Memory Lane

So M and D got a new gadget today that they've been playing with for a few hours. I think they said a three in one paw-ter? (oh wait...M says it's a printer) Anyway, they say that they can scan old pictures onto the computer now. M has been wanting to upload some pictures of some of my "ancestors" (if you will). She spent all day looking through old pictures to find some and she found photos of most of her previous dogs, but not all. Anyway, she showed me a bunch of them and at first they all seemed really different than Cassie and me. Some of them looked like other dogs I've met at the dog park and some of them I had never seen anything like before! Then all of a sudden, I though I was looking into a mirror! (okay, well not totally...unless the mirror was tinted yellow and if I was a lot smaller) You'll see what I mean!

These first two family members were my Mom's childhood friends. This cute Cocker is Patches. M doesn't have a whole lot of memories of him except a few moments of playing with him and of Patches greeting her when she got home from Kindergarten.

This is Sandy-boy. He was a very loyal and sweet Lhasa Apso and M's very best friend when she was growing up. He was a sandy color when he was a pup (as seen in this picture), but after he turned one or so he turned completely gray. He was a sick boy and had problems with epilepsy. He had his first seizure around his second birthday and it continued to get worse. M and her family were able to keep it under control with medication and it helped him have good days for the next three years. After he turned five, however, his little body couldn't take it anymore and he crossed the rainbow bridge. M was out of town (across the country) when he got very sick and had to be brought to the vets. She'll never feel better about how she wasn't able to be there during his last couple of days and last few hours :(

This is Buddy. He was a good (and very crazy) collie-mix. He was extremely neglected in his prior home; he had no training, was completely unaware of how to act in a home environment and didn't know his own strength.
He was a beautiful boy (these pictures don't do him justice as they were taken right after he was taken home from the shelter). Mom can't find anymore pictures of him, but he was a good friend and lived a long, healthy life.

And then there was Hooper. This is the boy that changed everything (as M said in her post the other day). He only spent a short time in Mom's life, but he changed it forever. Unfortunately, he developed an immuno-deficiency disorder and was unable to fight off a parvo-like illness. Mom wishes that she took a lot more pictures of him during the 2 weeks he spent in her home.

And here is Amadeus! (A lot of boys in the past, eh?) What a sweet puppy face!

He grew up to be a very loyal partner, very HUGE, and VERY smart.
In fact, Amadeus was SO smart, that he went through complete training to be a bomb sniffing dog! He passed all of his tests and though M was sad to see him go, he joined the program and is still living with the same owners and trainers that he went to live with long ago. Mom has just recently made contact again with his owners (contact was lost for about 2 years) and found out that he's still a very sweet boy, though much older. He is retired now and spends his days at home laying in the sun and playing with his 2 siblings -- a lab mix named Honey, and a corgi mix named Snickers.

I know that a few people have posted about their ancestors, and thanks to the Maryann and the Brat Pack for posting the pictures of the gang a few years back. We especially enjoyed all the pics of Thrawn and Dakota, not to mention baby pics of Tucker :) Anyone else want to post pictures of your predecessors? We'd really like to see them!!

'Til next time!

It's a love/hate thing.

Cassie and I like to chew on each other.

But sometimes we don't like getting chewed on.

And we fight over stuff all of the time.

But we get over it.

It's a love/hate thing.

But mostly love.

Red Bud, Revisited

Cassie here. Thanks to everydoggy out there for crossing their paws and sending good thoughts to me while I was sick. Now I'm much better and back to my bubbly southern belle self.



Okay ...so maybe not so southern belle in these pictures, but I definitely am well enough to romp around with my big galoot of a brother.

Today we went back to Red Bud park and guess what? It was just as pawesome as the last time we went. This time though, M remembered to take some video and I was in more of a modelling mood. I am the most divine labbie supermodel in Texas, of course.

There were three great danes there that we kept running into. They were older ladies, so they didn't play with us much.

We played fetch for a while, because doG forbid Orion doesn't get to chase after things. We swam for a while and had the entire water hole to ourselves.

Here I am showing my labbie skills . . . I am a bird dog after all.

Birds? Where?

See how dedicated we are? Even 6 inches of mud wont stop us from retriving. Well...it won't stop Orion. Usually, I forget about the ball or stick or dummy before I get to it. But M thinks I show potential. :)

EDIT: Okay, I've been having major problems uploading video onto this site lately. It'll upload completely and suddenly it just disappears. I'll work on it later and see if I can get any new video up. Ugh.

A New Dog Park

C'mon M & D, let's go to the dog park today!

See, Cassie has the keys and is ready to take us there.

Hurry up humans!

Dad wanted to drive, though, so we let him. But only because he said we could drive back home. I took my usual position between M & D...

and Cassie usually takes position by the window so she can stick her head out...

Apparently, she's fond of flies getting stuck in her teeth and butterflies going up her schnoz.

The park is this way!!!

The humans decided to take us to a new dog park this time. We were getting kind of tired of the old one and they heard good things about this one. It's called Red Bud park and it's on a little island type thing behind the University of Texas. Anyway, it turned out to be awesome!

We met up with a bunch of dogs by the water. They were playing fetch with a tennis ball and diving into the lake. Normally, I'll wade into water to get sticks and tennis balls, but I don't like going to places where I can't touch bottom. But THIS TIME, I actually swam! And it was great! I had so much fun and the humans were really proud of me. Look how far out into the lake I swam! (You might need to click on the picture to get a better look.)

Cassie had lots of fun just zooming around and chasing after other dogs. She's more of a Labrador Leaver than a Labrador Retriever.

Throw it already!!

I made friends with this girl labbie called Bailey and we spent most of our time fighting to get to the tennis balls first.

Almost there...

hey, get off of me!

A-ha! I got it!

Here you go, Mom!

It was like Labby Central today. We saw about 6 or 7 other Labs and some of them got into the water to play with us.

Hey, Bailey, come back!

After about 45 minutes of swimming, we dragged ourselves away and walked on the trail for a little while. We met a bunch of other dogs along the way.

We walked for another 45 minutes or so and boy, did we get thirsty.

Time to go already?

We had such a blast at Red Bud! This is our favorite new place and we going to keep going back there. I can practice my swimming and maybe Cassie can practice her retrieving (and her call-back!)

We zonked out the second we got into the car. Sorry Dad, you're going to have to do the driving again.

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzz!