Lucy and Ricky are Thankful for Their Turkey

Lucy and Ricky earn lots of treats when they are working on tricks, so I try to give them healthy snacks.  But at the same time, I try to make sure what they eat is yummy and exciting enough that even with distractions around, they stay focused.

So I go about every other week to the pet store and buy them the most "natural" snacks I can find.  But they're processed, packaged food after all.  So they aren't super healthy, and they tend to be a little expensive.

However, one of their favorite snacks is turkey or chicken breast that I get from the deli. 

I get a quarter inch slice, and then I take it home and cube it up into little bit sized pieces.

Since there's not a lot of preservatives in it, compared to the packages dog treats at the pet store, I only buy a little at a time, and go back pretty often for me.  But it's worth it~  This whole bag only cost me about $2 which is a lot less expensive than anything decent I've found at the pet store!

Here's a picture of Lucy patiently waiting, as I cut up her turkey this week.  I'm pretty sure if I accidentally dropped some food on the floor she would've been happy to clean it up for me!

One Thing Lucy and Ricky Are Both Thankful For

We are thankful that we have straight, healthy teeth.
And that we don't need braces.
Like this dog we saw the other day in a car next to us!
He also seemed to have a tongue problem...  

Tricks that Don't Look Like Tricks

My girl is 9 months old tomorrow.  What a good girl she's growing up to be.  She came with the name Sunny before I renamed her Lucy.  Oh, but she is still my little Sunshine.  Every single day!

And she already knows lots of tricks.  But lots of them don't look like "tricks".  They're commonly just classified as good manners.  But it's taken lots of training and effort to make it look so natural for both Lucy and Ricky!

Here's an example.

This is a picture of Lucy in her crate.  Notice the door is wide open.  Lucy won't come out of her crate until either Fermin or I give her her release word, which happens to be "Free".  In other words, she waits to be invited out.  No jumping around, howling or pawing at the door.  Just good, calm behavior that gets rewarded often.

In a previous post, I wrote about Lucy and Ricky's door manners.  That's another example of something we've worked hard on, but doesn't really qualify as a trick.

But the Ricardos also know lots of party tricks.  And they love learning knew ones-- I just have trouble sometimes thinking them up!  But I'm going to get back to working on that a little more.

I'll try to remember to video them doing some of those tricks people seem to like to see- like weaving thru my legs, and giving me high fives.  But those tricks are no more impressive than the Ricardo's good manners.  They're just tricks that don't look like tricks.

and with a big smile on her face!

Gaining

The Ricardo's first canine friend was Jasper.  Although we don't see him all that much, boy! is it exciting when we do.  Lucy and Ricky both just love him so much, and look up to him!  They use have to look up a lot more though.  He seemed like a giant back when they were little puppies.

But over time, they've been gaining on him.

Ricky seems nearly as big as Jasper now.  Lucy's just a such a little girl compared to those boys!
But now, they can actually play together without the fear of anyone getting run over too much.  Today, the biggest problem was how much Ricky was kissing Jasper!  And just hanging all over him!

Lucy was acting like a little worm and kept crawling under Jasper and flipping over on her belly.

It was very hard to get much video of their playtime-- Just too much action!  But it was a couple of hours of exhausting fun!

9 months

My boy, Ricky, was born nine months ago.  And I got him 7 months ago.

And it's one of those weird time things... The time with him has zoomed by (because it's been so much fun!), and at the same time, I can't believe I've only known and loved him for 7 months.  (All this hold true for Lucy, too- but she doesn't turn 9 months old for four more days so this particular blog post isn't about her.)

Ricky is one of kind.  He's the sweetest lover boy I've ever come across.  As much as I love, love, LOVE him, I feel like he loves me just as much.  And that is a whole lotta love!

And to think that I was hesitant about getting a boy dog!  What in the world was I thinking?  I got caught up in worrying that a boy dog might raise his leg and mark all over everything.  But those concerns have proven to be completely wrong so far...Ricky doesn't mark, and he doesn't even raise his leg when he pees!  Like I said, Ricky's a lover, not a marker!  ;)

The video below was taken of Ricky when his little friend, Henry was in town for a visit.  Altho Ricky no longer looks as puppy like as he did months ago, he still plays like one!  Also, Ricky loves to fetch so when Abby and Ben got out their soccer ball to kick around, Ricky did his best to get in the game. 

Host and Hostess With the Mostest

We got to check in on our little tootsie roll friend, Opie, while her family was away earlier this week.  Opie always stays at her own house, and we go for walks, and sometimes the Ricardos go over to her yard to play.

But I decided to mix things up a little this time.

Opie came over to the Ricardo's turf.  She was even invited in for a drink at the Tropicana- although she declined.  The Ricardos tried their best to be a great host and hostess and you will see...  Ricky tried to show Opie a good time, but he came on a little too strong.  Lucy, then offered to give her a little more space.  We'll continue to work on how to best entertain our guests.