[ Post a Response | Ripley's Retreat ]
Posted by The Red Queen on 1/2/2009, 12:25 am
It's been a crazy year...Rip went through a lot of trauma from a broken absessed tooth, to a random bloody nose...ugh. He turned 11 this Sept. He's feeling his oats though...loving the fenced in backyard. He stays out there for hours at a time, just watching the neighbors and birds. He's enjoying his retirement from sports...just coming out occasionally to run a bit at flyball practice or to do an agility run to show the youngsters how it's done. He also still does therapy work.
Crazy Rip: (digging on the futon, a favorite pastime) 
Fuzzy bear 
Xander is depressed right now, due to his torn ACL. Ugh. He can't do all of the things he loves, but he's so good and patient...at least he's easy to deal with. He can't even do therapy work with his bum leg...so he's not having a good time. But most of 2008 was good for him...lots of flyball, and fun. He turns 8 in March. Wow...times flies. Some pics from earlier in the year:
Teaching class for developmentally disabled adults (pet care class)...well, he helped teach... 
Doing what he loves 
Inara has been a very good girl lately...making friends all of the time, mellowing out, and generally being good. Amazing. Still amazing. She helps teach every puppy that comes through the house (seriously)...and is so good to everyone. She turned 5 in September.
Teaching Bryce about calming signals 
Sawyer is loving life as a Service Dog...he works for John, sleeps on the couch all day with John, does everything and anything with John. Won't play outside with the others...UNLESS John is outside too. He's happy as a clam. Loves me still because I feed him. 
He turns 4 in 14 days!
In Baltimore last weekend 
Went and voted with John (first time for John!) 
Sawyer also has his own blog now...
http://servicedogsawyer.blogspot.com/
Score is just the best guy in the world, second only to Xander. He's grown into a lovely boy...I can't believe he'll be two next month! He is a breed ambassador for bully breeds (he's been to two colleges now and numerous other places...) and is a favorite of everyone who meets him. He's like Harding and Elwood rolled into one package. He's making a name for himself on the flyball circuit...turning in 4.1 second times with a awesome box turn.
Score n' Fry 
Fry is the new photogenic kitten...5 months old and a handful! Rescued from under a friend's deck right after he was born (she still has his mom)...I adopted him at 7 weeks old. He's fantastic. 
Dove was a puppy in training that spent a few months with us...my little Dovelet. Field spaniel pup 
Summer came next...a dog in training (Service) that eventually washed due to her prey drive. She got adopted by a young guy who is a volunteer firefighter...he's training her for SAR. 
Bryce has been here for the past two months...he's finally moving on to his puppy raiser tomorrow.
From this: 
To this: 
And there are still critters galore...three degus, four rats, two guinea pigs and two bunnies
I adopted two elderly female rats from the Petco "rescue" table this past spring...one is partially paralyzed (Magrat) so I had to adapt her cage so her legs don't slide through the bars. Her partner in crime, Pi, does just fine and runs on her squeaky wheel all night. 
Responses:
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