Bad, Mr. Pickles, BAD!

Do you know what Mr. Pickles is doing in this photo?

Here's a hint:

RUN SOFA, RUN AWAY OR HE'LL DROWN YOU!!

Poor Sofa. He did not run fast enough, so Mr. Pickles threw him in the lake!

I guess he was jealous of The Fantabulous Dock Diving Woo. When you see images like this:

You get The Envies. And then your poor Doberman pays the price for your wounded pride.

At least he hauled him back in again.

Which is something that Dougie the Jack probably wishes he hadn't done, after he was subjected to The Sofa Experience.

Frickin' doberman! I'm outta here!

Agh! Holy cow! Get OFFA me!!

(*borrows Piper's Mad Teeth(tm)*)

'Scuse me, but those are MY Mad Teeth(tm). How will I keep this ball in my mouth without them?

Piper has had no more episodes of drunk-walking / overheating since the last one, but I have been very careful to not run her in the middle of the day without access to swimmable water. Thanks for all the insight and suggestions about what could be ailing her! She'll be going to the vet later this week for some bloodwork and an overall check up.

She also had a pretty good agility trial, and earned herself a Starter's Snooker Q. It doesn't seem like much - after all, she had 3 runs and only Q'd in one of them, but for Piper this is a BIG accomplishment. Not too long ago, she was so all over the place on the course that she couldn't do more than a few obstacles before her brain fell out of her head and she became The Saucers-For-Eyeballs Tornado of Doom on the course. Thanks to the hard work of Gerhard ("Again, FASTER") we saw some notable successes in our runs - she took almost every obstacle on the first try, instead of running past them in a frenzy, she held her start line stays reliably and she nailed her 2o/2o contacts every time. Good girl!!

Tweed had a beautiful Masters Standard run with a first place and a Q, but he did a faceplant in his Gamble opening and then sulked his way through the rest of the course, and didn't want to do the Gamble. Poor old man :(

Speaking of things Tweed did not want to do ... this included jumping off the dock.

WTF? Off THIS thing? You been smokin' that crack, Food Lady.

Since Tweed would not jump, and Piper NEVER jumps, that left just the Woo to impress all the park goers with his sexy moves.

I am too sexy for this dock, too sexy for this dock ...

SPROING!

Holy shit, the orange dog can FLY!

This presents a whole new crop of recall training challenges. Figures.

Even he seemed a little amazed by his new talent of flight.

Dude. Whoa.

This is awesome.

I'll just fly home. See you there, Food Lady!

Yesterday I did a photo shoot for some friends out in Maple Ridge, and took photos of oh-so-many adorable doggies, but the one that stole my heart was this pittie, Sienna:

She was a rescue off a reserve here in the Vancouver area and she has the sweetest personality of all time.

And she gets pretty big air too!

Tomorrow I get to photograph some border collies, including Bear (now called Rhys) who will be up for adoption soon.

And I try to upload photos from every session on my Big Air Photography website within a couple weeks of shooting, so don't forget to check there often for new pictures!

Oh and my little sister got married last week to her long time love. The wedding was a small ceremony of just family, and happened on Bowen Island (the site of the Very Bad Woo Runs Away adventure). Congratulations to my little sister!

Oops, she did it again

Piper did the scary drunk-walk-collapse thing at the park again yesterday :( This time, it wasn't even hot outside, and she hadn't even been doing much. Exercise security levels have reached an all time high, and I've become extraordinarily paranoid about how much fun she is allowed to have. She's starting to hate me.

I'm beginning to think it's a plot hatched by the ever diabolic Woo.

Mwa ha ha ... my plan is working ... soon *I* will be the favourite.

You think I'm kidding?? Today he attempted a bold coup de grace - he tried to take out the Mad Teeth (tm) with The Flamboyance (tm)

Is that what that was?? Ho-lee CRAP!

The next time he pounced ...

... she was ready for him, and executed her escape plan successfully.

He was a little shaken up.

What the hell happened to my plan to overthrow the overlord?

But he vowed that next time ... next time he WOULD be king.

Tweed, bless his simple little soul, is not interested in politics.

Duh?

If it takes away from ball time, it's a Bad Thing.

You throw.

I catch.

So easy, right?

Tomorrow we trial. Tweed is an old hat at this of course, but Piper is pretty new to the whole thing. I am sure that she will have some unique perspectives on the art of taking the obstacles I suggest she take :) Wish us luck!

Water is also fun!!

Water Is SO Important

Yesterday we did quite a lot of this:

Pretty soon, the dogs were looking like this:

Then Piper started looking kinda like this:

It didn't seem that hot outside to me, in light of the super hot days we had last week , but then again I was not the one running around and devil dancing like a crazy dog. The next thing I knew, Piper had stopped spinning and started staggering. She began to weave and sway, like a drunk person, and then she pitched face first into the grass and was down for the count.

Piper has always had issues with the heat. When she was just wee, only weeks after I adopted her, I had to take her to Regionals with me in really hot, hot weather and she got a mild case of heat stroke. I have kept a watchful eye on her since, but though she tires quickly, she's never really had any more problems, even when it's real hot outside.

But I had never seen her do this before. I FREAKED OUT! I scooped up my teeny 26lb devil and sprinted across the field to my car, where I always keep a gallon jug of cold fresh water. No olympic medalist has anything on me when my dog's in danger, tell you wut. I tossed her into the shade of the POS Pontiac and poured most of the contents of the jug on her belly, where the blood vessels are closest to the skin's surface, while she just lay there in a sort of dazed stupor.

Exercise Induced Collapse, they call it. Some dogs are more sensitive than others, I guess, and some dogs, when they experience it, are more prone to experience it again in the future. Dogs can suffer seizures and even death if they don't get cooled down fast enough. Fortunately for Piper, I had that water and within 30 seconds she was not only up, she was trying to go get her ball lest doG forbid, someone steal it out of the field where she left it when she collapsed!

That was sure scary for me. I thought I was going to lose my wee dolly. Can't have that!

So today, we played it safe and went swimming at Trout Lake.

Piper appreciated my concern for her well being, I'm sure.

But wondered why I didn't do something about the diabolical Woo.

Not that she let a little thing like nearly dying yesterday stop her from having fun today!

Piper almost died? That makes me sad :(

Wait! Did whatever it was rub out the Woo??
*pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease*

I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Or anything else for that matter. Like my recall, or my name etc.

Hey. Hey. See this? This here?

You should throw it for me.

Like, right now.

Pretty please? I'd be ever so grateful.

Sweet hockey ball of mercy!

Annnnnnd then there's Woo.

THROW THE FUTHERMUCKIN' WOOTIE TOY RIGHT NOW! I AIN'T ASKIN', I'M TELLIN'!

Or. You. Die.

Sweet! Thx! xoxo

I got the Woooootie Toy, I got the Woooootie Toy!

(*please notice that Wootie is not FAT. He just LOOKS fat. He's actually very slender. So there)


I bet you're thinking about giving me that hockey ball aren't you sugar?

Let me solve that dilemma for you....

INCOMING!

Food Lady? Hello? Food Lady? Say something if you're conscious, Food Lady!

After I regained consciousness, it was time to bid farewell to the lake.


Remember folks - BRING WATER. Offer it liberally. Rest in shade frequently. And when in doubt, make your dog take a break.

Happy Fetching!