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.