Walking the Puppies

I just finished taking our marvelous puppies for a walk. Let me tell you, once I'm out there walking them...I LOVE IT!! It's kind of hard getting up the motivation to put on my shoes, do a little stretching (which always makes a puppy come and put her nose in my face), put their leashes on, and walk out the door to get going. The best walks are when I walk past several groups of people and Sable and Shiva are incredibly well behaved while we're going past them and the people "ooo" and "ahhh" and laugh at how cute they are (and probably at how ridiculous I look having one dog in each hand).
Tonight, we walked past a group of people that did just everything right to make the situation fun for me. One lady asked about Sable's gentle leader, if it was just part of her coloring or something else. Let me tell you, if you EVER have a dog that is hard to control and you want to go on walks and work with your dog on being a well trained leash dog....get a gentle leader (they've got a few other products to help make walks easier if your dog doesn't like the leader), but it's an "instant good dog". Sable would not have been very fun to walk without hers for a while (it'd be a strain sometimes now even, but she's pretty good) and I definitely wouldn't be able to take them both out together....that's too much dog. A few weeks ago one of my neighbors saw me starting out on a walk and asked if I could "handle both of the babies"; of course I responded with a confident, "yes".
Currently walking Shiva is a great workout on my left arm (Shiva walks on the left, Sable on the right....always). She's just so curious wanting to wander off to every side and in front pulling to get to that little patch of smell just ahead that I'll actually pass in 3 steps, but that's not soon enough. So, I'm constantly pulling her leash back in quick jerks to bring her back and show her that if she walks with her leash loose then it'll be much more comfortable....she's slowly improving.
Sable has really become a joy to walk for the most part. The only time she really pulls is when she sees a bird; then it's on...it's ALL about the bird. I suppose that's what we get for getting two sporting dogs. Other than birds she's mostly content to walk or trot beside me with a loose lease, sniffing as we go.
And of course, they both love running with Ryan while he roller blades. (Probably another thing about having two sporting dogs....or just dogs for that matter..)
After walks we come in and they both collapse on the kitchen floor. Shiva actually gets a drink beforehand....I don't think Sable does. She just plops down in front of the refrigerator and waits for you to pass her some ice. She downed about 5 pieces whole tonight; I've stick a piece in her mouth, she'd chew like twice, swallow, then look back up at me with her big pale blue eyes that were saying "more?"
I'll do a post in a day or two with some pictures, they're on my camera currently. I took some really cute ones today while they were sleeping. Yes, I let the girls in around 9am and they slept pretty much clear through to about 6:30pm; they took a small "awake" break for dinner. Shiva's also taken to licking the cats (SO CUTE!!), but I haven't captured that on camera yet...totally need to.

And with that , I must go....Sable is whining to come back in....goodness...what am I going to do with her?

Wow!! yeah I got nothing....

Whew, so in the past month, I've been looking at blogs going, "I really should update mine....but I want new pictures to do so and that requires getting up....ooo look...something else to look at!!" So, alas it stood un-updated...

Alright so lets start. I almost got a new job, then it was put on hold for 3 months....grrrr, we'll see where that goes. My sister-in-law graduated from college, Suma Cum Lade. My wonderful parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary; watching their relationship really is marvelous seeing as I can see a lot of similarities between Ryan and myself (just as many differences mind you...) I went and stayed for almost an entire week in Houston. One of my best friends came to TX from her current home in Maui, HI. We had a wonderful time catching up and I realized just how much I miss her.

In the past month Shiva has grown from the 10lber to over 20lbs currently (she was 20 last time she was weighed which was a week and a half ago) During my time in Houston, she GREW!!! I came back and my baby was HUGE!!! She did have a bad day a few weeks ago, emptied basically the entire contents of her stomach onto our kitchen floor, took her to the vet and she checked out fine; probably just ate something that simply didn't agree with her....puppies...just like small children...everything belongs in the mouth. Our darling baby is slowly being housebroken (seems MUCH slower than Sable - I think it's that "second kid" thing), but she is coming along. She will now "look" and "sit"; we're currently working on "down", "take-it", "leave-it", and "drop-it".

Sable's most recent accomplishment is that she "dies". You point a "gun" shaped hand at her and say loudly "BANG", she'll lay down and put her head flat to the ground. Her dying schedule fits her mood, if she doesn't really WANT to, she'll die very slowly and dramatically. BUT, if she's really eager (meaning you have a REALLY GREAT treat) she'll flop down incredibly fast. Her head doesn't always go down, generally she'll touch her head to the ground then pop back up to look at you like, "I did it!! Can I have a treat??!!! huh?! huh?! huh?!"

I will end with some adorable pictures of puppies: