Inside RAT Tales Part 2
New Dogs, Old Dogs, Brags, and news.
Meet the New Members and their dogs!
New Dogs, Old Dogs
Ann Eggers
Coda came to join my family January 18, at first it was to see how he did in our lives.
Casper still thinks he will go back! Chace is fine, acts like the big brother.
I renamed him Coda, a musical term for “finale, ending”.
He is now 15 months old, an AKC conformation champion, the color is sable and has a unique mask. He doesn’t know much, but is very friendly, loves to eat, and go for car rides with us all. He was returned to the breeder when he finished his title.
He has been in a couple of homes until he ‘landed’ here so has some separation anxiety.
I’m mainly working on him getting used to the routine here and on the wait for his treat with out pushing him into the others.
He will go to his own pre sport puppy class next week.
So, I’m back to having three, it’s the 3 C’s repeat
Meet New Member Vickie Hurley’s Dogs
Raven is the queen of the Raven’s Run pack. She is the daughter of Ch. Genrae’s Dreamspeaker and Clan Duncan Cloud of Stars. She has been an elegant, civilized lady from the day she opened her eyes in this world (nine years ago). I tell people that she could guest star on Downton Abbey and fit right in. When Raven was very young and we lived in Burien, she and my two border collies and I did a lot of therapy work. Once a week we visited the residents of Nikkei Manor assisted living home in downtown Seattle. Everyone there appreciated her gentle manners. Raven and I also spent a lot of time visiting at the Elder Place Mt. St. Vincent community clinic in West Seattle. From the very start, Raven and I have done agility. It is her sport and she loves it. She gets VERY serious about striving for excellence. In our many years of trialing, there have been several times that she has stopped on the course and expressed strong disapproval for what she views as a sloppy performance on my part. (Sadly she is often right.) Raven has enough Jumpers and Regular points for three NATCH’s, but she intensely hates Chances because she feels that I should run WITH her. So, we do not have a NATCH ribbon hanging on our wall. What we do have is a wonderful life. We have so much fun together. She is my heart dog and she is always within the sound of my voice.
Bella Blue is Raven’s full sister. Originally she belonged to an elderly couple in Monroe. The husband was Bella’s special human. When he passed away from brain cancer, his widow sent the heartbroken blue Sheltie back to her breeder. The breeder brought Bella to us because my husband is in some ways similar to Belle’s late owner. As soon as my husband and Bella saw each other, it was love at first sight. They are inseparable. Bella is not interested in agility. All of her time and attention is taken up by looking after my husband. That includes many hours of helping him watch action/adventure movies. As a result, little, adorable powder puff Bella has become an action hero. (She can open a deadbolt and she can successfully remove any object from a counter of any height.)
Bridget (Raven’s Run Watcher on the Bridge) came to us as a refugee. No one knows what happened to her owner/breeder. Bridgie and four other young, obviously neglected Shelties were dumped in a shelter by a really sketchy guy. The shelter called the Sheltie club and the rescue representative picked them all up and parceled them out to foster homes. When Bridgie came to us, she was such a traumatized mess that we didn’t think she would ever be able to find a forever home with anyone else. (Few people want a dog who runs from them.) So, we signed papers to keep her. Bridgie, however, is not into being a “poor little rescue dog”. In the three years we have had her, she has made steady progress toward becoming not only a normal dog, but a truly talented agility competitor.
Meet New
Member Rose
Webster & Gracie
Rose is in her 2nd year taking lessons with Gracie.
This is her second WGSD. The first passed from blood cancer at 5.
She competed with horse competitions jumping in earlier years and loved it so much, this is close to that, so thought she would give it a try.
Gracie has been to conformation shows, and as she is double registered AKC, UKC.
Meet New Member Kathleen Daly & Becca
Becca and I are taking herding lessons once a week right now. We are also taking Treibball lessons at Schasam Farm in Stanwood along with NASDA practice. All of this is new. When I first got Becca at 2 we did some herding; however, she didn’t seem to really enjoy it, which I think was due to a shoulder issue. So we stopped and focused on agility. She had a difficult last two years ended up getting hurt which required lots of rehab. This was actually a good thing because there was an issue with her shoulder. It has been healed without surgery and she is doing great. Becca will be 8 is August so I am looking to get a puppy once we are settled. It will be a border collie.
Meet New Member Susan Risner
and The Ris N Shine Pack
Sue’s mother, Marjorie is sitting next to her, Avie is under walker, Nevi is off to Left, Lad is straight in front and Crosby also over rainbow bridge is on the R – another brother of Journey and Lad and many others in RAT
Joan Benjamin’s Scarlett (L) Lad (R) – frontJourney (R) Avie (L) – mid rowNevi in far back Scarlett is Lad and Journey’s sister
Meet New Member Glenda Specht and Raven
Glenda has Raven a 2 year old rescue Aussie. She is from the Puyllap area and she & Raven currently work with Kari Hammargren.
You may have seen Glenda and Raven at the RAT Sweetheart trial! She is Raven’s 4th home!
Meet Melinda King & Bonnie
Melinda has been involved in agility since 1997. She has Bonnie: Bonnie is an almost 5 year old black and white border collie. Melinda says “She is my first border collie. A petite little thing and although she is super intense in agility, she is a delight to live with. Loves to snuggle and loves her frizz.”
Melinda also has Beau: “He is an almost 13 yo black and tan English Shepherd that we adopted through National English Shepherd Rescue. A gentle soul who never cared for agility but really loves to be a part of our adventures.”
Meet Natalie Baker & Booker
Booker is 8 1/2. He’s a Goldendoodle. We have competed in NADAC and CPE, and we’ve been starting to compete in Nosework as well. Agility is one of Booker’s favorite things to do. He’s a happy boy who loves everybody, including judges in the ring, haha! One day we will try out AKC agility as well as USDAA.
Meet Leanne McKillip & Manchee
Leanne with Manchee. “He is a three year old Welsh Pembroke Corgi. We just recently started competing in agility (He’s my first dog ever) so he and I are both novices. We have competed in a few NADAC events and are going try some CPE events in the next few months.”
Meet Cheryl Evans and Mollie
Molly almost 2 years now and she is a rescue. She loves going on walks, anywhere in the car and loves agility. We did our first trial on feb 5th at Argus.
