Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Tasty Tuesday

Did you know that a red plum and a blue chuck-it ball look very similar?


Well, at least to a chuck-it ball obsessed dog named Trail they look very similar.

"Are you eating my ball?!"
Not to worry, we "found" his ball and all was okay. Although for a few minutes, he was quite concerned.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Confederation Trail

In addition to the many wonderful beaches, we also have the Confederation Trail to explore. The trail is over 400 km long and goes from tip to tip of the island. There are many access points and the other day, Brook and Trail decided to check out a section.

In case you are wondering, yes it was a bit of chaos getting a 55 pound deaf dog (Trail) and a 32 pound blind and partly deaf dog (Brook) to calmly walk. Just getting out of our vehicle and to the trail was a challenge.  

Once there, the two of them had differing opinions as to which way we should go.


It took a minute but they got themselves sorted out and off we went.


This was the first leash walk the two of them have been on together and they did really well. Trail tends to be very calm on leash walks and I wondered if Brook's enthusiasm would rub off on him. Nope, he stayed calm and seemed to calm her a little.

The section of trail we explored on this day wasn't overly scenic (Brook didn't care) but it was a nice walk with lots for the dogs to sniff.  There was one scenic spot so I had them sit for a picture.


That is a little mischievous look on Brook's face...immediately following that picture, I took this one...

"Where are you going Brook?"

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Beach!

There are many beaches here and I have been asking for opinions as to which ones are best for dogs. We have many to choose from and will do our best to visit them all. 

Since Callie doesn't always play well with others, we headed out around supper time in the hopes that most people would be gone. They were.



The white specks are seagulls. Other than them, we had the beach to ourselves.  Callie thought that even they were too much and decided they should leave.


Interesting to note that she only chased the one seagull. There were other things to check out such as jellyfish.

"Never saw these in Lake Erie!"

We tried for the lighthouse photo but as usual, Callie was not too impressed. She doesn't like to pose for a picture.


No amount of pleading would get her to look at the camera. At least she doesn't have her ears flattened to her head like she usually does for posed photos.

It would have been nice to stay for the sunset but the person behind the camera was getting tired so we headed home with one final photo as Callie wandered in the water.


Thursday, July 24, 2014

The blues

I took this picture the other day of the three blues.

Brook, Bill and Trail

Then I noticed that they are standing in order - small, medium and large.

Monday, July 21, 2014

The ball

Trail is still obsessed with the blue chuck-it ball. He carries it around, puts it in my lap for me to throw and also will put in a drawer that is open, in shoes and in boxes. He seems to enjoy the challenge of getting it out of unusual spots.

"Is my ball in there?"

Once Trail confirmed that his ball was in there, he had Bill come along and check it out.

"Yes Trail, your ball is in there."

During Trail's attempts to get his ball out of the carton of cans of root beer, he accidentally (?) punctured a can.

No harm done, in his opinion.  If you look closely, you can see his tongue slurping up some of the root beer.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

New water dish

The pack is all excited because we got a new outdoor water dish.  A really big one.


"What the heck is this thing?"
Trail wasn't too sure about it.  As he did when visiting the ocean for the first time, he seemed to be thinking, "we never had things like this in Indiana."

Once he realized that there was water in it, he seemed to figure it out.


"Oh, a water dish."

Brook just thought of it as another obstacle for a poor little blind and partly deaf dog to have to navigate around.



At least one of the pack knows what the purpose of this water dish pool is.



Tuesday, July 15, 2014

"Don't eat it!"

Yesterday, Hiker found something in the dirt at the side of the barn.



She isn't a dirt eater (Bill is) so I knew that there must be something in the dirt, especially once she started wagging her tail and pawing at the dirt.

In case you can't see it in the above photo, this is what she discovered -





Hiker was excited and seemed to think that this little critter which kept hopping around would be fun to play with and then she tried to grab it with her mouth. Nope, not a good idea, I quickly told her,  "Hiker, no! Don't eat it!"  (unlike somebody in blogville... http://scotsmad.blogspot.ca/2014/07/grasshopper.htm)

This little critter was safely relocated and apparently wasn't too traumatized since we've seen it twice since the day that Hiker almost ate it.

Friday, July 11, 2014

New garden

A few days before travelling to Maine to bring Trail home, I had purchased some vegetable plants. While away, there was a frost that severely damaged the plants, so no veggies in the garden.

I was able to find some more plants and decided to dig a bigger garden - with help of course. 


Trail was very interested in this digging process while the others had more of a "been there, seen that" attitude and weren't too interested.


Even though Trail had only been with us for a couple of days, he was being a "velcro" dog (typical Australian Cattle Dog) and kept bringing his blue chuck-it ball over for me to throw.

It became obvious that he wasn't too pleased with the lack of ball throwing and the digging when he lay on the shovel.


It was a process that took longer than it should have, but the end result was worth it.  Yes, it would have been quicker and easier to do it without "help" but as I have said before, there isn't any fun in that!

Saturday, July 05, 2014

Time to come in!

Sometimes, being outside is the best thing and being told to come inside is the worst thing.

This is the reaction I got the other day when I called Hiker and Brook to come inside. (I think they had planned it in advance!)


I can just imagine them planning this.

Hiker: "Brook, you flop on the ground in front of the door. Look really pathetic and sad."

Brook: "Okay, then you won't be able to get inside!"

Friday, July 04, 2014

Out and about with Callie

Our last few posts have been all about Trail and how well he is fitting in with the pack.  We don't want you thinking that Callie has been forgotten!

We are now experiencing summer weather with temperatures around 26C/80F and that is on the verge of being too hot for our cold loving girl Callie. However, she has been getting out and about in the forest on our land.


Callie loves to be the center of attention on wanders through the wilderness and on the way back home we stopped at the creek for a few tosses of a stick to cool off. Yes, we cooled off since Callie loves to get really close before she shakes!


It is so nice (and yes, we know how lucky we are!) to have a good sized creek on our property. Sure, going to the beach is great, but sometimes just wandering through the fields to the creek for a swim is nice too.

 A few days ago the weather was cooler so we went to a local trail that we have been to many times and never ever seen anyone. Callie found water there too.