Falon’s World

We had kind of an odd request from one of our friends this week. She asked us if we could watch an acquaintance’s 9 month old Basset Hound for her. After hearing the story (the girl moved here from out of state to be with her soon-to-be-fiance and he dumped her), we agreed to take him as long as he wasn’t dog aggressive.

Windsor is the cutest, floppiest, loudest dog we’ve had in our home. He bays a lot but he’s so darn cute it’s hard to resist. He got picked up today so we thought we’d take him out and get some photos of him and Kya playing. He tried to play with Midas but Midas thought he was a baby and let him do whatever he wanted, including chewing on his legs. Mason thought he was a puppy and didn’t really want much to do with him. Kya on the other hand, was overjoyed to have a new friend and they had some intense games of chase and bitey face in the backyard.

Here is Windsor:

Mouthing off:

I tried to get him to jump on command – he did all the time when I didn’t want him to…

Kya wanted to show him she could do it:

Playing with Kya – she would whip around the yard in a huge circle while he frantically tried to keep up in a smaller circle = hilarious!!!

Here they are taking a breather – Kya’s neck is soaked!

She wanted to get him to play so she would poke him with her nose:

Kya’s mean face:

He started chasing her and tripped and fell!! lol

Which Kya promptly took advantage of!

Windsor got up for paybacks:

And got her lip!

Then they made up:

She taught him how to drink from the Lixit, it was cute

Some of pretty Miss Kya:

It was a long and interesting week, but at the end, I was sad to see Windsor go, he’s such a cute, endearing short fella!

Today we drove to Williamston to meet up with a friend I met off of the Labrador Retriever Forum. I’d never been to a hunt test and was very interested to see what it was all about as I think it is something that Mason would excel at. It was awesome to watch.

This is how it works:

First, you have to stand in line with your dog. Then when it’s your turn, you bring your dog up and take off his lead – this is Rookie:

Then the boy behind the blind flings out a dead duck after he hears the duck call and calls back:

At which point someone fires a gun as though they’ve shot the duck and Rookie is released to retrieve it:

They use both sight to mark where the bird landed and scent to find it in the tall grass:

Rookie’s nose led him to the duck bucket behind the blind – but only for a moment:

He found the duck and went racing back with it:

He had to repeat this on a different part of the field. Next up was Rider:

He was really, really fast:

After two retrieves on land, they had to repeat their performance in water. We couldn’t stay for many of the water retrieves because we had to get home for the pooches. These were even more fun I thought.

This little pup was so cute!

For more information visit the Huron River Labrador Retriever Club. I am hoping to get at least Mason’s Working Certificate – if not Midas’s at the end of the summer

So, tonight we jetted right after work (sort of) to Rothbury to see the ‘rents’ new house (paperwork is in the making right now, so almost their house). It’s enormous, really cool with a sweet fireplace and awesome upstairs bedrooms and…there’s a pool!!!! Which I’ve been informed the dogs will not be allowed to swim in . Anyway – here it is:

Looking at my blog from last year, we have made some significant yard changes…ok we didn’t make any changes this year, this is just the affects of last year finally showing through:

(notice all the scattered wood chips, that’s how the boys helped )

But, we got lots of pretty, pretty flowers .

These last two were fun (they’re the reverse of each other ):

I think they’re pretty. I don’t know the names of most of them though….

I lost my camera cord (and by I, I mean Eric) for over a month. So, I had a small buildup of photos to take off and now share .

Mason, the model for the Galileo bone :

Midas really loves his red Dental Kong. He really likes to carry it around with the end in his mouth so that all snorting and burping is amplified, it sends him into tail wagging and butt wiggling delight.

Everyone likes it when I stuff treats in our various Kongs though:

(it looks like Midas is trying to force the treat out with his mind lol)

Even Kya likes the Kongs:

Sometimes teamwork is required:

Sometimes you just have to try a new toy:

Either way, good fun for all involved.

Eric’s bike got stolen from the front of work a little bit ago and the insurance check (NOT covering the price of a new one, after the deductible) finally came. So, we went to the bike shop last night and Eric got a brand new mountain bike, pictures to come later I’m sure. I got a new gel seat, because mine was still bent out of shape from The Accident.

This happened to be perfect timing. We’ve started an exercise regime, the Couch to 5K method and I feel wonderful in the mornings! I love to get outside in the fresh air, not many people around. Eric, Kya and I go 3x a week and it’s lovely. Today we also added in riding our bikes to work. Which was hard for me. There were kind of a lot of tiny hills and my legs were tired after our workout. Plus, we were late . Oh well, I will only get better and faster .

Kya’s doing wonderfully!! We have started taking her with us in the morning for our walk/run. She started out kind of droopy and scared of parked cars and people we passed. This passed into only flinching if the cars were driving by. Then into being ok with the bicycle newspaper delivery man and passing people on the road. Today we went and she still stares at cars but is otherwise fine. She was also all about going out for our walk/run today so that was really good to see her excited about going .

We had one incident last week though. Lucy’s owner had not tied both of his dogs up and the one came rushing at us out in the road, barking and growling with its hackles up. I pulled Kya behind me and yelled at it in my mad voice while stepping forward in an intimidating manner – it dropped to the ground. But, I was very proud of Kya for bouncing right back after that and trusting me to take care of it .

She can be off-lead in the yard entirely with me. Her recall is fantastic. She also met one of our friends this weekend and today all on her own. The first time, Tara was sitting on the couch and we were just settling down to watch a movie. I left Kya in the bedroom, knowing she would come out when she was comfortable. She did, about 2 minutes later. Not only did she come right out, but she also paused to sniff and lick Tara’s hands before taking up her post by me.

Tonight Tara was over again with her boyfriend and Kya loosened up enough to do some zoomie/butt-tucking around the yard, that was so amazing that I figured she was done for the night. But, nope. She also came up to Tara two more times to sniff her pants and check out her hands. She even allowed her to pet her. When I could tell she was reaching her comfort level, Tara stopped and Kya was relaxed and happy. I’m soooo thrilled!!!

Her commands are coming along nicely. She knows sit, stay, wait, come, off, no, good girl, bad dog and go potty, along with her name. She heels perfectly, rarely needing me to say her name to remind her where I am. We are going to be starting Intermediate Obedience class next week, I’m very excited.

Last but not least, she is now sleeping crate free in the bedroom . She still has her spots she can go if she’s worried/nervous and we leave her alone, for the most part, when she retreats to those areas. But, she doesn’t even look for her kennel anymore so I figured it was time. Midas and her share his bed by my side of the bed so we’ll be getting a third one for the bedroom in the near future. She sleeps (and snores) all night, doesn’t even move until the morning when I tell her it’s time to go outside (oh! She knows that command too ).

So, Eric’s bike got stolen. From in front of work. Yes, it was locked. That really sucked. The insurance company covered it, but we had to pay a decently substantial deductible – that sucked too. I hate thieves.

Then we got Eric a new bike – which was really fun and cool

He was excited and rides it quite a bit:

Guy: What kind of dog do you have?

Me: 2 labs and a pit.

Guy: Oh, a pit…do you fight her?

Me: That’s illegal.

Guy: People still do it…

Me: I’m kind of against animal abuse.

Guy: Oh, well isn’t she dangerous after being on the fighting circuit?

Me: What? No, she wasn’t on the fighting circuit…do you know anything about pits?

Guy: Well, yeah, not as much as you probably. Aren’t you afraid of her attacking? Once they get that urge…

Me: GIANT EYE ROLL

Some people…seriously…

Rally has been going ok. I’ve been a bit frustrated with the lack of constructive criticism for Mason and a little favoritism going on but otherwise it’s been fine. The story is here.

Oh and Mason and I received something in the mail.