Payton has a WHALE of a birthday
Somehow Payton has made it to four years old. Over four years, he has only managed ONE emergency vet visit (for a ruptured ear drum, probably started by an allergic reaction of some kind), he has NOT broken any bones, torn any muscles, needed any surgeries, and I believe I have only had to induce vomiting on him one time… and that was just a few weeks ago. Compared to Auggie, and compared to the kamikaze dog Payton actually is, this is really a bloody miracle.
We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and I pictured Payton at four very differently, but here we are, and although I would much prefer things to be in a very different place, we still manage to have a lot of fun together. He is an excellent running and hiking buddy. He learned how to do a foot stall, which I never thought he would be able to do. He is very good at cuddling. And he’s pretty cute, too.
I guess I’ll keep him another year.
Group photo! And yes I made these hats. I’m starting to think I have very few reasons to ever get store-bought hats again.
I wasn’t going to make him wear the glasses, I was only joking, but my mom said I had to get them. This is Grandma’s fault then, Payton, not mine.
Want cake. Wait for cake.
Really really want cake.
I took a photo of them together BEFORE Auggie got cake on his face but Payton wasn’t wearing his hat, so I had to do it again after Auggie got his cake.
Thaaank you Auggie.
Auggie is somehow always the star of the show, even when it isn’t his birthday. Because Auggie.
Brother and sister!
Georgie hates having to sit and wait. HATES. What you don’t see is there is cake on the floor in every one of these photos and they are each having to wait for their photo before getting released to the cake. Georgie says this is LITERALLY THE WORST.
Birthday whale toy!! and an icing face.
Posing with his new whale toy… and really wishing I would give him some more cake.
Sheltie Egg Hunt 2015
Getting ready to hunt… Auggie is like I AM 100% FOCUSED LET’S DO THIS THING
Georgie found the easy one I set right by the deck.
Auggie ran straight past it to grab one in the yard.
And then off into the rest of the yard for another.
Georgie is very methodical, snagging the second one right near her first.
Meanwhile Payton grabbed one and started proinking around with it, then dropped it.
OH NOES EGGY
I GOT IT AGAIN
THEN DROPPED IT AGAIN
Auggie meanwhile is all bing-bang-boom findin’ all the eggs
Payton again dropped his first egg and found another.
Georgie is busy trying to snag as many as she can.
Payton lost the yellow egg to Georgie, did a lap, and came back to his pink egg… while Pepper in the front…
…is maybe finally figuring this game out.
Chomp…
Choooomp?
SHE GOT IT!
Then she found another!
LOOK GUYS SHE CAN DO IT.
I MEAN SHE TOTALLY UNDERSTANDS THE GAME. AT LAST. OMG.
She is having a hell of a time actually getting them open though.
Then she found this one, which I was really impressed with because she had to jump up in the wagon to get it.
Georgie came running over to try and steal it. Georgie was VERY good at stealing eggs from the other dogs…
My mom had to help out. “No, this is PEPPER’S egg.”
She kept workin’ on it…
and got it!
Payton accidentally broke one of his egg-balls and discovered the cookie inside so he’s making an attempt here.
LOOK he figured it out.
Okay so I tried to line everybody up for a group photo, and Payton… well… Payton. So here’s the group photo.
Miss Pepper who got THREE eggs this year!! THREE!!
So very proud of herself.
Auggie is all “I’m old and exhausted, this is tough work.”
Auggie got nine eggs this year. He would have had more if I counted every one he grabbed, but his old man teeth were having a bit of trouble chomping them open, and if he couldn’t get it open he just dropped it and buzzed on to the next.
Payton with his THREE! I think this is exactly how many he got last time too…
Georgie is the WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER this year with TEN eggs. She only really won because a) previously mentioned no-counts for Auggie and b) she kept stealing eggs from everybody else.
I cheat, I still win, who cares, haha.
Happy winning baby dog.
A Very Sheltie Christmas 2014
We started at my house, in front of my tree.
My baseboard is actually not installed yet, I just set it there… hence the gap. Yeah…
Oh look Peppy is happy.
Perfect Auggie first.
I really need to teach my dogs how to smile on cue.
Perfection. Best Auggie.
Oh yay! Now he will smile.
Payton next and he looks SO unhappy.
No smiles…
but he’s pretty cute.
Eeeeeeeee.
Then there’s Pepper, who also looks sad, but that’s normal for her.
Whomp.
Oh yay!! It’s Christmastime!
No, whomp again.
Family photo with just ooooone happy dog… perfect Auggie.
Then back to my parent’s house for a +1 family photo.
Happy Pepper again!
Payton knows a Christmas secret… WINK.
Peppy loves her brudder. Auggie is like “if I close my eyes and wish really hard, when I open them, I will be an only dog again…”
“…no… they’re still here.”
JK JK Auggie likes Pepper too. Mostly.
Everybody looks SO SERIOUS.
Miss Georgie. I tried to carefully position her so you cannot see the absolute hack job the vets did to her hair when she was spayed.
Crap you can totally see it here.
Also I wish I had done her feet before these photos… why it’s my responsibility to trim her nails and groom her feet, I do not know, but it is… sigh.
Auggie single!
CHRISTMAS OVER-ACHIEVER
Payton single.
Still no smiles…
but still pretty cute.
MORE CHRISTMAS OVER-ACHIEVER. Practicing for footstalls.
Saaaad Pepper single.
I wasn’t trying to be artsy here, I think I was just falling over. Unfortunately I was not drunk.
Then we opened presents. After clearing out under the tree, Auggie went to his favorite spot.
Best little Christmas dog…
Georgie got to open her present.
Auggie had one of these warthogs when he was younger and it was my dad’s favorite toy to use when they played, so I bought one for Georgie.
I also found this GoDog platypus so I bought her one, hopefully it will hold up to her destruction!
Warthog and platypus! She really didn’t care much for the platypus, the warthog had so many things to chew on.
Then Auggie opens his.
Kong Christmas squeaker balls!
Also this bag of treats is really great.
Pepper… um… well she was afraid of her stuffed toy so she wouldn’t open hers. Poor Drizzle.
Payton was confused. “I can smell the treats, but I can’t SEE the treats… what is this sorcery??”
“Oh there they are.”
Looking positively unexcited about his toy, but I swear he enjoys it. Yesterday he kept grabbing it and running around the room with it while wagging all over.
Then we went to bed until the next day, when we had…
STOCKINGS!
Auggie cared about little else in the stocking except the bully stick.
A lame picture of Pepper getting in her stocking… she actually had gotten sick all over the living room on Christmas Eve so I was trying to NOT let her really get much of the bully stick, but I did want her to be able to snack a teensy bit on it… poor thing.
No bully stick for sick Peppy-drizzles. But she does get a platypus of her own and some dog treats.
Payton also cares about not much but that bully stick.
He got his very own green squishy ball so he can stop stealing Auggie’s.
Festive Driz!
Oh no, a bow on a Payton. Behold the bully stick face.
And Auggie has no such time for this foolishness because he has a bully stick under the tree, thank you very much. I think this must be Auggie’s ultimate happy place actually.
Sheltie Secret Santa 2014
This year my finances were back in order to be able to participate in a Secret Santa swap. We have such fun doing this every year, but this year my Secret Santa did an AMAZING job. Everything is perfect and spot on for all the dogs, which is especially a surprise with Pepper, who is not really much for toys or playing, but absolutely loves her gift-toy so much it really had me tearing up and about to cry with the joy she was displaying over this little crinkly Cuz toy.
ANYWAY, on to the pics!
Obviously boxes are for standing on, Payton says. (I seriously had to shoo him away so I could open the darn thing.)
The pile of goodies!
You must read the card first, it’s rude otherwise.
I was super excited about these treats because I had been wanting to try them but nobody in town had any!
Auggie thinks this must also be more food.
First to open presents is Auggie since he is the oldest. He basically ripped the paper just enough to expose the tennis balls, and then began trying to rip into the netting to get them out.
OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN IT
He will stop long enough to nom this second package which is most definitely also cookies.
Yummy yummy!
NOW THROW THE BALL
Pepper next. She’s not very good at opening presents, she thought this was it. “Oh this is mine? Okay.”
“Oh you mean there’s more to it?”
“I like it.” We stopped opening presents to play with this thing for about five minutes which Payton HATED because he hadn’t gotten to open his yet.
She likes her cookie treats too.
FINALLY it is Payton’s turn.
Auggie is totally willing to help though if you need it.
It’s a tuggy loofa dog!
Instant tugging.
Seriously Auggie wants in on this.
I couldn’t get Payton to put the toy down long enough to come back for his cookies, but it’s okay, Auggie’s got it.
Auggie models the cool sheltie t-shirt that is for me!
The big haul of doggy goodies.
And this cute puppy.
First Snow of Winter 2014
One of my favorite things about my dogs is how snowflakes fall on their fur… so… yeah. And somehow Pepper became the star of this photo session. Normally she is hiding in the background or directly under my feet so I can’t get any good photos, but this time I managed more of her than the boys.
Just one of Pay to start…
Then my pretty girl showed up.
The poor photographer this weekend kept trying to get Pepper’s ears up and I was like “yeah, that’s just Pepper… it’s… that’s just Pepper.”
Ears up! But head down.
Head up, ears back down, haha. My girly.
Another nice one of P…
Meanwhile Auggie.
I mean Auggie.
Seriously he can kinda be a real jerk.
Okay ONE nice one of Auggie.
Back to the pretty Pepper.
I love her expression in this one, but the snowflakes aren’t in focus how I’d like.
Here the snowflakes are better but her expression is not as good. LOL. Oh well… they’re both rather nice.
I’m sure there will be plenty more snow pics to come. Ugh.
Auggie is 9
Auggie turned 9 on Saturday.
I’m not sure how it happened.
I somehow forgot it was his birthday when I entered the puppies. Had I been thinking, I would have entered him too, just for fun to run on his birthday. But the trial was closed by the time I realized it was his birthday. No way was I leaving him behind though, so away he went with us to the trial. I didn’t want to have to worry about bringing a cake or cupcakes with us, so I stopped at the Wal-Mart near the trial site between runs and oh did I hit the jackpot.
This lovely cake was “best by” that day so it only cost a whopping $4.50. Um, yes please! And it had orange and blue balloons on it – Illini colors for my little Augustine. The lady behind the counter was happy to write on it for me and I was happy to NOT mention it was for my dog…
We had a party in the hotel room.
Oh it is the cake.
Everybody got their own little slices…
Must wait for cakies.
Auggie first since he is the birthday boy.
Payton was really unsure if he was actually allowed to get on the table and eat his cake or not. Which is funny because when we got to the hotel Friday night, the first thing he did was jump up on the table…
Finally I convinced him it was totally allowed.
Georgie, by the way, immediately grabbed her entire piece of cake and jumped onto the floor to try and swallow it whole.
Auggie’s hat never stays in place haha.
Georgie’s empty plate while she tried to eat the cake on the floor hahaha.
Birthday boy!
Then it was present time. I didn’t go all out or anything this year, we have tons and tons of toys anyway, but I decided to order this green squishy ball since I know a few dogs on this forum really love it. (Payton is getting one for Christmas too.)
Oh a squishy.
Squishy tastes like cake.
We then proceeded to play a game of “push the ball off the couch, make mom throw it back on the couch, push the ball of the couch again.”
Aaaand then Drizzy got some cake when we got home.
Nom!
Behold the Payton sitting there like “I want more cake…” (They did actually get some more afterward.)
Happy birthday my Auggie. <3
Sheltie Halloween 2014
So I entered an agility trial over Halloween. They were having a Halloween costume and one of the categories was best duo (or group, in my case.) I decided to go as The Justice League. This lead to many many nights working on costumes for the dogs, myself, and my mom who was attending with Georgie. Lots of looking up comic book covers and artwork and trying to decide “which version of Supergirl do I want to do?” Back and forth to make sure I was creating accurate costumes, even though my mom pointed out “No one will know.” I WILL KNOW.
Auggie, of course, was The Flash.
Auggie first of course.
Because he is the bestest.
I actually have some Flash underwear I bought years ago and I wanted to use that, but I couldn’t find any matching GL underwear so I axed that entire idea. It doesn’t really “go” with the actual Flash costume, anyway.
I went back and forth on Payton a little bit as far as who he would be (technically he is supposed to be Kid Flash because he’s Auggie’s sidekick), but I felt the most logical choice was Green Lantern, since Barry Allen-Flash and Hal Jordan-GL were great friends.
I have to admit that Payton’s is actually my favourite costume. I love the way the mask fits on his face, I love the lantern “ring” on his wrist, I just love how I worked this one out. Way better than anything I could have possibly bought.
The only thing I might have changed is to bring the nose bridge further down his nose, but I think that would have ultimately given it a weird silhouette, so I’m pretty happy with it as I made it.
The mask creeped up while we were in the costume contest and I was like “OH GOD NO, THEY’LL FIND OUT YOUR SECRET IDENTITY.”
Pepper did not go to the show with us, not being a competitor, so she didn’t get a costume of her own. But I didn’t want her let out when we took photos back at home, and I happened to have this Wonder Woman costume that I bought her many years ago, so…
Drizzy is soooo regal.
Oh wait no nevermind
I really need to make a far better lasso of truth for this costume though. That one is pathetic.
I also didn’t make her tiara, I bought that at Target a year or two ago, along with the Flash one for Auggie. It also technically needs wrist bands… (my mom’s costume totally had wrist bands. But I forgot about the lasso of truth. I literally sat in bed after we won the costume contest and went OH MY GOD, I FORGOT THE LASSO OF TRUTH. Obviously nobody else cared but DANG IT)
Miss Georgie next. I could have done a few different things with her, but Wonder Woman didn’t suit her, and I was stealing the Superman slot to be Supergirl – so Georgie got to be Batgirl. Basically we went Slightly Alternate Justice League by swapping a few male characters for female counterparts, but otherwise, pretty solid.
I would have done her bat ears a little differently I think… maybe a bit more upright… but I liked the overall shape and wasn’t sure if I could get the bat ears upright and still have the shape look correct, so I let it go.
I DID make her a cape, but I didn’t like how it turned out, so I ultimately didn’t use it. I really wish it had turned out better, or I’d had more time to work on it and make a better one…
Group photo! I have no idea what’s going on with Georgie’s mask. My mom was having malfunction issues with it trying to put it on her.
My Justice League!
All winners. Except Payton. Payton sucks.
I should note that if I HAD gotten a puppy earlier this year, he would have been Aquaman. Poor guy. So it’s a good thing I didn’t get a puppy. Because who wants Aquaman on their Justice League? I mean really.
THE END and I have no idea how I will ever top this. Avengers???
Pepper’s Sixth Birthday
My Peppy-drizzle turned SIX years old today! Holy wow! She’s a for real big girl now. In one more year I can actually start calling her “old lady.”
Middle-child got her VERY OWN trip to the pet store so we could try to pick out a toy. Pepper isn’t hugely into toys anyway so I wasn’t sure if we would find anything. She was horrified by the sliding door when we got there, had no clue what to make of the piles of dog food surrounding her, was slightly interested in the “self-serve” bar of treats, and kept jumping on me to remind me she was there in case I might accidentally leave her behind. We did actually find a nice little toy I thought would be okay, so we bought it, the cashier gave me a piece of chicken jerky to give her (I told him I doubt he would take it directly from him), and then when we left, she tried to make a mad dash out of the store and ran head-first into the sliding glass door before it opened.
*facepalm*
ANYWAY.
Pepper told me she did not want another princess party, did not want a Disney Princess party (not even Frozen which is all the rage right now), did not want a hot pink zebra-stripe party, but she DID want a unicorn party. OMG why is it so hard to find unicorn horns for kids to put on their heads? So once again I bought scrapbook paper and had to DIY.
Payton’s opinion on this whole unicorn party thing.
JK JK he’s actually okay with it so long as we make with the cupcakes. (Meanwhile now Georgie is giving me a bit of a stink-eye because she tried to lay down and I was like “no we are sitting right now.”)
Happy birthday Pepper!!
Yeah she totally did not wait long enough and nommed her cupcake before I was actually ready. She is my worst behaved little girl…
Then she got frosting on her whiskers.
Then I put more on her nose and made her pose that way because.
Auggie next since he is the oldest non-birthday child. He has cake on his eyebrow here because I had to reposition his unicorn horn. Also FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T LOOK AT HIS FEET I SWEAR I GROOM MY DOGS. LOOK AT THE OTHER THREE. SEE? I SWEAR.
Unicorn horns don’t stay on very well for excited cupcake eating.
P next. I unfortunately missed the long string of drool that dripped down from his chin as soon as I set his cupcake down. (You’re welcome.) He’s got a little bit of crazy eye goin’ on here. CAN WAITS.
So he REALLY wanted that cupcake guys. But he made a really good decision to wait for it. Paytons DO have self-control (sometimes.)
Cupcake nommin’!
Miss Georgie did a very nice wait too.
And I actually, for once, got a GOOD photo of her eating a cupcake!
Peppy present!! It’s… A CUPCAKE. I thought it was appropriate, hahaha, and it’s about tennis ball shaped so I thought she might actually play with it.
She likes it when it tastes like cupcake frosting, that’s for sure.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS PEPPER!! Sorry I made you go out in public to a pet store and freaked you out for your birthday.
But the cupcakes were good.
Payton’s Third Birthday
My little baby dog is no longer little, nor a baby. But he is still a dog. That’s about it. Today he turned three years old. The ideal would have been a nice long hike, just the two of us, and then a swim in the lake, but being Illinois is May, it’s currently about 43 degrees outside and raining, so that is not a thing that was going to happen today. Instead we went out to Pet Supplies Plus to redeem his birthday coupon on a bag of treats, then drove around town for a bit together, came back home where I made chicken thighs and gave him the cartilage and joints I cut off them, then we had PARTY.
But first. Yesterday I went to a few stores in town looking for some suitable party hats. I wanted football ones but couldn’t find any. I continued searching today, even willing to take plain blue ones (P’s colour) or green (I could paint them with some white and make it look like a football field.) NO SUCH LUCK. In my desperation I googled “DIY party hats.”
And this is what the crazy dog lady does for her dog’s birthday.
Not exactly orange and navy blue for perfect Bears colours, but it works.
Huzzah, group photo!
I made the football cupcake pick too, because I was going to buy some at the party store but the line was almost to the door… and I went there twice. WHAT. NO. WHAT ARE YOU ALL BUYING PARTY SUPPLIES FOR. MY DOG IS THREE AND HIS BIRTHDAY IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING. GET OUT OF MY WAY. So I left the cupcake picks at the store and just made that.
My mom took a bunch of blurry photos from a weird angle so I told her “Get down at his level.” This is apparently what she thought I meant. *facepalm* I’m going to have to start hiring a photographer for my dog’s birthdays because I can’t maneuver dogs AND take photos at the same time.
Cuppycakey for the birthday boy!!
Auggie is seriously the best boy. He wore his hat patiently, sat nicely, then happily devoured his cupcake.
I had half the cupcake in my hand to give to Pepper… and she chose to first eat the half still in the paper instead of just taking the half I had RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER NOSE. Ohhhh Pepper.
Georgie. My mom says to her “Georgie don’t be a shark. Or a gator. Or a pig. Or whatever.” It all fell on deaf ears.
Frosting face!
I don’t know WHAT happened to Pepper’s hat, it got crushed somehow while still attached to her head. But she looks happy, so!
And then we have Auggie. Oh Auggie. <3
P got a little blue sheep as his present, on top of the treats and the chicken parts and the cupcakes. Because we need more sheep toys in this house.
The end. Happy birthday baby Pay. Here's some baby Payton's in case you forgot:
That’s the bowl I later taught him to pivot on. Yep.
Sheltie Easter 2014
I realize it’s like two weeks late.
I had a horrible migraine that day – not the worst of my life, but the second worst of my life. I was heavily medicated and did pretty much nothing all day long. I forgot my Easter stuff at my house (silly me though last year “surely by next Easter we will be moved in!” and took it all over there, and I meant to bring it back on Saturday when we were done working… but I forgot it in the garage.) so I didn’t have their eggs or baskets either.
My mom ran out to the store to buy some more meds for me and found a pack of eggs for cheap there, so she brought them home so the dogs could still hunt eggs. First, we did a hunt inside where she hid all six eggs, then one at a time we let each dog find the eggs. But the lighting in this house is awful and I was still laying on the couch just watching, so no photos of that. But a few hours later, I was FINALLY feeling better, so we went outside. I didn’t really “hide” them so much as just set them down around the front of the yard, so this is officially The Worst Sheltie Easter Ever.
But I did get pics!
The shelties… one egg.
Payton manages to escape with this one.
Cookie inside!
Auggie and Pepper.
Pepper sorta kinda got into it this year since she had time to find eggs all by herself without the other dogs… but she still was like “I found one!” and then basically just sat there with it hahaha.
She wasn’t even motivated to find other cookies… maybe she thought the egg would spontaneously produce more cookies?
Auggie finding more.
Open, eat the cookie…
…find the next egg.
Auggie doesn’t play around.
Meanwhile this was happening… Payton kept running around with an egg and Georgie trying to steal it from him… NOT THE GAME, PUPPIES.
Pepper, by the way, is in the back not grabbing at an egg, but just grabbing at the ground. Because… Pepper. And meanwhile Auggie is looking around for anything still unopened.
A derp-derp!
Yeah… that’s Payton.
That’s all… not a lot. Better ones next year hopefully!
2013 Giftings and Stockings
Finally got around to going through all of these to throw out the blurry ones and edit the good ones. I realize it’s over a week late. OH WELL
We started with Georgie’s present from me.
I found this skirt at TJMaxx and thought it was too funny not to buy for her. Sorry Georgie!
I also bought a tug-a-jug for her since she doesn’t have one. Meanwhile Auggie is like “oh are we doing presents?”
When I was editing these I was like “What the heck is that??” I forgot what I gave her already. And it was just over a week ago. AND we were all playing with this toy last night…
It’s a banana and inside there are three little monkeys for her to dig out.
And a big bag of PB Zukes so she can learn how to suck less at agilities.
Auggie gets to go next except he’s already trying to go to bed. (BTW, that’s the ASSA 2012 Handbook sitting there. That’s my mom’s copy. In the book is a special dedication to Auggie’s grandpa… and also, Auggie himself. Also lots and lots and lots of relatives to all of my guys.)
Auggie’s bag of goodies!
This year I wrapped their toys for them.
I had to get him started but he was fine to rip it after this. Except then he neglected to see the toy inside and just kept trying to play with the wrapping paper…
It’s a new puppy!! Auggie has this big green puppy in his crate that he LOVES to snuggle and play with (and I HATE to play with) so I bought him this, a smaller blue puppy. This will work for fetch soooo much better.
Auggie likes his new puppy.
Yes, yes indeed. Auggie Approved.
Pepper next! She was willing to look in the bag after she watched Georgie open hers, and also, there are bags of treats in there…
Trying to get her to rip her present. Wasn’t working LOL. It was a victory just to get her to stick her head in the bag!!
Oooooh what’s that?!
It’s a bunny! A little pink bunny, just like I call my Pepper, LOL.
She likes it. <3
Payton’s turn.
He didn’t realize he needed to take the paper off and was going to just take this as his gift.
Oh it’s a football. Don’t care, bitches in season.
Meanwhile there’s also a bag with presents for all three, and Pepper is the only one who cares.
Once Payton realized there was a new stuffed sheep, suddenly he was interested.
There’s also this – it’s the sheep pen toy with three little sheep inside to dig out.
Pepper actually kinda likes this game.
There’s also this plastic vulture thing my grandma bought them.
Next, my sister’s present for them. I realize most of you probably won’t get this. For those who do get it, I apologize for your having The Water Buffalo Song stuck in your head for approximately the next three weeks, because it’s been stuck in MY head ever since Christmas Eve and I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon.
“This smells like Henri. Maybe I should pee on it.”
It’s a water buffalo!!
Auggie also got a water buffalo.
Georgie’s like “Where’s MY water buffalo? Why don’t *I* have a water buffalo?” (Again I am so sorry for those who don’t get it. And probably also those who do.)
Pepper also got a water buffalo, she got a dark brown one like Henri has in his photo since she’s my dark girl. That’s racist.
My grandma also bought them a new Wubba. Auggie wants the water buffalo and only the water buffalo.
Next, stockings on Christmas Day. Or Christmas Afternoon. It was like 1pm when we finally opened stockings because my dad was still sleeping and I was like ALL THE POKEMANS
Auggie got a new harness, I’m hoping to use this on restrained sends with him. Payton is like “For me??”
Auggie isn’t really excited about this.
Payton next!
“I don’t really care about that football, I just want the bully stick I know you have please.”
Pepper is getting the hang of this whole “stick your head in something and magic happy funtimes happen next” shtick.
This might be her first ever bully stick, I’m not sure.
She wanted NOTHING to do with the toy I put in there for her, so I unwrapped it for her. =P
Payton meanwhile had his bully stick, and Auggie was on the couch with his. And all was calm, all was bright.
Georgie’s stocking next. Unfortunately she was bleeding and had to wear her panties for this. Humiliating.
She could smell the bully stick in there and didn’t care that much about the elephant toy.
SUCCESS. I think my mom was a little offended she cared zilch for the elephant toy and only wanted the bully stick.
Finally, for those who didn’t get a copy of my Christmas card this year, this was the front:
And on the back, I wanted to do a “Christmas letter” –
And that is that. Happy Christmas belatedly to everybody.
Christmas Eve Photoshoot
First I took the dogs over to my house to get photos in front of my Christmas tree. Yes I put up my tree this year and wrapped my presents there and put them under the tree even though I’m not living there. You can’t even tell in these photos that I don’t have any baseboards.
Auggie first!
Most wonderful Auggie in the world.
I seriously will never love any dog as much as I love this one. He’s just perfection.
P next!
Very serious P.
Looking at these photos, I’m reminded of how much he REALLY looks like Auggie’s dad (and Auggie’s brother/Georgie’s dad.) As he got older he started to look less like them, but some of these photos make me go wow, he really does still look like him.
Happy P!
Back to serious P. Can’t be happy while lying down.
Pepper was wagging her tail the whole time so her tail is just a blur…
Such a happy little Pepper!
I’m sure nobody sees it but me, but she’s blowing coat because she’s about to go in season, and there are two little white tufties on her legs that I didn’t see until the photos were done… AUGH
Family photo!
The whole fam back at my parent’s house! (I brought all my presents home since we’re leaving from here to my grandma’s.) Payton is having a terrible Christmas because two bitches are in season and he can’t hump either of them.
Now everybody is having a great Christmas except Georgie. Georgie hates Christmas.
Nice family photo!
Georgie in a box!
First you take a box. Then you cut a hole in the box.
Then you put your Auggie in the box.
“Oh. I am in a box.”
Seriously he is so good. He was just like “okay, this is what we’re doing, I’ll hang out here.”
He was going to just stay in there. Doesn’t care. I’ll take a nap. Best. Auggie. Ever.
First you take a box. Then you cut a hole in the box.
Then you put your Payton in the box.
My mom was like “he’s not going to fit…” “Oh yes he will,” I said. “My puppy fits into spaces that seem entirely too small for him. He’ll fit.”
He just seems like he’s disembodied, that’s all.
But oh God he is SO cute.
First you take a box. Then you cut a hole in the box.
Then you put your Pepper in the box.
Pepper is not nearly as good at this stuff as the boys are LOL. We couldn’t get her to stay put and let us sit the top on her. She’s still cute!
Georgie solo photos.
Cute girly <3
She just won’t stay sitting so all of hers are laying down.
That’s it! Presents tonight and stockings tomorrow so more photos coming soon!
Snow Storm Shelties + Arf on the Shelf Outtakes
Runnin’!
Payton says “RUNNING’S MY FAVOURITE”
Georgie: “Oh God it’s coming!”
Peppydrizzle was out wagging her tail all over the place.
The best way to navigate the snow is to hop, really.
Payton was having trouble running… not just because it was deep but because Georgie was pulling on his tail the entire time.
NOM PAYTON
Payton is just like DERP DERP and Georgie is all BANZAI
Mr. Auggie <3
Then the snowballs started.
PAYTON
I hit her with a snowball and she was like “WHAT WAS THAT.” Sorry.
This one’s my favourite.
He also likes the snowballs <3
Georgie really wants a snowball too and also she is freezing.
Yay!
Baby dog’s tongue is INSIDE his nose. Nice, P.
SNOWBALL
This is an accurate representation of Georgie.
Pepper likes snowballs also please!
More snowballs until Georgie was visibly shivering so we all went back inside…
I really love that Pepper got into it this year. I’m so excited when she does anything other than look sad and like I beat her.
Also while out there I decided to take my Arf on the Shelf photo. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do but Auggie had a few ideas.
First he looks quite pretty.
And then.
“Auggie no!!”
“Auggie stop! Don’t eat it!”
I was trying to tell him “no, stop!” and yet it was hysterical and I kept snapping photos at the same time. Poor Francisco.
End! We can’t go anywhere at all until the plows clear us out… who knows when that will be. Yay.
Auggie Is Eight
Mom asked if he could show her on his paws “how many” he was.
“I’m this many if you count my nubby toes!”
The very bestest boy.
I told him I’d blow out the candle for him… and asked him if he wished all the other dogs would go away.
]
NOM CAKE
All the party people!!
Pepper got cake second since she is the second oldest. Pepper LIKES cake.
“I think birthdays are my new favorite.”
Payton isn’t sure about the hat.
But he IS sure about the cupcake.
“Oh I do like birthday.”
Georgie was rotten and almost lost her turn for cake. She just could NOT keep her feet on the floor. I have a blurry photo of Auggie eating cake and there’s a blurry Georgie jumping up and down vertically in the background…
One day I’m going to video her eating cake so you can HEAR what accompanies this.
This basketball toy pleases the Auggie.
Best Auggie ever.
Every year I try to do a whole “what does Auggie mean to me?” thing and there are no words for it. Words alone do not express what he means. I am thrilled to have him in my life and to have spent the last eight years with him, even if they often contained tears, frustration, and heartbreak. I would never trade Auggie for anything. And even though Payton is technically a better agility dog than Auggie, if I could only have one dog over and over for the rest of my life, it would be Auggie.
Happy birthday my little old man.
And many more.
Happy Birthday Pepper!!
It’s Pepper’s FIFTH birthday today, but her first birthday with me – so of course I wanted to have a nice party for her. I asked her months ago if she wanted a Princess Party and she wagged her tail.
Princess Party it is.
First we had a good time outside. Payton has finally decided she is no longer in season enough to warrant harassment so they were all able to be out together!
Of course it didn’t matter much because Payton was doing this.
“YAY BIRTHDAY!”
My girly <3
My girl and her brudder Auggie. She loves her Auggie.
And then there’s this one. Her real brother. Who… well she doesn’t really want to be touching him right now or anything if that’s okay.
But you can totally tell they’re related.
Then more of this happened.
Pepper with her niecelette <3
And later we were all back inside for PRINCESS PARTY!!!
Pepper got her own special birthday princess hat and everybody else had to wear tiaras.
Including the boys.
TIARAS.
Auggie is very pretty.
Geeeeeorgie. Georgie got a pink tiara, I put purple ones on the boys. Because purple is slightly more manly.
Birthday Princess!!
Oh LOLOL Payton.
Cupcake time!! (I made my mom hold the dogs while I took photos this time, after Payton’s sad birthday photos.)
Mmmmm… pink cuppycake.
“Oh I will just lick it…”
“Until I NOM.”
My dad wanted to give Payton his cupcake because Payton is so gentle and delicate.
Om nom nom.
I also decided to break Auggie’s cupcake into pieces after he swallowed his cupcake whole on Payton’s birthday.
…aaaaaand off goes Auggie’s tiara.
Georgie is super cute in her tiara.
I don’t even have to share any of Georgie’s other cupcake eating photos because this one is the best.
Pepper got a little pink bunny-ball for her birthday. For a while she didn’t play with it at all and the other dogs grabbed it… THEN she wanted to play with it. Because I think it then tasted like cupcake. Ohhhh Pepper.
Even I wore a tiara! So did my mom but she wouldn’t appreciate me sharing her photo I don’t think. My dad bailed before this happened or I would probably have made him wear a tiara too…
Happy happy birthday my best and only girl. <3
Happy Fourth of July Grooming!
I’ve needed to groom the dogs for almost a month now but kept putting it off hoping we could get my new tub at my house and I could spare my back. No such luck. So since I had today off I did The Groomings.
Mr. Payton. <3 <3
I swear I don’t abuse her. It’s just, you know. Pepper. She would NOT put her ears up which is unusual because normally if you just say “Pepper!” she puts her ears up. No go. She’s in season so has NO coat right now. I mean she is really really naked.
Georgie. I kept trying to put her back legs close together and she REFUSED to let me do it. I’d set one down and pick up the other and she’d pop the other out. I am mildly concerned about this. She also stands kinda froggy with her back legs turned out a little. She’ll be two on the 25th and her AKC reg just went through, so hopefully we’ll get her OFA’d and see what turns up.
My Auggie doggie who had the most hair to shed of everybody, and was very upset with me, because his hair has never really been a texture where fur just falls out easily… so I had to v-e-r-y carefully brush and be careful not to snag and pull too much. =< Poor guy.
UGH MY BACK
Happy Second Birthday Payton
First I tried to get some nice photos out in the yard at lunch. This is the best he wanted to give me.
Seriously?
They threatened it might rain today and for a good while it looked like it would, but I promised Payton if it didn’t rain we would take a special birthday trip to the forest…
…so he could play in the lake.
Ugh seriously don’t drink that.
He fell off the ledge where people slide their boats in and went plop into the lake. Then he kept going over to the ledge and falling off. Like six times. I think he was enjoying it.
There were some people here fishing so we stayed away from the dock except to get this one photo. He didn’t want to jump off it anyway.
Watching some people go by. Lots of folks came out to fish.
More romping in the water.
Happy puppy!
Then we went for a hike so he could dry off. He was supremely distracted and un-photogenic.
These were all taken on my cellphone anyway so it’s not like anything miraculous was going to happen.
Last shot as the sun was setting. He was a super good boy. Saw lots of runners and bikers, and I would pulled him off to the side and asked him to sit and stay while they went past, and three bikers and two runners were like “wow your dog is super well behaved. Thanks.”
Then we came home and it was time for PARTY!
Tiny cupcake for my boy who is TWO.
Photos are taken by my mom who has apparently never taken a photo before in her life. Sigh.
OMG OMG BIRTHDAY I LOVE BIRTHDAY
I nom nom nom!
Yesssss birthday is THE BEST
Pepper’s turn to get a cupcake. I love how this is the only photo where you can tell Payton is wearing his bowtie for his party.
This is seriously the best photo I have of Pepper – and it’s hysterical because of Payton’s face in the background.
Auggie would like to nom his cupcake in one bite please (and he totally did. Yikes.)
Girly Georgie actually wore her hat this year therefore she got cupcakes this year.
No photos of her eating her cupcake because it was seriously a sight to behold and one that photographs cannot convey. She was making noises like AHAUM HAUM HAUM HAUM and just ate through it like she was trying to bite her way through a paper bag.
Presents!! This is a new bottle sheep. He also got a stuffed sheep my sister bought him but that photo didn’t turn out.
A new gator toy, this one crackles AND squeaks.
And another gator for his crate – they say this has a double layer of fabric so it’s supposed to be a tough toy. We shall see…
“Oh I had the very bestest birthday ever!”
Happy birthday my little puppy baby. <3
Springy Shelties
The, uh, whatever these purple things are, those are blooming. So I took some photos.
Baby Georgie!!
She’s a pretty little (bad) girl.
Family photo. Pepper was (clearly) not cooperating much. Also I should start a new game where I keep a running tally of how many photos I take of Payton where he’s ruining the photo because he’s looking in the tree for squirrels.
Slightly less squinty Pepper… you’d think she never sees daylight or something…
Georgie refused to sit up (worst. posing. dog. ever.) so I told Payton to down to try and balance it out a bit more.
I got everybody to down actually. Auggie had to ask me like six times if I really wanted him to down THERE and not get up and come down to me (YES I mean DOWN, RIGHT THERE, NOW) and Pepper had to be lured down. And then Auggie was unhappy because I told him “now” and that’s not nice. Sigh…
Georgie and Uncle Auggie!
I would have more but my back was still acting up a bit (super super sore from the half-marathon… what??) so I didn’t want to push it taking too many photos. We are officially into nice weather now though so I think we are clear for more cute shots.
So this just happened…
My mom walked into the bathroom and said “Pepper!! Hey! Come look what your dog did!” I couldn’t figure out WHAT she had done… Pepper has started rifling through trash cans for kleenex, but I had specifically emptied the bathroom trash can so she couldn’t do that.
I walked down the hall and looked in the bathroom – and somebody had grabbed the roll of toilet paper, dragged it into the middle of the room, and had proceeded to start shredding it.
“Oh. Pepper?? No way. I bet you Payton did this.”
“Payton? But Pepper was IN HERE. And Payton doesn’t do that, does he?”
“Oh yes he does… in the basement, the toilet paper isn’t between the toilet and wall like it is in here, so he keeps trying to grab it. I bet it was Payton.” We look down at Payton. “He looks guilty to me,” I add.
“Check for evidence,” she says.
So I grab Pepper and open her mouth, look all over her gums… nothing.
Payton has not had the sense to flee yet so I open his mouth – and I don’t even have to look very hard, there’s little pieces of toilet paper ALL OVER his tongue and his teeth!
“IT WAS PAYTON!” I show my mom the toilet paper on his tongue.
“What! He was trying to frame her!”
About this time I look at Pepper and I actually see she has a piece of toilet paper stuck to her mane. “Ah!! Toilet paper!”
“So she DID do it!”
“No, I bet she just got into it after he shredded it… Payton probably taught her to do this. Payton! Did you teach Pepper how to do this?!”
We’re both looking at Payton, who looks up at me, and…
he starts WALKING BACKWARDS out of the room.
My mom starts laughing and I start laughing and I’m CRYING I’m laughing so hard because he just keeps walking backwards, looking super guilty. He gets all the way to the hall where he can’t back up anymore, stands there, and s-l-o-w-l-y lays down and puts his ears down in his “I AM SOOOO ABUSED” sad face.
Now, I DID teach Payton how to back up. But I never actually put a cue on it. And the cue was MOST CERTAINLY not “Did you teach Pepper how to do this?!”
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
I told him “I think you might ACTUALLY be the naughtiest dog in this house.”
Sheltie Easter 2013
Mercifully it did not rain as much as they said it was supposed to, so we were spared the ultra muddy conditions I was expecting for this year’s Easter egg hunt!
As usual Auggie’s all “EGGS YEAH” and everybody else is all “derp de der what are we doing?”
Big dog loves this game.
Payton has no idea how to play. “I FOUND ONE OF THESE BALL TYPE THINGS IT SMELLS LIKE FOOD YAY”
I can’t believe he’ll be two in a few months, mostly because he still acts like a big dumb puppy all the time.
Georgie found an egg!! And Payton’s egg rolling behind her.
Pepper’s all “oh hey guys what’s going on over here?” (Auggie, meanwhile, is off grabbing all the other eggs like nobody’s business. There are no photos because it’s NOBODY’S BUSINESS.)
Payton’s still playing with the same egg. Derrrrr.
Georgie got her egg open to eat the cookie! Yay!
PEPPER FOUND AN EGG! She didn’t know how to open it so I had to help her, but I was very proud of her that she picked it up at all. Then of course she tried to pick up the empty shell like =D =D. No honey… no. It’s okay.
Payton found another egg (he accidentally broke his first one open and was like “!! There’s a COOKIE in here!”)
This started another round of running around with an egg in his mouth. And Georgie has no idea how to play the game either. CHASE PAYTON
Payton discovered the mass amounts of eggs at his 2x2s and was like “wait, what?” He tried to pick up both.
Okay, one more of Auggie hunting.
He loves this game. I should probably do stuff like this more often. I think his eyesight is definitely going because he wasn’t quite as snappy at it this year…
Okay, ONE more… because I hid this orange one by the basketball and it’s appropriate for Auggie…
Payton still derping with his green egg, the other eggs by the weave poles long forgotten.
Everybody’s baskets – Georgie ended up finding THREE, beating Payton’s two (I didn’t count the weave pole one he left behind because Auggie was immediately on it, opened it, and scampered off.) and Pepper only found the one. Auggie’s basket obviously is the overflowing one. =P
Family photo with baskets!
Family photo outtake. Oh Pay.
Another family shot. Georgie was like “I’m done with this (#*!” and kept laying down. Fine, whatever.
Auggie with his basket.
Pepper’s single egg hahaha. Poor dumb girly.
Payton has no idea why he’s so excited. As per usual.
“Squirrel??” Typical Payton.
Baby girly and her three eggs!
The end. Overall it turned out to be a very nice morning to hunt eggs considering one week ago we were getting over a foot of snow dumped on us.
Big snow dump, big photo dump
This had better be the last photo dump of snow-covered shelties until we’re actually in WINTER again.
It was still coming down heavily while we were out playing. Every few minutes somebody had to shake off to prevent themselves from becoming one with the massive snowfall in the yard.
Payton is not sure what’s happening but it’s kind of fun. Or terrible. Blizzards are awesome! Or maybe the worst??
Frosted pup.
Auggie puttering around in the snow.
Georgie is frolicking. But only for a little while. It’s hard to frolick when the snow piles are almost as big as you. Kinda wears you out.
Auggie appears to think there’s something under the snow and he should immediately plunge his face into the snow to discover what’s beneath it.
Pirate Auggie McSnowBeard has made his return! Arrrrr!
See? I told you they had to keep shaking off…
Georgie and Payton are wrestling and racing.
Pepper isn’t amused by this whole thing. What is this crap? It was 60 degrees yesterday!
More chasing from Payton and Georgie…
Georgie getting Auggie in on the fun. I’m pretty sure he was running off to bark at something and she thought he was playing chase…
A very weird mid-shake photo for Payton.
“YAAAAAY!”
“IIIIII’M PAYTON!!!!”
Baby Georgie, taking a quick breather.
This is Payton.
Payton likes it when I throw snowballs at him.
Pepper wanted to get in on the snowball catching too.
Throw it throw it throw it throw it throw it throw it
Wheeeee!
The kiddos chasing snowballs.
Reaaaaadyyyyyyy…
Oh wait, now ready?
GETIT
Pretty little girl, all frosted from snow!
Auggie would also like a snowball plz.
CATCH.
He didn’t catch the second one, haha.
More from Payton – he’s having fun at least.
THROW IT
Her nails look RIDICULOUS here. I swear they aren’t that bad but she must be all grippy or something when she jumps because they look really bad.
Playing yaaaay~
First picture in which I can tell she’s related to Payton.
Playing doesn’t last very long…
HERE IS A LOVELY PHOTO OF PAYTON
I was trying to take a photo of Auggie and he came up, stuck his chin on my arm, and was like “Hi Mom throw snowball plz.”
But I still got my photo of Auggie.
The end.
It better be. >=|
Just a few of the sheltie crew…
First of all, my boys are quite proper.
QUITE proper.
Also it won’t stop snowing and being cold.
We all hate it.
Uhh… these eyes.
Seriously, what am I supposed to do with this?
For everybody who thinks they want a Payton:
This is totally normal. Expression and everything. There’s a reason he’s the gator. (And Auggie is my shark.)
The very bestest boy. <3
Snowy Shelties
I think it’s done dumping on us, but we got a decent amount of snow in a very short amount of time. I came home from work and immediately took the dogs outside. I put their coats on because it was blowing like crazy (the blowing and drifting in the country is going to be a MAJOR problem for people tonight!)
Pepper THINKS she likes this. She certainly likes to lick the snow off the ground.
This was happening.
My Auggie-man.
Pepper is… mmmmmmaybe not a fan of the blowing.
P don’t give a @#(!
Trying to get good photos of Georgie, but it was really cold and she was shivering a lot. I didn’t keep her out very long.
Too bad ’cause she’s super cute LOL.
It just. kept. snowing.
Ahhh baby Pay. I was trying to get him all crazy but whenever I’d grab a handful of snow he’d sit and wait for me to throw it… good dog I guess haha.
More Auggie <3 <3
Auggie was mad because I told him to stop barking at the sound of the salt trucks rolling around the city. =P
“Where is the squirrel Payton?”
“Please throw the snowball, I can’t sit here any longer.”
Baby Georgie. Not impressed by the blowing snow either.
Friends are visiting!
A friend stopped by on her way down to pick up a new puppy, so she, her husband, and her two girls met me at my new house, so her girls could rip around some with my dogs and see if they couldn’t get a little bit tired out, haha. This is the first time I’ve ever taken photos in my backyard there with the sun coming from a different place than it does at my parent’s house, and in early morning light too, so my settings weren’t quite right so a bunch of photos didn’t turn out… but I have some!!
First, this is Payton’s first time able to play in the “big yard.” He likes it.
Auggie has to make sure the grass tastes the same as it does at my parent’s.
I went in the house for a second and left them in the big yard. Pepper does not like being left behind.
Ridiculous ball-catching Payton.
Ball-retrieving Payton. This is the last time Payton was that interested in the ball.
LOL Pepper.
A not-so-stupid looking Pepper.
A Bazinga has appeared! Zing is an Australian Koolie and she is quite pretty.
Sadly my best photos are of their backends chasing after the ball. Or rather, Zing went after the ball, and Payton went after Zing.
More butts!
You can totally see how Payton is barking his head off here. Non-stop barking. The guy who lives behind me is an older gentleman who always tells me he has a sick wife to care for. I’m sure he is going to love Payton.
How most of the photos turned out – boo! Zuma is a petite BC mix, and she joined in the fun – and by fun I mean she told Payton he was obnoxious. Spoiler alert: Payton already knows he’s obnoxious.
At one point Payton realized there was a TREE in this new yard and ran around it barking because there might possibly be a squirrel up there at some point.
Nobody else cared.
“Oh you guys are still chasing the ball?”
More P running after Zing!
Okay, I know this is blurry, but it’s hysterical because Auggie.
More LOL Auggie. He’s like “I am way too old for this you guys.”
Unsure if depositing or removing tennis ball from Zuma mouth.
That’s all that turned out – boo to my crappy camera settings! The girls are super cute and Payton might love Zinga because she doesn’t stop moving and that’s awesome. It was super fun to have friends over to visit our new house and play in the new yard!
