Our Tracking Weekend - Zenny and Tessie and Welcome Izzy!

Unfortunately, we have no pictures of this, but Zenny and Tessie, his favorite golden retriever friend, attended a tracking seminar in NH this weekend. It was awesome - the weather could not have been better and the instructors were great. Both Tessie and Zenny were upbeat and interested both days, ready to go. You could tell they understood the game and liked it. Definitely I will do more with Zenny on this in hopes of getting his TD title.

The Monadnock Humane Society in NH is awesome. This is the 3rd time I have been there for an event and each time I have threatended to bring home a kitten. Well this time I did! Welcome Izzy (short for Isabelle), a 6 month old kitten. Right now she is being introduced to the dogs by hanging out in the bathroom with the expen up so they can all see and smell each other. I don't think Wookie, the basement cat (her choice not mine!) knows she is here yet. A couple more days perhaps of this and we will go for the gusto. She is very cute, petite and hopefully she will stay that way. We could not believe that she never made a peep the entire 2 hr ride home. Didn't start talking until she go into the house and the dogs were sniffing the box.

Its Official!

We received Zenny's therapy dog information in the mail. A slight correction was needed, they had him listed as a chocolate lab! An identity crisis for sure - mostly because the picture taken was pretty off in the color. We have that all corrected and are now waiting for our first surpervised visit with Christine.

Therapy - Its Zenny for Sure!

Zenny, he's my only boy dog. Zen goes to the beat of a different drum. He's the best house/pet dog a person could have. If he lived in a different house and was the only dog, I'll bet he would be very different. But with the 3 girls ahead of him and then Lucy after, he's pretty much the mellow boy. Zenny is 3 and is a wonderful dog to hike with and hang out with. My husband and Zenny hang together a lot, Zenny likes to supervise while Al works around the house. And sometimes they just hang out on the couch together.

I had hoped to do obedience or at least Rally with him but it does not seem to be his cup of tea at all. I decided a couple of months ago to try Therapy, we went thru the training at Bolton Vet and he passed the test in August. We are still awaiting his vest and official information so that we can begin our trial/supervised visits. Meanwhile I have been taking him to the various pet stores and other places where we can continue to work on distraction and meet new people.

Zenny also has a wonderful nose! We have signed up for a Tracking Clinic in a couple of weeks - and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does. Its a full 2 days which can sometimes be a little taxing for his brain.

More to come on all of that - and pictures too!

We are back,.....

Well, been quite a slacker with my blog. I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything since May. I went into heaving training mode for Pip's Excellent Rally title, then did no training at all - went thru a slight rough patch but hope to be back on target now.

Pip did receive her Excellent Title for AKC Rally in July. She did a nice job, and I know works really hard.

Now we have started training for her WC (Working Certificate). This is a certificate offered specifically for labradors. Similar to a Hunt Test but with less criteria somewhat. Pip is a hot ticket with this - it certainly feeds into her prey drive thats for sure. We have only done land work so far. I don't think that she will have any issue with water but will need to get a couple of tries in. I am also going to give my Lucy another shot at the WC. Lucy received her WC last year - but I am currently working on her "visiting" social piece of the retrieve - so am repeating before I move onto bigger better things. I haven't quite figured out how to stop the visiting,.....

I've also decided to make this blog about my dogs in general - not just Pip. My oldest Sarah, who is almost 14 is struggling with many things - and everyone in my house has a story at one time or another. It will be fun to write about them and I think soothing to me also.