After graduating Basic Obedience Level I, we've moved on to Level 2! This is prep work for Rezso's Canine Good Citizenship certification. He's working hard on accepting new situations, and is already a hit at Lowe's and PetCo, and he's even a seasoned traveler with a weekend stay in a hotel.

Not to mention, he's a whiz at his lessons and loves to help with the laundry. (That's his story, and he's sticking to it.) But, seriously, he is learning to pick up things I drop and carry them for me. But more on that on another post.

We also enrolled Freki in a class. She has a difficult time accepting other/strange dogs and we'd all but given up on being able to take her places with us where we knew there were other dogs.. Thanks to a wonderful trainer who took time to work with her and assured us it was a lack of confidence, not aggression, that fueled her bad behavior, we got up the courage to ask the trainers at Canine Sports Academy if we could give class a try.

They were welcoming and helpful, and it has been wonderful to see Freki slowly losing her preoccupation with the other dogs in her class and focusing more on what dad is asking her to do.

Attempting to stand on wobbly discs, rubber 'peanuts' (see the red ball in the background?) or any of the other activities in this class puts her in a somewhat vulnerable position (to her mind). Not to mention there are other dogs happily going about the same stunts only a few feet away. It's a bit noisy and challenging with Rezso just outside the ring shouting encouragement. But Freki is surpassing our expectations!

Way to go, Freki! Can't wait to see where you go from here!

 Freki loves to ride. She's a bit protective of what she perceives as 'her zone' which includes anything within a 10 foot radius of the car. That's problematic when you're stopped in traffic and there are vehicles on every side. She tries to stare them down, but they ignore her.

Today, I let her ride with me since I was only going through a drive-through and wouldn't be getting out of the car. And she was very good (only stared down one motorcyclist and a policeman in his car) and played up the 'good dog' act and got a cookie from the guy at the drive-through window.

Then she talked me into her favorite thing.

She loves Sonic ice cream. She'd probably like it from any vendor, but this is her favorite place to stop. And, yes, she recognizes the word Sonic over the words ice cream. Here's how it went today.

I let her sit up front while we waited for her order. Her calm manner (see above) became a bit more intense as she saw others getting their order ahead of ours. Good luck convincing her they ordered first.

But it kept her interest up, and the car hop arrived very soon, with a big smile on her face (Yes, we've been here before).

It was a bit difficult juggling 2 root beer floats (mine and hubby's) and Freki's order without her testing each, but I managed.

This was the fist time Freki's 'ice cream cone in a cup' came this way. Typically, they simply put the ice cream in a clear plastic bowl as if it was an topping-less sundae.

However, it didn't phase Freki. There was ice cream down in that cup, and she was going to eat it.

One good bite (after I removed the wrapper) took away half the cone, and though she dropped the second half on the seat, it cleaned up quickly.

On to the ice cream. She had her snout in it in no time.

We don't give her ice cream very often, but she loves the treat. Gunnar probably smelled it on her breath when she got home. Jealous? Oh, yeah.

Freki had fun.

A good friend lives on several hundred acres and this huge pond is so pretty and clear, that Freki didn't waste any time at all getting her paws wet.

She will bring the stick back, but drops it as she passes me with a glance over her shoulder as if to say, "There it is, toss it again." Retriever, she is not.

My friend also has chickens on her farm that wander loose during the day. Freki was not enchanted with them. In fact, she was certain they were zombie chickens and should be scared away. Unfortunately, they didn't understand dogs are higher up the food chain than they are, and we finally corralled the chickens into a fenced area behind the barn-- with the help of a bit of chicken feed.

Here are some more photos of Freki and her fun-filled day on the farm.

It's the beginning of March, and I pulled the swimming pool out today. Granted, it is a lovely, sunny day, and the high will be around 70, though the dogs were panting when it hit 55 this morning, but it seems odd to have the pool out while the grass hasn't made much of an appearance yet.

But the dogs loved it!

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As I watered the plants this morning, Freki kept playing in the water spray. So, she rather talked me into pulling the pool out of storage. I am now responsible for keeping it clean(ish)-- I mean, really, it's muddy 5 seconds after I wash it out-- and filled. Spring is here.

Things have been pretty busy here at the MacRae house. Two books within weeks of each other was a bit presumptuous of me over the holidays, but everything is on schedule, even if there have been a few late nights and at a couple of overflowing laundry baskets.

But, amid it all, we got the Christmas tree up--and have only lost 2 ornaments due to animal shenanigans, and the glittery poodle wasn't a popular ornament, anyway. The nephew and I baked cookies and I managed to send most of them home with him. I even attempted Christmas photos of the dogs, but getting all 4 of them to sit still was beyond my skill set--especially with the Mr. laughing instead of helping.

So, here are a few photos from Christmas 2015 at the MacRae house. Feel free to caption your favorite in the comments.

​Blessings from our house to yours this holiday season.