Best Week Ever!

Because.....

1. I graduated from another obedience class and proved how super smart I am, yet again.

Mom says it took the first two weeks or so for me to stop staring at all the other dogs and actually pay any attention to her, but then I realized I was there to play games and work with Mom, not the other dogs. Apparently, if you do your job good, then the instructor gives you a certificate and a Kong toy! And now we can sign up for the next level of obedience.

2. CHRISTMAS!

Oh, my doG! This has to be the best holiday ever. Mom said that someone named Santa was coming to give me presents, so I waited and waited for him....

But, alas, he must have brought the presents while I was asleep.

He knew just what I wanted though: new frisbee, tug toys, treats, bones. And of course, it was good seeing all my human family. I showed Uncle Matt and (soon to be) Aunt Bekki how good my wrestling, I mean snuggling, skills are.

...and last but not least....

3. Not one, but TWO snow storms!

We got snow this week (well, not necessarily the same week, but in a 7 day period anyways) not once, but twice! Once in Maine right before we left and then again while we were in Connecticut visting Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Maddie.

Anyways, here are some pics of me and Oreo playing in the snow in Maine:

Oreo is Mom's Aunt Candy's dog and lives down the street from us, so we play all the time. She loves to roll in the snow and play chase with me.

And these are pics of me trying to run in the snow from the blizzard:

Weeeeeee!!!

Yaaa hooo!!

Too deep!!!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is enjoying what snow they have as much as I am!

Family Reunion

Last weekend, Mom and I drove down to Connecticut again to see the family. But this time instead of driving back to Maine, we went to New York and saw MY family!!!

So let me introduce you:

Grandma Ginger

I tried to get her to play with me, and she showed me a few of her moves, but she was more interested in sitting in front of the heater with her new forever family.

Ivy (my Mom)

For some reason we didn't get a picture of her! But she's still available to adopt and you can check out her bio here: http://www.nebcr.org/Available_Border_Collies.html

I don't know what they were talking about when they said 'reactive'. She was playing in a field with a billion other dogs when we saw her, and didn't seem like she could care less.

Uncle Roosevelt

He lives in Maine too! I would have liked to play with him, but he was too busy obsessing over his ball being thrown.

Dahlia (my sister)

She was cute and looked a lot like Grandma Ginger. She was also obssessed with the getting the ball thrown.

Hawk

Boy does he know how to wrestle! We were playing so hard that we ran Grandma Lynn right over! (She was okay though.)

Kiefer

Kiefer not only looks like me and is deaf like me, he also loves his water bowl.... like me! The two of us had fun playing tug and wrestling and running up and down the A-frame thingy (obviously Mom is not an Agility-buff if she doesn't even know the real name for this fun thing.)

Overall it was a really fun day and we got to see a lot of dogs, and a lot of really nice people.

Needless to say, I was pooped by the end of the day.

But when I got home, I got to play with all the presents I got! Like the this really cool zebra from the Yankee Swap.

Needless to say, I can de-stuff an animal and oh-so-quickly extract the squeeky thing with the best of them.

Then there is the nice stuffed, squeekly bone from Dahlia (I think it was from her, but I could be wrong- by the time we finished driving 5 hours home Mom wasn't sure what her own name was anymore).

I like to bring this over to Mom and shmush it right into her lap.

And last but not least, a nice rubber cat whose tail blows up from Ivy. She must have know I have a thing for chasing black cats.....

I made out good, don't ya think?

To Grandmother's House We Went

Well, now that I'm free of the blasted cone I can get back to having fun! We are in CT right now visiting Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Maddie and a whole bunch of other people and dogs for Thanksgiving.

Here's a video of all the things I've been up to. Its more about people than us dogs, but I'm in it quite a bit:

Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day! (I myself did not see any of these infamous birds.)

Look Familiar?

Hmmm..... where have you seen this look before?

White puppy, silly cone....

Well, I thought I'd take a cue from Kiefer and try it out for a bit.

Yes, I had to have something removed, but it wasn't because I ate something (you better believe Mom cleaned out all my toys real quick after she heard about my brother).

Mom said it was time to get my "boys" taken out. I don't know who my boys were since I had never seen them, but apparently its good that they're gone now. The vet said one of them was wierd shaped and took a wrong turn and had gotten lost somewhere. We found him though. The other one I guess was normal, and had decided to make an appearance after all. But he must not have been around long cause I never really met him.

Either way, Mom couldn't stand thinking that there might be something wrong with them. She was gonna hold out as long as possible so that I would develop the right way or something like that, but seeing as I'm only 8 months old and already 46 lbs, I don't think it will be a problem.

Note the awesome duct tape designs and massive chip out of the side of the cone. Yeah, I gave shattering it into smitherines a pretty good shot by running into about every door frame in the house, but Mom just put the pieces back together. She looked for a new one at the pet store, but they weren't clear and seeing as I'm already deaf, she didn't want to make me practically blind too.

Whatever, I just want this silly cone off my head.....

And when are we gonna get to play frisbee again?

Here's something else that might look familiar, NEBCR people and dogs!

Mom and I drove all the way up to Washington, Maine to this really cool farm to meet some people and dogs from NEBCR. We didn't get to stay long but it was really fun while we were there, and we got to see lots and lots of border collies and do some really fun things.

Mom says she has to give credit for this photo to Russ and Susan though, cause she stole it from them. Apparently she was too busy trying to teach this here giant white fluffball how to behave and not act like a wild idiot. Its all good though, I got to play with those dogs eventually.

Okay, time to go curl up with a good book and chill out so I can get these stitches out. Only a few more days and then I'm FREEEEEEEE!!

Mushrooms

No, don't worry, I didn't eat any.

But Mom says they have mushrooms in Maine that are QUITE impressive. We went for a walk in the woods this morning, and here are some of the verrrry scary fungii that we saw.

Big Flat Yellows

Scarry Lumpy Browns

Super Mario Brothers Reds

Smooth Browns

We've also seen ones that look like little yellow balls and some that are HUGE and orange. And don't even get me started on the ones that grow on trees!

However, I did not try to eat any, despite how much I like to try and eat every leaf and piece of garbage on the side of the road.

The walk was fun though.

I found a waterbowl in a tree!

And there was this branch that we just HAD to take home! I liked it so much that I carried it all the way accross Main Street.

And best of all, after running around and getting all hot, I found a mud puddle to lay down in!

But then Mom said it was bath time and she ruined a perfectly good day :(

Tidebrook

Sooo.... I changed my mind.

Sandy Beach isn't my favorite place in Freeport, Tidebrook is. Its this old farm that got turned into a conservation, but no one seems to know that it is public so you get it ALL TO YOURSELF!!

Mom and I went there the other day, but she wasn't walking fast enough so I kept having to stop and look back to make sure she knew the way.

But eventually we got to one of the old hay fields and I gave her my best "throw me the frisbee" look so she would know I was ready.

Then I started to get tired after a while and Mom said we need to take a break, so we stopped and took a rest while Mom read her book.


After a while I just admired the view and watched all the sea gulls flying around.... some day I'll have to try and catch one. I did catch quite a few grasshoppers though in the really tall grass.


And Mom and I did some cuddles.
But then I decided it was time to play some more frisbee. So we played and played and then I noticed that there were some people coming our way (I had never seen any other people at Tidebrook before).


One of them was in one of those chairs with wheels like that happy boy Zachary who was so much fun, so I thought I would bring her the frisbee to play with instead of Mom. So, I ran over and dropped it right in her lap. Mom says we were lucky she really liked dogs and thought it was cute cause I was not a very good boy for forgetting about her like that. But I can't help it sometimes cause I love people SOOOOO much!!

It turns out the lady was named Tika and she was 91 years old and owned Tidebrook. She was really happy to see people coming to enjoy it and said to stop by the house and say 'hi' sometime and check out all the dog training books she has. I guess she used to be really into dog training and had a whole bunch of dogs when she was able to walk. She seemed kinda lonely though and I think I might have to do something about that next time we go there....

Also we stopped by the vet the other day to sign up for some sort of really special appointment that Mom wanted to know about in advance so she could take a day off from work the next day to hang out with me. I don't really know what its for or what could possibly be such a big deal that she would need to observe me or anything like that.

Anyways, the vet weighed me and I was 43.8 pounds! I swear I'm not fat or anything and I get plenty of exercise. Look, here's a pic of my skinny self at Sandy Beach all wet. I guess I'm just gonna be a big border collie....

Sandy Beach

Sandy Beach: My new favorite place in Freeport.

Where I can run.


And catch splashes.

And bob for apples.

And dig holes.


And of course, swim.

Life is good at Sandy Beach.

LL Bean Dog Days of Summer

Woohoo! I went to my first dog festival and it was AWESOME!! Soooooo many dogs and yummy samples that it was my job to test. Mom and I tried the agility course and she said I did really good for it being in the middle of a parking lot surrounded by a million other dogs and people. The trainer lady had this really cool furry toy that I got to play with after I went through the tunnel or over the jump or whatever. While we were waiting in line the photographer lady from LL Bean came over and took my picture (cause ya'know I was the cutest puppy there) and she posted it on her blog.

Check it out: http://www.karihererblog.com/

I chose to do my classic 'eyes peeping over the water bowl' pose. Maybe, it we walk by the store often enough then they'll ask me to model in their catalog....

These Days

Nothing too new to report these days. Mom's been trying to teach me frisbee, but she keeps saying that I'm ADD, whatever that means. It sure is hard to remember to bring the frisbee back after I run and get it though, all those dandelions and leaves and feathers and bugs just asking to be eaten on the way back....

Oddly enough, I play a perfect game of fetch with the frisbee if Bryce is playing with me. I bring it right back and drop it at his feet. He's three.

Mom thinks my "I'm ready for you to throw the frisbee" pose is really cute. I guess I gotta agree.

Notice how I have one ear up and one ear down? That seems to be pretty permanent. Ever since I got my head stuck between two fence posts that ear has been up. Weird, huh?

Mom took care of someone named Zack today and he was sooooo much fun. He has something called Angelman Syndrome and is happy all the time. Plus, he loves to play in water like me AND played tug of war with me. Mom says I was really good with him, even when he pulled my tail!

This weekend is the LL Bean Dog Festival, which we will definitely be going to since it is practically in our back yard. Can't wait to see all the dogs and cool stuff on display!

Dru!

Guess what? My brother Dru came to visit! He and his mom were in the area and they contacted Mom to see if we could get t

ogether for a play date and we did! So, we went over to the baseball field....

....and we ran....

....and we played....

...and we looked cute...

....and then we started to get tired so we took a break in the shade (oh do I love the shade). So we went back to the house for a drink and played some more....

....on the couch. (I'm the king of jumping on the couch and finding comfy spots by the way.)

And we were silly.

Mom says Dru is a really handsome guy. He has one blue eye and the other is a greenish goldish brownish color. Also, we went to the vet and I now weight 33.8 pounds! Not as big as Dru, but I'm getting there.