Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ambrose Does It Again

You may be wondering why there are no photos with this post. It is all Ambrose's fault. To be fair, it really is Barbara's fault. She was the one who fell asleep on the couch one evening while Ambrose was loose in the house and not in his crate. This was a serious mistake!

While she was sleeping Ambrose stole the little cable that goes from the camera to the computer and chewed it into 5 pieces! Then he fell asleep. When Barbara woke up and saw the destruction she said many HBO words. She knew Ambrose was the culprit because I have never been that interested in wires or cables and all the pieces were lying next to him on his bed!!

So now we can't show any of our nice pictures until the mini usb comes. She tried a card reader (whatever that it) but it didn't seem to work. I have some good photos to show you about a special package that I got from Scotland but they are trapped in the camera for now.

The big excitement today was that Barbara and I got attacked by yellow jackets! We were walking in the woods and Barbara wanted to go down a certain path. I did not but she said to anyway. There was a reason I didn't want to go there. Yellow jackets swarmed around us and stung us. Barbara tried to get the horrible things off me and they stung her hands. I got stung on the face several times but my fur is thick so the ones on my back and legs didn't get me. We ran back home to escape them. We each had to take an antihistamine and the swelling and the hurt went away. I am never walking on that path again.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Bad Ambrose

Ambrose is almost 7 months old now and he is huge! Almost as big as me. His paws are enormous and he still has a lot of loose skin so he is not nearly finished growing.

The first picture is us today. The second picture was taken in March when he was only 2 1/2 months old.





You can see the difference.

He has grown in spurts. Sometimes his front legs grow and sometimes his back legs grow. One day Barbara was horrified to see that his hips were higher than his shoulders! I think that we should lock him in a closet so that no one can see him and think that is what Gordon Setters are supposed to look like.

He is also growing goofier by the day. Look at that face!. This week he forgot what sit means. Barbara gave him the cue and he just stood there and stared at her like he never heard the word before. She has only been practicing that with him since he was 8 weeks old!



Completely clueless.

Barbara says that he is the most destructive puppy that she has ever had. Even though we have lots of appropriate chew toys, stuffed kongs and other treat dispensing toys, he still likes to chew up things that shouldn't even be in his mouth in the first place. If Barbara leaves the closet door open for a second or leaves something out on the table, it is in his mouth in a flash. I have done a few bad things in my day but nothing like this and I was never destructive.

THE GALLERY OF DESTRUCTION

Ambose's registered name is Albannach Almost Famous. His breeders sent Barbara a baseball cap with their kennel name embroidered on it. She had it in the dog-crate-on-wheels on the console between the front seats. Ambrose's crate is right up next to the console. While she was driving he pulled the hat into his crate, chewed it and got his puppy slime all over it.




He stole her sandal from the closet and chewed off the end before she got it back.



I took my head off my dragon for just a few minutes and this is what he did to it.




He stole the camera off the table. Fortunately he only messed up the case and not the camera.




He is also a counter surfer. We used to have four of these Canine Freestyle Federation mugs. Now we have one. Barbara gets really upset when Ambrose knocks over anything glass or ceramic. Many HBO words are said while Ambrose gets shoved in his crate and I get told to "leave it" so she can clean up the mess. I think she is worried that we might eat the glass or cut our pads on it.




I really don't know how I am going to survive his adolescence. It was so nice to go to the competition in TN and leave him at the kennel. I had Barbara all to myself and didn't have to put up with his goofiness. But Barbara missed him. Why, I do not know. She is always kissing him and playing with him and trying to train him (a lost cause, I am afraid). So I am stuck with him.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Falling Down on the Blog

It has been a whole month since I've blogged. I can't believe that Barbara has not been able to help me in all that time. Of course she has many excuses. Keeping her training business going, her responsibilities to the APDT, training Ambrose (who takes ridiculous amount of work) blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Of course we were also getting ready for my very first Canine Freestyle Federation competition.

I am waiting my turn to practice. All of our freestyle friends were so helpful giving us advice and helping us train.



We worked really hard on our routine. Now competition is different than training. You will be shocked to learn that there are no treats or toys allowed in the performance space!!! Your person can give you treats before and after but they can't use treats in the ring or even have any in their pockets. This is very difficult but we practiced a lot.



Then Barbara worried about what she would wear to the competition. I, of course, planned to wear my lovely black and tan fur. And I don't know why she was worried about her outfit since everyone would be looking at me! Unfortunately she felt that I needed to spend a lot of time on the dog grooming torture table and have a bath before we went to Tennessee.

It was a long drive to Chattanooga, TN but I am very good in the dog-crate-on-wheels. We stopped a lot so I could stretch my legs. Many people at the rest stops admired me. I like staying in motels. There are lots of good smells and interesting noises. One morning I heard a noise at 6:00 AM and woke everyone up by barking very loudly.



On Saturday morning Barbara was a little nervous because it was my first competition ever, I was going to be off leash in the ring and of course there is no food allowed. I have to admit that I didn't do very well. I was quite distracted by the location, the floor and the audience. About 1/3 of the way through I left Barbara to visit the music steward! She called me back and we continued but I went visiting again so Barbara asked to be excused so I wouldn't practice running away. She wasn't mad at me and still gave me lots of treats, just a bit disappointed since we had worked very hard.

On Sunday she stopped at Burger King to get me 2 sausage biscuits, my most favorite treat. During warmup I got some bits of it and I was really primed and focused. We did great!!! Everyone said that we did a good job and our routine was very enjoyable. I was into it and Barbara was so pleased. We got good scores and I came away with a first place medallion and toys! After my routine I got to eat a whole sausage biscuit which was the best.



Barbara gave her camera to someone to take pictures of the awards ceremony but they forgot to do it so there are no pictures of me getting my awards. Bummer. Here I am at home with two of the toys I got. I am guarding the yellow dragon from Ambrose who covets it (Ambrose went to K9 Kindercare while we were in TN).



Since we didn't get any pictures of the awards ceremony at the trial, I thought that I would model it for you here at home.



A close up of the medal.



While we were in Chattanooga, Barbara and some of her friends took the opportunity to visit the Aquarium. That is a big place with lots of fish. I am very sorry that I didn't get to visit the Aquarium. I love to eat fish.

These spotted flat things are freshwater rays. I wonder what they taste like.



Jelly fish.



A coral reef.



I promise to make sure that Barbara helps me with my blog more often. When we get the video of the competition, I will try to post the routine. I also have some pictures of Ambrose to post - he is huge! I'll be visiting all your blogs in the next few days to catch up with all your activities. I've missed you.