Packing light is overrated

I am not a fan of packing (or unpacking) and I think packing light is only to be done if absolutely necessary. This weekend I have the minivan to myself and only 2 dogs, so there's no packing light. Woo hoo!

A picture of what we took with us (except the 3 hard sided crates) is below. Ziggy decided to inspect everything before I put it in the van. Either that or he was trying to find the bag with the food in it. I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt, and believe that he was checking our bags for any dangerous substances before we travelled. His next job just might be with the TSA.





Pete (aka The Husband) asked me exactly how many crates I was taking. The answer: 6.

That may seem a bit overboard, but I really think will result in a lot of saved time. Here's how it works:

* In the van: 2 wire crates for travel (too heavy to lug around)

* At the clinic site: 2 soft sided crates that will stay there all weekend (no need to pack them up & take them with me every night because I have 4 more!)

* And, finally, in our hotel room: 2 crates. The soft sided crate is for Maggie (she's a GOOD girl in her crate. All the time.) The hard sided crate is for Ziggy. He's not such a good boy in his crate in a hotel. At the National Specialty I came back from dinner one night to find him roaming around the room. He dug & chewed his way through a high-quality soft crate. It's now out for repairs, and has been replaced by the crate seen on the right in the picture below:




Maggie, Ziggy & I just spent a few hours in the car, but now we're safely in our hotel room, ready to get a good rest so we're in our best form for the clinic tomorrow.

A fun weekend - Ziggy beware!

Since I'm not showing any of the dogs this summer, I'm using my dog show "allowance" to go to clinics, take private lessons, etc.

This weekend should be a new adventure.  I managed to secure a working spot at Celeste Meade's seminar this weekend, so Ziggy, Maggie & I are off to have some fun and learn, learn, learn!  My plan is to work with Ziggy, but I'm bringing Maggie along just in case.  In case of what, I'm not sure, but she's a more reliable worker than Ziggy, and you just never know....  

Do any of you have any "I wish I'd known this before I had a working spot at a clinic" tips for me?

Nature in tooth and claw

This is the phrase my dear husband uses when viewing things like lions eating a zebra.  Yesterday I felt like I was cleaning up after the Wild Kingdom.  (Don't worry - no picture included today.  Trust me, this is best.)

Yesterday was the first nice weekend day we've had in a while.  I spent most of the day working in the yard, as it's rained a lot lately and the grass was going to seed.  As most of you dog owners know, mowing a yard with dogs is not as straightforward as just pulling out the mower.  First, comes "poo-trol."  Next, in our yard w/ 3 mature trees, it's stick-trol.  

Yesterday I got to add "dead-critter-trol" on to the end of my  pre-mowing tasks.  I found a dead, 1/2 eaten mouse (or chipmunk, or vole - due to the part eaten I couldn't really tell.)  I also caught one of my corgis eating an adult robin.  And we live in the city limits.  Our lot is 1/3 of an acre, but still - in the city limits.  They're really on a roll.  

I know this is the work of Maggie and her vermin-killing apprentice, Ziggy.  Denzil does not have the killer instinct.  I've actually seen a rabbit bump into Denzil and he didn't know what to do.    

So my question -- are any of your dogs sidelining as exterminators? Or are my dogs just blood-thirsty freaks?

Brotherly Love

It's sweet when the dogs groom each other.  Usually it's Maggie doing the grooming, but when I was petting the boys yesterday, Ziggy started to clean Denzil's eye.  Then Denzil decided to reciprocate by cleaning my leg.

They're good boys.

Max and the Bison

Stacy, a very adventurous friend of mine, drove from Portland with her dog Max for a trip around Yellowstone Park.  I love this picture, and thought I'd share it....

Beginners again

So this week was Ziggy's next-to-last class for beginning agility.  His performance this week was much improved.   I think this is due to him gaining confidence in what's expected, me having the furry squeaker stashed in my pocket for spontaneous reward/play, and - oh - perhaps a little bit about the leftover steak that I cut up as treats.

The instructor is planning what classes to run next session, and was providing us with guidance on who got to "graduate."  While our instructor was impressed with Ziggy's progress over the last 8 weeks, it isn't enough to earn our way into the next level up.  So beginners here we come, again! 

This really is the right move for Z, as he needs to continue to build confidence, and I certainly don't want to ruin what I've got.  Also, I have limited time to practice (job, family, remodel, yardwork...), so our progress is bound to be a bit slow.

Here's where Ziggy is so far:

• Loves the table (who wouldn't love jumping up 8", laying down & getting a treat!)\
• Loves the not-yet-full-height teeter
• Likes the tunnels, but we need more speed
  
• Likes the low-height dog walk, and starting to canter across it
  
• Not so fond of the A-Frame (not a very corgi-friendly obstacle), but running over a 5' version pretty well
  
• Looking straight ahead - but moving slowly - through 12 bent weave poles
  
• Becoming a more confident jumper
  
• Learning his flatwork well
  

I'm anxious to see what improves in the next session......

 ....and Ziggy's looking forward to more fun & treats!

Dogcorating

Clearly I love my dogs.  I like to talk about dogs, learn about dogs, and spend time with my dogs.  So what do I like to watch on TV?  Animal Planet?  NatGeo? ......  Nope.  HGTV!  I love HGTV and find it to be great “low-involvement,” yet instructive and inspiring, television. 

Can you tell where the conflict lies here?  I’ll bet that all of you with more than one dog can tell….

Sadly, having multiple dogs is often incompatible with having an HGTV-worthy house. Especially when your house is of modest size.

Case in point (my family room):

Prior to the human child joining the pack, things were ok. The dogs hung out in the family room during waking hours and in our bedroom at night.  That meant only 2 locations full of dog beds and toys.  My living room was nice.  No clutter, no crates, no dog beds. 

Then along came the human child.  We couldn’t have him hang out in the dogs’ space, as small toys are just too tempting for corgi mouths.    And, although the dogs were properly “baby-proofed” before the child was born, I found separation of dogs and child to be a good idea, unless closely supervised. 

So there went my living room.  It now has magnets all over the door, an art easel, and numerous baskets of toys. What’s an HGTV-loving woman to do?  Dogcorate!  (Decorate with the dogs in mind)

Warning:  Digression

Yes, I like combining words to make new words.  The husband & I have a bit of a contest to see how many words still make sense while adding the word corgi – or some close variation (e.g.:  use corgfusion instead of confusion if the dogs are confused, or there is confusion thanks to the dogs)

Back on track: 

I finally decided to reclaim one room.  I think this decision came about when we had a guest come over and we had nowhere for them to comfortably sit.  The choice was:  sit on dog haired sofa and put drink on top of the dog-crate-turned-into-end-table or move the stuffed animals and crayons out of the way and put drink on sticker-covered coffee table. 

I decided to work on the family room (pictured above), and the room is now is nearly complete.  Our goal - something more stylish, but dog friendly.  I’m already taking pictures, and I’ll share the results once it’s all done.