The Babysitter

After an extremely frustrating day at work I just have no energy for a puppy.  I have struggled a bit with trying to manage work, my dogs, a puppy and a modicum of fitness (the fitness usually suffers) and sometimes I wonder how other people do it.

So tonight I say, "Screw you, puppy.  I'm not doing anything with you."  Ok, not really.  We did play for a while when we got home from work but after dinner I cannot rouse myself to entertain her.

So I brought in "The Babysitter."

(sorry, crappy dark cell phone photos, but I refer you to the "lack of energy" statement above).

One thing my precious girl and I are still working on is food aggression.  We have had major improvement since she was 8 weeks old and latched herself onto my face, but she still growls when I approach her as she's chewing on bones.  All of my dogs have shown some level of food aggression as a puppy, but they have gotten over it by this age.  I'm not worried about it with people, but I am conscious that this could be an issue with dogs in the future.  Unfortunately I can't judge the possibility of this from her interaction with my boys because they wouldn't DARE try to take anything from her or correct her in any way.

Kirk says, "Get the F*ck away from my lamb shank."

Why did you take it from me???

I actually do have some good photos and videos of her and will post soon.  She's so smart and lots of fun to play with and train... when I have energy...
  

Kirk's first hike!

Kirk went on her very first hike this weekend.  We went 10.5 miles, but of course she didn't walk the whole way.  I'm really not sure how much she walked, maybe 2 miles in total.  Mostly at the start and finish where it was relatively flat.  She was such a trooper!  She took everything in stride, including the big boxers who she wasn't so sure about when she met them the previous weekend at the AKC trial.  Well, everything except when Reacher tried to hump her and she told him, "BACK OFF, DUDE."  Feisty little thing.



My photos totally suck from this hike.  I brought my 'good' camera but it died 2 miles in (and then I had to lug it the rest of the way!) but even the ones I got weren't very good.  Most of the hikes were under heavy tree cover.  Great for summer hiking.  Bad for photos.

I mostly lagged behind this time...


This may have been an cute photo if Rammy hadn't tried to photobomb.


Reacher, Keen and Dasher!


And then my camera died so I moved on to the iphone...

And what did Kirk do when she wasn't being the Little Engine that Could?  She was packing!

She looks pretty stuffed in the photo, but that's just an optical illusion.  She had enough room in there.  I won't be able to pack her much longer though.

The trail we were on was unfinished for years and years and years (and they are still putting the finishing touches on it).  It was our 'super secret' trail where you could hike up to where the stones are in the photo below (we are on our way down in the photo) and then either have to turn around and go back (for an 8 mi hike) or bushwack a while to get up the rest of the trail.  We would NEVER see people on this trail but we saw 2 groups of people this time.  Boo.

I think this photo is funny.  It looks like the dogs don't know which way they are going.

And then we were to the part where there are tons of people so we put the dogs back on leash.  2 miles left to go.  It was a fun trip, but it would have been nice if Kirk was a bit more tired when I got home!

Lazy afternoon

Foster does such a great job of putting up with her.

But he's mastered the 'look of suffering'.

Icon still doesn't suffer her.  At least not very well.

Kirk turned my patio furniture into a puppy hammock. I wonder if she'll still lay there when she grows up. I'm sure she'll still fit.  

She is also a bit of a food hoarder.  And a bit possessive of her food.  At least she doesn't growl and try to bite me anymore!  I definitely call that a training win.

Puppy on the prowl

Puppy on the prowl at work.

But she's not the most graceful yet!  Oops!

She'll be graceful one day, though!

All of my border collies grew up coming to work with me and staying in the car (they're not allowed in the office).  They get to go out for walks and stuff during the day.  It's really good for socialization since they meet lots of people.  Not that it helped much for Rampage, he never really liked meeting new people.  Kirk LOVES it, though!  She thinks everyone is there to meet her.  We also go on field trips around work.  I like going for walks along the bay, but my favorite is the Wind Harp.  When it's windy (it usually is in South San Francisco) it produces lots of erie sounds.  Kind of cool.   

Some days I'll bring a random dog from home to keep her company.  They look like buddies, but he hates her.  Sorry Kirk.

She don't care!  It's good to be a puppy.

Bye for now!

The final frontier

Oh no, it's a Gorn!

Don't worry, I won't let it get away.

Scotty, there's something wrong with the gravity plate!  

No Starships were harmed in the making of this blog.  Much.

Brotherly Love

I love how good my boys are with Kirk.  They don't all LIKE her, but they are good with her.  Maybe they already know that in a few short months she will be the boss of them.


Foster has always been good with puppies.  He's a good shoulder to lean on.  This is Icon and Foster back in the day.


And Foster is still great with puppies, of course.



Icon thinks that puppies have their uses.  They are fun to herd, anyway.



But he likes puppies on HIS terms only.  He's very appropriate though.



Rampage just wants to be left alone.  "I'll just stay as far away as possible and look handsome"