Bad science?

Take some time to go through Scholastic's Moon Olympics and see how many scientific errors are made. The wrong concepts here are a great example of "common sense" not being very accurate. You'd think they would have run this thing past someone with scientific background, say, in physics.

So, what errors can you spot?

The US Military is Making Super Puppies

No, really! Apparently the US military did research in increasing intelligence in dogs by using techniques during the early stages of life. The video below describes the project and the methods used.



I knew that I'd read this somewhere before, so I took a look in my "dog library," to find out where. In The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks of New Skete discuss the benefits of stress, suggesting that "Puppies exposed to mildly stressful experiences from an early age (1-6 weeks) usually develop into dogs possessing superior problem-solving ability, with less emotional imbalance than their counterparts raised without such stimulation." They also say that mild stress will activate the immune system. The monks achieve this stress mostly by having various people handle the dogs multiple times each day. Obviously the military goes further in the video above (and in other ways).

It just goes to reinforce the well-known fact that you need to spend time with your puppies.

Canadian Idiot

I stumbled across this again and it made me laugh.


You can find the lyrics here.

Cold, cold, and colder.

It feels like forever since we've been in this deep freeze, but it's really only been a week. G'Kar got walks up until Saturday and then it was just way too cold. Even the few days before caused him to do the famous "my feet are too cold" dog limp. It was only -30C, but he was still limping after a few minutes unless he was full out running. Did I actually say only -30C?

He's actually been better behaved than I expected the last three days, even though he hasn't had a walk. I thought he'd be a bit more attention-seeking and have the zoomies every few minutes, but he's been really quite good. I was able to tire him out (a bit) on Saturday and Sunday with games of fetch inside. I realized this weekend that, other than his week off after surgery, G'Kar has never gone without at least one run in the field each day.

But tomorrow it finally warms up and he'll be out running again.

No Comment

Two prawns were swimming around in the sea, One called Justin and the other called Kristian. The prawns were constantly being harassed and threatened by sharks that inhabited the area.

Finally one day Justin said to Kristian, 'I'm fed up with being a prawn; I wish I was a shark, and then I wouldn't have any worries about being eaten.' A large mysterious cod appeared and said, 'Your wish is granted' Lo and behold, Justin turned into a shark. Horrified, Kristian immediately swam away, afraid of being eaten by his old mate.

Time passed (as it does) and Justin found life as a shark boring and lonely. All his old mates simply swam away whenever he came close to them. Justin didn't realize that his new menacing appearance was the cause of his sad plight. While swimming alone one day he saw the mysterious cod again and he thought perhaps the mysterious fish could change him back into a prawn. He approached the cod and begged to be changed back, and, lo and behold, he found himself turned back into a prawn.

With tears of joy in his tiny little eyes Justin swam back to his friends and bought them all a cocktail.
Looking around the gathering at the reef he realized he couldn't see his old pal.

'Where's Kristian?' he asked.

'He's at home, still distraught that his best friend changed sides to the enemy & became a shark', came the reply.

Eager to put things right again and end the mutual pain and torture, he set off to Kristian's abode. As he opened the coral gate, memories came flooding back. He banged on the door and shouted, 'It's me, Justin, your old friend, come out and see me again.'

Kristian replied, 'No way man, you'll eat me. You're now a shark, the enemy, and I'll not be tricked into being your dinner.'

Justin cried back 'No, I'm not. That was the old me. I've changed.'.........

'I've found Cod.
I'm a Prawn again, Kristian'

Dog or cat?

G'Kar has surprised me a few times, but this was the most surprising thing he did yet. I was getting ready for work downstairs one day last week. When I came upstairs, I saw this:



Well, when I first saw him he was on his back, soaking up the sun. He flipped onto his stomach to look at me when I took his picture. You see, Leah left a chair pulled out from the table, and G'Kar saw the sun, and, well, he just jumped up on the table, completely oblivious. He's not allowed on any furniture but our bed, but we haven't told him he couldn't go on the table yet, right?

I told him "off" and he just jumped onto the chair and down onto the floor without a thought.

Note that he's nestled in between a $600 Blackberry and a $300 Kindle.

Back in the Field

One of the great things about sharing your time with a dog is marvelling at their agility and athletic ability. I took my tennis racket, ball, and camera to the field today for a session of ball-chasing. I alternate between hitting them long and making him run and hitting them high and making him watch and then "hunt" them down. Here are some pics; they're not the greatest because I have to hit the ball and then quickly focus (with gloves on, too), but they tell the story.

I can has new blanket now? k thx

G'Kar would like to thank Jasmine for his blankie. He's like a little kid how he goes everywhere with it! I'm not sure how much longer it'll last though...

G'Kar Ready for attack!

Since G'Kar isn't able to run for another week (!) I thought I'd put of a video of him running. He's become obsessed with the ball and absolutely goes nuts when I pull out the tennis racket, a tool I've come to appreciate for fetch.

I wish I would have been able to catch him running hard, but he only runs really hard when the ball goes far, and that requires a tennis racket. You can imagine that holding a video camera, ball, and tennis racket is a bit demanding, so I chose to just throw it.

A bad day...

Even though our bundle of yellow fur and energy didn't know it, this day was inevitable. Yes, there will be no little G'Kar progeny.

The poor guy is pretty sore and completely out of it; I've never seen him so down and it's hard to see him this way.

The toughest part of this whole thing is that the vet has told us that he only gets leash walks for 7-10 days! I'm not sure he'll live!

Laundry Lurker

Ok, I know I've been terrible at posting lately and it's something I need to rectify. Here's an updated pic (from August). I need to put up some newer pics, but this one is just so darn cute...

Obedience Class

G'Kar had his second obedience class tonight, and once again, I was really happy with how he performed. And tonight, he learned a new command: "Stand." He has no idea what it means, so we're going to have to spend some time working on it now!

He is still an extremely excitable dog and he loves people to death. Jumping is still a huge issue, though now he usually jumps beside people instead of on them, but if a person gets down low, squatting or sitting, it's over. He'll be on them in seconds, tongue slurping.

He peed again tonight whenever the instructor came over to do something with him, or use him for a demonstration. He just gets so excited.

But, what amazes me, is that even though he's so excitable, he still can focus remarkably well. Even with other dogs around him, people moving, and toys nearby, he can still focus on us with a watch command well over 90% of the time.

His stays have always been rock solid. I ended every training session for 3 months with a stay and he always got a HUGE reward for staying. I'd like to say this has a lot to do with his staying ability, but I'm not sure because he learned stay so quickly and easily. He was staying after two lessons. After four lessons I could move around him, and after six, I could bounce around the room. He has always had amazing patience for a puppy.

Next week, I have to take my camera to the class!

Disney Day 1

Tuesday Aug 4

8:05 - arrive Animal Kingdom
8:55 - get FP to Everest (2 feet back from rope at drop)
9:01 - ride everest (1 min)
9:15 - ride dinosaur (walk on)
9:35 - get FP to Kali River
9:48 - use FP to watch Lion King (we were given the FP at the gate in the morning - walk in)
10:30 - get FP to Safari
10:48 - use FP for Everest
11:10 - eat at Flametree BBQ
11:42 - use FP for Safari (6 min)
12:20 - use FP for Kali (8 min)
1:15 - back at hotel for nap
2:45 - go to Hollywood Studios
3:00 - get FP for Star Tours
3:30 - eat at Mama Melrose (great meal for both of us!)
4:40 - watch Muppet Vision (walk on)
5:00 - thunderstorm and heavy rain
5:45 - watch Indiana Jones short version (due to rain)
6:04 - use FP for Star Tours
6:14 - Great Movie Ride (15 min)
6:45 - wait for rain to stop
7:00 - wander park and stop for iced tea
8:00 - get seated for Fantasmic
9:00 - Fantasmic (after a 1 hour wait in the stadium - yuck)

Disney arrival

We've had a very busy first 4 days in Disney.

Monday Aug 3

We waited 25 minutes for the Magical Express and then an addition 25 minutes ON the bus for a whopping 50 minutes before we left the airport. We arrived at 6pm for a total of 95 minutes from the time we were in the Magical Express line-up. Not so magical.

Our first night we went to Epcot to eat at the Marakesh in the Morrocan pavilion. This time Leah got the great meal and I got the average meal (instead of the reverse last time). After dinner we walked the park a bit and rode Spaceship Earth (walk on) and then headed to the Magic Kingdom. We got caught behind the parade and struggled through the crowds to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and then went to the Haunted Mansion (both walk-ons). After that we went home to our, once again, fantastic hotel at Port Orleans Riverside.

This sucks

It's 4am and we're waiting for the cab to take us to the airport for a freakishly early flight and I can't help but think of Mark Black.

I have nothing against Mark, and in fact I think he's a great speaker, but when I saw him last fall, I was struck by something he said.

Mark was talking about his successful life, and how he's overcome adversity (and he certainly has). One of the things he said was a "secret" to his success was that he gets up early every day and gets things done before everyone else is even awake and he felt this gave him a head start on the day. I've always thought this was absurd and fallacious, but this morning it feels even more so.

I'm not a morning person. I never have been, and I doubt I ever will be one. When it comes to work, the "secret" to my success has been to be well-prepared. Every teacher knows this. For me, this meant not going to sleep until everything was done for the next day. It just bugged me too much for me to sleep, so I did it before I hit the sheets. What's ironic, and points out the fallacy in Mark's argument, is that by staying up late, we night owls get things done before those early-morning-loving freaks even get up! Talk about a head start on the day.

No, Mark, the secret to your success was not getting up early - it was being prepared, working hard, having amazing self-determination and a strong will to succeed.

Just like everyone else who's ever been successful.

On to Disney

We leave for Walt Disney World on Monday, and G'Kar will be spending his first bit of time without us... or maybe I should say we're spending our first bit of time away from him. I'm sure he'll be less concerned than I will be. Fortunately, he's going to be well taken care of, with daily walks, lots of visits, time in the run with Dune, and even visits to other homes! The only thing I'm concerned about is that he'll be sleeping without us all night long.

I'm going to miss him a lot!

He had a great time last weekend in Calgary with a house 'o dogs - 6 dogs running around the Burt's house. G'Kar loved the attention and did really well, though Dune and Riesling had more than one dispute. For some reason they have a hard time getting along with each other. Fortunately, by the time we left, they were playing nicely.

On the way home, we stopped outside of Brock on a country road to let them out of the car and run while we ate our lunch. After a break I took them for a short stroll down the gravel road and suddenly G'Kar put his nose up in the air and sniffed, then bolted away from me, under a barbed wire fence, and into a pasture. About 3 seconds later he was rolling in a very foul pile of green, soupy, mostly-decayed grass clippings. The stuff reeked, which only made it that much better for him. He came back to me a few moments later covered in green goop and stinking like a compost heap, happy and proud of his new-found treasure. He was, literally, dripping. We spent 20 minutes and all the paper napkins we had in the car (why had we forgotten paper towel???) trying to wash him down so that we could stand him for the next 3 hours of our trip. Thank goodness it wasn't manure.

When we got home, G'Kar got a bath - his first bath. He wasn't sure at first, but soon accepted it and didn't seem to mind all that much. And the energetic after-bath running was nothing but pure fun for him. Why do dogs do that? The running, not the rolling in pea soup.

I've enroled G'Kar in obedience classes that start in the fall. They're offering beginner agility training after each weekly class, so I might stay for that too.

Hopefully my next post will be from Florida!

G'Kar Fetching at the River

I took G'Kar to the river last week for his first trip to water. He loved the time in the sand, though he wasn't so sure about the water itself.

I've been working on his retrieving skills, though, and here he is fetching a stick. He still gets caught up in the whole, I just got a stick!!! thing (or ball, or kong, or wubba) and forgets to sit after he returns with the item, but even in the last week he's gotten much better.



Here is is, when I sent the first stick into the water. Hmm... water dog?

Victory is Mine

I just can't help buy here Stewie's voice when I look at G'Kar, especially when he's sitting on Dune like this.



He's been doing this for a long time now, and, yes, it's a very dominant position, but we long ago realized that there is no way that we can prevent G'Kar from being "on top" of Dune. At 8 pounds he was making our 55 pound marshmallow dance to his tune.

This picture is a bit misleading, but, yes, our little G'Kar has been growing fast.



You can really see how his body has elongated and his overall shape is more mature. He's definitely into adolescence now.

Even Better

The vet gave us Metacam, which is a NSAID like aspirin, and it's working wonders with Dune. He's walking much better - almost like his joints have been oiled. I took him for a walk today and he was romping in the field and was fine all the way home. When we got home, he tromped up the stairs with no troubles. Earlier today after soaking up some sun he ran up the stairs.

We may choose to keep him on this arthritis drug for some time; our vet says some dogs show remarkable improvement and stay on it for years, so a few months should be ok.

Feeling Better

By 3pm today, Dune was remarkably better. The vet says he probably had a fever (and his temp was at the low end of a fever) and we have no idea what caused it. He's back to what he was like a few days ago.

We had a long talk with the vet, and we all agreed that he won't be able to last another winter for sure, but we'll have to see how he is from day to day, week to week. We have some medication for his arthritis (basically aspirin). Hopefully that'll help his mobility.

Regardless, it was a pretty tough day; I spent most of it ready for the necessity to put Dune down. Dune has lost 8 pounds in the last year, and much of that, probably, in the last couple months since he just can't run any more. The vet says his muscles have started to atrophy and will continue to do so. We realize, with sadness, that it's only a matter of time, but we're hoping that time will be the rest of the summer.

Dune

Dune seems to have become very sick; we'll be taking him to the vet today, but he's barely able to move now. He was fine two days ago, but now he's acting just like Jet before we had to euthanize her. I'll never be ready to lose him, but I was hoping, so much, that he'd be healthy through the summer. Hopefully the vet has good news.

Best Buddies Photo shoot!

There's no doubt that Dune and G'Kar have become good buddies, but it's amazing how fierce dogs can look when they play.

Here they are snarling at each other:


And here is the 13 pound G'Kar pinning the 80 pound Dune:

It's all about the moves!

And here they are looking good for the camera:

G'Kar goes to school

From G'Kar June 2009

Last week I took G'Kar to a school to meet some students. He was an unbelievable angel. I think he likes to perform for others. Really!

He sat, waiting for pets, patiently, looking irresistibly cute. When I had to take him outside to pee, I said, hurry up and he went within a minute or less, then we could go back into the school. At the end of the day, he was in the staff room and sat in front of me and barked, one short attention bark. I took him outside and he pooped within a minute or two.

In the classroom, I was showing the students clicker training and he was a freaking ham. He sat perfectly, went down perfectly, and then just lied on the table quietly and calmly, watching the students, while I talked about dog training. I'm not kidding about performing - I think he likes it.

Training Progress

Despite the late nights and worry about allergies, G'Kar has been progressing in his training very well. I plan to shoot some video of some of the things he's learned so far and post it later, but so far, in two weeks he's learned the following:

1. Sit - he sits for everything, now, which is our first basic training goal.
   
   
2. Down - he knows down, but needs to be lead with a treat or a hand still.
   
   
3. Pee - This is the most important thing to teach a dog, in my opinion, and I'm glad to say that G'Kar will now pee within 30 seconds (most of the time) of the command, "Hurry Up." This has made house training so much easier. If you've never taught your dog this "trick" I strongly recommend you do!
   
   
4. Don't pee! - He's getting better. I'd guess he's about 70% housebroken now. He's barking more often when he needs to go out, and as soon as we can get that communication down, we're set. The good news is he hasn't even tried to go in the house in 3 days now. Yes, we keep him on a schedule, but, he's learning very well. From what I've read, it takes most dogs between 2 weeks and 2 months to be house trained, so I think he's right on track.
   
   
5. Stay - I'm blown away by this. Because I've taught him that he gets no treat until he sits, he learned this amazingly quickly. From the very first day we had him, I held a handful of treats in a tight fist and let him lick, sniff, and paw at them, but never let him have them. After trying all his options, he finally sat down and then I clicked and gave him what was in my hand. Within two days he was starting to move, then catching himself and sitting back down, showing remarkable patience for a puppy. I was so pleased! Now I'll be ramping up the stays, increasing distraction, and finally taking him outside to practice when I think he's ready.
   
   When I started training Stay he was (unknown to me) already programmed to wait in a sit. The very first time I could back up and wait, then click and treat. I'd been increasing the time he had to sit before a treat and I didn't realize I was also training him to stay. Now I'm able to move around the room, jumping and twisting, and he stays!
   
   
6. Come - G'Kar will now come when called about 90% of the time indoors and about 50% of the time outside in a field. We've done a few calling sessions with 2 or 4 people calling him one after another and that seemed to help. Now we have to move it to the out doors. Because I take him off leash every day, this is a critical bit of training.
   

More tough nights

Was it a wasp? We're not sure. G'Kar was terrified of the run for a couple days (he's better now), but if it was a wasp sting, the swelling and troubles should have been gone within 12 hours. Instead, the next day (Thursday, June 11) he started to swell up and become agitated by supper time. We decided we didn't want another middle-of-the-night race to Swift Current for shots, so we drove in and bought some Benadryl. A spoonful seemed to help with the itchiness and he slept reasonably well for the night (it causes drowsiness).

Here's a short clip of him Thursday night, rubbing himself on the carpet. This is just a taste of what he was like the night before, when the reaction was more severe, and without medication.



So, we're thinking it was a sudden burst of a specific pollen that caused a strong allergic reaction. Hopefully it won't be a problem in the future, but we're going to keep some Benadryl in the house all the time now!

Here's a close-up of his eye on Thursday - you can see the beginning of swelling. I wish I would have shot some video or taken a photo of him when he was really swollen up.

A tough night

Poor G'Kar was (we think) stung by a wasp last night just before 7pm. He was terrifed to go out into the dog run - absolutely stiff-bodied and whining, desperate to get back inside. We couldn't figure out what had happened at first because he looked totally normal other than being scared. We thought maybe the shovel had fallen on him.

As the night went on, one of his eyes swelled a bit. Then his nose rumpled up and he looked a bit like a shar pei! By bed time he had grown very uncomfortable and was scratching everywhere, rolling on the ground, and frantic. We had checked him for ticks, fleas, mosquito bites (at first we thought that was what had happened), but it got worse. We settled him down and he fells asleep, but when we put him in his kennel for the night, he was not a happy puppy.

Finally, at 1:30am, he had become almost frantic and we took him to the vet for an antihistamine (Benadryl). By the time we got home (almost 4am) he was sleepy and went into his kennel without a struggle, fell asleep, and didn't wake up until 7am.

The picture above is him this morning, still a bit swollen, but doing much better.

The poor guy has had to contend with cacti and wasps in less than two weeks!

A long week!

G'Kar has been with us a whole week now. He's a pound and a half heavier, better friends with Dune, and, maybe, a bit less ornery.

One thing for sure, this fellow is tenacious. He doesn't give up. At all. But, if you tell him "no" 5 or 6 times, he starts to get the idea. We were visiting a friend's place last night and after watching him play with their (much larger) puppy, they said, "Wow. He really is wilful!" We just nodded and said, "Welcome to our life."

He wouldn't stop chewing on my hand earlier this week, no matter what I did. "Ouch" didn't work. "No" didn't work. A tap under the chin only worked for a few minutes. Finally, holding his mouth closed worked and his chewing has reduced dramatically. After a week, though, "No" and a clap of the hands seems to be working.

The good news (the very good news) is that he's learning. He's a smart little bugger, for sure. He has a way of looking at you and thinking... you can see he working things out. He was chewing on my watch one day and wouldn't stop. I gave him a strong, growly "NO," and he stopped suddenly, then looked at me. He thought, looked at me again, and thought some more. Then he opened his mouth wide, pressed his tongue against my watch and pressed his teeth to the bottom of his tongue and mouthed my watch. You could almost hear him saying, "But... I'm not using my teeth!"

The primary training I've done with him are sit, down, come, and wait, along with the utterly necessary house training. He's progressing well with sit, for sure (the first real training we did with him). I started by doing clicker training and charging the clicker with treats. Then I held treats in my hand and let him paw and lick and mouth my hand, without giving him a thing. After a while, he finally sat, and then I clicked and treated. After repeating 5-10 minute sessions of this twice a day for a week, he now sits every time he wants anything, and I have to admit, it's pretty cute! We're now telling everyone who comes to visit to ignore him until he sits, and that's starting to work on him as well.

We did a circle-recall exercise this weekend with four people and he really, really got the idea of coming when called. We'll work on that as much as possible, of course, but that one 20-minute exercise was gold.

The poor guy had a tough day on Monday, the third day he was with us. We were going for a run in the field and, after our loop, we came back through another section of the field. Poor G'Kar ran into a cactus and broke a full arm off on his paw. He fell and yelped like he had been gutted. We've had this happen once before with Jet and she immediately bit off the cactus and got it stuck in her mouth (ouch!). This time, I grabbed G'Kar quickly and just barely managed to keep his mouth off the cactus. I got it off him and he was ok after a few minutes, but the problem now is, he will NOT go past the place where he ran over the cactus. He will fight the leash, whine, and even just lay on his back until I manage to get him past the area. The fields around here are filled with cacti, and even though in 16 years I've only had one dog step on one (two now) I'm worried that he might find another and be completely afraid of the field! Hopefully he can get over this fear.

He's coming when called about 90% of the time indoors and about 40% of the time outside, but that should continue to improve with time.

He's home!

We brought the little guy home yesterday. About 30 seconds after pulling away from our breeder (thank you, Jasmine!) he started whining and progressed slowly to a yipping and then a yodelling. He didn't seem that disturbed, so it might have been the natural "I'm lost" response. He settled down quickly and rested in his new kennel after I put his blanket inside.

We stopped for a few minutes outside the Mall, by the grass and trees. We played with pine cones and he enjoyed the puddle of water there.

On the way home we stopped by a 4H Achievement day and he got to see COWS! It was pretty hot, though, so we took him home after a short visit. As soon as we got home we took him to the run and... he didn't pee.

So, we kenneled him for 15 minutes and took him out. And...

He didn't pee. Repeat. Nope. Again. Nope. Back into the kennel and he fell asleep for two hours (it was an exciting day). Finally after those two hours, he woke up and we took him outside and... he didn't pee. But he did poop, and that was good enough for us to bring him into the home and walk around freely and meet Dune.

Dune, that horrible, terrible terror of canine nightmares! Dune, that vicious attack dog with near super-canine speed and agility!

Well, he is big and drooly!

We had them meet out in the dog run and G'Kar rolled over like a French army in World War 2. Dune sniffed at him for a while and then lost interest. We went inside (where the a/c was much appreciated) and they sniffed again. G'Kar moved forward and Dune "played" with him, or made a big, open-mouthed move to do so, and G'Kar yowled, backed up fast and jumped into Leah's arms, head turned away from Dune, trembling.

So much for the fearless pup!

A few more introductions later, and some very controlled sniffing and now they're laying together, tolerating each other. G'Kar is still very wary of that big body, but he's even jumped at Dune's tail once or twice now. They'll be under strict supervision, of course, but I think they're going to be fine.

Foods Dangerous for dogs

It seems that everywhere I look on the Net, websites proclaim that you should never feed your dogs grapes (or raisins), chocolate, onions, or garlic. I've spent a lot of time digging and it turns out that, once again, the Internet Myth Machine has done a lot of work on this issue.

All of those things are dangerous except for garlic. Garlic does contain thiosulphate, just like onions do, but it contains nowhere near the concentration of thiosulphate. In fact, many dog foods contain garlic because it's good for a dog's digestion.

So, avoid grapes, chocolate, onions (and chives), but don't freak out if your dog food has some garlic in it.

Sooooon!

We pick him up on Saturday!

Wooooof!

It looks like this fellow is seriously getting into this bark!



And this guy thinks he's a cat... hiding in the grass... shhhhhh!

Growing, growing

G'Kar and his litter-mates continue to grow every day. Here's another picture of two of them sleeping, which, apparently, they do most of the time all day.



We're hoping to get up to Willobunch next weekend and see the puppies!

Down South

We drove across the border today to take in the sights, sounds, and cigars of Washington. After an early start and a quick border crossing, we stopped by Charis for breakfast. Next we ventured into ROSS (Random Odd Stuff on Sale) and within 30 seconds inside the store we were greeted to a popular American pastime: treating the people who work in the store like crap.

Now, I have a lot of American friends, and you guys know I love you, but, seriously, can't y'all be a bit more polite? You're giving yourself a bad name, here. Just because the check out line up is a tad bit long is no reason to go off on some poor teenager working the till. Spend some time in Canada and drink some beer; it'll do you good.

After a somewhat fruitless search through ROSS we went on to the heart of historic Bellingham: Fairview. We stopped by the Fairview Smoke Shop and I picked up a box of Gloria Cubana Wavell robustos. The price was about $200 less than what I'd have to pay in Canada, if I could find the darn things (they're hard to find in Canada) so I was pretty happy, especially when they didn't charge me any duty at the border!

We spent some time walking around Fairview and then headed out for Chuckanut Drive. We wove around the coast on a mountain side for the better part of an hour. I spent most of the time wondering just how much those damn mansions cost and the rest of the time remembering that I do get motion sickness in the back seat of a van while driving down windy-weavy roads. Maybe it should be called Chuckalot Drive. The scenery certainly does qualify for "damn pretty," though.


After Chuckanut (not nearly as bad as twistanut or crushanut) we spent about 40 minutes driving around looking for the best price on gas and, after saving about $0.30, we confidently left the area in search of the Daffodils that Skagit Valley (I'm not making up these names!) is famous for. The tulips weren't in bloom yet, so we had to settle for their yellow counterpart.

We ended the US trip with a drive through La Conner and a fantastic view from a scary bridge - seen below.

Stephenson Wharf

We spent the day touring around Vancouver area including a stop by Stephenson Wharf. As far as I can tell, this famous wharf specializes in selling fresh fish right from the boat, and large signs. Lots of signs. Signs saying, "Don't go here." Signs saying, "Positively no going there either." Signs, signs, signs. I think the local authority has some kind of connection to a sign company.

For a look at just a few signs, zoom in on this picture.

From White Rock

The wharf is beside the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, a national historic site. Unfortunately, the cannery was closed until May, so we couldn't go inside.

From White Rock

The day before we spent some time in Granville Island, which, among other things, has the highest piles of grapes in Vancouver!

From White Rock

Awww #2

And another cuddly picture...

I learned a surprising thing the other day. I've always known that Theobromine (a caffeine-like chemical found in chocolate) can be toxic to dogs, but I had no idea that grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure! I was so surprised by this that I even checked Snopes for a confirmation.

So, I guess we can add grapes and raisins to chocolate, onions, and garlic.

Awww

A face only a cat couldn't love.

We still don't know which is G'Kar; we'll find out after a personality test. Our breeder will choose one based on what we want out of our dog.

Wet and dreary

Isn't it ironc that we left our cold home to come to a colder White Rock? You know, the same White Rock that apparently has some of the nicest weather in North America.

From White Rock

It rained most of the day here, so we did what most Canadians do when it's cold out: we went shopping. And drank coffee.

Finally after a long day, the rain stopped and we went out for a walk along the pier. We even got to walk up to the famous White Rock which is, well, a big white rock... about 488 metric tonnes of white rock, but still a white rock.

From White Rock

White Rock

We landed in White Rock last night at around 10pm. The trip was quite good, though we had a 3-hour layover in Edmonton. WestJet rules; they always seem to do things right for the most part. They have an almost magical ability to drop you off at the gate next to the gate where you need to get your connecting flight and they somehow turn around a plane in 10 minutes.

On the flight from Edmonton to Abbotsford, the plane was about half full, maybe less. I've never been on a plan that was so empty; it was just plain weird. We had the exit row on both flights (yay leg room!) but the woman next to the exit door on the Abbotsford flight decided to move to have her own row to herself. The guy in the exit row across the way was completely by himself.

I picked up a new dog book in Saskatoon and read it on the plane. I seem to do this about every year or so, but now with a new puppy on the way, I'll be reading and re-reading a few dog books. I'm not sure what it is about dog books, but I tend to be able to read them very quickly and, obviously, I never tire of them.

This particular book is written by Tufts Vetrinary college, with many staff contributing. Basically, it's one of those, "We see too damn many dogs that need help so we're going to make sure it stops," books. It's also the first puppy book I've ever read, which is astoundingly weird. For some reason everything else I've read has been on training, behaviour, psychology, history, stories, more training, and philosophy. Why I've never read a puppy book, I don't know.

Most of the book was excellent advice, if a bit heavy-handed (meaning somewhat impossible to do if you have a life at all). The authors do, however, do an excellent job of dispelling many myths, particularly in the area of nutrition and health. Because Tufts is asked to provide clinical research for dog food manufacturers, they really know their stuff. You can sense their frustration when you read about many of the various myths about doggie health, such as raw food diets or "all natural" diets. I guess that pseudoscience is rampant everywhere!

And just one more...

First Pics

And here he is... somewhere in there!

A G'Kar is born

G'Kar was born today. Or more properly, Smok'nGold G'Kar of the Kha'Ri. At least that's what I think will be his CKC name.

To mark this occasion, here is one of my favourite quotes from G'Kar:

The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice. The language is not Narn, or Human, or Centauri, or Gaim or Minbari. It speaks in the language of hope; It speaks in the language of trust; It speaks in the language of strength, and the language of compassion. It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul. But always, it is the same voice. It is the voice of our ancestors, speaking through us, And the voice of our inheritors, waiting to be born. It is the small, still voice that says: We are one. No matter the blood; No matter the skin; No matter the world; No matter the star; We are one. No matter the pain; No matter the darkness; No matter the loss; No matter the fear; We are one. Here, gathered together in common cause. we agree to recognise this singular truth, and this singular rule: That we must be kind to one another, because each voice enriches us and ennobles us, and each voice lost diminishes us. We are the voice of the Universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light the way to a better future. We are one.