Play With Me!!!

I love it when I am able to capture silly photos of Phoenix! Here she is clearly wanting to play with Zoe! We went down to the river for the first time in about a month and both dogs were really excited. 

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic weekend! 

Why is it wet!?

Yep, Zoe still hates the water! LOL

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out our review on the Active Harness!

Get Out Of Here, Rain!

I know that it's Oregon but I was spoiled a little during the dry summer we had. The girls are hating the rain so much! It does spoil our fun a lot but I know it's needed! Hopefully it goes back to more of light mist than a downpour. Downpours are the worst! There is no quicker way to ruin my dogs' day than to rain buckets!

I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! Is it raining where you are?

Sinking Butt! Fit Dog Friday

We've been doing pretty much the same thing! Lots of swimming and running around. 

Phoenix is still letting her butt sink occasionally, which makes for some hilarious pictures.

Hide the Toy! Monday Mischief

After rescuing her toy a bunch of times from the river, 

Phoenix decided the best course of action would be to hide the toy from me! 

I don't think she did a very good job!

Back into the drink for you, toy! :)

Choices! Force Free Dog Training - B&W Sunday

"Is the cookie good enough to make it worth getting wet?"

 I try to keep things pretty force free at my house and when training. My dogs get a choice and it's a "cue" not a "command". I'm requesting that Zoe join me in the water and it's her choice. She does not have to but if she does come she will get a fabulous treat. As you can tell from the photo she's not really thrilled about the whole water thing yet but in time she will figure it out! Maybe not this year but we will keep trying! Choice is so very important in dog training and even more so if you have a "soft" dog like Zoe. If they feel like they have a choice they are more likely to choose you. (Which she did.)

Happy B&W Sunday everyone!

Weird Human! Sisters on Saturday

Neither of the girls could figure out what their Dad was doing. Why he would voluntarily swim... SO weird! Zoe was even getting really worried about him. She would sit on the edge of the beach and whine the further he'd go. 

Phoenix decided that barking at him might help. So they played the barky bark game. She is such a funny dog. 

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

Swimming and Running! Fit Dog Friday

I can't believe I got the toy in there, too!

This week we've been doing a ton of swimming. The trail to get to the river is about a mile and the dogs run free all the way to the river so they've been doing some running and bunny hunting as well.

Bloopers from the River Shoot

Phoenix, where is your face?

SPLASH!

Phoenix has been making a lot of big splashes at the river lately!

She seems to really enjoy fetching the new boomer rang that my husband bought her!

If Looks Could Kill...

I'd probably be dead! Zoe was not all that thrilled about us spending two hours at the river last night! She would much rather be hunting bunnies than learning how to swim. Even worse!! Abuse! Abuse! I put her back on the leash before she could kill anything. So sad! I know.

We did manage to get Zoe swimming. She wasn't that happy about it. She really didn't want to get her tail wet. I'm thinking about getting her a life jacket so she can get more confidence. She's very scared of swimming. Poor girl! 

She's much happier hanging out on the beach!

Swimming Lessons

Phoenix is trying to teach Zoe how to swim! We actually got Zoe swimming a couple of times but unfortunately someone decided to fire off some rounds and after that the fun was over because Zoe got very upset. I hope that I will be able to get her back into the water and that she doesn't associate swimming with the noise she hates. :(

Teaching My Dog To Swim! Rescuing Wubba!

So now that Phoenix has gotten better and really excited about swimming out for a stick, I've decided it's time to transfer that behavior onto a toy because sticks can cause injuries. So the night before we went to the park I put some value on the toy by having her retrieve it for food and making it extremely exciting to get. Then when we got to the park we did a bunch of land retrieves to practice. My husband was sure I'd lose the wubba in the river. At one point, I totally thought we were going to lose it, too! Her butt started sinking and she made her way back to shore without it but she immediately went back in to try again. I'm so proud of her! She's gotten so brave!

Shadows and Light

Happy Wordless Wednesday everyone! I hope everyone who is going to Blog Paws has a safe trip and a great time!

Involuntary Swim and Unwanted Guest!

The other day, we took my husband with us to the park. He works a lot so he doesn't get to come along very often. Since the forecast said it was probably going to rain I didn't bring my better camera and all of these photos were taken with my smart phone. I apologize for the quality! Anyways, in keeping with my "explore new trails" theme, we did just that. We decided to walk along the river and at one point we came across this nice look out spot (pictured above).

Exploring New Trails!

Do you ever get set into the same walking routine? I do. Out at our favorite park, Thousand Acres, there are a lot of different paths you can choose. I tend to choose the boundary trails and forest paths because you don't generally find huge groups of dogs on them. I get set in my routine and just go the way I usually go.

Throw the Stick! Sisters on Saturday

Have a great weekend everyone!

Salmon River & Mt Hood - Fit Dog Friday

Yesterday we took the girls for a new hike! We went to Salmon River Trail head in Welches, Oregon! I found this trail on my Pacific Northwest photography group and thought it would be fun. The trail had a ton of little waterfalls and streams to cross and lots of gorgeous scenery. It happens to run through and old growth forest.

Hiking in the Gorge!

Zoe and Wahclella Falls

So my husband was off and we decided to take the girls hiking in the Colombia River Gorge! We had a great time! I apologize for the pictures not being all that amazing. I struggled with camera settings the entire day (if anyone has any suggestions for settings in full shade with hardly any sunlight PLEASE leave them below!!!) and it was FREEZING. The girls had gotten their jackets soaked earlier in the day (hence them being naked) so they were not thrilled about it being so cold. I had to capture these as quickly as possible and get them away from the waterfall.

Phoenix and Wahclella Falls

Fishing Dogs!?!

NOTE: This happened BEFORE Phoenix hurt herself. :)

I took the girls to the river recently and we noticed a ton of dead fish! I'm not sure what kind of fish they are but they are spawning and sadly passing away. Before I noticed all the dead fish, I saw Zoe pawing at something in the water. They've retrieved sticks that have fallen underneath before so I figured she was attempting to get a sunken stick.