Early Winter Fun!

Dogs just love the snow! It's cold and wet, but when it snows they run around like puppies, all silly and crazy, eating it and rolling around in it. We had our first significant snowfall yesterday, and the dogs were so happy. I took the opportunity to snap some photos of the fun.


Cole,


Blaze and Cole,


Blaze, Eros, and Cole, chomping on the drainage tube...


Cole, with his piece of tubing...


Eros, checking to see how close Cole is! (he's got a piece of plastic drainage tube in his mouth, who knew these tubes would make such fun dog toys?)

Early Winter Fun Con't

Eros, with a piece of plastic drainage tube around his face, with Cole and Blaze in the background,

Eros, and Cole,


This is a great action shot, Cole is chasing Eros around the yard to try and grab the plastic tube, dogs love this game!


Eros,


Sara, with Cole in the background,

Early Winter Fun, Con't

Cole,

Cole, barking at Arlo, with Blaze in the background,


Cole and Blaze, best buddies,


Tess and Sara, they prefer to watch the fun from the sidelines!


Arlo.

Eros - Wild Puppy in Training

Eros has been training in the sport of Schutzhund since he was 5 months old. I try to train regularly, but with my super busy life, we are a little behind where we should be . Eros is almost ready for his BH test, the Begleithunde. Roughly translated as the "traffic steady companion dog". This test is the preliminary test required for the dog to move on to SchH titles. The dog must pass both an obedience routine and a temperament test. We are planning to enter a trial in the spring.


Who knew a plastic drainage tube would make such a great dog toy?

What a cutie. :-)


In the spring of this year..... He has filled out considerably since then....


Eros is always happy...

Arlo & Me......

Recently, I needed to do a project for school that consisted of writing a "kids' book" about an animal disease, complete with illustrations. I decided to write the book about Arlo's disease, as I had already done extensive research on the topic. Also, being so important to me, it would seem effortless writing about my dog, whom I love so much. I discovered early on that I cannot draw to save my life! Having quite a nice design for my book, complete with fancy paper and cute accents, I didn't want to "ruin" it by adding substandard drawings..... So, I decided to take digital photos to compliment the text of the book. Once I replaced the almost dead batteries in the camera that caused the camera to consistently malfunction, I actually had a good time setting up and taking all the photos. Arlo was such a good sport, doing what I asked of him, sometimes repeatedly to get just "the right shot". I asked him to do some pretty silly things, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well some of the photos turned out. I'm lucky he already has such a great work ethic....... he'll work for food or a toy.....
So, getting him to do things for me was quite easy.... once he understood what behaviour got him the reward, he was more than willing to do it... even repeatedly. I know that all of my extensive training with him to date helped in the set up of the photos, and I am thankful for that. I'll have to post some photos of the book once I'm finished.....



Good boy, Arlo, good boy. :-) XOXOXOXOXO

Inspiration

It's funny sometimes how a simple quote can inspire you. Quotes will mean different things to different people depending on what is going on in their lives........
When your world seems to be crashing down around you, and you can't do anything to stop it, and you worry what could possibly go wrong next, here's a little phrase that may inspire you;

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it's the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"

~ Anonymous

Eros - Summer Training

Eros demonstrating his calm, full grip on the sleeve..... He is so-o-o-o-o cute!



Taking off for the escape.........



Bark and Hold in the blind......check out the lip!



Taking the bite from club helper Graham.
Many thanks to clubmate Tracy for taking these shots!