Artemis

This morning I hauled Arty off to the vets to be neutered.  Apollo was peeved because Arty got to go for a car ride and he didn’t.  Arty was peeved because he was hungry….

The vet has called to say that Arty made it through surgery fine (it was complicated by the fact that one of his testicles hadn’t dropped, which was the reason he was being neutered in the first place), and he was awake and doing ok.  I assume he was awake but drugged as I didn’t hear any shrieking in the background….they’re keeping him overnight and we’ll pick him up tomorrow.

Apollo got over his sulk at the lack of car ride, but is now VERY UPSET that Arty is missing.  He keeps looking for him, and hasn’t hardly eaten a thing all day….

Course, the cats are thrilled, they know Apollo won’t chase them, but we’ve not yet convinced them that Arty won’t (probly cause he still does on occasion).

CNN Video

There are actually a variety of organizations that have canine weight pulling contests, though this is the first I’ve heard of a multi-event contest like this.  That 1000lb figure isn’t theoretical either.  Apollo was training for IWPA pulling, and managed 600lbs at the age of 9months and doing so like it was nothing, I was ready to pull the plug cause I was worried it was to much weight on his growing frame, but he didn’t even flinch.  And he wasn’t even GOOD at it.  Dogs who’d been training for a while were pulling 1000lbs plus in competitions in almost all of the weight groups.  Sound insane?  Go here and look at the contest results.  Dogs weighing as little as 30lbs pulled over 1000lbs.

I’m not sure if it’ll replace dog fighting in the culture, but I like the concept.  More power too them.

Friday evening Husband brought home a dozen donuts for us to split over the weekend.  No we don’t need them, but we don’t do that sort of thing very often either.  As of last night there were still 4 left in the box.  As of this morning when I got up, the box was on the kitchen floor and the donuts where no where to be seen (don’t worry, the chocolate ones were long gone).

Pretty sure its Arty who’s the problem, Apollo is certinally capable of stealing stuff off the counter, but he knows better.  Arty on the other hand has JUST reached a size where he can stretch up and grab something, and we haven’t been successfull yet in teaching him not to.   And of course although Apollo might not START it, but he’s more than willing to “help” once Arty starts it.  Sigh

Some random puppy videos from the last few weeks.

Took advantage of the sun today to get some pictures.  Didn’t quite get the ones I wanted, but they turned out cool anyway.

Well, Apollo had a total freakout (ok, total freak out for HIM anyway), as in he planted his feet and REFUSED to move when we hooked him up to the bicycle.  Not entirely sure WHY, he’s seen the bike before, and I’ve even pushed it with him walking beside it a couple times to make sure it wasn’t totally scary.  He handled the harness ok.  But when I hooked him up to the bike and started to move, well, he didn’t.  Oh well.  I thought about trying to see if we could coax him into it and decided it wasn’t worth it for now.  Maybe later.

Arty however is still thrilled with it.  The lower attachment point makes a HUGE difference for me, and doesn’t seem to bother him at all.  So I’ll take it.

We bought an attachment for my bicycle  so we could attach one of the dogs for some extra exercise.  Which sounds like a really good idea, but thanks to the wonky weather last year its been 2 years since I was last on a bike.    Didn’t even bike a mile and the fronts of my thighs hurt.  Sigh.

On the other hand at least for Arty its working reasonably well.  He caught on REALLY quickly to the concept and seems to enjoy it, and its probly just as well I couldn’t go any further as he was definetly flagging by the end.  I will say that before I hook up Apollo to the bike I’ll have to get the alternative hookup for the bike so that it attaches to my back wheel instead of just below the seat.  Even 25lb Arty can jerk me hard enough that I have to correct, 100lb Apollo would pull me over….if it WORKS for Apollo though we’ll get a 2nd setup so that my husband can take a dog too.

I’ve mentioned before that we’ve got wild turkeys out back.  We see them off and on, though I don’t believe Apollo has ever actually seen them, I know he’s smelled them though. 

This morning when I took the dogs out for their morning potty break I could hear what sounded like (at first listen) a bunch of kids laughing/yelling off the back of the property.  Which didn’t make sense since thats miles of forest….then I realized it was turkeys making all that noise.  Apollo was not amused.  He braced into a very aggressive stance and started huffing.  Arty was oblivious.  Since Arty had finished his business, and Apollo showed no sign of starting I coaxed them back to the house…only to get DRAGGED in the door by Apollo.    When I left for work Husband took the dogs out again, normal schedule, and he says that shortly after I left the turkeys started back up again.  Apollo turned and booked it for the house with all speed and determination.  Since he weighed in at 98lbs a couple weeks ago there’s not much that’ll stop him from going in the direction he wants to go……when Husband texted me to tell me I had to laugh at my goofy puppy…..

Then this afternoon on my way home a BIG dark and white bird, with a white head soared over the road….and just now when I took the dogs out an equally big bird soared overhead….I’m thinking we got Bald Eagles nearby!