According to the crazy calendar, today is Heimlich Maneuver Day.  In 1974, Dr. Henry Heimlich came up with this procedure-which is also known as abdominal thrusts- to help individuals who are choking.  By properly performing this procedure you can save someone’s life – including your own.

Yesterday I was a treat courier.  And I didn’t even know it.

In the morning, after we had been out and we had our breakfasts, my human was eating hers and reading the morning paper.  The day had started off brilliantly by human standards – no rain and three good poops.  Heaven.  Anyway, as my human was drinking her much needed coffee,  she looked over at Einstein.  Who was acting quite odd. 

We usually have our routine.  After we share licks of her yogurt container, and we we get pieces of her banana (sometimes she thinks we get more of the banana than she does), we let her have her breakfast.  I almost always lie down and start chewing on a bone, Einstein starts licking himself and the FG watches both of us.  But yesterday, Einstein could not settle down.  He was pacing.  And he would lie down and get back up.  And he paced again.  With his nose in the air.  And his pacing was taking place around me. 

My human looked at him and told him to “settle down.”  That worked as well as saying “Be Quiet” when he is having a bark-a-thon.  He just kept his nose in the air and kept walking.  Around me.  Around me again. She finally got up to look around to see what he could be sniffing.  All the time he was still circling me, I was just lying there, watching the two of them. 

She looked on the floor.  Nothing to see.  She looked under a side table.  Nothing to see.   But finally, she discovered what old “Mr Scenting” was smelling.

While she takes the FG out each morning on his walk, to keep Einstein and me occupied (and really, to keep Einstein quiet) she tosses kibble around the floor under the dining room table.  We rush around to scoff it up and things are quiet – until we find all the kibble and then Einstein still starts barking to demand their return.  Well yesterday, as she was tossing kibble like a farmer haphazardly sowing seeds, she threw some and a few pieces landed on my back.  They were quickly camouflaged in my coat- so she didn’t see them when she came back in. 

But Einstein could smell them.  He KNEW there was food in the vicinity – and he was determined to find it. 

My human removed the pieces from my coat and gave one to Einstein and one to yours truly. She was surprised I didn’t shake them off.  Little did she know, I had been SAVING them for later!

Now she’s thinking she REALLY should enroll him in some scent classes.  Here we go again – some NEW training idea.  That lasts all of two weeks. 

Yes – retirement is going to be VERY interesting.

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

We found some interesting statistics this week about us canines- so I would thought I would share them with you.

Did you ever have one of those moments when you say – “WHOA – THAT was close!”   Like when your car slides on ice – and you JUST miss hitting that guardrail.  Or your dog grabs a toy – narrowly missing your finger.  Or you drop your phone – and gingerly turn it over to see that the screen has NOT cracked.  Or a dog suddenly lunges at your dog while on leash – and your dog is JUST out of reach.  Or you open the front door and there is a bunny on the lawn and your dogs are off leash, but the bunny runs away before your dogs see him.  Or you think you are out of dog food – and the store is closed – BUT – there is still another small bag in the cupboard.  (That’s a HUGE “Whoa.”).  Well yesterday my human had one of the BIGGEST “Whoa” moments ever.

As you know, my human is back to work this week.  She very much enjoys her work – but she knows – as do we, that it is time to retire.  And she has this sneaking feeling that I keep telling her that.  Notice that every time she goes back to work, I have a seizure?  Or so it feels like it…

Anyway, we got up at 4:30 yesterday and went for our walks as usual. The typical routine.   We had breakfast.  She had breakfast.  She had her shower.  And as she was getting ready to leave, she handed me one of the pill pockets containing 3 of my 4 pills.  And who knows why, but I missed taking it from her hand and it dropped to the floor.  Einstein was standing next to me.  And being the ever-ready vacuum that he is, Einstein picked it up…. In all my life, I have never, ever, EVER seen my human react so quickly. She grabbed his mouth, tilted his head down, shouted “DROP IT” – and ploop – out dropped the pill pocket.  I honestly don’t think Einstein even knew what happened or had a chance to even TASTE the pill pocket. My human scooped it up and gave it to me.  All of this happened in probably 2.3 seconds.  “WHOA!” she said as she let out a huge breath.  THAT could have been disastrous.

Typically, my human is not that quick in the morning.  But THAT got her blood running. Talk about luck.  I suggested she get a lottery ticket.

It’s hump day!!!!  Let’s hope for limited “Whoa” moments all around today!!!

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

May 28. And on this day in 1937, the German car manufacturer, Volkswagen was founded. 

We have a VW – and his name is Ludwig.  He is a Golf.  And everyone said he would be too small to hold all of us.  Well – everyone was wrong.  We can put a crate to hold the FG in the back, and then we PONs can easily fit behind the crate.  IF we choose to stay there.  I would MUCH prefer to be in the passenger seat and I DO try desperately to worm my way to the front – resulting in barricades created by my human.  You would be surprised how I am able to make my way through even the smallest gap.  If we are not going for a really long drive, she will, on occasion leave the crate at home – and just let us all stay loose in the back.  She actually did that on Sunday.  It was raining and we were all bored.  She needed to meet someone for a drug deal – and decided to take us with her.  OK.  Lower your eyebrows.  The drug deal was kind of sad.

A friend had her lovely female Doberman go to the Rainbow Bridge rather suddenly a few weeks ago.  Her dog had been taking some medication like I take  – and she kindly offered it to my human.  So we went to meet in a parking lot to pick it up.  It was very much appreciated…

We have PLENTY of room in Ludwig.  It is a bit of a gong show though.  I am always looking at a way to get in the front seat, Einstein is snorting and making olfactory art on the window which is only open 2 inches, and the FG squeaks, and occasionally screams to be let out.  Good times.  By the time we were headed home, we had all settled down.  And then didn’t want to get out.

So now for some fun.  Who KNEW that Volkswagen liked dogs?  Well – at least they have dogs in many commercials.  They know what sells.

Here are a few fun examples that I found:

The first two are for Star Wars fans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL3V7wSnUFI

https://vimeo.com/91011657

Then we have this crazy dog – advertising parts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXlj4wO2_jY

This crazy dog wants to BE a VW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK3TS4gDHyI

These guys prefer to ride rather than run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCHpgOxDqTc

And here we have my favorite – a breed for every make of VW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-jVlQK6eJk

Now.  They need to make one featuring PONs and Picards.  Maybe they could use Ludwig.  But first they would have to clean the olfactory art off the windows….

Have a good one!  Peace and paws up!
Seizure free days: 0 My human went back to work yesterday…..

My human and Einstein have this ongoing battle. I call it the bark off.  He barks at her. And she barks at him.  Well – her “barking” consists of “Enough.  Frodo STOP.  Frodo QUIET.  ENOUGH.”  He looks right at her and barks right back.  

According to the crazy calendar, today is something called Lucky Penny Day.  Except in Canada.  Because we no longer HAVE pennies.  And do you know WHY we no longer have pennies?  Because Canada was SO concerned about us canines – and the fact that IF we eat pennies it can result in something called coin toxicity – that they stopped making pennies.  OK.  That’s not entirely true.  Yes – eating pennies CAN be dangerous to dogs.  But Canada didn’t really stop minting them for that reason.  They just got tired of counting small digits. And they decided to “round things up.”  Or down.  And Canadians got tired of carrying around the extra weight in pockets and purses.   It had nothing to do with dogs.  But we COULD start an urban legend…

But back to pennies, and coins in general.  Because many coins are made of zinc, swallowing them can result in toxicity.  Here is a great website that talks all about coins and what happens when they are swallowed:
https://wagwalking.com/condition/coins-poisoning

When writing this blog, I found this story about a terrier who ate 111 pennies.  Yes -111.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1e81eZY1MI

It’s an old story and I don’t know if any dog since then has been foolish enough to eat more.  It is NOT a record I advocate that ANYONE attempt to break.

We had a lucky day yesterday.  Kind of.   Well – we THOUGHT we were lucky.  But my human kind of tricked us.

She got up early (well, WE got her up early at 5AM) and we had our walks and breakfast.  We noticed that SHE wasn’t preparing HER breakfast, so we knew something was up.  Turns out she was meeting an old friend for breakfast.  That’s where we dogs differ from you humans.  You can totally enjoy sharing a meal with a friend and catching up on news. A meal can last for HOURS.  If we dogs were to get together with our friends for a meal, the encounter would be over in 45.8 seconds.  At least if it was two PONs getting together.  Two Picards?   That could last longer.  While they look at one another and decide if they WANT to eat.

Anyway, when she got home, we were raring to go.  So she took us out for pees and then, much to our surprise, loaded us into Ludwig.  SCORE!  Road trip.  But she totally fooled us.  To “entertain us” she just drove us down the road to the MAILBOX. Seriously.  BIG deal.  When she saw the disappointment on our faces, she drove us to the gas station to get gas.  Whoopee. Mind you, we were so excited for the drive, it DID tire us out.  A BIT.  Our lives could definitely be made into a sitcom.  Picture the three of us going MAD as we get into the vehicle.  And my human threatening me within and inch of my life if I ATTEMPT to get into the passenger seat.  When we go on these short excursions, we are all loose in the back. For any REAL drive, the FG is in a crate, and we ride behind the crate.  Not that I still don’t try to collapse my body like a mouse to fit myself around the crate and into the passenger seat.  I’m a front seat driver.  Or I try to be – but she won’t let me.  So I was relegated to the back with the riffraff yesterday.  Good times.

Anyway – don’t eat any pennies today – but I do hope you have a lucky day.  And may your drives go further than the gas station….
Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 9

So my human is curious.  Are all PONs good retrievers?   I LOVE retrieving SO much that my human loses count as to how many times she has thrown the fetch toy.   She looked to see if there is some kind of record for the number of retrieves performed by a dog.  But she couldn’t find one.  Maybe I could win it!   Mind you, to win, any dog would have to keep going until he or she is exhausted. Einstein plays along for around 20 throws and then he carries the toy to the front door. He is letting her know he has had enough.