The day before Easter.  And it seems appropriate that a Polish Lowland Sheepdog 

should tell you about a Polish Easter tradition – at least one that my human practiced when she was growing up.  When my human was a kid, the day before Easter, the family would take a basket to church to be blessed – with food to be eaten on Easter Day. The food included Polish sausage, ham, bread, eggs and butter – in the shape of a lamb.  The butter lamb was a common thing in Buffalo where she grew up, and you could easily buy one at Easter time in any grocery store.  Which leads me to the story of our entertainment last night….

The priest at our church is Polish.  So my human mentioned to him the practice of blessing baskets – and he agreed he would happily do that for my human and her sister.  Great.  They can easily get the sausage, ham, eggs and bread at the market, but let’s just say that butter lambs are not exactly a common sight in Nova Scotia.  So last night, my human and her sister decided to make a butter lamb.  First, they sequestered us canines in the front hall – as the thought of dog hair flying around while they were sculpting butter was not all that appealing.  I’m not sure why.  But we watched through the French door, and noted that wine was used during the production.  AND there was a LOT of laughter.  They cut the butter and attached two pieces to form a head and body with a stick.   And then they began carving the lamb. The only problem was the fact that the lamb had a stick coming out of his head, which they could not remove.  They strategized ways to perform neurosurgery, and were finally successful at cutting the stick without decapitating the lamb. At the end they stepped back to look at their work.  Yup, it was an animal.  For sure.  BUT, he bears a striking resemblance to a Picard.  And more than one person mentioned that when they posted his photos on-line.  I think it’s the ears.  And you can’t blame my human – her sister was in charge of the ears. But they didn’t dare try to change him – or the ears would fall off.  

Next year, I vote that they make sausage too.  Now THAT I want to be involved with.  Would that not be a dog’s dream come true?  I also am curious to see if WE get to share in the basket this year too?   We better – we’re family and we believe in tradions too.  Especially if they involve food…

March 30.  And on this day in 1987, Vincent van Gogh’s painting of “Sunflowers “ sold for a record breaking $37.9 million or 22.5 million pounds.  That’s a LOT of dog biscuits!!!! Vincent painted some amazing stuff, but like some artists, had a rather troubled life.  Like the cement bunny that the FG knocked over last year, Vincent lost an ear too.  But Vincent didn’t lose his because of a Picard. ( By the way, the ear repair that my human did last year still appears to be holding up.  The heavy hare wasn’t moved inside this winter- but his ear is still standing.  For now.)  Anyway, Vincent painted just a few dogs in his life but they didn’t really figure prominently in his art.  And some say if he had owned a dog, he might have been a happier guy.  I couldn’t actually find any evidence that Vincent owned a dog – yet I found the following quote which is attributed to him.  I’m a bit doubtful- but hey, I found it on the internet- so it must be true.  Just kidding!!! Still, the quote is good- and if someone else wrote it, I’ll make a correction.  Dogs can’t be sued for copyright infringement, can they?!  I’ll be starting a crowd funding page for bail money…

Today is Good Friday- and it is also the start of Passover.  Two important religious holidays.  Whether you celebrate one or the other – or something different- I believe that the message behind many religions is the same…there is someone who watches over us and who loves us  – and rather simply, we should BE GOOD to one another.  

And that includes NOT making canines wear rabbit ears.  Hint hint. 

Have a good one.  Peace, paws up… and be good.

Seizure-free days:2

Time for some fun news for a change.  For those humans who use Google maps, you know how convenient it can be to find a place where you are going.  And the street views option can be extra helpful to see what a particular location looks like.  But did you know that in Japan, there is a dog’s eye level street view?  At least in one area -Odate City, in the prefecture of Akita.  Which is understandably the home of the Akita dog breed.  It seems they strapped some cameras on some Akitas – so they could provide a view of the city, from a dog’s perspective.  Here is a video showing what they did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMf57MAgoS0

I want Nova Scotia Tourism to hire me to go around and give a dog’s eye view of famous landmarks here!  I’ll work for biscuits!

My human was looking at one of those sites that lists all kinds of dog breeds according to their attributes.  Like “the 10 Quietest Dog breeds” (PONs did not make that list – Golden Retriver did.  My human has friends with Goldens – and trust me – it’s not silent when you pull up to their door); “10 breeds that don’t mind the snow” (we weren’t on that list either- but go figure, the Alaskan Malamute made the list- surprsie.);  “The smartest breeds” (another list we didn’t make- but of COURSE, the Border Collie did – and so did something called a Jindo.  I’m not on the smart list so I had to look it up.  It comes from South Korea);  “10 breeds with the longest life spans” (which included small breeds like Pomeranian, chihuahua, yorkie, toy poodle and the not so small Australian shepherd?),  “10 breeds hardest to train” ( we didn’t make this list -surprise, surprise! – but Bassett Hound, Chow-chow, Afghan,  Pekingese, Pug, Basenji, Bloodhound, Mastiff, Dalmation and Beagle did!),  and “10 breeds that don’t stink” (which included the Dalmation, the Basenji and the Beagle – so although they won’t listen to you, they smell good.  Phew).  But my favorite category – the “5 most dramatic dog breeds.”  I’m not kidding.  Now if anyone has seen Einstein on a grooming table, you would be CERTAIN that PONs could make this list.  But no – it was Dachshund, Pug, Beagle, Chihuaua, and Bassett Hound.   A dramatic Bassett Hound?  Who knew?

Personally, I think these lists are a bunch of hooey.  Who makes these things up anyway? 

I’m starting my own lists.

• Breed most likely to crash through a door to get to food:  PON.
• Breed most likely mistaken for a cross between a wolfhound and a coyote: Picard.
• Breeds most likely to demonstrate hearing loss when they are running to their neighbor’s house in search of other dogs:  PON and Picard. 
• Breed most likely to stare at his food dish like it is some kind of alien from outer space: Picard.
• Breed most likely to stare at the Picard staring at his food dish – and wishing he could get in the room with him: PON 

As I said, these lists are far from scientific.  And SOMETIMES they MAY have some truth to them, but the novice dog owner may not know that these lists are sometimes pretty sketchy.  If you want to REALLY find out about the attributes of a particular breed, look on the web for a breed’s club.  I THINK there is at LEAST one club for each breed out there – and those sites usually have THE best info about a breed.  For example – here is a PON club:

http://www.aplsa.org/

And two Picard Clubs:

http://www.bergerpicardclubcanada.com/
https://picards.us/

I’m not sure that an average pet owner would necessarily know that these clubs even exist.  And the clubs are NOT just designed for people who show their dogs.  If you care about your breed – and want to share info with others who have the breed – they are a great resource.

So that’s MY plug for today.  Now excuse me while I go and stare at a Picard. Who is staring at his food dish….

Have a good one. Pecae and paws up!
Seizure-free days: 1

Yesterday was a landmark day.  It was HUGE.  My human went back to work.  But that wasn’t the remarkable part.  She went to work….and left all three of us free in the house.  The FG was NOT left in his pony-sized crate.  My human has been leaving us free together for an hour or two here and there – but this is the first time she left us all free while she went to work.  

March 26. And on this day in 1484 ( just a few years before my human was born) William Caxton, the guy who is said to have introduced the printing press in England, is said to have printed the first English translation of Aesop’s Fables. Most of us are familiar with the fables, written by a storyteller in ancient  Greece, which have a moral at the end. The classic story is the Totrtoise and the Hare – which tells us that ” Slow but steady wins the race.”  There are a number of fables that include dogs – but one that comes to mind is the dog and his reflection.  The dog was carrying a bone or piece of meat and he saw his reflection in a river.  He thought the reflection was another dog, so in an ettempt to get the bone from that dog, he growled and snapped at the other dog.  As a result, he dropped his bone into the river – never to be seen.  And the moral?  It is very foolish to be greedy.  So really, I SJOULD share my food bowl with Einstein or the FG.  Hmmmm.  That’s a tough one.  I’m a PON.  And I’m ALWAYS starving.  Besides, they have their own bowls.   OK.  OK.  How about I share some of our chew toys.  Actually I DO share that.   So I’m not THAT greedy after all.

Yesterday, my human came out of her bedroom and was met with a “wonderful sight” – in her eyes anyway.  She opened the door and there were the three of us, waiting for her to come out.  That wasn’t all that interesting,  What WAS interesting, was the fact that I was all comfy cozy – practically resting right on top of the FG.  Moments like this are remarkable, because there was a point that my human never thought she would see us relaxing so closely together.  As you may recall, when the FG arrived, I was less than overjoyed to see him.  And really, it was shortly after his arrival that my seizures began. My human started thinking that the change in routine and the stress I was feeling was just the catalyst that triggered the neurological patterns in my brain to begin misfiring. 

So what’s new in the world of dogs? Here’s an interesting story.  We know that we canines have amazing olfactory abilities.  We can sniff out drugs, bombs, cadavers and even cancers.  But the latest use of our nasal sense has to do with our ability to sniff out antiquities!  Yes, dogs are being trained to detect artefacts – which may be illegally traded.  Check this out:

Well who knew that the dogs in this household are not the only dogs in the world who find dryer lint delectable.   SEVERAL blog readers indicated that their PONs are closet lint lovers.  I didn’t hear from any Picard owners or other breeds for that matter, but I can’t imagine that JUST PONs are fuzz aficionados.  I DO recall that Paxton was a dog hair and dust bunny fan, but, come to think of it, I don’t recall him munching on the dryer lint.