What's that?

Coyote? Fox? Wolf?
Nope, just Abby, summoning her inner wild dog. She's even teaching her brother how to survive in the wild -
by eating logs...obviously.

Wild dogs must also disguise their scent by rolling in what appears to be dead bird.
Lovely.
(on a side note, this is how Abby looked at the park a few weeks ago after a dog ran at her, bit her and bowled her over. It caused an egg sized lump on her side - a seroma - that got drained when I brought her to the vet today. Poor little Abigail!)

Ryan seems to be catching on to the wild dog thing.
Find a den...

Hunt for birds (or at least stare at them longingly...as if Ryan could catch one)

He's even got the whole "emo half-starved wild dog living on the edge" look down

Abby's way more in touch with her wild side...for real
She even went as far as breaking up the thinly formed ice on the lake and running away with chunks of it to chew on. 'Cause logs and ice are definitely a well rounded diet.

Ryan tried to copy her...but he didn't quite get it
It's a good thing you're handsome, Ry Guy...

And I'll give you some credit - you do look pretty wolf-like sometimes

Ok, done - in touch with inner wild dogs, guess you guys can stay here while I go home
Yeah right
As if they got much further away from me than this

It's sure looking like a winter wonderland already up the mountain!

A little movie

I was organizing my computer and I found a bunch of forgotten video clips..I put them all together...and they make me laugh.

Just Because from JD on Vimeo.

Paco was adopted a few weeks ago by a wonderful family with two teenage girls. He gets taken for runs through the forest and he is a regular at the local coffee shop. He also has his very own Ragdoll cat to wrestle (that's right, wrestle) with. He sure got lucky!

Just the usual

going on here lately.

You know, a sea lion...


A dog wearing the cone of shame...

A little dog saved from the South Central shelter in LA...

Wait, what??

Yep, that's Paco.

Erika, Loic and I went to LA for a week and amidst the beach walking, shopping and relaxing, we managed to visit 3 animal shelters and fly a 10 lb dog home with us.

Beach walking
(Loic hated the sand on day 1 and took off crawling in it while laughing hysterically on day 2)

Shopping

Relaxing

We brought little Paco back here to find a home for him. He was in the worst of the LA shelters, from what I can tell. South Central needs to euthanize dogs all the time for space. The shelter was packed full. Not that this should need to be justified, but we brought a dog back here to Vancouver because (luckily in some ways) there are very few little dogs in shelters here. We've got way too many big dogs, but people searching for a little dog often end up turning to pet stores and breeders because they "just couldn't find one in the shelter".

We picked the friendliest dog we could find...and it didn't hurt his chances that he happens to be a Toby clone with Abby's face. He makes Toby look big though!

I like him. He's got that awesome terrier attitude. He's going to make someone a great little dog! He was so easy to fly with, too. He was in a soft crate in the cabin and he just slept the whole time.

Kepler is looking more and more like an adult these days.


Oh, and the cone of shame part? Ryan had this nasty looking lump on his leg that was most likely a histiocytoma. They're benign lumps that young dogs get that disappear in a couple of months....if left alone. Ryan must have started chewing at it when I was away and when I got back the lump was gone and all that remained was a horrible pseudomonas infection. He's on antibiotics and I've been wrapping his leg in honey bandages (honey kills pseudomonas). His leg is looking much better right now. Hopefully he won't have to wear the cone for much longer...he was found stuck standing between the couch and the coffee table the other day. He can be so smart sometimes...and then sometimes I just wonder...

Ay Chihuahua

That's one little dog to fill an awfully large beach.

Good thing he had some assistance.


Kepler's not such a puppy anymore! He's becoming quite the looker.

You know, Bella, I'd be getting out of the way right about now if I were you.
I don't remember what happened after this, I just liked the picture.

Amigo will play with anything.

Perfect camo for Cooper.

I like the light in this photo.

Tyler's in his element.

The many faces of Abby

Abby cracks me up. She is so expressive, demanding, and bitchy...yet also worried and sensitive. She'll let me know when I throw the ball "wrong" (if it bounces unexpectedly) and she always talks back when I ask her to do something she doesn't feel like doing. I think she's the biggest character of a dog I've ever met.

Unsure
Downright worried

Screw this, I'm heading back to shore!

Racing

Putting everything into that turn

Intense (putting it lightly)

Competitive

Err...

Feeling adored

A prissy girl

Just plain happy