Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tree felling day!

We've been keeping our eye on this tree since we arrived at the cabin last April. 

About a month ago, it lost one of it's major limbs. With all the wind storms we get on top of our mountain we started getting a lot of concerns about this tree, especially after one of the storms had 60 mph winds for well over 12 hours. That was a very long night!


A couple of weeks ago the tree fellers showed up and took down that tree. Look at that guy way, way, way up there! You sure couldn't get Mum to do that!


They topped off another tree near our fence line that had been hit by lightening before we moved in. Good guys, they just missed my weave poles!


And there was one other big pine that was leaning toward the cabin, and surely would have taken out the roof if it would have fallen. They barely topped this one off and fell this over 70 footer toward the road. It was very, very cool and felt a little like a man made earthquake. We barked!


Later in the afternoon we had a few remains that needed cleaning up, so Gracie got busy!


"What?!? I'm just cleaning up after the tree trimmers!' ~Gracie

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Book review: 'Unsaid' by Neil Abramson

I've got a pretty good list of favorite books of the year, and I just added one!

'Unsaid,' by Neil Abramson, is one of the most powerful, heartwarming, thought provoking, moving books we've read. It will make you dig deep into your relationships and understanding of all animals, whether they are your 'best friends' or the many species of four-leggers you may experience and encounter in your life.

Helene, a veterinarian and wife of David, a high powered attorney in New York, had escorted hundreds of animals to the 'other side.' But when she dies, she haunts and is haunted by the life she had to leave behind, including the myriad of rescues and the husband now charged with their care.

The story centers around Cindy, a chimpanzee who Helena helped teach sign language, and who may hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of animal communication and understanding. When David takes on the case to save Cindy much is learned and garnered about the value of life and the human/animal bond.

We highly recommend this book as part of your planned summer reads, you won't be disappointed!

Get the book on Amazon, hardcover $9.60, or for your Kindle for only $3.79.

Special thanks to the publishers at Center Street and Hatchett Book Group for providing us a free copy of Unsaid to us to read and review!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The new JohannTheDog!

Mum and I are super excited to show off the newly redesigned and improved JohannTheDog.com!!!

Over several weeks I helped Mum redesign and paw out some of the pawsomest products I found on the Internet; from dog agility gear, clothing, trial and training gear to cool dog beds, dog collars and harnesses, bowls, tough dog toys, plush dog toys, interactive and intelligent dog toys and much more!

Go check it out, and remember when you click on one of the links you'll be taken to the store that carries that product for purchasing. And if you purchase through JohannTheDog.com, we get a little commission that helps keep our site up and running and keeps us recommending all the super cool dog stuff we find! Then 10% of what we make we donate to dog shelters and rescues in need!

So be sure and bookmark JohannTheDog.com for all your dog shopping needs!


Saturday, April 20, 2013

A few weekends of agility!

Over the past month or so, Mum, Gracie and I have competed in a few USDAA trials!

One in Gainesville, one in Canton, and one in Alpharetta. Since I'm working on my ADCH, Mum hasn't entered me in anything but Snooker and Gamblers for well over a year, as those are the only Q's I need for the title. And since I'm almost nine years old now, she's conserving my energy, like I need that, BOL!

The cool thing is that at the last trial we attended in Alpharetta last weekend, I got the last Q for my Masters Gamblers title, with a super nice run and 2nd place. Out of the past three Gamblers runs, I've gotten two Q's. Mum always knew I was a pretty good gamble dog, and it's really showed in the past few trials.

But now I've been refusing some jumps and other obstacles when Mum is closer to them. And Mum finally figured out why. I've got the Gamble bubble going on...that's the invisible area when Mum is closer to an obstacle that I'm now running around the outside of it, feeling like she's crowding me, BOL!

So Mum's got a plan to help me work more on being fast working closer to her, along with distance, aka more Snooker skills than Gambler skills.

But the cool thing is that for the last four Snooker runs, I've gotten 3 Snooker Q's, mostly 2nd place, but just not the final SQ that I need for the ADCH. I have well over 15 Snooker Q's, which is pretty cool.

Gracie has been improving more and more over the last trials, to the point that at our last trial she didn't run off at all during any of her runs! And for a couple of her runs, Gracie's BC came out in full force....she was focused, super fast, had great distance and made Mum really stay on her toes!

Over the past few trials Gracie has Q'd several times in PII Jumpers, getting her PII Jumpers title, along with her PII Snooker title.

And at the last trial she got her first Gamblers Q. And oh was that run a work of art!!! Gracie almost mowed down the judge she was so focused on the jumps and tunnel. And Mum sent her to a tunnel well over 30 feet away and it was a discrimination to boot! Gracie took exactly the tunnel entrance Mum wanted her to to set up for the next obstacle. What a good girly.

Mum even corrected her on the her final jumpers run, pulling her off a jump and Gracie didn't stress out at all! So Mum thinks that it's finally time to get serious about training a few more things that she feels Gracie can handle now....like the teeter and contacts; so we can enter her in some Standard and maybe even pairs runs.

For years, Mum wanted to run Gracie only in runs that she would be able to run fun and feel more free, and not require her to 'be more controlled' to keep her from stressing. And it's worked. But now they can maybe get down to some business! Yeah!

We're signed up for another trial in a week or so, just one day. And then again in August, Sept and Oct, I believe. Can't wait!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Now we're talking Spring!

Spring has finally arrived on the mountain!

Here is the beaUtiful Dogwood that's right in front of our cabin. We're showing off the underside because it's so tall!


The Cherry Blossom is just beginning to open up!


And, you can see the green slowly making it's way up the mountains.


Another one of the most beautiful Dogwoods just down our ridge.


And who couldn't resist, Gracie, a dog with Dogwood!


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...