The typical way it starts is with a little chaos!

Then everyone settled into their walk, except that Penny’s nose took her into a sagebrush. Deep into the sagebrush. LOL I don’t have a clue what she was looking for.

Then Dare had to stop to pose for me at the top of the hill. I guess she was actually just watching all the other dogs waste their energy, but it was a nice pose for me with the mountains behind her.

Hmmmm….this group just looks like trouble. Watch out world!

Twist and Dare taking in the view. Aren’t the rocks in the background cool?

Happy Raven face!

I think everybody’s having a good time.

Lucy loving the water

Zoe NOT loving the water. Might have had something to do with the fact that she’d just found a disgusting dead deer to roll in and so I thought she could use an impromptu bath before the ride home.

Dare is such a poser.

And the walk ends much the way it began, with Layla barking at the dogs to keep going! She might be telling Raven to “put down the prevera wrinkle cream grandma, and run, run, run!” Or maybe not. LOL

Anyway, I am just taking Zoe and Dare with me this time. Dare is going to be trying to get her CGC this weekend, and I also still needed to get her microchipped. So we’re making a stop at our friends with Sheltie Rescue of Utah and chipping her this afternoon, and then we’ll head on up to the trial. I’ll try to get video of whatever I can throughout the weekend, but no promises that I’ll get it posted before I get home Monday night. No promises for Tues either, since after I get home from the trial I have to turn around and drive to Cedar City for an appointment with our accoutant to get the taxes done.

Anyway…I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

The reason for the change is that a friend of mine has talked me into using the blog to generate some extra income. In light of my husband’s layoff from work, I’m game to try just about anything, (at least for a while), that will allow me to stay home with the dogs and the kennel. Anyway, I just wanted to let the few of you that do stop by on a fairly regular basis what in the world I’m doing. LOL

Back to my reason for this post. I went to the mail and had a nice package waiting for me…(sure beats finding bills)! LOL A company called Zobo Pets had given Lindsay and Ace a collar and leash for a fun giveaway.

So, I just wanted to say thank you to both That Mutt, and to Zobo Pets for a little bright spot in my day!

I’ve been working on getting our little office/laundry room textured and painted, and now I’m just waiting on my husband to finish up his part of staining the cabinet doors and hanging them. Then I’ll post pictures.

Things have been incredibly slow for both the cabinet shop where my husband works and also here at the boarding kennel. They layed off employees again at his work. One was a close friend of ours. Feels like a repeat of last year already. The only good thing about it, without much work at the shop, it gives my husband some time to work on finishing up projects around here, like the office. The computer at his work had miscalculated his vacation time that was used last year and so he had some left, so they let him just trade it out for the materials that we needed to make the doors for the cabinets. As for the boarding kennel, things always slow way down after the holidays are over, but this is ridiculous. I haven’t had this slow a month since I started the business. I’m going for nearly a week at a time without a single boarder. It’s scary.

The dogs are all still doing great. Layla and Raven are entered in an AKC trial at the end of the month. Can’t believe it’s only a couple weeks away now. We’ve really been working on Layla’s tire and her broadjump. Hopefully, she’ll handle them both without any problems at the trial.

The weather is still cold, but warmer than it has been. We still have too much snow on the ground to train outside and we are supposed to get snow each day this week, but so far, it’s not turning into much.

I totally embarrassed myself on Sunday. I had gotten an email through one of the lists that they were bringing Jim Basic back again this year for another distance seminar. Well, I got all excited and emailed and said I’d love a working spot in the beginner part. Then, I looked through my bills and reality set in. Unless things really pick up, it’s just not going to be possible. So, I sent out an email explaining what was going on, and unfortunately…didn’t pay any attention and sent it out to the entire dog agility list, not just to the person putting on the seminar. Ugh! Talk about embarrassing.

Oh, one of my friends down here that has Belgian Malinois is going to have her first litter in about 6 years. I got to go with her to the ultrasound a few weeks ago and yesterday for x-rays to see how many puppies to expect. Looks like at best count, 8 or 9 but they were packed in there pretty good, so there may be more. I get to go help with the whelping, (don’t know how much help I’ll be), so I’m really excited!

I guess that’s about it. I need to get out and take pictures of the dogs and some video, but I haven’t done it lately. Maybe later on this week…

I know that part of my problem is that I hate winter. I could ramble on for pages about how much I hate this time of year. I sometimes wish I was one of those animals that just hibernates through the winter only to wake up when spring comes again. Well, enough of wishful thinking, back to reality. The reality is that I seem to find myself at about 5:00 each afternoon wondering how in the world I’ve managed to waste another day. Sometimes, it’s not even a logical thought, (since there are lots of days that I’ve really done a quite a bit before 5:00 rolls around), but nevertheless…5:00 hits and so does this now familiar state of slow motion panic that my day is gone! I scramble to get outside, clean up the yard, train/play with the dogs and start dinner. LOL

Well, I’m sick of it! So, I’m trying to look at things and see what is helping me and what is making matters worse around here. One of the things that I know is a kind of two-edged sword is all the time I spend on the computer. Depending on the day, (and sometimes the hour), reading about what everyone else is up to with their dogs and their training can really give me the motivation I need to get out and try something new with my training. Other days, I just find myself comparing what I do (or haven’t done) with what seem to me to be amazing dog trainers and people in general, and I get so discouraged with my efforts. Do you guys do this too?

So, what’s the solution? I know there has to be a balance, but I’ve never been good at finding balance. LOL I think I’ll work on coming up with something to help remedy my time wasting this week. I’ll let you know if I stumble across anything earth-shattering.

I’ve had the Sheltie’s crates (where they sleep and eat), spread somewhat helter skelter throughout the house. It really bugged me. The obsessive/compulsive side of me wanted it better organized, but I couldn’t figure out how to fit 5 crates into one room nicely. Twist already slams himself into the closed wire door about once a week trying to get to his crate quicker. LOL Plus, I’m not much more coordinated than Twist and the thought of 5 open/swinging doors in one room presents quite an obstacle course for all of us.

So…I’ve been eyeing these Pet Gear Other Door crates and I love the design of the “garage door” that folds up into the top. I finally gave in and bought them. Then I decided that the room wasn’t nice enough for the new crates, so I pulled everything out and repainted in there too.

I have to say that I’m absolutely one of the worst people for breaking in the middle of a project to take pictures, so there aren’t very many before, and during pictures. Sorry. You’ll just have to imagine that there were three mismatched wire crates under that one window one the short wall, and a canvas ex-pen for the pups along one of the other walls. I still haven’t decided whether to put it back in there or not.

Here’s my favorite picture of Dare checking out the new room. Hehe, she’s such a cutie. I still have a bit more to finish up. I need to buy a new light fixture, get some new window shades and then finally replacing some of the old pictures on the walls with newer ones, but all in all, it’s done. Yay!!!

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.

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!