the basement project

The Hubby and I have been talking about finishing the basement.
We've been talking about it since we moved in
a year and a half ago.

Hubby has finished the basements of all our previous houses.
He's a do-it-his-self kinda guy.

Paying someone to do something he can do himself would drive him crazy.
Or at least that's what he says.
I've never witnessed it.
He has ALWAYS done everything himself.

But with the amount of time he is working here in Chicago, he hasn't had the time.

And I was getting sick and tired of getting sent to my room.

That's what usually happened when the kids had friends over.
Trying to not be the hovering mom can feel like punishment sometimes.

So we decided to do a "temporary fix".

He painted the floor with that garage floor paint (with sprinkles- just like a party).
He hung painters drop cloths to separate the storage and workshop areas.
Then we unpacked all our old basement furniture and junk.


Notice on the left that Tony has taped a goal on one of the drop cloths.


We bought a used pool table off Craig's List.
and set out the old foosball table.

The only other thing we bought was a used mini fridge from the Hubbies work.

And now we've decided that this might not be so temporary.

It's sure is nice not having to worry about kids wrecking the basement you just spent thousands of dollars finishing.

We've had some experience with that too.

Like when one of them spilt a giant glass of chocolate milk all over the new carpet down stairs and "forget" to tell anyone (but somehow realized it was a good idea to move a chair over the spot to cover it). Then they do nothing about it until we all start to notice this horrible smell coming from the basement.

Anyhoo, everyone has been spending a lot of time down there.

Everyone, except Ace.

Ace still finds the kitty litter box to be full of treats that are too tempting to resist.

To him, this is just an unexplained torture.

Life is so unfair.

my new friends

Everyday I take Ace to the small park behind our house.
Right now it's our favorite place to play Frisbee.

For me, it's my favorite because it's so close.
For Ace, it's because he always has an audience.

He's kind of a show off when it comes to playing Frisbee.

The park is always busy with all kinds of pee-wee soccer, football and lacrosse practices.
And the siblings of all these pint sized athletes like to play on the play ground equipment.
They also like to watch Ace.

The louder they clap, the higher Ace will jump.
Sometimes he likes to catch the Frisbee and then circle the group of kids before he brings it back to me.
Like he's saying "yeah, I'm awesome!"

There are two very cute little girls that are always there.
They have long curly black hair and bright blue eyes.
They are twins.
Taylor and Riley.

Try as I might, I can't tell them apart.
I've spent weeks looking them over, talking with them, trying to find something to distinguish them from each other.
Last night I finally asked them
"Taylor?" I said.
"I'm RILEY!!" she corrected me with a roll of her eyes for the hundredth time.
"Riley, do people have a hard time telling you and Taylor apart?" I asked.
"No body can tell us apart," She said proudly with her cute little lisp. "even my mom and dad can't tell us apart."
"You're mom and dad can't tell you apart?!" I was amazed. I'd never heard of a mom and dad not being able to tell their own twins apart. "So how do they do it?" I asked, hoping for a clue so I could use the information for myself.

Riley started to pull at the collar of her sweatshirt "See. This is how they tell."
I looked closely at her neck "Oh, you have a birth mark or something?"
She looked at me like I was crazy "NO! Pink! I always wear pink and Taylor always wears Blue!" I look over at Taylor who was pulling down her sweatshirt to reveal a blue t shirt underneath.

A little later I asked them both how old they were.
"We're 4." they said. "How old are you?" they innocently asked.

I paused for a moment. This could be funny to let her guess. But the last time I let a 9 year old guess my age she guessed I was 79. That was when I was in my late 20's. Now a days it doesn't seem like it would be as funny anymore.

"Well, I'm 41." I said honestly.
Taylor (or maybe it was Riley) swallowed hard as her eyes got big. "Wow!! That's really old!!" she said with her little lisp that I didn't find so cute anymore.

"Well, not really." I said more for my own sake than hers.
"How old is your mommy?" I was thinking I could put age in a little bit of perspective for them.
"My mommy is 10!" said Taylor.
"Oh really?!" I said trying to hold in my laughter. "And how old did you think I was before I told you?"
"We thought you were 5!" they lisped in unison.

Did I mention how cute they are?

"My dog is an agility class flunkie"

Yes, it's true.

And I've been in mourning for the past month.
Not really. Just taking another blogging break.

So yes, Agility Class Number 3 was our last.
Ace was officially kicked out, banished, expelled....
or as the trainer tried to put it nicely in her email "not welcome back".

Class number 3 started the same as the last two.
Even with 2 separate hours of Frisbee chasing, Ace was a hyper mess going into the building.
He jumped and twisted on his leash, growling randomly at the other dogs.

We did "crate training" again for 20 or 25 minutes.
Ace had made a little progress but not much.
He spent most of his time pacing and watching the other dogs.

We then moved onto "the tunnel".
The trainer held our dogs while the owners went to the other side of the tunnel and called them through.
Ace was at the end of the line watching all the other take their turns.
He would jump and spin on his leash and then look back at me as if to say "let me go! I want to try!"

It was finally Ace's turn.
I handed him off to the trainer and went to the end of the tunnel.
Before I could even finish calling his name, Ace shot through the tunnel.
I reached to grab his collar and he immediately dodged to the left, just out of my reach.

Ace ran straight over to the German Sheppard puppy.
Remember how I told you about the puppy that barked non-stop from the beginning of class to the end?
I've also mentioned before that Ace doesn't like it when dogs bark. He avoids them at parks and on walks. I've noticed he looks at them at times like he's puzzled by them. He sits there and tilts his head to the side and then looks to me as if asking "why is he making so much noise?"

Anyhoo, Ace bolted over and attacked the barking German Sheppard puppy.

I ran over and grabbed Ace as fast as I could, pulling him off the now yelping puppy.
The puppy's owner was knocked down in the process.
The trainer was there by my side in an instant.
"You never told me your dog was violent!" she blurted out accusingly.
"He never has been!" I said.

After apologizing profusely and inspecting both dogs (no injuries)
Ace was banished off to the corner of the room to calm down.

I was shocked (and extremely embarrassed)!
"Ace! What is wrong with you?!!" I wanted to grab him and give him a good shake so he would snap out of this crazed dog guise.
He just continued to jump and pull on his leash with what seemed like "let's do it again! let's do it again! that was fun!" attitude.

The trainer allowed us to give it another try at the end of the class.
"Are you sure?" I asked while I watched the other owners step defensively in front of their dogs or literally pick them up in their arms.

Ace tried again to cut quickly and slip past me.
But there was no way that was going to happen again.

After apologizing one more time to the German Sheppard puppy owner, I went home defeated and exhausted.

The Hubby and I talked that evening.
I told him I didn't want to do the class anymore.
I didn't like the way Ace behaved when we were there.
I didn't trust Ace while we were there.
I'm not sure I trust Ace at all anymore.

I got up the next morning and decided to email the trainer and let her know we wouldn't be coming back.
But there was already an email for me in my inbox when I logged on.

She was very nice. She explained their "no violence policy".

I totally agreed with everything she said.
But it still sucked.
It's hard to explain.

Have you ever been ready to break up with someone? You're actually on your way to "end it". And then suddenly, out of no where, they dump you.

And now, all you feel is how bad you want that person back?

That's kinda how it felt.

She offered a couple "private instructions" to make up the difference in the money I spent.
And we did those.
And Ace was his normal self.
Perfectly behaved.

I figure, at least she knows that I'm not some irresponsible dog owner. One that never bothered to train her dog.

Ace continues to learn new tricks.
When a dog walks by our house, Ace sits quietly in the yard and watches them walk by.
When we pass a barking dog on our walks, Ace still looks at them like they are crazy but other than that seems to ignore them.

I have had him off leash to play Frisbee at the park by our house.
We always have an audience of clapping kids and a maybe a couple of adults with dogs here and there.
Ace ignores them all. He is completely focused on his "job".

My reasoning for the classes in the first place, was to give Ace some physical and mental outlets.
I'll just have to do something different.

Just so this post isn't a complete "downer" I thought I'd share this video my cousin, Kristin sent me.

This will never be Ace.....and I'm okay with that.

what a dud

Well, I've been putting off writing this blog because there really isn't much to say.

I've looked at last Monday's class from every possible angle to find some kind of humor in it...

but I've got nothin!

Ace was still his hyper self.

The hot dogs and cheese helped him focus a little more on me and my commands but not much.

We spent the first HALF of the class focusing on "crate games" again, which Ace refused to participate in.

He still wouldn't go anywhere near his crate.

The trainer told us not to push him.

She suggested maybe we try to lure him with treats to sit next to the crate.

So we spent the next 15 minutes trying that.

With little success.

The trainer then asked if the person and dog next to us could borrow our crate because hers was a little to small for her dog.

So we let her.

I thought for a moment it might be like when my kids were little...

You know, when your kid has no interest in that one toy until you're in the middle of a play date with that friend who seems like "super mom"--she has the best behaved kids and always seems to say the right thing-- and her kid picks up that one toy and now your kid wants it like nothing he's ever wanted before and is throwing the temper tantrum of a life time just to embarrass you to high heaven...

But no.

Not Ace.

He didn't seem to care that much.

He actually jut sat there and watched the other dog sitting locked in his crate.

I swear Ace had a look on his face like he was thinking "SUCKER!"

So, after another 15 minutes of just sitting there, we finally moved on to our next exercise.

This one the trainer holds the dog and the owner runs off calling the dog.

The dog is supposed to chase after his owner and we grab them.

Something to do with safety.

I've never had issues with Ace not coming to me.

You can imagine his excitement after just spending 30 minutes "sitting" while having massive doggie stimulus coming at him the entire time.

The trainer held Ace and I think I took about five paces and Ace was on me.

He jumped up as I bent over to grab his collar and he hit me right in the upper lip.

So now I'm bleeding.

And I'm trying to hide it while I get back in line.

Luckily, the quick swelling stanched the bleeding.

Now I just have a big fat lip.

I'm thinking maybe smiling would make it less obvious.

So that's what I did.

The trainer probably thought I was having a great time because I stood there with a stupid smile on my face.

We did a few more exercises.

None of which Ace "wowed" at.

(excuse my grammar).

So that was about it.

Nothing exciting to report.

Sorry.

This is how I found Ace the next morning....

Agility class round 2...the plan of action

Ace has his second agility class tonight.

If you missed the horrible play by play of the first one click here.

I'm feeling a little better about tonight.

Mostly, thanks to all your supportive comments on here and facebook.

But also, because I have a plan of action.

I think it's a pretty good plan.

#1. Three rounds of Frisbee today followed by a long swim in the dog pond.

#2. Coating myself with many layers of bug spray (going extra strength with lots of Deet).

#3. Packing "extra special" treats for Ace which are...

*pieces of hot dog (He loves them but they usually upset his stomach...but I am willing to pay the price of disgusting doggie doo-doo duty the next couple of days to achieve complete attention from Ace).

*also piece of cheese (thinking it might counter act the hot dog laxative affect)

#4. Considering rubbing hot dog juice from the package all over my body.

#5. Bringing Tony with me to help. He will be in charge of treat handling and poo clean up (he just doesn't know this yet)

Wish me luck.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Ace's first agility class

Ace had his first agility class on Monday.

I was super excited.

I was sure it was gonna be great.

It wasn't.

Actually, it was pretty awful.

Knowing Ace's level of "hyper-ness", I decided he would have his normal exercise, plus a little extra for the day. I hoped this would tire him out and he would be calm for instruction.

I underestimated the amount of exercise he should have to keep him from getting over excited when he entered a huge pole barn full of dog agility obstacles, 6 other puppies (one who constantly barked the entire time), and fine grey sand-gravel loaded with doggie smells.

I'm pretty sure I could have ran him for 12 hours straight and he still would have acted the same. Which was like he had never been on a leash before and had never heard a command in his life.

He pulled me around the building to investigate everything, jumping and twisting when I tried to correct him.

He seemed to forget that I even existed. This from a dog who stares at me constantly and won't leave my side, ever.

The instructor could obviously see me struggling.

"Let him smell around" she said.

Like I had a choice.

There were so many things in that building, not only set up, but hundreds of things leaning against the walls, it would have taken Ace days to smell them all.

He kept lifting his leg to mark and I kept yanking his leash and saying "no". I was pretty sure that wasn't allowed.

The trainer finally called us all in.

There was a collection of chairs set up at one end and some of the other dog owners were sitting there with their puppies sitting or laying quietly at their feet.

There was no way Ace would do that. He was still jumping and spinning trying to get away. I ended up standing next to the training while she addressed the class.

She talked (what little I remember of it) about rules and such.

Then Ace took a big poo in front of the whole class. (yes, I did take him potty before!)

"Perfect timing for me to talk about puppy clean up" she said. I still felt like an idiot while everyone watched me try to open a poo bag, bend over to pick it up, all the while Ace jumped and twisted like a crazy animal.

Then we went around the room and did introductions.

That's when I noticed that Ace was by far the oldest puppy there. Most of the puppies were 12-15 weeks old. The closest to Ace was 6 months (he was the one sitting perfectly at his owners feet).

For a quick moment thought "Ace is too old for this class". I had emailed with the trainer back and forth. Telling her Ace's age and the classes he had attended. I would realize how stupid that thought was by end of the first instruction.

It was my turn to introduce Ace.

"This is Ace. He's one year old and he's a Border Collie." I said while Ace continued to flop around on his leash like a fish on a hook.

"And you got him from a rescue?" the trainer seemed to be leading me somewhere.

"No....from a breeder...." I said a little confused.

My mind immediately thought "it's the 'Chicago thing'-- like I see at all the dog parks. Everyone seems to get their dogs from a rescue." I'm feeling like I'm being judged again because I paid money for a full breed dog.

Until she asks "how many weeks have you had him?"

"Since he was six weeks old" I answer.

"Did you realize what you were getting into when you decided on that breed?" she asks.

"yes...." I'm really confused now.

She didn't ask all these questions to everyone else....

And it hits me like a tons of bricks.

She thinks because Ace is acting like insane-crazy-never-been-on-a-leash-absolutely-no-training-dog, I must have just got him.

Or that I'm an idiot.

I'm leaning toward the later.

"Do you provide a channel for all that energy?" She asks.

Now I'm a little offended.

"Yes, if you call an average of two hours a day of exercise at either the dog park, playing Frisbee, or walking a channel." I say.

I want to tell the class that most days people compliment me on how well Ace is trained.

That he knows sit, stay, heel, wait, leave it, go left, go right, to name a few.

That he will walk off leash around my neighborhood and I don't worry about him running into the road because he will do what I say...even if a bike or a bunny goes by.

That he knows the names of tons of toys.

That he can operate the electric windows in my car.

That he knows which way I'm going to throw the ball by just the turn of my shoulders or by a small point.

That he can perfectly time and catch a Frisbee flying at all speeds and angles (which is my excuse for continuing to throw a Frisbee like I've never seen one before....it better training for Ace's catching skills).

But I don't say anything.

I'm sweating now, covered by doggie drool and a layer of that fine grey gravel dust.

And I notice that I am being attacked by mosquitoes.

There's probably only a dozen mosquitoes in this well kept barn but for some reason they always find me.

"Time for a potty break" the trainer announces.

Guess who won't go?

I'm pretty sure Ace is saving up.

He's already figured out what obstacles he plans on marking.

I'm losing patience at this point along with about a quart of blood to the mosquitoes.

"Go potty Ace!" I command.

He gives me that look.

You know the "make me" look.

And I would have if I didn't start worrying about my hemoglobin level.

Instead, I tell him "if you so much as lift a leg inside....so help me Ace!!"

And we head back inside.

The trainer tells us we will be watching a video on "crate games".

We are all supposed to sit in the chairs and watch the video.

Everyone settles in.

Except Ace.

He has decided he wants to play with the 6 month old super-well-behaved-I'm-perfect-puppy.

Ace crouches head down, rump up and gives him the Border Collie stare.

Nothing.

The puppy won't even acknowledge Ace.

Ace wags his tail a little and gives a playful little yip.

The puppy eyes are on his owner, sitting perfectly waiting for the next command.

Ace tries again this time he moves a little forward and puts a paw on the puppy's hind leg.

This time he gets a response.

Only it's not from the puppy, it's the owner giving me a dirty look.

I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at her.

Mostly because Ace has decided to find other well behaved dogs to bother.

Needless to say, I have no idea what the video said.

We were directed over to our crates. The only time we use our crate at home is for when we leave Ace. He will go in his crate occasionally to take a nap on his own or to stow a toy. And just in the past couple weeks we have been leaving him out of the crate when we go somewhere.

The trainer tells us to put our dogs in their crates.

Ace immediately sits and refuses to budge. Nothing I can do will get him in there. He won't follow a treat in there. Not even his Frisbee.

I'm at the end of the line of crates and by the time the trainer gets to me all the other puppies are going in and out of their crates and playing their "crate games".

Ace has his heels dug in.

The trainer tries all the things that I have already tried. She then tells me to pick him up and put him in.

Imagine trying to put a cat in a bucket of water. Ace wiggled and arched his back. He flailed all four legs out. After a couple of failed attempts of trying to shove an insane shaped dog into a well behaved shaped dog sized hole, the trainer says "stop".

"What have you done to him? Have you been using his crate as punishment?" she says in an accusing tone.

"No! Never! The only time we use it is for when we leave him. He probably thinks I'm going to leave him here!" I say while wiping the grey muddy sweat off my face.

"Well, I've never seen a dog so upset!" she says in her I-don't-believe-you tone. "You'll have to work on this at home!"

Yeah sure. whatever.

We did a few more "exercises" that all made me look equally as horrible as a negligent dog owner.

I went home exhausted, dirty and defeated.

My only hope is that next week Ace adjusts to all the stimuli and "wow's" them all.

But I won't be holding my breath.

Do I have bugs in my teeth?

Ace has lots of behaviors that I would call "quirky".

As he gets older he seems to get "quirkier" (is that a word?)

I'm beginning to think I could fill a book on his "quirkiness"

I know it's a Border Collie thing...

or at least I think it is.

I don't have that much experience with dogs.

Take riding in the car for example.

Ace loves riding in the car.

Yeah, I know, most dogs do.

It's what he does when he's in the car that is "quirky".

Most of the dogs I see in cars are either sitting there calmly

or they have their head hanging out the window.

Not Ace.

If the windows are closed, Ace paces.

In the backseat.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

you get the idea.

It's nonstop.

If I open both back windows (his favorite)

he sticks his head out for a minute

and then runs over to the other one and sticks his head out for a minute

and then runs back and forth, back and forth.

I thought that if I opened just one window he would stay and look out.

Nope, not Ace.

he will stick his head out the window for a second

then paces back to the unopened one.

And he goes back and forth over and over again.

The only way Ace will not pace is if we are on a two lane road where cars are speeding past us in the opposite direction.

He will stick his head out the window and chomp at the cars that rush by.

Like he's biting each one.

The more traffic the faster he chomps.

His attempt at "herding" cars?
I don't know, but it definitely brings lots of laughs to whoever is riding in my car.

Ace and the electric fence

This spring the Hubby and I installed an underground electric fence around our yard.

As I've said before, our yard is the size of a postage stamp but I wanted to be able to let Ace out and not have to stand outside with him while he does his "business".
It was a long, cold, brutal winter. Well, not really but when you're potty training a puppy it's miserable standing out in the snow.

We asked one of those name brand underground electric fence companies to come out and give us an estimate to put one around our yard.

It was thousands! We said no thanks. A friend told me how they installed their own so we decided to do it ourselves.


The Hubby did lots of research on line and picked one that suited our needs.
Installing it wasn't fun but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.


I carefully followed the directions to train Ace to the fence.
It only took once.
He got his first "correction" (the word electric fence manuals use that's supposed to sound more humane than the word "shock") and he never went anywhere near the fence (or anywhere near the treats I used to lure him to the fence) again.

Actually, that's not completely true.
He will go near the fence, for a good reason.

And there are two good reasons that live next door. Bob and Sue.

Ace loves Bob and Sue.
They give him wonderful treats.
They always stop to rub his belly.
They have a dog named Tucker that Ace loves too.

When either Bob or Sue comes by Ace chooses to get near the line of the fence.
But he does it in a curious way.
I always laugh when he does this and today I had my camera to catch Bob coming home from work.

first the tail starts going back and forth...

then he gets flat on his belly....


all four legs out to make himself as low as possible....

and he "army crawls"....

very slowly....

Bob thinks that Ace is trying to crawl under the fence.

almost there....

saying hello...

getting ready....

for the belly scratch!!

I love you Bob!

Ace's new trick

Something is going on with Ace.

I'm not sure what it is.

All of the sudden, it seems, he is a genius dog.

And I don't say that to brag.

It's just a little eerie.

He seems to be absorbing massive amounts of information.

You can see it in his eyes.

And preforming new tricks.

After just showing him once or twice.

Several tricks a day, in fact.

Even the commands he obeys while at the dog park amaze people.

Yesterday morning I picked up his paw and said "Hi-five Ace" and slapped his paw against my hand.

Then I put my hand up and said "Hi-five Ace" and he did it exactly like I showed him.

On the first try.

I was pretty amazed.

I had tried to teach him "shake" a while back.

He just looked at me like I was an idiot.

I shrugged, maybe "Hi-five" is cooler so he's willing to do it.

We practiced it a few more times.

Later that day, after I had showed everyone and their grandma Ace's new trick, Nae came home.

I thought she'd get a kick out of it.

"Watch this" I said all excited.

I knelt down in front of Ace.

"Hi-five" I commanded.

Ace just looked at me.

"Hi-five" I commanded again.

He continued to stare at me.

And I swear, all of the sudden, I saw impatience in those eyes.

Along with a little embarrassment and defiance.

Hey, I've had 4 teens, I know that look when I see it.

I sat there with my hand in the air "hanging" (yes, it's even awkward with a dog).

And Ace continued to stare at me.

Then he looked over at Nae.

Then back at me again with the same impatient-embarrassed-defiant look.

As if to say "Enough all ready! This is the lamest trick ever! How many times are you going to force me to do this? It's embarrassing!"

I'm sure if he could have rolled his eyes, he would have.

He never did preform "Hi-five" for Nae last night.

But he has done it for me today.


I'm pretty sure he is humoring me.
It was a pretty stupid trick after all.

a quick pizza puppy tale

I was told by a couple of my readers that they miss my Ace stories.

So here's a little puppy tale for you guys.

I'm still calling Ace a puppy.

He's not quiet 11 months now.

And I have to blame his escapades on puppyhood.

Otherwise, it's just bad training...which would be my fault.

Anyhoo, this escapade involves pizza.

One of the things my family really misses about kzoo is the pizza.

See, there is no cheap pizza around here.

And I'm cheap (there I said it).

When you have four kids who eat a ton, and usually have a friend or two over, who also eat a ton, feeding them pizza can make any wallet cringe.

Needless to say, since we moved here we haven't order pizza very often.

It has become a treat.

At this stage in our household everyone has different work schedules so most nights dinner is usually set out and you eat when you can (if there is any left when you get home).

It was a busy Friday night and everyone was coming and going. The Hubby and I were the first to eat and left to run some errands.

After that the story gets a little hazy.

No one wants to take the blame for being the last one home.

The last one home is supposed to put the food away and put Ace in his kennel.

And somehow that didn't happen.

When the Hubby and I got home we found empty pizza boxes. Some on the floor, some still on the counter. Along with greasy puppy foot prints every where.

And a very guiltily looking Ace.

Everyone was pretty mad. Especially me. I'm usually guaranteed leftovers since none of the kids like mushrooms on their pizza.

Not this time.

Ace was pretty thirsty that night and I grudgingly had to get up a couple times to give him water and let him out.

But what really made me mad was the next morning.

I'm sitting on the couch enjoying my morning cup of coffee when I hear Ace chewing on something.

I look over behind the coffee table and see Ace finishing up a piece of pepperoni and mushroom.

He doesn't notice me watching him because he reaches his nose under the chair and pulls out another piece.

And happily continues his picnic.

After searching the living room I found three separate "stashes" of pizza under chairs and couches. Most of which was the remainder of my pepperoni mushroom pizza.

Well, at least he know how to savor a good pizza.

ps...I just looked on google and saw that mushrooms are toxic to dogs....it's been a couple weeks, he should be okay...right?

another one of those "duh!!" moments with Ace

I admit, I make a lot of stupid mistakes with Ace.

Usually, it's something I decide to do without thinking it through completely.

And most of the time, I have some lovely image in mind of how things are going to go that are completely unrealistic.

Call me naive.

Like the time I thought it would be fun to take Ace to one of Tony's track meets.

I saw a lot of dogs at the first one that I went to.

In my mind I pictured Ace sitting there watching all the kids run around, Tony bringing his friends over to show off his cute dog. A nice, peaceful day sitting on the grass with Ace beside me, instead of him being locked in his kennel while I was away.

Problem is, Boarder Collies are herding dogs by instinct.

There happens to be a lot of kids "running around" at a track meet.

um. yeah.

It was like torture for Ace (and me as I struggled to restrain him).

Duh!

I could give you quite a few other examples, but I won't embarrass myself.

But I will tell you my "duh-moment" this weekend.

There was a dog show in town.

Nae went and saw it the day before and said a lot of people brought their dogs to watch.

I thought it might be fun to bring Ace.

This is what I pictured in my head.

Ace watching the show.

Taking notes.

Thinking to his doggie self~"hey! I bet I could do that!"

then we'd go home and he'd be eager to learn a bunch of new tricks.
(I'm kidding...please tell me you know I'm kidding)

There were lots of cool tricks....like this.

or this (look at the height on this one!)



Instead our time at the show was chaos.

The hubby fighting to hold him back (the picture doesn't do it justice)

I'm pretty sure Ace thought he was going to a new dog park and couldn't figure out why we wouldn't let him off leash so he could go play with the other dogs.

People were starting to look at us funny.

Ace was actually flipping in the air and twisting on his leach as he tried to get over there.

The Hubby did get him to settle for a few minutes and watch.

but this lasted just long enough to take a couple quick pics.

by the end we were all hot, sweaty, and exhausted.

I'll just add it to the list of my duh moments.

ok, so maybe he is smarter than I thought...

I've been trying to get Ace to swim.

The main reason?

I heard it's the best way to tire him out.

And my furniture legs will thank me.

The first day we went out I forgot my camera.

So these are pictures from our second attempt.

I found out that Ace has an amazing memory.

The first day we went out,

I got him in the water by throwing a stick out a little farther into the water each time.

There was a little "drop off" a few feet out where it got deep real quick.

We were having a great time when I threw the stick a little too far.

Ace went out after it and sank.

He swallowed a bunch on water and came out coughing and sputtering.

He wouldn't go back in anymore after that.

So here we are on day two.

He was a little hesitant to go in but finally did.

He has the stick on the first throw.

He did well for a few more throws but then

I threw it a little too far.

He says "Nope! Not gonna get it"



Turning around


and leaving it.

and giving me a dirty look for loosing his stick.
But then he did something that surprised me.

He got out of the river and watched the stick.
He noticed that it was blowing back toward shore.

So he ran up the side of the river to the next open area.
To see if it was going to be close enough.

He quickly calculated currents, wind speeds, and angles...
and choose the opening two places down.
um... yeah.


and he waited there.

and sure enough, here it comes.

He looked at me like this when he got out.

This isn't a look of pride "look-at-me!" look.

This is a "don't-you-ever-do-that-again!" look.

How do I know?

He wouldn't give it back.

and then he snuck up behind me while I was enjoying the view

and did this.

but it was worth it.

new dog park

Ace and I were home alone this weekend so we set out exploring Saturday morning.

We discovered another leash-free dog park.

This is the fourth dog park that I've found.

Chicago burbs do an amazing job with their parks but when it comes to dog parks they don't advertise about them.

They are kind of hard to find.

I've searched on-line and only found two (a couple of the ones I already knew of).

The best way to find them is by just talking to people.

After I found this place, I was so excited that the next time I was at the dog park near my house, I started telling people about it.

No one knew of it's existence.

So I will keep talking to people and seeing what other places we can find.

It's kinda like a treasure hunt.

This park that I wanted to show you today is definitely a treasure!

It doesn't look like much when you first walk in.

lots of trails and open spaces.

I need to remember to bring Ace's ball next time.

Lots of little hidden trails leading to secret places.

Ace loves to run and explore them.

and then you come over the hill and get a peak at the river.

This is where it get really fun. Ace can go into the water (he's still a little timid about that)Ace loves this fence and all the "dog smells"

It's a big loop with lots of trails going off in all different directions.

This is the view as you head back to the entrance.

But my favorite part is all the flowers and trees all along the paths.

The rest is just pictures I took along the trails for you to enjoy.

Have a happy spring day!