Dodged Another Bullet

I haven't felt like blogging, facebooking or anything lately and apologize for the lack thereof.  There was a death in my family and other bad things have been happening to other people I know and so have been feeling a little blah.

Thank heavens for my two little buggers tho as have you ever seen those funny animal emails you receive or watched "bad dog" on TV, well it happened to me personally last Friday as this is what I came home to at lunch:

Molly blamed Fat Cat, Fat Cat blamed Molly and Zack had disappeared altogether (I wonder why)

The whole computer area had been raided and scattered  right across the whole downstairs living area.

Even our new print cartridges had been unwrapped, peeled and destroyed.   We lost iPod earphones, all sorts of things were wrecked - pencils, pens chewed up you name it they had it.

Even Zack's monkey sweater was shredded - I knew Zack hated it but……

I honestly just laughed as Molly looked so innocent and it did look like she was wondering what all the fuss was about.    Zack was on "his mat" and didn't even come to say hello when I got in :)   I honestly don't think it was Zack who did "the raid" (as he has never done it before) but I am sure that once Molly had drug everything out he was right there joining in the destruction.   We will never know for sure.

After laughing about what they had just done, my laughter turned to panic afterwards worrying about what they could have swallowed and the repercussions of that.   It will be a week tomorrow since it happened and many poops later I am thinking we dodged another bullet and in the clear with respect to any blockages.   I was celebrating every poop let me tell ya!!!

Molly is now back in her kennel when we are at work and there has been no more problems.

Zack's rap sheet is growing,  he has committed multiple homicides over the years to many squeaky furry things and now he can add more to his crime list, home invasion and destruction of personal property!!!   Molly's crime spree may have just begun - Yikes :)

Experiment

Finding treats that Zack can tolerate for training is nearly impossible.   So I thought I would try an experiment.    I took Zack's canned food...

chopped it into little pieces

 and baked it in the oven

It turned out great!!   Baking a little less turns into Zuke consistency and baking longer they are just like kibble.    It smelled god awful when it was baking but I am sure knowing Zack if it smells like shit he will eat it!!!

I'v Got the Bug Again

This weekend the Dog Show was in town and I had my booth set up to promote my Pet Portrait business so I was there all day on Saturday.   My booth was located just across from the obedience and Rally ring so I got to watch the dogs which was great.   In return for the Dog Show allowing me to have my booth there, I volunteered this morning in the Rally obedience ring and I think I have the bug again.

I found myself walking the course in my head, thinking it through  and  how I would do it with my dog.   I would love to continue with Zack to get his next level in Rally.   It may be a challenge with respect to how I train with him and keeping him motivated but maybe it's time for me to take on that challenge and see where it goes and what may or may not work when it comes to rewards for Zack (as food for him is so limited).

Also I am excited about little Miss Molly as she is so happy to learn and is very food motivated.  I think she would actually do very well with time an patience and lots more training.    It sucks that I can't compete because she is not purebred, however, I found out that there may be a way which I will have to look into.  Additionally, I found out there is another organization as well that puts on trials specifically for mixed breeds.  

So maybe my new year goal is to keep working with my dogs and maybe try again with Zacky boy but keep things short and sweet with respect to training sessions so he doesn't get bored.     Zack is definitely more food motivated now we have Molly as he doesn't want her to get any(BOL) and loves the one on one attention.   I think it will be a lot of trial and error with Zack.  

I haven't done anything in a while, is it time again?

I don't think they're too bothered to do too much of anything today :)

41 Days til….

If you're reading this you know I care

About my little mismatched pair

Ones all wiry, the others a fluff

Two just means I can buy more stuff!

Happy Christmas Shopping!!! :)

Good Start, Bad End

Even though it was snowing and cold yesterday morning we decided to take the dogs to Pavan Park - somewhere different for a change.   The walk started out great.  It was so fun and the dogs just loved running through the snow and trees.   It feels so different being down in the river valley through the trees than when you are on top of the coulees in the open.

Winter scenes are so peaceful.

 Even though it's not close up or in sharp focus, I love this picture below for some reason, the three most important things to me altogether :)

Molly got another bad haircut on Saturday, the top of her head is way too short.   The rest of her is just fine though.

It's still hard to get  Molly to stay still for too long.  I think her little butt was frozen by this time actually.

Zack's a trooper when it comes to sitting in the snow.

 He did lots of rummaging and eating things he shouldn't = poop

Lots of geese flew overhead which was amazing.   I never get tired of hearing them... it's a true sign they are moving through heading south.   Don't blame em

There was no wind yesterday and everything was so still.   I wish I had my other camera as we saw the most amazing stag deer.    He lifted his head and looked at us in that fixed stance they always have.   His antlers were magnificent.   He truly was in his prime and I felt "that special moment" of being in the right place at the right time when it comes to seeing wildlife.   I got goose bumps.   To alot of other people seeing a deer is nothing special, but to me all wildlife is special and each have a place in this world.  

We headed back with the dogs along the river to the car.

That's when it all happened.   Just when we got in the car Zack was on my lap and we could smell dog poop.   We looked at the dogs, our shoes, etc. nothing - then suddenly Zack vomited all down my leg and in the car.   That was it.    Then it wouldn't stop - he kept on vomiting over and over tones of stuff was coming up  - poor boy (sorry hate to be graphic).  It was awful.  Poor Zack.   He must have ate some awful pooh.  We tried to drive home but kept having to pull over - it turned to bile by then.   At this point I was worried maybe it could have been poison or something.   To cut along story short, we got him home and I gave him his anti-vomiting medicine that I have at home and he seemed to settle down.  It was very scary and we were going to take him to the vet if he didn't stop, but after the medicine he did stop vomiting and  settled down and just slept it off.    This morning he ate his breakfast and seems ok again.

I hope he learned his lesson about eating crap, but probably not.   It kind of put a damper on what was a wonderful walk.

I think a short on leash walk today is in order.

Catching Some Rays

Enjoy Zacky :)

Morning Wash

Zack thinks Fat Cat makes a great pillow BOL

It Comes & Goes

The snow that came last week disappeared to nothing (well mud) and now the white stuff  is back again!!!   Winter seems to be here that's for sure.  Here are a few more photos from last week.

There was lots of coming

and going

coming

and going

this photo cracked me up - Zack's face looked shocked - but it was Molly that he was watching

cuz she was out of her depth

Zack ignored her anyway and just kept going 

 leaving her behind

until he popped out on the packed stuff again where she would catch up

Zack I think you are well loved by everyone and everything :)

Snow Bunny