Ringing in 2012 with an overnight guest.

This morning, we got a call from Tri State Collie Rescue. I'd been planning to shoot them an e-mail next week to see if they had anything they needed help with, but they called out of the blue this morning and asked if we were available for a transport today. A litter of 10 week old Collie/mostly Collie pups had been brought to an Ohio shelter and one smooth sable male needed transport that would require the help of four volunteers to get him from his original location to what I assume is his foster home in Martinsville, IN, about an hour south of where we live. The woman who was pulling him from the shelter was waiting around near the shelter, which was an hour and a half from her house, to see if the rest of the transport chain would come together. She couldn't take him to her house for any length of time, she was battling Giardia with her own dogs. The lady after her was a go. We were a go. But the pick-up/foster in Martinsville couldn't do it tonight unless it was urgent. Which is how Smooth Operator, as Eric nicknamed him, ended up with us overnight, until we take him to Martinsville tomorrow afternoon. I'm thrilled that my dog is finally mostly an adult; I'm really not all that much of a puppy person. I enjoy adult dogs more...but it's been very fun having this sweet little guy around. He's underweight and has spent his whole life outdoors, but he is so...unbelievably...sweet. He's cuddly and loving to the point of clingy, he's the biggest kisser on the planet.

The adults are unsure about this interloper.

Violet reluctantly shares her water bowl.

Hungry pup.

His spot, all night.

Or here...between our his-and-hers sheep pjs.

Or here...

Maybe here, too...

And a little bit of here.

He's really, really adorable. I hope he ends up with a very happy home in 2012.

Speaking of which, 2012. It's going to be a really big year. This is the year that I will/intend to...

• Get married.
• Start a family.
• Lose a certain amount of weight, or if nothing else, better health is inevitable with frequent exercise and a revamped cooking plan.
• Compete with Violet for the first time.
• Watch Eric compete with Piper for the first time.
• Get Violet's CGC.
• Maybe give herding a go, if we can find the time.
• Start college.
• Buy a second car.
• Recarpet the house.
• Put up a privacy fence? Maybe/probably.
• Continue to volunteer at the daycare, and continue to do my small part to help Collies with TSCR.

I have never been so excited about a year in my life.

Dog park.

We took Piper and Violet to the dog park, and Piper was perfect. She's never been aggressive at the dog park, or we wouldn't have her there, but she can be uneasy at times, and has been known to growl when other dogs overstep their bounds. With her, we just can't write that kind of behavior off, so we've worked quite a bit on that issue. She was grounded from the dog park for a little while so we could work on her stability and trustworthiness without taking any chances. She's been doing excellently in a variety of on-leash situations, and on-leash reactivity is usually her issue, so she got to go today, and she was flawless. She was friendly and outgoing, her body language stayed good the entire time. She and Violet befriended a Schnauzer/Poodle mix (whose owner, admirably, did not call a Schnoodle) named Olive. And by befriended, what else could I possibly mean but herded relentlessly? I think that little Olive will be sleep well tonight. She was the one, lone sheep to two high energy herding breed dogs. My birthday's coming up, along with Violet's, and we've put in a word to Eric that what we'd most love is a trip to Dogwood Farm to give sheep herding a go.


On the Violet/training note, I don't know how to transfer her crazy training energy/focus out of our house. I'm admittedly a very novice trainer, and of the two of us, me and Violet, I'm the idiot with the most to learn. I've come to love clicker training and positive reinforcement training, and every time Violet learns something new I'm awed and thrilled all over again. At home, she has eyes for no one but me at the first sign of a clicker or the first hint of a training session. I have her full attention. She won't look away if the house is on fire. Anywhere else - like, for example, the awesome agility training area that our dog park has, which I would love to be getting some practice in on before we can take a class in the spring - she's distracted, understandably. I can sometimes get a sit out of her, or a touch or paw while she's looking the other way and grumbling about it. Anything beyond that is a no-go. I'm sure I'm missing something very obvious, or expecting too much, but I'm not sure how to start moving her training intensity out of our backyard.


Anyway, pictures!

The beginning, middle, and end of her interest in agility equipment today.

Poor Olive.

They were quite friendly about it, but that dog was not going anywhere without their okay.

Violet is a smart dog, but her problem solving leaves some to be desired. She gets "stuck" in the agility enclosure. It's a huge pen with one gate, and finding the gate is just beyond her.