Bark InThe Park 2008!

Saturday was the 14th annual Bark in the Park charity walk benefiting the Anti-Cruelty Society here in Chicago. Mom and Dad leashed me up early, and off we went. The 3.2 mile walk is held along the Chicago lakefront at Montrose harbor. The Anti-Cruelty Society is a great organization that WE love to support. Last year they found homes for over 5,700 animals and spay/neutered over 13,000 animals! Woo Hoo! I love nothing more than helping homeless animals find loving homes like mine!
We were near the very front of the pack of walkers. Over 3,000 walkers were expected, so we got up front early. We were hoping to get on TV, but they scanned right around us. DARN, maybe next year!
Look at all those people and their pooches! People who have kitties were encouraged to make buttons that had their kitties pictures and their names. They were so cool.
As we were walking along, I met this guy. At first I thought he was a pony, but nope, he swears he's a dog just like me. Just like me? Not quite buddy.

We had a good pace going, but Mom kept stopping to take pictures. Come on woman, hurry up. There are all kinds of treats at the end!
Once I finished the walk, I headed over to the agility area. My agility instructor, Stacey Hawk was running the agility course. I was kind of bummed that I had to stay on leash, but there were all kinds of dogs on the course, so for safety's sake we were all on lead.
Ahhh, where is my teacher with the cheese?
Guess who was at the event? My most favorite dogtor ever, Dr. Marks. She had to leave her pug Clyde at home since she was working the event, so I was a bit sad. I met Clyde at the Paws walk last fall and we became buds. Dr. Marks said that I was looking good and that the dog diet must be working as I was looking slimmer. We'll see what the scale shows. Thanks for the kisses Dr. Marks, you know I love ya!
After the walk, we checked out all the booths with yummy treats, toys and all kinds of great dog organizations. I put on the charm at each booth to scam some treats. We got my paw prints taken, but skipped the dog massage this year. I had one last year, but was so excited, that I spent the whole time wiggling, so Mom said not this year buddy. We hit the food tent and I enjoyed some apple while Mom and Dad ate donuts and bagels, so not fair!

Oh, while I was checking out all the booths, I found the Fresh Pet booth, where they were giving out samples of their Deli Fresh roll. Mom commented how she remembers seeing Deli Fresh on Bogarts' blog, and so she told the marketing girl, and you know what? They gave my Mom a free roll to take home for me! Woo Hoo, I'm gonna drop Bogarts name everywhere if it gets me full size freebies! Bogart, you are the best! Thanks for helping me to score free treats! As we were ready to head home, it began to rain, so I was quite happy that I did everything I wanted and I was going to stay dry! What a great day and a great way to help less fortunate animals!

'Till next time,

Kirby

Just another agility class

So, Mom's been meaning to get some pictures of my friends from agility class, but she keeps forgetting the camera. This week though, she remembered! Here I am patiently waiting for my turn on the course. This is the hardest thing about agility, waiting for your turn. So boring!

This is Lilly, she is my bestest pal in class. We've been in every session together since last June. She is a Vizsla and is quick as can be and jumps super high! Lilly and I love to play with each other during class, even though we're not supposed to. He he!
Mom tried to get better shots of Lilly and of both of us together, but we can't sit still for too long, so these are the best she could get. Lilly and I love to play bitey face whenever we're waiting.
This was the best Mom could do to get a shot of us both, even the promise of a salmon treat couldn't slow us down for more than a second or two.
So, I've got to tell you what happened at last weeks class. For the past eight months there have been the same core group of dogs in my classes with a new dog here and there. With the newest session, there are two new dogs that are a bit aggressive. They both bark at me when we are waiting for class to start. So, I got fed up this week and when I was brought out to the starting line, I broke away and went after the other dogs! I was barking and growling and showing my teeth. Mom and Dad couldn't believe it. My teacher grabbed me by my scruff and pulled me away from the trouble I started. Mom apologized for my aggressiveness, but my assistant teacher said, I wasn't being aggressive, I was being reactive to the two dogs being aggressive with me. Mom, still felt a bit guilty about me getting all crazy, but she did agree with the reactive thing. Can't wait to see what happens this week! Grrrrr!!

'Till next time,

Kirby

Agility Fun Run!

Sorry it's taken Mom and I so long to post. We wanted to show you the video from my Agility Fun Run taken just before Christmas, but Mom was having major troubles with the video upload on blogger. Finally, she loaded to You Tube. I'm just happy she finally got it loaded!

Every so often between agility sessions, if there is an upcoming holiday, my wonderful agility instructor, Stacey Hawk, organizes an Agility Fun Run. This was my first fun run, so I was quite excited. Everyone was quite proud of me when I was done as I did really well for my first time running at a new site. My classes aren't held at this location, so Stacey wasn't sure if I'd pay attention, oh, but I did!

A few explanations before you view, I wasn't supposed to do the dog walk, I was supposed to do the tunnel again. The dog walk at my school is only a foot high, I've never been on a dog walk that was full size, but I was so pumped, I just kept going and did just fine! (Note: on my second run, I fell off the dog walk. Got a bit too cocky and went too fast!) And at the very end are the weave poles. I haven't been trained on those yet, so my teachers were just trying to get me to walk straight through to get comfortable, but since when does an Airedale actually listen to what others are telling them?

I hope you enjoy my video, I know I enjoyed running the course. Oh, please ignore Mommy's commentary. Apparently she forgot that the voices get recorded too. Silly Mommy!



'Till Next Time,
Kirby

Agility Graduation

So, it's time for agility graduation, again. Not that I don't love graduation, but this is the second time I've graduated from this same class (Basic Agility II). Before I move onto a competitive class, I'll need to take this class up to six times, that means a lot more graduations to share with you all!

Best part of graduation, besides running the course, is getting to eat the treats! I ate all my treats, but still wanted more, so I started in on my plate. Oops, guess I got a bit carried away.
Now, if you are familiar with my blog, you'll know that mom has posted videos of my agility stuff before. Several doggies have commented that they would love to try agility, but they need to work on their obedience. So, I say, try it anyways! I totally don't listen during class. I was voted class clown, as I ignore my dad and do whatever it is that I feel like doing! Mom creatively edits out the several (six usually) starts I need to do before I get a clean run in. It's not that I mess up on the course, it's cuz I don't want to sit and stay to start. What can I say, I'm a proud disobedient dog! Mom has video to share, but it just won't upload. She is so frustrated, that she said she'll post it later. Whatever lady. I need my accomplishments shared with my pals, but alas, she's my typist, so I have to bow down to her on this one.

'Till next time,

Kirby

Agility Jumps

I'm not sure what got into me tonight, perhaps it was the glowing eyes or something, but I ROCKED in agility class!

Usually, I'm all over the place trying to play with the other dogs and not paying to attention to what I should be doing, but tonight I was on fire! We did some speed circles to practice our jumps and I did the circle twice without knocking over one bar. If you've read my past posts, you would know that I've had issues with knocking over every bar on every jump in the course. Tonight, with my speed and my mood, I cleared everything. Woo hoo! Mom and Dad were so proud of me!

Let's see if this good behavior is still around for next weeks graduation class. It should be interesting...

'Till next time,

Kirby