We had fun!

Marley wants everyone to know how much fun she had at Tanner Park yesterday. We went with our TipTail friend and got to make some new friends from Resqtails too. Marley chased and played with muffit and was a super happy girl. We were happy to have Paul and Leon join us too!! I didn't get many good pics. It's hard to get good pics of dogs that are moving. But here are a few:


Some of our new sheltie friends:
Leon is such a happy boy!!

Twist and Zoe want treats!!!

The Flyball Box is fun!!

Last Night we got together with our Friends Chase, Muffit, and Cynthia to do some work on the flyball box. They came to our house this time and it's great that they did. I cleaned all the walnuts but more fell during the day yesterday so we found a small patch of grass that was mostly clean of walnuts to work on.

I stole this pic of Muffit because I think he is so cute. I hope my friend doesn't care! He's a typical frantic border collie who at 5 years old had had no training. This is pretty normal for a border collie who doesn't get to work. Or at least that's been my experience. That's why it so important that people that get this breed - understand their need for work and mental stimulation.

All the new sights and sounds at our house were very distracting for him. I'm really glad he came over there though because he did really well. He had to take a few minutes to focus then go off and check things out. He also did some VERY nice box turns when he was there.

Dylan, Chase, and even Marley got to do some box work too! I was most impressed with Spicey Love Muffit though! He is coming along so well and I hope they know they are invited to come back and use my distracting yard anytime they want too!!

Happy Dogs!

Just found this pic again and had to post it. Reminds me of last summer when I had Zip!!!

Are they tennis balls? Or Walnuts?

I have a huge walnut tree in my backyard. It makes for a decent shade tree but it also is a huge pain when it comes time to clean the yard of leaves and walnuts. It

drips sticky stuff all summer and so anything in the yard tends to be sticky. It drops literally thousands of walnuts in the fall. Luckily it only produces nuts every other year.

I tried to clean some of the walnuts up this evening. They were falling even as I as picking them up! It seems impossible to pick up all the crappy walnuts. I was worried that they were going to hit me in the head and knock me out!

Marley, however, keeps me quite entertained. She seems to believe that whenever a walnut falls - it may be a tennis ball. As soon as she hears one fall - she runs over and pounces on it. She seems disappointed to find out that it's simply another walnut. There's already a thousand on the grass (well maybe 500 now that I did some work out there). It must really be disappointing to her that it's not actually raining tennis balls. Dylan is of course, just scared of the walnuts when they fall. He really is afraid of anything that moves!

When I first bought this house, there were 5000 walnuts. It looked like they hadn't been cleaned up in years. Now that I am through my first 2 years of owning this place, I realize that the walnut tree is just so big that it drops 5000 walnuts in the fall. I have the joy of getting down on my hands and knees to try to clean them up. They get buried in the lawn so I have to literally pat it down to make sure they are all picked up. Of course, there are already more falling so I am not sure what good all this work does. I'll have to do it again next week and the week after that. Oh and I only got about a 1/4 of the yard done anyway. I hope that 1/4 stays somewhat clean so we can do some box work out there tomorrow. We are expecting some of our friends from Tip Tail to come and do some training tomorrow evening!

Sometimes I miss being a renter. I never realized how much work it was to own a house. Now I own two and man do I hate doing yardwork. Maybe next year I will be able to afford to hire someone to do it. That's probably wishful thinking though!

The nicest guy...

I had a rough morning today. I woke up with miserable allergies that didn't go away until I got to work. When I arrived here, I realized I left my lunch and dinner sitting on the kitchen counter. I have to work a long day on Mondays I pack two meals with me. Money is tight so I didn't want to go out to eat. I also didn't want my dogs to think it was okay to feast on my roasted food.

To make matters worse, I lost a bunch of data on my computer and was freaking out all morning. Stuff that could totally screw up my work life for a good couple of weeks until I restored it all.

Paul was going to pick D&M up for the day since I have to work both jobs. I asked him to stick my lunch in the fridge so at least it wouldn't be ruined. He was nice enough to bring it across town to me at work! And he brought my princess Marley with him (and Sage and Leon too). So I got lunch, I got to see Paul, and got some loves from the puppies! It was so incredibly nice of him to drive so far. He brought the dogs so he could walk them at the Dimple Dell Gulch that's not too far from my work here.

Ohhh and when I got back from visiting with Paul and the dogs, someone had restored all my lost data. All in all, the day has gotten a lot better than the way it started. I'm so lucky to have met such a nice guy who is willing to go out of his way to help me - even without being asked.

Eating Healthy

I've been trying, when possible, to make some healthy meals. I'm a horrible cook and I usually end up eating something that doesn't taste very good as a result of my attempt to cook something healthy.

I love veggies and I was a vegetarian until about a year and a half ago. So veggies are a good easy and healthy thing for me to eat. I mostly eat them raw because I don't know how to cook them.

I got this recipe from Chris but I improvised. I didn't add any peppers and I added portabello mushrooms and yellow squash and carrots and tomatoes. Oh and some whole garlic cloves too. The recipe called for salt and pepper but I don't like pepper much and I am trying to cut down on sodium so I used garlic powder instead. My house stinks but it tasted yummy so it's worth it.

Oh, and D&M always eat healthy. It's sooo easy for me to deny them the yummy treats that people offer. Yet I can't turn them down when yummy treats are offered to me. I wish someone made all my decisions on what I could eat. It really isn't difficult to keep a dog at a decent weight if you just make wise choices for them. Healthy food and small but healthful treats for training and reward is all it really takes. Exercise is good too!!

I really love raw feeding these two. It's good for them and my vet insists on it. They get some healthy kibble too since I work for a pet food company. They usually eat it in the morning for breakfast though. It's about time I start feeding some chicken now that it is cooling down. That will be nice since it's a bit cheaper than beef. My friend got some raw green tripe and she said her dogs love it. I may have to buy some one of these days but I can't handle feeding it.

Glad we all had a healthy and yummy dinner. Tomorrow is a weigh in day and I haven't had a great week so hopefully the low calorie dinner tonight will help a bit.

Marley is the best medicine!

Marley is the best medicine!

We went on our scheduled therapy visit last night. Sometimes I forget how much impact a visit from a dog can have on people.

Last night we visited the same Alzheimer's patients. Many of these are the same patients we have visited for a year. I've been frustrated thinking our recreation therapist didn't really understand our purpose there. Last night, however, was different.

We had been making our usual rounds when we found a few people in the dining room. We went in and Marley and I went from one person to the next to say hello while she let people love on her. Marley likes to perform her tricks for people and the rec therapist kept telling everyone that Marley would do some tricks. She set the people's chairs up in a small circle around Marley and I. Marley did some sit ups, high 5's, and spins, and twirls, and all that. When I asked her to roll over, she did her very distinctive plop down and roll over! One woman started laughing and laughing. It was if she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen.

We've seen this woman before and she never speaks. She does always want to pet and visit with Marley and she's always with her roommate who appears to be her best friend. Last night, she separated herself. We visited and she made enough words for me to understand her questions about Marley. She laughed and smiled and grinned when Marley did tricks for her. She loved on her and Marley was a princess and loved every moment. Our rec therapist was amazed that this woman was laughing. In all the time she had been there, she had never heard her laugh. So we stayed and visited as long as Marley seemed comfortable. When it got time for us to leave, the woman commented that Marley seemed tired. In truth, Marley was fine, but it was a good time to leave.

Our rec therapist now wants to make a special effort to visit this particular patient. I think she now has a better understanding of the impact Marley can have on people. If my girl can provide a source of laughter, Marley really is the best medicine. We'll have a camera with us next visit so the rec therapist can take some pictures to put in People's rooms. I'm not allowed to take pictures of my baby girl when she's working but the facility sees some value in taking some pictures to put up in people's rooms to remind them of the dog that comes there to visit.

Marley is my very special girl. She has a way to know who is going to benefit from her love and affection. She's always happy to do some tricks and her Roll Over is the funniest thing I have ever seen! It takes a special dog to be a good therapy dog and Marley has proven herself to be wonderful at her job. She may never be the athlete and character the Dylan is. He tends to get a lot of attention when we are out and about. He's a strikingly handsome boy with a lot of personality. Sometimes I think he overshadows my little girl most of the time. Marley, however, proves time and time again that she's a wonderful little girl who has the ability to impact people in a very special way. Marley really is the best medicine!

We hate the bath!

Dylan despises the bathtub! He won't even come into the bathroom if I am in there getting ready! Marley is getting more and more used to it since

she has to have a bath every 2 weeks before her therapy visit. Last night was bath night and Dylan hasn't had one in a few months so I decided he needed one too. He was sure unhappy about it!

Marley has learned to do 2 shakes behind the shower curtain before she gets out. She's a pretty good girl but I can't get Dylan to shake and towel drying a dog doesn't really work well! So as soon as he jumped out of the tub he was shaking and flinging water everywhere!

I'm allergic to dogs oddly enough so having wet dog smell all over my tiny house isn't the best plan. We survived though and I even slept next to two damp dogs. Oh the joys of dog ownership! I can't bear to kick them out of my bed for the night and I didn't have time to bathe them early enough that they would actually dry before bedtime!

At least they are clean! I love soft clean dogs!!! Marley will have her therapy visit tonight and she will be all clean for the people to pet her! Dylan will smell better and will be more fun to cuddle with. That only usually lasts a couple of days around my house because I am sure the two of them will be out splashing in mud and water sometime in the very near future! Guess that it's just part of living with a two dogs!

Chasin Lizards is lots of fun!

We took the dogs out to the desert today to give them a chance to get out and run. This is Dylan's favorite place because he gets to run free! I try to call him minimally here because it's flat and I can see him and he loves so much to go out and explore. He does quite well and checks in on his own so I don't call him unless I have too!

Dylan wears an orange vest and his Muttlucks Booties. He blends in so well with the landscape that this orange vest helps make him much more visible. He tends to wear out his front pads on this dry terrain so the muttlucks help prevent that issue. They seem to stay on well but they get turned around so I have to stop him from time to time for an adjustment. My vet says he wouldn't have so many issues with his pads if his nails weren't so dang long. I really need to get working on the dremel but I've found it is very difficult for me to work on this alone. I think it would be easier if there were someone to sit there and feed him!!


There were lots and lots of lizards today and the dogs had the time of their life. Dylan especially loves to chase the lizards. The funny thing is, the lizards will run through the sagebrush and keep on going but the dogs seem to think they are hiding in the bushes. By the time the dogs realize they aren't there; the lizards are long gone!!

Paul and Leon just seem to belong together. Leon rarely leaves his side unless he sees a bunny or a squirrel!
Three tired dogs came home and took naps. I really need to get Dylan one of this round dog beds. He loves this one that is over at Paul's house!

And who couldn't love this boy? I had to post this last pic that I took after Dylan woke up!! Isn't he the cutest english pointer you have ever seen?

It's official! Marley is the cutest dog!

We went to the Salem Pet Fair today. Marley won the contest for the cutest dog. I alwasy knew she was the cutest girl!

I actually wasn't going to enter but I bought these cute bows for her hair right as the contest was starting. So we decided to run down and enter the contest because she looked SO darling with her bows in! Guess the bows really did make her the cutest!

She also won "Most Obedient!" It's kind of a funny title since I have not really done much obedience work with her. The contest was easy though - Sit, Stay, and Come. Then Marley and our friend Tonks had to do a roll over for a tie breaker. Pretty easy obedience and Marley LOVES to Roll over!!

Marley also ran in the flyball demo! I was so impressed with her! It's been about a year since she ran with a team and she did SO great! I actually let her play at practice 2 weeks ago just for the fun of it. She did great! Dylan's been limping so I didn't take him. Marley ran in his place! She completed all her runs after a messy warm up. She dropped the ball early once but other than that her runs were pretty good! She even did her swimmer's turn just like she is supposed too!! I'm amazed that after a year she could just go out there and do it like she'd been practicing all along!

It was a fun day at the Salem Pet Fair! We had fun with Cynthia, Chase, and Tatum! We got to ride down in the nice new van!!

YAY for Flyball!

Time for another Flyball Demo!! I can't wait! I'm not sure if Dylan will be able to run or not but I am just happy to get to go out and do a demo with my team! It's always a good time!

I'm lucky my friend Cyn got a new van! She's going to let me ride down to Salem, UT with her! I hate driving and this way we can save some money on gas and do our part to help the environment!

Marley will get to go too. If there are any contests, I may enter her! She won the roll over race at the last event we went too! She's a fast roller!!

We will get to hang out with Tatum, Chase, and Muffit!! YIPEE!!! I can't wait for tomorrow!

My favorite cuddlers!

More pics of my favorite sleeping buddies. I love it when I have time in the morning to cuddle with them!

Jon Butler Trio and G Love and Special Sauce!

My friend Andrea and I were going to hike up in the hills above Red Butte Gardens and listen to the Jon Butler Trio (JBT) and G Love show last night. We planned on going to listen to the show because we didn't want to pay for tickets (plus the show was SOLD OUT). Marley was going to join us for the show! We've done this for a few Red Butte shows in the past because you can hear the music great in the great scenery and red rocks that are up above the gardens.

We were chatting and making plans when Andrea got a call from her boss. She hopped on the call waiting and came back to ask if I would mind leaving Marley home! She got free VIP tickets from work. Marley girl had to stay home but I didn't feel so bad. I would have felt badly leaving Dylan home alone anyway (there are too many off leash dogs on concert nights for him to go up there). We hurried to get ready because the show started about 45 minutes after she got the call. We still had to go pick up the tickets and try to get up there before JBT started. Andrea really wanted to see them but I had never really heard of them before. G Love is pretty good though and I have seen them before so I knew it would be a great show!

Our VIP tickets ended up being in a seated section. We were front and center of the VIP and it was GREAT!! The people around us weren't really getting into the show much though. I had friends that were sitting in GA not too far away so by the time G Love was playing we opted to go down so we could hang and dance with some friends.

I must say that Jon Butler Trio blew me away (as well as some of my friends who hadn't heard of them!) I should have known that Andrea has great taste in music! They were really amazing and I will definitely be looking to get some of their albums when things calm down and I can afford them. I even went online when I got home to see if I could download some free live shows from some of the free sites I know of! Truly amazing group for sure and the highlight of the night. I'd pay to see them as a headliner any day!!

We really love to see GOOD live music! I haven't made it out to many shows this year but the three I saw were really great ones (even Bob Dylan in the pouring rain was the highlight of my summer)! I am so glad Andrea scored free tickets at the last minute!! It was well worth leaving my girl home for the evening to get to see the show and hang with some good friends.

I never get sick of this..

Yesterday Morning I actually got to spend some time just laying in bed cuddling with my pups. I'm glad I ended up with cuddlers (although I secretly believe I turn dogs into cuddlers!)... I never get to sleep in. My body just wakes up too early. But once in a great while I get to stay in bed a bit later. It's always fun to have puppies to cuddle with!

I never get sick of looking at them lounging around. They just look so cute!!

Dog Videos!!!

I stole this idea from my friend R3K9s. She recently posted some videos of her backyard agility star Maddie. Dylan's a backyard agility star too. I'd like him to be a real agility competitor but I just can't afford it. I'm a poor single girl with two very expensive dogs so getting up to trial level is not an option for us. We have some backyard agility equipment (including a training teeter, jumps, contact trainer, and ladder) and I'd like to add to my collection a tunnel (even a small one!) and some 2 X 2's for weave pole training and a Tire Jump. I have a plan for building the 2 X 2's and Tire jump but it seems money is always tight and I just can't afford to buy the stuff to make them. A table would be fun too.

I took these videos myself of us playing in the yard. It's hard to tell a dog what to do and video at the same time. Guess that's one big disadvantage to living alone. There's no one to videotape for you!

Marley is my trickster! She loves doing tricks and gets to do it a lot as a therapy dog. She had a hard time with her high five in the video which is odd becuase she was targeting to my hand instead of giving me a high five. Often she tries to offer a high five when I ask her to do a target to my hand that is out of her normal reach. LOL.

This is Leon at Flyball practice. This was only his 2nd or 3rd week training with me. He's doing quite well for a newbie dog. When I first thought about bringing him to flyball I was on another team. My club owner at the time said that there was no way he would play! Look at him go!! Some people seem like they just aren't willing to give all dogs a chance. Never underestimate the speed of a crazy curly coat! We still have a long way to go but I have high hopes for this boy!!

This is of Dylan at flyball practice. I have some actual tournament videos on Myspace but it won't let me embed them here. I had this video of him at practice but I was scolded for putting it online before without the club's authorization. Ever wonder why we changed clubs? I'm really glad to be with the new team! I wish I could have brought some of my old teammates with me though! It's much better for me and my dogs to be in a more positive environment!

Wish I were there...

This is where Dylan and Marley are right now. Wish I could be out walking with them! Paul took them out walking for me since I have a busy night trying to take care of my tires and stuff. He's so kind to me and the pups for sure!

I'm stuck at work but my day is almost half over! Time to go have lunch now!

Hope all those dogs have a great time! Don't you love camera phones? Even if the pics they take aren't the best! I always love getting pics of the fun things my dogs are doing when I am working. Makes me a bit jealous though because I know I'd rather be there too.

WW - Sleepy Dylan

Took this with my phone this morning when I was getting ready for work. Dylan doesn't like to get up in the morning. I have to force him out of bed to go potty before I go to work.

This boy loves to SLEEP! He thinks he owns the bed and will sleep all day and night if you let him. When you have him out and about he's a maniac so you wouldn't expect him to be so lazy around the house! He's my cuddle bug and always keeps me warm at night. Marley watches over the house while I sleep. I truly believe she never really sleeps during the night because I wake up and she's up and sometimes she licks the couch all night and gets it all wet. Sometimes I wake up and she is watching me sleep.

Guess that wasn't so wordless.

Marley's recovery!

Marley is still recovering from the dog bites in May. She's been doing well but had an allergic reaction to the sutures. She's limping a bit but that's normal for her. She's never really walked completely straight.

She's now developing some new little seroma's in the main incision from the first surgery. The incision is all lumpy. My vet said they may open up on the skin level and we may have to cut them out. Poor little girl has already been through so much.

We are hot packing the incision for now to see if the lumps go down. I forgot to do it until today but she was a good girl to lay on the warm rice bag for me. I took this pic to show what a patient girl she is. Of course I was right there with her to give her some cheese for saying cheese!! She still has her therapy bandana on but our visit tonight was cancelled (even though we got dressed and showed up - the rec therapist apparently did not).

She's had vitamin b12 shots in her incision to break up the scar tissue. As well as another chiropractic treatment and acupuncture session last week.

I'm just so grateful this little girl survived this whole mess. I can't imagine life without her! Her darling little face lights up my life in ways I never knew possible. We'll continue to do whatever necessary to help her heal from these terrible injuries. She's just too precious of a princess not too.

Did I mention before I never understood how some people NEVER go to the vet? I am not keeping an exact count and I have been in a vets office at least 18 times this year (that I can count). I only have two dogs now!! That doesn't include the stops in to buy all her dietary supplements either!

UUATA Summer Picnic

We had a great picnic at Wheeler Farm last night. We got to walk and see all the animals and on the trails behind the farm. The dogs really enjoyed it but Marley was sure scared of the sheep. She's obviously not your average border collie! LOL. They wanted to sniff her through the fence but she would go sniff them and then back off. I should have taken more pics but I took just a few when we were sitting around on the grass!

Dylan did not get to go because there were too many dogs. They were all on leashes but for some reason therapy dog people forget that it's common courtesy to ask before letting your dog approach another one. I had to ask multiple people to keep their dogs away from Marley. I used her recent injuries as an excuse but mostly I'm just worried that dumb people will misinterpret her vocalizations as aggression. She was a bit stressed out though with all the other dogs so it was only half a lie.

Marley was a stinker and took a bit out of my hamburger while I was sitting on the ground eating it. I guess all that nasty ground beef got the best of her. Gotta admit it was a bit funny. I turned my head from that burger in my hand for one split second and she grabbed a piece as fast as she could thinking I may not notice. LOL.

We were happy that Paul and Leon were able to join us for a few before Paul had to head out for work. It was nice to spend a little bit of time with them.

I was really sad when one of the women hit her therapy dog last night. She smacked him hard enough that I heard it from 75 feet away. I couldn't believe that she did that. It is really unfortunate that someone involved with a group that's all about promoting the gentle kindness of animals feels that it's necessary to be so hurtful to her own dog. I think she was trying to get him to sit but I was far enough away that I can't be sure. Leash popping isn't even supposed to be allowed in testing so I am not sure why no one said anything about it. I guess I can't really talk because I didn't say anything either. I just stood there feeling very bad for her dog. If she does that in public, can you imagine what she does in the privacy of her own home?

Overall it was a good picnic though. I just have to block the thought of that person hitting their dog. Most the therapy animal people are really wonderful and focused on what services their animals can provide to others. I really have lots of respect for them since so many volunteer so much more time than I do!!

Lamb Chops! Yum!

I'm not a fan of lamb chops but my dogs are!! They had a special Birthday and Gotcha day dinner! Leon got some too since he is here for the night.

I love raw feeding almost as much as my dogs love it. I know it's so healthy for my dogs and they do great on it! It's not often they get Raw Organic Lamb Chops but today is a special day and deserving of a special treat! Plus they were on sale (but still pretty dang expensive!)

Marley actually chews her food like a lady when she eats Raw! Well maybe not so ladylike but at least she doesn't inhale it as if she were a vacuum. When she eats kibble her entire meal is gone in about 3 seconds. She still gets a good high quality kibble for her breakfast meal. I try to do raw most nights but it works out nicely to have kibble on hand in case I forget to defrost some raw food for dinner!

Dylan already thinks he is king of the world! You should see his proud face when he tears into the raw flesh of an animal! I really like feeding whole chickens because Dylan seems to get such satisfaction out of tearing the meat off the bone! We are off Chicken for summer but when winter comes, I am sure there will be plenty of whole chickens around this place!

Leon is our special guest tonight since his Daddy is working graveyards. We have been enjoying having him over sometimes to stay the night. He sleeps by my bed and keeps me safe. :) He wasn't quite sure what to think of lamb chops. He's a lot pickier than my two food hogs! He's also a bit newer to raw feeding but once he started chomping he didn't stop until he was finished!

All in all, it was a successful raw fed meal. Glad to know all the dogs like their lamb chops. I also got them some pork back rib bones. I think I will save them for another day!!