Yo everybody. Elroy here. It’s May 12. So you know what day it is! It’s Limerick Day! Don’t feel badly if you didn’t remember- it’s not like there are any special Limerick Day sales to remind you. I didn’t even know what a Limerick was. The Boss had to tell me. I wondered if it was related to a Lemonrick. That’s a joke. A bad one.

Viktor was pretty good at writing Limericks. Like this one:

There is a very special French breed,

The Picard is made for herding and speed,

They love to leap and run

Their middle name is “fun”

Look out when they are off leash and freed.

He also wrote this one…

There once was a Polish breed

You cannot forget to feed.

PONs will bark to remind you

To eat and to go poo

And will tell you just what they need.

So of course I had to try and write something. Here are my contributions…

There once was a PON who would eat

Whatever was put at his feet.

Carrots and potatoes

Bananas and tomatoes

His favorite of course was some meat.

And then there was the Picard

Who would totally disregard

Most food in his bowl

And one would have to cajole

Him to eat and then PLAY as reward.

OK. That’s it. I’m not a very poetic kinda guy.

Boy the Boss was ticked off yesterday. I mean major ticked off. We know that he’s been licking at his feet for some time. And in the past couple of days, he really started licking his one back foot. And…well… I kinda helped him. So it was kinda pink. We really started working on it while her highness was having breakfast. She wasn’t impressed. In fact she whisked him into the torture palace to check his foot carefully. She trimmed the hair between his pads, and saw that there were no sores or anything. So she put some spray on his foot and THEN covered it with a wrap thing. He was NOT impressed. He had it on all day. But he was good and never tried to take it off- which he could have easily done. Until her highness was getting ready for bed. She was in the bathroom washing up and well, the Boss decided it had to go. So he ripped it off. And of course, she put it back on after a trip to the torture palace. She wanted him to keep it on for the night because she knew we would work on it while she was asleep. And he did. But it’s coming off today.

Never a dull moment around here. It’s raining today – again – so a quick morning walk will be on the agenda. Assuming we poop quickly….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe.

Elroy here. Well today is Mother’s Day – in North America anyway. And I hate to come to the party late – but yesterday was National Dog Moms Day. Not that we didn’t know. We did. Or I think we did. I mean we did a number of things to show her highness how much we love her. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

For example, we didn’t get her up very early. And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was pouring rain – and we could hear it. I’m not much of a morning guy to begin with – but I definitely follow the Boss’ lead. And he wasn’t leading very quickly at all. Still – she got to sleep in city and extra 10 minutes.

What else did we do…. hmmm. I know! We pooped quickly in the pouring rain so she didn’t have to get entirely drenched and her hands did not totally freeze. That was thoughtful.

We obediently licked the yoghurt container and ate our blueberries and our banana pieces- and I ate my entire breakfast bowl! Not that any of that was a chore for the Boss.

What else? Hmmmm. We let her take a nap in the afternoon. We let her read her book. I didn’t attack the vacuum cleaner. Much.

We played indoor fetch – and didn’t destroy the balls. We didn’t fight. Not that we ever do. But that should count for something.

We let her brush us. Without complaining. Much.

We basically let her do whatever she wanted to do. It was HER day. After she walked us, fed us, brushed us, played with us, took us out to pee (several times) and petted us every time we sat in front of her. Which probably happened 42 times. OK. Thats not exactly correct. Probably closer to 52 times. And every time we did – we were letting her know how much we love her. Mind you – we do that every day too. Come to think of it- EVERY day is Dog Mom’s Day when you own a two-legged. Who needs flowers or candy?! We’re the best gift you could EVER have.

And you know, I think she believes that too..

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe. And Happy Mother’s Day – to all the mothers of two-leggeds!

Greetings readers. Frodo here. Well it has been a rather uneventful week in our household. The weather has fluctuated between miserable and dreadful – at least in my mind. It seems as if we cannot have two days in a row without rain. And trust me, I keep track.

Our indoor entertainment has included games of “find the duck” and retrieve the ball. I , of course, excel at both. The beatnik still does not understand the retrieve part of the fetch game. For me, it is painful to watch him. Does he not understand that you get a treat when you return with the ball? And then it is thrown again? He prefers to play fetch on his own.

We did have a bit of excitement the other morning when we saw two different creatures during our walk on the golf course. Two deer! Her highness spotted them in the distance first and when she began to tighten our leashes we also noticed the grass munching visitors. Naturally, I shouted out a cheery “hello.” Repeatedly. And as we approached, they ran off into the woods. Her highness worked on her bicep muscles during that little part of the walk. Later in the evening, I went with her highness to get the mail and then the beatnik went for another walk on the course. And guess who he saw again?

At first he didn’t notice them- so her highness literally had to take his head in her hands and direct him toward the deer. When he did finally see them, he just silently watched them. Even when they ran away, he didn’t make a sound. He certainly picked up their scent though, after they were gone. And there were more bicep exercises.

And speaking of scent – did you happen to read that researchers in the US and in the UK , are training dogs to pick up the “scent” of COVID-19? The goal would be to see if dogs could identify people who test positively- especially in crowded areas like airports. Dogs to the rescue yet again.

Meanwhile on the home front, her highness has thankfully finished another project. She has hooked squares to be made into pillows. Some of you may have seen her first two attempts…

And we thought she was done. But like a PON with a biscuit, she decided she “needed” to do one more. This time she did a different type of hooking. This is rug hooking by the way. Lest anyone conjure up a totally different type of hooking.

Do you recognize this guy?

Now the backings must be sewn on and she must stuff them to make the pillows. We’ll see if that part ever happens…

For her next project, I suggest some biscuit baking. THAT would be useful. She suggested she could hook us some new coats. She was joking. Or she better be… Perhaps she could hook a mat for the beatnik’s crate. Given that he still does not like the one that she bought for him. She finally gave up and took the mat out of the crate. And low and behold, yours truly likes to sleep on it! Outside the crate. So at least it is getting good use after all.

Those are the main stories for today. Have a joyous Friday.

Peace and paws up. Stay safe.

Yo it’s Elroy here again. We won! Well I should say we Picards beat the PONs. At what you might ask? In popularity. Kind of.

You see the AKC just listed their breed statistics for 2019. They compile all of the information about dog registrations for a year and then post the data and indicate breed “popularity.”

So what breed do you think was Number 1 – for the 29th year in a row? If you guessed Picard, you are wrong. Number 1, again, was the all around happy go lucky, everybody’s versatile friendly breed- the Labrador Retriever. I will now list the other dogs in the top 10 – although one is not correct. Can you pick out one that doesn’t belong? German Shepherd, Golden retrievers, French Bulldogs, Bulldogs, Poodles, Beagles, Rottweilers, German Shorthaired Pointers and Shetland Sheepdogs.

Which one is actually 25th in the rankings? If you picked Beagles- you are WRONG. It is the Shetland Sheepdog. They are not in the Top 10. The tenth spot belongs to the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Jolly good

Meanwhile, out of 193 breeds listed, we Picards had a ranking of 146. Not too shabby. Well at least compared to the PONs who came in at 173! They were just one point from being in the bottom 20. Heck , the Xoloitzcuintli beat us both at 137. Seriously? How many of those Mexican Hairless dogs do you know?

If you want to see all the rankings, here’s the link to all of them:

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog-breeds/2020-popular-breeds-2019/

Popularity is a funny thing. Many people who are into dogs and who breed, do not want their breeds to become popular. Go figure. It’s because when a breed suddenly becomes popular – like Dalmatians-after the movie release of 101 Dalmatians , it often means that unscrupulous people will start quickly breeding to fill the market “need.” And when there is breeding done without careful consideration, you can end up with all sorts of health problems down the road.

On the flip side, when you don’t have enough of a breed- because they are not as popular – you can also end up with problems. A small gene pool can be a recipe for health problems too. It’s a conundrum. Whatever that means.

And speaking of conundrums, we had one yesterday. Or the Boss said we had one. Her highness took us out for our morning walk and it was rather challenging. It had rained the night before, meaning that the Boss had to plan his route to avoid puddles. It’s a very deliberate and slow process. I, on the other hand, was on the lookout for wildlife, so I would constantly stop – right in front of her highness- nearly causing her to walk into me. Between the two of us, it was a very slow journey. We came home, we all had breakfast, and her highness who hadn’t had a great night’s sleep announced that she was going back to bed for a short nooze – given that it was only 8:30 AM. Of course we ALL had to go with her. The Boss jumped on the bed, began to lick himself and I sat 3 inches from her highness’ face and stared at her. She opened her eyes and announced “everybody out.” She ushered us to the bedroom door and pushed us out. We were shocked and perplexed. I mean we are with her 24/7 since this pandemic began – unless she goes into the bathroom – and here she was throwing us out! I must admit, we have noticed recently that sometimes I think she goes in the bathroom just to hide from us. And here we were yesterday – abandoned outside the bedroom door! We were silent for about 10 minutes. And then the Boss had had enough. He started barking. One woof every 20-30 seconds. Like the beeping on an alarm clock. And it worked! It got her highness up. She threw open the bedroom door and standing right there was the Boss. She just sighed one of those big dramatic sighs.

We DID let her take a nap in the DFZ later. Because she allowed us in. Hey – it’s our duty to protect her – and how can we possibly do it if she’s in a different room? We’re a team. 24/7. And she better not forget it.

Speaking of which – time for the team to get walking. No rain last night, so puddle patrol should not be factor this morning. One of those endearing traits that probably explains why PONs rank close to the bottom 20. That was a joke by the way. Pretty funny, eh?

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe.

Yo readers. Elroy here. Yeah – so you heard the story of my exuberant meeting with Max. Who knew he didn’t appreciate a big dog jumping and barking in his face? Seriously. I just wanted to play. At least I think I did.

Anyway. Do you know what May 3- May 9, 2020 is?!! Before I tell you, it was the Boss who said this had to be our topic today. Not my thing . But when the Boss speaks (and he does A LOT), I listen. Anyway, it’s National Postcard week! I know – who cares, right? Well I guess deltiologists do. That’s the fancy name for two-leggeds who collect postcards. So in 1984, they proclaimed the first full week of May as National Postcard week. That’s why you see so many postcard festivities all around. Ha. That was my attempt to be funny. Pretty good, eh? So why am I writing about this and what does it have to do with dogs. I’m sure you are thinking that right now.

Well as you know, our human collects old dog stuff. Among other junk. And included in her dog collection is surprise surprise- dog postcards. She has a bunch. Like not in the thousands or anything – but enough to put in an album. Or in frames…So today, the Boss suggested I share some with you. So here we go….

First we have a few cards where the actual BREED of dog is identified somewhere on the card. Some of these are not particularly old but they are not brand new either.

Like here we have a Newfoundland and a yellow Lab. Not sure how these guys would do in a show ring..

Here’s an English bulldog. Not a great condition card but you can still see the dog. Isn’t he just a sweet looking guy…or wait…girl…

Here we have some Pomeranians in black and white….I haven’t seen many in this color…

Here we have what is labeled on the back as the English Sheepdog…They could almost pass for Beardies!

These are labeled as Poltalloch terriers. We know them better as West Highland White terriers or Westies….

These guys are labeled as Staghounds. I’m thinking they are Foxhounds. But I’m no hound expert…

Now a bit of trivia …..did you know that St. Bernards were originally bred for rescue work in the mountains of Switzerland/Italy? There was a hospice built by monks in the Alps – and they acquired their first dogs between 1660 and 1670. They started breeding them and using them as working dogs in mountain rescue. Here’s a little video about them:

https://youtu.be/catxhyvkcKs

And here are some postcards from the days when the hospice was still operational..

OK. Here we have some cards where the breeds are not labeled, but I think we can guess what they are… like this Poodle…

And this pug…

And this looks like maybe a Border Terrier?

This one I’m not sure…Are they terriers?

OK. This next group I’m calling the Dollar Store Dog shots…They are all dressed up. Poor dogs. I feel their pain.

And her highness always liked this poor fella because she thought it might be a Bernese puppy…

We have more real photo cards – here are a few…like this fella with his Bulldog…

This poor guy who never was sent…

And this sled dog team pulling a canoe from Porcupine?

Our next group of cards is what I call “kids and dogs.” These are just a few…

OK. Enough for today. There are more of course with different artists’ paintings of dogs too. We might have actually shown you some of these cards before – but given that her highness can’t even remember what day it is, it’s no surprise if you’ve seen them before. Pretend you haven’t, even if you have. If that makes any sense.

Note we have not seen any PONs or Picard cards. Her highness is always on the hunt.

I’ll close with one last card – and it’s probably one of her highness’ favorite cards. Probably because it’s a good depiction of what happens in this household when she tries to teach us anything new. It’s called The Dogs School – and I’ll include some close up shots!

Don’t see any PONs or Picards. I say we skipped class.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe.

Hello readers. Frodo again. Today I must share a story that the beatnik wanted to tell – but I thought it a bit more appropriate that I tell the tale. Because I was forced to observe part of it – and he was directly involved…

On Wednesday evening, we went for a lovely walk after supper. The snow has pretty much disappeared, save for the odd shady spot. We actually went for a walk on the golf course- and since the geese seem to have moved on, it was a peaceful, non-eventful walk.

As we approached home, we passed by our neighbors’ home. Also the home to Max. Max is a happy mid to large sized all-Canadian multi breed dog – and you may recall, long ago Viktor and I met Max. And everything was fine. We did the traditional butt sniffing, looked at each other while our humans chatted and life was fine. HOWEVER, the beatnik had never met Max….

So as we passed Max’s driveway, her highness glanced and saw Max approaching slowly up his driveway. And the hair on his back was standing straight up. Now before you assume that was an aggressive posture – let me assure you that when we dogs raise the hair on our hackles, it can be for excitement, fear, anxiety or yes, anger. Some have described it like goosebumps that humans experience. Anyway, her highness knew I had been fine with Max so she stood still and let me go over. I was of course on leash, as was the beatnik. What she didn’t anticipate was that the beatnik, in his joyous sense of greeting, would jump up and down, probably scaring the poop out of Max. So here was Max with a bouncing beatnik and me – who might also have let out a bark or two – right in his face. So Max said “enough!” And he and the beatnik got into a….hmmmm…. heated discussion. Meanwhile, in the pandemonium, somehow her highness dropped the beatnik’s leash. Max’s human came to get him- but the beatnik wasn’t about to say “game over” so he continued to jump around and bark. Her highness called him ( which was a waste of breath) so she tied yours truly to a pole and went to retrieve the beatnik who had followed Max and his human back to their home.

She was able to grab his leash and the “game” was over. The beatnik actually laid down. So she doesn’t feel he was being aggressive – BUT his barking and jumping was NOT something Max appreciated or understood. Heck – I live with him and I don’t understand him half the time. Then again – he does respect me – so he knows enough not to be too jumpy and barky around me.

Thankfully, everyone was FINE after the skirmish. Although her highness did collapse when she got in the house. She contacted Max’s humans and he was fine too. So peace and happiness were restored once again.

Good thing her highness had that wine delivery the other day….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe.