Fall and Stuff

We were out strolling the other day, and Mom thought it would be nice to get some pictures of the fall foliage.

Um.  That is just the hillside.  Totally boring.  I mean, where are the doggies?

Much better.  Well, it would be much, much better if you could see more of us, and less of the road, but whatever.  Mom wants to make the point that it's Fall.  Okay, we got it, we got it.  If you want to see tons of pictures of boring hillsides, just ask Mom - she took TONS of them.  Seriously... We went on one of our walks, and Mom was fascinated with the hillside by the Olympic Park...

At least Mom wasn't so dazzled by the hillside that she forgot about us...  We stopped by the park on that walk, and had some quality tennis ball time.

Even though the lighting looks a little different both of the above pictures are Abby.  You know, the dog totally missing the ball!  Heehee!

Me?  I've got mad catching skills! Heehee.

I think Abby might have been having some tennis ball focus issues because she's been Vienna sausage-oriented as of late.  She had another doggie class last Saturday, and she was a total suck-up

What a suck up!

And for those of you who are fans of Sherman (and you know who you are!), here's a gratuitous Sherman picture!

And a picture of our Fearless Trainer, and her sidekick Lulu.

I'm not sure if all that edjumacation has done much for Abby, though.  Today we were at daycare, and she thought she was all clever by rolling in poop.  When Mom came to get us, the daycare people noticed that my dear sister was, ah, a bit aromatic.  Abby and I were taken into the 'self-wash' room at the daycare, where Mom had the last laugh.  Armed with doggie shampoo, an apron, and lots of towels, Mom loaded Abby into the tub (three times, actually, as Abby felt the need to escape the first two times) and shampooed her.  Me?  Since I was the Good Dog, I got to avoid the whole Forced Bathing adventure.  Alas, Mom has no pictures of this whole adventure, as she wrestling with Abby, the shower hose, the shampoo, and the towels.  But even with the fancy-schmancy doggie shampoo, trust me when I tell you that I was the one who came out of the whole ordeal smelling like roses!  Heehee!


After getting a bath, Abby came home and immediately felt the need to get rid of the 'clean' smell.  

She's a SPAZ!  But that's not news, huh?


After Abby was done with her spaz-out, we got in some quality zoomies. 

And some bitey-face.

New-dog smell was totally eradicated!  Heehee.

We've also been working on our weave poles, although Mom has been slacking (again), and hasn't gotten any video of our latest (and best) attempts at the weave poles.  However, here is a super short video for Granny, so she can see the basic idea of what we're attempting.  For the record, Mom's cutting out the hand-motions and is working on her technique, while I'm just getting speedier.  We may even add the final two poles sometime!



Here's the link for those of you who get this via email: http://youtu.be/uN4XvGS09JA

We'll work on Mom to get some better video.  And more pictures of us, and stuff!  Heehee.

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

My Sister the Super Spaz

Before our Granny retired, she was one of Those School Teachers - you know, the teacher whose class you prayed to not be placed into. Mean Mrs. Marshall she was called. And one of the things Mean Mrs. Marshall would do to kids who stepped out of line was make them eat lunch with her, rather than with their friends. Why do I mention this?

Well, when Abby got to her Canine Good Citizen prep class today, she was being a Super Spaz. Yeah, really. Abby. I know, hard to believe, huh? Heehee. Because Abby was all spazzy, she had to go sit with the teacher!


However, I am sure that Granny never used Vienna sausages to get her students to behave. (Although, if Granny's students were eating the school lunch, maybe she did!) Jessi worked her magic, and Abby started to pretend to be act like a good dog. BTW, I am not trying to suggest that Jessi is Mean; I'm saying that Abby, like some of Granny's students, needed a little, uh, up-close-and-personal attention to behave like a good doggie.



However, Abby had to stay with Jessi for quite a while.

Not that Abby minded. Abby first met Jessi when Abby was 10 weeks old, and has never forgotten that Jessi is The Original Source of Turkey Hotdogs.

Abby as a 14 week old suck-up.

But I digress... Jessi got the wild beast that is my sister to calm down, and Abby went from Crazy Puppy...

To suck-up puppy (yeah, so she's a year and a half old - she'll always be a puppy!)....


She may be bigger, but that just means she's a bigger suck-up! Heehee.

Look at her, all good citizen-y in training!


But as soon as she got back to Mom?

Goofy puppy.

Heehee.

Meanwhile, the rest of Abby's class was, well, less goofy.

Zoe and Denver just hanging out like REAL Good Citizens.

Hefner, being the handsome standard poodle that he is.

Banjo, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, being a good little doggie.

Okay, enough of the Good Doggies. Let's get back to my little sister and her class today. She and Mom had to approach another doggie/person pair, and Abby (and the other doggie) had to sit while Mom and the other person shook hands. Let's just say that A LOT of Vienna sausages were involved in this process...

Yes, Mom is shaking hands with the wrong hand, but her right hand is covered in a Vienna sausage/dog slobber combination...

Yeah, um, Abby's got a little more work to do before she's ready to past that part of the test! Heehee.

Then, Abby had to attempt to do the same thing that I did last week. She had to sit in the middle of a circle of doggies and attempt to pay attention to Mom... Emphasis on 'attempt.'


Mom had to dispense a whole bunch of turkey hotdogs to get this:


And you'll notice when Abby was one of the doggies walking in the circle, she kept trying to eat Mom's fingers off in an attempt to get at the turkey hotdogs...

Heehee. I think Abby's got a fair amount of work to do before she's ready to be a Good Citizen, but Mom is hoping that with Jessi's miracle-working abilities, Abby might be ready to pass the test in a few years, ah, in a few weeks. Or maybe Abby is just being a goofball to get the extra turkey hotdogs... Hmmm... I must ponder this behavioral cleverness... Heehee.

Okay. Enough about Abby and her ability to snarf down turkey hotdogs and Vienna sausages. Let's get to a few funballs shots from us at the park yesterday morning...



Good times! And yes, I've got the greatest sister in the world. Even if she's a goofball!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

PeeEss: Mom would like to thank Jessi for getting some pictures of Mom during our doggie classes. She'd also like to thank Jessi for molding us into the fine, upstanding doggies that we are today!

My Sister is Such a Suck-Up

Seriously. Abby is a total suck-up. Wave a few Vienna sausage bits in front of her snooter, and she'll fake being a good dog. Look at this....

Suck-up. Total suck-up.

Let me back up. While I am enrolled in a happy-go-lucky doggie class, Abby is enrolled in a AKC Canine Good Citizen prep class. I could go on and on about how my sister is so NOT a good citizen... I mean, she steals my bully sticks, she has to have everything I have, and she's a bed hog. But apparently the AKC doesn't grade her on how she behaves with her loving older sister.

Tuesdays Abby goes off with Mom and learns how to suck-up pretend to be a good citizen, while I get to stay home with Dad and have some quality Abby-free time! Mom thought it was "only fair" to take pictures of Abby's class, since she took pictures of my class.

Abby's class has a bunch of well-behaved dogs. Like Zoe, the Swiss Mountain dog:

And Hefner, the standard poodle:

In the back is Denver the mutt, who is also a well-behaved doggie.

And Indie the pit bull:


And then, there's my sister....

Derrr....

Yeah. Um. Apparently Abby was the 'demo dog' for showing people how to deal with dogs who can't walk without pulling. Because Jessi knew Abby would pull....


Needless to say, Abby didn't disappoint! Heehee. Although... in all fairness, Abby finally got it...


Although I'm sure there were lots of turkey hotdogs involved. And I'm sure Jessi depleted her Vienna sausage supply to get this....


I don't think Abby ever quite got to Zoe's level....

See how she's all calm, and lying down in the middle of Petco with no humans frantically waving at her? Of course, as Mango suggested, as a fuller-figured gal, Zoe is quite adept at lying down and doing nothing. Abby? Um, well, let's just say she still suffers from puppy-brain-itis.

She's a goof-a-doodle!

All my harassing aside, apparently Abby is doing pretty well. She's less of a spaz than she used to be, and can (occasionally) walk calmly on a leash. Mom's got a lot of stuff to do to get Abby ready to take her test, but she's still got 4 weeks, and maybe my little sister will learn how to be less of a doofus. At least some of the time...

But enough about Abby. Let's see some pictures of me, dontcha think?

C'mon, Mom... would ya throw the frisbee already??

Much better!

So, I've been playing frisbee bitey-face with my sister...


And just some plain bitey-face...

Like my Jaws of Doom? Heehee!

And I've been checking on the squirrels...

Hmmm. No squirrels here. For now...

And really, I love my sister. Even if she steals my bully sticks... I mean, if I didn't have Abby, I wouldn't be able to do this:


Heehee!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus