Visiting!

Mom and I went to visit grandma and grandpa the other day! It was very hot - 96 - but we went outside any way. Here I am reluctantly posing by the extremely tall field corn.


The view of the house from the back of the property.

Cicada exoskeletons were every where - there were six lined up on this hackberry tree but we couldn't get them all in this shot.

Back in the house cooling off and making myself comfy on the couch!

For the first time ever in my life, mom forgot to bring my dinner. So grandma made me rice and a scrambled egg and I sure hope mom forgets to bring my kibble more often! Yum!

Happy after my gourmet meal!

See the ladder in the background? Not normally there - grandpa was caulking a leaky window.

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Training Challenge #5

Our training challenge for the past week was 5 DAYS OF TOTAL SEPARATION!!! Talk about outside of our comfort zone! Since mom got me, we had not spent a night apart - I came to live with mom and dad on April 7, 2007 and mom left me on September 1, 2010. Can you believe it? Mom and I are huge homebodies and we love being there and being in our own routine and everything. But dad's parents live in San Diego and mom hadn't seen them in four years so this year she flew out there with dad. She was a nervous wreck - worried about me, worried about the plane trip, worried about leaving our house - I mean the list goes on and on.

I went and lived with grandma and grandpa for five days. I love them but when I first got there, I wondered where mom was and when she would come in the door. I laid around a lot the first day. But after that, I settled into a new routine with grandma and grandpa and I had a good time. I got lots of treats, I did recalls in the backyard from grandma to grandpa and back, I watched cars go by at the end of their driveway and some dogs too. Apparently I was a very, very well-behaved house guest! I want to thank them so much for taking such good care of me!

Mom had a good time on her trip. She got to see lots of stuff and go lots of places. They went to the desert, the mountains and the beach all in one day! She went to the zoo and also went walking in the chaparral. And my dad's parents have three dogs - mom played a lot with the two Border Collies (Kyle and Kellan - we blogged about Kyle and my grandma Catherine before and they are going back to the NOI for a 4th time this December. Kyle is 7 years old I think and just got his OGM Obedience Grand Master title and he is a UDX17 dog!) - and while she was there, they got a new BC puppy (unexpected timing) - so she even got to play with him! She says she missed me a lot, but I have my doubts! :)

Here are some photos from my stay at grandma's and from mom and dad's trip:

La Jolla:
Sea lions at La Jolla (dad thinks they should be called sea dogs because they bark all the time):

Mom and dad at Point Loma:

A view from Cabrillo (the marine layer was over the ocean each time they went to the beach no matter what time of day it was):

While they were taking in the beach, I was hanging out:

One day they got up very early (4:00AM) and drove to the Anza Borrego Desert - the park is actually closed most of the time from June to October because it is just too hot there. That's why they had to go so early. Even at 7:00AM, it was already super hot. Mom had never been to a desert before - look at this jackrabbit:

In the spring, the entire area is covered in wildflowers and the park is crawling with people. No one was there the other day and everything is dry. Cactuses are about the only plant around:

The mountains look like this:

Dad was enamored with trying for panoramic shots - here is one that looks like a postcard:

Mom got to watch part of my grandma Catherine's lesson that she was giving and here is mom helping to proof sit/stays - she pulled on the collar of the dog and said, "Let's go!" and unfortunately the dog broke his stay!

Dad took some amazing underwater photos in a tide pool - they should be in National Geographic magazine! This is a sea slug:

And a sea anemone:

Meanwhile I was in grandma's kitchen hoping for something tasty to come my way:

This was the beach at Torrey Pines at 4:00 in the afternoon - see all the marine layer? When mom and dad left grandma Catherine's it was 102 degrees. When they got to the beach 45 minutes later it was 67!

Mom sure doesn't look too sad or like she misses me here playing with Dax the new puppy!

He flew by himself all the way from Sioux Falls, SD!

Me again - waiting to go outside:

So we survived our biggest training challenge ever! Mom got back late last night and we spent all day together doing a few little tricks and going for a nice walk at my park and getting back into our routine again. Tomorrow we have class! I haven't done any agility since last week's class. We tried to keep up with reading everyone's blogs but we're sorry if we missed some. We'll get back to normal soon though. Hope everyone had a good long weekend!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

When it stopped raining

On Wednesday it finally stopped raining and we got out of the house! We spent the morning doing some much needed gardening, then we did a little tunnel/dogwalk discrimination, and after lunch we went to my favorite park.

Then yesterday mom surprised me by telling me that we were going to go to grandma and grandpa's! We hadn't been there since Easter! We had such a good time!

Grandpa's lawn is so lush and green!

Lots of things are growing in the garden - asparagus, rhubarb, onions, carrots, red beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas - the green beans and limas are in the ground - and grandpa was planting zucchini, butternut, cucumber, and tomatoes yesterday. I had my first taste of asparagus and let me tell you, it was delicious! I love my vegetables!

Two years ago it was corn, last year, soy beans, and this year, winter wheat in the field behind the house. You can see the heads of wheat have already formed.

Even wheat is taller than me!

It was a really fun day of running and playing outside and of visiting with my grandparents! Today the weather is still nice and I'm sure we will be out there making the most of it!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Playing agility

Last weekend when we were at grandpa and grandma's building the dogwalk, we took a little break and set up one jump, the chute, and six plunger weaves in the backyard to just have some fun!

Hope you all are having a great last weekend of the summer!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

What we've been doing since Thursday!

Guess what? We built a dogwalk!!! On Thursday morning mom and I met grandpa at a building supply store and we went in and got materials to start building my new dogwalk! We decided to build it using sawhorses as the base and 8ft. x 12in. boards as the planks. Luckily for us grandpa had some old sawhorses he wasn't going to use any more and we cut those down to fit. We spent most of the day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday over at grandpa and grandma's building and then painting. It was exhausting but grandma gave me lots of treat (like fresh veggies from their garden) and she made lots of good meals to keep mom, grandpa, and herself going.

Here is the end of the first day:

On the second day we finished the building part and primed the boards for painting:
This is some time in the middle of Saturday (the third day):
Here we are at the end of the day on Saturday:
And finally - on Sunday - we were finished painting and we put on the hinges and set it up:
Mom made me pose - I couldn't actually try running the dogwalk yet because mom still needed to put the non-slip coat of paint with sand in it on:
Grandpa loaded everything in his truck and we all brought the dogwalk over to my house on Sunday afternoon. Mom finished the painting with the sand in our garage.

Today it took forever before I was allowed to try my new dogwalk. First of all mom made turkey meatballs using Sara, Oreo and Misty's recipe - they smelled so good I could hardly stand it! I thought, "What am I going to have to do to get one of those?" Then mom told me she wanted to mow the grass before setting up the DW. It was at least 2:00PM before mom was ready and I got to try it out!

First of all, let me say those meatballs are heavenly! I swear I would do anything for a bite of one! I think I ran pretty fast for my first tries at the DW. (At the beginning of the video, the first three runs are my very first three runs across that dogwalk ever!) But even though mom was happy and rewarding me, she did notice that I was totally jumping the yellow contact on the way down. So she tried putting up this hoopy thing we used with my little DW. This didn't work either because I am so small I could still jump. It's hard to see in the video if maybe occasionally I touched the yellow? After mom put away the camcorder, she remembered something Nat from DreamDogz was saying about using a pool noodle. Mom and I checked on Nat's YouTube channel and found some videos showing how to use the pool noodle as a stride regulator. We tried it (sorry no video of that right now) and it worked great! Thanks Nat for the idea! Hopefully I will develop the muscle memory to stride into the yellow if we use that noodle for awhile!

Any way, we are really excited to see if having our own version of a DW will help me when I get on the full-size DW in classes and at trials. It was worth it to give it a try. Mom and I couldn't have begun to do it without grandpa and grandma! We really appreciate all their hard work, support, and willingness to help, and we are so lucky to have parents/grandparents like them!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

PS. We sort of followed this plan when making the DW (in case any one is interested in making one too!).

My Own Chute!

Grandma made me my very own chute today! We had a nylon laundry hamper and cut out the ends and then attached about 10ft of nylon material to it. Grandma did all the cutting and sewing and everything! She and mom had me try it out right away at Grandma's house and I did it. Then we came home and dad video-ed me trying it out in my backyard!

Looks like fun, doesn't it? Now mom is going to take me and my chute all over so I can get used to doing it in new environments. Hopefully I will be cured of all chute paranoia!

Thank you so much Grandma!!!!!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Our Christmas!

Hi everyone! We hope you all are having a good holiday season! We had a great time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! On Christmas Eve mom and I went to agility practice - it was really fun but really crowded. Guess everyone had the day off from work and wanted to get in some practice. When we got home, we had a little celebration after lunch with just me, mom and dad. Santa dropped a couple presents off for me early because he knew I wouldn't be home on Christmas morning. I had never opened presents before - I knew they smelled good and mom said it was for me, but I was pretty careful. So mom helped a little:

Wonder what it is? I am trying to get it out of the wrapping:

It was a new kong wubba! And I had another present and this one smelled great! It was easier to unwrap (or maybe I was getting better at it)! Look, it's a bully stick! My very first one ever!

Yummy!

After mom and dad opened their presents, we got things ready and loaded up the car and headed off to grandpa and grandma's. I decided I needed some relaxation time:

But soon it was on to more presents!! (Not for me though):

We had a very nice time Christmas Eve - mom and dad and grandpa and grandma had a good dinner, played Wii and played a card game called euchre. We spent the night and on Christmas Day, we got in the car again (all of us) and went to Cousin Wilson's! I love my cousin Wilson, but going there is exhausting! I am constantly on patrol - watching out for the big dogs, the kids, all the grown-ups, keeping an eye on mom so that she doesn't leave without me! The photo kind of shows how unrelaxed I am:

Wilson doesn't have a problem with it all. He just wants to play fetch with anything at any time. But here he is taking a break with his holiday tennis ball:

And poor Sandy - well her expression sums up her feelings about the day:

Wilson got me a present - so I got to open another one! It was a soft snugga wubba! I love it!

We got home to our house late on Christmas Day and boy was I tired! Good thing Christmas only comes once a year. But we are so lucky to have a such a wonderful family to spend the holiday with and we are very grateful for them all!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Grandma finally went home today!

I'm happy to report that grandma finally got to go home from the hospital today! She is much better than she was on Saturday. She can breathe easily again, she lost 10+ pounds of water (fluids), and the infection is gone, but despite having her heart shocked on Monday and then twice yesterday, it is still beating out of rhythm. So she went home on new medication and in about a month they may try to shock her heart again unless she goes back into normal rhythm by herself. We are very relieved that she is better!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Class 1 and the weekend

On Thursday night we went to our first agility class for this new session. There are a lot of new dogs in my class - and a lot of big dogs! I was the smallest dog there. The class was pretty good for me - I am feeling more comfortable there now that I know the instructors and am familiar with the building and the loud sounds there. We worked on the teeter, jumps and tunnel first. The teeter was set at full height - and I did it and stuck my 2o2o. We did a pinwheel which went well and sends to a tunnel - I didn't want to do the tunnel because it was set up very close to the noisy adjacent ring. Our second station was weaves and chute and table. The weaves had two wires on each end. Last session I got used to seeing one wire on each end, but I had never seen two! What the heck? So sometimes it confused me and I went under the wire. Mom still doesn't see why I have to do them with wires at all. My tables were good but I still didn't just run through the chute (and it was a baby chute too!). The instructor said maybe it was mom's fault because she stops running when I go into the barrel part. (Mom would love it if this were the reason I stop!). So she tried running full out right by the chute and I still stopped. Oh well... Our third station was contacts and jumps. The instructor wants mom to keep running past the aframe too, to get me to run the downside faster. We're going to try that at practice on Wednesday. Also mom was telling me "out" to go to a jump that was just a little bit away from her and our instructor told her just to say "jump" and to make me look for the jump. She says we should reserve out for getting really away from mom. This is good advice because mom had also been saying out to get me to do the middle jump in a pinwheel. So all in all, a good class!

Unfortunately this weekend wasn't all that great. Mom and dad had a lot of what they call "gigs." All that really means is they go to work and leave me at home! But worse than that, grandma went into the hospital on Saturday! Apparently her heart doesn't stay in rhythm and even though she's been taking medicine and under a doctor's care, her heart got out of rhythm and she started to get fluid on her lungs and around her heart and that fluid got infected. She is a little better today but has had tests today and will have more tomorrow. The doctors are trying to find the right medicines to help her. She's in a good hospital so I am sure she will get better soon. If I could go and visit her, I would give her lots of get-well kisses!

Gotta zoom!


Ricky

We're still here!

Hi everybody!!! We finally got our cable and internet back yesterday. The line to our house was damaged in the storm so it took awhile to get someone to fix it. But we are back to normal here. We were very lucky - much more fortunate than those in Texas who are still way far from getting back to normal. Our hearts go out to them. From the little taste we got of what a hurricane is like, we can't imagine what it must be like for those people! Our electricity went off Sunday the 14th around 4:00PM and didn't come back on until Friday evening around 5:00PM. We really appreciate electricity much more now and don't take it for granted!

Of course there were some positive things about last week. First of all, we had a great time with grandpa and grandma! We spent four nights there and had wonderful company and great meals! I got to run in their big yard each day - I am even getting better at fetch! I am learning from watching my cousin Wilson! My personal record is 7 times of running way out into the yard and bringing the tennis ball back to mom.

On Thursday night I had my 3rd beginning intermediate agility class. This class was our worst so far! The traffic was really bad and it took us twice as long to get there as it should've. So we were late and had to go from sitting in the car for 50 minutes straight into action at the class. We did weave poles first. I kept entering the poles and stopping after one or two to bite at my leg. Mom discovered that I had a burr in my fur (where I picked that up I have no idea). She got it out and then I did the weaves just fine. No wires, thank goodness. We just worked on getting a little speed. Then it was on to contacts. I did a slow but accurate dogwalk but I didn't want to do the aframe at all. Mom encouraged me but I scrabbled up it on my toe nails - it was awful! The instructor picked me up to check to see if I was sore. She showed us how to stretch out my legs. She thought that maybe I was a little sore (earlier in the day dad accidentally rolled his chair back and I was sleepy and didn't move quickly enough and he caught some hair and some of my foot - maybe that was why I was sore). When we moved to the next station, I did a slow teeter but refused to jump the double. After that we did jumps but I didn't want to do those either. So it was pretty much a wasted class. And after we drove in all that traffic to get there! Mom is starting to wonder if maybe classes aren't the right thing for us. We'll see how it goes tomorrow night.

On Saturday I took my CGC test! Our first "competition"! The very first part went well - accepting a stranger and sitting politely for petting. No problems there. Next - appearance and grooming - I looked good, of course, but this lady leaned over me and went right for my ears to examine them and I did not like that at all! I was very fearful and tried to get over next to mom and away from this lady! I also did not want to have anything to do with her touching my feet! Mom asked if we could go on and do the other stations and come back and try again. (Thankfully mom had watched Johann's video of his CGC test and knew that it was possible to try again! Thanks, Johann!) So we went on to other tasks - walking through a crowd, sit and down on command/stay in place, coming when called, reaction to another dog, reaction to distractions, out for a walk. I did all those with no problems. Then we went back to the grooming one, and there was a different lady there. She was very nice and got down on the ground so she wouldn't seem so intimidating to me. Mom got down on the ground too and I managed to be brave enough to let the new lady touch my ears. Then mom handed the lady my front feet one at a time and I let the lady touch them. Whew!! Passed, but just barely!!!! Finally I did my supervised separation - there was no way I was going anywhere without my mom, so I easily laid there until she came back to get me. Any way, I passed the test! Mom was very proud of me!

More later but for now....


Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Concert

So Tuesday evening we went on a little road trip to a small town about an hour from here so that mom could play in a concert in the park. I got to go and grandpa and grandma went too - as a matter of fact, they were kind enough to drive me and mom there!



This town is so small that they don't even have fast-food restaurants. We stopped at an ice cream shack and had sandwiches. Well, not me - as you can see by the humongous yawn, I am bored with the whole "ice cream place" thing. Been there, done that!

After our little dinner, it was on to the park. I was a model concert-goer sitting there with grandpa and grandma!
Here I am watching the action and listening to the beautiful music!
And there's my mom and her friends playing their hearts out! It was a nice little park for a concert and the people there seemed to really enjoy it.

Boy the weather has been so terribly HOT here the past few days! Mom and I have been spending most of the afternoons indoors. Tonight is our first beginning intermediate agility class at a new training facility - where we went for our private lesson. Thank goodness this place is air conditioned! We are really looking forward to being in a class again. We'll see what we learn tonight!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Saturday

It's gotten really hot around here again - hopefully this weather won't last too long. And it is super dry - no rain in forever! The grass is brown and dead. Mom and I water the flower garden just to help it survive. Our 15-year-old dogwood tree looks to be dying - it's losing it's bark and the leaves are curling and drying up. Mom is hoping to save it by drip-watering it - I like that idea because it's as if I have my own private drinking fountain out there in the back of the yard!

I have felt pretty good all week now. No more yellow, frothy vomit or regular vomit. I get a nice big biscuit right before bedtime to try to keep my stomach from getting too empty. Mom has been worrying again about what type of dry kibble I should be eating. She has been giving me a grain-free kibble for a month now. But she's not sure grain-free is really the way to go with me. I don't care as long as I get some good food in my bowl twice a day! I think she worries too much!

Today we went to visit with grandpa and grandma again. We were there on Wednesday too. Grandma had surgery on her knee. She is recovering well - she can already walk on it - I'm glad she feels good enough to put the surprise treat in my bowl - I always look for it the minute I run into their house! (so it's not really a surprise any more!) Mom and I did a little gardening for grandma and also played ball in the yard.

We haven't been doing much training this week - first I was recovering from my mysterious illness and then it has gotten so HOT! We have practiced a little with the mouse pad like my friend Johann has been doing. I think I understand I am supposed to touch the pad with my paw. We tried putting it on the contact bottom of the dogwalk board and I do hit it with my paws but it is slippery and so I slide down. We need to come up with a mouse pad that isn't slippery. It seems like a good method for teaching running contacts when you don't have a full-size dogwalk. Any way it's fun to learn something new - I always get lots of treats for the new stuff!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Since I last wrote

We've been having some busy days around here. The weather is still great and we try to be outside as much as we can. A few days ago mom and dad took me for an awesome walk at a nearby metro park. We've been there before - it's the place with the 3.5 mile pet trail. But this time when we went, mom put on my long line and let me walk the trail "off-leash"! Totally cool! I stayed with mom and dad but also got to run and smell a lot. I am a very path-oriented dog, so I stay right on the trail. It was a fantastic walk!

Thursday night was the mock obedience competition in Deb's advanced class. You may remember we have taken this class twice before and each time we do the competition, our score goes down. Well the third time we got the lowest score yet - mom thinks that Deb is scoring us more critically each time because mom thinks we did our best-ever on Thursday night. Actually our entire class did well. I was ok on heel on leash and off leash and on figure eight (but the heeling stuff is still our weakest part - I sniff a little and sit poorly, etc.) My stand-for-exam was good. On the recall I sat too far from mom but my military finish was excellent! Long sits and downs were perfect. I was happy to see Deb as always and happy to get my chicken hot dogs treats!

Yesterday we visited grandpa and grandma. We went to a garage sale, had a great lunch, helped grandma do a little gardening, and went for ice cream at a local ice cream stand.

The only bad part of the past few days is that I am sick! Yesterday morning I vomited a little yellow, frothy bit of stuff - sometimes this happens to me early in the morning before breakfast, so mom didn't worry about it. We went on about our business yesterday and then about an hour after I ate my dinner, I threw it all back up! This is not like me at all! Mom was concerned but I wasn't really acting sick - still barking and running, etc. So after a couple hours, since I was so hungry, she let me have a little rice. Well, darn if I didn't throw that up within 20 minutes after eating it. That really worried mom, so she put me on a leash to keep me quiet and lying next to her and we just rested until bedtime. I slept all night and got up hungry. Mom has let me have some ice chips so far - she is being very cautious this morning. I am HUNGRY and really don't know why I haven't gotten my breakfast yet! Mom says she doesn't want to upset my stomach and that I'll have to wait a little longer and then she'll let me have a little rice again. We'll cross our fingers and hope I keep it down. Fortunately, vomiting seems to be my only symptom so maybe this is just a little stomach upset and I'll be fine in no time.

Gotta rest (zoom later, hopefully)!

Ricky

Grandpa and Grandma's

Mom and I went to visit Grandpa and Grandma this morning! Yipee!! We finally remembered to bring our camera so we could take some photos. We tried out my 30' long line - it worked great and allowed me the freedom to go all over their big backyard. I helped Grandpa plant potatoes. He has already planted asparagus, rhubarb, green onions, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, carrots, and peas. You can see the peas coming up right behind me in the photo and you can see the rhubarb in the background. I am looking forward to trying some of the fresh garden vegetables when they are ready! The redbud tree that they transplanted from my mom's old apartment about 6 or 7 years ago has grown a lot and looks so beautiful with it's purple blossoms.
Mom and grandma practiced recalls with me - I was amazing! Mom would call me from at least 200 feet away and I ran like the wind to her every time! Wish we had some video to show you! We did quite a few of those recalls and believe me, tonight I am one tired pup! It's hard to take a photo of how green and expansive their yard is, but here's one of me standing in the middle of it.
Have to say it was one great day!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky