frodopon

Big Brother

August 27, 2017Leave a Comment

So we know that my human installed Big Brother quite a few months ago. And she can check in to see what we are doing while she is out of the house. She gets alerts when there is movement in the room, and if she looks on her phone, she can see what is happening…

For the past week or so, I have become obsessed with styling Einstein’s hair. I always like to do it- but I just cannot stop myself lately. My human is constantly telling me to stop, but if she turns her back, I’m back at it. Part of the reason I am doing it is out of jealousy. I heard through the grapevine that Einstein is entered is some kind of beauty pageant next weekend. And frankly, I don’t think it is fair. So I keep trying to trim his hair, in the hopes that he won’t be able to go. OK. I guess that’s not really very nice of me. But I really cannot stop styling when I get started.

So yesterday morning, after we had our long walks and breakfast, my human went to visit her mother. She was sitting and chatting at her mother’s place when Big Brother sent her an alert. She took a look at her phone. And there I was, styling away. And she did something she has not done ever before. She tried the microphone on her phone – to talk to us. Well – as you might expect, we jumped up to see where the voice was coming from. Einstein started barking. We ran to the window and then to the door. After a minute or two, we then settled back down. And I went back to my styling. My human called my name. And she called Einstein. Again we went to see where she was and when we couldn’t find her we again settled down. And I went back to styling. So my human called my name. And just as I would do if she were actually in the room, I ignored the voice. Totally. She shouted “Stop that Viktor!” I looked up for second, and went back to work. Then Einstein got up. And he walked straight over to the camera and settled down right in front of it. And I followed. And went back to work. So now my human can watch the proceedings up close. She tried to make funny noises. And she even tried knocking on her phone. Like THAT would work. She finally had to shut off the camera – she couldn’t stand it any more. Maybe Big Brother isn’t such a good idea after all…

Well today COULD be a VERY interesting day – if all goes according to plan. Stay tuned tomorrow to see about the FG’s big adventure….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

Blue news

August 25, 2017Leave a Comment

Well time for some news from the world of dogs…

In the 1960’s, an American artist by the name of George Rodrigue became famous for his paintings of an unusual subject – a Blue Dog. Apparently the dog was based on a Cajun legend called the loup-garou – a mystical werewolf creature. While that may sound scary, Rodrigue’s Blue Dog was not all that scary looking – mind you he DID have staring yellow eyes. Rodriguez died in 2013, and today, his Blue Dog paintings sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

So why the talk of the Blue Dog? Well it seems there are some REAL blue dogs out there that were recently discovered. And I’m not talking about Australian Cattle dogs which are also known as Blue Heelers. Or Blue Merle Australian Shepherds or Shetland Sheepdogs. That “blue” colour is more mottled grey colour. I’m talking REALLY BLUE dogs. Apparently, some stray dogs have been spotted in India – and these guys are REALLY BLUE. Check them out:

http://youtu.be/-Vkx5zIkK08

They say that these dogs are healthy. And they could wash off the blue colouring. But still. I’m not sure I would want to be them. It CAN’T be good for them… And I’m not sure I would want to live the way that they do – no comfy bed, no roof over their heads, and not being sure where their next meal is coming from. It sure makes me grateful for my home. Even with required grooming.

The only thing that makes ME blue is when I have a seizure. And yup. I had another one. Yesterday. Back to the dosage drawing board….Five days since the last one…Needless to say, my human was feeling blue too… The one GOOD thing – the seizures are pretty quick and within an hour, I’m back to my crazy energetic self – and you wouldn’t know anything had ever happened to me. Now if we can just get them to stop happening all together….

Well it’s Friday and blue skies are forecast. We’ll take that blue any day.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

At the movies..

August 24, 2017Leave a Comment

My human is always interested in how dogs are treated in other countries. It seems that some countries are more dog-friendly than in North America. For example, dogs are allowed on public transport, and there are more dog friendly outdoor cafes. Now while Halifax DOES have a few cafes that allow pets, a recent bid to have dogs allowed on the local Halifax-Dartmouth ferry was denied. And I was SO looking forward to taking that ride…

A good example of dog friendly comes from the UK – in London to be exact. There is a movie theatre that is allowing humans to bring along their dogs for certain screenings. Check it out:

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-london-41009367/london-cinema-hosts-dog-friendly-screenings

Is that great or what? Mind you, my human laughed uncontrollably at the thought of taking us. First off, NONE of us could settle down to watch the movie. Especially if it was crowded and we had someone seated right next to us. And just IMAGINE me trying to steal popcorn from other patrons.

And what movies do they show? Any dog film that involved barking at ANY point would be enough to send Einstein over the edge. Other dogs would no doubt join in as well. Picture a theatre full of howling dogs as Lassie tries to warn people that Timmy has fallen down the well. I would THINK the movie would have to be very carefully selected…

I can just see the FG standing with his two paws on the seat ahead of him, licking the head of the person seated there…

So while the dog-friendly cinema IS a great idea…it’s probably not meant for us.

Now. What WE need is a dog-friendly butcher shop…

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

Did ya see that?

August 23, 2017Leave a Comment

So we all endured another morning of Einstein’s running commentary on how to replace a roof. Someone wrote to me yesterday and said that when they had their roof replaced, the roofer paid to put their dogs in a kennel. Smart roofer. But the job was completed yesterday. And as typical of my human’s decision making abilities, she is uncertain as to whether she likes the color. Too late now. Gotta live with this. So NOW she wants to paint the trim and change the shutter color. One of the canine advantages of having limited ability to see a huge range of colors. Roof color, wall color – it’s all the same to us.

And speaking of seeing things, I am QUITE the observant guy when it comes to open doors. Yesterday while my human was having her breakfast, the FG was obsessively bugging Einstein, and the noises from the roof sounded as if it was about to cave in, I noticed something. The fridge door was somehow not completely closed. My human had her back to the door. She heard something behind her and turned around just in time to see me surveying the buffet. “Hey hey HEY,” she shouted as she lunged for my collar. Not enough time to grab anything – but be careful if that door is left open. I’m IN.

Oh and the other thing about seeing things – we all survived the eclipse the other day. There was this photo from a pet store circulating on the web, warning humans not to let their dogs out during the eclipse so we wouldn’t hurt our eyes looking at the sun. And, this is sad to say that many people believed it. AS IF we dogs would be foolish enough to stare at the sun without protection. Honestly, AS IF we would care to stare at the sun at all! We clearly have much more important ways to spend OUR time. Like barking at roofers…

Have a good one! Peace and paws up.

Roofers and woofers.

August 22, 2017Leave a Comment

Well let me tell you something – it is a GOOD thing my human was home with us yesterday with the roof work being done….

We got her up at 5:15 – and we all went for our walks. No sooner did my human step into the shower at 7AM, when the roofers arrived. They had said they would be there at 8…

As you might expect, we went into full blown protection mode. We heard those trucks arriving and did NOT want them in OUR driveway. And you cannot BEGIN to imagine our reaction when we heard them ON the roof. This was NOT Santa and his band of jolly reindeer. Einstein was the worst. He REPEATEDLY told them to get the heck away from his house. He paced from window to window as we watched pieces of old roof raining down on our deck. The deck had been covered with a HUGE tarp by some strange man who appeared out of nowhere. It was VERY interesting to watch him…

After they were working for a while, I started to ignore the racket, but Einstein was on continual alert.

While the chaos was going on, the FG obsessively followed Einstein around. I think the FG must be going through some “hormonal changes.” In the past week or so, he has become totally and completely OBSESSED with Einstein and with me to a lesser extent. He wants to lick us. EVERYWHERE. I just give him a look – so he pretty much leaves me alone. But Einstein…he cannot leave him alone. And he squeaks and moans. Einstein growls at him. He shows his teeth. But the FG doesn’t care. And every chance he gets – he licks Einstein. It’s a BIT much. My human is continually telling him to stop. Oh and he also likes to lick the floor where Einstein has been before. Gross. Surely this behavior will not go on forever?! WE never did that. Or – I don’t THINK we did…

Anyway, they didn’t finish the roof yesterday. It was too hot. So they are coming back today. At one point, my human went to take each of us out for a pee – she had to carry us over the mess of old roofing shingles and nails that they had thrown off the roof. I was the first to go out. One of the roofers wanted to make friends with me – but he had no treats – so I just gave him a perfunctory glance. The guy asked “How many dogs are IN there?” “Three” my human replied. “Geez, it sounds like 10!” he responded. No wonder a neighbor down the road called to see what was going on…

Well – time to get my human out walking, and to get ready for the roofers. Again. Another day of roofers and woofers.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

Cannabis update. Medium news….

August 21, 20171 Comment

Well…it’s about time for a cannabis update. Good news. Bad news. Medium news. So I started on my hemp terpene oil and was all excited about the prospect of no seizures. Within two days, I had one. I couldn’t even write about it – my human was SO disappointed. BUT we learned that for a normal starting dose, I should be taking 1 mg for every kg I weigh. I’m not exactly a heavyweight – I’m only around 18 kg. But the first two days, I was only taking 4 mg. So my human upped my dosage to 12 mg per day. One week went by. No seizures. Two weeks. No seizures. Three weeks. No seizures. Now keep in mind that before this, I was having one or two seizures every two weeks. So when we got to the three week mark, my human was ALL excited. We planned to write an update ( and have a party ) if I made it to one month seizure-free. On Saturday I was just 4 days short of a month – and I had one. So it’s not really good news. But it’s not really bad news either. I guess it’s medium news. We have now increased my dosage to 16 mg. Hopefully this will be the answer…but IF it doesn’t work – we CAN continue to go up a fair bit from this starting point. Paws crossed.

In GOOD news – my human was overwhelmed with all the birthday greetings she got yesterday. The world is really not such a big place! All the more reason to be nice to one another… Thanks to each and every one who sent her best wishes. She tried to thank everyone – but if she missed someone, she apologizes. And we boys were good yesterday. We let her sleep in until 5:30…

And in other news – today we plan to be so bad we will blow off the roof. Just kidding – but we ARE getting a new roof. My human says it’s one of those things that costs a lot of money but you don’t REALLY appreciate it – like you would new flooring, or a new kitchen or a new bathroom or a marrow bone. But I guess a roof IS kind of important. My human will be home with us – so Einstein doesn’t bark out instructions for the roofers all day. Woofers and roofers may not mix well. We shall see. This could be interesting….

Anyway, have a good one! Peace and paws up!

A birthday…

August 20, 20171 Comment

Well, she survived another year with us. Sometimes she didn’t think she would make it because of some of our antics – but she did. And so my human is celebrating another birthday. And she’s well over 400 in dog years. The photo you see is of her and her sister, with a neighbor’s dog. They wore kerchiefs when they were in style. THAT’S how old she is. I bet if you asked a millennial what a kerchief was, they might not even know.

My human is now at that age where, when you need to add your year of birth on a form on the internet, you need to scroll. And scroll. And SCROLL. She remembers when cell phones weighed 10 lbs. And her family had something called a rotary phone with a party line.

She remembers feeding chocolate kisses to her grandmother’s dachshund and it was no big deal. Cleo ate table scraps and chocolate kisses, and whatever the grandkids gave her and she lived to like 20 years old. Dogs just seemed to live longer back in the day…

My human remembers something called record players with and 33’s and 78’s. She entered into the techno age when she got her first Texas Instruments calculator. It did things that she never, ever understood.

She hates to admit this one – but she remembers when a guy named Amstrong walked on the moon – and she has vague recollections of the day President Kennedy was assassinated. She was super excited when she got her first transistor radio.

She entered her first dog show with their Irish Setter, Mickey at the Erie County Fair in Western New York. They entered obedience. She recalls they didn’t do everything correctly, but somehow they still got a ribbon. Maybe it was a consolation prize.

And as she gets older, she thinks of every dog she has been owned by in her “adulthood.” Elroy is number 9. She is grateful for each and every one and each one holds a special place in her heart…

She is also grateful more and more each year, for family and friends. Both are precious gifts, that one should never forget or take for granted.

And she is also amazed and grateful for her new circle of friends around the world, that the internet has provided. Once upon a time, when my human was a girl, she would have a penpal in another land, and she would wait for weeks for a piece of mail from a gal she never met. Today, she has “penpals” that answer her messages almost instantaneously. And she has had the pleasure of actually meeting some of them!

And when my human was a girl, she had something called a diary. She would write her thoughts and feelings and it would be a record of what she had done. And no one really read it except her. Today we call it a blog. And it’s out there for all the world to read. My how times have changed… Now mind you, she doesn’t write the blog – I do. But occasionally I ask for her input.

So today, in honor of my human’s birthday, I am going to ask each of you to give her a gift. A perfect gift. For her birthday, go out and do ONE random act of kindness. Heaven knows the world could do with more kindness these days! Hold a door open for someone. Let someone ahead of you in line at the grocery store. Play an extra game of fetch with your dog. Give your dog an extra treat. Call someone you haven’t talked to in a long time. Or send them a message. Pay someone a compliment. Do ONE thing that you hadn’t planned to do today – and that would be a great gift. And trust me – the gift will be good for you too!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Picture this

August 19, 2017Leave a Comment

Today is August 19 and according to the crazy calendar, it is World Photography Day. It’s probably called that because on this day in 1839, the first publicly available photography process was introduced in France by a man named Louis-Jacques-Mande’ Daguerre. The daguerreotype photo process involved copper plates and mercury vapours and the result was a shiny, mirror-like photo, that needed to be placed under glass to protect it. They were usually housed in small ornamental cases. It was a process that was used for a short time and was later followed by ambrotypes and tintypes.

Reportedly, Daguerre was a dog lover and some say he may have taken the first pet portrait, of his dog, Mdor. So he’s the guy I should blame for my human’s obsession with taking our photos. Thanks Louis.

Some of you may recall that my human collects old dog stuff. Old books, wooden carvings of dogs, old prints, old postcards, old figurines – and old photos. She doesn’t know who the people or dogs are in the photos– but clearly they were loved and their humans wanted to be sure they were immortalized in photos. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of her collection – she collects ANY old dog photos – not just breeds she is or has been owned by. The reality – it’s not too easy to find early photos of some of us rare breeds. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t always on the lookout!,

If there was info on the photo, I am including it. If there was no info…I’m making it up.

This first photo was labelled as “Austin.” One happy girl and one happy dog.

And then we have Bennie Saunders. No. Not Bernie Sanders. Bennie Saunders. It says he is the son of Stephen and Abbie Robinson Saunders. He’s another happy kid with his cute puppy. If you happen to know Bennie – let hm know we have his photo.

Then there are these cute little girls. No info on them – so we’ll just call one girl Dorothy, the other Glenda and the dog, Toto.

This photo is actually a magic lantern glass slide. It ALMOST looks like a Bernese Mountain Dog. I call this one Trigger.

Check out this lad and his dog. I call him Tiny.

Ya think a butcher’s dog would weigh more….I call this one Chuck.

Then we have a photo of my human in a draft test with one of her Bernese.

This is an oldie. It looks like the plate says Llewellen….something. OK. Maybe I’m crazy – but do these two look alike – or what? The white shirt…and really, the noses are the same….

I call this one “Happy Children. With hats”.

I call this one “Frightened dog with frightened child”. Why do they look so stunned? And is that really a PUG?

Here’s why those two are frightened- they saw the “scary sisters”. With bows. Seriously – they look like something out of a Stephen King novel…

And looks at THESE scary sisters. Wait! That’s my human and her sister – with their first dog – an Irish Setter, named Mickey! Love the hair on my human…

So those are some of the photos in her collection. Oh – and the photo at the top of my blog? That’s my human’s grandfather. NOW we know why she takes all these photos….

So go out and take some photos today too– especially of your dog!

Have a good one! Peace and paws up!

Parkour. Who knew?

August 18, 20172 Comments

So according to the Crazy Calendar, today is National Soft Ice Cream Day. A human treat, that REALLY isn’t all that good for us dogs – because the lactose COULD cause stomach upset. But, everything in moderation. A BITE of an ice cream come will GENERALLY not be harmful to most dogs. But if you want a non-lactose EASY alternative, freeze two bananas, put them in a blender, and voila – banana soft serve. Safe for us dogs. You can also freeze it after blending, if you want a more solid version..

But speaking of soft serve ICE CREAM – GUESS who got to go back on the waterfront for another walk the other night?! Yup. The FG. For SOME reason, Worry Wart thinks he needs socialization. I’m not sure why – he practically knocks over neighbors if he meets them – and he IS VERY sociable. Probably a bit more than us PONs. But she has something up her sleeve – so she wants to get him out. And get THIS – he even got a BITE of ice cream too.

In the meantime, Einstein and I continue to enjoy the marrow bone zone. It’s almost a comatose state. That’s a tough call: soft serve ice cream or a bone. I think I’ll take the bone.

Hey – you know my human prides herself on THINKING she knows a bit about dog sports. She’s even tried and competed in a number of them including obedience, rally, draft, agility, and a working certificate (which is basic field work). We also TRIED herding – but we know how that turned out – for us PONs. And there are LOADS of other activities – tracking, lure coursing, barn hunts, dock diving, and disc catching. Some sports are better for some dogs than others. I can’t exactly envision a Saint Bernard catching discs. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

Another sport is treibball. My human saw it on the internet once and went out and bought one of those giant balls to see if she could get us to do it. It’s kind of like a combination of herding and soccer. Check out this dog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBJ9DVp9dyM

So we have this big ball. I hate it, Einstein likes to push it around – but where HE wants it to go and the other day, my human witnessed the FG peeing on the ball. I guess that’s his opinion on treibball.

But the latest sport she JUST found out about is canine parkour. Who knew about this one?! It’s all about a human and dog approaching a variety of obstacles in the environment. Apparently you can even get an international title by sending in a video to the International Dog Parkour Association, demonstrating a series of prescribed exercises. Check out his novice routine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTqirE9epOI

If you want more info on the details and rules, check out this site:
http://www.dogparkour.org/

Worry Wart thinks Einstein could PROBABLY pass the beginner level. So you know she’ll be getting him to hop up in logs in the woods from now on. Poor Einstein.

So there are lots of cool things you humans can do with your dog. And after a hard day at any sport, time for an ice cream. Or a frozen banana!

Have a good one!

Enrichment

August 17, 20171 Comment

So do you recall that in an effort to keep Einstein quiet while Worry Wart walks the FG in the morning, she would throw kibble all around to keep us busy searching? Busy and quiet. Until of course, we vacuums are finished and then Einstein starts barking anyway.

Well it turns out that there is actually a name for what she is doing. It’s called Scatter Feeding. Who knew? It’s supposedly a great way to make us use our noses and work for our food. Some people even scatter food in the lawn. Worry Wart would be too paranoid that we would eat bugs in the process – so I don’t see her trying that any time soon. Mind you, what’s a little extra protein?

She learned about his partly though this new Facebook page that a friend suggested – called Canine Enrichment. It’s all about keeping dogs busy – and keeping our brains active so we don’t get bored. There are lots of great ideas – mind you a lot of the things people put food in would not work for us PONs. We would eat or destroy the container. Like there were these “lick mats” that you fill with food, or peanut butter. Worry Wart figures I would eat the lick mat along with the food. She’s probably right. And stuffing treats in toilet paper rolls – what kind of mess would THAT make? And clearly, some dogs have more patience. For example, several people depicted these snuffle mats – which are like thick shaggy carpets. You put kibble in the mat and your dog has to find the food. I picture one of us – probably Einstein just picking up the mat so all the kibble falls out. Let’s face it – that’s a faster technique.

There are some good treat dispensing toys that are tough – and we have several of those. Just don’t let us use it in a room that has anything fragile on a table. It’s like demolition derby when we start batting those toys around and no furniture is safe.

It seems that a fair number of the enrichment activities have to do with scent work. The FG seems to have a good nose – like us PONs. We can sniff out food ANYWHERE. Time to get back into scent classes again!

But all in all, enrichment ideas are interesting – and CAN keep us dogs busy. Check out the ideas.

Well, time to go enrich Worry Wart’s life. Because enrichment goes both ways!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.