More pics of the new arrival

Meet Sully, named for the lovable blue monster in the movie, Mosters Inc. As he is both lovable, and a monster.

He has completely stolen the hearts of everyone in this house, He bounds from lap to mischeif to lap to new adventure. He is full of purrs and cuddles. He is wonderful.

A Sad Farewell and a Warm Hello

I received an upsetting comment on my last post, it seems my friend Oscar the Airedale has passed away suddenly. He was only just over one year old. Oscar was my first Dogs with Blogs pal. He was a wonderful dog, well loved, and well deserving of love. He will be deeply missed. Run free at the Rainbow Bridge, lovely Oscar the Airedale



Saturday afternoon, I welcomed into my home and my life, a new kitten.
He's a three month old Siamese, whose leg was amputated last Wednesday due to irreparable crushing injuries. He is very special, super affectionate and absolutely perfect for my family. He's adapting well to having just three legs. He walks, plays and washes himself with relative ease. He's pretty laid back generally, with spurts of playfulness. He will lay in my lap and purr for hours on end. At the moment he is playing with his catnip lobster.

He needs a very special name, as he is a very special kitten. Any input appreciated.







He's a bit difficult to photograph as he's a wiggle worm.

Borrowed Dog

I'm pet sitting my boss' dog Bosley this weekend. He's a fabulous four year old Golden Retriever. What a sweetheart! He greets me at the door with a huge stuffed animal in his mouth and a wag in his tail. I took him for a walk today with Moxie and he got the hang of walking nicely on leash rather quickly. I could tell he doesn't get walked much. He pooped out after a mile while Moxie was still rarin to go! In fact a three mile bike ride/run, and a mile walk only took the edge off Moxie's energy. The dog is insane. Maybe my next dog will be a golden!

My boss wants me to get Boz evaluated as a therapy dog, but we need to learn some basics first. Sit, down, walk on lead, stay, and come. He has to know this solid to pass the test. Bosley has a rock solid temperment and he will pass that portion of the test with flying colors. So I'm embarking on a new adventure to train a borrowed dog.

I'm excited. This will be fun. I'm used to working with herding breeds so a Golden is a whole new ball game. Walking him to drain his energy won't take near as long for starters! Having a new dog to work should hone my skills as a trainer and maybe fill a void that having a second dog would fill. Since I can't have another dog for a while, this is the next best thing.

So my plan is, walk him daily, and two 15 minute training sessions a day to start. Lots of praise and positive rewards. Do I dare clicker? I don't think I will. We don't want competition obedience, just pet level obedience and he's quick to learn.

So pics of the handsome Mr. Boz tomorrow.

New Pics!

I got some new pics from a coworker today of the party. I thought they were funny so I would share.

First Moxie, the party princess!


These pics are for mature audiences only, no puppy eyes, please.

This is Rio Bravo, AKA, Chester the Molester, having his way with every Big male dog that would stand still long enough.





His poor Mom spent the whole time hauling him off other dogs. She really needs to get him neutered.

Some of my friends from the UK and I were having a discussion recently about cropped ears. Here is a Dane with cropped ears, and one with natural ears. Also, the dobe in the above picture has cropped ears. In defense of the owners of both of those dogs, they were cropped before the current owner adopted them.



We didn't have training class tonight. I showed up, but no one else did. I'm sure I missed something, somewhere. I didn't go to the therapy visit this morning either because I was lazy. Moxie went to work with me, but she got stepped on twice and dropped once. So it wasn't a good day for Moxie. :(

The Pawty!

Today was Moxie's 8th birthday party at the Dog Park!



Everydoggy, who was anydoggy, was there!



Moxie shared her very special day with Dallas the Great Dane. He turned 1 year old today!



Friends gathered.....



Love connections were made....



A good time was had by all!



Moxie was treated like a princess!




And got lots and lots of new toys!




Thanks everyone, for making my birthday pawsome!

Licks, Moxie

Moxie's Birthday Blowout Extraveganza!

Come one come all to Moxie's 8th Birthday Party Extravaganza at Wiggly Field Dog Park, Denton Texas Sunday July 22nd at 2pm. Collect your party hats at the door!

Moxie's wounded paw

Took Moxie to the lake on Sunday for a swim. The water was so high the park was closed and we actually swam in the parking lot. Moxie cut her foot on something, at some point. But she was having too much fun to notice so she didn't tell me her foot hurt until I got home and gave her a bath.

She basically "scalped" her toe pad, tore the tough outer pad part off leaving a sensitive bloody nub. Nothing that can be sutured or closed so we have it bandaged to heal. Hopefully it will heal quickly. Moxie is not amused by her bandage. She was really good about not chewing it. She left it alone all night, until I went to take my Mom to the car dealership this morning. I was gone 40 minutes and she had it off when I got back. Grrrr! So its on with the e-collar while I can't watch her.

We went ahead with her therapy visit at UBH this morning but decided against going to training. She got lots of sympathy pets and cuddles from the patients in the hospital, but I could tell she was sore at work, so we just went home and skipped training this week. Hopefully she will be better by Sunday. Sunday is her big birthday blowout party at the dogpark. Everyone, who is ANYONE will be there! Loads of pics to come!

Well I tried to train today, but every time I got everything set up outside, the skies opened up. We got some weaves done, not much luck on our go on practice, it was thundering and she was distracted. I did find out, however, that Moxie will still chase a tennis ball during a thunderstorm, her obsession doth run deep.

So I went to Toy r us and picked up a child's play and crawl tunnel. I set it up in the living room and Moxie and I did a mini training session in left and right tunnels entrances. I would have gotten more meaningful work in, but the cats took an intense interest in the tunnel.

Moxie got tired of dodging cats and went on in pursuit of other interests.

Kobie, in particular, LOVED the tunnel. He spent well over an hour playing in the tunnel. I have never known him to play with anything that long. His assessment of the tunnel is as follows:

"This tunnel is a toy much too sophisticated for the canine tastes. The brilliance lies in the subtle detail...the velcro tassles, the mesh windows, the general rollyness, the swishy fabric. This is quite a versatile toy, one can play in it, on it, or under it, alone or with a friend! The tunnel also doubles as a secure snooze spot. In short, the tunnel is the best thing to hit this house since the advent of the cat tree. I give it four paws up!"











Moxie and I got some weave practice under the shelter of the porch. (please pardon my fat ass!)

Will it ever stop raining?

We finally had a break from the rain today so we got some outdoor work in on jumps and weaves. Her weaves are pretty solid on all sides and she is even starting to anticipate the weaves and work away from me a bit. I still have the channels open about an inch. I don't think she's quite ready to have them closed all the way. I want her to be confident and solid so I want to set her up to succeed by not moving on until she is ready. We are working "go on" over jumps. She does well as long as I throw a ball for her. I am also setting up the jumps at varying distances and heights to help regulate her stride and jump style. We also did some single stride jumps to make her more aware of her hind end. I wish I had known to do these things when she was younger, but at least its never too late to train the right way! Weaves are a prime example.

The Karen Pryor Clicker + arrived yesterday and its super cool. It has five different sounds it makes in soft and loud modes. I was hoping that the sounds other than the click sounds might work for Moxie. Unfortunatly, Moxie saw the clicker in my hand and it was all over. She has developed a totally irrational fear of the clicker, and I'm not going to fight it at this point. She responds best to verbal praise anyway so if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

We went back to UBH for a therapy visit on Thursday night and things went well even if Moxie was a bit hyped up. After 16 straight days of rain, she hadn't had any real excercise in weeks and it showed. She got the chance to run and went nuts. It didn't help that I brought treats and she was hungry. So I've learned two things about this particular visit, I need to wear her out ahead of time, and I need to feed her so she isn't begging for food the whole time. On another note, I recognized one of the patients. We were hospitalized together last summer. It was awkward, but I don't think he recognized me which is good. It was a nice example of how far I have come in a year, and a reminder of how much further I have to go. I am not so far removed from the state hospital and my illness that I could not return someday. Though I hope not. I also hope this young man finds some peace himself. Though a far cry from the mental hospitals of yore, being institutionalized is no picnic, thats for sure. UBH, being a private hospital, is considerably nicer than the state hospital, but its still no place you want to be. Its lonely and frightening. I'm just glad I have the opportunity to give back now, and bring some warmth and love in doggy form to the patients at UBH.

I find myself living my days in anticipation of my next doggy event, therapy visit, training class or competition. I think I'm addicted. Well I got paid yesterday, so I can go get the things on my want list now! Yipee! Shopping!

Thurston the STUD MUFFIN!

....mostly muffin ;)

Moxie the model

Moxie modeling her new therapy dog cape.



So proud!