Still Thinking of You

I can not believe that it has been a year since you left us so suddenly last Christmas Eve. So much has happened since then. Both of your kids, Rush and Lacey, are doing well. Even though I love them dearly, you will never be replaced. I think of you when I look at them. You were our family guardian and my faithful confidante.

I still think of you every day. You were my heart dog, Dixie. I love you and still miss you.

Dixie

I found this old video while going through some files in my computer. In 2003, Brent's elementary school teacher asked if I would give an agility demonstration her class. I had put this together as a preview for the kids, in case they had never seen agility before. It shows a few of our early runs while working on our Novice titles. LOL, I was a pretty bad handler back then. In one scene, I almost stepped on poor Dixie. Fortunately, she was smarter than I was and made up for my poor handling skills.

A week later, Jeri and I headed to Brent's school and assembled a small course on the playground. The kids enjoys watching Dixie and Zak take turns running the course. But they had even more fun giving our dogs too many treats and seeing which one knew more tricks. If I remember right, Zak won because he knew one more trick than Dixie.

I know I am just going through a bit of melancholy today. This will most likely be my last post about my forever favorite blue girl.

Dixie, I hope you are walking on sunshine and having fun running on agility courses again. I miss you my sweet girl.

Cavall Regent Dixie Blues OA, NAJ, AXP, AJP, CGC, HIC
4/25/2000 - 12/24/2010

Just Hanging Out

The weather has been really pretty and unusually warm for November. Spent Saturday afternoon BBQing and hanging outside with my favorite humans and dogs. Also played around with one of my favorite apps....

The lovely Dixie

Goofball Rush!

Mix well

Take one gray corgi and mix with lots of rain....

Presto!! One mud dog.

A Watermelon Fest

I thought Jinnie at Solitice had a great idea about giving her dogs left over watermelon. I tried it with my crew over the weekend. I'd say it was a great success.

A very lady-like Jenna eating her watermelon.

Some pool side dining.

The old girl grabbed a piece and snuck off by herself to enjoy it.

Mmmm, good to the last drop.

Saturday Photo Hunt

The theme this week was "Blue".

After looking at my recent postings, I realized that lately it has been pretty much dominated by a certain black dog. So this theme is a perfect time to give my pretty blue dog, Dixie, some air time.

Here is a summer photo of Dixie catching some summer rays and lounging by the pool in Ocala, FL.

Lazy Dogs

The topic of the week was "Lazy".

Starting at a very early age . . . .

I think that . . .

dogs have a very good grasp . . . .

on the concept of lazy.

The Results Are In

I just checked the OFA website. Dixie's results are posted. I had no idea that she had so many half siblings through the sire. I took a look at their OFA results. It was nice to see that all of them tested out at either Good or Fair. None were displastic. :o) I think all I have to do to get the CHIC Certification is have her microchipped.

A Nice Suprise

I am constantly learning something new about dogs. Last summer, my vet mentioned that it was possible to have the slides from Penn Hip submitted to OFA. I had Dixie's hips done about 4 years ago through Pen Hip. She came out with a decent rating, so I asked him retrieve those x-rays and send them to OFA. It was a very long and drawn out process, but yesterday I received a nice surprise in the mail. Just when I had pretty much given up hope on ever seeing it materialize, Dixie’s certificate arrived saying that she was OFA Good. I didn't think that OFA would find anything unexpected, but I was still happy to see the positive score. I now just have to wait a week or 2 before it is published on the OFA website. Yay Dixie!

I Won't Quit My Day Job

I decided that I wanted to take a new picture for the front page of my website. I loaded my camera, my dogs & one willing/unsuspecting son into my truck and headed over to a local park. I thought we could snap a few photos and be back home in a matter of minutes. How difficult could this really be? My dogs are fairly well trained . . . . or so I thought.

Boy, was I wrong. They lay around the house all day long and don't move for hours. I had no idea that when I really wanted them to sit still and not move, they would be unable to do so.
After taking a dozen pictures of Dixie not looking at me (she was sure that she was going to fall into the water) I decided to try a different spot.

This location did not work out much better. They kept trying to leave and check out the fountain.

They actually posed themselves for this picture but I was hoping for something a little better. I thought I would try one more spot.

At this point, I really began to wonder "What was I thinking?"

I decided to quit with this shot and call it a day.

After 90 minutes and approx. 100 photos, this turned out to be my favorite picture of the day.

Ode To Mother

This is the poem that was on my Mother's Day card today:

"A Mother's Day Poem From the Dog"

You feed me when I'm hungry,

You keep water in my dish,

You let me sleep on anything,

Or in any place I wish.

You sometimes let me lick your hands,

or even lick your face,

Despite that fact I've licked myself,

In every private place.

You taught me how to come when called,

You taught me how to sit,

You always let me go outside,

So I can take a shxx stroll.

You'll always have my loyalty

up to the bitter end,

'cause after all, it's plain to see.......

You are a dog's best friend!

Happy Mother's Day.

Love; Mike, Kenny & Brent

Happy 8th Birthday Dixie

Dixie 8 years old

Dixie 12 weeks old

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

A Family Portrait

We took the tape off of Lacey's ears today. I am happy to see that both are standing up. Hopefully they stay that way and I won't have to tape them again.

Christmas Family Traditions

My son came home from work the other night and said that he had a discussion with his co-workers as to what holiday traditions they had. When they asked Kenny, he said that we didn't have any. At first I felt like a negligent mother, but the more I thought about it, I realized that we have quite a few that we try to do every year. One of them is to take pictures with our dogs, boys and Santa. Here are few of those pictures:

(Look at Jenna sticking her tongue out.)

2007

* * * * * *

(I found this picture while looking for my Santa picutres. Yea, I know Santa is not in it, but I thought it was a nice one of me, the boys and Dixie.)

* * * * * *

Here are a couple of the older ones that I found. I have them scattered every where and really need to organize them into a collage. As you can see, Dixie has been with us for quite a while now:

2002

* * * * * *

2001

Dixie & Pups

 Always the watchful mother, Dixie is keeping a close eye on her pups.

Dixie in the Whelping Pen

Priceville Agility Trial

The family is patiently waiting for Brent and Dixie's turn.
Brent walks the course to figure out his strategy.
They did not receive a Q because of a knocked bar, but Dixie still gets a treat for a job well done!