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Showing posts with label Dante. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dante. Show all posts

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Phase 8

Well Millie is still cruising along in phase 8. She skipped phase 7 three weeks ago. Here is what she has been working on. I will do a nice big update this weekend. Rafferty continues to grow and be an amazing puppy, Marley and Hugo are going in for their Therapy Dog testing next month, and Dante is wishing the snow would just go away. I am loving it, and trying to ski as much as possible. Maybe one of the days I will actually be able to keep up with Tom. Watching him ski telemark is almost like watching art.

Phase #7

  • Guidework in extremely challenging downtown urban areas (San Francisco and Portland)
  • Training on buses, light rail/subway systems and platform edges
  • Introduction to low overhead clearances
  • Advanced off-leash obedience
  • Formal traffic training

Phase #8

  • Advanced guidework and obedience training continues
  • Intensive indoor mall training with crowds and slick floors
  • Advanced sidewalkless training with obstacles.

Friday, December 4, 2009

A House Full...

So I am house sitting for my parents this week while they enjoy lovely warm weather and I am stuck here enjoying super cold temps with no snow. This also puts me in the chief role of dog wrangler and cat tamer at the house. With my dogs it makes for 6 dogs and 3 cats enjoying the high life this week. We have everything ranging from Missy and Sparky, (a pair of 14.5 year old Dachshunds) to Gizmo the half Persian cat (his mom looked normal, have to say dad was a Persian) to Rafferty the rambunctious lab puppy. Milo the exploring cat (who still wants to go outside even though it is approaching zero, and Elise the recluse make up the rest of the feline pard.

Marley and Hugo are the resident 'big-dog' contingent. And Dante brings up the rear in size, but not in fight (he steals the big dogs toys).

And while some would love to party when mom and dad are away it just doesn't happen when 9 wonderful animals are looking to you for their every single need. Here is to playing dog (and cat) mom for the next week!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Keep on Rolling

I have decided to try for a post everyday until the end of the year. I have loved blogging everyday, and it is such a fun way to look back on the past month! With that in mind, here are some pictures from a recent outing with ALL the dogs. Enjoy!

dante a black and tan chihuahua wearing a red and blue sweater stands in a snow covered field of sage brush
dante a small black and tan chihuahua wearing a red and blue knit sweater stands on a field of snow
a landscape shot looking out at a hill of aspens and then beyond to smokey mountains in the distance
Marley a brindle golden mix looks off into the distance with the hair on his ears ruffled by the wind
hugo a black mix dog stand by Tom with his frisbee hanging out of his mouth wanting for it to be thrown
hugo a black mix dog hands off a red frisbee to Tom
the back legs of hugo a black lab border collie mix disappear out of the picture while marley gathers himself for a big run and makes small flakes of snow fly into the air and sparkle
Hugo a black lab and border collie mix runs into a field or snow and sagebrush with Marley a brindle golden mix running after him
Rafferty a black lab puppy looks off camera while standing against a field of snow
A stand of aspen trees blanketed in snow cast shadows on the snowy ground

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Snuggled up.

When the weather gets cold it is time to snuggle under the covers.

 dante a black and tan chihuauha sleeps under a black blanket on a blue pillow

Friday, November 6, 2009

A little bit of the wild...

Sometimes when looking at different dogs, I have a really hard time believing they were once descended from wolves. Especially with my little dog, Dante. He is a chihuahua, and doesn't really make it on the blog much. It is not because I don't love him...its more because he is just so easy and good there is really never much to say. But he is my first dog, and one of my heart dogs. Marley is my other heart dog for a different reason: anyone meeting Marley would never describe him as an "easy" dog. But I think that is part of why I love him so much: he has taught me so much about dog training, dog body language, and dogs in general. He is the one who introduced me to big dogs (and Guide Dogs after that), so I owe alot to him.

But I digress. Back to dogs and wolf ancestry. Dante is about as far from wild as you can get: always has a soft bed to sleep in, inside most of the day, and just a pampered pooch. Last night as I was reading in bed, he displayed a very "wild" type of behavior. He buried his food! Now let me explain...since Dante and Marley love to sleep on my bed, I have some blankets there for them to snuggle in. When Dante got his treat last night, he started to bury the treat in the blankets. He would dig the blankets up, put the treat under them, and then use his muzzle to push the the blankets back over his stash. Then he would look at me, find his treat, dig it back up, and repeat the process.

Dante a black and tan chihuahua
Such a funny sight to watch a little Chihuahua bury his "kill" in soft blankets on a big bed.