We are still holding the sitter captive. And she continues to feed and walk us and take good care of us.  But make no mistake, we are in control.

Attention.  We are again holding a sitter hostage.  We even made her send a note to my human saying we were “sweeties.”   I think my human was a bit suspicious because nobody has ever called US sweet before.  We made her send it to make it look like everything was going well.  But we have taken over.

Well THIS is pretty funny.  My human traveled yesterday- before her conference begins.  So after getting up in the wee hours and taking an  early flight, she arrived in her destination- Boston- at 9AM.  She checked into her hotel, got out her umbrella because it was pouring rain – and she headed out to do some shopping.  Shopping plus Boston equals a dream come true.  She envisioned some Christmas gifts and the odd gift for herself.  She was tired- but that is no deterrent to my human.  It’s a tough job, but when ya gotta shop ya gotta shop.

Well she left us.  In the wee hours of the morning.  We’re here all alone.  We’ve been abandoned.

When it comes to weather, there is nothing worse (for the PONs in this house anyway) than a rainy day.  But yesterday my human thought she experienced one of THE worst weather days ever – and there was no rain.  Or snow.  Or ice.  But at 6AM,  before the sun was up, she walked us canines in what SHE thought was the worst WIND ever. 

Well WHAT was I thinking about yesterday?!  Clearly in my struggle to not rant,  I became so confused with what I was saying that I had some very strange sentences in my blog!  And no- I was not drinking. We dogs are not allowed to drink! Although my post was so poorly written it looked as if I was suffering from a “too many treats” hangover!  Luckily my human caught the errors fairly early.  My apologies to readers who read the early agrammatical version!

https://viktorsviews.blogspot.com/2017/11/remembrance.html?m=0

OK.  So I was going to write a rant today.  About the crazy animal rights people who basically believe that people should have no right to own dogs AT ALL.  They do everything they can to badmouth purbred dogs and try desperately to make the public believe that buying a purebred dog is NOT a good thing.  Their message:  You should adopt a rescue.  And make sure it is spayed and neutered.  And while anyone who reads my blog knows that I am NOT against adoption – you also need to FULLY understand the REAL reason behind the animal rights groups’ support for shelter dogs and spaying and neutering.  If people KEEP doing this – and do NOT support breeding of any kind – guess what will eventually happen.  There WILL BE NO DOGS.   Purebred or otherwise.  THAT is their mission.  THAT IS THEIR MISSION.  Did I mention, that is their mission?!  Sure – it appears that they want to help dogs.   But there is a long-term goal here – NO animals as pets.  READ CAREFULLY the websites of these “helpful” groups… PETA, HSUS….

Yes.  I was going to rant about the topic.  But I decided to talk about something lighter…

On this day in 1969, the children’s television show,  Sesame Street, made it’s premiere.  (How’s THAT for a change in topic?) Now most people know the characters Ernie and Bert and Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch- but the show ALSO had a famous dog, who first appeared in 1978/1979 – Barkley.  And if you ask me – he is PON-like. They say in some sources that he is like an Old English Sheepdog.  They just don’t know PONs.   When he first appeared he was apparently called Woof Woof.  I prefer Barkely.  Here’s a cute video….and I have a feeling that humans can relate to this – whether they are owned by a PON – or any other breed!

I’ll end with this video – but keep in mind – there are some who think humans have no “right” to own a dog – who would not see humor in this video….  We need to be vigilant….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzdUcZMd2pA

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 57

There is a new mystery in our house. Who chewed the penguin’s toenail? Yes.  The penguin’s toenail.

For those who don’t know our household well, we are not the only animals living here.  There is a beaver, a turkey, a loon, two geese, several ducks, two deer, many bears, multiple dogs, fish, rabbits, a heron, assorted other birds, at least one turtle, a puffin and a penguin.  Really.  We have our own zoo.

Luckily though, this menagerie does not need feeding.   They are all made of wood.  They are folk art.

Folk art is essentially art that is created by untrained individuals.  The artists didn’t go to school to learn  how to paint or draw, or carve things – they learned to do it themselves.  Sometimes is it pretty primitive. And most folk artists don’t intitally start out thinking that this is going to be a way to earn money – they do it purely for their own enjoyment – or maybe to give as a gift to another.  Nova Scotia has a LONG history of folk art.  I wrote about one of our most famous folk artists in another blog.
https://viktorsviews.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-lesson-from-maud.html

But in addition to Maud, there are plenty of people who still make folk art.  Many of the early folk artists were woodsmen, and fishermen – who looked for things to occupy their time in the off season.

While my human initially thought folk art was too primitive for her liking, she learned over time to appreciate the thought, craft and HUMOR behind many of the works.  And she appreciated the backgrounds on the artists – who did the art “just because.”   Years ago, she worked for fun at a folk art gallery.  This was while she also had her current job. She did it because she enjoyed the colorful, unique art – but also because she learned the stories of the people behind the art.

She enjoyed meeting the artists and working at the store.  Oh.  And did I mention she was PAID in folk art.  Hence the zoo.

After we endured the painting of the kitchen and dining room back in August, my human decided to “move things around” and “redecorate”.  The moving scheme included taking a large,  over two-foot tall penguin, and place him in the dining room.  From his previous location in the laundry room.  Yes.  There are animals everywhere.

The interesting thing about this penguin – he has long toenails.  Orange and yellow toenails. Made of wood of course.

When Mr P was moved to the dining room, we all sized him up.  My human threatened that if anyone lifted a leg to pee on him, we would live the rest of our days in the laundry room.  Not that we pee IN the house – but you know us boys and “new” things – gotta mark them as our own.  Anyway, no one peed on the penguin.

However, about a week ago, my human noticed that one of the penguin’s toenails was on the floor next to him.  She wondered how that happened.  And then she noticed the FG sniffing it.  And he was about to pick it up when she shouted “NOOOOOO.”  He left it alone.

Fast forward (finally!) to Wednesday.  My human came home from work and checked the condition of the chair wall still lining the edges of the dining room carpet.  It always looks like there has been a brawl when you come in – with all the chairs lying on their sides.  Anyway, that’s when she spotted it.  The remains of the toenail.  The yellow part was gone, but about 3/4 of the orange part remained.  But WHO was the culprit? The obvious suspect was the FG.  But it REALLY COULD have been any of us.  So she turned to the snitch.  Big Brother.  And saints preserve us – that’s when she realized Big Brother had not been reset after the new internet was installed.  It wasn’t working.  No video evidence.  Phew.

She had to find some paint to touch up the shortened toenail.  In the process, the tube of paint opened at the wrong end, resulting in a blob of yellow paint on my human and on the table.  She just sighed.  Sure she did.  I believe I heard some rather colorful words coming from the garage.

In the meantime, the other toenails have been removed.  She’ll leave them off for a while in the hopes that whoever did it will not remember when they are again put back in.  How crazy its THAT.  Like WE will forget something. Does she never learn?

So that’s the penguin toenail story.  Just what you were expecting, no doubt.  I’m thinking we could probably start our own folk art.  After all, each of us is good with wood.  Just give us some paint.  Now wouldn’t THAT be fun?  While my human is at work…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 56

According to the crazy calendar,  November 8 is X-ray day.  It marks the day in 1895, when a German physicist by the name of Wilhelm Röntgen produced the first X-rays.

And the topic made me think.   I wonder how many people out there who own dogs as pets, know that if you are getting your dog from a reputable breeder, that breeder will have performed certain health tests on the breeding dogs.  They do these tests to make the best attempt at producing healthy, long-lived dogs.  Different breeds can have different health challenges.   For example, some breeds may be prone to hip dysplasia.  So the last thing you want to do is to breed dogs who HAVE dysplasia. To check for this orthopedic condition, breeders do X-rays and then have them evaluated.   They submit them to a database that will provide the information to others.  One site is the OFA – or the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals.  The OFA has been around for over 50 years – and was started initially to  provide information just about hip dysplasia.  X-rays are sent to the OFA and as I understand it, three radiologists rate the hips – as  Fair, Good, Excellent, Borderline or Mild, Moderate or Severe Dysplasia. Today, the OFA site also stores information about other medical conditions may affect a dogs’ health including diseases of the eyes, elbows, thyroid and heart.

As an educated consumer – you should look at the health issues that could be prominent in your breed.  Check it out on the OFA site – there is a wealth of info there.  https://www.ofa.org/   IF a breeder is NOT doing clearances, keep in mind that you COULD be getting a dog who is more likely to have problems. 

NOW – you also need to keep in mind that even WITH all the correct clearances and health testing, stuff happens.  It’s nature.  Which humans cannot control.  They can make the best choices and that’s the best they can do.  And it’s importanat to know that your have started with healthy parents.

The more information that a breeder has about a dog, and their offspring, the more they have a good picture of their breeding program success.  Databases are good – but only as good as the information that is there!  Sometimes people do not submit data or allow their info to be public.   I’m not sure how that helps a breed….

It would be fabulous if breeders had data on ALL their puppies – but let’s face it, most pet owners don’t want to pay the price of finding out if their dog has an asymptomatic problem if there is no intent to ever breed or use that dog as a stud for breeding.   In an IDEAL world, breeders would charge extra for puppies – and would then provide a REBATE equivalent to the cost of the testing if it is done.   That way the breeder would have information about the health of ALL the puppies produced .  But it requires a fair bit of work to coordinate – so I haven’t seen anyone using this practice routinely.

Frodo had his hips X-rayed and evaluated and they were excellent.  And I know why.  First off he had good parents.  But another reason – it’s from all that countersurfing- it strengthens the hip muscles.  That’s MY take on it – so humans should not try to prevent us from countersurfing.  It’s good for us.  His X-rays are proof.  Suuuuuuuuure they are…..

Have an illuminating day.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 55

More material for my collection.  A good friend suggested we are going to need to build a structure just to house my collection.  Yup – I’m heading for the Guinness Book.  Biggest poop bag collection.