Just for a change, I woke my DOG from a sound sleep so I could go to the bathroom.

We got Kyra about a week ago and have been bit nervous about her behavior. We figure that she really hasn't had any proper training and had to pretty much fend for herself growing up, so recently she's been a bit snippy around other dogs or skittish even, but a little too dominating with Josie (Kristen's dog). After her mom had a grand idea, Kristen' got her brother's dog, Dakota, to come over to the house for a few days since he is young, energetic, and full of muscle. It was great to have had something with which Kyra could learn so appropriate behavior and not be so domineering. There is still a little bit of separation anxiety and she air snaps a lot, but I'm hoping that a good bit more training can resolve those issues.

We spent a good bit of Christmas at Kristen's parents home and had a really good time with my now accepted family. In attempts to better socialization skills, we've been taking Kyra along with us. She is doing a bit better, but I'm sure there is still a good bit of work ahead as there is with any young, untrained animal.

Every time you speak, your mind is on parade.

Last night Kristen and I took the dogs downtown to watch the Elves Overboard boat parade. Before she got her promotion, she had spent a lot of time setting up the event which consisted of two parades with last night's even being the biggest. There were probably 30 or so boats involved that ranged from small pleasure craft to an actual ocean-going tug capable of pushing around massive cargo ships. Many of them involved music being piped in, but one large boat even had a live band playing that continued on as many of them docked at the convention center. for the first time, members of the public could text in votes for their favorites, allowing a more interactive experience. The new dog was decently behaved, but still being her first day and tired from the afternoon runs she was still acting aggressively when we were sitting down, but not when simply walking about.

The value of a dog is its constant reminder of how much fun it is to be idiotic.

After still not having any contact from the Tampa German Shepherd Rescue, Kristen was able to find an adoption listing from a family in Deltona that had to give up their 4 month old dog as another child in an already overcrowded home was soon going to be added. After a decent call and e-mail exchange, we made arrangements to meet the family in Orlando near the IKEA to meet the animal. The initial meeting was a bit tense as the new dog was obviously quite frightened and was a little aggressive with Kristen's dog. We took both dogs for a walk in a nearby field and they seemed to do better, however the new dog does seems to be defensive/aggressive whenever we're sitting down, however when she's on a leash or running free (which we allowed at the dog park) there aren't any problems. I'm hoping that this is just due to being in a completely new environment and not having had the benefit of prior structured training.

When we got home I took her to a hash run and plan to take her out as often as possible to ensure proper socialization with people and other animals. We haven't decided on a name yet and thought we'd wait a little while to see why kind of personality develops as she gets acclimated to her new environment. She did show a bit of separation anxiety, so I'll need to figure out how to kill that habit very quickly and hope a couple of days of adjustment and routine will aid in her development.

One man's wilderness is another man's theme park.

To finish off our annual passes, Kristen and I hit the Magic Kingdom for the day to take in the Christmas festivities and doled up theme park. One of my favorite sections is Tom Sawyer island and I've seemed to have missed it the past several visits so we made sure to hit it this time around. We had a great ride on the Jungle Cruise, however were disappointed that the Swiss Family Robinson tree house was closed. This was the spot where I first told Kristen I loved her earlier this year, so it sucked to have missed that. There was absolutely no line for the Pirates ride (another favorite) or on many of the others such as Space Mountain (with the Fast Pass at least) or Carousel of Progress.

I like to sleep when I go camping, said Tom intently.

This was the weekend of the annual TBH3 campout. Toss and I were the hares for the trail on Saturday. I was able to make last minute arrangements to go through nearby Caliente Resort, which was nice, and had a long, but decent shiggy-filled trail to the Moose Lodge for lunch. We got to see most of our out-of-town friends and the daiquiri machine was churning all weekend with different concoctions that toss kept putting together. the rest of campout was the usual blend of foam pit dancing, live band, hot tub, afternoon olympic games, and plenty of food and beer (12 kegs in all for the weekend). We had originally planned to head to Naples mid-afternoon to look at a potential pet adoption, however after thinking more about it we were unsure if this particular animal would be a good fit. We're keeping an eye out for other potential German Shepherd dogs and have tried to contact the local Tampa German Shepherd Rescue, but haven't heard anything.