Well friends, school marches on. And it's been having me march at double quick time because besides taking over a full load of classes I've also been filling out transfer applications to four-year colleges. Thankfully I only have one left which I can do over spring break.

Valkyrie has been everything from a right little terror to an angel and back again. She had a teenage episode about a month ago where was getting in to everything, careening around the house, and generally making a nuisance of herself. However she has made some wonderful advances too. She was going to school with me two days a week up until two weeks ago when she had an accident walking home. That one was a complete mystery to me as she had done that same walk dozens of times and been just fine. I decided after that to leave her home unless I could concentrate on her fully so she's been staying home for the last couple of weeks. I'm planning on trying to take her again tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. She has made two significant advances in the past week. One, she's going into a Down without having to be hand placed. I don't know why my puppies have the hardest time learning Down, but they do. The other is she's been relieving consistently for me on the street in front of the house. This is a major improvement because she doesn't like relieving in new places. The last time she was on a puppysit she didn't go for something like 24 or more hours. I'm hoping that she'll start doing her business in the parking lot right by the bus stop so I don't have to worry about any more accidents while walking home. We have also been working on doing outings on a flat collar instead of the head collar and walking close to my side (she has a tendency to drift away). Those are still works in progress that I'll keep you updated about.

Kelsa's Delta Society pet partner evaluation is in about 3 weeks on March 17th. We still need to do a little work on having noisy things dropped behind her, the confining hug, and not reaching out to greet every person that walks by, but on the whole I think she's ready. 

Also poor little Kelsa was poor littler Kelsa for a little bit. Kelsa has been underweight for the past few weeks and I couldn't think how it was happening, then I realized that the amount I was feeding her wasn't adjusted to her more active lifestyle as a career change living in a house with two other dogs. Poor thing was down to about 39 pounds. Now that I've upped her food she's looking much better again. I can't see her hip bones nearly as clearly as I could before. I'm sorry Kelsa. She's been letting her lab-ness shine through too; I've found clouds of yellow fur around the house and she has already made a significant dent in a Galileo Nylabone that I got three hours ago. 

Good news on Kelsa's siblings too, her sister Kashi who is in my club is being recalled next weekend and I'm doing a photo shoot and Kelsa's doing a play date before she goes, and their sister Kira is in phase 1 of training. I wonder if her other brother, Kirby, whom I've never met will make it to training. I hope he does.

Now some pictures galore!

Valkyrie relaxing in the sun.

I seem to have a lot of sleeping puppy pictures.

My mom did this to her when I wasn't home. She looks rather fetching doesn't she?

Kelsa look oh so comfy and me looking very tiered after a Delta Society training day.

Valkyrie is frequently covered in mud as you can see over her right eyebrow.