Birthday Candles for Christmas

It's official. The Pup has survived year one.

And so did everyone else!

Well, everyone except Wooden Bear Ornament.

And several dozen socks.

I might be more sad that my little puppy was turning a whole year old if I thought she was anywhere close to mature.

But she's not! 

She's still my little baby.

I'm just not sure the socks will ever be safe?

***

Yes, 12 whole months gone. From one week:

 

To one year:

And so much in between.

I'm lucky, right? I feel lucky.

I'll admit it now- when I envisioned my puppy, it wasn't exactly her. I'd fallen in love with border staffys after meeting her older brother who was a red, and her older sister, a fawn with the sweetest face ever. So when the litter was born, I fell for the red girl hard. I don't think I gave The Pups week one to six pictures more than a cursory glance. I was pretty hard core in my hints that I preferred the other sisters. So I was surprised to learn that the WHITE one was going home with me. 

Then I looked at her- I mean, REALLY looked- for the first time.

Hey, she was kind of cute.

Kind of...fun looking.

The only puppy stalking the toys from the get go.

A balance disk fool.

And were those freckles coming in?

Tan AND black freckles?

I've always wanted a dog with tan AND black freckles.

And then there are all those weird noises she makes...

Yep. I'm lucky.

***

The Pup had her first Christmas too. 

Due to prime rib and ornament overdose, she is unavailable for comment, but trust me. The Pup loves her some Christmas. 

Random gifts? Trees in houses? Food- EVERYWHERE?

These are a few of her favorite things.

Now all that's left is all the sad posed critters by the tree with bows.

Those are some of MY favorite things.

 ***

Christmas Cat- The Pup thinks she is a gift from Santa.

So... full. Could eat some more though.

Nothing makes Black Dog stand out better than green!

Taken in the only two seconds she sat still all weekend.

50 tries later, one useable group shot.

BIG Black Dog does have ears. Swear.

Raise your paw if you love Christmas Cat!

I can haz Christmas presents NOW?

Tis the season for sharing.

...And death to evil bows.

Photo Shoot! Holiday Style.

Falalalalaaaaaa lalalalala! Tis the season to pose doggies with xmas props for entertainment purposes.

And this year, I have TWO doggies to force into Santa hats!

The Pup is fascinated with all things Christmas.  Kind of in the Jack Skeleton (twisted) way...

 

She REAAAALLLY liked the hat. 

  

Until I made her wear it. 

 

Same with the lights.  Though I can't say I had to make her wear those. Sigh...

 And this was the happiest she has ever been.

 The Dog is the Christmas Angel, as always. 

SHE doesn't try to eat the props...

 

Like some doggies...

Trying to show off the sisterly love in the holiday season.

It isn't easy.  

The Dog swears she isn't just going through the motions. 

Promise.

The Pup can only hold off her ADHD so long.

The poofy ball on the hat was REALLY enticing.

I think The Dog likes her hat.

She spreads holiday cuteness along with cheer.

Merry Christmas and stuff from the Project!

 

 

Beware the Awesome

I do love the furry crew.  At the very least, one of them can be found at any given moment doing something amusingly naughty, but more often than not, they just bring the awesome to the moment.

The Pup kicked the weekend off by throwing down some great weaving.  6 poles, conquered! Well, at least: 6 poles, satisfactorily resembling real weaving! She's starting to get into them a little more.  Her entries are perfect (thanks, MEB for the method!).  Remembering to stay in was about 80% but that's only when we introduced more speed in. 

Proof Positive: weave awesomeness:

***

We've got some trick awesomeness happening too. The Dog is continuing her education in Helpful Dog 101 and has adorably achieved status of Chief Door Shutter.

The Pup still has some, ah, polishingto do before she earns apprentice status even.  She prefers to go through the door and peek out cutely.  Ok, click/treat anyways.

 ***

Sadly, no video, but The Dog was extra awesome at the BCSA AKC show this past weekend. We have one less QQ to rack up for Tulsa now and a shiny new MXJ title to add after her name (er, before?).  One more Standard leg to go for the MX.  Which we would have had if I wasn't a panicky dork.  So, The Dog was quite perfect all weekend.  The Leader claims all responsibility for the sad NQ. It's just that sometimes, apparently, brains fall right out of heads and make people call their nice doggies off of jumps that their doggies are headed to. Correctly.  Panicky! Dorky! Me me me!!! Ga.  

Anyways though, it was MUCH better than last weekend.  She took first place in Standard on Saturday with a super fly time.  JWW that day was extremely conservative on my part.  I completely fell pray to QQ desire and made the trade off of wide turns for bars that stay in their cups.  Slightly annoyed with myself but better than doing something really dumb like calling your dog off the jump that they should be taking. Who does that?!?!  I digress...  JWW Sunday was enough to make up for Saturday, we ran fast and I handled and good times were had by all.  We even threw caution to the wind and tossed in an a$$ pass at the end for good measure.  

Then there was the Sad Run. Which was actually a really fun run. The Dog, Dramatic Queen of Expressions, cracks me up.  As I was yoinking her around the (right) jump, she gave me a look like, 'Um, boss, you sure? Cuz it's right here... ok, whatever you say but I'm really not sure where this is going- there doesn't seem to be any equipment where we are headed...'  Smart Dog.   The rest of the run was exciting and action-packed. She did a WONDERFUL dogwalk- from a sharp turn onto it from a tunnel under the DW to a full run, sustained into a wall!  Then she nailed her weaves, we did another a$$ pass and she rocked the tough ending.  Oh yeah, then she knocked me over. Revenge, Dog style.  

I'm just glad my pants stayed up.

***

So, weird dog thing of the week.  

Table fascination. 

For some reason, both girls have decided that the table propped up in the living room is the best place for napping.  Why?

Apparently, it's also prime real estate for bone chewing.

Why??

 

 Dogs. So weird. 

***

Also so cute. Love the adorably naughty and awesomely fun furry crew!