Pro Christmas Pics 2012
Annual Christmas photos were yesterday… huge photo dump impending…
Georgie first! New prop this year, A SLED. OMG.
Serious Auggie is serious. Sigh.
My boy. <3
Aaaaand here we go with the annual “I love my dog a whole lot more than he loves me” photos!
THIS one I think is the winner… I like his face in this one.
Annual “Auggie hates me” photo LOL.
Payton. OMG. LOL.
My HAIR again. I almost cut my bangs before we left to prevent this from happening and I didn’t. Sigh.
Sometimes he is kinda sweet.
I like him a bit.
It’s a PAYTON!!
See, Auggie? PAYTON loves his mommy. PAYTON will give me a kiss on camera.
My little guy. He is sometimes proper…
and sometimes cute.
Slight bit of handsome devil.
I think this is my favourite. He looks naughty. He looks like Payton. XD
This is his “I just licked the floor and there was a bitch sitting here” expression. He was chattering. Stupid intact male dog.
GET IN THE SLED
“Call him, see if I can get him jumping out of the sled,” the photographer said. WELP. Future agility dog in the making LOL.
Peppy girl!
Remedial stays are still in progress. =|
I don’t even know…
SIGH this is what so many of my photos look like LOL. Bad girl.
Hey, THERE’S a cute photo!
Me ‘n my girl. <3
I love love love this photo because of how she’s looking at me. She is MY GIRL… no mistaking it.
And I kinda like her too.
The best of us I think.
Now time for ALL THREE DOGS. This was totally photoshopped together, not gonna lie, and it’s still not even perfect haha.
…oh dear.
“Quick quick, take the photo, I’m losing them!!”
This is my life guys.
I gotta admit it’s pretty hilarious LOL.
Watch me try to direct my dogs without even looking away from the camera. “Payton you come here…”
“…Pepper YOU should lay down too…”
Also shopped. Again, not gonna lie, LOL.
THEN… Auggie’s breeder was there with some of her crew so we tried a big family photo. Top row is Georgie, Pepper, Twizzle (Pepper’s sister, Georgie’s mom) and Twigley (Georgie’s sister.) Bottom row is Payton (Pep/Twizzle’s half-bro, for those who don’t remembered they are related), Raleigh (Auggie’s dad, Georgie’s grandpa), Georgie (Auggie’s grandma, Payton and Georgie’s great-grandma), Quigley (Auggie’s brother, Georgie’s dad), and of course Auggie.
I was behind the table, by the way, holding butts down. The front row was for “dogs who will stay.” I was very proud to be able to put Payton in the front row. Good boy little P.
LOL at the three young boys looking all excited.
OMG Quigley is SO bored of this!
Not sure what they’re looking at, haha.
Pepper will NOT stop sniffing her sister. STOP IT.
This one would probably be good except PEPPER is trying to plot her escape obviously. PEPPER.
I think this is the best one we got.
If only Pep and Twigley were looking at the camera! Georgia gets a pass because she’s mostly deaf and blind so she doesn’t have to look anywhere, she just has to wake up every morning.
THEN Payton decided he wanted to try and get away. He recalls somewhere on that floor a bitch was sitting and he would like to find that spot again please.
But wait, it gets better.
We got Payton to sit back up, then Georgie wanted to lay down.
Again, really close. I might be able to shop something together out of some of there haha.
BUT THEN.
Pepper was like “I BAIL BYE.”
Look at EVERY DOG’S EXPRESSION IN THIS PHOTO. I can’t stop laughing. By the way, Georgie decided since the big girly was bailing she was bailing too.
Payton is like “Crap she’s gonna land on my head! ABORT ABORT”
And poor Grandma doesn’t even know what’s happening LOL. (LOL at my arm in this one haha.)
The really funny part? Pepper jumps down so Georgie jumps down and then Twigley got down and everybody else was up and running around and we’re laughing and I’m like OF COURSE IT WAS PEPPER WHO RUINED IT ALL
And then I sit up and look down.
And there is Auggie.
Still sitting, still staying, right where I told him to sit and stay.
AUGGIE IS THE BESTEST BOY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
Halloween Costumes
I was trying to decide what Pepper should be when I browsed PetSmart’s website and saw this. Then I went there and they had one in her size and it was 75% off.
PAYTON GET OUT OF THE SHOT. STOP TRYING TO EAT THE PUMPKIN STEMS.
She’s supposed to be Wonder Woman anyway. Since all my dogs get superhero alter egos. But I could totally fashion a better Lasso of Truth for her…
Look, I don’t know what Auggie is, okay? I just saw those pirate socks and they were cute, and also that shark fin was like two bucks. He’s a pirate eating shark. Or maybe he’s a pirate ship in disguise.
Look it really doesn’t matter because he’s Auggie and he’s awesome and adorable so who cares.
I have cuffs that I intended to put on him too… somewhere. I have no idea where they are. =< So he just gets to wear his tie.
The idea is that it goes with his registered name and all. Y’know. Sharp Dressed Man? Silk suit… black tie… don’t need a reason why…
Yes, Payton. We all know. Thank you.
Georgie has a sock monkey hoodie, by the way. We bought it at Old Navy. It’s adorable. No pics because she’s annoying (I’ll get some later.)
Punkin Pictures
I bought pumpkins yesterday morning. They were on mega sale so I was like “I will take all your pumpkins plz.” Actually I only bought five, but I wanted more…
Uhhhh unfortunately most of our family photos looked like this.
This was the best I got, haha. Pepper needs remedial stays again.
Just the boys <3
Auggie saw all the pumpkins and the leaf pile and was like “Oh. *strike a pose*” He just knows… he knows. What a good boy.
I told Payton his turn was next and he decided this is what he wanted to do. Also pivots using the pumpkin as his perch. I’m not sure if I should facepalm or be proud.
Since Payton started it I asked Georgie to do the same thing. SHE IS SO CUTE AHHH
Not in focus =< but it's sooooo cute.
The over-achiever, LOL. Oh Auggie.
Aaaaaand the under-achiever, haha. Poor Pep.
Something has moved in…
Surprise!!
Payton thinks Pepper must be a gift JUST FOR HIM.
Pepper thinks Payton is the most obnoxious dog in the world. (And she’s probably right.)
Payton is trying to get her to play and crying because she won’t play, she’s trying to decide how much snark is necessary to tell him to piss off, and also she is alternating between jumping in my lap when I least expect it and showering me with kisses, and standing two feet away clacking happily away at me and staring at me like “Is this a dream? It feels like a dream.”
No, Pep, it’s not a dream. You’re home and you’re never going away again.
Leaf Pictures
I may have a good reason to re-do the family photos this weekend…
Boys! LOL at Payton with a leaf stuck to him.
All three puppers.
Excuse me while my big dog is devastatingly handsome.
Auggie is the bestest boy.
Seriously, it’s kinda ridiculous how good looking he is. Not even a show dog, Augs.
Oh? But I so pretty.
Yeah, he definitely knows he’s a handsome boy.
And then there’s this thing.
This…
…thing.
I guess he’s kinda cute. Maybe I’ll keep him.
Oh fffffffff seriously? Fine you can stay.
Yeah okay, he’s sorta handsome too sometimes.
But only sometimes.
the rest of the time… uh…
That’s okay. I pretty much like him anyway.
Girly!!
She’s actually very good at posing all by herself, but when you try and get them all together, she can’t hold still.
Yeah she’s pretty cute too.
The end… for now…
Painting Helpers
Yesterday was Payton’s annual. My new house is halfway to the new vet’s office, so Pay came to the new house with us while we painted yesterday. He was a very good boy, but I thought it was immensely unfair that HE got to be the first dog at the new house. So Auggie got to come today. My mom decided to also bring Georgie, and because that wasn’t fair to only take two, Pay came along today too.
All three dogs “helped” while I was painting my new master bedroom. Would you care to guess which of the three did NOT come home blue?
Can you tell from this photo??
AUGGIE decided to curl up in the corner of the room right up against two freshly painted walls. AUGGIE!!
You might not be able to see it – I didn’t see it until we all packed up to leave and then I went “hey, WAIT A SECOND.” It’s on her tail and there’s a small bit on her side too LOL. I have no idea when this even happened.
So PAYTON was the only dog who didn’t get in the paint! And he had TWO opportunities to get all painted, yesterday and today! What a good pupper.
The girlie, just because. Not the girlie I wish I was taking a photo of. I’m very unhappy because this house is taking a lot longer than I expected, and the longer it takes, the longer it takes to bring MY girlie home…
Someday. I hope it’s soon. =<
Wordless Wednesdays – Weave Pole Wednesdays? 09/12/12
Today was (is?) the premier of WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS. No words, just a photo. Except today is also… weave pole Wednesday. I had this idea ages ago when I was starting the 2x2s, posting all about Payton’s weave pole progress and eventually posting some weave pole exercises. But of course the 2x2s didn’t work out and we took a break from weave poles for a while.
Well, the other day Payton was running laps in the yard and came by the weave poles, hit the entry, and weaved two poles. Just hit the entry and weaved two straight up and down poles for no real reason at top speed. I almost fell off the deck I was so amazed. So I decided it was probably time to get back to training them.
Today we did three sessions with the clicker and shaping them, using a bit of weave-a-matic action to help us out. He is doing fantastic, getting low, going fast, and even one-footing a bit. Not too shabby for a dog who hasn’t seen weaves in months. I’m very thrilled with him and hope we will see some pretty amazing rapid learning over the next few weeks.
So instead of just WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS where I will post “just” a picture, I think I will also go ahead with WEAVE POLE WEDNESDAYS for a while and update on Payton’s progress with the weaves. Enjoy this week’s photo and some weavin’ action.
Payton AND Auggie at the lake!
I was packing our swimmy bag and put Auggie in his crate. He cried like he normally does when I’m going somewhere with Payton and without him. Mom and I went outside to put our sunscreen on and he started crying louder. “I think he wants to go, but he has no idea,” I said.
We came back inside to grab our stuff and Mom said “He wants to go…”
So we took Auggie with us.
Payton went in the swimmy first of course.
And yes, if you’re wondering, I convinced my mom to go because I REALLY wanted her to take photos of Payton swimming.
Cute puppy <3
My little guy. He looks so proud of himself when he reaches the shore. Like =D =D =D LOOK WHAT I CAN DO
Then… guess who had to swim next.
“Okay, I THOUGHT I wanted to go… I didn’t want to go.”
“OMG I thought I would never make it to shore.”
Payton actually chose to swim OUT away from the shore today. Especially after I had just taken Auggie in. Because while I was in the lake with Auggie Payton was on the shore SCREAMING “THAT’S MY SWIMMY GET OUT OF MY SWIMMY THIS ISN’T FAIR.”
I have no idea what’s going on here but I think it’s a cute picture of us so there.
Happy swimming Payton…
So yeah, this is how Payton swims still, LOL. Flailing a bit, butt sinking down, searching a bit for when he hits the ground to push off – it’s like a hop-swim. Sometimes if he’s in really deep water he will even out and just swim. I think he just needs more practice in deep water where he has to REALLY swim rather than shallows or my little pool where he can kick off the ground… or maybe not, since he loves the pool too, and who am I to tell him what not to do when he loves it?
He really does love it.
THE BUMPER! We had major success with the bumper today. He played with the bumper IN the water which he wouldn’t do last weekend.
AND he would even reach down and grab it from the water and retrieve it for me! We celebrated each retrieve with a huge game of tug. There is no public dock for me to use here, but there is a ledge. I decided the next best thing was to put Payton on the dock, toss the bumper into the lake, and tell him “get the bumper!” He would jump down off the ledge then run into the water to get the bumper and bring it back to me. Hey, it’s close, LOL.
Auggie LOLOLOL. I don’t know why I always find Auggie’s disdain so amusing… sorry Augs.
So my mom came up with this GREAT idea… racing. LOL.
I call Auggie my little tugboat… because he just churns along, smooth and steady. Honestly Auggie is the far better swimmer of the two.
And Payton meanwhile tries to catch some air when he swims LOL.
Auggie won EVERY race we had, by the way. Including when Payton had a head start. LMAO. I’m not sure if I should say “oh Payton” or “oh Auggie” here.
I do believe this photo sums up both their feelings on swimming quite well.
My dirty FILTHY dog!
I’m totally sending this one to his breeder. “Oh his sister is winning at conformation shows? That’s awesome! Here’s mine.”
And if you’re curious how he got that way – like this. Including rolling ON HIS BACK and wookie noising. NOW I definitely know I should say “oh Payton.”
I feel like Payton is coming along well for sure. I’m hoping to take a few trips to the small dock at a local lake (not nearly as big as this one and I can’t swim in it) and see if I can’t get him to jump off the dock and snag me the bumper. It’s not into deep water but it’s a dock nonetheless. Baby steps. The Dock Dogs event I want to take him to is in TWO weekends… so we shall see.
Trip to the lake, round 2
Equipped with a better life jacket, we went back down to the lake today. My mom kept insisting it would be too cold (it has been chilly the past few days, getting downright cold at night) but I had faith it would be warm enough. Sure enough, it was really quite lovely – and being that it only got up to about 80 (as opposed to 100 from last time), hardly anybody was on the beach and fewer people were out on their boats, so it was just generally quieter and calmer.
I got him there, strapped on his life jacket, went out until I was about chest deep in the water… and let him go. And he swam. Pretty well actually. He still kind of bobs his butt down, checking for ground – he knows eventually he will hit shallows and he can start walking, so it’s a kind of funny swim, but swim he did. And I’m pretty sure he liked it, more importantly. I still can’t get him to grab his bumper, or ball-on-a-rope, when he’s in the water, but we were playing in the water (I was splashing him and he was biting the water.) Also, he has learned that when he hears the sound of a boat, he needs to IMMEDIATELY run down to the lakeside because that means a bunch of big waves he can play in are about to hit the beach. It’s actually hilarious and I love it. Seriously, we were sitting up on the little ledge drying off, a boat went by, his ears pricked up, and he jumped down and almost dragged me to the water so he could play in the waves. He likes to go in the water about chest-deep but he still isn’t sure about swimming out on his own. He tried it once or twice and changed his mind and turned back around immediately and went back to shore. I’m not terribly offended by this, the idea of Dock Dogs is to get the toy and come back to the ramp anyway, not just swim out to the blue beyond LOL.
ANYWAY. The pics. I was desperate to get a photo of him swimming so I took a chance and carried my point & shoot out with me… and luckily I did not drop it in the lake.
Playing in the waves.
Getting his feet wet then coming back on the beach.
Dirty dirty puppy!
This is Payton’s face as I am carrying him out into deeper water… not kidding LOL.
SWIM GO GO SWIM SWIM SWIM GO GO
A better one – for some reason he doesn’t want to swim to me, he wants to swim next to me, so this was hard to get. He REALLY has fun if I put him in the water then I swim along next to him. He starts smiling and he swims faster like it’s a race. Obviously I couldn’t take a picture like that though (I dunno how to do a backstroke or anything!)
Little paw prints in the sand. Just for my scrapbook.
His life jacket was off so he could dry out a bit and a boat went by so DOWN BY THE WATER WE GO sans life jacket.
He even climbed in without his life jacket on, which is good news. I didn’t ask him to swim without his life jacket because I could tell he was getting tired, and I didn’t want him to get tired and start sinking without the jacket – so we left it on to make sure it was a good experience until the end.
Poking around in the shallows some more…
More dirty puppy.
This happened a lot LOL. Unfortunately I can’t take him off lead here so it just kept happening… I always had to make sure before I let him go to swim that I had the leash so he wouldn’t get tangled in it. =P
Life jacket… doing it wrong. I asked him if he wanted to go back in and he hopped up for me to put his jacket back on, so we went back in one last time.
Before we left. I ‘shopped out the stupid lead because it’s otherwise such a great photo. ;P He really, truly does like the lake. I’m glad.
And finally:
THIS is the best swimming shot, but unfortunately it was blurry. =< One day I will have somebody come with me and stand on the shore and get shots with a zoom lense... one day...
Payton’s Gotcha Day
And I didn’t even know it was his Gotcha Day… I’m a terrible puppy mommy. I knew it was coming up, but I’ve been juggling so much with buying the house it just sort of slipped by without my noticing. This past week was terribly stressful, particularly on Friday which was his actual Gotcha Day – I wish I had known that was his Gotcha Day, it probably would have helped.
So here’s the unknowingly Gotcha Day photos:
A storm rolled through Thursday night and knocked down some big leaf stalks. I gave one to him to play with. Maybe my heart knew it was his Gotcha Day even if my head didn’t?
YAY YAY YAY
Stopping to nom on it a bit, butt in the air!
This is your Quintessential Payton photo from this set. Yeah, it’s out of focus, but that’s part of the Quintessential Payton-ness of it LOL.
This was the only branch we lost in the storm, apparently in another part of town TONS of trees went down. I told him to nom it.
GIANT STICK YEAH
A brief walk down memory lane, in case you forgot… Payton’s first day home, when he was still Nameless Baby and thus responded to “puppy.”
Can you believe it? I still can’t. I still can’t even believe I went to get him. My brain was so torn and didn’t know if I should really go get him. My heart told me to go get him. I decided for once in my life to just ignore my brain and listen to my heart, and here we are. And once he came home to me I knew it was meant to be. He was supposed to be my puppy and I was supposed to be his person. I had planned to be further along with things than we currently are right now, but I have no regrets about our first of what I hope is many years together.
This also means I’m done with this project! OMG. These last few months have been really uninspiring… he is done growing and our routine is pretty much set without a ton of new stuff going on (or at least new stuff I can take a photo of) so… lots of shots snapped in our quiet time right before bed, or first thing in the morning while I’m getting ready for work.
[url]http://365ofpayton.tumblr.com/[/url]
It may be months before you see another Payton picture now that I don’t have to take any LOL. (kidding.)
Henri comes to visit again
He has actually been over another time and I’ve been to visit him a couple times but this is the second time I’ve taken pics. ;P
Henri!
Hen… um…
Oh hai.
I can’t stop laughing at this one. Henri frequents the dog park lately, being an only child, and has learned to go belly up when confronted with ballsier dogs (and I don’t just mean that Payton still has his balls.) So this is Henri throwing himself on the ground. Head first. And Payton being like “Um WTF are you doing??”
I think Payton is slightly weirded out because it’s like looking at himself. He’s having an out of body experience, LOL.
Ahhh there’s two of them!
Payton and my sister. OH HAI I’M PAYTON
Auggie, who still isn’t a huge fan of Henri. They chased a tennis ball together for a while but that was the extent of his playing with Henri. It’s definitely an improvement though.
Ummm yeah so he’s definitely gotten bigger. His ears aren’t quite sure what they’re doing (and I kept telling my sister “We can do something about that if you want” hahahaha.) Also check out his tail! I love it.
You can see all kinds of breeds in him. I see GSD for sure. Collie, yep. I don’t really see Aussie which he’s supposed to have some Aussie in him.
I thought it would be fun to try for a family photo. “Fun” is not exactly the word I would use to describe it. I’m pretty sure I told Payton “I hate you” at least six times.
LOL you can’t even see Georgie’s face because she’s looking up at me.
Proceed with caution, Henri… and LOL Payton’s face.
This is just a cute Henri LOL.
TONGUE.
Most of the pictures turned out about like this by the way.
A cute one of all the boys!
Just the shelties… all staying, but looking at my sister, hahaha.
The best one hahaha. Team Three Shelties and Whatever That Thing Is!
Attempt at a nice photo of the three shelties – this is why I told Payton I hate him so much haha.
HENRI PHOTOBOMB
Oh noes, what are you doing to me??
Oh. I see.
The end!
I pretty much love Henri by the way.
Pool today
“This would make a cute picture, right? Smile, Payton!”
He was giving me kisses before but once the camera came out he stopped, haha. I’m trying to get him to kiss me.
Now let’s get Auggie in the picture!!
Payton was licking my hand LOL. Apparently kissing my face is a no-no but kissing my hand is okay.
I’m not sure what the heck is going on here. I’m giving swim lessons??
I think I need to ‘shop Auggie out for one of him from the first two. =P
“Are you sad Auggie?”
“Everybody look at the ground.”
Poor Auggie LOLOLOL.
They both look so sad here hahahahaha! Payton had an eye goober I had to get. =P
See, they’re NOT miserable, I swear!
Repositioned Auggie so his paws were up on the side, and he starts looking at the ground again trying to decide if he wants to jump out or not.
LOL I’m not sure what’s up with Payton’s face here. “This is my look of disdain.”
We decided to try and get Georgie in the picture…
Earlier we had her and Payton in the pool together to see if they would play, but Georgie just discovered she can climb UP on Payton. Soooo that’s what she did.
And then…
…she tried to kill Payton.
Seriously, I can’t believe we got this photo. She decided to jump out using HIS HEAD as a springboard and his head went underwater. Poor guy!!
I promise to never let Georgie in the pool with you again Payton.
Georgie’s First Birthday Party
Her birthday is actually the 25th, but schedules got crazy. My mom celebrated with her and I took some birthday pictures, but we didn’t get to “party” until the weekend!
The princess.
Auggie, always the good sport.
And Payton, who still hates when you put things on his head and only wants to wear a hat when HE is getting all the birthday.
We made a doggy cake, but I also brought home a small slice of REAL white cake, just for her.
NOM MY CAKE
Mmmm…
This one hahahaha
Icing alllll over her whiskers. Hurray!
Payton and Auggie both got some of the doggy cake (no real cake for them.)
Then Georgie had another birthday party hat malfunction…
…and Payton chimed in with a birthday party hat malfunction of his own.
Then Georgie got her presents! Not very nicely wrapped, I just left them in the PetSmart bag, haha.
She doesn’t care anyway.
My mom’s gift to her (she also gave her a new harness and lead, plus an ice cream cone, on her actual birthday) – it’s a Nylabone peanut butter flavoured “stick.” I bought one for the boys and she loved it, so Mom decided to buy Georgie one of her own.
And my gift to her… her very own amphibious bumper. She LOVES the one I bought for the boys (noticing a theme?) and fetched it non-stop one day, so now she has her very own bumper to fetch!
Payton discovers the sprinkler
In a vain attempt to save our completely brown lawn my dad has decided to start watering the yard. Last night he put the sprinkler in the back yard late at night so Payton only saw it once when he went out to pee right before bed. But it was running when I came home for lunch today, and, well.
What is that?
OH.
Ta-DAAAAAAA
C’mon baby! Let’s do the twist!
This is why I feel bad sending pictures to his breeder sometimes.
She sends me pretty pictures of his sister and I’m like “oh she’s so pretty! Here’s mine.”
Derr!
Oh gosh there’s water involved in this sprinkler thing and it’s in my EYE
I wish this one were sharper. Total joy. <3
This could be a sufficient way to let my dog wear himself out. Sure! Play in the water and get all cooled off and sleepy!
I love this dog so much. I honestly can’t put it into words. He might drive me crazy and wear me out but God do I love him.
…er.
Auggie’s look of total disdain while this was going on hahahaha. Auggie wants NOTHING TO DO with the sprinkler thankyouverymuch.
But it’s FUN DO IT DO IT C’MON GET IT
Oh puppy. <3
Swimming Shelties
I have now become obsessed with the idea of having these three be a Dock Dogs team. Wouldn’t that be fabulous?? I wonder if Miss Pepper would like to swim too…
Apologies for my pasty legs, melanoma runs in the family so I don’t tan, deal with it =P
Auggie went first. I tried the life jacket on him but really, he didn’t need it. So I just swam him without the life jacket on.
There’s a lot of flailing rather than smooth paddling… I think it’s because they can almost touch the bottom of the pool so they are trying to kick off the bottom rather than just swim.
Swim swim swim swim!
Payton was running around the pool the whole time barking THAT’S MY POOL GET OUT OF THE POOL HE’S IN MY POOL GET OUT OF THE POOL
Scrawny soaking pup!
Payton is still in his life jacket most of the time. I bought him a brand new Outward Hound life jacket that I think fits him better as opposed to the Premier Fido Float we used at the lake, and I think it definitely works better. However, Payton can definitely touch the bottom of the pool, so is kicking off the bottom. It’s not all the way full so this next weekend I will top it off and see if that makes a difference.
He kinda likes it though I think.
Holding him to try and get him to use his back legs more…
Paddle paddle paddle paddle paddle paddle go go go go
Seriously, I do think he likes it. I’d let him out and he’d run off to go shake, but every time I called him he came running back even though he KNEW I was going to put him back in the pool. Either he likes it or he’s really dumb LOL.
I like pool. maybe.
My cute puppy <3
MISS GEORGIE
Georgie is the smart one of the bunch… the boys will swim to the edge of the pool. She doesn’t bother, she just turns around and swims to me like “okay now pick me up.”
She is so cute I almost can’t stand it… seriously. In her little life jacket. Also an Outward Hound model. OMG.
Go! Swim to your mama!
But I’m getting water up my nose!
Little princess paws…
PICK ME UP
No life jacket! Go rock star princess, go!
She actually almost hopped out of the pool here hahaha.
One more time! Go little girlie!
SPLOOSH
Her ears are hysterical here.
Why? Why you do this to me??
THE END.
Master Auggie
So this is the result of this weekend. Well, not just this weekend. The result of a long time, a lot of work, and more money than I care to even try calculating.
It takes 10 Excellent B Q’s to get Master’s titles. Auggie got his MJP on Friday afternoon and his MXP this morning.
And with that he is more than likely all done. I doubt if we’ll ever get his speed up to where it needs to be to ever get a PACH, so there’s no point in continuing to shovel money at it when he has just as much, if not more, fun playing in the backyard. I’m already entered in another trial and there’s one here locally that I might enter depending on the judge, and I’ll be getting Auggie a pirate ship cake that says BON VOYAGE AUGGIE and we can have him a little party. I may bring him back out of retirement one day if his speed issues ever get resolved and let him play again… but I’m really not counting on anything. I feel like this is it.
I wish I had gotten today’s run on camera. It was so totally an Auggie run. He was a little snot in the rally ring so I was hoping he would be on fire and run fast in agility and he was definitely revved up. We have been having rear cross into tunnel issues but he took off for the tunnel today like nobody’s business. He came wide around a jump and headed for an off course tire and I ended up yelling “Auggie Auggie AUUUUGGIIEEEEE” – and he stopped RIGHT in front of the tire and looked at me and came over to take the dog walk like he was supposed to. He flew through the weaves so fast he slipped but kept in them and tore it up. The triple jump was the last obstacle and he was running so wild I thought he might knock it. He took off and I thought “oh God, he’s not going to clear it.” He clipped the last bar. It went CLANG…
but it didn’t fall.
There were people outside the ring watching and they all let out a “WHEW” when the bar didn’t fall. I looked up and mocked wiping sweat off my face, hahaha. One of the agility people I know was scribing and she yelled “Boy, you had to work for that one, didn’t you?!”
It didn’t even occur to me until we were out of the ring that that was it, that was #10. We were done. I was just laughing so hard. What a snot.
I really wish I had it on camera because it was just… it felt like a defining run for us, LOL.
I’m so proud of him and even though I’m sad that we will never get a PACH and never get to run a victory lap or anything like that, we have done so much in our time together. At more than one point I thought he was done and I would have to quit, but he never quit on me. After our very first run in agility together, I heard someone outside the ring – and to this day I don’t even know who it was that said it – say “One day, that dog is going to be awesome.”
In some ways that was more of a curse than anything else because I have always felt like I was giving up on him whenever things happened. Dropping him to preferred felt like I was giving up on him, because one day that dog is going to be awesome. Even this sort of feels like I am giving up on him, because one day that dog is going to be awesome.
But the reality is that “one day” is today, yesterday, last Tuesday, tomorrow, next Wednesday – every single day since the very first day I brought Auggie home and every single day until our time together on this earth has ended. It doesn’t matter if Auggie will never have letters before his name. It wouldn’t matter if he never had any letters on his name at all.
My dog IS awesome. And he always has been. He is an amazing dog, and I could not have asked for a better partner in our journey together through this ridiculous game called agility life.
Payton went swimming
Ssssssorta.
Yesterday while at Target buying a pool for our backyard (this has become an obsession) I ran into a friend I met through agility. She moved out of town, not too far away, and just happened to be in town visiting her parents. She told me there’s a lake near where she lives and she has been taking her portie there and it’s a great place.
Well, I was told I couldn’t set the pool up, at least for now. And I was bored. So I packed Payton into the car and drove down to this lake. It’s about 90 minutes away, if that, so not too far really.
I took him in the water and he wasn’t really sure what to think. There were plenty of people out on boats and whenever a boat would go by (the boating section is on the opposite side of the lake from the public swimming beach) there would end up being sorta large waves rocking over to our side of the beach, and that confused him. So I took him back out and put the life jacket on.
He WILL swim, but it’s a terribly ungraceful splashing swim. I took the life jacket off and he hated that, his head dipped under water a few times too, so for now life jacket only. I ended up putting my shirt back on because I thought he was going to yank my bikini top off flailing around LOL. People were super interested in us, I kept hearing “I thought all dogs could swim!” Does it look like he can swim? LOL. One guy and I think his teenage son were talking to me about it while they threw a football back and forth, and Payton was watching them, and the guy said “Will he float in that if you let it go?” So I let it go to show him, and he was holding the football, and Payton started sloppy-splash-flail-swimming to the guy because I think he wanted the football hahahaha. OH PAYTON, you need to try that with SINGLE guys who are MY AGE, but nice try honeyface.
I tried to get him to go for a tennis ball but he was having none of it. He wouldn’t even swim out to get closer to me – I left him standing on the beach and floated out in the water and he just stared at me. I said “what if I was drowning out here??” and he just stared LOL.
We went back to the beach and sat down for a bit to get a drink, I pondered what I could try differently, then we went back in for a bit. This time he walked into the shallows all by himself and played around a little, he even walked in until he was about chin-deep, but he stopped there. Like he’s thinking about it, just not sure.
We sat on the beach drying off and I asked him if he still had fun or if he hated me now, and he gave me a kiss, or maybe my face just smelled like fish (we found half a dead fish near the shore and I was SO glad I left Auggie at home.) Picked up a few shells that had washed up on the shore and went home. Not too bad, we only spent a couple of hours there and I spent three-ish in the car, but it was really fun anyway.
I’m hoping my dad will change his mind and let me set up the pool in the backyard so we can practice more. =P
Here’s the photos I nabbed – none of Payton in the water since I was out there all by myself and wasn’t taking my camera in the lake, even if it was my crappy point & shoot…
Attempting to get a photo of us together hahaha. The lake was filthy, by the way. We both got right in the shower after getting home and my swimsuit was almost BLACK inside. Grosssssss.
“I don’t like you much right now mommy.”
Just sittin’ there, watchin’ people play in the water…
It was SO nice down there… even though it was still about 100 degrees back home and even hotter the further south you go, the air off the lake was fabulous. The sand seriously almost burned my feet though. But other than that it was super lovely!
Layin’ on his towel drying out, watching the people hanging out away from the water…
That’s it, nothing very exciting. =P I’m frickin’ exhausted right now but Payton’s like YAY YAY YAY PLAY PLAY PLAY YAY YAY YAY. stupid puppy.
Payton loves sheepie toy
Oh sheepie toy. Let’s run away together.
Somewhere we can lay on our backs and make wookie noises all day long… Forever.
Oh. You’re here too.
Look I guess you can come if you want to. Just don’t get in the way of me and my sheepie toy.
Oh balls, Payton.
MUCH cuter without testicles in the photo.
NO!! Don’t tell them I’m cute!!
I’m not cute, I’m obnoxious. <3
Grooming day
Washed, dried, groomed all three dogs today. My back is killing me. At least I did nails last night.
Payton.
Georgie.
Auggie, just for fun. I didn’t even realize until I looked at the pictures to edit them that he moved his leg after I stacked him and told him to stay. Figures.
So there’s this hope chest in the basement and I put the blanket over it to take photos. I did Payton’s first, put him on the floor, put Auggie on the chest and took his photos, then put him on the floor. I took a few steps to go get Georgie and hear a THUNK.
I turn around and Payton is on top of the hope chest but his BUTT is wedged halfway between the chest and the wall. He had decided to jump back on it (MY TURN AGAIN ME ME ME) and because of the blanket he almost slid off the back. This could have ended poorly, when Happy was a puppy he tried to jump on the bed, and his leg got caught between the bed frame and the mattress and broke his leg, so I’m paranoid something like that will happen to my guys. But nothing happened except Payton looked really surprised and confused.
So I laughed instead.
A lot.
Georgie v. Payton
Thursdays are my odd day because the class I like to take at the gym doesn’t start until 6:30. So I spend about an hour just sitting around waiting to go to the gym. What better way to blow the hour than take the dogs outside and encourage them to terrorize each other?
Georgie says “I LIKE THIS GAME”
Butts. Unfortunately where I was sitting I got a lot of views of their butts as they blew past, because they weren’t looping the garden the other direction as I’d hoped.
Not focused but these always crack me up haha.
LOL.
Payton could so kick her butt if he wanted to. It’s a REALLY good thing he adores her.
“I MIGHT JUST EAT YOU UP ONE DAY”
More butts! That’s the end of it.
Oh, what Auggie was doing while this was going on:
Dumb puppies.
Sunbathing. I’m not sure he knows that dogs don’t tan.
Henri
Henri is my sister’s new puppy. He came home the weekend before last, but he was wormy so we waited until this weekend to introduce him to our dogs. Auggie came out first and kept looking at me like “ANOTHER ONE??? Take it back!!” Poor guy. No, he wasn’t staying. He didn’t want to play with Henri at all. I don’t get it, he LOVED Payton and has never snarked at Payton, but he doesn’t have tolerance for other puppies now. I guess Pay was just special.
Georgie came out next and Henri wasn’t sure what to think of her. She was loud and didn’t stop moving. She got him to play a little bit but he just didn’t know what to think.
So then we brought out the Wild Child.
Oh Lord.
PAYTON will not rest until you play with him. PAYTON will not stop barking in your face until you play with him. PAYTON WANTS TO WRESTLE AND BY GOLLY YOU ARE GOING TO WRESTLE. So they became pretty fast friends actually, by necessity of the wild one being obnoxious until Henri obliged, and then Henri decided Payton was pretty cool and he wanted to play play play!
They did get into it a little twice, and I still can’t figure out what it was that Henri did that Payton didn’t like. I think it was Payton who would lose his cool but maybe not. Certainly Henri wasn’t doing anything that Georgie doesn’t do and get away with, but maybe because Henri was still new he wasn’t allowed the way Georgie is?
Anyway, what you really want is the pics:
“This thing won’t stop following me!”
Slightly blurry… he is a cutie!
Auggie sniffing at the puppy. He’s allowed to sniff the puppy, the puppy isn’t allowed to sniff him.
Oh here is my tongue.
Cutie cute cute!
Mom: “Are you sure Payton is wilder than Georgie?”
Umm… yes.
Yeah play!!
Imma bite all this fluffy hair you has! (I think this may have eventually become what Payton didn’t like even though Georgie – AND AUGGIE – do the same thing.)
Oh there’s a tennis ball.
I nom ball.
There’s another toy!! So many toys!
His tail kinda curls up over his back sometimes, haha. It’s adorable.
Mommy that cookie lady put me in this bucket.
I want out!
My sister was sitting right next to him getting him to pose like this and so she could keep the bucket from tipping over hahaha.
Ugh he’s terribly sweet too.
Getting sleepy… it’s about time to recharge my batteries…
head going down…
huh wha?? No I wasn’t sleeping!
Puppy butt!
The end… or just the beginning.
Just one Payton…
And by that I mean there’s only one photo, and also, there’s only one of him.
Thankfully.
I don’t know what I would do with two of him.
Pool time
First, a handful of pictures from yesterday…
Auggie still takes better posed shots than Payton LOL. He’s such a supermodel.
A dur durr?
Then we got out the pool. I bought these at Target last week… pool Weebles. They wobble but they won’t sink. I thought they would be fun.
Payton says OMG THEY ARE WOBBLING
Georgie isn’t sure what to think…
Payton says “I bite?”
Every time he would go to grab one it would bob into the water. He had no idea how to deal with this hahaha.
Why does it keep running away??
I’ll just hop into the pool…
Payton is my pool puppy. He likes it. He’ll go run laps and then hop in the pool, go run laps, hop in the pool. No big deal.
Dribbles. Nice.
What? Who’s being gross?
I want to get this ducky.
Look who else is in the pool!!
Auggie hates the pool but yesterday I grabbed some treats and a clicker and taught him “get in the pool.” He did this on his own today… he walked up and kept looking in the pool and thinking about it, and finally, he climbed in. It’s just so HOT.
Hmm, it’s much cooler in here.
And all I have to do is lean over and get a drinky.
I’m not really sure what the big deal is actually.
I quite like it actually now that I’m in here.
Aaaaaahhhhh Auggie <3 <3
Somehow Payton splashed around so much he got his eyebrow wet. But only ONE eyebrow. WTF Payton.
LMAO we were trying to clicker Georgie into the pool too. She wasn’t doing it for treats though, we finally had to get out frozen green beans. Auggie also loves frozen green beans. Trying to give the green bean JUST to Georgie was funny LOL. Her face, and Auggie’s, hahahahaha.
Auggie’s face again LOL. I love how Payton’s like “mine?”
Happy Auggie!!
Payton will even sit in the pool LOL. “The water is cold on mah balls. I likes it.” Weird dog.
My Auggie <3 I'm so proud of him for getting in the pool all on his own today. I think he's going to get in it a lot more this year, so hopefully he'll be able to keep cool!!
Guess who’s having a birthday?
What’s a birthday??
Is THIS a birthday?
I think I like birthdays.
OMG… I think my birthday is gone already.
Auggie got his piece of cupcake on the deck instead of on the table, LOL. Poor Auggie. But it’s not your birthday.
Is there more birthday?
Mommy… I want more birthday. Make more birthday.
OMG Auggie I seriously cannot stop laughing at this picture. Like I’m in tears every time I see it.
Auggie: Birthdays are super fun!! I LIKE CAKE.
Payton: You smell like birthday.
Payton: No, seriously. I think you have some birthday in your mouth.
I think this may be the best photo I’ve ever taken. Ever.
Payton: I think you stashed some of my birthday here.
Payton: Mmmmm… brothers are delicious and taste like birthday.
I was waiting for Auggie to be like “I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TRYING TO GET ALL THE CAKE OUT OF MY MANE” and kick his butt, but it never happened. Birthdays put everybody in a good mood I guess! They wanted to stay outside and look for crumbs when I ate my lunch, and when I came outside later, Auggie’s mane was all drooled on from Payton licking and trying to get crumbs and frosting off him.
Later Payton will get his presents, but I just happened to have his cake now, so I gave him that already. Also Georgie wouldn’t behave (read: wouldn’t sit still and wear the hat) so she didn’t get any cake. >=| NO BIRTHDAY HAT, NO BIRTHDAY CAKE.
