too hot for words

With record high temperatures in the Portland area over the last few days, it is truly too hot for words. In an area of the country that rarely has more than a few days over 90 all summer long, it isn't surprising that many people have no air conditioning. We've been hunkered down trying to do as little as possible the last few days with the roar of many fans in our ears and glasses of ice water in hand.

Here are some photos of Stoker trying to beat the heat with a little help from Jan.

weavin' and retrievin'

We've had a busy couple of weeks.

Jan and all the dogs accompanied me last weekend to Gearhart, Oregon (on the coast) for a weekend water workshop. Since I was the presenter for the workshop and am a big believer in being prepared, organized and having extensive handouts, I was hustling around almost until we pulled out of the driveway getting ready. The weather was fabulous and the attendees for the workshop were super. The weekend was lots of fun and Jan entertained the dogs each day by taking them away for a swimming and retrieving session. A number of us shared a rental house and we had lots of extra visitors drop by for dinner each evening and it was truly amazing to see how well all the dogs (11 of them, I think) got along sharing the house and yard.

I took Monday off from agility class since it was really hot and I was still tired from the weekend. On Tuesday, Ecko and I made a trip to the river and had an excellent training session despite bunches of loose dogs tearing up and down the shore and periodically trying to steal some of our equipment. On Wednesday, Ecko and I attended her weekly Foundation agility class. Today, all the dogs got to do a little retrieving and training in the front yard. After practicing the weave poles and a few dummy retrieves with Ecko, I decided to practice the Apprentice level dummy carry. The dog is supposed to take the dummy from your hand and walk 20 feet at your side before delivering to hand. After a few "boring" repetitions back and forth across the yard, Ecko took the dummy on my cue, accelerated smoothly through the weave poles and met me at the other side of the yard to proudly hand me the dummy. What a funny little multi-tasker!

Foot Sore and Fat

Aye Chihuahua! We had quite a day yesterday!

Jan took Chili, Stoker and Ecko with him to run an errand. He stopped to take them for a walk on the way home in a vacant mobile home lot. He has been taking them there for months. The lot is very large and almost fully fenced. All the homes were pulled out and plans were in place to make the property into a residential subdivision with new homes, right up until the economy took a dive... Within minutes after turning them loose, he glanced down to find Stoker glued to his leg and limping badly. She tore the top layer of skin off the pads on both front feet. She did this in a much more minor way a couple of months ago. Not realizing the extent of what she had done, I wasn't too upset about it. After seeing the damage for myself when I got home, I was almost moved to tears.

Poor Stokie is hobbling around with bandaged feet (need to get more vet wrap today) and any plans for taking her to the river to train for water work this weekend are way out the door. This may actually put our efforts to attain her Courier title in jeopardy this summer because I don't know how many days or weeks of training will be lost waiting for Stokie's paws to heal. I doubt Stoker cares about the title, but she will miss her time at the water for a bit.

Upon arriving home, Jan finds that Decker has somehow scaled the kennel run in the garage and escaped. Of course the top was not screwed all the way on the dog food bin and Decker helped himself. The good news is that Bella (who is visiting with us) did not follow him on this adventure. Arriving home from work, I find Decker looking miserable and HUGE through the middle. I immediately became worried about bloat, so kept a close eye on him all evening and slept on the couch where I could monitor him last night. After a night of belching and passing gas, Decker is acting much more cheerful this morning and seems to have come through the experience with nothing more than a tummy ache.