Over the Hump?

Holly's past the 5 month post-Sx mark (21 weeks) and it seems like she's reached a new milestone. I've seen no general muscle stiffness or soreness at night in almost 2 weeks! I'm hoping it means that she's finally gotten over that hump of being sore while getting those muscles and her body back in shape.

Why are we standing still? More running, less talking...

The girls have been enjoying our spring weather, and with it a new 'game'. Sadly I have no video that goes with it (more on that later), but it's a hoot to watch. My neighbors field is about 40 acres big and it has nothing in it but my agility equipment, a few trees, grass, weeds...and ground squirrels.

For those of you not familiar with ground squirrels, they look a lot like prairie dogs...and also like them, they live in large underground colonies. They are only above ground for a few months out of the year, and they started coming out a few weeks ago. While the many holes they make provide the dogs with an exciting array of new smells, the really exciting thing is the single sentries that "Peep" their warnings to other squirrels in the colony that danger is about. Each new "Peep" sends the dogs flying off in a new direction in the useless hope of catching one above ground. They are doing A LOT of running.

And Holly has rediscovered digging. She's dug multiple trenches in the hopes of getting closer to just one of those squirrels. There is no real chance of that, but she's getting some great exercise in the process. I pretty much just sit in the middle of the field and watch em go. They want no part of me while they are 'hunting'...aside from the yummy hunks of cheese I reward them with for checking in with me every so often.

Aside from all of this being great fun and awesome exercise, it's something I have to allow because the squirrel colonies surround my unfenced agility/treibball field. And if I want either of them to actually learn to pay attention to something other than squirrels while we are out there, I have to teach them when they are allowed to hunt, and when they are not. So the process of turning on and then turning off this game begins.

It gives a whole new meaning to the quote "Squirrel!" from the movie Up, doesn't it ;)

Meanwhile, I continue to fight with my camera, the crappy editing software it came with, and YouTube. I adore my point and shoot Cannon camera...it takes lovely pictures and really nice video. However, the video it takes is in MOV. format...which is a Mac product. I have a PC and use Windows. The version of Windows does not have a program that can edit MOV files. And the movie editing software that came with the camera really, really sucks. Editing is extremely limited, and compressing or creating smaller video files totally ruins the quality of the video. But large files take FOREVER to load on to YouTube...we are talking hours here, and my internet connection is not slow.

What I would like is to purchase software that will convert Quicktime (MOV.) video files to Microsoft friendly files (WMV.) so that I can use my regular Windows video editing program to edit and upload. My problem is that while I've looked for something to purchase, I don't understand the software program languages and options they talk about enough to make an informed purchase. Can any of you offer some suggestions for me?

And because no post is complete without pictures...here's some from the last 2 weeks of hiking and playing in the yard.

Badass Terrier pose

Die squeaky toy, die!

Totally Zen

Two bumps on a log

Yard Games

Holly's doing her part to get in shape after so many months of down time. The goof stole my sneaker while I was lying in the grass (decompressing), and soaking up the sun in the yard after work yesterday.

I'm sure the video is cute only to me, but I'm sharing it anyways :)

Please ignore my goofy 'dog' voice...I was trying to get her to take off running with the shoe like she had been doing minutes before I turned the camera on. What is it about animals and cameras? The second you turn one on they immediately stop whatever cute thing they were doing!

Anyway, she thought she was so funny sneaking up, grabbing my sneaker and making several laps around the yard before rolling around like a goof with it. It's a pretty regular game. If I'm forgetful and leave dirty shoes on the porch, I nearly always find one of them out in the yard later. Funny thing though, she never steals shoes inside the house.

Enjoy the sun if you've got it...we got one cold but sunny day yesterday, and now we're back to nearly frozen and wet for the weekend.

Dogs and Spring Blizzards

Two weekends ago I helped some agility club members work through a NADAC-style course during our regular weekly practices.

There is a trial coming up next month and they wanted to practice some of the different challenges that NADAC has compared to the AKC-style courses they've been running of late. There was just a few of us, but everyone did really well and had a great time. With all the tunnels and contact discrimination's, it was a fun, fast course and we ran it both directions. No one was ready to attempt layering the dog-walk (in either direction), but hopefully I'll be able try it with Holly one day.

Since I'm still not working Holly in agility (more on that below) I took Danee to club practice. I live very rural, have only 1 neighbor and we rarely see people/dogs while we're out walking or hiking, so I'm taking every opportunity I can for her to have positive social experiences. She's doing great, and I'm wishing now I had remembered to ask someone to film her playing at the arena. She went over the A-frame a few times with glee (it was her first time on one), RAN the dog-walk twice, ran through a few dark, curvy tunnels, and in general had a fun with it all. I have no criteria for any of the obstacles yet except for speed and fun. She hasn't shown even the slightest apprehension when it comes to the obstacles but I haven't shown her a teeter or chute yet...and probably won't til mid-summer.

Also new to Danee is toys. When she showed up, she thought it was cool that toys squeaked, but had no idea what to do with them. It's been super cute to watch Danee learn that squeaky toys are fun.

Last weekend I traveled to a friends house in Idaho to help her and another club member with some agility training. And true to "Spring in Montana" form, I drove through a mini blizzard on the way there. In just a few minutes the snow piled up on the road and you couldn't see the lines. But 15 miles later, the sun was out and the roads were dry. Funny weather we have here.

Fun with spring blizzards

At Mia's house we worked on how to teach obstacle discrimination (particularly when a tunnel is next to a contact), what you think your body language is saying and what it's really saying, on "go on", and teaching one of her dogs to DRIVE to the obstacles. Maryjo working on figuring out how to show her dog what she wants and how to effectively reward her. They did great and I even got Danee out to work in a completely new atmosphere. And of course, I ran into a new issue...which actually was a great one. Danee has been nervous about greeting new people, so I'm constantly handing out cookies and asking people to feed her a cookie without leaning over her, touching or petting her. Clearly it's working because she spent her first few minutes off leash going from Mia to Maryjo demanding a handout :) But I got her working for a few minutes after she realized that cookies were not going to be dispensed. Afterwards, we had a wonderful lunch together, went for a gorgeous walk (Mia has THE most beautiful mountain and creek views) and then I took Danee shopping at some farm stores (more socialization) before heading home...where I ran into more rain and mini blizzards.

Holly is fast approaching the 5 month mark post-surgery and today she had her monthly chiro and acu visit. Actually we were close to 6 weeks since her last acu appointment do to some scheduling problems, and it showed. But in all, our vet was really pleased with how her back felt and knee looked. We talked a lot about how I felt Holly's recovery progress was going, and I shared some of my concerns...her crappy sit, the uneven knees when she lies down, etc. But my vet was no where near as concerned as me about it all. After all, Holly is not lame, she walks, trots and runs very evenly, her stride looks perfect, her muscles feel mostly even. Not to mention she's still the stretchiest and most bendable dog she's seen that has 6 vertebrae trying to fuse together. She sees a lot of dogs post-knee surgery and nearly all of those that have had only one knee done are asymmetrical. She thinks Holly falls into this category. Her advice...keep her back as healthy as possible, and stop being such a ninny and let her be a dog again. She reminded me that I could do PT with Holly til I'm blue in the face, and she could STILL blow the other knee. In her opinion, if it's going to go, it's going to go. Yes, there is a lot I can do to strengthen the heck out of her...and I am doing it...but in the end it's her body that will decide if the other knee gives out, not me. So I guess at some point I'll have to let my anxiety go. Buuuut...I'm not ready to "let it go" just yet...maybe in May, after we hit the 6 month mark?

Even though I'm an anxiety drive mess over knee worries, she is still having plenty of fun. She loves to retrieve so we made up a new yard game to play...I toss out all the yard toys and she retrieves them one by one and puts them back in the toy bin. I have some video, but YouTube is taking FOREVER to upload videos tonight so I'll have load it later.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying spring...which means snow one minute and rain or sunshine the next.

Waiting for the sun to come out and melt the darned snow

Wordless Wednesday: Yin Yang

TTA Surgery Weeks 14-16

You might think that after 4 months of recovery from knee surgery, Holly would be totally healed. Well, sort of. Holly's knee looks great. Her range of motion feels the same as her non-surgical leg. Her stride is strong and even, and she's never lame. Her balance is wonderful and she has totally regained her rear foot awareness on that side. 

But I'm frustrated. Holly still relies too much on the non-surgical leg while sitting and lying down. She's crooked and still pokes her toe and hock outwards. And despite serious efforts on my part, I can't get her to stop doing it. Occasionally if I ask for a fast sit to stand, she'll sit evenly on both hocks. I can also get her to sit evenly when she's on a surface that requires balancing...like her balance disk. I'd tried using a wall-sit to reteach her how to sit properly again...but she cheats. A wall-sit is where I make her sit with her surgical side against the wall to prevent her from sticking the surgical leg out sideways.She cheats by sticking the leg out in front of her instead. Arrgh.

At this point I can't tell if she's doing it out of habit, or because she's too uncomfortable to sit evenly. 

I was allowing her to jump in to the car...which is a short jump and the physical therapist okay'd it. But recently I caught her using just her non-surgical leg for the jump. So, that's out and I'm back to lifting her in and out again.

In addition, she's sore most nights in her back, gluteal and shoulder muscles...but not always in the same muscle groups from night to night. So, is it the discomfort in her back that's causing the crooked sits? I seriously don't know. 

Anyone have any suggestions?

Holly's funky sit

I'm hoping that as I continue her PT and exercise, her whole right side will get stronger and she’ll compensate with other parts of her body less and less. 

At this point, my primary concern with her recovery isn’t the surgical knee...it’s the other knee. I’m worried that with all the time she’s spent (and continues to spend) over-using her left leg, that it will increase the possibility that she will end up tearing the left ACL. I don't think either of us could go through ACL surgery again AND retain our sanity.

So what am I doing with her and what is she allowed to do? Even though she’s 4 months post surgery, I believe that it’s really important I continue to monitor her activity until she’s 100% fit again...how ever long that takes. I want to prevent jumping, tight turns and spins and generally leaping around like an idiot (which she's really good at), but still increase her fitness level. It is not an easy balancing act.

Massage: I'm doing my best at massaging her sore muscles 3x per week, but she doesn't really care for having hands on her body like that.

Chiro and Acupuncture: we were going every 2-3 weeks, but we bumped it to every 4-6 weeks to see how she does.

Walking: we do lots of on-leash walking...2+ hours a day on all kinds of surfaces and on hills. Unfortunately after spending the better part of the last 9 months on a leash, her recall pretty much sucks. So letting her off leash without the worry of her going bonkers, taking off or overtaxing herself is a problem.

Running: she can run free in the yard and flat running zoomies are okay as long as she’s warmed up and it doesn’t last too long. I still will not allow her to wrestle with other dogs, that’ll have to wait at least another month. I want to increase her stamina and overall fitness, but prevent tight turns and twisting of the knee.

Physical Therapy: she still does therapy exercises nearly every night for about 15 min. I vary her exercises from day to day, and skip them on days that she’s had more than enough regular exercise.

Treibball: I'm finally allowing her to play Treibball again. Just 5-10 min at a time with mostly practicing her out runs, moving from place to place without pushing a ball, and driving the ball directly to me (she tends to push to her left).

Brain Games: we're still playing with tricks, but not the more physical ones we used to do, like teaching her a handstand. Although since Danee arrived I haven't attempted to teach Holly anything new...I'll have to work on that.

Agility: No agility, and I'm not sure I'll ever let her go back to it. And if I do, it won't be until she can show me she's no longer shifting her weight off the surgical leg.

Onto some good news...it's SPRING! Now that the valley snow is finally gone, I'm loving all the new places I can take the dogs for walks again. And I'm loving all the signs of spring I'm seeing :)

Trumpeter Swans

Bighorn Sheep ewes and last years lambs

Beautiful spring buds

The Pissed off Easter Bunny and her Uncooperative Friend

I really need to work on Danee's Stay.

Gettin' in the Groove

It's been almost a month since Danee's arrival and we're all starting to get in the groove with each other. Danee is finally starting to relax in the house...finding it easy to pick a place to take a nap instead of wandering around in circles waiting to be told where to lay down.

She's gotten the hang of mealtimes and going outside without me in the fenced yard to potty at night. She's also getting used to not being allowed to lie on the back of the couch (I do not care to have my own personal gargoyle) nor lay across my lap every time I sit down. I love having her snuggle next to me, but my lap is reserved for the cats.

Holly and Danee continue to get along famously. Frankly, I'm a bit shocked at this. Never have I seen Holly take so well to another dog before. Holly is a very non-social girl...loving to play with a select friend or two, but never wanting to share her space with them for any length of time. She wasn't this relaxed around Casey, whom she lived with for 3 years. But she remains relaxed and shockingly tolerant of Danee.

I'm sure Danee's small size has something to do with Holly's level of comfort. Not to mention Danee's hardly a credit to Jack Russells everywhere...she's far too mellow :)

Danee is an excellent traveler, crates comfortably and without complaint, and is happy to take a nap when there is nothing to do. She's also learning to play with toys. I'm not sure she'd ever seen a squeaky toy before, but she sure has discovered that they need to be killed. In fact, I now have to keep toys locked up when we are not playing because she's also discovered that she is a 'real' terrier and she must take their hearts out.

As far as formal training goes, it will be a bit before she learns what it means to offer a behavior. She's gone through life waiting to be told what to do, so it'll be a bit before she learns to use her brain for herself. Meanwhile, I'm working on her accepting me touching her with the clicker...which in a way is shaping the behavior I want. Her former owner picked her up all the time, despite the fact that she hates it...really hates it. When she first arrived, every time you'd reach for her she'd expect you to grab her collar or grab her body...so either she'd run backwards or go completely rigid. So far retraining that is going really well and she's learning fast that I do not want to pick her up. And unless it's an emergency, I won't. Treating her like she's an 80lb dog, instead of a 12lb dog, is working well.

Walks are a challenge for all of us though. She is learning how to walk on a leash next to a much larger dog who has a much larger stride. Holly's learning that walking all over Danee and 'accidentally' peeing on her is NOT cool. And I'm learning how to keep everyone moving in the right direction...together.

It'll be much more fun when Holly can be off leash for a hike again. I'll have a post on her progress soon.

And although I don't have any pictures or videos of it, Danee's turning out to be quite the natural at agility. Who knew? Last weekend I took her to my agility clubs regular practice. I wanted mostly to just socialize her with being around strange people and strange dogs. Much to my surprise, she took it all in stride. She was so comfortable that in between other peoples practice runs, I took her out for 2 minutes of play around some of the jumps and a tunnel. Before I knew it, she practically did 1/2 a jumpers course without batting an eye. Sequencing 3-4 jumps in a row...no problem. Run with you...yup, got it. Slow down, speed up, take the tunnel...all done with her tail wagging like a nutter and clearly wanting more. I think she's going to be fun :)

Wordless Wednesday: A Good Scratch

A Tale of a Tail

My beautiful Casey. It's been just over 6 months since she died. Feels like yesterday sometimes. She is missed beyond words. So instead of ruminating on how much I miss her, I'll tell my favorite "Casey Story" of all time: "How Casey Lost Her Tail"

As a young dog, Casey had THE most gorgeous tail ever...or so we all remember. It was overly long, thick and full of flamboyance.

One season, our local, and very abundant, red fox population had a massive mange outbreak...and of course Casey was unlucky enough to contract it with them. She frequently visited the foxes rendezvous and den sites...peeing on things and probably rolling in things she shouldn't.

The mange itself was quickly and easily treated. But then again, nothing was really "easy" about living with Casey. So in a very "Casey-like" move, one night she swiftly and efficiently chewed all the hair off of her once beautiful tail.

Nice. Nice and ugly. And not only ugly, but raw, scabby, and refusing to heal. The mange itself wasn't the problem...the mites were gone and the only part of her body that was still showing signs that she'd even had mange was her tail. And this was because she kept wagging her tail and whacking it on the walls and tables, which was preventing it from healing properly. We worked with the vet and tried everything we could think of. But how do get your dog to NOT wag her tail, short of tying it to her body? Trust me, we considered it.

It wasn't looking good. We even talked about maybe needing to dock her tail if we couldn't get her to stop beating it up constantly. She must have heard us talking.

My parents came home one day, and, as usual, Casey excitedly greeted them at the door. Except THIS time she excitedly greeted them while also spurting copious amounts of blood from the stump that used to be her long gorgeous tail. What the hell??!!

If you hear my dad tell the story, he thought people had been killed inside the house and Casey was the sole survivor of some horrible murder...the house looked like the Manson Family Massacre had occurred. In fact, a massacre DID occur there...Casey massacred her own tail.

There was blood everywhere...on the walls, on the floors, and a HUGE pool of blood in the living room. And she kept spurting blood as she wiggled her butt and wagged what was left of her tail...spraying blood from the living room, through the hallway and straight into the garage...greeting my parents while acting quite proud of herself. With the sheer volume of blood they found, they were certain she was going to die of blood-loss, or at least go in shock. My dad hurried her into her crate and rushed her off to the vet, where she confirmed that, yes indeed, Casey chewed her own tail off. And if that wasn't bad enough, no one could find her tail. Yes...that's right...Casey ATE her own tail. Maybe she was just getting rid of the evidence?

The vet stabilized her and the next day finished the job Casey started...docking her tail at a more appropriate length. Her gorgeous tail was no more and from that day forth she was destined to do butt wiggles instead of full body tail wags.

In her 14 years, Casey had many such stories...some horror, some hilarity, some just down-right stupid. She wasn't always the easiest dog to live with, but she left me a huge book of stories to always remember her by. Good girl :)

Wordless Wednesday: Yoga

Black and White Sunday: Morning Coffee with Kettle

Somehow morning coffee isn't complete (or apparently possible) without a cat in your lap.

Zoom Zoom

I'm glad we had such a gorgeous pre-spring day yesterday, because today it's pouring rain.

 

 

Reintroducing...

It's been a week full of crazy here, but I guess I should take a moment to reintroduce Danee...formally known as Sasha. She's the new addition to my home and doing pretty well so far. She's a 5-yr old Jack Russell Terrier, and a pretty mellow girl considering what I've heard about terriers. I will admit that I didn't want a second dog just now...and actually, I still don't. But Danee needs a home and I just can't see turning her away unless she doesn't fit in here. Can you say "sucker"?

So why the name change? Well, while Sasha is a perfectly lovely name, I felt that it didn't suit her at all. I thought of many new possible names, but have so far settled on Danee. It's a weird spelling I know, but I wanted to distinguish her as a girl instead of using the traditional spelling of "Danny" that's commonly a boys name.

Everything is going pretty smoothly so far...especially today. It's much quieter and calmer in the house today...and K if you're reading this, you now know why is quieter here! Just look at the crazed, wild-eyed terrier on the left...that's Vanna, the other dog that came when I took in Danee. The calm looking one on the right? That's Danee. The difference between them is like night and day.

Vanna is super sweet and a hell of a great snuggler. But her energy level, which is stuck at Mach 4 at all times, just isn't right for me. It's really not the kind of thing I enjoy in a dog. So, while I was happy to foster her for a time, I was also happy to see her go somewhere else.

And go she did...yesterday I transported Vanna to meet her new family. They seemed pretty happy as they drove away to start their new life with their very first terrier. Good Luck K and L!

I thought the lack of Vanna might upset Danee. Uh, no. Honestly, I think the girl was relieved. After I handed Vanna off to her new family, Danee laid down in the crate (probably thrilled not to have Vanna walking all over her for once) and took a relaxing nap in the sun...all the way back home.

Today I've kept it quiet. I introduced Danee to her first stuffed Kong this afternoon. We took a couple of walks and had a friend with her dogs stop by for play time (Danee knows them well from her former life as Sasha). The rest of the week will pretty much look like that. She needs quality 'settle in time' before I start asking anything from her. Don't get me wrong, she has loads that she needs to learn...no rushing through open doors, learning to settle on a bed, no cat chasing, no begging, no face licking (that rule starts immediately...yuck!). Ya know, basic stuff. After that, we'll see how things land.

My primary task is seeing that Danee and Holly get along, and have ample time to get to know each other. If things don't work out in that department (but it looks like they will), then Danee will continue on to a new home. I don't think it would be fair to ask either dog to stay in a home where they are stressed all the time, not when a stress-free and happy home can work out better. But as I said, I think things will be okay between the two of them...they certainly had a grand time playing a short game of "chase me" in they yard last night :)

I'll get more pictures I promise...and better ones too!

Holly will also start back up with treibball training this week. The snow finally gone from the yard and she can finally do some actual running. Whoop! The girl is finally getting stronger!

And here's a bad picture of Kya...because she felt that I needed her help with my post (and because she wanted my hot cocoa).

Fostering

I've got two new dogs in the house. Let me introduce Sasha, the 5 yr old Jack Russell Terrier...and Savannah, the 1 yr old Rat Terrier.

Let me explain. Sasha and Savannah came from the same home. Their loving owners could no longer keep them due to medical issues. They used to be my neighbors back when they had just Sasha, and last week they called me to ask if I would take one of the dogs. I was shocked...I knew how m uch they loved their dogs. I soon found out their sad story, and also discovered that they thought they would have to give up both dogs to the local shelter since they couldn't find homes for either of them. Fortunately, my state has an awesome dog community. I reached out online, and within a few days found a new home for Savannah...next weekend she's going to an agility home to a great couple I already know. And I decided to keep Sasha.

They say that the best dogs find you, you don't find them...that was certainly true with Casey. So while I had no intention of adopting a second dog so soon after Casey died, here I already find myself with a new dog...and a terrier-ist too! Fate sometimes has it's own way of doing things. Three years ago, shortly after I adopted Holly, Sasha came for a week-long visit. She "fit" right in and adapted to our routine very easily. She did great with both cats, and I was truly sorry to see her go home. Funny. I think somehow this was meant to be. I have no idea if she will ever compete in agility with me, but I will certainly enjoy teaching her all kinds of new things either way.

So stay tuned...new stories seem to be unfolding every day around here!

TTA surgery 12 weeks

Phew! What a busy week it's been. We had an awesome visit with our regular vet. She worked on Holly's back and sacrum, and she was in great shape...her Sacrum showed practically no pain! She loved her acupuncture, falling asleep again.

And then there was more driving...fortunately the views are always amazing.

And then there was more waiting for appointments...

We had a great appointment with the surgeon and he gave me the news I was hoping for...her x-rays showed that the knee is finally healed. Whoop! We also took more x-rays of her spine to look for more spondylosis, and of course we found it in 2 more places. So we go into management mode for that and continue to work on increasing her core strength...that is what will keep her comfortable for the longest amount of time. Fortunately for Holly, she's quite the athlete, so exercise is what she relishes.

Had yet another great visit with the PT next. She went over Holly's entire body and the only places she found Holly was sore was in her shoulders and in her left gluteal muscles. But it appears she's just tight and overworked in those places from all the weeks she's spent compensating and shifting her weight there. I'll continue with massage and work harder in those areas for the next month.

In all, Holly's healed. At this point forward I continue to work at increasing her strength, balance and fitness...but still slowly, since she can always hurt herself in another way since she's so out of shape.

I also enjoyed an awesome visit from my best friend, whom I haven't seen in over 2 years! She pulled off an amazing feat of travel and was able to visit for 4 days. We had a great time hanging out and catching up. She had never met Holly or Kettle before, and we cried together that she did not get to visit with Casey one more time. She knew Casey from day one...she was my roommate in college when Casey showed up on my doorstep one day. We also celebrated her upcoming birthday...and oh my, these cupcakes were good!

And I have one more piece of news...my house is about to get fuller by one more. But we'll save that post for later ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Acupuncture

Rituals and Tradition

At least once a month Casey and I would visit the drive thru at McDonalds, a ritual that became tradition for just the two of us. I'd purchase her a plain hamburger, myself a plain cheeseburger and small fries for both of us. Then we'd head to Casey's favorite town park and enjoy our snack. Truth be told, I think she ate as much of my burger as she did her own, and probably most of the fries too.

Late last August when Casey was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, I knew her time with me was suddenly going to be short. She quickly lost her luster for eating, so I abandoned all pretenses of 'regular' food with her, and bought or created anything that she might enjoy...meatloaf, steak, fish...she got anything and everything...including many, many, many more trips to McDonalds.

And every night we'd make a trip into town to McDonalds for dinner. Most nights she'd eat at least one burger, sometimes two. Sadly her cancer progressed very quickly. Just 2 weeks after diagnosis, she refused any and all food, including her beloved burgers and fries on our last trips to McDonalds together.

So, in memory of Casey...my 4-legged heart and soul...Holly and I continue the McDonalds tradition. Once a month, usually on the anniversary of Casey's passing, we visit the McDonalds drive thru, then head to Casey's favorite park.

 

"Why?" you ask?

Okay, so maybe you didn't ask. But since we're on the subject...photographs and documenting the lives of my 4-legged friends...that's why I decided to do this blog.

I'm such a techno dinosaur...I don't have a TV, I listen to talk radio, I don't have a smart phone, I don't text, I don't do Facebook...and I like it that way. I only have one regret about being techno oldie...I didn't have a camera. And my biggest regret about that is not having more visual memories of Casey's last year with me.

But this year, I have a camera (hooray!). So I don't want to miss this opportunity to create visual memories of Holly, Kya and Kettle because I forgot to actually take pictures.

This blog site was originally created for the agility club I belong to...the Huckleberry Hounds Agility Club, hence the name. But, then we got this nice new website, and after that the blog remained blank.

Since the club no longer needed the blog, I decided to start using it for myself. I wanted a way that would make myself be accountable for remembering to take pictures of my furry friends. So far I feel pretty successful...and I'm having fun with the new camera.

I am definitely not a great writer, and I've never really had a knack for taking good pictures either. But, the more I do this, the more I'll learn, and the better I'll get. Besides, actually taking the pictures is what I'm trying to do...and if I get some good ones along the way, then that's just bonus. And of course once Holly's limbs are all healthy again, I'll start posting some of our treibball, agility and trick training fun. I know SHE can't wait for all  that to begin again. 

Not Really Wordless Wednesday

When you choose to sleep like this...it's no wonder your back hurts so often. What a weird dog. She's using my desk as a pillow, and she's sound asleep!