Go Canada Go

Tonight is the last night of the Olympics. The streets are packed, people are out drinking and celebrating and I feel more like doing...

this.

"Doin whatz?"

Cuddling with you, you dimwit!

I would cuddle with you, too, Abby, but you are terrible at cuddling.

Plus you stink like skunk.

"B*&%$"

Today someone met Abby for the first time and commented on what a "powerful" dog she is. I guess it's true...she is a muscle packed little dog now. It's a big change from when she was younger and built like a whippet. I think it was around her third birthday that her ribs "popped" (before they were very narrow) and she started really developing muscle.

Ryan's third birthday is coming up next month and I can see the same type of change happening with him. He's actually starting to get a chest (his shoulders almost touched in the front before..) and his ribs cage has widened. Come to think of it, he is looking kinda huge these days. Not a puppy anymore!

The Beez Knees

Who is this tall young man?
It's teenage Beezer!

He's changed a lot in the last 4 months...

He mostly grew in the tail...

Not too old to be puppy squished though...

Two headless mutts and a borderline collie

Ryan almost looks intense here...

Take it back, still a goof!

How could you resist this face?

Abby hates...

...waiting in the car before getting to go run.

Pure happiness is running and running and running.

Remember that thing about the face that always makes me smile?

Here it is again:

What a goofball! He has got to be one of the happiest dogs alive.

Tyler has such a soft expression.

I guess running is pure happiness for Tyler too..mixed with a little bit of psychosis?

Here is a totally unrelated photo of Tycho (affectionately known as Tychmanike). He was Abby's very first boyfriend. He couldn't join in on a walk like that one because he has pretty severe hip dysplasia in both hips. He's only 5. Tycho was rescued as a puppy so who knows what his background was..but it still makes me wonder how people can breed dogs that haven't had their hips certified. How can they possibly justify that to themselves?

Skunked.

Saturday night I got home just before midnight to go to sleep since I had to get up early the next morning for an agility trial. I stuck the dogs in the yard while I was getting ready for bed and when I went to get them 5 minutes later I only saw Ryan waiting by the door....and then saw Abby on the *other* side of the fence. As soon as I opened the door the wave of skunk spray hit me. I went to open the gate to let Abby back into the yard...and the entire front of her body was wet from being sprayed. I have no idea what happened but I assume she saw the skunk by the car, went through a hole or jumped over the fence to chase and got sprayed out there.

Why is Ryan so good and Abby so very bad??

There are no pharmacies around here that are open all night and I had no hydrogen peroxide to mix up the magical de-skunking solution. I used what I had...vinegar, baking soda and dish soap, to try and break up the skunk oil. It barely did anything. Abby smelled so bad that she had to stay out in my car (in a crate...which now stinks) during the trial the next day since everyone was complaining. When we got home from the trial I gave her a bath with the hydrogen peroxide solution and I think she smells a bit better...but still pretty bad.

Ugh.

In other, much better news - Ryan was a superstar at the trial! He did 2 standard runs and a gamblers run (all starters still) and got first place with Qs in all three. He was awesome! Did his 12 weaves perfectly, didn't knock any bars (I have him in 22" specials now since I think 26" is just too high...why make him jump that high?), stuck every single contact until I released him. What a good GOOD boy. This was only his 3rd trial ever and he kept his head the whole time and never even broke a start line stay.

I also need to brag about Erika's Tyler - he got his last advanced standard Q and moved into masters...and then got a masters standard Q the next day!! It was a very challenging run but Tyler did it!

Abby...well..I was so distracted by the whole skunk cloud surrounding her that I messed up both of our standard runs. Oops!

I have a ton of pictures from the last few weeks that I finally got off my camera..just have to go through them still.

This Face

always makes me smile.

BAD ABBY!

I put Abby and Ryan's chicken carcasses on the washing machine to thaw and went around cleaning up, etc.....I went outside for about 2 seconds and came back in to see Ryan standing looking very nervous (licking his lips, shifty eyed) behind Abby, whose head was hidden around the corner. I peeked around the corner...and there was BAD ABBY chowing down on the chicken! She'd pulled them both onto the ground while somehow leaving the bowl on the washing machine and she was most of the way through the 1st carcass. GOOD RYAN hadn't touched the chicken (probably because Abby would have beaten him up). At least BAD ABBY only went for her own food....

What's the big deal?

In other news, Abby flirted with 7 for the first time today. Even though she was spayed very early (before I got her) she has a major thing for intact males. She screams, spins, slaps them in the face, jumps over them, spins some more - it's pretty entertaining but usually completely ineffective since the male has no clue what she's trying to do. Up until today 7 must have been too young for Abby's affections. Today, though, while buying (the later stolen by BAD ABBY) chicken carcasses there was definite flirtation. So cute!