Pumpkin Pup

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Fall Roses...

"Helping" to rake the front lawn.

Lessons From Rosie

Rosie loves life. I have never met another dog that sees the positive in everything. Even an empty food dish is just a future opportunity for something good. If everyone in the world were as happy and content as that puppy it would be a different place. I have compiled a list that I think she would like to share.

Have fun because you can. Get out and enjoy life. Don't sit around complaining that someone did this or that. Sometimes life it too serious. Feel the air on your face and let your ears fly. If a butterfly crosses your path, follow it. If your tail catches your eye, chase it. Don't be afraid to look crazy because sometimes that is just plain fun.

Go for lots of walks and enjoy the fresh air and sun. The leaves are beautiful and you never know what kind of friends your will make on the way. Sometimes baby raccoons and sometimes chipmunks. Make sure to make time for your old friends too. Share a smell or some muddy water... Accept everyday as an opportunity to live life and have adventures. You don't know you don't like something until you try it. But foremost spend time doing things you love and with people you care about.

Do things because you can. Why buy apples when you can pick them? Finally, change the things you can and accept the things you can't. That is what I think Rosie would tell us all.

The end.

Lots of Trouble

At the end of every month I bake cupcakes for the kids that had birthdays that month. After slaving over a hot stove finally I had 25 perfect cupcakes. Now, what to do with the extra icing...hee hee.
Before: After:
(someone needs a bath)

When this dog sleeps, she really sleeps. With all her missing teeth (all the front ones) her tongue sometimes falls out. Very cute.

Finally, I would be interested in hearing if anyone besides Rosie thinks this is a good idea. She has been trying to get up here for weeks and tonight she finally made it (ie we didn't block her in time). I was ready to catch her if she fell.

I admit is does look comfortable though.

Ring Around the Rosie

It was raining so Rosie took herself for a walk. Enjoy.

If It Smells, Tastes and Looks Like a Rose...

...then it's not our dog...and why are you licking dogs?

That is the deep thought for the day.

On to the story. Rosie is continuing with obedience and we realized we had not put up any pictures of her from there for a while. She still loves it and is blowing away the competition...no I am not competitive!
Here is Pat, out instructor with Credence. I think he is smarter than me. I think she is demonstrating something.

Now to the Rose. Here she is looking crazy jumping through the "tire". It's really low so it's ok for her hips.
Here she is looking crazy running through the tunnel. It's still one of her favourites. The chute was not set up tonight.

Here she is looking ultra crazy going through the weave poles...she's actually pretty good at them even though it looks like she is trying to eat my hand.

And here we are doing something. She does not look crazy...is that my dog?

At the beginning and the end the dogs get to have a little play. Here is one of her favourite friends, Bell, and her trying to play tug. The official play time had not started so they still have their leashes on.

Here is Rosie on the dog walk...

And on the table...another favourite because she gets to lay down and jump on and off of things.

And finally we have a tired puppy who is trying to help with the typing...it is her story after all.

The 12 Days of Summer

Rosie has been composing. Sing along to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas...

On the twelfth day of summer Fanshawe gave to me,

Twelve meters of cliff scaling,

Eleven rowers rowing,

Ten puddles to play in,

Nine leaves a changing,

Eight (million) zebra mussels,

Seven creeping snails,

Six missing teeth,

Five pieces of dog poo,

Four running chipmunks,

Three feet of milk snake,

Two baby raccoons,

And on really tired chocolate lab pup......thank goodness!

Happy Fall to All!

Watering the Roses...growing like a weed

Well, it has been a while since we have updated our blog. Rosie is growing like a weed (30 pounds at 15 weeks and has lost 5 teeth so is a little toothless) and the road cycling season in finished. Mike is happy with his year and looking forward to the track season. He has had several great results and Rosie has taken to "chilling" at the bike races like a fish in water...a pig in mud...a bug in a rug...you get the idea. Here is a picture of Mike at the Provincial Time Trials. He got his but soundly kicked...he is a sprinter after all. Next year we are getting custom helmets to match our kits...that's going to be snappy!

Besides lots of bike racing Rosie is still excelling at puppy class. She has been invited to attend the intermediate class because of her attitude and love of learning. She still does not know as much as the older dogs but she is so far ahead of the other puppies it a little scary! Besides her obedience lessons she is learning some other useful things. She sits at every intersection...even when Michael forgets she reminds him. Her funniest trick is apparently she loves the shower. We are not talking a little light sprinkle. We're talking body jets and rain head on full blast. She would hit the shower every morning with us if we let her...odd little duckling...or lab. Here she is settling in for a nap after playing with some of her friends...she is very popular. I love this picture. Sometime I will get rid of the glowing eyes but for now you can see how cute she is. For some strange reason she likes to sit at the top of the stairs. Maybe she is hoping for an elevator ride down...but she's getting too big...so much for no stairs for a year.

Finally, here she is licking her lips and laying on the couch...that's the life of a dog!

That's our 15 week old puppy. Adorable and smart.

I'm Crazy!!!

All I want fo' Chwistmath...

...is my two fwont teef!

Yes, within the last couple days Rosie has lost her two (top, middle) front teeth. No wonder she's been frantically chewing/biting lately. Maybe the rest of the little daggers will fall out soon too; here's hoping!

Sorry, no pictures, her little daggers are just too small to get a good picture - that and she doesn't hold still long enough for the camera to focus...

A Quiz...

As you can tell from the posts we have been thoroughly enjoying our puppy Rosie. The breeder sent out a birth announcement for a new litter they had and I actually considered another...not for long though. I got thinking of how "helpful" our little Rosie is around the house. I wrote a short quiz for anyone who is interested...and yes it is almost back to school time!

Question 1. Why is there a laundry basket hanging from the bike rack?

Question 2. Why are my flowers not doing as well now as the beginning of the summer?

Question 3. Where are all the ripe tomatoes going?

Question 4. Why is the lawn only half mowed?

Question 5. Why do our stairs resemble an obstacle course?

Question 6. What is that brown blob that is climbing on everything?
(although she really really loves it!)

Question 7. Why is there a dog in my dishwasher?

The answer to most of these thought provoking questions is............

.........ROSIE!!!!!

Renaissance Rosie

Rosie is turning into a very talented and well rounded puppy already and she has been very busy the last few days experienceing life. She is quickly developing an acute fondness for anything athletic. She has been wading/swimming several time (we got a membership to Fanshawe Park for her) and really seems to enjoy it...she is a Lab afterall. Her vocabulary is growing everyday and she is LOVING anything agility and obedience related. Here she is ripping through the tunnel...I don't know if that is a look of joy or insanity on her face...but she is going F-A-S-T!
She has been working on the chute too and last night she did it all by herself. For those of you who don't know the chute is like the tunnel except is made of soft fabric that they need to push their way through. The boldest puppy ever did it by herself and loved it...our instructor was a little surprised. She was also introduced to the walk-way last night and as with everything else I had to pry her away from it.

Even when she is sleeping she is thinking athletics. Here she is settling in for a nap on the treadmill. No running for her for a while but it makes a great bed.

When her mind is in a more creative mood she has turned into a real art critic. She was my muse of what I call pup-art and here she is giving me her impression. After her nose smudged the eye she thought it looked better. I fixed it...don't tell her!

Along with playing with friends and watching bike races Rosie has had a busy week. Maybe this weekend will be a little quieter...probably not!

That's my puppy brag for the day...bye.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

What can I say...we have one cute puppy!

This is what happens if you leave your seat for one second around here.

Rosie has alread proven she can find many unique "comfortable" places to sleep. This is another of her favourites.

Finally, it's a hot day here so the air conditioning is on. Unfortunately, we have a very efficient filter that tries to suck all the cold air from the duct before it even gets into the room..luckily it's pretty small still.

Besides Rosie, Mike has aquired a new member to his car family. Here he is looking very content.

The final Rosie news is that she went for her first swim. She forgot to keep moving her legs and dunked herself once but after she got over the embarassment she was right back in the water. No pictures of her swimming yet...we forgot the camera.

Potted Roses...ies

Rosie has been given several gifts of toys and she inherited many from Casey but her new favourite toy is a flower pot she found in the backyard. She snuck it into the house this morning when I wasn't looking and I heard slight ruckus. I caught the tail end of her "crazy". I may be biased but boy is she cute!

The positive (besides a giggle) is the aftermath. Ahhhh, the sound of silence.

That Can't Be Comfortable...

It appears that Rosie has an uncanny knack for finding very "comfortable" spots to sleep. She has enjoyed the air conditioning vents in this heat but this is her current favourite. She chose this position several independent times...weird.

Unfortunately I missed getting the picture of her when she fell asleep getting a drink from her water bowl. It was very cute. Here is the best video we have so far. This is in the evening so the edge is already taken off. In the morning she is CRAZY!!! (ignore the fool picking up the poo in the background...someone has to do it)

She is working hard on her sits, downs and comes. She loves to do any or all of them!

Fly Like an Eagle

I have finally had enough time (with Rosie and all) and figured out the technological side of posting videos so here is a little flashback to France. The first video is of Mike flying. Enjoy...I know he did!

The next video is of me flying. It was amazing!

Finally, here are a couple still shots taken in flight. This was a once in a lifetime experience (although Mike hopes not only once!) and we loved it.