Viktor, was a Polish Lowland Sheepdog who shared his views on life and had a following of loyal readers from around the world . He sadly left all of us us way too soon. He left his PON brother, Frodo and his Berger Picard “brother”, Elroy to continue his “legacy.” We now welcome a new PON brother to our story- Wojtek- who in many ways, has the very same “bigger than life attitude” as Viktor. So we know Viktor’s spirit lives on, as does the spirit of Paxton, his Bernese Mountain Dog…
Hey there it’s Elroy here. This is going to be a short blog because I’m going somewhere! I’m going to check out some SHEEP! Yup. Her highness and I are going to a farm about an hour from here – and I’m going to get to play with some sheep. Well- I guess “play” is not the appropriate word. My understanding is that I’m supposed to move some sheep around. I’m not sure why. But I’ll find out. I met sheep once before and I thought they were rather intriguing. We’ll see if I like them today.
It’s pretty cold out, so maybe by moving them around, I’ll stay warm. No matter what, it will be an adventure.
Meanwhile, White Fang will be staying home. That’s my new name for The Boss. He doesn’t really appreciate his new name. I gave it to him because on Friday, in the midst of a freezing rainstorm, he was chewing on a bone -and he broke his canine tooth! Yup. It flew across the floor. This makes a matching pair for him – several years ago he broke the other one. It doesn’t seem to hurt him- her highness can touch it and he’s eating just fine. The only difference in his behavior- he’s not barking as much. So no one is complaining about that. If her highness didn’t hear it happen, she probably wouldn’t have noticed anything odd. Right now the biggest issue is that her highness keeps watching his every move. If he licks his lips – she immediately thinks it’s a problem. Even after he eats. She is kinda driving herself crazy. So although she was going to “wait and see “ instead of racing to the vet, for her own health, they may end up going sooner rather than latter.
Ok. Gotta go. Stay tuned tomorrow to hear about my adventure with the Lambchops.
Frodo here. Well it is that time of the year. People are madly traveling to New York City this weekend and Monday and Tuesday for one of the most well- known dog shows in the USA. It’s Westminster time. Ah yes. There will be much of the dreaded fluffing and puffing occurring at Madison Square Garden very soon. Several years ago, the Kennel Club finally realized that dogs are not just pretty – but we are athletes with brains too. So they started hosting obedience and agility competitions as part of the “Westminster” extravaganza as well. Proper thing. Not all of us like to be in beauty pageants. Personally, I didn’t mind them back in the day. I didn’t love the grooming part, but as for standing still and getting treats – well that was right up my alley. And oh yes, you DO need to run around the ring a bit. But it’s not like it is a marathon. Yes – there is much involved in getting a 25 cent ribbon. Every single one of which we have kept. Of course we have.
Anyway, this year there are over 2600 dogs entered in the show. Her highness read an article about breeds that have never won the 143 previous Westminster shows. I’m shocked that neither a PON nor Picard has ever won, but probably a bit more shocking is that neither has a Labrador or Golden Retriever. Given the popularity of those breeds, it’s quite astounding really.
So who are the contenders this year? I know you might find this shocking – but some Las Vegas oddsmakers place bets. I haven’t seen any numbers yet, but here are the top contenders, based on their performances in the show ring last year:
Now it is not a GIVEN that one of those dogs will win – it’s really anybody’s luck. But let’s check back next week and see if any of these names takes the big win.
If you want more info about the show, and the schedules so you can watch from the comfort of your home, here’s the link to all kinds of info about the show:
A new breed competing for the first time this year is the Azawakh – a sighthound from Africa. The name is pronounced oz-a-wok – in case someone asks you.
The beatnik was gloating a bit because there are more Picards entered than PONs – 13 to 11. That is not what I would deem a significant difference although I did not perform the stats. The Goldens beat the Labs 48 to 44. The smallest entries, with just a single dog represented are the English Foxhounds, Sloughis, and the Komondorok. The good news about that – unless you come in limping or bite the judge, there’s a pretty good chance you will get Best of Breed. I like those odds.
If you want to look at the schedule and numbers of dogs, here is the link.
No doubt we will watch at least parts of the show. The breed judging sadly is not always shown, but we may be able to find it on-line. The group judging is always shown in the evenings on TV. Her highness better check that we get the channel. I do recall her calling the cable company with minutes to spare in order to get the channel one year. I must remind her to do so ahead of time.
It is raining today – so our walks will be abbreviated. Which is frankly fine with me. Unless she resurrects the raincoats…. We can only pray she can’t find them.
Frodo here. It is February 5, and according to what Viktor would call “the crazy calendar,” it is something called National Weatherperson’s Day. A day devoted to meteorologists. Or what I prefer to call Fortunetellers Day. Or Professional Gamblers Day. Or Professional Dart Throwers Day. I suppose that’s actually unfair to Fortunetellers, Dart Throwers and Gamblers because they probably have higher accuracy rates than Weatherpersons. Like Viktor, my absolute favorite thing about weather forecasting is long term forecasting for one to two weeks. They generally cannot predict how much snow will fall within 24 hours so WHY do they even try to predict the weather a week in advance? Where else can you have a job where you are frequently wrong – and you still get to keep your job? I suppose I am being a bit harsh – and while I am sure they TRY their best….it’s still a gamble.
Even our local prognosticating rodent had forecasting problems this past week. This is a brilliant example of forecasting at its best. Each year, on February 2, our local groundhog, Shubenacadie Sam makes his forecast about spring. It’s a big celebration to see if the rodent will or will not see his shadow. People come from all over to see Sam emerge from his den. It’s a little festival. But in an ironic twist of forecasting fate- on February 1, the weather prognosticating rodent festival was CANCELLED- because the weather forecast was calling for a storm. They said he would make his prediction via social media. I’m not joking. So sure enough, the next day the attendants at the park where Sam lives reported his actions and posted them on-line. And the funny part? There was no storm. The forecast was wrong. They didn’t need to cancel the festival. It was a nice, sunny day. Oopsie. The bad part, though – as a result of the sunny weather, the rodent saw his shadow, went back to his den, and that sadly signals 6 more weeks of winter. That was in contrast to other groundhogs – Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania and Wiarton Willie in Ontario who said there will be an early Spring. Lucky them. As if a rodent can make a 6 week prediction anyway.
Meanwhile, here at home, the beatnik and I were crushed yesterday- despite a beautiful sunny day. After a nice long walk, her highness announced she was “going out for a bit.” Her bit is like a week in dog years. When she returned, we greeted her and we were instantly mortified. She was cheating on us. It was evident all over her. Her hands, her legs and even her shoelaces had the distinct aroma of dogs. Several dogs.
After we sniffed and inhaled practically every inch of her body, she confessed where she had been. Which frankly, annoyed me even more. She had been to visit MY breeders. MY birthplace. How dare she go there and not take moi?
It seems my breeders just got a new PON puppy. And her highness just HAD to meet her. She said the puppy was “a sweetheart.” On top of that, there were Coton puppies there as well. And they were reportedly equally adorable. Our initially rapidly wagging tails slowed when we realized we had missed out on a delightful afternoon. I do believe there will be some serious countersurfing happening over the next few days as payback.
And no – before you puppy loving readers start jumping to conclusions- we are not getting a Coton puppy. Much as we love our Coton buddy Milo, we are not adding to our household right now. Don’t get any ideas. None. Whatsoever. I “predict” that there will not be another Musketeer added to this household for QUITE some time. Probably years. You can quote me on that. Me and my accurate prediction friend Sam.
Well. It’s Frodo again. It seems that my posting yesterday caused a fair amount of discussion in this house. And the discussions have resulted in several tangents. Allow me to explain.
Many, many of you wrote to say that you also saw “the sign” left by Viktor. Some of you saw his face in the clouds. Some of you saw his profile running. Most of you saw some image of the grey whirlwind. And that was super comforting. And interesting. But- that’s not what we saw!!!!
Just a few people saw what her highness saw. Here’s a clue… look in the sky again – for a letter…It’s barely there in this one…
Do you see it now? It’s a letter V. Or at least that’s what her highness first spotted. Which got me thinking about a lot of things. Why did her highness see a letter? Is it her background as a speech pathologist and her work with words? Did others see Viktor because they expected to see Viktor? Is it like those optical illusions where people just see things differently. Here’s a great article about humans and optical illusions:
On a deeper level, do humans focus on something because they expect something, and miss other information? How much do “influencers” impact what humans see? And believe.
Indeed – some rather deep discussions – all from a couple of colorful dog photos.
But getting back to “signs” – the general consensus agreed that there are signs around us. And they provide comfort and a sense of peace. So no matter what you saw – the fact that you looked – and believed – is the key point.
Now. Excuse me while we head out for our walk. And we’ll be watching, listening and sniffing for more signs. I’m thinking we canines have you humans beat when it comes to being perceptive. And that my friends is why we canines rule the world.
Frodo here. Let me begin this blog posting by saying I’m a serious kind of guy. Except when I’m rolling. Then it’s hard to assume your intellectual appearance. I can’t help it. Her highness has now started calling me Rollo. I cannot control myself when it comes to packed snow. I must roll. It’s actually an addiction. Most of our snow melted after the rain last weekend, but there are still patches around. And as we are walking, I cannot resist the urge to drop and roll.
Anyway, I digress. As I said, I’m serious and I look at things pretty objectively. But then there is this part of me that is willing to admit that there are things I cannot explain. Like “signs.”
When someone you love is finished with his or her earthly purpose, they leave us. They are no longer physically with us, but they are in our hearts. We think of them. We miss them. We wish they were still with us. Like Viktor…
And sometimes I think we have “signs” given to us to let us know that they are still with us- even though we can’t see them. Perhaps theses signs are purely coincidence, and perhaps we see them because we want to see them. But if we note them, and it gives us some strange feeling of comfort, what’s the harm?
Yesterday morning, just before sunrise, we headed out on our walk. We went up to the golf course. Yours truly was let loose, because I come when called. At least 99% of the time. If there was a meat truck accidentally dropping it’s load, I might not be quite so quick to return. But there are rarely meat trucks at the golf course. As we were walking, her highness turned around and gasped because the sunrise was nothing short of spectacular. And as you might imagine, she thought it would make a perfect background for a photo with me and the beatnik. She knew she only had minutes before it would disappear so she scrambled to find the perfect photo location. There is a giant rock on one fairway, so she ran to it. It slopes on one side- so the beatnik happily climbed up. Meanwhile, yours truly found a patch of snow at the base of the rock. A perfect patch. So you know what I did. I rolled. Her highness was anxiously calling for me to climb up the rock. The patch of snow wasn’t a meat truck – but it was almost as appealing. She called. And called. As she watched the brilliant sunrise already beginning to fade.
FINALLY I got on the rock, following my instructions for modeling. And of course, the beatnik did the opposite. He wouldn’t look at her. Or if he did, he would turn his ears all inside out. He would turn to his left so her highness tried to trick him by simply walking around to his left. If he could have turned his head around like something out of the Exorcist, he would have done so. Of course, if she moved far enough, there was no sunrise in the photo. She pleaded and made every noise possible.
In the end she did manage to get a few photos. No prize winners – and the most brilliant color had faded. But she was content and we continued on our walk.
When we got home, her highness quickly scrolled through the photos to see if there were ANY that justified having frostbite in her fingers. And that’s when she noticed something in a number of shots….
Now SHE sees something. But well… I’m not sure anyone else will. It’s really a stretch. It’s most visible in the last two photos. See if you notice anything. In the sky. And really, if you don’t- it’s OK. Signs do not have to be for everyone. But when they are for you, they sure can make you feel better. Even with your frostbitten fingers.
Viktorsviews. The Next Chapter. 