Working for Dad

Today is flyball day in the Munro household.  You can tell that it is flyball day because both dogs sprint around the house!  Taz is extra diligent in waking up Dad.  There is generally ALOT of excitement in the air on flyball day!

I had a very STUPID accident at work (I spilt scalding hot water on my lap) so Ken had to do all the work at flyball.  It was a hoot seeing him bring Pepper and Taz back from the box!  Taz even was into dropping his ball for the tuggie!   I was able to gain a different vantage point and could really see Taz looking into the other lane (even when there was no dog).  Hint, watch how his ears flop around; they look off if he is looking at the other lane.  Unfortunately looking at the other lane, also means not watching what he is doing which leads to fumbling the ball at the box.  Silly boy!  Ken did very well at not driving Taz back home but we have more work to do!  I hope to be healed up enough for Tuesday when Taz has his first agility class in over a year.

Since dog's and human's tend to go in and out when the weather is nice a bumblebee decided to come in!  I looked down the stairs to Gizmo, Riki and Rebel all focused and playing with something that moved pretty darn fast.  Thinking it was just a spider, I descended the stairs to investigate.  As I was getting closer, I noticed it was a bee and boy was it getting mad!  It started to fly and Gizmo proceeded to pounce on it.  He managed to jump about 4 feet in the air to grab it.  He sure can twist in the air!  Now I have had to deal with a dog getting stung by a bee/wasp last year and it was not that pretty.  I decided it was not worth it for these three to get into trouble and proceeded to shoo them away from the bee.  The bee made its way to the window in the laundry room. I shut the door to trap it.  I had to grab Gizmo and shoo Riki out of the room before the door closed.  They were very intent on getting their prize!!

I do not know how long it takes a bee to die without food or water and  I had to use the bathroom. I ventured into the laundry room.  I was wise to watch were I walked because I did not need a bee sting on top of burns!!  I found the bee crawling on the bathroom floor.  I quickly grabbed an empty container to trap it!  Thinking that was good enough, I left the bathroom.  A couple of hours later, Ken goes into the bathroom and finds two cats circling the container.  

If we move it, can we get at it?

 Iz only tapping it!

After some quick thinking with a piece of paper and ceiling tile, the bee now is back in nature outside of my house and the cats are mad I spoiled their fun!

We are sulking!

Weekend Fun

Man was this past weekend fun!  The days blurred by!  We were out at the Warman Diamond arena for a flyball tournament.  Diamonds in the Ruff had a total of three teams running each with a green dog.  The teams had awesome placements at the end of the day.  The green dogs were exhausted by the time the weekend was done.  Some growth was seen for one green dog.  Zoey (JRT height dog) was a trooper all weekend running about 80 percent of the time.  She managed to get as many points as a couple of the big dogs on her team!

Pepper managed to collect over 800 points this weekend.  She was a very solid dog.  She only messed up once on Sunday when she stopped to look through the crowd.  You see on Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa came to watch her run and she expected them to be there on Sunday after lunch as well.  Just goes to show you how smart she is and that she remembers these things!!! 

Taz was a wonderful cheerleader!  He was content to lay in his kennel, taking in all the noise and commotion.  I took him for many potty breaks and tried to take as many opportunities as possible to work with him around dogs in that stressful environment.  He got to meet a dog named Buddy outside the building and everything went smoothly!  He initiated the contact that involved eye contact, was easily called away and wanted to go back to say hi again!  I think it helped that Pepper was there as well but I will take this as an accomplishment!  The more positive greetings he can have, the better!

Gizmo, Riki and Rebel have been having the run of the upstairs 24 hours for a couple of days.  All's I can say is Boy do those cats like to get into trouble!  They tend to run around like maniacs!  I came home yesterday to a picture knocked down and the kitty condo knocked over.  I can only imagine what is going through their minds! 

Riki and Rebel are still making great strides.  Riki LOVES to flop over next to me to get his chest and chin rubbed.  It is becoming a morning ritual now!  Riki will also flop on his side in the kitchen while I am cooking.  Just watching the world go by!  Rebel likes to sit on a chair under the table.  What better way to spy on you!  Rebel is continuing to put Taz in his place.  Pepper has put Rebel in his place a time or two now, usually around feeding time.  Both of these cats will love a home with dogs in it! 

My how time flies!

Okay, sorry about the long wait in between blogs but life has been busy!  Riki and Rebel were at Petsmart a week ago and all went well!  They were model citizens and seem to get right back into the groove of the house quickly.  This time they came home with no leftover food so it must not have been THAT traumatic for them!!!  Gizmo was very happy to see them again, that's for sure.

Taz got to have a one-on-one session with Shirley from D&S Dogs of Course on Wednesday.  We started to work on teaching him how to jump 22 inches properly.  I can tell you that I have my work cut out for me with this boy!  Running softly, not challenging him so he can actually think.  I wonder if I can apply this to flyball as well?  If we get a practice this week, I will definitely try!

I was off this week so that meant that the dogs had to supervise my every move.  This made for very little sleeping time as we were busy working around the house.  Taz got to go to doggie day care twice this week and he did well both times.  Venessa said he was not playing but he was walking around amongst the other dogs.  This is a HUGE improvement from last year!  He will continue to go, about once a month if Ken can drop him off.

Sunday was the New Hope Dog Rescue Walk-a-thon.  The organization raised over $6,400!  Way to go guys!  Pepper and Taz joined me on the 5 km walk.  I thought that for surely Taz would have problems.  Running people, hmmmm he does not like.  Bicycles, he does not like either!  Dog walking beside him who is not Pepper... that went well!  Three quarters of the way through the walk, Taz actually went nose to nose with Manix (a big foster) and it went really well!  No snapping, snarling or lunging.  I was quick to praise Taz (should have had treats and a clicker on me) on every good interaction he had with another dog.  The power of a pack of dogs walking is HUGE.  I could see Taz grooving with the dogs around him.  He might not be up for playing with every dog out there, but I can definitely tell that when we start walking with Flash (his brother) and Zoey (Flash's housemate) we can make it work.  I am hoping that Flash and Taz will become closer and play the only way that brothers know how!

This coming weekend is the River Runners flyball tournament.  Taz is not running in this one, I am aiming for him to debut in the fall again.  A year and a half off will do him some good.  We have been able to solidify him on his job.  We just need to get him comfortable passing a dog.  There always has to be something to work on!  Look for us in the racing lanes at Warman!