The story of one little black dog, the one who changed so much...

Just about 10 years ago, I was 7 years old. I was with my Great Grandma and Grandma as we went to pick out their puppy. I knew I'd be spending just as much time with this new dog as they would, as I would always sleepover there and take visits down to their house all the time. We walked into the house where the puppies were. One of the parents was a purebred Shih Tzu, and the other was a purebred Miniature Pinscher. I believe it was an oops litter, as I have no idea why someone would breed those two breeds together haha, but it was a perfect oops litter <3. 

There were a bunch of pups. All of them were males, light brown and seemed to have wirey short coats, except for one....

This one was a dark shiny black, with longer hair and was a female. They called her little Lady.

We all knew instantly that this was the pick, hands down. We took her home to my Grandma and Great Grandma's house. She was the most perfect oops litter free puppy that you could ever pick up. 

We soon realized that Lady was not going to be appropriate as a name! Right from the beginning she'd follow everyone around like a shadow, and wouldn't leave until you did and there we got it; Shadow. I have never known a dog to suit it's name so well, even though it's so simple. Right from the get go. 

As time went by, I grew a bond with this pup. I grew one very strong. She'd listen to me, she'd follow me, she loved me. I loved her just as well. She was perfect. I wasn't allowed my own dog quite yet, and  Shadow was the closest I got for almost 7 years so she felt a whole lot like my own. 

My Great Grandma passed away a year or so ago and I'm sure this hurt Shadow a whole lot, considering she was mostly my Great Grandmas dog. She followed her everywhere, she was her little Shadow <3. Just recently, Shadow has been having a few problems, anywhere from arthritis to going partially blind or deaf to losing all of her teeth. It was time and just within the past few days my Grandma made the decision and had to get Shadow put down to stop her suffering. I wish I could have said good-bye.

I will never forget this little dog and all of the lessons she ever taught me. Run free little Shadow, run free throughout the rainbow bridge and jump into Great Grandmas lap again and kiss her and stay with her forever now.

I love you, you little black dog <3

~July 17th 2002 - August 2012~

Kelowna Trip Soon!

Hai ho, hai ho!

Yes! Back to this place we go!

Ahh! Words cannot describe how excited I am! From August 23rd-29th, we're going back to Kelowna, British Columbia! My mom, Andrew (boyfriend) and I are heading out there and I'm OH so excited! Living in a province like Alberta (in a part with no mountains for a few hours of course ;)), you get quite excited to get back into the mountains ESPECIALLY when it's been a year since I've seem 'em last! 

I'm going to get to see Paris and her dogs again, well, until next year :(. I'm SO stoked to be seeing her and the dogs again one more time for this year (she spent july 6-16 at my house in Alberta). We're going to be doing a lot of stuff at the dog beach, and probably walking up in the trestles again, but who knows what we'll do. I think Paris will be taking a ton of photos as usual, and I'll be making a very awesome video like this one from last year when I went! :)  But I promise, it might even be better ;) hehe.

I'm also entering a Huckleberry Hounds trial, on the 25th and 26th! It'll be awesome to get some more runs done in a different place! Especially since I focus better on myself because I don't know anyone around me. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm entering in 6 runs; 2 advanced gamblers (to get that darn title hopefully!), 2 masters snookers, 1 masters standard and 1 masters jumpers! :) I wish there were more jumpers, but I'll take what I can get. It's going to be a ton of fun and I hope to come home with more Q's than I did last year at this trial! :) 

I'm all so excited, and it's JUST ABOUT a week before we leave! Ahhhh!!!

So much excitement, I just cannot wait! 

July 6th-16th 2012 = Paris Visits!

Yes, I admit.. I'm very bad. I need to start posting as soon as things happen and not a month later!

So, anyways! My good friend Paris came to Alberta this from the 6-16th of July to visit Shyloh and I!

I went up there to British Columbia last summer, so we decided she would come down this summer. She brought both Roxy (Border) and Juelle (Shepherd) down with her. Roxy and Shyloh kind of have this love thing going on...

Anyways, on the 6th we got all settled in and figured out our stuff and just hung out for the most part :) We had a trial the next 2 days so we went to bed fairly early :)

Day 1 of the trial (July 7th) was a not too bad one actually! Shyloh went into the first advanced standard and rocked it, but had a refusal on the last jump of the course, as it was a serp and I just didn't pull her back in enough and she instead got distracted and ran past. Oh well, she tried wonderfully! My 2nd run was another advanced standard that she ROCKED! She did so amazing, although it was a NQ, it was my favourite run of both the July 7-8 and July 14-15 weekends. She ran a beautiful run entirely, amazing quick weaves for her at a trial, and then BAM off-course tire as she is VERY good at following her line and I failed to call her but I can't complain as it was a GORGEOUS run :)

The last run was another advanced standard. She was a lot slower during this run, but I don't blame her as the day ran on and on, and it was very hot out actually! She ran the course entirely clean, although slower; it was still a Q!! This was our 2nd leg towards our AADC [Advanced Agility Dog of Canada] title! Ahhh! So exciting! 

[See Her Awesome!]

Day 2 wasn't so well, but that's fine. We first had an advanced gamblers run... You see, advanced gambler is my nemesis. I just can't manage to get this last advanced gamblers Q to get my AGDC title and be in masters gamblers! I ran the gamble nicely, she earned quite a few points, but sadly it wasn't recorded until the buzzer rang for the main gamble to start... She performed the gamble nicely up until I stopped and it pulled her back into me which then caused her to get distracted and walk past the last jump of the gamble :( Silly dog, why can't you just jump it instead of walk past it! 

Oh well, so anyways!

Then I had a masters jumpers run. This run was. hands down. my worst run I think I have almost ever run with her. She was stressed right off the bat and it did NOT help that there was a nasty threadle right in the first 3 jumps. She was so *bleh* that she knocked a bar and just wasn't trying AT all. So I stopped and petting her, gave her some reassurance and then kept going :) I tried my best, it didn't help much but oh well, I guess she tried. This run was definitely a NQ for sure.

Our last run was another masters jumpers. But guess what!

AMAZING.

It was Q/1st, 36.81 seconds! She did amazing, what else can I say. I love this run and I'm VERY proud of her :)

[See, she rocked it]

So, yes only 2 Q's for her out of the 6 but that's fine! She tried and I think she did pretty well, although I was really discouraged after the trial because of her jumpers run that went bad. I honestly can't help but feel that way because I don't know whats stressing her out, and I can't help her :( It makes me feel horrible, sometimes I just want to break down and cry but I know I have to stay strong for the both of us :)

Anyways, Roxy earned an advanced standard Q as well that weekend, which was also her second leg towards her AADC title as well! Juelle got an AWESOME starters gamble Q which moved her up to advanced standard! Juelle also got a NICE starters jumpers Q :) Not bad for a starters dog, she's doing amazing! I also got to run Juelle in a starters jumpers run as well. She was VERY fun to run, although the course was so short haha! She had a bit of a bobble where she looked for Paris, otherwise she ran very nicely for me and I enjoyed it a lot!

If you'd like to see the videos of Paris, Roxy and Juelle, you can see here and here.

Anywho!!! While we had the rest of the week 9-13 we just messed around and had fun together :) Paris took a TON of pictures of the dogs and they all turned out amazing. I will share some, write a bit more about the 2nd trial, then share some more :)

These dogs love some dog diving! They even got featured in the newspaper for my city :)

We had another trial on the 14th and 15th of July. This trial unfortunately did not go so well with ANY of us. Shyloh and Roxy were their usual selves [stressballs!]. 

On the first day, I managed to somehow walk my masters jumpers course wrong [adding a tunnel where it shouldn't have been], so I ran it clean MY way [with added tunnel], but it a NQ cause of that tunnel off course :(. Paris managed to realize we had walked it wrong, so she was safe when she ran Roxy and did not add that extra in, but sadly Roxy was 2 seconds over time so did not Q.

The second run was an advanced standard. We only needed 1 Q for our AADC title [both Paris and I]. Shyloh ran the course clean, and I got excited, only then to realize she was 1.5 seconds too slow and Roxy had 5 faults in her run. Darn, we were both very close...

Not quite any Juelle Q's yet, but her jumpers was quite nice otherwise :)

Our next run was another advanced and GUESS WHAT!?!?!?

Roxy and Shyloh BOTH Q'd, and had very nice runs :)

That means our AADC title for both dogs!

Shyloh and her AADC ribbon :)

We then had gamblers to run. Once again, I only need 1 Q for my AGDC! We ran the courses, Roxy almost Q'd but was a bit over the time [went through last obstacle as buzzer went] and Shyloh JUST about Q'd but didn't because she was a bit too slow, darn!

You can see my July 14th trial video here and you can see Paris' July 14th video here.

Anyways, a few photos of the crew and then the Day 2 info!

The 2nd day of the trial brought us a TON of stress and grief. It was raining all day and very gloomy out, lovely. We didn't have sweaters so we needed to run to the nearest wal-mart and buy one! 

Very rainy out!

Anywho, we had our first run which was an advanced gambler. Shyloh ran past the last jump, or should I say walked, and earned a refusal which earned a NQ for the gamble AGAIN, DARNED GAMBLE. Roxy got a nice gamble Q and earned her AGDC title. 

Then we both ran our first masters standard runs ever, and both dogs did not do so well =/ Shyloh decided it was cool to drink in all the tunnels due to the downpour and I decided to take her off of the course, I'm sure she did not mind that however....

After that VERY discouraging run, me and Paris were both very down and didn't really want to continue the day much... along with a few others, ahemmm, things going on earlier that morning.

Juelle ran a nice starters standard and earned a Q for that at least! :)

Paris ran steeple with both her dogs while I waited around for my next run :)

Then we ran masters jumpers with Shyloh and Roxy. 

Shyloh Q'd this masters jumpers in 39 seconds, with a TAD of a bobble so technically it'd be MUCH faster ;) but anyways, thats her 2nd masters jumpers and only 2 more for a title which shouldn't be too hard with Shyloh as she LOVES her jumpers, as do I! 

You can see my July 15th video here and Paris' July 15th video here.

Then Paris had to go back to British Columbia on July 16th, which sucks but we had an AMAZING time together and so did the dogs. Paris and her brother made me a teeter base and gave it to me as a present for letting her stay over for 10 days! I am so grateful for it, and am so glad Paris came this summer. I might be going back to British Columbia at the end of this August [2012] to see them again as well! I am planning on entering a trial there as well and trying again with Shyloh and seeing where she goes from there. Sorry for such a long post, I'm sure I'm forgiven!

June 5th, Muthut Trial

   So on June 5th, two days after regionals, I had an evening trial. The only reason why I entered it was because I needed a try at a snooker run because if I didn't do it in June, I wouldn't have another try until September and on. I needed 1 snooker Q and 1 gamblers Q for a title, my AGDC. That's why I wanted another try at a snooker Q! :) Because I have a few more gamblers runs in the next month. 

 Anyways! It was a small evening trial that started after 6 PM. There were 2 runs, being snooker. I entered both, advanced snooker. Shyloh was SO pumped up that the first run was a total screw up on my part. She did very well. She was fast, but then ran off for 1 sec cause she saw a dog holding her ball. Then she came right back and I wasn't clear enough and sent her into the wrong tunnel end by accident, haha! But anyways, she did awesome :) Close!

Second run was absolutely amazing. Super speedy and focussed. She didn't once throw her attention elsewhere. The run was 50 points. I did all 4 reds, and finished the closing with more than 10 seconds to spare! I'm so proud of her ;) She did SOOO good! It was honestly one of the best Q's I've ever seen from her. Hopefully she'll keep this up! :)

Video: 

2012 AAC AB/NWT Regional Championships

So, this weekend was the 2012 AB/NWT Regional Championships. I have had personal issues bothering me for the past week and I knew already I was going to be a mess for the weekend. I planned in my mind to go in with no expectations at all and just to throw away all my emotional baggage. So, I remained calm for the drive on the Thursday and I was okay for the most part of Friday (warm up runs). The problem is, I can't just forget about the issues bothering me because all of this stuff was happening at home at the same time as I was running regionals. There was no way that was going to escape my mind. I tried my hardest, honestly. Yes they are personal issues, and you don't understand because you do not know.. but I wish some people could know what I was going through and such. 

The warm up runs on Friday weren't very awesome at all. The first one was decent, but she shut down halfway through. Then the 2nd one was absolutely brutal. She did not do a thing, stood in one spot for the majority of it all. I had 90 seconds to fool around on the equipment, but she actually just stood in one spot and did not do a thing. I got down on the grass and called her and talked nice things for her, asking her if she wanted to "do" or "go on" things that she likes.. she just ignored me and wouldn't even come close to me. I actually couldn't even get her to come to me at all. I tried my best... she's never ever done that before. It was very upsetting for me. I had the feeling in my mind that I was going to be leaving after that first day because my mind was elsewhere after that. I wanted to go home and do what I was going to be doing that night (if not for regionals), but I decided to stay and see how Saturday went. 

Honestly, I did not get any sleep Friday night... That's 1 thing to bother me, onto of the load of other things that were bothering/worrying/frustrating me... I went into the competition not knowing at all what was to happen. I tried my best to pump her up for our first run; gamblers. Gamblers went alright. She was actually speedy in the opening. She acquired 36 points in the opening. For the gamble, I was to send her over a jumper and out over to a tunnel... she shut down after the jump and stood there and did not move at all... 

The stress was so bad between runs, mostly when she had to be in the tent/in her crate.... When it came time to going back to the tent she pulled back and resisted on the leash.. She lunged HARD to get away from the tent, whined, barked... In her crate we found out she was chewing the metal bars, trying to get out... We could NOT leave her there at all. I had to had people hold her when I could not... In the crate, she would bark, bite the bars when I was right there, pant VERY hard and shake so hard she was vibrating... I really do not know what it is, but all of a sudden she cannot be crated =/ 

So, I was about to run my second run, being standard. I got her all pumped with the ball, handed it off to Savanna and then Shyloh was READY to go! She was ready to run this standard run pretty damn quick! But, then they said for me to leave the ring as they fixed the tire jump -.- This took about 5 mins, and by then Shyloh was absolutely distracted, unfocussed, and did not give a damn about me or anybody else... She watched someone who makes her shut down walk past the ring as I went in... At that moment I knew it was all down the drain.. She ended up running with 2 refusals (completely walking past jumps and just standing there) and 20 second over time. Her shutting down was so bad, she was freezing up and just standing there, like the warm up run...

During the wait between the standard and last run; jumpers, all I could think about was how set I was on leaving. I ran the jumpers with her in 33 seconds, but she had 2 tunnel refusals because of stopping to look at people and wandering off from the tunnel a bit... Too bad =/ But, she did pretty good in that run. I was impressed. 

Although her gamblers and jumpers ended up being runs that were rather good, I had my mind set on leaving regardless. I knew whether or not she ran well, or not.. I was going to go home that night for my well-being and for hers. I wasn't running regionals to qualify for nationals... In fact, I know she could've easily Q'd for nationals even in the state she was during the first day. I didn't want to make nationals that way.. and I wasn't going to go regardless of if I made it or not. 

In all, regionals was an amazing experience and I can't wait to go again when the time comes. Congratulations to everybody who had amazing runs, and made it to nationals this year and good luck.

May 27th, 2012 Trial

So I had a trial on sunday, May 27th. I actually did not have any expectations AT ALL. I really didn't. So I went and found out what'd happen. It was our first outdoor trial of the year and my 4th overall outdoor trial... Shyloh did not do as well as I really thought she was going to. The first run was advanced gamblers, very very distracted and sniffy. I expected the sniffy for the first run.. On a positive note, she stayed in the ring the whole time and didn't jump over the SMALLLLLL fencing (not even fencing hardly) at all. She stayed in there, just very sniffy is all. So, NQ.

The second run was advanced standard. The run was a decent speed up until the weaves where she began to stress a tad, and then she weaved and picked up some nice speed after that so she jumped the dog walk contact (costing the Q), then I just goofed off on my handling and she ran past a jump so then I petted her and finished strong and fast :) NQ.

The 3rd run was steeplechase... So , I know not to do steeple ever because of the fact that Shyloh's just always been too slow in trials to Q steeple... Which SUCKS! Because she has so much potential. Anyways, I knew she wouldn't Q because of how bad the stress was at the weaves label and because just her overall speed wasn't enough on that day.. So I FEO'd the run and brought in a ball :) She did it amazing! She ran it in 37.18 seconds and that's the 2nd fastest of all the dogs in her height division! SO awesome! I wish she'd always run like that.

So the last run was masters jumpers. This was our first masters run EVER. She ran the course clean, but was 4 seconds too slow. She shut down 2 different times during the course and I know exactly what triggered it all, oh well close!

Graduation

On May 26th 2012 I had my graduation :)
So, to be honest I wasn't very excited about it on Friday... I actually was stressing, nervous, anxious. Everything but excited really. I wasn't even excited to wear my dress, to be honest. I actually just wanted to get it over with and continue on with life... I'm silly though, it was a lot of fun! To see everyone who I've been going to school with for either the last 3 years, 6 years, or 12 years (some even 13!) graduate with me on the saturday was so amazing. We've all went through highs and lows, but we got through it all and we are where we are today! It was all super fantastic and I'm glad to say I've graduated from high school :D! I got $500 from my grandparents, $100 from my aunt/uncle and a macbook pro from my parents! My boyfriend MADE me a corsage and my co-worker gave me a card with a "class of 2012" lanyard (put on my keys) and a graduation bird pin thing :) I got to spend a lot of my grad with my childhood best friend, Kimberly and her boyfriend. We took a ton of pictures and had so much fun together. I have amazing people in my life, and note to self.. don't EVER forget that or take that for granted. The people who are meant to be, are the people who will stay in your life. What's meant to be will always find a way, and that's the moral of the story...

It was great to see everybody from my graduating class dressed up so nicely and all together to celebrate this :) It was absolutely amazing, even though everybody has so many ups and downs with EVERYBODY... we all were happy and were as one on this day :) Best wishes and luck to everybody in the graduating class for the future!