Trip to the Outlets

As it warms up (well, it was in the 20s this weekend, a bit cold for our adventure!), Jonathan and I have decided to make a concerted effort to do more things with the dogs individually.

We were really good about that when Lexi was a baby, but we've stopped for convenience sake, and I think that's doing a disservice to the dogs.

I'm not sure if I've posted about it before on here or not, but Bentley is a touch reactive.  He reacts when on a leash and he sees or hears another dog.  We were working on it and doing well before we moved to Ohio, but now we live in a house where he can see and hear dogs a lot of the time (not a lot of responsible pet owners in the neighborhood--people just leave their dogs out to bark all day long).  So, for Bentley, we're going to take him on his own walks and take the clicker and reward non-reactive behavior.  We've done this before, but it's SO hard to do in our neighborhood because you get discouraged really quickly because you can't go 5 feet without hearing barking.  But, it's something that we really need to work on because Bentley has gotten worse since we've been here and it's not fair to him to continue to just manage it and not train.

Lexi is a touch sensitive, and has a tendency to worry if we let her.  Walking her with Bentley when he is reacting isn't fair to her, because it enforces her worries.  So for her, we're taking her on separate walks, and taking her out and about by herself a bit more often.  This weekend we took her to an outlet mall (about an hour from here) and we had so much fun!  She brightened so many peoples' days--young and old alike!  She has a blast because she got treats from everyone.

Heat Wave

The snow is almost all melted, and everything is grey & and brown.

I much prefer the snow!

This weekend it's supposed to be very warm, and we're headed south where it's supposed to be around 70 degrees!

In honor of that, here's a short video of Lexi in the snow (Bentley was already too cold and came inside at this point!) and some more photos.

Don't Bother... :)

Don't even bother trying to take a nap before the dogs have gotten their afternoon exercise!



(yes, she is standing on my husband's chest the whole time!)

Bentley's Bored

As I mentioned in my last post, Bentley was limping last Saturday (just once) before our second run.  I've been concerned all along that there is something going on, so we took him to our vet to see what he thought. The vet did a snap test (for Lyme, etc...), and then took x-rays.  Nothing showed up.  The only thing the vet noticed was that Bentley resisted (just the slightest bit) when he extended his hips.  I asked the vet about iliopsoas, and he seemed to brush it off.  The vet said that we should just try to take it easy for a bit, but he felt it was just a little muscle soreness.

I got home, and started to worry.  What if it is more than that?  I have really been looking forward to showing at USDAA Regionals this year, and both our dogs have byes to the second round of Grand Prix.  I don't want to hurt him by asking him to run if it's something more serious.  I have a vet friend who told me that many general vets don't know much about iliopsoas, and I know a few people whose dogs have this issue.  I know it's a long and difficult rehab process, and I want to get started doing the right things if that is what it is.

Of course the only symptoms we have is his ONE incidence of limping, and his slight resistance to hip extension.  It honestly could be nothing.  But it could be something.  So, we got a recommendation from a friend for an orthopedic vet and will make an appointment for as soon as possible (though he has a long waiting period) and our trainer volunteered to take Bentley to see her vet/dog chiro. friend for a second opinion.  She is more familiar with agility-related injuries.  We can always cancel the appointment with the orthopedic vet if we want.

All that to say that Bentley has been very bored as he is on crate rest.  We put him in an ex-pen in the evenings and he is not a fan!

We gave him his early birthday present (his birthday is in July) to keep him busy.  Here both he and Lexi are working at the Nina Ottosson Magic toy for the first time.

Silly girl, and a trick update!

This is how Lexi does EVERYTHING!  And no, this picture wasn't staged.  Just her playing fetch in the house.

And here is Bentley working on his marching trick.  He's doing so well!

Lexi dries herself off!

This weekend the dogs were outside while we re-landscaped around our house.  I've never done yard work before, and it was exhausting!  But, the dogs had a good time playing in the dirt, mud and the water hose (well, Lexi at least).

So, they both had baths tonight.

Lexi dried herself off!

Dogs in the snow/sleet of Canada

Just a quick video of the rough weather we had on our first full day in Canada.  Needless to say the dogs didn't go out much!



(Sorry for my dorky comments-ha!)

A Fun Post, and very very brief Teeter Update

First, the teeter update.  Apparently turkey is all it took.  Lexi is doing the teeter in the living room every which way she can think of (it's currently at around 18" high).  She'll jump on one end, get into position.  She'll even turn around and go right back to the other end (though I try not to encourage that!)  Anyways, this is the Lexi that I know, whose motto is "the world is my playground!" And that's exactly how I want her to feel about the teeter.  Next steps are to raise it to full height (probably in a day or two) and then sloooowly start to alter the tipping point using weights.

And since we don't have any tricks on video, I thought I'd share this fun one from November.  I got this little robot hamster for Christmas the year before and have discovered that the dogs (mostly Lexi) hate it!  Bentley just loves any excuse to bark!

College football

I love college football.  I always have!  I grew up an Ohio State fan (my parents both lived in Ohio, my mom was born there), and I went to South Carolina, so I'm also a huge Gamecocks fan.

Anyways, our Saturday game watching has become quite the event.  We're loud, tense, and excited...and so are the dogs!  If we so much as groan, sigh, stand up, move the edge of our seats, the dogs go crazy!  So you can imagine what happens when we actually stand up and cheer and clap and scream.

Here's a video of my husband and the pups cheering after USC beat Georgia yesterday.