Once again, a very delayed posting

Ok, almost six weeks late with this posting. The Show, which you're all dying to hear about, was an unmitigated disaster. Well, almost. The little squirt was Really Unusually Good for the whole day leading up to time in the ring. (Incidentally, I picked out almost all of the paint by hand . . . yeah, that was fun. He proceeded to find more wet paint a week later . . . sigh.) I should've known we were in for it; it's not possible for Flynn to behave perfectly for an entire day. The instant we got in the ring he decided it was time to play. So, for all of the moving bits, he stared up at me and bounced. You can imagine what his front looked like coming back toward the judge (if "ridiculous," "jerky," or "jolty," came to mind, you're right). We did this twice before the judge said "You need to put him over there" and pointed to a corner. Did I feel awful? Yes. Absolutely. After the class ended, the judge was kind of enough to explain what I'm doing to make him behave like that, and gave me some unfortunately useless advice on how to fix it (no, shoving him away will not work - he, of course, considers that to be all good fun). We spent some time with Marian at handling class and we fixed it, hopefully, for the next show, two weeks away (gaiting with no food at all does wonders . . . or with food in your mouth - thank goodness for string cheese).


Flynn's preferred activities:

Misadventures

We're going to a show tomorrow! This is what I woke up to this morning:

Yes, yes, that's paint. My brother has been painting the trim on the house in the dog pen. He said it was dry enough for them to sleep out there. Evidently not. I'll be picking little specks of paint out of his tail up until the moment we go into the ring, I'm afraid.

In other news, Flynn seems to think fresh salmon is highly suspect.

Can you say "Pepe le Pew?"

He apparently wants racing stripes.

I am such a horrible blogger!

I seem to have a complete inability to post in any kind of reasonably regular fashion. I've been distracted by buying a new piano and taking up dancing lessons (ballroom and Latin dance, in case any of you all wondered, is the most amazing thing in the world - as a person who runs into walls and open--yes, I said open--doors, it's an incredible thing to feel graceful and feather-light). The flying Flynn finally has some blog-worthy news; over the last weekend he earned his CGC (a minor miracle, considering his general busy-personality and tendency to whine in public and forget my existence) and his (and my) very first point. So, here's the little squirt half grown-up-looking (and decidedly naked) after the show (stacking on a hill = not so pretty):

Hanging out at the show: This is boring! Let me run! (What's with that ear?!)

So there you have it. It may be months before I post again, but it'll happen . . . probably.

Four Years Old. Yikes!

Yesterday was Bella's fourth birthday - I can't believe she's four! She's such a sweet, charming little fluff, though with her own share of pigheadedness and bossiness! Here she is with her new lead and collar and a birthday snack:

And this pic is from earlier this month at a Reading with Rover event, just because she's cute!

The rain makes our lives boring!

Not being able to go outside is so not fun! This is what we've been up to:

Discovering alternate uses for grooming tables and alternate uses for vacuum cleaners. Because who really needs a well-groomed dog and a clean house?

I love my new toy!

I recently upgraded my camera to something a little spiffier - the most exciting feature is the one that enables me to catch the Flying Flynn in action. It'll take up to 15 photos per second, which ends up looking like one of those little flip books when you flip through them in the photo preview thingy-bobber. The nasty weather has prevented me from testing it out, so we finally braved the sloggy, nastiness (half-melted snow) to check it out. This ungraceful sequence is my absolute favorite. It probably won't have the same effect with scrolling instead of flipping . . . oh well.

So slushy, muddy, and yucky! 

I love this little squirt!

Unfortunately for all of us, the venture into SlushLand resulted in baths for all. Are they all clean? Yes. Are they all dry? Mostly (next upgrade: real dryer). Is my back broken? Probably.

Super-Duper Exciting!

Flynn and I had our very first formal obedience class tonight (and, to be perfectly honest, it's the only obedience class of any kind that any of my dogs have been to - so it's kind of all an adventure). We love it. Flynn thinks the held recall is the best game ever. Now, if only I could get him to run between my legs instead of launching his whole sixty pounds of fluff at my face . . .

So exciting! This is going to be so good for his brilliant, ADHD, wild-child brain and for my very limited handling skills.

You Stole My Chew . . .

. . . which I had rightfully stolen from you. 

 

Could there be any more picturesque expression of complete disgust?

 You'll notice that there's a perfectly good, almost entirely unused chew right there in front of him. 

It's just not good enough unless it's stolen property.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

We are freezing to death, here in the Pacific Northwest. I don't usually see hoarfrost on this side of the mountains, but man, it's sticking up at least an inch right now. The one great advantage to this is that the little Furry Beast can be outside as long as he wants to without getting hideously muddy - hoorah! It's also been sunny instead of drizzly, so, really, I shouldn't be complaining at all. And it makes for much better collies-playing-in-the-field photo opportunities. So, this is pretty much what our New Year's Eve and New Year's Day looked like:

C'mon! You know you want to play!

 

Who, me? Come? What's that?

These two are a little older, but they are too fun. And they show you how badly I needed to sweep; maybe it'll shame me into doing a better job of it . . .