Learning to Swim

10 August 2008 by admin.

Mom took us to the lake today. My sisters knew where we were going, and Halo was might excited. Belle was excited too, but she is a little more laid back than Halo.

 

Mom took us to the lake today.  My sisters knew where we were going, and Halo was mighty excited. Belle was excited too, but she is a little more laid back than Halo.  The lake we went to was Lake Travis just outside of Austin, TX. It is one of the big lakes that make up the Highland Lakes in Central Texas.  Mom was kinda sad though as she said the lake was way down because of the drought.  It still looked like allot of water to me.  I was a little scared at first, but my sisters went right in.  I figured if they weren’t afraid I wasn’t going to be either.  Here is a picture of me getting my feet wet.

And here is a picture of my sisters after they went out and got the bumper.  They always do stuff together.

Belle and Halo are really good swimmers, but I think Halo is a little better.  Mom wants me to swim like they do.  She says they are fish.  Anyway, I played in the shallow for a while, but then I just had to go for it.  I wasn’t sure if I could swim or not, but mom told me I would just know what to do.  She has been pretty honest so far, so here goes….

Wow, she was right.  I can swim!!! Of course, it was still kind of scary, and as soon as I was swimming I thought I should head back to shore.  When my feet touched the ground again I started splashing allot.

It sure felt good to be on stable ground again. 

 

We didn’t swim the whole time we were at the lake.  We did allot of horsing around and playing too.

 

I also tried to get Belle to pretty please play with me, but she really wanted to go after the bumper.

Then Halo said she was going to do a pose for the cover of Gundog Magazine.  Halo is already a cover girl (mom calls her a super model).  She is on the cover of the Whole Foods Holistic Dry Dog Food.  So now she is always posing like a model. 

We had fun though and were all really tired by the time it was time to go home.  In fact, when we got home we all piled on the sofa and took a long nap.  I sure will remember my first swim.  Mom says just wait until we go to the beach as that is really big water.  I can’t imagine any more water than the lake, but maybe.

 

I better get back to my nap now as I need to be really rested for my next big adventure.

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Me and my big sister, Belle

8 August 2008 by admin.

Boy I love Belle. She is teaching me all kinds of cool things, like squirrel hunting and that it is a good idea to mind mom. Here are some picts of me and Belle.

Well, I found out mom likes to do obedience training every day with me and my sisters.  So, I have now learned sit really good. If I sit, I get a treat.  It works too, and I really like treats. I am also getting pretty good with a leash, but I still like to carry it in my mouth.  Mom doesn’t like that much, but I keep trying.  I have also learned that when mom says no, she means it.  This means I don’t mouth or bite on mom much any more.  I don’t bite Halo either because she really lets me have it, but Belle, well Belle is special.  She and I are real buds now.  I follow Belle everywhere and we wrestle allot.  She even tolerates a bite or two as long as I don’t bite her too hard. Here are two picts of me and Belle wrestling while mom was working.  We had to be kinda quiet though because mom was on a business call.

 

All those toys on the floor are us kids.  Mom has this big toy box in the living room and we can get anything we want out of it.  It has all our stuff that we can play with in it.  There is some cool stuff too and allot of bones.

 

And here are me and Belle on the back patio resting after hunting squirrels and just playing. We are also watching out for intruders like squirrels, or something.

Oh, and this last one is just me sniffing around mom’s garden.  Belle was showing it to me and telling me that it is off limits and mom gets real mad if we get in it.  It’s about the only area in the backyard that we don’t get to explore.  Mom says she has to have one nice area in the backyard with flowers.

Any how, I heard mom and dad talking today about maybe taking us kids to the lake this weekend for some swimming.  Mom really wants me to learn to swim.  Sounds like fun to me as I really like the water and nothing scares me.  Mom says Belle and Halo are great swimmers.  Mom said it was high time I learn to swim too.  So, maybe if we get to go, I will gets some pictures of me swimming with the big dogs.  Yippee, I can’t wait.

Until next time….

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Now I know what a booster is

1 August 2008 by admin.

Today I went back to see the Doc at my vet. Mom said it was time for my booster. Want to know what a booster is?

 

Today mom said it was time for me to get my boosters.  I still didn’t know what a booster was, but I was about to find out.  Halo, my princess sister, got to come too because mom said she need a bordatello booster.  So, we loaded up into the Pointermobile.  I got in my travel crate and Halo was in her seat, and off we went to see the Doc.  When we arrived everyone was really happy to see us.  All the people in the front office thought I was cute and Halo was so well behaved.  Halo didn’t really want to go in and I wasn’t sure why, but once we got in mom told her to sit and she sat so nicely and stayed that allot of the people in the Doc’s office were really impressed.  I hope I can be that good someday, but boy it must be hard.  Well we registered at the front desk and the nice lady told us we could take a seat in the waiting room and the Doc would see us soon. I got to sit in mom’s lap because she didn’t want me on the floor.  Something to do with not having all my boosters yet.  Hmmm…still don’t get that.  Pretty soon the nice lady came out and told us we could go to the back room.  Once in the back room, all the technicians came in to see me and Halo.  Many had not ever seen GSPs before and they thought I was cute and Halo was really pretty. The Doc came in and told mom that Halo didn’t need her Bordatello yet and wasn’t sure why they had sent a card, but in any case Halo seemed to relax and laid down. Then the tech came in and said she had to weigh me.  I gained 3 pounds in just 9 days. I now weigh a little over 13 pounds.  That was pretty cool.  After I got back to the room,  I got to get on the table. The doctor came back in and she had the booster with her.  It didn’t look to cool, but I knew I needed it so I acted like a big boy.

 

Now I know what a booster is.  I was a big boy though and didn’t cry or whine and the Doc was pretty slick. It really didn’t hurt much.  After I got the booster another lady technician came in and she got all excited seeing me and Halo.  She also had just gotten a GSP puppy and her puppy was 14 weeks old.  Her GSP was named Riley.  Well Riley was in the back, so she went and got Riley and we got to play for a few minutes while Riley’s mom and my mom talked about GSPs.  My mom loves to talk about GSPs.  She always tells people we are soooooo smart and the best breed ever.  Well Riley’s mom agreed and they talked about training, tail length, and of course how smart we are.

 

Soon it was time to go home.  Mom said I was such a good boy I could have a special treat when we got home.  When we got home Mom gave me and Halo a special cookie, and my big sister Belle even played with me a little.  Here is a picture of us playing.

Then I got a little tired so I crashed with all my friends.

Until next time….

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Mastering Doggy Doors

30 July 2008 by admin.

I figured out the doggy door over at my new grandma’s house last weekend, but my real goal, my sisters’ doggy retreat, had escaped my abilities. Well today I was finally tall enough to master the doggy door to my big sisters’ playhouse, the air conditioned kennel.

 

Last weekend I was visiting my new grandma’s house.  She has a cocker spaniel named Meg who is 12 years old.  Meg has raised both my sisters and my cousin Charlie, a rat terrier.  My mom says Meg is our surrogate doggy mom. Meg has taught my sisters and Charlie lot’s of cool things over the years, but this weekend she taught me how to use the doggy door.  I was outside exploring in the backyard when I saw Halo and Meg come out a hole in the back door of the house.  Boy was I curious.  So, I wandered over to the door to take a look. My mom’s nephew, Thomas, was there and he showed me you could push a flap in and it left a hole that you could walk through.  Well I was a little nervous on my first try so Thomas held the flap for me and I made it.  I was really surprised to find I was in the house.  I turned around to check the hole out from the inside and it worked the same way.  Thomas held the flap for me again, and shazam I was outside.  Of course, I wanted to do this all for myself so after watching for a while I decided I would give it a try.  At first I stood there and put a paw on the flap and nothing happened.  Then I tried two paws and still nothing.  I decided a little more force was needed, so I backed up and ran toward the door.  When I got up to it I put both my paws on the flap and it swung in.  The next thing I knew I was inside.  After that I just practiced going in and out until mom said that was enough I was driving everyone crazy.

 

Today after both my sisters escaped me by going into their playhouse (the air conditioned kennel).  I decided it was time to master that doggy door entry too.  The only problem was that doggy door was a little higher than the one at grandma’s house.  What to do….

 

Well I watched Halo go in and out a couple of times and then my Belle went in too.  That was just too much, it was time for me to give it a try. So, I walked up to the door and put my front paws up on the flap.  To my surprise it wasn’t as high as it had been last week.  I guess I am growing faster than I thought. Here I am with my feet and head in the door.

And here are some pictures of the rest of my success. I had to get a little boost by putting my foot on the frame of the door.

And just a little further…I’m almost in.

You know what I found once I got inside….

Yep, that’s me with my sisters’ bone.  They had been hiding it from me in the kennel.  Now I can get to all the other cool toys, and my sisters can’t hide from me any more.  That’s all for today.

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What’s happened to me since I came home

28 July 2008 by admin.

I thought I should start this update with a few pictures so you know what I look like. I was particularly proud of this first picture because it was the first time I saw a bird and I actually caught the bird.  This was at my grandma’s house before I went to live in Austin with my mom.  Someone said the bird was dead, but I was still pretty proud.

This is a picture that mom took of me in my new backyard. I was playing with my new big sisters and I decided to take a break and look over my backyard. Mom said I looked like a prince looking over my new world. Mom is always calling me her little prince.  Well not always, sometimes she says I am an outlaw.  I was named for an old west outlaw. I guess maybe she calls me an outlaw when I am doing something I am not supposed to do, like taking her shoes or stealing Belle’s bone.

 

Anyway, this picture was taken about a week ago.  Since then I visited Lowe’s with mom.  She had to get a new door knob for the door to the backyard.  Anyway we had to wait a long time.  I got to ride in the basket and lot’s of people came and talked to me and loved on me.  It was fun.  I even got to watch them make keys.  Boy was that noisy, but it didn’t scare me a bit.  I tried to get closer, but mom wouldn’t let me.  We also got caught in a rainstorm with thunder and everything.  Mom made us wait inside at Lowe’s until it was over, but I particularly like to play in the rain and could not understand why she didn’t want to get her hair wet.

 

The other place I went last week was to see the Doctor.  That was kinda scary because she checked me out to make sure I was healthy.  She listened to my heart and looked in my ears and eyes.  She even checked the other end as she said puppies sometimes have worms.  Good news is I was A ok and now I don’t have to go back until I have to have my boosters.  I wonder what boosters are?

 

My big sisters are pretty impressive.  There names are Belle and Halo.   Belle is the oldest.  She is really old at 4.5.  Halo is younger and really pretty. She is 3 years old and she is a show dog.  Mom showed her at Reliant the weekend she picked me up.  Halo didn’t win, but she did place.  Mom was very proud and said someday I would be a show dog too.  Halo and I are half brother and sister because we have the same doggy mom (Madrone Southwind Chime).  I will write about my doggy mom sometime.  Anyway, back to my sisters.  At first, Belle wasn’t very friendly to me.  I think she wasn’t sure she wanted a little brother.  Eventually she came around though.  One evening mom and I were playing and Belle decided she wanted to play too.  We played tug for a while and then we just wrestled on the floor.  Now Belle is my favorite.  I try to do everything she does, except I don’t mess with her bone.  At least, not when she is looking as she really doesn’t like that.  She doesn’t do anything much to me when I do, but she does kinda growl and I know she doesn’t like it.  Halo is ok, but she hasn’t been as friendly as Belle.  She also prefers to stay inside where it is cool. Mom says she is a princess.  Halo did play with me the other night and taught me how to shake my toys to make sure they are dead.  That was really cool.  I practice that allot now.

 

Mom says she has already started training me.  All I know is she says No when there is something really interesting I want to do, then she makes me sit.  I am pretty good at sitting.  The other day I tried to steal her sandwich.  She just kept grabbing my collar, pulling me away as she said no, and then she said sit and showed me what she wanted.  Well I figured that maybe if I walked up real nice and sat she would just give me that sandwich.  So I tried that, and all I got was a hug and kiss (Yech!!), a good boy, and a doggy treat.  Boy I sure did want that sandwich.  I love food!

 

Well that’s all for now.  I am sure I will have more to share soon.

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