Bailey the watch dog & Brutus!

  
    So Bailey, as it turns out, is officially our watch dog. She sits by the back window and waits..... and watches... cautiously.... for any slight movement. Then BLAMMO! Commence barking!

In the picture below you can see Bailey resting her nose on the window to the point her nose is crunched up. She'll sit like this for minutes just watching for a bird or better yet, her favorite..... a squirrel!! This dog is a squirrel addict! We also know she is a chicken addict as well.....

   I feel bad that I have not been posting as much lately, but this winter has kicked my butt. And now raising the chickens it's a bit crazy. The good news is that warmer weather is coming, less rain, and the chickens will be out in their coop! Can't wait to get to the beach with the pups soon!!!

We're going to have a special visit this weekend from my sister and she's bringing Brutus the rottie along!! Bailey, Darby, and Glacier have not seen him since he was a pup.... We'll see how it goes!? I'm guessing that they'll be fine since they have met in the past and we all know dogs do not forget! It needs to go well because Lisa is watching the weims for a week when we go to the beach this summer.... As you can see below, Brutus is NOT a puppy any more! You can see more about Brutus on her blog at http://rottenspoiledrottie.blogspot.com/

We're also going to try to get a few nice pictures of Brutus too!

Just a few pictures

Wow, how long are those legs!!!! 

Treat?

"Don't even THINK about making eye contact with me" - Darby

What did I tell you, get the camera off of me! - Darby

Naturally Bailey

There is something I just love about shooting in natural light....

Sunday's Picture - Bailey in 3D

Bailey in 3D!

       I thought I'd share this picture I snapped earlier because I just really like it. I only wish it was IN FOCUS! Yeah, unfortunately I muffed this shot! It COULD have been a great shot...

I'm still learning the powers (or weaknesses) of the new Canon camera, and well, sometimes it's pretty clear of the weaknesses. The servo AF focus system on the Canon is nowhere near as good as on my Nikon! Oh well, sometime ya nail the shot, sometime it nails you.... That being said, right after I snapped  this picture Bailey nailed me. Thankfully, I was able to keep control of the camera and not dump it in the snow! Looking through the lens at Bailey charging me, trying to snap the perfect photo, while knowing she's like a freight train heading right at me was a bit too much pressure for me to stay concentrated on the shot.... and I cracked!

Have a great day my friends!

BayWolf

Grrrrrrr....

http://www.seanswatsky.com/

Squirrels & Weims

Bailey standing on the compost bid on lookout for Mr. Squirrel

         What is it about squirrels that is so attractive to Weims? I mean really? It's this daily charade that we deal with numerous times a day with Bailey. She will go through lengths just to capture just a glimpse of a squirrel every single time she goes out, to the point that it drives ME nuts! Those quick trips outside turn into me screaming, whistling, hootin & hollering for her to come inside (as I stand there in my pajamas). My neighbors must think I'm an idiot or something. All the while she's standing there watching the power lines, the garage roof, and the oak tree...sitting....waiting for the opportunity. The funny part about this is Mr. Squirrel knows it! That's right, he (Mr. Squirrel) sits on the power line flapping his tail aimlessly and barking at Bailey as to say "Naaa, Naaaa, NaNaaaa, Naaaa". Bailey's response is "someday, just someday......".


Just a reminder, tomorrow December 31st, 2010 is the last day of the Wing Span Contest.

More Pictures

Bailey

       I have to say that most (not all) of the pictures & videos that we post here on the blog are taken with our phones... Technology is simply amazing and the quality of pictures you can take with a phone mind boggling. Not only can I take pictures, I can post this entire blog through our iPhone or crackberry as well. Hope you enjoy the photos.....

Today I received another submission for the wingspan contest from Cathy. Cathy sent in a photo of her Weim named Marley. Marley is a gorgeous 3 year old girl. Cathy says she needed to wait until Marley was tired out before even attempting to get this photo! Nice team work!

         I wanted to share this picture with you of my sister's little guy (yeah right) Brutus the Rottweiler. Brutus got dressed up in his festive attire just in time for Christmas.... Just thought I'd share :)

Mark Of The Hound

Bailey Has The Mark Of The Hound
Dobe Marked Weimaraner



Whatcha Doooooooin'?

 

Some say "The Mark Of The Hound" is a downfall..... we say bologna!

Shuffle Your Feet, Lose Your Seat!





Really Darby? An ottoman?!?
The Extremes That Darby Will Go To!





First let me start off by saying that no matter what the circumstance, Darby must always be sitting or lying on something. It doesn't matter what it is really..... It could be an ottoman, blanket, or perhaps a towel, or maybe even IN the clothes basket (as long as there are clothes in it), or on a jacket the kids left laying on the floor, or a washcloth, tissue, napkin, or a single piece of confetti..... My point is, they will go to the extremes to lay on something besides the hardwood floors or their beds.

Darby looking much happier on the couch than on the ottoman!!!


You know we DO have cushy "doggy beds", that's obviously not good enough for queen Darby, but she needs a throne. It's like we're constantly playing a game of "shuffle your feet, lose your seat" or something around our house... I swear Darby thinks about two things in this world and two things only; food and couch. She spends her entire day watching, waiting, and planning the perfectly executed plan of attack to hop up on that darn couch!!

Every single night we 'dog proof" the house which is a two process system;

1. Put up the kiddie gate to quarantine them from going into the bedrooms. One thing I'm totally against is sharing my small bed with two dogs! Nope, not gonna happen!
2. "Dog proofing" the furniture... That's right, every single evening we have to pull all the pillows of the couch, put the large chest (which we use as a table) on the couch, put the large wicker basket up on the couch, and then pile everything on top of that.... just to prevent these crazy dogs from trying to get up there! At times, they have even pushed the chest off of the couch in the middle of the night or moved it out just enough to squeeze in!

Because Darby is "uncomfortable" with the situation of sleeping in HER own bed and the fact she has hip dysplasia, she's awake half the night walking back-n-forth throughout the house! Did I tell you we have hardwood floors?

Hardwood Floors   +   Doggie Toenails   =   CLICK

Now, add a click here.... and a click there...... and a click click everywhere is the equivalent of let's see.... thousand's of clicks!!! And now you have yourself going crazy listening to this goofball wandering aimlessly throughout the house in the middle of the night while you're trying to sleep... click, click, click, click....... UuuuuuuuuuuGH!

So I made a "game-day" decision the other day that seems to have made everyone happy... why not just let them sleep on the freakin' couch?! Now, this may come back to haunt us later but right now it's great... 2 full nights of no clicking! Yeehaw! Sometimes it's nice to compromise.

Yes, Darby WILL sleep sitting up!



A cozy couple...

 Bailey on the other hand, she never really displayed too much interest in getting on the furniture. She WAS perfectly content lying on her doggy bed and sleeping there throughout the night. At bedtime, we turn off the lights and she would assume her position for the evening on the dog bed.... However, looking at the picture above you can clearly see she is not complaining.
 

Bailey Enjoying Life on the couch too!





Falling asleep

Bailey relaxing on a lazy summer afternoon

I swear these dogs fall asleep standing up! It's hilarious to watch! First their eyes start to get heavy... then they look spaced out and can't even focus, then their eyes close, legs start to shake..... now they're starting to sway back and forth.... after a few seconds they lose their balance and almost fall over and catch themselves just in time!

The funny part about it is that both Bailey and Darby do this.. and all the time. They just can't go relax and laydown somewhere, nooooo..... they need to be right next to ya like they're gonna miss something.

Laziness

Bailey taking a catnap

Ya know, it never seems to amaze me how much these dogs sleep. They (the breed) are known for their "high level of activity" and "smarts" but I have to tell ya, not Bailey and especially not Darby!

Darby would never DREAM of laying on the kitchen floor for a nap like Bailey is in the above photo. If there was nothing on the floor except a tissue, Darby would be on it. She just has to be laying on something, all the time.

We do have a huge dog bed and a few blankets for the dogs to sleep on so there is ALWAYS somewhere for them to relax but Darby is never happy. Darby feels like she should be on the couch and it's her God given right! Every evening when we go up to bed it's the routine..... Put the trunk (which we use as a "coffee table") on top of the couch along with anything else we can find around the house. Stack everything on the couch and build a barrier so Darby can't get on it..... Well, she's (Darby) simply a "professional couch breaker-on-to"!!

What prompted me to post this blog today is the fact that at 6am this morning I awoke to a huge BANG! I hopped out of bed and ran down the stairs only to find the coffee table laying on the floor along with everything else that was stacked up on the couch to dog-proof it. Darby is laying there with her ears back looking up at me knowing she did something wrong....... then she quickly turned her head and snuggled up to catch some zzzzzz's..... Does anyone else have these issues!? I'll be sure to snap a few pics and post them.

Bailey Progress - Day 10

Wide angle close-up of Bailey

We'll, it's been just over a week and a half since we rescued Bailey and so far everything has been great. In fact, it's been really great! Some progress that we have made over the past 10 days includes a seamless transition into our home from her foster home. We're getting to know her pretty well and there hasn't been any surprises yet.

When we got Bailey we knew she HATED the crate. Her broken canines prove that she has difficulty with being locked up in a crate and will go to the extreme to get out of that situation. For this reason we have decided to NOT lock the crate and allow her to roam free on the first floor of our home. She also shows signs of mild separation anxiety, although we have not left her alone for more than a couple hours so far (in which she sat in the front window). We were only across the street but she seemed to settle down as long as she didn't see us... We'll have to check back on her progress this week as she spends a little more time alone this weekend.

One thing that she really loves is swimming. In the lake or in the pool, it doesn't matter to her... she just wants in! She'll stand up at the side of the pool waiting for me to pick her up and put her in with us. I can't imagine what it's doing to my filter but oh well...... She also likes to "eat" the water spraying from the hose. This is something we're not used to because as soon as Darby sees the hose she's off in the opposite direction! Someone must have terrified her (Darby) with the hose at some point in her life.

I've been working with Bailey for the past week with the E-Collar and she's starting to get the hang of it. She's not pulling near as bad on the lead and last evening she walked like a little princess.... She seems to be getting the hang of "Heal", something in which I'm pretty sure she has NEVER learned in her life. She is sitting most of the time on command as well as going "down". She has also caught on to "Stay" fairly quickly. She amazed me last night when working with her on "fetch". I picked up a nice floating retrieving toy from the Petco and as of last night she was retrieving it and would "drop it" at my feet. "Come" is another story..... we have some work to do but we're working at it day-to-day. Not too bad for the first 10 days. These pups are much smarter than you imagine, just take the time to train them and the entire family will be much happier in the long run.

As far as getting along with my other dogs, she's been great. She leaves Glacier alone (Glacier is our 13 year old Samoyed), and she's getting closer to Darby daily. Bailey and Darby even shared the dog bed the other night which is HUGE progress because Darby doesn't like anyone in her "space". We'll see what the next few days bring. Till then enjoy and check back for more updates!

Day 1 - June 13th

Bailey - Welcome to your new home! Day 1

So, last week Amy started emailing me pictures of dogs that needed a home... as soon as the emails came through I knew we were going to rescue another one. When she set up the date to go visit Bailey it was a sealed deal! So, this past Sunday we all (Amy, Nate, Abby, Izzy, and me....) made the trip to Michigan to check out Bailey at her foster's house. It was an early start for the 3 1/2 hour drive leaving the house at 6:30am but we actually got on the road a bit earlier than I had expected.

We arrive at our destination around 10am and Bailey was waiting at the door. All we really knew about her prior to seeing her is that she was a happy dog, well socialized, and she didn't like being locked in a crate. We also knew she was special because of her dobe colorization or what's referred to as "the mark of the hound" (you can see her coloring in the photos if you look close). Let's just say she is beautiful!!! Prior to seeing the "dobe" markings and hearing about Bailey, I have never heard of this in Weims. It's a trait that is NOT highly sought after and it's grounds for immediate disqualification to ever "show the dog. It's also frowned down upon and not suggested these dogs be used to breed. In fact, from what I have read breeders do everything possible to prevent this through selective breeding.... Well, who needs a show dog anyway.... We wanted an addition to the family, not a trophy.

Anyway, our first impression when we met Bailey was YES! She we very friendly and sweet, great with the kids, and seemed very outgoing.. After an hour or so we decided she was the one. We let the foster family say goodbye then she hopped into a car full of strangers. To my surprise she was amazingly well behaved in the back of the SUV for the 3 1/2 hour drive back home.

Upon our return home we gave Bailey time to socialize with Darby and Glacier (our Samoyed) in which it went really well. They all seem to get along great which is good since there was NO way I was driving back to Michigan! Darby is a very docile girl so we were sure everything would be fine with the introduction to another dog into our family. We gave her time to check out the house, the yard, and get familiar with us while trying not to be too pushy. We then took all three for a walk. That night Bailey was dead-tired after a long stressful day and she had no problem falling asleep that night.

You know, when you rescue/adopt a dog you have NO idea what type of luggage (or quirks) you are getting along with the new addition. Only time will tell as we discover them all! We'll be sure to report back on what we find and how we're handling it!