Enough about me, now to the good stuff.
1. Noah finally had a chance to swim! I live a short drive from a local equestrian center with a big field and pond devoted to canines. We love this huge bark park, although Sherlock gets nervous around so many big dogs. It took no persuasion to get Noah to swim. He saw the other dogs swimming and jumped right in. His favorite thing to do is retrieve sticks from the water. He had a slightly scary incident where he was swimming back to shore and a large dog jumped in right next to him and sent him under the water. He was apprehensive about swimming again for about a month and a half, but in August, he overcame his fear and started swimming again. Poor Sherlock was sick of watching me throw the sticks just for Noah, and he leaped from the bank into the water. Boy was he shocked, but swimming definitely comes naturally to dogs because Sherlock started swimming right away and quickly came back to shore. He has not gone swimming again. Here is a recent picture of Sherlock at the bark park.
2. Noah turned 1 year old on October 8, 2008. We had a small birthday party for him and he ate steak for dinner! I can't believe how fast this year passed. It seems like just yesterday I was waiting for him to arrive. He has grown into such a wonderful dog and I couldn't be more pleased. His growth essentially stopped at around 7 months. He is a healthy 23lbs and 17.5" tall. Considerably larger than his parents who were 17lbs and 14lbs and both 14" tall. I might be biased, but Noah is one heck of a beautiful dog. We cannot go anywhere without someone inquiring about him. His color has faded slightly (most notably on his legs), but he has for the most part retained the rich red coloring. He really does look like a "moyen" poodle or teddy bear. Most people that pass by say, "hey, it's a teddy bear dog!" He has great muscle tone and presence. His bite is perfect. His vet cannot believe how beautiful Noah is. Sometimes I bring him to work and everybody loves him. He did have a scary September when he would vomit about once a week. I finally had a CBC test and urinalysis run to make sure things were ok. His lymphocyte count was high. I think I figured it out. He may have a lactose intolerance. I've stopped giving him diary, except what is already in his dog food. He has been fine since, but I will definitely have yearly wellness blood tests done on all of my dogs just to make sure things are in check.
3. Noah passed his therapy dog test on November 16, 2009 with Paws For People. He was 13 months old!!!! The PAWS Standards of Excellence test is very similar to the TDI test, minus the supervised separation. There are two levels. Basic and Advanced (behaviors carried out on first command). He passed the advanced level which I am very happy about because the dog needs to pass advanced in order to work with children. The director, who is an avid golden retriever fan and has two very beautiful golden retrievers, loved Noah. She wanted to keep him! Noah is very drawn to children and when I take him to the park, he prefers to stay with the children and sit next to them rather than playing with the other dogs. A month ago, we were at the local dog park. It was a beautiful day and the park was so crowded. Noah was excited to be there and greeted all of the dogs. After he got his sniffs in, he went around to the people that would humor him and pet him. After settling down, he started picking out all of the children at the park and walked up to them wagging his tail and giving kisses. There was a little girl sitting against the fence and Noah spotted her from across the park and went up to her and sat with her for a minute. It was such a beautiful sight. So it seems fitting that we are going to do the READ program at the local libraries. I also wanted to assist a physical therapist at an elder care facility because I am an athlete (or was) and have spent a lot of time doing PT due to sports injuries. My sister also tore her ACL TWICE!!!!, so I am very familiar with PT. We have our first supervised visit / training this Friday - wahoo!
4. Sherlock and I will FINALLY be able to start agility classes in the beginning of January. I wanted to start agility in the fall but between my work schedule and school, it was impossible to find the time. We met with the director of the Academy of Dog Training and he was so impressed with Sherlock's focus and intelligence. I know we will love agility. Even though Sherlock is small, he is so athletic and agile. Here is a photo of Sherlock leaping through the forest in my backyard.
5. A cute picture of Sherlock and Noah posing for their Christmas card.
6. Noah has become obsessed with chasing the squirrels in the backyard. My neighbor has a bird feeder where the squirrels congregate and Noah literally bursts out of the door trying to catch those pesky squirrels. Too bad I have a fenced in yard! Now that all of the leaves have fallen, I let the dogs run in the woods behind the fence since there is high visibility. They have lots of fun and Noah loves tracking those squirrels.
7. I finally found a dry dog food that BOTH of my dogs enjoy. After trying both raw and home-cooked, I realized how much food, and money, I was wasting. It got to the point where my dogs would actually snub cooked chicken. So, I decided to try a kibble diet. I tried all types of premium brands and finally found a winner: Orijen. This is the best food. It is the only kibble that Noah actually ate from my hand. Normally he will not accept kibble or will spit it out. He ran to the carpet and proceeded to roll on the kibble, and then he ate it. I cannot rave enough about this product. I currently rotate between Orijen original formula and 6 Fish, with a little bit of freeze-dried chicken, liver or tripe sprinkled on top of the kibble. Sherlock and Noah give this 4 paws up!
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