MUNGO EATS Latin America

We just had a small hiccup but We are back … No damage at all.

Sorry for the inconvenience

And then there were two!  We picked up our new little beasty, Sargon yesterday morning.  He’s the cutest thing EVER!! 

We were invited to bring Mungo along, but we decided that a quieter introduction, in our own home, might be a little more suitable.  No need to have Mungo all worked up, in a strange house, with strange dogs, before we bring in the strange puppy. 

The ride home was okay.  He cried a tiny bit, when we first started driving, but then he fell asleep in his kennel.  Good boy.

The intro went quite well.  Mungo was very happy to have a new friend, and he actually was quite gentle with him, after a few warnings.  He tried to engage Sargon in play.  Remember though that Mungo only moves in two speeds, super fast and asleep.  So unfortunately, Sargon spun out a bit on the hardwood.  Mungo would grab a toy and wave it in Sargon’s face.  Then Mungo would run away.  Sargon would try to follow, but be hopelessly behind in two or three Mungo bounds.  Then he would lose interest.  Mungo would then reappear, look at Sargon, thinking all the time, “what is wrong with you?, can’t you run?”, then he would bound off again.

Now we have to work on house training, and crate training.  We have only had two pee accidents so far (sounds like a lot in less than 24 hours), but no poo accidents.  He did not do too badly in his crate last night.  He woke up a few times, but needed to be reassured that I was still there.  I only took him outside once to go to the bathroom, at 1:30 am.  Hopefully, he starts to sleep through the night shortly.  He is a pretty big boy, weighing in at over 16 pounds already, and sleeping through the night tends to be more size related than age related.  Once the bladder is large enough, you can start to hold it through the night. 

By the way, the name Sargon comes from a story that we read together as a family.  Sargon was a dragon that could communicate with his human friends.  He spoke in the third person all the time, so he would say things like, “Sargon hungers, Sargon comes, Pet Sargon.”  When we read the story, we all thought this sounded like what we imagined a dog would say, so we decided the next dog would be named Sargon.  Sargon the Great is also a famous warlord from history (although in sleep deprived state, I can’t remember from where).

So welcome to the new hound!!  Welcome Sargon!  Let’s hope he is great…someday.

It’s been a busy week for the McLeans.  We started the week as cross country ski coaches.  Our ski club, Foothills Nordic, offers a program to area schools.  We show up with a trailer filled with cross country ski gear, boots, skis, poles, etc.  Members of the club volunteer as coaches, all in an effort to introduce more kids to the sport of cross country skiing.  All four of us volunteered to help, because the program was at Sean’s elementary school.  We taught  on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  The club goes to the school the night before the program starts and grooms a trail through the school field. 

It was a blast!!  The kids  of the school had a lot of fun and it was amazing to see how quickly they picked up the sport.  The first day started with a lot of falls.

Just kidding, this is where we were teaching the kids to fall and then get back up again.  It was such fun!

Thursday was spent getting organized to get Sara and Kevin to Vermillion for the Alberta Youth Championships.  Unfortunately, the race was cancelled hours before they were due to hit the road.  Even though Sara was terribly disappointed that the race was cancelled (the overnight low was –38!), it gave her more time to get some rest.  She has been fighting a cold for the last week and a bit, so some extra sleep was warranted. 

The cold did not slow down Sean on Friday, when he and his buddy Griffin hit the slopes at COP for some downhill skiing!!  It is amazing how easily Sean can switch from cross country gear to downhill “stuff”.  It was a cool day, but the boys managed to keep themselves warm for the better part of 4 hours.   

Today, we decided it was time for a “family ski”.  I am glad that the kids race, but virtually every weekend is dedicated to their activities.   It is rare that we all get a chance to ski together and I LOVE days like today.  We hit the trails in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.  It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, the perfect Alberta winter day.  The temperature was mild, just a few degrees below zero.

The trails are not as “perfect” as they are in Canmore, but you get to make your own trail across the meadows if you want.  Sometimes you can also take your skis off.  Sean gave this a try.  He did pretty well for a while, but you never know when you are going to lose it…

Like I said, it was a great day!!!!  A perfect way to celebrate family day.

Tomorrow is officially “Family Day” in Alberta, and we will celebrate it by adding another member to our family.  Tomorrow, we pick up our new puppy, so stay tuned.  I can hardly wait to introduce him to you!!

I just spent a night chasing my dog and trying to get him to focus for long enough to get through the agility course. He is truly NUTS!! Mungo does enjoy agility classes. He likes the equipment, with the tunnel and the A-frame topping his list of favorites. More than the equipment though, Mungo loves the other dogs. In fact, for the most part, he rips through the equipment in an attempt to go play with the other dogs.

He is so hard to focus in fact, that we decided to try him in daycare on the days that he has agility classes. So he spends ALL DAY…8-10 hours, playing with other dogs. ALL DAY!!! Class starts at 6:15pm. The first day that we put him in daycare, he was quite tired. He would even lay down when it was not his turn. He still tried to run to other dogs, but his attempts were only half-hearted. The problem was, he was so tired, his brain couldn’t think. You would ask him to jump and he would just look at you, with a blank look on his face.

The second day at daycare, he seemed to find the balance between tired and “not stupid”, and he did quite well in agility.

Now he is starting to shift back towards stupid. Today he spent 10 hours at daycare, and he was still super-charged at agility.

Why do we keep trying? The truth is, if we could get him to focus on me instead of the other dogs, he could be AMAZING…super, super, amazing. He really only has two speeds, stop and full out go!! While the other dogs in the class are slowly jumping over jumps and sauntering through the tunnels and such, Mungo screams around at full throttle. The other people in the class jog beside their dogs and have time to think about which jump comes next. If I don’t start 3 jumps in front of my dog, I am left behind.

So… we will keep trying. Maybe one day, it will all come together in this crazy dog’s head and you will see us competing….Maybe!

By the way, folks…6 days to the new puppy!! God forbid I end up with two maniacs!

Here is the weekend update for all you followers…what did the McLeans do this weekend?  There were no races this weekend, which is always a good start.  The kids love to race and we will always take them, if they want to go, but sometimes it nice to have a race-free weekend.  Just because they were not racing, did not mean they were not skiing.  In fact, both kids were in Canmore for practices on Saturday.   The biathlon range was being used by another group this weekend, so even Sean just ended up skiing.  Luckily, while the coaches took their charges out on the trails, Kevin and I had a chance to put some distance on our skis.  We do not get a lot of time on our skis, and it is was a great day, quite warm, although not really sunny. 

In the afternoon, the kids went tobogganing with Sara’s team.  Sean was allowed to tag along.  The coach took them to  Grassi Lakes to toboggan.  Kevin and I were not really sure where they would go down.  Our experience with the Grassi Lakes area was that there was a wide trail going up to some lakes at the top.  Although the hills on either side of the trail are plenty steep for sliding, they are also full of trees.  We were therefore a little puzzled, until we saw the kids coming straight down the walking trail.  Well, maybe straight down is not a good description, as the trail twists and turns it’s way down the slope.  The kids had lots of fun though. 

In the evening, Sara went to sleep over at a friend’s house, and Kevin and I headed to the hockey game.  Sean was content to stay at home and rest with the dog.  This was the first hockey game I have been to in likely 10 years.  We were given the tickets, through Kevin’s work, and apparently they were worth $500 for the pair.  I like hockey and enjoyed the game (even though we lost), but I can think of about a million things I would prefer to do with $500!!    Oh well, it was free to us and it was an exciting game to watch.

Sunday did not involve skiing.  No practices at all.  We had two events to choose from, both at the Stampede grounds.  There was a dog show, and there was a boat and sportsman show on.  Now normally, we are not “boat and sportsman” show people, but this year, there was a chance for the kids to ride motorcycles again.  As soon as Sean heard this, the dog show was off the list.  He was a little upset when he found out that he missed his chance to ride a few weeks back, so he was determined to get on a motorcycle this weekend.   

There was much more instruction involved in this “learn to ride” event.  It took almost 45 minutes for them to learn all they needed to know to ride safely.  They practiced stopping and steering and controlling the throttle, before they were let loose.  First things first though, first you have to gear up.  I could not resist snapping a picture of the kids in little surgical ‘”bonnets”  Strange to see how similar they look.  I never really see the similarities when they are standing in front of me.

Then it was time to get on the bikes and “learn to ride”.

In no time, they were zooming around the course (I use the term “zoom” quite loosely!)  Here is a picture of Sean.  He has quite the look of concentration!!

He had a blast, and now motorcycle is on the list of things “I gotta have”.  To be fair, it was always on the list, now it is highlighted!

The rest of the show was okay.  There were some nice boats, but I get sea sick, so they held little appeal for me.  There were plenty of dead and stuffed animals, also not that appealing.  We did see some live birds of prey.  I am not really sure what they were doing at the show, but they were cool to see.  You could even pet them if you wanted.

So, that was the weekend.  Oops, almost forgot, we did meet up with the Ridgeback breeder at the dog show (actually, we met in the parking lot).  We gave here a kennel and a deposit for our new puppy.  So, in a few weeks, we will once again be a two ridgeback family.  Hold onto your hats folks, this could be exciting (or ugly!!)!