Grooming Day!

Everyone went to the groomer today.  Don't they look adorable?!

Carly is really happy that Winston is not touching her!! 

Carly Girl! 

My big man, Elliott! He looks so happy. 

An added advantage to our groomer http://bellapoochgrooming.com/indexMain.html  is that the dogs have doggie day care, too! This is great fun for the dogs and it makes them exhausted all night! All three of them have not even moved tonight! 

Mark took the first four pics with his new camera! The last ones were with my iPhone. Now, we must convince Winnie Pooh to wake up so we can practice for class tomorrow.

Busy week

Winston had class again this week and he had to practice stay with distractions. Lindsey, our instructor, threw toys around as the dogs were placed into "stay."  Winston was especially intrigued by this screaming monkey toy but he did great and held his "stay" until he was released.

Jackson and Taz looking cute at class.  Overall another great class and we hope Winston is another step closer to becoming a Canine Good Citizen! 

Back to work:  Winston sorted the mail at work.

Then he needed a nap.

Winston also  helped with recycling.

Elliott was caught in one of his favorite poses on the back on the loveseat. He thinks he is a cat!

Elliott catches up on current events in the Wall Street Journal. 

Mark got a new camera this week and Winston is always a willing subject!

Carly and Winston still struggle to get along and I am not sure why she wanted to get right here when Winston was sitting all quietly by himself. I think she was jealous and wanted attention. She still looks at Winston with utter disdain! Winston practices the Riley patented head tilt!

Winston checks out his blog and maybe a little online shopping!

I am sure lots of adventures await Winston and Company as we move into Thanksgiving! Wow, the year has gone by quickly.  Look for lots of experimenting with the new camera in the coming weeks!

New Training Video

OK, we had some technical video problems with our iphone cameras.  Note to self:  You can't take a vertical video and convert it to landscape without making your instructor look like a midget and your Glen a dachshund.  However, if you do, it makes for a very comical result.  Please enjoy Winston's last obedience class as we try to get our pets ready for CGC and TD.
http://www.vimeo.com/16810084

Our Best Pictures of Winston So Far!

Today, Winston is 7 weeks post op.  He is still sometimes lame when he gets up from a nap or after walking a fair distance.  We know Winston's elbows are better, but we were concerned that maybe we didn't get the 100% correction we were hoping for.  The only way to know for sure was to shoot some xrays and see what our vets had to say.

We took Winston in today and below are pictures of his xrays.

What you are looking at is Winston's forearm, the radius (curved bone) and the ulna (the broken one).  The problem Winston had was the the round looking bone wasn't mating right with the radius and this was causing pain.  The radius did not fit against the ball evenly at all.  Now you see the spacing between the radius and the socket is uniform.  Yipee Ky Yay!  Our local vet who shot the xray said he was looking at a perfectly normal doggy elbow.

I emailed the above copies to our surgeon, Dr. Mother Mary, and she happily concurred that Winston's elbow looks frigging great.

I guess you also see the ulna is still broken.  Mother cut a piece of bone out and to delay the healing, she inserted a fat pad.  Well, the delay tactic has worked and allowed the radius to relax and to fit back into socket.  The ulna still has a lot of healing to do and, sadly, Winston will be on restriction for at least a couple more weeks.  However, this is a tiny price to pay for a lifetime of an elbow(s) that work right.

I can tell you we are breathing a huge sigh of relief this evening and want to give a huge amount of gratitude to our local vet, Dr. Coy, and, especially to Mother Mary who has proven to us she is not only a great breeder but a fantastic vet.

Training...again!

Winston had to practice "loose leash walking" with canine distractions. First, he had to walk with the other dog passing him...

Then he had to "loose leash walk" side by side with another dog! He looks so happy here.

Lastly, for the loose leash walking, Winston and Mark had to walk side by side with our trainer, Lindsey and her dog, Mariah. Notice how intently Winston is watching Mark! Well done, Winnie Pooh!

"Stay" with distractions was next.

Winston, "stay!"

The distractions were a whole bunch of doggies and shoppers!!  Notice the beagles in the top of the pic 

past the Golden. 

Lindsey and Mariah walked by for more distractions! There was also a little boy that ran through the gauntlet of dogs but I think he moved so quickly and unexpectedly that none of the dogs noticed! I wonder what new things we will learn next week?!

By the way, Winston really nailed "finish!", "side" and "front"and he showed Lindsey how well he could do them! Practice pays off! Good boy, Winston! Remember he is only 9 mos old!