The simple things in life, a dog's view

1. Somewhere to sleep

2. Toys

3. FOOD!

4. Love

 Dogs choose to sleep on the funniest things. Now Riley has two perfectly good dog beds, but if there is a piece of paper, a bag, towel, etc. on the floor, he will lay on those instead. Today sleeping place of choice was my cloth bag. Conveniently right next to it was his travel food dish (which was in the bag at one point) and for good measure Riley brought one of his toys over.

Periodically throughout the day I would see him laying there and I'd try to go sneak the camera, but every time he'd get up and follow me! Gah! I eventually got the camera and got some pictures of him resting on my bag haha.

 

As I am writing this, I look over, and what is Riley sleeping on? A towel that got left on the floor :) Now his dog bed is literally 10 ft away, but maybe the towel has some kind of appealing nature, I don't know. Silly dog!

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For number 2 on the list, toys, Riley has that covered.

No real explanation needed!

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I think this has to be Riley's favorite. Food.

♪ Food, Food, Wonderful Food, Glorious Food, Wonderful Foooood ♪

I've posted about Riley drooling before, but I wanted to get a better picture. So here's a more visible drool shot LOL. 

He doesn't get excited at all.... He doesn't come running when he hears you open the laundry room door, hoping you will open the food bin.... When you scoop his food, he doesn't sprint over to sit by his food dish....He won't sit there, wagging his tail so fast you'd think he could become air born..... And most defiantly he will not drool excessively in anticipation for the release word that will allow him to eat.

Who am I kidding?

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Last but most definitely the best, Love.

We got it.

So, maybe we need to take a lesson from our dogs and remember to take a step back to enjoy the simple things in life. I know I forget to sometimes.

Celebration and humiliation?...

As per  Sprollies 'n' Border Collies suggestion I took out my old graduation cap and took some pictures with Riley, to commemorate our graduation from beginners agility :) (Cheesy? Yes, I know lol) I'm not sure Riley saw it as celebrating, but more like forced to look funny for mom. This also gave me a chance to play with my new lens! It's hard getting use to manual focusing but I'm sure I will eventually get the hang of it.

Riley was not thrilled, but he let me pose him in a funny hat and for that, he got treats at the end.

He almost looked terrified at times...

Too afraid to move...

Soon he started to relax

And had some fun!

"I WILL NOM THIS SQUARE HAT"

No, Riley there will be no nomming of the square hat, only nomming of treats.

Ok mom...

Ooo a smell!

Oh look! The square hat has fallen! Darn.

Good boy, Riley! Thanks for humoring me :)

We "GRADUATED"!

We had our last beginners class on Thursday, and at the end of class we ran a mini course just for fun. I don't know why I was so nervous we wouldn't move to the next class. Riley exceeded my expectations. I was worried with all the people and dogs around he would lose focus on me and want to go play, but he didn't! He was so focused and eager! I am such a proud doggy mom right now!

As I watch the video I laughed-out-loud about the Table portion. I can't help but imagine what was going through his head.

Me: Table!

Riley: OK MOM! Table means... I sit....no, lay down. Focusing on mom, wonder what's next? Must focus......

...Oooo what's that smell?...

....Smells kinda good over here too....

Oh Hi mom! Ready?! Oops, ok back down.

Me: OK! Jump!

Riley: YAY!!!!!!!!!

The intermediate class starts immediately and I can't wait! What can I say? I'm addicted and I'm sure Riley is too!

Practice, Practice, Practice

I don't have any new pictures tonight (late day at work) but here are some videos from last weeks agility practice. I just figured out how to edit video and these (and my previous video I posted) are my first attempts at it. I think it'll be nice to have video's from the beginning to see how we progress through our classes and hopefully to competition. (I am thankful that my husband comes to class and take these videos, Thanks hun!)

A-Frame practice

Teeter practice

Tomorrow is "graduation"......... I really really hope the instructors feel we are ready to move on! The next class is off leash, and while I think Riley can mostly focus (especially with treats involved) I hope our instructors see that too. I am officially addicted to agility and I think Riley is too!!!

WISH US LUCK TOMORROW!

New lens!

I got a new lens! Now I just have to learn how to use it, because I have a Nikon D40 I have to manually focus with my new lens, a 50mm f/1.8D. But that's OK! I took some practice pictures just to test it out, obviously I need to read up and play with it some more. I am really excited to see what it can do!

Riley agrees!

"Do we have to do pictures?"

Ooook...

 Close-up of my flowers and even got a little ant in there.

Making Strides!

As promised, here is a video collage of the Dog Walk from Thursdays class (my first attempt at video editing, forgive me).

Riley did amazing! Before this, we had only done the "little dog walk". He was a little bit cautious the first time, but only by a hair.

"Whoa! This is kinda high"

The second run he was more confident.

"I can do this!"

On the third run I was instructed to take his leash off (for safety) if I felt I couldn't keep up with him. Which I did. He was just awesome! Even our instructors were a little surprised. I am so proud of my little guy! 

Next week is our "graduation" class, where they evaluate each dog as they go over each obstacle and determine if they feel we are ready for the next class. Our instructors keep saying Riley has a lot of potential if we keep at it, which makes me feel really good about myself and proud of Riley!

:)

Wish us luck next week!

Learning a new language

Tonight we attend Riley's 2nd to last beginners agility class, and they are increasing the height of the A-frame Dog Walk to regulation height! Yay! Personally, I think Riley's favorite obstacle is the A-frame tho, followed by the dog walk. He is such a natural! Me on the other hand.... not so much. I am slowly learning and building my own agility vocabulary, but it's hard to remember what to say, when to say it! Riley moves SO FAST!

Spot! oops I mean...

Target!

Dog wa......I mean, Walk it!

Jump!

.....

...

.

Gah!

Ok, I know it will all come with time and practice, but still! So frustrating! 

The best thing about dipping our toes in this new world is meeting new friends and having fun! Riley and I have made friends with another girl and her Golden Retriever, William. Both Riley and William find waiting in line to be the most boring thing ever and bounce on the end of the lead when they see the dog in front go over/though the obstacle (mainly the A-frame though!) It's awesome that they are so enthusiastic!

I just really hope we "graduate" this class and move on to the intermediate class! I really want to continue agility and I think Riley does as well :) It's so fun! Hopefully I will be posting pictures and videos of class, all thanks to my wonderful husband, who comes to class with us! :)

A walk before the rain

I spy, with my little eye

Riley ears!

Alarms goes off this morning and I get up, do what I got to do to get ready for work. As I sit on the floor in front of the mirror to do my make-up, I look aver and all I see of Riley are two little ears :) I had to giggle and snap a picture.

But mooommmm do we have to get up???

Work was rough today, so after work I came home and took a nap with Riley.  This is what I had as a napping buddy... lol

Do not look into his eyes!

 They have unmatched persuasion powers!  

At least one of us had fun....

The past couple weeks it has been too hot to do anything but a quick walk. Today it actually cooled down to the upper 80's so you don't feel like you are going through jello (although that sounds good about now!) To celebrate Riley and I went on a Rollerblade ride. When I ride with Riley, I usually have him on a leash, and that's how we started off today.

As we go I look around and there are no bikers, no other people. I'm thinking "great! we have the whole trail!" I let Riley off leash and off we go...... SCREECH, THUD.....

Not 30 seconds after I get going, I fall! I've never fallen before! You would think without the leash in hand it would give me more stability.... Nope. Maybe I've adapted my skating to accommodate holding the leash, I don't know.

-Riley running next to me, while I Rollerblade. No this is not when I fall-

Now this is why I love Riley. After I kinda startle him with my fall ( I fell towards him) he immediately stops and comes to me as if to say "Mom, you ok? You aren't suppose to be on the ground. You ok?" I love my little stinker! I assure him I'm fine and get him some water as I use my water to wash off my knee and shoulder. Then in true Riley fashion he heads to a mud puddle, since mom is fine why not have some fun LOL.

So as he plays in the mud, I sit on the ground have a mini pity party, then decided I'm not going to let a fall ruin our ride. So snap some pictures, pick myself up and continue our way :)

So now Riley is a happy, tired pup, while I sit with antibiotic cream and ice on my knee and shoulder :(

At least one of us had fun.

:)

Dinner?!

When asked "Are you hungry?", instant drools ensues!

I've started to notice how many "types" of drool there is. There's the looooong, mouth to floor drool, then there's what I call the leaky faucet drool, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip..... Then my all time favorite, the bubbly drool, which is what I've tried to capture here.

This is the best picture I could get... I couldn't ask him to wait any longer with out being cruel, haha. I must try to capture a better drooling picture in the future. :)
Click picture to enlarge.

Wait..... Wait.....

Finally starting to get Riley to focus on the carrot/treat and not the object on his face! I started on his head and once we got that down I moved to his nose. I got one picture and one picture only! I didn't want to be pushy and I was happy with the picture :)

Leggo my....

Wubba!

Time for a haircut

When we first adopted Riley at 8 months old, he had big pointy ears and a slender face.

As he got older his "ear hair" or his "side burns" as I liked to call them, started growing and growing and growing! Me, along with everyone who saw him, loved his ear hair. But it was always getting matted and it just kept GROWING!

So, one day I decided to give him a little trim :) He now looks like he did when we first adopted him haha. Although I am glad it'll grow back but when it gets too long again, I'll just trim it again :)

Not too bad if I do say so myself.

Long over due!

OK, so I know I haven't really been keeping up with posting. But, in my defense, I've started a new chapter in my life. I got married! And moved into a new, bigger, better apartment.

Things had been ready busy around here, but have started to settle down and I have been able to get my camera back out. It's been too long! :)

My favorite subject, Riley!


"Keep walking, there is nothing to see here."

You can NEVER have TOO MANY toys!


Now that I've got the camera back out, I plan to post more often and continue to practice with my camera. I may have to start coaching my new husband on the workings of my camera, because we have enrolled Riley in a beginners agility and he is now our official agility photographer :)

Tire!

A-frame!


Until next time!

Still life

Practicing with my new lightscoop on some still life.

This picture is of a ceramic cat I painted when I was a teenager. I made it after my cat Shadow died suddenly. RIP Shadow.

Figurine of a fairy I have sitting on my bookshelf

Time for a close-up

Random sleepy picture! This is his usual sleeping position

New Gadgets mean New Pictures!

I got a Lightscoop for my camera as a birthday present, from my dear future husband! Of course I had to test it out on lil Riley. With this scoop, I hope to improve on the quality of my indoor pictures.

"Can I has it now? Please?"

"What do you mean, I am upside down?"

Nap time