Our dogs have a really bad case of cabin fever. With the Xmas holidays and generally freezing cold weather, Tango and Don haven’t been out doing any training and it has been too miserable to take the dogs for a good off-leash run. Poor Wally has had to put up with Tango jumping on him and using him as her personal chew toy and energy release. Well all that changed on New Year’s day. We met Susan and the gang for a good romp in the snow. As you can see by the video there are a lot of smiling faces (puppy and human alike) and wagging tails. We even managed to coax little Tilly up the giant snow mound.
Category Archives: Wally
T’was the night before Christmas….
..and all through the house not a creature was stirring…not even the dogs.
Wally and Tilly curled up by the fireplace waiting for Santa to arrive
Here’s a cartoon from DrawTheDog.com. It reminds me of my ‘kids’….they are always shoving their big heads into all parcels and bags to check out what goodies are inside.
My Co-pilots
Ok, I admit it. I am a sucker for those big, sad, brown eyes. When I am leaving the house, all Wally has to do is give me the ‘look’ and I have no choice but to invite the dogs to come along. To be honest, I enjoy their company as much as they like tagging along as my co-pilots. They take turns sitting in the passenger seat and watching the world go by. They love drive-thrus and they instinctively know which ones give out dog treats. When we go to our neighbourhood Tim Hortons, all three squish on to the front seat to wait for their dog cookie or better yet a Tim-bit.
It is funny to watch drivers’ reactions as they casually look around and then discover they are being watched by Tango’s intense stare or they ooh and ahh when they see little Tilly and Wally cuddled up together. I can’t imagine my life without dogs.
Waiting for Dad
Don and Tango were out training on the weekend. Wally and Tilly took up their place at the front door waiting for them to return safely. I just love that my ‘kids’ snuggle together. It just makes my heart melt when I see them all intertwined together.
Jowly drooler….yuk!
Yesterday Susan and I piled all 4 dogs into the van and we headed out into the country to go to a pottery show/sale. It was nice 80 minute drive on a beautiful, sunny fall day. As much as I love my boy’s big, fat head and muzzle….there is one major drawback. Those big jowls hold a lot of spit and poor Hope was the victim. Susan and I were having lunch in the front while Wally and Hope pushed their fat heads between the seat to enjoy the aroma’s. That’s when it started. When Wally smells or sees food he immediately starts drooling…..big steams of spit pour from his handsome jowly face. Unfortunately poor Hope’s head was below the flow.
Filed under Wally
Puppy sleep over
We have Hope with us for a short visit and sleep over. We just love it when we get the opportunity to spend some time with one of our former foster ‘kids’. Everyone two and four legged enjoys the visit. I was up bright and early his morning and took them all for a walk and then we came back and had breakfast. Sleeping beauty, aka Don, was still sound asleep so we all ran upstairs and jumped on the bed to try and wake him up. As you can tell by the picture Don is a very skilled sleeper. Even with 4 dogs in bed nothing interferes with his beauty rest…..well maybe there is a little hint of a smile on his lips.
Filed under Foster Puppies, Tango, Tilly, Two legged family, Wally
Play with me….
I’m working at home today because poor Tango has a bad case of diarrhea. I was able to capture this cute video of Tilly trying to entice Wally to play with her. She has a chewed up straw in her mouth that she wiggles in front of his face. When she drops it he grabs it and the game is on. You can see him pushing his muzzle in her face so that she can grab the straw and the game can continue. He is just such a sweet, gentle boy when he plays with her…..I just love my golden boy! Sorry the video quality is so poor. I had to use my phone to capture the moment because my video camera was in another room and I didn’t want to take the chance of interrupting the interaction by getting up and leaving the room.
Tilly hide and seek
We took our kids and our house guest Hope for a free run. The grass was so tall that in places all I could see was the tip of Wally’s tail curled up high over his back. Forget about finding Tilly….it was impossible. She had a great time running through the grass and chasing after her much bigger buddies. I captured this cute video of everyone just being a dog and having fun….not to mention running into my camera. Check out Tilly’s giant ears flapping like wings as she runs.
Filed under Foster Puppies, Tango, Tilly, Wally
Wally Honoured
Since Wally was a year old, he has been making regular blood donations to the Canadian Animal Blood Bank at NAIT. The blood is used to provide transfusions for sick and injured dogs across Canada. We were given this certificate of achievement to recognize his 21 previous donations. He has an appointment to give blood this afternoon so that will increase the official total to 22 donations.
Filed under Wally
My quilting helpers
It doesn’t matter where I go in the house, all the dogs have to come with me. My sewing room floor is covered with dog treats, toys and of course fabric and thread scraps. Every so often someone gets bored and lets me know……”hey Mom…..we need a little attention here”. It was Tilly’s turn today. She kept sitting in front of me with her rib bone in her mouth…..very cute. I happened to have my cell phone with me so I was able to capture this quick video. If you look on the wall behind Wally, you will see my Bargello quilt starting to take shape.
Puppy play date
On the weekend we brought our ‘kids’ over to Susan’s house and they had a fun play date with Hope. She was so excited to see them that she was doing laps in the backyard. For a puppy who had several homes and a bit of a rough start in life…..she is doing so well. She is quite the flirt and she just loves men. As soon as Don sat on the swing she was right up there beside him. Susan says she never jumps up there normally. Here is a short video of all the ‘kids’ together.
Filed under Foster Puppies, Tango, Tilly, Two legged family, Wally
A special day
Today we are celebrating two milestones. Nine years ago today Wally joined our family as our first foster dog. He was only supposed to be with us for a year but we have been blessed with 9 wonderful years and hopefully many, many more to come. He has the most beautiful personality and a gentle spirit. He has fathered 51 puppies, many of whom have gone on to become guide, assistance, hearing or autism service dogs.
Over the years he has welcomed 7 long term foster puppies and numerous short term fosters. They have chewed on him, jumped on him, used him as their play thing and at the end of the day they have crawled on top of him and gone to sleep. For an intact male he is truly amazing. If it were possible to clone him and keep him in our lives forever, I would do it without hesitation.
June 22nd, 2001
And last but not least, little Tilly is 6 months old today.
Training Time
Three friends and I are in Calgary to attended the CAPPDT (Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers) conference. We arrived yesterday at noon, hit a few local quilt stores and then settled into our hotel rooms. I am really looking forward to hearing such experts as Jennifer and Steve White and of course the guru Karen Pryor speak. I have been awake since 5am and now I am waiting for the others to surface so that we can walk the dogs before the first session begins at 9am.
This is the first time Don has been left alone with the 4-legged kids and he knows I am a little worried. He sent me these picture to show me that everything is ok at home.
Hope’s Visit
We’ve had Hope as our houseguest for the last 2 nights. She was one of our foster puppies in 2008-2009 so she is well known to Wally and Tango. She loved playing with little Tilly but she was a little rough……I guess she has never had any experience playing with a small puppy. Everyone survived and a good time was had by all. Hope was very good a remembering the house rule for only going potty in the restricted zone but she either completely forgot or ignored the rule of no swimming in the pond. Thank goodness we hadn’t moved the fish outside yet.
Filed under Foster Puppies, Tango, Tilly, Wally
Fun Weekend
We went for an off-leash run with Susan, David and Hope this past weekend. There were so many gopher holes in the field it was like walking an obstacle course. I was concerned that one of the dogs would hurt themselves and possibly break a leg while they were running around and playing. Wally, who is not normally a high prey drive dog, was fascinated with some of the holes and began digging in them. I got a good group picture at the end. You can see how tired the dogs are with their giant pink tongues hanging out while they were panting profusely.
Filed under Foster Puppies, Tango, Tilly, Two legged family, Wally
A dog house morning
I love weekend mornings. I’m always the first 2 legged member of the family to wake up. As soon as I am starting to stir Tango is right there waiting to say good morning. I just need to snap my fingers or whisper ‘OK’ and she is on the bed in a microsecond. She loves her morning cuddles and she is so anxious to plant a kiss on my face that I often end up with a french kiss. Wally is more like Don…..not a morning person. It takes him a while to stretch and slowly come to consciousness and then as he approaches the bed you can hear the loud thumping of his tail against the mattress. Wally is a ‘spooner’…..he just loves to mould his body to mine and snuggle in close. Our little Tilly prefers to get as close to your face as possible. She will sleep draped across my neck or mouth.
If I get up for a potty break, by the time I come back Tilly has staked a claim on Don’s neck and the big ‘kids’have taken over my side of the bed.
New puppy toy
I know my ‘kids’ have a ton of toys already but I couldn’t resist buying this one. It is a giant yellow and green crocodile with 16 squeakers in it. There is nothing Wally and Tango love more than a stuffed toy with a squeaker….but 16 of them…..now that is a toy! It was a big hit with all 3 dogs. So far they have only killed one squeaker…..no holes, no missing appendages and it is still fully stuffed.
A Very Special Day
This afternoon we attended a graduation ceremony for guide, autism and service dogs. There were a total of nine graduates. The dogs were from 3 different litters, C, E and F. When I looked out over the group I realized that all 9 of the dogs were Wally’s puppies (he has sired 51 in total). It was wonderful to see how his genes have been passed on and how successful they have become. The E-Litter is the first litter that has had all puppies make it through the training program and be successfully matched with a partner.
Back: Everest, Enzo, Eddie, Finn, Chase, Chloe, Ebony
Front: Elliot, Cessco
Sam and Ebony
One of today’s graduates held a very special place in our heart. Ebony was our foster puppy from 2007-2008. She and I learned operant conditioning (clicker training) together. She was amazing. I got her at 7 weeks old and in her first week with us she learned her name, sit, down, come and she could retrieve a set of keys. By the time she was 5 months old she could retrieve or carry anything, take off my socks and help me undress, empty the washer and dryer , and turn on the light switch. At 5-1/2 months old she flew with me, in the passenger cabin, to California to attend Clicker Expo.
There was nothing that Ebony couldn’t learn how to do and she loved to work. Just before she left us, I taught her how to paint. I would hand her the brush and she would make strokes on the canvas. Many of her original pieces of artwork were sold at a charity auction. I presented her partner Sam with a framed print of one of Ebony’s best works of art. She painted it during the summer of 2008 when the Beijing Summer Olympic were on TV….to me, it has a real oriental feel to it
Ebony with her paint brush
Another one of our previous foster puppies, Charly and her partner Larry, came to today’s graduation ceremony. Charly graduated a few years ago. We were lucky enough to be able to get a picture of Ebony and Charly together with their partners.
Larry & Charly with Sam & Ebony
Filed under Clicker Training, Foster Puppies, Wally
Perfect puppy weekend
On the weekend we always try to get the dogs out for a few off-leash runs. Tango lives to play with her chucker and Wally and Tilly are just happy to be outside with us. Here are a couple of videos from our weekend. The first one is just video of Tilly and Wally enjoying being at the off-leash park. The second one is Tango playing with her chucker. She is obsessed with it. If you watch her closely you will see that when she is chasing the ball, she makes herself more aerodynamic by flattening her giant ears against the top of her head. As she closes in on the ball they stand up straight almost like air brakes to help her slow down.
A real dog house
I walked into the family room this morning and got a real chuckle…..it is not hard to tell that this is a ‘dog house’. The carpet was covered with toys, stuffing and of course dogs.
When Tilly wants to cuddle or sleep she seems to prefer Wally but when she is in the mood to play, Tango is definitely her first choice. Here is a cute video of her doing her best to get Tango to play with her. When she does succeed at getting herself a playmate…..she is almost overwhelmed by the intensity of the game.
Happy Birthday Wally
My beautiful (inside and out) golden boy is 9 years old today. I can’t believe it. He is still so young at heart but the greying muzzle gives away his true age. This is what he looked like the day he joined our household:
2001 June 22 – 10 weeks and 5 days old
And this is my handsome boy today:
Here’s a slide show of him growing up:
Filed under Wally
Happy Easter
We hope that the Easter bunny hid some tasty treats for you to fill your basket with!
Puppies have spring fever
Last week was so beautiful with temperatures well above normal…..almost all the snow was gone but that all changed. Here it is the first official week of spring and the temperature has fallen and we’ve had snow 3 days in a row. Everyone, two-legged and four-legged, is sick and tired of winter. The dogs have got so much energy but nowhere to burn it. Wally and Tango were having a good wrestle in the back yard and little Tilly really wanted to join in. I love watching them interact together but I’m always watching to make sure that she doesn’t get trampled accidentally.
Puppy mosh pit
Generally speaking, most German Shepherds are fiercely loyal and love their family but they often don’t really warm up to strangers. Tango is quite different. She is extremely affectionate and just loves all people When Don takes her out training, we have to warn the people that are hiding that when she finds them she is going to plant at least one big, wet puppy kiss on their face. When it comes to other dogs, she is not a real social butterfly. At the puppy park she is only interested in playing with the chucker and she doesn’t interact much with the other dogs. Over the years, Tango has welcomed all of our foster puppies. She is the first to play with them but for some reason she will not allow them to touch her. If they try and snuggle up with her….she will just get up and walk away. It doesn’t matter how many times the puppy tries….snuggling is just not permitted. It can take a month or more before she will start relaxing the rules….that is until now. It has taken Tilly less than 2 weeks to have a break through. It was amazing to watch. That little puppy had a plan and she carried it out to perfection. Inch by inch she dragged herself closer and closer to Tango until she reached her goal of snuggling up against her. It probably took almost 20 minutes to complete….but she was successful. When Don got up to grab the camera, Tango and Wally were muzzle to muzzle…unfortunately just before he snapped the picture Tango sat upright.
Celebrating 3 months
Today Tilly is 3 months old. She has really fit well into our ‘Dog House’. Wally and Tango seem to be accepting her and she is thrilled with them. Wally will allow her to snuggle with him but he doesn’t play much with her whereas Tango loves to play ‘chase-me’ with her in the backyard but she still has her ‘no touching’ rule. It usually takes Tango a month or so before she will let a new puppy snuggle up with her.
Yesterday we captured this great video of Wally and Tango holding a tug toy and little Tilly trying to take it away from each of them. Too cute!!
Puppy camouflage
It has been really hard leaving little Tilly at home while I go to work. I know that Don is taking good care of her but I still miss her. He brought her with him when he came to my office to pick me up. Everyone fell in love with her. So many people thought that she was one of Wally’s puppies because her colouring is almost identical to his.
Later in the day Tilly decided to curl up in Wally’s belly for a little snooze. All of us were amazed at how she just seemed to disappear. If her eyes weren’t open she just blended into all of Wally’s long golden fur……talk about camouflage….it was perfect.
Tilly meets Wally and Tango
Just a short video clip showing Tango and Wally meeting Tilly for the first time. Tango has this habit of using her long, pointy muzzle and ‘boinking’ other dogs when she wants to play. She almost knocks poor little Tilly right over with her first boink.
Picture perfect Family Day
Wally, Tango, Hope, Garnet & Bentley
Our family day could not have been more perfect. Gorgeous weather, the company of good friends and lots of dogs…..what more could you ask for. We got together with Patty, Susan and David and all our dogs to celebrate Hope’s 2nd birthday and Tango’s 6th. The dogs had a great run all around Patty’s acreage and then we all went inside to enjoy delicious baking courtesy of Patty.
At the end, each dog got their own individual birthday cake. Considering that we had 5 dogs together, 2 of which are intact males, the day could not have gone better.
New family addition?
It has been more than 6 months since we said good bye to our last foster puppy and it has been over a year since our little, sweet Shih Tzu went to puppy heaven. I’m feeling the overwhelming need to add a four-legged member to our household. Although we have our 9 year old Golden Retriever who is the love of my life (if he were human I would call him my soul mate) and a beautiful 6 year old German Shepherd, I miss having a small, cuddly lap dog. Initially I thought that it would be great to go back to our breeder and get another Shih Tzu but I quickly realized that I wasn’t ready to share our life with another Shih Tzu so soon after Ming going to puppy heaven.
The hunt is on to find a breed that will fit into our lives and work well with our current 4-legged companions. I have also been thinking about getting involved with Pet Therapy so that will have a major impact on our breed decision.
Life In The Dog House 