Vinnie's First DQ

I took Vinnie to the Fairfax Dairy Queen for some... uh... socialization. Yep, that's it... socialization. Of course, while we were there, I bought us some ice cream - just to make it all legit, of course.

Tammy and Bill met us at the DQ (socialization - remember?)
Vinnie LOVED his ice cream... a LOT!
He's not the neatest ice cream eater in the world...

but he does pretty well with a spoon.

I'm sure we'll have to make more trips to DQ in the future for socialization (and to perfect his ice cream eating style!)

Cooties!!!!!!

Vinnie has them... cooties, that is. The weasels are sure of it. They are not mean to him (no name calling!), but they avoid him. They don't want to catch his little puppy cooties. If he comes close to them or, heaven forbid, actually make physical contact, they scramble to safety. Can you really blame them? Here's the poster boy for cooties:

One of the side effects of cooties is the ability to move at a high rate of speed - in order to infect other dogs, of course:
Now, I know this is just a temporary thing. It happens every time I have a new puppy. Puppies apparently carry a particularly deadly strain of cooties. This strain must only be contagious for a short period of time. I wondered who would be the first to "cave" to Vinnie's charm. He is really a sweet little guy and just wants someone to play with him. Today Robin decided that Vinnie was now "safe" and not potentially harmful to the general population: Vinnie was VERY happy to have a playmate.

Vinnie chased Robin all over the yard until Robin finally stood in the middle of the yard and Vinnie had the puppy "rips" in huge circles around him...

Now if he can just convince Frank and Betty to play...

Vinnie

Meet Vinnie! Melinda and I went to pick up Vinnie from Chicago O'Hare (he flew in from Portland, Oregon). O'Hare is quite the place. We went into the airport to find out where we were supposed to be. "Uh... not here" says the airport guy, "You need to go to cargo. I don't know how to get there, but if you just go across that parking lot and into that little building, they'll be able to tell you how to get there." We go to that little building and explain what we need. The nice lady at the counter whips out and map and proceeds to add to it (a lot!). She very nicely highlights it and explains that we are to basically go out of the airport and around to the cargo area behind the airport. "It's really easy to get there" says she, "but, I have not been there for years." (years??? this is not sounding good! does she realize how much can happen in "years"???) So we drive around the airport and eventually find the cargo area. We are about an hour early, but check with the folks in cargo to see if we are in the right place. Yep... it's the right place. "So" I ask "how long after his flight lands will he get here?" "Oh, about ten to fifteen minutes." replies the airport person. I'll believe that when I see it! Melinda and I entertained ourselves for the next hour watching some guy rearranging the FedEx trucks across the street. Vinnie's plane was due to land at 4:55, so at 5:05 we walked back inside (figuring the puppy would be no where in site). Well, he wasn't in site, but we sure could HEAR him! That boy has a set of lungs that could peel paint off your walls (ask Melinda, but speak up - she's a little hard of hearing these days!)

We sprung Vinnie from the hands of United and took him out to the parking lot to check him out. He recovered from his flight in about thirty seconds! He played and chased a ball of tape off of his crate and just generally had a good time - ignoring all the trucks and loud noises around him. We put him in the van after trying to wear him out a bit. Off we went - trying to find our way OUT of Chicago (gotta love Garmin!!!). Vinnie was NOT ready to be back in a kennel at all and he let us know about it. Melinda was stuffing food into the crate to keep him quiet. Once we got out of Chicago, we both wanted dinner and the van needed gas and GLORY BE - there was a Petco and a McDonald's right on the side of the road!!! Vinnie got a new Kong and some Kong stuffing for the road (hopefully to keep him quiet!). Martha and I got fish and chicken - she got the fish - I got the chicken (which was NOT all that good!). We got gas (for the van!) and we were off again.
We made it home at 10:30pm (after dropping Melinda off at her car), made brief introductions and headed to bed.

How to clean a tunnel... or NOT

A couple weeks ago at agility class, Betty was really having some issues with the tunnel. She didn't want to go into it at all. Plus, I know she's not very comfortable with me rear crossing the tunnel - this is on my list of things we are going to work on this summer. So, I decided to drag the tunnel out from under the deck. It is absolutely filthy. There are leaves and spider nests and all kinds of nasty things stuck to it and in it. I remembered Tammy saying that she and Bill had taken their tunnels to the car wash to clean them. Off to the car wash! Since it's kinda nasty and rainy today, I'll have the place all to myself!! Now, obviously, I am not going to be putting that tunnel in my precious Shorty (yep - my minivan has a name!). In the truck it goes:I get to the car wash and I do, indeed, have the whole place to myself. I pulled the truck through a bay and rolled the tunnel out all ready to wash. I am all ready to deposit a wealth of quarters in this dandy machine - so what setting do YOU wash your tunnel on?? I ended up opting for a high pressure soap (no clear coat protectant thankyouverymuch!!)

Did you know that car washes use WARM water???? Me either!! And thank doG they do, cause it was getting colder and I was getting wetter by the minute! (FYI - they really MEAN high pressure - that water can shred the skin right off your hands!) There has to be a trick to washing a tunnel - I was soaked from head to toe in seconds and the tunnel was not any cleaner! About half way through, I abandoned my glasses to the tailgate of the truck (note to self: do NOT squash your only pair of glasses with that tunnel when you put it back in the truck!!!) Trust me - these jeans are absolutely SOAKED!! However, my feet are nice and toasty warm (and dry!!) thanks to my LL Bean stormchaser clogs! I love these things!!

Doesn't my tunnel look fantastic??? (it's still a bit dirty, but it's a HUGE improvement)

Now, I am soaked to the skin and need to drive back home. I think I saw a towel in the Brian's truck... nope - just a rug and a tiny bit of paper towels. If I had had my van, I would have had multiple blankets, a whole roll of paper towels, at least two towels AND my rain suit! Oh well - it's amazing how much you can dry off with three paper towels and I sat on the rug on the way home!

Ok - I DID consider this for just a minute when I realized that I didn't have a towel!!

Oh yeah... does anyone ever think about those drains and what is down in them???

Happy Birthday Robin!!

Yesterday was Robin's birthday - He turned eleven years old. It seems like only yesterday that I went to pick him up from his breeder in Wisconsin. Time sure flies! So... because it's his birthday, we had to take pictures. Robin tends to "melt" a bit in front of the camera when we set up formal photos, so Betty and Frank were more than willing to play a bit while we got everything set up just right for the birthday boy... One of the things that I have always struggled with is getting my IGs to lay down on the table when we are running agility, so I've had to be a bit creative. I can't get something this nice at a trial from Frank:

So... I taught him to lay on his side: Betty was a little different... and she is NEVER this adorable at a trial!! With a little patience, a clicker and a LOT of food, over the winter we have really been working hard on her down. She is supposed to tuck her front right foot under her chest and this is what I get: About that birthday boy... he was perfect for photos today!!He just gets more handsome the older he gets!!

WARNING!!! (seriously!!)

Ok - this is your official warning - the photos in this post are probably offensive to some folks. I feed raw to my dogs - they love it - I love how they look and act on it. They wolf it down in about ten seconds flat (seriously) and the poops are tiny. Gotta love that. So... there are different types of raw feeding. Personally, I feed a pre made mix from Nature's Variety (www.naturesvariety.com). The dogs do fantastic on it and it's easy to find.

My folks were in Florida for the last two months and brought back a bunch (120 pounds!) of raw for their dogs and ours. I got a case and there is some thawing in the refrigerator right now. This is Blue Ridge Beef (www.blueridgebeef.com). The lean beef is supposed to be a favorite, so that's what the kids will get to try first - not that it really matters to them - I think a ten second meal really doesn't allow for a whole lot of tasting. Another type of raw feeding is whole carcass feeding - use your imagination - it's just what it sounds like.

So... back to the gross part (Brian - stop reading here!!!). I came home from work today and let the dogs out while I changed out of my uniform. I checked on the dogs and noticed that Frank had something hanging from his chin. Now there is never really anything in the yard, so if they think there is something good enough to eat and it's big enough for me to see across the yard, I tend to get a little frantic (I'm paranoid about the thought of something unsafe getting in the yard). I calmly (yep - totally calm) went out to the yard to see what Frank had. It was fuzzy and blowing from his chin like a little goatee. I look at the ground and there is "something" laying in front of Frank - a body part of some sort. A closer look... it's a bunny leg!! Yuck and it's NOT fresh! So now I have three dogs that want the bunny leg and one bunny leg that needs to be disposed of. Ugh - I pick up the bunny leg and take it to the yardy. Whew...

Then I get thinking (I'm not always very good at this!). Bunny legs rarely travel on their own... Ugh. The fuzz, bunny leg and Frank were all in front of the wood racks - we have a fireplace and Brian has a really nice set up in the back yard for the wood - doesn't it look nice? There's a ton of wood under those tarps! So, I decided that a look around for the rest of Mr Bunny was in order... (this is your FINAL warning - Brian - stop reading!!!!)Yep - it was behind the wood racks - the dogs like to race around them and there is just enough room for them to get between the wood racks and the fence. It looks like something (NOT the dogs!!) got the bunny or it died under the wood racks over the winter and the dogs got it out. He had two lucky feet, but they weren't working!!
V8 headslap here... this would explain the bit of bone that Frank threw up a few nights ago... it looked a bit large to have come from the ground mix that I feed. So... I think maybe I have been doing some whole carcass feeding and I just didn't know it.

Busy Day...

Well... it's 9:20pm and I'm ready for bed! It's been a busy day for sure. I started out leaving the house at nine this morning to shoot an Easter egg hunt. Ashley (a co-worker) was taking her daughter to the Easter egg hunt and I asked if I could go along to take some photos. Let me tell you, these things are NOT for the faint of heart! Those parents (yep, the parents) are serious! I saw at least a couple moms and dads dragging their kids by the arm pointing out the candy and eggs to their kids. The whole thing took about ten minutes from start to finish. I got lots of great shots of Olivia hunting for the eggs. Then we all came back to our house for Ashley's maternity shoot. She is 7 1/2 months pregnant and perfect for photos right now. We have been planning this for months! (more about that later...). After Ashley left, we put a couple steaks and some spuds on the grill - YUMMY!!!!!!! We decided after gorging ourselves, we ought to burn some calories, so we cleaned out the flower beds. Here's the before:

And the after - this took about an hour - and there are plants under there!!

We even found a couple flowers!
Now... about that maternity shoot... Brian was in charge of lighting and I was the shooter/poser. I am so stinkin' proud of these photos!! Here's one of my favorites. You'll have to go to my website to see the rest: www.inflightphotog.com (look under portraits).