Recently in tess Category

We were thrilled, of course, since Cowboy is so laid-back and never really got into the spirit of the class. Third-place (the orange ribbon at left) was really quite good, he seemed to perk up during the final exam.

Last weekend, I finished the same class with Tess who got the first-place ribbon.

Both Cowboy & Tess did very well. Barbara takes a break over the next couple months but will start with a new beginning class on the second Saturday of January. And when you take your dog through her class once, you can return for free at any time to brush up and review. Barbara's a seasoned and very knowledgable trainer and it's well worth the time & fee (cost is around $60 for 7 weeks).

Contact:  Kritter Korral, 1724 Palos Verdes Dr North, Harbor City, CA 90710-3641

Since it was hotter than blazes at San Pedro's small, off-leash dog park over this past weekend, I decided to drive Tess and Cowboy about 15 miles northwest to visit the much larger (and, weatherwise, much, much cooler) Redondo Beach Dog Park. (Not complaining, just sayin')

Cowboy has been keeping his distance from me since I started spraying him for a hot spot that had cropped up by Saturday morning. He hates being sprayed. This only confirms to him that I am up to no good and he has taken to running in the other direction whenever I call him. He clearly has "trust" issues. He is shown here slinking away & making his escape from me when I called to him at the park. Note that he's giving me what is known around my house now as "THE LOOK":

He seemed to like this other person he found at the dog park a lot, though.  I suspect he would have happily gone home with her.

As for Tess, she couldn't get enough of herding those pesky little dogs on the other side of the divider fence. She's such a border collie. Here's the girl in focused action below, showing 'em all how it's done:

I was online at home this morning shortly after 9 a.m. when this email titled "gray and white border collie loose" came across my inbox:

Barbara is a neighbor of mine from a couple blocks away, she and her husband, Jim, have worked in dog and cat rescue for several years. At first I thought, Nah, Cowboy & Tess have been in the backyard all morning as usual (I'd just seen Tess inside the house briefly a few minutes earlier).

But something told me to double check. When I got out to the backyard, I found the side gate standing wide open and no Cowboy or Tess. The latch must have not caught well last night when I closed it from the outside and perhaps the strong winds were enough to blow it open.

Both Barbara and I went driving through the neighborhood separately. Nothing. You know that sinking feeling, like where could they have gone? I called several people in the neighborhood, asking them to just be on the look out. I stopped others on the street and in a local park, asking if they'd see the dogs. No one had.

But after about 30-45 minutes, I came across them about a block away from my house. They appeared to be having a grand time, but thankfully jumped into my car (Cowboy a little reluctantly and after a couple false passes at the open back door; he was having so much fun out there, after all). Barbara later told me she'd found someone who had seen the dogs and indicated that Tess ("the little one") started to come to them when called but held back because Cowboy wouldn't come. She seemingly didn't want to leave his side.

They both have tags with my phone # and are licensed and microchipped. But still, so much can happen to them when they're out like that.

So a special thanks to Barbara for alerting me. And, of course, to God to whom I regularly pray anyway, but did so especially fervently while looking for Cowboy and Tess! Whew.

So here it is -- the list of the 10 smartest dogs, with the border collie coming it at #1. I knew that:

1. Border collie
2. Poodle
3. German shepherd
4. Golden Retriever
5. Doberman Pinscher
6. Shetland Sheepdog
7. Labrador Retriever
8. Papillon
9. Rottweiler
10. Australian Catttle Dog

  Tess was stoked when I told her.

There is absolutely no real point to this post. Except that Cowboy is SO hard to photograph that I'm thrilled everytime I manage to capture him. Usually he hears the light buzz of a camera or cell phone about to go off and he turns tail and runs.

This was taken from a distance at the dog park a couple days ago & then cropped online to make him look closer (I love technology). Now I have to figure out a way to crop out the trash can.

 Tess is a little more willing to be photographed.

Tess' brand new red splint on Monday

Tess's splint on Friday

Tess wins.