Agility Update

Sadie and I have been doing agility for nearly a year now (come October or November will make one year).  Sadie is having a lot of fun and really loves the sport. It's been a while since I have offered any real updates. Mostly because it's hard to photograph when you are running your dog and the videos aren't terribly exciting - mostly it's me making an ass out of myself as I screw up my footwork, body language, and verbal cues.

It's also been hard to do a lot of daily training with her. Summer is tough for me as I am still traveling to Issaquah 2X a day for work and I cannot bring Sadie to work her at lunch time. Plus I work at Bellevue College teaching that OB class which is a big time suck. Now that my schedule is a little more normal I am hoping to offer Sadie some more dedicated time.

A-frame, dog-walk, tunnels, jumps... Sadie is champ.

Overall we handle jumps well and she listens and observes directional cues very well.  We even tackled a serpentine pretty well even though it darn near made MY brain explode. The video below shows a pretty long explanation of serpentines and everything I was doing wrong. Fast forward to 4:35 to skip the boring stuff and see it all come together.

Teeter is a challenge because even though she does the actual teeter fine (no hesitation, hits her contact, and performs a 2 on 2 off *technically* correct) however we moved too quickly. My fault for not slowing down. She will stick her contact get her cookies and then releases herself before I say "okay". Under no circumstances should she ever break her contact until I tell her to. In a competition setting the pause before I say "okay" will be a nano second. However, we aren't competing and even if we were, she should stand in that spot until I say "okay" regardless of where we are. So. That is something we need to work on.

The downside of needing teeter work is we don't own a teeter, nor do we really have room to store and set one up. That really slows down the process since I can't work it at home.

Direction is something else I need to work on. I should be able to cue Sadie a direction like "Jump right"  which means turn right after clearing the jump, and "Left Tunnel" which means turn left then take the tunnel. This has been challenging.

And lastly, the weaves. The weaves are considered the most challenging to train and sadly I've left them for last. I am far behind my other classmates because I kept putting it off. I hope to have made good progress in the next couple of weeks.

Sadie looks .... cocky. Like, "Psh. I so got this." Well, I hope she's right. I'd like to see some kick ass weave action pretty soon.

Even Violet got in on the action :)

And thus concludes my agility ramble.

Mini Dutch Babies - aka Mini German Pancakes

Another great pinterest find. The original recipe is found here and it is really easy and simple to use. I made some minor changes for our needs and it came out very well.

Dutch Babies are sometimes called German Pancakes or Dutch Puffs. They're heavy on the egg and light on the flour which I actually prefer for a variety of reasons. The original recipes call for sugar which this recipe lacks - another reason I like it.

Slowly adding the melted butter last so as to temper the eggs.

The original recipe calls for regular sized muffin tins. I used the jumbo muffin tins. The recipe fills 6 perfectly - it will fill nearly to the top x 6.

Once they come out of the oven they will be puffy and won't at all look like dutch babies - but they immediately start to cool and deflate.

The finished product - topped with peach preserves and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

• 1 cup milk (we used almond milk. Turned out great!)
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla (we used almond extract. Way better than vanilla)
• 1 tsp. orange zest (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins.
2. Mix all of the ingredients except the butter. Make sure there aren't any flour lumps. Slowly mix in the melted butter.
3. Fill the muffin tins most of the way full.
4. Bake time will depend on the muffin tin size. Jumbo's will need to bake 20-22 minutes. Regular sized muffin tins need about 15 minutes. They are done when golden brown and puffy on the top.
5. Remove from oven to cool, about 5 minutes. Top with your favorite toppings. Syrup works great, too. 

Lemon Cucumbers

I had seen images of lemon cucumbers a couple years ago and I have wanted to put one in my mouth ever since. I was shopping last spring at my local nursery and happened across some lemon cucumber starts. Be still my heart! And tonight I harvested my first.

I didn't notice it until it was a little late for harvesting. As they mature the skin turns yellow, hence the name "lemon" but the best time to harvest them is when they are actually a little paler in color, before the skin gets tough. So the skin was a little tough but the insides were crisp and delicious.

Aren't they darling? Next year I am going to plant a whole bunch of them. Not only are they adorable, but I love cucumbers. Win win for me!

Leap Frog Dog

Violet Has A New Friend

My sister, Jackie, got herself a new puppy. He is a pound puppy - your typical "pit bull" puppy which basically means he is a mutt with physical characteristics that classify him as a pit bull - for what that is worth. At the time of this visit last weekend he was 8.5 weeks old.

Marley is a blue brindle with crazy ears

So our biggest challenge was obviously Violet. She met Marley last Wednesday on neutral ground (my dad's house) and it was an instantaneous hit. Violet immediately loved that puppy and wanted to play with him. By the end of the play session they were playing off leash with lots of good doggy body language: lots of hip and shoulder checks, play bows, and lots of give and take (I come get you, now you come get me). 

The negatives were that Violet doesn't adjust her play style for a small puppy. Meaning she plays with Marley like she plays with Sadie and when you are an 8 week old pup that can be intimidating. He handled it well enough though. Another negative was the resource guarding. I came ready with some treats to reward Violet for her good behavior but that back fired when she started resource guarding me. They played lovely until he came near me (and cookies) and then she told him off. So cookies went away and that improved greatly.

Overall I declared Wednesday to be a huge success. She has never taken to another pup so quickly. Though to be fair, I'm not exactly allowing a ton of interactions between her and other young pups either. 

On Friday Jackie came down with Marley and the happy play time continued in our back yard. Then we brought it inside and as expected Violet began to resource guard everything inside the house from the puppy. To be clear she wasn't interested in hurting the puppy, which is key because with her dog reactivity, that is always in the realm of possibilities. She just wanted to firmly tell him everything in the house belonged to her!

We separated the house to allow both pups to cohabitate without stress to either one. Violet was a little stressed but calmed down relatively quickly. Every so often we'd take everyone back outside to have happy play time, then go back inside but stay separated to keep the happy vibe going. I tried to treat Violet with cookies for good behavior but that back fired again with Violet increasing her resource guarding so once again, cookies had to be removed from the situation as a reward. 

By the 2nd day Violet and Marley had some good, positive interactions in the house. They even played together a bit! I plan on taking all of us (myself, husband, and sister) back to UCLA Dog for a private session so we can have continued success with Violet and Marley in the same house. With their help and all three adults in the house on the same page I feel confident we can help Violet overcome her resource guarding issues.

Here is a fun little video of Violet and Marley playing. Note the happy play bows. If you listen closely you can hear Violet chirping. Last time she did those happy playful chirps was when she was a puppy herself playing with Sadie - if that gives any indication with how happy and excited she was. Marley was a little overwhelmed at times which you can see when he runs and takes a break from the excitement by running into bushes for cover. But then he shakes it off and goes running after Violet. Give and take. Overall, it was great.

Things Growing In My Yard

Day Lilies

Gladiolus

Seascape Strawberries

Tomatos

Lots and lots of squash

Snap Peas

Figs!

Gooseberries

Tasmanian Berries

Red & White Currants - First Season

I have memories of a red currant bush on Deer Creek Drive in Ferndale. The bush was on the left side of the front door and my mom would make currant jam if she could get enough from the bush after us kids got done picking at them. It seemed like a good fit having these in my own yard.

I have four currant bushes at the moment. Two red, one white, and one black. The red and white varieties are good enough to eat out of hand. I'm told the black varieties are better for jams and compotes. Three of my four bushes gave me berries this first year. One red variety did not, but it is in pretty heavy shade so that may be the problem.

Of the three with fruit, the red and white varieties are ready to eat. Since it's our first season the harvest is small. Just big enough to get a sampling of better things to come in future years.

First up - Jonkheer Van Tets. I tasted this sweet red berry and immediately thought back to those sweet red berries from my childhood. I couldn't describe their flavor by memory but as soon as I tasted it, I knew that was a flavor I had known and loved 25 years ago.

Jonkheer Van Tets

Next up is my white variety called White Imperial Currant. I would describe the flavor was similar to the red but maybe slightly more mild. Very nice. This bush was bigger when I got it so it's no surprise it gave me a larger yield. 

White Imperial Currant

Amazingly my pups have not discovered these tasty little morsels. They found my gooseberry bushes and ate every last berry on those bushes - even though they are super tart and unripe. I hope they don't discover the joys of currants or I may never be able to eat another one again.