Greetings readers. It is soggy, cranky Frodo here. I shall tell you my tales of woe some other time – suffice to say it was a miserable day yesterday- involving foot licking drama and rain. The only thing that got me through the day was treats. Lots of treats.

But today I wanted to share some Canadian literary history. Because it involves canines AND Nova Scotia.

You see, on this day in 1861, a woman by the name of Margaret Marshalls Saunders was born in Milton, Nova Scotia. Now – did you know that Margaret wrote the first Canadian book to sell over a million copies?! She did. AND the book was about a dog – and written from the dog’s perspective. The book was called Beautiful Joe- and was based on the true story of a poor dog who suffered abuse at the hands of a wicked human. It was, in fact, one of the first books that brought attention to animal cruelty- and animal rescue. The original Joe was in Ontario – but Margaret changed the setting to Maine. Who knew we had such a famous canine author who came from our very province?! She reportedly always had a houseful of animals – and according to Wikipedia, would name them after the location where they were found. She supposedly had a dog named Johnny Doorstep. I hope she never found any animals in a farmer’s field after he fertilized it….. Anyway, there is a park named after Joe in Ontario, and a plaque dedicated to Margaret, here in Nova Scotia near her birthplace. Incidentally, she was the author of many other books and she was also very socially involved in organizations advocating human and animal rights. Sounds like quite the woman.

That’s my contribution for today. Birthday wishes to Margaret. Although she did die in 1947. Still. We celebrate her and I believe we should do so with biscuits. Copious amounts of biscuits.

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

Yo everybody. Elroy here. It’s May 12. So you know what day it is! It’s Limerick Day! Don’t feel badly if you didn’t remember- it’s not like there are any special Limerick Day sales to remind you. I didn’t even know what a Limerick was. The Boss had to tell me. I wondered if it was related to a Lemonrick. That’s a joke. A bad one.

Viktor was pretty good at writing Limericks. Like this one:

There is a very special French breed,

The Picard is made for herding and speed,

They love to leap and run

Their middle name is “fun”

Look out when they are off leash and freed.

He also wrote this one…

There once was a Polish breed

You cannot forget to feed.

PONs will bark to remind you

To eat and to go poo

And will tell you just what they need.

So of course I had to try and write something. Here are my contributions…

There once was a PON who would eat

Whatever was put at his feet.

Carrots and potatoes

Bananas and tomatoes

His favorite of course was some meat.

And then there was the Picard

Who would totally disregard

Most food in his bowl

And one would have to cajole

Him to eat and then PLAY as reward.

OK. That’s it. I’m not a very poetic kinda guy.

Boy the Boss was ticked off yesterday. I mean major ticked off. We know that he’s been licking at his feet for some time. And in the past couple of days, he really started licking his one back foot. And…well… I kinda helped him. So it was kinda pink. We really started working on it while her highness was having breakfast. She wasn’t impressed. In fact she whisked him into the torture palace to check his foot carefully. She trimmed the hair between his pads, and saw that there were no sores or anything. So she put some spray on his foot and THEN covered it with a wrap thing. He was NOT impressed. He had it on all day. But he was good and never tried to take it off- which he could have easily done. Until her highness was getting ready for bed. She was in the bathroom washing up and well, the Boss decided it had to go. So he ripped it off. And of course, she put it back on after a trip to the torture palace. She wanted him to keep it on for the night because she knew we would work on it while she was asleep. And he did. But it’s coming off today.

Never a dull moment around here. It’s raining today – again – so a quick morning walk will be on the agenda. Assuming we poop quickly….

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

Elroy here. Well today is Mother’s Day – in North America anyway. And I hate to come to the party late – but yesterday was National Dog Moms Day. Not that we didn’t know. We did. Or I think we did. I mean we did a number of things to show her highness how much we love her. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

For example, we didn’t get her up very early. And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was pouring rain – and we could hear it. I’m not much of a morning guy to begin with – but I definitely follow the Boss’ lead. And he wasn’t leading very quickly at all. Still – she got to sleep in city and extra 10 minutes.

What else did we do…. hmmm. I know! We pooped quickly in the pouring rain so she didn’t have to get entirely drenched and her hands did not totally freeze. That was thoughtful.

We obediently licked the yoghurt container and ate our blueberries and our banana pieces- and I ate my entire breakfast bowl! Not that any of that was a chore for the Boss.

What else? Hmmmm. We let her take a nap in the afternoon. We let her read her book. I didn’t attack the vacuum cleaner. Much.

We played indoor fetch – and didn’t destroy the balls. We didn’t fight. Not that we ever do. But that should count for something.

We let her brush us. Without complaining. Much.

We basically let her do whatever she wanted to do. It was HER day. After she walked us, fed us, brushed us, played with us, took us out to pee (several times) and petted us every time we sat in front of her. Which probably happened 42 times. OK. Thats not exactly correct. Probably closer to 52 times. And every time we did – we were letting her know how much we love her. Mind you – we do that every day too. Come to think of it- EVERY day is Dog Mom’s Day when you own a two-legged. Who needs flowers or candy?! We’re the best gift you could EVER have.

And you know, I think she believes that too..

Have a good one. Peace and paws up. Stay safe. And Happy Mother’s Day – to all the mothers of two-leggeds!

Greetings readers. Frodo here. Well it has been a rather uneventful week in our household. The weather has fluctuated between miserable and dreadful – at least in my mind. It seems as if we cannot have two days in a row without rain. And trust me, I keep track.

Our indoor entertainment has included games of “find the duck” and retrieve the ball. I , of course, excel at both. The beatnik still does not understand the retrieve part of the fetch game. For me, it is painful to watch him. Does he not understand that you get a treat when you return with the ball? And then it is thrown again? He prefers to play fetch on his own.

We did have a bit of excitement the other morning when we saw two different creatures during our walk on the golf course. Two deer! Her highness spotted them in the distance first and when she began to tighten our leashes we also noticed the grass munching visitors. Naturally, I shouted out a cheery “hello.” Repeatedly. And as we approached, they ran off into the woods. Her highness worked on her bicep muscles during that little part of the walk. Later in the evening, I went with her highness to get the mail and then the beatnik went for another walk on the course. And guess who he saw again?

At first he didn’t notice them- so her highness literally had to take his head in her hands and direct him toward the deer. When he did finally see them, he just silently watched them. Even when they ran away, he didn’t make a sound. He certainly picked up their scent though, after they were gone. And there were more bicep exercises.

And speaking of scent – did you happen to read that researchers in the US and in the UK , are training dogs to pick up the “scent” of COVID-19? The goal would be to see if dogs could identify people who test positively- especially in crowded areas like airports. Dogs to the rescue yet again.

Meanwhile on the home front, her highness has thankfully finished another project. She has hooked squares to be made into pillows. Some of you may have seen her first two attempts…

And we thought she was done. But like a PON with a biscuit, she decided she “needed” to do one more. This time she did a different type of hooking. This is rug hooking by the way. Lest anyone conjure up a totally different type of hooking.

Do you recognize this guy?

Now the backings must be sewn on and she must stuff them to make the pillows. We’ll see if that part ever happens…

For her next project, I suggest some biscuit baking. THAT would be useful. She suggested she could hook us some new coats. She was joking. Or she better be… Perhaps she could hook a mat for the beatnik’s crate. Given that he still does not like the one that she bought for him. She finally gave up and took the mat out of the crate. And low and behold, yours truly likes to sleep on it! Outside the crate. So at least it is getting good use after all.

Those are the main stories for today. Have a joyous Friday.

Peace and paws up. Stay safe.

Yo it’s Elroy here again. We won! Well I should say we Picards beat the PONs. At what you might ask? In popularity. Kind of.

You see the AKC just listed their breed statistics for 2019. They compile all of the information about dog registrations for a year and then post the data and indicate breed “popularity.”

So what breed do you think was Number 1 – for the 29th year in a row? If you guessed Picard, you are wrong. Number 1, again, was the all around happy go lucky, everybody’s versatile friendly breed- the Labrador Retriever. I will now list the other dogs in the top 10 – although one is not correct. Can you pick out one that doesn’t belong? German Shepherd, Golden retrievers, French Bulldogs, Bulldogs, Poodles, Beagles, Rottweilers, German Shorthaired Pointers and Shetland Sheepdogs.

Which one is actually 25th in the rankings? If you picked Beagles- you are WRONG. It is the Shetland Sheepdog. They are not in the Top 10. The tenth spot belongs to the Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Jolly good

Meanwhile, out of 193 breeds listed, we Picards had a ranking of 146. Not too shabby. Well at least compared to the PONs who came in at 173! They were just one point from being in the bottom 20. Heck , the Xoloitzcuintli beat us both at 137. Seriously? How many of those Mexican Hairless dogs do you know?

If you want to see all the rankings, here’s the link to all of them:

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog-breeds/2020-popular-breeds-2019/

Popularity is a funny thing. Many people who are into dogs and who breed, do not want their breeds to become popular. Go figure. It’s because when a breed suddenly becomes popular – like Dalmatians-after the movie release of 101 Dalmatians , it often means that unscrupulous people will start quickly breeding to fill the market “need.” And when there is breeding done without careful consideration, you can end up with all sorts of health problems down the road.

On the flip side, when you don’t have enough of a breed- because they are not as popular – you can also end up with problems. A small gene pool can be a recipe for health problems too. It’s a conundrum. Whatever that means.

And speaking of conundrums, we had one yesterday. Or the Boss said we had one. Her highness took us out for our morning walk and it was rather challenging. It had rained the night before, meaning that the Boss had to plan his route to avoid puddles. It’s a very deliberate and slow process. I, on the other hand, was on the lookout for wildlife, so I would constantly stop – right in front of her highness- nearly causing her to walk into me. Between the two of us, it was a very slow journey. We came home, we all had breakfast, and her highness who hadn’t had a great night’s sleep announced that she was going back to bed for a short nooze – given that it was only 8:30 AM. Of course we ALL had to go with her. The Boss jumped on the bed, began to lick himself and I sat 3 inches from her highness’ face and stared at her. She opened her eyes and announced “everybody out.” She ushered us to the bedroom door and pushed us out. We were shocked and perplexed. I mean we are with her 24/7 since this pandemic began – unless she goes into the bathroom – and here she was throwing us out! I must admit, we have noticed recently that sometimes I think she goes in the bathroom just to hide from us. And here we were yesterday – abandoned outside the bedroom door! We were silent for about 10 minutes. And then the Boss had had enough. He started barking. One woof every 20-30 seconds. Like the beeping on an alarm clock. And it worked! It got her highness up. She threw open the bedroom door and standing right there was the Boss. She just sighed one of those big dramatic sighs.

We DID let her take a nap in the DFZ later. Because she allowed us in. Hey – it’s our duty to protect her – and how can we possibly do it if she’s in a different room? We’re a team. 24/7. And she better not forget it.

Speaking of which – time for the team to get walking. No rain last night, so puddle patrol should not be factor this morning. One of those endearing traits that probably explains why PONs rank close to the bottom 20. That was a joke by the way. Pretty funny, eh?

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

Yo readers. Elroy here. Yeah – so you heard the story of my exuberant meeting with Max. Who knew he didn’t appreciate a big dog jumping and barking in his face? Seriously. I just wanted to play. At least I think I did.

Anyway. Do you know what May 3- May 9, 2020 is?!! Before I tell you, it was the Boss who said this had to be our topic today. Not my thing . But when the Boss speaks (and he does A LOT), I listen. Anyway, it’s National Postcard week! I know – who cares, right? Well I guess deltiologists do. That’s the fancy name for two-leggeds who collect postcards. So in 1984, they proclaimed the first full week of May as National Postcard week. That’s why you see so many postcard festivities all around. Ha. That was my attempt to be funny. Pretty good, eh? So why am I writing about this and what does it have to do with dogs. I’m sure you are thinking that right now.

Well as you know, our human collects old dog stuff. Among other junk. And included in her dog collection is surprise surprise- dog postcards. She has a bunch. Like not in the thousands or anything – but enough to put in an album. Or in frames…So today, the Boss suggested I share some with you. So here we go….

First we have a few cards where the actual BREED of dog is identified somewhere on the card. Some of these are not particularly old but they are not brand new either.

Like here we have a Newfoundland and a yellow Lab. Not sure how these guys would do in a show ring..

Here’s an English bulldog. Not a great condition card but you can still see the dog. Isn’t he just a sweet looking guy…or wait…girl…

Here we have some Pomeranians in black and white….I haven’t seen many in this color…

Here we have what is labeled on the back as the English Sheepdog…They could almost pass for Beardies!

These are labeled as Poltalloch terriers. We know them better as West Highland White terriers or Westies….

These guys are labeled as Staghounds. I’m thinking they are Foxhounds. But I’m no hound expert…

Now a bit of trivia …..did you know that St. Bernards were originally bred for rescue work in the mountains of Switzerland/Italy? There was a hospice built by monks in the Alps – and they acquired their first dogs between 1660 and 1670. They started breeding them and using them as working dogs in mountain rescue. Here’s a little video about them:

https://youtu.be/catxhyvkcKs

And here are some postcards from the days when the hospice was still operational..

OK. Here we have some cards where the breeds are not labeled, but I think we can guess what they are… like this Poodle…

And this pug…

And this looks like maybe a Border Terrier?

This one I’m not sure…Are they terriers?

OK. This next group I’m calling the Dollar Store Dog shots…They are all dressed up. Poor dogs. I feel their pain.

And her highness always liked this poor fella because she thought it might be a Bernese puppy…

We have more real photo cards – here are a few…like this fella with his Bulldog…

This poor guy who never was sent…

And this sled dog team pulling a canoe from Porcupine?

Our next group of cards is what I call “kids and dogs.” These are just a few…

OK. Enough for today. There are more of course with different artists’ paintings of dogs too. We might have actually shown you some of these cards before – but given that her highness can’t even remember what day it is, it’s no surprise if you’ve seen them before. Pretend you haven’t, even if you have. If that makes any sense.

Note we have not seen any PONs or Picard cards. Her highness is always on the hunt.

I’ll close with one last card – and it’s probably one of her highness’ favorite cards. Probably because it’s a good depiction of what happens in this household when she tries to teach us anything new. It’s called The Dogs School – and I’ll include some close up shots!

Don’t see any PONs or Picards. I say we skipped class.

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

Hello readers. Frodo again. Today I must share a story that the beatnik wanted to tell – but I thought it a bit more appropriate that I tell the tale. Because I was forced to observe part of it – and he was directly involved…

On Wednesday evening, we went for a lovely walk after supper. The snow has pretty much disappeared, save for the odd shady spot. We actually went for a walk on the golf course- and since the geese seem to have moved on, it was a peaceful, non-eventful walk.

As we approached home, we passed by our neighbors’ home. Also the home to Max. Max is a happy mid to large sized all-Canadian multi breed dog – and you may recall, long ago Viktor and I met Max. And everything was fine. We did the traditional butt sniffing, looked at each other while our humans chatted and life was fine. HOWEVER, the beatnik had never met Max….

So as we passed Max’s driveway, her highness glanced and saw Max approaching slowly up his driveway. And the hair on his back was standing straight up. Now before you assume that was an aggressive posture – let me assure you that when we dogs raise the hair on our hackles, it can be for excitement, fear, anxiety or yes, anger. Some have described it like goosebumps that humans experience. Anyway, her highness knew I had been fine with Max so she stood still and let me go over. I was of course on leash, as was the beatnik. What she didn’t anticipate was that the beatnik, in his joyous sense of greeting, would jump up and down, probably scaring the poop out of Max. So here was Max with a bouncing beatnik and me – who might also have let out a bark or two – right in his face. So Max said “enough!” And he and the beatnik got into a….hmmmm…. heated discussion. Meanwhile, in the pandemonium, somehow her highness dropped the beatnik’s leash. Max’s human came to get him- but the beatnik wasn’t about to say “game over” so he continued to jump around and bark. Her highness called him ( which was a waste of breath) so she tied yours truly to a pole and went to retrieve the beatnik who had followed Max and his human back to their home.

She was able to grab his leash and the “game” was over. The beatnik actually laid down. So she doesn’t feel he was being aggressive – BUT his barking and jumping was NOT something Max appreciated or understood. Heck – I live with him and I don’t understand him half the time. Then again – he does respect me – so he knows enough not to be too jumpy and barky around me.

Thankfully, everyone was FINE after the skirmish. Although her highness did collapse when she got in the house. She contacted Max’s humans and he was fine too. So peace and happiness were restored once again.

Good thing her highness had that wine delivery the other day….

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

Frodo here. I am here to tell you my personal story of woe. Now while I recognize that the world is currently experiencing challenges and tragedies the scope of which are often unimaginable, I am a dog. And for me, a world crushing blow is when my dinner is late. Or I must be groomed. So excuse me if you think that my complaints are trivial. We dogs view the world very differently. For example, we don’t CARE about politics. Unless there is some ruling that directly affects us canines. Like extra taxes on dog food or treats. We canines are not liberal or conservative. Our dogma is simple. Live. Every day. Play lots of games. Smell the world around you. Eat everything in your bowl. ( Unless you are a Picard- then stare at everything in your bowl). Guard your home. Roll freely. Love your human. Sleep wherever and whenever you want. Wag a lot.

Humans could follow our lead.

All that being said – I was VERY cranky yesterday. So much for my Zen dogma. Why you might ask? Because we awoke to a snowy landscape. We had snow all day on Tuesday and instead of following the “rules of APRIL” – it did not disappear overnight. So there was snow on the lawn and on the driveway yesterday morning. Sure- it LOOKED pretty. But it was WET snow. The kind the results in this….

We went for our morning constitutional and yours truly could hardly make it home. This phenomenon is expected in JANUARY- but not in April. Our walk needed to be aborted when I could no longer move.

Of course when we got home, her highness had the “perfect” solution. Rinse me off in the tub. So she dragged me into the garage and put me on the grooming table. She walked around the table to the tub. It was at that instant that I attempted my escape. Just as I went to jump off the table – she grabbed me from behind. Game on. I put my feet over the edge of the table in an attempt to throw myself off. Meanwhile, she held me from behind with her arms somehow under my bellie. I pushed with all my might. In a futile use of her breath she kept repeating “stop it. Stop it.” The wrestling match raged on for what seemed like hours but was probably 20 seconds. She finally gave a valiant heave and I lost my grip on the table. I was hoisted aloft, swung around and plopped into the tub. She then used a stream of warm water to melt the offensive snow balls. The melting took less time than the battle.

She took me out of the tub and I marched into the kitchen. The beatnik heard the battle cries – so he had settled on the dog bed with his snowball feet carefully tucked under his body. Admittedly, his snow feet were not as bad as mine. Still – the snow feet warden called him to come into the garage. Of course, he wasn’t going. She marched over to the bed with a leash in hand and escorted him to the tub. He didn’t bother to put up a battle.

So that was my tale of woe. BUT – by the late afternoon yesterday, the snow had pretty much disappeared. Joy, happiness and dog Zen are back in our boring, quarantine life. Ahhhh. Bliss.

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

Yo two leggeds. Elroy here. Time for your daily dose of insanity. And I’m pleased to share it.

So there is this post going around the internet with a photo of a couple sitting on a sofa. The man is staring ahead – like he is mesmerized with something. The wife or partner is glaring at him and the caption reads: Day 35 of quarantine. Can you blink a little more quietly please? Her highness thought that was incredibly funny. We just stare at her when she laughs uproariously about something she reads. And of course, she HAD to share it.

I’m sure there are a NUMBER of close households where the smallest annoyances are beginning to feel magnified by this quarantine. And in our household, it’s not the blinking but the LICKING that is driving her highness even more mad than usual. So- of course we do it even more than usual. Come on- we are just trying to keep her from becoming one with the sofa.

Our daily routine includes our morning walk – which is the first thing to happen each day. Of course this happens after her highness gets dressed. Then we come home, are fed, lick the yoghurt container, get our dose of blueberries and or bananas and THEN her highness has her breakfast. And it is at this point that the lick fest begins. There are two versions of the fest. Either we lick ourselves – OR we lick each other. The mutual licking generally involves heads. And feet. The individual licking involves…well not heads or feet. In the morning, given the choice of lick options, we usually go for the mutual licking. Her highness cannot BELIEVE how the Boss tolerates me not only licking his feet, but actually chewing the fur on the top of his feet. Now while some of you might think that’s gross, keep in mind that I have recently developed an appetite for goose poop. Yum. So PON feet are not that big a stretch.

We usually begin the fest after we see her take her first sip of coffee. To do so before caffeine would spell solitary confinement- for sure. Since this quarantine began, she sits with her sidearm right next to her. It’s a squirt gun. She has good aim and can sprinkle us from across the room. All she has to do is pick it up, and the Boss who hates water- freezes. He stops licking my ears and face. I’m not as worried about a little shower – in fact I have been known to jump in the air to catch the stream. But if there is a shower and my partner doesn’t want to play, it ruins the fun. Her highness is SO dramatic about it that she makes sure her sidearm is handy before she starts eating.

Yesterday she groomed the Boss and noted a unique trimming job on his feet. And around his head. I call it my “Fro Exotic” cut. That’s supposed to be a joke for anyone who subjected themselves to that Tiger TV show. I watched it and was hoping we might get a Tiger. Just kidding. I’d rather get sheep.

There is just ONE word of caution with lick fests. When you lick hair, you basically ingest some during the styling process. Now sometimes it will cause you to cough immediately after. But the REAL problem can result at the “other end” – if you get my drift. Yup. I had a bit of a hairy poop the other day – resulting in a cling on. AND a visit to the tub after our walk. Sorry to be graphic- but we all know that poop happens.

It’s supposed to rain or SNOW all day today. Doesn’t really bother me THAT much, but it’s a bit like walking in a funeral procession with my mentor. He’s one pitiful looking creature in the rain. It’s like his legs are made of lead. Mind you, he moves perfectly fine and at a fast pace when we are headed for home. In my experience, styling wet hair is actually easier than dry.

Well time to drag the Boss out. I just looked out the window – and there is wet SNOW. He is not going to be happy. I’ll have to give him an extra special styling job.

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

Greetings readers. Frodo here. Happy Sunday. The sun has been shining so far this weekend and we are hoping for another spring-like day today.

Well no bear sightings yet but we do have another wildlife story to share.

I bet you thought thought PONs and Picards were in the Herding group. Well – it turns out we are bird dogs at heart. Sort of.

Last evening, just before sunset, we went for a walk on the golf course. And it was evident we had company. You could hear them from quite a distance away. And there were only two. Two big Canada Geese.

First the beatnik spotted them. And he did his imitation of a Pointer. But it looks more like he has a sore paw. He stood like this for about a minute.

Here you see the two of us intently watching them. You can only barely see one in the photo – the other one went over the hill and into the water. By this point, yours truly made them aware that we were watching – by shouting out a cheery “hello.”

We continued on our walk, leaving the honk machines behind. We walked for quite a while, and as we were heading for home, we heard something in the distance. They were coming for us. Kind of. And the beatnik was intrigued.

Have you ever seen a large dog jump in the air in a futile attempt to catch a goose? From where you see him in the photos. He had about as much luck catching a goose as he did of catching an airplane. It was a sight to behold. But unfortunately not captured on camera.

Now her highness didn’t need to worry about him taking off after the geese because he was on a leash. And she didn’t need to worry about me- because I’m well behaved. Or so she thought. I took off to say hello. However, I stopped to reconsider when I realized the size of them…

While I do enjoy the fresh “deposits” left by the honk machines, I wasn’t completely sure about whether I wanted to meet them up close and personal. In the meantime, her highness and the beatnik came over and my meeting opportunity was aborted when I was put on a leash.

We sadly continued on our journey, with both of us looking over our shoulders to be sure they weren’t really coming for us. Not that they could surprise us. I have finally met another creature that makes more noise than yours truly.

Wonder who we’ll meet today…

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