Merry Christmas to all!

The whole human family got in on this one, plus Gypsy, Cocobear and Tonka.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and terrific 2010!

A few changes, but still a baker's dozen...

A few months ago, we helped to socialize some seven week old Aussie puppies. These guys are Fling's nephews- only four in the litter and the blue gal didn't make it. So we had these three boys- Tonka, Hoop and Po.

What a fun week we had! But we realized 8 dogs was a bit much :) The breeder decided we really needed Tonka- and he needed us. We saw him a few more times, and finally relented and brought him home in early August. He is a wonderful boy- sweet, calm, playful, smart and happy. He's almost 5 months old now and a little over 30 pounds.

We also realized our cat situation needed to change. They have never been a happy threesome, and after recovering from struvite crystals, Turtle was terrified of Diego. Diego adores people, and we found a family who had lost their beloved 18 year old kitty and wanted another sweet cat. Today Diego is on his way to his new family, and we know he will love all the one on one attention he will receive. And as a bonus, no dogs to chase him!
So our family is now five humans, six dogs and two cats- we hope it stays this way for a long while...

Petswalk and a Pony Birthday

All right, so those are not pets or ponies, but they are my very favorite rhodies that seem to only bloom for a day. They are in a shady spot and much darker usually, but I had to use the flash. Anyways, now I can see them year round. Those flowers make me happy!
Cocobear and Gypsy got to go to our local humane society walk this year, and it was SO much easier than when the bigger dogs go. The kids were able to hold their leashes, and there was no counter surfing for treats at the booths. Miss Gypsy did make a pig of herself with the biscuits on the floor, though.
We saw a lot of great dogs at the walk. This picture is for Haley- I wanted her to see the Hula Lab :) It was almost like seeing Char! Those dogs didn't even seem to mind the itchy grass skirts.
This guy with the patch was Cute Puppy of the Day (to me, at least). I thought he looked like a St. Bernard Pitbull mix, but his owner said he was an American Bulldog. His tail didn't stop wagging the whole time we saw him.
Then Leah went to a pony birthday party, where the horses wore ribbons and glitter! Maybe you can see some of the curly ribbons on the tail of this one. Leah was a little unsure about the big horse.
This one was more her size. She got to go on three rides and had a great time. She's already been invited to another pony party in two weeks. What happened to cake and noisemakers at the house?? All in all, a very fun sunny day and that's always a bonus in WA.

Just some cute pictures

I've really got a lot of cute subjects around here- first our little girl. She knows she is cute from her head...
to her toes. The girl has a LOT of shoes- these were her favorites as of two days ago. Now she's moved on to the light up jelly flip flops.
Our oldest does not like being photographed, but he will bend the "rules" when he's with his favorite dog, Cocobear. He's been working on teaching Coco to sit. Here's how he rewards him when he does a good job.
All three kids are pretty cute, at least in my opinion. And they're all way cuter when they at least look like they like each other.
This next one isn't cute at all, but I wanted to see if anyone was driven crazy by looking at Roper's eye booger :)
So if you're still reading, here's one last photo of the undeniably cutest member of our dog pack.

Green

Washington isn't called the evergreen state for nothin'. Here's Cocobear inviting you to go on our walk today at the navy base.
Coco's always pretty small, but these are some GIANT trees. The boys try to mark as many of them as they can on each walk, but it's a daunting task...
Here's the little lake Roper swims in sometimes and Levi likes to wade in at water's edge. You can even see a reflection of green. If you look really carefully you may be able to see the bench that our pal Charlotte had a minor injury on!
This last one would have been the most green picture of them all, but it's in film grain mode. You'll just have to imagine....

Sheepies and Film Grain Mode

Roper and Fling got to go herd some sheep today, and I was excited that there were NO HORNED SHEEP! Those guys hurt when they ram into your legs. Roper has been pretty rough with the sheep, so he's worn this muzzle for the past two lessons. He is learning that he doesn't have to grip to get the sheep to move. They run to the other side of the arena when he walks in.
Fling is easier on the sheep. Today we mostly took a nice walk with the sheep with her driving them- we need to work on the gathering and fetching. Miss Fling does like a good chase and she definitely likes to work, but she doesn't want to hurt the sheep's feelings :)
I'm still learning the settings on the camera- these pictures were taken with the film grain setting. I like the way they turn out, but I wouldn't want to use this setting too much.
Until next time, Roper and Fling will be dreaming of sheep and I'll be taking mass quantities of pictures and posting a few here...

Be Kind to Your Mama Today!

Last night, we tried to get together for an impromptu Mothers' Day photo shoot. The cameraman had never used the new camera, the dogs were wired and it was getting dark. This is the best one from the shoot- Leah is behind Shane if you can find her!
And in case you're wondering where Levi and Roper were, they were banished outside. And when they came in, we could not get them any less wound up than this
Hope you have a wonderful Mothers' Day with any furry or furless kids you've got!

An Action Packed Day

So you may be wondering if I ever load up all the dogs and let them run wild...the answer to that is a resounding "ALMOST never". And the main reason for that is that Levi cannot stand Roper in close quarters, and my Escape is just not big enough to spread them out enough.
This morning, the pack got divided into two groups. First, Roper and Cocobear went for a short walk on the Navy base. Roper will show you the way to our trail of the day.
Roper turns every walk into an obstacle course- he does about 10 times the distance the rest of us do, and he enjoys every downed tree
and puddle
note that there was an actual LAKE directly behind this puddle, but Roper didn't want to waste any time- so he just splashed in the first available body of water.
Cocobear just enjoyed the run and fresh air.
Then Group One went home, and Group Two went on a short hike on a logging trail nearby. I am still figuring out the settings on the camera. These were taken in "Sports Mode", which is supposedly for action. Most of the pictures turned out even blurrier, but at least you can see that Gypsy loves to run
Fling loves to do anything as long as it's fast and involves sharp turns and lots of excitement
And Levi loves to enjoy all the sights and smells of open space, especially with the gals...

After all the running and sniffing and general fun-having, Levi got to go to swim therapy. He is always a total smushball for a few days after that wonderful experience, and even Roper doesn't seem to bother him much. I'll try to get a few decent pictures of Levi floating at his next session.
And I've got to find the best action setting before herding class next week...

10 down, 3 to go...

You've met ten of our thirteen living, breathing family, but there are a few left.
I have TRIED to get a decent pic of my hubby, but they keep turning out like this:

And I haven't used the new camera to get any great pictures of our Aussie, but this is Fling.
A good friend and excellent breeder had been sending me photos of pups for a while, but I was waiting for a blue-eyed tri. Fling came along and opened those gorgeous eyes the day hubby and I found out I was expecting little furless #3. We took her anyways, and she has matured into a sweet, fun, kid-loving dog who will do anything I ask with zest!

And since no one has taken any pictures with the new baby (I mean camera, of course) except me, this picture from a couple weeks ago will have to do for now. Fling and Roper went herding today on the rainiest day of the year, so no photos were taken. Maybe next Tuesday will be sunnier!
Now you've met us all- next time we'll get on with what we're all up to....

Here Come the Cuties...

Here are the two smallest members of our family. Cocobear is a long-coat Chihuahua we adopted from the Jefferson County shelter on July 3, 2007. He was one of the dogs from a hoarding case involving many dogs, cats and farm animals. Poor little dude had been kept in a small filthy cage for his whole life, but we saw that he needed us. We "tried out" four or five of the Chihuahuas at the shelter, and Coco was the one who seemed most housebroken and like a true diamond in the rough. He was! This little guy loves all of us and holds his own with the big dogs. He LOVES to go hiking and snuggling in blankets. We all love him so much that a few months ago, the kids asked if we could get another little dog...
We contacted MANY local rescue groups, filled out countless applications for small dogs and scanned petfinder.com for small dogs in shelters. Most of the rescues never even replied to our emails, and all but one of the applications came back as "no" or no reply... That rescue only had one small dog at the time, and he was special needs and too delicate. The shelters near us charge $300 or more for small dogs, and they're usually gone within a day. And the shelters on the other side of WA had the same problem with small dogs getting adopted too quickly for us to make it to meet them.
So on a whim, we looked at breeders in WA. We found Gypsy at a breeder near Spokane- she was almost one year old and being sold because she was too big for breed standard. Nine pounds is too big for a show or breeding Pom, but the perfect size for our family. We loaded up Coco and the kids and drove to Spokane. It was love at first sight. Little Gypsy looks so much like the breed I originally wanted- a Papillon. She is a sweet, fun little gal- her only issue is that she gets carsick, so sadly she can't go everywhere with us. We adore this gal and think she feels the same about us.

The Housebound Segment of the Baker's Dozen

A few summers ago, we lost our beloved tuxedo cat, Big Head Todd. He had been a stray, and we were looking for an outdoor cat to help out with moles. Todd was the sweetest, most loving boy, but he was terrified to come in with the dogs. One night, we heard lots of coyotes howling, and we never saw Toddcat again.
The Seattle Shelter was hosting Catapalooza, where you could adopt two cats for the price of one. The kids and I found "Diablo" on the shelter's website and decided to make the big trip over to Seattle. He won us instantly-he is HUGE and loving, and we re-named him Diego.
Then we had to choose a second cat- I remembered the names Mojo and Stanley as gray females, and the shelter workers brought out Mojo first. She was shy and scared, but a beautiful girl. I told the worker we'd like to meet another cat, and the kids started to cry.
So here's Mojo- we never did meet Stanley...
Then a few months later, one of our vet techs heard meowing coming from a dumpster on a nighttime walk. She found a closed box with a mama cat and five kittens inside. The kids fell in love with all the babies (who were only a week or so old), but I liked Lucy. When the kittens were weaned, we took home Lucy. She and the other cats did NOT get along, so a week later, we took her back. She now lives happily with one of my grooming clients. One kitten from the litter was left- the runt and a Tortie. Of course the kids fell for her, as did Diego. Heeere's Turtle:
So we now have three indoor cats and a very secure baby gate. Mojo and Diego had been indoor/ outdoor, but after losing Toddcat, they are inside only. Turtle helped get the dogs over their cat hating tendencies, but the kitties still have their safe haven downstairs. I seriously do not know how someone could be a cat collector. We are maxed out at three! But they are all good natured, kid loving kitties and we couldn't love them more.

A Few More Members of the Elusive "Dozen"

This is Levi- he's an 11 year old Australian Cattle Dog we got from a shelter in Ohio. He just celebrated his 11th Gotcha Day with us. He's our comeback kid- deaf, paralyzed, cancer...
You'll be seeing and hearing a lot about this special boy.
And this is Roper- he's our two year old Cattle Dog. He's healthy as a horse and has an unlimited supply of energy. We got him from a breeder almost a year ago- he was bored and we set out to keep him busy. We're still working on that. Roper is a good boy and Levi's arch-nemesis.

All right, so now you've met five of the thirteen. Maybe that new camera will allow me to get some good pictures of the housebound segment of our population.

What am I Getting Myself Into?

New camera is on the way, so I'm going to try this out.
To compare, I'll post one picture from the old camera....
All right, now I just need someone to tell me how to move the picture and add more. For now, you can look at three members of the baker's dozen.
I'll add more later.