Oh my dogness, you guys will never guess what came in the mail today! Look!
It's the first Christmas Card of the season! And it's from my dear friend Simba! Thank you, man, you're the best! I'm sorry it looks like I'm eating your head in this picture... I wasn't really, I was just holding up your card for everyone to see! Simba really got to an early start this year... I suppose I'd better keep working on my cards to get them all mailed off soon, too! I better get out my favorite Christmas colored pens... Gold and Red...
Oh, can't forget Green! Green is a big Christmas color too!
Let's see, I've got the pens, the cards, the pictures, the address list, and my Santa hat for the Christmas spirit... Now I just have to work on putting all of this together! I've done four cards so far, they will be mailed off tomorrow... Amber-Mae, Brat Pack, Joe and Tanner, and Noah, Willow, Tess, and Lucy... Expect to see your Christmas cards from me soon! And everyone else, I am still working on yours, they will be done and mailed soon as well... Whew, this card making business can be exhausting! I need a break.
I was quite disappointed when most of you told me that my troubles were only beginning with the camera business... However, today I did finally manage to escape the deadly flashes for a few minutes! My human Lizzy was still snapping pictures of me, but this time it was outside where the flash was not needed. After 2 weeks of non-stop rain, the sun finally came out, so we headed outside to test the new camera in the sunlight.
Human Lizzy wanted to see how good the new camera was at taking action shots. So, she threw my ball for me and caught a number of pictures of myself in action! Now this part of the camera business I can live with! No need for flashes outside, and all I had to do was what I do best - chase my tennis ball.
Here I am, running low to the ground to catch my low-flying tennis ball...
My human says I look like I'm in a Border Collie position in this shot... Like as if I'm about to pounce on a herd of sheep... But really I'm just about to catch my ball!
Now I'm waiting for Lizzy to throw the ball again...
In this photo, the ball had just bounced off the ground and was flying towards my open and waiting mouth...
This was an easy catch... Low to the ground...
Okay, last picture! Here's a head-on shot of myself doing some serious jumping.
Yes, maybe this new camera business won't be so bad after all...
Okay... So after over a year of saving and waiting, my human Lizzy finally got a new camera... That's a good thing for her, right? But for me?... Not so good. I can barely even see the keyboard because those flashes are so blinding! But nevertheless, I suppose I will have to show you the pictures...
This is the first photo ever taken with the new camera. I am honored that the first photo taken was of me, but I still wasn't ready for the flash.
My human Lizzy decided to take some photos of Hazel. I was hoping to escape the flashes then, but Lizzy made me pose with Hazel as well... She threatened that if I didn't pose for her camera with the hamster, then she wouldn't give me her pizza for supper. What could I do?
In case you are all wondering, the new camera is a Canon EOS Rebel XS. Now someone please come rescue me from the deadly flashes.
The other day I went for a walk with two of my humans. The rain had just stopped, and the road was starting to dry. As we were walking down the street, we noticed that though the road had mostly dried, there was still one wet spot in the middle of it... And that wet spot was in the shape of a perfect heart. Even though it was a cold, cloudy day, the heart still made me realize how much I love my walkies!
Butmore importantly, the heart made me realize how much more I love my humans, and how much my humans love me.
Many of you have been asking my how my very first agility trial went... I will tell you now!
Okay, so we'll start off on Saturday morning. 3:55 A.M., to be exact. That's when the alarm clock went off. My human was supposed to set it for 4:00, but apparently she lost track by 5 digits, which means that we lost a whole 5 minutes of sleep. Not having much sleep slowed me down quite a bit for the trial, but I still managed. My human almost didn't manage, though. She couldn't even manage to pull me away in time when I peed on a garbage can inside the building, hee hee.
By the time we reached the building, it was just before 5:30. We registered and got our stuff set up for a long day of sitting around, and then familiarization started for the starter dogs, which included myself. My human Lizzy and I got into the ring, and at that moment Lizzy got a rush of excited energy and jumped forward, clapping her hands and calling my name so that I could jump forward with her and familiarize myself with the contact equipment. What Lizzy didn't realize at that moment was that I was standing directly in front of her, so she made a fool of herself in the middle of the ring when she clapped her hands and then tripped right over me. I was a little startled, but that seemed to give me a little extra early morning energy, so I took off for the contact equipment, and I even decided to please my human by letting at least one paw skim the contact zones.
Over the course of 14 hours, I did 4 runs. So yes, we had to wait between 3 to 4 hours between each run, but somehow those hours seem to fly by really fast! On my first run, Starter Standard, I won 1st place with a qualifying score! For my next three runs, Starter Snooker, Starter Gamblers, and Starter Jumpers, I still won 1st place, but due to my human's tired mistakes we did not get any more qualifying scores. We were pretty close, though! I think I did good for my first real trial. I've only done a few fun matches before this.
Here's a short video that my human Lizzy made of the Standard and the Jumpers runs!
By the time we got home it was 7:30. My human and I were both glad for the time change that night, so we could catch up on our sleep! I really did enjoy the trial, even though it started so early, and I can't wait until we do more!
