Dehydrated sweet potato

Our first time using the old dehydrator we got a loongg time ago!

The dogs got a bag of dried sweet potato for Christmas, so a couple days ago we figured we'd just try making our own. We let the sweet potato slices dehydrate overnight (from 6pm on Thursday to about 9am yesterday, so about 15 hours), and in the morning they were like this. I admit, they looked a lot more appetizing before they were dehydrated, but at least they'll last a while!

Before

After

Today I'll be dehydrating beef for them. (The beef we got was nice because it was pre-sliced for Chinese fondue, so it's already thin enough to be dehydrated.)

Boxing Day car chasing

Happy holidays

Summary of 2012, and planning for 2013

My last post was in September? Well then!

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone! :)

It's been quite a while...a LONG while! I've been incredibly busy because of school, so I've only just now found the time to blog.

Quite a few things have happened this year. I'll start off with the most major event.

On November 14, Mika underwent surgery to have a mast cell tumor removed from the back of her left hind leg. She also had a lymph node and a chunk of muscle removed from that leg in order to make sure that all the cancer cells were taken out. The tumor was biopsied and found to be a Grade II tumor (there are 3 grades). Our vet says Mika has a great diagnosis, though, because all of the cancerous tissue was removed, and there were no cancer cells found in either the lymph node or the muscle. Mika's doing great now, and only has a scar (and a bit of a different shape to the back of her leg, due to the removed muscle) to show for her surgery!

Our vet found cataracts on Wall-e's right eye on November 22. She's not 100% certain of the diagnosis, since she doesn't specialize in eyes, but she's almost certain. They're too small to be removed right now, and they aren't affecting his vision, so we're going to keep an eye on them (pun not intended, ahaha!), and in May we'll bring him in again to get his eyes re-examined.

On a non-health related note, Wall-e got his first three titles this year. In CKC, he got his Ag.N.J. (Agility Novice Jumper) on July 15, and both his ADC (Agility Dog of Canada) and SGDC (Starters Games Dog of Canada) on July 28.

Mika didn't trial very much this year, but we had a great year together nonetheless in terms of running together as a team.

As for 2013, here are some things I have in mind:

- trying out a new indoor venue in February
- for Mika, focusing on Steeplechase and Masters Jumpers (her favourite classes) and Starters Snooker (we haven't Q'd in this yet, even though we've gotten really close!), with some Masters Gamblers mixed in (I find that running in Gamblers keeps me motivated to maintain my dogs' distance skills)
- focusing on Masters Jumpers for Wall-e (he hasn't tried it yet), but running in the rest of the classes as well
- most importantly, enjoying our time together! I've reached the point where honestly, if I stopped trialing, it wouldn't be a huge deal. Simply spending time with my dogs has become more precious because of two reasons: less time with them than I used to have, and the realization that neither of my dogs are young anymore. Trials are only a small part of making the most of my dogs' lives.

52 Weeks of Mika 39/52

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From 2 weeks ago. Stretch!

20mm, 1/200s, f/16, ISO 400. Edits: contrast, crop

52 Weeks oF Mika 29/52

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Pretty random shot. She just dropped her venison stick that she was chewing :) I like all the Kongs lying around her, ahaha.

24mm, 1/40s, f/4.5, ISO 1600. Edits: contrast

52 Weeks of Mika 26/52

I think this photo speaks for itself :P

18mm, 1/13s, f/3.5, ISO 3200. Edits: crop, contrast

52 Weeks of Mika 25/52

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Yaawnn. Waking up from a nice long nap in my room!

43mm, 1/125s, f/7.1, ISO 1600. Edits: crop, contrast

Mika and Wall-e Trials May-June '12 video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBza88IJ2qY&feature=plcp

52 Weeks of Mika 24/52

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Wow, it's been a while since I've posted a 52 Weeks photo! This was at a trial (which explains why her beard looks really stringy, lol). It was taken on a whim with my 3.2 mega pixel phone, so it's definitely not meant to be a good-quality photograph, but it's still cute! :) Mika was resting her head on her Kong and I had to shoot a picture.

Taken with LG Optimus One phone
4.3mm. Edits: contrast

52 Weeks of Mika 17/52

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Random shot :) I'm very behind in posting 52 weeks photos!

18mm, 1/320s, f/3.5, ISO 1600. Edits: contrast

52 Weeks of Mika 15/52

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Waiting for me to give back her bully stick! It was her half-birthday when this was taken on October 14; 7.5 years old :)

28mm, 1/400s, f/4, ISO 2500. Edits: contrast

(Click the photo to make it bigger! :)

 

 

Mika and Wall-e Training Mar. 15, '12 video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEIOjJmvVOg&feature=plcp&context=C421a41fVDvjVQa1PpcFPHEkxupkr0sKbKzUJ9W_ZjYXS3Yj6R1Rg=

Mika sequence Feb. 20, '12 video

Mika missed those jumps when I said "over" instead of "tire"! :) She was so excited to run though, as you can hear from her whining at the beginning ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R1ou0Yr18c&feature=plcp&context=C4443e17VDvjVQa1PpcFPHEkxupkr0sMTrgA4uXaVrjvpV_VAl5AU=

52 Weeks of Mika 11/52

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Chewin' away :) She likes her bully sticks.

Kind of a cluttered background.

21mm, 1/320s, f/3.5, ISO 2500. Edits: contrast, crop

52 Weeks of Mika 10/52

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I'm getting behind on photos...but as you can see, the snow is melting!! :) First patch of grass in the backyard. You can see a bit of the weave poles in the top left corner, too. Spring is coming! :D

I don't really like the patch of ice you can see between her front legs (it kind of blends in with her fur too much) :/ Still!

18mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Edits: contrast, retouch

52 Weeks of Mika 8/52

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Last week's. She's so cute!

Wish I didn't get that patch of sun in there, but :)

40mm, 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO 400. Edits: contrast

(Click the photo to make it bigger! :)

Wall-e backing up stairs, day 1 video

Started teaching Wall-e to back up stairs today. Doin' good so far!

(Yes, my voice sounds weird when I train! :)

By the way, I got a new YT channel a couple months ago (DreamDogzAgility), so feel free to subscribe if you haven't already :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XKe4XwUoeA&feature=plcp&context=C3a0af7cUDOEgsToPDskLQzGOOxN_avYfUkq-JWVd4

52 Weeks of Mika 7/52

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Went on a walk through the little forest near our house today!

35mm, 1/1600s, f/5.6, ISO 400. Edits: crop, contrast

(Click the photo to make it bigger. :)

52 Weeks of Mika 6/52

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Meant to post this last night, but you know how it is, lol.

Another not-so-amazing photo because of lack of time; she looks pretty scruffy too! Gotta trim those ears and clip her body. Oh well, she's pretty darn cute :)

55mm, 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO 3200. Edit: colour temperature

Montana observing

Tana likes to be up high, where she can watch everything going on around her.

Mika and Wall-e Training Feb. 3, '12 video

Just copied/pasted this from my YouTube description:

Good dogs! :) Note 0:59, when I brought Wall-e around to do the tunnel again...I know that I'm big on my personal rule of "never redo/correct mistakes," and in most situations I would just tell him to go on to the next obstacle, but I didn't even see that jump staring me in the face (lol), and so I brought him around to the tunnel again...yeah, anyway, just thought I should clear that up. If that made sense. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIgIKA8kejo&feature=plcp&context=C311259aUDOEgsToPDskLQzGOOxN_avYfUkq-JWVd4

52 Weeks of Mika 5/52

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Yeah, I had to skip a couple weeks because of exams. This is last week's photo :)

I didn't have much time this week to take photos, so I just snapped this quickly today. Wish I had her nose more in focus, but it's better than nothing! :)

55mm, 1/320s, f/4.5, ISO 800. Edits: cropped, warmified

52 Weeks of Mika 2/52

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Sleepy girl!

I was going to edit out that crown molding on the ceiling, but I didn't have time. Oh well :)

55mm, 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 400. Edits: none

(Might have to skip the next few weeks because of exams.)

52 Weeks of Mika 1/52

I've wanted to do this for years, and this year I finally am! I'll be posting a photo of her every week throughout 2012. If it works out, next year I'll do it for Wall-e. All photos are taken with my Canon EOS Rebel T3, using my 18-55mm kit lens (the only lens I have so far). Critique is welcomed! :)

***

1/52

Pretty much what Mika does every time I step outside with my camera; bark! She loves modeling. :)

I wish I could see her eyes better in this photo; something that's hard to do with a black dog....

30mm, 1/4000s, f/5.6, ISO 1600. Edits: cropped

Mika and Wall-e Training Jan. 2, '12 video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDeh3Cz768

Happy New Year!

This is how the dogs spent their New Year's Eve:


(Sorry for the bad quality; taken with my phone)

Really looking forward to this year :) After all, every year is special! Best wishes to everyone in 2012!!