Maude, fetch!

After six months of playing fetch with ourselves, Maude is finally catching on to the whole concept of the game.  It's much more entertaining for all involved now :)

Here is a little glimpse into our lunch-hour play:

Maude's "Manners Class"

A couple weeks ago we started "Manners Class" with Maude and about seven other dogs, all ranging in size, age and temperament.  Maude is the youngest dog in the class; she's now going on 7 months!  

So far we've worked on loose-leash walking, sit, down, and stand.  It's all treat-based, so we feed Maude a reduced dinner before the class, knowing she's going to get about a bazillion treats.  Needless, to say, we think she enjoys herself.  We have six more classes to go.

Here is a little glimpse into last weeks' class:  

Maude's New Dog Bed

Maude's Christmas present from her grandparents in Germany finally arrived this week!  

Here is her old dog bed, which she quickly outgrew and we never officially replaced. In the meantime, she has been using our couch as her dog bed :)  

Maude can't wait to see what's inside!

Oh yeah.  This is comfy.

Now she gets to sleep on her new bed inside our bedroom.

Such a cozy space.  Thank you!

It has only taken a few nights for her to learn that her bed is her bed and our bed is our bed and we don't allow mixing.  Last night she slept all night on her own bed without jumping up onto our's once.

Maude likes to help with the dishes

Maude could be in a dead sleep in the other room and the second she hears us start to load the dishwasher, she suddenly appears to help with the pre-wash :)

Camping Cove Cabin weekend

Juneau is full of cabins out the road owned by the state or the forest service that you can rent pretty cheaply.  For super bowl weekend, we skipped the game and all electronics and went with our friend Jordan & Meredith and their dogs Spirit & Coby to Camping Cove cabin.

After a 3.75 mile hike to the cabin, Maude was excited to play ball by the water.

We played Cards Against Humanity by candle light and headlamps.

Maude & Brian enjoyed the views.

Maude & Spirit hanging out.

Maude has become a lot better at fetch lately.  She loves to chase the ball!

Beautiful sunshiny weekend.

This picture cracks me up; evidently Brian didn't get the memo about which way to look :)

Maude thinks camping is fun and exhausting.

Happy McFhergulsmas!

Our friends Aaron & Lindy recently asked us if we would host Aaron's not-birthday party.  He has Scottish heritage and instead of throwing a birthday party, he turns it into a Scottish festival of some sort.  A party to celebrate his birth, but without the birthday stuff.  We said "absolutely!" and here is a little glimpse into the evening:

Scottish drinking games

Scottish eggs

Caber toss

Everyone wore handmade-by-Lindy loin-cloth kilts

No "Happy Birthday" and instead "Auld Lang Syne"

 

An impromptu celtic dance lesson by our friend, Catharine who danced competitively in her childhood years.  Hilarious!

Brian had a few this night, which I think only helped in his Celtic dance lesson.

Maude's Contemplative Turf

Maude has a new spot in our yard where she just sits for extended lengths of time and watches the neighborhood.  She started doing this a couple weeks ago.  She literally just sits like this underneath the big tree in our front yard and watches things.  She doesn't bark when people or cars go by - she just takes things in :)