Happy Gotcha Day, Tori
Yep, we’re celebrating another BIG anniversary here at Champion of My Heart. It is one year today that Tori first came home on a “trial basis” (ha ha). Happy Gotcha Day, Tori!
Yep, we’re celebrating another BIG anniversary here at Champion of My Heart. It is one year today that Tori first came home on a “trial basis” (ha ha). Happy Gotcha Day, Tori!
Bestselling author Jim Kraus asked me to do a book review of his novel The Dog That Whispered. After first making SURE that the book did NOT mention / condone / include any references to the TV dog trainer who shall not be named, I agreed. Once you see the cover image, you’ll know why it appealed to me.
I’ve been meaning to do this Lily’s Fund Final Report FOREVER. Here is where the money we raised in Lilly’s memory went. Thank you, again, for your support of the fund during our time of grief.
Today, we celebrate the second anniversary of Clover’s adoption — Happy Gotcha Day! It’s hard to believe we’ve been Best Friends for 2 whole years. In case you missed the AMAZING story of Clover’s adoption all the way from Virginia to Colorado, revisit that happy story now! Or, if you wonder how Clover got her…
Over the holiday weekend, I drove Clover 195 miles round-trip to do another herding instinct test. We tested her the first time in June 2015, just after she turned 1. This time — maybe thanks to more maturity — it went quite a bit better in several ways. The raw video file added up to 1.5 GB. Yikes! So, I edited it down to a few highlights.
Everything is a bit of a blur when you’re raising two puppies at the same time, especially two border collie puppies who are just 13 months apart. In the ideal world, I would have had all or most of Clover’s basic training done before we got another puppy, but that’s not how things worked out. So, I’m sitting here with Clover now 2 years old and Tori 1 year old, and I’m taking stock of where we are now on the dog training front. Let’s just say I’ve not reached my goals, and I’m feeling rather bummed about it. Warning — long post ahead.
I’m not sure if I can keep up this tradition of making tribute videos for the puppy-girl’s birthdays for all the years to come, but here is the latest video that celebrates Tori’s first birthday. When we adopted her in September 2015, we counted back 12 weeks (a guess on her age) and picked a date — July 1 — as her birthday. What’s great about that is that we’ll always be able to extend her birthday fuss into the Independence Day holiday. We do the same thing with Clover’s birthday since it always fall close to Memorial Day.
Today is publication day for a book called Living Large in Our Little House: Thriving in 480-Square Feet With Six Dogs, a Husband and One Remote — Plus More Stories of How You Can Too (Reader’s Digest Books). It’s written by my dear friend and colleague Kerri Fivecoat Campbell. She really does live in a TINY house in the mountains of Arkansas with several dogs. Because I’m sure you’re as curious as I am about how exactly that works, I asked Kerri for some tips on living in a tiny house with dogs.
Friday, May 27, 2016, is Clover’s 2nd birthday. How crazy is that? Seems like just yesterday she was a wee-one. Just like I did for the 1st anniversary of Clover’s adoption, I made a 2-minute tribute video that chronicles her second year of life. Most notably the addition of a baby sister, Tori. In many ways, this video is as much a tale of their puppy-soul-sister status as it is a celebration of Clover’s birthday.
I didn’t want to say anything until I knew what was what, but Clover had some tests done last week, and Tori is having surgery this Friday, May 13. Details just ahead.