Tug Toy Ideas

Susan Garrett posted 65 different tug toy ideas. I love them all so here they are.

1. Bungee tugs
2. Crunch N Tug toy
3. Your long braided hair (if you have it)
4. Your hat
5. Plastic shopping bag
6. Sheep skin toys
7. real leather
8. Bird Feather with or without added scent
9. Rabbit fur
10. Deflated soccer ball
11. Shower puff scrubber
12. Water bottle (with or without small pebbles inside)
13. Tug-It!
14. A Stick
15. A crumpled up piece of paper
16. Your sleeve
17. Cheap, dollar-store scarves
18. Towels (tea towel, hand towel)
19. Your Leash
20. Flying Disc
21. Golf Club head cover
22. Old stirrup leather
23. Feather duster
24. Fly Swatter
25. Shoe laces
26. Empty toilet paper roll
27. Empty Paper towel roll
28. A shovel (ouch!)
29. Dog Show Ribbons
30. A Broom or wisk
31. Hollee roller with a stuffed a rabbit fur mouse rubbed with rat litter
32. Hollee roller with a tennis ball
33. Hollee roller with a Ball with Feet (Cuz)
34. Hollee roller with a mini flying disc
35. Hollee roller with a babble ball
36. Hollee roller with a mouse with a realistic chirp
37. Dusting Mitt
38. Piece of Rope
39. Vacuum cleaner hose
40. Winter mittens
41. Hair scrunchie
42. Dirty Underwear
43. Dirty Sock
44. Pillow case
45. Well in bed move your hand around under the covers while your dog is on top of the covers (seems like a live animal under cover)
46. Anything with Fringes on it
47. Paper cup
48. Paper plates
49. Palm Frond
50. Pantyhose with knots in them
51. A sock with a tennis ball or squeaky toy stuffed & knotted inside
52. Tissue paper braided together–let the dog shred the paper afterwards
53. A tea cozy
54. Nylon strapping
55. Cat toys, feather boa on a stick
56. Smooth items
57. Soft fleeces items
58. anything that makes a ripping sound (like a stufffed animal ripping open)
59. A branch with leaves on it
60. A tough cotton table napkin with cheese rolled in the middle the knotted
61. Plastic bag with food inside
62. Tugging on food: a raw chicken wing or a steak, then put it in sock, then just use the sock
63. A previously tugged toy (one with another dog’s saliva on it)
64. A springy telephone cord
65. A dust buster (mini vaccum)

Hope these ideas help you in your training

AKC Nationals

What an experience! I went to the AKC National Agility Championship in Concord, NC on March 27th. We ( my dad and I) left at about 4:00 a.m. and got there about 9:00 a.m. We got a little lost, but we figured things out and reached Border Collie Central (as I liked to call it) in time to see some of the Jumpers course. Most of the dogs there were from a rescue, probably because they had too much energy. "Tons" of Schnauzers, Border Collies, terriers, and Shetland Sheepdogs. There were quite a few Australian Shepherds, Doberman Pinschers, Labrador Retrievers, but only one Dalmatian named Phoenix. I took some pictures, so I'll try to get them on as soon as I can, but here are some from the AKC website.




Her are some videos for the people who didn't get to watch the Nationals. I recommend letting the videos load completely for better picture.






Hope God will fill your life with joy and excitement and beautiful weather for training.

Lots of Things

First, Rascal's breeder has a litter of puppies out of Rascal's Dad. So of course they'll be great pups. Visit his website here. So get a puppy before they are all gone.

Second, I just realized how much Rascal looks like his Dad.



This is Rascal's Dad (OBryants Red Rebel Drifter).




This is Rascal. Isn't he pretty?






Third, I saw this video on k9Performance and thought it was really cool. Wish I could train Rascal like that.

Volunteering and My First Show-n-Go

Boy, it has been hectic the past three weeks, but here is what I've been doing lately. Sunday, February 15th, was a wonderful day for me. I went over to a professional dog trainer's house in my hometown to volunteer. I was going to work with a group of people . So, I went over there at 11AM and people were just starting to get there. Ms. Barbara gave me a training bag and a Labrador Retriever named Sunny.

We worked on attention, Rally, push-ups, figure eights, sits and downs, stays, and heeling. Sunny was just as inexperienced as I was, but we pulled through and finished the class not in last place.

There was a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Australian Shepherd, Dachshund, another Labrador Retriever, and I think a Chow Chow.

I had a lot of fun working with Sunny and I can't wait till the next class.

My first Show-n-Go was so much fun. There were about ten or twelve Doberman Pinschers, a Labrador Retriever, a Rottweiler, Welsh Corgis, two poodles, two Old English Sheepdogs, and a mix breed. I got there and worked with Sunny some more and stood as a post for obedience. There was a girl named Marlee who also volunteers with Ms. Barbara and another girl named Rebecca who was there to see if this was something she wanted to get her dog into. I had a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next one.

I will be working on Rascal in the class sometime, but right now I'm really busy with the goats. Rascal and I have been working on sit, attention, and heeling. I think he's getting the idea.

About two weeks ago Rascal got on to the road. I screamed to him to come back. He gave me a look like "why should I listen to you". He walked right onto the road right when a car was coming, luckily "slowly". I called him to come and he came trotting over to me with a look like " okay so that's why I shouldn't go over there; yeah, Momma knows best, I see that now". My Dad was out there at the time it happened and he said that I should spank him. I had to explain that you can't do that after they've come when called, that would be punishing them for coming when called instead of the thing that you really wanted to punish them for, but it all worked out for the better. Rascal has started to listen to me more about not going to the road.

Westminster Dog Show

The 2009 Best In Show Trophy was awarded to "Ch Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee," a.k.a. "Stump," a Sussex Spaniel

16 Ch Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee
Breed: Spaniel (Sussex)
Sex: Dog
AKC: SN 61688903
Date of Birth: December 01, 1998
Breeder: Douglas Horn & Douglas Johnson & Dee Duffy
Sire: Ch Three D Genghis Khan
Dam: Ch Clussexx Sprinkled With Dew
Owner: Cecilia Ruggles & Beth Dowd & Scott Sommer
Photos: Breed judging / Group judging

Watch show videos at Westminster Kennel Club.

Flyball Team

Well, I will be working on training Rascal for flyball sometime this year. Rascal's best friend Ruby (Border Collie) will also be doing it with us. B.J. ( a friend of mine/Ruby's owner) is working on building the jumps and the box. You can read his blog and look at our flyball jumps here.

We are also looking for more people to join us on a team. I will be talking about it here and showing you how to train your dog for flyball.

Read the rules for flyball here.

Watch This!

This is a video that was on Susan Garrett's Blog. This girl's dog (Gabby) died yesterday, only a couple of weeks after she was diagnosed with cancer. "Gabby brilliantly represented Canada at both the FCI and the IFCS world agility championships. She had a great career that included both field titles and regularly modeling for TV commercials. Just last fall the two of them won the Canadian Nationals Agility Championships in the veterans class," Susan Garrett states in her blog. This dog was not perfect in her agility runs, but her handler and her made the best team I have ever seen. Which is saying a lot, because I have watched a lot of agility teams. Here's the video: Enjoy!



Zig Zigler: “The main reason for people’s lack of success in life is their willingness to give up what they want most of all, for what they want right now.”