Goodbye, Tala

SUMMARY: Boost's amazing mother is gone. (11/1/00 -5/22/2012)

I learned last night that Boost's mother, Tala, died Tuesday at only 11 and a half.

She was diagnosed very recently with leukemia, and apparently it was quick and aggressive, because just like that, she's gone.

It was less than two months ago that she competed at the AKC Nationals, at her age, doing very well against much younger dogs in the regular classes (as I noted with video here).  And Greg was conceding that maybe next year he'd enter her in Preferred instead of the Regular classes.

She was an amazing competitor who, after a rough early start (knocking bars and running past jumps, things like that) became the Dog Who Could Do No Wrong--she'd even run for just about anyone and do very well, although I think she really sparkled with Greg. Through her career, she often had highest score (as mentioned in this post and several others) or fastest time on the courses she ran. She appeared in the USDAA Nationals finals multiple times.

She wasn't a doggie dog--f'rinstance, once her puppies were grown and out of the house, she was done with them. She was into having a job, and whether that job was running agility or obsessively bringing back a toy--any object will do--she didn't much mind. And she was as reliable off the field as on. When I attended the judge's clinic in 2010, Greg was doing some remodeling work on the multi-acre site, and just turned Tala loose for the day. If there was activity, she'd be there to check it out--some of us ran her on the test courses for judges, because she was there, wanted to work, and never got tired--or if there was no activity, she just hung out quietly in the shade.

One of the tests for the judges was to examine a course to make sure it was ready for competition, and one of the "traps" that you were supposed to notice was a water bottle lying on the field. Whenever someone was out wandering around the field, Tala would trot out to the water bottle, pick it up, and drop it at your feet to be thrown. Tough to convince her that it wasn't actually a toy!

Blackwatch Hi C-Era Tala had both her USDAA championship (ADCH) and her AKC championship (MACH)--which I noted here--where you can also see how much she and Boost looked the same doing the teeter.

She'd have probably done a lot more if she hadn't taken time off during her career to have four (?) litters of puppies, all of whom have been amazing dogs, and many of whom look so much like her--here's a comparison of Boost, Tala, and Rowdy, for example.

My apologies to all those who have patiently explained through the years which litters their dogs came from, but here's who I can remember (who can help me out here?):

First litter?: Wyn...who else?

Second litter: Boost, Beck, Bette, Gina, Derby (and two other dogs who I believe don't do agility)--all of whom (other than Boost) have their ADCHs and I believe at least one other championship (MACH or C-ATCH). Gina and Derby have competed at the national level in USDAA and AKC and have done very well; all are smart, super dogs who want to work.

Third litter: Quas, Quik, Rowdy...is Roulette in this group? or Smarty Joanz in this group?--I believe that the first two have their ADChs, don't see enough of the others to know.

Last litter: TCam, who at 3 already has her ADCH and MACH and won her way onto the world team; also Tonic, who doesn't compete that often but who looked like a pro even as a novice--and I should know who else but don't remember.

And some of those pups--definitely Gina and Smarty Joanz--have already produced some amazing Tala grandchildren who ALSO look a lot like Tala (and Boost)--f'rinstance, as shown in this post.  If you have links to your Tala offspring or grandchild's photos, let me know, and i'll post them here.

So although she is gone, and way too young as too often happens--she lives on and on and on.

Thanks to Tammy and Greg for letting me have one of her puppies.

Boost

Tala

To post here later: Gallery of the tala photos that I already have...

Boost's Mom at AKC Nationals

SUMMARY: Tala is looking good.

At 11 and a half, Tala is around Tika's age.

Dang bar.



Looks like she was around 30th-40th out of 230 dogs in the rounds where she ran clean, and 53rd after 3 rounds even with the bar down. Pretty good for an old girl competing against a zillion top-notch youngsters.

And I might as well mention some siblings.

Boost's full sister (but 4 years younger), Tcam, also competing in the 20" class of 230 dogs, finished 5th in Round 1! (I'll have to find out what their faults were in the other two classes.)

Boost's littermate Derby, competing in the 24" class of about 90 dogs, finished 2nd in Round 2 and 1st in Round 3! Don't know what the fault was in Round 1. Placed 3rd in the challenger round, which wasn't quite enough to get them into the finals.

Title Celebrations and the Blue Merle Cycle

SUMMARY: Tika and T-Cam and Tala and Boost, oh my.

A very long time ago, when I was still competing with Remington and Jake, one of my classmates was competing with the dogs she'd brought with her from Argentina, a Doberman and a Spaniel. She was tall and slender and very athletic and accomplished great things with her "nontraditional" agility dogs. At some point, though, her dogs were out of commission, and someone whom I knew only vaguely at the time had a young blue merle Border Collie whom he didn't have time to work with. So this classmate ended up working with the Border Collie in my class. I remember my classmate's frustration with this very driven, very fast blue merle, as she didn't take jumps that seemed obvious to take and knocked bars for no apparently reason, but the classmate worked very hard, and the dog really wanted to learn, and they got better.

That was how I met and came to really admire and enjoy Tala, the blue merle, who several years down the road gave birth to Boost. Tala eventually went back to her owner, who also worked hard with her, ended up in the USDAA nationals finals various times--usually ended with a bar down in the final round, sighhh... But they became an amazingly consistent team who pretty much always Qed and took more blue ribbons than anyone could ever count.

My Argentinian classmate got her own Border Collie (Maja) and has done very well indeed, earning multiple MACHs and ADCHs, competing on the World Cup team for Argentina, cool things like that.

As is the way of things, people come and go into and out of different classes as the classes change shape, as people's schedules vary, and as the needs of their dogs change. So my Argentinian classmate has sometimes been a classmate and sometimes not.

About four years ago, she became my classmate again, and after watching me and Boost in class for a couple of sessions, she came up to me and asked whether Boost was spayed. Because she was starting to think about getting another dog, and she thought that a dog just like Boost, who was very much like Tala, would be just the thing. Well, of course, I had spayed Boost, and that was that.

Shortly after that, Tala became pregnant again--I believe her fourth and final litter--from the same mating that produced Boost. My Argentinian classmate (well, actually, a few years back she became a U.S. Citizen, yeah!) got a blue merle puppy from that litter and named her T-Cam (so she and Boost are full sisters). Well, Boost sure looks like Tala, and T-Cam sure looks like Boost.

Eventually, T-Cam grew up and they have been in our class again for quite a while. It's funny having Tika and T-Cam in the same vicinity--their names sound a lot alike, and I use "Teek" and she uses "Tee" a lot on course as short name cues.

So it seemed fitting that last night I took in TeeKA's huge new C-ATE ribbon--plus cheesecake for our classmates--on the same night that T-Cam's human mom brought in empanadas to celebrate TeeKAM's brand new MACH.

T-Cam is three years old.

I am trying very hard not to compare my seven-year old Boost to her leetle seester. But what did happen was a sudden, brief thought--you know, if I had a dog like Boost again, starting as a puppy, surely I'd not make the same mistakes again. And Boost really is a wonderful companion dog. And T-Cam reminds me so much of Boost in so many mannerisms and running style. And so, during class, I went up to my classmate and asked her whether T-Cam was spayed. Because if I were to get another agility dog... But, alas, it is not to be.

Heck, I didn't really want another dog anyway.

I guess that's closure for this tale.

Enough With Data and Statistics

SUMMARY: There were, gasp, other super people and dogs at the trial, too!

Here are some of the smart people, Wings' and Team Small Dogs' persons; I'm sure they're strategizing their super Steeplechase runs:

The person belonging to Kidd and Boss, listening carefully at the briefing in case anyone wants to buy super fund-raising salmon treats.

The Turlockians, aka VASTards, also my super teammates for next weekend's Team event at the regionals (Brenn, Quik, and Quas ("kass")). They always smile when they see my camera, which is too cool.

Gustavo of Team Small Dog gets ready to keep his brain together for a really fast run where his tail flies out behind him and he looks like he's having the most super time of his life. Also Belle the super tiny min pin sneaks her person into the photo, too.

Jeepers, "Me run *now*! Me super run now!"

Our secretary-of-all-trials goddess and super secretary-at-this-trial share secret incantations about computerized scoring.

Sparkle's person and Gwynyth's [not actually shown] person are having a super time.

Heath and Beadle's person has some of the most super tie-dye shirts in the known universe.

At the score table, there are some other super things that are almost as colorful.

Super vendors supply a vibrant array of dog gear.

Honey thinks it's super that someone might have treats.

Tika thinks it's not so super that no one is offering to let her do frisbee or even eat at this particular moment.

Someone is super hungry.

Stetson's super elevated humanoid transport device gives him the best view of everything.

We had best be super careful around this visitor.

Boost's mom, Tala, is Tika's age (10 and a half) and yet had some super runs at 22" championship, winning and placing left and right.

Boost's Uncle Greg has done a super job of training and handling Tala.

Denny has a super difficult time holding still long enough for the camera to focus, but finally manages it.

And here is Clark Kent the rescue Pom and his human.

Birthday Party With Relatives

SUMMARY: Boost's breeder's 40th birthday.

I didn't take my dogs because this wasn't a dog event, but people who were already there had their dogs, and so did the (very surprised) guestess of honor. Many of them were related to Boost.

Bette, Boost's littermate:
Qas ("kass"), Boost's half sister (same mother):
Rowdy, littermate to Qas. He's got the same half-blue, half-brown eye that Boost does (his right eye) but I wasn't able to get a good photo of it:
Quirk, father to Qas and Rowdy:
Quirk in a less dignified party moment:
Tango, "uncle" to all those Border Collie puppies, and a pretty decent agility dog himself (really, those two dogs were the only ones to suffer the indignity of hats, and each wore won for maybe 30 seconds for a photo op. They were very good sports about it.):
Tango's photo was printed in sugar on the birthday cake:
Boost's mom, Tala, is pregnant again with pups from Boost's father, so another litter of half a dozen full siblings is on its way:
Also there were Coty (Boost's dad), Qwik (littermate to Qas and Rowdy), Derby (Boost littermate), but I got out only the crappy snapshot camera and it wasn't cooperating much with me and they were running around enjoying themselves, so no photos. But here's the birthday card that Boost and I made for Tammy:

View all my party photos (none of me, of course).

Chains

SUMMARY: Tire chain, key chain, food chain, DNA chain, chain of thought, hair chainge

Tire Chain

At Sunday's practice, they set up last weekend's Grand Prix run. There's a sequence where the dog blasts through a chute, has to go out to take the tire at an oblique angle, and then pull in to hit the weaves, probably while the handler is behind them and/or working at a distance to set up for the next sequence. In competition, Boost handled this well. Sunday, she did the chute and the tire and then missed the weave entry completely. So I sent her back to the tire--and she ran under it. I sent her again, again she went under it, and I said "No!" I mean, she hasn't missed a tire entry in I don't know how long, certainly never in competition.

I started making the entry easier and easier for her (but the side of the tire was always what I saw), and every time she flew under it, I said "no!" and brought her back. It was on the 5th try where I put her in a sit directly facing the tire that I realized that the heavy (heavy!) tire chain was dangling down completely through the center of the tire. Curses on whoever set the tire! And curses on me for not noticing that my dog was trying not to kill herself. I felt terrible! After a break and some other activities, I put her back through the tire in both directions and she did fine, so I didn't break her permanently. Dogs are so resilient; handlers can be so stupid.

Chain of thought

Cirque du Soleil's Kooza had a fabulous juggler. For me, breathtakingly talented. However, the first thing that caught my eye when he walked out on stage was his breathtakingly glittery silver lame suit. When he took off the silver lame jacket to reveal a silver lame shirt, I was hooked. But he distracted me with 20 minutes of some of the finest juggling I've ever seen, and some of it was the sheer duration without ever missing. Ever. At the end of the act, my first reaction was, "Wow! What a spectacular juggler!" and my second reaction was--and I'm sure, as agility addicts, yours would be the same--"Where can I get an outfit like that to do agility in"? You can watch the first half minute of this video to see the suit, and if you're inclined, watch the rest for the first half of his act.

Key Chain

Agility friend #2 commented this weekend, wow! That's quite a key chain! I realized then that my keychain has gone beyond being a mere utilitarian ring--after all, I have only 3 keys--and has become sort of the Swiss Army/Smithsonian/Andy Warhol of keychains.

Besides the keys (my house key is tie-dyed blue/purple, although it's worn away mostly), I have a sturdy blue metal Maglite flashlight, handy for finding stray doggie deposits after dark, a green LED extremely bright spotlight, handy for blinding yourself if you're holding the wrong end, my Weight Watchers Lifetime Member keychain, a circlet that used to have an "E" attached", the lock/beeper for my car, an I Heart My Dog tag in case anyone doubted it and needed proof, and a dragon caribiner, reflecting my dragon collection, of which I have many more than I have dogs, by a factor of probably 200.

So now you know.

DNA Chain

Quick: Which is Boost? Which is her mom, Tala? Is there a slight resemblance?




And here's a token Tika photo with her favorite Tika Toy, so she won't feel left out:

Food Chain

I keep trying to get photos of the foxes that live in the field behind me. They come up close to the fence to taunt me into frenziedly finding my telephoto lens, only to fade into the distance. They are so CUTE when they leap into the air and plunge nose-first into a gopher hole. Here is the best I've done so far:


Think it's a little blurry? That's because it's enlarged from this original, which is the nearest I've gotten with my 300mm lens for crying out loud!

Hair Chain[ge]

Well, had to make this fit into the "chain" theme SOMEhow. The instructions warn that, if you let the chia grow for too long, they become embedded and you'll have to remove their roots with a WIRE BRUSH. Heaven forfend. So it is time for Mr. Chia Head to say a fond farewell to his copious tresses. Today, we have reduced him to a mohawk. It's pretty pathetic; he needs a better stylist.

Retrospective Photos

SUMMARY: From my collection, one of each dog.

For the Power Paws new years party, Instructor N is gathering photos and video clips from students for a show. These agility photos aren't necessarily the best ones of my dogs, but they are distinctive in one way or another. For this blog, for completeness, I added photos of my first two (preagility) dogs. I have very few photos of them, turns out, and most of them are lying down. Wish I had tons more, but nooo--these are the best photos of the whole dogs.

	Amber, my first dog, German Shepherd/Golden Retriever. Here she's about a year old. Got her at 6 weeks; she lived to 13.
	Sheba, our Siberian Husky. Came to us at about 6-12 months just after we got married and barely predeceased our marriage (her: 17 years; us: 19).
	Remington. He was about 10 months when we adopted him, and 3 when he started agility. I chose this one for the presentation because it shows the whole dog and has me in it, and I realize that it's been almost 5 years since I lost him, so there may be many people who know me but don't remember him. Almost inconceivable that it's been that long--he was just lying on that bed in the corner only yesterday, wasn't it?
	This remains one of my favorite photos of Jake, who joined us when he was 6.
	Tika, adopted at about a year old. Picked this photo for the presentation because it's the funniest weave photo I've ever seen.
	Boost is only the second dog I've had as a real puppy--about 3 months when she came home. I don't have a lot of photos of her doing agility yet, but this surely shows off her teeter speed--although lately she's often been sliding into a slam-down, which is a joy to behold.

(Oh, by the way, here's a photo of Boost's mom, Tala. Nah, there's no family resemblance--)

Boost's Mom MACH

SUMMARY: Tala earns her MACH--I think.

Tala on teeter

Boost on teeter

I just heard that Boost's mother, Tala (Blackwatch Hi C-Era Tala), earned her MACH this last weekend. Surprises me that she wouldn't already have it. Maybe it was a multiple MACH. (Although she has taken time out 3x in the last 5 years for puppies, and they have concentrated mostly on USDAA.)

I found online videos of Tala from 2003 (when she was only 3, with a substitute handler) here and here. You can see why I love it when people say that The Booster reminds them so much of Tala when she runs.

Congrats, mom. And owner/handler Greg Leal. (Or I might be completely out of date on this news--as usual.)