BIRDS

Today I am posting pictures of birds for a change of pace.....I LOVE birds! I can sit and watch them for hours, however, I am not a good photographer of birds!

So, I am posting some shots that friends have sent me, then, at the end I will post my attempts, and you can be the judge!

These are from Wendy ........

This was shot by Barb Krasmann's husband, they were previous clients of mine in Thunder Bay & he would would go on shoots for Canadian Geographic....

These two are my attempts! In my defense though, I only have a cheap camera, not even digital.....I think they are pretty good.......

SUCCESS !!!!

On April 28 I posted about trying to make our deck more comfortable for Tate. Of course Tate didn't want anything to do with it........every morning after I take Tate for his walk, I usually sit on the deck & have a cup of coffee, alone! Well this morning, after one month, Tate decided that he would finally join me......maybe the sun has bleached the foam enough now and he finds the colours much more to his liking, who knows!

GORGEOUS WEEKEND

So as you know, I spent the weekend in Sherwood Park visiting with my sister & her family, then visiting Davenloch Kennels to see the puppies.

I have heard that it rained all weekend here , but it sure didn't in Edmonton! The sun was out all weekend & it was wonderful.

Here are Brad & I when we first arrived, relaxing & enjoying the sun on my sisters deck.

This is what I did Saturday night on my sister's deck.....

Riley being groomed:

This is how excited Shane was to have his first groom:

And, just in case anyone was curious, "clammy" made the trip too!

CAN'T FORGET ABOUT TATE !

I just love these 2 head shots Debra took of Tate.......

Shane is wondering why his cousin has such a long nose.....maybe he tells lies!!!

The 3 boys, Tate, Shane & Riley, doesn't Tate look like he's having fun

As you can see, Tate also had a super time this weekend, he was not able to come with us to see the puppies this time, so he stayed home with Auntie Debra & cousins Riley & Shane......Debra got some great shots of him, which you see here!

Here is Tate on the deck Sat. night, we had a fire going & he didn't want any part of it!

I COULDN'T WAIT !!!!

I just downloaded a few more pictures that were so cute, I had to do another post tonight! That is it though, I need to go to sleep!

This is mom Abbey looking over her babies.....

This is the breeder Dave, with " Tank ".....Sleeping baby with her tongue hanging out! .....Do you think I am excited ?? ........Just 2 more!!!!......That's all for now......

I'VE SEEN THE PUPPIES !!!!!!

It has been a super long weekend full of fun!! Brad & I drove down to Sherwood Park to visit with my sister & her family, then we took a drive to Leduc to visit with the new litter of puppies that contains my new addition......it is too soon to tell which puppy I will be taking right now, there are 7 males to choose from!!, but 2 are in the top spot at the moment. One will be staying with the breeder & the other one will be mine.

Here are a few shots of the pups....I had to pick just a couple from the 100 or so we took!

Look how teeny the puppy looks with Brad !!This puppy is nicknamed " Tank " by the breeders.....he is one of the 2 possibilities!I will probably post different ones everyday, so bare with me, I'm really excited!

MY AMAZING DOG

Tate never ceases to amaze me. I have been attending obedience classes for the last 4 weeks , thinking maybe I'd put a CD on him next year.....because we've been doing so many other performance sports, I've kind of ignored formal obedience.
Tonight in class we did some advanced work, the drop on recall was one exercise. Tate has not done this before, I've had no need to teach it to him. Anyway I figured we give it a try....he shocked me by doing it not once, but twice. I told him to down on the recall & he dropped like a hot potato!! I was so proud. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, he knows what down means, but still, it was an exciting moment for me!
That's my boy!
Here's Tate having a bit of fun on our walk a couple of weeks ago....he doesn't care how big the stick is, he'll still try to bring it home!


Thanks to Amanda, who took the gorgeous head shot of Tate, at the top of the post, a couple of months back.

TATE'S TD ANNIVERSARY !!

Above is Tate & I after getting our TD, pictured with our tracklayer, Julie. It is also a proud moment for the tracklayer as well.

Today , one year ago, Tate got his TD! It has been by far the most rewarding & challenging sport I have done with Tate. If you have not trained a dog to track you cannot know the feeling of coming upon that final glove. The bond you have with your dog is so important in tracking, & the hardest thing to do is to TRUST your dog.....ask anyone who has tracked.....letting your dog take control is not easy.

I almost got Tate failed on our TD attempt, I "thought" I saw our track turn right, so I was slowing down & although Tate knew it went straight, he questioned himself because he figured I might know something he didn't! He turned right for me, but when we had gone about 20 meters, I realized it wasn't the track...actually Tate kept trying to tell me!!! He was whining the whole way, probably calling me stupid! Long story short, my wonderful dog did not get frustrated & give up, like some dogs do, but we got back on the real track & I just let him go, the rest of the way he was bang on, right to the glove...whew!!! I cried like a baby! What an experience. I am posting these pictures of our actual track on that day, some taken by friends, & a couple taken by the judge while I was tracking! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Also, I'd like to add that during the first leg of our track, we flushed a flock of geese, probably about 10 of them, Tate & I didn't even notice, we were concentrating so hard, I only know it happened because Donna video taped us & I saw them after!

This is an aerial view of our track, which was in an alfalpha field. The first flag is the start & the second is the 30 meter direction flag, after that, you're on your own. The blue X at the end is the glove...the track was 400 meters long.

This is Tate & I as we walked toward our track that morning, I was soooo nervous! This is Tate & I are on our first leg of the track, you can see the judge & tracklayer following behind. In front of us, in the distance, is one of Thunder Bay's most popular attractions, "The Sleeping Giant".This is Tate & I on the 3rd leg of our track...the judge actually stopped to take this picture of us! I LOVE this picture. This picture, while far away shows Tate has found the glove, & I am telling him what a good boy he is through my tears!And finally, in the spot where we found our glove. The judge took this picture of Tate, the proud mom!, & our tracklayer. What a wonderful day that was! Thanks for reading!

MORE PUPPIES !!!

I received a few more puppy pictures today!! They are 16 days old & their eyes have opened!

I will be going down this weekend to see them in person, I can hardly wait!

MY LONG WEEKEND

So, I figured I would spruce up the outside of the house a bit & bought a gorgeous hanging plant, which looked wonderful for approx. a week or so......not sure where I went wrong!!! Here are the before & after shots...poor plant!

Now I'm not so easily discouraged, so I thought I would try my hand at sprucing up the back of the house.....I am very pleased with how it looks, so I took pictures to show everyone in case they die!!! I will make sure to water them faithfully so that doesn't happen! In case you are wondering, I DID water the hanging plant!

So, what do you think Brad & Tate did while I was sweating away planting?

Brad doing what he enjoys......

Tate doing what he enjoys.....
It's been a great weekend so far!

DAWSON

Yesderday Dawson lost his battle with cancer, he was only 7 yrs. old. He lived with his best friend Katie, who lives in Thunder Bay. Dawson was diagnosed in Feb. this year & he & Katie fought very hard to win this battle, unfortunately it was a battle they couldn't win. However, Dawson enjoyed every moment of everyday doing things he enjoyed, as only dogs can. Going on walks with his pal Henley & doing lots of tracking!
I'm sure he is on the Rainbow Bridge right now , following all the tracks of the animals that came before him!


Good Bye Dawson, I'll miss you.......