squamish meet up

Trainer extraordinaire, Katherine and I met on the internet through our love of beagles and working with dogs that have 'issues'. Through our blogs we learned that we (including Andre) were into positive reinforcement training and that we also have dogs that require a bit of extra care.

Last year our schedules didn't mesh, but this year I made sure to contact Katherine well in advance and to ensure I could meet her cute beagles and herself in person!

She took us to some magical places in Squamish that I never even knew existed in my 25 years of living on the west coast.

10 year old Daizy!



Duke was too excited to stay still for even a second for a photo - this shot is a good example of how he was during most of our hike.

Thanks Katherine for sharing your beautiful hiking spots with us! I hope we can do it again soon!!

some R&R

Petey and Duke are slowly starting to get used to each other and Petey is warming up to the idea that it's ok for Duke to touch him while they are napping.

These photos were processed through the online photo filter Rollip.

doggie treats

over the holidays, shana baked some yummy doggie treats for duke and petey. with the treats she also gave us the recipe for the cookies and also a really cute bone shaped cookie cutter.

as a thank you for the support that we received from marna and erica from big on beagles, during petey's ordeal (that's a whole other blog post in itself), i decided i'd try shana's recipe to give as presents.

it was super easy to make and i also copied the way shana packaged the cookies because i was so impressed with the presentation of them. after packing up the present cookies, there were still enough for duke and petey!

a new year's romp

Duke and I (sans Andre, who was working on our bathroom and Petey who detests muddy textures under his paws) went for a hike through High Park. It was unseasonably warm on New Year's Day and most of the snow melted over night, creating a very misty, moist start to 2011.

made it through the super muddy trails


fetch!


eventually we just ended up walking, instead of playing fetch


looks more like an autumn shot, than a mid-winter photo!


see ya!

winter wonderful

for christmas last year, i took the boys to the historic village of alton, just 1.5 hours outside of toronto, for a short holiday get-away.

alton is a picturesque mill town with many heritage buildings. because the village is old, despite being a small town, the streets are narrow and all the buildings are placed really close to the streets giving it an almost urban feel. a lot of buildings have heritage plaques stating they were built during the last couple of decades of the 19th century!

we stayed at the town's mill which has since been converted into a beautiful inn and spa.

the gorgeous waterfall right behind the dining hall


christmas decorations were everywhere


a very popular birdhouse with lots of feathery visitors in the mornings

the inn is dog friendly and our two-storey room had a great fireplace and an outdoor hot tub. because of duke and petey's separation-anxiety, we did room service for all our meals and we even brought our breakfasts back to our room (which felt more like a small townhouse). i must say that the food is quite delicious at the millcroft!

the main reason for choosing the millcroft inn was it's proximity to the bruce trail. what we didn't know until we arrived was that the inn is surrounded by hiking trails and we didn't have to leave the property to go for a hike with the beagles.

more often than not, these two were running around together

initally we let both duke and petey off leash. both have great recall at parks and urban hiking trails. we have no problems with going to parks that aren't fenced in. so we didn't think we'd have to worry about them wandering off.

the trails in alton, however, must have a tonne of exciting smells and duke soon took off, hopping like mad through the snow banks. it took a good 10 minutes of me trying to run after him in thigh-high snow before i could catch him, when he paused to drink in the the scent of something particularly good.

and with that, off-leash privileges were revoked for him and shortly after for petey as well, when he high-tailed it through the fields, returning only when duke started howling after him.

petey before his privileges were revoked - a good recall!


sniff, sniff


duke did a lot of pausing to listen carefully and sniff the air

the trails were really pretty, despite everything being in hibernation mode.

the hiking tired the boys out thoroughly and they were more than happy to pass out in front of the fire for the rest of the evening.

our little getaway was so relaxing and fun - if only, like all vacations, it could have been a little bit longer. it has, however, definitely given me ideas for another winter getaway. it was so nice to see duke and petey have fun in the snow and not get painful salty paws. for the humans it was also a relief not to have to worry about litter and gross discarded food that the beagles love to scavenge in the city.

while researching for this trip, i found quite a few dog friendly accommodations within easy driving distance from toronto. the only problem is that they are quite popular and for a holiday getaway, many were booked up by late november. here is a list of a few that i've ear-marked for future trips:

• The Little Inn
• Cedar Grove: you get your own detached log cabin with all meals included!
• Red Bay
• Millcroft Inn: where we stayed!

brrrrrrrr

winter is definitely on it's way!

this little hound isn't scared of the cold, though. he revels in it because cool temps means he can play fetch for longer without getting overheated.

... and from the wise words of ross porter, "keep warm, stay cool and take care of the ones you love."

have a great weekend!

my little urban jungle

as you can see, my little garden plot has grown into a mini jungle and since these photos were taken, it's kind of gotten out of hand. all the stems are growing over each other and despite the bamboo stakes they are toppling over.

last year, my little garden was a bit sad with very few tomatoes harvested. so this year, with the help of a lot of organic compost, the 4 tomato plants became large bushes with lots of tomatoes growing.

the basil is doing really well too and is probably 4 feet tall now.

lessons learned for next year:

• leave waaaaay more space between the plants so that they don't end up growing on top of each other
• get thicker stakes
• trim the sucks

happy 1 year, petey

today marks the one year anniversary since petey came to live with us!

when we were still fostering everybody kept on saying how we would never let him be adopted and that we would eventually keep him. i guess all those people - friends and strangers - were correct!

thank you, petey, for teaching us:

• to let sleeping dogs lie
  
• that it is possible for dogs to sniff each other on the sidewalk without an altercation
  
• to respect and be mindful of dog body language
  
• that with positive reinforcement anything is possible - even teaching you a bite inhibition

we are so happy that we will be your forever home - we were always a bit worried about what would happen when/if you bit your new owners.

andre, duke and i are looking forward to growing older with you.

we love you!

princess park, north vancouver

we have been meeting up with quite a few doggy friends, although sadly i don't always have my camera with me.

today, however, i was prepared with my camera when duke and i met grace and dave (the humans) and zuzu and hampton (the puppies).

cute zuzu (top photo) is very much hampton's (the beagle) older sister and is very protective of her little baby brother. adorable hampton is very much a puppy, but is also quite the gentleman.

we had a great time playing fetch and hiking through the beautiful princess park in north vancouver.

thank you to the puppy jones crew for being great hosts and fun playmates!!

click here for a full set of photos.