Howdy blogaroos! Squirmy never-slow-down Wormy here today on another merry Monday.

We survived all the bad weekend weather, and we are all able to go to the lake once again. The path is kinda packed down snow and not super icy, because a dusting of snow fell after the freezing rain. So it’s walkable. While the Warden tends to sink a bit in spots, we canines are doing just great! I LOVE hard snow. All the better for racing and rolling.

Although we are now able to go on our trails to the lake, we have been walking a bit less distance overall the past week or two because of the conditions. So, as a result, I have energy just bubbling over. Sure, we do our daily training and we are allowed to play in the backyard again, now that it’s not a sheet of ice, but my battery is still way overcharged. Bully sticks provide a bit of stationary exercise, and following the Warden every time she moves exerts a bit more energy, but she’s been looking for other things to occupy my time. Besides licking the Boss’s head and ears. So – the snuffle mats have reappeared. And now the Boss and I get our meals via the snuffle mats. Before, the Warden would give us our food and before she even started to get her coffee ready, we were finished eating. Now, she can actually get a few minutes to prepare her breakfast. Meanwhile, the Coyote leisurely eats his meals sequestered in the hallway. From a bowl.

Initially, She was just feeding us breakfast via snuffle and supper from our bowls, but now we even get that meal delivered via snuffle. The Warden will take every minute of respite that she can get.

The life of a PON pretty much revolves around mealtime and treats. In our household, the Boss gets medicine in the morning and at supper time. And there has to be an hour between when he gets his medicine and when he can eat. He knows EXACTLY when 60 minutes are up – and he doesn’t even wear a watch! He gets all antsy when the time is up, and he squeaks and stares at the Warden. And since he starts squeaking, that’s my cue to start wrestling with him. That’s MY way of reminding the Warden that we NEED to eat.

Yup, we dogs rule the day. In EVERY household, including the REAL Queen’s. Yup even the Queen of England has dogs that do what they want. Notice in the clip, she says “I know what you want.” Ten bucks,or should I say ten pounds, says it’s either a treat – or mealtime.

https://youtu.be/zimjOUO-a_I

Lately, the Boss also gets antsy when he feels it’s time for bed. Because we get a biscuit right before bedtime. Sometimes he starts squeaking as early as 9PM, because he’s done with guard duty for the day, and he just wants his biscuit and to go to bed. And trust me – he can be persistent. The other night, the Warden couldn’t take it any more, so at like 9:15, she announced “OK – we’ll go to bed. But I’m still going to do some reading in bed!” Blah blah – he didn’t care. He got his biscuit just when he wanted it. The advantages of being a bossy senior.

OK. Almost time to get this party started.

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

Yo. Blog people. Elroy here for your reading today. We’re about to go out and see the results of freezing temperatures overnight. Yesterday we had rain and freezing rain all day. None of us were overly thrilled about going out. Especially the Boss. But we did manage to do our morning walks before the freezing set in. So it was plain rain.

The Boss was miserable with the rain and puddles, and to top it off, he had a goopy ear. I think that’s the medical term for it. The cause of goopy ear? The Imp. He licks the Boss’s head and ears – despite Her Highness’s commands to stop. So all that licking resulted in one messy, goopy ear. Luckily, Her Highness knows what to do – AND she had some ear drops to help it clear up. Yeah, the Boss woke up scratching his ear, panting, shaking his head – he’s a real drama king. After his quasi-veterinary treatment in the garage, and after much moaning and groaning – he was much better. Until he realized it was raining out.

So according to the crazy calendar, today is National Fart Day. Seriously. No Picard Day, or PON Day, but a day to celebrate farts. Not much to celebrate if ya ask me. This topic is one we’ve covered before- and one that Her Highness’s mother always despised. She’s no doubt looking down and rolling her eyes that we’re at it again.

If ya want to read about dog farts, here’s a good article:

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/how-to-stop-dog-farts/

There are loads of dog fart videos, but I suspect that many are fake. I mean how did the person taking the video KNOW that the dog would fart? Unless the dog has a REALLY big problem. Anyway, here’s a fake fart video – where we KNOW it’s fake:

https://youtu.be/v36hPj2z8DM

I personally think it would have been funnier to see human reactions….

In other equally gripping news, according to our research, on this day in 1981, somebody in Australia made the world’s biggest batch of Jello using 9,246 gallons of watermelon flavoring. Humans can do strange things. But we know that. Anyway, we canines can’t eat real Jello because it has too much sugar and other stuff in it. BUT – we CAN eat unsweetened gelatin, and because I knew you would want this (yawn) we found a salmon-blueberry dog jello recipe. Check it out:

https://www.prouddogmom.com/diy-salmon-jello-dog-treat-recipe/

Not sure I would eat it. Depends on the day. No doubt the mops would inhale it. Personally, I think there’s no point in slaving over a stove to make them fancy treats – they don’t even stop to taste the stuff. Just throw the salmon and blueberries in their bowls and skip the jello part. Follow me for more recipes.

OK. Gotta go on patrol and to check out the weather conditions. Been some pheasants hanging out on our acreage, so time to go and bark at them. Sometimes I bark even if they’re not there. Just to warn them not to come. Pretty clever, eh?

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

Howdy blogaroos. Well it’s the third of February. Which means 2-2-22 is over and so is the day when we celebrate those squirrels on steroids – the Groundhog. And it seems the famous weather prognosticators had some different forecasts depending where you live. Like Puxatawney Phil, in Pennsylvania said that area would be getting 6 more weeks of winter. Meanwhile, Wiarton Willie, in Ontario said those folks would be getting an early spring. Lucky them. Our very own Schubenacadie Sam agreed with Phil – and gave us the gloomy news of more winter ahead. Yuck.

Yesterday the Warden thought that since the day had warmer temperatures, that maybe we could try that walk to the lake. I raced and hopped like a maniac. The Coyote was on leash so he couldn’t go far or fast. The Boss walked behind the Warden in her moon boot footprints. The Warden regretted the journey when we got to the lake – because it’s all up hill to get back to the house. I thought I might have to get a sled to pull her back. Not to mention the fact that as we were leaving our fenced area next to the house, she hit this metal thing that keeps the gate closed, full force with her knee. I actually thought the walk might have been over. But she continued, because she didn’t know what was worse to endure – a sore knee, or an extra-bored me – because I really NEEDED a run. She chose the knee.

In other news, according to the crazy calendar, today is International Golden Retriever Day. Really. It started in 2011 by some woman who had a Golden and who said “if there can be an Eat Cherry Pie Day, why can’t there be a Golden Retriever day?” She picked February 3, because it happened to be her Golden Retriever’s birthday.

Goldens have been in the top ten popularity lists in the US and Canada for years and years. The Warden’s parents had one when she was an adult and no longer living at home. Actually, the Warden and her sister, Sue did the one thing that you should never do- they bought their father a puppy for Christmas. Yup. They found an ad in the paper, picked up the puppy and surprised him. He was initially not impressed. He had been so sad when they lost their Irish Setter after 15 years, that he said “no more dogs.” But in typical fashion, his loving daughters didn’t listen to him. Yes- he was upset. For about 10 minutes. He named him Midas – and they were best buddies for another 15 years.

Their Mom wasn’t initially excited about the idea of another dog either, but she WAS in on the Christmas surprise. And truth be told, she kinda liked him too…

So in honor of International Golden Retriever Day, I found a super duper video I think you’ll like. Even if you’re not a Golden person (do such people exist?) I think you’ll find this funny:

https://youtu.be/FT-qDSxRv14

I don’t think there is an International PON day. I think Viktor tried to start one when like 5 people were reading this blog. So the idea never flew. I don’t think the Picards have an International Day either. But hey – Labradors have a day too -January 8! Oopsie- missed that one. I couldn’t find a day for Bernese, and boxers could claim Boxing Day- but they don’t have an official one either. But wait – pugs do! You can let me know if other breeds have “a day.” Who knew it was a thing?!

Well, time to get my daily party started. I hope your day is perfectly golden!

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

Howdy blogaroos! Squirmy Wormy here on another terrific Tuesday. And guess what else today is? Why it’s February 1st!!! So the 45 days of January are OVER!!! Yee haw!

So we survived the snowstorm – and you MIGHT think we would be all happy with the fluffy white stuff. But no- we’ve been pretty miserable. Why? Well we had lots of snow. Which is great. And the plow guy came to save us from being trapped until Spring. By the way, when he comes, we all shout out our instructions as to where we want the snow moved. The Boss starts. And the Coyote and I follow along. It’s kinda loud here until he leaves. Anyway, he did a super job. BUT, after he created our mountains and cleared the driveway, it rained. Not for really long, and it was kinda freezing rain. And do you know what THAT means? Two things: luge run driveway AND a thick crust on the snow. Now that thick crust MIGHT be fine for a dog who weighs as much as a bird, but that doesn’t describe anyone in this house. So when we go out, our feet break though the crust and then we sink in the snow up to our chest. On Sunday morning when the Warden attempted to take us to the lake, we didn’t get far at all. I got the furthest. I figured out how to hop and then sploot on top of the crust. I was trying to distribute my weight. In the meantime, the Coyote, who doesn’t generally mind snow but who hates the snow if it’s TOO cold, stood paralyzed. The Boss wanted nothing to do with any part of the adventure. He took one look at the trail and turned around and trudged back to the house. He promptly pooped on the driveway while trying to keep from sliding.

Since then we’ve had cold temperatures, so the crust has not melted. It’s no fun. And although the driveway has seen some salt, there’s no point trying to walk us up to the road because THAT is also like a skating rink. So walking on it is taking a big risk if a car comes along. So we stay home. And trust me – that can get pretty boring. Sure we do our training, and play games, but we have no good toys to play with because ummmm… they are all buried under the snow. The Warden was desperately searching the house and garage yesterday to find anything to keep us amused. Besides licking each other’s heads. We’ve finished every bully stick we had, and the cool super tough rubber bones we got for Christmas we can’t have because yours truly was able to break off pieces.

So like when I get bored, if I’m not styling the Boss’s hair or wrestling with the Coyote, I walk. Around the dining room table. Down the hall, around the dining room table, into the front hall, around the kitchen, around the dining room table….In the meantime, the Coyote starts pawing at the deck door. The Warden opens it and he just stands there, breathing in the fresh, freezing air. He has no intention of going out. I should mention that this is happening while the Warden is attempting to eat breakfast. This is after we’ve all been out to do our business, after we’ve had OUR breakfast and after we’ve devoured our frozen Kongs. At one point yesterday, when both the Coyote and I were staring at the deck door she opened it and said out. When we both stood in the doorway, she pushed us out. The Boss just rolled his eyes and headed for the treat jar. He figured it was a good opportunity to beg – given that both of us were out.

So do you think we went out to play? To look for squirrels? To birdwatch? I mean we both wanted out. Nope. As soon as that door was shut, we sat down and stared inside, creating olfactory art on the glass. The Warden tried to ignore us. But she’s easily guilted into letting us in. She got up and we marched back in. The Coyote went to lie down, and I proceeded to get in my 10,000 steps.

The Warden says that living with us is sometimes like having two year old triplets. Who just ate too much sugar. And who didn’t sleep the night before.

It looks like it might rain later in the week. I doubt it will be enough to melt all the snow – but maybe the crust. In the meantime, I’m not sure HOW that groundhog is going to make his way out tomorrow. And I don’t know WHAT the forecast will be if he can’t even get out. Six more solid weeks of this, and the Warden will be needing a vacation. I think that’s a great idea – as long as we get to go along!

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