I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t have the calendar sitting in front of me, but Layla is a year old! Time just seems to fly by when you have a puppy. With Layla, though, I think it’s been even harder to keep track of, since she never seemed to grow up. She is now smaller than Dare at 14 weeks. To us, I think she’ll always be the “baby” because she’s so tiny.
Anyway, here are some new pictures of Layla that I took while I was up at my parents farm.
Our old foster boy Zack is back again. He’s here just for the week while his family is out of town. He still is just the same old Zacky boy. Incredibly stubborn, yet, endearing.
He will be here till either Friday or Saturday, so I guess his stay is actually nearly over. He fits in so well that I don’t really notice that we’ve got an extra dog here most of the time. Zoe doesn’t share my opinion though. She thinks that Zack could go back to his home anytime now and the sooner the better. LOL
It’s nice to be able to have him visit occasionally and see that his new family just adores him. It’s definitely one of those happy endings that you hope for so much in rescue. Makes me glad that we had the privilege of playing a small part in helping him find his great family.
As usual, it’s taking me about a week to get settled back into routine after being out of town. I meant to post sooner, but never had the chance.
Twist was entered in three days of Obedience this past weekend. Unfortunately, he didn’t qualify any of the days. The good news was that each day he did better. On Sunday he had finished all the exercises and was qualifying and actually in first place with a 191 when we went back in the ring for our stay groups. Then it happened. Right as we walked into the ring, (hadn’t even put the dogs in the sit yet), he squatted and pooped in the ring. Agh! That’s never happened to me before. So, we were eliminated and there went his Q. 
All in all though, I was really pleased that he was doing the exercises, and that he was holding his focus for three days straight. That’s a big accomplishment for Twist. I think that the next time he competes, he’ll qualify for sure. A friend of ours took these pictures of Twist for me. I just love them.
Dare also went along just to have the experience of traveling out of town and being at the trials. She did great. I couldn’t have been happier with her. Here are some pictures of her on a walkway that runs along the Snake River and the Falls.
Anyway, it was a great trip. I hope we get to go back again next year! It’s one of my favorite trial sites to visit.
Since I’ve been trying to expose Dare to something new each day, I’ve found myself buying all kinds of silly things. The other day I saw these Incredibubbles on Clean Run and thought that they looked too fun. They are advertised to be long lasting, (they don’t pop right away), and they are scented/flavored to be appealing to the dogs.
I have to say after letting Dare and then the other dogs try them out, none of my crew were just totally blown away by them. In fact, for the most part my dogs just thought they were weird. Or maybe I should say that they thought I was weird for trying to get them to look at the bubbes that I was blowing when there were obviously much more interesting things to investigate in the yard. LOL Dare did a bit of chasing them, but she quickly became bored and decided that she’d rather fetch and tug with the container they came in rather than mess around with the bubbles themselves.
So, if I was to sum up what we thought of Incredibubbles, it would probably be a mixed review. On the positive side, they definitely do last a long time even after they’ve landed on something. On the negative side, I thought the container that they came in was really small. I also found that when they finally did pop there was this weird residue, almost waxy or plasticy. So, all in all, we had a good time trying them out, but I don’t think we’ll bother to buy them again.
I did get some really fun pictures of Dare before she totally lost interest though. Enjoy!
We survived the crazy weekend! Everything went as well as I could have hoped for, especially when you’re trying to cram a million and one things into such a short time frame.
Yesterday after everyone went home, we decided to take Layla and Dare to the lake. This was Dare’s first time at the lake. She did really well. She’s definitely not afraid of the water, but she thought that all the things on the shore were more interesting. I’ll post a few of the pictures that we took. Now I need to start getting organized to leave Thurs. for Idaho Falls for the Obedience trial.
It’s already Thurs. and I don’t know what’s happened to the first part of the week. A friend of mine is having a yard sale tomorrow and Saturday, and is letting me take some stuff that I’ve had sitting around here over to throw in with her stuff. There are just a couple of hitches to that. She wants to set everything up today, and it’s still cloudy and when I walked outside to take care of the boarders a bit ago I saw more lightning, so I don’t think that we’re done with the storm that came in yesterday. The other problem is that I need to go through and clean off all the dust that’s accumulated on the stuff that’s been sitting in the barn waiting to be sold. I guess I’ll do some cleanup this morning and try to get it hauled over there this afternoon.
Then tomorrow, I’m going to head to Parowan to do some Obedience and possibly some agility at another friend’s yard. She has open practice on Friday mornings, and since Twist’s obedience trial is coming up next weekend and it’s outdoors, I thought this would be a good chance to get some training in a semi-new place, with dogs that he doesn’t see each week. I think I’ll also take Layla since she’s never been there, and Dare for socialization. The bummer about it is that I’ll have to leave here by a little before 6:00 am to get there on time. 
Sat. I need to help out with the yard sale, (since I’m pretty much taking my stuff over and then bailing out on her Friday), but my husband’s parents and grandparents are both coming in from out of town to visit. I don’t know how that’s going to work out. They aren’t dog people, so I’m always in a fit about trying to get the house cleaned for them, but this time…I’m just to rushed for time to do a whole lot. I never look forward to their visits even though they are just really nice people. I think it’s just that our lifestyles are so different… They are spending the night in a hotel at least, so I don’t have to worry about that part.
Sun. we’re supposed to have a barbeque at another friends house, and I’ve got to get the food together that I’m assigned to bring. I guess if I survive till Sunday, this will be the least of my worries. LOL
I know I sometimes forget to appreciate the truly simple things. I think animals in general are great reminders for us, of how much enjoyment we can get from something that we don’t even notice. Puppies are especially talented at this. They seem to be able to find so much fun and satisfaction in things we take for granted.
For instance when Layla first came to us one of her very favorite toys was an empty plastic fruit/pudding cup. She’d bat that around the house and pounce on it, and have the greatest time. Now Dare has decided that empty plastic water bottles have the same kind of enticement for her. LOL I got some video of her playing with the plastic water bottle the other day.
Then I walk outside yesterday and Dare has taken the big water bucket that I was rinsing and getting ready to refill, and she’s flipped it over upside-down and is playing Circus Sheltie on top of it. It was a hoot. I just thought it was such a good reminder to take time to enjoy some of the simple things, I had to share.