A Most Interesting Documentary

Mom and I just watched:

and we recommend it highly! Some of the research regarding domestication and foxes appears in other works, such as those of Temple Grandin (although here you actually get to see video footage of the foxes), but the eye tracking and pointing tests were fascinating. One of our favorite segments showed Betsy, the Bordie Collie featured in National Geographic a few years back, as she demonstrates her ability to look at a picture of an object and then go retrieve the actual object! Amazing!  Available on Amazon and for Instant Watch on Netflix!

Faiza Mes Yeux Vigilants

Jaxson went home last Friday, mes chers, and I spent the rest of the evening making periodic trips to the window to look for him. I'd grown accustomed to having him around--after all, he was with us for four months! I climbed into bed with a sigh that night, preparing to be an "only dog" once again...

And then SHE arrived.

I sensed that something was afoot when Mom set out all the puppy toys and put a towel inside the pink crate she had purchased for Beauceron Puppy 2012. Now you must understand--my Mom prepares for a puppy at least one year in advance, so it wasn't so much the fact that we have the stuff in our house but that she was rearranging it with great deliberation that gave me pause. Sure enough, I was hustled into my crate late in the afternoon and Mom disappeared outside, only to return with the pudgiest little Beauceron puppy I've ever seen--my niece, in fact, on three week loan from my home kennel. Faiza is her registered name.  Mom and I prefer to call her FayFay or Piranha. Occasionally we get really wild and call her TIME OUT!!

Faiza's first hike - she wants to go wherever Uncle Spur goes!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen--that cute little face hides the sharpest teeth north of the Amazon.

A chip off the old block!

Sorry for the quality of the photos--Mom's digital is on the fritz and so those above were taken with her Blackberry.  For the next set of photos, we go old school and use REAL film in the form of the archaic "disposable camera."

I could retrieve this battered soccer ball all day!

We stripped our usually quilted and colorful couch down to bare bones because piranhas really like to chew fair trade weaving!

A brief moment of peace--Faiza has gone to the kitchen for a drink.

Grindstone

If you're a Grindstone regular, this is the washed-out trail.

Brief rest

Not so brief, I guess!

Brit has been very tolerant of all newcomers to her yard:)

It will soon be time for yet another soccer ball!

INTERVENTION!

Mom's new employee discount has gone to her head, mes chers! She has always loved to buy collars for me, but now...I'm going to break the twenty mark.  It's time someone had in intervention for my Mom. And built me a new collar rack:)

Dublin Dog's new Eco-Luck Collars - Made from recycled plastic bottles

The POW! Collar from Wiggles Wags and Whiskers

The Squirrel Martingale from Up Country

The Retro Cassette Collar from the TheCollarShop on Etsy.com

And she even ordered two collars for my as-yet-to-be-acquired sister:

 

The Olive Freesia Martingale (same ribbon but different company and in a martingale, obviously)

The Hearts and Flowers Martingale by Up Country

And there are more on the Wish List...

Valentine's Day

Bonjour, mes chers! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day:) Mom bought us two personalized heart cookies from Treats Unleashed:

We also celebrated by going on our first hike at Grindstone since before the The Great Snow.  It was all ice and mud--in short, IT WAS FANTASTIC:)

Snowed In!

Sorry it's been so long, mes chers!  We have been snowed in with no internet:(  Mom has started her new job and loves it--and I love to eat the treats she bakes, so it's a win-win situation!  I was a trifle dyspeptic earlier this week and then we were snowed in for two days so I have yet to reprise my role as 'shop dog.'  I was always crated at PETCO but I get free run of the gated-off kitchen on the salesfloor at the new shop so it'll be great!  We've been to practice on days off to make sure that I know not to jump on the counter and to get on well with the other shop dogs, all off whom I outweigh by 60 lbs--two dachshunds, a beagle, and a French bulldog.  I need to work on not pawing new dogs when I'm excited but other than that we think I'll do fine!  Monday is my first day and I can hardly wait!

In the blizzard on Tuesday--we got about 20 inches of snow!

Jax likes to faceplant in snowdrifts and then pose for the cameraphone...

We all had cabin fever by the end of the first day...

Gah!  I look atrocious--of course Mom would post this photo!!!