OK….so, who do I yell at, the dog or my husband.  Tim has a tendency to get the dogs all excited; I think it is part of recovery in the winter months…I would say it is cabin fever.  The other day I bought goodies for the dos which included 3 cans of brand new tennis balls.  Tennis balls are Trixie’s addiction.  She smells one and has to have it at all costs…the problem is that this drive proves to be great entertainment for my husband.  It is not that I don’t want him to play with her; it is that I want my house to be in one piece when he is done; never mind the barking is kicked up another 10 decibels and it rings in my ear.  Tim will take a tennis ball show it to Trixie and then go put it in a place that is not out of her reach but, she has to work at it all the while barking a higher octave than normal all the while with him crying tears of laughter.  Then when this is no longer fun he starts throwing them in the house.  Now, let me remind you that I just got a new kitchen floor and it is slick.  So, when she charges full drive after the oh so wanted tennis ball she crashes into the wall, or the counters, or even ME!  This is all great entertainment for Tim; he just keeps teasing her and laughing and laughing….so, I did what any sane woman would do; I hide the cans of tennis balls.  They will make their way out of Christmas but not a day sooner!  Tim helped me the other day assemble a training table in the basement for some much needed table work for Miata and Kahlua.  They did great the first sessions.  Today they did even better.  The progress is remarkable.  I am hoping that the transition from the table into the field is smooth with no hitches.  We got another 5 inches of snow so, the hope of finding my buoy that the snow swallowed becomes less of a chance….I think I will have to wait until spring.  I do have a tendency to lose buoys in the snow during the winter months….note: use green or blaze orange; yellow does NOT show through the snow!

Ok, I have two dogs laying on my legs right now and they are heavy…hold on!  Well, I have unsuccessfully tried to move Trixie and Mini off of my legs.  My dogs are VERY good at playing “I am a sack of potatoes” and I don’t want you to move me.  It can get a little frustrating; especially when you want them just to move a little.  Mini is a pain to move….I know that she only weights like 32 pounds but, when she does not want to get up and move it feels like I am trying to move a 80 pound bag of potatoes.  I guess I could be like Tim and just push them off the bed; they hit the floor with a thud, not a fan of that method of moving them so, I struggle to move them with a little less noise (plus my method is easier on the floor boards).  Tim got the girls all riled up today….he was having them play hard in the living room while Andy and I watched and laughed.  He just kept teasing them with their toys all while sitting in his big comfy chair.  Who needs TV when you have live entertainment?  I did giggle when Miata jumped in his lap and got him in the family “jewels”.  Baker and Jimmy spent the afternoon out with us then Tyrael and Mini.  Ace was out tonight and snuggled next to Tim on the couch.  He likes to lay his head upside down and look at me.  He wears the goofiest grin when he does that; his smiling eyes twinkle at me when he does that.  He is hard not to smile and giggle at…what a goof ball.  Still waiting for Trixie and Kahlua to be ready to bred…..I am geting impatient! According to the schedule SoBe gets to be out for a while tomorrow.  I am hoping to put up a training table tomorrow for Miata and do some work outside with the other girls.  Good night all!

According to Tim’s dog schedule Tyrael and Baker should be out and they are along with Mini (of course).  I finally got the car started today with the help of my friend Andy.  It has been very cold here and vehicles not starting due to cold is the norm.  The weather today was nicer….24 degrees so, the dogs spent a little bit more time out in the yard romping and digging in the snow.  It never fails that when I get Trixie all clean, the first thing she has to do is go roll in the only piece of dirt in our snow covered yard….I was a little irritated.  SO much for a clean dog!  Ace, Baker, Miata, and Tyrael enjoy eating snow.  Miata, Kahlua, and SoBe play “tag” out in yard and tackle each other and then all I see is a big puff of white crystals floating down from the air.  I do have to mention that when they are cold and ready to come in they stand at the door and claw and scratch and if that does not get our attention they slam into it with their body weight….I guess you could say they are knocking.  Trixie is still driving me crazy…so hormonal.  I cant wait until she gets bred; she loves being pregnant and even more she loves being a mother (well at least for the first two weeks). Kahlua and Trixie are suppose to be ready to bred today but, they say otherwise….the boys will just have to wait and I guess so will I.  Mini, Miata, and SoBe all went out with me today to do some yard work.  I mean it was above zero and not snowing what more could I ask for?  Mini did good with her retrieves…I threw a frozen pheasant.  No barking.  SoBe had fun retrieving today.  She did not seem to mind the cold like Mini does.  SoBe will go until she falls over.  Miata had an ugly training day.  I was not at all pleased with her; I know that every time is not going to go picture perfect.  I got a frustrated and put her away.  You should never train when you are frustrated.  She just did not want to retrieve to hand today…it could of been the pheasant (her first time with one) or that it was frozen and awkward but, either way I was not happy with her performance.  I am building a training table in the basement that will hopefully help with some of this minor delivery stuff.  The holidays are nearing and I love that I get cards from Harvest Hunter Families with pictures….I love it!  Tim is recovering some days (I am learning and, so is he) are better than others.  We take each day at a time.

Trixie is driving me insane…she is so hormonal now that she is in heat.  She sits in her crate and grumbles and moans at first it was loud but, then I but a bark collar on her.  She is a smart poochie because she learned how load she could moan with out getting zapped.  The moaning was just load enough for me to hear and drive me up the wall.  She cant be out all the time because she is in heat and nothing I did seemed satisfy her so, I gave up went upstairs and, turned the TV on to drowned out her groaning.  Tim has been keeping track of the dogs time in the house with a schedule to make sure everyone has the same amount of time out of their crates.  It was -14 degrees today so, the poochies were not spending a whole lot of time outside.  When they were outside they came back in with white circles around their little eyes and noses.  COLD!!  We have had lots of snow the last couple days.  It started to snow again today so, I decided to do some outside work before it turned into another blizzard.  I lost my yellow buoy in the snow when I was working with Miata.  I do have to day that we looked for a while but, no luck.  So, Miata and I played Red light green light.  This helps the steadying process.  She stopped right away when I hupped her and came when I called her in….she did great!  I decided that I would throw frozen birds for Mini and SoBe so, they would have a chance of finding them if they sunk into the snow.  SoBe had a blast running through the snow but, it was still was work.  She got a good cardio work out.  Mini on the other had came out made one retrieve and cried that her feet hurt.  She picked up her front paw and back paw and cried…..sensitive feet.  So, after three throws I brought her in.  I will have to put dog booties on her the next time we go out.  With the house on lock down, due to Kahlua and Trixie being in heat, it has been musical poochies keeping everyone in the right area.  Mini and SoBe are sleeping with us tonight.  Remember dogs that are outside poochies need more calories to burn to keep them warm during the winter months.  So, if this is your dog you will need to increase their food portion so, they get the right amount of calories.

Well, the weather outside is horrible; there is a blizzard and it is negative 9 degrees out.  The weather was great yesterday while we trained in Brandon.  Mini did good; no barking and I sent her on a long retrieve that was acrossed the road and she made it!  SoBe found her birds and did not get a shot bird but her listening is getting a lot better.  Miata is in the process of being steadied and it is going great.  She is catching on fast…what a dog!  Tim is healing from his major hip surgery…it has been a little bumpy but not to bad.  We have been rotating the dogs in and out of the house.  Mini and Trixie are out with us right now and Ace, Tyrael, SoBe, and Kahlua were out earlier today.  The girls were out and destroyed a bebe….a stuffed animal.  We have tons of them through out the house.  Retrievers love to carry things around in their mouth so, we keep plenty of stuffed animals around for them so, they are not carrying off our shoes.  There is onlya head left of the teddy bear.  The girls are going to be bred tomorrow hopefully!  They are in season right now.  I hope all is well.  Remember it is dry out in the winter so make sure the poochies have plenty of water!