Auggie’s waggy tail
Auggie has many tail wags. There’s the full-on crazy dog wag, the “HAHA I AM SOOOO HILARIOUS” wag, a tentative wag when he’s trying to suss out if another dog is game for playing or not, the “okay, let’s play!” wag, the “OMG HI I MISSED YOU YOU HAVE BEEN GONE FOREEEEVER” wag I get when I first get home, the “I know I’m cute, are you going to just stand there, or are you going to pet me?” wag for strangers, the “ahh yes, now you’re petting me” wag for strangers…
I think my favourite, though, is the smaller wag. Maybe you could call it the “contented” wag. It’s the wag I get when I reach down to pet him. It’s the wag I get when he looks up at me with his eyes all big, and his tail goes. It’s the wag I get if he’s across the room and I say his name. Just a little, not a lot. Sometimes it may only wag a few times. Sometimes it wags and wags and wags. It’s not big and crazy and fast, but back and forth and even a little slow, quiet-like, almost thoughtful.
Yeah… that’s my favourite wag.
I’d like to train him to wag his tail on command, but I bet it would end up being the CRAZY DOG wag instead of this wag.
Christmas photos… at Thanksgiving
I know, I know, but when else am I supposed to do this? I have a whole THREE days in a row off now and won’t get another chance until Christmas Eve. I’m making the best of my time today.
I bought these GIANT ornaments years and years ago super cheap on Clearance for the express purpose of using them for photos with my dog. Yes, I am ridiculous, you don’t have to tell me. But look at these first and then tell me if you disagree with my decision.
And, since everybody has this totally incorrect image that my dog is sweet and adorable ALL THE TIME…
Obedience Trial Fail
I told everybody after the fact that Auggie added yet another BD leg today.
Except the only problem is that BD is not actually an AKC title… and it just means BAD DOG.
What a BRAT. The first day, I’m told his heel was wonderful, to which I replied “Except for that time he was ON THE WRONG SIDE.” I took a right turn and he decided to skirt around and was on my right side instead. Of course I was halfway across the ring before I realized. And there was a halt in the middle there and I stopped and he sat like three feet from me. When we got to the other side of the ring and did an about turn, I told him “HEEL” again and he got back where he needed to be. I don’t know how he got on the wrong side. They told me he was watching me the entire time but I think he must have taken his eyes off me when I turned and that’s how he ended up on the wrong side.
But he totally blew it with the stand for exam. For one thing, I stood him and said “ST-” and before I could get out “-AY” he was sitting down. $%&&(%@*%. So I stood him up again and this time he stayed standing. When the judge touched his head he was fine, but when she went for his back, he danced over to the side. And when I went back towards him, he was dancing in a circle or something. I could have killed him.
And then of course I went in for the group sits and downs which was a complete waste of time anyway since we already NQ’d, and he was doing fine with his sit-stay until the dog next to him got up and started wandering the ring. He got up and FOLLOWED her, nose glued to her butt. ($&@*(*($&@&$@ HORNBALL!! Sooooo we didn’t even get to see how many times he might have rolled over in the down-stays.
Ugh.
The second day, he wanted to greet the judge for the SFE. Stupid stupid stupid overly friendly dog! At least he stood still when I walked back to him this time instead of doing a stupid circle dance.
Also Auggie thinks calling to front and then going to finish is stupid and he would rather just do it all the first time. Which is ANNOYING because I NEVER call him to heel position, it’s ALWAYS to front. Dumb dog has the game figured out and wants to play by his own rules.
He checked out on me two seconds before the long sit was done. He literally got up and the judge said “return to your dogs” immediately after. AAAAAUGH. So again, we didn’t get to find out if he was indeed going to start rolling over during the long downs.
At least the judge the second day thought we were funny. At once point during the heel free, I stopped and Auggie sat, and the judge said “forward.” I started forward… Auggie did not. I looked over my shoulder and said to him, “So, are you coming, or not?” And he leapt up and ran after me back into heel. He did a few other snotty things and after the call to front fiasco and I put Auggie’s lead back on, I was laughing at my little brat and told him he was such a bad dog, and the judge said “no, no! I like you!” I suppose a comedy act like Auggie and I is probably rare in obedience. As long as a judge has a sense of humor I always seem to make them laugh… too bad there’s no award for Best Comedy Act. Kinda like at an agility trial I was at where I would have taken first for Loudest Handler.
I honestly can’t decide if Auggie thinks this game is stupid and I should call it quits. I wonder if part of the problem is we’re at the same site we’ve done agility at for years. We pull in and he flips out thinking we get to play agility, and then we go do a one minute sit stay instead. If I were Auggie, I’d feel ripped off, too. He apparently does well at heeling off lead (though he’s definitely not as tight as I’d prefer) so I’m thinking next time I get the chance to do obedience, I will also enter the next level up in rally. At least that part of it he seems to enjoy. It’s this whole “standing still” and “don’t move” nonsense he has a problem with.
five year old auggie
now, on the day I was born
the nurses all gathered ’round
and they gazed in wild wonder
at the joy they had found
the head nurse spoke up
said leave this one alone
she could tell right away
that I was bad to the bone
bad to the bone
bad to the bone
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
bad to the bone
I broke a thousand hearts
before I met you
I’ll break a thousand more baby
before I am through
I wanna be yours pretty baby
yours and yours alone
I’m here to tell ya honey
that I’m bad to the bone
bad to the bone
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
bad to the bone
I make a rich woman beg
and I’ll make a good woman steal
I’ll make an old woman blush
and I’ll make a young girl squeal
I wanna be yours pretty baby
yours and yours alone
I’m here to tell ya honey
that I’m bad to the bone
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
bad to the bone
now when I walk the streets
kings and queens step aside
every woman I meet
they all stay satisfied
I wanna tell ya pretty baby
what I see I make my own
and I’m here to tell you honey
that I’m bad to the bone
bad to the bone
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
b-b-b-b-bad
whoo, BAD TO THE BONE.
Auggie is five years old today, still a huge brat, and tells me he’s nowhere near being done yet. Happy birthday little monster.
Fun with Twist N Treat
I keep meaning to sit down and record a video where I go through the various treat-dispensing toys I have for Auggie and give a review on them. This morning, when I fed Auggie his breakfast, I went ahead and got out a couple of them I don’t normally use to try them again so I’ll have my thoughts on them fresh in my mind. After I played with a couple of them, I put the rest of Auggie’s breakfast into the twist ‘n treat and gave it to him.
He’s pushing it around the kitchen and then pushes it in here, and then over towards the stairs. “Auggie, don’t throw that down the stairs,” I tell him. He pushes it back in here for a little bit, and then a couple minutes later he’s back over by the stairs.
“Auggie…” I tell him.
Then I hear “thunk, THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK” as the twist ‘n treat has now been tossed down the stairs.
“AUGGIE, I TOLD YOU NOT TO THROW THAT DOWN THE STAIRS!”
Go downstairs, get the twist n treat, and bring it back upstairs (and SHUT DOOR to basement stairs.) A minute later he BARKS. WHAT? It’s EMPTY, that’s what, and he’s complaining that it’s empty. Are you kidding me?? He’s never complained when his food is gone before. My mom pointed out he probably wanted his green beans, so I got those out and stuck them in the twist ‘n treat and gave it back to him.
About ten minutes later, BARK again. What now?? It’s empty AGAIN, that’s what!
Today is apparently Supreme Brat Day.
Auggie in the blankies
There’s a photo I took of Kota when I was in photo 101:
(This is a scan of the print, so it doesn’t look the best, but you get the idea.)
I love this photo so much it’s actually matted, framed, and hanging on the wall in my bedroom, something I don’t normally do with my own art. Auggie was playing on my bed this morning and I thought I’d take a shot at re-creating it with him…
Nnnnot quite. I do wish this was in focus better, because it’s kind of cute.
Closer – but I thought Auggie looked sort of weird without his ears showing, so I tried a different approach.
Tee hee hee no.
Cute, but STILL not quite right… so I went back in the original direction, and… we got the winning shot.
Not exactly the same, but I feel like this one is the same idea but with Auggie’s own personality working for it. And also it’s adorable.
And… is it just me, or does Auggie look like he’s going gray in the face already?? Where is my baby dog? He seems to be missing.
And we lived beneath the waves…
iiiiin our yellow submarine!
WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE
YELLOW SUBMARINE
YELLOW SUBMARINE
Auggie wonders why I hate him. Ohhhh Auggie, you give me so many reasons why…
Apologies for the crappy pics, they’re from the P&S. He’s staring at the floor or the wall because the flash was on to try and get enough light for clear pics and he was trying to catch the flash. I found this at Target on clearance for $2.50 and I just couldn’t come up with a single reason not to buy it. Auggie has a few reasons why not, but he wasn’t there to vote because dogs can’t shop at Target.
Also AUGGIE LIKES SODA YEAH
LOTS OF SODA
He dragged that bottle around for like an hour. It was awesome.
Auggie is a shark
*JAWS music*
This look of Utter Contempt brought to you by… Pepper! Or the flash on the camera. Either or.
I don’t think you can see the tail in any of these. It didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted but I don’t have the knitting knowledge to have shaped it the way I really wanted. I took him to a costume contest yesterday (it was billed as a “parade” so I thought we’d all get to go on a little walkie parade with our dogs, but all they did was hold a contest and we left… bo-ring!) and people knew he was a shark at least. Though one woman said “Shark. Right? No, dolphin?” No, you were right the first time!
Apparently Auggie preferred being a dinosaur. Or I need to get some better pics of the costume. Perhaps both.