Howdy blogaroos. Happy last Sunday of January. We’re enjoying today – because tomorrow we will be stranded. We are in for some snowy weather. Not like a mega storm or anything – but enough to keep the Warden from going anywhere. I see a day of napping in our future.

So – the title of our blog today is NQ. According to the “Internet and text slang dictionary” , NQ means thank you. In some other contexts, NQ means newly qualified. What else could NQ mean? No questions? Noxious quirk? Never quiet? New quest?

Well I’m here to tell ya, in the dog world when one is competing in performance sports like obedience, or rally or agility, the letters NQ are not EXACTLY what one is hoping for. They stand for Non-qualifying. Or in laydog’s terms – buzzer – you failed. And that was me – and the Warden yesterday.

Now in all fairness – we’ve been a BIT slack in our training over our extended Christmas holidays. So WHY the Warden thought we should enter a CARO rally trial at the Advanced level is anybody’s guess. Sure – I got my CARO Rally Novice pretty easily – but that’s all on leash. Advanced is OFF leash – and the exercises include things like sending your dog to a jump from 10 feet away. Learning to do that the night before the trial is not advisable. Anyway – we paid our money, packed our bag and off we went yesterday.

Let me begin by saying that our biggest problem is not yours truly – but the Warden. She gets so crazy nervous, she can barely take off my leash when she enters the ring with me. My reaction is kinda “ewwww- what’s with you?” She’s all weird and shaky- so I go in wide eyed wondering what awaits us. Surely the floor is going to open and swallow both of us or something. Maybe the judge, who is the only person in the ring is going to throw darts at us or something. I mean WHAT CAN BE SO SCARY?! So then I get weird. And I forget what to do because I’m worrying about the catastrophe that surely must lie ahead.

Despite the shaky behaviors on both our parts, in the first trial we somehow managed a third place finish with a score of 191 out of 200. Yup – we qualified!!!!! Not bad – given that I only learned the jump in the basement the night before. I had to repeat it after doing it incorrectly the first time- so I lost 5 points right there – so we almost pulled off a 196. So, really, our first run was respectable. Quite respectable!

So on to Trial 2. In this one, the Warden appeared less nervous. But her brain was still misfiring and HER errors gave us the dreaded NQ. No quesadillas for supper. I TRIED to show her what to do – and get this – I did the jump on the first try. See- sometimes cramming works.

Anyway – I still took her home. She tried her best- so I’m not ready to trade her in for a new handler. Yet. And despite all of our shakies- we did have fun – and honestly, that’s what it’s all about.

We would have tried again today – but the trials today were full. I think I’ll just do some training with her today. Clearly she needs it.

In other news – we had some very sad news on our road. Remember our buddy, Jackson aka Pigpen? The black Lab who had a heart of gold – and who put up with a humping Picard and obnoxious PONs. Well, sadly at the age of 12, he went to the Rainbow Bridge after a short illness. We heard him barking at us from his yard just last week… We would always bark if we heard him, but if we gathered at the end of his driveway it was waggy tails all around. He was THE perfect Lab. The road won’t be the same with him gone…

No doubt he and Viktor are chasing bumpers. And Viktor is watching Jackson dive into the water to get one. Remember- he liked ALL kinds of water – and the muckiest, the better. Yup – he was ALL Lab….and a very good boy….

Well, I better get going and finish the party planning. You DO know what party I’m talking about? Of course you do. I’m fearful though that the weather tomorrow may make it difficult for the band and all the guests to come. It’s a big day. No worries though – we’ll eat all the food – no problem. I can’t wait!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe. JBJ.

Howdy Blogaroos! Squirmy here as we begin a new week – and as January is quickly coming to a close. You can actually see that the days ARE getting longer – although we’re still sleeping in until the sun comes up – and that’s still after 7:30 AM. Anytime before that, and we’re out walking wearing glow-in-the-dark harnesses – and we’re being blinded by the Warden’s headlamp.

Things here are pretty quiet since Aunt Sue left. I miss my favorite ricochet target- and the Coyote is particularly depressed – since she usually walked him. The Boss is also looking rather glum.

Aunt Sue remarked about how well we have trained the Warden. We all have our own special tricks that we have taught her. For example, the Boss lets everyone know when it’s time to eat – or time to go to bed, by barking. Non stop. No alarm clock needed to remind her of those actions.

The Coyote has trained her to let him out – either if he’s bored – OR he wants to eat snow. He jumps up on the patio doors to ask to be let out. Over and over.

Aunt Sue had a real challenge walking him when we had snow. All he wants to do is eat it. And then if he eats too much, he he barfs. So the Warden will not let him do it constantly. Aunt Sue had to be prepared when walking him that he would suddenly dive to grab a mouthful in the piles along the road. Her shoulder was sore the first day or two- but she quickly learned to read his pre-dive body posture. When he would grab a mouthful she would look at him and calmly explain “no buddy, don’t do that- it will make you sick.” He would look at her innocently with his snowy white face, take 5 steps and dive again.

As for my training – if I’m bored, or I think it’s too quiet, OR I’m hungry , I simply start throwing around metal food bowls. They are great for getting attention. If the bowls are not available, I go into the hallway- where we have a little bench. The bench has a built in box to store our dog leashes. So if I can’t make noise with the food bowls, I go in the hall and lift the seat on the bench- and drop it – which makes a loud “bam”. If that doesn’t work to get attention, I just keep doing it. BAMBAMBAM. That usually gets results.

We have the Warden SO well trained. It’s the house of chaos canines. That’s us. I like the sound of that. We sound like a rock group. The Chaos Canines.

On Friday this week, the Coyote is scheduled to go to the vet clinic to have a technician take his blood pressure. He’ll be suitably medicated a couple of hours before they go. My prediction? He’ll still squeal. Let’s place bets!

So far our winter has been pretty mild. We’ve had a few doses of snow – but then the temperature goes up, it rains and the snow is gone.

Larry, the plow guy has only been here three times so far. Although the snow has melted on the lawn, the PON spas remain. What are the PON spas? They’re the piles of snow left by Larry’s plow. They are now hard as rocks and suitably “seasoned” with yellow spots. Every chance we get, the Boss and I like to lie down and roll on them. It’s awkward because they are sloped – so we end up sliding onto the lawn. There we are – with legs flailing – just loving the chilly sensation. The Boss isn’t big on walking in deep snow, or wet snow- but give him a PON spa and he’s in heaven flailing like a beached whale. The joys of winter.

Well – I’m still writing this in the dark – but it will soon be time to get the band together. Let the chaos begin!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe. JBJ.

Howdy blogaroos!!! It’s me! Obstreperous Wojtek here! How’s THAT for a big word?! The Warden has started getting these “word of the day” emails- even though she’s not sure how she signed up for them. It seems innocent enough, but the next thing ya know, she’ll be getting a charge on her credit card from a dictionary company. Weird how that happens…

Anyway- she laughed at the word obstreperous yesterday – because she said I could be the photo for the definition. It means “noisy and difficult to control.” Sounds about right. Call me Obie for short.

So how the heck are you all doing now that the evergreen is out of the house and the elves have been put on a shelf in a closet? Our Tannenbaum is currently lying in the yard – after it was heaved over the deck railing. The Warden will likely be finding needles in our coats for weeks – despite her best efforts to vacuum them up. Those needles hide in weird places – like a PON hiding when he knows he’s about to get a bath….

We’re doing great with 2024 so far. I mean we made no resolutions- so we’re not feeling guilty about anything!

Sue is still here for another day or two – and we’re loving having her here. Keith departed shortly after New Years Day – so the sisters could do sister stuff. Kind of like me and my brothers. They lounge around all day and eat whenever they feel the urge. Thank GOODNESS we dogs are here to give them some exercise. I’m not seeing much resolution keeping with those two.

Let’s see. What else….

Well some good news and bad news in the world of PONs and Picards. A friend lost her PON boy, Atticus, to the same illness that the Coyote has – Lyme nephritis. We feel so badly about it. His life was not nearly long enough – but full just the same. He has left a big hole in his human’s heart….

At the other end of the circle – we have seen a new puppy enter the world of Zan’s humans. As you may recall, Zan went to the Rainbow Bridge last year. But now a new chapter has begun – with the addition of a puppy by the name of Arrow. He’s actually my nephew!!!! I hope he remembers me on Uncles Day. The Warden gets updates about him and wonders how a puppy can be so well-behaved. I think he must be drugged.

And in the Picard world, a new Picard girl has found a home in New Hampshire- after a family lost their treasured Picard, named Beau. Beau was a therapy dog and a great ambassador for the breed- and we are happy to see that Rhunarbe will be following in his paw prints. Another happy beginning.

As for our Picard, – he had a recheck at the vet the other day. Bad news: it looks like any future visits will require that the Warden bring ear protection for all the clinic staff. Did I mention that the last time he went to the vet he would not stop squeaking? Yeah – well if it didn’t seem like it could get worse – it did. Not only did he squeak non-stop – he was so loud no one could hear themselves think. They couldn’t get an accurate blood pressure reading on him because he was so stressed – even though they did it in the car before he came in the clinic. He knew where he was. Even though the Warden had tried to fool him by driving a different route. I think she needs to blindfold him.

Anyway, despite the fact that the staff likely experienced a temporary threshold shift in their hearing (like being at a loud rock concert without ear protection) – they said he wasn’t the “worst” most vocal client. The Warden thinks they said that to make her feel better. At least that’s what she THINKS they said – her ears were ringing so who knows what they said.

BUT she DID understand from the vet – through a series of hand gestures and shouts- that the Coyote is holding his own- and his urine sample was even a bit better. His weight is stable- and he’s pretty much back to eating what he did before his illness began. He is totally defying the odds. He goes back for another check up at the end of March. The Warden has some medication to give him before the visit- to hopefully calm him a bit. I still think earplugs are a good idea….

What else….

Oh! I just saw that my brother, Ollie got a great new toy. Check it out:

https://www.collieball.com/collieball

As you MAY recall, we had something “similar” in our house. BUT someone learned to pull (and rip) the outer covering – and subsequently deflate the ball until it was a large piece of rubber in a dirty ripped up cover. It wasn’t NEARLY as much fun to play with in that state.

It SEEMS that THIS ball sounds more durable. We’ll wait to see how long Ollie’s lasts. Mind you – Ollie has stuffed toys that he doesn’t decapitate – so he may not be the best product reviewer. If anyone has info on the durability of this thing, let us know.

That’s all the main news for now. We hope your 2024 has started off brilliantly. We’ll try to be a bit more diligent in our updates – but we’re not making any resolutions. I was going to make a resolution to be better behaved- but WHO would I be kidding?!

Obie signing off!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe. JBJ.