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.

Not Just a Year Older, But a Year Better. (The Dog Turns FOUR Today!)

FOUR??

Didn't she just look like this??

Can that be right?

No, it can't! Can it??

And I thought three was unbelievable last year!

Two was pretty unbelievable too...

So technically we are like the same age now. I think that’s why we get along so well. It helps that we both like watching TV show marathons and drinking cheap wine (when she can steal it out of my glass!).  

Can we watch Farscape now Pleeeze?

She’s still my little girl though.  While she is pretty mature now, she remains the same- a tiny tot of giant, dramatic spirit. At the risk of getting all mushy, I am so very grateful to have her around.  I can celebrate extra on this day since it’s not only her birthday, but also the anniversary of the day she came to be with us forever.  Here’s to many, MANY more years of fun runs, slobbery toys and couch snuggles.  

Dramatic. See?

The birthday spoiling schedule includes a new gigantic filled bone which The Pup is banned from chewing, trip to class to play agility, ice cream after and unlimited access to Orange Ball, the best special toy ever.  Probably The Boyfriend will sneak her many treats that I won’t be aware of, but what’s new there?  

Oh, no, it's too much I couldn't possibly...

Oh, wait I can! NOM.

I do hope The Dog likes agility, because I sure signed her up for a ton of it this week.   When I entered the three-day AKC show, I wasn’t really thinking that it was just (three) days before our much more demanding three-day 4 star USDAA show this coming weekend.  I’m not sure WHAT I was thinking…either that it would be The Best Present for The Dog ever… or that there was a week off in between…somehow. Probably the second guess. Sometimes I don’t do so well temporally.   

IF I had the gift of forethought or basic planning ability I would probably not have entered yesterday. Or skipped the FAST classes the first two days. All I know (now) is that three days of AKC when one has to be there ALL DAY is incredibly draining (apparently).   It really showed in our Q rate this weekend. Quite low for us. I know, I know, I try not to focus on that, just mentioning it as evidence that things were off and I think it was a lot to do with all the sitting around getting sleepy.  Also a problem was that I was REALLY bored by the courses; they did nothing to wake me up.  Out of 6 classes (FAST doesn’t count), we had the same start three times, and a fourth that was so similar it might as well have been the same.  YAWN.  Honestly- exact same first 8 obstacles.   So also probably not too successful since, in order to entertain myself and get invested in the course, I decided to experiment.  Mixed results.   I guess I will call it a learning weekend.  I learned:

*I must have scary challenges or I will make up my own- eek!

*I must NOT have four hours of downtime TWICE a day (only once is surmountable). Five Hour Energy only last Five Hours. (Go figure.)

*My dog jumps BEAUTIFULLY at 20”. WITH Extension.

*She WILL send to a tunnel and bypass jumps now.  Yay for Snookers, bad elsewhere.

*Rear crosses no longer function for any kind of tight turn. 

*In general her collection cue died. Need to work harder on that and getting the cik/cap turns polished for real use. 

Extension in progress...SEE?

So yeah.  Her weaves were pretty variable.  We aren’t sure if the collection (lack of) and weaves were due to bad surface or what. It was pretty slick. But she was running very fast.  Times all over the place because while fast she was wider (not China wide, just standard wide) and her dogwalk really shut down on Sunday/Monday.  We went off course on Sunday because I was so shocked at her dogwalk I did a stupid and got myself in the wrong place.  So yesterday I tried to just let her go and push from behind but for whatever reason she was very sticky- and it started across the top plank which was new.  Have to think about it. Maybe I am putting too much pressure on her?  I’m sure I was pretty turned into her. I’ll have to experiment a bit tonight.  After this show we have very little on the docket for a few months. Maybe that will be good for her. The training to show ratio is off again, so that could have something to do with our issues in general. 

The Boyfriend came to watch yesterday for the first time- luckily he saw the icky dogwalk and now gets that I REALLY need one at home.  He promised to get started on it next weekend. YAY!!! Also I think he had fun watching people run-literally. He is a track guy so critiquing running kept him pretty entertained.  We could do a business venture- he trains the people and I train the puppies! Or not. We’d probably kill each other.  

Anyways. Not sure what to expect next weekend. Hoping for crazy courses.  Hoping to see my Happy Dog again then too. Hoping that there will be NO FOUL WEATHER.  I know better than to expect THAT though. 

Beautiful Birthday Girl!!