Speed Racer

Here Pickles is enjoying his new bike trailer and all the treats that fall from the sky whenever he rides in it.

I wanna be like you ou ou

Copper is visiting Wed-Sat this week while Scott and Shanon are... we actually realized that we have no idea where they went.  Maybe they're really just hiding out at home and gave Copper to us for a break.

In any case, Pickles is thrilled!   Copper is sooooo cool.  First of all Copper has really cool toys and has been generously allowing Pickles to play with them which Pickles does constantly.  Copper has this one green frog that squeaks!  We've never bought Pickles a toy with a squeaker and the only one he has is a present from Brandy and Mike.  Copper also has this rope toy which is a little plastic ball with several ropes coming out of it. What fun.  In exchange Pickles is sharing his treat bone with Copper, the rubber kind that you put kibble in and they have to shake it to get it out.  Copper takes it in his crate and gives Pickles a good growl whenever he comes near.  I'm not sure if Pickles understands growling yet, he just stands watching copper directly outside the crate only inches away.  Pickles also enjoys following copper everywhere.  He makes sure to sniff everything that Copper sniffs.

I'm not sure how Copper feels about it though. Copper is used to a relaxing stay at his vacation home where he gets to go on lots of hikes, tries to eat chickens in the backyard, and enjoys nightly full body massages.  Sadly for him, things have changed and now he has to deal with Pickles.  To his credit he is being very very tolerant. Having a puppy, I kind of forgot how much adult dogs like being petted.  Copper is happy to sit and get a butt rub, neck rub, ear rub, etc. while Pickles needs to be playing constantly.

We took them to South Boulder Campus last night and early this morning to let off some steam in hopes that I might actually get some work done at home today.  Copper did some serious high speed laps leaving Pickles in his dust and then continued to sniff and mark throughout the walk.  Pickles just wanted to play.... oh so badly.  Usually Copper just increased his speed so that Pickles could no longer keep up, but he also resorted to a couple healthy growls and teeth flashes telling Pickles to bugger off.

They are now both sound asleep.  Copper enjoying the bed and Pickles on the floor at my feet.

Walk the Plank

 

He is pretty good at "stay"

Family Reunion

 Yesterday, we had to pick up some bee supplies in Loveland so we arranged to stop by Brandy and Mike's place in Greeley to see some of Pickles' family.  When Brandy opened the front door, the big dogs: Stella (Pickles' dad), Claudia, and Fred mobbed Pickles on the front porch.  At first he tucked his tail and was spooked by so many large dogs, but then he must have caught a whiff and recognized them because he started his happy " I REMEMBER YOU" whine and wagged his tail furiously.  His bother and sister, Cider and Roni are still living there and his sister Mia who lives in Greeley came over for a visit.  The puppies played at full speed for about 90 minutes.  Afterwards he slept for 4 hours straight.

Pickles on the bottom with sister, Roni, on top and brother, Cider, standing by

Mike, Brandy, and Mia's Mom Darby

Catching their breath.  Sister Mia on the right is still full of energy.

Attack!!!

On your mark, get set, ... GO

All of the other puppies were pretty jealous of Pickles' gorgeous tail.  They spent much of their wrestling time pulling on it.

Vet Visit

On Thursday, Pickles went to the vet to get his second set of shots.  We chose Boulder Natural Animal in the Table Mesa shopping center because they are very very close, once they gave us free cotton candy before we even had a dog, and I went to visit and everyone there seemed nice and open-minded.  Our vet was Liv Brockman and she was great.  First Pickles got a thermometer stuck up his butt while I fed him treats one after the other.  I don't think he even noticed anything but the treats.  Then the vet brought in a toy bird with rope legs for him to play with while she examined him.  He loved it and played very loudly growling and pulling and generally having a blast.  He showed off his sit, down, drop it, and shake.  She was very impressed with drop it.  For the shots, she brought him a can of baby food to lick while she injected him.  I held the jar and he licked away.  I don't think he noticed either shot.  So all around he had a 100% positive experience.  Hopefully, he'll be excited when we go back in 4 weeks.

Biker Pup

We bought a kid's bike trailer off Craigslist so we can take Pickles with us without having to drive. Mark took out the kid's seat in it and put a piece of plywood across the bottom for him to stand on then added one of his pillows on top of that. We coaxed him in with treats and fed him about at least 5 treats a second for staying in it. He is now in love with being in his trailer and will get in there for a nap when he's hanging out in the backyard. We've walked him to the park and around the block in it always with a constant supply of treats. He doesn't seem to mind at all that it is moving; all he cares about is the food.

Snow Day

This past weekend, we took Pickles up to Hessie Trailhead so he could play in the snow.  The trail was really packed down and more like ice than snow, but eventually we reached a spot with nice fluffy snow and he had a blast playing in it.

He also got to practice stream crossings, have a snack in the meadow, and climb some snow banks.  He has developed a strong affinity for pine cones.