Rion and Bandit are taking a break after a play session. They are now playing about thirty minutes to sixty minutes a day. I think Bandit would be willing to play more, but Rion is older and doesn’t have Bandit’s energy levels.
Watching the Super Bowl
Jack and Bandit are watching the Super Bowl together.
Snow Fall
We have had a lot of snow in the past six days, eighteen or more inches with the last few inches falling last night. School was cancelled the first three days of the week, with a two hour delay yesterday and today. I am so glad that the long range forecast is dry, since it is going to take a while for all this snow to go away.
Bandit
Bandit is a three and half year old, twenty-seven pound Boston Terrier who has had a bit of a rough start to life. His first family dumped him in the backyard and paid very little attention to him for a couple of years before surrendering him to his second family. His second family didn’t have him long before he damaged his left eye, which became badly infected. They couldn’t afford to have it treated and surrendered him to a Boston Terrier rescue group. They paid to have the eye (which could not be salvaged) removed, treated him for tape worms, and made sure he had all of his vaccinations up to date.
A friend of mine was fostering him for the rescue group and decided that he would be the perfect dog for us. He has been living with us since Tuesday. Rion is starting to grudgingly come around on the topic, especially since we have been working to convince Rion that Bandit is JACK’s dog, and not MY dog.
It is hard to get a good photo of Bandit, since he nearly always flattens his ears as soon as he makes eye contact. He is also quite active, and starts moving towards me any time he thinks I am paying attention to him. We are working on “sit”, “stay”, “come”, “wait” and “off”. He is very quick to learn and willing to please.
Although he is quite deferential to Rion his deference seems to be more a matter of good nature than submissiveness or fear. He is very good about being crated, which is invaluable when anyone in the household (including Bandit) needs a time out. In this photo, he is wearing his harness as well as a collar because evidently a harness is recommended in this breed so they won’t damage themselves pulling. Loose leash walking is going to be a real challenge with this guy.
Despite his lack of one eye, I am hoping to do agility with him. He has the energy levels, and is as agile as a cat. The first day he was here I watched him jump from the floor to the dining room table from a standstill.
California Coastline
Morro Bay
Morro Bay: taken with my phone from near Morro Rock.
Rion Wrapped Up
When I think it’s cold, I wrap Rion in a blanket. He doesn’t seem to mind.
Lightning (March 1, 2000 – December 3, 2015)
A month ago, Lightning had a flareup of pancreatitis, and since then he has been rapidly fading. Two days Jack and I agreed that we could no longer guarantee his quality of life, and he made his last trip to the vet this afternoon. He was such a sweet dog.
Drifts
Still snowing, and I am guessing that we already have about a foot or more along with some significant drifts. This is the dogs’ potty yard, and the depth of the drifts posed a significant challenge to small dogs before I did some trail breaking and snow shoveling. I fed the horses and they seem to be coping just fine. We are fortunate that we rarely get more than two substantial drifts between the house and the barn: one of them is just outside the house and the other is midway between the barn and the house. I usually just try to power through rather than dig a path.
Near Canyonlands National Park
