Cottage Vacation This year same as the last
 

But this time for 2 wks Yeah We leave the 9th of August. One of my friends Ilona should be up the first week, and then another friend comes on the Friday. All dog lovers:D

Just finished paying for the vacation and enjoying planning for it too. We got a new 8x8 shelter for shade down by the dock. So the pups and I can hang out there all day in the shade. We bring their crates down and Xpen for Razzman. I bring the cooler with water for the pups, treats, cool ones for the 2 leggers, and of course their water bag, which includes their life jackets and toys and extra leads and the water collars and leads. So everything but the cooler stays overnight and each am we only need to bring ourselves and maybe towels down by the beach. Also I have their grooming supplies and a table set up down there to do their after swimming grooming:) Owning an abudance of crates comes in handy as I can have crates in the car for travelling, crates in the house for sleeping, and crates by the dock too!
The crates come in handy, cause usually I am alone for 1/2 day or more with them, and I train/play one by one. Also I am not too sure how busy it will be with our next door neighbours and if they will have dogs free off lead.

We have our electric motor for the small fishing boat, and some water toys for me too;)

This year I want to train Magic Razzle and Dara to come with me in the paddle boat, and Magic and Razzle to swim beside the paddle boat. Dara is still learning to swim, so I think by the end of our vacation or earlier she will be in full swimming enthusiast!

We also set aside time to do some hiking with all the dogs, hubby will forgo fishing those days :p And then we have late afternoon family swim time and then dinner walks and Yawns bedtime.

Simple pleasures for simple people.

Sounds awesome! Enjoy!

This sounds like an absolutely fabulous two weeks!!! I am sooooooo jealous! I wish I had 3 babies and could get away for 2 weeks! Have a WONDERFUL exciting fun, fun, fun time!!! Please take LOTS of pictures and share them...your videos are great too!!! Will you be doing dock diving with Dara and Magic? Razzle is also going to have a wonderful, happy time, swimming, fetching, playing with the BRT's, and socializing with the guests!

Well for sure RAzzle and Magic for dock diving, and depending on how Dara does and her confidence I might be able to get her to do a few dock dives too;) I always make sure a new dog is a very confident swimmer before introducing dock diving. It is scarey for a dog to jump off the dock, and if coupled with I am not too sure in the water, well lets just say it is better to have them comfy swimming.

And have you seen the video Gals and Dogs in Trent Hills? Ilona and I were up together with a dozen dogs for 4 or 5 days:) I had 2 she had 10 lol lol. That was the year I lost Zoey. But at least one of the videos showed me in the water introducing three of Ilona's dogs to dock diving.

I know it is rare to find a place that allows a multitude of dogs, but if you can convince them, and then show them you leave the place very clean, you leave no dog poop around etc, they are more open to the next visit.

I also bring covers for their furniture, although my big dogs are trained to not lay on the furniture, my Razzman is not, spoiled brat that he is:) And RAzzle is totally house trained and outside trained, but still I crate him at night, mainly to keep him safe from Blackies stepping on him.

I just need to purchase some more Xpens for the huge deck. My escape artist Razzle found out new and unique ways of confounding the gates and the couple of Xpens I had. okay so one way he did it, and get this the deck at this point is anywhere from 4-5 feet off the ground, he squeezed between the bars, and tiptoed along the 3" side of the deck that was outside of the bars to merrily go down the outside of the stairs and onto to ground. We had Xpenned off the three gates and had no more Xpens left... I barred off that exit with chairs slung sideways, then he went to the other gate. That got barred off too. Then he learnt to balance up on the side of the chair climb down and go out through the bars.... Sigh. Mostly he ran down to the water, or if a person was outside went to say hi. Not to mention the birds in the feeders, and the occasional squirrel that had the temerity to run past his deck! I should never have taught him agility!!

Eventually I was forced to keep him on a 20 foot lead while he was out on the deck . That scamp:p

Razzle is my kind of Yorkie! I love everything about him! Katie has Razzle's fire and spirit, but Ilona did such an amazing job training her. Katie has learned that she has an easy going mom, but she still listens so well. Despite that, she has a mind of her own, too, and she is so confident and courageous.

I am really excited for you, and I just can't wait to see your videos. Two of my favorites are of Razzle, the duck hunter, and the one of your boys dock diving and Magic's oops moment. Magic is quite a dog!

Your vacation sounds like heaven. I really enjoyed seeing your videos from last year and hope to see some this year too.

Hope to see pics!

Wow it sounds like a lot of fun ! . . Can't wait To see the pictures

Thanks Gals. Looking forward to it myself.

Well to say it has been an eventfull two weeks is an understatement! I am now the proud owner of a 2014 brand spanking new Dodge Grand Caravan SXT. I just got home an hour or so ago from picking it up! Of course this was unplanned as 2wks + ago I had an accident with my old Van and the Insurance company decided it was not worth fixing it up. My mechanic agreed, and so I settled with them, then it was car shopping time.

Vlad our foster went to his for-ever home last weekend, and he is doing well, but that meant full grooming before his Mom came to pick him up:)

I went toy shopping a few days ago for their new water toys, and put them in the water bag on top of a high crate. Yesterday I come home from shopping, and guess what? One of the new toys is on the floor with the cardboard ripped off. Now which one of my scamps got up there, went into the bag and picked out the new toy? The duffle bag is now safely zipped up.

Just packing up stuff now, we are trying to get by without a roof rack thingie, as I want to invest in a great rear bumper with sliding arm trunk thingie! lol words escape me - but it is ever so much more convenient then trying to haul stuff overhead onto a roof rack. So I am not going to lug my groceries from my favourite butcher and fish monger, nor my organic veges and just have to shop up there for the food. My camera equipment is all charged up and packed into my camera backpack, which is another signal to the dogs that big things are up and coming.

The dogs are staying very very near to me, as the living room is slowly accumulating the "stuff" we take. So next up will be the dogs grooming box(s), and I will really try to winnow down what I take. The the usual crate debate - like how many to take? Given we want to trim down on what we try to jam into the van:p

Oh and to top it off I get an email from the person who is renting us the cottage to say, that there have been bear sightings so be carefull when I walk the dogs:eek: So off to outward bound for some bear spray and a horn.

So going off to make up some more lists:D

Congrats on your new vehicle and have a wonderful time!

Sounds like a great vacation, enjoy.

Thanks Gals. I hope the van looks so very large inside that we can get 3 folks and 3 dogs and stuff all inside of it:)

Whoopee internet access. We are on vaccay. And I have to tell you we have had 4 full days of rain and very cold weather, going down to 8 celesius at night! Yuck. We finally got some sun today, but the weather is so very cold, and we fear for rain at any time, we can't take the pups in for swimming or dock diving. :thumbdown:thumbdown

Dara is finding her adolescent guarding instincts and is being a pain in the proverbial rear end!

Oh yes and we are almost out of wood, and the closest general store has none. So we shall husband our only source of heat for later on tonight.

Sorry to hear the weather is yucky. Hopefully, you are doing something else wonderful, like having a fire and curling up with a good book with the pups nearby.

We just got some sun about now, but it is still quite cool, and I shiver at the thought of taking the Blackies in for a swim, and I think it is too cold for Razzle.....

I hope that tomorrow is warmer and sunnier and that we can get the pups in for a swim or two.

On the other hand my hubby created this hotspot on his cell phone which enables me to go on line from the cottage :-)

SaturdyaAugust 9th - Well the driveup was a whole lot longer than anticipated! Almost 5hrs for what should be a2hr drive. We had lots of traffic andslow downs, and of course we stopped for the dogs a few times.

Our rentalwas as remembered very clean, and they even put in a new T.V. too in the mainroom.

With allthat we needed to do the dogs did not get in swimming, much to Magics’ chagrin! Dara didn’t really realize what all the boysfuss was about, as this is her first cottage vacation.

So after weall basically set up, I take Dara down to her first dock experience andbeach/sand. She had a blast. How-ever I think she didn’t realize where theedge of the dock was and in she goes! Ohdear. I guided her by her collar to theladder steps and helped her up them. Shewas not too traumatized, of course I made little of that little sojourn intothe water. But she was very full of herselfafterwards, lol. Magic is cauterwallingup on the deck, because “she” got to go into the water and not him, howunfair!,

So we had anice easy hamburger dinner tonight, and walked all the dogs, and now we arekicking back and relaxing.!

Sunday andMonday, Two great swimming days, and Dara went off the dock with very littlehesitation! She is learning to swim muchbetter.

Tuesday itrained all day, and I could not return to Toronto to pick up Judy. We did go on the Wednesday, travelled back toTO and returned through mostly rainy weather. Yuck, long drive, bur at least we are all here now. The dogs have not been in swimming sinceMonday! The rain is not the problem,getting them dry afterwards is.

VacationUp-date:

Well theweather did not improve our second week at the cottage. Very disappointing rain and cold. We got the dogs in Wednesday for the fewhours we had without rain, and today while the sun is out somewhat we have hadrain all morning and it continues to threaten rain.

Dara is atrouper in the water, she is still learning to get her water legs workingcorrectly so, she has her lifejacket on always. She climbed into the paddle boat on her own, and when I was ready to goout on the lake refused to come in. LOL.

Razzle isdoing very well in the water, and sadly no duck chasing for him this year! He also has his life vest on at alltimes. While a good swimmer, I don’ttrust him and ducks in the same pond!

Our Houdiniescaped his new play pen, so that got folded up, and I used Dara’s puppy cratefor him, when we were down by the water. A nice waste of a $100 bucks!

I tell youevery time we went out to go for a walk 5 or 10 minutes into it, the rain fellharder, and back home we’d go!

Magic mysenior boy, is getting visibly much older and slower. We have been shaving him down, bit by biteach day, as standing on the grooming table is uncomfortable for longdurations. Magic still lives to workand is happiest having a task to do. Helights right up, when we go out to do some obedience training. My poor old boy, doesn’t ever want it toend. I understand that. Andwhen the time comes I do so hope he dies in his boots so to speak. No cancer, nolong suffering illness please for him!

And ofcourse our brand new 8x8 kitchen shelter that we bought because our older onewas too large for the space we had here, well it got destroyed by high winds andabout 8” of rain the third day here! Wehave to junk the frame for sure… another $150 bucks shot to heck and back. But as we have had very little sun, it hasnot been a great loss!

And thenthere are the technical difficulties, the day before we left somehow my mediafile library got corrupted and it is impossible to upload pictures or videos tomy computer. Sigh. Technology is grandwhen it works, and completely frustrating when it doesn’t. So optimist that I am, I went and bought,gota good deal too on a 32mb media card for my video camera, which sadly I haveused little of due to sic…all of the above.

Well withmultiple dogs, you multiply the number of problems that can crop up. Magic started regurgitating his food from dayone, we did not bring his/hers food stands. So we solved the problem, by feeding Dara in her crate, and Magics bowlwas place on an up-ended cooler! Magicwas getting stressed by Dara bullying into his food, so he was gulping his downeven faster. Separate feeding arenasand an elevated bowl height solved that problem.

Week 2: We started with Razzle constipated, and bothMagic and Dara had some diarrehea. Offto the store we go for some chicken. Boiled chicken and rice for the Blackies, and Razzle has pumpkin in hisfood. Sigh. Both reverse problems resolve after 2days. We are talking about 10 lbs ofchicken lol lol. I used up all therice I brought up, and had to purchase some more.

Oh yes, onone of our short walks we ran into a GSD off lead, no owners around. I had theboys, Magic and Razzle, Dave had Dara. The GSD started forward quickly and Magic took exception to his charge(of course). Dara found her courage andstood aggressively barking, like Magic and thankfully the GSD reversed histracks. Which is the correct temperament response for our breed. Wise decision that GSD made! BTW Dara is a puppy and in her fear stage at8mths old or so. It remains to be seen, how she will viewstrange dogs going forward.

I am ever sopleased with Dara’s development both physically and mentally. She too shows an eagerness to work and toplease her humans, of course with the requisite puppy brain fully intactstill. LOL LOL. Intown she gets admired, and petted which she accepts with enthusiasm.

Dancing: We tried or at least I and the Blackies triedout some dancing! What a loud hoot washad by all. Indoor games fun for 2 and 4leggers! I tried to get Dara to weavethrough my legs, and she got it once or twice, and well just got to dangexcited to do it again. Magic is way totall to weave through my legs, but can backward heel to a beat!

We also hadfun with Find the Toy! Utter chaos,which I love, but makes my husband wince! I think he feels dogs like kids should be seen and not heard!

I often hearthat Yorkies are Velcro dogs, well so are Blackies aka Black RussianTerriers. They will almost always chooseto be in the room that you are. Theywill follow you to the laundry, to the washroom, to the kitchen, and mostespecially the kitchen..lol. They werebred to guard and defend humans. Notlivestock, but people. Many of the breedwill show a profound inclination to bond with one owner over another familymember. In my experience it is justsomething that each dog selects to do, and matters very little who is doing thefeeding or walking. Although other breeders do have differentopinions to this.

Forexample: Magic is always reluctant toleave the house even with hubby when I am home. He doesn’t want to walk far away or be away from me. When Magic and I go out he could not careless how far away from home we go. He iswith me.

Razzle ourYorkie is fine with going out with hubby, although he chooses to be where I ammost of the time.

Dara ourpuppy BRT is still making up her mind on which human she will ultimately bondwith. There are signs she might bechoosing hubby which is a good thing for hubby. How-ever I am the pack leader, second is my senior boy. This creates some dissonance I believe forher. I am the more strict and consistentdisciplinarian in the household. Shedoes get away with much on my watch. Hubby spoils her!



Well we arehome now, safe n sound. It was good toget away, but always great to get back.

As soon asmy technical difficulties are resolved I will post some pics/vids.

I've read some wonderful fiction and a memoir by my favorite author this summer, but knowing and caring about the characters so much and your wonderful storytelling have made this what I've enjoyed reading most. I'm so happy reading about these memorable moments in your lives and watching your family grow. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

Thank you my friend. Next year we will go to a different place, and I need to research new spots for us. We have the PanAM games in Toronto in July and it is destined to be a nightmare of traffic, so we go in July.

I think I want a more remote spot, where I can have my dogs off lead without censure. I live in a city where I always have to have them on lead, except in leash free parks, which I won't go to, due to the ignorant owners of many dogs here. I used to go, but no more now.

Finally on short Slideshow
 

Well I got my puter fixed up, how-ever I am working with a new video editing program, and I started with a slide show option. Apparently it does not let me order the pictures in the order I want to tell the story in:thumbdown

So my apologies in advance - it is a very basic slide show, but at least you get to see Razzle jumping:)

Summer 2014 Lake Minominee - YouTube

I love seeing you video, Razzle, and your big kids too. Look at Razzle's extension of his legs! He's such an athlete! What a beautiful boy he is!

I am so very disappointed, now that I have transferred my vacation photos and vids to my puter, I find out that I have hardly any of Razzle vids that is at the cottage. :mad:

My new video editing program is a *bear* to work with - well at least for me it is.

My rant continues as hubby is really not supportive of all this pic and or vid taking. I know there were times all he had to do was press the record button on my vid camera and he blink blank didn't do it!!!

He gets mad at all the barking that goes on when I dock jump with the pups! Well I get that after a time it gets on my nerves too, but hey they are having fun n excitement. When I get tired of the noise we all have a sit down to rest, and then do some obedience or other fun stuff together.

His attitude really puts a damper on my enjoying my/our dogs having so much fun together.

Well end of rant for today.