More Fun Time with Wallace

It continues to be ridiculously hot here in NC. It is very bad for us mostly black dogs. It is hard to get enough exercise and still keep cool. Niamh does not like the heat at all and only wants to stay inside in the AC. I have been going over to Scout's house and playing with her and jumping in her pool. We get nice and wet and then shake the water off on our people!



I want Scout to get out of the pool and chase me.



My brother Wallace came back for a visit to our training center. It is nice and cool there.



We had a great time training and playing. Of course Barbara did not have her camera on when we had a really nice, bashy game. Then just as Wallace got ready to leave I decided to see if I could get him to play some more. I think he was tired so it didn't get as wild as our earlier game but you can see that we had a good time together. Wallace is the one with the striped leash. I'm the one who is barking.





After Wallace left I made a huge discovery. Niamh has been hiding her Squeaky Sheep at the training center! It is the great one with the 16 squeakers inside. Well once I found it I gave it a good shake and raced around and around with it, squeaking it like mad. Niamh will be so annoyed when she see what fun I had with her toy.





One of the reasons we haven't been posting much lately, or commenting on your blogs the way we would like to, is that Barbara has been working on making a monthly newsletter for Paw In Hand Dog Training. Not being the most creative person in the world, this has taken her some time. I would be very surprised if you hadn't heard an explosion of HBO words yesterday when she somehow managed to erase all the changes she had made and the new copy she had written for the newsletter! I know it woke me out of a sound sleep.

The most exciting part is that I am going to have my own column in the newsletter! It will be called" Ask Ambrose" and subscribers will be able to write in with questions about dog training and behavior and I will answer them in the next newsletter. I know I will do a good job since I love training and and I am an expert in dog behavior because I am a dog. Notice that Niamh did not get her own column. She will be sick with jealousy when she finds out since she thinks she knows everything.

Dog Bloggers Rule!

I have been absent from the blogosphere for the last two weeks because my secretary (Barbara) has been too busy shopping and wrapping to take my dictation. She also keeps forgetting to take the camera with her to document my adventures. She is very slack.

I want to thank all my blogging friends for their wonderful cards and e-cards. I enjoy getting all this mail and seeing your lovely cards. We did the math and I have gotten 7 times more cards than Barbara! I guess her family and friends are very slack also. Blogging dogs rule!

All the shopping produced many packages to wrap. I carefully inspected them all and found them to be very boring things like books and dvds. These fuzzy socks look like they could make a good tug toy though.

I have helped with the wrapping by trying to shed as many Gordon Setter hairs as I possibly can onto the present before she finishes wrapping it. I can tell you that many HBO words have been said around here and not by me.



We had a lot of rain over the weekend but today was beautifully sunny and cold. I love the cold because it makes me feel very skippy. We visited my boyfriend Trotter so we could run together in his fenced yard.



I stole his frisbee (that's the orange thing in my mouth) and raced away with it.



It feels so good to run as fast as I can.



Trotter and I waited intently for his person to throw the ball for us.



After some good running we played some bitey face games and then it was time to go home. We have to pack our bags for the holidays.

I hope that you and your people have a great holiday and that you get lots of treats and toys in your stockings.

Brazen Hussy

I am sure that I already have a reputation as a brazen hussy but I have to admit that I have another boyfriend. I met Roscoe last week and we had another date this morning. Don't you think he is pretty cute?

He is about a year and a half old (I do seem to go for the younger men) and was rescued by some really nice people. He came to Barbara's class this fall and now they are doing some more work together since he likes to pull on leash (don't we all). I think he is part schnauzer and part basset hound.



We have had some great games of chase in his yard along with some bitey face. Roscoe has a favorite ball and he likes to play soccer with it. I grabbed it and teased and flirted.



Now I have enticed him close to me and we are getting ready for more games.



Look at us go!! Even though Roscoe's legs are much shorter than mine he really kept up with me.



Most of the pictures were just blurs as we sped around the yard. Here we are hanging out on the deck getting our second wind.



It was a great morning and I can't wait to play with him again. Now I can only hope that my other boyfriends don't get jealous.


Awards


The Dughallmor Beagles sent me this great award. Thanks so much. I wish my person could take beautiful photos like your mom.




Thanks to Holly and Zac for this lovely butterfly award. I love to point at butterflies!




More Parade News

My boyfriend Royal has more parade photos on his blog along with a video of us doing some of our formations. Check it out.

My First Parade

I am really exhausted but I have had such an amazing day I couldn't wait to blog about it. I was in my first parade as a member of the Paws 4Ever Drill Team (it used to be called the Animal Protection Society)! I've been in a few demos but a parade is a whole different thing and much more exciting.

My friends Ayla and Royal were in the parade with me and this was the first time for all of us. Our people have paraded many times before with our older siblings. Ruby and Big Sandy are retired now but they were excellent in the parades and knew all the tricks perfectly. Barbara paraded many years with Selkie who was a parade diva and just loved showing off.

Our people were worried that we would be really wild in the parade so they decided to get us together for some exercise in the hopes of calming us down. I believe the phrase Barbara used was "Let's try to run their legs off". How silly of her. Not possible.

Look at the three of us go.





After a lot or chase games and bitey face, Ayla did some roaching for us.




It was a wonderful start to the day and it did help me settle down a bit but not much. I was terribly excited when we got to the parade. There were floats, firetrucks and bands and lots of little kids running around. It got me all charged up again.




Here is a picture of the team with our new banner.




We were all very glad to see Hadji and his people. Hadji was very sick this fall and could barely walk never mind practice with the team. He is recovered now and he helped his people carry our banner.




Here is our mascot.




We lined up in the street to get ready to march. I am at the very end.



Elmo and Bernie



Doing our group downs.



More marching.



Ayla, Royal and Bernie in the pinwheel move.



I think we were very popular in the parade because we got a lot of applause. I hope people see that we dogs can be trained and learn lots of neat things. Of course all our training is positive and I can't begin to tell you how many bits of cheese and hotdog I got while marching.

This was a terrific adventure and the best news is that there is another parade next weekend which is even bigger. I can't wait.

My Boyfriend Trotter

Thanks Momo and Pinot for this great award. I love your blog too and like to see your pictures of your human brother.




As you know I love the boys! A girl can never have too many admirers in her pack. But my first, and best, boyfriend is Trotter, a really handsome and sweet Golden Retriever. And he is smart as well as handsome (no dumb blondes for me). He recently won several ribbons for high scores in Rally and Agility and will probably have his titles in both soon. I do so love a guy with letters after his name.



Today our people decided we should practice our obedience skills together but first we got to play for awhile.



Trotter and I love to chase and flirt and play bitey face games.



After our play session we had to settle down and do work. I got to practice my spins and circles and then had to do the very tedious stays. I can't stand them but Barbara insists that I learn them. I do try, but I'd much rather do something fun like tracking.

Freestyle Friends

We drove out the the kennel club this morning to practice canine freestyle and rally obedience. I really enjoy these activities (although not as much as tracking) because it keeps my mind occupied, I get lots of treats and I get to visit with my friends.


This is my new friend Stormy. She is a Belgian Tervuren and already has her Utility Dog title (UD) which is very hard and takes a lot of work to earn. She and her person are learning freestyle and I bet they will be great. Look at the beautiful attention she is giving to her person. Attention is key to doing well in obedience, rally and freestyle.



Lucky is very good at walking backwards. Here you see him backing away from his person. They are getting ready to compete at a trial in November.



Pree is one of my boyfriends. This isn't the best picture of him-it makes him look like a little mop and he is actually quite handsome. He finds me irresistable and today he ran through the ring gates to get to me. No photos of that since they would be R-rated at least.



Here I am doing my favorite trick-the leap to touch Barbara's hand. I love to do it because I am allowed to jump. See how high I can get.



Here is another picture of me doing it again. It feels so great to leap up.



After freestyle we ran a rally course and then it was back home to take a long nap while Barbara had to work.

Royal's Birthday Party

Yesterday I attended a great social event-Royal's 1st Birthday Party. Royal is an Australian Shepherd and I've known him since he was a puppy. He's a big handsome boy now and is in the Drill Team with me. He has a blog where you can read about all the things he and his person do together.


The Birthday Boy


Royal has a big fenced yard and we had a great time chasing each other all around.



There were nine of us dogs there and we all got along very well. We did lots of sniffing and play bowing but nobody growled at anyone.



After lots of playing we all tried to crowd on to the deck because that were all the food was! The people wanted to eat their food first without nine dogs sniffing around. They got to eat delicious hummus, veggies, chili and cornbread.



Trudy the Italian Spinone tried to climb over the little gate.



Royal's person Jenn made a special dog birthday cake with flour, honey, peanut butter and shredded carrots. It was iced with cream cheese and decorated with little biscuits.



Royal got to blow out his candle and the people sang "Happy Birthday" to him.



The cake was delicious! I ate my slice in one gulp and then licked the bowl clean.



The party was great fun. I got to play with my friends, get lots of petting from the people and ate yummy snacks. To top it off we all got a nice party favors of iced cookies and I got a new stuffie in the gift exchange.

My New Boyfriend Henry

I am always up for a trip to the dog park and I am always on the look out to add new boyfriends to my pack of admirers. So when Barbara said that we were going to go to the dog park to work with one of her students I was very excited.

Henry is a 2 year old Labradoodle that was just recently adopted to a wonderful family. I don't think he had the proper socialization when he was a puppy because he is very sensitive and he never really learned to play. His new person was concerned that Henry didn't enjoy himself at the dog park. Since I have excellent play skills and clear body language, Barbara thought I was just the dog to bring Henry out of his shell.


Henry came into the park but didn't interact with the other dogs and only wanted to sniff around. If other dogs came near him, he walked away.



I came up to him and we sniffed politely at the side of the face. Notice my low, sweeping tail wags and curved body position. I would never be so rude as to come straight on to another dog's face and stare at them.



I gave him a play bow so that Henry would know that everything that I was going to do was all in fun.



Then I lay on the ground to make myself as non threatening as possible and to do a little flirting.



Finally Henry realized it was ok to play with me. We had a few excellent chases and even a little chew-face game. His person was so happy to see his tail wagging. We had such a good time that it even gave Henry the confidence to go up to some other dogs. I think that Henry is going to be a social butterfly after a few more dog park outings!

But flirt that I am, I was not satisfied with one new beau. I also attracted the attention of a young male Brittany named Truman who seemed quite taken with me.




I was a little concerned that after my spaying operation boy dogs wouldn't be so attracted to me. Fortunately that is not true. I guess when a girl's got it, she's got it!!