Show Me The Way

June 26, 2012

Athens, GA

We have not been atop this parking deck for a good long while, so we went up on her 4th birthday. I was hoping to pose her in the funny looking "Birthday Candles" but to my dismay, they have been removed. I guess it's just an arrow pointing into her 5th year!

Birthday!

June 26, 2012

Athens, GA

It must be someone's birthday today... Happy 4th Birthday,  sweet Tessa!

Toys R Us

June 25, 2012

[at home]

Tessa loves her toys - a lot. She is my first dog that actually cares about toys, and so much so, that she more than makes up for the lack of interest that my previous two dogs displayed. The "turtle", the "cow" and the "dogtopus" are her favorites but there are another 15 that get their fair share of attention.  There's quite a collection and I think we owe our good fortune of long-lasting toys to the fact that Tessa is not a chewer - she is obsessed with carrying them through the house and occasionally, she tosses them in the air. She also loves to drop them behind the sofa; unable to reach them there, she expects me to retrieve them. I am not as passionate a retriever and grew tired of the game, so at any given time, half of the toy collections resides underneath the sofa. I retrieve them when we run low.

Tessa knows all their names, so if I ask her to fetch "Rocky" she does. Yes, it gets silly around here sometimes.

 

"Rocky" and "Igel" (German word for hedgehog) enjoying a reprieve.

The "cow" could use a bath.

Flower Power

June 23, 2012

Statham, GA

Floral Pointer

June 19, 2012

[at home]

Recipe For Success

June 19, 2012

[at home]

1 cup of almond milk

1 cup of frozen mixed berries

1 small banana

1 scoop of protein powder

1 tbsp of ground flax seeds

4-5 pointer kisses.

It gets me through the day!

Obedience

June 16, 2012

Jersey, GA

Since Tessa hunts well enough in the winter, I decided to not put her on a walking quail once a month, for fear of undoing things. Instead, we will use the summer to work on obedience, and the NAVHDA days provide a "hunting" backdrop different from our urban setting. My plan is for this to translate back into the hunt next season.


Here she is in a long down-stay in the middle of the road under the big oak where we meet for the field work, and where there are distractions of people and dogs walking by. She did well. 

Highlights

June 16, 2012

Jersey, GA

I suspect that the highlight of the NAVHDA training day, for Tessa, is always the water. 

The highlight for me today, aside from watching my happy dog, came in form of big white fluffy clouds. Oh, how I love those summer clouds! Today, they were the perfect touch to an already perfect weather day - cool morning, warming up, but hot oppressively so, to a breezy afternoon.

Looking down from the dock. Contemplating whether or not she should jump. As you may recall, she has her Junior Dock Dogs title, but for some reason she stopped jumping during the last event of 2011. We have pulled back this year, but I always give her the chance to jump at the plantation. Granted, this dock is very high - 8 feet or so - but that doesn't seem to bother her. She jumped.

What was most impressive was that at some point, instead of exiting the water and returning to the dock via solid ground, she climbed up on the dock from the shore. I would not have allowed it, thinking it surely is impossible without getting hurt, but it happened so fast that I had no time to react, and then I was awestruck. Not only was that an athletic feat, she also knew exactly where in the construction to put her little feet and in what sequence. Amazing!

Bringing home the goods via the water route. 

That Cat, Again!

May 31, 2012

[at home]

Well, Tessa, you done did it. Time for new window treatments. I am thinking plywood. And I will make the cat reimburse me!