mom's trying to grow a lawn...

personally i was fine with the mud back there and especially now that she tries to keep me from running on the baby grass. enough already...let a girl play in her own yard!! it does make us go for a few extra walks though. summer is great. we've spotted a few bears already and smelled some great scat. lots of moose babies around and today i almost walked myself right into a young male moose. mom figures he is new to being on his own. he just stood there and we checked each other out. mom had that concerned voice, but he seemed okay to me. that silly rio didn't even sniff him out until after we passed by.
i forgot how much i love the open water of lakes and all that water play. snow is great too. i'm so happy we get to have a variety of wet stuff to play in. some of the trails still have a few patches of snow, but around town it's gone. i love to make a run for the lakes and then pitch myself in...amazing splashes that way. the bigger the better.
well, back to laying on mom's bed and watching the acitivity in my neighborhood. it's after 11 and still totally light out...life is grand!

a bad dog was harassing some moose...

rio had first scented something pretty strong while we were on our walk today....it's snowing again! anyway...today mom had to chase rio down as she became quite determined to find the source of that smell. we didn't see the moose though so we kept walking with mom and rio on alert. we crossed this open area and then started hearing this dog barking. we could hear the person calling the dog from way off in the woods.

as we got closer we saw that the dog was barking and encircling a mother moose and her calf. boy....that is not a very smart idea!! mom said we were lucky he was chasing them in the other direction. we've been about mowed down by moose being chased by dogs before...it's very dangerous. mom had us both on the leashes and we were being very good, though rio knew something was up and was interested. mom was trying to get that dog to stop harrassing those poor moose. it's illegal....mom always feels badly for the moose. that mom moose was bring pretty tolerant, though she did charge that dog a few times while we stood there. mom was worried about the dog too. she decided to head there with us thinking that may distract the dog and make him want to check us out. it did seem to work and he started toward us and then booked toward the woods. we really hope he made it back to his people. it's not a good night for a dog to be lost in the woods.

so that was our big excitement today.

the snow just keeps falling....

mom keeps mentioning spring being here and then the white stuff comes down all over again. i'm perfectly happy with the extra snow...i'm not complaining at all. i think mom may be ready for some green stuff though. we got over 5 inches on wednesday and we got to go play in it thursday. it was the really sticky snow. my tennis ball kept sinking so mom got out the frisbee.
agility is going pretty good. they are really trying to teach us the weave poles now so mom is feeling a bit better about my progress....she does try to remind herself that we do this for fun and she shouldn't get too stressed....cause then that isn't fun!
rio is still very active in her sniffing duties. she locates all the moose, even if they are over 400 yards off. it gets mom all on alert and rio ends up on a leash cause she just wants to go say hello...and mom can't let her. poor rio has no idea how large those ungulates really are. i don't think she'd want to go say hello if she did. we saw some lynx tracks the other day too....along with loads of bunny tracks...no actual sightings yet though.
off to dream............

near miss with a moose...

mom is usually pretty good at spotting those moose before i do and my sister rio may be blind, but she can scent one out pretty quick. she smelled the moose on the trail today but ran past it so by the time mom spotted it rio was about 50 feet past i was about 20 feet past and mom was about 20 feet away on the trail....it was a HUGE moose too!! mom decided it was best just to keep walking right on past that moose. rio turned around, i turned around to see what i'd missed. rio started after the moose now that she could better smell it and mom was getting very LOUD!! that big old moose decided he didn't want to deal with us and it darted out from behind mom and ran down the trail. i started to make a move to run after it and mom DOTH PROTESTED! personally, i think my bravery saved the day, but mom just will never see it that way.
yesterday we saw a moose on the trail too. we were with a buddy of mine, max. i don't think max ever saw that moose. mom usually hesitates before throwing my toy but it was too late she'd already tossed my tennis ball before she saw said moose. we all got called back and the moose eventually moved off the trail enough that we walked past.
we also saw a pair of twin moose today as we hit the main road from our house headed to the trail. the first one darted out across the street and it's sibling followed shortly after. mom figured thier mom either died or booted them out in preparation for her spring baby. yesterday we saw a moose in the same area by our house. it was in someones backyard, headed out through and open gate.
so the moose are chilling in anchorage awaiting the break up so they can move into the mountains again. it's supposed to snow some more though so they will be with us for a bit i think.
agility goes good. i almost have the weave poles down. i think i could do more if a few of the other pups weren't having a hard time. they're kinda holding me back, but i keep reminding mom that we are doing this for fun and will probably never compete so she needs to not be so stressed over this stuff. we do have fun in our class and mom has fun training me. i like the cheese treats....though there are so many other nummy treats there and i just have to try and look cute to everyone and see if they'll just give me one...

my big sister rio is still wearing her brace for walks, i guess she always will? not sure, but it doesn't seem to bother her any. she romps and plays and obviously tries to meet moose.

i guess that is the latest news in the life of miss blossom.....

Doodle day at university lake....

mom took us to the dog park today and i ran into one of my littermates...we got to run and play and catch up..it was so much fun!! after ginger left we ran into another doodle. that one looks like my pal, hondo, except she's a girl and a puppy still. we played chase too.

agility has been a bit frustrating. mom wants to have me grouped with the smaller dogs as they are more prepared. we waste lots of time in class waiting for my large dog classmates try to practice the same stuff i had down months ago. it just means i don't get to play on the stuff as much as i want to. mom says she will sign me up for the next agility class. i've gotta show em i can do the weave poles without those silly "baby gates".

it's been below zero F for a few up here now. mom took me skijoring again, but the snow was a bit tough for her to ski on...so i just took her for a spin. it's fun to just let loose and run...sometimes we stop suddenly and when i look back mom is laying on the ground. i wish she'd warn me more when we are taking a break.

rio is doing great.

i totally get it!!

OMD that skijoring is a blast!!!! now i just have to help mom get better at her skate skiing. she's not the most graceful skier out there, but she does have heart so hopefully for her sake she'll figure it out before she breaks anything. she went deep into the snow and brush a few times and other times just flopped onto the trail. looks a bit painful if you ask me, but she kept getting up. she let her friend skijor with me for a few minutes. i think she had fun too....she's not scared of going fast or hills like mom.

mom kept saying how proud she was of me for "go, go,go" ing like she asked. it did help having her friend to chase...it just clicked for me what she wanted. i still get a little nervous of the skis and poles and having the harness and rope and stuff which can get all tangly. then there was a kinda not so nice dog that a lady couldn't really control while she was trying to regular cross country ski....mom really took a dive with that one.

man am i exhausted though....

went BELLY UP for february...

mom's digital broke so she had to go the old film route. i think it turned out quite nice. i never get to see my belly. we have a wonderful mirror in the bedroom and i can admire myself from most angles, but that angle is harder to see! now i can just come to my page!

we've been doing the usual stuff here, lots of long walks. rio is doing great with her splint and hopefully will be highlighted in february on orthopets.com! so congrats to my sister rio catalina! lots of snow out there so lots of frisbee time. mom mostly just tossed the tennis ball in the yard these days. she is cheap and hates to lose tennis balls to the snow. at least in the yard we find them all again come spring. we'll have to see if the new neighbors will be nice and toss the ones mom accidently tossed over the fence back. the old neighbor was super nice, but she's gone to the bridge to join all those dogs she knew before.

mom took a class to learn to skate ski....she really wants me to help her by pulling. i still don't really get that. she puts the harness on anyway and tries. she sometimes practices with the harness on my while she uses the kicksled on the lake. westchester lagoon has lots of nice area groomed up for hte kicksled...actually it's for the ice skaters. mom is still pretty slow on her skate skies so she doesn't go out for more than a half hour . looks like hard work. when she stops or falls over i just have a seat and wait for her to go again. those falls look painful to me, but mom just keeps getting back up.

the weekends mom works we get to hit our favorite dog park. lots of fun dogs there. those owners are great and it can even be crowded there when it's below zero. i'm still taking my agility class. it's fun...i really wish they'd get more ramps out for us. those are my favorites.

guess i'll go try and get some treats and scritches now...good night

i'm so embarrassed...

today in my agility class i kept trying to tell mom that i really needed to pee. mom just didn't get it at all. she thought i was thirsty and kept offering me a bowl of water...this only increased my need to pee! who can jump and climb when they have a full bladder. well finally i just couldn't wait and i pee'd right there in class. how humiliating. mom felt so bad that she hadn't picked up on it. at least i was able to wait til i was in a corner waiting my turn on the aparatus....but still....

it's been a fun week. met up with a few of mom's friends for a walk on monday...the one friend brought a dog, duke. he was nice, but he barked alot. silly labradors. the next day we met up with another friend of mom's and her dog max. he was fun too. it's been snowing so that makes the walks even better. today mom and i took rio for a walk in the bog then mom thought rio should rest a bit after 2 days of long walks. she wasn't limping or anything, mom just wanted to take it easy on her. so mom went snow shoeing and i chased the frisbee for several more miles.

last night mom put this red harness on me and she skied. the trails here are pretty busy at night. i think mom was getting a little frustrated cause i really don't get the pulling thing. she did say i look very cute in my harness! her camera seems to have gone on the blitz....she really needs to fix that right away...i mean i could do something really, really cute! besides we've all decided to take belly up shots and post them in february at the doodle connection...should be fun...that is if i can get a picture posted!!!!!

don't tell...

mom called out sick tonight...she had plumbing problems...just not the sort that work thought she had! mom thinks she may have shown her plumbers crack to the plumbers...!! those dang low waisted pants..hehe..! must be refreshing for the plumbers. as usual...the simple fix became more major and so they were here much longer than expected. not much mom could do. i'm sure happy to have her here with me though. now she needs to have the tile repaired in the tub...so she's thinking a mini remodel.

as for me...i'm enjoying our snow and winter. we've had a large number of moose sightings of late so the snow must have drivin them into town more. there are been a few sightings at our back fence. they use the path behind us to travel between parks in town. the other day they must have been sleeping there. mom hit the back frence with my tennis ball and up popped the moose from thier slumber. mom felt bad, but we were totally excited. rio sniffs those big dogs out where ever they are and makes a bee line for them if given the opportunity. today, she just sniffed out some of thier tasty poops and had herself a lovely treat before mom could stop her.

i'm on break from agility...starts up soon, but i'm keeping limbered up by jumping for frisbees and tennis balls. mom also ran with me yesterday on the kicksled. that thing is fun....mom gets a bit tired on the uphill parts, but down hill is great fun. rio can go with us most days. her splint is really helping her do better. she still farts and snores though.

mom was laughing last night . sometimes when i'm dreaming my tail just starts wagging and hitting the floor. mom says, that is a sign of one happy dog...if your tail wags in your dreams. she says all the other dogs she's ever seen dream have only just ran and made cute little noises and stuff.

i think that is the latest news from our house...

twas the night before christmas....

and all through the house,
all the creatures were stirring,
even the mouse,
the tree that was decorated with care,
lay on the floor,
dry and bare,
the gifts left so gingerly under the tree,
were shredded and broken,
opened with glee,
lucky for us,
our mom sleeps with peace,
it made our destruction,
go with the greatest of ease,
when what did our wondering eyes appear,
that silly santa and those fun reindeer,
they tried to fly as we chased them about,
but we'd tied up ropes in the trees near our house,
santa said he knew we'd been bad,
and no christmas gifts for us would be had,
but christmas is more than the gifts that we give,
it's in our hearts and the way that we live,
dogs live the spirit of christmas all year,
so truth be told,
we have nothing to fear,
that silly santa and those funny deer,
will ride to our home year after year,
and when he sees the mischief we've made,
a smile and twinkle in his eyes will appear,
those gifts will be given with a laugh and good cheer.

merry christmas all my friends at dogster!!

we had our christmas party and it was so much fun! i thought it would be just another quiet evening. instead we had fun folks and 6 dogs to play with.