Reaper’s Realm

30/10/2024

Today is Mr Reaper’s birthday! A year ago today he was born. He had undergone quite the transformation from puppy to now. While we are dealing with some health issues, it’s nothing that will last. He should grow out of by of it in the next 6ish months. WE are both enjoying this warm weather. Tonight we are also celebrating his birthday by having a nice think T-Bone steak. Mine will be grilled, his raw. I’ll try to get pictures of him with it BEFOREHAND.

We have made a TON of progress in the last 6 months. I’m sure the next 6 will be the same. We’re building the foundation we need to compete in competitions, as well as general good manners everyday. Looking forward to getting him out on the trial field and seeing what he can do, but we won’t be ready for another 6-12 months. At least that’s my thoughts on it. He might surprise me and be ready before that. Time will tell though.

23/10/2024

Sitting here enjoying my morning coffee. Contemplating my next moves. After much consideration I’ve decided to pull Reaper from The Purge 2 on Saturday. Reaper was diagnosed with panotheisis about 2 months ago. This is a condition that affects large breed dogs. It’s common. And commonly referred to as ‘growing pains’. In a nutshell his body is growing faster than his bones, which causes pain. It’s something that corrects itself once he reaches maturity, but until then he has flare ups of it hurting. In other health news I had to have my hand checked out after Reaper twisted it in his harness, which you can see in one of the videos I posted previously, he didn’t break anything. My hand is just bruised. SO we both are on the be mend for a few weeks.
I do WANT to continue with The Purge, but I’m not willing to jeopardize long term health and future competitions for short sighted gains/rewards. He’s not even a year old, at least not for another week (Oct 30th). We have his whole life to do competitions and such. Take this break of a few weeks to allow him to heal and just be a dog will be good I think. He WANTS to run and play. He will nudge me whining and look over at the Chuckit ball trying to get me to throw it for him. Despite hurting. Ball is life 🤣
I still intend to be at The Purge to watch, and support others. Like Rachel Powell and Raven. Along with help Eddie White Lakefront K9 where I can. So, if you want to see dogs of all levels compete in scenarios that they have not seen before that day, come out and enjoy the day. I hear they will be having a taco food truck there. Who doesn’t like tacos?? 🤪. Along with a few raffle items. PLUS several venders selling dog specific items like collars, leashes, etc. ALL are small businesses so your support would be appreciated I’m sure.
Ok. Enough rambling by me. Time to finish my coffee and proceed with the rest of my day. Which is less busy with Reaper on rest for the foreseeable future.

19/10/2024

19/10/2024

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10/09/2024

Ok, back out here working on Reaper’s ball drive. He’s doing better. Also starting him on learning his French commands. As you can see he’s a bit wore out. We’re taking a quick water break before getting back to it. Stopped and weighed him. He’s now 84 pounds. Which isn’t as heavy as I thought he might be, but not bad considering he wasn’t eating much for the couple of weeks it took him to heal back up.

13/08/2024

Well. Spent much of the day cleaning out weeds from the flower beds. Honestly let them go for far too long. The corner bed is still not done. I filled a leaf bag with nothing but the sticker plants that had grown to about 7 or 8 feet tall. Yeah I know. Embarrassing. BUT I’m cleaning them up now. I had to put on my heavy leather welding gloves that I use with my grills and smoker to grab them, and STILL got stuck quite a few times. All the bending over made my back hurt so I stopped before it was too bad, plus, I had filled the bag so it seemed like a good place to stop. Dinner tonight was again courtesy of Marty Carmichael and Melissa Back Carmichael. It was some of the pulled pork from their party. Delicious. Tomorrow will be leftover pulled pork and the green beans and potato foil packet. Because I’d like to finish up the corner flower bed and take everything to the dump.
After dinner I took Reaper out for a walk on the Hobart lakefront. We both needed the walk. LOL. Now to take him inside and to bed. I still have a couple more things to complete before my day is done. 🧐

11/08/2024

Today was a busy day around here. I spent a good portion of it cleaning up weeds that have gotten to big. I’ve filled two leaf bags full of weeds so far. I’m going to get out there again tomorrow and see if I can finish up the flower beds. Then all I have left is to trim the evergreens. That shouldn’t be a huge job, just a big time consuming setting up a drop cloth to catch all the trimmings which makes cleanup easier.
After this I enjoyed an adult beverage while waiting on dinner to cook. Dinner was fresh Italian flat green beans with cubed potatoes and bacon cooked on the grill. A big THANK YOU goes out to Marty Carmichael for the beans. I used about half of what he gave me tonight and have as many left to use tomorrow for dinner.
After dinner was done I took Reaper out for a walk. While I did play with him chasing a ball here at the house, it’s good to get him out as well. Well truth be told, it’s good for BOTH of us.
Now to finish up a few things like getting dishes washed, and the most important thing. Getting the coffee pot set up for tomorrow so all I have to do is push start as I walk by it to take Reaper out to go potty in the morning.
As I was pulling weeds I saw that the rose bush we planted in memory of mom didn’t survive, which is a bit upsetting. I guess I’m going to have to either get another rose bush, OR find some different flowers. I prefer perennials. Maybe I’ll see about some tulips. 🤔. Any suggestions that folks night have, feel free to send them my way. Here is what the rose bush looked like that died. I’m thinking that it didn’t like the winter, even though it survived several.

27/07/2024

Been working on tiring Reaper out this morning since I’m going to be gone for a while this afternoon/evening. I think I’ve made a dent in his energy today. I’ve b been playing fetch with him off and on all morning. In between bathroom breaks, and the MANDATORY coffee refills.
He SEEMS to be wore out, but I know if I throw the ball he’ll go racing after it. He still hasn’t gotten the hang of retrieving for a distance yet, but that will come with time. Right now he just loves racing after it. Bringing it back. Not so much 😂.

24/07/2024

Took Reaper out yesterday to Petco to find out how much he weighs, which is 81 pounds now. Then we went to the portage lakefront for a bit. There were a literal TON of people around which wasn’t good for us trying to do sone obedience. Just too many distractions at this stage in his training, and age. So we came home to do some here. Took a break and as you can see he hasn’t quite figured out that if you lay in FRONT of the fan it’s nicer 😆. After dinner we got a quick walk in at the rugby field in Hobart before the rain swept through.
Overall a pretty good day. Was able to get my weekly chores done like pick up p**p, mow the fenced in yard, and put out the garbage. I try to pick up the p**p the day before garbage pickup so it’s not sitting in the can very long in this heat.

21/07/2024

Just spent a few minutes working on Reaper bringing the ball back and releasing it so I can throw it again. He’s doing pretty good. Still have room for improvement, but there’s no fighting him for it MOST of the time 😆. He won’t quit wanting to chase the ball, even when he’s panting like a steam engine. I have to stop him and make him take a break. Here he is after such a break he stopped long enough to get a quick drink, then as you can see he’s back for more.

I need a bigger fenced in yard. He’s running out of room for me to throw the ball for him. I’m bouncing it off the concrete to get some height and time before he gets to it. He had all but flattened the peonies. Thank goodness they are already done and are just green and not flowering. Guess they are on the list of yard work to do here. I’m thinking I’ll work on them tomorrow or Tuesday. I have chores to do Tuesday inside the fence (pick up p**p and mow). Might as well do the flower beds as well. The forecast is for a nice day.

19/07/2024

Outside throwing the ball for Reaper while the charcoal lights for dinner. Tonight’s gonna be pork steaks. I feel like I’m sending up smoke signals. 😂. It’s like I’m trying to tell the ENTIRE neighborhood that I’m getting ready to cook. I’m not kidding. I can see the smoke wafting into the front yard up over the garage. 😳 Once we’ve both had dinner. Or at the very least he has. I’m going to drag him back out to the lakefront again. We both need the exercise as the exposure to different environments. You never know just what or who you’ll find or see out there. 🤷

19/07/2024

Brought reaper out here to work with his dealing with distractions (and boy were there a bunch) as well as both of us getting some exercise in. Overall a positive outcome. Room for improvement, but then again. There’s always room for improvement. Now to head home and get some more treats made since we used the last of them tonight. 👍