magical or has thumbs.

I came home this afternoon to find Falkor on the living room carpet carefully licking out the inside of an empty glass jar. While I was gone he somehow managed to take a new, unopened jar of Newman's spaghetti sauce off the kitchen counter, open the jar - without breaking the glass or puncturing the metal lid- and licked the entire jar clean. In addition, he didn't get a single drop of sauce on the carpet.

And poor Famke...he didn't share with her...she didn't smell like sauce.

I can't get those freaking lids off and I have hands!!!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

On Monday our local mall offered a night for people to bring their pets to see Santa. I took Falkor last year and decided that it should be Famke's turn this year. Famke was finally done being in heat and she was THRILLED to be able to finally go somewhere!

The event started at 6pm and we got there about 10 after and there was already a long line. Famke was wearing her Christmas dress that I got on clearance from Target's pet department last year and she loved all the attention she got. Lots of people wanted to stop and pet the cute doggy in the pretty dress. :)

When it was finally our turn, Famke trotted right up to Santa and nuzzled his hands (looking for treats) although she wasn't so sure when I put her up on his chair. But she was a good girl and stayed while they look her pic. She asked Santa for a new, fancy collar and some liver treats. ;)

Thank you Rugby!!!

The very kind Samantha and super awesome Rugby over at Mister Rugby Sevens UD nominated our blog for the Liebster Blog Award. Thank you so very much Samantha and Rugby! We are honored.



Here are the rules for the award:

1. Thank the giver and link back to them.

2. Reveal your top five picks {with less than 200 readers} and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favorite up-and-coming bloggers and keep it going!

So my top five picks in no particular order are:

1. Jackson's Quest for the UDX
Jackson is a very handsome great Dane that competes in obedience and is currently sunning himself in beautiful Arizona!

2. Life with Big Dogs
Lots of fabulous pics on this blog about 2 Great Danes that do it all!! And an adorable Frenchie that is a relatively new addition to the family.

3. A Prarie Dobe Companion
Leah takes STUNNING pics of her gorgeous pack and her posts are freaking hilarious!

4. The Life Story of Miss Layla
Great blog about a very talented Malamute named Layla.

5. Danes Can Q
Blog about the amazing Great Dane, Vegas that rocks it out in agility. She is actually going to the 2011 AKC agility invitational in a few days!

A little extra flavor!

I decided that instead of trying to maintain two separate blogs for Famke and Falkor, I would just do one instead. So for those of you that don't know who Famke is, let me introduce you! Famke is a two year old Field Spaniel that is sweet as sugar and just a bit naughty. :) She LOVES training and so far she has her BN, RN, TT, CGC/TDI. We hope to also compete in agility someday but I actually have to train her for that first. ;)

Famke is my first conformation dog and so far she has 7 points towards her Championship. Conformation has been an interesting journey for us so far and I was really intimated at first. I feel more comfortable in the conformation ring now and I think it has been a wonderful experience for Famke. She has been at dog shows and in the ring since she was 6 months old and she thinks they are a super fun party! I'm not sure if she will get her Championship because it is really hard to find majors in Fieldies in the Midwest but we are having fun.

Falkor and Famke are the BEST of friends. They absolutely adore each other and I feel so lucky that they are so sweet to each other.

Famke says "Hello" to everyone and sends ear wuffles to all!!

Secret Elf Exchange

"I know those cookies are for me and I can't reeeeeeach!"

I did a secret elf exchange on one of the dog message boards that I am on and I got my package today. My secret elf spoiled me rotten and I got some really fun goodies!

"Mmmm...those smell GOOD!"

Look at the freaking adorable Great Dane salt and pepper shakers kissing! (Their noses are magnets) And I have always wanted the Great Dane socks. The pink and bronze stained glass bone ornament are stunning!

All the goodies wrapped so pretty!

The pups waiting patiently for one of their cookies. :)

What a great way to start off the holiday season!

New Fancy Duds

To celebrate Falkor's CD I once again gave into my addiction to collars and got him a new collar and tag. I think he looks pretty handsome. :)

Falkor CD!!!!

Falkor finsihed his CD yesterday with a second place in Novice A!! So now he is officially CLWKS Chroma Never Ending Story CD, RA, TT, CGC.

His on leash heeling was VERY nice with us only getting dinged for one tight lead and one crooked sit. Even after he noticed his VERY best friends, Shannon and Phaser, in the ring next to us doing Open, he was able to stay on task and heel quite nicely. :)

His figure 8 was quite nice except for the last part of the second time around when he wanted to smooze the post, which was another favorite person. Need to proof more for that! LOL

Stand for exam he moved one his front feet about an inch, which is new for him. He is usually pretty solid on his SFE.

His heel off leash was where we need the most work. He tends to heel a bit wide after the about turns and he was a bit laggy at the start, but was happy and waggy throughout.

His recall was wonderful, happy, and fast...bit of a crooked sit at front but nice around finish.

Long sit and down were perfect!!

I am SO darn proud of my big guy. We have had to really work hard on some issues and all that hard work definitely paid off! Falkor was happy and animated, which I LOVE. In fact, the judge said it was a pleasure to see such a happy, enthusiastic working Dane. :)

We stopped at McD's on the way home and he got an egg mcmuffin which he proceeded to eat in one bite. Great day for us both!

It was really nice because we had so many club members come up to us afterward and give their warm and hearty congrats. We had lots of people pulling for us and that is a really great feeling. :)

Heat Coma!

It was quite chilly this morning and I turned on the Heatilator fireplace. Within minutes, both of the dogs were smooshed onto the dog bed in front of it soaking up the heat. As I went about my morning routing I didn't have two dogs right on the backs of my heels. Weird! I peeked into the family room and they were both clearly in a heat coma.

All of our dogs have LOVED the fireplace (with the exception of Finnegan our Newfy/Pyr) and I happen to think its completely adorable when they all cuddle together near it.

He did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited and proud to announce that Falkor got his first two CD legs in Novice A this weekend!!

His run on Saturday was very nice and we ended up with a 191.5 and a first place! He was a little distracted on the off leash heeling, especially on the about turns, so that is something we need to work on. The hustle and bustle of a trial is really distracting to him, which is why we need more fun matches!!!! We do too much training alone or with only a few friends.

Unfortunately, our run on Sunday was not as good as our Saturday run. Falkor was very distracted during the heeling and wanted to visit one of the figure 8 posts. :) His stand for exam and his recall was gorgeous! I was MUCH more on edge because of a scary, unfortunately incident that took place right before the trial started and we were one of the first dogs in the ring. Our judge, the VERY nice Bob Burgin, was setting up the ring before the trial started he suddenly collapsed to the floor unconscious and unresponsive. 911 was immediately called so we had police, EMS, and an ambulance at the trial site. Thankfully we got an update from his wife at lunch and the Dr.'s thought it was maybe a low sugar induced seizure. He was doing well and they planned to send him home mid afternoon. It was a very scary scene though and I think everyone was a little on edge after that.

Amazingly, one of the people entered on Sunday is a judge and very generously forfeited her entries to judge the trial. Everyone was so grateful to her and it was such a kind thing to do.

I made a little movie of some clips from Falkor's runs this weekend. The BEST part of Falkor's run was his non-stop wagging tail!! LOVE to see that. :)

Trying not to spaz!!

SHOOT!!! I just figured out that the first trial we are entered in for Novice A is THIS weekend and NOT next weekend like I thought. In addition to freaking out about it being a week closer, my hubby is going to be out of town and I need to find someone to watch my son. My hubby never has to go out of town so of course it figures he does this weekend. LOL I am sure I will get something figured out though.

In happier news we did a Novice run through on Saturday at our local club and Falkor did a really nice job! I am very proud of him. If he can do the same thing at the trials coming up I will be beyond thrilled. :)

We have another fun match on Friday!

Falkor is offically "A Sound Mind in a Sound Body"

Falkor watches the aggressive stranger.

Last weekend Falkor was entered in a American Temperament Test Society test near where we live. The ATTS test is very interesting and was created to measure temperament in dogs based on their breed. For example a German Shepherd would react differently to the individual tests than a Yorkie would.

The test consists of 10 subtests and a failure of any of the subtests is an automatic failure of the entire test. During the test you are not allowed to say anything to your dog, including giving any commands. You also cannot touch your dog or attempt to control them with their leash. The dog wears a slip collar and you hold the end of the six foot leash.

Here is a brief description of each of the subtest and how Falkor did with each:

Subtest 1: Neutral Stranger - a person approaches you and engages you in a conversation while completely ignoring the dog. The poor girl that served as our neutral stranger was such a sport. Falkor did the typical Falkor move and stuck his nose right in her crotch. Nice! He was very happy and waggy to meet her.

Subtest 2: Friendly Stranger - a person approaches and asks to pet your dog. Falkor goosed this lady as well and whipped her with his fast wagging tail.

Subtest 3: Reaction to Auditory Stimuli (Hidden Noise)- A person shakes a metal bucket full of rocks from behind a blind and then sets the bucket out for the dog to investigate. Falkor startled slightly at the noise but immediately went to the bucket when it was put out. He also wanted to visit the person that put the bucket out.

Subtest 4: Reaction to Auditory Stimuli (Gunshot ) A hidden person shoots a .22 caliber starter piston 3 times. Falkor reacted and kinda bounced / hopped around when the gun was fired. But he recovered quickly.

Subtest 5: Reaction to Visual Stimuli (Umbrella) A person sitting on a chair opens a big golf umbrella at a 90 degree angle to where your dog is as you walk up. Falkor sniffed the umbrella and then went behind the umbrella to visit the gal holding it. He gave her a really nice wet willy. :)

Subtest 6: Tactile stimuli (Plastic footing) The dog has to walk across a 15ftX6ft length of plastic. Falkor didn't even seem to notice this.

Subtest 7: Tactile stimuli (Wire footing) The dog must walk across a 12ftx3ft length of unfolded expen. Falkor noticed he was walking on something odd but wasn't bothered by it.

Subtest 8: Self protective/aggressive behavior - Non threatening- A person comes out from behind a blind 38 feet in front of the dog and pretends to be drunk/disoriented. Falkor noticed but it didn't concern him.

Subtest 9: Self protective/aggressive behavior - Threatening- Now the person advances toward you and your dog 10 feet in a threatening manner...yelling loudly and waving a stick. This time Falkor put himself in front of me and stared at the guy.

Subtest 10: Self protective/aggressive behavior - Aggressive- Now the person advances within 18 feet the dog/handler yelling louder and hitting the ground with the stick. Falkor stood his ground and watched the person intently.

That is the end of the test! I am thrilled to report that Falkor passed and is now CLWKS Chroma Never Ending Story RA, CGC, TT!!

It was fascinating to to watch all the other dogs during the test. There was a wide variety of breeds represented including shepherds, aussies, a border collie, dobies, a mal, a boxer, a frenchie (which was totally FEARLESS), a golden, a cardi, a pitty, a giant schnauzer, a couple of belgians, 2 field spaniels :), 2 black Russian terriers, and a few others I can't seem to remember.

Proud of my big boy!

We have been working really hard on training in preparation for the upcoming trials and I am so proud of my big boy! Our training has been going very well and we are both enjoying our time together.

I REALLY wish that we had more fun matches in our area because it's nearly impossible to mimic the real trial environment in training. We have a handful of fun matches for the whole year! :( Falkor can be distractable and while we try to train with distractions so we can work through it, it is simply not the same as a trial. I think there will be one fun match before the trial and we will take full advantage of it!

We did some tracking today after not tracking for almost a year (boo!) and I was totally shocked by how much Falkor remembered! He was SO excited when I got his harness on and we walked to the start line. I need to find time to do more tracking!! With some actual training I think Falkor could be a super tracking dog.

Eeep! I am scared to death!!

Well I bit the bullet and entered Falkor in two trials in Novice A to try for our CD. I am absolutely terrified!! LOL I have all the typical newbie fears in addition to the fear of Falkor's epic zoomies resurfacing and the fact that he isn't 100% comfortable around strange dogs. We have worked really hard on both issues and while he is SO much better than he's ever been with both that is obviously no guarantee. :)

Luckily we are entered in two smaller sized trials (both are at venues he is comfortable with) and have great judges for all 4 days.

We've been training heavily since I got back from the Field Spaniel National and it is very obvious that he missed it. He is SO freaking happy to be out working again and his work has been lovely. Having that big smiling face starting up at me is such a joy!

So I am sure I will be eating tums like candy and buying stock in pepto until the trials in November. Any tips and or advice for a terrified newbie would be much appreciated!!!

Such a Good Big Brudder!

I often find Falkor and Famke curled up together in Falkor's crate. There is not a whole lot of extra room in there but Famke doesn't mind squishing up in a little ball. :) These two are so freaking cute together. They play together ALL the time and always make us laugh.

Oy the HEAT!!!

The weather the past few days has been insanely hot. With the heat index is was about 105 degrees the past couple of days. I am not a fan of extreme heat and/or humidity. Falkor actually seems to enjoy the heat and loves to sun himself on the deck. I have to go outside an haul him back in so he won't cook!

I was watering the plants last night and Falkor was having fun biting the hose water and zooming around the yard.

"Mom, I'm a hot dog!"

Happy Father's Day!

Tiny lap dog Ryu sitting on my friend Shannon's lap.

Falkor wants to wish his handsome Daddy Ryu a "Happy Father's Day!!". He tried to make him a paw painted coffee mug but it didn't turn out. ;) Ryu is a BIG Dane and while I am thankful he didn't pass along his huge size to Falkor he sure did pass along those rugged good looks.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Falkor's 3rd Birthday!!

I can hardly believe that my silly boy is 3 years old already! Even though we've had our share of challenges I just love him to bits and he is a joy to live with. I really look forward to what the future holds for us!

Falkor's birthday started with Jackson signing "Happy Birthday" to him first thing in the morning. Jackson was so excited it was Falkor's birthday and he was determined to make it very special. We took Falkor on a hike on his favorite trail and he got to swimming and zoom around on the beach. We made him a cake out of ground beef, salmon, egg and cheese sticks for candles. Jackson picked out a cow stuffy which turned out to be a big hit. All in all I think Falkor had a pretty great birthday. :)

Another New Collar and New Tag

My collar addiction continues as I add another fancy collar to Falkor's collection. I also got him a very cool tag from Fetching Tags. His tags says "One Big Honk". Big Honk is one of Falkor's many nicknames.

I am really bummed because we had to miss out on the trial we entered at the Great Dane Specialty in Kansas City yesterday. We had car trouble that ended up costing an arm and a leg to fix. Very disappointing. :(

It's Tuff Being a Boy

Poor Falkor is miserable because Famke is in heat. At least he is not going completely INSANE like he did last time. Last time was a nightmare and I was truly dreading Famke coming back into heat. Luckily for me Falkor is much more relaxed this time. Although Famke seems to know what this heat thing is all about this time and she's being a total hussy. LOL It's a really good thing that Falkor is neutered because I think these two would be determined to make some Great Dane/Field Spaniel babies.

We have been frequenting Falkor's favorite field and he has been having a blast running and playing in the retaining pond. He has also been enjoying chasing the geese. He'd be a great geese control dog!

I had to laugh because last time we went he got daring and really went all out chasing the geese and ended up in water that was much deeper than he thought. The look on his face was priceless as he dunked under and came up swimming. He's a good swimmer at least. :)

He has also been retrieving things out of the water which is very new for him. Before when I would throw things out in the water he'd look at me like "are ya gonna get that?". He seems to enjoy it now!

We are entered in Beginner's Novice and Rally Excellent at a Great Dane Specialty down in Kansas City on May 20th. The trial is held in a gym and the flooring is a bit strange but I like that it's only one performance ring and not a ton of dogs competing. We showed there last year in Rally but a dog jumped on his back and which made him gimpy and totally freaked him out. Hopefully we will have a better experience this year!

I am SUPER excited because Kansas City has 7-11's which have Slurpees!!!! I was born and raised in Michigan and I am a total Slurpee addict. We do not have 7-11 ANYWHERE in Iowa. Yahoo Slurpees!!! :)

Encouraging Improvements!

Falkor and I have been working hard on obedience lately. We've gone back to the basics in some regards and I feel like we are really hitting a groove. I'm almost afraid to say that out loud. LOL

The weekend before last we went up to Minnesota to Falkor's breeder fora doggy family reunion and a training weekend. It was great to fun see some of Falkor's brothers, his Auntie Ladybug, his Daddy and his insanely cute cousin Junebug. I almost had to steal Junebug. She is such a fun pup and she looooved Falkor. The feeling was quite mutual and I think Falkor was bummed when we left for home on Sunday without her.

We did some pretty intense training on both Saturday and Sunday at one of the places where Falkor's breeder, Jen, trains and I was quite surprised how much Falkor changed his behavior in that short amount of time. We worked really hard to get him to put all his focus on me and rely on me to deal with dogs that worried/stressed him. On Saturday afternoon we had two experiences that shocked me. First, while we were at the training center there was an agility class going on in one of the large training rooms...Jen and I took Falkor into the room and sat on a couch they have in there and with a little work I actually had Falkor laying completely relaxed on the floor while 6 dogs ran agility off leash, running past him within about 10-15 feet and he had NO reaction whatsoever and was completely calm. In fact, after about 15 mins he fell alseep!!!!!! That is HUGE for him. Falkor doesn't react to every dog around him but if dogs are running loose near him he is at least alert to what they are doing. I could not believe that he was comfortable enough to fall asleep!

Then a little while later when we were getting ready to leave one of the dogs in the agility class, an intact Rottie!!!, came charging up to Falkor...I stepped next to Falkor's shoulder and told him "whoa I got this buddy" and as the dog ran up to Falkor and got all up in his stuff before his owners could retrieve him, Falkor remained calm and did not react at all to the Rottie! I was floored.

We have had some additional encouraging experiences at our local training club and at the local Petsmart. I am under no illusion that Falkor is "cured" of his dog reactivity or believe that he won't ever have another outburst but I am very excited about the progress we have made so far!

Bad, bad blogger again!!

Falkor in another new fancy collar!

Sheesh my poor dogs haven't been blogged about in forever again!! I am always thinking about things I want to blog about and then when I sit down to do it about 10 other things all of a sudden need to get done. Darn life getting in the way. :)

Falkor and I are thrilled that spring finally seems to be on the way so we can get to some training outside. We have been working really hard on his dog reactivity issues but it's a really slow process so I am hoping to do some serious tracking training this spring/summer. We have also been doing lots of running and playing in a huge open field near our house. The dogs just LOVE it and we all need the exercise after being cooped up all winter long.

I am really bummed because I missed the deadline to enter a trial I really like near Iowa City. I thought I had another week to enter and I missed the deadline by a day! Grrrrr. I was going to enter Falkor in Beginner's Novice. It's such a great place to show I'm sad we'll miss out this time. I need to start writing everything down on a calendar instead of trying to remember it all i my head!!

I have been going a little nutty buying new gorgeous collars for the dogs. I think I have a full fledged addiction now. :) I am also trying to think of a good tag line for Falkor so I can order him a Fetching Tag.

We have been training at our local training building a little bit and Falkor is really coming along nicely. I am starting to incorporate some open exercises and he seems to like them a lot.

I think that we might enter a trial at the end of April. My main goal is to get him ready for Novice in the fall at our local club. If we didn't have the dog reactivity stuff to contend with we would be ready much sooner, but it is what it is.

I definitely have spring fever and we are ready to buckle down and get to training!!!!

Super training session today!

Today Falkor, Famke and I went to to where my best friend Shannon works and did a marathon training day with her and her puppers. I left today feeling energized and really happy with how our training is coming along. We did a Beginner's Novice run through and I was very pleased with Falkor's heeling and attention. I cannot help but smile when I glance out of the corner my eye and see his giant head looking up at me with a huge, open mouth smile. He also did a nice recall with a great, straight front. Fun!

We also worked some Choose to Heel stuff and Falkor thought it was a FANTASTIC game. After playing for a little while, Falkor was choosing to heel with me off leash while his best doggie friend Phaser and his best human friend Shannon played wildly in the ring with us. Then he chose to heel with me while Shannon sat in chair holding a freshly opened packet of tuna. It was quite eye opening for me.

I also did a bunch of short training sessions with Famke and both of the dogs are now snoring loudly on the couch. Ahhhh sleepy dogs. Love it!

Oy if it's not one thing it's another!

"Mmmm...frosting!!"


Training Falkor has been quite the journey so far and I have thoroughly enjoyed it...except for a few bumps in the road...which is to be expected of course. Although sometimes I can't help but feel like just as things are moving along nicely we hit the next giant brick wall. First is was the knee issue, and then it was zoomies after a Rally jump, then it was zoomies during recalls, then it was working through a jumping issue after Falkor jammed and cut his toe on a jump in Rally, and now we are dealing with reactivity.

Falkor has been becoming reactive to some dogs. At first is was only dogs that challenged him, then it was only certain intact males, and then it was only certain males and now it can be any random dog, although I don't think I have seem him react to a female dog. It is incredibly frustrating and disappointing because up until about a year ago Falkor loved all other dogs. I could take him anywhere and he was thrilled to play with any dog he came across. I don't think anything specific happened to trigger the reactivity we are dealing with now.

I am able to "manage" him and most people that meet him wouldn't guess that Falkor can be a jerk to other dogs, but I hate having to be on alert all the time. And it can be difficult with such a large dog in tight quarters.

We are working on behavior modification and desensitization techniques, and I'm confident with lots of work we will get to a place where we are both comfortable. But I can't help but feel a little sad that we could be spending all that time on training for performance instead. I did everything that your supposed to do...research the breeder (and Falkor's breeder has been completely wonderful and supportive), research the sire and dam, socialize, socialize, socialize, etc. and I am still having to deal with this issue. It's just a bummer.

In much happier news, Falkor's little sister Famke got her third point this weekend at the dog show in Des Moines!!! It was my third time ever in the conformation ring and my first point with her. (One of her breeder's showed her last summer and she got her first two points then). Famke LOVES it and thinks that dogs show are giant parties. It was a fun weekend!

Finally back to class!!

Opening Presents!

"I was a very good boy Santa!"

I don't know who is happier that classes are back in session...me or Falkor!! I majorly slacked on training over the holidays and I am thrilled to be in some sort of routine again. We are taking Advanced again and we are also taking a Beginner's Retrieving class and Beginner's Jumping (broad, bar and high) on Thursdays for member classes. Falkor was SO excited to be training again at the club building last week. You could actually see the smile on his face!

Our local club trial is only a month away now so we have lots of work to do!

Welcome 2011!!!!!

I can hardly believe that it is 2011 already! But I fully admit to being swept up in the feeling of everything being new and full of possibility. I was almost afraid to look back at the goals that I had set for Falkor last January but it wasn't that bad. Here are the goals I set for last year and what we did with them:
-Get our RA and work towards our RE - YES we did achieve this goal!! Finished our RA in September and have 2 legs toward our RE. It certainly wasn't easy. We had the jump induced zoomies to contend with. We worked REALLY hard on that and got through it. We had some beautiful runs and some downright scary moments. LOL I am really pleased with the progress we have made since last year.

-Get certified in tracking and possibly try for a TD - Um not even close. I completely slacked on tracking this year. :(

-Enter in Novice Fast agility (if they offer it) at the Great Dane National this year - No agility whatsoever because of the @#$% knee issue. And we didn't get to go to the National. BOO!

-Work really hard on our heeling skills - YES to this! Still need lots of work but I feel we've had success there as well.

-Enter Pre-Novice a few times- No Pre-Novice but we did get the chance to enter Beginner's Novice which I LOVE!

-Enter at least one UKC trial - No and honestly that just came down to finances. I had to be choosy about what we entered.

Ok now with a deep breath of the fresh 2011 air here are my goals for the year.

Rally- Finish our RE. I don't have plans to work toward a RAE right now. Mainly because there are so many other thing I want to focus on and I only have so much time and money.

Obedience- Finish our Beginner's Novice title and shoot for entering Novice in the fall at our local obedience trial. I would also like to train Falkor through Open and start working on Utility exercises as well.

Agility- It kills me to even think this, but I don't know if agility will be in the cards for Falkor. (Due to his knee issues) It really breaks my heart. We are going to play around with it a little and see how things go...maybe I will be pleasantly surprised!

Tracking- I really want to buckle down with our tracking training and get certified in the fall sometime.

So cheers to everyone and hopefully 2011 will be THE year for you as well.