Wordless Wednesday (hint: look closely)

He's A Big Boy Now!

Remember this?  Astro and Zephyr on Sept 26, 2009, the day Astro came home.  He was such a tiny little thing, eight weeks old and barely 12 lbs.  

From day one Zephyr was so happy to have a brother.  I think he could tell right away that Astro was was for him and wasn't leaving.

Zephyr was always gentle with Astro when he was a babe.   Both Zephyr and Astro are really good with small dogs.

Here's the little cutey pie now at 16 months.  He went to the vet the other day for his year booster shots and he was 75 lbs.  Not quite as big as Zephyr, 87 lbs., but close.  These two are absolute best friends.  Zephyr has done an excellent job teaching Astro the ropes and Astro's even taught Zephyr a few things.

Astro is full of personality and great facial expressions.  He's very playful and lets me or Zephyr or a kitty know when it's time to play.  Even though he is 16 months old it seems like he is in the middle of complete puppyhood.  He's full of energy and needs to get some good running and playtime each day. 

He is always bowing to play or stretch.  Last winter in one of our basic obedience classes Liz, our instructor, suggested teaching your dog to bow.  All I had to do was start giving this a name and it didn't take long before Astro was "taking a bow" on command.  He started agility classes last spring and is doing an excellent job.  When it came time to teach his contact behavior I decided on the 2 on, 2 off.  After a little while I realized that all I needed to do was tell him "Take a Bow" on the contacts.  It is so cute!  I'm teaching it to Zephyr now because so far his contacts have been the "unintentional running contact".  ;-)

The little guy tears it up on the trail and he's got nice strong bones and muscles too, just like his big brother.  I have some great action shots of the two of them in the forest that I will hopefully post soon. 

Today we got our first good snow, about 6 inches and the boys had a great time chasing each other around the yard and catching snowballs that I threw.

 

 And chewing on each other.

Here he is looking handsome in a rare moment of standing still.  Hopefully I will be able to show him a little this winter and spring.

The lights of my life!

Fall Decor

Riley admires the plate full of leaves I found on some hikes.

Annie graces the table.

Pablo is the spooky Halloween kitty.

Cuddlers

Brrr!

Explorers

 

Happy Fall Everyone!

Sunday, CGC Test

After having lots of fun on Saturday , Zephyr passed his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test on Sunday.  He's such a good boy!  The test was put on by the Flagstaff Kennel Club.   We had tried this one other time a few years ago but he didn't pass because he barked during the 3 minute away.  I have to admit that the reason he didn't pass is that Zephyr has a bit of separation anxiety for which I take full responsibility.  Zephyr is my first dog, we have always done everything together, and he does not like to be left alone or with someone he is not completely bonded to (there's no one like that) when we are out and about doing things (he's fine at home).  Zephyr is also very vocal, he is not one of those silent greyhounds that you read about (and that's fine with me).  But, he will let you know exactly what he thinks about certain situations by whining, "talking", "singing", and bark, bark, barking.  These situations include, but are not limited to; there are people/dogs walking by on the road (he's actually an excellent watch dog), I'm bored, you're sitting on my couch, you've been on the computer too long, and especially you've left me here alone in this stupid crate or with someone I don't really know.

With Lisa, our evaluator, after getting his CGC.  The test was held in a large building that is part of a car dealership.  Pictures in front of the fancy lime green car were complimentary.

So, I waited until I thought he had improved some to try it again.  Actually the day before at the agility match he did really well when I walked away from his crate.  He did bark, especially when I was out walking the course.  But as the day went on I could walk away for a few minutes and by the end of the day I was on the other side of the field talking for some time and he was quiet.  He did a great job during the test!

Here we are with everyone that was part of the crowd.  The person that Zephyr is smiling at is Liz (in yellow), he's an admiring student of hers.  ;-)  Since puppyhood we have taken all of our Kindergarten, Obedience, and Rally classes from Liz.  Zephyr is grateful that she has done an excellent job of training me! :-) 

Saturday, Agility

Saturday Zephyr and I went to the Prescott Kennel Club's agility match in Chino Valley.  They were holding an official AKC match so that they can host AKC agility trials.  Since it was a match I decided to enter Zephyr.  Zephyr and I really aren't ready for an AKC trial, we're still working on weaves and definitely working on handling and keeping him focused.  The match was on a very nice fenced grass field.  The ring was not fenced though and was just outlined with poles and rope, which had me really scared.  I'll just say that since puppyhood Zephyr has built himself up a reputation that is known far and wide for getting major cases of the zoomies and refusing to come to me or anyone else.  :-)  This was the first time we were going to attempt to do agility in an unfenced ring at a trial setting.  But, it was a small match with relatively few distractions and I thought it would be a good place to give it a try.

We rode with Chris to the match which made Zephyr and Friday very happy.  Astro was happy too because he got to stay at Chris and Dan's house and play with Linus most of the day.  Astro is doing great and I promise there will be a post featuring him soon.

 

 The Standard course was first.  This is Rebecca and Charlotte during their great run!  

 Before our first run we met Carrie and Twiggy.  Zephyr was quite taken with Twiggy. 

Here we are setting up for the first run.  Before our first run I was able to let Zephyr run in the fenced field that was next to this one.  I also walked him around the outside of the ring a few times.  I think it helped him calm down a little.  

But, Zephyr was still pretty goofy.  Hmm, he is going the wrong direction on the dogwalk. :-}  Next he entered a tunnel on the wrong side.

 

 Then after flying off the A-frame he did get a case of the zoomies.  But, I'm happy to say it was a small case, after I called him a few times he kind of came to me and/or didn't run off when I went to him (I can't really remember), and at no time did the boy leave the ring!  Celebrate the small things in life!  I felt a little hot and light headed after all that, I can't imagine why.  ;-) 

Zephyr did a great job on our second run, Jumpers.  Here he is doing a perfect stay during a really long lead out.  I did it to keep him from going straight after the second jump and to make the left turn there easier.  It worked really well and I was so happy with his stay and the way he kept eye contact with me the whole time.

And, he's off!

 I was very happy with our run.  We made it through a nice pinwheel, around to a tunnel, and out to the end.  He missed a few jumps, but he was happy and working with me the whole time.  I was thrilled!