Gaiden wrestling with Kata
Kata, Gaiden, and Kaya on an adventure
Back from vacation (Henry missed his dogs)
Playing in the backyard
Tehya August 26, 2009
Tehya has become a goofy teenager and loves testing her limits. She is well-behaved unless there is something more enticing rustling in the brush — then she is off to investigate. She has started playing “Where’s the dot?”, the laser pointer game previously dominated by her feline companions.
Mona (Mini-Me) August 26, 2009
Mona is growing up in Taz’s shadow, and according to Debbie, looks just like her papa. Here she is enjoying summer with Boreayl Chinooks.
Jack in the great outdoors August 26, 2009
Jack is loving life with the Schindler’s and summer in the Pacific Northwest.
Gus’s water adventures August 26, 2009
Gus spent some time at Lake Michigan with his family. He loves to splash around in the water but hasn’t taken to full-fledged swimming yet. But Gus sure does love to run!
Sugar River Kata August 26, 2009
Kata (aka Miss Pink, aka Sky) has a new family and a new name. After a wonderful couple months of socialization and activity with Heidi and family, she has now moved to her permanent home with my parents, Gloria and Jim. “Kata” is a Norwegian name meaning “cheerful” and perfectly describes this puppy in her new home. Kata’s days are spent at daycare or lounging in the backyard, taking walks at the marsh with Gloria, or swimming in the river. On the weekends she visits the dog park and plays with Kaya and Gaiden or her many Pug friends. She loves to steal her brother’s bones and bury them in the backyard. Kata is quite the expert at digging holes.
Kata the celebrity - this picture appeared in the local newspaper.
At work with Gloria, and modeling some of her favorite fabric
Watching...
Dressed up and ready to greet visitors
Adia, 6 months July 1, 2009
“Lots to report for Adia! She is 40.8 lbs and about 21 1/2 inches high. I still haven’t been able to get a true measurement because she treats the yard stick as a toy!
She is still a real cutie! Everyone asks what she is and they tell me they love her black face.
We just started our 2nd dog class (basic obedience) last week. She is a fast learner if I present the training correctly. I still have to work on her regarding the distraction factor. She is always looking for a potential pet from a stranger or play session with another dog.
She no longer chews on everything in the house except she still has a passion for paper…..anything from Kleenex to cardboard.
She is becoming a little more calm and even a little more cuddly. Though she is a little calmer, she is much stronger and more willful. She is determined to test my pack leader ability and I’m growing in the experience.
The 5 ft high fence was installed two weeks ago and she can now enjoy life outdoors with freedom to run at her own speed. She spends most of her time out there even in rainy weather. The neighbor kids are now safe and they and Adia love to interact thru the fence. Installing the foot of chain link fence lying down at the perimeter was a wonderful idea! I have noticed a few spots where she tested it by pawing a little, but that’s the extent of her escape attempts.
We’ve been to the Wisconsin River a few times and each time she goes in further. She made some fantastic leaps from the water onto a 3 ft high bank. Maybe my 5 ft fence won’t be adequate. She seems to love the water, but isn’t quite sure what to do when she’s in deep enough for it to come half way up her chest. She then runs out of the water, screws up her courage and runs back in again. I can see that all it will take to get her in deeper is to toss in a floating toy or have her follow a water loving dog. She makes so much noise splashing around. It looks like she’s trying to walk on the water. We intend to take her in the boat soon so I got her a life jacket.
We made our 3rd trip to a large dog park. This time with a friend who has a Labradoodle and a Cairn Terrier. Adia is so social she took off to find new people and new dog friends. Had a hard time collecting her when it was time to go home.
My dog trainer/breeder friend is going to help me help us with basic agility soon. Adia has already followed my niece’s Golden up a dog walk and didn’t seem to be shaken. In fact, the second time she crawled under the Golden to get to the other side……possible weave pole talent? She has also tried some low jumps prompted by the neighbor kids.
“I hope I’ve remembered all of Adia’s recent milestones. She is so much fun. I’d like to take her everywhere with me, but the warm wather is making that more difficult.”
Gus, 6 months July 1, 2009
“OK, here are the numbers as best as we could get them. Gus is about 22 inches high and is 50-52 pounds. We find Gus to be a very handsome boy. He doesn’t bowl over the kids like he used to, but still pesters them trying to lick their faces (not always appreciated). He also loves all paper products–toilet paper, tissues, puzzle pieces, kids’ artwork, etc. But other than the kids’ stuffed animals, which could fairly be mistaken for his stuffed toys, he doesn’t try to chew things that aren’t his toys, like furniture, backpacks, coats like he used to.
“We’re going to wait until the fall to sign up for another training course. My biggest issues with Gus are walking nicely on the leash and jumping up on people. We’ll work on that this summer. He has a lot of exuberance and has a hard time dealing with distractions like bunnies (we have wild rabbits everywhere), squirrels, birds, people and other dogs. We’ve been taking Gus to local dog parks as often as we can. Ben’s had some fun trips to a local park that has woods and trails and is unfenced. Our English setter got us in the mindset that all dogs will just take off when off leash. It’s been huge for us to figure out that Gus is not a “run away” dog. He sticks pretty close and if he gets further away will come back to check in. This is probably an obvious thing for everyone but is thrilling for us! It’s *exactly* the dog we were hoping for.
“One of the funniest things I do with Gus is playing with the hose in the backyard. Gus runs around chasing the stream of water, trying to bite it. We had the kiddie pool out today and Gus made it his job to stick his head in the water and fish out all the little toys that had sunk to the bottom. He just picked them up in his mouth and put them down outside of the pool. We haven’t taken him anywhere to swim so I don’t know how he will like actual swimming, but he seems to love wading and playing in the water.
“Gus is still a very talkative and communicative guy. If he hasn’t received sufficient attention or if we are unable to get in an evening walk, he will give us this funny bark and will interrupt whatever reading or computer stuff we may be doing. He went to the dog park today so he is zonked out. I laugh now remembering Jennifer’s description of Kaya setting up her bed, with all the digging, flicking blankets with her nose, until the bed is just right. We see that a lot and it makes me laugh every time.”
Tehya, 6 months July 1, 2009
“Tehya is doing great. She’s about 20 1/2″ tall. About 40 lb. My mom is re-doing her yard and putting in a dog park for Tehya & her friends. We have started obedience training . We’ve had a great time in puppy classes now it’s time for real work.”
What? I'm allowed up here...
Trying out the water
Mona, 6 months July 1, 2009
Mona has been displaying a stubborn streak in adolescence, but both Kaya and Taz swear she didn’t get it from them! Parents can be so clueless… Mona is a beautiful, solid girl and loves to play with her sled-dog buddies at Boreayl Chinooks.
Hanging with the Boreayl pack
Sitting at attention
