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.

Still stunning at 17

Our beautiful cat Shadow.

Montana's antics

Thanks to my mom for taking this photo :)

Montana is really starting to fit in to our family. Well, it's impossible for her not to; she's around all the time! She ALWAYS has to follow someone around. One of her favourite spots is on a kitchen chair (it's always the same chair) under the table. I guess she likes it because there's always something going on in the kitchen. She still nips occasionally, mostly our feet. It's a good idea to always wear socks in our house now; not for warmth, but for protection from Montana's teeth :)

Montana would never bite our other pets, though she does find them interesting. Shadow, our other cat, and Montana have been getting along really well. Shadow's definitely the boss between the two. If the two cats are sitting in front of each other, staring, Montana is the one who will look away first. Sometimes Montana wants to play with Shadow (at least, l think she's playing; it's hard to tell with Montana!) and will bat out a paw. Or if Shadow is on a counter and Montana is on the ground, Montana will swing her paw at Shadow's swishing tail. Shadow's an old lady who has better things on her mind than playing, but she's actually quite patient with "the youngster" and will either ignore Montana or hiss if she's getting too bold.

Montana isn't too interested in Mika. Mika knows how to stand her ground and will snap/"roar" at Montana if she really bothers her, so Montana doesn't try anything too daring with her.

But poor Wall-e! Montana takes advantage of the fact that he's so easily bossed around. Wall-e would never, ever, ever snap or growl or do anything to defend himself, so Montana pretty much has a full control. She'll step in front of him and sit down, "guarding" him so that he can't pass by. If he tries to walk around her, she'll move with him and sit down in front of him again. Wall-e knows that if he gets too close he'll get a swat. And he's almost twice the size of her! If only I could tell Wall-e to give Montana a little bark a few times, and then she might not bug him anymore :)

Merry Christmas!

(All of these pictures were taken on Christmas Eve.)

Mika loves her new dog bed, but is wondering why my mom is bugging her with the camera.

"Oh -- I get treats?! Take as many pictures as you want!"

Wall-e gets his share as well.

Shadow opens her presents; a couple cans of two new brands of food, with lots of treats on top!

Montana meet Rudolph before checking out her present.

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!" Except for Shadow, who's still awake and plans to wait for Santa. (She's in the window beside the reflection of the tree :)

Merry (belated) Christmas!

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!

Winter morning at the Dream Dogz household

Shadow speaking her mind about the injustice of having to spend a sunny morning lying beside one of "The Dogs." (In this case, Mika.)


In the evening, another rare moment!:

Mika and Shadow in 2007

Cute photo from Dec. 2007. A rare moment between Mika, then 3 years old, and Shadow, almost 13 years old. Thought I'd share.

Christmas 2009

True to European traditions, we began our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve, yesterday. We all gathered in the living room, including Mika, Wall-e, and Shadow the cat of course!

Wall-e just can't wait to get started

Shadow wants to eat the whole bag!

Peeking in somebody else's gift bag

"FINALLY, we get OUR stuff!"

All eyes on the treats

Aaand, the celebrations and excitement is over...time to sleep.

Hope you're all enjoying a great Christmas!

Photos, Crate criteria

Yes, this is Mika's crate criteria! She has to have at least her two back paws in the crate. When we started playing Crate Games last winter this is what she offered me, and I didn't want to correct her (I never correct Mika), so this is what she's allowed to do. She doesn't try to go farther than this anyway before I release her. In this photo I didn't even tell her to go in the crate -- she went in on her own.

No photo of Wall-e's crate criteria, but he has to have his whole body in the crate, and no part of it can stick out, including his head. He's not soft like Mika so he can learn with corrections (by corrections I mean closing the crate door if he sticks his head out, nothing else).

How about Shadow? Well, in her view, her crate criteria is "get out as fast as I can, hissing and scratching!" To Shadow, a crate = going to the vet and suffering the disgrace of a checkup.

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

Shadow's ice cream

My cat Shadow is enjoying some ice cream

Photos

Wall-e after a bath

More photos

"Look at me, look at me mom! I'm doing two-on-two-off! Gimme a treat now!" 2o/2o? Not quite Mika, but good try little girl! :)


SUCCESS! finally I've taken a good quality photo of Mika in the basement!! Usually when I take photos in the basement, they always turn out grainy and blurry.





A rare moment: Wall-e chewing on a rawhide stick while the usually-hostile Shadow rests calmly on a pillow beside him.



Wall-e galloping over the plank!


Again, galloping over the plank!

~Nat

Merry belated Christmas!

I know it's a bit late, but -- Merry Christmas everyone!


Ahem, Shadow, move over please, you're standing in front of Mika!


Offended, Shadow walks away to see if there are any more presents for her left under the tree.


Mika chewing a rawhide stick from my aunt.


After all the excitement is over, Mika then settles down in her crate.


Wall-e sleeping on/next to one of my gifts; the Clean Run Special Focus Issue -- Motivation, Drive, and Self-Control.

It was a great Christmas, and I love having no school for a couple of weeks, so I can spend all day with the dogs! Right now Mika and Wall-e are both sleeping, so I finally got a chance to write this post.

Today Wall-e is 7 months old. Wow, does time ever fly!

~Nat

Hangin' in the backyard

In the summer we (that is, Mika, Shadow, and me) spend much of our days just hanging out in the backyard. It's also a good opportunity to take photos!


Mika is observing the kids playing on the other side of the street. She's a pro watchdog. If one of the kids throws a ball on our side lawn next to the fence, she'll race over barking her head off unless I don't occupy her with treats first.


She takes her job very seriously.


Luckily, no kids threw their ball over. :) So Mika decides to go off duty (if I can say that, Mika is never really off duty!) and is busy thinking about what to do next.

She decides to...


...PLAY! Talk about hair in the eyes! It's a wonder she can see anything! :O


After a lot of playing, she decides to go inside and lie down on the couch. So she waits at the door for me to let her in...after I finish taking more photos!


Shadow is having lots of fun rolling around in the sun. "Ahhhhhh...bliss!"


Admiring the plants and flowers...or secretly looking for prey to hunt? (Don't tell her I know this, but I think it's the latter!)


Resting...and always beautiful.


The peace is broken when my mom lets Mika in the backyard. Mika looks at our wooden teeter, looks at me, and races over to the teeter and right onto it!


What a teeter freak. She loves this thing!


"Mooooooooom...can I have my treats noooooooow?"

After giving Mika treats for doing the teeter (without my direction!) I decided to go and take some photos of the flowers in the backyard and the side yard.





Well that's it for now! Keep an eye out for more posts. Next week Mika and I are going to a fun match so I'll be sure to talk about that!

Oh, I almost forgot! I was asking my dad about SLR (single lens reflex) cameras. I want one, because they're so awesome and they're what professional photographers use. and I found out that my dad actually HAS ONE! It's about twenty years old (!!), but still, it's a great camera and it's an SLR! I'll try it out once in a while. I especially want to use it for action shots. I won't be able to use it much (film is expensive) but I'll use it as often as I can! My dad is planning on taking it to the fun match to take some photos of Mika. Cool!

All right, that's enough. End of post!

~Nat