On to 2013

Our holidays are over for now.  I realized I really do love Christmas and New Year's because we have so much time together at home.  John had two long 4 day weekends, and of course the kids were off school.  I didn't have the little 3 year old - so we were all on a vacation.  We went out to eat, watched football, parades, boot skated, went sledding, went swimming (inside of course), had movie night, ordered pizza, etc.  Oh, and had fun with all the new toys and presents. 

Now everyone is back at school and work - except for me...."Pebbles" doesn't come back here til Friday.  So I guess I have a couple days to get caught up on my work too. 

Hans went to puppy play time last night at the pet store.  We finish up one puppy class tomorrow at noon, and start a new one with a different instructor tomorrow night.  It's this "new" trainer who runs the play time.  The two trainer are VERY different.  They both have things I like about them and things I don't like so much.  I spose that's why I'm trying to see as many trainers as possible - different philosophies.  Anyway - this new trainer refers to Hans as "the one you have to watch out for"....meaning he's the trouble maker who goes after the other puppies too aggressively.  He is certainly not that way with people - but I do see it with the other puppies.  He just won't let up on them most of the time.  This results in the trainer grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and pushing him down into submission on the floor...while saying "Not in MY house!  You aren't gonna get away with that here!  You're in puppy jail!"  The first couple of times - ok, it was funny.  But last night she had to grab him like 5-6 times....either because he was growling too much, humping some other puppy, or had hold of an ear.  The other trainer would never dream of pushing down a dog into submission.  Her tool of choice was a squirt bottle - which seemed to work well on Hans. 

I think I'm probably just being overly sensitive about it because the other people there didn't seem to mind that Hans got put in "jail" - it's not like people are staying away from play time because of Hans - more the opposite.  People are striking up conversations with me trying to schedule times we can both be at play time.  I guess it's more of the grass is always greener type of thing. 

Also - I've decided that it's mostly my fault because I take him to these darn classes and play times just after he's woken up thinking - Oh, he'll go and get some good exercise at play time/class time.  I SHOULD be taking him for a long walk BEFORE we go so that he can get rid of some excess energy first.  Duh. 

Here's some fun pictures from our holiday fun!

 

Katie and Hans having a staring contest.

 

The kids building cars with Will's new kit. 

FYI - the wheels roll amazingly well, and make for really smooth rides!

 

 

On the pond in our backyard.  Neighbors have been shoveling the snow, and taking care of the ice so that the kids can skate.  They have chairs set up, a portable fire pit, lights, hockey sticks, pucks, and 2 goals all set up!  We don't have ice skates - so I'm in search of some used ones this week.

 

Will really liked slapping the puck around!