Anyhow, you might remember that when I first met Lupin, that I was only about 9 weeks old, but I was chasing her around like a big dog. Well here we are again, and now I am the same age as she was at the time of our first encounter. And who is the big dog now? Woof! That's right... me! She's got dainty little ankles - not like me... mine are built for haulin'!
But that doesn't mean that I'm too big to be cuddled... as you can plainly see, I'm still a Daddy's girl at heart.
So it would seem that everyone is getting bummed out about the end of summer. I don't know what their problem is. See, we Berners love the cold. I myself like to spend the first part of my sleep outside in the yard. After I get nice and cold, I move inside into my safe room. But as you can see above, I love to sit on the cool grass and take in the world (ok, my block).
Today we went to the dog show again, and I not only got to see Zhivago again, but my sister Kahlua was there too! I can't keep track of the ribbons I won this time, but I don't think I did as well as yesterday, because I didn't get a "point" (I got one yesterday however).
This is where I get a treat for simply standing there... how easy is that! That's Jaeda up front, and Kahlua behind me being handled by Dave.
After we trot around the ring, we stand again, and this other human comes around and checks out my teeth and stuff. Kinda weird, but I won best puppy of the breed again! So we stuck around until the other working dogs got their showing, and then I competed against the best puppies.
Today, we went to my first dog show, and I got a chance to see my step-brother, Zhivago (same dad, different mom). He is huge! He apparently only weighs about 95 lbs., but he seems soooo much bigger than me. Here he is standing with Christine, while I get a last-minute grooming from Joanne.
I was a natural in the ring, of course... I didn't try to run to Richie and Christine, and I stayed focused on Joanne (shown above taking me on a stroll for the judge). I have to admit, I don't really understand the whole show concept, but here was the results:
We are going to the show again tomorrow - let's see if the competition heats up!
The next day, when we drove back home, it was clear sailing, as I didn't hear Richie swearing about the traffic at all! I was able to sleep most of the time anyways, and when I wasn't, I kept myself occupied playing with the pillows.
Contrary to popular belief, Berners do indeed swim - as I am so adeptly demonstrating above. Now I haven't quite mastered dock jumping like Lewis has, but I float really well, and my big webbed paws give me great mobility in the water.
Sometimes however, it's more fun to have someone else do the work - Tasha took us for a paddle around the lake one sunny afternoon.
Here I am, standing by the edge of Crater Lake, where Richie, Christine and I went to stay for three sleeps. My pal Lewis was up there too, along with Al and Tasha, and my two countrymen, Sami and Sylvie.
That crazy Lewis would chase after the chipmunks at every opportunity. Here we see him searching in the wood pile for one of those crazy critters. But while he had his nose buried deep in the pile, it ran out and went under the deck!
Not wanting to miss out on the action, I tried to find the chipmunk too - but I couldn't fit under the deck to chase him any further! More yurt pics to follow!