busy puppies

The photos along the right side of this post are of Reef before and after his haircut this weekend. Dick and Ginny were in town and asked if I could give him a trim while he was here. He was MUCH better and less wiggly for his grooming than sister Ecko, but you can see by his humped up back in his "after" photo that he was pretty sulky and sick of being fussed at by the time we were done.

It appears that my post about living with a "vertical" dog, struck home with several of you. Here is a comment, along with an additional update on Chloe from her mom Joan:

I just read the update on the website and I had to laugh! I found Chloe on top of her crate in the laundry room the other day! How she got there is beyond me since she has yet to master loading up in the car! And while she was on the crate, it was obvious that she did some counter surfing while she was up there! Luckily, there was no great damage.

Chloe has now moved onto spring soccer season and baseball. (Lots of baseball.) She has done very well at meeting new kids and parents alike in a busy setting as well as a few other dogs, some goldens and labs as well as a 2 ½ pound little ball of fur she almost ate for lunch! She does her best at being cordial, but still gets very excited to meet some people. We will keep working on it! One man this weekend came up to me and asked me to leave the field, because if his kids saw the “walking” teddy bear that they would want one for sure!

Ecko had a busy weekend.

On Saturday, a friend picked her up at my work and took her on a couple hour outing. She went to Home Depot, Lowes and the vets office for a visit. She got to meet 50 new people, 10 of whom were kids. She got to meet the resident cat at the vet clinic. She got an excellent "report card" from her adventures. Thanks Dean, for taking Ecko out and about.

On Sunday my friend and I loaded all four PWDs in her van, along with her German Shepherd and Malinois and headed to Rickreall for a practice match and handling class. Chili, Decker and my friends dogs were entered in obedience in the morning. Chili let it be known that divas don't work and was quite pathetic in her class, but Decker, Journey and Seeker did well in their respective classes. Chili will be getting a little taste of a "nothing in life is free" program in upcoming weeks to overcome her diva-ness! You can find a good write-up explaining what a "NILIF" program is all about here.

Stoker and Ecko did quite well in the handling class. There was a small turn-out so CJ played with Ecko so I could concentrate on Stoker. Ecko seems to be a natural at gaiting and tolerated the judge's examination pretty well too. Stoker was great - happy and confident, gaiting with her tail up and wagging. I was very pleased.