Little Orphan Annie

Okay, she's not really an orphan.  And, she's not really little.  But her name is Annie... but only because that's what I renamed her.

I recently started back with Dogs Deserve Better as a state rep.  I love the organization and I believe in the cause.  I went into it with the intent to focus on education and legislation more so than fostering. I have four dogs now, after all.

But nooooo... A dog who has been abused, had two litters of puppies in the two short years of her life and living at the end of a chain in what I can only describe as a small junkyard needed help.  The owners were willing to surrender her but there was nowhere for her to go.

So what did Emily do?  She said 'I'll foster her.'  I'm probably not the brightest bulb in the shed.

So anyways. Meet Annie!

I really do love her already. She's a gem.  A diamond in the rough.  She kissed me on Saturday morning and Red's only response was 'We're not keeping her!'. Typical. It's not like I want to keep every dog that kisses me.  Except... I want to keep her.  Isn't that aweful?

Annie is probably a Pit Bull with some Amercian Bulldog in her. I think I can see the Am. Bulldog in her face a bit.  Her head is like a boulder compared to her compact body.  She's small, but 53lbs of solid muscle.  She's strong.

She loves it when Red talks to her.

On the Foster Dog Difficulty scale, she's in the lower end.  She's pretty easy. She's already housetrained, she's crate trained, she is quiet.  She gets along well with my male dogs. We're still working on the females as she wants to be the top dog and so do my girls.  I try reminding them that I'm supposed to be the top dog... but...

Her only flaws: She can and will kill my cat if given the opportunity.  And she needs so much exercise. Like quadriple that of my psycho herding dogs. The weekend was okay because I was able to give it to her. But the workweek should be interesting. Double the crate time and half the exercise.  Not good. And both aren't technically flaws of hers... Just stuff that I need to work on.  Maybe they are my flaws?

Still, she's working on Red. Red is trying to resist.  But nobody can resist that face.

Roller Derby Kirby

I went rollerblading yesterday. I took Kirby with me.  Where do I start?

I got this bright idea yesterday that I should start rollerblading with my dogs. I went to Fleet Farm after work and bought a harness. Not a pull harness, but a harness all the same just in case something went wrong and I didnt want to end up choking my dogs.

So I strapped Kirby into the harness and fitted it. Kirby did a few whirls around and around, trying to figure out what the hell he was strapped into.  While he did that, I found a 20ft rope with a clip and clipped him to it.  I wanted him to have some extra space in case I needed to ditch. Grabbed my rollerblades and Kirby and I went outside.  I first discovered that I hardly remembered how to put the dadgum things on my feet.  Kirby was no help, since he thought that having mom sitting on the ground meant he could crawl into my lap.  I finally strapped them on.  Then I had to figure out how to get up. I ended up using Kirby to help haul me up.

The first thing Kirby noticed was that I was a foot taller. I think it alarmed him a tiny bit.  But he walked wth me as I trudged across the muddy yard.  Once I got to the road, I realized that I hadn't actually had rollerblades on my feet for probably a couple of years. I did a few arms throws to keep my balance, and then we started rolling.  The second thing Kirby noticed was that mom was rolling.  That did alarm him, and more than a little bit. How was I moving without actually moving?  So when in doubt, what do you think a herding dog does?  He herds!  Kirby started herding me on the blades!  He did a few pounces and barks at my heels before I finally got him focused enough to not herd and to work on staying out of my way instead. 

Once we got onto a strait away, I got my legs back and Kirby was havingt too much fun to remember herding. He jogged next to me and away we went!  Kirby was grinning the whole way. I think he loved it.

I'd forgotten how hard it was to rollerblade.  My hips and my legs are sore!  Kirby is definately going to be my chosen roller buddy.

On another note:  Today is the last official day of winter.  Hooray!!!!!!

Spring, Virtigo, Dog, Garden. Eh?

It's spring!

K, no, spring starts in 48 hours actually.  But right now it feels like spring. 

Last night I skipped my Crossfit class so that I could spend some time outside doing some yardwork. Cleaning up the yard after snow melt is never my favorite job.  See, I am not consistant about picking up the pooh during the cold months. But I got the entire front and side yard raked and 'decrapped', took the Christmas garland, lights and ribbons down, swept off the patio and sidewalk and picked up some cords and cardboard that had been covered up by the first snow and forgotten. 

It was good to spend some time in the sun. Jeans and a sweatshirt. Daylight savings time started last weekend so we have an extra hour of daylight in the evening and it will only keep getting better. Those cold months where its dark at 4:30 just depress me.  It sounds like we have one or two more short rounds of snow and then winter will be outta here for good.  Thank God.

The dogs are going stir crazy.  Frankie even took off the other day when we were out pottying. She was just in the neighboring yard. But its further than she usually goes and it was my signal that I need to ramp it up with everybody.  I found my rollarblades a few months ago and I've been itching to start rollarblading with the dogs. I have been wanting to skijor with the Aussies but I keep putting off the training.  And before I know it, winter's gone. Rollarblading will be a good first step at least to get them used to pulling up ahead of me.  What am I saying, they already do pull me. 

I recently went through a week long spell of 'virtigo'.  In my case, the mold under the snow and the thick fog in the air irritated my sinuses to the point of messing with my inner ears, which caused me to be dizzy and nauseous and feel like I was drunk.  I couldnt see strait at times. It was pretty scary.  But apparently it's common in you're sensitive to such things. I didn't realize that I was, and I hope that it's not going to be an annual thing now.  It wasn't fun.

I''ve been busy lately with DDB.  I began posting some ads about what we do and we've gotten a few calls about chained dogs. Saturday I am going to check on a Husky mix and we're also working on a beautiful pitty girl whose already had two litters in her short life of two years. She is chained up in what I can only describe as a junk yard.  She's next to a washing machine.  Outside.  My only obsticle now is to convince Red to let me foster her.  She needs to get out of there and unless I can find another rescue to step up, we am her only current hope to get out of there as nobody else can take her. But Red isn't keen on fostering dogs anymore, not with four of our own. Understandable. And while he's not discriminatory towards any specific breed of dog, he really does have a small uncertanty about pittys.  He thinks they are beautiful dogs and he doesn't judge. But he has no experience with them and they make him a little nervous.  I think that asking him to foster a pit would be along the same lines as asking him to foster an Aussie.

I want to start a garden.  I know nothing about gardening. Ya'll know anything about gardening?  I don't know when I'm supposed to till. I dont know what steps need to be taken before planting. Or when to plant.  I dont know how much sun a garden needs, or what side of the house it would be best on. When are vegetables ready to pick?  What mainentence goes into a garden?  I haven't the foggiest idea. But I want one.

That's all for now.

The Pet Expo

Never been there before. And I'll never miss another year again!  It was so much fun!
Frankie and I joined up with the disc dog club for a weekend at the Expo.  I just have to say that because of Frankie, I have been staying in a lot more hotels than normal.  I love it. Hotels are fun anyways, but to get to have your dog with you? 

Frankie enjoyed it too.  But... who uses bleach white bed spreads?  Frankie made sure to make her paw mark on both beds.

The view was pretty nice, too.  During the day it looks gloomy and dank.  But at night with all the lights on, it was beautiful.

Hellooooo down there!  We were on the 11th floor. Which I didnt realize until I looked out the window.  Don't look down!

Off to the center to help with the booth.

Frisbees Frisbees everywhere....

I often ponder what my life would be like right now if I had never picked up a Frisbee. Interesting. And scary. Don't even want to go there.

DK and I got a chance to walk around and do some shopping before our shift at the booth started. 

One of the first dogs we were greeted by was 'JC' from the Border Collie Rescue.  He has to be one of the most handsome and unusual looking BC's I've ever met. If only I had room for another dog...

There were dogs everywhere.  And I mean everywhere.  Every booth boasted a handful of dogs either as a mascot or for adoption.

Can you guess what this is?

Anybody? 

She's a Sheepdog!  This gal knew how to work it, too.  She'd put her head down like that and sidle up to you. With all the cuteness, you had no choice but to kneel down and pet her. And if you stopped, she pressed closer. She was adorable. I loved her pigtails!

Yup, it was dog city.

There were Pyr's

And Bostons

And Danes

And Elo's.  Oh, Elo...

Oh, I have a teeny weeny crush on Elo.

And there were Greys...

The Greyhound booth had a bunch of sleeping bags and blankets strewn all over the place, and at one point there were 6 Greys' at the booth. It was a Greyhound slumber party!  I wanted to crawl in and nap with the Greys, but a napping stranger in a booth wasnt allowed for some reason. 

There were Pittys... Lots of gorgeous Pittys.  I loved this girl. She was such a sweetheart and let me and DK smush all over her.

And this charming dude. Oh I could have picked him up and stole him away.  But that's not allowed either.  I think this guy could have charmed Red though. Don't you?  Just look at that mug!

There were Bassett Hounds. I want a Bassett Hound.

So droopy and wonderful.

And Aussies galore! This gal was just a princess.  I want an Aussie....

Oh, wait...

Bulldogs.  I heart Bulldogs.

There was an extremely talented artist at one of the Pitty booths.  And when I find her card in my load of stuff that I still haven't yet unpacked even though it's been 4 days since I got home, I am going to post a link to her website.

She painted these by hand while looking at a photo of the dogs.  This picture doesn't do them any justice.  I am on the hunt for photos of my dogs so I can have her paint a collage of the them. I need one of these paintings.

After shopping and getting our dog kiss fix, we headed back to the booth for our shift.

And I noticed that Frankie and I were on the banner!

It's exciting stuff, considering that I don't view us as 'banner worthy' at this point.  But the picture is awesome.We shared our performance area with a dog dancing organization.  This little Corgi would just hang out on his back between performances.  Adorable.

And Nova... How I love you...

I offered to take Nova of Jen and JG's hands... But they weren't as thrilled about that idea as I was.  Oh well.  I will see you again one day my love... 

Can't wait for next year!

Spring Is In The Air

I just saw 50 degrees as a temp high later this week, and it's 40's projected for the next week and a half.
Does it really get better than that?  The temps, yes. But just the fact that we're quite possibly done with that below zero crap just elates me.

I was walking downtown Minneapolis the other day in a tshirt and yoga pants. Yes!

The Wal Marts are stocked with garden supplies and patio furniture. Easter Egg shaped Reese's are on the shelves. Spring is in the air, baby!  10 more days of winter. 4 more days until daylight savings time.  It will be light outside until after 7pm.

I'm happy.  Winter depressed me. Winter scares me. Winter makes me blue and anxious and I dont twiddle my thumbs more than I do in the winter. Spring means happiness and beautiful days.  And warmth. And outside activity.

There are areas of wet, green grass popping up around my yard. Good bye snow. You are no longer welcome here.

Disc Dogger

As the season gears up, so does my excitement. I haven't played a real game of frisbee with my dogs in months and months.  I've been doing short jams with Frankie in the living room in preparation for this weekends pet expo.  But Kirby hasnt really even seen a frisbee since Christmas. I pulled it out for him the other day for a quick game of toss and catch and he was pretty excited about it.

Which poses the question: Does Kirby have what it takes to be a disc dog?  Does he want to be a disc dog?  Do I want him to be a disc dog?  I think the answer is yes to all of these.  I think that this past winter was well spent bonding between us and he's grown up a bit.  He has a bit more focus than he did, and his flips are developing nicely.

I am excited for the playdates to start up again so we can work on it more. Silly Kirby. My next project for him is to teach him to go around my legs before I send him out to catch a disc. I feel like once we have that, I can enter him in some novice stuff and see how he likes it. I cant wait! Its all I can think about these days!

Spring

Spring is in the air. The sun is shining, it's 40 degrees outside, the snow is finally melting away, flake by flake.  We're coming up on one of the best times of the year!  Sure I love summer, with it's heat and sun and fun. And I adore fall with it's crispness and sweet smells. And winter... Well I have nothing nice to say about winter at the moment. 

But spring... Spring is the best.

Yesterday, after cleaning my house, I briefly opened up the windows.  And shortly after, that 'smell' was just everywhere.  It's that super clean, super fresh smell that only occurs when you let the winter stuffiness out and the fresh, clean air from outside, in.  A freshness that can't be matched by cleaners or fans or sprays. A smell that only lasts for a couple of hours until you close the windows again.  It only happens in the early spring, which is why it's to be cherished.  It also means that the house doesn't smell like anything else.  Like dog.  Or cat.  Or fish.

There is a lot of work to be done in the up and coming weeks.  It's coming on spring cleaning time, and I can't wait.  I can't friggin wait!  I have so many ideas for our home and I am just chomping on the bit to get started.  But, I have to wait until spring.

On another note, disc dog season is gearing up again.  This weekend Frankie and I are joining the disc dog club at the Twin Cities Pet Expo where we will be performing six times.  Six times over the course of two days.  I'm scared to death.  I have to pee my pants every time I think about it.  It's a small space in front of a lot of people and it's inside and we haven't jammed in front of people since September and holy cow I'm freakin out.  Frankie is not freaking out.  Frankie remains cool and calm on the field.  She knows her job.  But I forget my job everytime I even think about stepping foot onto a field in front of people.  People who are going to watch us.  In that tiny little space.  Yowza!

Ahhhh spring.  Love spring.  I went shopping at the Wal Marts the other day and all of the gardening stuff is out.  That's a sign.  It's a reeeeeal good sign.