The Nuts strikes 12 :-)

Would you believe it my brilliant most handsomest dog in the whole world is 12. Well actually he was 12 on Sunday. But I had a doughnut moment of a thought this morning that went like this:

"..........Its valentines, Mr Nuts birthday must be coming up, f--kety f--k it was Sunday. Oh doughnuts, I missed it. I never miss Nutsey’s birthday. .....".

So it official I am crap at birthdays, genuinely. So to anyone who I miss and should have remembered. Believe me it was never intentional ;-)

The picture is of Nuts playing his most favourite game of tug, with me when out walking last weekend. How blessed am I, to have him by my side :-)

10 years young....

Some say relationships diminish when you retire a dog. Well, Nuts has been retired for nearly 3 years, and we are no less close. How can a relationship be just defined by 25 seconds in the ring? It can’t for me. Sure he has opted for a stuffed bone on training night, snuck at home. He joins in other activities by being there with his toy, it’s hard to quantify a bond, but he just is and we just are. So Nuts is my Bolt, I can’t believe he is now ten. A whole decade of time, and I worry that even if we could share a human life time of decades, it would never be enough.

On the Disney theme, Zev is like Pongo terribly earnest, loyal, cute to a fault, really excitable and pushy too - the handsomest sidekick in the world.
Well what about Rivioli, well nothing I think has captured her essence really. She acts all confident and full of it, but its all bravado, she needs that ego stroked 100%. It is like running a steam train; you never stop shovelling the coal. But I am extremely happy to keep on shovelling, because she is my one and only.

So my Nuts, Happy Birthday…and thank you...

Counting down the weeks.....to Zev's first show

Corny but true, I can’t believe how the time has flown with my Zevman. In a few weeks I hope to do our first competition together. So this means the hunt is on, for appropriate gear to go with him whilst running. I have been treated to this really apt t-shirt, as Zev registered name is OBay Tiz Wild and this t-shirt from H&M just bellows ‘born wild’ and since neither Zev nor I are the quietest beings on the planet. It has really made me chuckle. Then, I was also treated to a beautiful Ralph Lauren Polo tee-shirt that is red with a USA flag on the front. So appropriate too, as Zev’s line generates from there. Although it is a lovely t-shirt I just could not photograph it well enough to do it justice.

Now I have the choice, t-shirt which one and/or fleece. None of them go together –beige, red and pink. Darn it! What is a woman to do? I guess knowing agility the weather will dictate and it will be fleeces or waterproofs ;-)

What can I say about my Zevman. Brilliant to live with, he is a go anywhere type of dog. He has allowed Nuts to retire from alarm clock duties, and taken over this role with great aplomb. Their decision nothing to do with me. And really important for me, as without my hearing aids and having an alarm at a seriously loud level, I would be forever over sleeping. Rivi, finds it all too exciting and goes and retrieves her bedding to suck. Zev is a real hoot to train, and is so enthusiastic and keen. So much so I have had to calm the tugging, as I was getting worried he will do himself an injury. I have been warned of the consequences of to much over enthusiasm as it is apparently causing injuries in agility dogs, particularly smaller ones. Yikes. Advice has been duly noted and you know, both Rivi and Zev had taken switching back to the food games and still tug. As that is how I teach tug initially. I so get the food rewarding the tugging, which what I did with Nuts and Storm. With Rivi and Zev I tried to be far more toy than food. Now I think, “whatever floats your boats, guys”.
Rivi was extra awesome at training last night her drive, confidence, strength and sheer enjoyment just took my breath away. This is good stuff and has given me great reinforcement to my approach. “Babyoli, thank you.”