Favorite Visit

Laurel and her family have come to visit. We've all been having a lot of fun, and it's especially sweet to see the dogs and kids together. Cyrus has some new friends.

One visit, hold the title

This last weekend we had the pleasure of visiting Mike and Georgette, and Cyrus' sister, Layla. Layla had the biggest personality of all the puppies in the litter when we used to visit them as tiny things and she's grown up to be a lovely dog, still sweet and spunky. On Sunday, she earned her Junior Courser title, since she is mad for the lure! In the meantime, our hosts shared with us some prime dog-walking spots, since they have so many at their disposal.

Incidentally, Cyrus declined the lure in favor of peeing on some handy bushes. If only there was a title for that.

Cyrus is very jealous of all the lovely dog-walk scenery.

This is in Golden Gate Park, only a short walk from the house. Aren't you jealous, too?

Before we met up with Mike and Georgette, we checked out the Embarcadero and the wharves. Cyrus was a champ, even when a huge Great Dane barked at him (obviously not in this shot).

Many people stopped to ooh and aah over such lovely dogs.

Here, Georgette is talking to a lady who pulled her car over on the street and jumped out to meet our dogs. Perhaps this has something to do with her work for STOLA, the Saluki Tree of Life Association, the saluki breed rescue. She was very nice, but Layla stopped listening when she stopped talking about parti's.

At San Francisco's single fenced dog park, also within walking distance of the house (did I say jealous?), I met a lovely, sweet Dalmatian who reminded me of Emily. His name is Duke and he would come up oh-so-politely and sit by you for petting.

Run, Layla, run!

Run, Cyrus and white dog, run!

Overlooking the ocean, but the dogs were more interested in watching a poodle retrieve along the path.

Cyrus doesn't really understand the purpose of stepping stones. Then again, it was a nice day for getting your feet wet.

Cyrus struts his stuff with the Pacific Ocean in the background.

So does Layla.

Much fun was had by all.

Half of a Junior Courser

Early this morning, we drove up to Dixon for a lure coursing trial courtesy of the Northern California Whippet Fanciers' Association. It was worth the drive and the early rise, since Cyrus had a great time. We entered him for a Junior Coursing test, somewhat optimistically. He had never run on a lure before, although he had seen a trial as a puppy. Even so, he had a good instinct to chase and took off right away when it was his turn. 800 yards was a bit long for him, but he finished pretty gamely (a bird swooped right in front of him in the last 50 yards or so, but he found the lure again).

All he needs now is one more successful completion to get his Junior Coursing title.

He slept soundly on the way home.

Off Leash Wilderness Area

We just visited Sunol Regional Wilderness Area, part of the Bay Area watershed. Our goal was a rocky gorge where the Alameda Creek cascades through a tumble of boulders. This spot is so lovely it has earned the name "Little Yosemite."

It was a very beautiful area.

The best part is... dogs are not only allowed, but they are allowed off-leash on trails once you leave the parking lot/camp ground area. I tagged along with Mom and Dad and their friends Maribelle and Ernest. Since Matt can't hike yet on his knee, I was restricted to one dog. Which one should I take? Cyrus is best on a leash but hates the car and has feathering that catches everything. Mya is smallest and therefore easiest to control and doesn't take up much space in the car, but I wasn't sure she was up to the hike. Plus, she's not really friendly and two yappy dachshund mixes were already on the guest list (ha to Dad, if he's reading this). Sasha is the least pleasant on leash - she pulls as badly as Mya does but is nearly 4x the weight - but is very friendly and is most in need of something to wear her out.

Sasha went.

Here she is, delighted with the prospect of a trip. Also, not afraid of the camera. Apparently they are only scary when one is at home. I figured the leash time would be good for her. Then we found that the dogs could be off leash.

After much internal debate (and a lot of being hauled up and down the trail by a husky mix) I decided that she was up to the challenge. She has never been a dog to take off and leave her pack and is fairly good about checking in, even if her classic recall is not picture perfect. (In fact, her pack instinct is so strong that she got very upset when anyone would leave the group, even crying when Mom walked back up the trail to one of the restrooms.)

Sasha was exceedingly glad to go leashless. She and Max zoomed up and down the trail, impatient with us slowpokes, but very good about checking in. And they didn't even chase any cattle (the trail went right through grazing pasture! It was very odd...).

Waterdog Sasha enjoys splashing at Little Yosemite. Max, Lab that he is, jumped right in and swam around. Then found a stick and begged us to throw for him.

Pisco was not a big fan of wilderness areas. He prefers laps. Molly does not like it when Dad climbs on rocks and she cannot follow. They both enjoy some comforting, which moms excel at.

Dad photographs the gorge.

Little Yosemite from the "front" side.

Molly loves it when she can follow Dad, no matter where he goes.

Sasha loves it when she can go anywhere. At high speeds, for preference. Note her instant response to being called... It's a work in progress. At the very least, an excellent day was had by all.

A breath of sun

The dogs have gotten sick of the rainy weather. They love the couch, of course, but there is only so much curling-up they want to do. Especially Sasha.

What's that? Dog park, you say? If she had hands, she'd be clapping. Instead, she roo-roos, as should not surprise anyone who's ever been to my house or talked to me on the phone when I've just come home.

He is just a lovely looking dog. If he was this happy and relaxed at the dog shows, he would come home with a ribbon for sure.

Happy dogs come from California dog parks. See how the weeds very nearly make a lawn? All the dogs were frisky that day, even the little old Lab mix with the gray face.


The mallows were growing up rather clumpy, which provided endless fascination for all concerned. "Have I sniffed this one yet? Peed on it? Has someone else peed on it since I sniffed it last?"

Only dog owners will think this is funny. Everyone else, just enjoy the pictures... :)

Dog Fix

We've been enjoying trips to the dog park much more since we benefit from the confidence of Sasha. She has a very Emily-like attitude and it's hard to find a dog she doesn't get along with. (Unfortunately, my dad's dog Molly is one of those. The one thing Sasha cannot stand is being growled at. She growls back, which makes Molly more frightened and growly, which makes Sasha...well, you get the point.)

So, since we've had beaucoup time off with the holidays, we had a couple trips to the dog parks, both in Modesto and Turlock, and I brought my camera along...

I think my dad would call the usual crowd at the Modesto dog park a "happy swirl of dogs". And I say Ha! to the "no unneutered dogs allowed" rule at some parks... Look at how well the Modesto dogs are getting along! There are usually at least a few pits or pit mixes at the popular times, and everyone generally gets along fine. Note how confident Cyrus seems... (although he's still not willing to go up for a sniff and petting of a person stranger). Sasha is harder to catch on camera, since she's dashing around like the social butterfly she is.

Enjoy.

Herding dogs intimidate our dogs a little, since the "stalking" predatory behavior is what they use to get herds to move...or other dogs to play with them. Cy and Sash worry that the dog is really "after" them which is why there's some tension here, but they're learning to relax a little.

Tag team the big dog. If the two of them weigh as much as the one of him, that makes it fair, right?

The beagle's cute and he was friendly, but it's not hard to remember why I never wanted a scent hound... Every time he'd get excited, or other dogs would run near him in the same approximate direction, he'd start up with the baying again.

Yay! Living up to the hype!

We'll work up to this slowly. Here, really quickly, is an image of a drawing I'm working on. I believe it's a 1.5'X2.5' image a tree against the sky. (pretty much branches, foliage, and blue), using my ink pen collection with tiny lines.

Yes, I'm neurotic. But it looks cool. Very Chuck Close meets George Seurat.

This weekend I attended the ASA Scramble and Archive Hunt. Wicked cool! But the best two hours were spent in Fresno, getting to visit Laurel, Nate, and their criminally adorable children. I had Cyrus with me and he fascinated the kids. He was ok (shy, of course, but not as bad as with adults) and they were extremely gentle and good around them. We've got to visit again! Here's the kids and their adorableness. I didn't take picture of the cute apartment, I was so preoccupied thinking Cyrus would growl. (Unfair - he never did, he's way too sweet for that)

Logan (his shirt says "My Parents are Exhausted")

Cutie Chloe! She was playing Peek-a-Boo with Cyrus. If you're related to me, friend Laurel on Facebook and check out her photo galleries of her kids. Particularly "Chloe loves".

Puppy hunt! Cyrus didn't actually get to chase any rabbits. His group (himself, JJ, and Pearl) didn't scare up any rabbits close enough for them to see. The first person to see a rabbit run yells "Rabbit!" to get everyone's attention. Since the puppies didn't know what they were doing, they all looked at the yelling person rather than trying to find the rabbit. Oh, well. It was great fun anyway. The other 5 sets of dogs got pretty good courses, particularly the veterans (who all know what to do when they hear Rabbit!), and it was a full day with interesting saluki people and beautiful dogs. Plus, getting to walk Cyrus. We are both exhausted.

Seven of the 11 Rock 'n' Roll puppies came. Here are JJ, Strider, Kody, and Quila (from the left). Not shown are Pearl, Rider, and Cyrus.

Cyrus strikes a pose while we break for lunch, after a frustrating 2 or so hours of being "on the line" and seeing no rabbits close enough for a course. Isn't he cute?

I tried getting some video of the courses, but the dogs were sooo far away by the time the camera turned on that it never worked. Plus, my camera doesn't have great zoom. So here is a consolation video of Cyrus and Sasha playing on the porch. Trust me, it's more action than you can see in the grainy, blurry, "this is a field of dry brush" videos I took at the hunt.

Busy month

So, it's been a busy few weeks and my blog is woefully neglected. I'd like to point out that my zoo still has it fairly well. We signed Cyrus up for a puppy hunt next week (no, we're not hunting puppies) and he had a show last weekend. We brought Sasha with us (Mya happily visited Mom and the rest of the family), so she had a good time too. Once again, we came in dead last, second to brother Rider, who - incidentally - was gimpy. >sigh< I think I am not meant to show. I believe Cyrus will do much better when Jim takes over showing him. We know, in my own unbiased opinion, that he is clearly a gorgeous dog, deserving of all wins. :)





But the up note was that we visited the Turlock dog park for the first time. That's a nice park. Set on a slope, so there's good exercise on varied terrain. They divide the park between large and small dogs, and on Saturday there was this little black dog whose favorite game is getting the big dogs to chase her up and down the length of the dividing fence. All us owners leaned back in satisfaction and said, "Yep, they'll sleep tonight!" as they ran pellmell up and down the 150 ft fence, slope included. Good pups. On Thanksgiving, we had the park to ourselves most of the day, so even Mya got to go in. While we waited for the last couple people to leave, I took Mya over to the great children's play area they have. Here's some vid of her on the slides (I'm not sure everyone believes me about how much she loves them). I didn't get better shots because I was manning both the dog and the camera - Matt was in the dogpark with the big pups - and it was tough to get Mya to wait at the top of the slide for me to get ready with the camera rather than zoom down pellmell as soon as I put her up there.

Building a new exhibit

Between work and school, I hate to spend more time at a computer than necessary. This is bad for a blog. So, for a quick update... Sasha and Moira continue to settle in nicely. We are also working on a new exhibit named "Dog Palace" which will be big enough to shelter all three dogs from the weather at once. We do at least know they will all curl up pretty close when they want to, as is evidenced by the picture below.

Lest you think they don't get along after you watch the video. The kittehs get along great. And are super cute together.

'Course, Moira's supercute on her own. A little circle of kitteh.

Here is the new exhibit as it develops. Good to have a handyman in the house! I helped. I didn't mash my thumb.

Mya appreciates Sasha, who contributed the lovely lounging platform that Mya is using. She was bored being inside on housecleaning day. It was so nice outside...

As we can see, Sasha is now perfectly comfortable on all furniture. Cyrus' look of concern is from the fact that Sasha is clearly possessed by demons.

Now for the fun video from our local panther exhibit.

And Now for Someone Completely Different

Well, not completely different. If you notice, she's quite like Cyrus...

Sasha is a greyhound-husky mix and her arrival means the zoo is full. She is a joy to have and is fitting in well her. I think she likes us.

A New Page

Well, the house appraisal is done. Whew! One more step that we can check off our list. Since we had everything neatened up for the appraiser, I took some pictures. Look how far everything's come!

Living room from the left side.

From the right side...

Kitchen/Dining Room

And some fun stuff. A rare video of Mya and Cyrus playing tug-o'-war. My favorite part? When he pulls it away from her, he stops and holds it still, like, "Oh, grab back on. Got a good hold? Okay!" The growling is all Mya.

So, we did get a second cat for Quincy (and Matt). She's great, too - she'll get her own post a little later. But I wanted to highlight the fabulousness of Q-Ball, the Tailless Wonder. This cat has cajones and I'm so happy he ended up with us. He and Cyrus are great together.

New Arrival at the Animal House

Our newest member of the Zoo Family is Quincy. My cousin Keren found Quincy as a wee black puffball. He was around 4 or 5 weeks old and clearly abused (he had burned off whiskers and we suspect that his tail may have been pulled off rather than naturally manx). Even so, he has a lovely, friendly and brave disposition. My cousin kept him for us around 2 months while we prepped the new house, since we couldn't have a cat in the rental. She raised him well and her tiny chihuahua, Sugar, was Quincy's best buddy. They tousled and chased and Sugar taught Quincy a little about dogs. Now, an older Quincy has joined us. Here he is exploring his new digs.

From the beginning, he had little fear of (although a healthy respect for) the dogs, despite the fact that Cyrus, at least, is an order of magnitude larger than Sugar. We found that this bravery extends equally to a willingness to, say, attack feet carelessly left unattended at the edge of the bed. I hear that's a cat thing.

Here is a video of Quincy and the dogs. He will actually sometimes play with Cyrus (he likes to bat Cyrus' fringed ears), but he persists in swatting Mya. This is because Mya is determined to try and bite him at every opportunity. She's like the dog from Bunnicula, determined that our house is being overrun by the spawn of evil and she's the only one who can defend us...

New Exhibits

So close to being done! Our living room is shaping up nicely, with only a few more feet of tile left to go (compared with the 1000 square feet we started with). It's going to be the most beautiful remodel ever. Says me.

Surprisingly peaceful scene...all three dogs napping together. Emily is deigning to share space with the other two. She's usually much more standoffish, since she was an only dog for so long. Mya and Cyrus, on the other hand, love to snuggle.

We heard that lovely Layla was visiting Jim and Linda for the weekend. Since she and Cyrus hit it off so well at the dog show, we brought him over to visit. Here, all four siblings are in the puppies' kennel (Rider, of the black- and fluffiness, wisely escapes the heat by laying on top of his dog house and refusing to get involved). Cyrus' familiarity with sharp turns and tight spaces gives him the advantage... All the puppies from this litter are just wonderful.

Lompoc Dog Show July 25-26, 2009

The show actually ran Thursday through Sunday, but we drove down Friday morning and I only entered Cyrus on Saturday and Sunday. My goal for the weekend was for him to have a good time for his first show. He has a long memory for bad experiences (don't we all?) and I didn't want to start him off with a dislike of the ring. In that respect, we came home winners because I think he enjoyed himself. Bits of leftover prime rib in the ring on Sunday may have helped. He did come home with a ribbon from Saturday, but statistics were with him. There were only five puppies in his class.

There was a grand family reunion, with most of the puppies from the litter attending. Cyrus would definitely like to see more of Layla, preferably where there is sufficient fenced ground for running around like the whirling dervishes they are.

If there was a ribbon for cute, Cyrus would have come in first.

Left to right the dogs are: Kodi, Cyrus, Pearl, Rider, Aria, Strider, Layla, JJ, Solaris, and Quila.

I think this is the best still shot from the ring. He's doing a whippet impression, which is his way of saying, "Mom, the grass is wet and cold and icky." Or, "I don't like the judge" or "I'd rather put my feet where I want to put them" or "This is boring, let's go play with Layla." The whippet impression is very versatile. He uses it often.


Cyrus held it together pretty well his first day, I think. He was a champ about letting a stranger open his mouth and feel him all over. It wasn't until we completed the "down and back", and the judge tried to pat his head, that he decided enough was enough. As we set out for our last trip around the ring, you can see him keep looking over his shoulder... "Is that scary guy still after me? He might be following us!"

This week, of course, we have mostly been concentrating on the new house. We have most of the interior painted and are well on the way to starting the tile (that will be tomorrow). Of course, I'm trying to shoe-horn in some time to work with Cyrus, who has his debut show in Lompoc at the end of July. Hopefully, we will be in the new house by then. Luckily, he looks just as cute there as anywhere else. As you can see.

Housework just wears those dogs out...

Although, you can see Mya is too dedicated to take her eyes off of Mom, even when she's resting. I think she would rule in agility. Even if she never gets the chance, she is a wonderful dog.

Cyrus earns his keep by helping us dig trenches. Just in case we wanted to lay PVC for sprinklers right here, diagonally across the yard... He makes a perfectly straight trench, about three inches wide. Just wide enough to fit his nose in it. Or a sprinkler line.

New House, New Pictures, New etc.

The new house is an exciting and inspiring thing. Not just to us, but also to our dogs. With Mya's help, Cyrus was willing to settle down and ride sensibly in the car for the very first time, on the way to work at the house. (Working done by me...cuteness and running around was handled by the dogs.)

Cyrus surveys the backyard and is unimpressed. "Hey, where's the grass and stuff?"

I had my first hint of my future wildflower garden when we first looked at the house, thanks to an adventurous California poppy growing in the desert of the front yard. Now I see that I am well on my way to the wildlife garden I had hoped for...sorry for the poor quality shot from my camera phone. However, if you look closely and heed the enlarged corner, you will spot the Swallowtail butterfly, alighting briefly on the gravel.

Just for fun, this is a slightly younger Cyrus, exploring the bathtub at our current house. I love it that he's not hydrophobic.

Finally, what could be better about a new house than chasing Mya? With no furniture, she has nowhere to hide. Also, the empty house has a lovely echo which transforms play growls into the Voice of the Hell Hound! Exciting stuff. Almost as exciting as whatever sounds keep coming through that open window...