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Juice and I arrived in Pasadena on Sunday night. It was a very long drive from Vegas to here seeing as how we were traveling the day after Christmas, my normally 3 1/2 hr drive was a 6 1/2 hr drive. ugh. But we made it! Monday we had a free day so Megan (Sami Jane’s owner) and I walked down to the local burger joint. It was AMAZING! Best burgers ever. Good thing we walked, after all that grease. LOL. Then we went shopping for a dress for the New Years Eve party, and after that met up with Craig (Stanley’s owner). We all had dinner at the hotel then off to bed for us. 

Tuesday we had a stand by day. Just in case there was media we didn’t go far. We walked across the street to do a little shopping. Went to the MAC makeup store and Sephoia makeup store! Then we got the dogs and headed to the Rose Bowl! The dogs had lots of fun with all the people there. We took lots of pictures, and the dogs did lots of tricks for everyone. Later that day Perry (Sydney’s owner) and Barbra (Henry’ owner) arrived at the hotel and we wall went out for dinner again  

Wednesday was an early day we had to be at Fiesta Floats for media, and the weighing of the float! CHP had to come in to weight the float. We thought it weighed around 35 tons………. the official weight was………………….. 84,300 lbs that’s 42 tons! The Guinness book officials were there to award Natural Balance with the award for the Worlds heaviest float! It was very exciting. Juice got to be on Spanish TV…… it was really funny watching Ron (Tillman’s owner) speaking Spanish in the interview It was funny to see how many CHP officers were there for this. Juice even got a pat down when he did his spread em trick We left there and went back to the hotel to drop off the dogs and let them rest. Linda (Quinn’s mom, Quinn handles Bubbles) Took Megan and I on a preview of the parade route, Then back to Luck Boy for the BEST burgers!!! What a fun week so far! Tomorrow is the float judging. I’ll post more pictures and don’t for get to check out my FB album http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?fbid=10150092200340891&id=596110890&aid=299360

OK I know I’m a little behind…… So last Saturday we went back to Irwindale for another float practice. The weather has been so horrible! It’s been raining nonstop, and so foggy too. So Friday night as we drove from Vegas to California the rain poured down. I will admit it was a little scary driving through the Cajon pass, the fog so thick I couldn’t even see the car in front of me, so I put on my flashers and drove it the right lane. Juice on the other hand was sound asleep in his crate We made it to the hotel and just in time! It was a down pour outside, crazy!

5am came fast. I fed Juice and loaded up the car, and drove to Irwindale, but not before my GPS got me lost, lol. As we waited to step aboard the float we did a short interview with Dog Fancy, and showed off a few of Juices new tricks. I even did our brand new one, a chest stall, where Juice stands on my chest. It’s pretty cool, once I perfect it I will post a video. But I did it in front of everyone and he did it beautifully! Ok float time!!! We started jumping the dogs, they could care less that it was STILL raining. All the dogs did great jumping while the float made its way down the street and around the corners. We did a few more jumps just for the cameras, and then we ran for cover in the Fiesta warehouse. Dog Fancy wanted to do a few more interviews before we left.

Craig took us on a tour of the Fiesta Floats facility, it was amazing what they do. And the volunteers that glue all those flowers! Wow what a great job! We looked at where the crates will go on the float for the dogs to take a brake if needed during the parade. Since its 3 hours long, the health and safety of the dogs always comes first. I was given the job of sewing crate covers so they blend in with the decorations. I also got to sit in the floats driver seat. Wow is it amazing, the driver can’t see anything, he relies completely on the lookout guy on the float, to tell him left, right, start, stop.

That was it for the day, we hoped in the car and drove back home….. Still raining………did I mention it was raining? Well that brings us to today. Today…. it’s still raining, really, so I am getting my hair done since next week will be full of media and cameras, then it will be Juice’s turn to get all groomed. Tomorrow we drive back to Cali again for ESPN at the Natural Balance facility. That is if the weather allows. There is talk of snow in the passes and mudslides in California. I glad my dad is going to drive, it’s a little too scary for me.  Dont forget to check out our FB Photo album Click Here

Spread 'em

Juice and I started our morning at 3:30am. We headed to the Fox 5 news station for and live interview to talk about Natural Balance and the Tournament of Roses parade.  We had 3 sets, 5, 6 and 7 o’clock hours. Juice did awesome didn’t even know we were on camera. He got to play with one of his favorite toys in the studio….. a plastic water bottle We even did our new trick on camera and he pulled it off beautifully. Here is the Fox 5 interview  We left there around 7:45am, off to our next stop  

8:30am we arrived at ch.13 abc news for the Morning Blend. We had an awesome time! Juice did all his tricks again for the camera.  Everyone on set just loved the Juice man.  Here is a link to the interview: Morning Blend Interview  

After that we headed to the dog park to let Juice have some fun, at the same time we met with The Vegas Dog to do an interview for their paper, and then the Las Vegas Sun came out for their interview shown here. It was a very long day for the pup. He even had his annual eye CERF exam and of course perfectly normal eyes  

Finally home for the night, Juice went to his crate and slept, and I’m going to do the same! Be sure to check out the videos and leave your comments. Enjoy these pics from the dog park today!

Today Juice had an interview with Ch. 8 news. We went out to the Las Vegas Dock Dogs practice pool and dock where Juice and I did our interview and had some fun with a few practice jumps into the pool. Juice even threw out an awesome jump of at least 22′.  It was the first of many interviews to come. Juice was happy to be jumping in the big pool.

Afterwards we headed to the Sit Means Sit facility to teach Juice some new tricks! WOW what a star he is! With the help of Ashton and Lianne we taught juice how to jump up on my back. And he learns so quickly! Funny little dog can learn to jump up on my back in an hour, but he’s still trying to figure out how to roll over, lol.  Here is some video of his new trick. Enjoy.

Juice\’s new trick

Ok so, today, what a long day of sitting on the phone, and since the celebrity cannot speak for himself (Juice) I get to be the lucky one the phone. Juice and I have a few appearances set up for next week! How exciting! To start things off we will be appearing on the Morning Blend on ch.13 abc here in Las Vegas. It is LIVE so we will be on the air Wednesday Dec. 15th at 9am. If you see us on air be sure to let me know!! This is only the start to our busy week. The next day Thursday the 16th we will be doing a segment with Extreme Amy on Fox ch. 5 not sure on the exact time yet but maybe around 8am. On Friday the 17th we may be doing an appearance on Wake Up with the Wagners nbc ch. 3 again not set in stone it will be in the morning maybe around 9am. Oh my little Juice is famous!! The next day Saturday the 18th is another float teat run so back to California we go. 

Wow what a day for me, Juice on the other hand slept most of the day. He went outside with me to feed the horses in the morning, ate a yummy breakfast of Natural Balance, took a nap, followed me around the house, went with me back outside to feed the horses dinner.  He ate his dinner and is now playing with his favorite KONG toy.

Our really cool NB hoodies

Time is flying, another trip to California for practice, Friday we had practice at the Natural Balance HQ. Today we figured out what order we would jump in, and we would get a good idea how the dogs would do jumping over and over. And just as before the cameras were rolling. Juice is such a good boy he just sits quietly by my side waiting to be told what to do next. I’m so used to my other performance dogs that are really vocal, it’s nice to have Juice just sit quiet Body Glove was there to meet the dogs, I believe they will be outfitting the dogs for the parade.

Saturday was fun. We got to go out to Fiesta Floats and practice on the real thing! It was the first time I saw the float, it’s huge.  Time for a test run, all the dogs and handlers climbed aboard the float. How cool is this!!! The dogs were doing great, they didn’t even know that we were moving, or 12 feet off the ground.  The cameras were flashing people were cheering. Fiesta made NB dream a reality! We are sure to be everyone’s favorite float in the parade. We didn’t make it too far, the float he a minor technical issue that is all fix now. But that was the end of our run for the day. We did have to practice a fire drill to show that we could all exit the float safely, and another interview for Juice and I, though this time Juice wanted nothing to do with sitting nicely, no, he wanted to lie on his back with all fours in the air and look cute. Every time I got him to sit up, he rolled again, at that point I couldn’t help but laugh. 

Again here are a few pictures, if you would like to see all the pictures from our trip you can always check out my FB album

This little border collie continues to amaze me! Out of the 180 plus dogs 7 got called back for the semi finals. So back to California we went, my mom, Juice, and I made the 4 hour drive to Pacoima California. I was really nervous, there were some good dogs there. Just like last time cameras everywhere, this time it was for the TV show that is being filmed (more info on that to come) one by one we headed to the dock for our second jumps, this time we had to jump on command for the cameras, 3 2 1 action! Juice did wonderful. We waited till all the dogs finished, not knowing that they were going to announce the winners right then and there. We lined up along the wall as the winners were announced. Juice made it!! WOW I wanted to cry what an amazing opportunity this is going to be. More interviews, more camera time, and Juice showing off his ability to leap into my arms. (He loves doing that) the next thing I saw was the director’s chairs with the dogs names on them. COOL! My little man has his own chair! After about an hour of interviews and picture taking it was time for a little more practice before we headed back home.  The dogs will be jumping into a pool of water on a moving float, the tough part is the last stretch of the parade route where they will be going down a 12% grade, the float engineers at fiesta floats are working managing where the water goes.

I have to give a HUGE thanks to Natural Balance for the opportunity to be on their float, and also to Fiesta Floats for building such an amazing float!

Here is a blip from the Fiesta Float sight: 

The float features over 4,000 gallons of water, weighs more than 35 tons. At the front of the bi-level float, dogs will skim board over a specially engineered material covered in water. A large waterfall cascades from the upper pool area to the lower deck. While the winning dogs frolic at the front section of the float, five competitive dock-jumping dogs leap into a 9’ wide x 21′ long pool of water.

Juice in his chair

All the dogs representing Natural Balance

The dock diving dogs

Waiting in line for our turn.

I went to California for an agility seminar taught by Marcus Topps, and  friend of mine sent me a link for a casting call for the same weekend, they were looking for dock diving dogs. How perfect! Juice loves dock diving and we were going to be in California anyway, so we signed up. Over 18o dogs tried out, it was crazy! There were people and dogs everywhere.  They were also looking for skim boarding dogs. We waited in line for our turn, watching lots of good dogs jump ahead of us. Soon enough it was our turn, the pool is only 20′ long, Juice is used to a 40′ long pool so trying to keep our throw short was difficult. His first jump was almost out of the pool, oops  :/ the next few were a little better.  When I got off the dock I was asked to do an interview with USA Today! COOL! The winning dogs will win a spot in the 122nd Rose Parade, January 1^st 2011 the float sponsored by Natural Balance Pet food. NB is going for the Guiness book of world records for the world’s heaviest float. There will be 6 dock diving dogs and 6 skim boarding dogs. When will we find out who made it? In a few days!  Here are a few pictures, the USA Today interview and a picture of Juice in the LA Times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPRv4WyN-B4  –USA Today

http://framework.latimes.com/2010/11/08/flying-wet-fur-in-dog-auditions/#/7  –LA Times Picture

We attened the 10th Annual Haute Dog Howl’oween Parade in Long Beach, CA yesterday and had a great time. So much creativity! So many calm, tolerant dogs. Wanted to send a shout out to some great organizations we met there:

Border Collies in Need

We met Suzanne Strauss and some of the border collies (and other dogs) her organization is fostering looking for forever homes. The have an assortment of fund-raising t-shirts and other items that would make great gifts for your favorite dog person — especially those who love border collies!

Leo the Wheelchair Dog

Leo was paralyzed from a ruptured disc in his back. He’s had surgery, lots of PT and is now using a wheelchair. Check out his story at www.interiormiracles.com. His people aren’t giving up on him and he is one of the happiest dogs we saw all day. (He did have a bit of a fixation on the squirrels in the park — so funny to watch!)

AthleticDogs.com announced yesterday that a Facebook Fan drive has been launched. Once 1,000 fans are signed up for our facebook page, we’ll be doing a drawing for gift certificates to our online store. So sign up to become a fan. And, if you are already a fan, pass the word to your dog-loving, dog-owning, athletic dog friends! All Facebook Fans of AthleticDogs are eligible to win.