Thursday, April 23, 2009

SPCA March for the Animals

Over the weekend Jackson and I participated in a disc dog demo for the SPCA. He had a blast. He got to be on TV, got cheered by the crowd and got to meet a giant turtle. All in one day! He was a real super star. He helped the newswoman deliver a live teaser for the morning news show all by himself! I got to be a total stage mom and make hand puppets behind the cameraman while he posed and modeled his good lookin' self. Then he got to play frisbee for the camera. Now that he has been on TV he let the stardom go to his head. After his TV spot he forgot the little people, snubbing treats from friends. Gotta get that ego in check.

During his demo he was having a lot of fun. Enjoy:


We love doing demos. It is fun to just play with my dog without pressure. People are always happy to see the dogs fly. And Jackson is a true Cinderella story. This gives us a chance to talk about his background and show what a rescue can do! It also helps people realize that anyone can get out there and start competing. I am not the most talented and Jackson isn't the fastest, but with some hardwork we can manage to improve lol.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The 45,670th reason that Poe is "special"

We have 2 very nice braided fleece tugs made for us by a friend. The other night we are playing with the longer tug and Poe was assaulted. The crime scene investigation lays out the crime. See the case file below:

Victim: species-Canine sex-female name-Poe
Witness: species- Human sex-female name-Setsail

The complaint: The tug was wrapped around the victim's back leg. One end of the tug was being held by the witness. The other end was in the victim's mouth. The victim was pulling on the tug toy when she was assaulted by something resembling a foot to the side of the head. The victim was assaulted by the foot repeatedly until the victim dropped the tug from her mouth and attacked the assault weapon.

Detective's notes: The assailant turned out to be the victim's own foot. Apparently with the tug wrapped around the back leg, every time the victim tugged on the tug toy her back leg would fling out, kicking herself in the face. The victim, not seeing the connection between the paw to the face and the tugging motion being made with her mouth continued to play with the witness, repeatedly kicking herself in the face until the victim attacked her assailant. No injuries were sustained during the attack.

Charges filed: The victim has decided not to press charges at this time. However she had vowed revenge on the witness for laughing at her and a restraining order my be issued against the attacking foot.


Yup, everytime she tugged she got kicked in the face until she finally growled and attacked her own foot. Yes, Poe resource guarded the tug from herself. And this is why Poe is so special.



border collies.............the smartest breed.

Until Poe

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Border collie moves

Having 2 young agile athletic dogs in the same house makes play time so much fun. They make up little games with each other and moves that would even awe Matrix special effect directors. Here is just a sampling of their most common moves:

The Flying Squirrel: Poe is about half of Jackson's size, making it very hard to wipe him out. Enter the flying squirrel. Poe will climb to a high height such as the bed or the couch. She will jump out to Jackson with all 4 legs extended, hind legs a little further out than her front legs. All legs are spread as far as possible to achieve maximum surface area at time of impact in the hopes of toppling the giant. Considering that Jackson isn't paralyzed or stupid, this doesn't often work because he just steps to the side or duck and watches her crash into the ground. She also greatly underestimates the sheer strength of the brute because the few times she has hit him with the flying squirrel she just bounces off his side and falls onto the floor while Jackson looks over his shoulder rolling his eyes at her.

The Paw biter: This is usually the secondary attack strategy after an ill fated flying squirrel mission. After crashing into the floor Poe will roll into Jackson, snapping at his ankles. He usually stops this by sitting on her.

The 'Possum: Poe will innocently lay in the dog bed or on the couch, luring her victim into a false sense of security. When Jackson walks by she will suddenly lunge out, gnaw on his ear and promptly fall back asleep. The possum can also be used in the middle of paw to paw combat in combination with the paw biter. The fur is flying and Poe will suddenly fall over. Jackson stands over to investigate, leaving him open to a paw biter attack.

Ring Around the Poesy: This is a spin off of the possum. Poe will lay on her side in the middle of the floor. Jackson will circle her carefully like one would a live bomb. At some point Poe will spring to life and jump on his head.

Cartoon Ninja: During a stand off Poe will stand on her hind legs, front legs bend down with her head turned to the side. Finally she makes her move and walks up to him on her hind legs, snakes her head to the side and goes for the neck/head. It is called the cartoon ninja because if you listen closely you can almost hear the "Waaaaaaawaaaaaaaaaa" in her head before she strikes. However, it can also be labeled the velicoraptor.

My Ass is Bigger Than YoursTM: This is a trademark move for Jackson. When Poe comes in for an attack he will body check her with his bum. Then spin in a circle, pushing her away with his big hairy rear. This is usually the point where Poe will attempt a flying squirrel out of ineffectual rage.

TIMBER!!!!!!: Another Jackson move. Poe will hook a paw over his back and pull him down. He will exaggerate the fall, roll on his back and expose his belly. Poe moves in for the kill, but Jackson flips back on his feet and smacks her as she falls face first into the carpet.

I'm bigger, the end: When Jackson needs a break he will just sit on Poe's head. He will lay on top of her and occasionally spoon her. A nice homey scene except for the crazy legs. You can't see Poe, but you can see her legs flailing like a beetle stuck on it's back.

Circus Pony: Jackson will stand in place and prance like a pony. Poe will be laying on her back under him and will try to catch his legs as they dance.

The Berserker: Poe might be tiny, but she is mighty. Jackson might be bigger but Poe is crazier. She demonstrates this by wrinkling her puppy face into a rather comical snarl while emitting high pitched yips and squeals. She will paw at the ground and rub her face in the carpet like a bull, give a scream and flying squirrel into Jackson. Usually Jackson just side steps and looks at me saying "that there is one CRAZY bitch". The Berserker either ends in poe zoomies or Jackson puts a stop to it with I'm bigger than you, the end.

So there is just a sample of their antics. Conversations in our house go a lot like this:

"Jackson Timbered on Poe and she paw bit him. He started to bum bump her and she totally flying squirrelled his ass!"

I really need to get these moves on video. I'm thinking pay-per-view.


Monday, March 16, 2009

How Poe got her name

When we adopted Poe her name was Jasmine. We quickly realized that this little charmer was going to need something a little more unique and started brainstorming. My husband is an english teacher and apparently in my sleep I told him that he could name our next dog.


Going on a literature theme we tried Juliet, Raven, and Puck. She didn't respond to a single name. Not even Jasmine even though she had that name for about 2-3 months at that time. My DH has always been an Edgar Allan Poe fan. He has always wanted to name a female border collie "Poe". When I ever pictured a Poe I had a mental image of a small, intense, dark border collie with upright ears in a classic border collie crouch. I did not picture this:





I made a deal that if she responded we could keep it. So far the dog was only responding to "spastic little shit" at this point so I figured I was safe and we would keep looking. "Spastic little shit" was dozing in her crate when DH said "Hi Poe!". Well let me tell you. "Spastic little shit" jumped up, eyes bright, ears up. She started wiggling and dancing, licking the bars on her crate. Every time we said Poe we got the same reaction.

So Poe she became.

It took us about 2 states later to finally make the leap that Poe sounds just like No. As crazy as she was I'm sure she got "NO!" yelled at her so much that she probably thought her name was No. She was probably thinking "Hey, these freaks know my name...No!".

So yes.....Poe kept her name and will respond to Poe and No with the same enthusiam.

"Hi my name is No, No, Bad dog, what's your name?"

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Pomp and Circumstance

After 7 weeks, Poe has graduated from Basic Obedience. She did pretty well in class and rightfully earned the title Class Clown. Just a brief run down of her antics:

- Wrapped herself in her leash like a present
- Hogtied me to her with her leash
- Stole her practice "leave it" cookie every class
- Stole the other dog's "leave it" cookie
- Drooled on the floor during stay exercises
- When confused her default behavior was to spin on her hind legs like a ballerina
- Jumped all over the trainers
- Started holding on to the trainers' legs when they ignored her jumping
- Wrapped her paws around the trainers' leg and held on while they walked away
- Stole the entire plastic bag full of cut up hot dog bits and ran around the room
- I'm sure there are more but post-traumatic amnesia has set in

Poe loved class. She loved the challenge, she loved making a scene, she loved seeing new people. She did very well and has come a long way from the dog that jumped on my dining room table the day she came home. Wait. She did that last week. Never mind.

And major props to the trainers. They never got frustrated, they enjoyed her zest for life and helped me realize that even with manners, crazy will always be crazy. They recognized that her enthusiasm is a gift and we should harness it, not fight it.

So Poesy is moving up to intermediate and was recommended for a tricks class. Yup, poesy will be turning tricks.

And surprisingly enough, she has NOT eaten her diploma.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Snow Day!

So March decided to come in like a lion and dumped about 8inches of snow on us. Hello? Spring? Where are you? Nothing like hearing about a foot of snow and the DC cherry blossoms all in the same news broadcast.
Being from Alabama we assume (of course...we know how that saying goes) that little miss Poe has probably never seen the white stuff. Jackson lives for snow so he was EXCITED to put it mildly. We all woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed (well, Jackson anyway) and headed out for some fun in the snow. I risked the wintry camera killing snow and took some pictures of the kids taking a snow day. Enjoy.

Beneath his sweet face lurks the heart of a beastie:

An Abominable Snow Beastie

Ready to spring on unsuspecting Southerners

Run Poe Run
Old Man Winter is after you!

A Poe in the Snow
Beat down to commence in 5....4....3....2....1


HaHa! I beat old man winter!


Everyone had fun playing in the white stuff. We get all dried off and headed up for a nap and some hot chocolate

WHAT?!?! NO HOT CHOCOLATE?!
You've GOT to be kidding me woman.

And if you find spring can you send it back? Mother Nature really needs a GPS. And a calendar.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Bonding time with Dad

For the first time since Poe has joined the family I had to travel overnight for work. Two full nights away from home. Two long nights for the husband (DH).

Now, major props to the hubs this week. He loves to spend time with the crazy collies and couldn't wait for 2 nights alone with Jack and Poe. Manly meals of pepperoni and cheese for the man-beasts and embarrassment-free snugglefests and baby talk with his princess. He was ready with his lists of training homework, his clicker and treats. And his pen and paper so he could take notes for the blog post that will surely be generated out of this experience.

The husband decides that taking the kids into public alone can't be too hard. He loads them up in the car and takes them to a wonderful boardwalk close to home. There are people to watch, dogs to greet, seagulls to watch, water to smell.....................oh honey, how did you ever think this would go smoothly?

It started smoothly. Oh how such a short sentence can hold so much meaning. Everything was going well until Poe met a new friend. While meeting new friends is all in good, it helps if these friends don't have wings, don't fly, don't shit on your head and aren't currently flying over water. Poe tries to fit through the slats in the pier to meet her new seagull friend who we can call Bob. While Poesy can swim, this is really not the time or place. The husband blocks her. Crisis averted. But Poe once again shows her true brains and determination and figures if you can't go through something you might as well go over and starts trying to scale the railing. Well Shit. When that didn't work she jumps into his arms and tries to go over the rail. Well Double Shit. Thank god for DH's ninja like reflexes as he catches her and puts her back on the ground. Meanwhile, Bob isn't helping, still flying lazily overhead.

Fu*k you Bob.

Not to be shown up by his little sister Jackson shows just how smart he is. He is so smart that he can conjugate verbs, mainly the verb "to sing":

According to Merriam-Webster SING means:
1 a: to produce musical tones by means of the voice
b: to utter words in musical tones and with musical inflections and modulations
c: to deliver songs as a trained or professional singer
2: to make a shrill whining or whistling sound
3 a: to relate or celebrate something in verse
b: to compose poetry
c: to create in or through words a feeling or sense of song
4: to produce musical or harmonious sounds

According to Jackson sing means:

to channel his inner coyote and yodel, yip and howl so loud that there is no hope for slinking casually away, hoping no one recognizes when you return 6 months later.

Two women walk by and in conversation says "Whahahah ahahahahah singing whahahhawhahaha". Jackson quickly realizes that singing is a related form to sing according to Merriam-Webster and breaks out a howl like none other. People stop, staring slack-jawed at the tones emitting from his pointy little collie head. Jackson takes the stage and sings with all of his heart, dazzling his audience with eye drum splitting octave jumps. His audience grows, astonished that only 50lbs could push out that pitch for so long, much like Mariah Carey .

DH tries to quiet them but suddenly finds himself like most dads, woefully unprepared for the situation. Without even a crumb of a treat he is hard pressed to distract Jackson from his ever-growing audience. The husband stares into the crowd, seeing the cop car turning onto the street. Oh dear....there is no way to describe this scene without using the words "disturbing the peace". DH grabs the kids and bolts for the car. It might be a while before we can show our faces on the boardwalk, but hey, if you have to leave go out with a bang.

Dads might not do the job like mom, but they get the job done.

*love you honey*