We WON the lottery!!! Well my human did – and what’s hers is ours.  At least I think so.  She doesn’t buy tickets all that often – probably as often as all the dogs in this house are well behaved.  So that tells you it is a rare event.  Anyway she went to buy gas for the car, over a month ago and they sell tickets at the service station. Right at the counter. And my human couldn’t help but notice these particular scratch tickets – because they were dog themed.  You scratch off a bunch of dog items and see if they match the items in your prize boxes.  They were nice items like a leash and a ball and a toy and a food bowl and a bed.  And there were not nice items like shampoo, a bath, a comb and a brush.  My human actually forgot about the ticket- it was lost in the contents of that suitcase file cabinet she calls a purse.  Anyway, yesterday she finally scratched and scraped and drumroll…..we won…………………….are you ready…………it’s pretty exciting…………..hold on…………

It’s April 29th and according to the crazy calendar, today is something called Viral Video Day.  So I had an idea to find some viral dog videos- and a few viral stories too. I should note that none of the videos (or even blog posts) I have ever posted have gone viral.  Clearly our behavior is not as outrageous as it could be – so I need to get working on that.  

Well it finally arrived.  The coat.  The coat to replace the one that Einstein and I destroyed.  Good news / bad news.  It is the same style- it is identical. BUT the color is slightly different.  It’s lighter than the original Christmas gift.  My human thought that might be the case – it’s hard sometimes to tell colors on a computer screen .  But it’s close.  My human had also written to the company with the sad tale to see if she could pay them to repair it.  She hasn’t received a reply.  I won’t tell you the name of the company. Yet.  MAYBE they will still come through….

Well it is just a matter of time.  And we are taking bets.  Anyone who wants to place their wagers is welcome.  The prize?  A PON. Just kidding.  Maybe… Anyway, here is the story….

So we know that dogs are pretty special and I have talked before about how we dogs have been immortalized in the American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog.  I also mentioned before that the museum is moving from St. Louis back to New York City.  But did you know that there are two OTHER dog museums?   In Passua, Germany, a new museum opened that is…are you ready…ALL about dachshunds.  Yup.  The Dackelmuseum has over 4500 paintings, books, and statues dedicated to the popular German hound.   Mostly from ONE guy’s collection.  That’s a LOT of weiner dogs.
http://dackelmuseum.de/phone/homepage-english.html

And then another guy in North Adams, Massachusetts had SO much dog stuff (with all different breeds) that he opened HIS own museum.  I’m thinking he might just have a bit more stuff than my human.  She needs to catch up. Not.  

I think she loves her carved dogs best because her father was a carver.  And here are two that he did  for her.

When my human was a Girl Scout, there was some kind of badge for hobbies or carving or something. Anyway, she decided to carve a dog herself.  Let’s just say she had some “help.”  And here’s the result…with some teeth marks from some dog she owned (she can’t recall which one) who decided he didn’t care for her artistic rendering.  She kept the carving anyway – the scars are part of his history.

So did you hear the story about Max,  the 17 year old,  deaf and partly blind cattle dog who lives in Australia?  It seems Max is a hero.  Max’s 3 year old human, Aurora, wandered away from the family home and was lost in the winderness for over 15 hours.  But not to worry – Max stayed with her throughout the night, keeping her warm and safe.  The next day, Max led one of the people in the search party right to Aurora – about a mile from her home.  How cool is that? 

I’m not quite sure what we would do in that situation.  My human says she never wants to find out.   The one time my human fell and broke her wrist, Einstein and I just stared at her – willing her to get up.   So we could continue on our walk.  Let’s just say my middle name is not Lassie.

The other amazing thing about Max is his age!  Let’s face it, 17 years is pretty good for us canines. Mind you, 17 is young when you consider that the oldest dog (according to a reliable record) lived to 29 years and 5 months. And what breed was he?  And Australian cattle dog.  Again. I guess chasing kangaroos keeps one young.  We need a kangaroo.  They must be better than rabbits.

Time for a review of the morning monologue that my human had with us the other day.  I say monologue because we don’t speak human, although Einstein is very good at bark-speak.   So here we go…

“Frodo be quiet.  Frodo I’m getting up.  Seriously – it’s 4:45.  REALLY?  You CAN’T wait until 5:15?  OK. OK. I’m up.  Now wait while I get dressed.  Viktor stop licking Frodo’s ear.  Viktor STOP.  VIK-TOR STOP!!!!!!! Frodo no wonder your ear is a mess.  Don’t let him do that to you.  Stop him.  Elroy off.  Just WAIT while I get dressed.  Give me two minutes. (which by the way is more like 10 minutes…)

OK. Frodo be quiet.  Elroy goes first.  Elroy sit.  Elroy come back here.  Elroy SIT while I put on your harness.  Elroy SIT.  Good sit Elroy.  Frodo. Viktor here is some kibble.  Frodo be quiet while we go out.  Elroy the door is open.  Go out.  GO out.  Good pooping Elroy. No.  We can’t go down the trail now.  It’s too dark.  It’s TOO dark.  Let’s go back home.  Let go of the leash.  Stop it.  I’m going to fall.  Stop it. Wait – was that a bunny (which distracts him long enough to forget about tugging on the leash). Here’s the paper.  One drop and it’s mine.  It’s mine.  Frodo be quiet. ( from outside and up the driveway she shouts.  She opens the door).  Frodo I said BE quiet.  Viktor wait. Viktor put on your harness. Sit. Good sit.  Frodo be quiet. Elroy stay.  OK let’s go. Wait. Don’t pull.  No we are not going down the trail. It’s too dark.  That’s what you get for waking me up so early.  Good pooping Frodo.  Hurry up Viktor.  Good pooping again Frodo. Hurry up Viktor.  Frodo are you kidding me?  What were you eating?  Again?  Viktor hurry up.  VIK-TOR HURRY UP.  Good pooping Viktor.  Finally.  Let’s go home.  Whoa slow down. 

When my human was a child, she remembers her mother using the term “screaming meemies.”  My human though it was in reference to a child who was having a temper tantrum. When you look up the term, though, you see it can actually mean nervous hysteria.  Or the other spelling of Screaming Mimi actually referred to a type rocket used in Germany in WWII.  I suppose that type of Screaming Mimi could give you the other type of Screaming Meemies.  Anyway, why the discussion of this term anyway?  Because the FG had a case of the Screaming Meemies the other day – and my human thought of the term.

So how do the words driving, mustering and boundary go together?  They are all words having to do with herding. And given that my human lives with three herding dogs, she has become very interested in the different types of herding styles exhibited by different herding breeds. Not that they probably can’t be trained to do all of them – but some breeds are definitely better at certain aspects than others. For example, the term driving refers to moving livestock from one area to another – like through a gate and into a pen. Mustering refers to the retrieving of livestock from far away – and bringing them back to the farmer.  Boundary herding refers to the patrolling around the livestock – kind of like border patrol.  They keep animals from breaking up and wandering out of a certain area.  They also guard the flock. One site that talked about these behaviours noted that German Shepherds are great at boundary herding while border collies excel at driving and mustering.  But as I said, herding dogs can probably be trained to do any of these tasks. 

Trivia question: How long does it take two PONs to eat a BIG bag of dehydrated lamb lung that is left on a counter?