Party Sunday

Yesterday we celebrated my stepdaughter's eight year old birthday with family while she was with us this weekend. Bella put her party hat on and as usual was the life of the party as the photographic evidence reveals.

After the arrival of the first guests Bella is already overwhelmed. She wore her bell collar while they arrived but I then removed it as soon as everybody was there. Bella was in fact so distraught with all the guests (all 7 people!) that she laid down on the middle of the floor or roamed around like a bird with a broken wing and I ended up closing her in the hallway to be alone. She was really relieved.

The photo below was taken after everybody had left. She hurried into "our" sofa and was just out of it for the rest of the evening, looking super worried if there was some commotion from the kids.

I may not have a party or a family dog, but she more than makes up for it when we go out and find her element.

I really can't wait for my health to improve so me and Bella can continue doing those things we love and enjoy. I recently got a new car that I can use to haul my mountain bike and my dream is to take Bella to the outskirts of town next autumn and bike on the trails with Bella off leash.

My sacrum bone is super loose and if I push myself too hard I limp something awful (as in, can barely walk). That's how today is after yesterday's birthday preparations. I've reached a point where my physiotherapist is working on containing the condition but she keeps telling me she's going to fix me after baby is  born. Here's to hoping she's right! 

I believe that after this round my babymaking days are over! In fact I keep telling my fiancé that if I ever get the urge again I'm rather getting Bella a doggy brother to bully.

Bella's Family Life

Me and Bella managed to go out around noon this week and snapped some nice pictures. I just haven't had the mental capacity to fully process them yet.

Until then, here's one of Bella playing the family dog from today:

I keep telling her she won't be receiving any Oscar nominations for best actress anytime soon but she doesn't listen!

Happy weekend!

Hiding

I have been staying at home today and yesterday. That's how me and Bella roll when we're home alone:

Sunday Run

Me and Bella took the family out earlier this afternoon. Unfortunately we were late and missed most of the daylight, it starts getting dark after four.

The road (which is actually a riding path) is covered in solid ice. We tried to keep out of the road but did a short stunt on the road because the lighting was better for the camera.

I'm limping now after this but it was well worth it. The weather was super. Bella is also playing dead in the sofa but then again, it's nothing new!

Camera Woes - Part II

I had to buy another replacement memory card for my camera yesterday. I finally gave up searching and admitted to myself I had lost the other one I bought before ever being able to use it. I was being stubborn about giving up the search because my last memory of the card was when I decided I should insert it into the camera to not lose it... d'oh.

So I bought a new one and decided to not just think smart but act smart and now the new one is inside the camera. Yay!

I need to go out soon and snap some pictures of Bella. She's now safe to let loose in our normal area just outside the city. 3 minute drive from our home.

Lazy Bones and Dog Fences

Last 2-3 weeks have been uneventful at the household. Bella has been in heat and the first several days she looked pretty much like she was dead.

I don't like this time of year.

My mobility has been getting worse as well so this has been an awkward time for both of us. We've been a pair of couch-potatoes.

However she's been coming into her own the past few days and it's actually helping my own spirits as well. Yesterday I took a trip to one of the new dog fences that was built about two weeks ago. It's very close to my place of work so I figured that since I only work a few hours a day I could take Bella with me and allow her to run free on our way back home. At least until she's definitely past her fertile phase and I can let her loose in our usual spots.

Now, I work in a very urban area and the city decided a dog fence was perfectly placed on a rather small patch of grass surrounded by big traffic lanes. This is what me and Bella found:

A dog park - Reykjavík style!

It's not a very good photo but apart from the terrible half-muddy ground there is a pretty big gap under the fence. This was one of the smaller gaps. Bella could have left the fence pretty much everywhere along the entire length of the fence. Much larger dogs than my Border Terrier don't need an iron will to escape.
And right outside this gap in the picture is a street with rather heavy traffic on most days. There's traffic just a short distance from anywhere outside this fence.

So my terrior-in-heat didn't get to stretch her legs much inside this fence. I was really excited to see these small dog parks get built in the hopes of a dog friendlier city. This effort just fails on so many levels.

So in the meantime until I can turn Bella loose outside a fence we are working on our contraband-peppermint scent skills at home. Bella is doing well but now the handler needs more knowledge.

Twilight Tracking

Me and my son went to lay some tracks for Bella tonight before it got dark. I took some videos and totally forgot to turn the camera correctly but I did remember to turn the flash on. I have been buying a lot of reflective gear for the winter so Bella is almost invisible due to reflective light in the video.

I laid out three short tracks but the second two had some turns in them. The video below is from track number two. I'm pleased with how she worked that one.

Track three was a bit of a mess, I forgot where exactly I had left it and was distracted from trying to record Bella tracking it, Bella got distracted as well and started marking (the peemail kind!). I stopped my attempts of recording and started fresh from the start with my full attention. I don't think Bella went the right way but she ended in the right spot so it wasn't a failure. But it taught me that perhaps it's better to focus on the job at hand.

Yesterday I downloaded a book on tracking, Making Scents of Tracking by Deborah R. Davis. I don't actually know much about this kind of work but would like to know a lot more. Finding books proved a little tough as I don't really know what exactly I was looking for and some I found that looked somewhat promising didn't get very good reviews. I'll see if this one sheds some light on the sport.