Pizza

Yes, we'll be eating home-made pizza and salad tonight. Yum! And we won't be eating by ourselves, some special guests will join us for dinner. :)

The mischievous baby

I would like to add in regards to my last post that an Amstaff is generally speaking a very active dog, which is also why we chose this breed. I wanted a high energy dog, and as far as I am concerned all the training and long walks James gets, he also deserves. Most definitely!

I just wish he would come home and feel satisfied after a long walk and/or training. I would like him to have an ON/OFF button (right now the "off" side is not working ;)). The fact of the matter is that he has always been a hyper active dog since we got him at age 8 weeks, however, he has become better and better with age … that’s why I’m hoping he will eventually outgrow this. When having a hyper active dog there are also other things he has "issues" with, for example he whines a lot.. he cannot stand still, he has to be on the move all the time ... well stuff like that. Seriously, if you have experience from humans with the ADHD disorder you would know what I am talking about - there are some parallels here for sure.

James was also born under somewhat dramatic circumstances as he couldn’t come out on his own, so his mom had to be rushed to the vet. The vet also had problems getting him out. When humans are without oxygen for too long they can suffer some damages, I’m assuming the same goes for dogs which could be the reason for why he is the way he is. Who knows!

The boy is hyper active BUT he is also a wonderful working dog and a very lovable baby. He’s just not like most other dogs. He's like a kid who is fighting going to bed despite actually being tired. During the time that Jay is fighting it he will walk around looking for trouble… like finding things to bite on (i.e. things he's not allowed to bite on). But with a little help and persistency on our behalf, he will in due course settle down.

Like right now for example. I came in from our long “morning” walk recently, I fed him and now he’s walking around looking for trouble. I just caught him and one of my slippers on Alih's bed... hmmm, "the slipper" was seconds away from being demolished.. .hihi… if not paying close attention to him during this time he can destroy just about anything. He tore up one of my leather gloves the other day… I swear, it was unrecognizable.. it took me some time to figure out what it really was. This all happened after our walk, while I was doing the dishes and forgot to keep a close eye on him. I have to say though, we are both very good at keeping an eye on him, so it’s not much he has destroyed… but that’s only because we catch him before the act. ;)
ps. When left alone at home he is locked up in the kitchen and actually behaves very well - he has never destroyed anything during this time, and no whining or anything of that sort (I know this because I have filmed him ;)).

The boy is a trouble maker for sure – but as Mr. L so often says “He’s OUR trouble maker”… and we LOVE HIM dearly.. I wouldn’t want any other dog despite his hyper active behaviour ‘cause he has so many WONDERFUL and AMAZING traits… To be honest, he doesn’t have any other “bad sides”…a litte mischievous & crazy at times we can live with. ;)

WE LOVE OUR BLUE BABY JUST THE WAY HE IS. :)

Long walks...

I have had a headache all day today... not fun at all. :( Jay and I still enjoyed a long walk this morning, like we always do, and right now Mr. L is out for a long walk with him.

I just came back from the pet store where I weighed Alih and he has lost some weight - great! It hasn't even been a full week yet but he was going to the country with my dad tonight, that's why we had to do an early weigh-in. ;) We are going to the country tomorrow and plan on spending the weekend there.

Other than that, I got some WONDERFUL news in regards to the last exam I took. I did great and it made me sooooooo happy! :) Anyhow..

I have a question for all you dog folks -

How long/how far do you walk your dogs every day?

I'm not asking to see "how well" you take care of your dogs ... I'm asking because I'm hoping I will find someone who has the same "problem" as we do. ;)

I think we walk Jay quite long and far. A normal day for James means he gets walked about 10 km (6.2 miles) a day (this is split up in 2 walks a day and in additon to these 2 longer walks he also goes for 2 short walks - midday and before going to bed. This applies to Alih too). On some days Jay even gets more than that, and some days a little less. If we for example have weight pull training in the evening, the evening walk is only about 20-30 min long. In addition to all the long walks, we train a lot of drag weight, weight pulling and other forms of training like obedience and tracking where he gets to use his head. Yet, the boy never has enough. Obviously that's due to the ADHD disorder he has (hihi)- but still, I am hoping he will outgrow that one day and be able to feel content after a long walk. Not only does he go for long walks, we often walk where he can run off leash so he REALLY gets to run like CRAZY during the entire walk.

Is there anyone else out there who has a dog like this??? Please, tell me there is. ;)

Play... & work.

We had fun in the park/forest this morning - both babies had a blast.

Tonight, it was time for weight pull training inside. It was great! I loved not having to stand outside in the cold.. and the dark. We began with a drag weight walk as always, followed by weight pulling inside. It was a whole bunch of people there tonight including my parents. They wanted to see their grandson LIVE in action ... haha...I'm sure they are proud of the blue baby. ;)

Our New President & First Lady

Alih is a proud American ... :) & so is the rest of his family too. ;)

SuperExcited

I'm not the only one being SUPER excited and happy about today's inauguration of America's 44th President. :)

YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!

He's loud

I just wrote a post and managed to delete it by mistake. Great!:(

It was snowing during our morning walk (Monday), but right now it's just about 0 degrees C outside so it will probably be gone by tomorrow. :(

Jay and I did some drag weight training this morning. We started off by going for a 20-30 min off leash walk so he could take care of business and get warm, then it was time for a longer drag weight walk with both the chains. I'm glad I purchased that extra chain 'cause now he gets to work harder which was exactly what he needed. It was too easy for him before.

Alih came home this afternoon after a weekend in the country with his grandparents. It's nice having both fabulous babies at home. I can hear Alih snore his butt away right now- I hear him all the way out to here. If you heard him, I swear, you would think it was a grown man. :)

OMG

I have been playing around with PhotoFiltre and Photoshop. I know nothing about these programs... the current header is my work .. hahahaha... I WANT TO LEARN!!! I will keep playing around with it... it has already been changed about a million times. I hope I don't have to contact Mirre in pure panic. :(

Here are some examples of the various looks the blog has had in the last hour or so. :) Feel free to comment but I cannot promise I'll take your advice. lol. I tend to go with my own personal likings in the end, no matter what. :)

This last one... a running Jay ... I love! No frame, no nothing... it looks cool!

Dressed for Success

Jay: I wanna go outside so hurry up with the pics...

...OMG, that flash bothers my eyes...

This is how Jay looked like a few minutes ago as he and Mr. L were getting ready to head out. lol.

Mr. L said "Com 'on Jay, let's find a dark area where we can walk - where there are no street lights". lol. .... I wonder why??? ;)

It's not all for show though - Jay is very sensitive to the cold. Tonight he's wearing his T-shirt with his reflex vest on top, and a pair of "boots" on his front paws. lol.

Both Jay and Alih got boots last week as they have had major problems walking on the sidewalks due to lots of small and sharp gravel (they put gravel on the sidewalks because of icy and slippery roads). Jay has been limping on and off and Alih has barley been able to move because it has hurt his paws so much.

You should have seen Alih's speed once he got the boots on, all of a sudden he was trotting - it was like getting a new dog! And James stopped limping all together. As always - you win some and you lose some... the dogs stopped hurting but instead Mr. L and I have to walk around with 2 goofy looking dudes in boots. ;)