Happy 11th Birthday, Koira!

Koira had a relaxing day at home, celebrating by stealing an entire box of Christmas cookies (luckily dog cookies!) off the counter while I was at work. Because old dogs can do what they want.

Here's to many more years!

Happy Birthday Ptera!

Ptera turned 3 today! We celebrated with cake.

Can't we just eat it?

Why dis on fire?

Very curvy tongue

Much tongue, tiny dog

Cake is serious business

Well, kinda

Someone ate hers too fast for photos

Not a big fan of cake

With her new birthday toys. 

Happy Birthday Koira

Koira turned 10 years old today. The weather is freezing cold but clear today. We probably should have taken advantage of the sun shining with a hike, but instead, we snuggled up inside with a flannel comforter and a roaring fire and enjoyed some movies.

Coast Hike

Every year, I go to the coast for my birthday. It has been something of a tradition for years now. This year, there was a high surf warning. Basically, that means stay off the beach so you don't get killed by 15 foot waves throwing huge logs at you. I debated coming up with a different plan, but ultimately decided that there is a lot more to do on the Oregon Coast than just walking on the beach. My mom found a nice short hike at a park called Mike Miller, which is just south of Newport, near South Beach, the aquarium, and Rogue Brewery.

The trail may have only been about a mile long, but it was through a beautiful coastal forest. Lots of ups and downs, and lots of tree roots through the trails.

The park is through an old growth spruce forest. Spruce used to make up most of the forests in this part of Oregon, but when spruce forests were logged clear, they were replanted with faster-growing fir trees, causing fir forests to become the new normal.

Part of the trail was closed due to danger of falling trees, so we only did one trail loop. I would like to go back in the future and walk the rest of the trail, because the part we saw was gorgeous. The whole time I was walking through it, I kept thinking what a classic Oregon forest it is. It looks and even smells like Oregon.

Of course, even with the high surf warnings, we had to go take a peak at the ocean. We went to South Beach State Park and took one of the trails through the coastal pine forest along the land side of the dunes. It was low tide, so a good deal of the beach was exposed, and without anything for scale, the waves weren't all that impressive, so I didn't even really take any pictures of them. I did get one that I like (even if it is just a tad bit out of focus) of Koira headed toward the beach through the dunes, though.

And a final shot of me and Koira on the beach. I turned 29 that day, and it marked 8 years since I brought Koira home as a tiny, 8 week old pup. I am hoping for many more years to come.

Tragic news from one of my flyball teammates, who lost her young, active dog to a horrible accident yesterday, really reinforces my desire to spend time with my dog, do fun things together, and to make sure I have pictures of us together. You never know how much time you will have. But I know no matter what, I will want to look back on the great times we've had together.

Happy Birthday To Me

And happy Gotcha Day to the dogs! My birthday is February 4th, and I adopted both of my dogs within a few days of my birthday, a few years apart.

First running bit of crazy.

We headed out to the coast for the day, and our first stop was the beach.

I don't think there is anything the dogs love more than a chance to run on the beach. I don't know what it is about it, but man, they sure go crazy.

Once the dogs have a chance to get out the biggest part of their energy, a nice long walk on the beach lends itself well to them exploring the rocks, driftwood, and all the smells of the beach, though still with some random running and playing thrown in.

After spending almost four hours on the beach, I headed to Rogue Brewery for my birthday lunch/dinner before heading home. The weather was warm, mostly dry, and pretty much just amazing weather for a beach trip.

Conditioning Progress Report

Well, it has been a week since I first posted the fitness conditioning plan for Koira. I'm hoping to get her into great shape for our upcoming flyball tournaments at the end of the month.

Our first week went great. Friday we went to the park for a while. The dogs ran and had a good time, as planned, followed by a rest day on Saturday. Saturday was a rest day more because I was scheduled for double shifts than because the dogs really needed a rest, but it worked out.

Sunday we took off to the park again for some more free running. The dogs had a great time and we ended up spending a few hours walking all the way to the far end of the park and back. We also spent some time walking through the wooded trails there, rather than just walking through the main fields.

Monday was another day of double shifts for me, but I didn't want to make it yet another rest day for the dogs. Instead, I made sure to get in our ball work in between shifts while I was home for a few hours. I cleared out the house of extra stuff this past summer, including the exercise balls I didn't use much. I just kept one egg shaped one. It is smaller than the ball I used for the dogs most of the time, but is the one I use myself, so I kept it. Since it is smaller, it took Koira a lot longer to start feeling steady on it compared to the larger ball. I think she got a great workout doing simple stand, sit, and down on the ball.

Tuesday was my birthday, and I had plans to spend the day at the beach. That is exactly what we ended up doing. It ended up being my mom, me, and the dogs out at the beach for the day, but we all had a total blast. We found a few whole sanddollars and some awesome agates and fossils and the dogs had a great time running around and playing on the beach. It was a little chilly in the morning, but became a gorgeous blue skied day in the afternoon.

The dogs and my mom walking on the beach

Wednesday was scheduled as a 20 minute walk when I originally posted our weekly plan. On the advice of a friend, I cut that down to a 10 minute walk and did extra stretching, since the beach and park and ball are all pretty intensive. I do stretching and massage on Koira almost every night before bed, but I made extra sure to really work on her Wednesday. Her shoulder is still a bit tight, but she seems to enjoy the body work.

On Thursday we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground. By afternoon, we were up to 8 or 9 inches. I was still determined, though, and headed out to the park with the dogs for their run time. Instead of driving to the park, we walked there. This particular park is a good 20 minute walk away, so we often drive to give the dogs more time at the park itself. There was no way I was driving in the snow for something that silly though, so me and the dogs all bundled up and headed out. I think we were gone for a total of 3 hours or so, walking to the park, around the park, and home.

Walking to the park

At the park shortly before starting our walk home

Overall, I think we have been doing really well. The dogs are certainly napping a lot! Scheduled for today is some flirt pole fun- we'll get to see how the flirt pole works with 10 inches of snow on the ground. One week down, three to go!

Tasty Tuesday: Rogue Brewery in Newport, Oregon

Today is my birthday, and I am off to spend the day at the coast. Every year I try to go to the coast on my birthday, and I especially like stopping in at the Rogue Brewery in Newport for my free birthday beer and t-shirt as a member of Rogue Nation. My birthday also marks the Gotcha-Day for Koira, Pallo, and Theodore Trex. Though each was adopted on a slightly different date, all three of them were birthday presents to myself. So here is to 6 years with Koira, 4 years with Pallo, and the end of a great first year with Theodore Trex.

My water glass, and the beer sample glass (drained of beer)

 All of these photos are from our beach trip a little over a week ago. I gave in to the cravings and hit Rogue while we were there, even though I knew I would be back for my birthday soon.

Koira chilling with her provided water bowl

For those who aren't Oregonians or beer nerds, Rogue Brewery is a small, local brewery located just south of the bridge in Newport, Oregon. Their signature beer is the Dead Guy Ale, I believe. Rogue is popular enough that it is available outside of the local area- though not their more specialty varieties.  Rogue Brewery also has a number of eateries- one attached to their brewery south of the bay in Newport, one on the Bayfront in Newport, and a few located elsewhere in Oregon (Portland, Eugene, Seaside, etc). I've only ever been to the locations in Newport, however.

The outdoor seating area

One of the best things about the Rogue Ales Public House (the location on the Newport Bayfront) is that it has a dog friendly outdoor seating area. Despite the weather being sunny and clear, it was a bit chilly still when we went last time, so we were the only ones sitting on the patio. There are leash hooks on the walls so you don't have to hold the dogs' leashes while you eat. A dog bowl full of water is provided to the pups. And there is even a dog menu, which changes up every so often.

The front of the dog menu even features the Rogue Chairman, Brewer, in whose honor Brewer's Memorial Ale Fest is held every year (benefiting local animal shelters). You really know these guys love dogs and aren't just grudgingly allowing them in the outdoor areas. In fact, my dogs both became honorary Rogue Nation members, complete with their own Rogue Nation ID cards.

I'm not actually a big beer drinker, or drinker in general. I enjoy the occasional glass of wine or beer, but I go to Rogue for the food. I ordered something new this past time, and it was amazing. I haven't ever been disappointed in the food, though, so that shouldn't be surprising. I tried the Kobe Bleu Ball Sandwich, which is basically a meatball sandwich, but with the meatballs stuffed with Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue cheese. Basically, a party in your mouth. I'd be happy to order it again, but I might have to keep exploring their menu.

Pallo even got to help me with some of the potato chips. I figured he had burned enough calories on the beach that morning that a chip or two wouldn't hurt!

Basically? If you are on the Oregon coast, check out Rogue. Eat at the Bayfront ale house, tour their brewery, check out the distillery. While you are south of the bridge in Newport, you can stop by the Hatfield Marine Science Center (admission is by donation, suggested at $5/person) or even the full Oregon Coast Aquarium, which once housed the famous Keiko- the killer whale in Free Willy- as part of the effort to return him to the wild. And of course, make sure you hit the beach!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Happy 6th Birthday!

Koira's Birthday Day (and a Giveaway!)

I think Koira enjoyed her birthday today. For breakfast, she got some greek yogurt, and then a Jack toy filled with crumbled cookies in her crate.

After I got home from work, the real fun started. Short of going to the beach (and not getting there until an hour before dark), I thought Koira would have the most fun just going to the park. Before leaving, the dogs had a meal of venison, their first venison this year. Then, we headed off to the park to play. First, we set up and did her birthday "pupcake" at one of the picnic tables though.

I made the pupcakes this weekend. They are a blend of peanut butter, pumpkin, eggs, garabanzo bean flour, and a little cinnamon. Both dogs are crazy about them, and even Martha stole one and ate the entire thing while I had them sitting out to cool. You know something must be good if even the cat likes it!

Once the pupcakes were gone (don't worry, Pallo got one too), we went on our walk. Koira was all full of jazz and perhaps a little too bonkers. There was one woman who Koira body slammed three times, and I kept trying to say that we would walk faster and go ahead of her, but the woman wouldn't let us go! I did finally manage to get on ahead so that Koira would go play instead of fixating on the person's chuck-it.

We ended up finding a bunch of other friendly, playful dogs to romp with. Koira also did some serious stick chewing, of course. And Jason did some tug-of-war with her.

Koira did get a bit impatient about the stick being thrown a few times. She sure can be demanding sometimes. I'm just glad she is so mellow at home. I don't really care how loud and demanding she is at the park.

And even Pallo agreed to wear a birthday hat to help celebrate Koira's fifth birthday. I don't normally go all over the top for birthdays, and focus a lot more on Gotcha Days, but for some reason, 5 seems like a landmark of some kind, like she just turned 21 and can have her first drink or something.

Now for the fun part for all of you! Giveaway time.

Do you see those festive collars Pallo and Koira are wearing in the pictures from today? I don't really call them Christmas collars, because they can pretty much work all winter long. They are more of a holiday/winter collar. And one of you will get to win one! The particular designs worn by my dogs are just the ones I chose for them. I have a small selection of already made collars that the winner can choose from, or else a selection of partly completed collars that can be made to more custom collar lengths.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post and fill out the entries in the Rafflecopter below. (Sorry, only open to US and Canada due to shipping costs.) The winner will be contacted on Saturday the 15th and will have 24 hours to reply. If they do not reply within this time frame, a new winner will be selected. Collars are also available to purchase if you don't want to take your chances on winning one! Just email for more information.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy 5th Birthday Baby Girl!

Koira, my little Martini Girl, is turning five tomorrow. I can't believe it.

Here is the picture of Koira that was posted on Craigslist. I was a college student living in an apartment that didn't allow animals. I already had a cat who wasn't allowed, had ended a bad relationship a couple months earlier, and felt like getting a puppy. I didn't do the research or careful planning that I should have done. But this face was irresistible to me.

This next picture is one of the only two pictures, along with the one above, that I have of Koira before I brought her home. I have no other pictures of her first 8 weeks of life, so these are truly her baby pictures.

The day I picked Koira up. This picture has made it onto the blog a number of times. I celebrate Koira's Gotcha Day every year, and this is her Gotcha Day picture. She was a squirming little bundle of high energy puppy, smelling of puppy breath and faintly of pee. I had not planned to get a puppy, and had no idea of the adventures that were to come. Koira was the first of the litter of 6 puppies to go to her new home. I was so torn between them all (especially the other tri color, a male), but in the end, it just had to be her.

And Koira, bundled in her first sweater (which barely fits on a grown human's arm it is so tiny!), sleeping the day away. I believe this is the day she got her first round of puppy shots. She was wiped out for the entire day, poor thing.

Don't you just love the white on her nose? As an adult, the only white left is a few spots inside her nostrils, but as a pup, her nose was all spotty and adorable.

This was Koira's first doggie friend. A friend of mine in college saw my new puppy and just had to have one of her own. She picked this little girl up a couple weeks after I got Koira, and they played together regularly.

Koira used to fit on my shoulder. Who'd have imagined?

Our first trip to the beach. Koira has always loved the beach beyond reason. I love the total joy in her when we get out on the sand, and I can't resist running and playing with her all over again, just like she was still a little puppy.

My darling little girl. I can't believe you are turning five years old. And I can't believe how far we have come together.