Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Love,
JuLo, Husband, and Theo the reindeer

Rained Out Again

Last weekend me and some other Corgi owners in the area attempted another mini meetup.  It was fun for about 40 minutes, until it started raining.  Why does it always rain when we see Philip?  Speaking of Philip, he and a puggle decided they were soul mates and did nothing but play together for a good twenty minutes.

When the puggle's owner went to leave, Philip was not happy.  There may have been jumping involved when the owner picked his puggle up.  Seeing a hopping Corgi is definitely a site.

Theo, ever the beggar while Sidney demonstrated his awesome "treat on the nose" trick.  He is so smart!  Theo is smart in his own way.  He managed to finagle quite a few treats from Sidney's mom.  Look at that begging position?  This is what I have to deal with every day.  I love it though.

Exhibit A of why you shouldn't bring food to a dog park.  Corgis aren't the only food mongers of the dog kind.  Hehe.  For some reason I love Theo's butt in this picture.  That ghetto booty's got attitude!

We had lunch with Mouth and Philip's owner afterwards.  I had a lot of fun (though it was a tad soggy, hehe).  Philip is so great.  I had a blast giving him lots of love.  Now if only we can get together without it raining...

(New Flickr pictures here)

Aside: A lot of people have been commenting on Theo's weight, saying how skinny he looks.  It's true, over the last few weeks he got really skinny.  We didn't reduce his food at all, in fact we increased it when he started to lose weight.  I'm guessing it was a combination of losing his puppy fat, playing more at doggy daycare, and running in the mornings.  Whatever the cause, his new figure is quite svelte!

Happy Birthday Theo!!!

I know I'm a day late, but that's just what engineers do. That's right, yesterday was my boy's birthday! He's one year old! Can you believe it's been a year already? I remember last Christmas obsessively checking my breeder's website to see if she had posted any more new born pictures of Theo. I remember instantly seeing Theo's picture and thinking, this is definitely the best dog of the litter.

And since this has always been one of my favorite posts, here's another list of 10 things I love about my furbaby:

Dear Theo,

1. I love the way you sigh when you toss and turn while you're sleeping.
2. I love how excited you get when you meet a new person or dog.
3. I love the way you try and catch the toy when we're playing fetch.
4. I love how you sound so ferocious when the doorbell rings, but when I open the door, you're a friendly little kitten.
5. I love the way you use the wii fit board as a platform to chew your antler chew.
   
6. I love how you can be sound asleep, but as soon as I get up to go to bed, you're awake and bolting to your crate.
7. I love the way you sit next to me on the couch when I'm eating dinner (most people would probably not approve of this, but it's one of the few times Theo violates his 2 feet rule, and he never tries to take food from my plate).
8. I love how pathetic you look when you hang your head in unhappiness (i.e. because of something on his head he doesn't like (see reindeer antlers), or because he's trying to get food out of me).
9. I love the way you look at me when I do something that violates our routine (for example, this morning I had the nerve to walk upstairs without first stopping to get you a lamb cookie, even though you were laying on your bed so nicely, just like I always ask).
10. I love how you wait outside the bedroom door for me, no matter how long I'm in there.

(See item 8)

Thanks for being a great dog. As Husband puts it, I wouldn't want a dog that's too well behaved or too snugly, or I would get bored with it. I like my dogs like I like my men, troublemakers!

These are Theo's holiday antlers. I got them way back in November. I can't wait to try and make Theo wear them all day on Christmas. Mwhahaha!

Giveaway Winners

And the winners of a set of awesomely adorable light up pet reindeer antlers are...

Betty and AJ!  Congrats you two!  Wow, it's a lucky time for Southern Californians!  Hehe.  

Alright you two, please email me (imperfectcomplainer@gmail.com) with your full name, address, and phone number, and I'll place the order ASAP.  Remember that to get the antlers by Christmas eve, I have to place the order by midnight tonight.  So I'll be keeping an eye out for your emails. 

Happy holidays everyone!

PS: While it wasn't a condition of winning, Betty and AJ, I really hope you will send me a picture of Koda and Ein in their antlers so I can post them in all their adorable glory.

Holiday Giveaway!

I'm so excited for my first giveaway!  I think it's just what I need to cheer me up (the gloomy weather is keeping me down today).  The majority was by far for the holiday reindeer antlers.  Good choice!  I have some for Theo as well.  In fact, I was planning to post pictures tonight, so stay tuned.  Anyway, I'm sure you're much more interested in the details of the giveaway, so here they are:

First, I'll be giving away two sets of these Pet Holiday Lighted Antlers from Petsmart.  That means there will be two winners. If you have two dogs, I'm sorry, they will just have to share. ;) These are pretty darn cute. 

Second, in order to get the antlers to you by Christmas eve I have to place the order before midnight tomorrow, so this giveaway is going to close in just one short day!  Sorry folks, you snooze you lose.  The giveaway will close tomorrow, December 18th, at 1pm (pst).

Third, how to enter of course!  Just leave a comment here in this post or send me an email (imperfectcomplainer@gmail.com).  If you email me, leave your email address in your comment, or if there is an email address listed on your blog or blogger profile, I'll send you an email notifying you as the winner.  Otherwise, I'll just post the winner here, and hopefully you'll see it and then send me an email with the information listed below.

Fourth, since I have to place the order by 9:00pm my time, the winners will have between 1pm and 8:30pm pacific time to email me their shipping information (full name, address, and phone number).  If you don't get it to me in time, that's ok.  You're still a winner.  It just means you won't get your antlers in time for Christmas. :)

Sorry for the short notice on this guys.  If this goes well, my next giveaway I'll leave much more time to enter.  Good luck!  

The Best You're Going To Get

Well folks.  Looks like my blog is the only way you'll get to enjoy this picture because Theo didn't make it into the mycorgi.com calendar this year. *sniff*  I'm really disappointed.  I was looking forward to buying copies for my family and having us all enjoy a month of my adorable puppy.  But it is not to be.  

Personally, I think there are some really great pictures that made it (congrats Kelly/Gibson and Ivy/Bryson!), but I question others.  December's picture you can barely even see the dog!  And while July is very patriotic...it's really a rather boring picture.  There's not even eye contact with the camera.  But I don't want to be a bitter betty.  All of the pictures are cute, I just was surprised some made it over others I thought were better (including my own!  hehe).  There were so many great pictures, I'm sure it was a hard decision.

Now will hanging this calendar in my office be a bitter reminder of my inadequate photographer skills?  For surely had I taken a better picture, Theo would have made it (because he's gorgeous of course!).  Eh, naw.  I'll get one.  I like Corgis.   Congrats to everyone!  Let's start taking awesome pictures for next year!

PS: Kelly, I notice Gibson made it onto the cover. It's too bad we're not able to get them well before January, so I could hang up the calendar by the cover to get some Gibson admiration time.  Isn't that why the first month and the cover are normally the same picture.  Those crazy cats.  But he does make an awesome cover picture.  Very enticing to potential customers.  Hehe.

PPS: Was it the shoe?

Lazy Evening

Yesterday it rained all day.  I thought Theo would be a bundle of energy when I picked him up from doggy daycare because he was couped up inside the whole time (though they did have a setup for them to play inside).  I was wrong.  He slept the whole car ride home.  After dinner I thought I would take him for a walk.  It was a little wet and drizzling a bit, but nothing I couldn't handle with a warm jacket.  Nope.  He didn't want to walk.  He didn't even want to play fetch inside!  He just wanted to sleep.  We were both curled up on the sofa all evening, me watching tv, and Theo sleeping on my feet.  It was a nice way to spend a wet day.

Of course,  this morning he was practically jumping out of his skin with so much energy.  I ran a lot with him this morning.  I'm sore.  It was totally worth it.

Enjoy being 0 years old while it lasts, Boo Boo, tomorrow you're 1 years old! 

Something For A Rainy Day

1. Due to popular demand (by one whole person!) I've put up a new poll.  That's right, I'm making you actually click over to my page from you google reader or the like. *groan*  But this is a fun one!  I wanted to know what type of swag people would be interested in if I were to do a giveaway with some of the money from the Petsmart giftcard I got for Theo's winning costume (read: I'm doing a giveaway, tell me what you want).  Here are the items I was thinking that go along with the poll items: Frisbee, antlers, plush, stocking, and chuck-it.  If you have another suggestion (which I'm completely open to!), let me know.
2. I can't guarantee anything by Christmas, so keep that in mind.  I'll do my best though.  Keep an eye out for the giveaway because it won't last long!
3. We met up with some Corgis in the area this weekend, including Philip.  Unfortunately, we were rained out again.  Why does that always happen when I meet up with him?  Well it was a lot of fun while it lasted.  This group of 5 Corgis is a really good group.  They all get along, and they're all very sweet dogs.  I'll post my pictures once I get a chance to download them from the camera.  But be warned, I got an iphone yesterday (it is awesome!!!), and I'll probably be good and distracted by that for most of the week.
4. Theo fell asleep at my feet last night.  He never sleeps that close to me.  Then this morning he snuggled with me on the couch.  The snuggly moments are few and far between, which makes me appreciate them all the more.
5. Along with cheese and peanut butter, Theo now has a love of almonds.  Everytime he hears me tilt the jar he comes running, looking expectantly at me for a handout.  No matter where he is in the house, he can hear the dispensing of almonds.  It's adorable.
6. We're wondering if we should get Theo some shoes for the snow next week.  He's a total temperature whimp, just like mommy and daddy.  Personally, I think a light coat for him would be better, and more comfortable.
7. We bought the peticure safeguard to attach to our dremel so we could sand Theo's nails indoors without making a mess (it gets dark too early to keep doing it outside).  We tried it out yesterday and it worked great!  No dust, no mess.  There was another bonus too: safety.  Sometimes when we're sanding his nails he freaks out and tries to bite the sander.  Obviously, not the best thing for Theo's mouth, and Husband kept getting scratched up by it when he would try and stop Theo from biting it.  This attachment works great for those two purposes.  

It's All In The Collar

1. Theo woke me up at 5:30 this morning.  He didn't have to use the restroom, he just wanted out of his crate.  I took him downstairs and he slept on my feet while I watched last night's Top Chef on the Tivo.  As much as I hate it when he wakes me up that early, I love having those early morning moments with him.  He's always so quiet and mellow.
2. I probably should have gone running with him instead of watching tv, but for some reason running before the sun came up just wasn't tempting and my lazy butt got the better of me.
3. Theo was doing just ok in agility last night.  He kept running around the second jump, or knocking the bar down, and on the A frame he totally froze up.  We did the tire jump for the first time and he would not jump through it without me standing really close on the other side calling him emphatically.  Then it finally hit me: I forgot to put on his "it's time for agility" collar!  No wonder!  A collar shouldn't make a difference, but I swear it did.  As soon as I put on his agility class collar we did the dog walk (which he flew across), and the teeter for the first time, which he was totally fearless on.  Ok, he was a little apprehensive about the tilting part, but he did great for his first time.  After about 6 tries (I snuck over while we were waiting to try the other equipment throughout class), he would finally jump through the tire when I asked him to.  Progress!  And he ran straight through the tunnel (last week he kept running halfway through and then turning around and running out when I called him). 
4. Our agility class is a pretty good group of dogs.  They're all pretty good about doing the obstacles, even if they don't enjoy it.  We actually finished early last night because we didn't get hung up too much by dogs who wouldn't do the obstacles correctly.  That's great because it's hard to get around to all the equipment when we get stuck on one thing for a long time.
5. We're taking Theo up to Reno for Christmas.  I was hoping for snow, but apparently the gulf area decided to take all of California's (and Nevada's) snow this year.  Boo!  I should really get to an auto store and buy snow chains for Husband's car (hybrid).  Though maybe with gas prices so low we should just take my car (non-hybrid).  I have snow chains for my car.  With my luck there will probably be no snow, but still very very cold temperatures. 
6. Theo will be in heaven.  He loves it there, and Husband's parents are coming too.  I'll have to remember to walk him before it gets dark (that should be interesting), so the coyotes don't get him.  Apparently in that area it's very dangerous to walk your dog after dark.  I would totally kick the butt of anything trying to eat my furbaby, but it is still better to not take any chances.  I don't exactly have cat-like reflexes.
7. Is anyone tired of these lists yet?  I kinda like 'em.

My Gloomy June

While we're all agonizing over whether or now our little balls of fur made it into the mycorgi.com calendar this year, the admins are keeping us on pins and needles!  Apparently they not only have who will be in the calendar, but have already shipped it off to the printer!  Here's the last we've heard:

Sorry folks, the results are in, but we're still waiting on the printer's confirmation.  Sorry to keep y'all waiting. What I can tell you now are the following:

1. 100% profit will go to Corgi rescue.

2. The calendars will be $14 each, lower price than last year's.

3. Calendar will be printed professionally, higher quality on premium paper.

As soon as we get the news, we will post the result and ordering information.

I don't know what printer confirmation means, but I assume it relates to the printer's confirmation of the design and readiness to print.  I understand that they want to wait until it's all ready for ordering, but I'm impatient dagnabit!   That said, I'm excited that this year's calendar will be better quality while lower in price and supporting charity.  Score, score, and score!  I'll definitely order one, no matter the outcome.  The question is how many will I order if Theo makes it in.  I know at least my mom will want one.

So while I wait, I've been thinking about what month would be the best to have your Corgi featured?  It's sad, I know.  But it's more interesting than doing my yearly performance assessment...what a snoozefest.  Right off the bat I wouldn't want January.  I usually spend the first half of January forgetting to even put up my new calendar, so that's out.  I usually spend the last half of December out of the office (I only use calendars at work), so that's out too.  April and June are big vacation months, so we'll skip those.  May would be good since it's my birthday month, and doesn't everyone always skip to their birthday month when they get a new calendar?  I know I do.  October and November are big holiday months and should have more festive pictures than mine.  February is a short month, which means less Theo time.  So that leaves March, May, July, August, and September.  I think May or September would be ideal months.

Now that I've probably put you to sleep.  How many calendars are you planning to buy this year?  What month are you hoping for if your pup was in the running?  How cute is that picture of Theo sleeping?

Theo's First Christmas

1. Theo is keeping his nickname of "big fat chicken".  We got our tree on Saturday.  We had it on its side in the backyard and when we went to pick it upright Theo freaked and bolted.  Poor thing.
2. He seems used to it now, but he's not really going near it.  I'm ok with that.  I'd rather have a dog that is scared of the tree than a dog that tries to knock all the ornaments off.
3. Theo got his own ornament.  You can sorta see it below, circled in teal
4. 
5. It's poop!  Sprinkled in snow of course (and it's ceramic of course!).  I got it at the place we take Theo for doggy daycare.  Apparently they're selling like hotcakes.  I had to wait until their second batch came in because the first batch sold out in a day.  
6. I'm still going to do a giveaway with something I buy at Petsmart.  I didn't have time to go this weekend (the closest one is still around 15 miles away, so it's not easy to get to on a busy weekend), but I'm going to look into buying online.
7. Ivy had some issues with Bryson drinking the water in their Christmas tree stand and getting sick (full story here).  Poor guy.  It sounds like he's still having some problems from it.  I hope he's ok!
8. I ended up buying the same tree preservative, and I was pretty nervous about it.  But when I looked at the stand we have, there's no way Theo could drink out of it.  I can't recommend this tree stand enough!  We bought ours at Home Depot a few years ago.  We liked it because we never have to worry about screwing the stand on straight (because it swivels!), and that little cap you screw on is so much easier than trying to maneuver the whole stand (you screw the little cap on and then put the cap into the stand, two pieces are better than one!).  And now there's a whole new reason for loving it.  It's built in such a way that there's no way Theo could drink out of it.  I had to wiggle my finger between the grooves just to feel the water level in the first place.  And it's so tall that I think Theo would have a hard time positioning himself to even try.  Anyone with a dog should check one of these out!
9. I got some great pictures of Theo this weekend. He was being adorable yesterday, very snugly.  I felt like I was getting sick so I decided to take it easy and just sleep most of yesterday.  According to Husband Theo slept right along with me.  Have I mentioned I have the best dog ever?  I almost want to get sick just so I can spend a few days with him. Hehe.
10. 

My Quiet Bunny

I was fully expecting to come home last night to a house full of dog pee.  Ok, actually we had Theo behind a gate upstairs, but still, I expected pee and maybe worse.  I was pleasantly surprised!  Not only did Theo hold it all day, but he didn't even do a potty dance when I got home (man, I love the potty dance!).  From what I can tell, Theo did nothing but sleep for 7 hours (I was gone for 8, but Husband goes into work later than me).  Needless to say he was quite antsy when I got home.  He jumped all over me and played the most enthusiastic game of fetch I have ever seen him play.  Overall I think it went really well!  Hooray!

I think we'll start out leaving him home just Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I figure that way we offset the lazy days with the excited running around days.  Right now, because of the activity level he is used to, I would feel bad about leaving him home all day two days in a row.  After I got home last night and the whole rest of the evening he just had so much energy.  I don't even want to imagine two days worth of pent up energy out of him.  This morning he was crazy!  When I let him out of his crate he was jumping all over me!  Then he got his tribble to play fetch, and then after some fetch he jumped all over me again.  It was hilarious.  Oh, and he was extra jumpy and kept barking everytime he heard a leaf fall off a tree outside.  

But don't worry.  I still played lots of fetch with him, took him on his walk last night, and on his run this morning.  He still has plenty of outlets, I think he was just more playful with me.  He's at doggy daycare right now getting all his yayas out.

Since I have every other Friday off, that means Theo will go to doggy daycare 10 days a month now rather than 20, so rather than paying $400/month, I'll be paying $200!  It's still a lot, but that's a number I'm much more willing to pay, and this way I think Theo still has a good outlet for his energy.  It just means Husband and I will have to get out more on the weekends, and since the weather has finally cooled down, I think that would be a good idea!

Back To Normal

1. We started up our agility class again last night.  The trainer kept asking Theo to use the new equipment first (not exactly as a demo, since she has a helper use her own dog as a demo, but I think she wanted the group to always start off on the right foot).  In obedience class she would never use Theo as a demo dog, but I guess for agility he really shines.  He really loves all the equipment, especially the tunnel, which we used last night!  We also tried the dog walk, which was the one thing I was nervous about Theo liking.  The trainer was smart and lined the top with dog treats, so Theo was of course fine with it!  He kept trying to run back up and look for more treats. 
2. He hates waiting his turn in class.  When he sees another dog struggling he gets antsy and starts barking.  You can see him thinking "stop making a fool of yourself and let me show you how it's done!".  I think this is definitely the sport for Theo right now.
3. I'm having a hard time getting used to not having all the blogs I read having new posts everyday.  I really enjoyed having that last month.
4. I used "having" way too many times in No. 3, but I don't feel like changing it.
5. Today we are experimenting.  We didn't take Theo to doggy daycare.  The remodel is basically done (I say basically because they never really finished, but we got tired of waiting, so we took the lockbox off the door and decided to just keep our money), and we can't really afford to take him everyday anymore ($400/month is a lot!). The most we usually keep him home alone on the weekends is about 4 hours.  Today is all day.  We'll see how he does.  I'm expecting to take a very long walk tonight.
6. I don't think we'll totally stop doing doggy daycare, just cut back to a few days a week.
7. I want to buy our Christmas tree this weekend.  Hopefully we have a better time of it than Ivy and Bryson did.  Poor guy.  What should I get Theo for his very first Christmas?  I may have already invested in some red fuzzy antlers...pictures to may be come.
8. The picture?  Just felt like it.

Don't Forget To Do Your Corgi Duty...

...and vote! Today is supposedly the last day to vote for your favorite Corgis to go in the 2009 mycorgi.com calendar.  I say supposedly because the post actually says the poll closes Nov 2.  I told them they posted the wrong date, but they never fixed it (it should say Dec. 2).  I have no idea when the voting ends.  Midnight?  For the Halloween costume contest the poll actually closed at midnight of the day listed.  As in, it said the poll closed Nov 15th, so at 0:00am on the 15th it closed. As in, it really closed on the 14th at the very end of the day.  Confused yet? Anyway, please if you can spare a vote for my Theo, Ivy's Bryson (and Picasso), and Kelly's Gibson it would be much appreciated. 

I'll be sure to post whether or not Theo made it in.  I'm sure it'll take a few weeks for them to annouce it.  Honestly, I don't think Theo will actually make it in.  As cute as he is, I just don't think it is one of the best ones submitted.  There were some really great ones there.  I'm so surprised and honored he even made it into the finals with that picture.  As my co-worker said "there's a shoe in your picture!"  lol.  I'll just have to practice at being a better photographer for next year.  

Let Us Not Dwell On The Chicken Herder

But I did want to update you with some pictures from the big day (and by big day I mean "big half hour").

As I said before, Theo didn't really want much to do with the sheep to begin with.

I should point out that these sheep were not in any way challenging or directly threatening Theo. They were "dog broken" as I believe the term is called. He couldn't have found nicer sheep if he had raised them from lambs.

After running around like a jerk for a few minutes, I finally managed to get Theo into it a little bit.

The sheep were running around, kind of chasing me, and Theo just couldn't help running around a bit himself.

Then he seemed to notice the sheep were there and he started chasing after them a bit.


And then the moment passed. He wouldn't go near them again.


Theo took a break to give Sidney a go. As you can see, he's a natural.


During Theo's second attempt, he apparently felt he had worked hard enough to earn his first meal.

Don't bother him, he's eating.





I think what really bothers me about this experience was the woman running the place. She had her hands in about 5 different things going on all at the same time. We had made an appointment with her, so I feel we should have gotten some actual instruction or at least attention. But she pretty much just put us in there to play around and then took off. That's what I meant by not very "official" I guess. I feel like I paid the woman $25 to rent her sheep for 15 minutes. Those sheep are paid better than I am! I'll let a dog herd me around for that kind of money. I think if we do try ducks, I'll look around for a place I like a bit better. Overall, I would recommend the experience, just not at the particular facility I went to. And make sure to ask about ducks!