Christmas Card 2011 and Winnie's progress

Just sharing our Christmas Card that we made together with Simona Limona, Benetton&Nike, and another video of Winnie's progress. She is one amazing little girl <3

Christmas Card

Winnie Foundations3

Rain

One of my all-time favourite songs, a masterpiece actually, it reminds me of my sweet Ben so much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhQOvvV45w&ob=av2e

I usually hate rainy days, but today I just love this lousy weather. It gives me a great excuse to stay in for the afternoon, and get some rest, because I need a day off really badly. It's not a real day off, I still had to work in the morning, but at least it's an afternoon off. Lately I've been so busy that I can hardly stand on my feet. So I guess I'll just play with the dogs inside today, do some tricks and I'll try to engage myself with the Christmas tree. Oh yes, a rainy day every now and then really feels good! Little Winnie burns all my energy away, she is restless and hyperactive, nothing can tire her. Nights are getting better, but she wouldn't sleep for a minute during the day. And since I try to keep her mind occupied very hard, I also have to work a lot with Ben or he feels pushed aside and that's definitely something I don't want. So lately we've been doing lots of walking, running (8 km three times a week), agility, tricks, chasing balls, hiking, filming tricks, etc. So no wonder I feel like crashing on the bed at the end of the day. But I love this life, I love being active, I love Winnie's energy and I love little Ben's enthusiasm for working with me. We went to a competition on Saturday. Little Ben started really happy and full of enthusiasm but unfortunately the carpet was slippery and he was slipping more than any other dog and his run was slower every second. It was pretty much the same in the second run, he was really crazy on the startline, but then started slipping, he didn't finish the weave poles, which is really not something he would do if the surface was grass, so I just sent him over the dogwalk again and finished the course, praised him a lot and made him really happy. I was determined never to enter him on a competition with a carpet again but then I got some advice from a friend, which really might help with slipping, so I might try it. If that doesn't work, I really don't want to run him on a carpet ever again. Anyways, I am not any less proud of him than if he had finished with a medal, seeing him trying so hard made me prouder than any best time or clean run. Little Winnie was a little absent from time to time, she looked stressed around so many loud dogs, but when I took her a little farther, she concentrated really well and was again her crazy self. I should really go, she's just tying out one of her crazy "ideas"...

7 months

I adore this little energy bomb! Sure we've had a tough beginning with her fears, but she just amazes me every day more and more. And it was a thousand times worth it! 70% of her fears are now gone, now I don't call her fearful anymore, I just call her unsociable :) No, she doesn't like people or dogs to interact with her, but she is really happy around anybody now, as long as they leave her alone. She still needs lots of confidence in new environment, but if she only stays like she is now I am happy with that. Afterall she is all one could wish from a dog. She is the prettiest girl in the world, the sweetest thing. She is absolutely crazy, fast and talented for agility. Very devoted and self confident. She may be fearful, but her opinion about herself is very high. She is still very tiny and thin, she is actually lighter than Ben although she is quite taller.
She still keeps on destroying my room. Every day I find something new. Working with her is nothing but fun. I simply adore her! Happy 7 months to my sweet crazy girl!

Little Ben says hi, he is alive and kicking, still chasing that ball wherever we go. We are now learning some new tricks again, but as usually he gets everything too quickly and the fun is soon over. I think he is turning into a human. He's always been smart and aristocratic in comparisson to "normal" dogs, but lately I just can't keep up with how smart he is. The other day when we were at Simona's place, the phone rang. I joked and told him to bring the phone eventhough we never learnt the trick. And he went to the bedroom and returned with .... a PHONE! Not mine, but nevermind. Then this weekend in the mountains he was thirsty and showed me a bottle of water with his paw, saying "I'm thirsty". When he's hungry and there's only food in the bowl, he usually spills the water and looks at me. There isn't anything he can't "say". I'm telling you this dog can speak! But it's actually his whole attitude, like sitting at the table, and his high-society behaviour that really makes me think he's turning into a human. He just stands out and behaves nothing dog-like.

Here's another video I made of Winnie's agility progress... Winnie - foundations2

I can't wait for December to begin! I love holidays, snow, celebrating, cold and everything about this month! I do want some snow for Christmas!!

A little bit of agility trainings

Looks like we won't have to cut of that little piece of pad on Ben's paw, as it suddenly stuck back and healed nicely. So he's been ok for a while, but he's still wearing a bandage, just in case, I don't want to take a risk for him to rip it off again somehow. However, he is still suffering from post-Winnie-depression, so I made myself a promise, to take him to some special places, only him. It must be really hard for him now. I was told pyrsheps are one-person dogs. Well, for sure they are, Winnie is a typical one, but for all of you who don't know my Ben as much as I do, I can assure you, Ben is more "mine" than Winnie. It may not look like that when you see him jumping on other people, playing with everybody, kissing you all over the face, but I can tell you he is way more depressed without me than Winnie, she is fine with other members of the family too, but Ben - NEVER. When I'm away he would lay sadly in my room, waiting for me on my bed. No matter how long it takes. He wouldn't play with my friends while waiting for me. Winnie forgets about me immediately after I leave the house and plays with everybody else (but only with my family and close friends), but is excedingly happy when I'm back. So I know it is very hard for him to accept her. He loves her, but also finds her terribly annoying.

Here is my crazy Winnie 6 months old, running her first agility steps. I think she did just perfect, what a crazy dog, the most important thing for her (which can't be heard) is to bark inbetween :) What a nice change after my quiet Ben. And what a nice change of Ben's contacts! After a total collapse of his contacts and after giving up on turns, here he is, with perfect contacts, perfect turns (although I gave up on them and didn't train that at all), but with some important retraining. I didn't like his high hits on the dogwalk and retrained the contacts, I couldn't be more proud of us both :)

Video: Winnie/Ben agilty

Holidays - Bovec

I love my job. I love working with children, I am myself just a big child, I love how different children are and each child is a challange, it is so nice to see their progress and development while growing up. I would love to see my youngest when they finish primary school. But one of the things I also love is holiday time :) Since we are enjoying autumn holidays at the moment, I took the advantage and went for a trip with Simona Limona. This time we headed towards Bovec, a beautiful small town surrounded by mountains and a river. Ben's paw actually isnt' healing very nicely anymore, but keeping him inside isn't helping at all, since the paw doesn't hurt him at all, and the vet said the only solution is to cut off that injured piece of his pad (the upper one, which is actually not really important). I didn't like the idea at first, but it's the only way and that won't really change anything. So after that vet check we took off. I just can't wait for that little paw to heal, I miss him running after balls and jumping everywhere. The lady of the house where we stayed at (the owner of the apartment), was quite surprised (or better said shocked) that we actually have four dogs, not one. But when she realized how well behaved they are (I was really careful not to give her a chance to get to know my Winnie a little better), she kindly invited us to come again and seemed really happy to see that some dogs are really well taken care of. Bovec is just beautiful, it's so nice to just enjoy the nature for a few days. At first the plan was to stay for 3 or 4 days, but the weather today wasn't very nice and we were forced to return earlier :( However, we had 2 really nice days of walking along the river and we took the opportunity to take some photos in that beautiful nature. In the end of the day the dogs looked really tired, even Winnie took a little nap (a very short one, but still...) Evenings were fun too, Simona actually got me addicted to knitting those keychains that are so popular among children now :)

HaPPy 6 MonTHs My LiTTLe BLacK MoNsTeR!

My little Winnie is going to celebrate 6 months tomorrow. Now here comes a difficult confession: It wasn't easy to accept Winnie in my life. Nor Ben. Eventhough I wished her more than anything in the world, it's always the same with me, I need my time to accept somebody into my life. It was the same with Ben. What I wanted to say is that I think our bond is getting stronger and stronger, every day she fits more and more into my life, and she is becoming my dream come true. At first, Winnie was a difficult shock for me, she was the exact opposite of my dear Ben that I love so much. Not that I didn't like that, I never wanted or expected a dog who would resemble my Ben, beyond any doubt Ben is one and only. So I kind of liked the change, and feared it at the same time. Especially when I realized how fearful she is, afraid of everything, unfocused, but self-confident at the same time - which meant she would trust her own opinion more than mine, especially when it came to her fears or destroying the house. But she had all the craziness I hoped for her to have, she turned out to be stunningly beautiful (at least to my eyes :)) and a real one-person dog. There's nothing more I would wish for. Anyways, she came to my life totally expectedly and still, I could not open my heart immediately. I had the same story with Ben, it took me more than half a year to completely accept him. Well, that's just me, I need my time, but when I open my heart to somebody, he/she stays there forever. I learned to live with all her fears, all her craziness, destroying habits, tugging on my trousers and sleeves, tearing my clothes, kissing my face or jumping on the furniture in the middle of the night, hanging on my curtains when I work with Ben, barking, driving everybody crazy, etc. And I love her just the way she is, my pretty little black monster.

And now comes a really sad news :( My dear Ben hurt his paw the other day on our walk, it looks really ugly and it might need some time to heal :( It's really not anything serious, it's just that it rips my heart when I see his sad eyes when I go for a walk with Winnie (no, he cannot even go for a walk or he starts limping), or when he wants to play with a ball (which is all the time!). I at least try to do more tricks with him, but it's just so sad to see him like that :(.

Family

Family is very important. And very cute, especially if we are talking about Ben's or Winnie's family. Thanks to facebook, I have a chance to see a lot of our siblings' photos, and I even dared to steal some, only to show you how cute families my doggies have! I just love them all, each one so different, but they all have a lot in common!

Ben's brother Dream

Ben's sister Fiamma

Ben's half-brother Lee

Winnie's blue merle sister (don't know her name :))

Winnie's sister Gazelle

Winnie's sister Pomme

Winnie's half-sister Page

Winnie's half-brother Aneou

Bennie & Winnie Tricks

Little Winnie is 5,5 months old already. I wanted to say "she is growing so fast", but it's not quite true :) She actually isn't growing anywhere, she is so very tiny, and she is actually growing up very slowly, she still lacks of teeth, and her behaviour in general, her running style and movement still look like those of a 3-month-old puppy. Therefore I don't like to rush with anything, because she is still such a baby, but on the other hand it's pretty convenient, she will remain a puppy for a longer period of time and I will have so much more opportunities to enjoy her puppyhood. When I remember Ben at her age or if I compare her to other puppies of the same age, she is so way behind with development and her view on the world around her. She is hilarious, and just like a three-month-old puppy, she still wakes me up in the middle of the night and early in the morning, either by crying or by destroying something. Her energy has no limits, after 6 hours of running she would go and sleep for an hour and then she would start with her mischievous look again or she would start disturbing Ben's peace. And yes, she is still going through all other puppy stages, too. Other than that, she is full of enthusiasm, always happy (if only she isn't afraid of something), her tail never stops wagging, she loves working and running, and above all she loves teasing Ben. They've become real BFF's by now. Nothing new with Ben, he will never change, thank God! :) I took him to a school trip the other day and the children just loved him, he was named "the cutest dog in the world" (and I thought I'm only saying this because he's mine). He sure is a heartbreaker, I don't know anyone who would stay indifferent around him. It's surprising that Ben usually takes all the glory when people meet both of them. With all Winnie's energy and with her being all over the place all the time I expected she would win any situation. But Winnie is still very shy around new people and she is all mine, while Ben knows no reason why not to say hello to the whole world and even ask for some treats, or even better, some toys, (by offering the funniest tricks he knows) so in this case Ben always wins all the attention with those funny tricks and those little eyes, no one can beat that :)

And I've finally made that promissed video, you have no idea how much time it took me to put this together, I guess more than teaching the tricks. It's not actually any good in terms of video production, but it's cute. I just have to admit here I am not talented for this, so next time I'll just ask Simona Limona again and maybe bake her a cake in return or sth. :)

I know I keep saying this all the time, but I have to say it again: God, I love my two funny dogs! Finally the long promised video: Bennie and Winnie Tricks