The Girl's Great Glutes!

Bella is not the only Boxer with great glutes...Penny & Lola have been working on their form too!

And Bella, if you're ever in Pittsburgh, we be sure to send you & your People tickets to the Jackman Avenue Gun Show!

Fuzzy White Explosion!

We've been conducting a little experiment with Lola. She's proven to be fine out of the crate for a couple hours by herself so we've decided to try leaving her uncrated for the morning. Monday was great. Nothing was out of place, nothing was destroyed, nothing was peed on. I almost left her out for the afternoon, but figured I'd better not press my luck.


So Tuesday when I come home at lunch, I greet the pups & look down the main hallway. There is a piece of white fluffy stuffing laying at the end of the hall. Hmmmm...

I turn walk down the hall & turn the corner & what do I see? A white fuzzy explosion!

I was expecting it to be from one of my new throw pillows...but fortunately, Lola had just destroyed one of her big stuffed toys (that purple thing used to be a bunny). And one of Scott's slippers.

I have no problem with her destroying toys...isn't that what they're there for??? We'll see how the rest of the week goes. She touches Scotty's $100 remote control...she's toast!

Shermie is KING!

It was Dynamic Dogs graduation tonight & Sherman knew there were liver brownies waiting for him to earn once we got there.

"Drive Faster!!!"

Unfortunately, Shermie was a little off his game tonight. Awwwww...who am I kidding? He was totally off. Heeling consisted of him walking beside me jumping up & down. Sit meant lay down. Down meant lay down & then jump right back up. Forget about Stays. They were non-existant. But we had fun. It's really hard to get mad at him b/c of all of my dogs, I work on obedience stuff with him the least. And he's so exhuberant and happy, this kinda stuff isn't really that important to me. He's very well behaved at home and in public & that's what matters.

Marsha got little presents for all of the graduating dogs. She's the best. We were first go & get our diploma and we got to pick out our own bling bling. As soon as I saw it...I knew. Yep that's right...Sherman's sporting a collar charm that says "KING". How very fitting!

Not to worry Simba...Shermie can be the King on this side of the pond!

Our fun walks - Finally!!

So Scott was sick all last weekend...and I was sick all this week. Stupid winter yucky, achy, tiring cold. I took it easy all week and am feeling about 80% today. I fully plan on being lazy for the entire Saturday evening.

I started out my morning bright & early at 7:45 taking Lola to Camp Bow Wow...only to be told upon arrival that any dogs that had been to the ARL or WPHS for classes in the last few weeks would not be allowed to attend daycare b/c of the recent Canine Influenza outbreak in Pittsburgh. Another local kennel, Misty Pines, is closed for 4 weeks b/c of one dog who they were boarding & it infected 25 dogs. So I totally understand this. It's not worth the risk of infecting the dogs they are responsible for. I just wish they would have emailed me earlier in the week so I didn't drive all the way there. But, fortunately, I live close.

So I drove Lola back home, went to Animal Friends to assist graduation, ran some errands & walked in the door to 3 pitiful faces.

"The sun is shining & it's not too cold & we've been sssoooooo good all week while you were sick. Come on...it's W.A.L.K time!!!"

"Yahoo! Let's pee on stuff!!"


"I think I smell another dog 4 blocks away!"


"Yeah, yeah, yeah...we have to sit at intersections"

"I can't wait till Spring!!!! Yippeeeeeee!"

We stopped at the library to take a nice picture. I put them both on a SitStay and cued them to Watch. The both looked adoringly at me and waited for me to snap the shot. I said "OK guys...Ready?"

And their little doggie brains said:

"One...

Two...

Three...

TURN!"

("Hee Hee...we stole that trick from Sunshade & Stinky!! Pretty good, eh?")

They have the delay on my camera memorized.

"Alright already...we get it. Stop & Sit. Wait till the light turns green & you say OK. We're not stoopid!"

The walk lasted about 45 minutes and we headed home.

It you didn't know better, you might think they actually like each other!

Then it was Little Miss Thang's turn. Lola has been doing remarkably well. 90% of the time she's a joy to walk.


I tried to take some pics of her cute little wiggle butt walking in front of me, but she usually just walks right beside me. Not that I'm complaining about that.


We walked all over Bellevue. Right down the main street, with lots of traffic & people and she was unphased. She didn't react to any dogs barking in the distance (usually that's her cue to chime in with the tough girl WWwwwoooofffFFFFFF!) and I made a huge deal about that.

I got some nice pics of her posing but usually she's too distracted to look at me. She never gets up...she's just unfocused. Although she's pretty good about giving me attention when there is no camera involved.

"Wait a minute...you're not actually thinking of posting these pics of me with my headgear on, are you???? MOM!! You're gonna ruin my street cred!"

Happy President's Day!

Three cheers for turkey necks!

In celebration of our fearless leader (G Dubya), the Dogs say "Happy Presidents Day, Turkey!"

Poor Sherman has to eat all by himself b/c he can be a brat.


The girls are very respectful of each other & share a towel.

Who's hungry???

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Well, my darling boyfriend (aka Significant Other, Domestic Partner, Life Mate, etc) spent his day off improving my Blogging area. I have no "before" shots, but let me tell you. It was a mess!!
In his words..."Well, you really like this Blogging thing...might as well have a nice place to do it". Is he great or what????

My new PC/Blogging station:

He cleaned off all of the clutter (and there was LOTS of it!), hooked up my dinky little EasyShare Camera and my new Canon Powershot (which I *still* haven't gotten the hang of!). He loaded my new fun photoshop software that I got for Xmas (and I *still* haven't gotten around to playing with it!).

So all that's left is me getting off my butt & figuring out how to work all the new fun stuff I have!

Yet another reason for me to say he's my favorite person in the whole wide world!!!

"I love my best friend, Penny"

I've been a slacker. We've been cooped up in the house for over a week b/c it's so flippin' cold out and I've done absolutely zero training with my dogs. They're all going a bit stir crazy b/c we haven't been walking either. Punxatawney Phil better be right this year!

Lola was thrilled to bundle up & go to Advanced Puppy last night. As we were going in, puppies were coming out and she made minimal fuss. I didn't have the GL on her and she was surprisingly responsive on leash...very little pulling (never let them pull, they never learn to pull, right?). She did greet some bigger pups inside the building & I really don't think they appreciate Lola's style of greeting (which is thumping them on the head with her big paw).

She couldn't wait for puppy playtime & didn't stop smiling the entire session!

She has a boyfriend in class named Brody that likes to hump her and she's not real good at telling him she's not that kind of gal.

She shares her water with him and let's him give her kisses too.

Handsome little guy, huh?

We all were to call our dogs & I was thrilled when I said "Lola, Come!", she stopped mid play & flew over to me! She has a great recall, especially for a baby (I have heavily reinforced coming to me every time I call since she was 8 weeks old. I always make it a huge deal when she does...and she does 98% of the time.)

Marsha pulled out some rattling hula hoops and gave us all one to have the dogs check out. Lola could've cared less & let me rattle it all around her and she jumped through it and sat inside it. She has no idea where her feet are & when I raised it off the ground for her to hop through, she tripped (she's full of grace...just like her Mom!). Marsha then spread the hoops around the room & we did some heeling and automatic sits inside the hoops. Lola's heeling was excellent. Her attention was excellent. Her auto sits we're good, but wide. We did some fronts (crooked) and some Swing Finishes (crooked). Not too concerned with perfection. Her downs are sporadic. She does not down every time when asked and often takes some coaxing. Need to work on that. Her stays are getting better. She will now sit & stay while I walk around her in a circle. Marsha laid gating on the floor for the dogs to practice walking on strange surfaces. She was tentative at first but was quickly walking over the gate after a few tries. She was stellar for the "meeting a strange" person. Actually, her attention was stellar...she really didn't want to meet them. She wanted to sit & stare at me. That's progress. No jumping on anyone. She has become much more aware of my body cues.

Hey! I think we're becoming a team!!

The snow was fun for a couple of days, but now I'm ready for Spring. Today it's a brisk 7 degrees. Yesterday we woke to the joys of scraping an inch of ice off the cars and running the engine for 30 minutes before braving the roads.

There is a layer of ice covering everything, with snow piled on top of it.

It's not too cold for Sherman who takes his bone out with him at lunch while the girls run around the yard.

When Lola's lips turn bright pink, it's time to head inside!!

Charlie's mom reminded us that it's 25 days until day-light savings & 34 days until spring. Bring it on!!

I have to share a story from the other night that only good "Dog People" would understand. The Dogs & I were enjoying a lazy evening...them lounging, me catching up with The L Word. Sherman was laying on the floor right below me, I was stretched out on the couch above him, Lola was curled in a teeny ball, snuggled in beside me & Penny was on her favorite loveseat.

So the show finishes up & I reach down to give Sherman a scratch and ask him if he wants to go outside before bed. As I'm scratching his favorite spot in the middle of his chest, right between his front legs...I feel a very large growth. It's huge. My heart stops and I feel faint. All I can think is that a giant tumor grew on him overnight & we're looking at the big C. I'm on the verge of tears & I say "Shermie???" and he rolls over, grumbles & I realize...I'm at the wrong end!!!! To quote Scotty..."Ewww! You were touching his WEINER!".


Yes...I thought Sherman's weiner was a tumor.


Speaking of weiners...I thought I would show everyone what a walk with Sherman is like.

"First stop...Shauna's. Lots of stinky smells there".

"Ah Ha...a new mound of fresh snow!"

"Gotcha!"

"Hurry Mom! We're almost to my favorite tree!!"

"Hmmm...Taz must have skipped the tree today. Let's move on."

Yinz guys get the point. I could have taken more shots of Sherman's favorite past time, but the neighbor's were starting to look at me funny.

But it's so fun to see a 10 year old Sherman still get the zoomies from fresh snow!!

The famous line from Kindergarten Cop takes on a whole new meaning with me now, though.

Detective John Kimble: I have a headache.

Lowell: It might be a tumor.

Detective John Kimble: It's not a tumor!

Thank goodness!

We're having a little snow storm here in the 'burgh. The temps are in the mid 20s...perfect for romping. Lola delights in chasing her favorite ball around the yard.

And although she gets cold, she refuses to let the fun stop once inside.

But Penny's got other plans. "Whatcha got there, girly?"

"Mmmm...I'll take that."

"Thank you very much!"