The facility is nice, but I’m not a big fan of doing trials there, because it is pretty cramped. Remi had never been there before, so that was an extra worry of mine (going off to sniff, etc). I walked inside to walk the first course on Saturday morning and I could barely get through the crowd! Thankfully the walk-throughs were split up and we were the last height to run. I brought Rem in minutes before our run and stuffed his face with treats… it was the best I could do. There was nowhere to take him to walk indoors because people were literally crammed shoulder to shoulder. Stepping on dogs, etc. Imagine my surprise when we were the next dog and Remi turned all of his focus right out to the course! He started barking and was ready to go.

Saturday was a great day, we started with FAST, then Standard, then Jumpers. He was 2 for 3, one bar short of 3 for 3! He dropped the last bar in Standard, which I was more than okay with, I was so glad he stayed with me and was into the game. I didn’t get any of his runs on video, which is a bummer but I have the ribbons to prove our success

Sunday was even better. Remi was 3 for 3! I was so happy with him. He struggled with weave entries, which I expected going into the trial, but he got them on the second try each time. In FAST I didn’t have a great plan, and we took two bars down, but I’m taking the blame for that one. 

All in all, a great weekend. It was nice being alone with Rem and bonding with him. He’s a funny dog- a lot like Alex, but really, so different than Alex. He is going to be a great agility teacher for me, and my first lesson is to run faster! I’m working on it, Rem!

2008 started out kind of miserable for Remi. Last Thanksgiving he came down with a bad case of ‘happy tail’. Basically, he wags it nonstop. The end of it was scraped on something (maybe our fireplace?) and it was bleeding. Picture a bleeding tail being whipped around as fast as possible. Spraying blood all over. It was a really hard time. Put him in a crate to keep him quiet, then go to let him out and he springs up and starts wagging and bleeding again. Anyway, the tip of the tail was so wounded, didn’t want to grow new fur or heal again, so it ended up being amputated. That was in spring, so he was down for the entire winter. So we promised to give him a great year doing the things he loved, in return for his downtime.

As soon as he was healed, we started back up with agility. He was more excited than ever to run again! He’s really come a long way. We are still working on weave entrances, straight on he’s pretty good, and his jumping is really nice. His contacts are 2on/2off, and he is great at holding them. I drill him and run past, throw toys, and he’s a good boy. My concern with them is him missing the up contact, it happens a lot. Grant just made some hoops to work on this problem, now all we have to do is remember to keep them in the car so we can use them at class each week.

He had his first AKC trial at the lab specialty in June, he did great- held his stay, was really ‘with’ me the entire run, and was eager to run. He dropped a bar and struggled with weaves, but I was more excited about the rest of the run. We’ve since done a USDAA trial, I entered him in Jumpers and Standard only- he got his very first Standard leg (and beat Alex, I must add). I was really a bad handler, he was SO good for sticking by me and saving my butt!

Another little struggle Remi had this year was a broken tooth. He came in from playing with Alex in the yard and his face was swollen on one side. I assumed it was a bug bite, he seemed to be acting normal and happy. I checked his mouth when the swelling worsened, and his carnassial tooth was split down the middle. The carnassial is the largest and probably most important tooth in a dog’s mouth. I took him to our local vet, who couldn’t do surgery on such an important tooth. However she did refer me to a dental specialist in Oswego, IL- he was able to get an appointment the next day. We had the tooth extracted and the vet actually let me sit in on the surgery! It was extremely cool. When it was all done, I got to sit with Remi in recovery, and the vet showed me x-rays, printed me some photos, and gave me the tooth (in 4 pieces) to take home. He’s all recovered now and you’d never know anything happened. He still eats raw food, still shreds up his meat and bones just fine, and likes to show off his missing tooth to anyone who wants to see it.

Remi was not a big fan of Dock Dogs last year. We struggled with getting him to jump and he seemed to want to get out of the pool immediately. My concern was he was doing it for me and not for the love of the sport. This year was MUCH different. He had a fantastic Dock Dogs year. His confidence grew with each event. Topping it all off was Nationals in Milwaukee in October. Last year at Nationals he jumped once and was done. This year, he kicked ass! He is the Novice National Champion and also came in 2nd in Junior and 2nd in Extreme Vertical Cadets.

Remi has also taken a liking to frisbee play. When I say the word “frisbee” he will bark and dance around. We are working on our technique (okay, really it’s just me, working on my throws- Remi is perfect) and next year we plan on entering a local frisbee competition.

So, all in all, 2008 was a pretty great year for Rem. He has an AKC trial coming up this month, and he’s doing 4 days of AKC in December too. We have a lot of growing and learning about each other to do, but we’re having so much fun figuring all of that out. When we brought Remi home, my hope was for him to be as fun and driven as his big brother, Alex. I got what I asked for and then some! Rem, I love you, little dude.

XOXO, Mom

Remi with his 1st place ribbon at Nationals!

Remi at the Farm, 10/2008

But… I missed all the attention, so a couple of weeks ago I broke something else… a tooth.  One of the big teeth in the back of my mouth.  I was playing in the back yard with Alex and a big stick.  When I came inside mom looked really scared, she said my mouth was swelling…  I guess it was.

Mom called and took me to see the vet again.  She was happy that my tail was still fine but didn’t like what I did to my tooth, so she hooked us up with a referral for a great canine tooth doctor (mom, what did they call him again?  An endodontist or something?) in Oswego, IL.  Mom was awesome, she took me there for my surgery and stayed with me like the whole time.  Turns out this doctor is really nice and let mom view my whole surgery from in the room, right next to the doctor.  How cool is that?!  I guess breaking my tooth into three pieces wasn’t good enough, the doctor had to break it into a total of 4 to get it out.  Mom keeps them in a baggie at home now.  I had some redness and swelling for a few more days but it’s been a few weeks now and I’m back to my old self.  I’m back to eating bones (tonight’s turkey neck was great!) and I still chew on sticks and stuff when I’m bored and Alex won’t chase me.

All of my injuries over the past year have given me a new perspective on life, too.  I realize how silly I’ve been about playing with mom and dad and we’ve had a GREAT time doing agility and dock diving this summer!

After a year and a half of dock diving, my personal best at the begining of summer was about 10’6″.  Last week in Evansville dad tossed my duck way out into the pool and I pulled off a 17’7″ – weeeee!  But that’s nothin’.  Today, mom through the duck out even further and I now have a personal best of 18’5″ - mom and dad say they’re real proud of me… that I’m a “big boy” now!  I love swimming!

I’ve also been doing good at E.V.  Mom didn’t believe that I was ready but when we were down in Arkansas in May, Alex and Abby were too pooped from Saturday’s jumping to do very well in Super V practice.  They both missed 6’8″.  I hopped out of the car and mom let me jump.  I grabbed 6’8″ cold just to show up my brother!  Mom and dad didn’t think I would get it, but I did!  It didn’t count but it was still fun!  Since then I’ve managed to win the Berwyn “Cadet E.V.” competition, I also managed to come in 4th place overall (behind my friend Tractor who was in town from Las Vegas – nice work Tractor!!!) in Dubuque!  Last week in Evansville I won Cadet E.V. again.  My official personal best is now 6’6″ and I can’t wait to go higher!  I was so excited that I managed to slip a couple of times during E.V. today in Rockford, so I only got 5’8″, but I’ll calm down and kick ass again next time!

Well, I’m off to dream about agilities and swimmings.

Until next time,

The little weasel (aka Remi)

I will be doing agility class with my hero, Alex, and my alpha bitch, Abby. Monday nights we will be with Diane Sanders, and Tuesday nights we will be with Sherry Kluever. Sherry loves me so far, but Diane has never met me! Diane likes my big brother so I hope she will like me too. I want to do agility all summer long. I also want to go back and see Preacher’s mom, because she was a lot of fun and thought I was pretty cool, too. Mom has promised me I will also be doing Extreme Vertical in Dubuque this year. That is where my hero made his debut last year and he won Cadets with a jump of 7′! Mom hopes I win Cadets with a jump of 7’2″. But I’m not sure I am ready for that business yet. I mean, I was the national Cadet Champion last year, but that was only a 5’11″ jump to win. We will have to see how much practice I can get in before then. I’m telling Mom not to get her hopes up.

So… I’m signing off. Mom is standing here with my lampshade and I guess it is getting late. I will write again when my life doesn’t totally suck. Until then, I’ll just dream about all of the fun I’ll have. Mom said 2008 is the “Summer of Remi”.

I guess it is called “happy tail”. All I know is that it is bandaged twice a day and it isn’t healed yet. Abby and Alex got to jump off of a dock and I had to sit in my crate and watch! It was a horrible weekend. Today mom took me to the vet to explore some new bandaging techniques. The vet was very nice. She said it might be infected, so I am taking some really good pieces of meat with pills inside. She also showed mom and dad how to wrap it very securely. I am happy because everyone in the exam room was optimistic!

Tomorrow morning, Auntie Barb is coming over to do some acupressure and show mom some techniques for massage that will benefit my tail. I am going to have a hard time holding it together and not wagging like crazy when I see her, because she’s one of my favorite people!

With this new bandage I can resume agility, which is really great. I miss agility SO much. I got to play in class for a few minutes last week but then I started to bleed again so I had to sit in the crate, again.

Mom says pictures of my tail are coming soon. So stay tuned.

Any get well cards or meat packages can please be sent to my home. Please make sure you indicate my name on the package otherwise Alex will try to claim them. Thanks!

Here’s some background on me. I’m a hungry yellow lab named Remi. My full name is “Sir Hamilton’s Kickass Mini Chops”. My parents got my name from my two roommates, Abby and Alex. Abby’s name is Kickass and Alex often goes by Hamilton or Chops. I am nicknamed MiniChops because I’m Alex’s little bro! Big shoes to fill, I know. Everyone loves my big bro Alex, and nobody ever pays much attention to me. But that will change someday! I will be just as cool as Alex!

I’m about to have my agility debut THIS FRIDAY! I can’t wait. Mom signed me up for Jumpers and Tunnelers. I started a new agility class with Asquared’s Trainer, Sherry Kluever. Mom said I was crazy in class, but I was just having fun. I can hardly stand sitting in a crate watching  Abby and Alex have all the fun. So when I get loose, watch out!

I had my first season on the dock this summer. It can be a very stressful place. Mom keeps throwing my duck into the water, I really wish she could throw it into grass more often, because that water is COLD! I started out my season with some confidence issues, but I ended the season as the Outdoor Channel National Champion for Extreme Vertical Cadets. Mom cried! I watch the Outdoor Channel every Thursday waiting for my television debut.

In April I will turn two years old. I’m already planning the party. I have a lot of dog friends. In fact, I’ve never met a dog I didn’t love. I’ve met dogs who didn’t love me, but never one that I don’t love! So my party will be great, I know it.

I also can’t wait for Christmas. I love opening presents. Mom and Dad always tell us that we have too many toys but they keep buying them for us. Have you seen a picture of me? How could they resist, really?

Well, I heard Dad talking about feeding us dinner now, so I really need to go. 

Peace!

Little Weasel