Snickers First Hike

I took Snickers on his first hike last week. He was such a good boy and walked very well except when bikes passes, he wanted to chase them. :) Silly boy. But here are some ridiculously cute pictures of Choco-boy.

Snickers standing on a rock with a tree limb behind him.
Snickers standing amongst four tree trunks.
Snickers sitting on a bridge over a river.
Snickers walking down the path.
Snickers head with the waterfall behind him.
My favorite picture from the day, Snickers sitting nicely with the waterfall behind him.
Snickers meets a tractor. The thing was turned on and everything but it didn't phase him one bit.
Snickers after jumping in the water. He is a definitely a water dog! :D
Snickers romping in the backyard.
Picassa and Paris in the lead with Snickers trying really hard to catch up.
Again the girls way out in front while Snickers brings up the rear.
Snickers is doing great and I am loving how confident he is. He will be joining me at college tomorrow and I am sure he will do fabulous!

Yes, We're Still Alive

It has been a month since my last post! I don't think I've ever gone that long without posting. It's been a crazy busy month though with school starting and getting a new job. So, in the last month we went on a bunch of outings, Picassa came back from being in heat and will be leaving for breeder evals on November 8th, and Snickers grew way too much and gets his last set of shots on Monday. And here are pictures:

[Snickers on his back in the crate with his foot pushed up against the door.]

[Picassa and Snickers playing]

[Snickers sneak attacks Picassa from behind]

[I really didn't post them, I thought it was super cute the way Cos has her arm around Snickers.]

[Paris resting her head on Picassa's back. Paris really missed her little sister.]

[Snickers and I went to a friends birthday party and he found a foot to rest his head on.]

[Snickers sleeping with his tongue sticking out.]

[My three puppies playing together]

[Paris at my new job enjoying a rawhide. I love that all three pups can go to work with me.]

[Snickers getting his first set of shots]

[Paris and Snickers sleeping on a dog bed together.]

[Picassa in my car half way into the front seat. Silly dog, she really likes to be close to me.]
Me and Picassa went out with Sarah and Rafferty to see the Miners Day Parade and play tourist in Park City. We had a lot of fun.

Picassa going down some grated stairs. She was a little hesitant at first but these stairs are all over the place and she was pro by the end of the day.
Picassa watching the running of the balls. It's a little fundraiser event where people buy numbered golf balls and then they roll all the balls down a track on the street and the first ball to the end gets a prize. It was really fun to watch and work on Picassa ball distraction.
Picassa at the parade with a big firetruck behind her.
We also went to the Park City Museum. It was really interesting and had some fun displays. Here is Picassa and Rafferty sitting in a mine elevator. It was really scary, I would never be able to be a miner.
Picassa in one of the mining cars.
This was really cool, when you pull the trigger it makes a sounds like an explosion and lights flash and the rocks rumble. I was very proud of Picassa, she didn't hardly react at all.
Picassa in the first jail in Park City.
Picassa in a little cart they used to move rocks from inside the mine to the outside.
Picassa walking over the road with the Park City mountains behind her.
Picassa looks down onto the road.
Picassa in front of a HUGE horse from the parade.
Paris chillin' in the car.
Snickers, just cuz he's cute.
Paris and Picassa sharing a dog bed. I have three in my room but they always share. They are sweet girls.
Snickers chewing on a toy.
Picassa looking up at me while we were hiking.
Paris running through the foliage.
Picassa with the mountains and trees behind her. I loved the view!
Picassa trying to lick Paris tongue. Picassa is a strange little girl.
Paris with the trees and mountains behind her.
I love this picture of Marley looking out at the mountain.
Rafferty, Picassa, and Paris sitting on a big log during the hike.
Well that about does it for the last month.

Fun Day Trip-Part 3

On Friday we went to the Follow the Instructor event. (Which would be more accurate if it was called chase the trainer or sprint after the trainer) Those dogs move fast! In the morning we dropped the dogs off at campus and since the kennels in the puppy raising department were full our pups got to go into the training kennels. They had much more room in them so I was okay with that. Then we headed to the park to meet the trainers. We got to follow three dogs in the different levels of training. The first was in phase 1 the second in phase 4 or 5 and the third was class ready. It was amazing to see what the dogs do in the different phases and how they are trained.

The first dog we chased was a female yellow lab named Puebla. This was her first workout and she did a great job and caught onto things really quickly. By the end she was stopping at curbs all by herself. The trainer used a clicker and a lot of food during her route and Puebla loved it.

[Puebla stopped at a curb looking up at her trainer after getting kibble for a job well done.]

In the beginning phase they use a soft handle to get used to the feel and pull of the harness. Puebla's handle was made out of a purple rope.

[Puebla crossing a street while her trainer holds onto the soft handle.] [Puebla getting praise from her trainer for stopping at the curb.] The second dog we chased was a big male black lab named Roscoe. He is halfway through the training and is starting to take on more responsibility. He was so fun to watch and totally loved his job. He held his head up and wagged his tail the whole time. He had to rework a few turns but other than that he was great! The trainer didn't use the clicker for him anymore but he diffinitely loved getting kibble for his good work.

[Roscoe getting praise and the beginning of the route.] The last dog we watched was another large male black lab named Connor. He is class ready and should be placed with his partner soon. He was so fun to watch and was basically flawless. He even did a traffic check while we followed him. Him and his trainer were crossing the street when a van cut them off. He stopped and backed up to get him and his partner to a safe place. It was amazing to watch.

[Connor gets kibble for stopping at a curb.] [Connor and his partner after walking across the street.] I really enjoyed follow the trainer and learned so much from it. The dogs were fantastic!

After that we went to go pick up our puppies. We asked one of the employees if we could use the play yard on campus since our pups were kenneled for several hours. She let us go over and the puppies had a grand time running around for a while.

[Kyle playing with a big plastic egg. He was hilarious pushing it around and pawing at it.] [He liked this holey ball as well and would race around while carrying it.][Four way tug. Rafferty, Kyle, Janetta and Elvis all share a tug toy.]

We left campus and headed off to the beach. The dogs had a great time running around in the water. Kyle was so funny because he would race around me in circles.

[Kyle running through the water]

[The dogs down the beach. Kyle, then Elvis and Rafferty all running down the beach.] Kyle running toward me while a wave washes out.] [Kyle takes a break and collapsed in the sand] [I love this one. Kyle is running in the water but has his back end in the air and twisted around.] After the beach we went to Mier Woods. I hear guide dog graduates talk about it all the time because they do training walks there while they are in class with their dogs so we all wanted to check it out. It was amazing and the trees were gorgeous. Its a redwood forest with a trail we can walk on. It was so fun and the dogs were exhausted afterward but it was fun to experience what the class dogs do. ;)

[The boys sitting in front of a huge tree trunk. Elvis, Rafferty and Kyle]
[After we got all the dogs posed. Elvis, Rafferty, Kyle and Janetta.]

After this picture we turned around and noticed there were about 20 people behind us taking pictures of the dogs as well. Kinda awkward but we all laughed it off.

We took a short break and Kyle collapsed on a stair. It was so cute I had to get a picture.

[Kyle sitting in front of a huge hollow log.]

We were almost to the end of the walk and Kyle fell asleep against my leg. It was so cute how he had his paws wrapped around his nose.

The dogs had a very long and tiring day and were so happy to get back to the hotel and sleep until the next day.