My Mowgli

Not that Mowgli has noticed, but he hasn't had any time on the blog for awhile. Even though he's about to move down the totem pole, he is still VERY well loved around here.

The other photos in this series are pretty darn great. I'm not showing them on the blog because I think someone may turn us in for throwing a dog too high in the air! We "think" Mowgli has fun with this :)

Have you ever seen a more beautiful dog? NO, you haven't!

I think it's been 2 weeks since I last posted. I think I'm all "blogged" out, because I haven't missed it one bit. Besides for a special birthday boy tomorrow, my shooting season is wrapped up. I'm still editing and designing Christmas cards, but enjoying it from my living room. I am beyond excited December is finally here! I love celebrating Christmas all month and eager to meet our baby soon.

Early retirement?

Mowgli may have decided that he's going into early retirement. He didn't do so hot in this last week's dog show. He REALLY didn't want to "stack". In the photo below, he is actually doing it, but I'm almost positive he didn't stay like that too long the way he's supposed to. He did NOT like other dogs being behind him. My mom thinks he was trying to protect the family jewels :)

He was shown on Easter Sunday. We didn't go to that one because we were at church. But we got an interesting report when we picked him up. Apparently he was "excused" from the ring. He wouldn't let the judge touch him! I'm not really sure what that meant, but I know it wasn't good. Mowgli seemed to enjoy dog shows during his first couple years. He didn't seem to love this one, so I'm wondering if he's "done" with them. He has received his "Championship" title, and made cute little puppies, so I guess he's done what was asked of him!

a very Good Friday

Travis has been gone all week on his annual motorcycle trip. I've been home alone until last night when my mom came to stay for awhile. So I'll be glad to have some company for the holiday weekend.

How will we be celebrating this Good Friday? Well, by going to Mowgli's dog show of course! I've actually come to enjoy going to dog shows. If you're looking for a unique, fun, and family friendly activity, we would love to see you there! I believe Mowgli shows about 2:30pm on Friday at Cattle Congress.

I'm hoping we get to see those sweet little puppies again!

Kissable

His pink little nose is soo kissable. If you call me during the day and I don't answer, I may be busy giving some kisses away to my puppy. He gets a lot of them :)

Mowgli is such a good boy! I love my little fur-baby.

Did I take one home?

So, do you think I took one home?

Travis was skiing in Colorado for a few days over this past weekend. So I of course went to Des Moines to spend time with my mom. We were so lucky that Alla brought some of Mowgli's puppies to the Dog Show in Des Moines on Sunday. They were so adorable and I couldn't get enough snuggles and kisses from them. Mowgli was about this age when we saw a picture of him and HAD to have him!

As much as I would have loved to add another "Furbaby" to our family, I did not bring one home. Maybe another day :)

The puppies

Mowgli's puppies were born in December. I haven't seen them yet, but hopefully will some day. Until then, I love seeing how cute they are through Alla's website. Mowgli was also born at Alla's house and she loved and raised him till he was 10 weeks old. I had to go back and find the post from when we brought Mowgli home. Look how cute he was! And here are photos of his pups:

http://www.hatikvacanaans.com/2010_litter_photos.htm

a very old photo of our little family :)

Puppies

Mowgli is going to be a Daddy! His "girlfriend", Diamond, had an ultrasound and there are anywhere between 4-7 Canaan puppies coming in the middle of December! Mowgli and Diamond had a few "dates" last month and it worked.

No, we will not be getting a new puppy. It would be fun, but we don't think we want 2 fairly big dogs. Plus, Mowgli is a pretty amazing dog, and we just don't think we could be lucky enough to get another like him :)

Home Again, Home Again

We're home! Travis came home this weekend after 7 days in Colorado dirtbiking. I of course created a mini-vacation to Des Moines and Iowa Falls while he was gone. It has become quite the joke that Trav gets all the real vacations and my only vacations are going to Des Moines. Not that I don't love visiting my mom, but it's hardly a REAL vacation.
I stayed for 4 days and at the top of my favorite list is yummy food! I photographed 2 of the prettiest dishes: yogurt, fruit and granola for breakfast. Our dessert was homemade strawberry and peach shortcake. It makes my mouth water just writing about it.

When my mom moved to Des Moines about 4 years ago, her plan was to get her bearings around town and then buy a house. So she rented an apartment for the time being. Turns out... apartment living isn't so bad. We're both pretty crazy about the pool. My mom is still talking about finding a house to buy, but I think the pool has a gravitational pull on her.

I dropped Mowgli off in Iowa Falls to spend some time with his cousin Whiskey. Lucky for me, I got to spend a couple days with my cousin Kaley too! I didn't take any pictures of us... to bad, I know :) We do have matching swimsuits and hung out in her pool quite a bit. When we were kids, we would dress alike and tell people we were twins. We joked about going over to her neighbors and introducing me as such. It's probably best we decided against that :)

Travis obviously had a blast too. I'm sure you knew that though! Sometimes it's a bummer when he takes off to fun locations without me. But I'm really happy for him that he has such a passion for his motorcycle hobby. It kind of makes me wish I loved doing something as much as he loves dirt-biking.


Travis is actually becoming quite the photographer! He took some really great shots. Just wanted to share a couple here.

Mowgli is 2!

Happy Birthday to our puppy! Now that he's 2 years old, I think he's an official "dog" but I may just call him my puppy for his whole life :) I never would have thought that I would be the kind of person to wish an animal a happy birthday! But Mowgli wiggled his way in to our hearts and we love him so much! Travis and I couldn't have asked for a more amazing companion.
Happy Birthday MowglBEAST!

Walking the dog

Free as a... puppy

I'm not sure if Mowgli knows he is domesticated. Sometimes he acts like a wild dog, as if his next meal depends on whether he catches the squirrel he's running after. Or that it is his job to protect us from the scary sounds on the TV. Which by the way, he absolutely watches TV. And not just is aware of it, but if even a cartoon of an animal is on the screen, making no noise, he has to let us know danger is just around the corner! He'll then look at Travis with his ears back waiting for confirmation of his actions :)
Running free is his favorite thing to do. And we love it when he gets to be wild.

Until it leads to this:
which has ultimately lead to this:
Not so free anymore, are you little buddy! I tell him almost daily that he has done this to himself :)

Big Winner

Here's our little champion at one of his dog shows this summer.  He normally does pretty "average" but at this one, he did very well.  It looks like he's blinking for the camera, so not his best picture.  He's still super handsome though.  Don't the 2 people (whom I don't know) look like they are admiring the awesomeness that is Mowgli? :)

Oh, and Happy Halloween!  The only thing I did for this holiday was get out the pumpkin shaped candy dish and buy a few bags of candy.  Which are now gone.  I told Trav he had to make them last until halloween, but it just didn't happen.  Maybe we'll try again next year, but I think I'll have to buy the candy just a few days away from the 31st.

The Real Deal

We got to see Mowgli in all his herding glory the other day at the farm.  We didn't expect that Trav's uncle was going to show up and unload some of his cattle.

Travis was trying to hold him back so he didn't get stomped on.  He said he was just shaking, he was so excited.
So Travis finally let him go and he tried to round them up!  I don't think the cows liked him too much.
I think he was pretty bummed when we made him stop and come to us :)
The puppy just got home from his weekend at an out-of-town dog show.  I think he's pretty wiped... he wouldn't even eat his dinner, and that's his favorite thing!  We're glad to have him home!

Puppy is 1

Happy Birthday Mowgli!  I love you to Reese's pieces!

Mowgli H.C.

Mowgli is "herder certified"!  So he actually has an H.C. after his name.  Travis and I tell people... yeah, it's kinda like how doctors have an M.D. after their name ! :) :)  It's THAT cool!  Earlier this month, Cheryl took Mowgli to Wisconsin for a dog show.  On the last day, the dogs had a chance to show off any natural instinct they might have in herding.  So they put our puppy into this large pen with 3 sheep and watched what he would do.  Apparently he was a natural herder and loved it!

I didn't go, so all these pictures are courtesy of Alla!  We did get an evaluation form rating Mowgli's "technique" in 11 different areas.  The ones I think are interesting is that he had a "force bark".  The other options were silent or excessive.  So a force bark sounds pretty good to me.  He did get distracted but his temperament would adjust to the situation.  He didn't have much power, but I could have guessed that!  At home, he'll barely take a treat out of our hands.  He'll basically put his mouth up to the treat and expect us to drop it in so his teeth don't touch us! :)  He also likes to play with bugs and once in awhile I've seen him with a small wild animal.  He's mostly curious but doesn't seem to want to kill or hurt anything.

We're pretty proud of our boy and have really enjoyed him getting to be a part of these fun things!  I did miss him terribly when he left for this week long trip.  Sadly, Travis can attest that I actually cried after Cheryl took him.  Oh goodness, what a SAPP I am :)