Lesson 133: Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Our family understands the importance of a "day of rest" :)

Lesson 132: Exercise, Discipline, Affection

I have been on a Dog Whisperer kick lately.


The joy of Hulu is that when you find a show you love you can watch the entire series :) I used to watch Cesar Millan when I lived at home but our dogs were pug lumps so the show was much more for entertainment than anything else. Plus the show keeps warning not to try his techniques at home....

Now that I have Rubert and Maximus I have been using some of the skills with them. Things are going to change in the Opfar household! (That sounds like something I have said before...)

Some new rules being enforces are not playing rough, they can't jump up unless you encourage them too, and they can't come on the couch unless invited.

My big "awesome!" moment came last night while walking my pooches. They were doing great until we came upon the local french bulldog (who is adorable and goes on jogs). Ruby does not mind other dogs but Max needs work. He was doing alright with walking next to me, but he started in with his whining and antsyness.

Cesar suggests using your foot on the opposite side the dog is on to give them a little nudge kick. (kind of like when you kick someone in the bum while walking next to them). I gave Max a small boot. It snapped him out of his attitude and he was fine the rest of the time walking by the other dog. It is called redirecting. :)

Oh! And we saw the smallest bunny I have every seen!!! Our neighborhood has lots of bunnies which I love love love! This bunny was about the size of my fist. It ran two laps around us, driving Ruby crazy and then hopped into a bush.

Lesson 131: New Dog Toys

People who create dog toys just get more clever everyday! Tyler and my newest find came from Costco. They were selling a three pack of these toys that were stuffed animal covers over a sturdy bouncy ball. It is the joy or a ball and the pleasure of a stuffed animal all wrapped into one! Amazing! Our dogs love all toys so this combination is amazing. If you have a dog who does not enjoy balls then this probably would be a pass. My favorite thing to do is bounce the balls like a basketball and have the dogs chase me around.

Here are Max and Ruby with the pig and frog.

We made our trip to Cabelas and here is us on the ride home. We got free matching Cabelas hats, oh yes we did. And of course I am making a doofy face....

Lesson 130: Officially converted to the bow

The Opfars are a family of hunters. One of their specialties... BOW HUNTING. Which I admit I think it pretty dang cool :) Last week all the boys got their bows out for a little target practice. They all have compound bows which are the intense bows with all the wheels and wires. This is kind of what Tyler's bow looks like....


I realized I am REDICULOUSLY weak in the arms and too terrified to try the compound bow for fear of snapping my arm and incurring a massive bruise (this has happened in the past).

My bow to shoot was Tyler's bow he received as a childhood birthday present. Kind of like this....



The only draw back was that it is a right handed bow.... Having not used a bow since high school PE I needed tons of instruction. After snapping my arm a few times I was getting kind of frustrated.... especially since the guys were having a competition to hit a soda can stuck on a target. On my second turn around though I hit the can dead center booyah! And now I am officially in love with archery. My neice Ellis says she is Merida from Brave, I prefer to be Katniss. We even get to take a trip to Cabelas and look at bows :)

Lesson 129: Max's Advance Obedience Graduation. Good Dog!

Last night Max graduated from advanced obedience wahoo :) That means he can now advance to the more challenging and fun courses like agility or competition obedience. For the last class all the dogs got to run an agility course several times. It was a lot of fun and I think Max really enjoyed himself once he figured out what the heck he was supposed to do.

Tyler and Max waiting outside for class to start.

 Max waiting so patiently (in reality he was pretty anxious to get going)

Me and Max :)

 Max working the weave polls

 The Tunnel

 jumps

This little ramp is the precursor to the A-frame 



Max on the wobble board. This gets the dogs ready for the teeter totter.

As you can see Max was NOT a fan of the wobble board.

All the dogs were pretty pooped after agility 

Max's certificate for graduation :)

He was more concerned with the biscuit that he got with his certificate. 

My class :)  

Max chilling on his towel in between his turns in the agility course

Max trying to get the biscuit out of Tyler's pocket

Back at home Max was ready for bed.  

Ruby did not get to come with us so she was pretty happy to have us home.  

Tyler was ready for bed too :)  



Lesson 128: Tyler has a new business with ACN

Tyler has opened up shop with ACN. Just a side job and I am showing my support by dressing up my dogs in silly costumes. One time I asked Tyler what he thought was my biggest personal strength. His reply was "pugs" and I was like "pugs are my biggest personal strength?" To this is said "Yes, pugs give you strength and you make good cookies!"

I love Tyler and I love the way he thinks hahaha. Since he told me this I have really thought about how yeah, pugs do give me strength, perhaps it is a security blanket thing or that when you have a pug you have an automatic talking point when meeting people. Anyway, I used my personal strength to help support Tyler. :)

So check out Tyler's website with ACN. It is all about getting discounts on things like cell phone bills, TV, Internet, land line and more! I went from an old simple flip phone to a smart phone and now I pay less per month with unlimited texting and calls to any other phone company which is crazy but ok. And the company has been around for 20 years so it has staying power too. Here is the website and happy Friday!!!

 http://tyopfar.acndirect.com/default.asp#

Lesson 127: Max, Ruby, and Tyler