Author: frodopon

Cat travel

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So we know the age old debate.  Who is smarter- cats or dogs.  Well there was an interesting story here in Nova Scotia this past week that leads me to think that cats aren’t too bright…

It seems this woman was shipping some tire rims to Alberta Canada. Given the cost to ship, I would think they might be cheaper to buy there.  But what do I know about cars and tires and rims.  I just know if given the chance, the FG will pee on tires.  Anyway, maybe these were special.
So after the rims were shipped, the family noticed their cat was missing.  They searched and searched and put up signs.  No cat.  You know where this is going.  It seems when the boxes of rims stopped at the first destination on the route (in Montreal) someone discovered that one of the boxes contained more than rims.  Yup.  The cat. They figure he curled up in the box, was quiet and got packed up. Luckily he was discovered- and has been returned home to his anguished family. 
Now I have heard a similar story before.  Cats like to hide out in all sorts of places.  A friend of my human told her about their cat getting folded up in a sofa bed once.  He was eventually found a few hours later – safe, sound and hungry.  
So I’m not thinking that cats are all that smart.  Make a noise.  Let someone know you are stuck somewhere.  Then again, I SUPPOSE maybe he just wanted to do some traveling.  In which case, it WAS a smart thing to do. I’m trying to be nice because I need to get back on the good list.  Einstein says it’s too late for me.  We’ll see.  If I don’t get Christmas gifts, maybe I’ll hide in a box and go on a trip.  Actually, a truck.  Full of a dog food shipment .  Now there’s an idea…
Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 9

Maple

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So according to the crazy calendar, today is National Maple Syrup Day.  According to one source that I found, Canada produces 71% of the world’s pure maple syrup.  Now I’m not talking about those imitation products that are made of chemicals and things like xylitol (which is toxic to dogs).  I’m talking about that pure stuff that is tapped in the spring time from maple trees.  The real deal pure stuff. 

Pure maple syrup is not toxic to dogs, but because it contains so much sugar, we really can’t eat much of it either.  But we can certainly have some in some homemade treats- and here is a recipe for some:
I think I am going to get my human to bake us some over the holidays- they sound yummy.  But remember, if you make them, neither your peanut butter or maple syrup can contain xylitol.  You can only use pure products.
So how many of you remember the horrible story of the coat my human received as a gift from her mother last year.  The one I destroyed by eating through the pockets.   Not one of my best days. Remember how she found a close replacement? Well she wears it all the time.  And she never ever leaves kibble in the pockets.  But….
On Saturday she had some errands to run and it was a pretty warm day. She didn’t need her heavy coat, but decided instead to wear a fluffy down vest.  A vest she has had probably since before I was born – but it was in good shape.  Was being the operative word.  She hadn’t worn the vest in a long time- but decided to wear it on Saturday.  She put it on, zipped it up and thought it looked good.  But she didn’t look carefully.  She went to put her hand in the pocket and her hand came out the front of the vest. She just glared at me.  Listen- that vest had a good long life.  It was time for it to be retired.  Permanently. 
Today my human is off and the forecast is iffy.  Could be rain.  Could be snow.  Given that the snow tires are on, rain is much more likely.  I think it’s great – she can stay home and start baking those treats.  But I had better stay out of that front hall closet.  I’m definitely getting knocked off Santa’s Nice list.  Hope the other two share their gifts….
Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 8

Helping with wrapping

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So the Christmas preparation frenzy continues.  Excuse me but didn’t I warn her that Christmas was coming back in November?

At least she used her time wisely while waiting to have the snow tires put on Ludwig – she wrote her Christmas cards. Now by the time she actually goes to the Post Office, people will get their cards in time for Valentines Day.
She also has a few parcels to mail and we were sure to help with that.  She accidentally dropped a couple of small pieces of cardboard while she was packing things- and we all took turns at recycling.  First she noticed me munching like a cow chewing cud. She said “Hey what do you have?”  I stared at her and kept on chewing.  Meanwhile, my new partner in crime was right next to me.  She looked at the FG and said “So your breakfast wasn’t good enough to eat – but cardboard is?”  He kept chewing.  She picked up any tiny pieces that remained.  At least she though he had them all.  A few minutes later, Einstein came over. And she looks at him and he is chewing too.  “Where are you getting this stuff?!” she sighed.  Why under my fluffy feet oh wise human.
Most of our snow melted with the warm temps the last few days. So now the backyard is a mess of mud, unraked leaves and camouflaged poop.  Really nice.  The joys of winter in Nova Scotia…
Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days:  7

Old times

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So the countdown is on.  And my human is still running around doing things – like she didn’t know Christmas comes on December 25.  Humans.

In the spirit of the season, I thought it might be fun to share some vintage Christmas with you. As we know, my human is a collector.  Of many things. And we know that she collects old dog stuff.  She also collects postcards.  Dog postcards.  And holiday postcards.  So we decided to take a look at old Christmas postcards that feature canines.  And we found a few!! Check them out…

I don’t see any PONs or Picards.  Too busy playing in the snow.

Today we are getting rain.  That’s because my human got the snow tires on.  Told ya.
Well time to walk before the downpour.
Have a good one. Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 6

Full moon. Not.

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It’s Friday and my human has the day OFF!!!!!!!  And for anybody living in our area, I am happy to report that we will no longer be having any snowy weather.  Because she is FINALLY getting the snow tires put on Ludwig today.  That’s why she is off.  MOST people put their tires on in like November.  Not my human.  She likes to live on the edge.  Like on the edge of the road if she wasn’t careful.  We have had a few snowy days – and one day last week she came home shaking and looking green.  She almost slid off the road.  That would have been awful.  Supper would have been late.

We have been busy guarding the house – and greeting the many delivery guys that have been coming by in the past week or two.  My on-line orders have been coming in.  Just kidding – she still hasn’t given me her credit card number.  Can you seriously imagine IF I had a card and could use the net?  

According to the crazy calendar, today is Free Shipping Day.  I don’t think EVERYBODY is doing free shipping today – so don’t quote me – quote the crazy calendar.  Sometimes my human threatens to ship ME somewhere.  Like the other night.  You would have SWORN it was a full moon…

She took us out for our last pee of the night and I did my thing.  I came in and jussssssssssssssst as she got all comfy cozy in bed, I started squeaking.  She tried to ignore me.  Nope.  I kept at it.  She mumbled as she pulled a fleece jacket over her pajamas and put on some boots.  She marched me outside in sub freezing temperatures and I went and had another TINY pee.  So she told me to “hurry up.” She figured I needed to poop too.  I ran around her.  And ran around her again and again.  And then I just started munching on snow. She was NOT impressed.  She marched me back in.  I went to the counter for a treat.  She looked at me and said “you have GOT to be kidding.  No way Jose.”  She went back to bed.  I slowly walked into the bedroom, and jumped on her bed.  Then I proceeded to lick myself.  Which is probably one of the most disgusting dog habits – after eating poop or puke.   She told me to stop.  I waited.  And started again.  She turned on the light, looked at me and said “seriously, knock it off!”  She turned out the light.  At this point, Einstein decided to join in the fun and started licking too.  Well.  The lights flew on, she grabbed her pillows, instructed us to get off the bed, she marched us out of the bedroom and she went to sleep on the sofa in the DFZ.   We were shocked. 

And no, there was nothing wrong with me.  No this was not seizure related.  This was because she wanted to go to bed EARLY.  We don’t do early in this house. Early in the morning, yes. But not at night. I just wasn’t ready for bed.
Anyway, she didn’t ship me off anywhere.  But I clearly had better behave because Christmas will soon be here.  If I don’t behave, all Santa will bring me will be clothing.  And we KNOW how I feel about attire….
Have a good one. Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 5

Oh no. New attire.

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So we have all seen the photos of the dreaded spandex and gortex suits that we have to ward off winter snowballs.  For those who live in snowy climates, you know that snow condition where the snow just forms GIANT balls on your  legs – and you can’t walk.   Well we have suits for those occasions.  As seen in the old photo above.  Those are different from the dreaded raincoats. 

And NOW – they have come out with another solution – dog leggings.  I guess they have been around for awhile – but this type has rubber boots attached.  Oh joy.  Oh happiness.  Check out the website:

http://www.walkeepaws.com/

They try to use a cute name – like it will make us dogs like them.  I guess in theory, they do make sense.  Boots often tend to fall off.  And putting on the full armor suit, like ours can be a bit like trying to hold an eel and put it in a nylon stocking.  So this ONLY involves putting in legs.  And the boots can’t fall off…    So it IS a clever idea.  I had better watch – I am starting to sound like I like them – and I don’t want Santa to get any strange ideas.  They are NOT on my list.  I repeat – clothing of ANY kind is NOT on my list.

Oh -I completely forgot to tell you our news the other day… we made our goal.  We actully made $100 on our blog ads.   Thanks to all those who take a minute to click on them!!!  Well, we don’t actually have the cash in hand yet – but it is supposedly coming.  I just hope my human doesn’t think that it could be used to buy walkeepaws.   Noeeeway.   Noeeway.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 3

Apps

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December 11.  And according to the crazy calendar, it is National App Day.  So I decided to check out dog apps – and try some out.  We just tried free apps.

The first one we tried was Bring Fido. It’s an app that shows dog friendly locations- which is great if traveling.  Once you download it, you register with an email and password.  And then we entered Halifax, NS as our destination to see what it would say. It listed a number of hotels and some places (like parks and stores) that are dog friendly.  I think there may be more places locally, but it definitely was a good listing.  I liked this site!! 
Another app is iKibble Free.  It basically is a listing of foods from Abalone to Zucchini and it tells you if it safe for your dog. It’s simple, but a decent reference. Who knew we could eat brambleberries in moderation?
Now my human thought BarkCam sounded great.  It’s a photo program.  BUT- it has dog sounds, toy sounds and whistle sounds to get your dog’s attention when you go to take a photo.  My human was so excited about this one.  The holy grail of dog photography.  The following are the photo responses to a variety of sounds…

 Clearly the FG caught on to the sounds and didn’t care. The free site has lots of ads. And every photo ends up with a plug for the app at the bottom of the photo.  Mind you, as you can see…you can crop that off.  It might be a good app the first few times it is used- but we dogs are pretty smart… we catch on to the sounds.
There is an app called MapMyDogWalk.  It shows you how far you walked with your dog.   Many phones already have a free fitness app that can show you this – so I’m not certain this would provide much more info.  Unless it records where the poop stops were.
There is supposed to be an app called iClicker – the Dog Training App. It’s for all those humans who lose their clickers.  Like my human.  She doesn’t know- we hide them.  We couldn’t try this app because it needs to be updated to work with our software.  I think my human should just look for one of the dozen clickers we have hidden around the house. 
So those are some quick reviews.  There are LOADS of apps out there – many that you can buy too. If we find any really awesome freebies, I’ll let you know.
Have a good one. Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 2

Bloopers.

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Well could you hear the shouting yesterday?  I’m sure the noise extended beyond our neighborhood. It actually wasn’t shouting.  More like loud pleading.  Although there WAS some shouting when one of us went AWOL…

Why all the kerfuffle? Because she pulled out this year’s antlers.  Which are attached to Santa hats.  Should have stuck with the old version. It was time for the photo shoot.
I was thankfully feeling much better yesterday.  A bit uncoordinated, but still full of life and ready to roll. So when we saw our human put on her coat and stuff her pockets with treats, we ALL went crazy. One slight problem.  She got ready prematurely. The battery on her phone was low, so she had to charge it before we headed out for the photo shoot. Try and explain to 3 insane dogs that they have to wait for a battery to charge.  While the human is bundled up in a winter coat with pockets full of treats.  She had to give up waiting at 75% power – she was sweating and Einstein’s incessant barking and the FG’s continual racing to the front door were enough to drive anyone insane.
Her plan was to go down to the lake.  And set us up there.  She had the FG on a long line so there would be no chance he would try to go out on the thin ice. We raced down to the lake.  My human actually got the FG to sit, which is always a challenge.  She called to me and Einstein who had stopped on the trail.  Einstein quickly came and assumed his position.  Then she called for me.  No response.  She called again.  No response.  By now she is starting to sweat as she knows the FG won’t sit much longer.  She calls me again.  Nope. She doesn’t want to move the very obedient Picard, but she has no choice.  She grumbles as she heads back up the trail to find me. She literally comes around a bend not 12 feet away, and there I am with my face in some brush either smelling or eating something. She grabs my butt and says “Come on!!!!!” And I reluctantly leave my treasured spot.  Smacking my lips.  
By this point, her fingers are freezing so she doesn’t even ATTEMPT the antlers.  What follows are the good shots in various locations . And the bloopers.  She does eventually try the antlers.  It is not pretty….they tend to flo down….
Good shot:

Blooper. 

Good shot. Or at least fair shot.

My personal bloopers.

Now she attempts the antler hat.  On the good dog.  There are over two acres on our property.  Guess who has to photobomb….

And then we ALL try the antler hats.  Bloopers first followed by the best result.  Although even the BEST doesn’t really show the antlers.  But note who sits through every shot…
 

Finally all in position. And you can’t even tell they are antlers!!!!

She wasn’t thrilled with any of them.  My fear?  I heard her in the garage last night.  I THINK she was looking for the old antlers.  Heaven help us.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 1

A tough day.

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Well it was a tough day yesterday.  When I posted my blog, I had had two seizures.  Unfortunately, I had two more.  It was what they call a cluster. -so many in less than 24 hours.  The most I ever had in the past was three.  So four was VERY unusual. My human talked to our vet after number three and after number four.  They adjusted one of my meds, but the vet said if I had another one I should go to the emergency hospital.  My human was on pins and needles all the rest of the day. And all through the night.  The good news is that although they are grand mal seizures- they don’t last more than a minute or two.  And within a half hour after, I’m back to my crazy self.  My human’s sister was over last night, and if she hadn’t been told I had had four seizures, she would never have known the difference.   I didn’t have any last night.  So paws crossed we are back on the mend.

Despite my episodes yesterday, I did have lots of time when I was my usual crazy self. So, given that today is Christmas card day  (according to the crazy calendar), my human HAD to try and take a few shots.  We had a snowfall the night before- so it made the perfect backdrop.  Assuming everyone would sit still…
She loaded her pockets with treats- which meant she had two PONs glued to her.  Meanwhile, the FG was more interested in playing with his ball in the snow.  SOMEHOW, she did manage to get us to stay still for a few shots.  You can pick your favorite…

I have a feeling she STILL may try for a few more.  Because one can never have enough pictures…Note we are not YET wearing antlers….
Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 0

Serena. And the dogs. And Dear Santa. The addendum.

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Thursday night my human went out with her sister – to a concert by a young woman by the name of Serena Ryder.  She’s a Canadian singer/songwriter/musician – and she’s very talented.  VERY talented.  And I wanted to mention her because her concert was SO good.  But really, what does Serena have to do with dogs, right?  WRONG.  She has a new Christmas song and video.  And it supports rescue and shelter dogs.  Check it out!!!  It really is fun.

https://youtu.be/f77Sc3gTaM8

It’s a catchy tune too!  No wonder my human came home smiling!

Meanwhile, I hope Santa brings all the suggested gifts I wrote about in my human’s letter.  I realized though, that I forgot a few things – so I am sending this addendum:

Dear Santa.

It’s me again – Linda.  The one who is owned by two wonderful Polish Lowland Sheepdogs and a comical Berger Picard.

Now I realize I shouldn’t be greedy and ask for too many things – and honestly I don’t expect to get EVERYTHING.  At the top of the list of course, if you can ONLY bring ONE gift would be those dog treats. And remember to put them in an accessible location.  For me to reach them easily, of course.

Anyway, if you are still having difficuty I thought of a few other options…

1.  Windex for cleaning the french doors and the deck doors.  Oh.  And the car windows.  Although I DO admire the olfactory art that my dogs create, I know that they enjoy a clean slate to create some new pieces.

2.  Slobber towels.  Because JUST as I am ready to walk out the door to work, my adorable Picard MUST inspect my wardrobe and he likes to give it his seal of approval.  This is particualarly nice when he has just had a BIG drink of water.

3.   A king sized bed.  Santa, there is just not enough room for me and all three boys on the queen sized bed.  And it’s important that they are comfortable.  

4.  A recipe book.  On how to make dog biscuits.  When I retire there is NOTHING I would rather do than bake for my boys.  Every day.

These are just a few other options for my list.  I’m sure I’ll think of others, and given that I still have a few weeks left, I hope you won’t mind if I send updates. In addition Santa, my boys will be sending s letter soon as well so please watch out for that.  They deserve everything they ask for.

Have a lovely day Santa.
Linda

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days:  0

My human came home from work and someone had peed on the carpet.  That’s very unusual.  So she went to look at the video.  And she saw I had a seizure…..and then I had another one last night.  We are so disappointed……Back to the drawing board.