Again? So Soon?

Nobody thought it would happen this soon - but once again Washington has busted a puppy  mill.  A big one.  We worked late tonight at the shelter getting as many dogs as we could processed and sent out to foster homes.  You can read more about the raid and watch the news story video here or here.

I did end up taking one home.  She is a four month old female - and she's in need of a name!  If you watch the video in that second link, she's the pup shown cowering in the back of her crate.  She is definitely a cutie...

I'll get some pictures of her soon - Dazzle and I are off this weekend to do the filiming for her first movie.

On another note, you can now follow Daz on twitter!  Here is the link for that:

http://twitter.com/KatnDaz

Photos of "Puppy" soon, I promise!  And please, send me some name ideas.  :)

Oh yes, and last but not least - Bu, my foster from the last puppy mill raid, got adopted within a day of her becoming available!  Congratulations little one!

BOO!

Says Bu.

Bu who??

Who the heck is Bu?  

And is that pronounced like "Buh" or "Boo" or "Bou" or what?

Bu, - pronounced like Boo - is my new (and actually my first) foster dog.  Many of you probably know about the various puppy-mill raids that have been going on.  Well, little Bu happens to be one of the nearly 600 dogs that are victims of those puppy-mills.  You can read a little about the situation here.

Bu is a three year old Yorkie (one of the Skagit dogs for those that care to know), weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds.  When we picked her up from the Humane Society for Seattle and King County her name was Buttercup.  Now, don't get me wrong, Buttercup is a cute name - but what are you supposed to call the dog as a nickname?  "Butt"?  We also tried out "Buttskie" and "Cuppie". 

Yeah.

That's just not going to work here.  Thus, her name quickly shortened to just Bu and it has since stuck.

When we picked her up she was a bit of a mess.  Shaking, scared out of her wits, and smelling strongly of urine.

Dazzle's reaction....stunned horror that I actually brought that thing into the house.

But never fear.  She'll get over it.

Peanut was slightly concerned as well.  After all, she has always been considered the "baby" in the house and despite her slim figure, is nearly twice Bu's weight.

The little Rat (as she is affectionately known) got acquainted with everyone and then began trotting all over the place checking everything out.  I got tired just watching her!

As I learned when walking her from the car to the house, she was not leash trained.  Nor did she much appreciate wearing a collar.

Note Peanut's eyes bugging out of her head as It approaches.

It was drizzling outside (in typical Seattle style) and Bu was most definitely not impressed by the wet outdoors. 

Oh hi there - my toes are freezing.  We go back inside now please?

After investigating the house, yard, and other canines in the house - it was bath time.

My gawd, get me out of here!

It suddenly became very apparent that, when her hair is flattened, her ears are in fact...huge.

Ok ok ok, I promise I be good.  Just no more bath-times please...

Once she dried off and puffed-out she was much happier.

And that much cuter....

Within the first day, she became hopelessly attached to me.  She is so friggin' small that she can squirm out of the gates we have set up in the house and she does so whenever I leave the room.  If I somehow manage to escape her for a few minutes, when I return she bounces up and down like a bouncy ball, little body wiggling the whole time.

Training has begun.  She has figured out stairs, leashes, crates, food time, and grooming.  Housetraining is going surprisingly well (I think Dazzle's look of disgust when she pottied in the house helped).  

Because I like training with play, we've been working on building some play drive.  She isn't really into dog toys but I can play with her if I have some scraps of paper handy.  For whatever reason she really enjoys playing with paper things (most of all those annoying paper bracelets you get when you go to museums and such - she LOVES those!) 

So far we've got a nice snappy down and a decent sit and recall.  We also have the start of a stay, spin, and release word.  I'll try to get some video of that stuff.

I am currently trying desperately not to fail at my first foster attempt.  She sure isn't making it easy for me.

How Good is Your Hand/Eye Coordination?

How about Mouth/Eye coordination?

Today I taught Dazzle a new trick - the classic Ring Toss (or Ring Drop) game.  They say it is good for very young children to improve hand/eye coordination.

When I started teaching her this my plan was to break it down into very simple steps - first pick up the ring like this, then go touch your nose to the top of the pole, then drop the ring.  I figured if she did all that the ring would fall onto the pole, right?

Well, appearently that kind of learning was beneath her.  She, quite simply, just learned that she had to put the ring on the pole to get a reward.  She understood the concept perfectly!  And she figured it out in less than half an hour, less than half of a half hour actually.  Golly Pete, sometimes I underestimate this dog!

Here is the video of her new trick, be sure to watch the bloopers at the end. :)

Waz Up, Pup?

It's been awhile...well, alright....it's been a long while since I posted anything.  Sorry 'bout that guys.  

What I'm going to do is actually back-date some posts because we've done some fun stuff recently that I just never got around to posting (and I don't want it to be confusing later when you find yourself reading a post from February talking about happenings from October).  Sooooo, to help out you dear readers I will post links to those "new-old-posts" once I finish them.

In the mean time, here are a few agility videos from Dazzle's recent trials for you to enjoy:

First up is the ZAP NADAC trial from back in November.  I was running several other dogs (not my own) at this trial but nontheless Dazzle kept her head and the teamwork was nice!

Then in January we did our first ever CPE trial - in the freezing cold.  Still a lot of fun though.  Dazzle loves the "take as many obstacles as fast as you can" games:

And last but not least, our most recent trial - the RHR USDAA, also from January.  Dazzle did awesome with the exception of knocking the first bar (it's killer, but not as bad as knocking the last bar!).  The major brag here was the Daz got her first ever Steeplechase Qualifyer and did so with the 4th fastest time - even with a really wide turn.  Way to go kiddo!

Oh and one last video (because I still feel bad about abandoning you guys).  Here is a video from Christmas and the major Seattle snow!  

Speaking of snow...it's snowing right now.  Maybe we'll head out for some photos...

Alright, well, hopefully those videos will tide you over until I can get back to some regular postings!

Flopsy, Mopsy, Conttontail and Peter

Okay, well, not really.  

We only have two bunnies, and their names aren't Flopsy, or Mopsy, or Cottontail, or even Peter.  Their names are Roo and Amber and they are my newest fosters!

Pretty cute huh?  

As usual, Dazzle is none to thrilled with the new additions.  She probably wouldn't want me to tell you this, but.... she's scared of the bunnies. 

Oh yes.  

My doggy that can leap tall building in a single bound, move tennis balls with her intense eyes, go through weave poles, traverse planks, and run across see-saws faster than the speed of sound is.........scared of a rabbit.

*sigh*  

She's a goofy one alright.

Anyway, these little guys are a lot of fun - and they are up for adoption! 

So, yawanna hear a little more about 'em?

Roodleoo:

Roo is just an all around great bun.  She is female rex rabbit and about 7 pounds.  She is very friendly - comfortable around not only people, but also around crazy border collies like Daz!

She is actually brindle and white and has mezmorizing markings on her very fuzzy and soft bunny-butt:

That's right - don't you dare call it brown or calico or anything else, that's brindle.

Like I said - she is very happy around people and eager to come and greet me in the mornings.  The only negative thing about her is that....um...wait.  Yeah, I can't think of anything negative.  :)

Such a sweetie.

Now about Little Ambery.

(Is that not one of the cutest things you've seen all day?  Come on now, you know it is!)

She is smaller than Roo, also a female rex but only around 4 pounds.  She is more adventurous and confident than Roo - and as such, a little pushier than Roo.  But despite that she seems less people-savvy (yet she is more Dazzle-savvy!).  

When I got them she did have a URI and didn't really like taking the meds for it, so that may in fact be the only reason she is less of a people-bun.  If so, I'm guessing that it will pass with more time.

Has she won you over yet?

No?  

Well, in that case, I'll leave you with this:

As with all my fosters, these little cotton-balls are available through the Humane Society of Seattle and King County.