Nothing of interest

Here is just a random picture Jerry took a few weeks ago since I have no new pictures to post and don't feel like putting forth enough effort to write "Zodiac's story" yet. It seems that soon after our household had returned to somewhat normal that I came down with whatever nasty bug has been going around at work and I spent all of my day off yesterday sick in bed. Today I went to work for the morning only and after some afternoon rest am feeling a little better and hope to be back up to speed tomorrow because I have a long day of work and then teaching obedience class.

Still icy

The animals have sort of adapted to living on ice since we've had so much this year. Oreo isn't as afraid of the slick steps and Legend and Zodiac have decided that an icy yard is not so bad to play on. Evidently crunchy grass and slick spots don't bother their feet as much as they thought because they have been running around like maniacs every time they go outside. Even comfort-loving Barney was out wandering in the yard when I got home today. But tomorrow more should melt and then we will have mud. How much fun this has been...

Jerry's Dad

For those who don't know-Jerry's dad passed away earlier today. Please keep his family in your thoughts. Jerry has been in Kansas City with his mom and at the hospital all week and will probably be back home sometime this weekend. Meanwhile we are battling more ice here in the Ozarks.

Oreo's Story

I thought I would steal Katrina's idea and eventually get each of the dog's "stories" posted here. So of course Oreo goes first...

Oreo was born December 3, 1994 (yes, that makes him 13 years old now!) to a friend's border collie and an unknown neighbor dog. By far the cutest of the litter of 11 he came home to live with me at just 6 weeks old and has never left my side since unless by force!

Oreo was our unofficial team mascot and my off season running partner in high school-going for a run was his second favorite activity after playing ball. He always has been a very avid ball player and often the ball had to be hidden to keep him from driving us crazy.

When I moved into a duplex in college Oreo came too and adapted well to suburban life with a small back yard-we spent time every day going for walks, runs, roller-blading or playing ball at the park. He was a spoiled only child and his favorite trick was to wait until I had to turn off the light at night and then he would take that chance to jump in bed ahead of me so he could sleep right in the middle! While I was in vet school and on the mule team he often rode in the wagon during our many parades. Oreo also ran in many Vet School dog jogs with me and we even won our division one year!

It was also during college that I became interested in competive obedience and agility. Oreo proved to be a very smart and very stubborn dog-providing an inexperienced trainer with a lot of challenges and obstacles! However in 2001 we earned our first AKC obedience title of Companion Dog. In 2002 we made it into the agility ring-a feat that at one one point I thought we would never accomplish-Oreo took months to learn the A-frame and a year to learn the teeter-totter. In fact when we started class he was afraid of everything but the jumps. But he soon earned the AKC Novice agility titles and went on to earn his AX and AXJ before stepping down to the preferred division. He then went through the levels again and earned his AXP and AJP before one day he decided it was enough and he retired from agility in the fall of 2006.

During this successful agility career he also continued working in obedience and earned his CDX and then showed in Utility for awhile. He did not earn any utility legs and ultimately became burned out on obedience training. He retired from obedience competition in the fall of 2005. However after some time off he returned to the ring in 2006 to earn the Rally Novice Title and then retired for good.

Oreo has also served as a therapy dog for Therapy Dogs International and Pet Therapy of the Ozarks. He has earned the Canine Good Citizen title twice. He has demonstated obedience skills at schools, churches, and nursing homes, at the College of Veterinary Medicine's Open House and has performed in many holiday shows at Ann Gafke's Teacher's Pet.

Oreo's favorite things in life remain balls, frisbees, squeaky toys and treats. Today he lives the life of luxury-eating, sleeping, and playing and doing pretty much whatever he wants. He is plagued by diseases of old age (arthritis, renal disease, and a few gray hairs) but he doesn't let it slow him down too much. You don't have to ask him twice about a game of fetch, a ride in the car or a walk in the park!

Rain

The ice has melted and now it's raining. So much for agility practice this week. We'll have to think of some indoor fun I guess! Here are some pictures of the dogs from better weather days. Maybe we'll have something more interesting to post tomorrow.

And More Ice

The rain from last night put a smooth layer of glass on the ice we already had and pretty much turned our back yard into a skating rink. And dogs apparently do not like to ice skate! Even fearless Legend changed her mind about heading out in the mess last night. Taking them outside to potty is quite an ordeal with the deck stairs and the slippery yard. Poor Oreo pretty much just falls down the stairs and then ends up splay legged in the yard several times before coming back in. I think here in Ozark we actually have more ice than we did during last year's ice storm-even our walk through garage door is frozen shut. Our driveway and the street out to one of the main roads is also solid ice but once you get past that first 1/2 mile everything was ok. However the UPS didn't make it out that half mile-he's been stuck just up the road for awhile now. We don't seem to have much damage or broken trees though-just a few branches so far that I have noticed. Here are some of the pictures I took today on my one adventure outside

AGILITY WONDERLAND

ICICLES HANGING OFF THE DOGWALK

THE ICE IS THICKER THAN THE TREES

More Ice

We had more ice fall last night and today. It's really pretty but a lot of trouble at times. We actually did not have much trouble getting too work but business was really slow. It was actually one of those rare times where the boss let us close up and leave early. He always worries that someone will have an emergency and need to be seen if we close up but I have noticed he is never the last one to leave. However I am sure he will be the first to say "I told you so" if someone calls to complain the next day. Anyway, it was nice to leave early before it got dark and the roads freeze again. I'm sure the safety of the staff is more important than someone's emergency ear infection or torn toe nail.

And in case anyone is wondering I am still on track to run my 5K.

Here are some more pictures from yesterday when it was sort of warm-today it was much colder and tomorrow the weather is supposed to be really ugly here-again. Jingle went off to her new home today. Her new family seems very nice and Jingle was happy to trot off with them to a new place (she loves everybody). I think it will work out very well. The man is a vet and actually works with one of my classmates-small world. We also did our taxes today-you can tell we have had a very interesting weekend. Yesterday we did have a nice visit with my grandparents though. Oh-and we also watched "The Zodiac" which turned out to be about a serial killer that was never caught. It would have been a much more pleasant movie if it was about my sweet dog.MOSES

TOUCHDOWN

In the loft

Here are pictures of our goofy, overweight barn cat-Barney sort of stuck in the loft of the barn. He gets up there sometimes and then can't seem to remember how to get back down and just sort of wanders the beams. Today was his lucky day however-we found him up there when we went out to meet my Grandpa who was bringing up a load of hay. Once the hay trailer was backed in it made a great landing place for Barney-he hopped right down onto the top of the stacked hay and settled in for yet another nap. We would sort of like him to hunt moles and stuff but I think all he hunts is cat food and warm beds. He usually races us to the garage so he can slip in and sleep in there or better yet in the house!

Adopted!

Great news-Jingle is in the process of being adopted by a new family, a veterinarian and his wife from Lee's Summit. I think we are just waiting on all the paperwork to get finalized. They have 5 acres (3 fenced in) and a 6 year old border collie that is needing a new friend.
Here are some pictures from today before the weather turned nasty. And yes, it was so warm this morning that I put water in pool for the dogs. They had a great time. Even Jingle checked it out a few times.

Agility Trial

Here are Legend's ribbons from the Tri-County Agility Trial in Lake St. Louis this weekend. She had an awesome clean run in Open JWW on Saturday and placed first. She followed it up with an awesome Open Standard run but since I completely forgot what I was doing after the A-frame we had an off course and some wasted seconds while I pulled myself together. This dropped our placement to 4th. Sunday we had a wild jumpers run but with some good speed and lots of fun. Then she had an almost perfect (missed the weave entrance) run in standard to finish her OA and placed second-only missing first by a fraction of a second. All in all a great weekend I thought. Zodiac hurt himself getting in the truck Saturday morning and didn't run well to I went ahead and scratched him for Sunday.