Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving came and went but not with out notice. John worked the night before so he slept some and I fixed dinner. I started setting the table and placed the green bean cassarole down. When I turned around I saw my busy little 6month old Boston Terrier working to poise himself on the back of the couch. Call me nieve but I thought he was just going to look around as he usually lays up there and naps. Laying around is not what Bentley had on his mind. Once he got his balance he promptly sized up the space between the couch and the table and used what he had learned in agility class. You guessed it he jumped right on the kitchen and table and I would have to rate his landing as a 9.5, he did get all four feet on the table. I very quickly removed him from the table while admonishing him for his preformance. The rest of dinner was nice and went very well. The husband and I had retired to the couch to chat for a while. I got John a piece of pie and placed it on the TV tray. While we were talking curiosity once again took hold of Bentley. He jumped up placing his front feet on the TV tray and his weight forced it forward and the pie went flying. The pie landed in my lap. Oh the joys of a puppy! I admonished him once again as I cleaned up the pie. I then got a replacement slice of pie and placed it on the kitchen table. John decided to go and eat the pie. Bentley sat way to close to John while he was eating. When John went to get up from the table he pinched Bentley's foot. Bentley yelped and started limping. John felt so bad but Bentley is fine. I said he had a bit of a rough Thanksgiving.

Meghan said, "well, actually, he learned that he could in fact leap from the back of the couch to the table if he wanted to, he explored the world of physics and discovered that when enough force is exerted on the fulcrum of the tv tray, it will tilt, thereby flinging the desired item at his owner, and he learned that it's better to beg in front or to the side of a human in a chair.. not bad!"

I think I like the way she summed it up best. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Bentley update

Here is the latest picture of the boys. That is Bentley on the right. He is getting so big, he weighed in at 16.6lbs this week. He got neutered this past Wednesday. He has not slowed down one bit. He was up and running like a mad man on Thursday. Bentley is doing corners now in his tracking. He is also taking an agility class and he loves it. I don't believe there is anything this little guy can't do. It has been an honor to have a dog like this, he's ready to take on the world.

Here goes nothing!

Ok, I know I have not been here to write in a while. Wow does a new puppy keep you busy. It has been a few years since we had a puppy at the house. We are also short handed at work and that has been keeping me busy too. I am going to take a weekend and visit my Mom. It will be nice to be away from the madness. The hubby is working overnights now and that is going to take a little bit of time for adjustment. Bentley is growing like crazy. He is learning a lot to and he hasn't had an accident in 2 weeks. Bentley now weighs 11.8 lbs and Bradley is his new best buddy. They play alot together and it sure is cute to watch. I think that John and I spend more time watching that than we do the TV. Bradley went to the annual dog swim this past Tuesday and he had a blast. I sure enjoy watching him have that much fun. Bradley and I are going to take a CGC test this weekend. I should have had him test a few years ago but I am going to do it now, no time like the present. For those of you that don't know,CGC stands for Canine Good Citizen test. I am writing this from work so I should go, hope everyone has a good weekend.

Agility training already

Day two at the Kucsik house and Bentley is already doing the tunnel. The little guy is learning fairly quick. I went in the house to get the tunnel so I could put it in the yard and start letting Bentley get use to it. I here the clink of the dog door and much to my suprise Bentley came in all by himself. I can't hardley believe he has been at the house only 48hrs. He can't go out the door by himself but he seems to have coming inside mastered. He is giving the big boys a run for their money. He found his voice and loves to bark at the boys. He has been trying to take Brady's frisbee and Bradley's ball. Yes you guessed it that is going over like a lead balloon. I hope I can get a picture of Bentley running around with Brady's frisbee since the thing is as big as he is. He will chase a toy if you throw it. We are working on learning sit, down, stand and right now we are just playing with some of the agility equipment. He has to go to the vets for shots tomorrow. When the vet says it is ok to start taking him places Bentley will be attending puppy class. He got to meet Gambler the other day and of course Gambler gave him tons of kisses. Ok, you can tell that I am excited to have a new member in the house. I guess I will quit typing for now but I will type more later.

Newest member of the Zoo crew

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the family. This is Bentley, his birthday is 5-21-07. He is a boston terrier. Right now his big brothers are trying to ignore him in hopes that he goes away. I am sure after he has been around for a week they will get use to him. He really likes his big brothers. He loves Bradley and runs up to lick him on the chin all the time. Oh and did I mention that he trys to chew on his dog tags too. Brady is just trying to stay away from the little guy but he did that when we brought Bradley home too. I am sure they will both warm up to him.

Trial Results

Ok the results are in folks. Bradley qualified 3 out of 4 runs. He finished his AGII tittle on Saturday and earned 10 ACH points on Sunday. What a fella. Gambler qualified his very first run at his very first trial. Wow, that was more than we expected of him. Gambler also qualified once on Sunday too. He really surprised us all. I was so proud of both the guys, they did awesome.

Upcoming Trial

I am so so so excited! I have been training Gambler in agility and I am I getting ready to see how he will do in a trial. I know that he may very well run all over the ring and pay no attention to me at all. I am still excited, I can't wait to see what he will do. I know that when I run him at this trial I will not be nearly as nervous as I was the first time I ran Bradley in a trial. I guess this is because it is not my first trial but it is his first trial. I am hoping that knowing what I am doing this time around will in some way benefit Gambler. My biggest hope for him is that maybe he will qualify 1 out of 4 runs. If that doesn't happen I won't be disappointed because I am going into this with the mindset that this is yet another learning experience for the both of us. If he does qualify....well let's just say I will be elated and so will his owner.

Agility fun run

Let me just tell you, that running three dogs in agility is a lot of work. It is a lot of fun too. I took all the boys to agility today. By all the boys I mean Brady, Bradley and Gambler. Bradley is getting in some practice for the upcoming UKC trial. Gambler may get to go to the UKC trial too but we still have some work on the teeter to do. Brady has never been to an agility class. He went to the fun run and had a great time. The only time he has done agility is in the back yard with me. He has never learned the weave poles or the teeter. He will be learning starting tomorrow. I have decided that Brady is going to go to his first agility class at the age of 6. I took him a couple of days ago and taught him most of the contact obstacles and much to my amazement he has take right to them. I am sure that no one setting in the room during the fun run had any idea that he had never been to a class. Hell he even did some things that he had never seen before. Bradley and I are going to have to do some work on the pause box before July 15th. He will go into the box but he doesn't want to lay down in it. John and I are going to build a pause box for him so that it will be around for him to work with. I sure had a good time today. I am really excited to take Brady to class tomorrow. I think he will love it. I am sure that Bradley will not be happy about it though because it means he has to spend an hour in his crate when no one is home. Yes I know he will be fine. Well I will keep you posted on how all the agility goes.

I just thought I would post this pic for those of you have not already seen it. Bradley currently holds the breed record for Boston terriers with Splash dogs. His record jump was 10'1".

Dock Dogs

This past weekend Bradley and I competed at a dock dogs competition. The dogs run and jump into the water and the distance they jump is measured. The dock that they run on is 40 feet long and 2 feet above the water. Bradley gave me a scare this weekend. We got on the dock and I put him in his usual sit stay, called him and threw the ball in water, he ran to the end of the dock and put on the brakes. I just kept saying get the ball buddy, go get your ball. He finally jumped into the water, wow that was a close one. I was very relieved to see that he was right back to jumping off the dock at full speed after that hesitation. He earned his Novice dock dog title. Bradley earned 2 first place medals, one second place medal, and two qualifying medals. We had a great weekend. John sure enjoyed getting to see Bradley up there diving off the dock.

Teen years

Oh the joy of teenage years! Well, many of you already know that Reavis is 16 and soon to be 17. I can hardly believe that many years have passed already. You all know happens when one turns 16...yep that's right...driving! There were a few challenges to overcome but Reavis now has is driver's license. Yes it scares the hell out of us! I know for John, part of it is the fact that Reavis is growing up and for me, well ...I am sure what I do for a living doesn't help that. Reavis is on the hunt for a job now. You know when you have a car you have to have gas, insurance and spending money. I am sure he will find a job. I am glad to see that he is ready to take on some responsibility.