There was a search on Monday of this week and I didn't get to go AGAIN. I really do want to be helpful and if Vickie would just get her act together I am sure I could be certified by now. This was for a lady who had been missing since Saturday afternoon. Tucker and Murhpy headed up to help out and I stayed home. AGAIN

Luckily she was found ok. She had traveled many miles in the back country of the Uintahs. It was up by Bald Mountain and Murphy and Tucker got to climb Bald Mountain and search all the trails up there.




















I bet it was just beautiful. They said the flowers were everywhere and the weather was perfect for searching. I am glad the lady is ok, but WHEN IS IT MY TURN?

I gave Vickie my saddest, forlorn look for two days.

It must have worked because today Erin came over and they set up a really hard problem for me.

Erin left 1/4 mile track for me, over grass, and cement, tar roads and other challenges and I was so excited to show them both that I COULD DO IT.

AND I DID, I was very impressive. So now maybe Vickie will get moving and get me certified.

Thanks Erin for helping me show her how good I can be......

Earlier in the week (while the others were out searching) Vickie Jamie and I went camping. We only get to go overnight. We leave after the Kennel Closes. (Judy sleeps over so the other dogs are not left alone) Then we spend the evening and the night just enjoying the peace, quiet and beauty. This time I got to meet two baby deer. Well, I got to watch them. Vickie wouldn't let me out of the truck to go play with them....Yep, you heard it....the truck.

No ATV. I loved it and so did Jamie. We went to three or four lakes, hiked around them that night, played ball in the open meadows and swam until it got too cold. Very cool.

Back at the kennel, we have had several pretty fun guests. Like Aron. He has a bigger face than me. They call him a rotty. Does that mean he is rotton, cause I don't think he is rotton, I kind of like him. He has to stay in the house with us because he eats the kennels, but when he is in the house he behaves wonderfully. The house is pretty crowded these days.

Vickie is loosing her patience more often but I guess it is because the house is really small and there are seven of us big dogs and two little ones. I think I am even a little moody because it is so crowded but Vickie says it will be better after this weekend when the other big house guests all go home.

John came this weekend and helped clean things up. He trimmed trees and put in new dogs doors. I like him, he even still likes me after I snapped at his dog Trigger the other day. But you have to understand, I only did it because food was involved......

This little gal got kicked in the eye with a horse. Vickie told me to "Take a good look. That is what happens when you ignore me." Then she said, "A horse kicks really hard, but a moose probably will kill you if you don't listen to me when we are hiking." I am sure she is trying to warn me of something by the way she says it, but I have yet to figure out what she means.

One day over the weekend we had seven black dogs. Seven....can you imagine. I got confused who I was trying to play with. I mean they all look alike to me.

Here is Aras. He is retired from working in the Service. Not sure what that means either but I think he was protecting our country. If that is the case then I would salute him if I could cause we love our soldiers.....

Well I guess that is all for today.

Love ya

Bert

Vickie has been doing a lot of stuff without me lately. Then she has the nerve to come home and tell me all about the things I have missed.

Like the other day, my buddy Corbin came down. Vickie ran right up to grandma's house to visit with him and his parents, thinking nothing of the fact that I LOVE CORBON and want to play with him.


















I remember how much fun he was when I was just a puppy. We spent an hour one day playing in the fountain out front. Corbon and I laughed and got all wet and he even drank some of my water out of the fountain too. Of course everyone was all....."no corbon no, don't drink that" but it was way too late to stop him by then.

KC got to spend the day with him and not me. I just don't get that. Then I see these pictures of KC getting treats, going for a walk, and all kinds of other things with Corbon. It just isn't fair.


















So then she goes up to "The Ranch" without me too. I recognize she is probably still a little upset about the ATV episode last week, but come on. dogs forgive immediately, why do humans have such a need to hold a grudge.



















She told me that she only went up to ride the ATV and not to camp. Like she thinks that will make me feel better, and thens he goes on and on about the really cool moose that she followed for about half an hour. He was big, and beautiful and ya da ya da ya da.

Oh yea, and the flowers.....on and on she went about how beautiful they were. That there were meadows and meadows of flowers of all colors. That the smell of the wildflowers filled the air and almost gave you a headache with the intensity of the aroma..... Ya da Ya da ya da.....I would have liked to see the moose and smell the flowers.





















Things finally started lookin gup for me around the middle of the week when I got to go to the Fort to do a demo. It was fun to finally see Murphy again and all the kids. Vickie said I was amazingly well behaved. (I am just trying to get on her good side again)




















I sat to the side while they did the talking part. I was even off lead and I just sat patiently while they taught the children how to crawl to a water source and reach in safely to get some water.



After they were all done, I was able to get a whole lot of swimming as all the children lined up along the shores of the lake and threw my ball into the water. By the time each child from the first group had had a chance to throw the ball, I was totally exhausted. But oh was it great.





















Yep I really think I am back in her good graces and so next time she goes camping I bet I get to go too. It has been really busy for her here at the kennels so getting away is the upside for both of us, even if it is only for a few hours and now that I don't get to ride with her, I bet she will bring Jamie along so I will have company while she is gone.

Maybe if I come along, she wont' be so dumb and get so close to the moose just to get a good picture.

mmm I think this is all working out in my favor.....

Nite all
Love
Bert

Wow, I made it. I have lived with Vickie for one whole year. Now this may not seem like much to many of you but, it isn’t easy living with Vickie and to have made it a whole year and still be alive, well that is truly an accomplishment.

To celebrate, Vickie took me to the ranch for the night. We met John up there and all went for a ride on the ATV’s, hoping to see some wildlife. I hate the ATV and I am proud to say that before I was through with this ride, I had Vickie hating it too.

Well maybe she just hated taking me along. The ride went like this.

When she pulled the ATV out and got it all set for me to ride in, I made it very clear to her that I would rather run along side the bike than ride in it. I kept dodging her as she would go to lift me up into the place where I am supposed to fit. Finally she gave up and with some very explicit language, she said “Fine, if you want to run, then run.” And off she went.

I kept up pretty good for the first mile but after a while, I got really winded. The back of that ATV where I was supposed to be sitting was starting to look pretty good. Thank goodness Vickie took mercy on me and she stopped and asked me if I wanted to ride now.

It was either ride or run and right then, Riding was my choice.


Because Vickie was going really slow so I didn’t hurt myself while running, John had left us far behind so after I got on, it took us a while to catch up.

Now if I had my own ATV and could drive it myself, everything would be fine but it really isn’t very fun sitting behind the driver. I mean, you can’t see all of the scenery from the back and I like to see all the scenery. Especially those little critters Vickie calls “Pot Guts” who run across the trail in front of you.

I love watching them and I bet if I were free to do what I wanted, I would be able to catch each and every one of them. You know, were I on foot/paw. I wouldn’t hurt them or anything, I just like to see how fast I am.

So here I am riding behind Vickie and no offense, but she isn’t the easiest thing to see around. So I am leaning to the left side, then the right side, and even sometimes standing with my feet on Vickies shoulders so I can see.

Vickie is cussing me and pushing me back, telling me to “Sit” “Stay” “Stop this” and “Stop that”…. “Burt your going to kill both of us” “Burt SIT DOWN NOW”

She really is a mess. She is so busy cussing me that neither one of us gets to enjoy the view. And it really is a view. Flowers and trees, water and birds, glorious sounds. All this potential and all she can do is holler at me and sway all over the road with the ATV.


Well finally I had just had enough so I jumped off. Whoa, now that wasn’t a good idea. It was a bit higher than I expected and we were moving so I was pretty lucky when all I did was fall on my face and roll.

“Burt, you nut” Vickie screamed as she jammed on the brakes. “You could have killed yourself.” She was really concerned, but I was lucky and other than a fat lip, I didn’t break anything. However, I may re-think this jumping out of the ATV thing in the future. That is if there is an ATV in my future.

When we met up with John, Vickie was telling him that she figured she would leave me in the trailer from now on when she rides. That didn’t sound to good of an idea to me so I tried really hard not to do anything wrong for the next three minutes.

We all stopped at Rock Creek lake and hiked around looking for any sign of moose or deer. It was pretty sad. It seems like all the mature moose have been hauled off by the Fish and Game department. They have killed off all of the beaver in the area and the water is grungy and smelly because natures naturalist (the beaver) has been destroyed.

Sadly we all loaded up and headed back to the trailer. As we came around one of the turns in the road, a big buck jumped out into the road in front of us. It was gorgeous. I was so excited that I leaned too far to the right to get a better view and when Vickie tried to correct for my weight distribution, we almost crashed into a tree.

That is when my future on the ATV became permanent. No more……

“It will be a cold day in” well, you get the point……before I am ever allowed to ride with Vickie on her ATV rides. She said I will just have to settle for our hikes before and after her rides. I did get a promise from her that I could chew on a bone while she is riding so maybe it wont’ be so bad to be left behind.

Almost back to the trailer “the Ranch” John spotted a moose. At this time I was running behind the bike ( you know, after the deer thing) so Vickie and I stopped and stayed at the top of the hill and watched while John took videos. Even though we were far away, it is pretty clear that moose are big……

Vickie said this one was a small two year old female and one of only three that were left in the area so it was pretty cool to be able to see it. John was standing in one place taking pictures when the moose decided to cross the road right next to him. Vickie got a video of it. Hopefully it will come out so you can see it. John just stood there as the moose walked right by him. They were eye to eye about 10 feet from each other.

I though John was pretty darn brave. I think I would have run like a scared kitty cat if I saw something that big coming towards me.

When we got back, it was almost dark. Vickie and John ate some sandwhiches. Vickie was in no mood to share so I thought I would try John but he was pretty fixed on eating the whole thing to so all I got was my regular old dog food. Vickie say's I cannot eat human food anymore because it gives me gas and also that I don't have any manners. Something about grabbing it out of peoples hands when they aren't looking. She says that is poor etiquette. Mmm, like dogs need to worry about etiquette...

After dinner John went home and Vickie and I settled in for the night. It was pretty cold so just before she turned off the flashlight to go to bed she shut the trailer door. Good thing too, because around 1 am while I was fast asleep by the door, Vickie woke up to see that same big moose looking through the window at her.

Vickie says she watched the moose for about ten minutes as it would look in the window, then lean down and eat some grass then look back at her in the window. I don’t know what woke me up cause they were both really quiet but when I woke up I could smell that ole moose just outside the door not inches from my head.

It shook me up pretty good so I stood up and looked out the window to see what I was smelling. Well when I saw that big monster looking right at me I jumped backwards into Vickies lap. Then realizing that I was her protector, I started barking and barking and barking. I admit the big thing had 500 pounds or more on me, but I must have been scary enough cause she finally turned and trotted off into the night.

Vickie said to tell you she is sorry the videos are so dark, but it was pretty late when they were taken.....

I am a very busy boy these days so I only have a few minutes to update you. Mostly I am sending pictures with little explanations between each one. I hope you all have a great week. I'll write more later, its just that there are big goings on around here. You know, I will have moved in with Vickie, Jamie, Abby and Scrappy one year ago Wednesday....

Of course, we get to go up to "The Ranch" for an overnighter tuesday. Vickie say's it is her way to thank me for living one whole year. So.....I'll write more later, but right now we are going up to see Whitney and Tyler.
See ya......

The first picture is of LamBeau. He got to take his first walk with us this last WEdnesday to the park and he had a great time. If you have time to look at the video at the bottom that Vickie took from way across the lake, you can see LamBeau make his first attempt to swim. I am his swimming coach and before we were through that day, I had him swimming all the way out to get the stick with me. He even got a little too big for his britches when he tried to beat me to the stick. But as you know......I got there first. I RULE....

The second picture is of Tristy, isn't she looking good. she is still loosing weight and is very very happy when we go to the park. She is a pretty good swimmer too. I think it is because she is bouyant cause of all her extra pounds. She doesnt' swim so much as she floats.....

We met this little buck while we were hiking last week at "The Ranch" Vickie just loves to say "The Ranch".......It makes her feel so western...

As usual there were tons and tons of flowers........

I am getting more and more freedom during the demonstrations. I am being really good with the little children and Vickie is starting to trust me a lot. I don't even jump on her too much any more. these were three year olds so we couldn't teach them too much, cause all they wanted to do was play with us doggies.

And here is the video of me, Lambeau, Zeus and Tristy at the park.

love

Bert

I really had a lot of fun when Garrett and Katie came to visit last week. As you may have read on the earlier blog, we went to the Fort and went swimming and hiked around the teepees and stuff.

The next day I got to meet up with them at the dog park. Garrett liked all the different dogs but by the time I got there he was getting tired, so after he and Vickie went for a hike through the trees, he was ready to go back to grandmas.

The next day Jamie, Vickie and I went up to "The Ranch" That is what she has decided to call our little plot of land up at Sourdough. It is only a small place, just big enough to put a trailer on but it is all surrounded by beautiful mountains and flowers and moose and deer and elk. This is the first year that Vickie has ever spent the night up there and she has had it for five years.

How can anyone have this cool of a spot in the wilderness and not be up here all the time.

Vickie tells me that she has two sisters. I have met one of them. That is Debbie. She is the one who lives with Bear (the most handsome golden retreiver in the world). They live in Idaho. She has one brother Mike. I have met him too. But there is this one sister named Wendy that Vickie says died 14 years ago.

Wendy would have loved "The Ranch". Vickie and Wendy spent a lot of time traveling together before they both got married. They would go hiking and camping in the Tetons, or Zions National Park. Wendy loved the wilderness. When Wendy died Vickie took a start from Wendy's garden of Iris's and has kept them all these years.

When she got "The Ranch" Vickie planted three of the Iris's up there. It was her way of having Wendy up there too. They were beautiful Orange ones when they were first planted but this year when they bloomed they were white as snow. Pretty cool....

After getting all our stuff set up in the trailer for the overnighter, we went up to the lake. Oh my it was beautiful. There were flowers in bloom everywhere and the lake, oh the lake. it just kept calling my name so finally I just jumped in and swam and swam. Vickie kept telling me I should get out cause it was late in the evening and "Your gonna freeze your butt off" was her warning. Of course I didn't listen and boy did I pay for it. i was cold all night long. Vickie even gave me one of her blankets and let me sleep on the foot of the cot but I was still pretty miserable...

Early the next morning we got up and went back to the lake for a bit. Vickie keeps my tennis balls in the back of the truck and I had to really try hard to get her attention to remind her that that was where they were. Finally she came and got the balls and we played and played in the big beautiful fields of flowers. sometimes I would not be able to find the ball, but I can always trust Jamie to come in and find them if I can't. She may be almost blind and completely deaf but her nose still works... She is a legend.

The next day was the day that Michelle, Blake and their mom Jennifer come and take all the dogs at the kennel for a walk to the park. sometimes if there is enough time, I get to go too. Michelle lets me off lead so I can swim and run.

Ellie and Zeus get so excited when they see Michelle. Usually Ellie and Gracie go first cause they are the best ones to walk. They never pull and they are very lady like.

Next it is usually Zeus and Tristy. Tristy can be off lead too. She really needs the swimming. It is really good for her weight problem. It is much easier on her body than walking cause she floats like a bouy.

Zeus loves to stick his head under the water and blow bubbles. It tried that once but I forgot to blow and I sucked in half the lake. It went up my nose and out my mouth. I coughed and coughed. I think I have the whole blowing thing figured out now though.

Thursday we got to do another demonstration for a couple of families at the Fort again. Murphy couldn't make it so Tucker and I had to "Hold down the fort" so to speak. Vickie left me tied to a tree for most of the demo. She still worries that I will knock someone down.

Tucker did his usual impressive "Aren't I cute" thing. He sits, he speaks, he shakes hands. Mind you I am not jelous. I can do all those things too, its just that I get so excited, I can hardly settle down enough to "Shake" or "Bow" yadayadayada.

But after they were through doing their thing, Vickie gave the kids a quick "Bert Guide" as she calls it. "Don't pick up any sticks while Bert is watching, don't take off your hat, ect ect." Like I am going to grab the stick or hat right out of their hands or something.

Whoops, Oh Yea.....thats exactly what I would do.

Anyway after the "Bert Guide" we all went to the water and i got to show them how high I can jump and how far out I go into the air before I splash into the water. Then I can swim around, then climb out and SHAKE all over everyone. It was a great day.

Once in a while, I get to go up to Vickies moms and KC, me and her mom and Vickie all go for a walk up to this great hillside below Harrison. KC likes to chase the butterflies and I chase the ball until we are both quite exhausted. Today, as usual Vickie made us stop by every wild flower we came across and get pictures. I swear I must be the most photographed dog in the state.

And now, back by popular demand, another "Bert Bounce" video.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July. I am not really sure what all the hooplah is all about, but Happy Fourth to you humans anyway.

Love,

Bert