Therapy dogs bring cheer to patients

This is an article from the weekend; there was a St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog test and 4 more dogs were certified. Yeah for therapy dogs!! SJA is who I volunteer through to be able to take Spike to the nursing home.

Therapy dogs bring cheer to patients

My Girls

My girls would be lost without each other. I know that Murph and Soph really are best friends; they cuddle together, destroy toys together, run amok in the yard together, steal food together... they are actually quite inseparable.

So, I couldn't help myself as I was putting laundry away a few minutes ago. The sight was quite irresistible and I snapped a few of my girls together.

Hanging out together, watching me fold dish clothes.

Ahhh, Murphy makes a great pillow.

Sleepy girls. 

Sophie, attempting to keep at least one eye open.

Murph isn't feeling great this evening; she's had an upset tummy all day so she's not moving much. Still, it's nice because I did get some super cute photos of my girls. :)

What's been going on!

It's been a busy couple weeks. I presented at my first ever conference and it was good. I attended two days of policy development work on Social Justice and Equity for the Teachers Federation. I watched the Canadian government fall and two budgets, one provincial, one federal come out, showing no understanding of the issues in Education right now. I read some pretty heavy journal articles. I hung out with some pretty crazy dogs. I also worked. I finally cracked yesterday and the dogs went to Rebecca's for a few hours to burn off some energy while I worked.

It helped, and everyone is looking like this, this morning:

Spike in his sunbeam, half in the hallway, half in the office. He looks like the picture of contentment this morning.

Sophie, cuddled up in the dog bed, under the living room window. She can keep an eye on me from there and I suspect she is planning to drink my coffee the minute I get up to switch the laundry loads over.

Murphy and Ringo, cuddled up on my blanket, on the loveseat. They are wedged in next to me as I am studying this morning.  Say goodby to Ringo though, he's heading off on an adoption trial today, PHEW! I love that dog, but I seriously need a break from fostering!!

And, this is what I am doing: frantically getting papers written that are due, and my thesis proposal tightened up and ready to go in. I am presenting/defending my thesis proposal within the next couple weeks so I am ready to get on with getting on! Between that and finishing up my final class (I hope!) for this degree, I am BUSY!  Ah well, at least the dogs are content this morning!! :)

The view this morning

It was a wild morning around this house, for some reason.  Both Murphy and Ringo (yes, he's STILL here, LOL!) were CRAZY and while my back was turned my living room went from clean to this:

Toy guts everywhere. Sigh. I clean my house daily, actually multiple times daily with the toy killers around!

Murphy refuses to admit her guilt, but I know better!!

But, in other news, this was the view as I was leaving this morning. Sun was up, but yes, that's SNOW.  Sunrise today was 7:15AM, and I've been driving into a blinding light everyday this week (save cloudy today), bright enough that even sunglasses didn't completely help the glare!  YEAH!!!

And, even better, there's a hint of my lawn peaking out!  Spring IS coming, even if it's a bit cold and snowy today!!

Spike's exercise program

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted; where does time go? I intended to get outside with the dogs and get some pictures of us playing but the weather has not cooperated. It's gone from warmer to cold to cold again. Today looks like our luck is changing, and it should be melting by this afternoon!

I took Spike to the chiropractor again this week and got great news. There was nothing wrong with his shoulders this trip; this is the first time since all this has started in November that he didn't have anything to do with his shoulders. So, we've been backed off to appointments every month to two months again and I came away with homework to do. I am supposed to work on the following with him:

1. Walk backwards
2. Stand with front paws on a stool and walk around it. (both directions)
3. Stand with back paws on a stool and walk around it. (both directions)
4. Stand with all 4 paws in a box and gradually make the box smaller until he has all 4 paws in a tiny box and can balance himself.
5. Walk through a ladder on the ground
6. Stand with paws on two sit fit cushions. He's supposed to have the front paws on one, the back paws on another. Gradually increase the distance between them.

All of these exercises are designed to strengthen his abdominals so that Mr. Long Back will have more support as he's jumping and that will help keep his back aligned.  And, for his shoulders, I am pretty sure encouraging him to dig will help strengthen them, as long as everything is in alignment. That's good news for Spike as he lives to dig gophers up in the spring.

Sophie should have gone to the Chiropractor this week, but I didn't have an appointment for her. I am pretty sure she has things out in her back end, but she's managing to be her chipper self and she's not back at agility for a couple weeks anyway so I suspect it's ok for now. I am continuing with the plan of running with her; she gets to do lots of straight line running just to rebuild lost muscle tone in her back end. It takes time I guess, but I have seen improvements and that's encouraging.  I keep thinking I should likely get Murphy to Dr. Orchard as well, but I haven't yet. I can't believe what a difference it's made for spike and Sophie!

Travelling this weekend.

A little update on the flood situation from my friend Robin at The Year of the Chocolate Bunny. Robin posted an update and stated that she, Tim and Alex got out of the house, as did all 3 dogs. They were also able to save their cats, but not their sugar glider or their rabbits.  They have managed to find a new place to live, but they are not able to keep three dogs there (just two!), and they have to rehome their cats. It's very sad to think they have to give up Bubby, their newest dog, saved recently from the Humane Society. And, give up their cats. They are starting over from scratch, so any kind thoughts and messages you could send them would be appreciated. They've been through a great deal over the last six months, and I suspect this is a devastating blow; the house they were in is scheduled to be torn down due to chronic flooding they were never informed about and all their possessions are still inside the mouldy house.

Anyway, I am away this weekend, working for the Ministry of Education, doing some training in preparation to mark provincial exams this summer. I have been hired as a Exam Scoring Leader for a grade 7 Reading Assessment. It's a good gig, pays decently well for a teacher and it's just a week out of my summer. I enjoy it, as I see it as Professional Development and I learn lots from the experience. Plus, I've met lots of other great teachers from around the province and it's a good chance to get away!

The dogs are with Rebecca this week, and I learned the Sophie got into mischief very shortly after arriving there. Bec hadn't adequately closed her crate, and she escaped and was loose in the dog room so she figured she could eat quite a bit of another dogs kibble. End result? Peroxide and Rebecca needed to clean up the yard after Soph. I suspect Sophie now fully understands "DON'T COME OUT OF YOUR CRATE UNTIL INVITED, EVEN IF THE DOOR IS OPEN!"  I love that Rebecca sends them home a little better trained than they left, but I do feel bad that she misbehaved. At least Ringo and Murphy had to be woken up this morning! Phew, to that one! Spike apparently is having a blast running around and exploring the yards.

I have to admit, I am enjoying being away, staying in a nice hotel (it's all expenses paid!) and having the bed to myself. I do miss the dogs, but it is nice not to have Murphy sleeping as close as possible, or Sophie snoring in my ear.  I will be hunkering down tonight with my research but it's alright; it's quiet and I have no distractions here. Tomorrow, I head home and back to the reality of life with 4 dogs (thank goodness one will eventually move out!) and work on Monday.

Positive thoughts needed!

I was just reading a fairly new friend of mine in the blogworld and learned their house flooded and they lost everything.  Please, send your positive thoughts (they've had a series of loses of late, between computers and cameras, now this) and well wishes to Bubby, Scout and Hunter, along with their humans.  I feel heartbroken for them!!
Look them up at.... http://theyearofthechocolatebunny.blogspot.com/