Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Well I thought I'd give an update on the new addition to our family. Dante is growing like a weed he is 10 lbs now. He is still as cute as a button. It has been over a week since he last had an accident in the house. He now goes to the back door and sits for about 15 seconds then he'll let out a little yip. You open the door and he runs out to do his business by himself now. Most times we watch out the window but sometimes we go back to watching TV and he will let out a couple barks to let you know he wants back in. We then wipe his paws and take him over to where the treats are. He has to sit patiently before he gets his treat.

We had tried a collar on him a couple times and he flips out like he is dying. We decided he had to get used to it so we left it on for 2 whole days and I tell you it wasn't easy to watch. He did nothing but lay on his side whining like he was dying. We had to carry him put to the yard and he'd lay in the grass and whine then get up go pee and flop down again. we just couldn't take it any longer so we took it off him. In a matter of seconds he was back to his young self again. Patty and I had gone out for a bit and stopped by Pet Smart. We were telling the girl that does the training and she said bring him by let her have a look.

We went home and got Dante and took him back to the store. We put his collar on him and a leash and the trainer dragged him around the store for a bit. Dante wouldn't even try and wouldn't eat a treat. Patty had suggested a few days earlier that we should try a harness. I thought harnesses went around the neck like a collar so didn't think it would work. We tried one on and although it wasn't perfect he at least walked now and then and just dragged his back end. He thinks it's punishment and hides away from it when he sees it. I took him for a walk over an hour yesterday morning and he would try to stop now and then but I just kept going making him follow. The good thing is there are lots of other dogs for him to meet on the trail and when we turned back he lead most of the way following the dog in front of us. I took him for a shorter walk in the afternoon but he seemed pretty tired so I had to pull more often. I'm taking him for another long walk later this afternoon and hopefully it goes well.

One funny note from Pet Smart was as we were walking towards the cashier to pay for our stuff someone came in with a big German Shepard. When Dante saw him he hit the floor so hard and was trying to sink himself into the floor to hide. It was too cute!!

As most of you probably heard we got at least a foot of snow last week in a 24 hour period. Dante loved it and he still wanted to go out to do his business and play. The snow is almost all gone because the day after we got it the temp went up to 10 and it started raining.

Here are a couple photos of Dante in the snow.






Back in November I got to go to an AFC MMA tournament. Corey Gower was fighting in it out of the M.E.T. gym under coach Josh Spong and Team Beef. Coming up the last weekend of March or first weekend in April Corey will be fighting again and this time his coach Josh will be fighting as well as one other team Beef member. I went to take photos of them last week because they need a shot for the poster. Corey now has a record of 2-0 in professional MMA and looks real good. I'm not just saying this but I've been ringside in 3 different events, 2 in which Corey has fought and you can just see there is something special there. I know Corey is going to do well and I know from talking to him that he loves fighting and wants to do this for quite a while. I hope I get to see most of his fights live and I will be there cheering him on taking hundreds of photos of him. I'm trying to save up to buy a new camera for his next fight. My camera is still ok but it's getting old in the digital world. There have been many advancements to make pictures under low lighting less grainy in higher iso's. I've got my eye on the Canon 7D

Here is a photo of most of Teem Beef

Saturday, January 01, 2011

First I want to wish everyone a Very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope you all had a very good Christmas this year. I know we did!!

Now for my first post of the New Year I have a bunch of photos from boxing day and the 27th that I took on our trip to Parksville to spend with Adam, Mary and Gwen. They stayed at a nice resort with an ocean view and we got to stay with them for a night. While there we got to hang out with Gwen while her mom and dad went skiing (or tried) and we went to the beach a big park and a horse and wagon ride. The photos may be a bit out of order but they are from 2 different cameras. It was a blast spending so much time with Gwen! She is so much fun and she loves having her picture taken as you can see, which is good for me because I kind of like taking pictures and have a camera to do it.

Speaking of that I had my second paying job taking photos for a local newspaper today. Before Christmas they hired me to take some shots at a local hockey game and today I was hired to shoot the Polar Bear dip in Cow. Bay. It was a lot of fun and they actually had to break up the ice on the bay so the people could get into the water. Was a minus 5 on the island this morning but nice and sunny.

Well Patty's off to her aunt's place and me and Dante are hanging out waiting for people to pay rent. Ben is the only one of us working today. Hes at the McDonalds @ Wal Mart and I'm sure it's going to be pretty quiet. Well that's all for now have a great day!!