More hiking finally!

Well, we finally got to do some more hiking! Yeah! I love to hike and not even Blockhead, I mean Schultz, can ruin it! Here are some pictures of us hiking up Mill Creek - note we're hard at work carrying our own packs with food, so Mom and Dad don't have to. I don't think Schultz has been in the woods much; he didn't even know how to cross a log bridge! See in the picture where Mom is leading him across? That's on our way back to the car - on our first trip across the bridge, he just jumped in the water and waded/swam across - see, he's just not very smart, unlike me!

On the good/bad side, we're also doing a lot of obediance training - Mom has been taking us out for long walks while we "properly" heel on her left side. I don't like heeling - I don't get to sniff and run around wherever I want to, but on the other hand, it's a walk and I love walks! Even Blockhead is learning to heel - finally.

Dad and Mom start work pretty soon at the Farmer's Market. Dad starts tomorrow working the meat counter, and Mom starts Friday in produce. It's just minimum wage and a couple of days a week, but it will pay for dog food (and we go through a LOT of that now) and give us all some structure in our lives. Mom also starts training for the Census Bureau on Easter Monday, so we won't be going back home for Easter unfortunately. But the normal family party will still be happening, so contact Jerome or Joe!

Happy and Blessed Easter everyone!!!

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged - Mom has been really busy with Blockhead, I mean Schultz. Yep, he's still here - this sucks! He attacked me out of nowhere on one of our walks (OK, I do bark at him a lot) - Mom and Dad broke it up right away - and then they asked the Montana GSD Rescue to bring a dog trainer in to figure out what's going on. He said I'm too wound up, possesive and scared and I need drugs to relax me - no, I just need Schultz to go away! So off we go to the vet, and instead of drugs, the vet gives me this cool green collar that smells good and reminds me of when I was still with my mommy as a puppy. (Editor's note: The collar is being tested, it will be marketed as the Good Behavior collar by Sawyer) I felt much better on the ride home, but I still don't like Schultz - he pushes his big blockhead into everything! And he hogs all the bones!

Mom is also making us train together - she makes me sit and lie down and even heel right next to him, which just sucks! You can tell I don't like him in the pictures - see how I'm leaning away? But I'm a good dog so I do what Mom and Dad tell me to do - right away too! Schultz is stupid - he's getting better I guess - but he doesn't obey commands like I do, I'm perfect! The pictures are from us training in the house, and in front of the burned-down pile of branches Mom and Dad burned last week.

Dad and Mom's really good friend Dave came to visit us last week - he's really nice - stupid Schultz kept trying to attack him whenever he moved, and I have no idea why. Good thing Mom had him on a leash all the time. Anyway, it was really fun when he came because we went hiking up Bear Creek - not even Blockhead could ruin that too much, and I got to bark at him a lot.

Dad and Mom went to support their fellow Victor Fire Department members in official training too - Dad's gone three times, and Mom just once - this training qualifies folks as "Fire Fighter I" so they can safely go into burning buildings and cut holes in roofs to keep the building from burning down. Dad rollled up hose a lot, and Mom and Dad both kept busy building fake roof panels for the guys to practice on, so they could rest between their tests. Both Mom and Dad drive the big Fire trucks now!

Let's see, what else is happening? Mom is going to work for the Census Bureau - she starts training after Easter. Dad applied for a job as an aerial fire spotter/observer, but he doesn't think he'll get the job because he doesn't have much wildland fire fighting experience. Of course, that will probably change this year! Oh, and we got a new dryer last week - the old one finally died after 16 years. Not too bad I guess. This one is quieter, which is nice.

I think that's about it from here - I'll try to blog again soon, but if I can't, Happy Easter everyone!

It's Just Not Fair!

Well, it’s been one heck of a week, with lots going on, and I don’t like much of it. But I guess my opinion doesn’t matter - grrr. First, Dad and Mom got a hot tub - which does me no good at all, ‘cause I don’t like water - but they really like it. Mom said she saw a satellite and two shooting stars the first night they used the tub. Thanks, I’ll stay inside where it’s nice and warm - they can soak under the stars all on their own.
Second, we went for a drive on Sunday, and I thought we were going to do something cool, like hike or cross country ski or something, but nooooo - we went to this lady’s house and there were about 10 German Shepherds there. I met a couple of them, and I didn’t like any of them, but Mom and Dad loaded one of them up in the car with me and brought him home with us. I can’t believe they did this to me! He’s a big blockhead who’s always trying to shove me out of the way, and he doesn’t obey Mom and Dad very good yet. Dad and Mom decided to change his name to Schultz (Mom’s sister had the idea, from Hogan‘s Heroes) since he’s from Germany and kind of a klutz. The name fits him well - he’s big, a suck-up and not very bright! You can see him in the picture below. I can't believe they've done this to meeeeee!
Then last night, Dad and Mom left the house for Wed night Fire Dept training, but they got a real fire call just as they got to the Fire Station - it was a HUGE hay stack fire! Their truck was just the second truck on scene, so Dad and Mom grabbed the hose and headed for the fire - this was the very first time they’ve ever sprayed water, because it’s been too cold to train - nothing like on the job training. It was really hot and very hard work - but they helped make sure the house trailer next to the hay stack didn’t burn and knocked the fire down enough that an excavator could get in there and move a lot of the burning hay out of the way - they were able to save about half of the stack, but still, about 50 tons of hay burned! It was such a huge amount, and so hot and difficult to fight that the Fire Dept just made sure it couldn’t spread, and left it to burn itself out - there really wasn’t much choice. It takes a huge amount of water to put out a hay stack - there were 4 or 5 water tenders continually hauling water to keep the 5 pumpers/engines spraying water - it took 5 hours just to get it to the point were it could be left to burn.
Of course, while Dad and Mom were gone, Schultz tried to challenge me, so I let him know who was in charge - but the big dummy put a tooth into the top of my head. Geez, he doesn’t even know how to behave. Mom cleaned it up - she said he only scraped the hair off in a little tiny spot - what a klutz.
Then Dad went on a job interview today - looks like he’ll be working at the local farmer’s market at the meat counter part time, which means he’ll be gone more. Mom is going to work for them too, in produce - this just sucks! I’m going to be left with that blockhead Schultz even more - grrrrrrrrr. Well, they should get the same days off together most of the time - they'd better take me hiking a lot to make up for having Schultz join our pack. Grrrrr!