Bailey Wins a Bed

Mom said there would be things to do, but she never mentioned how much work it could be at this Whisker Walk. Mom took us to the Tennis Ball Fetch Booth and she was so excited. Katy was no help, so it was up to me to take on the challenge. How hard can it be to fetch one tennis ball you ask. Well I froze.

There were all these tennis balls I needed to herd and protect so they would not escape. I have never seen so many tennis balls. How was I possibly going to be able to protect them all? I actually froze. I could not possibly be expected to watch all these tennis balls. While I was trying to process how best to take care of all of them, Mom is trying to distract me by tossing tennis balls to me. She did not understand the gravity of the situation. While she is throwing balls to me, one could escape. The fencing was flimsy and not designed for tennis ball capture and retention.

Eventually I got distracted and caught a ball. Mom was so excited. There was some writing on the ball. Mom called it a number. The woman looked at the number and then at her paper and Mom got to pick out a bed for me, just because I caught a ball! Katy was still refusing to help, so I caught another ball and the lady checked that number and we got a box of treats.

Mom said I helped doggies at the Sterling Shelter by playing the game. Dad says both Katy and I will do better next year. I am not sure about that, but I love my new bed, which is big enough for Katy and me to share. Mom says she will post a picture of it when she gets one with both of us in it.

Wordless Wednesday

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Walking in a Pack

We are not sure why Mom and Dad decided to take us for a walk in the woods with all these other dogs, but it was so fun. There were dogs of every size and shape. Bailey and I were confused because some dogs were riding in doggy strollers. We had never seen one before, but we saw several on Sunday. Dad could never keep us in one of those things.

There was only one scary loud dog and Bailey practiced what Dad calls the Bailey pick and put himself between the other dog and me. The dog seemed surprised to find Bailey there, but moved on without incident. I followed Bailey and Dad the whole mile and there was so much to see and smell. The only bad thing was Mom fell in a pothole and twisted her ankle. That slowed me down a bit. She has to be more careful.

Dad was disappointed because we would not use his new water bottle. We were just too excited and we did not even drink from the water bowls the walk people provided. Mom said something about training us to use them in a less stressful situation. I told Bailey I think that means cookies so that is a good thing, right?

After the walk, we got free doggy frozen yogurts. Bailey ate his quickly. Katy got all nervous and only took a few licks of hers. How could she waste such a delicious frozen treat? Mom would not let me finish hers.

Whisker Walk was Wonderful

The dog's worst fears were not realized we made it to the walk and it was a wonderful event. We could not find the Buddy Dog booth to make our donation for the walk with so we donated our money to the Sterling Animal Shelter and got two Whisker Walk t-shirts. We chose Sterling since they seem to be the main sponsors of the event. Our first choice New England Sheltie Rescue being located in CT was not a likely participant for a Massachusetts event.

The dogs had a wonderful time. They will be blogging their stories about the event all week. Katy did so much better than I expected. She loved the actual walk. She had such bounce in her walk and was not at all intimidated by the huge numbers of people or other dogs. As long as she trailed Bailey, she was happy as could be during the mile walk.

Bailey and Katy discovered dog sports. I have blogged several times, about how they love to watch human sports with their Dad. Well for the first time Bailey saw humans and dogs watching doggy sports. There were flyball and agility demonstrations and Bailey and Katy were fascinated spectators. His head would jump up, as a dog would miss a tag or a gate while watching flyball, just like his Dad does when watching a play on TV. He had the same reaction to watching agility.

Katy and Bailey will be discussing their own first experience with the agility ring later on in the week. Let us just say Bailey loved it and Katy could not see the purpose. She still needs more time getting used to strangers and being comfortable with new situations before we would ever consider doing any training in this area. However, she did do a few exercises and was quite proud of her success.

The crowds were wonderful. When you bring that many dogs and humans together, it can be a challenge. We had no bad dog or human incidents. Dogs were restrained and we had no incidents of children attacking the dogs. I cannot speak for anyone but myself, but I was amazed to see what a great respectful community assembled. I hope that that spirit spreads out to more events that are not dog centered, but still have dogs and humans interacting.

We came back from Whisker Walk and did fulfill one of the dogs’ fears, the evil veggie’s are in the garden. This means no more playing in the gardens or as Katy refers to them, the sandboxes.

I will leave the dogs to tell the stories of our adventures. I will say if there is a Whisker Walk 2012, we will be back. I have no association with the group that planned this, but I want to say thank you for a wonderful day.

Full Speed Ahead to Whisker Walk

Keeps your paws and fingers crossed everyone. Mom and Dad said we are on for Sunday's Whisker Walk. We are so excited, but Sunday is still so far away and they can still get in trouble between now and then.

Dad bought us a new water bottle to try out. Bailey can be a bit tricky about drinking while traveling. Katy has never tried so she has no idea about the challenges of drinking in strange places. Katy also has a new leash for the trip that she did not get to try out at Paws in the Park.

Dad is going to do battle with the evil veggie gardens on Saturday. They could attack him and leave him unable to go on Sunday. We have watched these evil veggies at work. Well Bailey has and he says they can be very dangerous.

For anyone in the area interested in attending the event is at the Lancaster Fairgrounds in MA. The directions or address for those with GPS can be found here. Hopefully, we will be there to see some of you.

The Tornadoes Missed Us

While there were nasty thunderstorms, we were outside the tornado zone here in Massachusetts last night. We waited anxiously to hear from family who were inside the zone. We were blessed that everyone was safe.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were killed, hurt, or suffered damage from the storms.

Wordless Wednesday