Friday, July 30, 2010

HAbby Birthday!



Ok, that was pretty lame...but it's better than the title for last year which, had I blogged about it, would have been "Happy Barfday!". Last year I made Abby tuna cupcakes and she loved them so much that she scarfed them down....and a few minutes later they were re-gifted to Ryan.

Moving on...

This year I didn't bake anything for Abby but a very nice agility classmate brought a doggy cake to class last night in celebration of Abby's ATCH (pictures of the CongrATCHulations cake coming soon - ahem, Erika!). I think Abby liked the cake almost as much as I did. Who knew dog cakes tasted so good? Carob and sweet icing....delicious!

I can't believe Abby turns 6 today. How is my wonderful oh-so-bad little nutty mutt 6 years old already?

I love this dog so much!



Even when she's being BAD!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Abby Alphabet Soup

Last night Abby added some alphabet soup to the end of her name.


She is now...

Abby AtChC!

That's right - she finally got her Agility Trial Champion of Canada title, just in time for her 6th birthday. We were waiting for this last standard Q for a loooong time and last night was finally our night! She'll get her ribbon on Sunday so I'll take some pictures then :) Yay Abby!!!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Do you ever wish

that you could see life through the eyes of a puppy?


Well, ya can't. Cause I cut them off.

No, but really.
Everything is new and exciting and sometimes you just have to put your ears away and RUN!
No-ears Kepler reminds me of a certain tiny-eared someone.

"Whoozat? Whooz got tiny ears?"

Well, it certainly isn't Kepler.
Not that we are having any ear envy.
No ear envy here at all.

Never you mind, Ryan. You just keep looking handsome
(tiny ears!!).
You can make up for your physical shortcomings with your splashy water entrances


and your ability to keep both eyes open at all times in case of sudden toy departure.
All that beaching was a lot of work! Next it was time for some crepes. Both boys were very good and rested in the shade under our chairs at the cafe (on a busy main street). Abby stayed home for this outing...when I got to the busy dog beach my first thought was "this is the stuff of nightmares involving Abby". Kids screaming, people running everywhere, excited dogs swimming and chasing toys, dogs stealing other dogs' toys. It was a very busy Sunday at a very popular beach. Great for puppy, fine for Ryan (good boy!) - terrible for Nuttymutt! It was one of those times when I could congratulate myself for a decision well made to leave Abby at home.



Puppy socializing is fun!


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Surrounded by

CUTE!


Baby (not so baby anymore!) Lolo Cute
Baby Kepler Cute

Please Don't Steal My Toy Tuggy-Face Cute

Interlude of Just ?, not so much Cute

Back to the Cute,
Running Puppy Cute

Um, again with the ?
Strange Boy Tyler, Cute in his Own Way

Most Definitely Not Cute, but Still Entertaining

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

And some pictures


of those dogs in the city.

Kepler wasn't too bothered by the Jazz festival.
Very alert dog in the city (at the Jazz festival)
Little puppy, big park!
Serious Kepler face.

Oh Ryan, such a good boy.

Two boys on Canada day.
Kepler and Poppy.




Dogs in the City

Can I just say that I love puppy socializing at this time of year? Not that we've had much summer weather...but there is just so much more to do here in the summer and having a puppy in need of socialization around is the perfect excuse to go enjoy it all.

On a side note - I need to bring my good camera next time. I haven't taken any Kepler pictures with it yet!

Jess, Kepler, Emma, 7, Abby and I went and checked out the Jazz festival this weekend. There were a lot of noisy booths (including the magical waffle bowl/fruit/ice cream/chocolate sauce booth that we probably would have been better off not finding) and a crazy noise-making instrument kid plaza of some kind. I'm really not sure what it was but could you ask for a more ideal puppy experience?

I had decided to bring Abby since Ryan came on the last outing and I haven't given Abby enough crowd credit these days. She really is a different dog than she once was, and when she has her harness on the whole yo-y0 leash-walking thing is a lot less frustrating. She isn't and never will be the Walmart greeter dog but she is able to look at anything without reacting and she is alert but relaxed even with kids/dog/people/noise all around her. A few people (adults) wanted to pet her and I let Abby choose to go say hi - which she did, briefly, until she realized they weren't interesting to her in any way. We still play the 'look at that' game (especially around the aforementioned noise-making instrument kid plaza) but it's more to keep Abby occupied than a necessity anymore. Yay! Small victories :)

Today I stole Kepler and took him to visit a friend who has a 4 month old puppy, Poppy. The two puppies loved each other and I can't get enough of watching puppy play. I let Ryan into the yard for a bit but he was pretty nervous of my friend's kids (ages 3 and 6). He has gotten more nervous around children as he gets older and that is completely my fault - not enough continued child socializing. I haven't put enough effort into it since I'm not around kids (except for my wonderful and perfect "nephew" Loic) very often. I felt bad for putting Ryan into the yard situation today since he was obviously nervous and was only half interested in playing ball when the kids threw it (a very big sign of being nervous for Ry since he looooves his ball). I took him out of the yard after a few minutes and then stewed about this black hole in his socialization. Sigh.

To make matters worse...the poor Ry guy got attacked on my run this evening! The dog is a wolf hybrid kind of thing and she attacked Ryan another time a few months ago. I don't use the word 'attacked' loosely. Ryan was trotting down the side of the path a bit behind me completely minding his own business, not making any kind of eye contact with this dog (I was watching since she looked like the dog who'd gone after him before, but I wasn't sure yet - feel bad about that, too - should have stayed closer to poor Ryan!). She was staring at Ryan and then suddenly lunged across the path and jumped him from behind, pinning him to the ground and biting him while he screamed. He managed to run across the path with her still on top of him and finally she kind of stopped and her owner grabbed her. I started out telling the owner that his dog really needs to be on a leash, and when he turned out to be a completely asshole about the whole thing ("my dog did nothing wrong! there isn't a mark on your dog! she has been playing with all the other dogs!"), Jess and I both lost it on the guy and started yelling at him about how irresponsible he is and how his dog is going to hurt another dog. The guy really didn't care and walked off with his dog still off leash.

Le sigh. I hate people sometimes. Ryan is fine but I bet he needs a good night's sleep after a stressful day. Seeing your dog get attacked like that is beyond awful.

Pictures are taking forever to upload. Maybe I'll just put them in a separate post.

Oh and this is not dog related, but Jess and I have now been following our 'fitness plan' very well for 3 months! We are both trying to eat better and we run (for about 35 minutes) or go to the gym (for about an hour) at least 5 days/week. Go us!

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Happy Canada Day!

Jess and I took Ryan and Kepler to a busy Canada day celebration today for some socialization. There's nothing like a festival packed with people, dogs, loud noises, balloons and cats on leashes to make for a great day of socializing! Kepler probably met over 50 people today including babies, kids in strollers, toddlers, big guys with beards...he did great with all of them! The only freaking out moments were when a parade suddenly went by right in front of us with loud instruments (scared the puppy) and people on stilts kicking a soccer ball at us (scared Ryan). Both boys did great with the (extremely calm and nice) cat on a leash.

Sorry Ryan...gotta pose for a cute photo!

On the way home we stopped at a skateboard competition - another great socialization opportunity. Again Kepler did great with everything/everyone. He is so nice and confident!

Oh, and I signed up for Nationals today - we are definitely going now!