Whole Lotta Stuff

I just realized I haven't posted anything here since I had the flu back in January (VERY sick for almost two weeks), followed almost immediately by the packing up of our household.   Since then DH and I have said goodbye to lots and lots of people we love in Ontario, taken the dogs, and moved back to Austin, Texas.  We had to give up the cats, a topic which is almost too painful to even mention.  We're in temporary housing now, waiting to hear on an offer we've made on a house, and are busy reconnecting with people and a city that was very hard to leave in the first place, some fourteen years ago.

I was worried about the puppies and the heat, given their thick winter undercoats, but we've been extremely lucky to actually have Spring here this year.  Temperatures are hovering around 60F (16C), occasionally dipping down to freezing or soaring close to 90F (32C).  The guys have started blowing their winter coats, which is messy, but otherwise seem to be doing okay.  They (and we) participated in the Mighty Texas Dog Walk this past weekend, a charity event to benefit service dogs.  Next weekend, they're going to Snake Aversion Training, to keep them safe from rattlesnakes and copperheads.  Later they will participate in more training involving coral snakes and maybe cottonmouths.

The drive down was mostly a lot of fun, though finding truly pet-friendly hotels on-the-fly was sometimes challenging.  We took time out to visit the Wild Turkey distillery in Kentucky and walk barefoot (in February!) in Northern Texas.  Kai took an extreme dislike to a statue of Abe Lincoln in Cincinnati, and had to bark at it, a lot, every time he stepped outside of the hotel where we were staying.

DH and I, as I mentioned, are reconnecting with family and friends, exploring old haunts and new attractions, and enjoying the food WAY too much.  It's a bit disconcerting that Austin has literally doubled in size since we left, but we're adjusting to it.  We've spent the last month or so searching for a house.  We found one we absolutely loved, but apparently the owner didn't really want to sell, so our offer went ignored.  We've found another house we like almost as much, and should know by tomorrow whether our offer was accepted or not.

That's the last ten weeks or so in a nutshell.  I'll post pictures of the house if we get it, otherwise it's back to the drawing board.

Wish us luck!

Updates, on Kai and on Life

Now that everything but the waiting is over on our Canadian citizenship test, I can get back to my regularly scheduled life, including blogging.  Mind you, it took a call to our MP to get it done, but I don't really want to go into the horribly inefficient, if not incompetent, process it was.  Results, of a sort, will take anywhere from one to three months, so it looks like we'll be here at least into January, if not March, just what we've been trying to avoid.

Kai's cyst turned out to be benign, thank the Goddess.  Of course, he is now in the second phase of stitching on it, seeing as the wound opened up the afternoon after we got the stitches out the first time.  This time, they're leaving them in longer.

Samhain was an even quieter-than-usual affair this year, largely due to the aforementioned stitches.  We have to keep him fairly calm until they come out (again), so we couldn't afford repeated knocks at the door, which would have been too exciting for him, crate or no.  So we hid in the back part of the house and did only a quiet little ritual.

On a related note, this is the first year we've celebrated New Year's Day on November 1st.  We decided to do it for a variety of reasons, but it was definitely odd being the only ones around us doing it.  Not to mention that there was no snow on the ground and no fairy lights around.  Unless of course you count the orange ones at the neighbor's house.  :)

I had a surprisingly wonderful time at Hammercon IV last weekend!  I had never gamed in public before, and I was majorly stressed about it, but it turned out to be great, even with a couple of GM problems.  Check out the Hammer Games website for news on Hammercon V in 2013, as well as to find games and fellow gamers in the GTA.

And finally, I CAN NOT BELIEVE OBAMA WON!  I'm VERY happy about it, mind you, but I would have bet money it wouldn't happen.

Kai and Vacation

For those of you waiting to hear, Kai went in for his biopsy yesterday.  The lump had neither grown nor shrunk since it was first discovered, so doing it was a no-brainer.  He was super-groggy last night, but is recovering today.  In fact at this point, he's almost completely back to normal.  (We'll find out the results of the biopsy next week.)

As to vacation, we had an amazing ten-day road trip out through Atlantic Canada and back through northern New England.  We didn't make it to Newfoundland and Labrador 'cause we ran out of time, but it was great regardless.  (We already have plans to fly to St. John's next summer to make up for missing it.)  The weather was atrocious--nothing like getting caught in an ocean gale on land--but SO many things made up for that.  On the way, I surprised myself by falling in love with Quebec, a place I thought I would hate.  I found out Prince Edward Island really is small.  I discovered that at least this year, the fall colors in Ontario were deeper and richer than the ones in Vermont. And that the woods in Maine really ARE creepy.

Also, as far as I can tell, there are absolutely NO moose anywhere in that part of the world, despite the road signs warning about them, which were legion in three of the four provinces we visited and all three states through which we passed.  We saw not a single one, and believe me we were driving down some pretty small back roads.  Maybe it's a case of being careful what you wish for, but to-date, the only moose we have seen in the wild have been in Alberta.

Now that I can sit up for longer periods of time, I'll discuss our trip in more detail over the next few days, and provide lots and lots more pictures. I haven't done either 'til now due to becoming very, very sick on the last day of said vacation, and not really feeling better until now.

I'll also update with Kai news as soon as we hear ourselves.

Kai Update (And No Sleep)

After not getting a whole lot of sleep last night, I've now been up for a couple of hours.  I figured I'd better post about Kai's vet visit while I was still coherent.

The vet is relatively sure that the lump is a harmless cyst, but we're having a biopsy performed nonetheless.  I'm not entirely happy about this, as it involves putting him under, but I need it for peace of mind right now.  On the bright side, we're by necessity being forced to delay the procedure (due to stitches and vacation plans) long enough to see if it will shrink and disappear by itself, in which case we won't need said procedure.

Keeping my fingers crossed for that!

STRESS

I've felt totally uninspired lately.  Even my pagan blog stuff has left me blank.  Luckily, last night the universe and my own subconscious conspired to give me something interesting about which to write.

Sometime around 3:30 this morning I had one of my infamous laughing mental breakdowns, therefore ensuring neither DH or I got any appreciable amount of sleep whatsoever.  What happens is I find something totally boring and mundane just hilarious.  Maybe it's funny in some dark and twisted way.  Or maybe it just causes that extra little bit of stress that sends me over the edge.  Either way, I start laughing.  And keep laughing.  I literally can't stop.  I eventually start to cry as well, but I don't stop laughing.  Oh, no.  I'm told by those who have observed it that the laughter is tinged with hysteria, and that the episodes are pretty darn frightening to watch.

These breakdowns have only happened a handful of times in my life, but they're pretty memorable.   They only occur when I've been under large amounts of stress for extended periods, and I guess I just hadn't realized just how stressed I've been.  Maybe that's why I've been so unable to be creative in any way. 

After I finally stopped laugh/crying, after I don't know how much time, I started thinking about what's stressing me out.  I came up with a short but distressing list, and I thought I'd share.

1. The sale of the house a few months ago.  And maybe the stress of NOT selling it the three years before that.
2. The moves, both the one out of that house and especially the one to Texas in a month or two. (And do I count leaving Canada, which I desperately do NOT want to do, here or as a separate entry?)
3. The vacation coming up (in a good way) and all the prep and planning and stuff to do before then.
4. The trouble shipping some art stuff to my mom.  (Loooong story.)
5. The upcoming citizenship stuff--waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Immigration Canada to move forward with it, waiting to take the test, finding all the old paperwork again, etc.
6. REALLY disliking the house we're temporarily renting while trying to be glad we have it (after the two we wanted to rent fell through.)
7. Slowly saying goodbye to all our friends here in Ontario.
8. Absolute lack of creativity.

And, on top of all that, yesterday we discovered some kind of lump on Kai's shoulder.  (Don't worry.  He's going to the vet in an hour.)

I'd already started trying to make myself journal again, due to some depression issues.  Now I need to push harder and get back into meditation and exercise before I start having anxiety attacks (which trnaslate as crying and pain in my chest) again.

Surprisingly, writing this post has actually made me feel better.

Bittersweet – Part 1

I didn’t think THIS move would be bittersweet.  After all, we’ve been waiting to sell this house for close to three years now.  And we’re just basically moving down the road.  We’re still staying here in Ontario, still staying in Canada.  We’re not particularly close to any of our neighbors, or to the area.  There’s no reason to not want to move forward.  But it’s still just a bit sad.  This is the third time I’ve actually slowed down enough to realize that. 

(I started writing this and realized that it was getting too long, so I’ve decided to split it into three parts.  Today I’ll cover the first instance.)

The first time I felt it was when our “puppies” left to go to Dogs in the Park this past Sunday.  (They’re enjoying a week-long vacation there to help alleviate moving stress, for them and for us.)  As we were getting ready to leave that morning, I realized they wouldn’t ever see this house, and especially this yard, again.  Now, they have no idea.  They’ve never REALLY moved before.  But I knew, and I was sad for them.  This is where we brought them home.  This is where they grew up, where they met each other, where Lance both met and said goodbye to Merly.  This is where they learned to love the cold and snow of winter, savor the cooling winds of autumn, and hate the humid heat of summer.   This is where they learned to enjoy wading pools, sprinklers, and hoses, and where Lance taught Kai to chase him.  This is where they always came back to after a long day of play, a day of training, or after a stressful stay at temporary quarters.  This is the only place they’ve ever known as home. 

At the same time, they’ll be going on to new homes and new adventures, and they’ll still be with their peeps. They’ll meet new people who will love them, and they’ll expand their horizons. They’ll be exposed to new things, which is good for them.  Perhaps most importantly, this is good practice for the BIG move coming next fall.  They’re gaining many, many good things at the same time they’re losing some.

 So this is, as the title reads, bittersweet.  

Happy July

I hope everyone had a good weekend, whether you celebrated Canada Day or the 4th of July or neither.  Or both, I suppose!

We spent the weekend doing some last minute camping (!).  It turns out our temporary living arrangements are too stress-inducing for Lil' Kai, so he's spending some time with our wonderful, wonderful trainers over at Dogs in the Park.  A month of time, actually.  And Lance is spending a couple of weeks there himself.  We think of it as our puppies going to summer camp!

What does this have to do with camping?  Well, while they spend so much time away from us, we need to see them and spend time with them in order to not destroy the bonds we've formed with them in the past year or two.  So we get to spend weekends with them.  But we can't bring them back to Markham (because of the stress), we can't take them to Ancaster (because the house is now on the market), and we can't take them to a hotel (because it would be as stressful as the place in Markham).  That leaves us with camping.  Luckily, we really like camping, so it's not a problem.  Well, most of the time it's not a problem.  Last minute camping reservations for Canada Day weekend left us with a spot SEVEN HOURS away.  We've traveled longer distances for camping, but not for just three days! 

The really bad part?  Kai seriously injured his dew claw just before the trip, so he was on crate rest over the weekend and could not go.  Sheesh! Still, we and Lance had a great time.  And it was really nice to reconnect with him on a two-humans-to-one-dog level.  Not to mention it was a really laid-back trip, lol!

This weekend (and the next) means more camping, but luckily much closer to home.  (Thanks, Sue!)  We plan to have a ball (sometimes literally) with two dogs this time!

And maybe we'll even throw in some sleep!

Life Update, Part 2

As promised, the updating continues with a report on Kai's 1st Birthday festivities.  Things started out a little rocky, what with the pano and all, but they ended on an excellent note as the Boys' first camping trip was a resounding success!

We spent three days at Bruce Peninsula National Park, and with it being early in the season, there was almost no one else there.  That was great, especially for their first camping experience. 

They spent time hiking in the woods, swimming in the lake, learning new skills (like sleeping in a tent, and not trying to crawl under the dining fly's walls to get out), and generally having a great time.  They barked at geese flying across the lake, at squirrels running up trees, and at the Dreaded Nothing.  (Did I mention we were really GLAD we were the only ones there?)

Kai really enjoyed himself, but I think it was even more fun for Lance.  We had a hard time keeping him out of the water--swimming a mere four times a day just wasn't enough, it seems!  And, eventually, thrown sticks weren't good enough either.  He started dragging 3-5 foot logs in to shore!


They, and we, can't wait to do it again!

Life Update, Part 1

A LOT has happened since my last post (which is why this is the first post in almost a month, lol!)  Last time I was talking about "Little" Kai's 1st birthday.  (There'll be more on that next time.)  Since then, my fabulous, wonderful, astounding DH has accepted a job.  As I write this, I'm sitting in the tiny little studio apartment which is our temporary housing until the house sells and we buy a new one, hopefully sometime within the next 90 days.

It's a bit crowded here, what with 200+ lbs of dog and their accompanying enormous crates, but the good news is the place is about a five minute walk from DH's new place of employment.  Also good news--we just moved yesterday, but already the boys are greatly improving their loose-leash-while-together skills.  And they're starting to become accustomed to living in a multi-family residence, as opposed to their own private space.  That might take a bit longer--they're still a bit jittery when they hear a door open or voices out in the hall. 

The cats are still at the house, as we thought the stress of moving, a new place, cleaning staff, and close quarters with the dogs would be too much for them.  We'll visit them on weekends, and hopefully the close on both the old and new house will be fairly close together, so they won't have to deal with too much upheaval.

In the past month, we've been going through the whole "relocation" process, meeting with realtors (on both sides of the move), movers, repairmen, and so on.  All this, and we're just moving an hour or two down the road.  I'm not sure we've been treated this well even though we've moved three times over international borders, with two of those moves being across the continent, as well.  It almost seems a bit silly to be making all this fuss, but I sure do appreciate it!

The house isn't quite on the market yet, but we're meeting with the selling agent this Wednesday, so it will probably be up by next Monday.  At that point, all we can do is cross our fingers.  And do a ritual or two, of course.

Here's hoping to a quick sale!

Where the Boys Are 2010

Lance and Kai have a busy day planned, even though they don't know it yet.  They'll chill tonight while Mom and Dad are at Free Lecture Fridays at Dogs in the Park (If you're anywhere near Guelph, Ontario, check it out!), then tomorrow they'll go, go go!

On Saturday they'll have one of their periodic out & about exercises--they'll go for walks in places they don't know and they'll visit any retail store we can find that will allow them.  Some of the locations already planned are:

Petsmart
Rona Hardware
Bass Pro Shop
Terra Greenhouses
Second Cup Coffee (outside on the patio)
Oliver Pets
and
Hamilton/Burlington SPCA (Kai needs a license.)


If anybody knows of any others, please let us know.

An Important "Birthday"

We passed an important milestone today here at Casa de EeeBee Life.  Kai is 20 weeks old today!

Week-birthdays aren’t usually important, but this one is.  As doggy socialization goes, the weeks of a dog’s life between 8 and 20 are the ones where you set the basic level of socialization for the puppy’s entire life.   (With the 9-12 week period being the absolutely most vital.)  Before 8 weeks, the puppy is learning things from his dam and litter.  After, it’s up to you, the owner.

It’s generally recommended that dogs meet 100 dogs and 200 people in the magick 8-20 week period, and encounter as many new and different situations as possible.  This takes way more time than you’d think, and was hard enough with Lance.  (Meeting all those people is especially difficult and exhausting when you’re an extreme introvert, as I am.)  Because Kai was taken from his litter early, we decided to double that number—our goal was 200 dogs and 400 people.  Add to that our recent financial issues and my problems with LD-related Chronic Fatigue, and you begin to see the enormity of our task.

Add to all of this the training that needs to occur during that time, and those 84 days feel like you don’t have time for anything at all but puppy-related activities.  Your entire life revolves around dog stuff.   If you’re not training at home or taking them for a walk or to the dog park, you’re on your way to puppy class or packing them in the car to drive them to something they’ve never experienced before.  You have no time for friends or hobbies or sometimes even chores. (Not that I’m one to complain about that.  LOL!) 

At which point you’re probably wondering why we go through it all.  We do it because we really do like dogs, and because we want to be able to take our dogs anywhere and everywhere with us.   And we want them to behave themselves and mind their manners no matter where that is. 

Nonetheless, I’m glad that this intense period is over.  We’ll have to keep taking them to new places, exposing them to new situations, and meeting new people and new dogs all their lives to not lose the level of socialization we’ve achieved, but it won’t be anywhere near this demanding from now on.

At least not until the next puppy.  ;>

(For Kai’s POV, head on over to Mission Accomplished (Sorta).)

New Lance & Kai Blog

If you're even more interested in the dogs than what you see here, wander over to my DH's brand new blog exclusively about them!  It's called A Dog's Life in Canada, and it will be all about our two favorite canines. (With maybe the occasional guest blog by the cats, or other dogs.)

And it'll have plenty of pics of our two guys!  Especially as Kai's ears begin to stand up more and more!  LOL!

Don't worry though, I'll still post about them here--though maybe a little less than I have been.

Wiggle Waggle Walkathon Success

The 21st Annual Hamilton/Burlington SPCA Wiggle Waggle Walkathon is over, and we all survived!  We walked the shorter (1 km) leg of the walk, managed not to beat Kai to death despite his misbehavior, and raised $220 for the cause!  (Thank you so much, everyone who donated!)

And the misbehavior wasn't  really Kai's fault.  We got to the location about an hour before, to wander the vendor booths and meet as many dogs and people as possible, and he got over-stimulated.  It was our mistake--we'd factored in whether the walk itself would be too much for him or not, and decided he could handle it.  But we'd forgotten about the festival surrounding the walkathon.  It just got to be too much for the "little" guy.  We finally figured that out, though, and moved away from everyone to a quiet location to let him calm down.  After that, he was okay on the walk itself, but he was very ready to go home after.  He slept HARD almost from the moment we got in the car until we got home, hardly budging the whole time, despite two stops on the way.


On a somewhat related note, I count being able to do the walk, even the short leg of it, as a personal triumph, because considering the LD and chronic fatigue, I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk even that far.  Thanks to the miracle of modern nutritional supplements, however, I had no trouble.  Although I, too, was VERY ready to go home once we'd finished the walk, and I slept for a solid two hours that afternoon.

Lance handled the whole affair with his usual grace and dignity, as did DH.  Neither of them had any problems at all, unless you count Lance's feelings of inadequacy when he met two Irish Wolfhounds that made him, at 105 lbs, look small.  :) 

Birthday Party

I just realized I completely forgot to post about Lance's 1st birthday party!  He turned a year old on August 22, and we celebrated on August 21st.

It was a good party, or at least we had fun.  I think everybody else did, too.  There were only 10 or so guests due to the fact that we inadvertently planned the party for the weekend of the Canadian Shiloh Shepherd Nationals, but quite a few of them commented afterward that it was a really interesting mix of people, so we were pleased.

The guests included neighbors and people that are in Lance's life--his trainers, his groomer, a few of the friends who'd help socialize way back in the beginning, and so on. And Lance had a canine guest, too--a chocolate lab puppy by the name of Hardy.  And Kai, of course.

The party and the prep went fairly smoothly, although we had a bit of a panic when, after working all day to prepare the new patio and the back yard for company, it started raining about 1/2 an hour before guests arrived.  But we got everything moved into the garage and under a dining tent, so it all turned out well in the end.  And the rain cooled everything off, so we didn't have to worry about humans or dogs overheating.

And Lance had a lot of fun.  He had so much fun in a game of chase that he broke a hurricane lamp on the aforementioned patio 'cause he couldn't make the corner!  LOL!  And so much fun that he wore both Kai and Hardy (who is a few weeks older than Kai) out by the end of the evening.  They both had to go to bed early, so Lance wound up having the human guests all to himself.  :)

The only thing I regret is that I was having so much fun I totally forgot to get any pictures.  :(  We took some of the aftermath, but it's just not the same!  I'm thinking next year we put out a few disposable cameras to make sure we get some DURING.


All in all, a very good memory!


p.s.  We did make it to Nationals the next day, and Lance took second in his age class.

Pussy

I write about our dogs all the time, even one that is no longer with us.  I write about us, both in our personal and our Pagan lives.  But my tag line mentions 2 Pagans, 2 Puppies, and 2 Cats!  And I really haven't been giving our cats a fair shake, so here goes.

We have two cats, a small, gray domestic short-hair, and a rather large, black, medium-haired Maine Coon mix.  Audrey is bad-tempered and very, very smart.  Dale is sweet, laid-back, and not-so smart.  If you come to our house I can almost guarantee you will see neither, they are both so shy of strangers.

First and foremost is Audrey.  We usually describe her as 8 lbs of concentrated malice.  For a while we worried that there was something wrong with her feet because she never drew her claws in.  When she walks across a hard surface you can hear "click, click, click" because she won't put her claws in.  (We found out she CAN, she just chooses not to do so most of the time.)  I have multiple small scars across my legs because she walks across you with her claws out.  Dale and I are scared of her because she's so quick to take offense, and those claws are always ready. When she was about 10 weeks old, and weighed about 2 lbs, it took me, a vet, and two vet technicians to hold her down to have blood drawn.  Two of the humans ended up bleeding, too.

Despite all that, she CAN be sweet, and her purrs are treasured because they are so rare.  She can figure out any obstacle that doesn't require thumbs, and she is the absolute ruler of her domain. 

Or she was until we got the puppies.  At that point, her maternal instincts seem to have kicked in, and she won't hurt them, no matter how much they bother her.  We're glad we haven't had to rush to the emergency vet with a bleeding nose or scratched eye, but at the same time it's made teaching the dogs to rein in their prey drives and not chase the cats all the harder.  Talk about mixed blessings.

Dale is the polar opposite of his 'sister'.  His claws are rarely out, his frequent purrs are loud enough to hear two rooms away, and he usually has to be shown the way around obstacles.  He is a gorgeous, 20+ lb male with fur that is a deep, deep black tinged with chocolate brown at the very tips.  He will lay on your lap through an entire movie, purring any time he's not asleep, and not clawing you once.

Of course, when his claws DO come out, he can do a lot of damage--he has serious muscle and mass to put behind his rather large claws.  And you'd think he was slow, because of all that size, but you'd be wrong.  He may not be as quick as Audrey, but we saw him take a fly out of the air with one swat a couple of days ago.

He has no maternal instincts, nor even any paternal ones, as far as we can tell.  Both dogs have a healthy respect for him, and won't mess with him if he's facing them.  (They still will chase if he runs, but we're working on that.)

And in case you can't tell, I love both my kitties very much.  :)

An Ode to Merly

A friend of mine lost a dog a few days ago, and it reminded me that I never really posted about Merly on this blog, other than to briefly mention her passing.  I decided it was high time I did.

We got Merlyn Anne Durham in Texas, the first year that we were together.  We were driving through our neighborhood when we saw a handwritten sign announcing, "Free Puppies".  We debated back and forth for a week, before walking two blocks to inquire about the puppies.

It turns out they were what is now known as crossbreeds, meaning they were the product of two different purebred breeds.  Mom was a champion Dalmatian, and Dad was the purebred Lab that jumped a six-foot fence to get to her.  The puppies, who by this time were close to 16 weeks old, looked more like Holstein cows than they did like Dalmatians--instead of spots, they had large black splotches on their VERY white fur. 

We named her after a character on a tv show we were watching at the time, a show called "American Gothic."  The name of the young girl on the show, Merlyn Anne, went hand in hand with the name of our other dog at the time, Arthur.

Because we got her near the end of her prime socialization period, and because at the time neither we nor her dam's owners knew anything about properly socializing an animal, Merly was never really good in public.  She would bark and jump at people she saw in the distance, and she would go ballistic if she saw a dog while on leash.  It wasn't much better in the car--if she saw a dog, she would throw herself at the windows as if she wanted to go through them and murder the other animal.

Nonetheless, she was the smartest dog either one of us had ever seen, and the sweetest, and we loved her.  She moved from Texas to British Columbia to California to Ontario with us.  She loved the heat in Texas and California, absolutely HATED the rain in BC, and was cold ALL the time in Ontario.  She didn't like to be outside unless it was roasting, and spent most of her time here in Ontario either huddled in front of a fireplace or curled up on a warm dog bed.

She learned to walk at "heel" the first time we ever put her on a leash, she defended our house from intruders one day when the back door blew open while we were out, and she delighted in laying out in the sun in the hottest weather.  She ate a couch and never learned not to get things off the kitchen counter.  She was learning clicker training just by watching us teach Lance.

We got Lance to be a companion to her, to liven her up and get her moving again at the age of twelve.  And while that strategy worked, deep down she hated him.  But she never blamed us.  And four months after we got him, we discovered she had cancer.  Six weeks later, this past March, we made the incredibly hard decision to let her go.

I still miss her terribly, and occasionally still cry when I think about her, as I'm doing now.

One of her favorite pastimes:  'scroonching' in the warm sunlight.

Kai's 1st Trip to the Dog Park

Against our trainer's advice, we took Kai on his very 1st trip to the local dog park today.  It actually went pretty well.  He met about 20 new dogs, and about the same number of new people.  (Because he was taken from his litter early, we're doubling the recommended 100 dogs/200 people met before being 20 weeks old.  So far, he's "collected"  151 people and 70 dogs. )

Interestingly enough, there were mostly big dogs there today, most of them nearing a hundred pounds.  Lance, of course, was ecstatic--lots and lots of playmates.  And Kai?  Kai didn't seem fazed at all.  He seemed more comfortable meeting these dogs, all off-leash, than he does playing with the other puppies in puppy class.  Maybe it's because he's so accustomed to playing with his big brother.

Here he is on his way into the park, meeting his first dog-park dog.

And this one was taken right before he got REALLY dirty:

On to the Niagara DogFest this weekend!

Speaking of Badly Behaved Dogs. . .

Just to prove me wrong, my puppies were absolutely AWFUL tonight!  I think Kai spent more time on "time out" this evening than he spent out of it.  And I don't know WHAT was wrong with Lance.  He was hanging over me all evening, but didn't seem to want anything in particular other than to annoy.  I finally had to ask him to move away when his hot breathe on me started to make me nauseous.  All this after they'd broken out of their confinement in the kitchen, almost gotten into a fight when Lance got into Kai's food, and just generally been pushing my buttons all afternoon.

I've never been so happy to see animals go to bed.

Dog Show

Back from a super-exhausting weekend at the outdoor dog show in Woodstock, Ontario.  It was only our second show ever, and our first outdoor show, and was it ever an eye opener.

First and foremost--both of our puppies did well, after a fashion.  :)  Kai won for his first time!  (Go Kai!)  Poor Lance was the only one at this event in his class (Senior Puppy --  puppies 9 to 12 months old), so while he won all of his events, it didn't really count.  Still, he and his handler, my DH, gained lots of experience in the ring.  (10 trips to the ring over two days), and he got some very pretty ribbons.  Don handled Kai, too, but that was a nightmare due to having to switch too quickly between the two dogs.  Look like I'll have to grit my teeth, endure my aversion to being in the public eye, and handle Kai.

Moving on to more unpleasant topics, I unfortunately witnessed the first dog fight I'd ever seen.  A Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog who had escaped from his owner attacked a Shiloh Shepherd who was waiting to enter the ring.  It was very upsetting to witness, even from a few hundred feet feet away.  The site was incredibly violent, and the sound, which was clearly audible across the field, was unbelievable so.  The Catahoula, which was apparently overstressed, went on to attack another dog and bite a human before being restrained.  An ambulance was called, as well as an emergency veterinarian, as the dog collapsed after its spree. (The two dogs it attacked suffered minor injuries, as did the young woman whom it bit.)

That incident, and a few much more minor ones, illustrated to me that a great number of show dog people know nothing whatsoever about properly training a dog, other than for showing.  Now don't get me wrong--I also met a fair amount of people who seemed to know a lot about training their dog to be a dog. But the majority I met owned dogs who were badly behaved and badly socialized outside of the ring.  And even in the ring--I heard of one dog being seriously injured at another show when he was attacked from behind while showing, and at this competition I saw one handler who had to forcibly restrain her dog from attacking the one next to her, right in front of the judge.  I witnessed dogs wearing choke collars and muzzles, dogs who were fearful or aggressive when they got too close to another dog, dogs who were anxious in crowds, etc, etc, etc.

The main problem, I believe, is that owners avoid contact with other dogs for fear of injury to their own prize dog, thus totally hampering the socialization of their animal, which could prevent "incidents" in the first place. I even heard from one of the more knowledgeable owners that it's not uncommon for people to isolate their dog from all contact with others.  I couldn't believe it!

Goddess knows our dogs aren't perfect, and they are not the best trained in regards to showing, but at least Lance is friendly and relaxed around dogs of any size and knows how to meet, play, and interact with them, and Kai is getting there.

Back!

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately.  Been super-busy with new puppy, long weekend, and upcoming dog show.

We now have Kai in Early Puppyhood Education, and Lance on Rocking Horse Walk (a group walk for puppies that have gotten too big for Puppy Walk, but are too young for Adult Walk).  As well, both are furthering their crate-training, as they each have to stay in their crates while their 'brother' is participating in his own class.


Lance is also taking handling classes, so hopefully he will show better at this competition than at the last one!  We're very excited today, 'cause he actually let us position him for "stacking" without sitting down on us!  We're really hoping that by Sunday he will stack (stand correctly for his breed) on command.


 We had a VERY frustrating long weekend.  Don got Thursday the 1st (Canada Day) off, of course,  and he took Friday also, desperately trying to keep from total burnout at his all-consuming job.  Of course, Wednesday night we got a call from the people who were scheduled to seal our driveway, saying they had to come on Thursday.  "On CANADA DAY???" we inquired.  They assured us they were working on the National Holiday.  Okay.  We spent the morning clearing plants, grills, and so on off the driveway, and making sure the dogs could get to the side garage door so they wouldn't have to cross the driveway to get out to the yard.  Then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

We couldn't get anyone on the phone, so we eventually gave up and went to puppy class, which was also being held on Canada Day.  Sigh.  When we got back at around 8 pm, the team was there, taping the driveway.  "You're not going to do this at this hour???"

"Yes, we have plenty of time before dark," they assured us.

And they did.  Until their machine broke down.  And the other machine didn't come until after dark.  And their boss decided they had to quit.

That's fine, we thought.  They said they'd finish the next day.  No problem.

We spent most of Friday on the phone threatening law suits and complaints to the Better Business Bureau if they didn't actually get out there and do it.  They finally, finally allowed as to how they could get out to us Saturday at noon.  Okay, we growled.

We called again Saturday at 1 pm.  This time, they were delayed by problems at ANOTHER job.  We were assured they'd be there at 5 pm.  We decided if they weren't, we were done with them.  They showed up at 4:58 pm.

At which point we were informed that it would take 48 hours to dry, not the 24 they had originally told us it would take.

We didn't strangle anyone.