K9 Kindercare

When Barbara goes out of town she takes me to stay at a really great place called K9 Kindercare. It is a small kennel run by a very nice woman named Terrie. Terrie loves dogs and takes excellent care of all of us when our people go away. I love going there. I miss my person, but I usually make so many new friends that I enjoy myself enormously.



When I arrived I had to sniff everyone and of course they had to sniff me. Terrie has a great group of dogs staying this weekend and she is good putting compatible dogs together so we get along.



I've made a new Brittany friend. We spent a lot of time sniffing all the good smells in the play yard. We are sporting dogs and we must hunt.



Of course my favorite type of playing is splashing around in the baby pools. We have 3 pools to share.



Here I am in control of all the pools!!!



Barbara is at a board meeting of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. They are spending two days discussing things like the best way to educate dog trainers. Now I know this is a very important topic but it must be sooooo boring! She has to sit in meetings all day long and I bet the board doesn't get a chance to play in any baby pools!

I Received an Award!!

Holly and Zac, my Border Collie friends from across the pond, have given my blog the Arte y Pico Award! This is my very first award so I am thrilled. Thanks so much and here are the details about the award:

"This award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creativity and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium. When you receive this award it is considered a special honor."

The RULES!You have to pick FIVE blogs that you consider deserve this award for creativity, design, interesting material and also contribute to the blogger community regardless of language. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given him/her the award itself.

Award winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the "Arte-y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of the award.

I've chosen the following blogs to receive the Arte y Pico Award:

The Life of Royal. Royal is a young Australian Shepherd who is one of my boyfriends. He's learning a lot of new skils and blogs about his training.

Momo and Pinot because they have such lovely photos of their beautiful faces on their blog.

The Association of Pet Dog Trainers conference blog where you can learn all about this important dog training conference.

Dogstar Daily blog which is Dr. Ian Dunbar's site. Lots of excellent dog trainers post there.



So thanks Holly and Zac for the award and for enjoying my blog.

Frosty Paw Failure

I like ice cream so I was very excited when Barbara said that she was going to make me homemade Frosty Paws which is a frozen dessert for dogs. I sat right next to the counter while all the ingredients went into the blender.



I watched very carefully as she poured the mixture into the paper cups hoping that Barbara would spill them on the floor.
Then they had to go into the freezer and I had to wait.



You can see that I am very interested in the little cup when it cam out of the freezer.



I am licking my chops in anticipation of frosty paw deliciousness cooling me off on this hot, humid day.



Here I am turning my head away in disgust. She must have done something wrong because it tasted awful!!! It was supposed to be delicious and it was a revolting mix of bananas and yougurt! I am crushed.



My person is supposed to be a good cook but you would never know it from that yucky mess.

Freestyle Practice

This week I got a chance to practice Rally and some Tracking. This morning we got together with some of our friends to practice our Canine Freestyle routines.



I had a bath yesterday (UGH!!) so I am looking particularly shiny today. I am waiting for my turn to go in the ring. We are finishing up the choreography for my routine and we've added a zig zag where I switch back and forth from heeling on the left side to heeling on the right side. It is not that hard to do and I get lots of string cheese while I practice, so I enjoy it. Unfortunately, Barbara forgot to give her camera to someone to take photos, so there are no pictures of me working!



This is my new friend Rhiannon. She is a 2 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever and is just starting freestyle. She and her person are heeling around the ring while we all try to figure out what would be the best music for her performance.



I like freestyle because I get to show of how well I move and get to do some fun tricks too. Once the routine is finished, and I've practiced it, we will post a video.

Selkie's Anniversary

Today is a sad anniversary. One year ago today my big sister Selkie died. It was very unexpected as she had seemed very healthy up until she woke us up at 2 in the morning in great distress. It was a horrible thing called a spontaneous pneumothorax which meant her lungs collapsed. Even though Barbara rushed her to the emergency vet and then to the vet school, they could not save her.




Selkie was a very special Gordon Setter. She was smart and silly and very confident. She loved everyone she met especially little kids. Selkie was very opinionated and was in charge at home. I was only allowed to play with her toys if she let me (which wasn't often) and sometimes she stole mine. But she was fun to play with and was excellent at chasing.



Selkie and Barbara did Rally and Freestyle competition together. They had a great bond and I know Barbara still misses her very much. I do too.

After Selkie died our friends in the Drill Team made a donation to the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine in her memory. There are two bricks there dedicated to Selkie and you can view them here

Another Boyfriend

A girl can never have too many boyfriends. Royal is a very handsome young Australian Shepherd. I think he is very cute. I've known him for awhile but it was nice to have a chance to hang out with him in the dog park.



We had a good time sniffing each other in rude places and of course I behaved in a very flirtatious manner. Barbara thinks that I acted like a brazen hussy but I was just having fun. I did not post some of the more risque photos since impressionable puppies may be reading this blog and I do not want to shock them with R-rated material!!!



I love to be chased and Royal was happy to oblige me by chasing me around the park. You can see that we wore each other out.



I hope I get another chance to play with Royal soon.