Cairn Chronicles

A Great Agility Weekend

2009-03-23T22:15:00.009-04:00

Tamber & Colin both competed in the NADAC Agility Trial at Hollins College March 21-22 2009. They had a great time and came home with a load of ribbons.

This was Tamber's 3rd year and she had her best trial ever. She competed in 8 events and had 4 Qualifying runs. (a Qualifying run earns points toward a title) She had 3 - 1st Place finishes and 3 - 2nd Place finishes (competing against other dogs entered at the Novice level with an 8" jump height).

This was Colin's first Agility Trial. He had a blast! He entered 4 events and had 3 Qualifying runs. He had 2 - 2nd Place and 2 - 3rd Place finishes. He competed against Tamber in all 4 events and always finished one place behind her. He actually beat her time by over 4 seconds in the Touch N Go event but finished in 3rd behind her 2nd place (and did not Qualify) because he was so excited he jumped off the A-frame too soon and missed the required contact zone.

Below are video's of some of the events:
(if you click on the title of the video or the link below the video you can see it in a slightly larger format on the Vimeo site)

Colin's Touch & Go Run from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Colin's Jumpers Run from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Colin's Tunnelers Run from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Tamber Touch N Go from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Tamber Chances Run from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Tamber's Jumpers Run from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Tamber's Regular Agility Run from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Finally, we have to remember that Agility is supposed to be fun and despite hard training, the results are unpredictable - you have to keep a sense of humor as illustrated by one of our classmates:

Agility does not always go as planned from Byron Dillard on Vimeo.

Another good Flyball weekend

2007-05-10T21:55:00.000-04:00

Tamber had another great weekend last weekend at the FBI Tournament in Manassas. Tamber ran 2-3 heats per race - 23 heats over the weekend - All Clean!!! No spitting, bobbling, chasing, visiting or loss of focus ... and her times didn't slow at the end of the day.

Look at her go - holding that ball!

If you look closely you'll see that I've taught Tamber to hold her mouth open just like I do when she gets ready to run!

And lets not forget Colin. He ran warmups this weekend. Mostly just recalls but he had no problem focusing and staying in the lane. He's just starting to get over his fear of the box. If we can just build his confidence to the point where he doesn't freak out when the box pops then I think we'll be over the biggest hurdles to getting him playing this game too.

Tamber earned her first Flyball title!

2007-04-23T21:00:00.000-04:00

Tamber earned her first Flyball title; Flyball Dog (FD); this past weekend. FD requires 20 points. She earned 31 points this weekend to give her a total of 38 points.

We met 2 other Cairns from other Flyball teams this weekend. Cairns are relatively rare in Fllyball. Only 58 are registered with NAFA and only 31 have earned the FD title before Tamber. We've been a bit frustrated that it took about a year to get Tamber this far when some dogs get the hang of it in just a couple months. After talking to the other Cairn owners, I feel much better. One Cairn has been training for almost 3 years and the other for over a year and neither are competing yet. For a Cairn, getting Tamber trained and running in a year turns out to be a very respectable accomplishment.

After the big weekend, Tamber is worn out as you can see from the pics below:

Pick a Caption

2007-03-23T21:26:00.001-04:00

Pick a Caption

Salt & Pepper
Ying Yang Yappers
Sofa Symmetry

Flyball Success

2007-03-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

Tamber & Colin just had a fun weekend at the Spring Fling Flyball tournament in Franklin VA.

This was Tamber's first tournament actually running in real heats (she ran warm-up heats in 2 previous tournaments). Our goal was to have her run a few clean heats (not dropping the ball, missing jumps, going off course to visit judges or other dogs, etc.) Not only did she successfully run several clean heats, her team of primarily new dogs managed to get it all together in the same heat a few times and Tamber even managed to earn 7 points (two 1 point races + one 5 point race). Not bad for her first tournament running!

Colin also had fun this weekend. This was his first tournament running warm-up heats. He did well - he did not over react to the environment and stayed in his lane running recalls over the jumps. Colin is very enthusiastic about Flyball (and everything else in life) and I think he has a great future in Flyball!

After the exciting weekend we have 2 very tired puppies today!

I just noticed that my previous post was about "lying together" - they are still at it when the mood is right.

Let Sleeping dogs Lie (Together)

2007-02-15T08:39:00.000-05:00

Recently we've noticed Tamber and Colin sleeping together at times. Until recently, if they were laying together it was because they both wanted the same spot (like the arm of the loveseat with a good view out the window). In the shot below, there's nothing special about that end of the couch, they more often prefer the other end. I think that they've finally reached the point where sometimes they sleep together because they actually like being together.

Get up & Play!

2007-02-06T10:21:00.000-05:00

I caught this sequence this morning as Colin tried to get Tamber to stop being lazy and get up and play.

Get Up

Come On!

Ahh-roo-rooo-roooo!

This isn't working.

Agility & Flyball Update

2007-01-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

Tamber & Colin finished their winter Agility classes this weekend. Both did well. We have Tamber entered for a few runs in the local Agility trial in March. She entered the same trial last year and did well on on of three runs. Karen taped a little of Colin's last Agility class Saturday. He really does well and loves to do agility.

We drove to Blacksburg for Flyball practice this afternoon and both Colin & Tamber did great! At the moment we are limited to Flyball in practice down the middle of a working horse barn owned by one of the members family since the Rec Center gym is booked for basketball. Despite the barn distractions, both dogs did great. For the first time Tamber did about 4 complete runs (up over 4 jumps, hit the box, grab the ball and carry it back over 4 jumps). Colin has had a lot less training so he's not doing the whole thing yet but he did great today - ran over the 4 jumps to the box and came back (no ball involved yet). We hope to have Tamber competing in her first Flyball tournament in a couple weeks.

Pictures of a Black Dog

2007-01-25T21:09:00.000-05:00

I tried again today to get better pictures of the black dog. Even with direct or not so direct sunlight, Colin is hard to capture in a photo.

Newly Groomed for the New Year

2007-01-24T22:55:00.000-05:00

Tamber & Colin got a long overdue grooming today. It turned out to be one of the better ones they've had recently. Colin actually looks very handsome but being a black dog it is really hard to see how nice he looks in a picture. I'll try to get a few better shots of him in the next couple days.
On the topic of Colin being a black dog - that seems to be less and less true - he is really now only mostly black - more and more brown and white showing up. There are a couple areas on his face that really look white with the hair cut back in this grooming - I'll have to try to get pictures of the color changes. (if you click the picture above you can get the full sized image and see the white on the bridge of his nose - that's not just a reflection of the flash)

Monday night, Tamber & Colin went to Lynchburg with us for Aunt Fran's 90th birthday party. They behaved very well and seemed to enjoy all the people. Of course we have no pictures of them with the "guest of honor" at the party since she doesn't like them too close to her.

The Guest of Honor on her 90th!

Newman posing Colin
(everyone thought Colin looked very cute in this pose and he didn't seem to mind at all)

Tamber in her "Comfort Zone"

Happy New Year!

2007-01-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

Wow - the fall flew past and we are already in January. The Cairns have stayed busy with long walks, play groups, Flyball & Agility classes. They were happy to have Shelby back home with them for a couple months.

Things got real interesting when Shelby decided to get a couple cats to take with her to her new apartment in Baltimore. When she first brought them to the house the Cairns were WAY too excited and curious and we had to keep the cats upstairs and the dogs down for a few days while they both got accustomed to having the other species in the house. Tamber fairly quickly learned to observe the cats calmly from a distance and slowly move closer as the cats learned to accept her. She finally got to a fairly comfortable sniffing /curious relationship with the cats. Colin, being the no holds bared, charge straight in type soon learned to keep his distance after being swatted several times for his impertinence. (neither the cats nor the dogs ever realized that there was no real danger in the swat of the recently declawed cats) Just when the dogs and cats were getting to the point of a respectful understanding of each other, the cats have moved out and we're back to just 2 Cairns in the house.

Christmas Card pose:

Tamber & Colin watch the cat in the bag (look closely for the cat):

Tamber and the cats have a stare down contest:

2 Months and counting...

2006-10-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

September was a busy month and flew past. We've now had Colin for just over 2 months and the excitement continues. Colin "graduated" from his manners class last week. He's pretty good at "sit" and "down" and is good at loose leash walking when I have treats in my hand. We've started a little Flyball training with him and when he's in the mood he is very good and focused. This week we plan to start Obedience class with Colin to continue to improve his skills.

We've certainly exposed him to a lot of dogs, people, places and activities in the last 2 months and in general his socialization skills have improved greatly. He still usually barks at new dogs and people who pass us on a walk, etc. and we need to continue to work on that. He still occasionally spooks at new and unusual things like an empty wheelchair at the training center or a swinging bridge on a hike (I don't blame him for that - Tamber didn't like it either but after carrying them over 3 swinging bridges both Tamber and Colin walked over the 4th on their own).

Saturday I had Tamber at Agility class and as usual she was very excited to be on the agility field, see her old friends (dogs and their owners), etc. Someone remarked about how excited she was and I replied, "... and this is my calm dog!".

Backpacking Adventure

2006-09-05T11:10:00.000-04:00

Colin went on his first backpacking adventure with the family over Labor Day weekend. We hiked about 5-6 miles each day on Sunday and Monday in the Shenandoah National Park. Colin got to spend his first night in a tent (only the second time for Tamber). Both dogs had a blast! This morning they are in rest & recovery mode.

Tuesday morning, Colin is sleeping sprawled on his back with his legs in the air:

Tamber is slightly more dignified but just as exhausted:

Misc Pics

2006-08-30T21:51:00.000-04:00

I've noticed that Colin often like to sleep tucked up into unusual places:

I'm also surprised how often the pups strike an almost identical pose:

After finding limited selection in Halloween costumes in October last year, we decided to buy early this year (we like the variety & prices at Target better than Pets-mart)

Escape!

2006-08-28T21:39:00.000-04:00

Tonight we went back to Manners class. Colin did better about not barking. He barked some but he didn't go crazy and he could focus on what we were wanting him to do most of the time. We worked on attention exercises. We rehearsed Sit. We got him to start doing Down. We did a little Come on leash. We started doing some simple Touch.

After class we picked up dinner at Chick-fil-A and went to Staples to do a return. We decided to just sit in the car & eat then take the dogs for a walk. We parked on the far side of the lot and rolled the windows down to catch as much breeze as possible. We were in the Mazda and the dogs were loose in the back seat because we had to drop the van off for repair (normally we have the dogs in crates in the van). We were eating and talking and the dogs were resting in the back seat. Suddenly we noticed a dark Cairn trotting across the lot about 75 feet from the car. I was about to say, "Wow - there's a Carin" when Karen said, "That looks like Colin! We looked in the back seat and Colin was gone! Karen opened the door, got out and called Colin and he came running right over to her. We couldn't believe the he just jumped out without making a sound. The back windows in that car don't roll all the way down - there is just a V at the back where the glass rolls down to the top of the door. We had talked about being careful - not rolling the windows down more than a few inches when driving, etc. but we had not clue that Colin would or could jump out unnoticed while we were just sitting a few feet from him. We have no clue how long he was out. Luckily the lot is fenced on most sides and we were away from most of the other cars and traffic but it was quite a scare!

Another visit from Newman

2006-08-24T21:58:00.000-04:00

Becky & Newman arrived today while I was on a conference call & Karen was out at the store. Of course both dogs were going crazy and raising a ruckus. I suddenly had a idea - I handed leashes to Becky & Newman and asked them to take the dogs out on short potty walk. It was great! The dogs were happy, Becky & Newman were happy & I could hear my call. When they came back in a few minutes later the dogs were perfectly calm.

A little while later, Newman picked up Tamber and sat down with her on the couch. Colin soon joined them.

Later the two settled in for a nap under my desk. (I had a hard time maneuvering to take pictures without rolling over paws with the chair)

Flyball Practice

2006-08-23T21:13:00.000-04:00

We went to Flyball practice again tonight. Tamber did a little better once again on her box work. Colin spent much of the time in a crate watching the other dogs. He did a little better at settling down and barking a little less frequently. We even got him out and coached him over a jump a few times. After some of the dogs left, we let him get out and run with the 4-5 other dogs that we knew could handle a yappy little dog. Colin stopped barking and started playing fairly quickly. He even laid down and watched after a little while!

Manners Class

2006-08-21T22:21:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the first night of Manners class for Colin (we went without Colin for the first session last week). There were only 2 other dogs but he still barked like crazy. We spent most of the time working on the barking - turn our back and ignore the barking, praise and treat when he stopped. We also did some basic name recognition and simple recall from the end of the leash. We tried to work on Sit but he was to excited to sit down - he did better when we got home.

Busy Weekend

2006-08-21T08:53:00.000-04:00

Another busy weekend! Small dog play group Friday night (Colin observed from the calming security of a crate - that many new dogs at one time was mare than he could handle). We made trips to Lynchburg Saturday & Sunday. Colin & Tamber got to run in Grandma & Grandpa's fenced yard and play with the Migner clan. On Sunday, Lori's little friend, Autumn, enjoyed walking and loving on both dogs. The dogs also enjoyed nice greenway walks both days. Colin is getting better about not pulling on the leash most of the time but keeping the leashed untangled in the excitement of the first few minutes of the walk is still a challenge.

Here's a shot of the pups observing the happenings at Grandpa's birthday party.

Too Schnauzerly

2006-08-17T22:08:00.000-04:00

We tried a new groomer for Tamber today but the results were disappointing - too Schnauzerly again. The groomer didn't give her the round furnishing around the head that a Cairn should have - took out too much below the cheeks. It is not the worst cut she's had but definitely not what we wanted. The search for a groomer will continue.

Tamber & Colin went to Flyball practice in Roanoke with Laura at the Pooch Professor's place. For a change, Tamber was one of the more experienced Flyballers in the class - the rest are just getting started. Colin just watched the Flyball practice to get used to the new place, new dogs, etc. After practice they had a short play time and Colin got to play with the other dogs. He still needs to learn proper socialization skills and this was a good supervised environment. Several of the dogs had to tell him to back off and stop being so bratty. Boo Boo even gave him the alpha roll - didn't bite or hurt him at all but taught him a little respect for other dogs. After that Boo Boo and Colin got along just fine - no hard feelings and no more bratty behavior.

Ghost from the Past

2006-08-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

Since Colin is a rescue dog, I keep looking for strange behaviors resulting from conditions in his life before he came to us. He is amazingly well adjusted. The only unusual behavior that I've observed is his reluctance to step out of his crate. He is always excited to see us when we approach him in the crate - in the morning after sleeping all night or in the crate in the van. We open the crate door and he wiggles with excitement and wants to be petted. However he never pushes to get out and even when I move back to give him room and tell him it is OK to come out he still hesitates and only very timidly steps out. If I reach in to pick him up, he will back away from me. This reaction from a dog who in all other circumstances is fearless (to the point of being almost reckless) and begs for petting from us and just about anyone else he meets. I'm guessing he spent most of his time in a create and was punished in some way if he ever attempted to get out. If this is the only issue he is bringing to us, we are very fortunate!

Tag, Tug & Tackle

2006-08-15T22:32:00.000-04:00

The dogs favorite games are Tag (at high speed from room to room), Tackle (every possible wrestling move) and Tug (with any available toy). The Tug games are just developing. It used to be more of a game of Take-Away but Tamber has learned to hold on a bit tighter. Now Tamber will pick up a toy and bump Colin with it (like she does with us) to get him to tug with her. He sometimes is too tired (from Tag or Tackle) to want to tug but Tamber can be insistent. This morning she kept flopping the new plush "Frisbee" against him until he finally joined the game. Tonight she was bumping him with the stuffed squirrel trying to get a game started. When he wouldn't play she turned to me for a good tug.

Cliché

2006-08-14T23:22:00.000-04:00

Let the pups fall where they may.

Like two peas in a pod

We went to our first manners class (no dogs with us tonight). It will be a small class - Colin plus 2 or 3 other dogs - but one of them is also Cairn (a big Cairn - 25lb).

Flyball Tournament

2006-08-13T21:23:00.000-04:00

We spent the weekend at the Flyball tournament that our team hosted in Blacksburg. Tamber did some practice runs in "Single Dog Racing" Friday night and ran a few warm-ups with the team on Saturday to get accustomed performing in the excitement of the tournament environment. She doesn't quite have the whole routine put together enough to actually run yet.

WDBJ7 was at the event and included a couple seconds of Tamber in their report. WDBJ currently has the video on their webpage - wdbj7.com - look for "Relay race for the dogs in Blacksburg" or try this link:
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5274499&nav=menu368_2

The link to the video is at the bottom of the page.

Peace in the house

2006-08-10T22:37:00.000-04:00

There are moments of peace in the house:

Speaking of Peace - I just found this clip from last Christmas:

Walking the dogs

2006-08-10T08:48:00.000-04:00

I guess we've taken the 2 dogs on about every type of walk we do - greenway, neighborhood roads, trail in the woods, fire-road. They always love their walks. Colin is already noticeably better about not pulling on the leash - at least after the initial excitement wears off. The two never tussle while we are walking - they are very flexible about who is leading, etc. Colin still tends to dart off to the side more than Tamber but not too bad. We are getting better about quickly reacting to unexpected detours by either dog and quickly freeing crossed leads before we get a tangle (it is a bit challenging in the dusk/dark which is when we are usually walking on hot days). Its amusing to watch them both react the same way to the sights, scents and sounds along the trail - you can tell they share a lot of genetic traits.

Speaking of sharing traits - Shelby doodled a picture of Tamber while sitting in a meeting. At the moment I think it looks more like Colin because Tamber is getting a little shaggy.

Adjusting to new personalities

2006-08-08T16:25:00.000-04:00

Colin is much more hyper/energetic that Tamber. Case in point: I often hold the dog food fork down for Tamber to sniff to get her interested in the food I have just put in her bowl. Tamber always sniffs carefully a few times then starts licking her lips - I've been surprised that she never even attempts to lick the fork. After letting Tamber sniff this morning, Colin was interested too so I held the fork in front of him - he didn't sniff, or lick, he just immediately tried to grab the fork and run away. Another example is that when the dogs are chasing each other around the house, Colin jumps up on the couches, etc. to get away for a few seconds and take a breather - he knows that Tamber won't follow. Compared to Tamber, he's a daredevil on the furniture. Tamber has always been timid on steps - Colin runs up 2 at a time. Tamber likes to sleep on her belly - Colin sleeps on his back with his feet in the air (and his head hanging off the couch if possible). Tamber keeps a respectful distance from the air grates on the floor - Colin sleeps on top of the grate to get maximum benefit from the AC.

Yet in so many ways they are alike. Today I noticed several times that they were both laying the same way - watching what we were doing. Right now, both of the the "terrorists" have passed out on the floor after our long walk on a path by the Parkway.

Tamber has started bringing toys to Colin to play with - she bumps him with the toy just like she does to us. The only problem is that Colin is so excited about playing that he grabs the toy from her rather that tugging on it with her like we do (I think maybe we've been a little too gentle in the game and she's not ready for a true doggie reaction). We noticed today though that Tamber was "winning" allot more than before. They were really having fun because Tamber was in "winning" mood!!

The dogs still get rather wound up a few times a day. We are starting to work on the "Enough" command. The video below is part of a game of Tag today.

Steppin' Out in Style

2006-08-06T21:31:00.000-04:00

This was another busy doggie weekend. Tamber had Agility class Saturday morning and Colin went to watch. In the afternoon we drove to Blacksburg to help with a Flyball demo at Blacksburg's Steppin' Out festival. Colin stayed in his crate in the cool and quiet basement at Sharon's house since we weren't sure if he was ready for the excitement of a Flyball demo. Tamber ran a few times at the demo and demonstrated a newbie dog in training. She's almost got the entire flyball run put together - a couple more weeks and she'll be doing it.

After the demo, we carried Tamber in her bag as we walked thru the festival. We spotted a vendor selling doggie caps and we were glad we had her with us to try one on. As always, Tamber is fine with any 'clothing' and just goes along as if nothing is unusual. She got lots of adoring looks and comments as she wore her new hat on the way back to the car.

We though about buying a cap for Colin but decided not to get one because we didn't know if he would put up with one. We tried Tamber's on him when we got home and he immediately pulled it off (as we expected). What we didn't expect was his reaction to Tamber wearing the cap. As soon as he sees it on her head he immediately grabs it and pulls it off her head! The video clip below shows him pulling it off her.

A middle name?

2006-08-03T23:31:00.000-04:00

We've been trying to come up with a good middle name for Colin - something with a good ring & rhythm to it that is appropriate to his personality. We've thought of several but the current favorite is Colin Kipp.

Becky and kids came by today ... that was really interesting!!! Tamber AND Colin were a little afraid of the kids. They both tolerated the kids but snuggled up together beside "Mom". They wouldn't leave the couch. They were both sitting as close to Mom and each other as possible. Very interesting!!

Newman drew this picture of Tamber & Colin on the couch:

Bridgette drew this picture of the "paths" the dogs run:

Colin has definitely bonded with our family, there's no doubt!! Tamber and Colin love each other as well.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

2006-08-02T22:48:00.000-04:00

A very hot day today. The dogs couldn't spend much time outside during the day but they did take a quick dip in the wading pool. Tamber jumps right in this year (last summer she was scared). Colin hasn't climbed in by himself yet but he stays in for a bit when placed in the pool. (sorry - no pool pictures available)

Tamber and Colin sometimes enjoy a little tug of war.

We took a nice walk on the Chesnut Mountain trail in the evening after it cooled down a bit. The dogs still got hot but they enjoyed the walk. We managed to avoid too many tangles in the flexi leads. Actually, they walk surprisingly well together - one is usually content to follow the other in single file.

Tamber likes to watch over Colin when he's in the pen and we are out of the room. If Tamber stays where Colin can see her, he stays calm. If Tamber gets out of site, Colin starts jumping and Tamber soon returns to calm him down. Today she didn't need to bark at him - just come in room and he calmed down.

There was lots or running and wrestling again today when Colin was out of the pen. It gets a little wild at times. We'll have to get a video of the running soon. So far no fights - just spells of furious wrestling but when we thought things might get out of hand and told them to stop they settled down. They frequently tussle but then they calm down and rest or sleep together too.

Settling In

2006-08-01T22:32:00.000-04:00

In some ways, things began to settle down today - at least a little bit.

Colin has trained us to watch him closely when he is not in his pen and to take him outside to go potty about once an hour. Even so, we still had 2 'accidents' toady. Hopefully we will be better about getting him outside in time tomorrow.

I realized that every picture I posted of Colin yesterday showed him resting. He doesn't always sleep but that is certainly the easiest time to take pictures. So I have a few more resting pics today plus one of him sharing Tamber's favorite perch.

Colin is getting fairly comfortable in his pen. Tamber is 'teaching' him not to jump in his pen. This video is hilarious - she's right back on him every time he starts jumping. (at the time Karen thought the issue was the dog treat but it was really Colin's 'inappropriate' behavior)

Colin is getting less shy and more playful & even rowdy or reckless sometimes. When we brought him home Saturday, he didn't know how to jump up on the couch with Tamber. He kept jumping straight up like he learned to do in the pen - he didn't know how to jump forward. He quickly figured it out. Today he's jumping onto the couch from the end - onto the arm which is much higher than the seat - Tamber would never attempt that feat! He's also mastered the stairs and we have to watch him to keep him from getting too reckless running up and down in his excitement.

Colin is learning to tug with us a little better.

Tamber & Colin love to play together - and can get a little rowdy at times but so far all their tussling seems to be in fun and keeps them worn out.

Then there were 2

2006-07-31T22:27:00.000-04:00

Colin arrived in our home on July 29, 2006. We adopted him from a Cairn rescue organization because we wanted a playmate for Tamber and because we wanted to provide a better life for a Carin who got off to a rough start. To get some background on Colin, check out this link:
http://rescue.potomacctc.org/dogs/doginfo-colin.htm

As with Tamber, Shelby got things started when she spotted the listing above for Colin and sent us the link. The the Potomac Cairn Terrier Club had a Fun Day for Cairns and their owners Saturday, July 29th in Haymarket, VA. We drove up for the festivities and to meet Colin. Things went better than expected on Saturday and Colin came home with us.

Colin went to Flyball practice with us in Blacksburg on Sunday and saw the dogs on the team - very exciting for him. Anne took his picture in the crate (above). Then we went over to Sharon's and Colin got to run & swim with several of the other dogs - even more exciting!

Tamber and Colin get along very well especially when they are not in the house. The biggest issues at this point have more to do with Tamber accepting Colin in her house than with anything else. We're still trying different things to find arrangements that keep both dogs happy. Sleeping arrangements are fine with 2 very similar crates in our bedroom. We're trying to find proper daytime arrangements. We've trying to discover when & how much Colin needs to be in the x-pen and where we need to have the pen in the house to keep everyone happy. Colin's had a few 'accidents' in the house today as we try to learn where he is in the house training process.

This morning we started learning to fit Colin into our daily routine. After much fun and excitement a morning nap was needed by all.

The biggest challenge today was figuring out how to get Tamber to eat. Tamber is used to taking her time and eating when she's in the mood - even when we give her her favorite food. Colin gobbles food immediately so we can't have Tamber's food sitting out where Colin can get it. We tried putting Colin in the pen and feeding Tamber but she was never in the mood and would rather rest or watch Colin jump around in his pen. We even tried reversing the setup and putting Tamber in the pen with her food - still no luck but it made an serendipitous photo subject.

Tamber finally got hungry enough to eat in the evening. She also spent some time trying to teach Colin not to jump in his pen. Every time he started jumping Tamber got up in his face and barked at him from the other side of the pen - I'll have to get a movie of this tomorrow.

After an evening walk, things calmed down a bit more as everyone stretched out to rest.