New Foster!

Her name is currently Blanche, but I anticipate that changing soon. She's teeny, underweight, freaked out, and sweet. Fascinating pack dynamics in the house.

Austin foster (another Kentucky puppy)

Meet Austin (previously Frizz), an 85 pound lug of a Goldendoodle from a horrible high kill shelter in Kentucky. A couple of weeks ago I drove to Louisville to pick him up "for a couple of days." This guy is sweet, sweet, sweet. Super cooperative, friendly, mellow, affectionate, and a very fast learner. An all around great dood! He goes to his new home tomorrow. Luckily, I was able to get a few pictures of him before he goes.



He doesn't especially like going into his crate, but once he's there, he settles right in!


He looks an awful lot like Buster.



Once his hair grows out (I've been dematting slowly since he came, so he's a bit scraggly looking), especially his facial hair, they'll look really, really similar!




Abby continues to be a benevolent leader, making sure Austin doesn't confuse her bones with his bones, and enforcing a "no humping the queen bean" agenda.






Buster and Austin had one significant squabble, over a Nylabone, which was pretty much entirely my fault (unwittingly created a high tension situation soon after Austin arrived, then missed some fairly obvious signals), but, luckily, they seem to have worked out their differences:


Getting around in the kitchen is kind of treacherous these days. You could step in something furry at any moment!



Austin fits in really well with our pack, and if he weren't going to an AWESOME family that I just adore, I would be super tempted to keep him. Fortunately, his new family lives just a couple of miles down the road, and they've said that they want to keep in touch, so I think we'll get to see more of Austin, as well as his new brother, a Golden named Pete. :) Even so, I'm going to be very, very sad to see him go.

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs!

Hanging around on a Friday evening...






"Oh, mom, hahaha, you are soooo funny! No one but Kate appreciates your humor like I do!"






Emmie:




Gretta:



Toby:

Teaching Buster to ID the food bowls

Long ago trip to Fayetteville

After I turned in my last paper and took a silly Latin final, I hopped in the car with the doods and drove to Fayetteville for a couple of days to see my family before starting this grueling summer of French and reading (but not reading French).

In the car. Notice their fancy new harnesses!

Abby and Buster love riding in the car! They don't bark or whine, but every once in a while, Buster nudges his nose rudely up onto the armrest, but for the most part, they just curl up together and sleep the whole way. Pictures taken over my shoulder. I snapped a bunch, and just happened to get a few decent ones.




Kickin' it in the backyard


Ana came to my parents' house for dinner one night, and the dogs were VERY happy to see her. She was great with them, and Buster actually listens better to her than to me sometimes. We would never have thought he'd be so good with kids, but he's fantastic!





Buster's tongue is ridiculous.

So much catching up to do! So little done here...

Well, I have lots of fun stuff to post on here. However, literally all summer long, I have to average about 1,500 pages/week to have a hope of being ready for exams in September, so it'll be slow updating. In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, Buster learning to play frisbee. As you can see, he's got some mad ups.

Collapsed tunnel (dum dum dum!)

We added the final obstacle of beginner's agility yesterday--the collapsed tunnel. As you'll see in the video, it's a 3ish foot long tube with about 10 feet of fabric running off the end of it. The dog goes in the tube and has to push through the fabric to come out on the other side. We thought the doods would panic, but they love it! Here are some videos from this morning's practice. Chris won't let me post videos of him, so I'm driving in all of these.

Cat and Buster


Cat and Buster really awesome run


Cat and Abby...Abby's much more excited about agility these days. We were training with tuna, so that might have helped.

Camping!

Well, it's spring break, and on Monday the high was near 70, and near 80 on Tuesday, so we hopped in the car and went camping with our friends Matt and Katie for a couple of nights. The other couple we run around with, Andy and Elin, were in DC for the week, and were very much missed.

The doods were awesome, esp considering that it was Abby's second time camping, probably Buster's first, and one of very few times they've been tethered. There was very little barking at nearby critters, and even then it was mostly at other dogs barking in the distance. They got tangled up a lot and didn't seem to be getting the hang of it by the time we left, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Also--they were ALL ABOUT sleeping in the tent. We're big believers in the pack mentality philosophy of doggie behavior/psychology, which includes their denning instinct. They both settled right in. The first night, though, Buster slowly inched his way up the side of the tent so his big ol' head was right next to mine on the pillow. There was a little growling the first night, with Buster full on barking when we heard some rustling in the campsite (raccoons, likely). Second night--a light rain and doodle quiet.

I didn't get nearly enough pictures of them, but here are a few.









After a fruitless day of fishing, Chris and Matt take some time off to read/nap in the hammocks.

Agility videos

The pause table requires them to jump up, do a down, and hold it for 5-10 seconds. They're still new to the tire jump, so they're both a little weary of it.

In this first one, Buster runs through a short course, then says hello to Abby. He does weave poles, teeter-totter, wall jump, tire jump, A frame, then pause table.



In this one, Abby shows off what a lazy butt she can be, but it also shows part of the learning process when she balks at the tire jump the second time through.



And, finally, I take Buster through the course a couple of times. He's really, really, enjoying agility!

Buster's name=Buster

So the name Buster is going to stay. I wasn't a big fan at first, but once you get to know him, it seems to fit him. He came with the name, so keep it he shall.

Doodle geometry:

Buster's learning to love his crate.