Goodbye, Sweet Friend

Our friends Mariann and Jim lost their dear Rocky this morning. He was 14-1/2 years old and was a good friend and companion for many years. Tess and Jazz both respected and adored Rocky and we will miss him terribly. Rocky was sweet and gentle, yet instantly gained the respect of every dog he encountered. Although we didn't meet Rocky until later in his life, we understand that a humane officer was in the area picking up another dog, and when he returned, there was Rocky just sitting in his truck! After failed attempts to locate Rocky's owners, he was taken to a shelter, where he was adopted by Mariann and Jim and enjoyed doing agility, taking walks in the park, and vacationing at the beach. I think Rocky knew that getting in that truck with the humane officer would transport him to a better life. Even as a puppy, that boy was smart!

Rocky, Jazz, and Tess at the beach earlier this year.

Love ya, Rocky. Till we meet again....

Holiday Therapy Visit

Tonight was our pet therapy night at the hospital, and Tess, Jazz, and Sammie managed to spread a fair amount of good cheer this holiday season.

Jazz, Tess, and Sammie visiting the 5th Floor at UPMC Passavant.

Tonight's visit also happened to be Sammie's 6th birthday, so I took my first foray into baking doggie birthday cakes this afternoon and made Sammie a peanut butter carrot cake.

According to Sammie, I did okay! He especially liked the cream cheese icing.

Here's Sammie with one of his birthday gifts. You can never go wrong in buying Sammie a ball!
A very happy birthday to Tess and Jazz's Border Collie "brother"!!

While we were celebrating Sammie's birthday, someone approached us and asked Tess and Jazz to visit with her Mom, who used to have Dalmatians. Even though she was not technically in our visitation area, we made a quick visit to Mom's room. Imagine her surprise when two Dalmatians walked in (dressed in Santa suits, no less)! Mom enjoyed seeing Dalmatians again so much that her daughter had tears in her eyes as she thanked us for taking the time to visit. It's times like this that make me so proud of my girls for doing pet therapy. The time we spend volunteering is nothing compared to the comfort the dogs bring to people during difficult times.

I was especially pleased that we could bring some joy to a fellow Dalmatian lover!

Doga

Our friends, Jan and George Smith, opened a new dog training facility late this past summer (http://www.yougolittledog.com/), and in addition to agility training classes, they've also been offering some fun stuff for dogs and handlers, too. In late October, Tess and Jazz and I taught our fitness ball exercise class there, and yesterday, Jazz and I attended a Doga (doggie yoga) class!

Here are our instructors, Leta and Laurie, and their dogs. Notice how graceful they look!

Here's Jazz going, "Gee, Mom, I didn't know you could touch your toes!!" Notice how not-graceful I look!



This is Jan's little Pom, Regina. Even though she just had hip surgery, she was enjoying the Doga class.

Here's the whole Doga gang. We had fun at the class and Jazz did very well, particularly with the "Downward Dog" position. We learned different stretches for us and our dogs and ended with a nice massage session for the dogs which included placing one hand on your heart and one hand on your dog's heart and conveying all the love you feel for your dog and taking away any hurt or fear they may have. It was a sweet way to end a fun afternoon.

Birthday Celebration

Here are a few pictures from Jazz's birthday celebration:

Didn't take Jazz long to figure out the birthday cake thing. She was licking at it before I could even get the camera ready! Both girls enjoyed Jazz's peanut butter-banana birthday cake.

Gee, that peanut butter icing really sticks to the roof of your mouth!

Tess politely waited for the birthday girl to eat her cake...


...and then gulped her piece down, too!



Jazz opening a few of her presents.


Come on, Jazz...let's play with your new toy!


Happy Birthday, baby girl...and many, many more!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jazz!

Today is Jazz's 3rd birthday! It seems like yesterday that I was holding a little 7-week-old pup in my arms. In honor of Jazz's birthday, I created a slideshow of what we've been up to these past three years. I'm so proud of Jazz and all she has accomplished in the short time we've been together.

Many thanks to Gia and Tolliver for my wonderful little liver girl! I'm also grateful to her breeder, LaDonna, and her "grandmas," Barb and Nanci, for entrusting us with Jazz and for their support in all we do.

Jazz has taken me places I never thought I'd go, from the agility, rally, and obedience rings to riding horses again after more than 30 years! She is a fantastic working dog and a joy to live with.

More pictures of the birthday celebration later!

Happy Turkey Day!

A very Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family from Lisa, Jim, Tess and Jazz!

Jazz's Obedience Weekend

Jazz got two legs towards her Companion Dog title in AKC Obedience this past weekend at the Westmoreland County Obedience Training Club trial!! On Saturday, we qualified with third place, although Jazz could have gotten second place if her handler didn't make a 3-point error. Oops! You know what they say...there are no bad dogs, only bad handlers ;) You can bet that this handler won't make that same mistake again!

Our friend Susan and her Dal Ripley came out from Ohio for this trial and stayed with us Saturday evening. We had a nice dinner with a bunch of our agility friends and then brought Ripley home to play with Tess and Jazz. Although he liked playing with the girls, he was much more fascinated with our parrot.

On Sunday, we headed back to the obedience trial, where Jazz qualified with first place! While we still have a ways to go in building Jazz's confidence, I was really pleased with how well she did this weekend. She was comfortable in the trial environment and did fairly well in the ring. Her long sits and downs were solid and she's really improved her Figure 8s. I'm looking forward to continuing Jazz's obedience training and entering more trials in the spring with this awesome liver girl!!