Big Splash: The Video

Here's a short clip of Tess doing her grand entrance with Sonic supervising from the edge of the pond.

The Big Splash

My line dance costume. Yeehaw. We did a demo today at the SPCA Paws For A Cause. Loads of fun and a beautiful day in the park.

We took the dogs swimming at the swimming hole on the way home. Beaver hasn't been seen in a week. I guess he didn't like sharing his pond with the dogs. Tess always makes a grand entrance into the water.

Sonic, we sometimes have to coax to go into the water. She loves it, but not as much as Tess. She jumps right in when she is hot, but most of the time, she proceeds very cautiously.

Here's Twinkle Toes Sonic taking the long way around to bring back the ball. It would be much easier and quicker to just swim back to the side of the pond, but no. She has to go to the other side and all the way around. It must be a border collie thing.

This fellow here is Diefenbaker. He loves going in the water, but is a bit worried about getting in over his head. He wanted that stick SO badly, but it was not quite within his reach.

Catcher to the rescue. That little mop beside Catcher is Maggie. She's a small terrier thing with a big dog attitude. She takes seriously "If you can't play with the big dogs, get off the porch."

How can you not love a face like that?

Just Pics

The Rainbow Bridge Connection

Meet the Weasel (RIP July 7, 2005)

Meet Oreo (RIP July 4, 2000)

Many people have asked me about the dog, Oreo. She is the one that I wrote "Not Just A Dog" which is in the sidebar of this blog. This entry is for Oreo and her pal, the Weasel.

I got Oreo when she was 6 weeks old, after not having a puppy for over 10 years. It's amazing how much you forget in that time. Maybe because I was older and had less patience, but oh, how we battled for the first 18 months of her life. She was just such a lovable goofy dog that it was hard to stay mad at her. How bad can a dog be that can carry 3 tennis balls in her mouth?

Oreo always had a thing for socks. She never lost that thing for them over her entire life. She didn't ever destroy them. She just liked to carry them around and leave them places. Those where the only thing she ever stole. Well, there WAS the one time when she stuck her head in a friend's gym bag and went streaking down the hallway with a BRA in her mouth.

So, that was Oreo. A big mushy lovable dog that I still miss.

The Weasel had much Nova Scotia Duck toller in her. Now that I've had the border collies and have seen red border collies, I am pretty sure she had a lot of border collie in her too. She had the smarts to go with it as well.

She was the dog I got after losing my yellow lab to a heart attack. Funny, you can never go to the SPCA to "just look". I saw this little dog in the kennel, sticking her paw out at me, as if to say "you are MINE". She was an unclaimed stray, so I had to wait 3 days and hope nobody claimed her. I was camped on the doorstep of the SPCA the day she became available.

I could never understand why nobody had claimed her. She was extremely well behaved, house broken and mostly trained. Then I discovered what an escape artist she was. That's how she got the name "Weasel" Every time she'd walk the fence (yes, walk the fence) and get out, it was "Pop goes the Weasel".

Eventually, she gave up her wandering ways. She would still walk the fence, but she'd sit on the front porch and wait to be let in. It was almost as if she was telling me "I can still do this, I just choose not to leave...."

Oreo, Weasel and I had a grand time exploring the trails in our local parks. Oreo didn't like running all that much, but the Weasel ran with me right up till she was 13 years old. After that, I retired her from running and she and I hiked the trails and Mud Bay dike. I had lost Oreo by then, but added the new man in my life. He loved the Weasel as much as I did.

She was a real "coffee house" dog and loved schmoozing with people more than she like hanging out with other dogs.

So, before I get too sad thinking about Oreo and Weasel, I am going to end her and just dedicate this entry to them with love.

Beaver Video Clip

I thought I'd post a video clip of the beaver. We got him swimming around the pond with a big splash as he slapped his tail and went under. So cool to live in an area where we can witness stuff like this.

Why Are Sonic and Tess Sad?

What could Sonic and Tess be looking at that has them so interested?

And a little bit dejected.

It's Mr. Beaver!

He was having a grand old time swimming back and forth.

I was just returning from a run in the Watershed trails when I decided to stop and let the dogs have a swim at the pond near Westview Drive. Tess was a little reluctant to go in the water, which was rather surprising as she is a real water baby. Finally, they jumped in and we were having a grand old time swimming after the sticks. When I say "we", I mean them.

Suddenly, I heard a noise like something hitting a tree across the pond. I thought it might be one of the large woodpeckers that live in the area. I could see nothing though. Then, there was a loud splash. I was SURE that someone was throwing rocks at us from up on the hillside. I grabbed the dogs and got out of there.

I came home in a bit of a panic and told my husband what had happened. He hopped in the truck and went down to see if he could catch the culprits red handed. He was gone for quite a long time. I have having visions of him catching the person and really letting them have it. Finally, he came home with a big grin on his face. He told me that the culprit was a beaver swimming around the pond. I guess I heard his tail slapping on the water. If I had waited around, I would've seen him resurface, but when you think someone is pelting you with rocks, you don't tend to hang around.

Anyway, we headed back to the pond, camera in hand. Now, Sonic and Tess will have to share their swimming hole. They might not like it, but I think it's kind of cool.

The Dog Team

Here we are doing the line dance at one of our recent demos. It's a lot of fun, but when working with so many dogs, there is SO much that can go wrong. Keeping a good sense of humor is a must.

Our Freestyle team was very excited to get team jackets. They are VERY cool. Here they are in all their glory.

The Dog Days of Summer

I thought I saw a squirrel up there somewhere!

How does a border collie keep cool in the heat? Tess has the right idea. I tried to get some of Sonic in the water, but she wasn't having any of it. She decided to pick that day to become camera shy.

I figured I'd better get busy with the dog days of summer before it's gone. The way the rain has started the last couple of days, fall is definitely in the air. I'm not complaining though. The hot weather makes me cranky. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

It's hard to believe that 3 years ago today, we brought Tess home from the Border Collie Rescue Reunion Picnic. We knew it was meant to be when we discovered that her birthday was September 10, the same day that Charlie and I got married. How cool is that? It's like she knew she belonged with us too. She followed us away from the picnic and jumped in the jeep without even a backward look.

Happy Gotcha Day Tess. I hope you know how much you are loved.

Meet Hank

This is Hank aka Mr. Innocent (yeah right)

Sonic, you already know. Who would've guess that inside that angelic face lurks a crazed Tazmanian Devil.

Tess, you also know. She is Miss Perfect, the peace maker, mediator and border collie control freak.

Who says that miracles don't happen? Of course, if I'd thrown that stick, it would've been a WHOLE different photo.

Hank has been a guest in our house for a week now. He goes home to his family tomorrow. He's a good boy, but for some reason, when our friend N. first got him, Sonic took an immediate and intense dislike to him. We think it was because of another dog that our friend had who was a bit aggressive towards Sonic, so any dog she would've gotten would've received the same treatment from Miss Sonic the Taz.

At first everyone laughed about it, thinking they would work it out. It WAS pretty funny with Sonic seeing Hank from a distance and immediately start to give the evil teeth glare at him. Of course, with most people laughing about it, Sonic thought this sort of behaviour was ok, so I had a bit of a time with her. Even though she'd glare and show teeth to him at the first meeting, once they were running, everything was fine. Except when Hank would run too far ahead and N. would call him back. Sonic would take off like a rocket, charging up to him and circling him till he came back to the group. This of course, pissed Hank off. Who can blame him? He didn't need a Border collie Taz for a babysitter.

It continued to escalated till Sonic would launch herself at Hank upon first meeting him. The last time this happened, I had to give her a very firm correction. More than I normally like doing with any of my dogs, but she started to get the idea that this was not going to be allowed. Gradually, things started to ease off. There were minor battles, but usually, when I knew I would be meeting Hank and N. I would leash Sonic for the initial meeting. It kept her from fly into that "point of no return", when all reason flies out the window.

Of course, Miss Tess, who hates conflict of any sort was very stressed by this who ordeal. Each time we'd run up to meet the running group, she KNEW Sonic was gonna catch hell again, so she'd lag further and further behind. She finally figured out that if SHE could control Sonic, then all would be solved. So whenever she started to see Sonic make a move on Hank, she'd get in between the two of them and start to circle Sonic like a border collie would do to a misbehaving sheep. It's actually quite funny to see and also quite amazing that she was not taught to do this. It's something she figured out all by herself. These dogs are scary smart sometimes.

So, the point of all this rambling is we had Hank as a house guest for a few days in March. I was fairly apprehensive because of the history, but they have gotten along quite well. This past week with Hank has gone well too. It's been very interesting watching the doggie dynamics. It's also rather interesting having 3 dogs and 2 cats sleeping in our bedroom.

Hank has been a good boy, although somewhat goofy as only a retriever/border collie can be. He's been living quite well with the 2 cats as well. Rooney has been rather leary of him and went into hiding for a couple of days. He has finally decided it's safe to come out. Sportz on the other hand has been giving Hank that disdainful "screw you" look that only a cat can give. I think Hank has decided Sportz is not to be messed with.

Hank will be going home tomorrow. I know he has missed his family. He is a real mama's boy. He is a very nice houseguest though and is welcome back here any time.

How Could I Forget?

I can't believe I actually forgot to write about our competition! Tess and I placed 2nd in the novice freestyle competition!! Very excited about that. We even made the local newspaper! How cool is that?? So, here is the youtube video clip of our competition. We only have to pass one more novice till we can advance to intermediate.

It's Not Always About The Dogs....It's About Rooney!!

OK, so the photos aren't very good, but gee, have you ever tried taking a photo of a moving target?? This little guy never sits still.

I was trying to get a good shot of his beautiful blue eyes. I think you get the idea, anyway.

Rooney is my first experience with having a cat from the beginning. It's hard to believe that it was almost a year to the day that we brought home this little ball of fur that only weighed 1.2 pounds. He is a strapping 8 pounds now and still growing.

Rooney was my "impulse" purchase. Well, not really. While strolling through a pet store, my husband and I saw a sign for "ragdoll kittens". It was funny because we'd never seen any around and I had been reading about them and always wanted one. However the price tag was high and I just resigned myself to admiring them from a distance, even though Charlie told me if I wanted him, to go ahead and buy him.

So, we left. Next day at work, I was thinking about this little fur ball all day. I called Charlie at lunch time and asked him if he was serious about me getting the kitten. He just laughed at me and when he came to pick me up from work, he had the cat carrier in the truck....."just in case".

So, home we come and now we are a family of 2 people, 2 dogs and 2 cats. Very well balanced.

Rooney has grown into a beauty and one of the most laid back and loving cats I have ever seen. Of course, I'm sure that Sportz would take except to that......especially when Rooney is pouncing on him from the arm of the couch. I'm sure Sonic and Tess would take except to that too. Poor girls were walking around with tucked tails for awhile....at least until Rooney found a better "toy" to pounce on.

Meow

Oh Dear, It's Been So Long....Cloverdale Rodeo and more

OK, I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated this. Guess I'd better start with Cloverdale Rodeo, where we did demos for 2 days in May. Can you say HOT??? Holy cow, doing this stuff on pavement in the blazing sun with record breaking temperatures and metal bleechers....fun, fun, fun. Actually, it really was a lot of fun. Dogs did well inspite of having large purple cows walking around and carnival rides with screeming kids right behind us. All in all, it was a great experience and they are inviting us back next year, except this time we will be on the MAIN STAGE!!

So, a few pics from that weekend.

Poor Sonic was the only dog who didn't have a routine to do. She did find a place to keep cool though. It was the coolest spot in the entire fairgrounds.

Here we are all dressed up in our costumes for Grease. I almost didn't recognize myself with the wig on. Good thing I could recognize my dog.

Doing the routine. I think the crowd really dug it.

Here we are. Tess and me doing our Charlie Chaplin Routine.

Here is Sharon and Snowie looking very elegant doing a number from the Rankin Family.

Although not in this one, I am learning the line dance. We will eventually have up to 10 dogs and 10 people doing it. Of course with all those dogs and people, ANYTHING can happen.

Here is Jan and Breeze doing their Pink Panther routine. I certainly didn't envy her in the heat, wearing that overcoat.

Gail and the amazing Pepsi! This is how Tess and I want to be when we grow up!

Annette and Odie doing a Dwight Yokum piece. They were the very first freestylers I ever saw. Look what it led to!!

Lydia and Ali. Their routines are always fun, different and very high energy!

So, that is it from the rodeo. I will add some more photos from the wrap up party at our place in another post.

Whistler!!!

So this was the very first time our team routine to Grease was done in public. This was the calm before all hell broke loose.

In this photo, we are doing a thing where we go forward with our dogs and the dog goes through the legs of the person we are passing. We are supposed to repeat this part twice with the reduced team size. Right after this part, Tess and Ali do a very cool thing where Lydia and I are doing a jive together and Tess is circling us counter clockwise and Ali is circling us clockwise. It looks very cool WHEN it goes right. Both of the dogs LOVE this move and begine to get very excited in anticipation of doing it. You can see Ali and Lydia right behind me with Ali straining to get going already. When we broke away for the jive part, Tess was circling us barking like crazy while Ali was running in HUGE circles around the entire group. We were cracking up, the audience was cracking up. I'm sure they thought it was all part of the routine except every once in awhile you could hear Lydia saying quietly but frantically, "Ali!! Ali!! Ali!!!!!!!!!!" It was hysterical and a real hoot. Everyone loved it.

Ok, so sometimes having a dancing dog has it's little perks and it's not always about the dog. While we were up at Whistler, we were put up free of charge in a wonderful place. The Nita Lake Resort is a new "boutique hotel" and spa in Whistler. This bottom photo is the view from the deck off our bedroom. Yes, that is SNOW and yes, the lake is frozen.

This is Nita Lake and yes, it's FROZEN and so were we.

This is Sonic and Tess lounging in our little sitting room in the resort.

This is another of the sitting room with a view of the fireplace and the 40 inch LCD television. That made Charlie happy. There was a television in the bedroom too. He thought he'd died and gone to heaven. A remote for each hand.

Tried to take a photo of the vanity and sink in the bathroom but the flash was picked up in the mirror. Guess I should've figured out how to prevent that before I took it. Oh well. I didn't say I was a professional photographer.

The bathtub was wonderful. It was round and HUGE. We could've gone scuba diving in it and the dogs could've had a much warmer place to swim. The louvered doors that you see on the far side actually open up into the bedroom and gives a wonderful view of the lake and mountains.

I tried to get a good photo of the shower in this place, but none of them turned out. It was huge and all slate tiles. It had a built in bench. The bathroom was probably as big as some hotel rooms.

I would go back to this place in a minute. The rooms were very reasonablly priced (even if we would've been paying for them). Maybe because it's very new and parts of it aren't finished. I don't know. It was wonderful to be able to step out of the lobby and get on the Valley trail to go towards Whistler Village or the other lakes. It was much quieter than staying in the village.

I'm hoping to get some photos of the after demo party at the Holiday Inn in Whister Village. Of course, maybe I won't be allowed to post them cuz after all, what went on in Whistler STAYS in Whistler.

Our Club Members

I thought it would be a fun idea to start introducing some of the other members of our dog dancing group.

This little fellow here is Chaps. He is an 11 month old Portuguese Water Dog. He is just starting out his dancing career and will follow in his big brother Blitzen's pawprints.
This is Snowie, a standard poodle. He looks very elegant, but secretly enjoys "bad" girls. He's taken a bit of a shine to Sonic.

This pretty lady is Breeze another standard poodle. She and her mum, Jan are quite new to the group. When she first started, she wasn't motivated by toys or food. Now she has been known to sniff out stray cinnamon buns in purses and chow down. Way to go, Breeze!

There are others that I will get to when I have more time.

Right now, we are gearing up for the big Whistler weekend. It's all very exciting for us. We get to stay in a fancy hotel WITH our dogs. It should be interesting as the weatherman is calling for possible SNOW?? Isn't this April on the west coast? What's going on here? I'm so glad that my routine doesn't consist on a skimpy costume or you wouldn't be able to see me through all my goose bumps. Oh yeah, did I mention we're preforming OUTSIDE?? Weatherman is wrong a lot, so lets hope he's wrong about this.

Tess and Charlie Chaplin

I was very pleased with Tess for her part in the routine. It's too bad the first part of the routine didn't get caught. Oh well. I'm glad to have something of the 2of us. Now I just have to try to perfect that Charlie Chaplin walk.

Sonic's First Dressage Routine

This is a little bit rough, but I was very please with Sonic. She did fairly well with all the distractions and FOOD crumbs all over the place. It's all good experience for BOTH of us.

Last Dance

Sunlight streams through window pane unto a spot on the floor.... then I remember, it's where you used to lie, but now you are no more.
Our feet walk down a hall of carpet, and muted echoes sound.... then I remember, It's where your paws would joyously abound.
A voice is heard along the road, and up beyond the hill, then I remember it can't be yours.... your golden voice is still.
But I'll take that vacant spot of floor and empty muted hall and lay them with the absent voice and unused dish along the wall.
I'll wrap these treasured memorials in a blanket of my love and keep them for my best friend until we meet above.

Author Unknown.

For Blizten, who collapsed and died yesterday while chasing a ball in the park. I only knew Blitzen and his mum Marilyn for a bit over a year. He always made me smile with his charming way of scamming treats from everyone. A cuddly teddy bear of a dog, an athlete and a freestyle champion.

For our best friends, we can hope for nothing less than for them to be taken while doing what they love, without suffering or long term ill health. However what is best for them is often hardest on us. We know from the day we get our dogs as tiny puppies that one day our hearts will be broken. We always hope that it is later rather than sooner. But it is always too soon. No matter how much time we have with them, it's never enough. Never enough time to tell them how much we love them once more or give them just one more hug. I really believe though that they KNOW.

Blitzen, you were taken from the world much too soon. You will be missed by everyone but especially by Marilyn. Thoughts are with you my friend.

I know you are dancing your paws off at the Rainbow Bridge.

Introducing Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin or a reasonable fascimile (sort of). Amazing what you can find in a 2nd hand store. Pair of pants $2.99, suit vest $4.99, cane and bowler hat, $7.99......Charlie Chaplin, Priceless. Now comes the search for a bow tie. Didn't realize how hard it would be to find one of those little guys.

Also found a pair of pink sneakers for the Grease routine. All the costume stuff is coming together. Now if only I have a dog that cooperates on the day of the competiton!!!