Photo 365

To motivate myself to actually update this, I'm going to try to post 365 photos in 365 days. This is going to be a huge challenge for me. I'm going to try to improve my photography skills and make myself update this blog daily. :) We'll see how it goes.

Start the countdown.



The "cricket" as my friends call it. Aka the "Karma phone". No, it's not a dog.

Vacation Pictures

Here are some pictures so far.

These are from the Museum of Natural History.











These are from the dog park.









Wow, I almost lost this post. I was about to paste the html for the last image and accidentally clicked the big red X. Luckily, the post was saved as a draft. I don't much care for laptops, so I would have probably just packed up and gone back to the house without posting. So, enjoy the pictures.

My vacation has been great so far. I (obviously) took Zen to the dog park today. I wasn't sure how it would go because he has discovered his manliness and has been kind of a jerk to other dogs lately. He settled right in though. He even consented to play with a very pushy boxer. Mostly he swam and fetched. There weren't a ton of dogs there, but there were about 8-10. We left when it started to rain and drove out to Reliant to set up. We have a really good grooming space along the wall. We show tomorrow at about noon, and then do meet the breed at 1 p.m.

Chris Ann saw us walking around, so I stopped to chat. She thinks Zen is huge. Yes, he is over-standard, but he isn't huge. :) I will measure him again, but I think he is under 21". She asked if everything else was great about him, basically, was I happy with him. I couldn't ask for a better dog. I'm truly thrilled with the big red goob. She said the height won't keep him from finishing, which, I knew that too. :)

I will try to get back up to another Starbucks to post more later. This computer doesn't have a card reader for my 50D, so any pictures will be from either my point and shoot, or my powershot s3. The ones today were taken with the s3.

Bento Ball Review

Against my better judgement, (I'm a poor student remember)I bought the Bento Ball today.



It lasted all of 10 minutes before Zen popped the treat out of it. I put the treat back in and he popped it out in another 30-40 seconds. Seems that slobber really makes it easy for the treat to squeeze out. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Later I took a marrow treat and put it in there and that kept him busy for a while. He likes the toy, it's just easy to get treats out of.

Also, Zen marked for the very first time today. He totally marked in Petsmart. I'm hoping this doesn't become habit. I don't allow marking on walks, we walk, and they stop to potty when I allow it. I don't stop near mailboxes or any man made object that can be marked, but Zen has pretty much not lifted a leg until today. He usually just stands and pee's. When we came home he demonstrated his new found manliness by going and lifting his leg on a bush when I asked if he needed to potty before we went inside.

Making Time

I'm making time for this post. I have a pretty set schedule during the week, it has wiggle room, but I usually do the same things daily. I get up about 6am and walk Zen while the other two potty in the yard. He gets to walk so that we have a little one-on-one time and a mile walk is more tiring than just trotting around the backyard for 20 or so minutes. He and Rumor hang out in the yard while I shower. Carrie gets to sleep on the bed. I leave for work about 7:40-7:50 (depending on if I'm running late or not), so the dogs are crated all day. My mom is usually home, so if they need out she lets them out, but I get home @ 4:30pm. The dogs go outside to potty, and I will go out and kick the soccer/basketballs for them, start the sprinkler for them to play in or whatever. Between 5 and 7 I get my household stuff done. Mowing, cleaning, dishes, cooking, some training etc. At 7:30 I leave for the gym most nights. Wednesday is training night and Zen and I go to the park for that, Tuesdays I'm going over to a friends house to play games. I try to be home to walk dogs by 9 or 9:30. It takes an hour to walk two miles with potty breaks and some minor training along the way. After the walk if they haven't eaten, they get fed, if they have eaten, I might do a little training. I try to be in bed by 11 or 11:30. Weekends are usually pretty lax and lazy around here. If we don't have anything scheduled then I sleep in and then just play with the dogs throughout the day. We might head to Petsmart or the park, maybe a local church to play ball, just whatever I feel like doing.

Anyway, the point to all of this is I skipped our walk tonight to make a little time for the blog. I want to do a little reading and take a long bath as well, so I had to fit it in somewhere.

Next Wednesday we leave for the big Houston dog show, and our yearly vacation. This will be Zen's first year to spend at the bay and my first year in almost 6 that I am going solo. My brother will come out and visit me a few times I'm sure, but this will be a week of just me and the dogs hanging out. I'm looking to catch up on some reading and napping while I'm there. I will probably see what I can do in the way of fishing and will spend a good part of my time in the water. We will be close enough to Houston that if Zen is on good behavior we can make a few trips to the dog park. This may be my last vacation until I graduate from nursing school, so I'm going to enjoy it.

So, it's a major at the show, but I'm not expecting much. I don't think Zen has grown any taller, but he has lost some coat recently and he looks thin to me. I have begun feeding him more, but I think it's just a phase that he's going through. I have volunteered him to participate in meet the breed while we are there, so that should be fun. Houston is one of my favorite shows because it's SO big, there are tons and tons of vendors. It's one of the only places you will see conformation, agility, obedience, rally, and flyball all under one huge roof. Lots of Texas ACD people go to this show, so I will get to catch up with everyone I don't normally see.

Texarkana Dog Show

Our local show is this weekend. The counts are 1-6-3-0. No points in boys, but if some specials show up there is a chance Zen could go BOW for his first MAJOR! I'm excited, but trying not to expect anything. I have NO idea who the other ACD's are. I thought everyone was going to San Antonio.

Harley and my mom will probably come watch. A couple of people from work said they might make it out, Liz and her husband will for sure.

I love this show because I get to stay in my own bed. Last year the aussie people all got together at Brenda's house and we had a great time. I'm looking forward to it this year because Zen can wrestle with aussies while the humans talk dogs.

I'm handling Shaine for Jenn this weekend. She's preggers and doesn't fit into her show clothes, plus she's contemplating sending him with me to a show or two. She's buying me sushi on Friday night for my efforts :)

Wool is yummy

Before I cough up the video I need to give everyone a little backstory here. About a month ago Zen and I went herding with a BC trainer that I have been going to for quite a while. We had a really bad experience. Zen had been there before and the trainer was really good with him and my other dog, Rumor. Zen was a little older this time, a little bigger, and a little more eager to do the sheep thing. He did some wool-pulling on this lady's sheep and she absolutely had a cow. She told me I had no control over my dog, that he was totally blowing me off and had no respect for me. She said she wanted me to bring him back on a prong collar. I left in tears.

I know this dog, he's *not* pushy and over the top. Not to me anyway. Does he sometimes push the limits to see what he can get away with, yeah, he's a puppy. Well I e-mailed his breeder and she was super supportive. She had some good advice to offer as well. While I would *love* to be able to spend some time with her to herd, Washington State is very far. Maybe one day when all the stars line up just right I can make it out there to do some herding. Right now, I'm stuck in Texas.

I e-mailed Debbie. She lives about an hour away and has ACD's. I didn't tell her what happened, I just told her that when they get together to do some herding I would like to join. Well, Debbie texted me Friday night and said they were going to worm sheep/trim hooves on Saturday and they would be able to start herding soon after that. I told her I wanted to help. One day I hope to have my own sheep to train with, so I'd like to learn about all things sheep. Debbie said I could bring my dogs and to be there at 7a.m.

After all the sheep were taken care of I was good and sweaty/muddy/bloody etc. She said we could do a quick session. I told her about our experience and told her I wanted her to work Zen for me to see what she thought. Well, he went with her, but ran back to me when she dropped the long-line. So I went out there and he was ready to herd. I will let the video speak for itself.

Zen and Kate + a date!

My neighbor is out of town and I am feeding her dogs for her. I thought their lab, Kate would be a good playmate for Zen so I brought her over the other afternoon. They did play, but Kate is older than Zen and she was more into just chilling out in the pool. It is super hot here. In the 90's everyday this week.

Zen had conformation practice tonight and did really well. He hasn't practiced at all since the Marshall show at the beginning of May.

Zen and Kate's Play Date!