Part of the Family - Finally

(Auburn, WA) Before we left Argus today, we decided to take time for one last play session in the field. We're really glad we did as today was the very first time Boogie was included in any play.

At first, like usual, Wazzu was ignoring Boogie. So Mike came over and started wagging Wazzu's tail right in front of Boogie. Wazzu did her very best to ignore all this even when Boogie started biting her tail.



So then Boogie started teasing her and egging her on doing his very best to get her to play. At first he was pretty careful.



But he started getting a little closer....



and a lot braver as time went on. As you can see, Wazzu was keeping an eye on him but wasn't all that concerned.



But finally she just couldn't resist and did a big play bow. This totally made Boogie's day!



After the one play bow, Wazzu was done. But it was a huge start. And that's all it took to make Boogie think that he'd now been accepted into the doggie part of the family. So now he decided he was big enough, brave enough, and tough enough to play the big dog games. So he decided to play with Sparkie and Slugger who were being allowed to run together all out for the first time since Slugger's surgery.

I actually don't think Sparkie and Slugger had any idea that Boogie was including himself in their play. But Boogie thought he was quite the "big man on campus."









Boogie's attention span wasn't all that long or maybe he thought he'd gotten the big dogs under control. Whichever the case, he went off to do other things. I took close to 100 pictures of Sparkie and Slugger playing and noticed a real pattern. See if you can catch it.





Yup, Sparkie is on top in every picture! Even when Slugger has given up and is just lying there panting, Sparkie is still biting him. I'm thinking pits get a really bad wrap! Poor little Slugger is the one being picked on.



Time to check on Boogie and see what he is up to. Looks like he has finally figured out what terriers are really bred for!



He only dug for a couple seconds but he was obviously very proud of himself.



He didn't look nearly as happy or brave this afternoon when he went to the vet to get his puppy shot. I've never seen him so still - I didn't know he could be so still as he moves more in his dreams than he did on that exam table.

Mike and I say that every morning when Boogie gets up he looks so much bigger. And I think we're right as today when the vet weighed him he was 9.75 pounds. Slow down fella! We were told he'd only get to be about 15 pounds. He's well over halfway and he's only 13 weeks old. Yikes.

Debbie
7/30/07

Big Scare

(Kent, WA) This weekend was the NADAC games trial that I had offered to put on. And even if I say so myself, I think it went over extremely well. It was a very fun and relaxed trial. The best part for me was that Shari and Pat set-up right next to us. Since it was a one ring trial, there were no conflicts. So I got to visit with both Shari and Pat much more than usual and I got to see every one of their runs – which were all spectacular to watch. For me, it was one of the most fun trials ever. I don’t usually get to hang around everyone very much and am usually by myself a fair amount of every trial. So being right amongst my friends and being in a place where I could see the action made this weekend so very much fun.

It could only be this fun and this successful if there was a really great Show Committee. And I think I had the best there could be. I really lucked out on the people that agreed to help with this trial. Every single aspect of the trail went so smoothly and they all helped each other out which I was so grateful for as I couldn’t help with much myself other than just overseeing things.



The weather this weekend was perfect except for an hour of so of mist/rain Sunday morning. Actually, for me it could have been a tad warmer but I know all the dogs much preferred it on the cooler side. I know Wazzu did that’s for sure.

We had an electronic timer with display. This made for a lot of fun as everyone would be watching the times and trying to beat the other times. And everyone would be rooting people on and cheering louder and louder trying to help people get around the course faster. It really was so much fun. That’s one reason why NADAC is so fun. You can root for each other, as placements don’t really matter except for the fun of it. And it was FUN!

There were a lot of exciting, fun, fast dogs there this weekend and of course we knew them all which makes it even more fun to root for each other. Sparkie, Quinn (Pat’s dog), and Ozzie (Shari’s dog) are all very fast so it was so fun to see how they each did compared to each other. They are all three in different divisions so they aren’t actually competing against each other. A couple times they each came in 1st place in their division all in the same run. I felt honored to get to be set-up in the same area with three such great dogs!

This was Boogie’s very first trial. I was very curious to see how he’d do with so much commotion around and so many dogs and people. We set up an x-pen and put a crate in there as well along with a few toys. He was so good! He’d entertain himself with his toys and then when he was tired he’d go into his crate and go to sleep. He slept through dogs barking, crying, people yelling, people and dogs running right by, etc. Northing bothered him one bit.

When he was out and about he got to meet a few dogs and quite a number of people. He was a bit aloof with people…..unless they had food – then he was their best friend. He’s so polite. He’d just sit quitely looking at them until they gave him a treat – and he’d take it so gently. Saturday he got to play with a Boston Terrier. Zeke is a couple years older than Boogie, is a bit taller and much stockier. And even though Zeke played a little rough at times, Boogie didn’t act real frightened. He tried to find cover once in a while but always came back out and played. It was really nice for him to have an opportunity to play with another dog.

Wazzu never slept the entire trial. She was always wanting to be right with me keeping a close eye on everything I was doing. And she was so happy that I was paying attention to her and doing something with her instead of the puppy. She was so happy in fact that she ran fast with a big smile on her face every run. It was really nice seeing a happy face on her all weekend long. She was perfect on the weekend going 12/12! Maybe that’s another reason my weekend was so fun! Thanks Wazzu Puppy!!

Sparkie had a very nice trial as well going 11/16. However, Sunday was really her day to shine. She got 1st or 2nd in every run and went 7/8. In addition, she and Mike earned their Versatility NATCH-8 on a gorgeous 1st place Weavers run.

We had to be at the trail site very early both days to get it opened up and then stayed until the end each day. So by the time we got home on Sunday, Wazzu especially was totally worn out. Even though it was past 8pm, she hadn’t had dinner yet and she hadn’t had a meal since before 6am. Usually she is pestering Mike to let him know he forgot to give them dinner. But instead, she was lying next to me on the couch and was sound asleep. After Mike got the dinners ready he went to the door to take everyone out for dinner. He called Wazzu…..nothing. He called her again very loud……nothing. He immediately put the bowls down and checked to see if she was breathing. I could tell exactly what he was thinking and I jumped up to check her breathing as well. She was breathing – phew. But we still couldn’t wake her up. That was an extremely scary moment. After wiggling her and calling her name a few more times she woke up out a very very deep sleep. She acted like she had no idea where she was. Now that's a tired dog. I’ll bet she’s going to sleep well tonight!

Debbie
7/28-29/07

Small and Smaller

(Auburn, WA) After another early morning doctor appointment, we had time to play in the nice large field. It was another perfectly gorgeous day and the dogs were so happy to have such a large area where they could be off-leash to do things at whatever speed they desired. In Boogie's case the speed was FAST!



Boogie really wants to be involved in all the play but the big dogs still aren't giving him too mach attention. Slugger is by far the most accepting of him but isn't quite sure how to play with something that wiggly. Slugger most often is scared by the puppy and tries to run and hide.

After walking around the field a bit, I decided this would be a great opportunity for our very first family picture since the addition of Boogie. At first we got all three big dogs to sit and stay but we couldn't get the puppy to cooperate at all. After quite some time of trying, the other dogs were getting tired of sitting. Sparkie got bored and decided it would be much better use of her time to roll around on her back and Slugger was too tired to sit anymore. So here is one of our first photo attempts -



Boogie however didn't understand why he'd want to sit and stay when there was such a big field to play in. So Mike then tried to hold Boogie and take his hands away really quickly while I took a picture. That didn't work either as the puppy could move away much faster than Mike could move his hands away. We tried many times but after a bit the big dogs were getting bored and were looking every which way.



We kept trying but by now all the big dogs were tired of sitting and one by one they each laid down. Okay, a "down" is a fine position for a picture. After about 15 minutes we finally managed to get something resembling a family picture.



As if that wasn't enough, I then decided it would be nice to get a picture of me and Boogie together. The family picture was easier than this! Boogie wouldn't hold still for anything. You would have thought he was suddenly full of buzzing bees.



But I was determined, so we kept trying. The outcome wasn't any better.



I was still determined. And after quite some time I finally got the puppy to hold still for a second. Just as Mike was pushing the shutter button, Wazzu decided she was mommy's girl. So here is our picture of me and a calm Boogie.



After our big play time and photo session, they were all very thirsty. Boogie thought it was so fun to do what the big dogs were doing.



Later in the afternoon, our friend Shirley came by with her cute new little eight-week-old Jack Russell Terrier puppy, Ike.



We thought it might be good for both puppies to play with someone their own size. Boogie is only seven pounds - but little Ike is only TWO pounds. My German Shepherd puppies were bigger than that the second they were born!

Ike was a little leery at the beginning but it wasn't long before the two puppies were comfortable with each other. It didn't take them long at all to figure out that when Shirley went back to the van she'd give them treats. And they would both wait so politely as Shirley got out the treats.



Of course all those treats make little puppies thirsty. They became good buds and wanted to do things together.



Shirley brought some fun toys along. In fact, one of the toys she brought was the exact toy Boogie has. But for some reason, Ike's toy was much more fun.



Ike decided that it is actually a good thing to make friends with someone a little bigger than yourself. They can help you get closer to the treats!



After playing a bit, Boogie started to get pretty brave...and maybe just a little much so for sweet little Ike.



We were all worried that this may have scared Ike. But he seemed to take it in stride. In fact, shortly after that he did a play bow to try and get Boogie to play again.



Boogie was very sad when we had to bring the play time to an end. We had to go over to the trial site to get everything set up for this weekend's trial. But I'll tell you, Ike is one sweet LITTLE puppy. We really enjoyed getting to meet him and it was fun to watch the two little guys play. Thanks so much to Shirley for bringing Ike over to play. And Boogie says thanks for the treats and toys!

Debbie
7/27/07

Vets vs Park....

(Redmond, WA) We're only in town for a couple days so we have to cram as many doctor appointments in as we could. Today we were trying to fit in four appointments!

The first appointment was for me. Since we were the first appointment of the day we got in right away. They were very efficient and got me in and out fairly quickly. That actually left us some spare time before our next appointment. So we decided to swing by the off-leash park at Marymoor.

For those of you not familiar with Marymoor it is a huge park with many different activity areas. There is an area for flying planes, a velodrome, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, children's play area, rock climbing walls, concert venue, bird watching area, off-leash dog park and much more.

The dog park is a little over 40 acres. There are paths, large fields, forest areas, and five or six access areas to the river. It's a great park as there is a lot of space and different areas depending on what your dog likes to do.

As we well knew, this was a great time of day to go as it's never very busy in the morning on a weekday. Since this would be Boogie's first time to meet other dogs and other people we didn't want to overwhelm him. As it turned out we were correct. There were some dogs there but it was very easy to be by yourself most of the time.

We started out going in a direction where there were no dogs. This time of the year the grass is very high in some of the areas. We didn't dare let Boogie go off leash as we figured we'd lose him for sure in the tall grass. After walking a while we came to an area with shorter grass. There was no one in this area either so we felt comfortable letting Boogie run - though we kept his leash on him so we could catch him if need be.

He couldn't get any of our dogs to play with him but he did enjoy chasing a tennis ball a few feet a couple times.



From there we headed over to the river. Slugger and Sparkie went right in. As always, Slugger was swimming half way across the river to retrieve his tennis ball. Sparkie went splish splashing around with her ball. One time on the way back to shore, Sparkie left her ball in the water about a foot of the shore. In this particular spot there were boulders between the shore and the water. Boogie was on the boulder when he saw the ball. He went running after the ball - not realizing that dogs can't walk on water. He fell in over his head but didn't panic one bit. He just started swimming right back to shore. He came out, shook off, and went off down the path like nothing had happened. What a guy!

As we walked down next to the river where we came across a number of dogs and people. At first Boogie would run to the end of the leash behind me crying if another dog even looked in his direction. But very quickly he'd get a little braver and would want to get a little closer. He acted the same whether we were meeting people or dogs. But we were very proud of him in how fast he would get a little more brave each time.

When we got to the area with benches and a common area in the middle we met a lady with two Scotties. Boogie was much more brave with dogs closer to his own size. After a very brief time of being leery, he decided he was the big brave dog. He was chasing those dogs all over the place. He totally forgot about me and went racing across a bridge and out of sight. After 30 seconds or so I decided I'd better call him back. What a recall the little fellow has - he came right away just as fast as his little legs would take him.

On the way back to the car he decided to get started on his agility career and practice the dogwalk!



I was too busy making sure that Boogie was safe during the trip around the park that I forgot to take many pictures! Maybe next year.

From there we went to our remaining three vet appointments. The girls definitely enjoyed the park much more than they enjoyed the vets!

Debbie
7/26/07

Big Freedom for a Little Puppy

(Auburn, WA) After visiting with Asami for a few hours this morning, we moved to Argus Ranch in Auburn. It's so great to have some safe fenced areas for the dogs to run and play. This was Boogie's first opportunity to be free to romp.

The Travelin' Trio still aren't really giving Boogie the time of day. But that didn't stop him from enjoying his day.

Argus is always pretty, but on a sunny day it is especially beautiful. Even Boogie was enjoying the scenery.



We always enjoy it here and today was no exception. Everyone looked to be having such a relaxing and fun time.



Boogie would run around trying to get the dogs to play with him but he didn't have any luck. So after he would get about 30 yards away I would call him. He would come running back to me just as fast as possible - which was actually very fast! Here he comes....



Here he is - just as cute as can be.



Since no one would play with him he decided to at least try and act like his big sister. She of course went on her way like he didn't exist.



Mostly he just ran and ran and ran.....and looked really cute with his little tongue flopping around.



The majority of my attention went to watching Boogie run around looking so cute. Finally Slugger got my attention and said, "I can run around and look cute with my tongue flopping around too, mom." You certainly can my little Slugger Bumpkin.



Since the big dogs won't include him in their play he took some time once in a while to just sit and watch.



The girls tried to get some time away from this new puppy who has intruded so greatly on their life. They took a little time to relax and discuss the revolting situation that has developed.



Despite what the girls may say, it was a fun evening for all of us.

Debbie
7/25/07

Time with Asami

(Olympia, WA) We had two really great days to visit with our niece Asami who came over from London to visit. This trip over is the first time we've seen her since she left a couple years ago. It sure seems a lot longer than that!

Mike, the Travelin' Trio, and Asami went for a hike at the Beaver Pond. As always they had a great time. Asami is trying to convince me that she saw a slug eating a leaf...and she says she could hear it crunching! Any of you believe that? She tried to tell me that since her eyesight is getting worse, her hearing is getting better. That is some awesome hearing I think! Ha ha!

We spent the rest of the time just visiting, oh and laughing at silly Boogie. Each passing day he gets bigger and more entertaining. I think he's becoming more comfortable with his surroundings each day and is really coming out of his shell.

He's starting to play with toys. He really loves this red squeeky ball and thinks it's really fun to pounce on it.



While he doesn't really like being held all that much, he did spend some time in Asami's lap and had quite a fine time.



Remember how a couple days ago he had no idea how to do stairs? Well now he races up and down the stairs like he's been doing them his whole life.



The big dogs aren't all that interested in interacting with Boogie yet. So today he decided that maybe if he jumped on Sparkie's back she'd play with him. Well, sorta...



After trying to play with everyone and every thing he actually decided to settle down for a bit.



We were really impressed with how smart he is! We were upstairs and everyone was out in the kitchen preparing dinner. I was lying down in the living room and decided this would be a good time to work on recalls. So I called Boogie and he came running just as fast as he possibly could. Good job little guy. But as soon as he got his treat, he ran back to the kitchen to help. I called him again. Bingo, he came immediately. Off he went again. But by now, after just two times, he had figured out the game. So this time he just ran 3/4 of the way to the kitchen and then turned around and waited for me to call him. He totally got the game! Pretty soon he would run away and then turn around and run back before I had a chance to call him. What a smart little guy!

In addition to having fun with our new little puppy we had a truly fabulous time visiting with Asami. It was hard to say goodbye when we left late this evening.

Debbie
7/23-24/07

FIFTY YEARS!!

(Olympia, WA) No that's not my age! (yet)

Today was the day I had been planning for many months. And from all the comments we got I think it was a success!



January 1, 1957 my parents were married - just 30 minutes into the new year! They had a small wedding with only four people in attendance. But today we had a 50th anniversary party with about 120 people in attendance.


(This was my attempt at fancy photography - see the cake in the mirror.)

You may wonder why we had a party six months after the official anniversary date. Well even though we have a very close-knit family, we don't have a close family. In fact, on my parents date of January 1, they were in Olympia at their house, my brother and his girlfriend were in Canada at his house, our niece Asami was in Europe where she lives, our other niece Yumi was - well we're never sure exactly where Yumi is (teehee), and we were in Florida. So as you can see we aren't close in proximity.

From left: Asami, Mom, Dad, Deb, Mike, Yumi, Dave, Joanna

But today we all came together! Mom's brother and sister-in-law came from Oregon as did all their kids and spouses. It really was so great to have so much family together again. It really is a rare thing now days so it was fantastic.

My brother Dave, Mom, Dad, and me.

In addition to family, many of my parents' friends came to help celebrate the big day. The party was held at The Olympia Golf and Country Club. The have a very nice facility that overlooks Puget Sound. We piped in music from the 50's-60's era, decorated the place, had lots of food, and a beautiful cake.


The cake on top is a carrot cake, the flat cake is half chocolate with chocolate Bavarian creme filling, and half is a white cake with vanilla Bavarian creme filling. Mmmm, good.

As a suprise, I had arranged for a presentation to take place shortly after the gathering started. I spoke a little bit and then showed a five minute slide type presentation complete with music (that wasn't really as loud as I'd hoped). Then my brother and two neices spoke - it was all very touching. After that we had some of their friends tell some stories of memories they had of my parents over the year. Mike then spoke and had everyone laughing.

Finally we played my dad's favorite song (Sha-Boom) for my parents to dance to. Then we had them cut the cake. The rest of the afternoon was spent mingling and eating both hold and cold finger foods, and of course, lots of cake!



From what I could tell, my parents seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Phew, success!!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Mom and Dad.

Debbie
7/22/07

New Lessons

(Olympia, WA) We spent the daytime at my parents house the last couple days. Of course the highlight was getting to see our niece, Asami. She arrived in the wee hours of the morning Friday.

We, okay so it was just me, have been teasing her about her new found British accent. It sounds so weird and seems a little fake - only because we have heard her speak "Amercian" all her life. So to suddenly hear her speak with this new accent just seems a little weird.

But getting to spend time with her these past two days has been fantastic. Oh how I wish she didn't have to go back. I don't know when she'll be able to come back here but until they make RV's that can travel across the ocean, we won't be able to go over to England to see her.

Boogie fell in love with Asami right away.



Saturday I decided that it was high time that Boogie learned to do stairs. It was quite a lot for that little brain to figure out. Boogie really wants to be with me but when I went down the stairs without him he was quite perplexed.




So I came just one step down and called him. It must look like a long way down for such a little guy.




After quite a bit of time and a number of treats he finally came down one step!



We thought we were on a roll as it looked like he was going to do the next step as well. But instead he turned around and went back to the top. He was a trooper though and didn't give up - he just started over. And eventually, he made it TWO steps!!



I was pretty sure he was going to make it no problem now! But wait. Now he decided he couldn't go up or down!



Eventually he decided that "up" was the safer of his two choices. Oh my. This could take a long time. But after a few more minutes he decided that this was no problem and away he went - just like an old pro.



Once he got it, he decided it was pretty fun and went up and down a few times. Oh my, the stairmaster for puppies, sure can tire a guy out.



We thought he might sleep for a couple hours. The kids (and adults) were anxious to play with him but we couldn't wake him up. I'd lift him up and try to stand him on his feet and he'd just plop down like jello. He slept the whole day.

But then we made the mistake of feeding him dinner! It's like putting rocket fuel in him. He was zooming around the RV growing and barking so much it was scaring the dogs. After quite some time he fuel wore off and he was ready for bed.

Today he had no middle ground, he was either sound asleep or a real terror....I mean terrier!

Debbie
7/20-21/07