Bailey and I are now a certified animal assisted therapy team!
 
We passed the test last night and despite having had a long day with lots going on, Bailey did a great job!
 
Thanks to Lisa and Claire with Comunity Canines for everything they had to teach us and for making it fun along the way!

Everytime we go to a doggy festival, I'm reminded of just how great Bailey is and how proud he does me. We went with Kelli, Bonham and Kenzie to 'The Dog Days of Summer' hosted by 106.7 yesterday at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree and boy did it turn out to be a hot summer day.
 
The festival was held out in a back parking lot, they provided a drink station with fresh water and drinking bowls, as well as a potty area which were all very great and thoughtful. Unfortunately, even with the water for him to drink, it was getting a bit too hot for Bailey so we couldn't stay the whole time and missed the Police K-9 demonstration. Perhaps next time they'll have doggy wading pools as well!
 
The pups got so spoiled and loved on with lots of petting and treats being handed out to them, and they all got to share a couple hot dogs and a burger (minus the buns and condiments!) for lunch. Spoiled, I tell you!

Bailey had his first sleepover this weekend just past while we were away up in Bar Harbor, ME. He had a great time, got to spend a day with his buddies Bonham and Kenzie, and even met his first kitty since he was a little puppy! I'm glad to report that they got along fantastically!
 
Bar Harbor is very doggy friendly, but unfortunately our hotel is not so much. We brought Bailey a cookie home but he was so exhausted, and he is a lab, so I don't think he truly appreciated it and just gobbled the whole thing down!

Well I finally got caught up on editing some photos I took down at Island Grove in early March.
You can view all of them here!

You'd think that after days of travel and play and all the excitement, that Bailey would have been content to just chill out for the day, but nooo. Right after breakfast he's ready and raring to go again, so off down to Island Grove we go for our morning play time and swim.
 
As we're walking along the trails, Stella flushed a duck out of the bushes and flapping madly through the water to get away. Stella just stood on the banks watching it, however Bailey got it in his head that he'd like a tasty duck dinner for supper tonight and raced into the water in hot pursuit.
 
He swam 3/4 of the way across the pond (and it's a sizeable stretch of water) before changing his mind and remembering that I put together a pretty good feast for him for a lot less effort twice a day, ever day.

Bailey and I travelled all the way to Wantage, NJ this weekend for the Northeast Labfest 2009. We had lots of fun, and this was Bailey's first holiday away from home, and the first weekend he's spent entirely out of his crate. He was very well behaved (probably because he was too tired to get into any trouble ). The pictures are now all here! Do you think he had fun?

 

To becoming therapy certified! *cheer*
 
We passed our temperament test today with flying colors and start a 12 week course on April 2nd. It'll be every Thursday night from 6-8pm so we're going to be kept busy with that.
 
Kenzie and Kelli also passed, so the four of us will be going through training together (as well as driving back and forth all the way down to RI every week during the course)!

Hubby went to bed last night thinking that I'd closed the door on Bailey's crate, and I went to bed thinking he'd closed the door on Bailey's crate. You can see where this is going, right? Twice before we've forgotten to lock the door, and both times Bobo has been perfectly behaved, snoozing downstairs and oh so happy to see us when we came down in the morning.
 
Not this time. I wake up hearing a 'thump' 'thump' at the bedroom door around 8am (ok, so I totally slept in this morning), and open the door to find Bailey there wagging his tail like crazy and looking awfully proud of himself. Behind him is strewn a trail of socks and laundry leading downstairs into the living room to where a beanie baby kitty cat has had his poor nose and ears chewed off.
 
You are not helping your case that you can be trusted to be left alone outside of your crate Bailey boy, and now I am left hoping it's the sock monster that ate the mates of two lonely mis-matched socks and not you!
 

Bailey had his 1st birthday this last Saturday. He was actually born 02/29/2008 according to his records, so he's a leap year puppy. I spoiled him and his best friends Bonham and Kenzie with meatloaf cupcakes, complete with cream cheese and peanut butter for frosting.

I'd like to say that there'll be more here, or updated on a reasonably frequent basis, but the truth of it is, like so many others, my time is limited and given a choice between sitting here working on this site, or getting out for a couple hours with my dog, well I'm going to choose the latter, if only because he won't give me the time to myself if I don't give him his time first! ;) That being said, all I can promise is that I'll try, and the gallery will get updated more than anything else.