Our weather here in Nova Scotia has been a bit strange this year.  We get some snow. Then we get freezing rain, then rain, then the temperature goes up and melts lots of the snow, but it then drops and leaves an icy coating and then we get snow again which covers the ice…and the process repeats.  As a result, we haven’t been getting our long walks in the morning, because walking on our driveway is a bit of a risk.  You don’t know where you’ll encounter ice while walking in the dark.  Even the LAWN was an icy minefield for a few days.  So the other morning while my human was attempting to keep her balance and still hold onto leashes for two dogs, she was a BIT unhappy when Einstein and I started sniffing MADLY around the house and we were dragging her – or sliding her – from snow mound to snow mound, with our noses STUCK to the ground.  My human wondered just WHAT we could be sniffing.  We haven’t seen any bunnies lately – and the bunnies don’t typically come all that close to the house anyway- so we doubted it was them.  BUT – I wonder if the mystery was solved the night before last when my human got a frantic text from one of the neighbors.  The neighbor texted to warn that there was a coyote in a yard on our road. It was around 8 in the evening.

We know that there are coyotes around – we’ve certainly heard them from a distance.  But no one had seen any on the road – at least not for a LONG time.

Now if you live in coyote country, there are tips to protect your dogs from altercations.  In our case, given our size, it is not as likely that a coyote would attack us – although they COULD view us as competition.  So one never knows.  Smaller dogs and certainly cats, though, are really at a much greater risk.  My human is always with us on walks, and as a rule, coyotes will generally avoid humans. But if one does encounter a coyote, one should try to look as big as possible.  Humans should stand tall and maintain eye contact.  Do NOT run away.  In fact, experts suggest that you should try to scare the coyote away by yelling, stomping your feet and even throwing rocks or sticks near the coyote.  But there is a caution with this behavior… If the time of year is between August and January – that’s when you scare a coyote.  HOWEVER, if it is between February and July – when coyotes may have pups and you MAY be near their den, by trying to scare them, you may actually agitate them and they MAY act out to protect their den.  In this case, you just stand tall, and walk calmly away, watching the coyote at all times.

If you know there are coyotes in your area, be sure to NOT leave dog or cat food outdoors.  Make sure access to compost is secure. Even cleaning up our poop is suggested, as coyotes could be attracted to it. Guess they are into recycling like me.

Coyotes are becoming more and more of a nuisance in recent years – and there is even evidence of “urban coyotes” in places like NewYork City’s Central Park.  They are becoming used to humans, which can result in more and more encounters.  Honestly, if given the choice between encountering a bear or a coyote, I think I’d pick the bear.  At least the bears we have around here – which are black bears – and who typically run when they see humans.  Now grizzlies and polar bears (which we don’t have) are another story…Coyotes, to me are scarier than black bears and I REALLY would not want to face more than one…

So we’ll be making lots of noise when we go out after dark and my human will actually start carrying a walking stick.  Just for good measure.  That is, when the ice melts…Wonder how those coyotes are managing on the ice…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Seizure-free days: 27

Spring must be in the air -although the temperatures are still below freezing.  I’m wondering about spring though, because the FG is suddenly in love.  REALLY in love.  With me.  I have NO idea why he has become fixated on me.  I mean it’s not like I play with him or anything. Now I AM very tolerant of him. But this squeaking and staring thing is a BIT much.  In the photo – you see him trying to basically lie on top of the bone that I am chewing on, in an effort to get my attention.  It’s WEIRD.  And it can happen at ANY time of the day or night…

My human has attempted to return to sleeping in her bed.  Einstein and I were thrilled because her bed is pretty comfy.  But the FG STILL cannot settle down. So she came up with a new plan.  Instead of putting him in his crate, or blocking him out of the bedroom completely, she put up a gate in between the bedroom and the master bathroom.  Which leaves about a 3×6 foot area where she can sequester the FG.  So he is “technically” in the bedroom, but not jumping on and off the bed.  The first night it worked perfectly.  Then the night before last, he wanted to go out to pee at about 2AM.  Fine.  But when my human put him back in  his “room” he would NOT stop squeaking.  And he was squeaking at me.  She finally had to put him in his crate.  And he was silent after that.

Latley, he bounces around me, doing a play bow.  And then he starts barking at me.  He ALSO likes to sniff me and push me with his nose.  My human thinks that the only reason I haven’t clobbered him yet is because my medications make me more mellow.  I must confess, he does try the same routine with Einstein too – but to a lesser extent.  And IF he pushes Einstein too much, Elistein WILL tell him when he has had enough. 

My human actually started wondering if he was warning of a seizure.  Thankfully, no he wasn’t. And the behavior continues.  Until she physically moves him away from me – and gives him something to divert his attention.  Like a toy or treat. 

I think we need some good weather – so we can get some longer walks.  Maybe that will tire him out more.  To be honest, I think the behavior actually drives my human more crazy than it does me.  Anyway -maybe it’s just because spring is in the air.  Maybe he knows the groundhog…

Have a  good one.  Peace and paws up!

Seizure -free days:  26

Well the big football event is over. The Superbowl has been played and the Philadelphia Eagles reigned victorious.  Now given that we live close to New England, one would THINK we were rooting for the Patriots.  Nope – we were hoping for Philadelphia.  Because they were the underdogs. That term, by the way, refers back to the horrid sport of dog fighting.  And the dog that ended up underneath his competitor, usually lost.  I think we should change the term.  Not sure what it could be though – likely losers?  That works.  Anyway, my human has been a long time “likely losers” fan.  She’s from Buffalo – and she knows all too well about losing Superbowls….Maybe next year.

Anyway, during the Superbowl, companies pay millions of dollars to advertise – and they play special commercials for the occasion. But do you know what was considered to be THE best commercial in the past gazillion years?  The following one from 2014.  And no wonder – it features a dog…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlNO2trC-mk

Did you cry?  My human does.  We just roll our eyes.

Here’s another dog commercial from 2018.  It’s pretty cute – but not like the previous example…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is5QIzicOhY

Now this dog commercial never won any big awards – but I like it.  Because it ALMOST looks like a PON…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn1OhI2awLA

If you Google “dog commercials”, you will find all kinds.  And it’s no surprise that companies try to sell things using us dogs as  models.  A recent article stated that we dogs have taken the internet by storm.  For example,  of the 50 most popular pet-related Instagram accounts, 22 are about dogs.  Compared to 18 featuring cats. Dogs rule the net.  But are you surprised?  We rule everything – especially in THIS household!

Now how do I find out about starring in a commercial for dog treats?  I would be SURE to make lots of mistakes – so we could do LOTS of re-takes.  Yup.  We dogs rule….

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.

Seizure-free days: 25

The FG went to his “handling practice” yesterday. When he and my human arrived, his brain exploded.  He was SO excited, he was standing in the vehicle, after he got out of his crate, and he suddenly jumped and ended up doing a belly flop on the pavement.  My human watched the thing in slow motion and for 1/1000th of a second was sure he was broken.  But like those little toys that you push in the bottom, and they collapse – he immediately jumped up – just like those toys when you let go.  He dragged my human to the nearest snow bank to have a pee and basically could not control his excitement.  His fiesty friend, Jerome, a Boston Terrier who thinks he is ten times the size of ANY dog – arrived and the FG wanted nothing more that to paw him in the face.  In an attempt to play, of course.  My human dragged the FG into the facility, and quickly took off her coat because she was already sweating.  And they hadn’t even begun the session.

Well it’s been a while since Einstein and I have been in trouble – so we were really overdue…

It all started with some meaty bones.  My human decided to treat all of us to some meaty kneecap bones on Friday.  And they were REALLY meaty.  But she carefully timed us eating them, as we know what can happen with too much of a good thing.  She set a timer and at the half hour mark, traded us a treat for a bone.  Personally I grabbed the treat and then tried to grab the bone back – but no luck.  Einstein and the FG gave up their bones and we then proceeded to roll on the carpet and the FG proceeded to wipe his face on the cupboard doors – with my human following behind him, cleaning surfaces  with some antiseptic wipes.

Thursday night, we slept through, but I wanted to go out at 5AM.  My human got up, took all of us out, we did our business, she fed us our breakfast and she went back to sleep.  The FG, though, was now wide awake – and started squeaking for me to play with him.  Which I rarely do – but he kept trying.  He squeaked and barked and ran around me – to the point that my human got up and put him in his crate.  A half hour later, he started to squeak again.  My human thought he just wanted to play.  But the squeaking continued, so after a half hour, she got dressed again and took him out.  And let’s just say, it was obvious that the bone did not “agree with him.”  Oooooo-eeeee.  He had a problem.  But remember, he had already had his breakfast… So his stomach was full… And my human needed to go over to her mother’s for a few hours….Given this predicament,  she decided to put the FG in the run in the garage while she went out (which is heated – in case anyone was worried).  And Einstein and I stayed in the house.

When my human arrived home after about 4 hours, it didn’t take more than 1.6 seconds to realize that there had been an explosion in the run in the garage.  “Oh no” she said to the FG – who actually did not appear to be the least bit concerned.  She told him to hang on a minute while she went in the house to get some cleaning supplies, and his leash.  And that’s where she discovered that one of US also had some bone disagreement as well.  Not as bad as the carnage in the garage – but still, a definite landmine.  She ushered us outside while she went to clean up that mess first.  She did it quickly as she has become a pro at poop removal and sanitization.  She went to take the contents of a bag outside and that’s when she discovered that two PONs were AWOL.  She called.  And no one came.  She called again.  Louder.  And no one came.  She ran in the house, grabbed her coat and stormed up the driveway.  She figured we were in one of two places.  Over at Hudson’s house OR over at the other neighbor’s place – who has a new puppy.  She actually headed there first.  She walked down the road to their place, and looked down the long driveway to the house.  No sign of two PONs running about.  So she headed back toward our house.  And that’s when she spotted two PONs – standing at the end of Hudson’s driveway – by the road.  There isn’t much traffic on our road at this time of the year – so she didn’t panic. Einstein spotted her first. And he froze.  Then I saw her.  Neither of us knew what to do.  Head for home.  Or head for her.  She called us – so the decision was made for us.  We ran to her – albeit slowly because even at a distance we could see the steam coming from her ears.  We were leashed and marched home.  Where she now had the pleasure of tidying up the run in the garage.  Let’s just say we had no bones last night…

Today the FG is going to some kind of handling class.  It’s where he handles my human and shows her how to stay on her feet while they run around a ring to prepare for entering beauty pageants this year.  Now this should be entertaining…I’m sure I’ll have some good story tomorrow.

Now.  I wonder if we’ll get those bones again tonight…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Seizure-free days: 23

Well the groundhog didn’t see his shadow.  So that means we should be having an early spring.  At least that’s what Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia forecast.  That’s before he bit a reporter….

Wednesday night was clearly a full moon.  We were up half the night.  The FG was batting aound an empty food bowl at 2AM, I wanted to go out for a pee at 3AM, Einstein started barking at the FG at 4 AM…  In a word it was chaos.  At 4AM my human put the FG in his crate because he was staring at me and squeaking.  And I was FINE – I was just trying to sleep at that point.  So when my human got up at 5:45, she was just a TAD cranky.

She took Einstein and I out first.  We did our thing and then it was the FG’s turn to go out.  And as is typical, Einstein started barking as soon as the front door was closed.  It was icy out, so my human just took the FG around the house to the backyard to do his thing.  And Einstein was barking up a storm.  At which point my human, who was just a LITTLE overtired,  hauled off her mittens, dug her phone out of her pocket, opened the Big Brother app, and did something she has not tried before.  She turned on the microphone and loudly said “FRODO BE QUIET.”  And the house fell silent.  I mean SILENT.  Einstein couldn’t figure out where her voice was coming from.  I mean he KNEW she took the FG out, so how could she be talking to him?!  He gave another bark and again, the mystery voice said “FRODO BE QUIET.”  And he never made another peep.

When she came back in the house – he just stared at her.  Now ordinarily, he will start barking at her to get his breakfast. I told you about his routine with the garage door.  Anyway, my human went in the garage – and he never made a sound.  I’m not kidding.  I think he was still in shock because he couldn’t figure out the whole voice mystery. 

My human opened the door, looked at him and said “pretty good trick, eh?”  He silently stared at her.

Now I’m SURE he will catch on to the fact that she is NOT there when she uses the speaker on Big Brother – and the barking will resume.  But is sure was fun to watch Mr. Brilliant be fooled – for now.  For a change: Human-1; PON-0.  We’ll see how long it lasts…

We’ll also see today what an overgrown rodent predicts about the weather.  Yup.  It’s groundhog day – and the furry weather prognosticator will be making his judgement today.  If he sees his shadow, 6 more weeks of winter.  No shadow means an early spring. In our area, the groundhog’s name is  Shubenacadie Sam. Last year he forecast an early spring.  I was just looking at some snowy photos from last year on April 2.  So I’m not sure the hedgehog-wanna-be is all that reliable with his forecast.  But we’ll see.  Just the THOUGHT of an early spring makes humans feel better!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

Seizure-free days:  21

February 1. And on this day in 1920, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began their operations – although the original mounted poilce in Canada date back to the 1870’s.  The RCMP are the men and women in the flashy red uniforms and big hats who ride around Canada on horses catching bad people.  OK.  OK.  Today they do it in patrol cars and wearing the red uniform seems to be for formal occasions and not everyday attire. 

In 1935,  three German Shepherds were the start of the dog unit of the RCMP.  According to their website, to this day they still only use German Shepherds for general duty work, but other breeds are used for Scent Detection.  And I probably shouldn’t report this – but they usually use male dogs.  

Only 17% of dogs who enter their training program at about a year of age are actually successful in completing it.  Wonder what the success rate would be if more girls were entered… Just sayin’.  

Some interesting facts from their website:

• A dog can search a car in about three minutes. (If it was a PON looking for food, the search could be done in 1.3 minutes.)
• Dogs can work up to four hours with rest intervals. (FOUR hours?!  When my human goes to work, we are on guard duty for more than that!  I want that gig!)
• On average, a police service dog retires at the age of eight. (Einstein would be nearing retirement!)

I do think that all the dogs who work with police and military are pretty special.  They protect us from bad people, they can detect drugs and explosives, they perform search and rescue operations and can find human remains.  They have a tough job to do and they develop a very special bond with their handlers.  We really owe them a big thanks for all they do!

So hats off to the RCMP humans and their dogs today and all dogs who work in service for others!  Oh and if you need a dog to search for food – just give me a call. I can do contract work….

Have a good one!  Peace and paws up!

Seizure-free days: 20

It’s January 31.  The last day of January already. Seems like Christmas was yesterday.  Sort of.  According to the crazy calendar, Today is Inspire your Heart with Art Day.  Now art is a broad category.  One definition says that art includes the “various branches of creative activity such as painting, music, literature and dance.” For our purposes today we’ll focus on visual art created “to be beautiful or to express important ideas or feelings.”  The kind of art we see in galleries or in our home.  Art is something very personal.  What one person views as being artistic – well another person might view as junk!  If we expand the view of art to those things in our environment that we use to decorate and to give us pleasure, we include even more things.  True art may be defined by some as “one of a kind” unique creations. Visual art can include paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, fibre arts, carving, and even metal work.  Technically, every photo someone takes is a unique creation – so anyone can be a photographic artist.  But not everyone can be a good photographic artist!  Still, I think there is an inner artist in all of us.  And at very least, we know what we enjoy and often surround ourselves with art that we enjoy – in whatever form.

Yesterday my human was off.  You would have thought the night before was a full moon – we were all up numerous times.  I had her take me out at 3, and the FG wanted out at 4.  We just wanted to pee.  We DID let her then sleep in until almost 7.  At 7 she quickly got up and had this “idea.”  She knew the FG NEEDED a really good RUN off leash. So she took Einstein and me out and then while we were having our breakfast, she loaded the FG in the car.  And she drove a couple km down the road to a fenced ball diamond.  She went around 7:25 so it was just light out – and she figured she would beat any other dog owners there. She didn’t take ALL of us simply because she wanted to try an experiment with the FG and she knew if we were all running around haywire that he would probably not pay attention.

When she got there, she saw no one else was there, so she got him out of the vehicle, went in the field, secured the gate and let him rip.   And boy did he GO.  It was like letting a zoo animal free after captivity for 10 years.  He FLEW around the perimeter of the field.  And then he realized she had two of his favorite fetch toys. And he came RACING toward her with such speed that she began to fear she was going to be bowled over.  But he ran past her, spun around ran back and threw himself on the ground in front of her. And he began to play fetch.  Well.  That’s a bit of a stretch.  Let’s just say he would race out to get the toy, come part way back, fall onto the ground and would roll on the toy.  My human did most the fetching.  But they DID have fun.

And then.  The most AMAZING thing happened.  My human was about half way across the field, and the FG was intently smelling something on the ground.  And she stood there with the whistle in her hand.  Should she?  Or shouldn’t she?  She realized the chance for a successful recall was about 50-50.  And REALLY, she shouldn’t try until the odds were better.  If he didn’t come, it wouldn’t be the end of the world…but still – it wouldn’t be great either.  She held the whistle.  He wasn’t paying ANY attention to her. And he was a good distance away.  She nervously lifted the whistle to her mouth and blew it 3 times.  His head flew up, he looked at her, and came RUNNING.  Honestly, my human just about cried.  She hugged him and told him how brilliant he was.  She gave him treats.  She played tug.  Seriously, you would have thought the woman just won a lottery.

After that they played more fetch.  Or she did.  And then she said, “time to go.”  He raced back to the entrance where the car was parked and stood there waiting to get out of the gated area.  She looked at him and wondered if someone had dognapped the FG and replaced him with this seemingly well-behaved creature.  Nope it was him.

They came home and Einstein and I were not impressed.  But not to worry – we got extra treats to make up for the adventure – and an extra walk too.

So it seems the FG is maturing.  But you’ll note – my human didn’t try the whistle twice.  Like a good gambler, she knows when to quit.  They’ll try again some day soon and in the meantime, continue to practice indoors.  Will wonders never cease…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Seizure-free days: 18