Summer dozing

Shadow loves the summer because she can spend her days outside. She's somewhere between 18 and 19 years old now (my family found her as a stray long ago!) and she's still going strong.

Just playin' around

M offered this trick in the backyard while I was taking photos of her. It's one of her favourite tricks :)

Enjoying yogurt "pup"sicles

Every summer we freeze yogurt into "pup"sicles. This year I mixed together yogurt and water and then froze it. Mika starts off licking it, then moves on into chewing it. Wall-e starts chewing right away.

Mika's groom - final result

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"Oh the weather outside is frightful..."

Wall-e during the "2012 Apocalypse" on Dec. 21/12. We had some pretty crazy weather that day ;)

Boxing Day car chasing

Loving the weather!!

Wondering why all that mud is on the fence behind Wall-e? Well...let's just say he's a bit too enthusiastic in his car chasing :) He made a path through the stones (and the grass!) last year and when the rain turns the "dirt" underneath the stones into mud, he sprays the mud all over the fence.

Mika is so so cute. I never even think about her haircut anymore. We're having too much fun outside to have time to think about it!

It's...SPRING!!

...and the dogs are certainly enjoying it! (As am I!! Observe the grass! Brown, but GRASS.)


Mika and one of her favourite squeaky toys, "Spike." We haven't seen Spike in a while and just recently found him again.


Mika is getting a haircut at the groomer on Wednesday and a good thing, too. She's super shaggy!

Teehee. Mr. Wall-e Crooked-Tooth! (If you enlarge the photo you'll see.) Waiting for me to throw his ball.

Snapping away

While taking photographs of our fence (why? because it has vertical lines!) for my photography class, Mika and Wall-e, who were also in the backyard, started playing. I quickly turned the camera to them and started taking photos. I'm surprised that I got some almost-clear-(but-not-really) photos when I wasn't even prepared at all. I haven't even taken moving photos in a long time because I didn't know how. These aren't amazing, but they're getting there.

Winter conditioning...playtime!

We don't go for really long hikes in the winter because it's too cold, so right now Mika and Wall-e's main forms of conditioning are playing and fetching. Or a combination of the two, as you can see in these photos! (Well, Mika was doing the fetching and Wall-e was doing the playing.) Thanks to my mom for taking all the photos.

Mika always wanted to go through the tire. Poor dog is deprived of agility!

"MOVE, ball, MOVE!"

Wall-e the Ice-Eater

Agility training Dec. 5, 2009 video

First snow

Nope...we couldn't put it off for longer...we have snow! Only a bit, but it's still snow!

Mika wearing her "favourite" sweater. Her and Wall-e actually like the snow (for now!). and like always, they ran back and forth from the weaves to the plank trying to get me to reward them. (I love having operant dogs who offer behaviours relentlessly!)

Wall-e looks so clean here..

...Buuut that didn't last long. We might have a bit of snow, but all the wetness turned the dirt into mud!

A few backyard photos

Eagerly waiting for me to say the magic word to release her out of the stay




Waiting for cars to chase, as always!

My weird pets

Mika always likes to randomly go in 2o2o on the backyard plank. She'll just be sniffing around the backyard and she'll walk onto the plank and stop in 2o2o. And she hasn't had a 2o2o on the DW in years!


Yes, it's the "scary sheep" again! Shadow doesn't seem to be scared of it at all. In fact, she's rather fond of it and will hop on its back and sit there, calmly looking out at the world.

~Nat

A couple new backyard photos

Mika -- Black and white photo shoot