GollyLog

Quiet Friday at the Shop

2009-07-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Fridays are usually pretty quiet around here. It's a good time to get a lot of what I call "thinking" work done. That's the design work for the Golly Gear website. I keep telling myself it's good for my accountant's brain to turn things around and do something creative. Use the right side of my brain instead of the left - or vice versa! It's not easy and not what I was trained for, but I have to admit, it's lots of fun! Writing product descriptions isn't something I saw myself doing in college. Turning pictures of our dogs - and our customers' dogs - using the products we sell into web pages is very rewarding.

Life with Ceilidh isn't getting any easier

2009-07-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

Ceilidh is a dear, sweet Boston Terrier girl. She's also, as has been mentioned more than once, not an easy dog to live with. Her vet says she's not wired right - she described Ceilidh to a friend of ours as living life "double time."

Her two speeds are full and off. There's no in-between with Ceilidh - she's either running a mile-a-minute or crashed. She never just "hangs out."

And it's not getting any better. Ceilidh turned 8 years old in April. And she was diagnosed with a fairly serious heart condition in the last year. And now, as her most recent development, she's terrified of thunderstorms. And fireworks.

Needless to say, this weekend wasn't much fun for her. The official fireworks celebrations were bad enough - we can hear three of them from our house. What was even worse was the neighborhood idiots shooting off illegal firecrackers until the wee hours of the morning. Every time we thought it was over, another one would BANG right outside.

Ceilidh was beside herself. She couldn't settle, couldn't find a good place to hide, refused to be comforted and was generally miserable.

We felt so bad for her - and there was nothing we could do. We tried some herbal/holistic thing, but it did nothing. Because of her heart medication, our pharmaceutical options are limited. I do know that next year, if we're lucky enough to still have our Ceilidh, we'll ask our vet to figure something out. I'd rather she spent the holiday knocked-out sleeping than quaking in fear. Poor baby.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

How great is this! A long weekend to celebrate our nation's birth! The Cubs are in town. Not much rain in the forecast. Steaks ready to grill. We'll set up a couple of jumps and the weave poles in the back yard and do a little agility with Dax and Ceilidh. Golly and Roc will get in the way - that's what they do! Catch up with friends. Sounds good!

We'll miss you, Gunny

2009-06-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

When I started doing agility with Dax, quite a few people came up to us and said we had to meet Gunny - the only other French Bulldog most people knew doing agility.

Finally, in January of this year, we did get to meet Gunny and Andrea, his handler & "mom." It was one of those wonderful moments in life - we connected instantly and had a wonderful time getting to know each other. Dax wasn't quite sure at first, she gets a little jealous and I was so enthralled meeting this agility legend (Gunny was 11 years old!) that I forgot and made too much of a fuss over Gunny for Dax's liking. But she warmed up after a bit and we had a great time. Andrea was kind enough to give me some agility tips and Gunny was just wonderful.

I'm sure you know what's coming - Andrea lost her wonderful Gunny to some horrible stomach ailment that she did name, but I can't remember. It doesn't really matter what took him from us. It matters that he's gone, we miss him, and Andrea's heartbroken.

You can see more pictures of the amazing flying Frenchie on Andrea's Flickr stream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bullmarketshogun/

The Girls Like it Hot!

2009-06-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

This is our fifth day of 90 degree heat here in the Chicago area. We had below-normal temperatures all spring, but but did summer start with a bang! (Literally - thunderstorms the day before summer began knocked out our power for a few hours at home.) Dax, Ceilidh and Golly all love to lie in the sun and bask! Silly girls - this is the last thing any of them should be doing. French Bulldogs are prone to heat stroke, and Ceilidh and Golly both have heart conditions that make basking kind of dangerous. So I've been carrying Dax and Ceilidh into the house - that's how I've been getting my bicep work in. Golly can be persuaded into the house most of the time with a yummy treat!

She did it!

2009-06-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

Dax and I have missed a few weeks of Obedience training, between me having the flu, moving the shop, and then Dax eating rat poison. Yesterday evening we went for the first time in a month. I didn't really feel like going - but I knew I should, so I did. And I'm so glad I did! It's so easy to forget how much fun it is to get out and do stuff with your dog.
It helps, of course, that Dax was having fun, too. We've been working on her Retrieve on the Flat with her dumbbell and she's really getting pretty darn good at it. We still have to work on the end of the exercise - she's not crazy about coming to front and sitting while holding her dumbbell, but I'm trying to keep it fun.
She does love jumping, so I thought I'd try a Retrieve over the High Jump. And she did it! First time, every time! Who knew! We're discovering the bits of obedience that Dax loves.

The joy of moving

2009-06-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

We're back!
And if I'm ever tempted to move again - please someone remind me that it took six days to get internet access again. I'm amazed at how much the world has changed in the last 10 years. Now, a day without the internet feels like the dark ages!
Of course, we had some literal dark ages lately, too! Two power outages at home in the last four days. The first one lasted a couple of hours and was understandable, we were in the midst of one heckuva thunderstorm. We weren't happy about it, but we understood.
This morning was just bizarre. Clear, sunny skies and all of a sudden the power goes out at 6 a.m. Weird, but at least in the daylight you can find your toothbrush.
Hiring movers was an interesting experience. They came. They dumped everything into large boxes. They hauled it to the new location. They dumped everything on the floor. (We thought ahead and actually had tarps for stuff to get dumped on.) That was 12 days ago.
Today, at last, everything is off the floor. It's nowhere near as tidy as we'd like, but we can find everything with minimal effort, and the leash spaghetti has been untangled.
It feels really good to be getting back to a semi-normal routine. And we're going to love the new space - we have room to breathe!

What should I do now?

2009-06-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

I know there must be at least a million things I should be doing to prepare for our move on Wednesday. But I can't think of any. Either we're so well-organized that it's all been done, or we're incredibly, blissfully ignorant because of our complete lack of experience with moving. Time will tell. In about 48 hours we'll be happily ensconced at our new address, busily organizing and twirling around enjoying all room to breathe - or we'll be tearing our hair out and quietly going mad trying to unsnafu all the snafs.
Next week at this time I'll be a much calmer person.

2009-06-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

We got the keys to our new space! How cool is that! I hired painters so that all the walls (except for the brick ones) will be nice and bright by the time we move in. Can't wait - for it all to be over! The next ten days will be crazy for us. We're moving on Wednesday and our obedience club's annual trial is on Sunday. We expect there to be many headaches and hassles - both with the move (thinking of the phone company, the movers and other stuff - don't even know what!) and the trial (the weather, lots of dogs in a confined space, the people - people complain about anything and everything). But I keep telling myself it will all be worth it. The trial will be over for another year, and I won't have to listen to water running in the apartment above our shop.

Busy, busy, busy

2009-06-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy/crazy couple of weeks for me. First the French Bulldog Jamboree, back home to a two-day agility trial (video as soon as I have time to edit it!), and today I auditioned for Jeopardy!
Since claiming that I've reached the "what the hell" stage in my life, I seem to be filling my calendar to the max. I think I'm done adventuring for the moment - until we move the store on June 10. As in next Wednesday. To be followed very shortly by our Obedience Club's trial on June 14. And then I get to breathe.
I did the Jeopardy! thing just for fun - I think. I took the online test a couple of months ago and got invited to the audition today. I don't think I realized what a big deal it was until I got there and met people who had traveled from Manitoba, Texas, Iowa, Indiana and other points all over the place to be there. I felt a bit guilty about that - all I had to do was roll out of bed and hop on the "el" to go downtown.
The best part? We got to play a practise game with actual Jeopardy! clicker/button/thingies!

Made my own agility course

2009-05-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

Agility class last night was crazy! Our class is very large this session, with people and dogs at various levels of training. The only course we ran was pretty long and somewhat confusing to many of us so our instructor took time to help us through the parts we were having trouble with. Ceilidh and I ran first and sort of made up our own course because I could not remember the printed course! I included most of the obstacles, though! (Our instructor does not put numbered cones out during class - we should not rely on the numbers, but our memory. Didn't work for me last night!) But I guess I was so convincing that no one said anything. Either that or our instructor thought I'm a lost cause. That could be it...

French Bulldog Jamboree!

2009-05-28T14:48:00.001-07:00

Dax and I were at the French Bulldog Jamboree outside Durham, Ontario last weekend. She watched the proceedings with fascination - not entirely sure what was going on. She was just as happy I forgot her costume at home.

But she loved watching the fish off the dock.

Beautiful Lake Wilder - steps from our cottage.

We stayed in one of the cottages on the lake.

Not my idea of fun

2009-05-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

So Hope's in the Canadian wilderness and I'm minding the shop. I certainly don't mind - she's done it for me more times than I can remember. But I question the term "vacation" for this trip. I talked to Hope about an hour ago and she was checking Dax for ticks. (She'd applied the anti-everything stuff, but was still checking!) Not my idea of a fun trip. I'm just a city girl, I guess. My idea of a good time is lying on a deck chair having a waiter bring me a refreshing fun rum drink. Not traipsing around the woods (in any country) being assaulted by dive-bombing mosquitoes and smaller equally nasty bugs you can't even see! But that's just me...

You can't get there from here

2009-05-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

A frustrating morning! I'm getting ready for Dax's and my road trip to the French Bulldog Jamboree in Ontario. And, according to all of my up-to-the-minute, wonderful techno-toys - you can't get there from here. My two-year-old GPS is only good in the States, and can't be updated. And my astonishingly smart phone is pretty stupid, too. Apparently my carrier thinks that the world ends at the border.
I guess I'll just have to go the old-fashioned way. Point to point driving directions from one of my favorite websites. Isn't it amazing how quickly the world changes?
Back when I was in college (lo, these many decades!) I drove Chicago to Maryland with only a road map. No cell phone. No MapQuest. No TripTik (no AAA membership).
Now I feel "naked" without the GPS. I think this'll be good for me - getting lost can be part of the adventure!

Roc's New Most Favorite Toy EVER!

2009-05-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

It's natural that our dogs test the products we buy for our business. Our shop specializes in things for little dogs, and our dogs are all little! The newest toy we've acquired is the Tuffy Flappy. Roc went crazy for it! The instant I tossed a couple on the floor, Roc made a beeline for the smaller one and wouldn't let go! He holds it, squeaking it, shaking it, and wiggling his tail! Too cute. We've never seen him stay attached to a toy for so long! He's still carrying it around today!

Full schedule

2009-05-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Isn't it interesting how perceptions vary? If you'd asked me, I'd have said I rarely go anywhere or do anything. Some friends stopped by the other day and mentioned they rarely see my car parked by the house, that I'm never home.
So I got to thinking about it and realized it's true! The reason we're six months behind watching the shows we've taped (still in the VHS dark ages) is because nobody's ever home to watch them. Between work, two nights a week of training, trials, and actually fitting in some socializing - this middle-aged spinster is lucky enough to be constantly busy.
And the next month looks terrifyingly packed! I'm looking forward to all of it, but the schedule's jammed. I leave for the Frenchie Jamboree next week, followed by an agility trial the weekend I get home, we're getting ready to move the business, and our club's Obedience Trial is right after that. I'm lucky I remembered to squash a haircut in there.
While it's absolutely true that life hasn't turned out the way I expected it to when I was a teenager, I think I'm doing a fairly good job of making lemonade and enjoying every drop.

Crunch Time!

2009-05-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Do I or don't I? Sign up for the next 8-week session of Agility Classes, that is... Ceilidh is never going to compete, given her heart condition. She can never get too close to other dogs, given her tendency to snark at anything on four legs. I'll always have to keep her away from people who don't know what to expect when they lean in for a greeting (many sloppy Boston Terrier kisses on the face). I'm going to have to think up new and creative ways of holding her interest when it's not our turn (otherwise she goes sniffing and picks up any piece of lint on the mat). And I'll be playing with varying degrees of pain (hip bursitis is nothing if not persistent). But ... Ceilidh loves Agility class so much. And there are lots of people who appreciate Ceilidh for herself and gladly accept those wet kisses. So, I'll sign up for next session. And try to remember the Alleve.

By any other name

2009-05-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went to the Museum of Science and Industry.

We were there to see the Harry Potter Exhibition.

We also marveled at Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle.

Neither scientific or industrial, but great fun!

Fun and caring people!

2009-05-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Dog people are the best! Since Dax is recuperating and resting, Ceilidh and I went to our Agility Class by ourselves last night. Everyone asked how Dax was doing. Thankfully, she's feeling better and I was able to share that with our classmates. The little brown "bowling ball" was definitely missed! And she missed out on some good work on rear crosses! I think I may have the idea - the rear cross is something that has eluded me for as long as I've been taking classes! We'll keep practicing, because it certainly doesn't come naturally!

The gods are laughing

2009-04-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

I guess we can't rest on our laurels forever. It sure was fun to bask for a while, though! Last night we went to an Agility Fun Match. It's a full-size agility course and you're timed while on the course, but you can do whatever you want instead of adhering to a pre-determined pattern or map. It's great practise for trials - same venue, no pressure.
I decided to work on speed with Dax. I'm told that the faster I am, the more interesting I am to her, and the faster she'll go. So I ran like a crazy lady - no fancy handling attempts, nice easy loops around the obstacles. And they were right - Dax was "flaps (ears) down - full throttle" girl.
Until we got home. I sat down and Dax tried to jump into my lap, as she does every single time I sit. Fran said it looked like she just stopped in mid-air and fell down. Turns out she probably pinched a nerve in her neck and is on crate-rest for a week.
The juxtaposition convinces me that fate has a sense of humor. Not a good one, but it's there.

Anticlimax

2009-04-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Friday is Hope's day off and it's my opportunity to post to the blog, but how can I top Hope's post? Easy - I can't. So, let's just bask for a bit! Last night at Agility class our instructor made a point of telling our classmates who weren't at the trial last weekend that Hope and Dax had their first qualifying run with a perfect score! Big cheers all around!

We did it!

2009-04-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Judge Ann Riba was kind enough to pose for a picture with Dax and me (right). Our very first qualifying run!

Dax and I qualified in our Standard run on Sunday at the Paw Power Blues Agility Trial! I'll spare you the video of the other three runs of the weekend - although if you want a few laughs I'll be posting the video on our Golly Gear You Tube channel. Here's the triumphant run - with the cheers of the All Fours Agility Team (thanks, guys!) in the background. Thank you to our dear friend Betsy for taping, advice, support and commentary!

Fingers Crossed

2009-04-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

OK, folks - keep your fingers crossed for Hope and Dax! They're at an Agility Trial today and tomorrow. Hope already called today, and Dax was mightily diverted during her Standard run, so that's done. But, her Jumpers run is this afternoon, and we're hoping that both Hope and Dax can focus! So send your good thoughts their way!

It's a gorgeous day

2009-04-17T09:29:00.001-07:00

Finally! It's about 70 degrees today in Chicagoland and it's sunny! It's finally spring! We deserve it, after weeks and months of below-normal temperatures, nasty storms, feet of snow and then floods - it's great to have a really nice day to enjoy. It's Hope's day off today, so she'd better be playing outside with the dogs!

Not my day

2009-04-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

I don't know where my brain is lately. Our garage door opener busted and I called the repair company to come fix it. We made the appointment for today. The guy on the phone said "10 to 12." So I got there at 11:30, plenty of time to spare, and there was a message on my answering machine saying the repair guy was there at 10:30 and sorry he missed me. I called the place, enraged. And he burst out laughing because our appointment was between 10 and 12. It actually had occurred to me that 11:50 was a little precise for a service call. Sigh. We rescheduled.