Fun In The Sun

I kidnapped Pixel this afternoon for a couple of hours.....they all had a good time hanging out ....:))
don't laugh at the music, it's better then silence!......





And just for fun, Kort tugging :))......

Gotcha!!!

2 years ago today Kort came home to join the family. He has been a wonderful addition to our home & we wouldn't trade him for the world.
Happy Gotcha Day Peanut! xoxo

These two wonderful photos were taken by Wendy the day after I brought Kort home, he was 8 weeks old ♥......

Lazy Afternoon

Today I picked Perkins up from the daycare & he, Tate, Kort, Brad & I spent the entire day outside enjoying the fresh air!
Here Tate & Kort enjoy a chew bone but Perkins prefers his squeaky toy!

Guess Who's coming To Dinner??

Perkins is!!!!.......
Well, ok maybe not dinner, but he is coming for a visit, a 5 week visit! Starting Friday I will have everybody's favourite wiener dog here so you will be seeing alot of him on the blog.
Here are 3 pictures that Wendy took last summer of Kort & Perkins......

Oh no! says Kort, it's the wiener & he's going to hang from my neck & chew my hair!!

I'm going to get you fur ball !!

Is he still behind me ? Help!

All kidding aside, we are all, including Kort !, excited about Perkins arrival!

Not My Best Idea !!

Today Wendy asked me if I wanted to go on a walk with the dogs. She thought we should do an on leash walk as our off leash park was off limits to vehicles as sections of the road had eroded away due to the torrential rain we had last week. Oh no I said, lets do an off leash walk anyway, Kort was neutered 3 weeks ago & he is finally able to play unrestricted, so I figured he could blow off some steam. We would have to park at the top of the Coulees & walk down to the bottom which was a very long way, I am not good at distances, but maybe a mile??
At the bottom the dogs had a blast running in & out of the water, however, they had to walk through 10ft of mud before reaching the water. Now picture collies in the mud....now picture my face...funny, hmmmm, not really ! After some fun we headed back for the vehicles.
I somehow had not taken into account having to go "back up" the ginormous hill!
It was scorching hot as we had gone out about 2pm. All the other dogs were ok, but poor Tate was really struggling. About half way up the hill I noticed I had forgotten my leashes at the bottom! Wendy said she would go back down to get them as I couldn't go back down & then up again with Tate. I thankfully brought water which I was pouring on Tate's head, inside his ear leathers, his groin & in his mouth. He was walking so slow that Wendy managed to get back down & then up & meet us again before we reached the top!
Also, what fun would our walk be without seeing a rattlesnake at the side of the road!! I noticed the dogs looking weird & kind of walking around funny...sure enough it was a snake!, geez Louise!......

Awww, look how happy & clean Tate was at the beginning of our walk...little did he know his mom was trying to kill him! LOL!!......

Ok, so now imagine me having convulsions when I saw this !!! ......

Thankfully Tate is not quite as bad!......

Here we are on our way back up the hill, Wendy & the dogs have caught up to us again !......

At the top of the hill we find some water that has pooled on top of the grass, HURRAY say the dogs!......
Seriously, does it not look like Tate is about to keel over !!......

Kort & Lacey enjoy a game of chase together......

How pretty is Kort!......

Kort, Coulee, Lacey & Boone enjoy chasing the toy in the water......

So there you have it, Jolene & Wendy's awesome adventure !
Thanks for the great pictures Wendy!!!!

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day and it is filled with emotion for me. This will most likely be my dad's last, I know it's not 100%, but I have a feeling. My dad has been in a nursing home for about 5 years. He suffers from Parkinson's & Dementia. It has slowly eaten away at him, he weighs about 100 pounds. I often wonder what dad would be doing now if this disease hadn't taken him, but there is no sense in thinking about that.
These past 5 days has been full of ups & downs emotionally as dad was hospitalized for pneumonia yet again & it did not look good, but dad has fought back & is doing better!
The above picture was from my wedding, Sept. 29, 1995. The Father/Daughter dance was to the song " The Wind Beneath My Wings" by Bette Midler, everyone cried through the entire dance, including me & dad.
There is no need to comment on this post, there isn't much to say. I wrote this for me, not for sympathy, to pay tribute to my dad, for he truly is, The Wind Beneath My Wings.
I love you Dad ♥

Stop Already !!

Rainfall Warning

Issued at 4:07 AM MDT Thursday 17 June 2010
Summary

Upwards of 100 millimetres of rain is expected by Friday.

Details

A deepening low pressure centre currently over Northeastern Montana has generated an area of rain across Southern Alberta. As the system will be slow to move through Southern Saskatchewan today and into Manitoba on Friday rain will continue into Friday before becoming intermittent Friday afternoon. Rainfall amounts of 50 to 70 millimetres have already been reported in a few locations of the Crowsnest and Lethbridge regions. Total amounts of near 100 millimetres are expected to be widespread across the warning regions.

If this continues I'm going to need one of these!......

He's Still Got It!

I am so happy that Ashley got some pictures of Tate during one of his runs this past weekend...thanks Ashley!......


In the next picture you can see how helpful is was that I taught Tate to "go on", basically the dog just keeps running forward taking the obstacles until you tell him otherwise. I couldn't possibly keep up so I used my "go on command here!!"

The finish line....whoo hoo! Look at Tate's face, pure joy!......

Agility Fun

This is the agility video from yesterday's match. Thank you Amanda for videoing the boys & then putting it together for me so quickly!
Even though Kort looks like he is smashing into me alot, & he was!, he still did great for seeing an entire course for the first time ever. Until now he has really only done 2-3 jumps in a row. This was super for him, he mostly stayed focused on me, he did what was asked of him, & he had fun!!, the most important thing.
Tate hasn't seen weave poles in quite some time & he wasn't sure at first....goof! Once he got in them he was great. I am going to go for Tate's Jumpers titles now from the Veteran class in both CKC & AAC. I can really notice how different Tate jumps now that he has aged....hard to see but at least he still enjoys it!

Kort's Championship Ad......

I put this ad in of Kort finishing his Championship & getting his first Rally leg in Medicine Hat.
Here it is for those who haven't seen it on Facebook or Collies On Line......
click on the picture to make it larger.....

Rear Crosses......

HATE THEM!!.......
I feel like such a nerd because I just can't get the timing right!.....It probably doesn't help that Kort isn't really driving forward to the jumps either, but still!, maybe if my handling was better he would be better..??
I went all through out Tate's agility career without ever having to do one, maybe there were times when I should have, but because I didn't like them , I didn't do them, now its coming back to bite me in the ass!
However, I do see the need for them , I just really really don't like when I do things wrong....I get frustrated quickly at myself & it always shows....I'm working on it, just a slight personality flaw!

A New Adventure......

A couple of weeks ago someone dropped off some brochures at work. Lethbridge is finally going to get a dog therapy program going with the St. John's Ambulance.
I am going to try out with Tate. I truly believe that this is Tate's calling so to speak. He has the most amazing stable temperament I have ever had the pleasure of owning.
I have to fill out a questionnaire, complete with a criminal check, then the Provincial representatives will be coming in to assess the dog, as well as the owner, at the end of August. Orientation will begin in September if you are accepted into the program. All that is required, if your dog passes the evaluation & a supervised trial period, is that at least one day a week you go out with your dog to visit patients that would benefit from being able to interact with you & your dog.......seems like a small price to pay to make someones life happier.
Wish us luck!

Sunday...

As promised here are the pictures of the plants in the front of the house...I have to put them in pots as the ground is just rock there, but it looks pretty.
I had a busy morning, I walked the dogs for 1.5 hrs, then did yard work with Brad, which included tidying up the apartment's yard next door. Someone had come to cut the foot long grass & did a horrible job so Brad & I fixed it!
I brushed Tate & Kort out, cleaned their teeth & clipped their nails...I didn't trim their feet! Oh the horror! I want to see if they can grow as long as Diana's dogs hee hee!, kidding Diana!
I also managed to do 5 loads of laundry & cut Brad's hair.
Then I just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon on my new patio set. I drank coolers & read old Collie Expressions magazines, it was a perfect day!
The plants......



Views of Tate from my chair......


Views of Kort from my chair, he's never very far away from his momma !......


Just in case anyone tries to mess with my yard & flowers, Amanda got me this sign for my gate!......

Flowers

I was finally able to get flowers planted today! It has been raining here for days & days & days! The yard looks so much nicer with them!......




My new birdhouse...a 2 story!......

I still need to take pictures of the flowers in the front of the house so stay tuned :)

Relaxing.....

After planting all my flowers this afternoon I relaxed on the patio with Tate & Kort....I managed to capture this cute exchange between them......

Hi baby brother, whatcha doing?......

I really do love you!♥......

Oh dear me....I hope nobody saw that !......

Agility Dogwalk & Teeter

Last night Kort got to play at agility for a bit. He could not do anything too strenuous so we did a few jumps with no poles, just for handling. Then we got to do the dogwalk for the very first time at full height! I was a nervous wreck, mostly because I was scared he was going to fall off, I was never this nervous with Tate!
Then we started some teeter work, Kort is not so sure of the fact that it moves & bangs at the end so we are working on that.
The mosquito's were HORRIBLE! so we didn't stay the full length of the class, I also didn't want Kort to overdo it.
Amanda took some pictures last night! ......
Kort says to hell with running over it , I'll just run beside it & get to the target faster!......

Here he comes!!!!, down the dogwalk for the first time ever at the full height! I am hanging back a bit at this point because I was so nervous that I didn't want to do or say anything that would distract him & make him fall off!......

In this picture you can see the target on the ground, it just gives the dogs a visual to touch at this point, eventually the target is removed. I am holding Kort in place as I think he was sliding off!, this was the teeter I believe......

Kort is being lured onto the bottom of the teeter, I want him to get his back feet on the teeter & his 2 front feet on the ground......

Kort has his feet on the teeter & is being rewarded for getting on ......

Here is Kort with both back feet on the teeter & 2 front feet on the ground which is the correct position for him to be in.....he is being asked to "touch" the target before getting a treat & the ok to move off. I love this picture, you can see Kort's nose on the target but his eyes are watching me for the treat & release!....

Kort really enjoys agility, at this point I am not sure how far we will go with it, but it sure is fun to play!

Kort says......

Happiness is being able to go out for hour long walks again ! :))

He's Baaaaaccck!!

After a 2 year absence Tate is finally returning to normal life....slowly!
Let me explain, when I brought Kort home, Tate kind of disappeared...he started spending more & more time downstairs in the finished basement, so much so that I bought another bowl set & stand so he could eat & drink down there if he wanted!
Now, in the past few weeks he has been slowly spending more time upstairs, even eating some meals up here, whoo hoo!! It actually feels crowded up here with 2 full grown collies walking around!
Also, with the return of Tate means the return of "clammy". How many of you remember clammy?? I actually had to dig it out from the bottom of the toy box & Tate is carrying it around everywhere again. :)
I missed Tate, good to have him back !