A Family Affair

Collective ahhhhh…

That tiny trainer (note he is holding a clicker!) is Hal. He is with two Sparklers — Abbie (his canine sibling) and Zimmer, who lives with his grandparents, Kathy and Jack.

Kathy reports that Hal, who is just 15 months, is a champion talker and has given Zimmer a new name: Zimmie, Zimmie Zoo. How cute is that??!

Grandparent and dog support were needed because Hal’s mom, Ashlee, just had surgery for acute appendicitis. YIKES. Good wishes to Ashlee on a speedy and uneventful recovery.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

We are at Yellowstone Dog Sports near Red Lodge, Montana for an agility trial. Daisy is a thoughtful, observant girl who takes everything in — she loves watching out from the RV window.

Daisy is not quite ready to qualify in agility — but she is ready to have some fun in the ring and so she debuts tomorrow.

While we are away, a restoration company is cleaning up the mess at home from this little misadventure…

The water supply line to the dishwasher was loose and has been dripping for weeks, apparently just now reaching saturation such that it dripped down into the room below and up through our new kitchen floor.

The dishwasher, still under warranty, was repaired about five weeks ago by a local appliance company. Unless they are prepared to assert that my talented dogs (or cunning cats) were able to loosen that connector, it appears that the evidence points to a simple failure to adequately tighten that connector after the repair.

Mistakes happen and yes, they often cause issues for others. It is so much easier to deal with human imperfection with grace and understanding when people own their mistakes and do what is needed to make things right. I hope the appliance company — or their insurance company — shares that observation.

Happy Friday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY iPUPS

Happy Birthday to the wonderful iPups — SIX years old today. Do you remember when…

We remember — with love — Scarlett and George, and send support to their beloved families. I hope they serve beaded birthday donuts at the Rainbow Bridge.

Birthday updates as they come in — we start with Sparkle…

Six is such a lovely age on a dog. Sparkle is kind, wise, gentle, and devoted.

She is an outstanding working dog and an easy companion, a living testimony to both of her parents. We are primarily training this summer, although Sparkle will be doing an agility run later this week to try and finish up her novice FAST title. She will be back in the obedience and draft rings in the fall. Her birthday will include a long walk — just the two of us — and a beaded donut. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPARKLE!

About Nikko…

“On the eve of his 6th birthday, Nikko spent the afternoon at UC Davis hospital having blood work as well as a chest X-ray and ultrasound done. No, there’s nothing wrong! Nikko was recently enrolled in a trial study of cancer vaccination in dogs. The X-ray and ultrasound were clear and now we are waiting for lab results. Once everything’s clear, we will start the first of the four vaccines in two weeks.

We were told that only 50 percent of the dogs will get the vaccines and the other 50 will get a placebo. Whatever the case might be, we know that we’re doing this in the name of science and for our breed. Being at the hospital brought back a lot of bad memories. The office told us, oh, you’re already in the system since 2006. Yes, that was when we took our first berner Zephyr there for chemo, so we’d rather participate in a study instead of doing chemo any day!

Tonight Nikko will get a steak and ice cream.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKO!

Kathy reports that Ava got a nice birthday romp in the dog park in their new home town of Wickenburg, Arizona.

Actually, they have two new home towns because they also have a place in Kansas City! Ava is spending her birthday driving to Kansas City where she and Zimmer will get to see Sparkler Abbie :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVA!

Tina sends us this update about Tag.doc…

“Tag is doing well just past his sixth birthday. I can't believe how fast time has gone by!! He has been quite healthy with the exception of his weird illness at the start of the year. He just in the last month seems back to himself completely. I have some follow up blood work to check his liver values again next week.

He continues to compete in various dog sports. His favorite is agility, where I just moved him into the preferred class. He really has gotten faster in preferred. I am doing my best to stay in this active sport with him despite my back problems. We are also doing some other things. He loves lure coursing, especially the FAST CAT sprints. He was ranked #5 fastest for berners last year (the #2 dog), running at an average of 21.42 mph! We are also doing some rally (lower impact stuff is better for my body, but still keeps Tag's mind busy). He recently got his RA title and will be in the rally ring again the weekend of July 6th.

Words can't say how much I love my baby puppa. He is the sweetest, most cuddly boy ever. Quite content to lay on my lap and watch TV or totally up to go play agility. Basically, ready to happily do whatever means he is spending time with me. The whole litter is awesome, but Tag and I just fit together. Thank you so much for picking him for me, he is my most perfect boy.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAG!