Frisky Friday

I totally bummed around today and did absolutely nothing productive after going to pigeon lab and running a couple of errands this morning.  I'm continuing that trend here in my laziness to upload an amusing 1.5 minute video of Marge running amok in the field today with her new monkey head squeaky plushie, but here are some screen shots to enjoy while I get some sleep.

Turkey Torture

Only I do things like this to my dog.

Close up:

Have a happy, everybody.

My Little Huntress

Dog on a mission - Marge attempting to single-handedly tackle squirrel overpopulation, one unlucky tree-rat at a time.

What the picture doesn't show is the foot-in-the-air leaps and yips that further characterized her sinister plot.

It's that crisp n' cool time of year again, and Marge is full of energy and full of herself.  This is just the beginning!

Saturday Morning Entertainment

This beats watching cartoons, I think.

Spring Weather and Revisiting My Youth

Seems like the cold weather is behind us for good - it's definitely starting to heat up here! Though Marge is still faring pretty well behaviorally, she acts as though all the energy has been zapped out of her.

This was Marge on our walk yesterday in the big field. I'm so glad that she was comfortable enough to flop down to the ground while out there. She did it again in my front yard this morning. We sat there for a few minutes, soaking up the sun.

Later on last night, my sister and I revisited our childhood and went through container upon container of old toys to be sold at our garage sale tomorrow. (It made me feel really old. I'm hitting the big 2-0 in July. I just finished my Sophomore year of college. Where did the time go?)

My nostalgia didn't stop me from pestering my sweet, tolerant dog with my old treasures. She was totally baffled by these wind up toys that must be at least 10, maybe 12 years old. They danced across the floor one last time. We have ENDLESS other animal figurines - barnyard animals, dogs, zoo animals, sea creatures. We have lots of horses, too, but I admit that those were retained due to their extreme sentimental value. Hopefully some kid will get some amusement out of these toys the way we did so many years ago.

She was especially fascinated by this little plastic Woody (voiced by my man, Tom Hanks - that's my girl, Marge ☺). We were all big Toy Story fans in my house in the good ol' days. My mom's sentimental attachment kept this one from going in to the massive (and I mean massive) pile of "things to be sold" too. Marge kept trying to bite his cowboy hat off. I strapped him to her collar. She walked around a bit, then twisted her head around to knock him off. My sweet, tolerant girl! If not for all of her fear issues, she likely would have been a great playmate for children. That's okay, I'm not giving her up any time soon.

We're selling lots of big stuff, too. Games, a doll house, and my unbelievably large collection of Barbie Dolls (seriously, I don't know how or why I had so many - and yes, my collection included Barbie dogs and Barbie horses and a Barbie vet and pet shop and all the stuff you'd expect to find in an animal lover's childhood Barbie set). My mom has some other stuff she's getting rid of, too. I'm selling some lightly-used clothes that no longer fit me, jewelry that I'll never wear, handbags, and a DVD or two. May as well make some money off of the things that are just lying around the house collecting dust. It's amazing what people will buy. Wish us luck!

Dog Crap and Dandelions

Mom, I'm sorry I rolled in mushy dog s^%& on our walk. Can you please, please, please not get the water and shampoo out?

Thanks a lot.

At least I look nice for my APDT trial this weekend now.

Marge had quite a good roll in the, er, grass yesterday. I was going to turn around and go home after she did it, but it was so nice out and she was feeling so good that we wound up walking for almost an hour. At least I had an excuse to tell people if any one tried to approach her. Thankfully, no one did, but that would have been a funny situation.. "Yeah, she's afraid of people and covered in crap. Are you sure you want to pet her?"

We had more nice, long walks today. Two, in fact. I took these pictures as Marge posed among the dandelions. I like 'em.

In about 12 hours, we'll be in the Rally ring for the first time. It's so funny how different I feel compared to my agility trials. I'm pretty relaxed about it, which I'm happy about. I guess the fact that we'll be indoors, on-leash, and in a familiar place is keeping my nerves in check. Of course, there's still that tinge of worry that Marge will be scared of the judge, though. On the bright side, Marge is only the 8th or so dog to run tomorrow and the entries are low - so, it won't be crowded and we shouldn't be there more than an hour. I'll probably update about it on Sunday, after both trials all over. Wish us luck!

(PS - we might be in the local newspaper sometime within the next month. They interviewed me regarding the AKC Canine Partners program! Keep your fingers crossed for this, too! I told them all about the fact that Marge was a fearful rescue whose life was changed by agility.)

Interspecies Relationships

We don't officially participate in Wordless Wednesday, but very few words are needed to describe this series of photos.

That dumb dog.

- Play?

-Plaaay?

-Plaaaaaaaaaaay?!?!?

NO, dog! NO!!!!!!!

Sigh. They operate on the same wavelength sometimes, I swear. Tonight was just not one of those times.

See?

(And if you think this was bad, you should have seen her last night at agility class. Miss I'm-picky-about-my-friends wanted to smoosh her favorite Portuguese Water friend with play bows and paw smacks, not to mention the flirting she did with her Vizsla lover boy and the laps she wanted to run with her Lhasa classmate. Not that I'm complaining!)

Washy Wednesday

In order to look her best for her big day on Friday (and also to keep the peace with my mother, who doesn't enjoy dog hair as a condiment the way some of us do), Marge went to the groomer today to be bathed.

Because she is skittish - and HATES being bathed - and also because she doesn't require anything special, I do the washing. It is less stressful for both her and me. Some places have begun offering this "self wash" service, and I think it works well for us.

When we got home, the "fun" didn't end. Marge got her nails done with the Dremel.

Oh, and a tip for those of you with dogs whose elbows tend to lose hair or get calloused - I found a great product a while ago called Bag Balm that keeps the skin soft and prevents the loss of hair. I use it on her paw pads every once in a while, too, just to moisten them a bit (but keep in mind that some roughness is good to prevent injury).

Here is the finished product!

Marge says, This is tooooo much grooming for one day! I hope I get covered in mud on Friday to get back at them for these atrocities.

Cabin Fever

Posed my cat in an old basket...

...and then asked the dog to pose next to her.


What good sports. I love them both dearly.

It looks like we're going to have to come up with more creative ways to have fun, as we're supposed to get smashed with yet another winter storm. Today was the first day I got to take Marge on a walk of a decent length, and the first time in two weeks that she's been able to romp on her 20' leash. If the field is going to be snowy and swampy yet again, it may have been the last of its kind for a while.