Howie learned "touch" today!

I'm so insanely excited, you have no idea.

http://workabull.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-dog-does-stuff.html

The Foundation for a Better Life (Values.com) plays these TV spots, randomly. Of the few I've seen, this one is my favorite. This one make me cry every single time.

A friend of mine had an assignment for her class where she had to take a photo of something she was passionate about. She chose to do photos of a "killer pit bull," and Howie and I were very happy to oblige! Here are some of the photos of the shoot:

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For those of you who care Rally-A-Bull is now Work-A-Bull

http://community.livejournal.com/allthingsdog/247640.html?thread=1469272#t1469272

UGH Could you be more cryptic, please?

Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, and Edwin Jackson make it onto the American League team.

I totally thought Granderson would have made it in there.

Just kidding. Apparently they're still announcing. Roster

Grandy's in the out field.

The photographer doesn't have the photos from the trial up yet, but I'll keep an eye out and post them when he does. I highly doubt there are any good ones of Howie and I.

So yeah, today was our first show/trial (C-WAGS). I spent $60 on registration and entries only to NQ on both classes, to find out later that I could have done "For Exhibition Only" (no points) for half-price. If I had known that option, I would have totally done that.

I decided to only do obedience, since I don't think we're ready for Rally AT ALL, and today only proved that a little more. Our first class came up pretty fast, since it was Test 1. I was so nervous and it showed. We did okay until we NQ'd on the change of position exercise: he had to heel-sit-down-sit, and he went into the down, and then just looked at me when I asked him to sit. And he decided to sniff everything instead of paying attention to me in the heel work. I was mortified.

But, after our first class I got to steward and be a "post" for figure-8's in the Level 2 class. I got to talk to some people, and got some good advice from there, so our 2nd test went a bit better. We still NQ'd on the change of position (even though he was doing it perfect outside the ring) and we really need to work on our heel work!

It was very laid back and fun, though. Stressful, but fun. I'll be posting a more detailed entry at Rally-A-Bull.

This technically not Howie's first public outing as a service dog (in training), but it was certainly a Very Big Step.

social_deviance & her boyfriend, Bruce, came over last night to go look at a house just down the street from me - she needs to buy it! It was a super cute house, and she would only be about 4 houses north of me, and if she bought it it would be totally awesome. Afterwards, we decided to walk up into downtown Ferndale and have some dinner.

The original plan was to go eat out on the outdoor porch at Buffalo Wild Wings. Unfortunately, it was only about 70 degrees out, which apparently warrants closing the porch, and it was over an hour wait for indoor seating. I was entirely keen on the idea of having Howie inside a restaurant anyway. So, we walked a bit further to the Woodward Avenue Brewery (WAB) hoping their outdoor porch was open.

It wasn't.

So, we made the snap decision to take a chance at going inside. I was nervous, but Howie, as always, was a super star. Amanda had her SD, Luna, with her - who is full-fledged and seasoned; and Howie, even though we need to work on our "under" the table command, was good enough to stay very close to my seat and moved very little. I only had to correct him once or twice. He still thought everyone was there to be his new best friend, and we left just before he was about to break (I would have left sooner, if our waiter was a little more quick on the serving and the bill-getting).

Overall, I've VERY VERY proud of my boy. He's making GREAT strides.

Wow! What a day! (You guys get the mostly text version until Amanda uploads the photos on her camera.)

Howie and I didn't rush this morning. I did a few loads of laundry and then packed up some stuff - ice water, drinks, treats, extra collars, and anything else we might need during the day. I've learned that social_deviance comes plenty prepared for anything that might happen, so I usually don't have to pack much if she's around!

We got there around 11:45am, so we missed some of the demos, but they repeated some later in the day. We were told where to park the car and then go sign in. At the sign-in table, we were told about the "Most Kisses in 10 Seconds" contest. Well, Howie should have been a shoe-in! Only, he was more interested in socializing with the other dogs rather than kissing mom's face (which I never let him do). Had it been Amanda who he was kissing, he probably would have done better. Oh well!

Then we decided to try our hand at weight pulling. Amanda had her harnesses there, and Ryker's fit almost perfect (a tad small, but not enough to keep him from wearing it). We did a couple practice runs, his first time pulling ever, and he didn't hit the resistance and stop - he kept going! So, we entered that competitions too (all novice dogs, for fun), and he pulled 336 pounds (the cart + 5 cinder blocks). We got 3rd in that competition! With a medal! They were going to let us pull again, but since it was his first time and he didn't stop when the cart got heavier, we decided to leave it on a good note.


Howie with his medal

After the weight pull, we took a dip in the dock diving pool. The way he launches himself off my parent's deck going after the Wubba, and how excited he was getting watching the other dogs go (seriously, I wish we had video of him getting all excited, it was hilarious), I thought he'd dive right off the dock, but he didn't. But, he did go right in the water when he could just walk in - and he's never been in water before. So, good boy!

He was also the neutral dog for CGCs.

So, with the awesome performance in weight pull, we might try for his weight pull title this summer instead of attacking AKC/UKC rally (we'll stick to APDT & C-WAGS rally).

When I get more photos, I'll post them!

The fact that someone can be so cruel to a dog makes my blood boil. And yet, she's still so happy. I want to cuddle her forever. Thanks for posting this, chiska

I want this mini shop vac to help with cleaning rodent cages and other various things. It would be much easier than lugging Andy's huge 10-gallon, or however big that thing is, up and down the stairs. Actually, it's been living in the guest room for the past week because I've been having to clean rabbit cages daily to prevent the stench for getting too bad.

Oh yeah, about the rabbits: Last week sometime I went to pick up two foster bunnies from their spay appointments. One is some random mix named "Vanilla," and the other is a sweeter than all-get-out mini rex named "Ling Ling," but I've been calling her Panda. I'm not sure how long I'll be keeping them, and I'd rather only have one of them, but they're fun.

They came from a hoard of rabbits from someplace in New Mexico. Apparently this place had some 300-odd rabbits, and the rescue that initially got them out out a "Help us!" message, and the rescue I volunteer for answered and got 30 of them. Panda and Vanilla are doing fine, Howie is dealing with it, and both bunnies should be ready for adoption soon. Panda will get adopted quickly, Vanilla is more shy and reserved, so no telling how long she'll be with them/us/me.

Today was a good day.

We all got too much sun. Howie's nose is too pink, despite the sun lotion I put on his face; my shoulders are RED. I found a store near my parent's house that sold Redbridge beer (a gluten-free beer) and told the guy if he kept it stocked, I would make frequent trips up there to buy it. My grandparents drove down (a 3hr drive for them), my aunt and uncle came over, and so did my cousin. We had lots of food, lots of laughs, lots of conversation, and later, a bit of a nap watching while watching the NASCAR race.

I do not want to go into work tomorrow. I want tomorrow to be today again.

Some of you must have noticed that my blog has become mostly Howie lately. I wish it was mostly horses, and if this 2nd job thing goes through, I might be able to start riding regularly again. In the meantime, you'll probably hear mostly about Howie - you can also follow him at http://rallyabull.blogspot.com

Let's welcome Howie's newest follower (since most of my personal posts are filtered and friends-only, Howie's posts are mostly public) - greyskyridge! Welcome, Christina!

http://fuckyeahanimalswithcasts.tumblr.com/

I don't find this funny or cute. Considering most of these animals are tiny puppies and kittens, how did they get hurt?

I missed this from the Country Music Awards (or was it just the country music channel awards?) last night. From the Associated Press YouTube channel, so it won't let me embed it, but this is hilarious...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9IsYnBONiM

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