Hello All!

And welcome to petcockerspaniel members. This is the first update I've written since revealing Murph's website to the list. And I know the colour scheme I've got going here is borderline nauseating, but it is Christmas after all!

But, this update takes up back to Halloween/Thanksgiving. Our first photo is of Halloween and Thanksgiving cookies I made for Murph. I know, it's bad enough baking cookies for your dog, let alone cutting them into funny little shapes, but on a rainy Sunday afternoon it's not such a bad way to pass the time. Whenever I bake for Murphy I leash him down to a bolt in the kitchen. If I don't his little nose surfs the counter the whole time I'm baking. So he lies there "patiently" while I whip him up a batch of cookies, or muffins or whatever. These are from the Three Dog Bakery cookbook. They're supposed to be "Turkey Gobblers" (made from leftover turkey from Thanksgiving dinner). But I figured with Halloween so close to Thanksgiving (in Canada), why make 60 turkeys when I could have some variety? So I made Halloween shapes as well. The turkey, in the bottom left corner, was made with a chick cookie cutter, then I elongated the neck. I made bunnies because...well, because dogs like to chase rabbits...I just needed a little more variety, cut me some slack! So Murphy munched on these for over a month, at which point I whipped up some peanut butter dog bone cookies, which he is now almost done. So last night I made "Fleas Navidad" apple walnut muffins. Murphy seems to know when what I'm baking is for him, and goes crazy.

Next we have Murphy with his new passion, chewing the remote! He actually hasn't done much damage to them, he really prefers to just pick them up and prance around til we chase him to get the remote back. It's really the chase he loves. He casually paces around you til you notice he's got something, then seems very pleased with himself when you laugh at him. If only I could stop laughing at his antics, he'd be a much better behaved dog.

And this is his other new behaviour; the head on knee beg. Complete with puppy dog eyes just pleading with you for a tidbit. I don't know where he picked this up, but it's unbearably cute. He prefers to do it to my father, but if you're the lone person eating at the table, or anywhere for that matter, he'll do it to you. He also has modified this tactic to suit chair arms, and, if tired, will lie down with his head on the rails between the chair legs.

These are just two cute shots of Murphy, for no good reason, really, other than that he's cute.

So now here's the real meat of this update, the Christmas card. Below you'll find all the out takes from trying to get a decent picture for our Christmas card.

 

These first two were just attempts at getting Murphy to stay still. In the first one he's determined to use his nose to follow the animal tracks in the snow. These pictures were taken on the way up Mt. Seymour, where the Baden Powell hiking trail crosses the road up the mountain. It's a popular area for dog walkers, hikers and mountain bikers, so there were lots of tracks. Notice the smudge in the centre of the first photo? It's a drop of rain. Despite the snowy appearance of the background, it was actually raining on us.

Here I'm asking Murphy to look at the camera. He's usually pretty good at posing, but he was so distracted that day. Note the condition of the snow - it had turned to slush. And you can see a bit more of his bandana here. It actually had a pretty little green and gold bow on it (his groomer likes to dress them up in holiday themes - this was his Christmas bandana).

 

 

 

And this is Murph just after we ducked back into the car. You can see on the window behind him how wet out it was that day. Doesn't he look a little miffed? All three of us (Allie took the photos) were soaked. Right after this we took him to daycare, so by the end of the day, he was exhausted. Groomer, picture session, daycare...that's a lot for a little dog!

In other news, Murphy and I have completed an intro to agility class. It was only 4 sessions of 45 minutes each, but he got to learn the teeter totter, the jumps, the tunnel, the down stay platform, the weave poles and the dog walk (a raised plank, kind of like a balance beam with a ramp at either end). The classes were held at the Equestrian Centre, so Murphy loved snacking on all the horse poop during the class. Our instructor told me that I'd "have an awesome dog, if we could figure out a way to get his nose off the ground!". Murphy did learn all the obstacles very quickly, much to the surprise of most of the people there. People see cockers and expect them to be high strung little morons, then they're shocked when they learn so quickly.

But in all fairness the little dogs did have an advantage over the big ones. In our class we had 2 little dogs, Murphy and a small Australian shepherd named Riley, and two big dogs, a Shepherd named Magnum and a Collie Lurcher cross named Patch. The little guys had the advantage of not having to squeeze through any of the obstacles, whereas the big guys had to keep their feet close together, and duck through the tunnels.

And now I know what people mean when they say that all their dog's mistakes are because of mistakes they the handler made. Once the dog knows how to tackle an obstacle it's up to you to tell them, clearly, what to do. You have to be clear and precise, so as not to throw the dog. Any little motion can confuse them. And, as beginners, god did we confuse our poor dogs. Patch would end up playing tug with his leash, refusing to go on, Murphy would become distracted by the poop, Magnum would run to his second owner who was waiting on the sidelines, and Riley would start running around, barking and playing with the other dogs. But we the owners did get a lot of laughs out of it. The next session will probably be in January or February, but I'm not sure if we'll go back to it or not. We only got a taste of the weave poles, and never got to the chute. All four of us who were in beginners will still be in beginners, as none of our dogs are competent enough to even be off leash yet!

So, I think that's it for now. We're all getting ready for Christmas, and Murphy so loves to break into the living room, jump on top of the presents and sniff the tree, so I'll try to get some shots of that. If only I could stop laughing at him, he be such a better behaved dog...

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: Jan 2, 2002
Here's the link to the previous update: Oct 16, 2001

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