The Birthday Boy

Teddy is 6 today! Oh, I can't believe how fast the time goes. Is there any way to freeze him at this age? He wore his birthday scarf to work today, and I'll give him some extra time at lunch today playing with his squeaky ball. And I guess we'll have to celebrate with our freestyle class this weekend with some special treats. Here is a picture I took of him (wearing his birthday collar) 2 days ago as part of my homework for my photography class:

In case you are wondering how you send your dog and be behind the camera waiting to snap the picture all at the same time: I used a Manners' Minder machine on the other side of the tire, I set Teddy up on a wait in front of the tire, ran behind the camera on a tripod, told him to jump, took the picture, and hit the remote on the treat machine. Teddy was good to oblige me as I need several attempts to get a halfway decent shot.

So far, it's been a good year for Teddy. We have managed to finally finish our Rally Advanced Excellent title, our Graduate Novice title, and our Freestyle Dog Excellent title in musical freestyle. We are on track to finish 2 more titles before the end of the year, but we'll just keep our fingers crossed for those because anything can happen. I'm so proud of him because he is trying so hard. We are working together as a team better than ever. He even earned a pairs leg in USDAA agility a couple of weeks ago. Our gambler's runs were beautiful, but my bad timing cost us the Q's. We will continue to keep working and playing freestyle and see where the future takes us. I just hope that we have a lot of years left to keep playing together. Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

Announcing JoJo

Please welcome my new addition:

Casablanca's Get Back JoJo

Born: May 4, 2009

Arrived: June 29, 2009

Weight at Arrival: 3 lbs. 4 oz.

Breed: Coton de Tulear

JoJo is named after his parents, Jolie and Joey, as well as the Beatles' song, "Get Back". He is a fun, playful, and rambunctious little boy. He may only be a ball of white fluff, but there is a fireball underneath. We have had a ball playing with toys, and he loves to run in the yard and tug. He's a good tugger, with the cutest baby growl. Potty and crate training are coming along steadily, but it's hard not to get impatient when it comes to those issues. However, he can already sit, down, and nose touch on command.
Teddy is coping with his new little brother moving in. He is mainly just avoiding him in general. I think he'll start to come around as JoJo gets bigger. This picture will give you some idea of what's going on in my house:So for now, we will just play and have fun and wait for him to get his last round of shots so he can get out and socialize. Then comes puppy class...