I am a little late with this, shame on me.  Mr. Blue’s birthday was January 20th.  He is now 3.  The kids had the day off from school, so we headed to Belmont, NC, to a canine cafe for some doggy treats, then a walk in the park.  It was a nice day, very nice weather after an extreme cold spell. 

Loki had his first tracking class today.  It went well.  He seemed to like it, even if his article indication is to sniff it then sit on it!  I guess that works.  We did one track first for article indication, which was to let the dogs find each article, and praise them when they did.  He did quite well with this.  The second track was a straight line, with a few articles.  He got hung up on one article, he kept wanting to grab it….but once he figured out to get to the next one, which was also the last, he raced over and flung it up in the air!  There are just a few pictures….

Update: 

With practice, Loki has learned to leave my side on the “track” command, track to the article, grab it and sit.  He likes to fling the article in the air, so this is fine, but I would prefer him to hold it till I catch up to him.  Second tracking class was raining and cold.  We do not have class for another 3 weeks, hopefully we will get some more practice in!

We had about six inches of snow here in North Carolina on Saturday!  An amazing amount of snow.  Perfect for sledding!  And when you have two draft dogs, two harnesses, what do you do?  Well, you hook sleds up to them and have them pull kids around!

I like how the dogs and Devin form a heart in these pictures.

Devin, Loki and Blue

Too sweet....

xxxxooooo

They really do love each other!

We tooks several pictures today in hopes of finding the one good picture for our Christmas card.  This is not an easy task with 3 kids and 2 dogs!  Here are some of my favorites.

A very grown up looking Devin

Mr. Blue relaxing

The Boys and their Christmas Sleigh

The Doggy Reindeer pulling the Santa Kids

Devin & Alex being pulled

Santa Alex

3 Little Santas

More Sleigh Pictures

Everyone is starting to get tired.....

We finally got a chance to use my birthday present….What strikes me as so funny is Alex and Aiden just sitting there like it is normal to be pulled around by their dogs!   Now we have to work on making a Christmas card with the 3 kids and 2 dogs….should be fun times…NOT!

 

Not just cause it features a Berner, but it is soooooooooo cute!  I can not believe it is that time of year already, Christmas!

Loki also passed his therapy dog test the other night.  I will more than likely wait till he is a little older.  He just turned 2 and is still quite bouncy.   He is a very sweet dog, but he is still apt to be a spazz! 

Now, if I could get the vaccination stuff worked out, I can send in the paperwork.  They want receipts or labels for the vaccines that both breeders and I did ourselves, and have done only titers, no boosters.  I am hoping to get a more knowledgable person when I call Therapy Dogs International today.   We follow the Dodd’s vaccine protocol, which is very very limited vaccinations.  We did parvo/distemper, then titers.  And rabies.  That is it.

Mr. Blue is now a Canine Good Citizen and can now be a Therapy Dog.  I am going to pursue therapy work with him.  He is a nice, calm and gentle dog.  I think he would enjoy it.  He is also very easy to manage because he is nice and calm.  I am very proud of him!  Last time we did this test, he marked the wheelchair, and failed!!!