"They say it's your birthday..."

"We're gonna have a good time!" In case you can't tell, we're havin a birthday party!!! "Birthday," "Gotcha Day," whatever you want to call it, the calendar says July 31 is the day we celebrate big bro Jackson! (We don't really know how this date was determined, but we don't really care.) While the human may have neglected previous celebrations, he came through on this one. Jackson got a "Happy Birthday" biscuit from our favorite Giggy Bites,and we all got an assortment of their best treats: veggie pizza, crunchy chicken, and wheat-free salmon. AND, to top it all off, marrow bones!!! Now that's a party! (BTW, Tuchuck and Angel partied, too, they just insisted on chowing down away from the camera--excuuuuuse us!)
Happy Day, Jacks!!! And Happy eYewatch Friday, everyone!

Keeping an eYe out for home!

Happy eYewatch Friday!

Foster bro Theo is still waiting to go home (and we're waiting for him to go!). He's had some "issues" lately, so the human's got to get him more adoptable. No small feat! No time at the moment, as we've got visiting fam in town. Whew, too much goin on!We just don't understand how anyone can resist this cute little face! Especially when he does his great Corgi impression!

The Life of Riley

We received the sad news on Sunday that our close friend Riley passed away that morning. Actually, Riley was more a friend of older bros Tsamba and Buko, so we feel their losses again, too. Riley and Buko were adopted from the same SPCA and were obedience trial buddies way back when. They used to commiserate over their ridiculous humans who could never get it quite right. Riley and Buko could never understand what was wrong with just staying home and hanging out on the couch (which is not to say they didn't earn their share of ribbons).

Here's Riley with his brothers Bullet and Solo.

We'll miss you, buddy. Run free.

Angel Eyes

Happy eYewatch Friday! More importantly, Angel sends cattle dog eyes with "Happy Birthday!" wishes to fellow heeler mix Norwood! They have similar eyebrows--and their eyebrows aren't dissimilar from Sam Ervin's (for those of you old enough to remember him). The eyes (and eyebrows) are upon us!

Wordless Wednesday

To the manor born

We completely forgot to brag!! Our primary purpose in going to Vermont was for Narra to compete in the Vermont Scenic Cluster dog shows, in Rally like last weekend. Unlike last weekend, however, she didn't bring home any blue ribbons. Lots of green, though (for qualifying scores), and, ironically, a personal best performance of 96/100--two days in a row! The 96 was worth a 4th place on Sunday. Tough competition, huh?

We celebrated after the show with our new friend Humphrey, a black Golden Doodle, who took us to a very special place. Humphrey has the privilege of romping around the grounds of a private section of Shelburne Farms. And by "private," we mean a very classy mansion with amazing grounds right on Lake Champlain. Ah, yes, we could live like that!

The Best of Summer in the Champlain Valley!

Some times when you look forward to a trip, you're disappointed because it can't possibly meet your expectations. Other times, a trip completely surprises you: even though it doesn't meet your expectations, it becomes a whole new pleasure you never even considered. Our trip to Burlington, Vermont this past weekend was like that. We connected with new friends and longtime friends alike and rediscovered our love of the journey. Or maybe we were just giddy over Lake Champlain's 400th anniversary (even though we missed the parade). :)

The only thing that could've made the trip any better was if the whole gang was together. We wished everyone coulda enjoyed the great time we had.

One of the real highlights of the trip was hangin out with bloggin buddy Sophie and her mom--we had the BEST time at the dog park and swimmin in Lake Champlain! (She has more pics on her blog and even a video, too!)

eYewatch Friday: "Wher u goin?"

"If I look away, do I get to go?"

eYewatch Friday! Means weekend! And this weekend, we're on the road... Well, not all of us. Gotta go! More later!

T

(Not so) Far above Cayuga's Waters

What's not to like about Ithaca? In fact, there seems to be more and more to like all the time... like an awesome dog park! Yeah, the human got to eat some fine food first--mmm, fish fry at the Pines!--but then we got down to PAW-TY!!!
Ithaca's offleash park is right on Cayuga Lake, in Allan H. Treman State Marine Park. The dog park came about through the hard work of many people and continues to be maintained with the same dedication. It's even gone green! (Ithacans have always been good about mobilizing for an important cause!)

Better yet, fun dogs come here! Like our new friend Micah... We liked him right away because he reminds us of superbuds Ethel and Oscar. Micah even likes chasing tail, too! (Hey, did you guys do something you didn't tell us about???)

In addition to fun dogs, there's also fun MUD! Not to mention that Tuchuck can always find a football wherever he goes. A broken football is better than no football! And a muddy, broken football is just sick yo!

Good thing there are pools--and pools! When are we going back?!

To the road warriors go the spoils

Just when we thought we were doomed to be home all summer, the human loaded up the van and took us on the road for the weekend! Well, not all of us... only Narra and Tuchuck got to go. Turns out Narra had to compete in a rally trial up in NY, and Tuchuck was the moral support (haha!). Just as well: retired road warrior Jackson isn't up to too much adventure anymore, Angel is non-ambulatory, and socially challenged Rousseau and Tanner are better kept safely away from the public eye.

We should mention that, on our little roadtrip, the human had a burpday--he turned "old" on Friday. Narra decided to help him celebrate by winning two blue ribbons (never mind that she had no opponents!). Wroo Wroo! And she got gifts! (Thank you, German Shepherd Dog Club of Rochester!) Of course, she shared with Tuchuck (as if she had a choice). Can you see, the stuffie's outie is a mini tennis ball! Um, not that the rest of us got to see it; you know the ball didn't make it home in one piece.
The human did do a li'l sumpin fo himself: we spent the night in his nostalgic Ithaca, and he dined at an old fave. Plus, we gotta a give a major shoutout to the Grayhaven Motel. Not only are those folks dog friendly, they're dog welcoming. They have a play yard and everything, replete with agility equipment. Totally sweet digs. Now that's what we're talkin about.

We say "More!" the human says "Next week: Vermont..."

SHEEP!

We've had a busy few days, starting with herding! We (Narra, Tuchuck, and Uncle Kidlat) met with a new herding trainer to see how we like it--and we do! :) Well, Kidlat not so much. :) More to come...

Three for herding from 4dogart on Vimeo.

Wordless Wednesday