Bugs

Nothing like a few bugs to ruin a perfectly good picture!

In the River

I went for a walk with the girls today during my split shift and brought along the camera as usual. This time I was so hot, I joined them in the river. I tried not to think of the waste water treatment plant a few hundred meters upstream of me as I waded in the river. It never seems to bother Coulee or Lacey so why should it bother me. Right? I got some cute pictures of the girls though, so it was worth it.

The Look

Three Woofs and a Woo took pictures the other day of her dogs just as she was throwing the ball. I thought I'd give it a whirl today at work with Coulee.

It was funny, but not nearly as funny as Pixel.

Mosquito Hell

Amanda, Sandy and I went for a walk tonight. I think we should have a new rule. No more than 2 dogs each! We only took 6 dogs between 3 people and it was awesome! The dogs were all very well behaved (except Vito and his big mouth) and no major catastrophe struck us.

Pixel and Lacey had lots of fun wrestling. Click on the image to see those pearly whites large.

The expression on Pixel's face, is definitely screaming fun. ;)

Mira was posing pretty for the camera.

I brought two toys so Coulee wouldn't be the only one to actually play with a toy. Wicca managed a gravity defying retrieve.

Mira kept stealing the ball.

Vito moped on the shore.

Sandy was the only one laughing - she used bug spray. Amanda and I will be scratching all night.

Lacey was the only one brave enough to do what the rest of us were thinking... ;) (That is Vito's tail you see! What you don't see is him barking at Coulee.)

Pixel managed to get covered in dirt.

Lacey made me happy to have purchased a new collar. I bet Amanda was wishing she had bought one for Pixel.

And Coulee... Well she spent her evening fetching and having the time of her life. But we've all seen enough photos of that.

Roommate

We've had a roommate these past few weeks that I've neglected to blog about. The best kind of roommate a girl could ask for. Her name is Jackie. You may recognize her as one of the foster dogs we used to have. Her family went away for a few weeks and we jumped at the chance to visit with her again.

She has been a complete angel. She is great with Lu (she gives her kisses whenever she gets the chance), she is quiet, she is snuggly and best of all, she loves Lacey and Lacey loves her.

These two would play morning, noon, and night if they had the chance. I think the only reason they aren't playing right now is because Jackie is exhausted from 5 full days of daycare!

I'm sure in an hour or two she'll be rested and ready to go.

Jackie and Lacey are pretty evenly matched in their wrestling (or maybe Jackie lets Lacey win sometimes. I wouldn't doubt it).

You'll notice a distinct lack of Coulee in these photos. Coulee is too busy obsessing at the toy she has dropped at my feet to bother with the wrestling.

Lu

Some days I forget how beautiful she is.

Grey Day

It is a grey kind of day.

The Fruits of Our Labour

Bountiful

Some years our crab-apple tree gives us 30 apples... Other years it gives us hundreds... This year I wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to a thousand.

Panning Attempt

It wasn't very bright out today so while at the dog park, I decided it would be the perfect time to attempting "panning". I learned how to do this last year during a photography course but was never very good at it. I have a feeling it will take hundreds and hundreds of pictures to get a good feel for it. Coulee only has limited patience to be tricked in one direction, only to have to turn around and run in the other direction for the toy. Heh heh. So at a dozen photos at a time, it will take a long time to perfect!

And if you aren't a reader of Amanda's blog, you won't have seen this handsome dude...

Robbie is looking for a home. He is very sweet! If you, or someone you know is interested, give her a shout!

Old Haunting Grounds

Yesterday we made a spur-of-the-moment trip out to Writing on Stone. Amazingly enough, Amanda had never been there. I spent a summer as a park interpreter there and it was definitely one of the best summer jobs I ever had.

It was also one of the hottest summer jobs. The hoodoos, while amazing to look at, hold the heat and reflect it back at you. So you can be standing quite comfortably in the picnic area surrounded by grass and trees and think it isn't hot out but then you walk into the hoodoos and almost pass out from heat exhaustion. They've measure the temperature in the hoodoos at 52 C.

It wasn't quite that hot yesterday but it was hot enough. Too hot to even want to take pictures. I should have hauled less camera equipment and more water!

Amanda got the picture of Lacey after our walk and our picnic and after we had all cooled back down a little. If she'd taken it any earlier, you would have seen Lacey's tongue practically hanging to the ground.

The Clone

This is Hurley (aka the Giant - see picture with Pixel below for scale), Amanda's sister's dog.

Isn't he gorgeous?

I could be a little biased in saying that.

He looks vaguely familiar.

Yay!!!!

I fixed it! I fixed it. Phew. Not really sure what I did but I don't care. Check it out - www.paws-on-the-run.ca

Why do I try?

So I decided I needed a new website for work. Sarah did the original one 2 years ago before the daycare even opened so all the pictures were dog walking pictures and it didn't really showcase the fun the dogs have at daycare. And as I now own a Mac, which makes website creation super easy with iWeb, I decided to tackle it myself. I had already done a website for the Prairie Dog Canine Rescue, as well as the Photography Business, so why not the daycare? I learned a lot from doing the first two, this third one should go quickly.

And it did go quickly. I spent a few afternoons working on it and it was done. So tonight I uploaded it. The home page looks great (or at least I think so!) but it was missing something. Something vital. Something called the MENU! Hello!? Where is the bar at the top that shows all the other pages? You know, the pages that actually have real information on them? I've tried uploading it over and over again and it still isn't working. Sigh.

If you would like to see it (minus the menu bar) you can see the home page, About Us, Doggie Daycare, Pet Photography, Dog Training, Grooming, Daycare FAQ and Contact Us. Feel free to shout out constructive critism - it won't hurt my feelings and I'd love to make it better. :)

And if anyone has any suggestions on how to get the menu bar to show-up, I'd love to hear them. I'll probably be calling Apple tomorrow afternoon to see if they can help if I haven't figured it out by then.

Rattler

My favourite off leash park has this sign at the parking lot and at a few other places in the park.

It probably explains why this gorgeous place, is usually pretty quiet. I've been walking Coulee down there (and clients' dogs too) for over 4 years, and I had never seen one, until last night. And now I am scared and don't think I want to go back until Winter when all the snakes are sleeping!

Our walk started off innocently enough and as usual we had lots of dogs (10) and not so many people (3). The dogs were having fun swimming in the river and just hanging out. It wasn't until we'd had enough of the barking and decided to leave the river for drier land that we heard it. We saw Sadie pick up a scent trail and wander off the path with a few other dogs in tow, and then we heard the rattle.

Apparently we all suck in an emergency. We stood there yelling at the dogs (4 out of 10 were standing around it) and while I really wanted to run in and haul them out of there, I didn't want the other 6 following me over to the snake. Sandy passed Duke's leash over to Jo and ran and scooped up Sadie - which was probably a good thing as I would consider her the most likely to reach out and bite it. Thankfully no one was bitten (snake included). We were pretty shook up but the dogs were their usual selves as we high tailed it back to the car.

I am leaving you with some random pictures from the time PS (Pre-Snake) to remind myself about how much fun this park can be.

Evening Walk

Jo and I took the kids out this evening down to Popson. We had a great walk, probably because nothing happened. No birds were killed, no dogs were injured, the dogs were well behaved (probably because we didn't see another person or dog) and the dogs had a great time. And best of all, they are all really tired now.

Apparently I don't usually post enough photos (at least according to Jo) so tonight you are going to get a bunch.

Kort looking mighty handsome.

Check out Tate's leg feathers. Aren't they amazing?

Yes, Vito barked. A lot. Even when Coulee was dry. Sigh.

Nothing beats a good shake picture and Boone is no exception.

Looking a little more handsome...

Marlin has nicknamed Pixel "the colourful one."

Do you see those specks near the top of the picture? That is Tate and Kort. I may have fibbed a little bit when I said everyone was well behaved. ;)

Boone won't swim out to get the wubba but if it is close enough to shore, he'll get it.

Tate is turning into quite the little water dog!

Lacey really likes the Wubba and is actually willing to try and fight Coulee for it.

When Lacey finally gets the Wubba, it has to be shaken in the water.

And when you can't have a wubba, a stick will have to do.

Pixel was finally starting to slow down at the end of the walk. Keeping up with Coulee is hard work when you have short little legs.

The little ones all ride together. Comfy eh?