I am extremely excited about our trip up the California coast to Oregon. We have already begun making preparations for the trip. Today I am signing up with mobile blogger so that I can chronicle the journey. Through my Pocket PC I will be able to take pictures and video and post them to the blog with commentary all the way. Kallie is going to the groomers tomorrow for a bath and a hair cut. I will post some before and after pictures. She will have her nails clipped, ears cleaned and her anal sacs emptied. For those of you who do not know, dogs have two glands just inside their anus that periodically need to be expunged. I had never heard of this until I watched an episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike Rowe worked as a dog groomer. I spoke with the groomer today and she said that they routinely squeeze the anal sacs as part of the grooming process. These are the scent glands that dogs are sniffing when they greet each other. Normally the process of defecation supplies enough pressure to cleanse these sacs. In many domestic dogs the type of food they eat does not allow for this cleansing to take place due to the consistency of the feces. I will not go into this subject any further, but if you are interested there is quite a bit of information at veterinarypartner.com. We are also looking to get Kallie a winter coat for the freezing conditions we will undoubtedly face. Most of the coats on the market are much too bulky, especially for a dog as fast and athletic as an ACD. My mother offered to design and make her a coat while we are visiting. She has made them in the past for her Italian Greyhounds and the are extremely functional as well as much better looking than those you can find in the stores. I am not talking about a Gucci jacket for my dog. I am talking about a functional piece of equipment for her while we are in the field or at the barn. The coats are really neat and they will work perfectly for Kallie on many future trips.