Where art tho spring...

Enough all ready...

I am so ready for spring. The kids are ready for spring, the hubby is ready for spring and so is Sparkle. She got to play with her buddy Romeo today, so that is always a plus, but he can't stay long with the snow in the ground; no place to lay down and rest. And the kids are on spring break, but the slush in the backyard isn't that fun. So the kids are content to drive me nuts in the house; I'm thinking a movie might be in order (or heavy drinking). Sparkle is still having fun in the backyard, in fact so has worn the  snow down almost to the grass next to the fence. Hey can someone find Phill and Spork him PLEASE! If this is what an early spring looks like, he can keep it! Even with the strange weather, Sparkle is just rolling with the punches. She plays outside, with or without friends, then lays in the sun to warm up. Yeah, I know rough life, right. And occasionally we toss in a few training exercises. I'm really looking forward to the thaw so that we can really stretch our obedience legs and bring out the agility equipment; yes I have my own (I am a sad little person). Although with the long winter I have worked on more stupid pet tricks then I normally would have. If I can get some good video I'll post that sometime. So if someone can please find spring and send it this way, that would be great... Oh, wait... Did Mother Nature mail Spring, did she use the Post Office... That might explain a lot!

She likes it...

You can't see me...

You know, once upon a time there was a rule in the house of no dogs on the couch. This got put into play, mostly because that having two Rottweilers and a Dalmatian on the couch would leave no room for the people who bought, said couch. So they had wonderfully comfy beds placed EVERYWHERE. When we lost our dogs we donated 99% of our stuff to a local rescue group, we didn't think we'd be getting another dog for a long time; oops. See this is why I don't think to much, I hate being wrong. Although this is not a bad thing to be wrong about. Sparkle sort of fell into place, and she is one wonderful dog; please don't tell her, I'm afraid she might get cocky. When Sparkle came into our lives I was missing Cora still, really bad. It had almost been a year and my heart was still sad; and still hurts if I think about it too much. Cora was a 95 pound snuggling lap dog. And the odd thing is, you wouldn't even realize she had snuck her way onto your lap, you'd just look down, and there was this 95 pound dog in your lap. It would just start with her head in your lap. I'm pretty sure her thought was, "I'm in your lap not on the couch". She wouldn't do it all the time,so it was something I would let slide. When Sparkle came and just wanted to cuddle everyone, I let it all slide. So now, the only time she lays on the floor is when the fire place is on or the sun is coming through the entry way. This is totally my fault and I will own up to this epic failure on my part of training. But she does curl up nicely into a tight little ball taking up as little room as possible when everyone is in the couch. However, if she's there first, please reference the post, Physics. And if the couch is taking up by me, the cat and the kids and the hubby is in his chair, she will go over to the solitary reading chair. This is where I sometimes place my coat. I try to make sure that it is out of the way, laying it to the side. I'm guessing that is not what she wanted. I will never again fell sorry for her when the kids cover her with blankets, I'm betting she likes it.

Caught mid-air

I will get it...

We got about 7-9 inches of snow yesterday; depending on where you measure. Everyone stayed home yesterday; the kids, and hubby, totally threw off my groove. So I didn't post yesterday, because I had no me time to do it in.

Sparkle is truly one happy little soul. I've had her for just over a year now and that dog loves everything; expect that Water Spaniel (see pervious posts). She loves running in the back yard and it doesn't matter if its spring, summer or chest high snow (current conditions). With the new snow fall there is the added fun of running in fresh powder and her favorite game of finding her toys under the snow. I couldn't have this dog and not have a fenced yard, a big fence yard. She loves to run. Today it was laps in the yard and the search for toys. At some point she started doing her "Snow Fox" jump. I don't know if she's actually after something under the snow (like a Snow Fox) or she just likes to pounce. But this time I managed to get a picture of it. The pounce and the dig for treasure after. I'm scared that one of these days she's going to come up with something. 

A good scratch...

Therapy

Sometimes you just have one of those days. Where no matter what you do, you just feel off. Sunday was that day for me. My head was foggy, I couldn't keep a thought to save my life. Kelly Pickler was having more cerebral function then me. I didn't feel good and was having more mood swings then a Menopause Convention; thank you Tamoxifen. <Side note, Tamoxifen is a post Breast Cancer drug tat is known to cause mood swings. Yes I had Breast Cancer, I've been clear for two years now.> Anyway, the foggy thing could be cause of PMS or Chemo drugs (just found out that Chemo-brain can last up to 20 years after treatment is complete; like I need more challenges involving my brain). And the not feeling good, the list is to long. Needless to say I didn't know if I was coming or going and I was ready to pitch a fit but couldn't tell you why. At this point I have to say, bless my hubby, he is great. He still loves me and wants to be married to me, God only knows why. And of course there is Sparkle. She just wanted to be near me, she just wanted pets. At first I was just so annoyed with her, then I started petting her. I still had zombie brain, but I started to feel better and was less likely to go postal on the TV for playing that horrible, nerve grating "Fishy-fishy" song. I know it's not the TV's fault, but I didn't care. And cue Super Spot. Ahhh, it is amazing what happens when you pet on your dog. Dogs always know when something is "up". From your average house pet knowing when their owners don't feel well to those super dogs that can tell when someone is going to have a seizure. So I pet my lovely girl and then snuggled a bit. It was nice, my body was finally able to relax. Lucky for all family members involved, today when I woke up I was my "normal" self. Feeling good, thanks Sparkle.

Warm and....

Warm and Comfortable vs. Warm and Humiliated

With the nice weather Sparkle has been spending more time outside. But it's still only 37 degrees at best so more time is sort of relative. She still comes in with cold ears and if the sun in coming through the entry way, so goes straight there. Sometimes she's lucky enough, and the fire will be on when she come in. Like today, I had e fire on because I've been perpetually cold. Sparkle came in and parked it right in front of the fire. At one point she was warm enough to start panting. But she didn't move, oh, no, can't move away from a warm fire. Eventually she wanted to go back outside to play and say hi to all her friends that walk by. Sadly the fire was not on when she came back in; oh, it's so sad, she has a "ruff" life. Please someone report the abuse. So when she came in, she had to settle for my husbands chair. Well that s when the humiliation began. I managed to get her coat on her before she went out, so that is the "set up" for this picture below. She went out and while I was upstairs the little one let her in. I didn't think I was up there that LNG, but when I came down this is what I found: Sparkle in my hubby's chair with the little one's "lovies", because, " she was lonely"... Once again, kids and dogs prove to be great therapy, laughter therapy.

Pretzel

Getting Comfortable 

Sparkle is a dog that knows how to get comfy. As you know for pervious posts, she will find the sunniest spot to lay in or curl up in front of the fire if its a cold day and if all else fails, there is the couch and my husband's chair. Sometimes she sprawls out, taking up more room then you think is possible for a dog her size. And other times its just the opposite, she is curled up in such a tight little ball that you question the reality of space and mass; where's Albert Einstein? Then there is this... Seriously, was my dog assembled incorrectly? Is she part owl? Is her head still attached to her body? Did she learn this from the cat? That doesn't look comfortable, but I guess she really wanted to see the TV show that was on. That's really the only reason I could come up with for her to even want to lay like this. 

The look of guilt...

So Busted...

This is the look of a dog that KNOWS she's doing something she shouldn't be doing. Anyone that knows me and Sparkle for that matter, knows that my dog is spoiled; perhaps rotten. But she minds, as much as a Dalmatian puppy can (or wants to). When she naps, she finds an empty chair or couch to sleep on. I've tried a bed, she thinks the couch, or my husbands chair if he's not home, is hers. She is coming along nicely on her obedience, coming when called, sit, stay, leave it, and some of the other more specific things related to showing and going into the Rally and/or Obedience ring. But in our house there are areas that we call AFZ, animal free zone. The most important of these areas is the formal living room and kitchen; I really hate dogs under foot while I'm cooking. And there is the upstairs, which the cat even honors that rule. But I'm sure this rule will change for Sparkle when she is older and no longer has to sleep in her crate. I know she would love to sleep with my little one, but #1, she's still to little to have a dog that weighs 15 pounds more then her sharing a bed and #2 my little one has to many stuffed animals that Sparkle, being a puppy, would love to chew on. Anyway, back to being busted. When the weather is nice and sunny, like today, I open the front door (with the glass storm door closed) to let the sun in. It bakes the entry way, but it's free heat, thank you sun, and the dog loves to lay in the sun. We have a nice rug in the entry way which always seems just fine for little Miss Spotty to sleep on. But I guess today she was feeling particularly more like a princess then usual because she was laying on my love seat in the formal living room. I guess it was my fault, I didn't put the gate up all the way and she just walked around it... But still, look at that face and try to tell me she didn't know she was wrong... That is the look of guilt people... So I took a rolled up newspaper and smacked my hand and said, "Bad Human" for not putting up the gate all the way. (Shame on you if you thought I hit my dog. If you leave opportunity for your dog to misbehave, you have no one to blame but yourself.) Then, after taking the picture, I told The Spot, "No! Off!" And shoo'd her out of the living room. The gate is now in its proper place.