Yo. Blog people. Elroy here. For a change. Thought I should say a few words since it’s been pretty quiet here at the hacienda. Well- not REALLY quiet – not with the two mops blabbering on just because they can. Those two do not know the meaning of the words peace and quiet. Give a set of quadruplets, some big spoons and some pots and pans and they still couldn’t drown out the yelling fuzzballs. To quote Her Highness “Give me strength.”

So I’m feeling pretty good these days- although I STILL can be picky about eating. And I have all these new routines about WHEN I eat. I don’t eat breakfast with the mops. I prefer to wait until mid-morning and then I enjoy having my meal solo. Mind you, it’s not entirely solo as the mops are watching me from the other side of the French door, leaving olfactory art all over the glass and continuously shouting “we’ll finish it if you don’t want it.” Meanwhile, Her Highness CANNOT watch me eat because I stop if she’s watching, so she goes into the garage, and stands with her ear to the door- listening to hear me moving food in my bowl. When she thinks I’m done, she opens the door to check. If I have finished everything, I get a giant hug and a “good boy.” If I leave a bit, she grabs something to add to the remaining bit – like some shredded chicken, or dried beef lung and then she again hides in the garage. 90% of the time I eat all my breakfast.

Supper was becoming what I considered an “optional” meal. But Her Highness was not in agreement. So – she discovered if she feeds me in the early afternoon (using the same hidden garage routine), I’ll often eat my supper then. At least that’s been the routine the past few weeks. I may change my mind about the schedule again. It’s my Picard prerogative.

I am still on 5 medications daily, which require the complete human hand down my throat to take them. Otherwise, well, I spit them out. No matter how big or small. If they are not placed half way down my throat, almost to my stomach, they will miraculously reappear- to be found on the carpet. Or even stuck in my coat. It’s quite the magic trick. Please – do not suggest “hiding them” in something yummy. Because frankly, NOTHING is that yummy to yours truly. Peanut butter? It takes less than a millisecond to find a pill in peanut butter. Yo. It’s a real talent.

My energy is good. I enjoy walks and wrestling with the mops. I must confess, I HAVE picked up a habit that the mops demonstrate. I’m no longer overly fond of rainy weather. Like this morning. It has been pouring all night long. And it still is raining right now. I was in no huge rush to go out for my morning walk. In fact, I left my yellow signature and didn’t even go up the driveway to the road to have a poop. I went half way. I then turned for the door and headed back inside.

Because the culvert further up the driveway is blocked, we have quite the river flowing down the driveway. Thankfully it’s going toward the side of the house. And not into the garage. The Boss was DEFINITELY not impressed on his walk. He kept trying to head for the snow – which is now like walking through quicksand. Anyway, we all survived- and we don’t plan to head back out unless it stops raining. Yo – I think we need an ark.

So did ya all hear about the Bobi debacle? Bobi – the dog who captured the Guinness World record for being the oldest dog at 31 years old. Well it seems he lost his big trophy. Yup. Seems Guinness was a bit too quick in giving out the award. It comes as no surprise to lots of veterinarians who said a dog living to 31 is like a human living to 200. Pretty unlikely, they say. But the story doesn’t end there. Yo- let the conspiracy theories begin.

Because Bobi’s diet was pretty much whatever he wanted to eat- his longevity was kinda heralded by folks who don’t feed regular dog food (like kibble). So NOW some of those folks are theorizing that some big dog food company paid off…was it Guinness or the owners of Bobi to say he wasn’t as old as initially thought. Really. Yo- it seems like the world revolves around conspiracy theories these days. Nobody trusts anyone anymore. It’s kinda sad really. Yeah, yeah I know that there ARE mean people out there, but in my 7 years, I haven’t met that many. Or really any that I can think of! That’s because we dogs are GENERALLY trusting. Yeah – we DO have good spidey senses if we encounter a bad person – but thankfully, for most of us, that doesn’t happen all that much. I’m not including military or police dogs- their world is a bit different.

Most humans owned by dogs want what’s best for us – AND they want us around for as long as possible. That’s another reason people got all crazy about the Bobi debacle- they REALLY want and hope that we dogs CAN be around until our 30s, 40s…. So demoting Bobi was like tearing away a dream.

Bottom line – live like a dog. Live for TODAY. BE SMART – BUT TRUST that the world is really NOT an evil, horrible place where everyone is out to get you. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if Bobi wasn’t 31. He apparently lived a good, long life. And that’s what is important. There’s no magic secret to his longevity – or longevity in general that works 100% of the time. I’m sure more than one of you know some 90+ year old human who didn’t follow good, healthy habits – but they are still around. I’m not advocating an unhealthy lifestyle by any means- but I what I do think is that humans really should take a more positive look at the world like us dogs. LIVE for today.

Her Highness saw this thing on Wastebook that said if you say the words “I get to” instead of saying “I need to” – it reframes how you look at your day. Kinda simple- but cool. It’s about gratefulness.

And while living a long life is a goal- a better one is living a good life. One where there is that gratefulness. And trust. Seems a little naive? Well what can I say – I’m just a dog… 😉

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

Howdy blogaroos! Happy Valentine’s Day!!! One of the favorite days of the year for card companies, florists and chocolatiers. February 14th was “officially” declared to be Valentine”s Day in 1537. The Warden probably remembers it. I certainly hope she remembered to get us treats because, according to one website, 9 million people buy Valentines for their pets. Surely we must be in that 9 million.

To my fellow canines, if you’re looking for a cute way to sign your Valentine card for your human – here are some pretty corny suggestions.

https://living.greatpetcare.com/festive-fun/dog-valentine-puns/

Our plan is to write our message in the snow. It will be yellow.

Speaking of snow, we’ve been seeing a lot of Larry lately. Our plow guy. About a week ago we had the Snowmagedon, and last night we got another dumping. I’ve been the only one going down to the lake lately – the snow is too deep for the Boss, and trying to stop the Coyote from snowplowing with his open mouth is too much of a challenge. Those guys go for walks on the road. The Warden takes yours truly to the lake to tire me out. Doesn’t work. She’s the one who is tired when we get back!

The Warden was going to attempt to get a Valentine’s Day photo of the three of us – but we’re a bit out of practice so in short, it was an epic fail. She attempted to have all of us sit at the top of one of Larry’s giant snow piles. The Coyote went up, but wouldn’t turn around. I kept running up, and rolling down. The snow roll is a PON sport. We excel at it. Meanwhile, the Boss just stood there and pretended he didn’t know what she wanted him to do. She was going to attempt to lift him up, but then I started jumping on her while the Coyote kept gorging on snow. She gave up.

Hey – today is the first day of Lent. It’s the beginning of the countdown to Easter. Yesterday was Paczki Day (pronounced ponch-kee if you don’t know Polish). Paczki are donuts – and people load up on them the Tuesday before Lent begins, because during Lent you’re supposed to fast. The Tuesday before Lent is also called Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. . The Warden had store-bought Paczki. She didn’t share any with us. She said “we’re sweet enough.” Well that was a cop out.

People sometimes give up something for Lent as a form of penance. Not a good day to give up chocolate! The Warden says yours truly should give up barking for Lent. It seems I have taken lessons from the Boss- and frankly, I think I’m almost doing a better job! I wasn’t always a barker. At least not as much as I am now. I kind of like hearing myself talk. The Warden not so much.

Well, Larry hasn’t been here yet – and last night, before we went to bed, the Warden had to shovel a path because the snow was so deep. She knew the Boss wouldn’t poop if he didn’t have a good snow-free spot to go. It took a bit of time, but he did figure out that his poop-zone range was significantly reduced. I didn’t need to go and the Coyote just plunged right in. Good times!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Virtual hugs and licks from us to you!!!

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

Greetings blog readers. Frodo here for your reading pleasure today. Although, I must share, that currently the weather outside our warm abode is hardly pleasurable. We appear to be experiencing a Snowmageddon – the likes of which we have not seen in several years. I followed closely behind Her Highness as she forged her way through the drifts to take me on my morning constitutional. She was insistent that I make my morning “deposit” – as I do so EVERY morning. I pleadingly looked at her – hoping, just this once, I could simply make my deposit in the house. But no. We trudged up the mile long driveway and onto the road which must have been plowed once during the night. (I confess- I exaggerated the length of the driveway- but it certainly felt like a mile). The road was a bit less deep – and thankfully- easier to find an appropriate spot to do my duty. My walking pace increased noticeably on the way home.

Yesterday, the prognosticating rodent, better known as the groundhog, predicted we would be having an early Spring. It was not even 24 hours before his prediction appeared somewhat unreliable. Tsk tsk. I bet the hamster on steroids is all comfy in his den today. And he didn’t have to walk a mile in snowdrifts to do his business. I want to know how one applies to get his job. Think of it – you work one day a year – and are never held accountable for your work. He could make an excellent politician.

In other, brighter news, I had a marvelous 14th birthday. We had special treats for the occasion- little canine cupcakes for each of us. You see them in the above photo. We were instructed not to touch them – hence our serious expressions. The Imp and I quickly consumed ours, while the Coyote batted his around and then walked away. While the lad is eating fairly well – he still remains particular about new foods. The cupcake was not in his previous dining experiences- so he opted to leave it. But not to worry – food never goes to waste in this house. Not with two PONs.

While the Imp had neutral results in his rally foray last weekend- with one pass and one NQ, some photos were taken in which he actually appears to be performing quite well. Cast your eyes on these:

He CAN perform quite well. It’s whether or not he wants to that is the issue. I believe yours truly was more amenable to following instructions. I understood that rewards would come – sometimes after a short period of work. The Imp still prefers immediate rewards. His brain is like that of a hummingbird who has been into too much nectar. But he’ll learn. Hope springs eternal.

In world news, a new study has been published in the UK, looking at dog longevity. They looked at the data on over a half million dogs – and looked at longevity considering a number of factors including breed. The average for PONs was 13.2 years. Yours truly is above average- as I have been in all aspects of my life. Picards are not mentioned – as their numbers are likely low in the UK- so they couldn’t obtain the data. It was interesting to note in this particular study, contrary to popular belief, purebred dogs had slightly better longevity than mixed breed dogs. The theory of hybrid vigor did not prove true in this study. But like ANY study, one must carefully analyze the data. And frankly, Her Highness is a bit surprised that the lifespan of the Bernese Mountain Dog was over 10 years! She was excited, but a bit skeptical about that number. Still – interesting to look at the information-and use it with other information to learn about different breeds.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13032305/Is-dog-list-Interactive-chart-reveals-breeds-longest-shortest-life-expectancies-bad-news-flat-faced-pups.html

Well, back to napping. I will retreat to my room (previously referred to as the DFZ) and make myself comfortable. Until nature calls. Which I wouldn’t answer until I absolutely must. Cheers.

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