Visit me!

Hi all, in case you were wondering where we are, we've been spending a lot of time at my blog, and on my website. If you get a chance stop on over! We love for you to bark in and say hi.

Woofs, Johann

Gracie and I are working to raise money for animals!

Gracie and I have joined with SixDegrees.org in helping raise money for charity. Check out our badges on our pages!

I've chosen the Petfinder.com Foundation, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The Humane Society of the United States (HUSU), Best Friends Animal Society and Noah's Wish as his causes of focus.

And Gracie has chosen the Animal Legal Defense Fund and In Defense of Animals as her charities of choice.

SixDegrees is a web site that builds on the popularity of the "small world phenomenon" to create a charitable social network and inspire giving to charities online.

Kevin Bacon created SixDegrees.org in partnership with the nonprofit, Network for Good, AOL, and Entertainment Weekly. Through SixDegrees.org, which builds on Network for Good's giving system for donating to more than one million charities online and AOL's AIM Pages social networking service, people can learn about and support the charities of celebrities or fundraise for their own favorite causes. Bacon will match the charitable dollars raised by the top six non-celebrity fundraisers with grants of up to $10,000 each.

I'm much better!

I'm slowly but surely getting back to my old self after getting a broken metacarpal when Mom had to board me at Dog Dayz in Noblesville, IN, just before Thanksgiving. But not without a whole lotta help. Now that I have my cast off, the folks at Circle City Vets here in Indy have put together a great rehab plan for me that includes range of motion exercises, massage, weight shift and balance exercises, stretching and my absolute favorite - hydrotherapy!

Yep, that's me in the tank in my video. I go two times a week. You see I lost a lot of muscle mass being in a cast for two months -- and I need to get back in my usual top physical condition for agility. Hydrotherapy is a great way to get back in shape after injury or to just keep in shape during the cold winter months.

And, here are a few interesting articles and links on hydrotherapy for dogs:
If you get a chance check out a Google search on hydrotherapy or the Canine Hydrotheraphy Association -- great info!

Update on my Broken Bone!

Went in to get my cast off today! Yippee. But they put a soft cast on me. Have to have this one on for two weeks, then I have x-rays to check the bone, then either they take off the bandage entirely, or I keep the soft cast on! Will it ever end!!! I'm routing for the darn bandage to come off! What do you think?

Christmas was fun!

Hope you all had a terrific holiday! We sure did. We celebrate Christmas at our house. And boy, what celebrating we did!

On Friday and Saturday we had cleaning and shopping to do. Then on Sunday morning, we cooked a bit and waited until Auntie V arrived. She got here about Noon, and we were both so glad to see her! We slobbered her good!

Then we settled down and what did I do? You guessed it, I laid right down in front of Auntie V for my rubdown. And she obliged! Good girl Auntie V, you get a treat!

That night we watched a moved - Winged Migration; and BTW, if you haven't seen this movie Gracie and I highly recommend it. It's like an entertaining documentary on bird migrations all over the world. Gracie sat watching those birds through practically the entire movie! She loved it!

The next morning Mom and Auntie V took off to go see Mom's Mom. Then they were back in about four hours or so. So when they got back we slobbered all over them. Then we had brunch and opened presents. It was very exciting! I had a hard time containing myself.

Then we got to open our cool presents! Sometimes the paper the presents come in is just as fun as the presents, themselves!

We got treats, cookies, cool bandanas, winter coats, and some really neat toys. Auntie V even got us a car window air temp regulator to help keep our car cool when we go to agility trials, thanks Auntie V for all the neat stuff. And thanks Mom, we love our cool presents.

After the presents, we had Christmas dinner and then watched another movie -- "Dreamer". Auntie V is from Kentucky Horse country, so that was a fun movie for all of us to see.

After that, I was beat! Had to take a break from all the excitement. Have to be fresh and alert tomorrow. I GET MY CAST OFF!!!!! What a fun few days we had.

I'm Dog of the Day!

Artist Larry Merrill is honoring the Year of the Dog on the Chinese Zodiac (January 29, 2006-February 17-2007), by providing a piece of original art for each day of the year - a Dog Each Day. And we are very honored that he picked me for December, 24-2006! Here's the cool drawing! And here is the link to the Dog Each Day website!

Thank you Larry for picking me! I love the drawing. All of your drawings are amazing. When I get my bandage off, I'll be sure and get right to that ball, I'll give it a good chase in your honor!

--Johann

Mom's Training?

Gracie had training today, while I had to waited in the car. Sniff, sniff! But it was good to see her having fun. She got a real urge to visit with her classmates for the first two runs. But then she really focused on Mom on her last four runs. Yippee! We'll have some video soon to show.

Then Trainer J asked Mom to continue with a couple of the other beginners in the class. So Mom got to train a bit today! She had a blast helping out the newbies. They worked on weaves and a jump chute. And did really well.

After Mom was done training, she took me out to visit with everyone. And she let me go into the tunnel a couple of times. I was so psyched! Thanks Mom. Fun day!

Yeeeeee Haaawwww!

Had another check up with my Ortho today. My cast had turned a bit, so I needed a re-bandage. My Ortho says that I have to keep the cast on for two more weeks. So it comes off two days after Christmas!

I'm getting pretty psyched! Can't wait. Was hoping that it would be off for Christmas, but they wrapped it in a nice green so I guess I'll be OK with that.

After the hard cast comes off, I'll get a soft cast for a week or two. Then if all goes well, I'll be cleared for TAKE OFF! Yep, I'll be able to go back to training. Gotta take it low (jump height, that is) for a while, but the Ortho says I should be raring to go soon after the soft cast comes off.

Mom is sure happy. She really misses running me in agility! But she has been working a lot with Gracie to try and get her ready for Spring trialing.

Happy Holidays if I don't talk with ya!

Very cool!

Wow, we are a Dogster Daily Diary Pic! How cool is that! We are so honored to be among all you Dogster bloggers. Thanks Dogster!

--Johann

Aaaarrrrgggghhhhaaaarrrggghhhh!

Take this peg leg off of me! I don't want it anymore! It itches like crazy!

Mom and Gracie and I were out in the yard this weekend. After all the wind we got another ton of leaves in our yard. So Mom was raking away. She went in the front yard, and I and Gracie stayed in the back. We weren't doing anything that we hadn't done in the past week, I swear!

But when Mom checked on me, my cast had completely turned around in my bandage. I have to say it looked pretty weird, like I had broken my leg now or something. My leg was bending the WRONG WAY! What the......????

So Mom rushed me over to the emergency room, AGAIN!!!! And they took the cast off and repositioned it. And not only that I have to go back a week from Monday and do it all over again with an x-ray too!

Mom and I are just sick of all this. And it makes us edgy. Gracie walks up to me and I snap at her, Wiggy too. And then Mom has to get order. It's really getting out of hand. I'm tired of being injured.....make it go away!!!

Well, thanks for letting me vent! Maybe I'll get some rest and it will be better. Going to take a nap now!