Reilly, age 14. 

What do Halloween and Heart Dogs have in common?  A little after midnight 19 years ago our Lab, Chessie, began having puppies.  When all was said and done there were 12 black lab puppies in the whelping box.  As the puppies grew one kept catching our eye.  He just seemed a bit different than the rest, even his black color was not the same raven black, he was more a chocolate black.  Of course you have figured out we ended up keeping him and his name became Reilly, more specifically he was “Chessie’s Life O’Reilly”. 

 Reilly wasn’t the most classic looking Labrador but he added a lot of titles to his name in obedience and agility.  Most important he was my “co-pilot” almost any time I went anywhere in the car except to work.  He and I literally travelled all over the country competing at Labrador Specialties (several nationals) and all breed shows. He was so well behaved he was welcomed anywhere we went.  One year he and I flew to California to the National and then stayed an extra week with friends.   When we flew back in late October it was 80 when we left San Francisco and it was snowing hard when we landed in Milwaukee.  I was a bit concerned about how he did on the flight as he was 9 years old and the last part of the flight was turbulent due to the storm.  As I exited the plane, the pilot said “I know your dog is fine, I heard him barking down in the baggage compartment for the last part of the flight”, a relief to me.

I’ve had other Labs before, during and after Reilly but he was the one in a million, my “heart dog” and I will never forget him.  Happy Birthday, Ri Ri, as always I’m thinking of you today. 

U-CD, U-AGII Chessie’s Life O’Reilly UD, NA, 10/31/88 to 12/16/03. 

Sunday, October 28th, 2007 

Yesterday the donkeys had some grazing time in the agility area (my classes are indoors now due to no light in the evenings). They can only have about 2 to 4 hours of grass per day as they are very “easy keepers” and grass goes right to their waists and crests (the top of their neck stores fat) just like frozen custard goes to my waist!  So my husband put them in their paddock after a couple of hours and never noticed the brand new gouges in my a-frame.  

Soooo, it appears that one or two of the younger donkeys decided to try climbing the a-frame and succeeded as the gouges went over the top and down the next side!   Did I mention I just repainted all of my agility equipment 3 weeks ago??  Fortunately it was sunny and 50s today so the paint cans came back out and I touched up the gouges as best as I could.  As Kent said — wish we had security cameras in the barnyard so we could see how they managed to climb it!

Saturday, October 27th, 2007

Since I’m always posting news on the top of my web page I decided it’s time that I join the modern world and start a blog!

I can’t promise how much I’ll write but I have to start somewhere!

It’s been a beautiful fall day here in WI — mid 50s and sunny which for late October is not bad although the 80s of a couple of weeks ago were much better as far as I am concerned. The leaves haven’t even all turned and I’ve still got some tomatoes growing and pumpkins that aren’t all orange. And great news, the Badgers won against Indiana today!

I was fortunate enough to have time to ride my horse, Nick, this afternoon. He was a bit frisky with the cooler temperatures but we had a nice ride around the neighbor’s hay field. Hope to ride again tomorrow.
Well, off to feed the dogs….