A very long day..and a very long blog entry

Bear with me, this will be a long post with a lot of pictures!

The day started off with me and Winnie going to Hansel and Ava's graduation for obedience and agility. I used the opportunity to work on focus exercises with Winnie. Hansel graduated from beginner agility and graduate novice while Ava graduated from beginner agility and pre-novice.

The obedience club did a fun "Show Off Your Trick" thing. Even though we aren't enrolled in classes yet Winnie was allowed to participate- we did "Sit Pretty" and won a squeaky toy from the toy bin!

Dog slobber-covered toy

Winnie started barking and whining when the dogs were running their agility courses! Something tells me she'll love agility :) The next set of classes start in the beginning of July- I'm so excited! I plan on buying a set of 2x2 weave poles next week as well as Susan Garrett's 2x2 weave training DVD so that we can get a head start on things ;)

After graduation we shoved the dogs in the trunk (literally) and took the dogs to Buttermilk Falls State Park for a hike, since it was such a nice day.


I have to admit that I'm not a very outdoorsy person, but it was definitely nice to go out and enjoy some upstate New York scenery. Winnie, as usual, loves this kind of stuff so she had a blast. The falls were gorgeous!

Group shot

Afterwards we made a stop at Petsmart to buy random things here and there.

Hansel wearing a Harley-Davidson hat that his mom found in the store. Hansel, he's so hot right now (Zoolander, anyone?)

I bought Winnie replacement balls for her mini Chuck-it (the awesome rubber pink ball that we normally use is lost somewhere in the apartment), as well as a brand new toy. I'm hoping to use it to increase her tug drive for agility. It's great for throwing and it squeaks in the middle!


We then headed for Bethany's house (Ava, Juneau, and Brandt's mom) where the dogs played a bit more in their huge yard and the humans prepared dinner.

Winnie and I both met some pretty exotic animals! Bethany and her roommate have geckos, a tarantula, fish, guinea pigs, a sugarglider, a hedgehog, and a chinchilla! Darn vet students and their wild collection of animals, LOL.

Winnie became slightly obsessed with the guinea pigs. She kept barking at them and trying to get at the poor things.



I did allow her to meet Emma the hedgehog. Emma, unlike the cavies, has a defense mechanism- her prickly spines!


The chinchilla, Anubis, is absolutely adorable! He looks like a mouse-rabbit mix or something. Winnie got to sniff him but I think he scared her a bit.



For dinner we cooked up some corn on the cob, grilled potatoes, and grilled marinated chicken breast with mango/black bean salsa. Dessert was raspberry jello and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (which I ate WAY too many of). Food coma, anyone?


Afterwards the dogs started snoozing off. I took this awesome picture of Hansel and Juneau. The two are actually from the same litter.

Hansel. He couldn't be any more comfortable (or tired/sleepy) in Bethany's lap.

We finally went back home around 10 PM. Winnie is currently sleeping- she is completely knocked out, and I'm, er...blogging. And doing laundry. And watching TV.


I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have Winnie with me this summer! Things are so much more fun when you have a dog with you :) It's definitely going to get harder when I start school, though, with having to study and all.

Tomorrow starts another week. I hope everyone had a great weekend!