Archive for April, 2010
Bark in the Park
Friday, April 30th, 2010 | Indigo, Litter Mates and Swissy Friends | No Comments
Tomorrow is our annual fundraiser for the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago. They are a large no-kill shelter, and this is a major fundraiser for them.
Team Swiss Lick is in the top 5 teams for amount raised right now! If you are interested in donating to our team, you can donate through our First Giving page, which you can find here.
It’s supposed to be a nice day tomorrow, assuming the rain stays in the evening/early morning hours like it’s supposed too… Check back next week for pictures!
Galena Weekend
Monday, April 26th, 2010 | Dogs | No Comments
I will first get the disappointing news out of the way.
There are no pictures. That’s right, none.
The weather was cloudy and raining pretty much the entire time we were there. Not good for pictures at all.
I’ll admit I was a bit nervous or apprehensive about going. This was our first trip in 7 years that we took without Gryffin. He was always such a big part of our lives that I really wasn’t sure how it would go without him.
Oddly enough, it went really well.
Indy and Beowulf were actually fantastic in the truck on the ride out. I’m used to Indy being great in a vehicle, but not Beowulf. The sleeping part of the trip worked extremely well. Beowulf is usually on the bed (Alex would be there too…), and Indy and Gryffin would find places on the couches behind us as we use an air mattress out there. It would be normal to be woken up with a punch/kick/paw to the head/throat/you name it. That was Gryffin’s thing. Or he’d wake up and smack his lips for 20 minutes. While it certainly goes without saying that I would rather he’d be alive and well with us, the weekend went really well. I really didn’t expect it. Although I didn’t expect a disaster, either.
Yes, I was a little sad now and then. But it really seemed that when I was sad, Indy and Beowulf would do something incredibly cute or cuddly to make me happy.
It worked.
UGH!!!!
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 | Dogs | No Comments
Guess what happened to me this morning?
Come on, guess!
OK, I can’t hear you, so I will just assume you’ve thought about it for a second.
I. STEPPED. IN. DOG. POOP.
WITH. BARE. FEET.
I can’t come close to describing the horror of this morning. After stepping in loosely-formed dog excrement, I hopped across the house on one foot to the kitchen, wiped off my foot with paper towels, hopped into the bathroom there and started the shower. Lucky for me we have a removable shower head, so I was able to clean off my foot (it got between my toes) without requiring a full shower.
I did seriously consider going back to bed until tomorrow to start fresh. But honestly, I’m not sure that would help wipe the horror from my memory.
*SIGH*
What do you think it takes…
Monday, April 19th, 2010 | Indigo, Litter Mates and Swissy Friends | No Comments
…to get Indy tired?
That is a serious question, because unless she’s wearing a pack with weights, I have no clue.
We met up with Vasey and one of her humans again for a nice, long hike perfect (other than the terrain) for pack hike training. The location was Waterfall Glen, which is right by Argonne Labs. Actually, I think the long trail we hiked (9.5 miles) may actually go around Argonne. It was cooler and we didn’t wear a pack this week. Indy had a couple of scabs in her front driver side “arm pit” that may have been from the pack the weekend before, so we went without it. I’m guessing that’s why she was still energetic at the end.
For some reason, Indy wasn’t tired the rest of Saturday. We did that hike in 3 hours. Heck, I burned over 1100 calories just walking at a good clip. But was little Miss Swiss tired? Nope. She spent some time barking and attacking us in the yard and not resting in general. She got another walk (short) on Sunday and spent more time attacking us and the yard tools. And she was a lot of help to Dan while digging holes for new shrubbery. But tired did not seem to happen.
I have somehow created a monster.
Words
Friday, April 16th, 2010 | Dogs | No Comments
I read this morning that dogs can learn about 250 words. I’m not sure if that’s true for Indy, but I started thinking about it. I think Alex understood full sentences, but the others definitely know words. I feel compelled to list them for some reason.
Food
Eat
Walk
Truck
Down
Sit
Stand
Come (well, maybe)
No
Good
Bad
Treat
Quiet (again, debatable)
Out
Stay (on a good day)
Ride
Paw
Hmmm, that doesn’t seem to be 250. I guess you can add their names to it. Then maybe some phrases. I’m not sure how many of the words they know, or if they understand the cadence or tone.
Do you wanna go for a…
Who wants to eat
Who wants a treat
Sit pretty
Time for dinner
Kennel up
I’m curious what other people’s dogs know.
Missing Alex
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 | Alex | No Comments
It’s a sad week for me for some reason. Today I’m remembering and missing our old Beagle, Alex. We had to put her to sleep one year ago.
Again I ask you to give your dogs extra belly rubs and of course, food, in Alex’s memory today.
Pack Hike Training
Monday, April 12th, 2010 | Indigo, Litter Mates and Swissy Friends | No Comments
With the gorgeous weather we had this weekend, we were lucky enough to get a 9 mile training hike in on Saturday with Indy’s BFF, Vasey. We started out around 8:30am with about 50 degree weather. Maybe it was a little cooler… But it was sunny and a little breezy out.
Since I haven’t done much weight training with Indy recently, we stayed at a consistent weight (10lbs) throughout the entire walk. Vasey has been doing much more training, so she started out with 20lbs and worked her way down to 12lbs. In a pack hike, the dog must carry 20% of their total body weight in their pack. It’s usually water and drops gradually throughout the hike, but you can not dump a lot of it at one time.
The girls were eager to go at first.
Excited even.
Since we were walking the forest preserve trail, we saw a few deer here and there.
And yes, the girls were interested. I’m not sure if they wanted to chase them, or if Vasey realized that deer=venison which is her main protein source…
Somewhere around mile 7, Vasey told us she was tired.
But we all made it to the 9 mile mark in 3 hours and a few stops.
Is it bad?
Saturday, April 10th, 2010 | Gryffindor | No Comments
Or morbid if I mention that today would be Gryffin’s 7th Birthday? He would officially be a senior as far as Swissies are concerned. I wish he got the chance.
For his remaining litter mates, I hope you all had a wonderful Birthday today full of treats, belly rubs and practical jokes.
To everyone else:
Life is short. Play with your dog.
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