Piper's new trick... spring!

Wait for it...

Spring!

agility photos

ASCA 2015

This year, I took Piper down to the ASCA trial at Tee Creek. We have gone every summer, it is my favourite trial of the year :) It was about a 3.5 hour drive, so this year we also camped at the farm for two nights, a first with my girl.

Saturday we were entered in two rally advanced runs, one sub-novice obedience run, and two jumpers agility runs. Sunday we were entered in a whole day of agility - two jumpers, two gamblers, and two standards.

Saturday we had a great day, qualifying in both rally runs, the obedience run, and one of the jumper runs. Not too shabby! Sunday we qualified in another jumper run (for Piper's first agility title, JS-N) and a standard run.

I was super happy with her. She was focused, and happy to work through the whole weekend. She ran, and qualified, in three different events in one day, and ran five times. In ASCA there's no option to lower heights until the dog is seven years, so Pip had to jump at 20". Normally we train and trial in AAC at 16", so she had a few dropped bars. I wasn't too concerned with that. I screwed up the timing for our gambler runs, so again, my fault. I was super happy Piper successfully did weaves for the first time in a trial! We've worked so hard with them this summer, it was nice to see her able to complete them. I definitely held her back though, I need to learn to trust her more.

Attached are the videos of our two jumper runs and two standards runs from Sunday afternoon.
http://youtu.be/oEMSeLbj4dc
http://youtu.be/-BySFuPjOA0
http://youtu.be/ryzaQmJlpSw
http://youtu.be/amfqoFiGdqY

tricks are for kids (and dogs)

Since I moved from Guelph, I've spent quite a bit of time teaching various tricks. With Piper, I enjoy spending time learning multi-step tricks. She's so eager, and offers so many different behaviours, I find it a blast to teach her!

I've worked a bit with Ace as well, mostly on things that I had tried (and failed) to teach him when he was younger. 

Its great for in the winter, when its too cold and snowy to go on many walks. I also find it a nice break from obedience and rally. We are able to work on different skills and body postures. I feel like the more we do, the more attentive Piper becomes, and ultimately the better obedience dog she becomes!

This year my goal is to teach Piper a bomb-proof "hold". Hopefully that will allow us to move easily from Novice to Open Obedience, when we are ready. 

A few of Piper's favourites...

Beg - one of Piper's favourite tricks to offer

Bow - another fun one. She can find this position from either a stand or a down.

Handstand - one of the most difficult we have learned so far. Another one she likes to offer!

winter in muskoka

Winter in Muskoka, otherwise known as "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

There's a lot of snow here. More snow than anywhere I've lived before. And it's cold. Very cold. However, the hiking trails are still phenomenal, my apartment is NOT cold, and work is reasonably busy!

Other than being a freakazoid about having to drive in the snow, I'm really enjoying it up here. In fact, I think I would struggle moving back to southern Ontario.

Here are a whole bunch of winter photos - excuse the crummy quality, I only have a camera on my phone at the moment.

Percy and Archie - no idea what they were getting up to.

Attempted selfie of Piper and I on New Years Day

Lazy night. Barely space for me on that bed!

Hiking/posing at Kerr Park

Snowy Ace, at Wilson Falls (notice his boots, and my snowshoes?!)

Run faster Ace!

Piper at a different section of Kerr Park - and on a different day.

 

Too cold to go outside? We'll do an indoor workout!

Piper all snuggled up with Percy.

Piper says "I'm gonna get you!" Poor Ace

Fall CKC trials

In early November, I entered Piper in a two rally novice runs and one obedience pre-novice run at the Georgina Kennel Club Trial. The trial was held in Lindsay, about half an hour from my parent's house, so travel was easy. It was probably the largest trial we had entered, with rally, obedience, and two conformation rings. The whole arena was full of dogs!

Piper was first dog on the line in the obedience ring, and rocked her final pre-novice leg. Yahoo!

We then had to wait about two hours for our first rally run. She already had a leg from the previous winter, and had her ASCA RN from the summer, so I was nervous but didn't doubt she would qualify. Hubris haha. I walked the course and it was a little awkward, but not very many fronts (which I struggle with). When it was our turn, we seemed to breeze through...until we got the second last sign and I thought "hey, I thought there was a similar sign near the beginning of the course...oh shit". I walked right past the third sign on the course. Stupid, nervous Kelly! So we didn't qualify in that run, even though everything else was beautiful. Oh well.

Waiting around another few hours for our second run, we chatted with a woman who had a Toller set up next to us. Turns out I had met her before through a mutual friend. My mom and her friend also stopped in to watch our last run. Now all of a sudden I'm surrounded by people I know and the pressure's on!

Piper warmed up beautifully as we prepared to go into the ring. The judge is already in the ring as we walk in. All of a sudden, Piper won't stop staring at her. I get her attention to start the course. Once we get going, she looks back at the judge again. The poor judge can't figure out what she's done...I can't figure out what she's done! Piper continues to half pay attention to me and half to the judge throughout the entire course. It was super sloppy, with tons of out-of-position marks off, but the judge passed us. I actually can't believe she scored us as well as she did! The only thing I can think of that threw Piper off was that there may have been a noise as she entered the ring. Maybe she associated it with the judge? It was just an odd run.

I do for sure think we both need practice at trials, specifically with ring nerves and proofing. We are going to do our best to find a few mock trials, or maybe even enter a few trials as exhibition.

So now Piper was only one Q away from her CKC RN, and boy was I determined! I found out there was a trial only an hour from Bracebridge the following weekend, and our old instructor was judging! After confirming we were allowed to compete under her, and confirming we were allowed day-of entries, we arrived at the trial the following weekend.

It was a much smaller trial, and Piper was the third dog on the line. I've noticed our early-in-the-day runs are ALWAYS our best. Anyways, it was a phenomenal run. We came out with a score of 99 - only 1 point off for out of position. My faith was restored after our crummy rally runs the weekend before.

Piper heeling in our 3rd qualifying RN run. She really is awesome :)

We are now in an advanced rally class to learn the new signs and practice working off leash. I hope to join our old friends at the Peterborough Obedience Club for their May trial. I was also hoping to try entering in novice obedience, but I'm not sure I will be confident enough for that. Time will tell!

OSPCA volunteering

In August I connected with the manager of the Muskoka OSPCA and asked about volunteering to spend time walking, training, and generally socializing the dogs. It took a little while to get organized, but I've gone pretty much every week for the past 6 months.

I've met some pretty awesome dogs, and a few who definitely pulled at my heartstrings. A few others who drove me crazy. I'm certainly learning what I like in a dog and what I don't. While I tend to prefer herding dogs, there have been a few anomalies who have been phenomenal dogs. Good thing I have no room for more animals in my apartment! That will all change when I move to a house with a fenced yard, hopefully in the spring. Kidding...I'll likely hold out for another Aussie, a few years down the road. I do enjoy helping the local dogs, and hopefully teaching them a few core skills, like sit and wait, to help them acclimatize to their adoptive families.

Generally when I get to the shelter, I check in to see if there are any dogs who can't be walked (usually due to recent surgeries), and who is most in need of a walk. Usually these are the dogs who are super high energy, or really nervous and in need of extra socialization. I take them out into the little off-leash pen and let them get their zoomies out, hopefully at the same time learning that I have lots of tasty treats and that they can offer things like sits to get them! Then I pop them on a leash and take them out on the little trail behind the shelter. It only takes about 10 minutes to walk the trail, I wish it was a longer route. Leash walks are sometimes successful and sometimes super frustrating, depending on the dog, their food drive, and their existing leash skills. 

I plan on continuing to volunteer indefinitely, and eventually to help further develop their volunteer program.

This little female was super cute, very friendly and outgoing. Some type of large breed mix. Already adopted, but I always try to spend some time with puppies when they are in :)

Porter was a 3 yr old boxer cross (nudge nudge - doesn't look anything like a boxer to me) who totally stole my heart. He was surrendered by an owner who could not afford the vet bill to remove porcupine quills from his poor pooches face :( He was in the shelter a number of weeks, and was the most gentle dog I've ever met.

Teddy was a 10 year old spaniel...this little old man had enthusiasm and ball drive to spare. If I wasn't in an apartment, I would have taken him home in a heartbeat.

illness

The last week of July, both my dogs were sick.

We had been in Guelph on the weekend, visiting with Karen (Spark), Brooke (Canyon, Cessna, Rogue, and baby Arizona), and Karol (Winston). Monday morning I took them to a nearby park to run around for a few minutes. There was nobody around, so they had fun chasing each other around. I looked away for only a few minutes, to pick up after them.

Ace is crated (due to his gluttonous tendencies) but Piper was left loose while I was at work. I came home at lunch to let them out for a pee, and found Piper had puked up all her breakfast in my bedroom. Annoying, but sometimes dogs just puke. I didn't really worry about it too much. Cleaned it up and went back to work.

When I came home from work, I found bloody vomit and diahrrea on my front mat. Somethinthing was definitely wrong. I cleaned up and took her outside. She was definitely lethargic. Once the hallway was reasonably clear, I went to get Ace out of his crate, and found his crate full of the same - bloody vomit and diahrrea. I immediately started making vet calls. After a few tries, I found a vet able to see us. When I took them outside, I snagged a stool sample to take with us - we loaded into the car and saw the vet within about 15 minutes.

The vet looked them over, determined that yes they were lethargic, yes blood coming out both ends was not good, and was able to rule out poison. Not able to rule out something communicable, or some kind of poisonous plant. It was very scary. She was kind enough to spend about an hour and a half with us, and went through the options very thoroughly. She gave them an injection to stop the vomiting and sent us home with antibiotics.

It took both dogs nearly a week to recover their energy, and I never really found out what cause the illness. None of the other dogs we were in contact with ever got sick. And because they were both sick within a few hours of each other, I suspected they perhaps ate a plant of some kind at the park that morning. Even though I only had my back turned for a few seconds, and even though Piper NEVER grazes. 

It was a very scary experience for me and my normally healthy dogs.

Kinmount Fair

In early September, I jumped at the chance to be part of an agility exhibit at the Kinmount Fair. I go almost every year, and usually take a dog. It's only a half hour from the cottage, so its nice and close. There are great socialization opportunities (crowds, kids, dogs, horses, midway noises, food on the ground), but I love watching the horse shows and performers as well. This year my mom and friend Laura came with me. Laura had never been to a rural fair before, so it was a very new experience for her.

We were part of a relay class, so our run was timed and paired with a young horseback rider's time. Both dog and horse runs were jumper runs. No real handling practice unfortunately, since it was just a row of jumps, tunnel at the end, and another row of jumps. But it was a chance to get Piper out in a public venue, and to run in an unfenced ring in close proximity to horses and spectators! It was a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to participating in the same event next fall!

Toby, Ace and Piper hanging out on the dock at the cottage

ASCA 2014

On the August 1st long weekend, I packed up Piper, Ace, Percy, and Archibald to head south for the annual ASCA show. We stayed with my friend Karen in Waterloo (about 3 hours from home), and traveled another 1 1/2 hours each way to get back and forth from the show, which was in Niagara Falls. The cats had to come since I was going to be gone more than 2 nights - they would get hungry!

Saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn (about 5 am) to get ready. Piper and I needed to get there before 8:30 as we were doing day-of entry. We arrived bleary-eyed, but excited! Piper was entered in altered conformation with Wendy, one Rally Novice run and two Agility novice jumper runs with me! Busy day :)

I love the ASCA show, because I love to see all the Aussies...young, old, working, show, and everything in between. They offer outdoor conformation, rally, obedience, agility, and herding on ducks, sheep, and cows. It's an awesome venue!

Piper did not win anything in conformation, although a few kind competitors came over to tell me how nice she looked. There is a specific gait they need to have in the conformation ring, and I've never taught her to run a certain way. So because she paced, no wins for us.

We did pretty well in Rally, with a score of 186. We lost 10 points because I circled left instead of right at one of the signs...super annoying! But, it was her titling run! First performance title ASCA RN...yay!

Agility was in the afternoon, we were entered in 1 jumpers run, as we didn't have contacts at that point. Runs were only about $10 each, so I treated them as practice, and a good opportunity to get used to the trial environment. The first run was a mess, but live and learn! I think I know now what my mistakes were.

The second day Karen went with me to volunteer at the agility field and socialize her puppy Spark to the trial environment. Since the paperwork had been sorted out the day before, and jumpers wasn't until later in the day, we arrived around 10am. We did two jumpers runs. The first one wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. The second one was pretty great! Only one bar down, so I was actually pretty happy with that. More work to do for sure, but it was heartening.

The trial was over by 2:30, so we made friends with a few collie owners who were competing, and headed to the Lake Erie beach! Piper and Spark had tons of fun playing in the water and with the collies. Everybody headed home happy and super tired.

herding clinic 2014

In June, Piper and I attended a herding clinic at Have Ewe Heard, the same place we went for the herding instinct test last spring. The clinic was run jointly by our new friend Mary Anne and the Peterborough Obedience Club.

We arrived around noon, so I could set Piper's crate up on the grass near the sheep pen. We spent about half an hour watching the sheep being run by other dogs, then it was our turn. Piper seemed curious and excited to be around the sheep. When we went into the paddock, she took an explosive turn around the ring, chasing the sheep like stink. Then she stopped. Wouldn't follow them when they moved, all she seemed to want to do was stand there and eat sheep poop. I'll be honest, I spent more time herding sheep than she did, that session. She had to back on a long time, so I could try to lead her closer to them. The instructor and I were stumped... she had done so well last year at the test, and went into the ring with so much zoom! Discussing it after, the instructor suspected maybe she is a little sensitive and one of the sheep have her a good stare down we didn't notice.

Later in the day we had another opportunity to work a different group of sheep. These ones were a little flightier, and moved more easily around the paddock. Piper did much better, and by the end of the session she was able to calmly move around the little herd and bring them towards me. Good girl!

I was so happy to end the day on a good note. I would love to do more herding with her, and the farm where we go is only an hour from where I live now, so it's certainly a possibility. Hopefully in another year or two I will a) have a little extra money to spend on herding classes and b) be stable enough in agility to be able to afford the time to train in two vastly different disciplines.

Piper trying to gather the sheep. June 2014

new town, new job, more agility!

Well, the happy event finally occurred. I landed my first full-time, permanent, professional job as a Junior Planner for a planning consultant in Muskoka. I interviewed around the end of May, and was hired two weeks later, with a start date the third week of June.

That left me two weeks to find a place to live... no easy feat when you have two dogs and two cats. I looked at apartments in several towns, up to 40 minutes from my new workplace. Several were extremely scuzzy (no thank you!) and several were too expensive, or too far away. But I eventually hit the jackpot. I found a building 8 houses down from my office, with one apartment available July 1, and a larger one available August 1. I really wanted the bigger apartment, so was able to make arrangements to move into the smaller one for a month, then move across the hall to the bigger one! The building is clean, the kitchen, flooring, bathroom, and paint all very fresh looking. It is smaller than my beloved Guelph apartment, but big enough for my needs.

My job is also going well. I find the work interesting, and am able to get out of the office for meetings and site visits periodically. I am able to go home at lunch and let the dogs out, and have flexible hours. I am paid a professional wage that will allow me to live reasonable comfortably and pay off my debts. The best part is that when I get home in the evening, I am ready to go and do things! I don't get home from work and feel tired and grouchy - I want to run - bike - train my dogs - cook supper. No shortage of energy here. It's a fantastic feeling.

Now that A) I have the time and B) I have the money, Piper and I have been back in regular agility classes. We have been going out to Huntsville and taking classes with Muskoka Agility Dogs, specifically Lynda Yielding. She is a lot of fun, and is helping me to understand how to walk a course, how to weave, and do contacts. The only crummy part is that they don't hold classes through the winter, so we'll see what will happen then. I'm saving my pennies so hopefully I can purchase a few pieces of equipment that I can store in my trunk and practice with in the park.

I am only an hour from the cottage, so we have been spending many weekend there. Ace just adores it, as he can swim all day long! It makes me feel better that although I'm back in an apartment and leashes are once again required for even the quickest pee break, the dogs can go the entire weekend at the cottage without even wearing a collar. They are just my little stars.

Piper and I have been exploring a few of the many trails in the area. All have been beautiful and quiet, my favourite trail characteristics. Since Ace has been swimming so much on weekends, and I have to be careful not to over-tax his elbows, he has been staying home.

I also started volunteering at the OSPCA last week. I'm hoping to focus on training rather than just walking, to improve my training skills, and hopefully increase the adoptability of the dogs at the shelter.

Piper standing on a log over Muskoka River. Wilson Falls Trail.

Piper climbing on rocks. Wilson Falls Trail.

Piper standing on a log, overlooking Lake Muskoka. Huckleberry Rock Trail. She was wearing a harness because I knew it was a lookout, and was not sure how steep it would be. Thought I would leash her, just in case she accidentally took off running toward the edge! It ended up not being too bad.

academics, puppy visits, vet visits, and agility class!

Wednesday was a great day for me, I was able to present my research at the Campbell Centre for Studies in Animal Welfare annual Symposium and Research Day. There were about 100 people in the audience (scary!!!), including a number of professors, students, and public interested in animal welfare. I think I did pretty well, although I did loose my place a few times. It was nice to be one of only two social science majors, out of 22 presenters.

On Thursday I had lunch with a good friend from Guelph, and visited Wendy (Piper's breeder). Piper and I got to meet another of Piper's littermates, Ryder (who she adored).

All four of my animals also had vet appointments in the afternoon, so we spent about two hours with Dr. Paula. Piper and Percy were both in perfect health, which was good news (although I was expecting it). The vet heard a grade one heart murmur in Archie, although it went away as he relaxed. Something to watch, however it seemed to only be an issue when he was stressed, and he's generally a pretty laid back cat. Ace is my poor, unhealthy soul, unfortunately. The vet now suspects his elbow dysplasia is causing him chronic pain, so she prescribed some painkillers. It breaks my heart, since he's only five years old, but she said he has almost no muscle around his elbows, and quite severe arthritis in his joints. He is to receive minimal exercise, except as much swimming as we can handle! She told me its ok to not exercise him every day, and I was correct to also cut back his food (which I had already done - my 74 lb dog now eats the same amount as my 42 lb dog). We are going to start a painkiller trial next week, he is to be medicated for a solid week, to see if I notice any differences. It's the easiest way to find out if he really is in chronic pain. I had suspected something along those lines, so I was not surprised by her evaluation.

We had a good time visiting my friend Karen, and her super-adorable Turveurn puppy Spark. Spark and Piper are like two peas in a pod, they got along fantastically :) We spent several nights watching agility videos.

Tonight was my last agility class with Piper for a while. We had a pretty good class, only screwing up a couple time in a course that was masters level (and harder than anything that would be seen at a regional level event). I was pretty happy with that! What I was not happy with was that Piper BARKED the entire time she was not working. My instructor told me to step on the leash and ignore her, quietly rewarding anytime she was quiet. The result was an hour and a half of barking. It was brutal. Definitely something we are going to have to work on.

spring

Update: still living with my parents, still working for minimum wage. Sigh. But better job prospects on the horizon!

Next week I am presenting my research at the CCSAW Symposium, which is super exciting. As my research was pretty much the definition of inter-disciplinary, this is a rare opportunity for me to present to a group of scientists. I'm quite nervous about it, actually.

Last weekend I volunteers at the Peterborough Obedience Club CKC trial. I was a ring steward for nearly 7 hours, it was a long day! However I also learned huge amounts, which was great. I've only ever seen bits and pieces of Open and Utility levels before. Still not sure I want to compete at those levels, but I at least know what I need to do to be able to. If that makes any sense.

Ace, Piper and I have been out enjoying spring, and of course getting muddy. I've been a little photo-happy, as you can see. Piper and I have been working on a number of tricks, such as back-up, handstand, beg. Trying to wean her off the treats with the back-up and beg... but I'm really bad at that haha. The handstand is going to take a bit of work I think. Will be awesome when she can do it though! We have a few classes of freestyle coming up with Dante Camacho, so I am looking forward to that.

Blaster, Tucker, Zanna, Ace, Cody, and Piper... it was spring, I swear! This photo was taken in April.

Piper being her usual gorgeous self. I am so lucky to have her.

Ace and Piper enjoying a good game of fetch in the super-muddy park. I love how much they love fetch :)

sledding

Twice this winter, I have taken Piper out with her new friend (and cousin - his uncle is Piper's grandsire) Blaster to go sledding! Blaster's owner has the appropriate harnesses and a sled re-fitted for the dogs to pull.

Blaster (left) and Piper (right). Standing in their harnesses, waiting to go!

It's been lots of fun, but it's lots of work too. Because the Aussies won't just run ahead, we take turns on the sled, while the other person runs ahead to give the dogs a goal to run to. We encourage them as they run, shouting "YES" and "GO GO GO", but they rarely go more than a few feet past the running person. They just want to chase us! It's more work than just an off-leash run, which they seem to appreciate.

Blaster and Piper stopped... "we don't want to run past our people!" Silly dogs, barking their heads off.

Last time we went out, they certainly did a better job with their "go-ons" than the first time. Often Piper will out-pull Blaster, she just loves it! And barks her head off the entire time, which drives me nuts, but I try to tolerate it since she's just doing something she loves.

I'm not sure we will get out again this winter, but it's definitely something I would look into continuing with her next year.

Blaster and Piper pulling Wendy

Blaster and Piper pulling me.

CKC trial, February 9, 2014

Last month, I entered Piper in a CKC trial run by the Hamilton Dog Obedience Club (HDOC). We were entered in two runs of Pre-Novice Obedience, and one run of Rally Novice. We stayed overnight with a friend in Waterloo, so were easily able to make it to the trial on time (arrival at 8:00 am). I found an empty spot and set up Piper's crate, with my chair in front of it.

We had the very first run of the morning at 9:00 am (lucky us!), with Pre-Novice Obedience. Pre-Novice (PCD) is a class that goes before the traditional Novice (CD) (obviously), however it is voluntary. You don't have to finish your PCD before you try for your CD. The exercises are very similar, however easier.  We spent about 15 minutes warming up before we went in, and Piper did pretty well, although I was very nervous. We had a few spots with tight leashes, and a sloppy sit, but other than that we did quite well! There was a Golden Retriever and Belgian Turveurn in our class as well. Since it was pass/fail, there was no winner.

After that, we had a few hours of waiting around. I pulled Piper out of her crate about every 45 minutes to let her stretch her legs, and she was very good. Didn't make a peep while in her crate. I was also in luck, because I had set up Piper's crate in the middle of a group of CDT (Companion Dog Training) people, several of whom I had met before at various fun matches. One lady with a German Shepherd was competing in Utility (the highest obedience level), but was not having a successful weekend. She and her dog were entered in all four trials that weekend, and hadn't succeeded in earning even one qualifying score. The woman on the other side of my had two Cocker Spaniels and was fairly new to obedience, although she had quite a bit of experience with field trials, and beside her was a couple with two Irish Red and White Setters. Both were fascinating to talk with, I enjoyed hearing their stories about all the other dogs they had had and the trials and training issues they had faced.

Our next run was Novice Rally at around noon. We were entered in Novice A, since Piper doesn't have any other CKC titles. The course was essentially three straight lines, with signs all along. There was more heeling involved than I have seen in other rally courses. We kind of suck at heeling. We sped through the course in 1 minute 15 seconds (you are given 2 minutes), and although we did all the stations perfectly, we lost four points for having a tight leash and three points for being out of position. Sigh. Clearly we need to work on heeling. We finished with a score of 93 (out of 100), which is a pretty good score. We got second place out of four. I suspect I was maybe walking too fast, not talking to her enough because I was nervous, and probably not signaling with my body enough. Also, it's possible I didn't warm her up enough or practice enough before we went into the ring. Still pretty good though, and it was definitely a qualifying run!

We had to wait another few hours for our last Pre-Novice Obedience run. I had been nervous of this one for several hours - the judge was a very tall, very loud, black man. Piper (as a typical Aussie) tends to be reserved around strangers, and I had no idea how she was going to react to this judge when he did the examination. We did fairly well with the heeling patterns, and when it came to the examination, Piper not only allowed the judge to touch her, but raised her head so he could scratch her chin! Sometimes that girl boggles my mind. When it came to the sit-stay at the end, Piper broke and lay down with only 10 second left. When I returned to her, the other dogs and handlers were dismissed, and the judge allowed me to re-do the sit-stay, which was very kind of him. We passed, but only because he allowed us the re-do! And so Piper earned her second (out of three) qualifying run towards her PCD. There was the same Belgian Turveurn as in the morning, and a Sheltie in this class as well. 

It was a long day, but successful! Piper now has two legs towards her PCD title, and one leg towards her RN title. Hopefully in the spring we will be able to trial again and finish.

winter photos

Photo update!

Today I've included just a few pictures of my beasties from the last few months in Ennismore. I have been applying to lots of jobs, so hopefully I will start to get interviews and we can move out on our own once again!

Piper and Percy cuddling on the couch. They love each other!

Piper being super cute in my bedroom. Notice the one crazy ear...

Ace and Piper posing during a walk on the ice. Notice Ace wearing his mutluks, it's just too cold for his little toes!

Archie with his happy camper face and his dirty nose. He must have just finished dinner... no wonder he was happy!