Happy Birthday to Dove!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful Dove, Ch Valkyrie's When Doves Cry, and her six littermates! Dove enjoyed a special breakfast, lots of playtime, then a trip with me to Iowa City to Leash on Life, where she got to play ONLY DOG, and picked out a bunch of new toys and treats. After we got home, Dove shared her haul of new toys with the other dogs. The three senior dogs grumbled about when would dinner be served. All of the dogs are now exhausted and fell asleep around 9 pm, several hours before my usual bedtime.

Here is Dove waiting with me at Leash on Life while the nice salesperson rang up our very large assemblage of goods! This was Dove's favorite toy and she squeaked it enthusiastically while in the store, as you can see in the video.

We got home and Dove graciously shared her toys with Prins and Celine. Prins, Celine and Dove played like small puppies, all filled with joy.

Skadi got a special new slow feeder toy. It's called a Pine Cone. I spread a few tablespoons of canned dog food on the toy and it kept her busy for about 20 minutes. At that point, she was tired and let Celine steal the Pine Cone from her. I think this will be a really good enrichment toy. It is made stronger than other slow feed toys (except traditional Kongs, which are hard to clean and can be frustrating for dogs). It's also dishwasher safe!

What would any birthday celebration story be without an adorable throwback video featuring the birthday celebrant? Here is a video that Andy had saved of Baby Dove (age three months) playing with Bridget.

I didn't get a lot of pictures today, but here are a few showing: Dove's haul from Leash on Life; new trout collar and green reflective leash for Prins; Prins and Celine inspecting one of the bags from Leash on Life (they knew it was for them and left alone the groceries!); Prins waiting for me to throw one of the Kong soft ball toys while Celine looks extremely pleased; Prins proudly showing off the giant Kong tennis style ball (with the world's most annoying squeaker), while Dove watches excited and Skadi grouses in the kitchen about dinner; Skadi totally exhausted at 8:30 pm after partying hard with the Pine Cone feeder toy.