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.

Summer Projects

We actually had two projects recently that did not involve the dogs! Shocking, I know.

On Sunday we purchased some perennials for the new bed in front of the house. In the foreground are a row of Basil plants. Yum pesto! Hopefully will we have some nice hot dry weather so these will flourish. The bushy plants with the pink flowers in the back row are 'Passionate Rainbow' Wand Flowers and the tall skinny plants with the purple bell-shaped flowers are "Angel's Fishing Rod". In the front of the bed we have alternating 'Silver Edge' Lavender plants and 'Silver Brocade' Worwood. We are pretty pleased with how the project turned out and it gave the front of the house a nice face lift. We're debating filling in a bit with some kind of brightly colored annuals.


Yesterday, Jan spent a good part of the day cleaning his RX7 up to get it road-ready. He is debating driving it a bit this summer or selling it....

The old girl still cleans up pretty nicely with a good coat of polish.

Family Photos and Weekend Fun

A photo of Dick and Ginny's boy Reef (Ecko's brother) following his latest haircut.
The "deadliest catch" litter is 1-1/2 years old now.

This is Chili's son and Stoker's brother Fresno from the "fire" litter. Fresno will be living on a ranch for the next year or two, so he needed a super short haircut to keep the worst of the debris from sticking in his coat.

Chili (left) and her daughter Maggie.

Here is Chili's daughter Maggie again. Maggie is a full sister to Stoker and Fresno. She came for a haircut on the same day as Fresno and it was good to see two of the "fire" litter together.

We had a fun day of water training this Saturday with Julie (with Cooper and Tsuzi), Martha (with Sailor), Dick and Ginny (with Reef) and myself (with the whole pack 'o four) getting together to play at the lake. I think everyone had a good session and the weather was beautiful for us! I was particularly happy with Stoker who is coming along nicely on her Courier buoy ball drop exercise. She has way more focus and intensity in the water than anywhere else and it gives me just a little hope that some of that may carry over into other venues some day... Ecko was a bit more distracted than usual, but we still had a productive training session.

Chili and Decker waited on the sidelines until the others were done and then got to participate in a maniacal free-for-all retrieving frenzy at the end. Chili went on a marathon "recreational swim" both when we were setting up and taking down the boat, so she was happy and well exercised.

On Sunday, we were all quite lazy. I bathed Reef and Ecko in the morning and gave Reef a haircut. Dick and Ginny left just after noon and took Ecko with them for the week. After lounging around for a couple of hours, Jan and I went to the nursery and bought some perennials for the new planter bed Jan made in front of the house.

Fast Twitch Muscles

Chili fetches the ball with Stoker, Reef and Ecko hot on her heels.

The last two nights I got back into the routine I had been keeping all winter (before it got hot for a few weeks) and took the dogs out for a quick training session and 10 minute bike around the neighborhood. With both mind and body exercised it is amazing how much more peaceful the doggies are!

Tonight I wasn't as motivated, but thought the dogs still needed entertainment, so I dug four tennis balls and the chuck-it out of the closet and treated the dogs to a retrieving frenzy in the back yard for about 15 minutes. Chili and Decker are the most obsessed, with Ecko quite involved in the game too. She has really good focus and acts as the ball spotter, nabbing it when the two older dogs don't find it. Stoker just runs around and has a good time - a little "fluffier" than the rest of the gang. The photo above is of Chili with the ball, being chased by Stoker, Reef and Ecko, and it is NOT in my back yard (I wish!).

We are done showing and trialling for a while and are starting to focus on training in the water for the summer (well, Stoker and Ecko will train and Chili and Decker will join them for exercise). It's great that access to the river is free because there really is no room in the budget for shows right now anyway. If the dogs had their choice, they would choose the water any day no matter what, and I think I just might as well.

An Excellent Weekend!

Chili (above) was originally entered in Open Standard this weekend, because I was sure we would still need at least one Q in that class. Due to her solid performances last weekend, I was able to move her up to Excellent and she qualified BOTH DAYS in her first two attempts at Excellent Standard!

Decker (below) was his usual happy, steady self and qualified both days in Excellent Standard, finishing his AX title. We were not as successful in Jumpers, with some handling issues on my part on Saturday and focus issues on the weave poles for Decker on Sunday. Jumpers has never been Decker's best class, but we are awfully close to a Q there too, I think.

Although both dogs are a bit slower and more tentative at a trial then they are in class, they are both having a good time and running nicely. They have both had pretty limited trialling experience and my hope is that speed and intensity will increase with experience.

Good times!