One of the big news items in the world is Hurricane Irma.  She has already laid a path of destruction in the Caribbean, and she is headed now for the US.   And she appears to be BIG. I hope all of my readers in Florida stay SAFE. Hurricanes are NOT fun.  We had one here in Nova Scotia back before MY time – in 2003,  and it caused EXTENSIVE damage.  And IT was ONLY a Category 2 Hurricane.  Irma looks like she could be a 4 or IF Florida is LUCKY, she could be a 3.  The predictions seem to change minute by minute.  Right now, they appear to be preparing people for the worst – better safe than sorry.

Obviously we dogs need to be considered in any emergency planning.   If people are planning to stay home, they need to be sure we have clean water, food and any medicine we may need.  Just like humans.  My human saw one website that suggested you could get a kiddie pool and put sod in it, in the house, so we dogs would have a place to pee and poop while the hurricane is going on.  In this house,  all it would take would be one of us boys to pee on furniture and all of us would follow.  Who needs sod? But not exactly a desirable option…

The other big thing in any impending emergency is to be sure we dogs have proper identification in the event that we are separated from our humans.  If we are microchipped, that is one way, or having a collar with our ID is another.  My human actually just ordered a tag for my collar – that identifies that I have seizures and  need my medication.  Heaven forbid I go bunny chasing one day and get lost.  If someone were to find me, they would know that I need immediate medical attention. I already wear a collar with my name and my human’s phone number, and I am microchipped, but she figured the seizure alert tag would be a good idea too.

According to my Google searches, there has never been an actual Hurricane Viktor, Hurricane Elroy or Hurricane Frodo.  My human said they already exist here in Nova Scotia – spinning, churning and  causing turmoil and destruction if left alone for any extended amount of time.  Ha.  Ha.  Not funny.

Anyway, I sincerely hope all of my dog and human friends say SAFE.  And MAYBE the weatherman will be wrong!   Heavane knows , it wouldn’t  be the first time!

Take care, stay safe have good one, peace and paws up.

So today, September 8 is International Literacy Day.  And since many of you enjoyed the old book I found for Read a Book Day, I thought I could go down in my human’s library and find another old book to review.  Now this book is not nearly as old – it is just from 1931 – so it’s quite possible that someone reading this was around when it was published.  But chances are, most of you haven’t read it.

So again, let’s start with some quotes.  This one is from the chapter called “On Buying a Dog”.  “Bitch or dog?- Generally speaking, bitches are more companionable and tractable than dogs, being more affectionate and less quarrelsome.  They are, as a rule, also cheaper and they are in every way as satisfactory as guards…”  Now THIS gets ME going!!!  Hello?  We boys are affectionate! And we are tractable.  Whatever that means.  So IF females are so much better, than explain to me WHY they are cheaper?!  There is something just plain WRONG with this logic.

And here’s a good one from the chapter called “The Daily Routine – the Dog in the Home.” The chapter is discussing how we must be given liberty to go in the garden or yard – and not to foul the pavements in the streets. They quote “If taken in hand early, it is possible to train them to avoid the flower beds, by using the injunction ‘Ware bed.”   I kid you not.  ‘Ware bed.  I can hear my human now… ‘Ware bed.  ‘Ware bed.  As opposed to “STOP PEEING ON THE NEW PLANT.  VIKTOR.  VIKTOR.  VIK-TOOOOOOOOOR.  STOP!!!!!!!!!!”  Yeah – we’ll SEE if  ‘Ware bed works.

I LOVE this part from the chapter titled “Making a Gentleman of Him.”  Here’s the part on Coming in to the Whistle or Call.  “Teach him to come in promptly on call or whistle.  Probably a whistle is answered better than a shout, and it is not so undignified.  It is as well to have some small biscuits with you which you can reward him occasionally.  If he does not answer readily to a call or whistle, turn around and walk away, and in all probability he will come in at once.  Then say “Heel.” and resume your walk.  Getting him to do these two exercises properly (heeling and recall) means that you have accomplished something that is really material. It may take you a week or two to do it, but you will agree later on that time and trouble have been well spent.”  OK.  So I LIKE that he uses treats.  That’s positive.  But again, I have some questions about the logic.  So you walk away if Fido doesn’t come when called.  And “in all probability he will.”  But what if he doesn’t?!  And hello – a week or two to get heelwork and recall down?  Try 5 years in this house.  Make that 7.  Oh and by the way, according to this, my human is VERY undignified…..

And then we have the breed photos.  I am actually happy to say that SOME of the breeds DO look very similar to the dogs today.  But I also found a few that looked a bit different…

The Irish Setter

The poodle (maybe the difference is just in the grooming…)

The German Shepherd…

And here are two I REALLY found interesting – the Lhasa Apsos and the BEARDED COLLIE.  Does that not look like a PON?!  Well – it IS where the Beardie  came from…

I have another book to share – it’s a kid’s book – and although the stories inside are not just about dogs, many are.  Many of the illustrations are super and for obvious reasons, I love the cover!  Enjoy!

Have a happy Friday.  Peace and paws up!

It’s September 7 and today is Google Commemoration Day.  I’m not sure why it is the 7th – because Google was actually founded on September 4, 1998.  Want to find the answer?  Google it.

In honor of Google, I decided to do a few Google searches myself.  First I searched for ‘Polish Lowland Sheepdog’.  And I got 537, 000 results.  I thought that was pretty darn impressive.  So then I searched ‘Berger Picard’.  And get THIS – I got 3,140,000 results!!!  Picards beat PONs!  So then I searched ‘Polish Lowland Sheepdog Viktor’.  This time I got 9, 120 results.  With my blog being the first site listed.  So THEN I searched ‘Berger Picard Elroy’ – and I got 40,000 results!  With the first site again being my blog.  And holy moly there sure are lots of images for those searches.  I guess that’s what happens with over 1,000 blog postings.  So then I searched ‘Best Dog Blog’.  Bummer. I didn’t make the Top 100 list.  So I just added my name to the list.  But I don’t think it worked.

So then I decided to see what kinds of results you humans get when shopping for us dogs.  So I searched for the following things…and I would like YOU to rank them from highest to lowest number of results…I searched for ‘Best Dog Toy, Best Dog Leash, Best Dog Bed, Best Dog Food,  Best Dog Grooming Tools, Best Dog Treats and Best Dog Car’. Google results are actually based on how many mentions of those key words are in the database. 

So here we go, from lowest to highest…

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Best Dog Leash with 5,200,000 results
Best Dog Treats – 7,020,000 results
Best Dog Grooming Tools – 7,860,000 results
Best Dog Toy – 10,700,000 results
Best Dog Bed – 50,100,000 results
Best Dog Food – 105,000,000 results
Best Dog Car – 153,000,000 results

So clearly you humans are most concerned about how you will transport us to the store to get some food.  You are also concerned with how comfortable we are when we sleep and you want to be sure we are entertained.  You care about grooming tools more than TREATS.  Clearly you haven’t figured out that the two go hand in hand.  And lastly, you want to be sure we don’t take off somewhere.  Well why would we – we are busy driving around in the car, eating and sleeping.  Why would we need a leash?

Oh and despite ALL those results, it is next to impossible to come up with a SINGLE answer for each of those categories!  So you still have to do some additional searching!  And keep in mind that those results that come up in a big box at the beginning were probably paid for by someone to come up on top.  So like I said – you still have to search MORE.

My human prides herself as being the Google Queen.  If she needs something she believes she can find it on Google.  But beware – because not everything you read on the internet is true.  I know that’s hard to believe – but always double and triple check the source.  And if you are buying products (like dog toys!) – read the reviews.   Mind you…I hate to tell you this…but even reviews can be fake.  So be careful!

Anyway, as a last bit of trivia – Google processes over 40,000 searches every SECOND. Which they say translates to 3.5 billion searches daily.  The Google Queen probably contributes 678,000 to that number.  Yup – she’s a fount of useless knowledge.  Although she CAN find us some pretty cool stuff…

Have a good one – and happy Googling.  Peace and paws up!

It’s September 6 and according to the crazy calendar, today is Read a Book Day.  So I thought we would read one of the old dog books in my human’s collection of old dog stuff.  This particular book has a copyright of 1893.  So it’s a few years older than my human.  Just a few.

While I don’t have the space to read the WHOLE book to you, I thought it would be interesting to look at a few quotes from the book.  For example, here’s a quote from the Chapter titled “Animal Foods”:

“To a dog that has fallen off in coat and is under weight no better dietetic treatment can be administered than plenty of new milk with one, two or more – according to his size – raw eggs, lightly beaten up in it for breakfast and the same thing at noon in about half the quantity of milk taken in the morning.  And if he is a dainty feeder, when night comes another egg or two can wisely be mixed with his meat.”    So this guy REALLY likes eggs for us dogs.  In fact, he REALLY advocated for eggs.  We haven’t generally been given lots of eggs – but my human will no doubt study more about it.  I was surprised to see the part about milk.  Guess not as many dogs back then were lactose intolerant.

Another part in this chapter said this:
“The subject of fish is one soon disposed of.  All kinds that have recently been caught and properly cooked can occasionally be used in feeding dogs, but merely to vary the diet, for while nutritious, as usually served they are not very digestible; moreover, dogs seldom show any fondness for this food and generally eat it under protest, as it were.”   Clearly he NEVER met a PON.  Because I never met a fish I didn’t like!

And in the chapter titled “General Dietary” we have this info if you have a kennel with several large dogs:
…the following may be instituted in cold weather:  Put one pailful of beef trimmings into a kettle and add two and one-half pailfuls of water, a few potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, parsnips, or the like, not forgetting two or three onions, which in small quantities are appetizing to dogs as well as man.  All this should be seasoned with two good handfuls of salt. And salt, by the way, should always be added to broths, “puddings” and all other kinds of foods which man would wish seasoned were they for him. Now let it simmer for several hours; and when well cooked, crush the vegetables and break up the meat. Assuming there is enough food here for two suppers, on the second day boil up one or two cabbages until they are soft, a pinch of carbonate of soda being added to the water, mince well and add to the food left over the previous day.”  In this recipe I was surprised by the addition of onions – although they did say small quantities – because onions can be toxic to dogs.  And the salt?!  Hello high blood pressure.  No wonder none of the dogs who were around when this book was written are not alive today.

And here’s some info from the chapter on “Washing and Grooming”:
“The general rules are as follows:
Never wash a dog within two or three hours after eating heartily.  The best time is about an hour before feeding, for then if he is depressed by the bath his food will do much to bring on reaction and restore him.
Use lukewarm water as always for with cold water it is scarcely possible to effect cleanliness.
…In case he shivers or seems languid give him a generous quantity of warm milk.”  So clearly, just like us PONs, dogs in the olden days didn’t necessarily enjoy bath time either.   My human feeds us THROUGHOUT grooming and bathing.  Who wants to wait until the torture is over?!  And here we have MORE milk.  Not sure about this…

And here is a VERY interesting quote in the chapter on “Exhibiting’:
“The truth of the familiar and crude apothegm “It costs no more to keep a good dog than a poor one” has evidently found wide acceptance, for mongrels are rapidly disappearing and their places are being filled by purebreds.”  Well isn’t THAT different from today?!  This was written in the pre-doodle days… Clearly we purebreds have some promotional work to do nowadays….

And now let’s take a look at some of the breed photos.  YOU be the judge as to whether these breeds have changed any:

The Great Dane:

The Greyhound:

I THINK this might be the Border Collie:

The pug AND the poodle!:

The Chow-chow (!), the Schipperke, and the Bedlington terrier:

This is obviously a SMALL snippet of info from this book.  Sometimes some of the old advice may be great, but then again, we HAVE learned a thing or two about us canines since then – so we can’t JUST go on old info.  Mind you….my human is old and sometimes she DOES have some good ideas.  Or at least we humor her that her ideas are good!

Before I close – thanks for all the congrats on the FG’s big win.  I didn’t see it on the national news, but I might have missed that segment.  Both he and my human are pretty darn happy.  Well…she is.  He just knows he went to a cool place, met neat people and dogs, and got EXCELLENT treats.

Anyway, have a good one – and go and read a book!  Peace and paws up!!!

BIG news in our house.  Heck, word was spreading on the internet faster than me running to the treat jar.  OK.  Maybe not THAT fast.  But still – the word is out – the FG had a GOOD day at the dog show yesterday.  He got a Group 3 placement!!!  And a big yellow ribbon.  So for non-dog show readers, what this means is that they took all the Best of Breed winners from the Herding Group – and if my calculations are correct, there were 10 breeds competing.  And the judge awards a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finish from all of those dogs.  The 1st Place dog then goes on to compete in Best in Show – against all the other first place finishing dogs from the other 6 groups. Anyway – the FG got a third place finish.  Which is a pretty big deal.  My human cried.  She always does when we do well.  And she was so relieved that her bloody nose stopped before she went in the ring.  Oh and the cause of the bloody nose?!  The FG.  Yup.  Never a dull moment!

The FG went in the first time and the judge gave him his Best of Breed ribbon.  OK, he was the only Picard there – BUT I might point out that this particular judge did NOT give ribbons if she was unhappy with how a dog looked.  So, frankly, it wasn’t a given that he would get a ribbon.  But he did.  While he and my human were waiting for the rest of the breeds in the group to be judged, they were hanging out at ringside.  The FG was making friends, and rolling in the Astroturf.  At one point though, he decided it was play time.  So he went to lick my human – full force in the face – and his tooth caught the lower part of her nose.  Right where your nostril meets your face.  My human didn’t think anything of it.  Until a few minutes later, she felt something warm running down her face.  She put her hand to her face and realized she was bleeding.  Let me tell you, a TINY nick on a nostril bleeds A LOT.  And she shmeared blood all over her face.  She looked like she had been in battle.  When someone asked what happened, she said “these dog shows are tough competition”.  She went to the washroom to get the blood off her face and hands.  And she kept trying to stop the bleeding.  At one point someone suggested using the stuff that is used to stop bleeding when you cut a dog’s nail too short.  She didn’t want to make a fuss – so just kept pressing a big wad of paper towel to her face.  JUST before she had to go back in the ring for the group judging, the bleeding stopped.

The FG behaved very well in the group ring.  The judge sent them around, looked them all over and then began her placements.  My human was watching the FG and the judge at the same time.  She saw the judge pick the 1st place winner.  And then the 2nd.  And then the judge pointed and said “the Picard,”  and my human just about fell over.   They have a bit of a fan club so there was a great deal of cheering.  OK, it was just four people cheering, but they were loud.  

Of course, my human had to get the official show photo taken.  She was SO thrilled.  The judge was extremely nice.  We haven’t seen the  photos yet, but no doubt one will take a place of honor in the house.

So now we know the FG is good with sheep and he is handsome.  And he is starting to learn to fetch.  I just hope it doesn’t start going to his head.  Nah.  It’s not in his nature.  You know, it’s taken a LONG time….but I actually think I’m starting to like this guy…I think I’ll keep him.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

Well check out the photo my friends.  Yup.  That’s the bounty from the dog show yesterday.   Just LOOK at those ribbons.  All colors and sizes.  Pretty darn impressive, right?  One might think they won big time.  Nope.  They didn’t win a thing.  Well, I guess that’s not ENTIRELY true.   And no, we didn’t stop and buy those at the Dollar Store on the way home.   But the two beauty pageant contestants somehow didn’t win any big prizes – but they still came home with legitimate ribbons…AND had a really good time….

When we arrived at the venue,  ( 3 hours early – to get us used to the setting – talk about overkill)  Auntie Glenda went to take the FG into the arena which was in a HUGE domed soccer field – with Astroturf.  The FG saw the Astroturf and promptly began to roll on it.  He LOVES rolling in grass – so he thought this stuff was REALLY cool.  He rolled and slid on his belly.  He was in heaven.  Auntie Glenda and my human needed to brush out the green sheen before he went in the ring….And my human was in a panic that he was going to do the same thing when she would be trying to show him….

Let me remind you that the FG and Einstein were entered a Specialty show, just for breeds in the Herding Group.  First we had the FG competing in the Puppy Sweepstakes. The other boy in puppy sweeps didn’t show up.  We’ll assume he heard he was competing against the FG – so he got scared and didn’t even bother to come. SO – the FG wins Best in his class…only in his class.  STILL – he gets a big ribbon AND a cash prize.  So that’s OK.  He goes on to compete against a bunch of female puppies and a female wins best puppy in Sweeps.  But he still gets Best of Opposite Sex – which means another ribbon.  And more cash.   So far so good.

So now it’s Einstein’s turn to go in for Veteran Sweeps.  He DOES actually beat another male Veteran in the 7-9 year age group – so he gets a ribbon.  And cash.  While he didn’t beat the female Veteran (who was a lovely 9.5 yr old Australian Shepherd) – he gets Best of Opposite Sex- which means ANOTHER ribbon AND more cash.

So sweet.  Before the regular Specialty show starts, we are almost breaking even with our entry fees.  AND we have nice ribbons!

Both the FG and Einstein win the Best of Breed titles in the Specialty.  OK.  They were the ONLY PON and Picard competing.  BUT – they each get a lovely ribbon – AND a gift card for gas – which now means we have exceeded our entry fees.   BONUS.   Neither of them wins anything when they compete at the group level – BUT both of them:

• were well behaved
• did not pee or poop on the Astroturf
• did not ROLL in the Asroturf
• were good ambassadors for their breeds

 Einstein is kind of an old pro at the dog show thing.  He’s calm, lounges around watching things until he goes in the ring and then gets his game face on.  He knows were his feet should be, how to look cute at the judge – he knows the drill.  One other competitor, who shows terriers, said Einstein is like the Perry Como of the dog show.  Mellow and smart and easy going.  He behaved perfectly for Auntie Glenda in the Group ring. 

The FG, on the other hand is bigger than life.  He has a “presence.”  His feet still do NOT know where to go – and he doesn’t care.  He’s here for FUN.  My human lost count of how many people came by to ask “what he was,” and to say how cute he was.  And while my human was concerned before the show that he hadn’t really been socialized enough since his last show in February, her worrying was for naught.  Mr-Social was happy to give kisses to anyone to asked for them.  When people asked what he was, she didn’t need to say “Irish wolfhund-coyote cross” – because he was behaving SO well.

And while the two of them were strutting their stuff, yours truly was given a brand new,  frozen marrow bone.  Heaven.  They were happy.  I was happy. 

The show is on today but no one in this house is entered.  It is also on tomorrow and the FG is going at it again.  Einstein and I will stay home and do guard duty. 

One thing about dog shows.  While some people DO get crazy serious, and frankly for some it is a job (like professional handlers), for most people, no matter what happens, they STILL take home THE best dog at the end of the day.  And that’s really what it should be all about….

Have a good one!  Peace and paws up!