A Thousand Acres and a Squirrel

The weather was beautiful last weekend and it is supposed to be nice this weekend as well. Woohoo!

Last weekend, Julie wanted to check out the Thousand Acres/Sandy River Delta dog park in Troutdale and it wasn't too tough for her to persuade me to join her.

Chili, Ecko, Cooper and Tsuzi really enjoyed their outing. Cooper got a little barky and full of himself with other male dogs, so Julie had to get on his case about that a bit. Ecko enjoyed barking at the other humans we met along the way to let them know she was "large and in charge". We met several horses along the trails with their riders and the dogs were pretty blase about them. We walked out to the Sandy River, where Chili went swimming in the freezing cold water and super strong currents. We made sure she stayed close to shore and swam her upstream from an eddy where she would be carried in to the bank if she had problems. Cooper, Ecko and Tsuzi were more sensible then Chili and limited themselves to wading....

Here is the squirrel I mentioned in the title of the entry. A big, sleek fellow with the confidence to perch on the railing right near the bay window where Decker likes to nap.

Here is Ecko blasting through the dead grass on our walk.
The rest of the dogs were in hot pursuit...

Tsuzi really thought Chili needed to stop running so fast and was trying to get her to slow down. Cooper and Ecko thought the running was a good idea but were letting Chili take the lead.

Chili and Ecko

Winter Water Dogs

It was a balmy 55 degrees and sunny in Beaverton this weekend, so a trip to the river seemed like a good idea. Even though the water was quite cold, Decker, Stoker and Cooper thought a swim was in order... Cooper's housemate Tsuzi waded.

Decker

Stoker
She is just a BIT bossy and the dummy
was not getting thrown quickly enough for her...

Cooper
Stoker's son and my friend Julie's dog

The crew warmed up and dried out with a retrieving session at the ball field after their swim.

Win Photo from Albany

Lots to Love this Valentine Weekend

For Valentines Day (well, it was one day early - on Saturday), Ecko and Jessie got me a 3 point major! Pretty nice of them, don't you think? Jessie had a smokin' day, taking Winner's Dog for a 3 point major with her boy Talent and then going back in on Ecko to win Winner's Bitch too! Ecko and Jess pulled off a 4th place the following day (the only curly, retriever trimmed bitch in the ribbons).

Ecko celebrated her success on Saturday with a new toy that Dick and Ginny gifted her with, while we humans enjoyed a bottle of champagne in the form of some Mimosas on Sunday when we got home after the show.
Ecko's siblings Cooper and Reef were entered this weekend too. Both boys were owner handled in the ring and Cooper took 3rd place both days, while Reef got 4th place on Sunday.


Cooper is really starting to sparkle in the ring as Julie gets more confident there. He is such a "mama's boy" and she has learned to ignore him (or comb him!) outside the ring, and only give him the attention he wants INSIDE the ring.


Reef really enjoys himself outside the ring, and is coming along nicely inside too. Living in a rural area, it is difficult for Ginny to get Reef to matches and classes, so they have been forced to get their practice time in the show ring. Reef is standing really nicely on his exam and for the first time on Sunday we saw a hint of that happy tail when he was gaiting in the ring.



Here are the three siblings together after they were done for the weekend.

Agility Weekend

The highlights of the weekend:

1. An Excellent Jumpers Q with a third place for Jan and Decker.
2. A nice visit with Dave and Rebecca and the chance to watch Rebecca and Lucy "double Q" in Excellent Standard and Jumpers. Rebecca and Lucy have lovely teamwork together and their runs always seem so smooth, even when things aren't going as well as they did this weekend.
3. A fun Superbowl get-together with friends. Jan pulled it all together while Chili and I were off having fun in agility and I just got to come home and drink Margueritas and eat chili...

Agility photos thanks to Joe Camp.

Sunshine in January?

Sunshine in January may not be such an exciting thing in some parts of the country, but here in Oregon it is a real treat which finds us searching for those sunglasses that we haven't used in several months! I snapped a couple of photos of Decker and Ecko out enjoying the sunshine on Sunday afternoon.

The year ahead promises to be a busy one and January brought planning and budgeting for upcoming seminars, show and trial entries and vacation time. Cooper, Ecko and Reef were entered in their first dog show of the year. Cooper and Ecko were fortunate to end the weekend with class placements in some large and competitive classes. They turned two in mid-December, so we will likely start showing them in earnest now.

We got to visit with Stoker's sister Maggie when she came for a haircut on Saturday. It's always great to see the pups when they return for a visit or for grooming. As a puppy, Maggie was super people-oriented and loved to retrieve and she has maintained those qualities as she has gotten older, while adding the job of guardian to Jarvis and Jennifer's kids to her skills.

February brings an agility weekend for Chili, Decker and Stoker, a show weekend for Ecko and hopefully, if we are lucky, a little more winter sunshine...

Naughty PWDs and Sourdough Waffles

Starting off the New Year, the dogs have been a bit naughty. First Chili "marked" a spot where Stoker likes to sleep. A little power play going on with the girls? They seem to be getting along fine with their usual play wrestling, but we will have to keep an eye on them.

The next incident involved some soft chews with glucosamine and other joint supplements in them. They managed to get a big tub of them off the counter and ate the whole tub (3/4 full). They then proceeded to vomit all over the house and yard. All three girls turn positively green when you offer them a joint chew now, but Decker still thinks they are just fine. Hmm, which dog do you think was not involved in the stealing and eating of the joint chews?

Their most recent incident involved finding something REALLY stinky in the yard to roll in about an hour before we were expecting guests at the house for dinner. Four PWD dog baths later, grrrrr...... Taking this photo of Decker in the tub almost made me forgive him. Doesn't he look miserable?
We mixed up a new batch of sourdough starter a few weeks ago and ate our first batch of sourdough waffles last night. It made me think of our time in Alaska and of Kilo who LOVED sourdough waffles and pancakes. The current crew of PWDs seemed to think they were pretty tasty too.