I Really Love this Puppy!

At 19 months he is technically no longer a puppy - but tell him that! I am thinking he may stay a funny innocent puppy for quite awhile...we can always hope.

Sweet Sage!

RAE Leg-4

The California State University, Hayward campus was the scene of some stiff Rally competition this past weekend with a field of 23 dogs in Rally Excellent and 24 in Rally Advanced.

While Denali did well, scoring 95 in Excellent and 97 in Advanced, it wasn't enough against the 98 to 100 point scores required for placement. But a Q is a Q!

There were a lot of well-trained dogs and skilled handlers - really nice to see! Denali is my first performance dog. As a relatively new handler, I always learn a lot at every show and it is great when there are so many professional trainers in the competition for me to observe.

While this was only her second time showing outdoors on grass, Denali overcame a lot of issues that previously posed as distractions for her in this setting. She wasn't very sniffy, even though the grass was wet and aromatic. She didn't spook when the wind buffeted the colored tape that marked the ring perimeter - this was huge! We've worked on this and I was happy to see that she's getting it. All in all I was VERY pleased with my girl!

We were both also a lot happier to have the cool morning with some shade in the ring, than the almost-80-degree heat that we encountered last month in Martinez for our RAE-3 leg. What a difference it made in Denali's energy level and willingness to work! Unless we find cool venues, no more shows till the weather cools, or we go indoors. Sounds like a good excuse to head for the shows at the beach in Carmel in July.

Miss Molly, By Golly!

One look at Molly and it's all about the eyebrows! They sometimes make her look a little daunting, first impressions can be misleading! In fact, this cute little Corgi/Aussie mix is very sweet, very playful, happy and just full of corgish mischief.

Molly started out on the timid side. Time in foster care, with a knowledgeable foster mom who knew how to encourage her, give her space, and build her confidence has made all the difference. Molly has come out of her shell and is well on the way to being the girl she was meant to be.

She is extremely sweet, possessing a lot of the Australian Shepherd personality. She bonds with her person, is extremely bright and loves attention. She's a dog for someone who knows the Aussie temperament and is ready to continue the good work done in foster care. With that person Molly will flourish! She's a very cool little dog!

Molly is still a very young dog, no more than age 2. She still has a lot of puppy in her. She gets along well with others and loves to play.

She also loves toys and can find a way to amuse herself with just about anything...not always the best idea to leave her alone with your slippers!

She's made friends with everyone, tall and short, in her foster home.

She is slightly larger than the standard corgi, but a very nice-sized little dog. A good game of tug goes a long way for Molly and her friends.

Ok, so she may be a little funny looking with those eyebrows, but her smile goes straight to your heart! We know that the perfect person is out there for Molly and we won't stop looking till we find them.

Sage Goes to the Beach!

Last week Moe attended a company sales conference in Monterey - a beautiful resort beach town about 1.5 hours away from us. The conference took place at a really nice hotel and ran through Saturday. He had a great time. That is until it was time to drive home on Saturday night at 10:30PM and he locked his keys in the trunk of his car!

On Sunday morning Sage and I drove down to rescue him with the spare key and Sage got a nice walk on Monterey State Beach! He loved it! I forgot my camera...doh! These were taken with Moe's I-Phone.

Sage is not trustworthy off leash, and this isn't an off-leash beach anyway. But he did get to run around on his bright red 25-foot leash. For the most part, he kept checking on us and really didn't want to go any further away...unless another dog came along.

Scooter is Rescued!

Sigh...some people!

This really nice boy was owner-surrendered when his owners found him to be "too stubborn" and were "just tired of him." After having him for five years! For this past year it appears they've let him sit in the backyard on his own...and EAT!

The first thing we did was give him a better name. His former name was ill-suited, and frankly, insulting. It was immediately apparent that he was a happy, fun, playful fellow. We thought he needed a name that would express his personality. Now he's "Scooter." From the minute we started using it, he was MUCH more responsive. He's been waiting to be rescued for awhile!

Weighing in at 42+ pounds when I picked him up, he is a good 14-15 pounds overweight. His coat was filthy, skin irritated, nails way too long...a lot of physical neglect going on here. In spite of it he was all smiles, greeting everyone like a long-lost friend.

The up-side is that this is just the nicest fellow imaginable. His owners said he was too stubborn...? To the contrary, we're actually finding him to be one of the most compliant, willing-to-please corgis we've had in rescue. It was pretty obvious that he recognized us as "corgi people," with whom he could communicate from the get-go. He couldn't wait to get in the car with me.

Happy, happy, happy to be rid of all the dead undercoat, unbelievably good about having his long nails trimmed, and simply thrilled by human attention, Scooter is going to clean up nicely. He wasn't so sure about the new diet, including veggies for nutrition and weight loss purposes, but within 24 hours he's with the program.

Start with an absolutely beautiful face, plus some downsizing and exercise and we will have a gorgeous dog in no time! Welcome to your new life Scooter. We think you're going to love it! And when we find you just the right new owner, we know they'll be thrilled to have found you!

Animal Rescue Site - Free Ways to Help

There are lots of FREE ways to help save animals. Check out the Animal Rescue site to see!

Click here!

Warning! - Spokeo.com has your Personal Information!

There's a new site called Spokeo.com

Beware!

This is NOT a hoax! Look yourself up and see!

Spokeo is a new online directory containing all kinds of personal information: Everything from pics you've posted on FB or web, your approximate credit score, home value, income, age, etc. It picks up data from any social network such as Facebook, Linked In, etc. and from websites, blogs, and from sites containing public records. It even has listings for people who've never been on a computer, or had an e-mail address because it also accesses public records.

WHY SPOKEO IS SCARY:

When Spokeo accesses an account, such as a Facebook account, it grabs not only your personal information, but the personal information for ALL of your contacts as well! Spokeo can share this information with anyone, including third party advertisers - so your spam may grow substantially!

HOW TO GET YOUR INFORMATION OFF THIS SITE:

You can remove yourself by first searching for yourself on their site to find the URL of your Spokeo Page, then going to the small, gray "Privacy" button on the bottom of your page to remove yourself.

Note: You can remove yourself, and you can remove others following this same method. However, there is a limit to how many listings you can remove per day. I was able to remove myself and a few friends and relatives who requested that I do so, about six people total, before I got the message indicating I'd have to "try again tomorrow."

Another note: The validity of some data on Spokeo is questionable, but TOO much of it was correct. I definitely don't want my information on this list and suspect that many of you will feel the same!

The emergence of this site could be coincidental with the recent Facebook changes which now allow sites like Spokeo to access your "private" information, even though you've listed it as "friends only" access. In keeping with this, you may want to revisit your Facebook account, delete a lot of your personal information and potentially limit access to just your friends. Based on what I've read about this recently I am seriously considering deleting my Facebook account entirely, as I am not able to guarantee the privacy of my personal information.