Merrry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone & best wishes for a Happy & Healthy New Year.

I've had an expensive year with home repairs, but the 'important things' remain ok. Cheyenne remains here, pretty healthy & happy at 10 years old. The vet's who have seen her over this past year still guess her age at around 7, which is a bonus. Apache remains in remission - currently dining on 1/4 or so of a whole rabbit 2x a day with rice/lamb boiled together to add his vitamins & suppliments to & about 3 of the baby carrots. Very little grey on this dog yet & no one would ever think he was ill because he remains such a wild and happy boy. Chippewa is healthy, happy, and wild. He's improved so much in the past couple of years, no one would ever guess he ever had the issues he did when I adopted him. These guys make me laugh (& occasionally scream) almost daily.

We've already documented Apache getting his RN title, but there's another one I should mention. Here's a the address for Rally information if you're curious -> http://www.akc.org/events/rally/faqs.cfm
Chip finished his Rally Title at the Cleveland shows with a 95 out of 100. I was very proud of him, as it is a VERY loud show site, and he did pretty well with all the distractions. I was actually more proud that he walked through the vendors with me for almost 2 hours and did not growl, snap, complain about any dog that he encountered & there were tons. He let people pet him, even hug him, and that's been a pretty ongoing issue for him. He's gotten to be a delight to take places (once we get there - he still DOES NOT enjoy car rides). So this year Chip got his CGC early in the year, and now he has his Rally title, and hopefully will get through his CD next year. It is really cute to see a little dog work!

My friend got a new Tri Colored Smooth Collie puppy to replace one that didn't work out (don't worry, don't egg her house, she found Sting a perfect home). A Smooth Collie is one with short hair, looks like she washed him with NAIR by mistake, but he's supposed to look like that! Here's an address for Smooth Collies if you were curious about them -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_Collie
He's adorable, wild, outgoing, confident, and cute, pretty much all you could hope for in a conformation dog. He's funny, but a bit dominant, not aggressive, just snotty. He's learning to work with me, and I will likely begin showing him in the 'breed ring' next year'. It's something pretty new to me, but it's just another type of training & I appreciate the vote of confidence in allowing me to show him.

So, like I said, while the house has me broke, the important things are going well & I hope you can say the same (except for the house making you broke).

~~Merry Christmas!!~~