Kids and Dog

So outside of my spinning, I also have two other loves in my life. My family and my dog. The kids go without saying, and I've described them as my soul on my sleeve. They really are my world, and are the reason I'm a grown up these days...

The dog?

What can be said about Daisy... This little stinker of nearly two years ago

is now this little stinker (Picture taken tonight as I ran out for iced coffee at Dunkins)

She's still doing the weight fluctuation thing, and I broke down and went to the Butcher to get trimmings. Adding extra fat to her diet has been extremely beneficial, and she's starting to get a better sheen to her coat, and is just happier. She's never going to be a rolypoly dog, it's just not in her make up, but I can at least get a little extra flesh on her bones and an insulatory layer. The fatty trimmings aren't going to ever be a staple in her diet, but I can hopefully get an insulatory layer built up under her skin, as she was so lean that this winter was hard on her. No sweater would have helped.

We're going to go back to dog training classes later this spring, and she needs to be better about not having accidents in her crate. She's good about peeing, but not always great about her bowels... I had taken her out of dog daycare in January as we just couldn't justify the expense any longer - the money just wasn't there, but I wish we could put her back in.

I might make a decent living, but my kids needs come first over my dog playing all day with other dogs. We have 'Guiness' the kodiak bear disguised as a dog, down stairs to play with, as well as my MIL and SIL's dogs to play with on weekends - something I'm hoping to do more of now that the winter is over. She is playing more with Tessa instead of just jumping on her, but she's still got house training issues... she isn't good at the communicating her needs thing, and I don't know really how to change that, so I'll be dependent on the trainer for help with that. It's back to the Brittany Dog boards I guess...

Anyhow - I hope to get some better pictures of her soon, but I thought I'd share the pic I have here for now. She really is a sweet dog, and like my kids - each day she reveals more about who she is and how much fun she is to have around.

She's the sweetest thing though, and a real pleasure to spend time with. As she and the kids get older they all get to interact more.

I was contacted a couple of months back by someone who got their puppy from the same litter as Daisy's... wanting to know if we'd gotten papers to register her. None of Audrey and Arrow's pups were papered, as Audrey wasn't. What do you expect for a dog that is specifically not a show dog. She's a pet, she might be bird trained in the future, but that would mean I'd need to have her actually going out birding, and as we've not been in touch with our friend Brian that much lately (He's a police officer the next town over, and has voiced an interest in taking Daisy Birding if she were trained) I've not seen the point in looking into that aspect of her training.

Daisy doesn't care that she doesn't have papers either. She just wants to have that next meaty bone or sirloin trimming ;-) We're participating in a DNA study about Brittany dogs, which should be interesting.

On to the weekend, and my non spinning time...

Are these the cutest kids in the world? Seriously - I know I'm their mom, but still... and man Garret DOES NOT LIKE his monkey suit... can't blame him.