A New Day

Other than course literature, I have not read any books since I started school, and that's weird considering I LOVE to read. But late last night, after I more or less had finished my last class I went to my large bookshelf. I have several unread books by now, and after browsing around I grabbed this book - Lone Survivor (click on the book title and you can read more about it). I bought it on one of my many trips to LA last year after seeing the author on the morning news. The book got me captivated immediately and it was first in the wee-hours that I managed to put the book down and go to sleep. By then, both Mr. L and Jay were deep asleep (Old Man is still in the country).

This morning I finished those last things I had to do in order to complete this last summer class. What a relief... it feels amazing! During our morning walk with James we continued the passivity training, we stopped in one of the parks where there was lots of activity... Jay and I trained "contact" and he did great (I had the clicker with me). After that we continued on up to the city where we sat down on a bench, also at a busy spot, where Jay had to lay down and chill. Unfortunately, no dogs passed by but lots of people, so it was still good training for the wild child. And he did really well.

As we had finished this exercise we started heading home via city, but all of a sudden I heard someone say my name. I looked around and could not immediately see any familiar faces, well for the first few seconds and then I was like: "heeey". It was Anna, a girl I met last spring on one of the obedience classes. She and I have talked about getting together and train our pooches but the summer came around and both of us have been busy with other things. I thought I was gonna meet them at the obedience class last Thursday but they were a no-show. Fortunately, it seems they will join the class with start next week. And we are going to meet up next week and go to the local Dog Club to train... sounds great. It should be really good for both James and I to have Anna & Aston to train with (Aston is a Springer Spaniel by the way, and what I have seen of him, he's a very obedient young man so James and I will have to work hard in order to keep up with them). Finally, Jay and I seem to have found ourselves a couple of training partners!!!! :) And actually, while speaking to Anna it was great training for James too, since he wasn't allowed to say hi and he had to sit down and wait. Normally he gets so happy he jumps around and does not know what to do with himself, but he behaved really well I must say. We have a long rode a head of us, but at least the motivation is there.

Anyhow, the book "Lone Survivor" is calling my name... :)

Ciao,
l.e.w.

Almost Done

I'm done with the paper... all I have left to do is to comment/critic 3 other papers which should go fast. I will do that tomorrow though. When that's done, I'm taking a week's vacation. Ahhhhhh, how good does that feel???... Freakn' FABULOUS!!!!! I've got to muster up some energy for the last semester, which I believe can become a tough one. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...mmm, almost there! :)

Do I have to?

Do I have to write this last paper????? I don't want to, I don't want to... I don't want to. I rather just screeeeeeeeeammmm.........

School start

It was school start for James last night, his intermediate obedience class started. It went well, but this week we will seriously focus on passivity training. Jay is so good when actually working/training but in-between when the instructor is speaking and the dogs have to sit still and wait, he whines almost the whole time... it's a pain in the butt. He wants a 100% action all the time or he is bored. But like I said, from now on we will work HARD on passivity training. Started this morning already by sitting down in the park, just chillin' while Jay had to lay down and keep his mouth shut. We sat there for quite some time and he was actually really good today. But from now on, passivity training will be my middle name. :) Passivity -who? what? me? huh? lol

ps. Pics of the babies are from yesterday.

Play Day

The babies had lots of fun yesterday before we went back to the city... Even though Alih doesn't mean to, sometimes he is too rough and bites Jay too hard IF he gets a hold of him.. Usually that's not the case though, Jay runs in circles around the old man..hihihi... but we had an incident where Alih left a serious mark on Jay's back... not fun. :( But as long as we keep an eye on them when playing it's fine 'cause Alih listens when he's being told to be gentle. These old farts - they are very wise...

Atlas

I got some new pics of Atlas, James' gorgeous brother. He is soooo beautiful ... he's a yummy man just like my wild baby. :)

Training Day

Today, James has had to work for a living. hihihi... The day started with swimming for the pooches. However, on our way to the lake we stopped and laid 4 tracks (2 tracks for each dog) so the tracks could settle for awhile.

I’m sure everybody knows about Michael Phelps, the 23-year old American swimmer who beat the Olympic record by winning a total of 8 gold medals. I recently learned that he has the ADD-disorder, and I was like… Holy Moly, James has ADD too and he loves to swim. Too bad there are no Olympic Games for dogs though! hihihi

On our way back from the lake we stopped and did the tracks. James started and this was his first track in months. He lost the track a few times but got back on it pretty fast. After this it was Alih’s turn, and he was not on target either, which he usually is…He stopped a few times and sniffed around in smaller circles before hitting the track again.

The 2nd track for James went excellent though (I’m very happy!!) As always, Jay tracks very fast which usually makes him a bit careless, but this track was both fast and on target. My Cute Baby … yum! The 2nd track went better for Alih as well, but he was not as good as he normally is. Alih, compared to James, is slow but a very meticulous and thorough tracker. Oh well, next time he’ll do better.

Back at home the dogs were tired after all the swimming and tracking. In the afternoon Jay and I did some obedience inside as I was not in the mood to go outside (crappy weather). Took both dogs for a walk in the evening and when we came back, Jay and I went for a bicycle ride. This was the first time that I took him for a real ride… still not very far.. but far enough to have the boy work. I could tell he wanted to run fast as heck, like the mad boy he is, and I let him a couple of times. I think he liked it a lot… still, gotta take it easy until the hips and elbows are X-rayed. Now, I have 2 content dogs that are passed out with their tummies full of food. :)

Below: Jay is starting his track and on the 2nd pic he's coming back happy as can be with the sock in his mouth.


Below: Another pic of the baby rushing back to show his bro and Dad how good he was. And he is not ready to give me the sock just yet. :)


Below: Alih is beginning his track, and coming back with a sock in his mouth too. He cannot wait to tear it apart in order to get to the yummy hot dog that's hiding inside. :)



ps. You like my outfit? LOL. Some serious rain boots, man ... Mr L. was like - "you really fit in here in the country when you look like that". :)

Watching Lassie

My Blue Baby and my Old Baby have been busy watching Lassie this morning... :)

Anyhow, we are heading to the country in a few (for a couple of days).. It is Mr. L's last week off (well, only week off) and I need to get back in to training with James before our next obedience class starts on Thursday. It's easier to train there since there's a huge yard, and I thought we'll do some tracking too (the forrest is right around the corner). And not to be forgotten, I have LOTS of studying to do, have to finish my Business International class by Sunday and I have 2 papers to do until then. :(

Öresundsbron

Above: A pic of the bridge between Sweden & Denmark in the background...

Above: Here's a pic actually on the bridge, when taking the train over to Denmark.

Relax - take it easy

This song will forever be associated with Denmark from now on (A&H and Mr L know why :)). The chorus is so good...one just wants to shake the booty when hearing it, especially when the sound is AWESOME...

Our Weekend Trip...

...was great fun! We stayed at the Hilton Malmö City and kept ourselves busy walking around the city, ate fabulous food and made a trip to the casino. On Saturday, we took the train over to Copenhagen, Denmark where we went on a guided tour of the city, made a visit to Christiania (shit, Venice Beach is nothing compared to these damn tree huggers :)), had fun at the famous Tivoli (an amusement park in the middle of the city), ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe... mm, I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff but let's put it this way - we kept ourselves busy the entire weekend. My feet were barking after all the walking. We were so lucky as we had BEAUTIFUL weather the whole time... well, as we were driving home the rain came but that was ok.

Below: Just made it to Malmö. We stopped at the West Harbour where we strolled around and enjoyed some breakfast.


Below: Some cool house boats and the famous Turning Torso


Below: The old part of Malmö City at a square called Lilla Torget.


Below: Fabulous Dinner


Below: Beer time & a performance (it was a festival in Malmö at the same time as we were there, so it was crazy busy with LOTS of people everywhere).


Below: In Denmark, entering Christiania. This was an experience, for sure...


Below: Having a good time at the Tivoli, Miss Hazel & I went on some rides... :)



Below: The beautiful scenery of the Copenhagen Harbour. Walked the famous street called Ströget to Nyhavn.



Below: H is acting silly (as always) as we are trying to pack up the car and head home.


I can add that my dad managed to stay out of the ER while we were away (thank god) and the dogs behaved. We had a great & wonderful weekend trip but I always miss my furry babies a lot, so it is nice being back home with them again. :)

For more pics from our trip click here.