Marshmallows, anyone?

August 31 - probably a new record for the earliest lighting of our fireplace. It's chilly and wet here and if the drive back from B.C.on Friday is any indication the rain is here to stay for a while. After spending the day canning B.C. peaches, and making pickles, and walking dogs in the drizzle, this is a good way to kick back. But first, Rory had to watch America's Funniest Animals. He actually watches it, especially the birds - it's the strangest thing to watch him watch the TV. Of course, he also stares intently at his own reflection in the glass cabinet doors. He growls at himself. Not in a "Grrrrr.....you are SO handsome" way, more like "Grrrrr....uh, growl, uh, WHO are you and what are you doing in my house???" thing.

Lights! Camera! Oh, s#%t, STAND STILL!!!

Not that it needed to be confirmed, but a photo shoot is about the best place to figure out that Ridgebacks are not Border Collies. Or Golden Retrievers. Check out Tamzin's blog for today's details on the adventures of the boys (and a girl) in the high-stakes world of print advertising. When he was photographing Kika who is an absolutely adorable, mellow, docile little female RR, the photographer was so impressed he said that he would rather take pictures of puppies than children, any day. Hmmmm...thinks I. Wonder if he knows what he's facing next? He soon found out. But first, Seth. Mellow enough. Certainly obedient enough - he knows what 'stay' means. But old. And the lights were hot. And the sheet they had him sitting didn't provide any traction. Poor fellow. One of the guys in the studio said his favourite shot was the one where Seth's eyes were closed tight, tongue hanging out - he looked like he was laughing! Anyway, there were a few good shots, and more later on. I don't know if Seth will do Raimi justice, since the dogs are all supposed to be the same dog at different life stages and Seth is not quite as impressive looking as Raimi. Beautiful enough in his own right though.




Tamzin described the moron mayhem accurately, and her show collar idea was our saving grace. Also, putting a rubber mat under the sheet provided more traction. There ended up being some absolutely gorgeous shots of Rory and Raimi. Seth came back in and things went much better for him too.




I brought my camera to take pictures of the dogs having their pictures taken. Weird, I know. So, I got pictures of Kika in the spotlight, which I'll send to Tamzin to post and forward to Barb. Tamzin used my camera to take pictures of Seth during his turn in the lights. Somehow, we managed not to get any shots of Rory or Raimi having their pictures taken. Probably because we were pretty focused on climbing ladders, throwing toys, coordinating dogs, treats... There are a couple of pictures of the boys checking out the lunch fixin's. Of course.

Bad, bad, bad

Yah, I'm bad for not having posted to the blog for over a month - there is more to come, really.

And Rory's bad for eating one of our outdoor chairs. And my new Merrell water sandals. And he has this obsession with a throw-pillow that I keep on my favourite chair in the living room. My brother gave me the pillow, which is embroidered with "My goal in life is to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am." I don't know what kind of person Rory thought I was last night when I got home, but it probably isn't good. I was prepared for the cushion and the chair, since Norm had called me already (conversations that begin with "YOUR puppy..." are never good). Norm then came to pick me up downtown, and by the time we got home Keelan had managed to rescue what was left of my new sandals (non-salvagable in any event) and the throw-pillow had once again been stolen from the living room. Rory is now an eight-month old puppy in a very large body, intent on sniffing, poking (and if nobody is looking, chewing) EVERYTHING. Don't get me wrong, he absolutely oozes charm, and is completely adorable if you happen to be in the same room with him. I'm off to the store tonight to look at a collar and sensor/deterent device that I saw there a while back, since the baby-gate intended to keep Rory in the kitchen while we are out is no longer a challenge for him.

Rory on the River

Ahoy! Spin 'er round boys, let's go this way!

















So, here's the rules: Lifejacket, check. Wait a
sec, where's yours? Sniff, sniff... hey.... is THAT PIZZA!????















Rory. Captain of His Own Destiny. And cute too.














Hi! Oh? Were you trying to take a picture
of my momma? How 'bout just her hat?














Zzzzz.....zz.....z.... (this is Rory and me at the
two-hour mark, almost there. ....Kathryn)























Pretty Calgary. We'll put in under that bridge.
Rory's still sleeping.














This is me walkin' with Norm. And a million other
people. It was SO crowded! And everybody was
trying different kinds of salsas, and there was
music, and it was hot. Real hot. Lots of people
said hello to me and some even wanted to pat me.
I love gettin' loved. ...Rory

Rory. Dog of Adventure

Full day today. We have been planning a rafting trip down the Bow tomorrow with some friends. After researching brands and features during the week, today's adventure involved fitting Rory for a doggy life vest. We brought Seth along too as a 'model' version of a bigger Rory. We bought one by Ruff Gear and then later ended up getting another one by Outward Hound because it fit better. Luckily, we were able to return the Ruff Gear one. The best part was telling Rory 'stand' during the fitting process and having him impress the heck out of the staff with his good behaviour. All that stacking practice paid off.

This afternoon Norm inflated the raft on the front deck so we could get Rory used to it. Two big people and one little person (our two-year-old nephew is spending the night ) got in the raft to test it out. A little RollOver enticement and Rory clambered aboard. The humans wiggled and bounced in the raft so Rory could find his sea legs. Within ten minutes he was asleep with his head in my lap. I guess we'll see what tomorrow brings when the raft isn't sitting on a stable surface and Rory has to walk through water to get to it :) but he's generally game for anything.

The only drawback to the day was Seth's behaviour when we came home with the dogs this morning after shopping. I'm not sure if he just doesn't like Rory wearing the life vest or (forgive me for anthropomorphizing) if he's upset we didn't buy him one too, but he was just plain mean to Rory. There's Rory ripping around the yard testing out the new vest - I wanted to make sure he wouldn't get too hot wearing it - when Seth tried to take a round out of him. I separated them for a couple of hours but it happened again even without the vest. Norm reminded me that when Seth was 'growing up' Sage started a couple of scraps with him and it always took a day or so for the jitters to wear off. Mine and theirs. So Seth is in the guest room with the entire purple bed to himself, and Rory is in the loft with us, and they both seem quite content with this arrangement. Surprising for Rory, because he often wants to be wherever Seth is. ...Kathryn

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Close Company

Rory is a snuggle bug. And a bit of a pest. And like most dogs, has an uncanny memory about 'good' things. Training a Ridgeback to do anything that doesn't involve food or creature comforts is a challenge. But let that same dog on the couch with you, just once, and you have a sofa-companion for life. Last night, we were all up in the loft and Rory had hogged the entire purple bed. Actually he was hogging the middle rectangle part, since the donut ring that the middle part sits in was eaten last week. I assume by a large, creepy, gooey alien. In any event, not wanting to see the rest of the bed doomed to the same fate, we brought it upstairs where it can only be used under supervision. So there's Rory, sprawled across the entire thing. And there's Seth, looking at me, actually drilling his eyes right through me hoping that I'll see there is a problem. Finally I can't handle the guilt any more and I tell Seth he needs to just kick Rory outta that bed. Which, surprisingly, he does. He lays down, shoves Rory off and then proceeds to claim the bed as his own. Rory immediately comes over to the couch to tell me all about the terrible fate that has just befallen him. I of course console him ("yeah, listen pal, if you hadn't eaten half the bed, there'd be room for the both of you"). He puts his head in my lap. I stroke those amazingly silky Ridgeback ears. He puts his front paws up on me and his head on my shoulder. Awe, this is nice, he's givin' me a hug. Meanwhile, Norm is at the other end of the couch engrossed in whatever was on TV and entirely unaware of my plight. Up comes one hind leg. Up comes the other. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you I was surprised. It's just that I'm a sucker for affection. Such a sucker in fact that I put up with about 10 minutes of a 66 pound dog laying across my body and essentially cutting off the circulation to my extremities. But I loved every minute of it. Then the commercial came on. Which was when Norm realized there was a rather large puppy on the couch with us. Off goes Rory. Tonight we came up and Rory bypassed the bed entirely (I swear the look on Seth's face said "huh?") and came straight for the couch. Same routine, but Norm was on to him this time. So before the back legs joined the rest of Rory on the couch, he was sent to find some space on the purple bed with Seth. And yah, I sent him. But first I made Norm admit that Rory is entirely adorable. ... Kathryn

Gone to the Dogs

Well hello. Ahem, I mean, Well Hello. Whaddaya think? Do I sound more "matchoor"? I ought to. My first show was this weekend and I picked up a few token ribbons (can you imagine, I beat the other boy puppy, then lost best puppy to my very own sister on the first day!) but most of all I had fun. I got to take in all the sights and smells of the show grounds, and valuable practice doing show-stuff.


Tamzin makes it look so easy to make me look good. Now my job will be to fill out a bit before our next show in August. And more practice trotting and stacking, 'cause you can never be too good at that!

Thisth isth me when the judge wasth checking my teesth.