DOGLOVE - for the love of dogs (and cats too!): Happy New Year

I had a post published yesterday wrapping up 2011, but decided it was too depressing to leave up and therefore it was deleted.

I'll just say that in a year of so much sadness (Oscar and Judah's deaths, among other things), I'm glad that 2011 is in the past and am looking forward to only good things in 2012 (Walker's adoption for one!).

On December 18th, I took Brosa to attempt to pass his Retrieval Proficiency Test (RPT) with the Canadian Disc Dog Association. Unfortunately, he flunked as he wanted to play. I found some photos online that were taken while we were doing the test:

A good start - he was excited to fetch the dummy

But alas, he dropped it, nosed it around, picked it up to fling it to the side, etc....
Very disappointing for me on a personal level - perhaps we'll try again in the new year.
Silly Turd, always wants to make a game of everything beyond the game it was intended to be!

Walker's mange seems to be under control now. A re-scrape revealed no live mites, but his feet and throat are still quite pink/irritated and his belly/groin has now developed pimples (which is a possible side-effect of having Demodectic Mange). He will continue to be treated with the medication for a couple of more months to ensure the mange is finally behind him once and for all. His hair is thin/non-existent in places, so I have a treatment that is said to help speed up re-growth.

Still working on some house-training issues with him (he has been wearing a belly-band in the last little while), and also confidence building. He did well in obedience class and also continues to excel with his house-manners. I may think about taking him to agility to further his confidence building exercises.

Walker was very quiet during the fireworks last night (Delta trembles, and Brosa barks his fool head off). He did have an oopsie in the house as I didn't let the dogs outside during the fireworks, nor for a while afterwards while the neighbourhood residents were still outside celebrating. So I would say he definitely was affected by the fireworks; just not in the same manner as Delta and Brosa.

We had a quiet Christmas at home - yesterday, the dogs enjoyed their gifts of Tartar Bones for the afternoon and evening as the old year faded to black.