And the results are in.....

Well the screen shots aren't as big as I had hoped, but Minnie is clear for DM and a carrier for Fluff.

Wow, we've been slacking....

It would appear it has been awhile since the last update on Minnie....

In October she successfully recieved her CGC certificate.

In November, on the 29th to be exact, she turned a year old. That prompted a visit to Grandma Carolyn to show how she's growning up. (Photos of that visit can be seen here).

Today we collected the samples to be sent off to see if she is a carrier for Fluff or DM. I'll post those results just as soon as I get them.

In the meantime here a few pictures of her taken over the past couple months.

Minne and Glenn watching Monday Night Football

Minnie in her favorite spot on the back of the couch

I don't remember what prompted the pouting, but she sure is good at it!

We did it!

Despite the fact that Minnie missed her last two Canine Good Citizen classes due to being in heat, we tested today at the Responsible Dog Owner day at Riverside Park. We were the very first to go, and she passed on the first try!!!! So now, pending AKC approval of course, she is now Ebonwald A Minnesota Blessing, CGC! :) It was a great day.

Did you know....

that when you leave the garden water on overnight you get this.....



and this....




and not to mention this...




Now on it's own not so bad. Of course if it was just that then I probably wouldn't post about it. Now add into one young blue merle corgi who LOVES being a farm dog and you get .....
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ONE DIRTY DOG!!!!!

It's a good thing she's cute!

The life of farm dog is just so hard.... :)

Minne is a learning.....

Minnie has successfully completed Basic Obedience II, the distance and distractions class. She does very well at learning, of course the pieces of hot dogs really help. :)

We have begun rally classes and she is starting to get the hang of it. We won't be doing the show this month after all since she still has so much to learn. So we are continuing those classes and will work on her Novice Rally title in the near future.

After completing her last obedience class I feel she is really ready to take the Canine Good Citizen test. Turns out they will be having a testing here in Grants Pass on October 2nd. When I went to the Rogue Valley Kennel Club's website I also saw that they are having a FREE 4 week course to prep your dog for the CGC test. I figure the extra classes can't hurt (especially when they are free) so Minnie and I will start those tonight. Then on the 2nd we'll test and hopefully she can earn her first set of letters to go behind her name. :)

Minnie's going back to school....

We have decided to continue with Minnie's "education". This week will be starting Basic Obedience II class. We are also going to talk to the instructor about starting Rally classes. Thankfully the classes are on different days if we decide to do both. There is a show in Eugene in September Glenn would like to enter her in so we must get ready.

Guess who's getting ducks...

Minnie is! I'm going this evening to pick up 5 Indian Runners, 2 Mallards, 1 Pekin and a Mallard cross. Now we just need to modify the round pen with some chicken wire across the panels so they can't get out, and it'll be ready for her to start learning with them on a regular basis.

On the not so bright side, Gabbi had a check up yesterday. Her lump is now about the size of a golf ball. Her hind legs will sometime just give out on her. Something is also affecting her proprioception in her hind legs. Her right leg is a little slow to respond and her left was either extremely slow to respond or didn't respond at all. (I didn't see that one tested) The vet said it could be a couple different things. It could be a slow slip of a disk, it could be her cancer has mastitized (sp) on her spine, or even something else. So unfortunately it's only a matter of time on how much longer this dear and great gal will be with us. She is still her happy go-lucky alpha self for now.

Our trip to Eugene to see Garrett...

was a great one. Garrett got to see Minnie in person for the first time since I picked her up on Feb 2. While there I also got to meet Emily from DreamEyce and she took some great photos of Minnie and Gabbi. Here are those photos.....

Garrett and Minnie

Minnie also made a new friend, Emily's daughter, Dea.




She also snapped these picture of our dear old lady, Gabbi. Sometimes it's hard to believe she'll be 13 this October.

I did plan on entering Minnie in a fun show on Sunday, but it got cancelled. So next on the agenda is our final obedience class on Thursday.

I found some pictures....

so I now have two blog postings in one day. :) I got the following pictures off my sister's myspace page. She took them when she went down to the ranch in the end of April.

Minnie laying under a table outside.

Minnie and Kylah playing.

After all that playing, they needed a nap!

And I'm back...

Made it back safely from training for work. While I was gone, Glenn and Minnie got to "play" with ducks for the first time. I hear she has great instinct when it comes to herding. The duck's owner, who competes in herding, even commented on her instinct. Unfortunately no pics where taken. :( On the upside Minne has been invited back so I'll be sure there are pictures next time.

Minnie I have a big week or so coming up. I'm going to do a drop in class on Wed and take a crash course in conformation. Then on Friday we are taking a day road trip to Eugene to see Garrett (her breeder) who will be there for a sheepy show/seminar. On Sunday we are doing our first dog show. I'm calling it a fun show since its our first and not sanctioned as far as I can tell. It's put on by a local Bulldog Club and has an All Breed Conformation Match and Sub/Novice Obedience/Rally Match. We are going to do 6-9 month conformation (hence us taking a crash course in conformation) and I figure we'll also do Obedience and Rally for the heck of it. I don't expect to place but I figure it'll be a good experience for her. I have recruited Robert, my fiancee, to play photographer, so I will have pictures to post.

That's all for now...

We are the champions....

of the sit stay competition at class that is. Minnie did great. I put her on a sit stay in the middle of the room and proceeded to walk around her spiral outwards until reaching the edges of the room. She stayed seated there the whole time waited patiently for me to return to her. She was the only one in her class who stayed the whole time. I'm so proud of her. She also learned a down stay last night and we kicked up the sit stay a notch. She learned to do a sit stay while I move away from her w/ a chair and place it somewhere to sit down. Then get up, circle the chair and return to her. She mastered that in no time. Within 5 minutes I was able to take the chair to the otherside of the room to sit it in, and she stayed exactly where I told her to. Can you tell I'm proud? =) Minnie and I will have to postpone our graduation since we aren't able to attend class next week due to me being in Salem for 2 weeks at the Academy for work. So instead we are set for a June 24 final class

I took some video of her tonight playing with dogs where we're housesitting. They were taken w/ my cell phone so the quality may not be the best...

I'm thinking we are getting stay mastered....

So I took Minnie outside this afternoon to practice what we have learned so far in our obedience class. I had horses out grazing in the yard so I figured they would provide for a good distraction. She is healing well, a pro sit, and getting down. I then decided to work on stay since we will be having a stay contest at class tomorrow. The goal is to see who can get the furthest from their dog and still have them stay. Well I dropped Minnie's leash and was about 10-15' from her plus my gelding was 5' from her and she stayed sitting right where I left her and waited for me to return to her side. I'm very proud of her. She likes to learn but gets bored easily so I find it best to switch things up on her. Now here's hoping she does just as well in class w/ 8 other dogs. =)

Gabbi and Minnie Updates

Minnie is doing good w/ her obedience classes. She likes to learn but gets bored easily. I did however figure out that she LOVES to work for hot dogs! She has learned to sit, down, walk nicely on leash. This week we are working on heal, come and stay. She's a quick learner. =)

Gabbi's update isn't so good. The second tumor we found is growing in size. So unfortunately she still has cancer and it wasn't isolated. Now to look at her and how she acts you'd never know. She is still her happy, bossy, alpha dog self. So at this point all we can do is make she has quality life. When it comes to the point in time where she no longer does, then it will be time for us to say goodbye. Here's to hoping that's not anytime soon!

Time for school....

Ok so I talked with the trainer and she is well now. So tomorrow Minnie and I will start our classes. The only draw back to this one week delay is during her 4th and final class I'm scheduled to be in Salem at the Academy for work. So I spoke with Terry and she said Minnie can just do her final class 2 weeks later when I get back. She said it wouldn't hurt her a bit. I'm thinking if I like this trainer I may do more than just the basic obedience classes with her. I'm thinking Rally would be something fun for me to pursue. I know Glenn plans on doing herding with her.

Minnie is resting up so she's fresh for school tomorrow. =)

Wish us luck....

So the trainer got sick, so Minnie's class start date has been pushed back a week.

On the upside she went to visit her Dad and Grandma Carolyn yesterday. She had big fun. You can see pics and blog at Carolyns site under News and Blogs.

Minnie is enrolled in school...

We start our 4 week obedience class tomorrow. It's been about 8 years since I've done any obedience classes. At that time I took my Jack Russel who ended up being the star of the class. Hopefully Minnie will be just a receptive. She's a great dog but is very much a busy body. She walks nicely on a leash as it is right, but does need to learn heel. Glenn and I hoping she will master her down. If she does, it'll be a nice change for Glenn to have a hearding corgi with a down, seeing how that wasn't her great-great-great-great grandma and great-great-great aunt's strong point. =)

Minnie coming on 5 months....

Ok, so I attempted to get some photos of Minnie. I need to work on stacking more. She wasn't too interested once I ran out of crunches. I'll take any and all input! =) PS Weighed her today.... 28.4 lbs... from what I hear, she weighs twice as much as her sister... I wonder how big her brothers are...

No we haven't disappeared...

I have just been super busy. I didn't even realize it's been over a month since my last post. Minnie is growing up fast. The vet was here two weeks ago (I think, it's all a blur) and she weighed in at 25 lbs. I'm posting some pictures, I looked at the date on the file and it would appear that they were taken on March 17th.

So holding her lip up with one hand and taken the picture with the other didn't work out so great but here are her first big girl teeth.

The pretty purple collar she came home with broke so it was time to buy a new one. I wanted to find one in pink or purple camo for her. Her Aunt Gabbi has a yellow camo collar. I was unsuccessful so instead we get the pink John Deer collar.

Minnie loves being able to get on the couch on whenever she wants. She likes to lay on the back of the couch and look out at the window.

She's a goofy little girl.

And of course we can't leave out Gabbi-Goo...

My goal is to sometime this week to get some stacked photos of Minnie. Also within the next month she is going to start obedience lessons. She may also have some visits to Grandma Carolyn in her future.

Dads, Cousins, Ranches and Rodents....

Minnie has had a pretty big couple of weeks. She had her first trip down to the ranch with Glenn. She's now official been to our Spyrock Ranch. I hear she had a blast down there!



When the got back home to Oregon Minnie and I went to visit Huxley and Carolyn at work. It was very cute seeing daddy and daughter together.





I think it's safe to say she likes her daddy.

However, I'm thinking this isn't what Huxley had on his schedule for the day...

Poor Huxley, I think he's pouting because he knew I don't have photoshop for his owie.

Then Minnie got to play with Texas Bud.

Getting patted one last time before it's time to leave.

Then Minnie got to met her "cousin" Kylah for the first time. She had so much fun playing with her.

After such a big week, it was time for nap on the couch.