Nope! But the rooster is gone – I think Fitz misses it, I haven’t cleaned the kennel yet that we kept him in for the last 2 days and Fitz is very interested in the kennel every time he walks by.
Hopefully the rooster is happy in his new home ‘on some farm’. We got a note last Thursday that said the Animal Control guy had picked him up in the morning. I’ve since talked to another neighbor who said that there’s a guy on a nearby road that had a chicken or rooster in his yard (fenced in) and let it loose and claimed it wasn’t his last week. So I’m pretty sure he was getting complaints about the crowing so let it loose – thanks a LOT!
I’m just glad we’ve been having some decently warm weather so the rooster didn’t suffer. Of course I could do without all this rain lately. Luckily Fitz went to daycare yesterday and got tired out so he’s not bugging me for a long walk in the rain today! He’s just giving me ‘the look’ because he’s not in his comfy bed (he’s in my office with a cheap bed instead) 🙂
I noticed yesterday that when I got home the door from our bedroom to our screened in porch was ajar and I know when I left in the morning it was closed (not shut and latched but closed for privacy). I realized Fitz must have pawed it open (he’s getting good at that) and spent at least part of his day out there.
Since I’m working from home today and Fitz was driving me crazy with his huffs and sighs, I decided to open the porch door again, then I sneaked up on him to take a picture. Most of the time he’s just laying out there, sometimes sitting so he can just barely see out, then if something catches his interest he does this:
The squirrels and birds were putting on quite a show for about 5 minutes he stood like this. He’s such a riot!
What a packed weekend! It was great, we got to see all the families and do some camping and Fitz had a blast.
Friday night I picked Ryan up in Boston and we drove back to NY. Saturday after sleeping in (which is why we did the late night drive) we got packed up to head up to Knox! It was muddy this year due to all the rain but the campsite was dry and Mom and Dad had gone up Friday and mowed the campsite as well as set up a canopy already so setup was easy.
We relaxed all day and Fitz was great off-leash the whole time – plus he loved to swim! I think he’s part beaver because he thought it was his mission to remove all sticks from the pond (and of course we kept throwing them back in for him), then he’d chew them – crazy dog 🙂
He jumped in the second he saw the water, we were surprised and excited. It was so hot and muggy he probably thought this would cool him off 🙂Retrieving another stick, beaver-lab mix 🙂Who needs toys when there are sticks to chew?
Sunday as we were eating a late (and hearty) breakfast we saw the storm clouds coming so we raced to pack up the campsite so the tents could be packed up dry (well mostly dry – the dew was crazy heavy due to the high humidity). Then we waited out the pouring rain before trecking back to the cars and heading out.
On the way back we stopped by Ryan’s mom’s house (she just got a new house) and Fitz got to play with her 3 dogs. After dinner we headed back to my parents with a tired puppy sleeping in the back 🙂 After another night relaxing, we went down to Ryan’s dad’s house on Monday for lunch before driving home. We picked up the posts he’s been making! Holy cow – 6 posts already done – made from 6×6 pressure treated wood and they look great. I will snap a picture tonight hopefully. That’s about half of what we need for our crazy huge porch and we can’t wait to get them installed!
We got a lot done this weekend! Saturday was a short day because we had a dinner obligation up in Concord but we did manage to go car shopping and I got a new car! I got a 2011 Acura RDX which is a crossover SUV. It’s nice and small so it’s easy to drive and it handles just like the Audi. It’s got some great features (still have my heated seats and sunroof!) but now I also have USB input (for ipods), bluetooth connectivity for my phone, backup camera and more storage space. My new car!
I do plan to get a remote starter installed before winter, but for now we’re going without that feature (I think it will be cheaper to get it installed elsewhere than through the dealer).
Today we worked on window panels, the dogs got the run of the porch again and unlike Fitz who mostly hides upstairs when we’re working on the house, Buddy likes to follow us around, not at all bothered by the saws running. Just wags his tail every time we talk to him 🙂
The window panels are really coming along. We started with the window caps on the cupola. We still have the very top piece of those that we need to make, but we got the first 2 cap pieces made and installed all the way around! Then the sill we installed almost all the way around (one small piece left). Finally we worked on the lower boxes and finished those all the way around. Since it’s hard to explain, here are the pics. The second and third windows now have full panels except for the very top box. 2 pieces of the cap go all the way around the cupola now. Bottom boxes are done all the way around and the sill is almost done. The first window is completely done!
And here are the boys, it’s been a long day (hah!) and they are cuddled up in the A/C. Buddy doesn’t even try to cuddle with me on days like this when we’re home all day. If we’re gone all day he likes to come up on the couch and cuddle. He’s been very good being left alone though, I’ve got my camera on them and they mostly sleep with interruptions to bark at strange noises (buddy) 🙂 I’m so happy they get along so well, I love having 2 dogs! Tough life.
Week 2 of agility class went a little better! Fitz jumped through the tire and ran through the tunnel no problem at all. Minus one small marking incident, he did great and was taking treats too! He was still very distracted by other dogs whenever he wasn’t doing a trick but concentrated on his task at hand when we had something to do.
New this week was the plank, just something to get them used to walking on a plank and he did great, getting up on it, sitting, laying down, turning around, walking! (It took a second try to get the turn around right but he kept it up!). Also new was jumping up on these platforms which was no problem once he figured out what he was supposed to do. Again, sitting and laying down on it and jumping up/down to/from them.
I can’t wait for next week! It went fast this week but it was HOT so that was a good thing 🙂 For now we’re just working on our homework, still with the clicker.
Yesterday while Ryan did some work I got out in the sweltering weather with the pups. They had free reign on the front porch (Fitz stayed inside mostly but Buddy loved watching people walk by). While they did their thing, I painted! I got the second coat of green on after I caulked the frieze board. Once the green was dry I got the first coat of yellow on the trim (finished it up just as it was getting dark). It takes a while to cut in the yellow around the siding but we love the effect so it’s worth it.
Front - almost done!Just to get an idea what the panels will look like with the green, what's white will be yellow.
Today Fitz is at daycare and Buddy came to work with me again. Tomorrow they’ll both be home all day (probably a short day since Buddy can’t hold ‘it’ for 10 hours likes Fitz can). I’m hoping Fitz will be tired out from daycare (hah) and Buddy will be more comfortable alone now that he has been for short periods (plus I’ll put up the camera so I can watch them).
Fitz and I started Agility class last night. He’s been really into treats and food lately so I was optimistic that he would do well. Until we got there. All the other dogs around distracted him and he wanted nothing whatsoever to do with treats. He wanted to play with the dogs (it doesn’t help that the last time I dropped him there it was for a daycare (day of playing).
He did pretty well though, mostly without taking treats. We started with recall (he has to run up to the directed side that my hand is at. It helps it showing them which tricks to do (they follow the hand). He didn’t do it exactly but he ran to me when I called him.
Next up was the tire, I’ve got him jumping through the hoop at home so he knows the concept but at home he likes to chase the treat I throw. He was not interested in the food and he was definitely the dunce at this one. Finally someone gave me some cheese which he was a bit more interested in and he jumped through. After a few slow ones he got into it and started doing very well.
We moved on to the tunnel. Slow to start (but not the worst in class), he finally came through the tunnel to me. After that he was a pro, running through the tunnel, not caring a bit about a treat at the end. What really happened was some new dogs showed up and were playing in the corner, he wanted to get to them so badly he’d do anything I asked 🙂
So class was not horrible at all and I’ve got to start him on understanding the clicker now. Next week I’ll bring cheese and hopefully it will go smoothly from the start.
This morning I took the boys for a nice long walk to tire them out. Fitz is home by himself today and Buddy came to work with me since he’s not ready to be left alone for such a long time yet.
Out for a strollPlenty of grass to walk on but these city boys prefer the blacktop walkways through the park.
They walk really well together, I use the extending leashes so that I am not getting tangled too much (if they’re too close they go back and forth). When they’re in front they walk pretty confidently forward. Until they see squirrels 🙂
Today is chock full of puppies (well mostly dogs but they seem like puppies). First, my office mate at work brought her adorable 10 week old puppy in to work! He’s a snuggle bug and very fluffy. He slept most of the day but who can blame him, it’s hard being so cute!
After work I picked up my aunt’s dog Buddy for 3 weeks while they’re in Africa. He had a comfortable ride to my house and a huge shock to find out that I now live with another dog (last time he came up it was just him). He and Fitz sniffed each other and Fitz decided Buddy was a toy when Buddy ran down the stairs (he likes to throw his toys down the stairs and chase them). Once they got comfortable enough to ignore each other I took them for a decent walk and then back in to chill in the A/C.
Fitz has now confiscated Buddy’s toys as his own and Buddy is passed out in my lap. So far so good, I’m optimistic that they’ll both sleep through the night ignoring each other and tomorrow working from home will be interesting (Fitz usually sleeps all day).
Fitz: What... aren't all the toys mine? Buddy: Tuckered out
I think Fitz prefers when I go to work for the day instead of working from home. When I’m home I make him hang out with me and he’s used to sleeping the day away, saving up his energy for the evenings so he can whine and bug us to go outside.
Today I left to go to the chiropractor around 8, came back by 9am and he was laying in bed just looking at me like ‘what, you’re back?! I haven’t even slept yet!’. There was evidence that he may have pulled a toy out (which is unusual), but he hadn’t slept yet. He couldn’t even get out of bed to follow me to the kitchen, he just watched me like he didn’t know what was going on (maybe he thought he was dreaming).
Now as I’m working I’m getting huffs and loud sighs from his side of the room. That pretty much means he’s fed up with me and is giving up on waiting to see what I’m doing (outside? no. food? no. play? no? sleep? no. computer? not interested (sigh) ).
Sorry Fitz, at least I can take you for a lunch time walk when I work from home, the rest of the day you just have to put up with me typing away 🙂
