Risk Update

Risk has been doing really well in the two weeks he has been with us. Yesterday was the last day we could phone them and say that we could return him and get our money back. Of course there was no chance of us taking him back!

He has been wonderful with the daycare kids, almost too loving. Anytime they stop moving (which isn't often) he drapes himself over their knee so they can pet him. One habit we have been working on breaking is his barking when he heard other dogs in the neighbourhood. He is doing really well with that and might give one little bark but once we tell him, no bark he stops. He is also no longer barking at people who walk by on the bike path which is good. We are still dealing with the problem with other dogs but it is getting somewhat better. It goes pretty good if the other dog doesn't bark at him, but if the other dog barks then Risk can't seem to stop the barking. It is coming slowly and we will continue to work on it.

Today I was talking with a good friend of ours, and they have 2 dogs and she said anytime we would like to try Risk with them we could. We both wonder if the aggression comes from being on a leash and the pulling etc, so we are going to get together someplace where we can have the dogs off leash and see how it goes. It has to be a somewhat enclosed type of place though because outside Risk's recall isn't the best yet.

About that recall outside, it got tested tonight. Gary was busy after supper so I took Risk for his walk by myself. I was walking along, listening to my mp3 player, not really paying that much attention and I DROPPED THE LEASH! As soon as Risk realized he was free away he went. Across the road, which thankfully had no traffice at that moment, across the ditch, under a fence and into a field. I ran across the road and through the ditch and of course since I was running Risk thought it was a big game and away he went. Once I got into the field I tried calling him but he was paying no attention to me at all. When we practice his recall either at Ackland's or in the backyard I always squat down, show him his treat and call his name followed by COME! So I squatted down, and started to call him and finally he turned around and looked at me. I showed him his treat and called his name again, followed by COME. He started running towards me and I breathed a little easier, but he just did a big circle around me and took off again. So I called him again and got his attention and this time he came right to me and ate his treat! I swear he was laughing at me that first time!

I have come to the conclusion when I walk him, I need to have a safety chain attached to him LOL!!!

Celebrations

April was a month of celebrations for us this year.

First celebration was for my Aunt Evie who turned 65 so it was a birthday party, retirement party. Her children put together a very nice evening, cocktails, supper and then visiting. It was nice to see people that I had seen for awhile and catch up with them.

The second celebration was for Gary's sister and brother in law and it was their 50th anniversary. This party required a drive to Carstairs. The party was very nice, supper was delicious and the visiting was good. Gary's other sister and his brother were staying in the same hotel that we were so after the party was over we continued our visiting back there. It ended up being a rather late night, but they get together so seldom that I don't think anyone wanted to stop visiting.

We were able to leave here at 1 p.m. Friday and got as far as Medicine Hat and then just had a short drive Saturday morning. Of course we had to make our annual stop at the Superstore Liquor store to pick up our summer supplies. LOL!! When we got to Carstairs we were both tired from all that sitting in the car so we had a nap, which was a good thing. We left Carstairs about 8 their time and drove straight through till we were home. Very long drive, but was worth it to see everyone.

One of my favorite places to curl up and sleep, right behind my mom's chair.

Wonder if they will notice that I am on the loveseat?!?

Some dogs just have it so rough eh?

Risk is home!

Saturday morning we got up, went out and did our errands and bought groceries before it was time to go and meet Dana and get Risk. At 11 we met her at his foster families home, gave her the signed forms, the cheque and Risk was ours! The first thing we noticed on the drive home is he is a very curious dog. He was checking everything out in the backseat of the car, including the box of Kleenex! When we got home we took him to the backyard so he could get familiar with it and then we remembered that Crystal wanted us to bring him by the Credit Union. We got back in the car and took him there. They weren't busy so Crystal and Shirley got to meet Risk and spoil him a little.

Then we came home and introduced him to the house. Again being very curious he explored every inch up and down. After lunch we took him for a walk which went good. He does have that other dog aggression so when we heard another dog barking he went a bit crazy. That is something that we will be working hard on. When we got back from our walk we took him to Acklands while we cleaned. He did good there and actually since Ackland's is such a big building it was the perfect place to practice having him come when he was called. He did have a little adventure while there! Gary was taking the garbage out the back door and the little escape artist snuck out and was off! He did come back after Gary called him a few times. Gary has decided that Risk has ADD.....he listens really well when he wants to.

We spent the rest of the day at home and Risk really setled in well. His big day tuckered him out so he had a big nap under the love seat. He ended up having one more adventure before bed though. Gary took him out before we went to bed and Risk was exploring the back gate and ended up getting his head stuck in the gap between the gate and fence. Gary had taken his cell phone off before going out so he couldn't phone me to bring the key. (We keep the back gate locked to keep all the kids in the neighbourhood out and to keep my toys from walking off) I finally wondered what was taking so long and checked and Gary called to bring the key. I went and got what I thought was the right key....but it wasn't....after 3 times I got the right key and Risk was free. He wasn't being hurt at all, he just couldn't get his head out and Gary said that he really stayed really calm until we got him out.

We are going to try really hard to keep him out of our bed and it went well last night. He jumped in once and we told him no and he curled up on the floor. This morning he jumped into bed, but that was because he needed out and that I can live with!

All in all he has fit in really well and I think we will keep him!*S* There are a few things that we are going to be working on, the escaping being #1!

I will post pics once I get them on the computer.

YIPPEE!!!!!

Last night, just as Lost was starting our phone rang. It was one of the volunteers from Funds for Furry Friends calling to to the phone interview with me. (certainly didn't mind missing Lost for that!!!) We talked for about half an hour, with her asking me lots of questions and then she said that she was going to recomend us but the final decision was not her's. About an hour later she called back to say she had been talking with their director and if we were still interested Risk was ours. So on Saturday morning we get to go and meet one of the people who works for Funds for Furry Friends, give her all our signed forms and bring Risk home!

I am glad that it is happening on a weekend as it will give Risk a chance to settle in with just us before he meets the daycare kids. He just loves kids so I don't see a problem with him in daycare.

Tonight we are going shopping for the things we will need for Risk!!!

65th Birthday Party

On Saturday we went to Virden to my Aunt Evie's retirement/birthday party. Her kids really did an excellent job of organizing the event. The supper was delicious, the entertainment was...well entertaining and the visiting was great. It was good to catch up with other's that we hadn't seen for awhile. Her grandchildren all presented her with a small bouquet of flowers that were put together in a lovely arrangement. The littlest one didn't really think that he wanted to give his flowers up! LOL!!!

Crystal invited Al to come with her and he did pretty good keeping people straight and who was who. I always feel sorry for new people coming into our family! LOL I remember the first time Gary really met my relatives he got tangled up with both sides at once! Now that is a lot of take.

Risk

Almost been one year

It is very close to 1 year ago that we had to make the decision to have Bailey put down. My goodness it does not seem that long ago!

I have been putting out the idea for some time that it would be nice to have another dog in the house. The first time I mentioned it both Gary and Crystal said they were not ready for another dog yet. Crystal has reached the point where she says she is okay with the idea and Gary says that he just isn't sure how he feels but he won't say no.

So, I have been watching the Humane Society web site and they have a link to FurryFriends so I have been watching it too. The other day I saw a dog on the FurryFriends Rescue site that really caught my attention. We discussed it and Gary said that it was okay with him if I phoned about her. When I phoned the lady told me that there was one lady very interested in the dog with 3 others on the list if the first lady doesn't take her. I asked her what other dogs they might have, explaining that we had to have a dog that was good with kids because of the daycare. She told me about a Sheltie that she had fostered for awhile and she had just moved him to a new foster home. The new home has a 13 month old and they have been getting along great. She gave me the foster home's phone number and we set up an appointment to go and meet Risk tonight. He is a pretty small dog and could really stand to gain a few pounds. He is black and white and I was surprised to learn that he does not shed that much at all. (I imagine that might change once it gets warmer here and he blows his winter coat). I pretty much fell in love at first sight. When we got home we talked about it and I phoned and said that we would like to start the adoption process. *S*

New Venture

While we were off last week somehow Gary and I got talking about Ackland's and the people who clean there. I just casually made the comment that if they ever quit maybe we should do it. This morning Gary emails me from work and said that if we wanted to job we could have it. LOL

We just have to go in once a week, vaccum the rugs, wash the floor, clean the bathrooms, dust off the shelves and clean up around the coffee maker, not that much really and we will get paid $200/month. More if we have to go in more than the once a week. Ackland's supplies all the equipment and cleaning supplies.

We will give it a try and see how it goes

Painting is done!

Spring Break this year entailed painting, painting and more painting instead of knitting, knitting and more knitting. Because of a couple of circumstances with a couple of the girls we agreed that we would postpone our get together for 1 year but only 1 year as our friendships are too important and mean too much to us to postpone any longer. This meant that both Gary and I had time booked off so we decide to paint our upstairs, living room, kitchen, bathroom, office, and our bedroom. We primed all the walls, painted all the ceilings and then painted the walls. I am so happy with our living room color...it just feels warm and cozy. We did the kitchen and the bathroom a very very light green color that turned out very nice. The office and our bedroom are a yellowy color and when we first it I wasn't sure, but am very happy with it now that all the walls are done. It was a huge job, but it is so nice to have it all done. While we were at it I basically did my spring cleaning at the same time, so now I am ready for camping season!!!!!
Yeah right..... would you believe it is snowing here today! Tammy text messaged me this morning to tell me it was snowing there too. What is up with that!!!

On Saturday morning Gary was putting some of the trim back on and he hurt his back. It is a place that does give him problems and it just spasms on him. He got laying down and I used some of the things that we learnt at our massage course to try and give him a little bit of relieve. He took muscle relaxants and continued on working, which I didn't think he should. We had also made plans to go to the fair in the afternoon and I figured we wouldn't be going because of his back, but he said walking didn't hurt so we went. We walked around all the displays and some of the barns, stopped and watched the kids in the petting zoo. Watched a lady who was spinning wool from her own alpaca and another one spinning from her own Llama. I enjoyed watching that. We saw the Budweiser Clyde's who were across from the miniature horses! What a difference! We started getting hungry so we went and got our seat for the evening horse show and Gary bought food *S* Wonder why food at the fair always tastes so good! The evening horse show was really good. They had a large jumper class and it was fun hearing some of the names of the riders and realizing that you had watched them on tv. The superdogs did their performance and that is always good for a laugh! One of the girls had spent hours and hours with her dog and the dog is the frisbee champ and she can get the dog to do so many neat tricks! We saw the eight horse hitch, the Budweiser hitch and a hitch of 8 miniatures pulling their miniature wagon. We saw the hackney's and while they aren't my favorite horse I just love to watch the way the strut their stuff, and when the crowd claps they just strut even higher. The last even was the 6 horse hitch with the heavy horses and there were 10 entries! The judge brough in 3, 3, & 4 but then brought them all in to line them up...so there were 60 of those huge animals in the ring! I just love watching those gentle giants! And to end the evening off, of course we had to have candy apples *S* you just can't do a fair without candy apples!