Neighbor's rhodies

My neighbor's huge rhododendrens are all in bloom now and they are spectacular.

Poppies

Barbaro

My friend's horse, Barbaro, joined us at the BBQ party. Great food, great wine, great company, great weather. Yes, it was great!

Still working hard - the field looks great

Red

Suppertime

Arf. Silence. Arf.

Tristan is in the hall and, in his most polite inside voice, arfs several times. I go to investigate as this is something new for him. He leads me to his bowl in the kitchen and sits expectantly. Oops, I completely forgot to feed him and Tristan is letting me know it's 11:00 PM and way past suppertime.

I feel like I'm living with Lassie. It's a good thing there aren't any wells in my neighborhood; otherwise, there would be lots of "Timmy's in the well" alerts.

Or living with Snoopy. Check out the link in the post title. Feeding time has always been "suppertime" in honor of Snoopy.

My only excuse for the lapse is that it's been a bit of a wild day. I had several appointments and Tristan went with me but spent most of the time in the car. We did manage a trip to the park on the way home although it was starting to rain. The timing was good because it absolutely poured after we got home. Then lightning and thunder, wow! I swear one of the strikes was directly over my house. The thunder was louder than any I've ever heard before. I know a transformer and a tree were hit on my street some blocks away so lightning was definitely in the area. Tristan was cool throughout. Loud noises don't bother him but I noticed he sauntered in to be near me.

More pink

I'm pretty pink myself after two days of glorious sunny weather.

Work party

Our tree

Training - look into my eyes

Yes, we are still Schutzhund training although the flurry of spring flower poses may be obscuring it. Tristan was laid up last week because of his paws but he's all better now and today was sunny, gorgeous and perfect for being on the field.

In obedience the main thing I'm working on is getting Tristan to pay absolute attention to me. Wait, haven't I been working on this from day one? Yes, dammit. Actually, Tristan has come a long way from the wild child of his youth to a reasonably in control big guy but there's still more work to be done. The clincher is "absolute" in both attention and control.

Thus we're doing lots of drills. Tristan has to pay attention to me regardless of any distraction so, Svengali-like, I intone "look into my eyes". Yes, that's the ticket - I'll hypnotize him into submission. If only. Instead, we're doing a lot of attention under distraction work. Tristan must look directly at me even when there's lots of activity going on around us like tugs flying around, dogs working nearby or folks milling around. Sitz means sit/pay attention not just sit. Ditto for all the basic positions. This is basic stuff but we're regrouping so we will look a pretty picture all the time, not just when it's convenient for the changeling.

Protection is not a problem.


After training we headed to the tulip fields. We originally planned to go last week but were home on bed rest. Too bad because all of the tulips were gone: nada, zip, not a bloom in sight. I thought they would still be around since the weather delayed them this year but no such luck. It wasn't a major disappointment since it was so beautiful out and the tour was just an excuse for a drive.

We cruised into LaConner and I checked out a store that usually has some great hats but was able to resist purchasing any. It's a bit embarrassing when one's own collection encompasses most of the inventory. Next was a quick stop at Bay View State Park.




Then on to Edison (quite the gathering spot these days) and up Chuckanut Drive to admire the views. Meandering back to Seattle I stopped at the Conway Pub for some really good oysters. A pickup truck with three German Shorthair Pointers in the back pulled up and parked a space away while I was there. Whoo, when the middle vehicle pulled out, the pointers went nuts after spotting Tristan. Pretty tough act or maybe they were mad that Tristan's been known to do a mean impression of a German Shepherd Pointer and they don't like the competition. The pointers were cute and put on a good show for those of us outside in the courtyard. Tristan nobly ignored them.

It was a long, lovely day in the sunshine.

Goof ball

Back on the job

Posing, of course.

It's a miracle

In the space of two hours last night Tristan made an amazing recovery. First he did his frisky hop, a bit more sleeping by me at the computer then suddenly he was demon dog: play with me, play with me, play with me. It's wonderful to have the scamp back.

We'll take it careful but he's definitely looking and feeling a lot better.

Poor Tristan is on the mend

As noted Tristan's injury is worst than I initially thought. The pads on both of his back feet are torn. He finally started to feel and move a bit better yesterday. I knew he was on the road to recovery when he made it outside and got a little barking in. I don't let him bark much except to alert but this sounded good because he doesn't make a peep when he's laid up and feeling vunerable.

The hardest part has been watching Tristan trying to walk and not being able to carry him or even help him much at all. The bandages seem to provide some relief while they are on but he gets them off pretty quickly.

It's been a tough four days but Tristan is a lot better today. He seems to be walking without pain and even did a frisky hop. I've been giving him aspirin concealed in treats and now he's sure to want to continue the extra treat routine.