Some News

Okay, I'm done with all the melodrama for now. Let's just say I had a bad week.

Bella has false pregnancy but it seems a fairly mild case as the only side effect I notice is that she lactates and I believe another symptom was that for a few days she was peeing unusually little, like once every 24 hours. I was driving myself mad taking her out almost like a puppy and watching her for a sign of any illness.

However she seems just fine now (it's not fully over). I'm watching out for whatever but she's pretty much her normal happy self. Maybe even a little more playful than usual for some reason.

We finally finished building the deck and painted it so now I suddenly have more time to relax. So I decided to use leftover timber to improve the jumps I built over a year ago. Now I've got one sturdy jump that goes up to 55cm or so.

I've been focusing on finding ways to engage Bella more in training and have been reading and watching a ton of stuff to help us break through the rut we got into earlier in the summer. We're doing touch training (nose touching hand) and it was easy as pie for her to learn the gist of the game in one session. Now I'm focusing on having fun building on it. I already see the huge benefit of it doing heeling.
I am also trying yet again to use toys as rewards. After my research I'm less frustrated about it though. I'm just glad for times such as today when she jumped for me in order to chase a ball.

Anyway, what riled me up last week was that we did look at a 4 year old German Shepherd that was up for adoption. We were fully committed to the adoption but then then I don't know what happened. The owner was super super busy and kept postponing things until we just didn't want to participate in it and dropped out of the deal.
I was pretty gutted because I've secretly been wanting another dog and was scouting for suitable matches amidst all the Border Collie mixes available. That's when things got really weird all of the sudden we ended up at a German Shepherd breeder's home. Although it happened very quickly I had been thinking about it for a very long time so it wasn't really too difficult to make the decision to get a puppy. Yes, a GSD puppy.

We're picking our little girl up tomorrow afternoon after her vet check and puppy shots, yippee!

Frustrations

Today afternoon was bad in so many ways. After the kids had fallen asleep and I could finally lie down in the sofa I thought I could just enjoy the rest of the evening in peace and quiet and go to bed. There must be something in the air tonight because that's not what happened.

Bella was lying in the sofa with me and when I was petting her my hand hit a wet and sticky patch. That's when I realized that it was milk. She's pseudo-pregnant. Nooooo!

Summer Life

It looks like a lot of people on my blogroll are enjoying their summer away from the computer. Me and Bella are stuck in the rain in Iceland but we are just getting out and doing our thing. Nothing out of the ordinary and with the constant rain I don't always bother taking the camera with me.

We have no camping trips planned, no trips abroad or anything like that. And still... there is something exciting that may be happening to us soon. I don't want to jinx anything by including spoilers since recently everything I want to happen falls through. There will be no tracking course next weekend, for example.

Anyway, me and Bella hope everyone is having a great busy dog summer!

On a Rainy Day

This weekend we'll have lots and lots and lots of rain. Wind too. So what better things to do than go play fetch on empty fields while all the other dogs and owners are hiding from the rain at home?

It was great getting out of the house, all the kids are here and it's nice to take a breather away from them all. We also walked for a bit.

My son  got his two year old hands on the camera and I completely forgot to check its settings as I stood in the rain. I messed up every photo except those two above. Below is mine and Bella's idea of artistic...

Happy weekend to everyone!

A Life With a Terrier

I have had lots on my mind lately. Last Monday I went tracking with Bella and honestly I just wanted to throw in the towel. I have been working on building distance to her tracks and it's just not working. I had to cut the track short as she had just stopped trying. However she did re-locate and finish and found all the articles so it wasn't entirely horrible.

 

So I decided to stop working myself into a frenzy about it and remind myself what Bella is good at. Being my pet and walking/biking companion. So we went out for a 7km walk yesterday evening.

I took her to an area that I used to bike in before getting her. I recall how I dreamt about biking these trails with a dog running around. I was only walking now but it was fun having the dog.
We landed right behind two women with 6 or 7 Cavaliers and Bella was about to hyperventilate out of excitement so I took her down another path so I could set her loose as this area allows dogs off leash. We took the photo above on the bench and looked across the small lake called Red-Lake (Rauðavatn).

Beyond the lake is the neighborhood I live in. I literally live on the outskirts of Reykjavík city and it's surrounded by nature. Highway number 1 is also there, this is the exit out of the city and to southern Iceland.

After taking the bench photo I went back to the trail and Bella must have thought we were returning because she bolted off back the way we came. One second she was there and the next she was just gone. I had to go back and had a good view over a large area but didn't see her. I knew she had followed the Cavaliers and just waited to hear barking. It never happened, after some time I heard her returning and called her to me and we were able to continue.

 

We also met two worried Golden Plover parents that were trying to fake being wingbroken to get us away from their young. Bella doesn't bother chasing birds and after being made a fool from another one last Monday she wasn't going to let this trick fool her again.

We kept going in the nice evening sun, we even met another older Cavalier who Bella liked so much that she was going to follow him the other way. It was just wonderful to go out and not frustrate myself with what Bella isn't. I'm going to take a few steps back and work on making things more fun for both of us.