Family Photos

Happy Easter, dog bloggers. I hope you are having a good day and not eating any chocolate bunnies, delicious as they may be.



Yesterday Ambrose and I took a drive in the dog-crate-on-wheels. Barbara took us up to Virginia to her friend, and my breeder, my Aunt Karen. I got to see my littermates, Tori and Travis! We got to run around in the yard together and had a great time.



Tori and I played some good chase games.



Travis was more interested in kissing Barbara than in chasing me but here he is running too.



Then we went across the way to Karen's parents house to see them and my mom Misty. Isn't she beautiful?



She is also very accomplished. Her full name is Ch Tri-Sett Living Legend CD, JH, RE. All those letters mean she has her conformation championship, her Companion Dog title in obedience, her Junior Hunter title and and she recently finished her Rally Excellent title.




I was so happy to see my mom. Misty let Ambrose and me run all around her yard. She even let us come in her house and play with some of her sutffies. Fortunately Ambrose did not disgrace me and Barbara by peeing in the house.




Of course everyone had to make a big fuss over dopey Ambrose. Look how goofy he is.



But Aunt Karen and her parents were my family before Barbara became my special person so they were very glad to see me and I know that they like me better than Ambrose!

Karen's dad laid a nice long track for me on their land. I think I did a good job on it except when Barbara got caught in some stickers and had to extricate herself. Then she got me a bit confused, but I recovered well, got back on track and got lots of roast beast for finding my final article. Misty has never tracked before but Barbara laid a short track for her and she did great. I guess I get my good nose from her!

Ambrose got to do a little track too.






I had a great time visiting but was shocked to learn that Karen's dad had built a special dog grooming torture room in their house! It had shelves and peg boards covered with all sorts of evil dog grooming torture implements such as clippers, thinning sheers and combs. Karen is very good at the dog grooming torture and had me up on the dog grooming torture table to show Barbara how to clip around my ears and to trim my feet properly so they don't look like bedroom slippers. I did not like it one bit but did get lots of liver and roast beast which helped a little.



I think I look pretty good after all the dog grooming torture.



I was so glad to see my mom and my sister and brother. I hope we can do it again soon.

Tracking and Topiary

My favorite dog sport is tracking. I really enjoy Rally and Canine Freestyle but when I track I get to use my nose to find interesting things. It is great fun to go out on a beautiful morning to the fields with Barbara and meet our friends and do some tracking.



We are really beginning to work as a team. She is reading my body language and trusting me to stay on track.



Of course besides the lovely smells I get delicious treats. This morning it was sausage biscuit and cheese!



My BFF Ayla tracked too. She is very good at it and I know her person was really pleased with her work. Here she is getting into her special tracking harness.



Considering that we both have a big silly streak, our people are impressed with how hard we work when we track.

Ambrose got to do a little puppy track. Of course Barbara and Sandi carried on about him like he had found buried treasure instead of a few gloves and things that were only 10 feet apart!! It really is sickening to listen to them praise him constantly.

He is getting big now. I think his ears are getting very long. Or maybe I have stretched them from chewing on them so much!




Barbara took Ambrose on a walk at Fearrington and saw these cool topiary dogs.

Ambrose had to take a good sniff to figure out that this terrier was made of moss and not fur.



This big one looks a lot like our Airedale friends.



Look at this green version of Stanislaw and Big Pupi.



And who does this look like?

Mail, Tag and more

I love to get mail. Yesterday this great package came in the mail from Addie and Lucie. For their 200th post their mom decided to donate a pound food to the animal shelter for everyone who commented on their blog. I thought this was a great idea so of course we had to comment. It turned out that we got randomly picked to receive a present for commenting.

I had to stick my head all the way in the package to check it out.



Look at all the goodies in side! Candy bar stuffies, chew sticks with chicken, a squeaky tennis ball and a lovely card.



Here is the card with Addie and Lucie's paw prints.



I love the candy bar stuffies as they are just the right size to carry in my mouth and squeak.



Since the package was addressed to me, all the presents are mine. However, generous big sister that I am, I will let Ambrose play with one of the toys and maybe have a chew stick.



Thanks so much Addie, Lucie and your mom for donating to the shelter and for my neat presents.

.
A Game

Barbara was tagged by the Dughallmor Beagles to play this game awhile ago. She finally figured out all her answers!

1. What is your name? Barbara
The following answers must all begin with the first letter of your name.
2. A four letter word? Boss
3. Girl name: Brigid
4. Boy name: Brendan
5. Occupation: Baker
6. Color: Blue
7. Piece of clothing: Blouse
8. Food: Bacon
9. Item in the bathroom: Bathtub
10. Place/City: Boston (where many of our blogging friends live)
11. A reason for being late: Barbara has never been late in her life!
12. Something you’d yell: Blegh!
13. Movie: Brigadoon (Beagledoon)
14. Something you can drink: Bourbon
15. Band: Beach Boys
16. Animal: Baboon
17. Street name: Broadway
18. Car: Buick
19. Song: Born to Run
20. Activity that includes more than one participant: Baseball



I sent Ambrose off to Trotter's house yesterday to play with Trotter's new little sister Scout. The puppies got very silly when they played.



Ambrose's legs have gotten so long. I am afraid that he may be part giraffe.



Scout hid in the tunnel and Ambrose did play bows to coax her out.



When she got tired of their play she rested on the broad jump.



Ambrose continued to run around the yard with a chicken stuffie in his mouth.



Scout needed to cool off in the shade of the pause table.



All this playing with Scout wore Ambrose out, thank goodness, and I was able to rest last night instead of having to play endless games of tug.

Puppy Training

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) thinks it is vital that all puppies get trained. I do too. Ambrose is bad enough as he is. If Barbara wasn't training him I don't want to even imagine how bad he would be. Barbara started teaching a new Junior Puppy class the other night. Of course I went to demonstrate and Ambrose came too. The puppies are pretty cute but they are all very silly

Goldie



Abby



Milo



Ambrose made friends with a Lewellyn Setter named Chief.



They practiced doing their sits.



My boyfriend Trotter's special person Chris came with their new Golden Retriever puppy named Scout. Poor Trotter. Now he will be neglected the way I am while Chris spends all her time with this new puppy. I have a great idea. Trotter can come to live with me and I will send Ambrose over to Chris to live with Scout. Then neither Trotter or I will have to deal with icky puppies.



Ambrose gets lots of training at home. Barbara takes him out into the woods to climb over logs and to practice his obedience. She says it will make him confident and strong. I think that he is too confident and strong already. He has tried to put his paws on my shoulders, the little brat!



He climbs over logs.



He crawls under branches.



When he isn't looking at her, Barbara will hide behind a tree and call him.



Ambrose races to her and gets bits of hot dogs. This is a great game to help with the recall. I love to play hide 'n seek.



Here is a photo of the two of us. You can see how big he is getting.



Now we are off to play bitey face. I've been tagged for a game and received an award. We'll get them up in the next day or so.

Canine Freestyle Workshop

I just got back from a most exhausting, but educational and exciting weekend. Barbara and I do Canine Freestyle and we belong to the Carolina Canine Freestyle Guild. Our group organized a seminar with Kristen Scicotte to learn all about music and choreography for freestyle. I had a great time and learned so much.



We had to bring Ambrose along but he knows nothing about freestyle yet. Everyone made quite a fuss over him. It really is quite sickening.



But he had to stay in the crate most of the time while I got to work with Barbara on our freestyle moves and of course I got lots of cheese, hot dogs and praise for doing so well. Ha!



Here are some photos of my freestyle friends doing their moves. Smudge can actually put her paws on Sue's feet and stay there while Sue walks forward!!



Takoda and Ellen working on their moves while Kristen, the seminar leader, watches.



I was one of the three dogs chosen to show off their choreography at the end of the seminar. Everyone admired my beautiful movement and elegance. Unfortunately, even though Barbara had her video camera with her, she forgot to ask anyone to film us! I am so annoyed because I did my piece very well and we got lots of compliments.

Kristen is a wonderful teacher and she gave us a lot of good advice for our practices.



Our Carolina Canine Freestyle Guild worked hard to put on the seminar and all the participants, people and dogs, had a great experience. Here are the Guild members with Kristen.



Canine Freestyle shows off the joyful relationship between dog and handler. You can see great routines at the Hall of Fame on the CFF website.

Barbara and I have a lot more practicing to do because we are going to enter a competition in July.

Jealousy

I spent the weekend at K9 Kindercare while Barbara went away to celebrate her Mom's birthday. I like going to K9 Kindercare because they take great care of me and I have lots of fun with the other dogs. But Barbara didn't bring me back a present from San Antonio. I feel very sorry for the dogs there if there are no treats and toys in the entire city.

But what really annoyed me is that Ambrose got to stay with my boyfriend Trotter, his big sister Dreamer and Chris. I cannot believe that I had to go to the kennel while Ambrose got spoiled at Trotter's house.



He got to play in the yard all the time and hang out with Trotter.



Chris always has really good treats and I bet she gave him a lot.



On Saturday, Chris took Ambrose with her to a seminar and I heard that everyone there made a big fuss over him. I am just sick with jealousy about the whole thing!

I got him back though. He tried to play with my fish stuffie this morning and I nailed him. He won't be doing that any time soon.