Agility!

Mom just signed us up for an agility class that starts in January! My first class since May 2011! I haven't done 12 weaves or any contact equipment since then. Think I will remember?


A blast from the past:

Questions to Ponder

Why can't I climb trees like squirrels?

Why don't I get a food reward FOR barking at cars?

Why is 3:00 PM too early for dinner?

Why can't my fur be completely self-cleaning and self-brushing?

Why does anyone ever want to stray from the herd?

Why wouldn't I bark at every single person or dog that walks past my house on the sidewalk?

Why would I want to cuddle - have you seen my thick coat?

Why does mom prefer to walk on sunny and warm days when the cold and cloudy one's are so much more refreshing?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Thanksgiving Day!

It was absolutely gorgeous here on Thanksgiving Day! We went out to my grandparents' and my Cousin Wilson was there with his family too. After the noontime dinner, we all went for a walk in the fields behind grandma's house. Some people who live back there have alpacas! I had seen them one other time but this is the first time we actually got any video.






Did you see how much that black alpaca seemed to like me?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

To Each His Own

The other day I was chewing on my bully stick like a good boy when I heard:





Haha! I love brussel sprouts too!


Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Yes

Dawn and Katie wanted to know if I am still barking at the lawn mower in the garage. Well sometimes I don't but usually I do. I still bark at cars too. We used to call these training challenges but now we call them tradition. :)

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Gorgeous Fall Day!

Yes, I am still here! Mom has been too lazy to help me blog and too lazy to take a camera when we go places. We have had some beautiful fall days with blue skies and amazing colors. I got to walk at my favorite park today and I successfully tore mom away from her ipod long enough to help me type and post photos!

Bigify all of them so you can experience them fully! :)

See, pretty tree and sky!

Here I am posing and smiling too. This is a little gazebo in the park.

Another tree!

I am posing and smiling here too! The lighting is a little better in this shot -

But I have a cuter expression in this one!

Not award-winning photos and not award-winning content for this entry, but I hope you all are happy to finally hear from me! :) If I can get my lazy mom away from her ipod again, maybe you'll get to see some of my new tricks! Don't hold your breath though.....

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Wordless Wednesday

MishMash Monday

Vacation!

Last Wednesday I went to Grandma and Grandpa's for my vacation while mom and dad went to visit dad's parents in San Diego! I had a good time at Grandma's until my cousin Wilson showed up and stole some of my thunder. But I was a very good house guest! Now I will grudgingly give the blog over to mom so she can share her vacation nonsense with you!

I went to San Diego for 5 days - I never want to be away from Ricky for very long. :) My mother-in-law's Border Collies help me to miss Ricky less. This is Kellan - he is a recently retired competitive obedience dog who is just full of life and energy!

And this is his brother Dax who is just two years old! He is adorable and has a very long tongue that he uses all the time to lick you! Weekend before last he got his CD with a score of 200!

This is a panoramic shot of part of the Oak Grove which is near my inlaws place. The fire of 2003 burned lots of the trees here but they have come back. (click to bigify)

At Balboa Park there is a lily pond full of enormous koi and also turtles like this one.

One day we took the dogs to swim at Fiesta Island! I had never been there. It is in Mission Bay and dogs are allowed off-leash all over the island (which used to be a landfill, I think). There is also a huge fenced-in dog park! All 3 love to swim but Dax is the best! The dog in the middle is Kyle - he was the #1 BC in obedience for many years. He retired last year as Ch.OTCH Trumagik Step Aside, UDX 20, OGM - amazing, huh? I love him!

We went to the new Birch Aquarium one day. None of us had ever been to it. We weren't sure what it would be like, but it was fantastic! We were dwarfed by the whale sculpture.

Jellyfish

A wolf eel - reminds me of something out of Harry Potter!

I love tide pools and always want to go to see them when I am at the ocean. There was a full moon so low tide was pretty low. We went to La Jolla Cove and looked at the pools at Boomer's Beach. A long time ago I had seen a reddish-brown starfish near the Shores. So I am always on the look-out. I got lucky - there were many this time. They are carnivorous and like mussels and there were a lot of mussels around.

Upclose view

Lots of anemones (we have a waterproof camera so my husband could take macro shots with the camera under water)!

The millions of cormorants and some sea lions at the Cove

Tide pools near the LaJolla Shores Hotel

My inlaws house - no, just kidding, of course. Actually if you have that much money, couldn't you build something less ugly! LOL!

A kid found a brittle star! So cool!

That's about it. It was a fun, but very tiring, five days! I needed to come home to rest. :)

If you ever get a chance to go to San Diego, do it! It sure is a great place to have relatives! :)

Gotta zoom!

Chris and Ricky

Mish Mash Monday

I give my mom the ugly face when she brushes me. Do you?

Speaking of Old Tricks...

Gosh I haven't worked on my handstand in many, many months. Mom basically gave up on it. But the other day she put me with the couch behind me and I just backed up and got my feet on the cushion! WooHoo - I had never done that before! Of course when it can time for the video, I was not as good but still!

  I think this is about as close to
a handstand as I will ever get!



 Gotta zoom!

 Ricky

Progress on Old Tricks

We have been working on adding distance or duration to some of my tricks. Here is a video of me going down the stairs and pulling the door open for mom. I am super helpful! :)





Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Mishmash Monday

What is going on here?

This is the life!

Ahhh.... Enjoying my new bully stick by the pond on a perfect July evening!

Wordless Wednesday

What the heck?

It is July already? How can that be possible? We are continuing with our lazy summer ways. 

A very destructive storm went through here on Friday - over 80 mile per hour winds. Lots of people are still without electricity. Probably a third of our neighborhood. There are huge trees down on top of houses in some cases. We were very lucky. We have power but a branch hit our service line and only one screw is holding it to the house. Hopefully we can get it reattached soon.

When I say we aren't doing any training or anything, I am kind of lying. Since March mom has been really working hard with me to get me to STOP barking at cars at least in our neighborhood. She started to give me a treat each time I would calmly watch the car and then look up at her. Some days I don't bark at all! And some days I still lose my head. Overall I think I am paying more attention to her. The other day we went to the park with the trail that starts out parallel to the big highway and I ignored the road completely. Mom was so happy!!

Besides my morning walk, the other thing that happens every day is mom practices. Even though it has been over a year now since she broke her wrist, it has still been giving her a lot of trouble. So since her work schedule is light, she took advantage of the time and is practicing stretches on the viola, scales and a lot of passagework to try and rehab her wrist/tendon. Just 45 minutes to an hour each day and it seems to be helping! :)

We need some new trick ideas - can anyone help??

Sorry that I don't blog much any more. Not a lot to report. But I will leave you all with a cute photo of me taken a couple days ago. The downtown skyline is in the background but you will just have to take my word for it! :)

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Mishmash Monday

I got to meet a tiny baby robin up close and personal last week. I couldn't decide if I could trust it or not. Mom and dad were both taking pictures and video so I think I will get lots of mileage out of this for my blog! :)

This photo is a great picture of the lounge chair from Target for Sara! LOL!

(bigify if you want to see the robin)


Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Wordless Wednesday

Random

This computer has a very noisy fan that gets louder when it is hot outside. We have replaced it and the new one is loud. This is one of the reasons we don't blog much any more!

About the hole in mom's bed comforter - I won't lie and say that monsters were responsible - I did it and I would do it again! It is one of my few vices. Every dog has to have some vices! :)

Mom is lazy and doesn't get out my agility stuff much any more. No dogwalk at all yet this year! Sometimes she doesn't even train tricks with me. But we do go on good walks and hikes whenever we can.

Here is a photo of the rose garden where my photo was taken with those pretty pink roses. We go to this park all the time but right now is when it is most beautiful!

There are more photos to share from my trip to the nearby lake a couple weeks ago. I can totally relate to Denny's dainty paw - see mine?

This is a good one - my reflection in the water is cool!

I have this philosophy that if I drink all of the lake water, then I won't have to swim out to see dad!
I am also showing off my dainty paw again. I have no shame.

Now in this one - I am running on the beach. I have seen lots of photos of my friend Miley running on the beach. Hers are much better than mine. Could it be the camera, the photographer, my black fur, the ugly sand and beach - I think all of the above!

Finally, what random post would be complete without a flower - this is a calla lily bloom. Part of the leaf somehow got caught in with the bloom and it is yellow instead of green. These lilies are beautiful - but the pond filter cord in the background is not.

Hope everyone is having a good Sunday! It is very warm here but not humid. I am spending the day following mom around the house and yard hoping that we can do something, anything! :)

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Bad dog!

Yes, it is true.

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

MishMash Monday

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

A Different Lake

With a kitty-litter beach and much murkier water also much closer to home! Mom and dad took me to another beach yesterday. I had been there before but I love it! I really really wanted to swim (or walk) out to dad who was standing in the water, but I just couldn't make myself go any farther. Mom was relieved to see I did not actually go through with my plan to rub myself off on the "sand".



Hope you all are having a wonderful "start to the summer" weekend!


Gotta zoom!

Ricky

MishMash Monday

It would've been a nice video without the talking! Haha!

 
 


Gotta zoom!

Ricky

A Trip to the Big Lake!

On Tuesday we all got into the car early in the morning and drove to the biggest lake I have ever seen! I wasn't sure what we were doing, but after 2 1/2 hours in the car, I was ready for action! Plus I was over-the-top excited because dad was with us!! I can't hear mom talk at all when DAD is around! :)

I found out we were there to test out a kayak that dad wanted to buy. Here is the beach - check out the big rocks - you'll see me out on them later.

The sign said no pets allowed on the beach, but I am a Sheltie!

Dad had the boat and was heading out into the enormous lake! I wanted to swim after him, but I don't like swimming so I barked a lot instead.

There are the rocks - in the last picture I am clear out on the third to the last one - mom almost had a heart attack because I just went running right out there not concerned at all about the big gaps between the rocks.

Dad - come back!

We were surprised at how clear the water was.

Trying to get as close as possible without getting wet - mom was calling my name, I think, so I would look at  her, but I couldn't take my eyes off DAD!

I had a blast on the beach. Sadly we did not stay very long and soon I was back in the car for the long ride home. We got the kayak though! Dad is super happy!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

One Sentence Wednesday

The annual "make me pose with the irises" photo.

tRicky T- Day (Special Edition)

sunday may sixTh, TwenTy Twelve - haha! Sometimes you just have to post something when the inspiration hits you. I can't wait for Tuesday or Thursday!

We got this idea from our friend Honey the Papillion again. She learns so many cool and clever tricks. Check her out on YouTube some day.





The trick is picking up the cup from the correct side. :)

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Wordless Wednesday