A Year+ in Review - Part 1 (2013)

The past couple years I have not been very good about blogging, so here's part 1 of a review of the last 2 years of Levi's and my life together.  I initially started this blog post close to a year ago, but I'm finally getting around to finishing it.

March 2013
The weekend before Levi's 3rd birthday I took him for a hike in the Bay Area with one of my close friends.  It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day, perfect for the start of Levi's birthday festivities.

Levi celebrated his 3rd Birthday on March 27, 2013, unfortunately for him though, I was busy on clinics at school so he had an abbreviated celebration on his actual birthday.

Levi's birthday fro-yo

We had a bigger celebration the following weekend when Mom and Dad came up to visit.  Levi got to open all of his presents out on the green belt.  We had an unfortunate attack by ants in the grass and had to quickly move to a different spot, but Levi wasn't phased by them at all.

May 2013
May of 2013 brought a group Tigana puppy party at a wonderful dog facility in Petaluma, CA.  The dogs had a huge grassy pasture to run around in, but more importantly, a big lake to swim and fetch bumpers in.  It was a blast, and Levi and I feel so lucky to be a part of the extended Tigana family.  Such a great group of people and goldens.

June 2013
The beginning of June I went on vacation with my family to Hawaii, which meant that poor Levi had to stay home.  On the up side, vacations always mean souvenirs!

After getting back from Hawaii it was time to pack up the whole house in preparation for graduation and moving to Colorado. 

A final walk on our Davis greenbelt.

Looking stunning in his graduation lei.

My Mom and Dad came and helped me caravan all of my belongings as well as Levi and my horse, Gypsy, to Colorado for my equine veterinary internship.

Levi asks if you can figure out which is our truck?

It was a quick trip and after moving all of my stuff in (while I was working), Mom and Dad had to fly back to California.  They said their goodbyes to their adorable grand-pooch. 

I didn't want Levi to get too lonely since I was working a lot of long hours, so I got him a friend.  They quickly became inseparable.

July 2013
We found a great dog park with a lake in it in Chatfield State Park, only about 15 minutes from where we were living in Colorado.  Needless to say, Levi loved when he got to go for outings there.

 

There were also great walking trails right out behind the vet clinic.

August 2013
We were definitely enjoying exploring some of the Colorado outdoors, but since I worked A LOT, Levi spent a lot of time like this...

He also tried to help me in the clinic and while I worked on records.

September 2013
In September, my Mom and sister came to visit and we spent the weekend up in Vail/Avon.  We stayed at The Westin Riverfront Resort in Avon which allows dogs so Levi was able to join us for the weekend.  We enjoyed hiking and exploring Vail Village.

October 2103
October brought the first snow!  Levi made sure he was ready with a new pair of snow boots, and a new argyle sweater.  Oh the torture I put him through ; ).

I went to Virginia to visit my best friend and returned with guess what...more souvenirs!

November 2013
In November, Levi and I went for a walk along the trail at Red Rocks Park.  It was beautiful, although not a very strenuous hike.

December 2013
December brought with it more snow so Levi and I spent my birthday afternoon frolicking in it.

Later in December we went up to Fort Collins to visit a couple friends and went for a hike up Horsetooth Rock. It was a little icy and slick but we made it to the top!

The end of December brought Christmas (one of Levi's favorite times of year!).  He unfortunately didn't get to come back to California with me since I flew home, but he was happy to get all of his Christmas presents when I got back.

Levi helping me in the barn at work.

I also got a very special present from my internmate and roommate at the time, Kristy, who is a fabulous artist.  She surprised me with this portrait of Levi!  If anyone wants to check out some of her work or wants to order a custom drawing here is a link to her website.  The proceeds from her sales also go to support a great cause so please check it out.

That's about it for our excitement in 2013.  Check back for Part 2 - A review of 2014.

Our Adventure over the last 6 months

Wow!  I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated this blog!  Levi and I apologize to anyone out there who still checks this.  The past 6 months have been incredibly busy with long hours in the vet hospital, traveling to visit various equine hospitals, studying for my national board exam, and just trying to keep up with day-to-day life.

Not to worry though, Levi has had plenty of fun adventures during our blogging hiatus.  Here's a little photo tour of our life the past few months.

A snowshoeing trip around Lake Tahoe.

Externship Souvenir from Texas

Keeping me company while studying endlessly for my national board exam

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

 

Souvenir From Disneyland

A local hike with a friend

Snowshoeing trip #2

Testing out his new Ruffwear Jacket for Colorado weather next year

And, our most recent trip to Tahoe over the three day weekend staying at a friends wonderful cabin right on the lake.  Couldn't have asked for a more perfect location!

After taking a short break from agility practice we are now back to training with the hopes of trialing this year sometime.  Here's a short video of some recent practice we did in our local grass field.  We are working on our teeter and contact training right now so maybe I'll have a video of that soon.

Levi's First Camping Trip

This weekend I took Levi on his first camping trip up to Truckee, Ca near North Lake Tahoe.  We started off with a hike up Castle's Peak on Saturday.  It was about 6 miles round trip with about 2,000 feet elevation gain.   It was a perfect day for hiking; sunny, clear skies, mid-70's with a breeze.  The beginning of the hike wasn't too strenuous but the last mile up the peak was a good climb and we had to stop for plenty of rest/water breaks.  It was pretty rocky so I'm definitely glad that I made Levi wear booties.  I got him the same type of booties he had before (ruff wear grip trex) but I got him a smaller size for his back feet and I bought him the ruff wear liners (socks) for the front booties which were supposed to help with dogs with dew claws.  They worked perfectly and we didn't have any dew claw issues or rotating booties like the last time!  We'll definitely be using them again for future hikes.

Our destination!

Levi was kind of a dirty boy on this trip and decided to take a little mud bath.

That was followed very shortly by a roll in the dirt.

My cute, dirty boy

At the top of the peak! Just over 9,000ft high.

After the hike we drove to our campsite nearby where we met up with the rest of our group.  Our campsite was right up against a river so Levi got to play in the water and go swimming on Sunday and Monday.  I don't know how he had the energy for it after our hike but as soon as he saw the water it was like he was refreshed.

Our campsite

He was an excellent camping buddy and I hope we can go on another trip soon.  Next up he'll be back at my parents' house for 5 weeks while I'm gone for my last set of externships. 

Happenings Lately

A few weeks ago Levi and I went for a walk along the Putah Creek trail in Davis with ChaCha and Alicia.  It was a nice day so Levi got to go for a little dip in the creek as well.  It was fun to get off of our usual walking paths and onto something more trail-like.  I love living in Davis but sometimes I miss the hills and hiking I had back home. 

Posing by the blackberry plants

Taking a rest break in the shade

Poor Levi had sore paws that evening, which were even more painful the next morning.  I got him a prescription of pain meds and iced and bandaged up his little feet which made him a lot more comfortable.
 

Levi icing his sore pads

I've realized that when he swims and then goes hiking right afterwards is when his paws seem to become raw and sore.  He's such a delicate little flower.  From now on he'll have to wear booties when we go hiking because I hate seeing him limp around the house :-(.

Now he's being babysat by my parents while I'm off on another externship at an equine clinic for a couple of weeks.  He loves visiting my parents house and getting to swim in the pool all the time.

His new favorite activity now that there's grass in the front yard is to swim and then take his toy onto the grass for a good roll. 

He makes me smile every day :-)