Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

It's been a fun, busy time around here. We grabbed a few vacation days when we could, came back to the shop for two days to catch up (thank you for your orders!), then dashed off to the Pet Industry Trade Show. It did seem smaller this year - a sign of the times. So maybe instead of getting together with 10,000 of our closest colleagues, it was only about 9,500. An intimate gathering.

It was, as always, fun, fascinating and totally exhausting! The best things about going to a trade show in your home town are not having to travel and not having to spend a fortune on lousy convention center food. The worst thing about going to a trade show in your home town is that you have to go to work before the show. Imagine two floors, each floor with 30 aisles packed with vendors. And we have to see them all, or we might miss something wonderful!

Back to the routine

I like routine. You pretty much know what to expect. You know what you have to do, and customers know where and when to find you. Of course, I love vacation and am looking forward to the next one! But I feel good knowing that I helped some people's little dogs today! There are going to be some happy little dogs when their mail comes with their Bow Wow Beanies. And some little dogs are going to look pretty spiffy in their new Soft Harnesses!

What we did on our autumn vacation

We had our portrait done. That's Fran on the left (slightly blue that day), Hope on the right. And yes, if you were wondering - those are absolutely our abs. Jedi never lie.

I miss them somthing awful

We're going on vacation tomorrow. Just a few days to relax before the shopping season truly starts. Not that there'll be much of a shopping season this year, but just in case.
The hardest part is taking the dogs to their "vacation homes." Since we have four, it's a bit much to ask anyone to watch all of them. So we split them two and two - the Griffs (Golly and Roc) and the Bully Girls (Ceilidh and Dax).
We are very, very fortunate to have wonderful dog friends who watch them - but I've got to admit I was a teeny-tiny bit jealous today when I brought the Griffs to their "Auntie Geri's" house. They walk in like they own the place, sniff hello to her gorgeous Doberman boy Ryder, and settle in like they were there yesterday. Golly runs into Geri's office, jumps up on the couch, rearranges the pillows to her liking and plops herself down.
Geri and I visited for a bit, then I got up to go. By this time the Griffs were very, very comfortable. I got the equivalent of a lackadaisical wave and "bye."
Ingrates.

Puppy Picnic

Last Sunday was the picnic for our club - the North Shore Dog Training Club. Unfortunately, it was a bit too warm for our dogs - Golly with heart disease and Dax being a French Bulldog, but it was a beautiful day - sunshine, good friends, great food, wonderful dogs.The little girl in the picture is Dot - granddaughter of one of our members. She's been coming to the picnics since she was three. Once a year we get to see what a beautiful young lady she's growing into. There was an abundance of Golden Retrievers at the picnic - no surprise for an obedience club!
But we had lots of other breeds as well, Shelties, German Shepherds, Dachshunds, Border Terriers, Dalmation, Husky, Weimeraner, Border Collie, Poodle, Keeshond, Doberman Pinscher, Cocker Spaniel - truly an all-breed club!
Double-Decker Dogs! Border Terriers MacDuff and Robbie on top, Dachshunds Hanna and Meg in the bottom bunk!

Cheese wins!

I've written about how much Ceilidh adores her Latex Soccer Ball. She must play fetch with it at least once a day, otherwise she won't leave me alone. And it must be at least 10 minutes, uninterrupted for anything. Forget about the phone. Forget about the doorbell. Before Agility Class, she loves to tug on her Latex Soccer Ball, until it gets too slimy to hang onto. But once I pull out the string cheese, Ceilidh forgets all about her Soccer Ball. Her attention is fixated on me. I can ask her to do anything for a tiny sliver of cheese. Poor Latex Soccer Ball. Of course, when I put the Treat Tote away and we get home, Ceilidh wants to play ball.

Ooops, she did it again!

Yesterday Dax The Mighty Huntress killed a squirrel.

It wasn't an old squirrel, or a sick squirrel.

It was a too-slow, stupid squirrel.

I was just bringing the dogs back to the house, Golly in the lead. When down the path comes strolling this gray squirrel. It goes nose-to-nose with Golly. They're both startled (you can imagine!) and the squirrel finally figures out "uh-oh," turns around and high-tails it (literally) for the gate at the front of the house.

Dax was in the back yard at the time. She beat the squirrel to the gate.

Fast puppy. Slow squirrel.

My mess to clean.