Snow again?

Yup, it was 50 degrees yesterday. And today we woke up to sunshine. Mom opened all of the drapes and me and Darcy found our sunny spots to lay in! :) Then we went for a walk. On the way back it started to snow! What???? Yup, now it's been snowing off and on all day! Another cold day tomorrow and then it's supposed to warm up - again!

Mom said it's supposed to warm up and if it does she's going to be working on getting our playground finished. She's got 24 more t-posts to put in (the ground is still frozen). Then dad has to put in the corner posts. It'll only take mom and dad a day to put the fencing and the gate up. So come one sun - warm up the ground for us!!

There are loads of birds in the front yard, our soon to be playground. I sit on the deck and watch the birds. Then I sit at the back of the house and watch them on the hill. Ooooooo I just want one opportunity to chase them - just one! :)

Wake up mom!

I don't know what happened to mom yesterday. All she did was sleep. She had a quilt and a blanket on her. I was real quiet and calm all day. I wouldn't sleep next to her on the sofa, but I did lay on my bed on by the slider to keep an eye on her. Mom said she had a fever and wasn't feeling good. What does that mean? No walks? No fair! I didn't even play with Darcy - I've never seen mom this way.

Then early in the morning mom said her fever broke. Did it need to be fixed? And that she was feeling much better. Good! That means walks today! Yippeee!! It's supposed to warm up some today (in the 40's) so mom is patiently waiting for the temperature to rise a bit before we go! I don't care, as long as we go for a walk.

I played with Darcy this morning while mom took a shower in her new shower! :) I've been checking out the new shower daily. Mom said it's good that I do that, so when she give me a bath I won't worry.

I'm glad mom is feeling much better today. And so far the sun is shining - we're off to a good start! :)

Hey it's dark here!

So last night dad didn't come home until after dark and in a different truck! Ugg! It was dark in the house. Mom usually leaves a light on but didn't for some reason. So we were in the dark for a bit! Dad came home and we barked at him - didn't know who was in the monster truck! When dad got out and said hi we went to wigglin. Well, I did, Darcy kept barking, but she was wagging her tail! :)

Today we slept in. Mom got up real early and was fidgity. I went to sleep with dad for a bit. Then when mom went back to bed I curled up with her! We woke up late, got ready and went for a nice long walk. Dad joined us - there was soo many good smells! We got back to the house and dad was getting his old tires out of the shed and loading them into the monster truck. When he went to secure the gate the latch broke and he cut his hand. Mom was on the phone and dad came in with blood running down his hand. Needless to say, mom wasn't fazed. Dad is always getting hurt, and it usually involves blood. So dad cleaned up his cut, mom got out the right bandage and kept right on the phone! :) HAHAHAHA!

Then mom gave me a bath. Dad gave me some cookies and mom gave me a warm bath with a great massage. When mom left for work, it was nappie time in the house. I was on the sofa and Darcy was on the bed. All is right in the world again!

We're Home!

Well mom and dad picked us up this morning. I was a big ol wiggle butt! Nancy said I was wonderful the whole week. I played with Darcy and 5 other dogs every day with no problem! I've got a few battle wounds on my back legs, mom just laughed. Said it was about time someone kicked my butt! :) Hahaha!

We got home and dad was finishing the new walk-in shower. Man is it huge! Darcy was a little upset so mom went to the big bed room and we chilled out on the bed. Watching the winds blow the trees. Mom was ironing and we took a quick nap. Then mom sat on the big chair in the bedroom and went to pick me up. Ooooff! Mom had to use her leg to lift me! I'm almost 70 pounds now and when I'm sleepy I feel like 150 mom said! :)

Well mom went to work tonight, me, Darcy and Dad are taking a nappie!

I got Dog of the Day!

Whooop, whoooop! I got Dog of the Day! I'm on vacation at the kennel, playing like crazy! Mom is home cleaning the rugs and painting and stuff! But I'm out having fun!! :):) Darcy is here with me and she's little miss social butterfly!

Thanks so much for the pic! That's awesome!!

Grunt :):)

Butt Munching and Vacation

The last few days I've been licking by my butt. So much so that there is a red spot about 2 inches long by my bunghole. Mom thought it was my anal glands and was squeezing my butt. Hey! Stop that! That's not right! Anyway. After cleaning up my butt it seems to be getting better.

Today mom took me and Darcy for our walk. When we got home she started to load up the truck. Hmmmm. Well me and Darcy were playing and didn't pay much attention to mom.

Turns out we were all going in the truck! Darcy darted for the crate and off we went!

When we pulled up to the kennel it was wonderful! :) I love the smell of horses! Then I heard the dogs barking and Darcy was super excited! Playtime!! Mom said she'll be back on Friday to pick us up! Yippeee!!

Mom talked to Nancy about what happened at training with the rude golden Cougar. How I pinned him down... so they're going to keep an eye on me. Nancy said - I just don't see him turning, but we'll give him a test run! I just love this place! :)

Yippee I'm Diary of the Day and a STAR!

Life is pretty darn good! Last night I passed my AKC STAR training (off to CGC!) And today I'm diary pick of the day! My advise to everyone with a dog is - go to basic obedience. Less dogs would end up in shelters if everyone trained their dogs. It's not hard - actually it's fun.

Thanks Dogster for picking me! I'm so happy!! :):):)

I'm a STAR!

Mom and dad took me to my last class. Boy was it packed! There was Ella (my girlfriend!), and Mater (the great dane), Jake (a new pup I've never met), Valentine (she's so sweet!), Riley (boxer-beagle with fear issues) and Nero (one-eyed chin behind a gate barking her head off! UGH!)

Well I passed the test for the STAR program with no problems! Yippeee!!! Then we had to pass a second test for the trainer's certificate of completion. That was hard but I passed it as well! Everyone did really well and we had a good time.

Mom and dad talked alot on the way home. They talked about the trainer. She has a good heart and is genuinely concerned about having a dog with good manners. BUT, she doesn't seem to understand how to fix problems that may arise. Take Riley, she stared me down last time, barking and snarling just plain acting a fool. Today she was next to Valentine, the sweetest and most shyful dog in the class. The minute Riley made eye contact with Valentine she would bark and carry on. The instructor walked away from Riley barking instead of correcting the problem. Maybe the trainer doesn't know how. I don't think she's been training a long time, but you would think as a trainer you would want to know WHY a dog is acting the way it is.

See that's mom's problem. When Turner was alive he became reactive. Mom went to seminars, met, talked, had dinner and enjoyed the company of many worldly known and local trainers. She picked their brains wanting to know why, why is this dog doing this, why is this dog doing that? Brian Kilcommons taught mom some things. Ian Dunbar taught her others. PJ & Sandy were the behaviorst at Best Paw Forward and they invited mom and Turner to Reactive Rover Classes, Growl Classes as well as basic and advanced obedience. Mom became obsessed with the world of dog behavior. Meeting more and more trainers, going to seminars, spending thousands on books, dvds and lectures.

Mom took Turner to class at Best Paw Forward in Florida. They had extremely strict rules. A dog would arrive for class, before class you pottied your dog. Classes were limited and the seats were set out with distance to ensure everyone was comfortable. Training was done and once the class was over you went home. It was training. There was no playtime beforehand. Not that playtime was bad, just that it was time to train and you focused on training. Part of the training was that your dog was focused on you not the other dogs. PJ offered mom a job, but mom couldn't quit the prison, even though she would love to do behavior full time! Instead, PJ and Sandy opened their arms (and minds) to mom. They started the first Karen Pryor Clicker Training Academy in Central Florida. Mom loved being at the center and was sad to move to TX where there was no behaviorist or trainers locally.

When Turner was PTS in April 2010, mom lost her zest for training. It was like Turner took it with him. Then they got me! I want to learn, mom is slowly getting the feel back for all she knows. When I learn mom sees it. When I get frustrated mom slows and starts over for me. I know that mom has loads of things for me to learn, I'm just hoping I can learn as much as she'll teach me! :) After all I am a STAR student now! :):):)

Training Week 5

Well after 2 hours of driving in snow on horrible roads we arrived for class. 20 minutes late! But at least we showed up! Got inside and there was "Mater" a great dane pup. He was as big as one of the neighbors mini-horses. Looked just like Marmaduke - handsome bugger! :) Ella was there and giving Grunt google love eyes the whole time! :) Such a sweetie! And of course little Valentine the Shihtsu rescue was there with her dad. Luckily there wasn't much going on. We swapped dogs to see if they would obey other people. Grunt went with Mater's mom and dad, mom got Valentine. Grunt did amazing! So proud! Valentine is a newly adopted dog and I just sat with her and gave her some chest rubs for sitting so well!

Mater was like a huge cricket, he kept jumping. That got Grunt a little excited. So we went to the corner to do some focusing and settled Grunt down.

Then the trainer took Grunt and taught him "place". He picked it up in a matter of seconds. Such a good boy! I actually forgot about that one. Had friends train animals for movies. Only they used the command "mark". So since Grunt picked that one up quick, we'll continue with it! :)

It was a long drive back, luckily the snow stopped and the roads weren't as bad. It still took us 2 hours, the last hill was horrible and slippery so I took my time. Grunt was comfy in his crate snoozin...

One more class - the test and graduation! Yippee!!

I'm getting bigger

Mom took me to the vet. Yippeee! I love going there! They give me loads of hugs!! One of the vet tech's gave me a treat and weighed me. I'm 63.7 pounds! Almost 64 pounds!! That puts me ahead of Darcy!! :) I'm aleady about an inch taller than her.

One of the girls came out of the office and looked at mom, then looked at me and said Oh My God is that GRUNT? Then she came over and hugged on me! Another girl has a girl pibble who is about 2 months younger than me. She's about 45 pounds! Well after we got our hugs mom got our free 3 months of Frontline plus! Score!

Good thing mom got the Frontline Plus, when we got to Petco she found a tick on me! Ugh! In February!

Well, mom's going to take me and Darcy for our walk and then we're training. Tonight is our picture night at class! Next week I graduate! :)