Friday, January 27, 2012

Quiet, Please

When I was a kid I had a Kermit doll. Doll? Stuff animal? Whatev’, it was about 18” or so and he had Velcro on his wrists and ankles so you could stick him places. Grow up in the 70’s, much?

He went everywhere. When I got worried about him going in the washing machine my mom would tell me it was OK because frogs liked water. :)

I used to think about what it would be like if he could talk the way Kermit on TV did. Then, after thinking about it further, it freaked me out a little. I specifically requested that even if he could talk, please don’t. I don’t need that kind of stress. I don’t need to be that kid, right?

I have those same conversations with Bella.

You know when you open your mouth slightly to say something and then forget what you were going to say? You usually have an index finger pointed at the ceiling? Inhale slightly and then the thought just goes?

Bella does something that looks like this. Minus the finger pointing, of course.

And, I don’t mean she looks like she has something on her mind. Don’t mean, I wonder what she would say if she could talk.  I mean she looks like English is going to come out of her face.

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I have to tell her…don’t do it…please.
If you have something to say, just write it down.

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Not so oddly enough, I don’t have those convo’s with Kate :-)
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Not-So-Slick Willie

This is Willie

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He is one of our agility pals.

He also just recently got his C-ATCH.

Willie is a bit of an agility artist.

Picasso had his Blue Period, yes?

Willie had his Picking Up A Cone And Running Around The Ring Period. He moved from that to the I’m Not Coming Out Of The Tunnel Until I’ve Itched Every Square Inch Period.

Mom has put a TON of work into Willie and herself to collectively get their agility shit together.

Practice, practice.  Train, train.  Chill, chill.

It has been working.  Hense the C-ATCH Willie instead of the No Letters Willie.

Watching them develop into a team over the past year has been wonderful, inspiring.

However, she has spent so much time on agility that she has neglected to teach Willie any Mad Lady Killer Skillz.

Poor Willie. He’s got no game.

OMG! A girl!
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*deep breath* Try to play hard to get
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Hmm, not working, I’ll just ease my way in
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Act casual. Try to blend
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Dude! Did you seriously try to pee on me?!
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Unfriend!!
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Oh, Willie
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Well, there’s always agility

Or calendar work
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:-)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Saturday Hike

It looks like winter may finally be arriving later this week, so I decided to take advantage of our weirdly dry and warm weather to head up to Sunol yesterday.

Someone was wholly uncooperative in the posing department
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Apparently had other things on her mind
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Bella?
  In the mood for smiling
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We were stopped on the trail while we waited for Kate to poop for the umpteenth time and a guy and his dog came up behind us. He had a terrier. I think it was a Kerry Blue. Good looking dog, very light, though. Silvery looking. I didn’t know they came in that color. Anywho, the guy sees Kate and Bella and yells up the hill, “Are they OK or are they going to jump on him?” My first reaction was to laugh, because I was thinking the same thing about his dog. I have hard time reading dogs that are built like that because even the friendly ones look like they are challenging just because they are so naturally upright.

The dogs all politely shook hands and we were off. The guy said hi to Kate and Bella. I can’t be the only person that judges people based on my dogs’ reactions to them, can I? Kate went right up to him and let him pet her. Kate is not an overly people-social dog. When she knows you, she loves you, but doesn’t feel the need to be everyone’s best friend like Bella does. Note to self: he must be an alright guy.

As we were walking, he was commenting on the girls. “They’re so people-friendly.” “They’re so polite with other dogs.” “They behave so well.” Of course, it’s nice to hear those things, but you don’t normally hear those things from people who also have well-behaved dogs. It usually comes from people with dogs that are a bit…um…independent? Then he got to the Border Collie thing. That’s why he yelled up the hill. Not because dogs were there…because (alleged) Border Collies were there. He was telling me that his experiences with them have not been good. Nasty with other dogs, not interested in people, fights among family members.

  I suppose I could say the same thing about terriers!

It’s funny how our limited experiences shape our opinions of entire groups of things. I know lots of Border Collies, mine included, who are not tolerant of rude dogs. Kate’s worst nightmare is the 80 lb, 10 month old floppy Lab with no boundaries! I wonder how much of his dog’s problems with Border Collies stems from his upright-ness? Border Collies are very visual and very sensitive to body language and movements. A half inch head nod from me is Kate’s queue to go through a door.

Have you noticed that your dogs react differently to differently shaped dogs?

Our last hurdle on our route back to the parking lot was…
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Ever been stared at by an unmoving cow? It’s a little weird. They were also right on the trail. And, they had babies. And, even though Miss Kate is completely uninterested in sheep, she is very interested in cows and needs a bit more management when they are that close. She stared at us for a good 5 minutes before deciding we were OK and she could have her afternoon lie down.

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Her concern was on the opposite side of the trail.
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Could you not just hug it?

And speaking of shapes of dogs...

If you remove the obviously cow part…
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It’s an Aussie! :-P

Monday, January 9, 2012

Bokeh Feets!

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Loving the 50mm/1.4!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Lady CaCa

 
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Wishing all of you a happy and prosperous new year.

May your dogs bring you lots of dried up cow shit.

Or...something like that.

:)