Concerts, Festivals, Lecture Demonstrations, Music for Plays
Rinascenza! Italian Renaissance Music
Revel in the Renaissance! A Taste of Earlier Times Through Music
Canine Capers
A new addition to our family: Kipper is enjoying her walks and playtime with her doggie friends. Plus plenty squirrel watching and couch time!
Kipper
Our sweet Luxawoo (Lux, Lucky) died in August 2020 at age 15. We adopted him in July of 2017. He was a stray, and was estimated to be 12 years old at that time. A great companion, greatly missed.
Luxawoo
Merry died in May of 2017 at age 14 1/2. We were so happy to have him for his good long life.
Sadly, we lost Pippin to a brain tumor in July 2009.
Anne and Rob adopted from shelters two English Springer Spaniels who sometimes accompany them to outdoor performances. Pippin (as Her Majesty's Spaniel Pippin) "danced" at the Silver Leaf Renaissance Festival in 2003. She has attended classes in obedience, agility and canine freestyle (dancing!). Pippin was awarded a Canine Good Citizen certificate and passed her therapy dog test. The younger dog Merry (as Merry Andrew the Jester) had his debut (just hanging out) at the Stony Encampment in June of 2003. He graduated from obedience classes and competes in agility. Most recently, the spaniels appeared at a fund-raiser for an art center. Pippin danced to the bagpipe and Merry played a toy piano.
You can support and adopt great pets, too! Visit our dogs' alma maters at Michigan Humane Society and the Michigan Animal Rescue League.
Dogs with agility ribbons: Merry on left (blue bandana), Pippin on right (pink bandana)
Pippin and Merry compete in agility events sanctioned by Canine Performance Events (CPE). Pippin competed in the 2005 CPE National Trials. She completed her C–ATCH title (CPE Agility Trial Champion) on Feb. 2, 2007, and her C–ATCH 2 on July 27, 2008. She has now earned some legs toward her CT–ATCH ("Enthusiast") title. After completing his CPE Level 1 title, Merry suffered a non-agility related elbow injury. He now competes at a lower jump height in the Specialist Class and has earned his Specialist Champion title. "SpCH Merry" is now working toward the CS–ATCH (Specialist Agility Trial Champion) title.
C-ATCH PIPPIN! Picture and Story
Both Pippin and Merry attended classes at the Michigan Humane Society Pet Education Center (where we were introduced to the world of dog agility). They train in agility at Hadley Acres Obedience & Care and Stony Creek Canine Academy. Anne handles the dogs in agility practice and competition.
A favorite agility course for Anne and the dogs is “FullHouse.” This is a fast timed run in which the handler can send the dog to any obstacle in any sequence, collecting points for successfully completing the obstacles. A minimum of certain types of obstacles must be taken. There is no wrong course. In fact if the dog accidentally takes an obstacle the handler didn’t mean to take, the dog still accumulates points. Sometimes the dog has a better plan than the handler and ends up with more points than the handler was trying for! Points needed to qualify increase as dogs move up through the levels. Another fun course is “Snooker.” “Snooker” is the hardest course to describe. It is another timed course and because of the manner in which the handler and dog team accumulate points, they often end up running back and forth across the course looking like bouncing billiard balls. Whew!
Anne finds the most difficult course to be “Jackpot.” In a traditional “Jackpot” course points are collected in the same manner as in “FullHouse,” but at some point during the run a “gamble” must be attempted. This is a short sequence of obstacles in which the handler must direct the dog from a distance.
Darrowby Eight-Five dog agility equipment
CS-ATCH Merry! Picture and Story
A very nice CPE Jumpers run for Merry, 9/2010. He placed first, and had the fastest time of any dog in Level 5. Video
Dearly Departed Musical Dogs: Sarah, Sasha, Chumley, Pippin, Merry, Lux
