SPDT - Week 6...

Week 6...Stella is now--officially--an off leash dog (with a little bit of a safety line). Our distraction this week, besides 30 other dogs, was a goat. Check out how April stares down the dog as it heels past with it's owner. Apparently most dogs instinctively want to attack goats...who knew!

We practiced some sit-stays and Downs from a distance, then come and finish. We learned not to place Stella and Bella on stays next to each other. Bella came when I called Stella.

Tomorrow's distraction: a donkey.

Grandma's Birthday...

Saturday we celebrated Grandma Geri's birthday. My mom, Aunt Linda, & cousin Jennifer took her to the Saturday Market in the morning, then they met up with my Uncle Dean for lunch, and finished off the afternoon going through open houses in Boise. They met up at our house for a dinner of kabobs and cake! I found the cake recipe at ourbestbites (love that site)! Seriously...you can't go wrong with the recipes these ladies come up with! We worked off that delicious cake by playing a little Just Dance on the Wii...if you don't have this game yet it is a must!

Here's to MANY more birthdays with Grandma Geri!

Patty's Post...

Check out my friend Patty's Fabulously Funny post about Stella and her Elizabethan collar here!

Finding Nemo...

We finally have fish!! (Well, to tell the truth we've HAD fish I just haven't taken any pictures) When Justin started this salt water obsession I told him he could do it, but he could only put fish in his tank from Finding Nemo. :) Have to keep with the Disney theme you know!

Payette River Lucy Belle...

March 28, 1997 - July 10, 2010

Picture taken 7-4-2010 by Mason

My mom had to put her dog Lucy down on Saturday. She was 13 years old, that translates to 101 in human years. I asked my mom about puppy pictures of Lucy, and it made me stop and think just how long ago 13 years was...they aren't digital!

Lucy started out as an outside hunting dog. After two hind knee replacements and a lot of successful hunts, she retired to an indoor best friend.

When I was in high school I didn't have much patience for Lucy. She drooled and slobbered, a lot. Now that I stop to think about it, that's really the only thing that bothered me. Oh and she'd get kind of stinky sometimes after hunting. ;)

After getting married and getting my own dog, I was able to understand just what my mom loved about her. Lucy was awesome. The vet told my mom more than once that she'd probably never get another Chesapeake like her. You could let her outside (my mom doesn't have a fenced yard) and she never wandered. She was always laying on the front porch waiting for you if you forgot about her.

She had so much tolerance for the kids, especially Faith, and all of the puppies we brought home. Between Tim and I, over the years Lucy had 9 four legged friends.

This last year was hard for Lucy. She was slower getting up and laying down and she had a hard time making it up the stairs on the first try.This winter she got stuck on the ice on the driveway and didn't have the strength in her legs to get herself up. As much as we know it was better for her, it's never easy. And much like Abby, she'll never be able to be replaced.

Unfortunately, my mom won't let Tim and I get her a new dog until her house sells and she moves...something about a fenced back yard. ;) I guess that gives us time do some research and find the best breed for her!

Stella's Cone of Shame..

Stella is in heat...Something I've avoided with every other dog we've had. The alternative to the doggy diaper and cone is her being stuck outside (too hot) or in her kennel (how mean) all day for a week. This is the better alternative right???

Did I mention she HATES the cone??

Small Town Independence Day...

We decided on the Porcupine Races in Council again this year for the 4th of July. I mean really. What says "Independence Day" more than 20 wild porcupines racing across the football field? Okay...not all at the same time...and not the whole football field. We got to Council a little early so we decided to get some lunch before the parade. They were a little slow with the cooking so we missed most of the parade. Michael was the first one done eating so I sent him with my camera. I got to see the parade for the first time while going through my pictures tonight...Thanks Michael!

There's always some time to kill while they're auctioning off the porcupines before the race. I took this opportunity to practice using the manual mode on my camera...Kara- How'd I do?
Tim and I decided at the last minute to take our dogs, Stella and Sadie. Since we had to take two cars we put Grandma, Michael and Justin in Grandma's car and Mom, Faith, Tim and I took the dogs in mom's car. Needless to say...I have to help my mom wash and vacuum her car this weekend.

Jen had to work and the boys were with they're dad until noon.

Tim's friend Raleigh and part of his family met us up there. Faith doesn't like Raleigh. He has to bribe her with candy for kisses. Luckily his kids did well at the parade and he was able to trick her into two kisses before the races started.

Porcupines only run about 2 mph tops.

The fence this years wasn't escape proof. Unlike past years, there was at least one porcupine that escaped each of the 4 heats. One of the porcupine handlers had to have 28 quills removed from his leg before he could race his porcupine in the final heat.

After the races we went back to my mom's house for dinner and Jen and the boys met us there.

How many people does it take to fix the deck railing? Seriously, Justin and Tim did a great job!

Couldn't resist this...Faith and Mason playing the piano while Kaden helps them out with the pedals.

In keeping with our small town independence day feel we went to Ontario for fireworks. This is the look Faith had on her face when her sparkler got a little too close to her fingers.

But she quickly got over it.

To pass the time waiting for the fireworks to start we had a dog pile on Justin, played Tag, and Duck, Duck, Goose.

I did leave out one thing. Between dinner and the fireworks we went to Tim & Jen's house and tried out "Just Dance." Let's just say I won't be posting those pictures. :)

Middleton Parade...

Saturday, July 3rd Jacque and I took Kate and Ty to the 4th of July parade in Middleton. Ty had never been to a parade before to get candy and he has no fear of the road or cars. Kate sat back a little and waited for Ty to come back with the candy...then he'd share...isn't that what the picture says?

Kate did get a little of her own candy, but she's not stupid...she knew she wasn't supposed to go as far into the road as Ty would! Thanks friend for inviting me to come along!

SPDT-Week 3...

Thursday night was Week 3 of Scotch Pines Dog Training for Stella and it was AWFUL! (no pictures...I forgot the camera) I wanted to cry half way through because she was not doing ANYTHING like she was supposed to! We were continuing to work on heeling and the automatic sit. She heeled okay, but her sits were always slow and crooked. I had to correct her almost every time we stopped. At one point during the first hour of class, April (the trainer) looked at me and said "Jamie, I don't know what to tell you." It was THAT bad! I was doing EVERYTHING right...so why wasn't she responding??!! There were two reasons. First, one of the dogs in class that night was in heat...which is a great, but very frustrating, distraction. Add to that the fact that we had 6...yes SIX... intact males in the class created chaos. Second, she needed more praise. I thought I was praising her like crazy...turns out she needs EXCESSIVE and EXCITING praise in order to do what she is asked. This week we're working on Sit-Stays...here's to hoping we see some much needed improvement before Thursday night!

We're Back on the List...

It's official (well, it's been official for a few weeks) we are back on the Foster Care list!! After moving we had to renew our license and home study, then had to wait for everything to be sent from Region 3 (where we moved from) to Region 4 (where we moved to). We have finally been assigned a licensing worker and are on the after hours list! Now we sit and wait....again.