Training at Home

Each night after dinner, mommy takes the kid out back to work on her "training".  Remember that she is in school at PetsMart?  Well, tonight brother and I got to join in.  First we practiced the "leave it" command (notice the kibble sitting right in front of us).....

Then I danced the Macarana.......

Then we chased mommy out in to the yard......

Then the kid and I performed a really long "stay/wait" command....

And finally we sat for one last photo op!!

Julian, CA

For our family outing this week, we went to the mountains of Julian, an old mining town from late 1800's. Many know Julian today as the premiere apple pie source in southern California. On our way there, we stopped at Lake Henshaw (which we have, of course, renamed "Lake Prinnie Russell-Shaw") and then at a one-room school house that is still active today. We visited the town of Julian for a brief period and later saw some horses, cows and squirrels. We then headed back to the school house for lunch. After a relaxing afternoon (and my sister getting her lead tangled up time and time again), we headed back down the mountain. We stopped several times to take in the beauty of the area, and the remarkable red foliage draping the landscape. Mommy picked some of it and offered us each a whiff of it's fragrance. Mommy said it was sage, but it didn't smell "all that" to me, Atka and Digby. After they were done oooohhhing and aaaahhhing, we finally make it back to our valley. It was a GREAT day, and another fun trip. Here is a collection of pictures we took along the way...

The New Addition Next Door

Tonight we got to meet, and play with, our new friend Fiona. She is the canine-daughter of our neighbor's son, but he is unable to keep her where he is living, so she has taken up residence next door. Mommy thought it best to have us all meet in person, since I have a strong passion for tearing and clawing at the fence between our two homes. Fiona's aunt, Shelby, lives there too, and I believe it is my job to show the big German Shepard who the boss of the neighborhood is. Anyhow, here are some pictures of my brother and sister meeting Fiona. Me? Well, I didn't behave so well and had to stay inside after I tried to have Fiona as a snack!

Fiona................................. Atka and Fiona.......................... Dibgy and Fiona

"The Girls"...................Atka pawing "goodbye"

DQ! We're B A C K!!!

Last night brought us back to one of my favorite traditions - our whole family going to DQ for a well-earned ice-cream. It was Atka's very first time, so brother and I had to show her the ropes. We huddled her in between us and told her how the process went....first mom goes in the doors and disappears for a few minutes. If we watch closely, we can see her coming back out. When she does, she would have little dishes of ice-cream with a doggy bone on top - one for each of us. Mommy would go to one side of the car, and mom to the other. Each would give us the cups of heaven to devour (I mean lick). When we were done, they would wipe our chins and snouts off and then do the process all over again, except this time they would get theirs. They would eat theirs after we've settled in for a few quiet moments with our full bellies. When they were done, we would take a leisurely drive around town, and eventually head home as the sun would set.

Sure enough, everything we told the kid is exactly how it happened. Mommy gave Atka and I our "scream", and mom gave Digby his. Then they ate theirs. Mom kept snapping a bunch of pictures (grrrr!), saying that this was a special day - the first day of our family tradition with our new addition! Watch out DQ, the girls are back!!!!!

So Hot....So, So Hot

This is how one little eskie spends these 106+ degree days...

Me and My Whale

Since the arrival of Atka, I've had very limited access to my favorite stuffie in the whole world....my Whale. Mommy tries to remember to give it to me when Atka is in her cave, but usually forgets until the monster is back out. Today, though, I had Whale for hours.

Here I am with my Whale

Here is where Atka tries to trade me a Wubba for my Whale....I say "NO!"


Here's BRATKA trying to take my Whale

Here are Whale and I after I win the battle. Mom calls these my Cybil eyes.

Here I am with Whale after he wakes up from a mid-day nap!

At it again.....

My sister is SOOOOO embarrassing! Tonight, she followed mom out to the garage. When mom was ready to come in, Atka wasn't, so she stayed out there by herself for a few minutes. When she finally came in, she was a mess. She had gotten into something very black, and did a really bad imitation of a football player on game day with the black eye shade.....

Just take a look at that face and nose!! Can you believe what I have to put up with from this puppy???

Bratka's Making Progress

As the perfect eskie that I am, I find it appalling that my sister is a little slow on the uptake. BUT....I must admit that the little Bratka is making some good progress. For the past several weeks, we have all been struggling with her housebreaking, her aggression toward others and her inability to take direction. My parents enrolled her in school at PetsMart - although her ability to stay there was "iffy" because she bit the teacher just days earlier and was showing serious signs of aggression - in hopes of giving her some external guidance and socialization.

Finally, a few days ago I had had enough. I sat her down on the patio sofa and told her that we were going to have a sisterly chat. I explained to her that I, a long, long time ago, was afraid of being in this new family too and as a result, I acted out. I told her that I was afraid my people would send me away, or not love me, or would forget to feed me. I told her I kept trying to prove they were bad and they would hurt me. But they didn't. They snuggled me up and told me they loved me - every day. They fed me, and cleaned up after me. They took me with them, and when they didn't, they came home and were excited to see me. They even gave me silly nicknames.

I told her that if she gave them a chance, they would do the same for her. She said she didn't believe me just yet, but would give us all a try. She said she would try her baby eskie best (now known as BEB). We shook paws and gave an affirmative nod (I don't know if I like the kid enough just yet to hug her!) that our pact was sealed in our white fur.

Since then, mom and mommy have been so much happier with the kid. They pick her up and hug her and tell her they are enjoying her. Then they turn to me and pick me up for a loving snuggle. Late at night, mom whispers in my ear that she is really proud of me for helping guide my sister to be the best eskie she can be, and for allowing her to feel safe in our family for probably one of the first times in her life. Then Bratka budges in and I begin to rethink my strategy - just kidding!!

Ding-aling-aling

Yesterday Mommy noticed that Digby appeared to have an infection in his you-know-what. Off to the vet they went. Digby was all full of himself thinking that he got to have a car ride that us girls didn't get to go on. His tune quickly changed once he realized where he was headed. Mommy told Mom that Digby willingly walked into the office and waited patiently for Mommy to check him in then looked up at Mommy and said "OK we're checked in....let's go!" and body slammed the door to leave. Mommy convinced him to leave the door and get on the scale, which he did quite well. After he got weighed, he again looked at Mommy and said, "OK, we're checked in and you got my weight, now, really, let's go," and headed for the door again. The vet tech came out and called his name and Digby pulled all the harder to get to the door. Somehow, Mommy managed to get him into the exam room. The little man was patient while the tech took his temperature, though, he was not thrilled. The tech explained that she would have to take Digby into the sterile room so that the vet could get a better look at Digby's you-know-what as the vet suspects that perhaps Digby had a piece of foxtail or weed "in there (between the skin)". As the tech carried him away, he gave his most pitiful pleading look to Mommy. A little while later, Digby was brought back out and the tech explained that they flushed "it" out and gave Mommy some pills that are supposed to take away any infection. Today, Digby is feeling so much better. Sister and I were less that sympathetic with him because it's his own fault he got an infection there. When he was playing with the Pit Bull puppy across the street the other day, he kept that thing exposed.... yucky!

Atka Helped

Today was unseasonably cool for the first part of July here. It was in the low 80's, which Mom and Mommy just enjoy the heck out of. Mom had to meet with some mister about something to do with the Barkery and cross advertising. Mommy stayed home with us furkids and decided to take advantage of the great weather and do some weed pulling. At first, Mommy let all three of us stay in the house while she worked in the garden. But then she heard Atka barking and worried that maybe Atka needed to come outside to pee. When she got in the house, Bratka wasn't at the door, but in the living room harassing me trying to get me to play. Since I was still exhausted from yesterday's holiday festivities, I was having none of that. So Mommy decided that she needed some help in the garden and brought Bratka out with her.

Once outside, Atka pointed out green things that she thought maybe were weeds for Mommy to pull. She was bewildered when Mommy pulled some of them and left some alone, so Atka thought she would help by digging them out herself. When Mommy cut a couple of small branches off the hibiscus bush and jasmine, Atka thought that she would help by dragging them away for her. The problem, though, was that she was pulling them in the opposite direction of the green barrel that they were supposed to go into. Mommy just laughed and gave Atka a treat in trade for the branches. But Mommy decided that Atka had gone overboard in her helping when Atka decided to take the big chunks of mulch and break them up into smaller chunks with her mouth. So Mommy decided to abandon the weed pulling for another day and put our harnesses on us so we could go for a car ride when Mom came home. Where to you ask? Well, Starbucks of course ;-)

Happy Birthday America

Happy Fourth of July Celebration from our family to yours!!

Forever Friday's by Atka

I LOVE summer time. We are spending A LOT of time outside as a family, especially as the sun begins to set. Mommy says that is the only time of day when we can all tolerate being out for more than just a few minutes at a time, although everyone agrees that we've had a very mild summer so far (odd, Mom is going around knocking her head on wood for some reason!).

Anyhow, my parents were so excited tonight as they watched my sister, Prinnie, nibbling for an hour or more on a bone toy that belongs to Digby. I didn't see what the big deal was, but they were so proud of their oldest eskie because it was the first time that she had taken the chew toy and actually tried to eat the rings around it. I didn't dare cross the invisible line that would turn that cute eskie into 'Cybil', but I waited and watched patiently for her to take a break so I could make my move. She never did - the girl is a ninja. After an eternity, it grew dark, and mom bribed us in to the house with some treats.

As for me, I had a REALLY good day. I didn't have a single accident in the house, I didn't make anything crash to the ground and break, I didn't chew up anything I shouldn't have and when my parents came home after going out to dinner, my crate was clean and dry! They were so proud of me that they picked me up, and hugged and squished me. I got a few extra treats and tons of lovin's. All in all, it was a great week.

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful celebration for our country's birthday this weekend. We will be feasting and visiting with our neighbors for our "sometimes annual" neighborhood barbecue.