First Lure Coursing Competition

Miles did his first lure coursing run with another dog (a whippet) to get his QC -qualified courser on Sept 3rd. He had to run clean, chasing the lure and not the other dog. Since he had never run with another dog before and there was a risk of him trying to play since he is a goofy pup, I had him do the QC run with his muzzle on. He was totally focused on the lure as if he was running alone and never gave the other dog a glance.
Photo of his qualifying run
Another one

Miles was able to compete in the AKC lure coursing competition that day and won the competition and also Best of Breed. He hit his toes on a pulley during his last run so wasn't able to run for Best in Field. His runs were all beautiful and and very fast. He forced the dog he was running against to cut across the field several times just to keep up.
Photo from the competition

Miles wasn't limping after the initial injury and the only sign was a red line across both middle toes on his back left foot. After a couple of hours of rest the toes started swelling and he started limping and not wanting to put weight on them. The whole foot was swollen by the time we got home from the competition. We had an X-ray to rule out any serious damage a couple of days later. None was found. He was lucky. Hitting a plastic pulley at 40 to 45 miles per hour can really do some damage.

Just to be safe Miles is not able to run around for 2 weeks, then can run by himself only for a week.  He hasn't been able to go to his competition obedience classes or his agility classes and life has been pretty boring. Normally he gets a lot of exercise and seems like he has calmed down from the wild pup that he was. When he can't exercise I can still see how much of a pup he really is. We are doing a lot of swimming to try to keep the edge off but it just isn't enough.

One Year Old!

The boys turned one year old on January 6th. We had a little party for them with doggy cake - a white cake mix with plain peanut butter between the middle layers frosted with plain unsweetened cream cheese. I also baked peanut butter and liver treats for the dogs. We had a human cake, ice cream and finger foods - the party really was an excuse for the humans to get together after all. We had a house full of dogs that got along very well together, most that have been featured in the blog at some point. Duchess the german shepherd, Roo the lab mix, Pinky the Italian Greyhound (Miles housemate), Shug the greyhound (Otto's housemate), Champ the greyhound, and of course Miles, Otto and Kohle the birthday boys. Would have liked to include Piper but she lives too far away. Took some photos of the party with a cell but they were all too blurry.

We have more snow and this time we got around 10 to 12 inches. More than I remember in the 21 years I have lived here. Yesterday it was soft powder and the dogs really enjoyed it. During the night we got a little freezing rain and it froze so there is a hard layer on top now that the dogs slip on and break through. They are hating life now. I had to clear a little trail off the porch last night for them so they could get out to go potty. Here are some photos of Miles playing with his lure pole yesterday in the snow. He is pretty serious about it and I think is going to make a good lure coursing dog when he is old enough.

7 months!

The puppies were 7 months old on August 6th. Miles weighed 60lbs and Otto weighed around 55 - I think that is what his dad, Joe, said. I can't believe they are so grown up looking. That cute little puppy stage sure doesn't last long. The puppy brain with adult sized body lasts for 2 or 3 years. Why can't that be reversed?

They are about as tall as a 75lb male and are towering above most females now. Of course they still don't have the adult length or muscle yet so look like little giraffes. If they stop getting taller right now and just start filling out they will be mid sized males. They should keep getting taller for another few months so could be very large males.

Miles has had a little growth on him for a few weeks. Took him to the vet and she thinks it is just a histiocytoma. Will give it a few more weeks to go away on its own. Probably nothing to worry about. Pinky had the same thing a couple of years ago.

Miles is chasing the lure and has been since he was about 6 weeks. This video was taken when he was nearly 6 months old.