It’s official. Winter has set in in some places or it did a little bit yesterday. We’re back up to 45° again today for some reason. Mother Nature really can’t decide on what she wants to do. The dogs were glad for a bit of romp time in the chilly weather, though and I was able to take some fun photos of the kiddos in the snow. Enjoy!
Well, we’ve got the entire week off from work and decided that it was time for a mini vacation away from home. After some thought and discussion between Bruce and I, we decided on a destination that wasn’t too far from home in case someone in the family needed us for some dire emergency – Monroe, MI.
We’ve been down here, it seems, every single New Years weekend for some dog event or another. This will be the first time that we come here and there is absolutely nothing dog related in the works. We’re staying at our favorite hotel, Red Roof Inn. They’re dog friendly and have loads of room for the pups to romp around the room without being a pain in the rear to the neighbors. We opted this time, thanks to coupons, for the suite. Let me tell you this…it’s huge. Two rooms, king-sized bed (perfect for the pit bulls, let me tell you..they’ve already tested it out!), kitchenette, and a ‘living room’. The dogs (and Bruce and I!) are in seventh heaven.
We’re going to be here until at least Thursday, although we’ve been whispering back and forth about staying into the New Year just to ‘ be away’ for the rolling in of 2012, but we’ll see how that goes in the next 24 hours. Tomorrow, if the weather isn’t absolutely horrid, we’re planning on taking a drive down to Luna Pier and taking some photos and letting the dogs romp on the beach for a bit. They don’t seem to care if it’s cold, but we’re going to bring their Fido Fleece jackets just in case they get too chilly.
All in all, we’ve got a nice little mini vacation planned – even if the weather continues to stay gross and we stay grounded to the hotel. Plenty of local flavors we can enjoy and places to go that aren’t too far from ‘home.’ I’ll post more updates later on since I get to go be the fun police to two brats that keep ramming themselves into the back of my computer chair like sumo wrestlers!
Unfortunately, my absolutely favorite place to train when the gross weather rolls in is out of commission for the month of December. What does this mean for me and the beasts? It means that we have to brave the sleet, the snow and the rain to get our training thing done. This is fine for me since I can layer up and be nice and toasty, but the pit bulls believe that they will melt because they are made of sugar, spice and everything nice. Convincing them that they simply will not die when they go out into the cold and the muck is a feat in itself.
The last few days we’ve been absolute slackers. They’ve stayed in the nice, warm house and run on their Grand Carpet Mill and trashed the house with the massive box of goodies ranging from Wubbas to stuffies to Kongs and everything in between. Let me tell you, getting beaten by a Mega Wubba is on my list of things I definitely do not like having repeated. (Thanks, Ryker!)
As it stands right now, I’m not going to be able to travel with my friend Jen to Kentucky in a couple of weeks to try again for Ryker’s Schutzhund BH because of the likely possibility that I’ll have to work a crap load of hours the week before Christmas. I will be glad for the paychecks I get, but it just sucks because I wanted to go and had planned to for weeks because I think we are read – well, Ryker definitely is (my nerves suck!).
Lyric is coming around beautifully with her obedience and I’d love to start working more on it so that we can try for our URO1 in the early part of next year and possibly a UCD the following year if she’s ready. I’m trying to keep it light and positive with her so she continues to enjoy it. She is the kind of dog that starts loathing things if they become boring or restrictive because she is such a free-spirited dog.
Mika’s doing well and has the most phenomenal heeling for such a young dog. We’re not really pushing her very hard because we want her to have fun and not rush things. Being a title chaser can only be benefited if the dog enjoys what they’re doing and I can’t see the point of ruining a young dog like that for a piece of paper. I’m very proud of Bruce for what he’s done with her and what he continues to do with her. The bond between the two of them is amazing – especially since most of the dogs in the house prefer me and if she had to choose, it’d be him and not me she’d run to first. (Traitor!)
Luna and Duo, well, they’re just relaxing.
Luna’s enjoying the fact that she doesn’t have to constantly train and be conditioned for weight pull since I’ve retired her from pulling heavily. We’re going to attempt UKC Rally next year, I think. She knows all of the moves, so that won’t be a problem. We’ll just fine tune those fronts and finishes before we go and be all set.
Duo, on the other hand, won’t be doing much of anything except snoozing with his Grandpa. He stresses out when he leaves and his reactive behavior around other dogs leaves something to be desired. In reality, he’d rather just hold down the bed or the couch than travel with his siblings. The one-on-one time he gets when he stays with Grandpa, I think, is his favorite thing in the planet. How else would he not look plumper when we return than before…because someone feeds him entirely too many goodies while we’re gone!
Ah, well…with any luck, the weather will clear and I won’t have to spend as much time complaining about the garbage weather and inability to train. Heck, the possibilities of taking classes this winter very well may make my life a little less not busy (Ha!) and brush up on a few skills and basic behaviors and before the dogs and I know it, spring will be here again!
Patience is having your idiotic ‘brother’ use you as a pillow. Luna, sweetie, you have the patience of a Saint to have that lug on you.
On Saturday, August 13th we went to Birch Run. Why did we go all the way up to Birch Run? Well, for an AKC fun match. But it wasn’t just the AKC fun match that drew us there, it was the ability to have two of the five dogs tested by a Therapy Dogs International evaluator to see if they were suitable to become official therapy dogs and be able to visit libraries, nursing homes, etc. and share their vast supply of canine snuggle with folks.
I admit, I was incredibly nervous. I wasn’t sure how we’d do since the dogs are overzealous when they haven’t been exercised that morning and since we had to be up and at Rebecca’s house by 8am, that nice morning walk or a jog on the treadmill wasn’t going to happen since I hadn’t gone to sleep early enough that previous evening. (Bad, dog mom!)
However, I was quite wrong in my concerns and the dogs did very well. I had all the faith in the world in Luna. She is eight years old and has been extensively trained to know how to behave in a public setting. It is her job after all. She was beautiful with everything – especially the three minutes she spent with the evaluator schmoozing it up and grovelling for love.
Ryker, even at five years old, is the most rambunctious, live-life-to-its-fullest dog I have ever met that I almost expected him to fail because he got TOO happy. His defensive behavior toward other dogs was also a concern. I was pleasantly surprised that he was also very well-behaved. The only place we almost failed was the Beggin’ Strips treats in a bowl. Since that is not a normal treat in the house, he was all for wanting that. A firm “Leave it!” was all that was needed and we went through the rest of the test like it was second nature – he even play bowed at the neutral dog before that portion of the test!
I’m very proud of the dynamic duo. I have no doubt that, when Mika is mature enough, we will have a third dog for our Therapy Dog crew and a fourth whenever Lyric decides that drive can meld with an off switch. Ha! (Did I mention Lyric runs in two speeds – fast and warp twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?!)
So, I can proudly introduce Luna and Ryker to the TDI brotherhood and we will begin our journey of being helping ‘paws’ with these guys.
