Today is April 20 and it’s National Look Alike Day.  Now I certainly have shared LOADS of photos of me and Einstien – because despite the difference in our colors and the fact that his coat mats as soon as you look at him (and mine doesn’t!)  – we are full brothers – so we DO look very much alike.

You can look back at this old blog to see more of our look alike photos!

https://viktorsviews.blogspot.ca/2015/04/national-look-alike-day.html

So today, let’s take a look at some photos of the FG – and his extended family and see if they look alike….

So here is the FG…

And here is his mother, Hally Berry…

And here is his half-brother, James Bond…

Are we seeing similarities?  And check out these shots of his grandfather, Flox…the first when he was younger and the next two as he is older…

And then we ALSO have his Uncle – Lughan!  Check him out!

And here he is after playing in the mud.  It must run in the family….

 I think that there are DEFINITE similarities between these family members.  They DO look alike!  And so it should be.  If you have good breeding, you should see consistency within the dogs in a line. Thank you to Anne Saucier and Michèle Valette for letting us use the photos of the FG’s family – and for their fine job of breeding!  Although I think my human could pass on the FG’s love for mud and digging!

Have a good one!  Peace and paws up!
Seizure-free days: 14

The day before yesterday, the world learned of the loss of former US First Lady, Barbara Bush.  Now I am NOT getting into politics and whether or not you liked her husband or son.  Politics aside, one has to admire the love between her and her husband which lasted 73 years. In addition, her passion and support for literacy will be her legacy.   She supported programs directed at literacy for preschool children as well as their parents.  

Personally, I like her because she wrote (or edited) two books with her dogs.   The first was  C. Fred’s Story – written by the family’s cocker spaniel who lived while Barbara’s husband, George H.W. Bush was Vice President.  The second book was  Millie’s Book – written from the point of view of the family’s English Springer Spaniel – who lived in the White House when George H.W. was President.  

Millie actually had a treasury of puppies, and two of them also lived in the White House.  George H.W. and Barbara kept Ranger and George W. Bush later lived in the White House with Spot Fetcher –  who lived to the ripe old age of 14. 

It’s clear the that Bushes love dogs.  And vice versa…Sorry. I could resist.

The really cool thing though, about the Barbara Bush dog books is the fact that ALL the proceeds went to charities supporting literacy.  THAT is cool.

We have continued to behave so far this week.  I should note the FG was not involved in the coat fiasco.  Not that he couldn’t have been – he was in the room.  But this is one of those times that being a picky Picard was a good thing…Mind you, he was busy in the dining room working on the carpet…

Have a good one.Peace and paws up!
Seizure-free days: 13

OK.  It’s time to share a really horrible story.  Einstein and I were bad.  REALLY bad.  And well, I started it.  It was my idea.  I might as well confess.  I’m hoping I get less time if I plead guilty.

On Sunday night, my human was doing some housecleaning and she went to put something in the bedroom.  She closed the door and then got distracted reading something.  She was reading for a bit, and then thought to herself that it was rather quiet in the house.  She came out of the bedroom and as she was coming down the hallway – saw Einstein RUN from the front hallway – with his tail between his legs.  “Uh-oh” she thought.  She went into the hall and noticed that the front hall closet door was open and a PON butt was visible.  She approached and realized what was happening…

For Christmas, my human got a lovely down coat from her mother as a gift.  It was PERFECT – the length, the size and the color.  My human LOVED that coat…

Well, unfortunatley….she left some kibble in the pockets when she took us out on our walk.  As she approached the closet – she saw the coat on the floor.  At first glance it didn’t appear too bad.  But as she picked it up…well…the entire lining which included the pockets was shredded.  The  pockets were GONE.  Completely gone.  And then she noted some puncture wounds in the shell which now had down coming out. 

I’m sure that neighbors within a 5 km radius could hear her mournful “WHAT did you DO?”  Einstein and I actually felt badly this time. I think we DID go a bit too far…

My human spent the rest of the evening searching for the exact same coat on the internet.  I THINK she found it…and she ordered it on Amazon.  She is waiting for it to arrive…

Countersurfing aside, this act was really not cool.  I’ve been walking around with a sad apologetic expression since then.  That’s probably why I was SO nice when Mighty Milo arrived – and I didn’t take off in the woods.   I think we had better be good for quite a while.  Well at least until Friday.   Good thing she didn’t put us up for adoption…We are very lucky dogs….

Have a good one.  Stay out of closets.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure-free days: 12

Well what a day we had yesterday…

Today the FG is going on an adventure.  He is going to meet a couple who is thinking they might like to someday get a Berger Picard.  They are meeting at a designated location downtown and my human told them they won’t miss finding him as he is larger than life.  Although he is Mr. Sociable, we know his manners could use some work.  My human suggested they wear a hockey goal tender’s uniform .  Or one of those suits used by the police in training  attack dogs.  JUST kidding.  Sort of.

So here’s an interesting story,  published in Reader’s Digest.  “15 Signs  your dog is secretly mad at you.” 

Let’s take a look and see if any of the canines in this house  show signs of being angry…

• His ears show he is ~unimpressed~.   OK.  I must say that the FG does weirdo things with his ears – but ONLY when he is having his picture taken.  And NO WONDER. We live with the queen of “puparazzi” – who NEVER misses a chance to take a photo of us.  She has…get ready…over 38,000 photos in some “cloud.”  And probably 37,842 are dog photos.  No WONDER his ears go sideways when she says “smile.”

• He’s got a case of the yawns.  Nope.  Rarely happens although SOMETIMES when we are doing obedience training (which has been RARE in the past year), Einstein will yawn.  Some say yawning can also be a sign of stress.  If you know Einstein, it is NOT stress.  And he’s not mad.  It’s just boredom.  My human is too slow at training.  He needs SPEED in training. No wonder he yawns..

• He keeps licking her lips and there’s no food nearby.  OK, that could be me.  But I’m not mad – I’m just plain hungry.  Which is pretty much 24 hours a day…

• He won’t look you in the eye. This is more a GUILT look than a mad look.  Like after countersurfing….

• He absolutely refuses to sit and stay.  This is just plain old bad behavior!  Mind you, it does happen more when being asked to stay and have a photo taken…during which we ARE a bit mad.  Unless the treats are good…

• His back goes rigid and his body is stiff.  That’s one we never do here.  Along with His tail is tucked and still.  Never happens.

• The whites of his eyes are showing.  Nah.  Unless we are rolling them about something crazy my human has said…

• He is cowering behind the sofa. Nah. Never happens.  Although Gumby Einstein DOES like to put himself in all kinds of contorted positions under and behind furntiture.  But it has nothing to do with being mad.

• He lets out a primal growl.  NEVER, EVER with my human.  Although Einstein will growl at the FG when the FG is playing Poke-A-PON.  With good reason.

•  He goes into beast mode.  This refers to a SUPER aggressive stance.   That never, ever, EVER has happened in this household.  We’d be looking for a new home if we did!!!
  

• He tells you — loudly.  OK, Einstein is vocal.  VERY vocal.  But he’s not MAD.  He just likes to bark out orders.  ALL the time…

•  He groans like an old man with kids on his lawn.  I’m a groaner when I get up in the morning and I stretch, but I’m not mad.  Now Einstein DOES groan when being groomed – but I think that’s just drama.  He stops INSTANTLY when the treats emerge.
  

• He pees in your shoes.  Now I’ve HEARD that dogs do this – AND I have even heard about dogs peeing on their human’s bed when they are mad.  My human had a Lab that puked in her shoe, but none of us have ever peed in her shoes.  Personally, I think that’s going a BIT too far…

• He stays just out of arm’s reach. Well that’s definitely an FG move – but really, he’s not MAD, just BAD. 

 So overall, it dosen’t look like the dogs in THIS household are mad very much.  Except when it comes to photos.  And that is reasonable.  Nah.  We might be BAD but rarely mad.  UNLESS you define mad as “crazy”.  And then…well that’s a different story…

Have a good one.
Peace and paws up.

Seizure-free days: 8 

April 13.  Friday the 13th.  I hope none of you reading this have Triskaidekaphobia.  That’s a fear of the number 13.   I don’t have that.  I just have a fear of running out of treats…  

Anyway, wouldn’t Triskaidekaphobia be a great SCRABBLE word?  If you could have that many lettters.   And speaking of SCRABBLE,  according to the crazy calendar, today is SCRABBLE day!  

So…in honor of SCRABBLE day, here are some “dog” words for you.   I will provide definitions – and some examples of their use in a sentence:

hangdog:  shamefaced, guilty or downcast.    Einstein appeared hangdog after he countersurfed my human’s toast when she turned her back at breakfast time.  

doggone:  to damn; an exclamation of annoyance. Doggone it! Two PONs and a Picard burst out of the front door and ran into the woods.  (Something my human might say…)

doggish: surly or gruff.   Einstein acts very doggish when the FG plays Poke-a-PON. 

overdog: one that has a significant advantage.   The FG is an overdog when it comes to countersurfing- because he is so tall! 

dogtrotted:  to move at a steady trot.   The two PONs dogtrotted over to the neighbor’s house, ignoring the shouts of their human. 

dogdom:  the world of dogs or dog fanciers.  It is really not my human’s house…it is our dogdom. 

And lastly in our SCRABBLE game, how many words do you think you can make from the word “canine?”    26!   (Some of which I have never heard of before).  Go ahead – good luck!  I’ll print the answers below.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

Seizure-free days: 8

canine:    cannie  encina  inane   nance   acne   cain   cane   cine   nice   nine   ace   ain   ane  ani   can   ice   inn   nae   nan   ae   ai   an   en   in   na   ne (Who KNEW an ai was a sloth?!  I clearly need to watch more of the Animal Planet channel).

 

Last Friday, a terrible accident occurred in Saskatchewan, Canada.  The bus on which the Junior Hockey League team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan was traveling, was involved in a horrific accident.  The crash with a tractor trailer took the lives of 10 young players, their coach and assistant coach, a trainor, the bus driver, a radio announcer and a statistician.  12 others were injured and some remain in critical condition.

Sometimes things happened in your enviroment so slowly, that you don’t notice them at first.  Like the olfactory art on the windows.  You wipe the windows, and then all of a sudden, you realize they are like frosted glass again, and you’re not even sure when they got so bad. 

The same thing is true with chewing.

So we remember that in June of last year, my human could no longer face the sight of the dining room carpet.  The FG had made a series of holes in the carpet and what started as one tiny thumb print sized hole became like a swiss cheese rug.  So she bought a new carpet and for the first several months watched the FG like a hawk for any signs of nibbling. He DID start in one spot, but then seemed to lose interest.

But somehow,  perhaps while my human’s mind has been otherwise occupied, she didn’t NOTICE the fact that the corners on TWO ends are now no longer sharp.  They are rather rounded.  And she had actually caught him on a couple of occasions, beginning to also add his swiss cheese pattern. If you SHOULD catch him mid-act and shout “hey – stop that” he just looks at you.

My human just says he is lucky he is cute.   I swear he is THE most bold and daring dog I have ever met.  Besides his interior decorating skills, he CONTINUALLY plays poke-a-PON with Einstein – whenever we are getting ready to eat.  It’s like he KNOWS Einstein is concentrating on food, so he takes his chances and pokes him in the butt.  Einstein whips around and lets out a warning bark, but Mr. Persistent does it again.   After three of four pokes, before my human or Einstein can grab him, he LEAPS and races into the hall to get his food.  And when he makes a run for it, it’s like watching an gazelle doing agility.  Indoors.  My human closes the french door and can then put down Einstein’s food bowl.  This game is regularly scheduled during suppertime.  I should sell tickets.  He OCCASIONALLY tries it with me – but he knows my patience for shenanigans at meal time is even SHORTER than the FG’s.  So he doesn’t try as much with me…

It’s hard to believe that in May he will be two years old.  If we don’t sell him to a traveling circus before then.  JUST kidding.  Life would sure be boring without him!  And I must admit, I really DO  like him.  But don’t let him know…I wouldn’t want him to get too excited….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.
Seizure-free days:  6