We interrupt this regularly scheduled tooth brushing update in favor of the excitement that is Westminster!! We have to wait until tomorrow for the working group, but I am excited to see who wins the breed for great danes.:)
Today, Bess' breeder sent around a link to an article that talks a little bit about the road to Westminster and gives a better understanding into what goes in to a top winning conformation dog. You can check out the article here. I highly recommend reading the entire thing. It's very good and very accurate. There is a LOT that goes into producing a top winning dog in any breed. While some people may quibble over the "politics" that are involved in dog showing, politics are every where in your every day life. To assume that the sport of purebred dogs is any different doesn't make any sense. The only difference is the label that some will put on it.
I am also very excited to announce that a book review that I wrote was published in the latest edition of the Great Dane Gazette!!! I'm so excited! Included with the book review is a picture of Heffner and Bess in harness skijoring!:o)
And now I'm off to plan out the dog shows, agility trials, obedience trials, and matches that I'm going to attend with the dogs over the next upcoming months!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Weekend Wrap Up
Hmmmmm.....well, I've meant to blog the past two days, but things have just been plain busy. And now I'm beat. And also had the brilliant idea to schedule all sorts of work for myself at work for tomorrow, which is also a holiday. After a busy dog show weekend. Yes, I am truly brilliant!:oP
Lets start with Friday shall we? Friday after work I decided to grab the bull by the horns and head off to a local training facility for what I thought was going to be rally run throughs. I had briefly thought about bringing both dogs along, but it's really more ideal for me to just take Bess and sort of scope the place out ahead of time and have a game plan for how to manage Heffner. It was definitely a good idea because the rally run throughs that I thought I was signing up for was actually an obedience show and go. Yes, the all mighty traditional obedience. The epitome of precision obedience work. The dog sport that has intimidated me for so long and that I wasn't really sure I was made of tough enough stuff to compete in. So I was a little unsure when I showed up and they told me it was actually an obedience show and go. But I figured heck, I'm already here and I want to compete in obedience with Bess anyhow. We'll give it a whirl and see how it goes! Thankfully, the people who were putting it on were incredibly nice, helpful, and understanding when I told them I am very much a rank novice and had only been working with my dogs on these exercises for a brief period of time. They were encouraging and I am very thankful for that!
As I sat on the bench with Bess and watched some of the other handlers warming up with their dogs, I was just in awe! The kind of precision heeling work these people were able to do with their dogs was just amazing to see! All the dogs were so excited and happy to be there. Their attention was RIVETED on their handlers. They were reading every little body cue and staying in heel position so well with their handlers regardless of what they were doing. I was just blown away! I was also thinking "I want that!" :o)
Since Bess and I are so new to all of this and I've been pretty clueless about what to work on on my own (we will be taking some competition obedience classes once I get the basics firmed up), we did some easy heeling patterns, a figure eight, a stand for exam, a recall, and the long sit and down. I have been working both of the dogs in situations that have either limited distractions or are devoid of distractions. Practicing in this type of environment was pretty distracting for Bess and it took a little bit for her to get into work mode. Our heeling pattern was a bit rough, but we made it through and did decently. Our figure eight was pretty good, but still kind of rough. The stand for exam went well considering that I've never had her stand stacked for a stranger to go over with me not baiting her or otherwise distracting her. Her recall was GREAT! And her long sit and down were also GREAT!:o) I learned a whole lot about the areas that I need to immediately work on as well as things to start incorporating into our training and getting a game plan for. The biggy was to WALK FASTER while heeling. More recently she has started lagging a little bit on the heel. When they told me to pick up my pace, suddenly I had that happy, exuberant dog heeling at my hip who's attention was totally on me. It was amazing!
At any rate, I now have what I've been looking for, which is a weekly obedience practice group that will give me good feed back and let me practice in the very type of environment that we'll be competing in. And the great group of people there is a definite plus! It was a great experience and has really gotten me excited about training and eventually competing in rally and obedience.:o)
After the fun and excitement of the show and go, we headed home so that I could get a quick run in with the dogs. I really don't want to skip any exercise with Heffner because I really want to get him back up to snuff. What I picked up on Friday evening is that his pads have definitely softened with his reduced exercise. So that will take a bit of time to harden up again to where I want them to be. After our separate runs (some quick laps around the local high school track), it was time to clip and bathe Bess for the dog show this weekend. By the time I got everything done and set out for the morning (lovely 8am ring time!), I was too tired and out of time to do any blogging.
Then it was up and at 'em early Sat. morning, leaving the house by 5:45am so that I could get to the fairgrounds early enough to get set up, get a little practice in with Bess, and just chit chat with people before our ring time. While Bess won her class, we didn't do anything after that. It was a small enough show that I opted to handle her myself. In part because we have the Corky Vroom handling seminar coming up the 6th and 7th of March, so I need to make sure that I get the practice in.
After breed, I hung out for a bit and watched Georgia, Bess' breeder, show a Scottish deerhound. He was such a sweet dog! And they're so light on their feet!
Once dogs were walked and put away, it was off to the obedience rings to watch and learn. I've found it immensely helpful to watch competitions ahead of time so that I can start to mentally prepare myself and also see the various little things that I need to proof the dogs for. And of course, having a reactive dog, I need to always plan things out in advance so that I can best manage him and keep him well behaved so that no one even knows that he has some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moments.;) Once I get him into that work mode, he's usually quite good at tuning the other dogs out unless someone walks their dog up his butt. But again, I usually am on the alert for possibilities like that and it very rarely happens. Anyhow, I was having a great time chatting with my friend Andrea who just finished her Rally Excellent title on her bullmastif Brody (way to go guys!!), and another bullmastif competitor who has quite the formidable reputation with his dogs. I tried to alternate between watching rally and watching the open obedience rings. So much to take in! I think that's going to be one of my new goals for every dog show that we're entered in. I'm going to try and watch some of the obedience and rally competition so that I can pick things up along the way.
By the time I left Albany, it was getting well into the afternoon. I had a brief rest period at home and then Adam and I were off to get some dinner and see Avatar in 3D at the IMAX theater. Amazingly enough, the showings are still selling out at that theater two months after the release of the movie! And I have to say, after seeing the movie, I can see why! However, by the time we got home again, I was just zapped. It had been a long day of running all over the place and I was too beat to do much other than crawl into bed.
Thankfully, today we had a ring time of 12:35pm behind the tibetan mastiffs, so I was able to sleep in. While we won our class again today (not really hard when you're the only one in it!), we didn't really even get much of a look in the winners bitch ring. A fact that is always disappointing to me when it happens. There are times when I've wanted to throw something at the judge just to get their attention and get them to really look at my dog. This has been the case regardless of whether I'm showing her or Georgia is showing her. On the up side, danes are really strong in bitches right now. On the down side, danes are really strong in bitches right now. It's tough competition, even at small shows. But I do have to admit that I am slowly getting more and more disheartened. While I enjoy going to the shows, I enjoy showing, I enjoy chatting with people; it's getting old to have my dog get over looked time and time again. She's got a great body, she's solid of temperament, and she moves effortlessly. Unfortunately she's starting grow less fond of the conformation ring and she lacks some of the showiness that a lot of the other bitches out right now have. Regardless, it is getting old.
Once we got home I took a little break to catch up on some email and then I loaded both of the dogs up for some off leash time in one of our favorite little foresty areas. This was Heffner's first off leash outing since December! It definitely did him a lot of good to get out and just meander around unrestricted. And Bess was very obviously much happier having him along on our jaunt. Previously, when it was just her and I doing these outings, she would wander around, but stayed surprisingly close to me. Unfortunately she also didn't get as much exercise that way. With Heffner along, regardless of where he was, she was all over the place. Running here and there, and always sort of competing with him if heaven forbid, he got ahead of her! It was great to see and I'm happy that we're starting to get back to a more "normal" routine.:o)
And with that lengthy post, I've pretty much summed up my weekend. Next weekend is a "free" weekend and I just don't know what I'll do with myself! he he he I'm actually really hoping to get some light hiking in or possibly something snow related if we could get some actual snow this week! We'll see. Incidentally, I did decide to send in my registration for the skijoring race at the end of the month. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will yet again get cancelled due to lack of snow, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! If nothing else, there are some matches that I can take the dogs to.
Lets start with Friday shall we? Friday after work I decided to grab the bull by the horns and head off to a local training facility for what I thought was going to be rally run throughs. I had briefly thought about bringing both dogs along, but it's really more ideal for me to just take Bess and sort of scope the place out ahead of time and have a game plan for how to manage Heffner. It was definitely a good idea because the rally run throughs that I thought I was signing up for was actually an obedience show and go. Yes, the all mighty traditional obedience. The epitome of precision obedience work. The dog sport that has intimidated me for so long and that I wasn't really sure I was made of tough enough stuff to compete in. So I was a little unsure when I showed up and they told me it was actually an obedience show and go. But I figured heck, I'm already here and I want to compete in obedience with Bess anyhow. We'll give it a whirl and see how it goes! Thankfully, the people who were putting it on were incredibly nice, helpful, and understanding when I told them I am very much a rank novice and had only been working with my dogs on these exercises for a brief period of time. They were encouraging and I am very thankful for that!
As I sat on the bench with Bess and watched some of the other handlers warming up with their dogs, I was just in awe! The kind of precision heeling work these people were able to do with their dogs was just amazing to see! All the dogs were so excited and happy to be there. Their attention was RIVETED on their handlers. They were reading every little body cue and staying in heel position so well with their handlers regardless of what they were doing. I was just blown away! I was also thinking "I want that!" :o)
Since Bess and I are so new to all of this and I've been pretty clueless about what to work on on my own (we will be taking some competition obedience classes once I get the basics firmed up), we did some easy heeling patterns, a figure eight, a stand for exam, a recall, and the long sit and down. I have been working both of the dogs in situations that have either limited distractions or are devoid of distractions. Practicing in this type of environment was pretty distracting for Bess and it took a little bit for her to get into work mode. Our heeling pattern was a bit rough, but we made it through and did decently. Our figure eight was pretty good, but still kind of rough. The stand for exam went well considering that I've never had her stand stacked for a stranger to go over with me not baiting her or otherwise distracting her. Her recall was GREAT! And her long sit and down were also GREAT!:o) I learned a whole lot about the areas that I need to immediately work on as well as things to start incorporating into our training and getting a game plan for. The biggy was to WALK FASTER while heeling. More recently she has started lagging a little bit on the heel. When they told me to pick up my pace, suddenly I had that happy, exuberant dog heeling at my hip who's attention was totally on me. It was amazing!
At any rate, I now have what I've been looking for, which is a weekly obedience practice group that will give me good feed back and let me practice in the very type of environment that we'll be competing in. And the great group of people there is a definite plus! It was a great experience and has really gotten me excited about training and eventually competing in rally and obedience.:o)
After the fun and excitement of the show and go, we headed home so that I could get a quick run in with the dogs. I really don't want to skip any exercise with Heffner because I really want to get him back up to snuff. What I picked up on Friday evening is that his pads have definitely softened with his reduced exercise. So that will take a bit of time to harden up again to where I want them to be. After our separate runs (some quick laps around the local high school track), it was time to clip and bathe Bess for the dog show this weekend. By the time I got everything done and set out for the morning (lovely 8am ring time!), I was too tired and out of time to do any blogging.
Then it was up and at 'em early Sat. morning, leaving the house by 5:45am so that I could get to the fairgrounds early enough to get set up, get a little practice in with Bess, and just chit chat with people before our ring time. While Bess won her class, we didn't do anything after that. It was a small enough show that I opted to handle her myself. In part because we have the Corky Vroom handling seminar coming up the 6th and 7th of March, so I need to make sure that I get the practice in.
After breed, I hung out for a bit and watched Georgia, Bess' breeder, show a Scottish deerhound. He was such a sweet dog! And they're so light on their feet!
Once dogs were walked and put away, it was off to the obedience rings to watch and learn. I've found it immensely helpful to watch competitions ahead of time so that I can start to mentally prepare myself and also see the various little things that I need to proof the dogs for. And of course, having a reactive dog, I need to always plan things out in advance so that I can best manage him and keep him well behaved so that no one even knows that he has some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moments.;) Once I get him into that work mode, he's usually quite good at tuning the other dogs out unless someone walks their dog up his butt. But again, I usually am on the alert for possibilities like that and it very rarely happens. Anyhow, I was having a great time chatting with my friend Andrea who just finished her Rally Excellent title on her bullmastif Brody (way to go guys!!), and another bullmastif competitor who has quite the formidable reputation with his dogs. I tried to alternate between watching rally and watching the open obedience rings. So much to take in! I think that's going to be one of my new goals for every dog show that we're entered in. I'm going to try and watch some of the obedience and rally competition so that I can pick things up along the way.
By the time I left Albany, it was getting well into the afternoon. I had a brief rest period at home and then Adam and I were off to get some dinner and see Avatar in 3D at the IMAX theater. Amazingly enough, the showings are still selling out at that theater two months after the release of the movie! And I have to say, after seeing the movie, I can see why! However, by the time we got home again, I was just zapped. It had been a long day of running all over the place and I was too beat to do much other than crawl into bed.
Thankfully, today we had a ring time of 12:35pm behind the tibetan mastiffs, so I was able to sleep in. While we won our class again today (not really hard when you're the only one in it!), we didn't really even get much of a look in the winners bitch ring. A fact that is always disappointing to me when it happens. There are times when I've wanted to throw something at the judge just to get their attention and get them to really look at my dog. This has been the case regardless of whether I'm showing her or Georgia is showing her. On the up side, danes are really strong in bitches right now. On the down side, danes are really strong in bitches right now. It's tough competition, even at small shows. But I do have to admit that I am slowly getting more and more disheartened. While I enjoy going to the shows, I enjoy showing, I enjoy chatting with people; it's getting old to have my dog get over looked time and time again. She's got a great body, she's solid of temperament, and she moves effortlessly. Unfortunately she's starting grow less fond of the conformation ring and she lacks some of the showiness that a lot of the other bitches out right now have. Regardless, it is getting old.
Once we got home I took a little break to catch up on some email and then I loaded both of the dogs up for some off leash time in one of our favorite little foresty areas. This was Heffner's first off leash outing since December! It definitely did him a lot of good to get out and just meander around unrestricted. And Bess was very obviously much happier having him along on our jaunt. Previously, when it was just her and I doing these outings, she would wander around, but stayed surprisingly close to me. Unfortunately she also didn't get as much exercise that way. With Heffner along, regardless of where he was, she was all over the place. Running here and there, and always sort of competing with him if heaven forbid, he got ahead of her! It was great to see and I'm happy that we're starting to get back to a more "normal" routine.:o)
And with that lengthy post, I've pretty much summed up my weekend. Next weekend is a "free" weekend and I just don't know what I'll do with myself! he he he I'm actually really hoping to get some light hiking in or possibly something snow related if we could get some actual snow this week! We'll see. Incidentally, I did decide to send in my registration for the skijoring race at the end of the month. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will yet again get cancelled due to lack of snow, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! If nothing else, there are some matches that I can take the dogs to.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
My Dogs Are the Best Medicine!
Today was a sick day for me. That doesn't happen all that often, which also explains why I have so much sick time built up. I woke up feeling fine. Great even. This morning was a ball work morning for the dogs and Heffner's first morning back into this part of the routine since early December. I was pretty excited and the morning actually went really well. Both dogs were listening great and very eager to do whatever exercises I asked them to. It was a great training morning. Then around about 7am after everyone had been fed and I was just sitting down in front of the computer to eat my breakfast and do some vegging out before leaving for work, I started having an icky feeling in my stomach. This icky feeling turned into some serious stomach cramping. I figured it would just be a passing thing and be gone in a few minutes. But it stuck around. Finally after a half hour of this I realized there was no way that I was going to make it into work let alone down the stairs to get my truck keys. I tried laying down on the floor in the hopes that it would go away, but no such luck.During that time, the dogs were in the media room in their post morning activity and breakfast snooze zone. Eventually Heffner meandered into the office as he usually does at least once before I leave for work, just to sort of check on me. At this point I was laying down on the floor. He gave me a thorough sniffing over and I think he may have thought I was playing a game. There was some light pawing, which got him pretty much no response. Finally he resorted to dragging his lips over my face and nearly suffocating me! It's one of his favorite things to do when being blatantly obnoxious doesn't get my attention. Most commonly employed when I'm sitting at the computer and he drags his lips over my mouse hand. Trust me, it gets my attention!
At any rate, his walking around and the fact that he wasn't returning to the media room to lay down must have alerted Bess to the fact that something was going on. When she got in there she also had to give me a thorough going over. Instead of dragging her lips over my face, her trade mark move is to sniff the heck out of my ear canal. I'm pretty sure that she sucked any possible ear wax that may have been residing in there, right out! And holy loud sniffing Batman!!
I pretty much ignored the dogs until they settled down. Of their own volition they finally settled into the positions that you see in the picture. This is right about the time that Adam came into the office to do the final part of his morning routine and where he found me. Naturally, I had our camera sitting on my desk and he used the opportunity to snap a picture. I do have to admit that even though I felt like crap at that point, it is an adorable picture!:)
I'm feeling a fair bit better now, just a wee bit "off." But definitely well enough to do some toe nail painting and do some picture taking of the dogs for Valentine's Day!!:) Bess has a dog show this weekend so there was no way that I was going to paint her toe nails tonight only to have to take it off tomorrow. But I'm really loving this new pink nail polish color that I picked up! I think I'm going to have to try it out on her next week! Anyhow, here are Heffner's toe nails:
And here are some of the pictures I took tonight!
And the shot that I decided to go ahead and submit for week 6 of 52 Weeks for Dogs is:
After looking back over the pictures, I wish that I had used the close up mode so that his toes were the most in focus. I think that would have been a neat shot. Over all, I just wanted a fun shot for the upcoming holiday.:)
And in the end, my dogs always manage to make me feel better! Even when they're laying all over me, it is comforting to have them there.:)
And here are some of the pictures I took tonight!
And the shot that I decided to go ahead and submit for week 6 of 52 Weeks for Dogs is:
After looking back over the pictures, I wish that I had used the close up mode so that his toes were the most in focus. I think that would have been a neat shot. Over all, I just wanted a fun shot for the upcoming holiday.:)And in the end, my dogs always manage to make me feel better! Even when they're laying all over me, it is comforting to have them there.:)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
YouTube of the Month
I decided to go with something light and funny for my YouTube pick for this month. We all know that our dogs have their funny little quirks. Some of which include get excited and getting the zoomies over different objects. This particular great dane seems to enjoy the towel monster!LOL
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Blogger Tuesday
My pick for Blog of the Week is Kasha the Dainty Dane!! I know I'm a total sucker for pictures, but I just love all the snapshots that her mom takes of her! The dog pile picture with all the dog bones laid out on Kasha is quite impressive. And I'm especially fond of the series of photos with Kasha wearing different hats. So head on over and say hi!
As a side note, the dogs were quite bad while we were at work today. They tag teamed a brand new bottle of fish oil capsules. Heffner managed to chew off the top of the bottle because he's quite fond of finding ways to open things that have been shut to him. Inside what was left of the bottle were about 30-40 capsules. Our of an original 250. And since Heffner isn't fond of eating the fish oil capsules unless they're in something, that would leave the eating of the capsules to Bess, who does enjoy eating them plain. ARG!!! While the capsules themselves are not harmful to her, the calories that they contain are not good considering that I've been slowly taking some weight off of her. That's some where around 2,500 calories in one sitting. NOT okay!
I also wanted to answer a few questions about the tooth cleaning stuff and my dogs' teeth. I do have both dogs on a raw diet and they've been on it each for roughly two years. Raw meaty bones are part of their weekly routine. This is all part of the reason as to why I'm kind of confused as to how they still manage to have tartar build up on their teeth. I do use cooked treats for training, but not such a large volume that it should be making an impact on their teeth. I generally do training before they eat meals, so I would think that at least some of that eating process should help to get rid of any temporary tartar from the training treats. I don't know. I'm just befuddled!
As a side note, the dogs were quite bad while we were at work today. They tag teamed a brand new bottle of fish oil capsules. Heffner managed to chew off the top of the bottle because he's quite fond of finding ways to open things that have been shut to him. Inside what was left of the bottle were about 30-40 capsules. Our of an original 250. And since Heffner isn't fond of eating the fish oil capsules unless they're in something, that would leave the eating of the capsules to Bess, who does enjoy eating them plain. ARG!!! While the capsules themselves are not harmful to her, the calories that they contain are not good considering that I've been slowly taking some weight off of her. That's some where around 2,500 calories in one sitting. NOT okay!
I also wanted to answer a few questions about the tooth cleaning stuff and my dogs' teeth. I do have both dogs on a raw diet and they've been on it each for roughly two years. Raw meaty bones are part of their weekly routine. This is all part of the reason as to why I'm kind of confused as to how they still manage to have tartar build up on their teeth. I do use cooked treats for training, but not such a large volume that it should be making an impact on their teeth. I generally do training before they eat meals, so I would think that at least some of that eating process should help to get rid of any temporary tartar from the training treats. I don't know. I'm just befuddled!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Monday Toofers Challenge!
We've made it through one week of daily tooth brushing! Hows everyone doing?? I didn't really expect that much of a difference after one week, but maybe there's a glimmering of some plaque loss. Here are Heffner's chompers today:
They pretty much look the same as Week 1's picture. And here are Bess' from today:
Again, they're pretty much the same.
Not much else is going on here. As of this Wednesday Heffner will get to slowly go back to normal exercise!!! It's really going to be nice to burn off a little more of his energy. He was pretty good for a while once we moved him up to two walks a day. Lately, though, he's just been all sorts of pent up. I'm sure the really nice weather that we've been having hasn't helped any either.
They pretty much look the same as Week 1's picture. And here are Bess' from today:
Again, they're pretty much the same. Not much else is going on here. As of this Wednesday Heffner will get to slowly go back to normal exercise!!! It's really going to be nice to burn off a little more of his energy. He was pretty good for a while once we moved him up to two walks a day. Lately, though, he's just been all sorts of pent up. I'm sure the really nice weather that we've been having hasn't helped any either.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Weekend Wrap Up
I know that it's only Sunday morning and kind of "early" to be wrapping up the weekend, but that's just how I roll.;o) Mostly I'm not sure of how much time I will have this evening to catch up on everything so I'm taking advantage of the time that I have right now!
Yesterday we went out for an awesome day of snowshoeing with some friends! Originally Adam wasn't going to go because he was going to stay home and do some house cleaning and other odds and ends to get ready for Super Bowl Sunday and the people that we have coming over. Kind of a tall task since we seriously suck at maintaining the house in the state of cleanliness that we would like. Other more fun activities have a way of taking precedence over floor cleaning and things of that nature.;) Since the weather was supposed to be fairly nice and David and Brei have plenty of experience taking newbies out for some fun, Adam decided to come along. Sadly, Heffner had to stay behind because he is still not completely off of his restricted exercise and he most certainly hasn't built the muscle mass and stamina back that he would have needed for this trip. I felt absolutely horrible leaving him at home all alone, but it really was for the better. Plus, there were quite a few dogs out and about along the trail and I'm sure that in his pent up state he inevitably would have taken issue with at least one of them. So Adam, Bess, and I set off for Mt. Hood to do some snowshoeing!!
Along the way I was noting the snow levels, or lack thereof, at roughly the elevation that our skijoring race will be happening at at the end of the month. Unfortunately things are really not looking good and I'm not sure if it's even worth while for me to sending in my registration form because I'm almost certain that the race will get cancelled yet again due to lack of snow. We just have had a crummy winter at that elevation level. The temps have been to warm and there has been more rain than snow. We'll see.
Once we pulled into the parking lot, got ourselves suited up and ready to go, I decided that we needed some couple's shots before heading out (that's what happens when you bring along an slightly obsessive picture taker).:) Here's David and Brei:
And Adam, Bess, and I ready to hit the trail!!
Thankfully, at this snow park there was plenty of snow. It was still too crunchy for me to let Bess on it without booties though. Everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious how upset she looked when I first put the booties on. Then she did her funny little walking across the parking lot. Once she hit the snow, she completely forgot that she even had them on!
I also have to mention that these booties from DogBooties.com are fabulous!! While it took me a few times to get the fit on Bess' feet just right so that they wouldn't slide down, she didn't lose a single bootie even once! There aren't any holes worn in any of the feet either. This was an almost three hour trek that we did and they just held up fabulously. I do really like that the Velcro that they use is stretchy. It definitely allows for a snugger fit without cutting off circulation. And her hot pink footsies were commented on by most of the people along the trail! One couple even wanted her to stop so that they could get a picture of her with her hot pink booties!LOL Many of the kids who were sledding thought it was cute that not only did Bess have a coat, but she also had mittens on!:o)
Okay, so I'm going off topic a wee bit. That does tend to happen with me! Back to the snowshoeing! The area was just beautiful! After going on this trip I realized that I've never been snowshoeing along a trail that hadn't been all ready beaten down by snowmobiles. Granted I've gone off the beaten trail many times to do little side forays in the snow, but I generally go where snow mobiles have paved the way. This was a new experience and a lot of fun. And I was also quite impressed with the fact that Adam was keeping up with the pace that was set. For someone who doesn't work out at all and who's job is to sit behind a computer all day, he really did great! Here are some shots from along the trail.
There was a whole lot of Bess running amok all over the trail. And especially a lot of her running ahead, only to run screaming back towards momma. I think she particularly enjoyed doing that!!
We took a little break for some snacks and a little rest at almost the half way point. Bess got to have some of the people snacks and I also brought a few dog cookies for her to snack on. She was definitely burning some bucko calories yesterday!!
She voluntarily sat in the snow while I was digging out her cookies. I guess it's just one of those automatic responses that in order to get a treat she should sit. Even though I'm sure her little hiney was quite cold! Naturally, I took advantage of her good behavior to take some pictures.:)
After we got going, we came across an interesting spot where there were snowshoe tracks leading down into a slight ravine and up and over into the wild white yonder. David wanted to go check it out. I thought that Bess was going to follow him for a second, but I think she realized how much work that would be to chase after him in the deep snow and then have to come all the way back to the rest of us!
Once he came back to us, we headed out a little further to The Hill. From further back, it looked deceptively doable by most people. I even thought that Adam would be able to manage it as long as he took frequent breaks and didn't push his pace too much. However, the closer we got, the steeper we realized it was. It was slightly daunting when we got to the base of it. At the time, we didn't know what the elevation gain was. David later looked it up and it's 350 feet up.
The pictures seriously do NOT do it justice! We stood at the base for a bit hemming and hawing about whether or not we should try it and who would try it. The general consensus was that since this was Adam's first time out and we didn't want to push it so much that he didn't want to go back, that he definitely should not do it. However, I really wanted to at least attempt it. If I only made it half way up, then so be it. David wanted to go for it as well. And apparently, Bess was totally game for the climb!
I have to take a moment here and really brag about my dog. That girl has got so much heart!! Without hesitation, as David and I started hoofing it up that hill, she was bounding ahead. She REALLY wanted to go wherever I was going and gave it her all! This was also not an easy climb by any means. Let along for a dog who didn't have the advantage of having snow shoes with teeth on. When we were about 2/3 of the way up, the footing was just too tricky and the incline just to steep for her to be able to maintain her footing. I called down to Adam to call her down to him and hang onto her. Thankfully she went back to daddy and hung out there waiting for us to return. I think she realized that the route we were going just wasn't meant for dogs.:(
I left the camera with Adam to capture our ascent.:) He we are on the "easy" part of the climb.
This is about the point that I sent Bess back down.
At that point, the looser snow that I was using my toe picks to really dig into and get a good foothold, was getting shallower and the footing just wasn't as great over all. It was also so steep that essentially I was leaning into the hill so much that my face was only a foot or two away from the snow in front of me. Yes, that's steep. Cramp-ons would have been more appropriate than snowshoes at that point. The route that we picked was purposefully a more direct route to the top. We didn't pick it because it was easiest and the most dog appropriate route. If I went back there again, I think I could pick a route that would have worked better for Bess, but it would have been a fair bit longer.
Adam and Brei waited at the bottom for us. Unfortunately when we hit the summit, they were too close to the base of the climb to be able to see clear up to where we were at and I don't have any pictures of our triumphant moment. I gotta tell you though, that was a seriously huge sense of accomplishment when we got all the way up there! And what a view!! I caught myself almost wishing that I had kept the camera with me so that I could snap some pictures from up there. It was a total rush!
We took a little break while we were up there to revel in the moment and to plot out our trek down. Going down seems easy enough, but if you don't want to tumble head first the whole way down, you need to pick an appropriate route. Going down the exact way we came up was NOT an option. That was far to steep to chance it. And my snowshoes were longer than David's so I would have bitten it for sure! We skirted the ridge and went to the far left as you're facing the hill. The slope was gentler and we had already watched another couple come down that way and it seemed pretty safe. Going down was initially a LOT harder than going up. You essentially have to side step going down. And that can get tricky. David was leading on the way down and he found out that the descent was steep enough and the trail "groomed" enough that we could actually slide down on our butts for most of the way! OMG, it was soooooooooooo much fun!! Imagine all the fun you had as a kid tubing or sledding down a hill and then imagine that type of fun as an adult, sliding down a huge hill on your butt with reckless abandon!:) Yes, it was great! And thankfully it wasn't a rough ride down either. No sore buttocks here!
Bess was very happy to see me safe and sound and back on the ground! Apparently she had been a little worried about me while staying with Adam and was wimpering a bit. On the treck back, she wasn't quite as prone to bounding through the deeper snow. I think we had actually managed to take the edge off of her energy level!LOL
Random people along the trail who wanted to love on Bess!:)
After we got de-layered, we decided to head down to the Zig Zag (yes, that is in fact a town!) Inn for some late lunch. They have such yummy delicious food!! We probably ate more than we necessarily had room for, but it was all so good! I highly recommend stopping there if you get the chance and are going up to Mt. Hood.
After we got back, we had lots of house cleaning and other things to do to get the house ready for the people that we're having over today to watch the Super Bowl. That took up a larger chunk of time than I had originally expected. I had grand plans for a little photo shoot with Heffner, but I think I'll just save those plans for next week. Yesterday he was just looking so adorably forlorn at being left behind for such a large chunk of the day that I couldn't help but snap pictures of him! Here's the picture that I submitted for week 5 of the 52 Weeks for Dogs challenge (and yes, I did realize that there was a challenge, I just didn't end up going with it).
And last but not least, we got an award from Darwin!!
The rules of the Sweet Friends Award:
1. Copy the image and paste it to your blog.
2. List 10 things that make you happy, do one of them today.
3. Select 10 bloggers who brighten your day.
10 things that make me happy:
1) Hiking, with the dogs!
2) Skijoring
3) Snowshoeing with friends and the dogs!
4) Swimming
5) Training with the dogs
6) Dressing the dogs up in ridiculous costumes
7) Reading, especially the awesome blogs that I get to read!
8) Exercise!!
9) Talking about my dogs ;)
10) Pretty much anything to do with my dogs.:)
10 blogs that brighten our day (this was hard because there are many that I enjoy reading for various reasons!). Here they are in no particular order:
1) Assistance Dog for Autism
2) Blogging Dante
3) Chihuahuas Are Not Sheep
4) Danes Can Q
5) Dig-it, Fetch-it, Herd-it
6) Exercise Finished
7) Fun With Falkor
8) Jackson's Quest
9) Life With Dogs
10) Many Muddy Paws
11) Romping and Rolling in the Rockies
12) The Adventures of Two Urban Border Collies
13) The Life Story of Miss Layla
14) Two Pitties in the City
15) Wild Dingo
I realize that I went over 10, but I couldn't help it!!
Yesterday we went out for an awesome day of snowshoeing with some friends! Originally Adam wasn't going to go because he was going to stay home and do some house cleaning and other odds and ends to get ready for Super Bowl Sunday and the people that we have coming over. Kind of a tall task since we seriously suck at maintaining the house in the state of cleanliness that we would like. Other more fun activities have a way of taking precedence over floor cleaning and things of that nature.;) Since the weather was supposed to be fairly nice and David and Brei have plenty of experience taking newbies out for some fun, Adam decided to come along. Sadly, Heffner had to stay behind because he is still not completely off of his restricted exercise and he most certainly hasn't built the muscle mass and stamina back that he would have needed for this trip. I felt absolutely horrible leaving him at home all alone, but it really was for the better. Plus, there were quite a few dogs out and about along the trail and I'm sure that in his pent up state he inevitably would have taken issue with at least one of them. So Adam, Bess, and I set off for Mt. Hood to do some snowshoeing!!
Along the way I was noting the snow levels, or lack thereof, at roughly the elevation that our skijoring race will be happening at at the end of the month. Unfortunately things are really not looking good and I'm not sure if it's even worth while for me to sending in my registration form because I'm almost certain that the race will get cancelled yet again due to lack of snow. We just have had a crummy winter at that elevation level. The temps have been to warm and there has been more rain than snow. We'll see.
Once we pulled into the parking lot, got ourselves suited up and ready to go, I decided that we needed some couple's shots before heading out (that's what happens when you bring along an slightly obsessive picture taker).:) Here's David and Brei:
And Adam, Bess, and I ready to hit the trail!!
Thankfully, at this snow park there was plenty of snow. It was still too crunchy for me to let Bess on it without booties though. Everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious how upset she looked when I first put the booties on. Then she did her funny little walking across the parking lot. Once she hit the snow, she completely forgot that she even had them on!
I also have to mention that these booties from DogBooties.com are fabulous!! While it took me a few times to get the fit on Bess' feet just right so that they wouldn't slide down, she didn't lose a single bootie even once! There aren't any holes worn in any of the feet either. This was an almost three hour trek that we did and they just held up fabulously. I do really like that the Velcro that they use is stretchy. It definitely allows for a snugger fit without cutting off circulation. And her hot pink footsies were commented on by most of the people along the trail! One couple even wanted her to stop so that they could get a picture of her with her hot pink booties!LOL Many of the kids who were sledding thought it was cute that not only did Bess have a coat, but she also had mittens on!:o)Okay, so I'm going off topic a wee bit. That does tend to happen with me! Back to the snowshoeing! The area was just beautiful! After going on this trip I realized that I've never been snowshoeing along a trail that hadn't been all ready beaten down by snowmobiles. Granted I've gone off the beaten trail many times to do little side forays in the snow, but I generally go where snow mobiles have paved the way. This was a new experience and a lot of fun. And I was also quite impressed with the fact that Adam was keeping up with the pace that was set. For someone who doesn't work out at all and who's job is to sit behind a computer all day, he really did great! Here are some shots from along the trail.
There was a whole lot of Bess running amok all over the trail. And especially a lot of her running ahead, only to run screaming back towards momma. I think she particularly enjoyed doing that!!
We took a little break for some snacks and a little rest at almost the half way point. Bess got to have some of the people snacks and I also brought a few dog cookies for her to snack on. She was definitely burning some bucko calories yesterday!!
She voluntarily sat in the snow while I was digging out her cookies. I guess it's just one of those automatic responses that in order to get a treat she should sit. Even though I'm sure her little hiney was quite cold! Naturally, I took advantage of her good behavior to take some pictures.:)
After we got going, we came across an interesting spot where there were snowshoe tracks leading down into a slight ravine and up and over into the wild white yonder. David wanted to go check it out. I thought that Bess was going to follow him for a second, but I think she realized how much work that would be to chase after him in the deep snow and then have to come all the way back to the rest of us!
Once he came back to us, we headed out a little further to The Hill. From further back, it looked deceptively doable by most people. I even thought that Adam would be able to manage it as long as he took frequent breaks and didn't push his pace too much. However, the closer we got, the steeper we realized it was. It was slightly daunting when we got to the base of it. At the time, we didn't know what the elevation gain was. David later looked it up and it's 350 feet up.
The pictures seriously do NOT do it justice! We stood at the base for a bit hemming and hawing about whether or not we should try it and who would try it. The general consensus was that since this was Adam's first time out and we didn't want to push it so much that he didn't want to go back, that he definitely should not do it. However, I really wanted to at least attempt it. If I only made it half way up, then so be it. David wanted to go for it as well. And apparently, Bess was totally game for the climb!I have to take a moment here and really brag about my dog. That girl has got so much heart!! Without hesitation, as David and I started hoofing it up that hill, she was bounding ahead. She REALLY wanted to go wherever I was going and gave it her all! This was also not an easy climb by any means. Let along for a dog who didn't have the advantage of having snow shoes with teeth on. When we were about 2/3 of the way up, the footing was just too tricky and the incline just to steep for her to be able to maintain her footing. I called down to Adam to call her down to him and hang onto her. Thankfully she went back to daddy and hung out there waiting for us to return. I think she realized that the route we were going just wasn't meant for dogs.:(
I left the camera with Adam to capture our ascent.:) He we are on the "easy" part of the climb.
This is about the point that I sent Bess back down.
At that point, the looser snow that I was using my toe picks to really dig into and get a good foothold, was getting shallower and the footing just wasn't as great over all. It was also so steep that essentially I was leaning into the hill so much that my face was only a foot or two away from the snow in front of me. Yes, that's steep. Cramp-ons would have been more appropriate than snowshoes at that point. The route that we picked was purposefully a more direct route to the top. We didn't pick it because it was easiest and the most dog appropriate route. If I went back there again, I think I could pick a route that would have worked better for Bess, but it would have been a fair bit longer.Adam and Brei waited at the bottom for us. Unfortunately when we hit the summit, they were too close to the base of the climb to be able to see clear up to where we were at and I don't have any pictures of our triumphant moment. I gotta tell you though, that was a seriously huge sense of accomplishment when we got all the way up there! And what a view!! I caught myself almost wishing that I had kept the camera with me so that I could snap some pictures from up there. It was a total rush!
We took a little break while we were up there to revel in the moment and to plot out our trek down. Going down seems easy enough, but if you don't want to tumble head first the whole way down, you need to pick an appropriate route. Going down the exact way we came up was NOT an option. That was far to steep to chance it. And my snowshoes were longer than David's so I would have bitten it for sure! We skirted the ridge and went to the far left as you're facing the hill. The slope was gentler and we had already watched another couple come down that way and it seemed pretty safe. Going down was initially a LOT harder than going up. You essentially have to side step going down. And that can get tricky. David was leading on the way down and he found out that the descent was steep enough and the trail "groomed" enough that we could actually slide down on our butts for most of the way! OMG, it was soooooooooooo much fun!! Imagine all the fun you had as a kid tubing or sledding down a hill and then imagine that type of fun as an adult, sliding down a huge hill on your butt with reckless abandon!:) Yes, it was great! And thankfully it wasn't a rough ride down either. No sore buttocks here!
Bess was very happy to see me safe and sound and back on the ground! Apparently she had been a little worried about me while staying with Adam and was wimpering a bit. On the treck back, she wasn't quite as prone to bounding through the deeper snow. I think we had actually managed to take the edge off of her energy level!LOL
Random people along the trail who wanted to love on Bess!:)
After we got de-layered, we decided to head down to the Zig Zag (yes, that is in fact a town!) Inn for some late lunch. They have such yummy delicious food!! We probably ate more than we necessarily had room for, but it was all so good! I highly recommend stopping there if you get the chance and are going up to Mt. Hood.After we got back, we had lots of house cleaning and other things to do to get the house ready for the people that we're having over today to watch the Super Bowl. That took up a larger chunk of time than I had originally expected. I had grand plans for a little photo shoot with Heffner, but I think I'll just save those plans for next week. Yesterday he was just looking so adorably forlorn at being left behind for such a large chunk of the day that I couldn't help but snap pictures of him! Here's the picture that I submitted for week 5 of the 52 Weeks for Dogs challenge (and yes, I did realize that there was a challenge, I just didn't end up going with it).
And last but not least, we got an award from Darwin!!
The rules of the Sweet Friends Award:1. Copy the image and paste it to your blog.
2. List 10 things that make you happy, do one of them today.
3. Select 10 bloggers who brighten your day.
10 things that make me happy:
1) Hiking, with the dogs!
2) Skijoring
3) Snowshoeing with friends and the dogs!
4) Swimming
5) Training with the dogs
6) Dressing the dogs up in ridiculous costumes
7) Reading, especially the awesome blogs that I get to read!
8) Exercise!!
9) Talking about my dogs ;)
10) Pretty much anything to do with my dogs.:)
10 blogs that brighten our day (this was hard because there are many that I enjoy reading for various reasons!). Here they are in no particular order:
1) Assistance Dog for Autism
2) Blogging Dante
3) Chihuahuas Are Not Sheep
4) Danes Can Q
5) Dig-it, Fetch-it, Herd-it
6) Exercise Finished
7) Fun With Falkor
8) Jackson's Quest
9) Life With Dogs
10) Many Muddy Paws
11) Romping and Rolling in the Rockies
12) The Adventures of Two Urban Border Collies
13) The Life Story of Miss Layla
14) Two Pitties in the City
15) Wild Dingo
I realize that I went over 10, but I couldn't help it!!
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