Delaware Sea Witch Festival

This weekend was the Sea Witch Festival at the beach and AP, CM and I entered the pet parade as lfeguards and we were winners! OK so there were lots of winners but we got to be in a parade and go up on the bandstand and I'm going to be in the Cape Gazette newspaper. AP got to tell everyone I was a rescue and we met so many people and told them about AGPR http://www.agprescue.com/ and how there are lots of Pyrs that need homes. She also told anyone that lives in Virginia about the Middleburg Parade on December 5th that is going to have 35+ Pyrs in it. It was a long day and I fell alseep on the sidewalk.

Walking is good

AP here - Tonka has now been here for 18 months. When he was little he was a little ball of energy and now he is a 100+ lb ball of energy. I started walking Tonka twice a day from the day I got him and from about 10 months on we have consistatnly walked 4-5 miles a day. There was one day where we could only go a 1/2 a mile and that was due to icy condiditons and 2 weeks when he was having shoulder problems that we could not walk at all. I figure if we average it out to 3 miles a day for the past 18 months we have covered 1,620 miles. We are like the post office - neither rain, nor sleet blah, blah, blah.... I have an awesome pair of waterproof  shoes and a great pair of wind/rain pants and both long and short raincoats so we go out no matter what the weather. I am sure the neighbors think I am a bit crazy but if you own a dog you know that exercise is a key component of good behavior. When he was really little he would not go out in the rain so I would have to take a golf umbrella and hold it over him when we walked or when he went out in the yard to go potty. So maybe the neighbors are right to think I am nuts, but Tonka hates water and rain is water (I think he also doesnt understand something hitting him all over). As he has gotten older he is OK with just regular rain but if we get caught in a downpour he freaks out. So we walk no matter what and it's not just to wear him out but to get him out into different smells and sounds. I figure it must get boring at the house for the blind boy since it is the same old thing every day. So we walk- and over the past 18 months he has met so many people and other dogs and been in different situations and I think that has helped him stay a confident and happy boy. Most people dont know he is blind unless I tell them - or they watch him walk into something.

Agility is Hard

All my friends are into the "agility" craze. AP and I have done the weave poles since I was a little guy, so I can do those - just not very fast. Now Nala's mom has made some jumps with PVC pipe and traffic cones and Henry and Nala are all jumpy and leap-y. I try really hard - and I can climb over but jumping is really not my thing. I'm really good at knocking everything down and even better at chewing the tops of the cones, but thats not considered "agility". Hey, I'm agile - for 111 lbs of fluffy, big dog I am plenty agile - I can wrestle with the best of them. climb into small places to dig where I am not supposed to, destroy anything in less than 10 minutes and can soldier crawl under tables.... someone should make those a doggy sport.

DogFest 2009

I had to get up super early Saturday morning and help pack up the truck for DogFest http://www.dogfest2009.org/. I worked the AGPR booth with my friend Shepper who is looking for a forever home. There were lots of people that stopped by to ask about us and hopefully Shepper will be adopted soon. DogFest was so much fun my friend Nala came by and we played all kinds of games like find the human, doggie bowling, doggie painting and we even went on the agility course. They even had a sandbox bigger than mine at home and swimming pools (if you like that sort of thing) there were so many people and dogs to meet and smell.

I was a little tired after such a busy morning that I took a little power nap to get ready for the afternoon. A few people came by while I was sleeping and were petting me and a little girl was hugging on me and I never woke up. Its hard work educating people about my breed.

Some of my other Pyr buddies came to help raise money for the rescue and when you get four or five Pyrs in a group people start to really take notice. Since we were walking around in a crowded event AP made me wear my sunglasses and we got to teach people about dogs with special needs. Kosmo Krys at the RavensChix.com thought I was cute in my shades and took my picture to put on her website.

My Golden Retriever friends Montana and Tuckett also stopped by and hung out with us and Tuckett and I went doggie bowling again since I really had fun with that game. AP is going to add that to my backyard playground.

I hope we get to go again next year.

Nala doing the weave poles!

Waiting for DogFest

I'm so excited, only 2 days to Dogfest 2009. http://www.dogfest2009.org/ I am going to be at the AGPR booth with my friends and AP says we are going to do some painting. I have never painted before but I am going to make a special painting for my friend Vickie. Nala is going to come by with some of my human friends and we are going to try to raise some money for the rescue.