Budding artist!

I am always looking for new ways to keep our training fun and fresh. I got my inspiration for this series of behaviors from reading about Lucy the elephant at the Valley Zoo. This chains several cues that Ebony is already very fluent with (take-it, hold-it, touch & give) into one new cue...."go paint". I wanted to post a video of her artistic endeavours but unfortunately YouTube has been rejecting flash video for the last week so I can't (but as soon as it is working I will post the 'artist at work').

Maybe once Ebony completes her lessons in colour theory and perspective we will be able to auction off her works of art to raise money for Dogs with Wings.

Here is the artist after completing her first creation. Just a little bit of paint on the tip of her noze and side of her muzzle. Don't worry, it is non-toxic waterbased paint.

Susan, Everest's foster Mom, told me that Eb's masterpiece reminded her of fish swimming in a pond. Hey maybe that dip in our pond last week wasn't just to cool off....maybe she was just trying to study her subjects up close and personal so that she could make her painting more realistic???

Water good....pond BAD!!!!

This afternoon while Don was mowing the lawn our little Ebony thought it would be cool to jump in the pond and hang out with the Koi......BAD PUPPY!!!!! He rounded the bend and saw her standing in the middle of the pond quite pleased with herself. He gave her his best 'bad puppy death stare' and she reluctantly crawled out of her cool oasis. She has lived with us for 10 months and I don't think she has ever set paw into the pond until today. Go figure?? Hopefully this won't be a new trend. I haven't seen all the fish since her plunge....I hope they are all present and accounted for....fingers crossed they are just hiding somewhere trying to recover from the shock.

Summer time fun

Ebony's big sister Tango just loves it when we take out the hose to water the garden. Unfortunately we don't get much watering done with Tango around. Ebony loves to learn new things from her house mates so has learned to enjoy playing in the water too.

New James Taylor Fan

Ebony was invited to the Telus Suite at Rexall Place to see the James Taylor concert on Saturday night.....of course someone had to hold her leash so we had to go too. It was quite loud and I was a bit worried about how she would handle all the noise....but no problem....she went to sleep on the floor with her head under my skirt to further muffle the sound. We were so proud of how well she behaved. Even the huge crowd was no issue. She was a great ambassador for Dogs with Wings.

Water Works Pond Tour

On Saturday, Water Works Ponds held their 7th annual Parade of Ponds tour with all proceeds going to Dogs with Wings. Wally, Ebony and Texas were part of the welcoming team at the first stop on the tour.