I took Chase and Levi on a little hike to Arizona, across the Hoover Dam earlier in the week. It was a long drive and the hike tired Levi out too much. It was just as fun as some caribbean cruises I think, though. I love getting out in the autumn desert. And Chase loved running around. We went in some narrows that provided a lot of shade. Shade is good. We took a break half way through too, and it was just so nice to sit and relax in the quiet of the desert.
I miss camping. I love going camping where it’s totally silent, and you just sit an listen to nothing. The sounds of nature. Away from the hustle of human civilization.
I love Lake Mead. Many good memories. Of my husband and I when we started to get together. I loved sailing the lake and camping out on the sailboat. So peaceful and wonderful. I took the boys to Echo Bay and they posed, under duress, for a picture. Not really as seen on tv, more real life, and wonderful.
The boys are having a great time. Agility tomorrow, hopefully Levi won’t be pokey slow boy. He seems tired. I wonder if the hotel doesn’t give him a good rest like at home. I guess we’ll find out!
OOoo I so want to go! I wish Levi was better at herding but maybe I’ll see if he’s up to getting on some sheep.
Wags 4 Wishes in Arizona (near Phoenix) in January. 18, 19 and 20th. Long drive, 700 miles, but not much different than camp. And my husband might want to come! I would prefer if he comes. We could make a vacation out of it.
My flyball team wants to go for the flyball. And I’d do agility too, of course. Maybe herding..? We’ll have to see. The camp sites are not too expensive.
Looks like a lot of fun. Man I’m burning through my vacation time at work, though. Ugh. I so need to retire. I wonder if they sell Celine Dion tickets down there… and Arizona in January, a good time to go!
Maybe being a dog person is part of my environmentalism.. I consider myself, proudly, to be a tree hugger. I recycle, I try to minimize my impact on the earth… reduce, reuse, and onward. I would absolutely love to convert our house, or at least add to our house, to solar energy. I feel connected to the earth somehow. I love camping, being outdoors, and letting the dogs run and be who they really are.
There is a BP Solar Decathlon happening in only two days. If you are interested in solar power for your house, or building a new house powered by solar power, you will want to check this out. The world is changing and we are draining the Earth’s resources too quickly. We need renewable power and solar power has come a long way in the last decade or less.
The Decathlon site will have regular updates, and you can even vote for your favorite solar home. Come join the discussion. For the Earth, and future generations of dogs (okay and people too) we need to use renewable energy!
Well, dog camp was more mellow than our house is now. Not that that is a bad thing, either way. Bianca and Tatum are playing as I work from home. Tony is barking at them. Tony is such a big lover boy. He is not as confident as I originally thought he was. He was in boarding for four months, and he seems starved for attention. He’s a sweet heart and snuggles right up against me at night when we sleep. He does bark a lot, but we are working on cutting that down. He loves to bring toys and be goofy, and he likes to play with Sonny and sometimes the girls Bianca and Tatum.
Tatum is definitely young. I wonder if she is about a year or so, maybe even less. She gets into everything. She would be best in a performance home for sure. Though she needs confidence outside the house. She’s a goer and chews on the mattress, the couch, and likes to bite at hands and clothes. Even when I have a toy, she’d rather bite at my hand. She is gentle in her play, though, but I am redirecting her mouth onto the toys. When I do the ‘ouch!’ with her, she thinks it’s funny and dances around then nips at me again. LOL.
Okay.. you know it’s bad when your goofy collie boy falls asleep with a bully stick in his mouth. LOL oh my gosh, he kills me. I’ve never seen Levi fall asleep before with a bully stick in the mouth. We had to get some pics of him.
He is so very tired. And in a good way, of course. He has a very happy face on, and that bully stick was stuck in his teeth pretty well. Levi even went Lure Coursing today, but he wanted me to run with him so he didn’t go very far. And just now I had to come to the main building to get internet, and he didn’t even get off the bed. He is beat. One more day and they can sleep all the way home.
Chase’s feet hurt him again, too. Not as bad as last year. I have been using Bag Balm and Traumeel all week. At least twice a day, sometimes three times. And I increased his allergy meds too. His feet are very red in between his pads but I think the meds are helping.
It is not quite nine PM PST, and I’m dead tired. Off to bed!
Well, us humans are beat. The dogs are still doing well. Cor and Chase are maniacs and doing well, and want to keep swimming like nutters. Levi lays on the sand and watches. Kiwi kinda wanders about and also lays in the sand. Zoe and Twist are not on the beach much, but they are having fun barking at the other dogs that swim. All in all it’s a great time.
We went on a hike today, too. No herding today. Which is good. Levi and Cor are both done herding. Cor is drained mentally. The first picture on the left is a very cute one of Chase after he was swimming, bit of tongue sticking out there. And the second one is of Levi laying in the sand being all pleased with himself.
The third one down is of Kiwi and Cor. Kiwi is the red merle aussie, and Cor is the tri aussie. Kiwi is mellow, and Cor his very hard drive. She is the one who needs to be in a performance home. She’s too high drive to be a lay-about house dog. She gets to herd, do flyball, agility, obedience, and disc dog.
The last picture is of Zoe and Twist. They are the cutest shelties. Twist is doing so awesome at herding! He is herding thousands of sheep at a time (if you ask him, anyway) he’s really moving them around. Zoe is also having fun, and we all went on a hike today.
Tomorrow is the last day. We are sad that we will have to pack up. We are going to do some obedience and a hike in the afternoon, and then it’s packing, drinking a bit of wine, and leaving early Saturday morning for the 9 hour drive home. I think the boys are going to sleep all the way home.
Okay, I got a sweater on and some Levi’s and now I’m warmer. It’s cool in the shade. It’s 5:38 pm here at camp, dinner is at 6 so I better get done soon! My YouTube video is 90% done, so hopefully that will finish off soon. And here are some more pictures, these from herding. Two of Chase on the sheep and goats, and two of Levi.
These are from Monday. Tuesday we didn’t have a still camera with, but Monday we did. We took more videos on Tuesday and when I get home I’ll load them up. The connection here at camp is too slow to upload. It’s barely enough to get these pictures uploaded.
Chase is loving swimming in the Lake, again, Of course. The waves were really big just now, so I was worried about throwing the toy in too far. He is good and he handles the waves well, but I am afraid he’s going to go under and not come back up.
We have not done much else yet except swim in the lake and herd. I want to do some more obedience this year. Maybe tomorrow. I think the boys are done herding. Levi had a hitch in his step today when herding, and it’s hot for him, and he’s already tired. He could sleep the rest of the week and be happy with it. Chase is not done, not even close, and chases Cor around like a wild child.
Here is a short video of Levi herding at dog camp. I don’t know when YouTube will have it available for viewing, but I’m posting it now so when it comes up you can see it.
Well, here we are at dog camp. It takes too much time to upload a video to YouTube. I’m trying to do a short one, but it’s slow going. So here is a picture of Chase in the lake. We’ll see how long this takes to upload.
Anyway, camp is a blast. I’m too tired. Herding has been off site this year. We get three trainers and the rings are much bigger. They are awesome trainers. They gave me some great ideas for Levi to bring home and to get him to drive. He was doing good. We even had him out on 20 sheep (ask him, he will tell you there were thousands of sheep) and he did really well. It’s a bit hot for him, though, and so he’s not as enthusiastic as he would be in the cooler weather.
Chase got to herd yesterday, but they think he is more retriever than BC. Still not sure about that, and I’m tempted to get the DNA test on him. But we’ll see how it goes.
Back at home my husband is taking care of all the collies we got in from Houston. He is doing an excellent job. He’s such a great guy, I’m lucky to have him.
I am freezing I need a jacket! The days have been warm, the nights cool, just right!
Tip Tail is about four smooth collies, two border collies, dog training, agility, flyball, and collie rescue. We all live in Salt Lake City, Utah. The human behind it all is me, Cynthia!
The Dog Pack
Lucy - Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius RA ASCA-CD CGC -> more... Levi - CH Pembroke Faded Glory VC CD HT AXP AJP RE CGC -> more... Angel - Angel Pumpkin Spice Lady CGC DPP -> more... Chase - Spirit Chasers Spice CGC OA NAJ OF PK1 -> more... Tatum - Tatum Tot Spice (titles coming!) -> more... Muffit - Spicey Love Muffit (titles coming!) -> more...
I took Chase and Levi on a little hike to Arizona, across the Hoover Dam earlier in the week. It was a long drive and the hike tired Levi out too much. It was just as fun as some caribbean cruises I think, though. I love getting out in the autumn desert. And Chase loved running around. We went in some narrows that provided a lot of shade. Shade is good. We took a break half way through too, and it was just so nice to sit and relax in the quiet of the desert.
