Photo dump of the party

My daughter in law, pampering Ember for keeping her paws on the ground.

Who would think that before she met my son, this gal had never had a dog?  What a great dog-mom she has turned out to be for Carl!

DIL's mom, with not one, but TWO dogs.  Donna was a great sport in stepping out of her comfort zone to play the "Call Once" game, even with Carl, because it involves taking the dog by the collar while presenting him with a treat.  She had never done this... Carl is her "first dog", too.

I was so proud of both DIL's parents participating in this multi-person game!  We did two rounds, first with Carl, who was in heaven getting treats that Grandma (me) brought for the game.

Both dogs performed very well.  We had to "reset" them a couple of times, but they are smarties and those treats were really desirable to both of them!

DIL's dad, the gentle bird man of our town.  Here he is with Ember, while we're all just chilling.  We didn't do the dog game until after we ate, between the meal and the dessert (one of Donna's incredible creations).

Bob got pulled off his feet not by Ember, but by Carl in the first round... because nobody expected Carl was about to bolt after a squirrel!  The game has the most recent caller hold the leash to "restrain" just a bit (increases the dog's desire to respond to the call) while the next person calls the dog's name ONCE.  Carl's mind was not on the game at the point where Bob was holding the leash and his daughter was calling the dog.  Yikes.

No one was hurt (important!), brushed off leaves and grass, and the game went on.

The mythical son kept Ember inside while Carl had his turn at the game.  Then Donna kept Carl in while Ember had hers.  Each dog had the opportunity to have a couple or three rounds of being called by four different people, in turn and getting a really yummy treat for coming to the sound of their name.

Dogs happy, humans happy, and then... dessert!

Anyway, that's the photo dump.  No, I don't have any video or even still photography of the game itself with either dog, because all the humans were occupied in some role related to it.

But oh, man!  That dessert!  What looks like whipped cream?  Cut with cream cheese so it had some substance to it.  Oreo cookies.  Fresh raspberries.  Yum!  The humans were treated every bit as much as the dogs!

Oh, oh, and great news:  Ember made it both ways without getting car-sick!  I carefully managed when she ate, and how much, both at home before going, and at the party.

I fed her 1/2 can of wet food shortly after arriving.  That and the treats from the game were all she had to eat at the kids' house.

It was a bit of a struggle getting her back in the car afterwards.  Seems Ember and the childhood version of me have some personality traits in common.  Once there, and having a good time, we don't want to leave!

She flopped down on her belly and was not at all interested in jumping into the back seat!  My son had referred to this posture as "no legs" when she had done it earlier in the evening.  I did eventually get her lured to the edge of the open car door, and physically lifted her so she could smell the next treats on the lip of the seat, then she scrambled in.  She settled down and rode home quietly.  

When we got home, we went out to the backyard for "last call" since it was 8 p.m. already, and she went to bed in her crate.

This morning, she's been a little low-energy, and that's OK, too.  I'm also a little low-energy.  She's now on puppy nap #1, and I'm updating y'all on "how it went".

Life is good.  Spark on!