Mostly Wordless Wednesday

 (Kyle and Boo chowing down on their breakfasts.)

I'm fully convinced that speedy eating is an inherent Labrador gene. Boo may be half lab, but Kyle is full lab. That means Kyle is always the champion of the food-eating race. Boo is a strong second place contestant though.

*Don't forget to guess the gender, breed, color, and litter letter of the pup arriving next week.

Winter Wonderland

Utah might be snowy and cold, but it's downright toasty here compared to where my sister lives in Idaho. Kyle loves the snow, so he thought this was a great deal. In fact, he spent a good portion of the time we were in Idaho playing with Boo and Kasie in the snow.

(Boo, Kyle, and Kasie taking a break from a game of chase.)

For the most part, my sister's dog Boo doesn't like to play with Kyle. Instead, they play independently in the same yard. Thankfully, the neighbors' dog Kasie warmed up to Kyle after a few minutes, and they became fast friends.

I wanted Kyle to learn to be outside in a fenced yard without me, and having Kasie around helped him gain the confidence to do so. The first day, Kyle kept barking to come inside with the people, but by the end of our trip he was comfortable spending time out of my presence. Since I always had a fenced yard with my other GDB puppies and pets, it was funny to have to teach Kyle this skill.

(Kyle chasing Kasie across the yard.)

Kasie and Boo's favorite game is chasing squirrels up a tree. They'll spend hours on end watching their favorite squirrel spots. I was a bit worried that they would teach Kyle this game, but he never quite figured out what they were up to. I guess Kyle's retriever instincts with small animals aren't too strong. That's perfect for guide work, so I won't complain.

(Boo and Kasie are jumping at a squirrel in a tree while Kyle wanders away bored.)

Just because I can throw it in, here's a shot of my handsome boy in the snow. This picture really shows how much he is starting to look like an adult.

(Kyle standing in packed down snow.)

I'm not a fan of cold weather, so poor Kyle hasn't had his daily walks for awhile. However, with my sister Kassie and Boo as companions, we found the motivation to brave the weather. The walks were beautiful, but I have to admit that the pups had wet paws, and the humans had soggy shoes and pants by the end of each walk. That didn't keep us from venturing out again though. It's always more enjoyable to walk with company.

(Kyle and I venturing down one of the cleared sidewalks. Nice sidewalks are worth crossing the street!)

Finally, since we had a photographer with us, Kyle and I got a rare picture together. Venturing into the winter wonderland was worth it to give Kyle a weekend that he loved.

 (Kyle and I on the sidewalk in front of the snow.)

Furminator Rivisited

I started this blog the day my FURminator arrived in the mail. It was a silly place to begin a tale, but I was too excited to wait for a puppy before I began blogging about my adventures.

Now that Kyle has been with me for what feels like forever, I decided to post a review of our furminator as a followup to that post from long ago.

With Turk, Mesa, and all of my pets in the past, I've tried every type of brush imaginable to curb the immense amount of hair they loved to share with my home. Nothing worked to my liking. With that said, the FURminator passes all tests.

When I got Kyle, he didn't like the FURminator one bit. He tried to bite it while I was using it. It was weird. I used to put Kyle in his head collar while brushing him so that I could control him with one hand and brush him with the other.

(Kassie furminating Boo while I am furminating Kyle.)

Despite Kyle's negative initial reaction to the FURminator, I loved the results enough to recommend it to everyone I know. At this point, my sisters, my dad, my aunt, and several friends now own these useful brushes and happily use them to control their pet's shedding.

Somewhere along the line, Kyle learned to love the FURminator. Now he goes belly up to get some extra scratching from the brush whenever I pull it out. I've not encountered another dog with a negative reaction, so I'm guessing that Kyle's reaction was out of the ordinary.

These days, I notice a huge difference in the cleanliness of my car and home if I keep up with Kyle's furminating. When I slacked for a bit, I paid the price in vaccuming time. I'd much rather groom Kyle!

(Boo and Kyle showing off the fur they would have deposited all over if Kassie and I hadn't furminated them.)

I've convinced enough people offline to buy these handy brushes. If any online friends don't have a FURminator, I highly recommend getting one. However, here is the most important hint in this entire blog post--don't buy your furminator in a pet store. They are only $15 on ebay. I love a good bargain!

Idaho Falls Riverwalk

While Kyle and I had a great time at my friend's farm, we were excited to see my sisters and headed to Idaho Falls for the second half of our trip.

When Kyle and I pulled into Kassie's house, the first thing Kassie and I did was let Kyle and Boo meet. Boo is Kassie's almost six-year-old black lab/chow mix. It took about a minute for Boo to establish her dominance over Kyle, and then they were great friends the rest of our stay.

Since Kyle had just sat through another long car ride and Boo was stuck home while Kassie worked all day, we decided to lod up the dogs and head to the riverwalk downtown.

(Boo and Kyle sitting on the back seat with smiles on their faces and their tongues hanging out of their mouths.)

Kyle and I loved the riverwalk, and Kassie was willing to act as our photographer so we actually got quite a few pictures together.

(Kyle and I sitting in front of a spillway on the river.)

(Kyle and I sitting in front of the river.)

It sure felt good to stretch our legs after half a day in the car. Because Boo isn't a service dog, she got to run around on the trail sniffing everything and chasing geese. I was so proud of Kyle. He didn't let working alongside Boo distract him in the slightest and walked on a nice loose leash with his head held high the entire time.

(At one point we got another family to take a picture of Kassie, Boo, Kyle and me in front of one of the spillways.)

The riverwalk was a perfect evening outing. Next time we visit Kassie, we'll have to make a return trip to the river.