A Canine Fueled Weekend.

Jo, a dear old friend and Carol, a new friend…and their dogs, Gunny and Annie, ( an Australian Shepherd and Turvuren, which is a Belgium Shepherd ) came to attend a herding clinic and trial last week a few miles away in Laidlaw. Also along for the ride and great socializing experience was Rojo, Jo’s 8 month old Australian Shepherd, of which I didn’t take photos of…sometimes I piss myself off.

On Saturday I took Ticket for a few hours, where it rained almost the entire time. No surprise there though as that area is so tight between the Cascade and Coast Mountain Ranges it’s shocking when it isn’t raining there during our wet season.

Ticket was fine with the rain, until a half hour into it. Then she pawed up at me, make some boo hoo poor poor pitiful me noises. I knelt down and shared my umbrella with her for a few seconds then she spotted Jo’s empty chair.

I was standing to her left, quietly opened my camera bag and brought it out. She glanced up at me but stayed put. The second I slowly stepped forward to try and take a photo she went to jump off, probably thinking the rain had beat some sense into me, and that we were heading to a dry area. Carol hung onto her collar so I could take the photo. Doesn’t she look like she’s having a grand old time! Like, this is the bestest day ever! Like she absolutely cannot live without a day in the rain!

It was wonderful to see Jo again, she’s fun, energetic and has a lot of insight, of which I gladly feed from. And fantastic to meet Carol and her dog Annie and her 3 Miniature Pinschers!

Jo and Gunny

Go get ‘em Gun!

Partnership

Waiting to herd cattle.

I didn’t get any photos of the cattle herding because I was using Jo’s camera. It’s fancy schmancy and I coveted it. I must have one. Nor did I get any of the duck herding as I was a coward and didn't have the appropriate cover for my camera.

The dogs that were there were beautifully well trained ( great simple manners along with more complex ones), they were absolutely adored by their people as much as they themselves adored them.

 

Carol’s Tervuren, Annie

All these photos below were taken in about 1 minute. These 2 Border Collie pups rough housed, got themselves tangled up together and with people, were untangled, then promptly began to happily beat on each other again. Good times! :)

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Hope you all are enjoying today! It’s quite lovely where we are, I better get our asses out and enjoy it more!

Dogless on a dog stroll..

A few days ago Kelsie and I drove just a few minutes out of town to a great dog stroll area I recently came across. Apparently, when she was a kid her parents took her camping there!

It was a quick walk before she began work so we could see what flowers are blooming now, so the dogs stayed at home. And boy did they lay on the guilt when I got back. Mopey faces, lottsa’ whining and snivelling. It was sad and pitiful.
Back to the walk…

The Salmonberry Tale

First there were two...then one...then none.

The End.

The only bad thing I can say about Salmonberries is that they are small and go down the gullet too quickly.

Huckleberries!

Here’s a memory of Huckleberries; North Vancouver, specifically Seymour Mountain when it was mostly bush, 8 years old. Instead of walking on the road to go to/from school I would take a shortcut through the woods. Walking across log bridges to cross the creek and eating handful after handful of Huckleberries. Ahhhh yes, good times.  :)

 

Same thing goes for these little beauties though; too small and disappear too fast.

Spirea

Foxglove

If I hadn’t bent over to scratch an itch *shakes fist at mosquitoes* we wouldn’t have seen this Foxglove. There was only one, how weird is that??? and it was bent over and under another plants leaves. The rain had beaten it down.

Wild Strawberry

Go West young woman!

or East...whatever.

Cement Art

Natural gas pipeline completely effing up the view.

A teensy bit of vertigo happening!

The Lupine’s are dying out, but the Daisy’s are flourishing.

A young Heart Rock.

Camping spot! Even I, a complete anti-campinginatent type of spoiled human, would enjoy pitchin’ a tent here! ( only for one night though )

 

A bouquet of Daisies.

It’s supposed to stop raining by late morning today. I hope so, as I have plans with a dear friend  to do outdoor stuff! Here's hoping we all have a fantastic day!

My Dirty World.

You try living in a 35’ fifth wheel with 3 German Shepherds!

The fact that this breed is double coated makes it almost twice as bad. They shed their top guard hairs year round, then comes the oh so lovely spring and summer when they shed their soft, fine, downy undercoats as well.

Even my outdoor flowers are decorated with dog hair

There are some local wool spinners that will take the undercoat and mix it with sheep or alpaca, spin it and knit you something from it. I could probably get a couple of full size blankets knit from my 3 year in just one year. Seriously.

My Mum still doesn’t understand the thought process of dog hair.

The door opens, the hairs quickly look up to see what type of fabric is entering their domain, they see the fleece shirt/sweater/slacks she has on and happily leap on board. Maybe I should have a cotton jumpsuit hanging outside for her to put on before coming in?

I do feel lucky that all of my guys love to be brushed. They actually are jealous when one is being brushed and they are not. Or maybe it’s just the whole Mum is paying attention to him and not me. Either way, they will gladly stand to be groomed.

In the normal shedding periods, ( 9 months of the year ) I brush every 3 or 4 days. Though, often I am picking out the occasional clump as they saunter by me. Or if they are calmly sleeping, and I spot a clump, I will saunter over and pickpickpick like a primate will do to another. ‘Cept, I’m not picking out bugs and eating them.

The tools

The one on the left goes first, then I pull out the big gun, the Furminator. That baby is my saviour. If you have a dog, and don’t have a Furminator you are missing out. The amount of dander it seeks and destroys is amazing. It’s a must have.

I’m hoping for sunny skies and warm air today…hope your day is what you want!

Love Hurts

Ruger was one of those dogs that when he loved something, he loved it to death.

Ruger’s joys in life were very simple. His ball chucker's, squeaky toys and marrow bones. In that order.

He loved his ball chucker's sooooo deeply he chewed them mercilessly. He loved them to death. We went through 6! No matter where I stashed them he would creep, crawl and climb to get at them.

The squeaky toys were coveted and stored in corners only Ruger knew of. He would lovingly, and gently, squeaksqueaksqueak them for hours. Literally hours. When it got to be I might think I would lose my brain over the incessant squeaksqueaksqueak I would send him outside with them. A lady that lived across the way and down a bit remarked one day about the squeaksqueaksqueak. I asked if the constant sound was making her nuts, she said that she smiled every time she heard it because she knew the joy he found in them.

The marrow bones were given out to each dog, they would take off with them and lovingly suck and lick them till they were dry. The very second one of the others walked away from his/her bone Ruger would slink in and steal them. And again, put them in corners only he knew of. I found 4 stashes of marrow bones after he passed.

Henry

Henry is another who loves so incredibly deeply. But with Henry it is not ball chucker's, squeaky toys or bones, his obsession is me. He can’t sleep, sit, eat or play close enough to me. If he could fit in my pocket he would.

In the morning when he wakes me ( he is an awesome 6:30 a.m. wakeup call ) he does it ever so gently; a couple of delicate face licks and a paw on my stomach. The moment I stir, he is allll over me. In the next second both Watcher and Ticket come and slurp on me, which Henry takes great offence to. He grumbles and growls and then starts giving me gentle flea bites. Which within a matter of a few seconds, turns into slightly harder flea bites. And if I don’t get up in moments he acts like he will chew on me. He gets so over stimulated, and with what he feels are competition for my attention ( Watcher and Ticket ) that his brain explodes.

I walk to the bedroom and he is right on my heels. Literally. Into the bathroom, to the kitchen sink, to my chair….on my heels. Wherever I go, so does Henry. The amount of times he has walked into the back of me are countless. I have German Shepherd nose patterns on me constantly.

In the sardine can we live in my hands are forever on his cheeks, helping him turn around without whacking into corners and walls. He hears “careful babe!” at least 30 times a day. Or “caaaareful” as he manoeuvres the few steps down to our yard. 

I had a great day today. Visited with Fred and Pat, and gave their 2 little puppers a bath. 14 year old brothers Toby and Eddie. Poor Toby has a home-made cone on his head to keep him from scratching at himself. And he’s pissed.

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

Happy Canada Day!

Hope had a Canada Day street party ( of sorts ) today. Face painting, food and beverage vendors, a Strongman competition, and a classic car show.

By the time I left home at noon, it was in full swing. For Hope. It was difficult to guesstimate how many were there as it was spread over several blocks. 1000 maybe? On the high side. :) 

Look at all the pretty colors cool cars that I saw!

The STRONGMAN COMPETITION was through this throng of people, of which I did not want to go wading through. And they need to change the name of their org. as there were some bad ass looking females there.

Do you see Smokey the Bear in the foreground of the last photo? One of the reasons I specifically went there today was, I kid you not, to have my photo taken with him. But by the time I circled around the block he was gone. *sad face*

And for your listening pleasure….

 

 

 

I’m going to head down to the river after dinner. Mostly just to see what the water level is at.

Because one day it can be like this…

and the next like this…

Have a great long weekend!