Doggy Storm Preparedness

In light of the high winds we may be having tonight, and with the storm on the way, I'm trying to keep the kids and the dogs busy. And safe.

We stocked up on food and drinking water - dogs included.  I let them out to play early enough so they have a chance to use their energy. I have kennels ready so they don't panic during the storm.

I also read up on a little common sense doggy safety; not to let the dogs off-leash after the storm until you've cleaned up the yard and verified that all the fences are up and there are no power lines down.

But in the mean time they are just playing around - Aspen versus Sherlock.  They are proving their mastery by fighting over a rope toy - although there's more than one... it seems they have something to prove to each other.  And they are happy... tail wagging, cuddling, licking happy.

Aspen has made the tremendous progress of letting us trim her nails without much resistance.  And she's a tad bit more obedient, although her dog-to-dog skills need some work.  Either way, we're happy, because we are able to work with her more - and she's a joy to live with! She cuddles with the kiddos, rough houses w/ the older one, and is otherwise a 50 lb lap dog of pure muscle.

Sherlock hasn't had any accidents this week - appears to be housebroken.  Did pretty good in the first puppy class; he can sit and stay on command, knows down, stay, and walks nicely on a leash.  Now I have the task of getting him show-ready - I need to teach him to "stand" and stay, but he's so butt-heavy he plops his bottom at the first sign of a treat.  I also need to leash train him for show purposes.  That's our next step!  And I'm so excited.  Knowing how to show dogs has been on my bucket list. I nearly can't wait!

There is otherwise nothing really to report, day in and day out.  We took as many hikes as we could this summer, some with Aspen, some without.  She did ok and enjoyed the walk, although she would much rather be off-leash - but unfortunately she's not reliable.  The one time we decided to leave her at home so that we could focus a bit more on the kiddos, I was relieved to do so... the trail was very narrow, and pretty treacherous... that plus 3 kiddos in tow (including my 2 year old), it would've been too much for us.  Sherlock was nimble to do just fine on that one though; he just hopped from rock to rock.
  
It's sad that summer is gone and fall is almost over.  And we haven't had much of a hiking, wonderful fall. It's been winds of up to 100 mph, rain, and plain ickiness.  The one day that it was sunny I cleaned the yard all day just because I didn't want to be indoors on what might've been our last day of sunshine.  The dogs handle it pretty well as the climate is getting colder though, they still love going outside to play - completely undeterred.  Their favorite time is when they go to meet Anakin at the bus stop when he comes home from school.  They are excited to see their boy and all the other boys and girls that get off the bus and give them attention.