HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!

Lucy is nine years old today! A very special day for a very special girl. She is the spirited alpha of our pack, always ready to get up and go no matter what the occasion. She keeps all of the dogs, cat and people in the family in line.



We had no idea when we added Lucy and Keji to our lives where they would lead us. Through them we have come to love various performance activities and many wonderful friends. Nine years is a special accomplishment for you little girl! We hope you keep going and challenging us all for many years to come.

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKY!

Ricky is celebrating his 7th birthday today! I am posting this at 5am before I start my day! I hope Nancy gives him an extra chicken neck this morning. He will get a trip to Pethingz to pick out a toy or special food treat...hummm...I wonder what he will choose!

This is a big week for Ricky...let's hope there may be more events to celebrate!
Happy Birthday, Chopper...
We love you!

Brio's Funny Little Habit

Brio has this cute little habit of quivering her lips and tongue when she is excited about food...which is every time that she sees the tiniest treat. This video was taken before her dinner today.

Brio Loves Maine

Brio made her second visit to Maine

this weekend and it was much warmer than her last visit in February. She enjoyed climbing on huge snowbanks in the driveway...

posing for pictures with Nanc at home...

or by the river in Kennebunkport...

or just chillin' out at home.

Meet Our Corgis

Sara and Lucy in Maine

Heronsway Let's Have A Ball RN AX AXJ AXP MJP OF

I want to introduce the other canine family members....Lucy and Ricky. Yes, as you can tell there is a theme to their call names. Lucy is the first dog I have owned and trained...my goal with her was to try to compete in agility but most of all to have fun. I chose her registered name because she is a red head and I loved Lucille Ball! So Lucy is also known as Heronsway Let's Have A Ball. Lucy is approaching her 9th birthday in a few weeks which seems very hard to believe. I am happy that she continues to be the spirited girl that I brought home as a pup. She has been a challenging dog to train as my first dog but I have loved every part of it. She LOVES to work, to go to classes, to go anywhere with me, to compete in agility and try our hand in rally. She is a great teammate and I hope we have many more years of running around an agility course together.

Stayed tuned for Ricky's debut!

New Team Member!!

You may have noticed a new name under the contributors list. Yes, Sara has joined up with Team Gold'NPem! I'm sure that any day now she will be introducing Lucy and Ricky to the blogging world. With a little bit of encouragement from our blogging friends she will surely be ready to join this world of virtual camaraderie.

Spring will come!?

"I know there is grass under here somewhere...if I keep on digging maybe I will find it." This morning the sun shines brightly and there is a promise of a warmer day. Spring is just around the corner, or so they say. Hard to convince me by the looks of our yard.

Brio's First Haircut

Brio is 13 weeks old now and she had quite a bit of fluff around her ears. Oh, how I just hate all that fluff around the ears, (right C-Lee). Now here she is with all the fuzz thinned out looking like a little grown-up. I can't believe how fast she is growing. She has the sweetest personality and brings me so much joy every day.

Front Door/Back Door Meme for February

OK, that C-Lee thinks that she is really going to get me into this blogging stuff. She has tagged me with this photo meme. This is the view out my front door. I love the two evergreens down by the road. They offer great cover for all the birds flying back and forth to the feeders on the left side of the house. There is not too much visible on all the other shrubs from this distance, but up close you can see all the buds that promise color for the spring and summer.

Out my back door we see lots of snow. It is packed close to two feet deep in places where we

have snowshoed trails all around the yard. I love

the gate in back by the shed that leads off into the woods and many trails and ponds. We use those trails more often in winter when the ticks are not so numerous. From the photo you would not know that the birds are singing their Spring

mating calls and that the red-winged blackbirds

have returned already. In the shed is stashed

all the agility equipment. But before we can fill the yard with our obstacles we have to wait for many warmer days for much melting to occur. What I don't like about our yard is a lot of shade and we sometimes have the last patches of snow in Eastern Mass. Then will come the mud.

Here are the rules: This is a photography meme

1. Step out your front door and take a picture.

2. Step out your back door and take a pictute.

3. Put them on your blog along with the rules.

4. If there are things in the photo that you particularly like or dislike, you can point them out

or just explain what you are seeing.

5. Tag another person.

6. Do it again next month if you like.

Wherever you live you see something different than the rest of us.

Playing with my big sister

This morning Brio had a great time playing with her big sister Winee. Do you notice a resemblance? Winee is just great with puppies,

so gentle and so much fun for a little one. They had a great time running and rolling about and

tugging on toys. Winee showed Brio how one should run through a tunnel. And Brio showed Winee how one should not jump over tunnels or jump and try to walk on top of tunnles. Brio is so athletic that she amazes me the things that

she does with her little body.

The girls had a great time playing and both look forward to lots more fun times together. I hear that they are making plans to get their moms out to do some field training together as soon as the weather warms up.

Growing Every Day

As you can see Brio is growing every day. She has a great appetite, plays hard, crashes and sleeps hard. Here she is resting after a 50 minute romp in the woods. It is quite hard to lose her attention in the woods, but I keep trying. I had one really good opportunity to hide on her yesterday and she ran in a few directions before she found me. This past week she turned 12 weeks old and she is becoming very confident and starting to venture short distances away rather than staying underfoot as she has done in the past. But the moment that my feet stop crunching in the snow she looks up and runs to catch up. I sure hope that all these woods walks really do help her to keep a close eye on me as she matures and we venture into the woods when she is older.

Whenever the camera comes out she always looks quite serious. Here she is posing again for a picture. Brio is proving to be a lot of fun to train. She just loves when we head down to our training area in the basement for a little work and play. When we go to our training facility she is incredibly enthusiastic to go inside and see all her new friends, human and canine. She is very confident going to new places and meeting new people. This past week we took her to our home in Maine and she took the change all instride. She marched around Dock Square not a batting an eye to the traffic rumbling bye and rattling the trestles of the wooden bridge we were crossing. And Oh My! What a response when she heard the ducks quacking below the bridge. She sure seems to know what that sound means. Just like she stops and looks up when she hears geese passing overhead. Tomorrow we start beginner attention class and I sure working with her in that class will be great fun.

Delinquent Blogger!

Okay, so I have been delinquent with the blogging. I am guilty. As Sara says, I just spend too much time lying on the sofa watching those soaps and eating bon-bons. Really I just have been busy having so much fun with little Brio that I have not kept up with the computer stuff. I have taken plenty of pictures but have not spent time uploading and getting them onto the blog. Well I really do not watch soaps but with the puppy housetraining, playing, obedience training, playing, grooming, outings to meet new people and places, playing, woods walks, playing, puppy obedience class and an occasional day of work I have not had a lot of free time. As you can see Brio is still quite cute. She just thinks it is great to lie near the boots and shoes.

Welcome home little golden girl

This weekend Sara and I welcomed a new little golden girl into our family. There has been much anticipation for this day. Please welcome 9 week old:

Gaylan's Changes in Attitude

"BRIO"

Previously known as Miss Yellow, Brio comes from the Jimmy Buffett litter also known as the "Parrothead Pups". I chose her name, "Changes in Attitude", because she represents my change in attitude by seeking out a breeder who concentrates on performance, health and longevity while producing attractive goldens. Her call name "Brio" means spirited or alive and vigorous. I had a hard time choosing a call name that would relate to her registered name. When Keji became ill I decided that I wanted a name for her that symbolized "life". Thus the name Brio was chosen before she was even born.

Thanks to Pat and Randy McKinney and Gayle Watkins of Gaylan's Goldens for the wonderful early puppy rearing. With a such a strong foundation I feel confident that Brio and I can have a great future in agility and obedience and learn about tracking and field competition. We have a lot ahead of us!

Tribute to Keji

EDGEHILL BIG BAND MAN

RE, OA, AXJ, NAP, NJP, NF

"KEJI"

1/22/00-9/08/08

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan." - Irving Townsend, from The Once Again Prince.

Several months have come and gone and time has healed some of the pain of your passing. Now, with the new year, it is time for me to pay tribute to your life. Though there were many others before you, those that live with dogs in their life know that some are more memorable than others and take that special place in your heart. You were my "Heart Dog". The gifts that you brought to my life were many. You renewed my love of dog training and taught me about the sports of agility, rally, and tracking. Though we had many challenges together you were always willing to try to please and I never wanted to give up because of your enthusiasm. These activities opened up our world to a whole new network of valuable and lasting friendships.

I miss so much having you by my side to train with, to play with, to walk the beach with, to hike the trails with. I miss throwing your tennis ball for you, hearing your silly "woo-woo" greetings and your sense of humor. I miss the beautiful gaze of your big brown eyes as you would just stare into mine.

But most of all, I miss the selfless, unwavering, unconditional love that you brought to my life that no creature other than a dog can provide. I miss you my golden boy...rest well until we meet again. Goodbye my friend.

God Bless America

Today I am proud to be an American and thankful that I was born in a democratic nation.

Count Me In!

Okay, this is it...I am going to start blogging. I have become interested in all the fun posts that
my friends put up on their blogs. It a great way to share all the fun things that we are doing with out dogs and any other interesting things going on in our lives. So, as I jump in to join the fun,
bear with me as I learn to navigate my way around this virtual world.