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!

Happy Birthday Bella!

Today was a very special day -it's three years since Bella was born.

I had some time to kill downtown Reykjavík after my physiotherapy and decided to revisit the dog fence with Bella. It has been fixed so me and Bella played ball in beautiful but cold weather.

 

Photo taken around 3 in the afternoon, yup, that's the sun setting!

I was freezing when I got into the car so I almost decided not to bother checking the other dog fence that was about 10 minutes away and had also been built without being dogproof. I had also botched something up with the camera so it wasn't focusing as it should. 

However I still had enough time so when I found the fence I decided to take a better look at it. For some reason it didn't feel as cold there.

It's a lot nicer area than the other fence, it's next to a public park and the Reykjavík petting zoo. However it's placed in a giant field and the ground is still very sore after the construction. 

 

 

Bella was ready to play some more.

 

 

"More please, it's my birthday!"

Since I knew the fence hadn't been dogproof I decided to see if it would contain my terrior after being fixed. Bella was not amused.

 

"Let me out! Let me out!"

 

Both fences are in fact a lot better and at present they should keep most dogs in. The gates themselves will however allow dogs with narrower chests than Bella to slip through. She got herself halfway through and probably could squeeze her way through if she really desperately wanted to.

When we got home Bella was acting a little uneasy. The kind of behaviour that always she does to suggest I am forgetting something.

Hmmm...
Water available? Check.
Been out to play? Check.
Had the opportunities to send peemail? Check
Napped in the car? Check.
Hungry? Ah... of course, I skipped breakfast to give her a birthday "cake" in the afternoon!

So me and my son Magnus created a gourmet cake from an Icelandic speciality that consists of liver, fat and oats... I better not get started on what sort of food Iceland is known for!

Bella would jump through fire for most liver-based foods so she wasn't about to let some puny candles stop her from gorging herself.

 

"Just to be clear, I'm not on a diet tonight!"

It's not every day that treats are allowed for an entire meal, usually I use normal dog food as treats so today was something special.

Now it's time for Bella's regular evening nap to get rested for tonight's sleep. I think she's been happy with her birthday and I'm glad I had the time and energy to do something for her.

Reykjavík Fashion

Me and Bella have never been afraid to stand out of the crowd, first with our backpack and as of today we have biking shoes.

Sporty for sure and they even match our bike trailer! Bella was dancing to begin with and launched herself forward over any obstacles at home like a steeplechaser.

Once outside, she made sure to look lika an old pro, the envy of other dogs. We even overheard one woman tell her son how nice shoes "the dog" is wearing. Of course blue isn't Bella's colour (which even my fiancé pointed out) but with the trailer as the main accessories, she rocks the colour anyway.

Once we got home we had to admit that we were a little tired, especially Bella, after biking to baby Magnus's daycare and back home. It has also been really super hot this past week and the owner is overdue on stripping the overcoat to sport a summier look.

Yay! Backyard agility with homemade equipment!

Bella wasn't really feeling the agility vibe after our biking but once I had completed a pair of jumps she decided to show that annoyingly silent and overly obedient border collie who was watching from above how we rock agility as well. Nevermind the owner's crouching position, I was being overly leading into the jump. It's a terrible habit! In my defence I have never let her loose in our backyard before and Bella was rather lazy so I had to lead her to almost all the way up to the jump before letting go.

Now our backyard arsenal consists of weave poles, a tunnel and four jumps. This is so much less distracting than going to agility class, I love agility but the stress level it puts Bella at is so enormous that neither of us truly enjoys going... yet.

Speaking of Agility

Before my riding injury over two weeks ago I had started creating home made agility jumps. I meant to paint them but with my neck injury it was not possible so I put them on hold. Now, however, my physiotherapist is working miracles so I decided to continue with the project. Bella is soon due to go into heat so it'll be good to have those jumps ready by then.

I am in love with the colour combination! I just hope I'll be able to put them to good use. I was doing round one with the yellow this evening. There are some blue spots (now turned green) that I am hoping to be able to hide with a few rounds...