Where's Rugby?

Can you find Rugby in this group of Applewoods dogs? 

How about in the Saturday Morning Retrieve Class? 

I'll give you a hint - he is the cutest one of the bunch. At least I think so. :-p

Still not Clean

Poor Rugby had an ear infection when we came back from the National Specialty a few weeks ago. The vet gave him some medicine to make him feel better, but it made his ears really greasy.  Friday, the 20th was the last day of his ear medication and it was also bath day. Those clean fresh ears didn't last long with just that one final day of treatment and they have been greasy ever since.  I feel really guilty for taking pictures of him with his nasty ears... even if he does look cute waiting with Diesel for his turn to work.

 I planned to re-bathe Rugby on Monday, which turned into Tuesday, then Wednesday, and now it is Saturday. I can't put it off any longer and today he will be nice and clean again just in time for the Sunday trial.

Make Yourself at Home

Dear Rugby, 

     Don't mind that dog training class of yours. Just relax and wait for your turn to work. And yes... I will rub your belly for you.

The Festival

The American Legion had a Celebration for Armed Forces Day this past weekend. Since the Legion is right down the street from Applewoods, we found some time in between lessons and classes to sneak down and join the festivities with them.

Rugby was accompanied by Caruso and Sandy.

They saw the car show...


They saw the bikes...


They enjoyed the shade of the vendors' tents...


They drank out of a WWII helmet...


They resisted the temptation of all the stuffed animals...


They also did a good job of showing off Applewoods...


On the way back, I took Caruso and Rugby up the overpass. All the dogs get a kick out of it, and these two were no exception.
 

It was a good day, and another great way to celebrate Rugby's birthday!

The Party

What better way to celebrate Rugby's birthday than to take a trip to the park with Brandy? After our warm up with directed jumping, gloves, gloves and more gloves Rugby and Brandy both helped to bring back the arrows down by the archery range.

  

When everything was all cleaned up, he raced me to the nearest trail so he could go exploring.

Just off the trail was a lake, or what was left of it since most of the water down at that end had dried up. The two of them took turns running around, and Rugby went first. He got so excited to see the sand and water that he shot across the little creek. He didn't realize just how deep it got though, and he had to swim to get across!

That was the first time he voluntarily went swimming. Usually, he tries to stay where he can still stand. Once he did it the first time though, he didn't have a problem crossing again.

Of course, they both had to run around like crazy to dry off too.

 

I am not sure what happened to the cute, clean and dry dogs we had but we took pictures of these wet nasty things together. :-p This was the second stump we tried for. The first one was closer to the side of the lake and surrounded by MUD (as seen on Rugby's feet).

Another dunk in the lake cleaned his feel off, but not well enough to get all the sand out of his fur. Phew, dirty dogs!

The Big Three

Happy 3rd Birthday, Rugby!

This picture is actually from Brandy's birthday (the dog all the way on the left). Rugby has to postpone his birthday celebrations until after finals are over. This weekend though - its party time! 

One out of a Hundred.

I the process of earning is Utility Dog title, Rugby got a single OTCH point out of the Open B class (just 99 more points and a couple wins to go!). With that one point, he has qualified to attend the National Obedience Invitational this year. He is the third ever Maltese to qualify.

I love my dog.