Points happen!

Congratulations to Bev McWhirter on her recent wins with Ribbon son 'Painter'  aka Inkwell Paintbrush of Milwin. Over a year ago he got his first points with Bev but has been concentrating on performance training since that time. Well his first weekend back out since that time he went WD on Saturday and WD/BOW for a major on Sunday in North Carolina, beautifully presented by Amanda Butts. Half way there Bev, way to go!

Back from camp!

Well we and the dogs had a splendid time at Camp again this year; cool weather made it comfortable though the second half of the week was rainy or threatening to rain much of the time, but certainly manageable and the fact that a blanket was appreciated at night was a welcome one indeed.

I mostly concentrated on various aspects of Obedience training with Ribbon and Thumper. Thumper learned a lot about dealing with distraction and temptation and also revealed to me  the areas I neglected to work on as a younger puppy, such as the insecurity he demonstrated when a dog and stranger would first appear on the walkways. Worked on that with copious tasty treats and a clicker, and by choosing not to walk him with Ribbon since they would back one another up in an annoying show of defensive barking when together. (On her own with me Ribbon basically ignored the same things). Got to go in with sheep though I must say Thumper was not a ball of fire with them, following them around at a lazy walk... Worked on Really Reliable Recall with Thumper as well, and he started some real target training and shaping. He is starting to do well with the dumb bell retrieve and was video'd by Bonnie demonstrating  a portion of the dumbbell retrieve  to be included (possibly) in an instructional video by Bonnie and Leslie Nelson (Tails U Win! training center) . My little star.He also mastered 'chin', a very amusing (in a n understated way, for sure!) 'trick' whereby he would purposefully place his muzzle onto my cupped hand and leave it there in anticipation of a click-treat.  Just funny how a dog doing 'chin' just suddenly goes very still in your palm while waiting the release, reward, or both.

Here is a picture of Teddy doing 'chin' in the dorm room.

Ribbon started some scent discrimination and continued target and shaping as well as specific Obedience exercises.

The other Ribbon sons had a good time as well with their people. Teddy learned a lot of shaped and targeting behaviors so he was quite well-versed in great tricks. He and the other boys all tried herding some sheep and he did well; also showed great interest in agility, as shown here.

Banner was a whirlwind of activity with his dad Nick, who sampled almost every single activity camp offers including, but not limited to: agility, frisbee, flyball, herding, obedience, Really Reliable Recall, Obedience, trieball, and I am sure I left something out! Here he is sitting with agility instructor Jenn, who took him in for tunnel games the last day.

Tache had a good week as well doing sheep (in a BIG way: still waters run deep I guess, since he seems the most low-key of the puppies but was insane in the sheep pen, absolutely predatory! (No injuries to hoofed stock were reported). He worked on Recall, some target and shaping, agility, and a variety of other activities.

We'd have liked to let everyone off lead together for some rough play but there is a limited amount of real good off-lead space at camp (250+ dogs on a small campus) and the boys showed signs of fast escalation of excitement that didn't bode well for safe play so in the end, a couple at a time would get some time together in an isolated corner of the campus. But all got plenty of exercise and oddly, none really showed much interest in playing with their mother after the first couple of attempts. (She is the epitome of 'bitchy' with all of them, it happens).

Anyway that was our camp, good friends and good dogs and great teachers and excellent food. Will return next year for more!

Family visiting!!!

In preparation for going to Vermont for Camp, Banner and Tache arrived and promptly commenced playing in the yard with their brother Thumper, sister Ziva and mother Ribbon. Ziva is the shorthaired one, being kept in short hair due to skin problems she was born with. She feels fine however and was quite happy to rough-house with the boys.

Tache negotiates Mount Inkwell aka my back yard.

Ribbon dishes out a can of whoop-ass on her #5 puppy Tache.

Banner has a scratch as Thumper looks on.







Tache wearing the spirea 'Mello Yello'.





A quick smooch between the blue boys

We're going to Camp!!

Last year I went to Camp Gone to the Dogs (cue up corny music on their website and click on 'skip intro' to move along) for the first time and took Ribbon. My sister went too with her Poodle Deja. I wasn't there 2 days before knowing I'd want to return as the instructors are world class, the atmosphere is completely positive, and it is a truly nothing-but-you-and-your-dog experience. It also made me realize I hadn't had a real vacation in years. Sure I take some trips but virtually always to sell artwork at a dog show but that is work and creates a lot of work leading up to it. This, on the other hand, is all about having fun and learning tools for better communication and training.  All with your best friends.

 So I had decided to return and told friends about it, including my friend Mary who has Teddy from the first litter. She was immediately interested and talked about going.


Then Ribbon had her litter in October. In the course of conversation with Jane who took Tache, I told her about CGTTD and she became interested.

Meanwhile I'd decided I would take 2 dogs to camp this year, Ribbon and the puppy I kept from this litter, Thumper.

I had Banner, one of the tri boys, for a long time before his right home came along and it came along through the new owner's friendship with Tache's Jane. So when Jane told Nick about her plans to go to CGTTD, HE became interested.


So the outcome of all this is that CGTTD will have more Aussies there than ever before and 5 of them will be Inkwell dogs: Ribbon and 4 sons. Camp will never be the same! We will post pictures and try to get some family portraits during the week and will hope for nice cool New England weather. Hope to see you there some time!

7 months

Thumper is starting to give me an idea of what he'll look like as an adult now. I don't think he will be very big (about 36 pounds now and about 19.5" at the shoulder). He has the most wonderful, confident and biddable personality, truly the puppy I always wanted.

I saw Lila for the first time since she left home in March and she looks very good too. Didn't get great photos but here she is; I will get better ones next time, some stack and portrait shots.

Sammy is looking great too, progressing well with his mom as he trains toward a great Obedience career. Thanks Donna for all the wonderful work you are putting in to him!






















Tache is having the perfect life with Janie in Virginia Beach. He gets a lot of playdates with Banner, who lives in the neighboring city of Norfolk.


Tache and Banner are joining Thumper and their mother Ribbon, along with Teddy from the first litter, at Camp Gone to the Dogs in less than 2 weeks and we cannot WAIT! The invasion of the Inkwell Aussies will be unprecedented in the history of the camp!!!

Haven't any really recent photos of Syd but this one says it all.

Thumper is 6 months old now, the age of majority!

Ducktail top line on this humid day but wanted his monthly photo so I got his monthly photo. At least he is clean.

Glamour shots

Took advantage  of a clean dog and a helper to get a couple of  5.5 month shots of Thumper. Boy, they grow up fast.

5 months old.

Thumper at about 5 months now on the first really warm day of spring last week.

Moving

Smoochie.

Thumper at about 5 months. Love this puppy's head.







His Group win at the Mason-Dixon "B"match a couple of weeks ago. He was a good boy.

Growing Up

Thumper is 20 weeks old now. Would post some playing outdoor shots but it has been 3 days of heavy rain and it will have to wait until things dry out a little.

Banner demonstrates in this photo just what rain does to 4.5 month old puppies.  He sends this from his home in Norfolk VA.