I’m SURE I have talked about this before – but it bears repeating.  Picards are temperamental.  You never quite know what kind of mood the FG will wake up in.  Really.  Some days he is all rolled up in his crate (which has no door on it) and doesn’t even move a MUSCLE when my human gets up and goes to take us out.  He opens one eye, looks at us PONs who are spinning like tops – and rolls over.  That means he is in a “mood.”  He takes his time getting up on those days.  Mind you – once he is UP and hits the fresh air,  well it’s like when my human gets that cup of coffee.  He is suddenly ALIVE.  So I guess, first off, he is not a morning  dog.  But he can also be temperamental, as we know, with eating.  The other morning when my human put his breakfast down, he looked at it and said no thanks.  She is used to that.  So at supper time, she added some raw food.  He wouldn’t touch it.  His third chance was right before bed.   We always get a snack (so I can get my CBD dose).  He STILL didn’t want to eat.   He would eat biscuits – but his own food – nope.  So that bowl of raw went in the compost.   Now the next morning, he was STARVING and ate everything down to the last tiny bit.  Just watching him not eating for a day is like watching a horror film to me.  I cannot IMAGINE why he does that.  HOW he does that.

He is also inconsistent in his delivery skills.  Delivery skills?  The newspaper.  He and my human go up to the road each morning to get the paper.  Now keep in mind the following: It is dark out.  It is icy out.  My human is dressed like she is going on a polar expedition – so her mobility is rather restricted.  She is also super cautious about not falling.

We had a good day yesterday.  My human worked from home – to keep an eye on me.  And good news – no additional seizures.  She kept herself sequestered in the DFZ,  so she could actually get work done -but could watch me all day.  Now we hope to get back on the seizure-free road.

We have some other good news…thanks to you!   Thanks for clicking on the ads on my blog.  We will soon be getting another dog biscuit payment!!!!!!!  We appreciate your support!!!!

And speaking of my blog…we decided it’s time to do a little blog trivia.  We have  published over 1500 posts.  My human goes back to read some of them and has a chuckle.  She thankfully doesn’t remember ALL the bad things we do – so she reads them like it’s the first time she has ever seen them!  All of our badness blends together.

So here’s some trivia for you loyal readers.  Some is general trivia – and the rest is info from 2018.  Kind of a year in review. We are not including sad news..like people or pets passing or about my seizures – we want to make this FUN.  So let’s go…

1.  First a general one.  What does FG stand for?
2.  What business establishment do we dread seeing bags from?
3.  What product did that business run out of this year?
4.  What breed of dog won Westminster last year?
5.  What breed of dog won Crufts last year?
6.  Who is Pig Pen (NOT the one from the Peanuts cartoon).
7.  Who in our household is a rollaholic on patches of snow (and ice)?
8.  My human and her sister made a lamb for Easter last year out of what?
9.  When is Dyngus Day?
10. Who had to wear a cone of shame because he had an abrasion on his nether parts?
11. What unique visitor did we have in May?
12. What article of home decor has been replaced repeatedly in our household?  Why?
13. What is my favorite non-palatable snack?
14.  What is a smirk smack?
15.  What is poket?
16.  What can be used to attract butterflies in Central Africa? Hint: this topic probably occurs more frequently than any topic on my blog. The topic my human’s mother most disliked…
17.  How many dog sitters did we have last year?  Hint: my human went away TWICE.
18. What colorful attire did we get as guilt gifts when she went to Cape Breton?
19.  What are Galgos?
20.  What is happening at the end of January?

Drum roll……..

So how do you think you did?  Let’s see…
1.  Friendly Giant!
2.  The dreaded Dollar store.  AKA Pet torture supply shop.
3.  Poop bags!!  The ones we love.  With the handles.  But I forgot to tell you this WONDERFUL NEWS – they have brought them back!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I saw something in the paper about protest marches – and I think public pressure made them again carry them.  There is a God.
4. Bichon Frise  AKA cute fuzzy puff head
5. Whippet   Don’t worry if you didn’t remember these.  Either did we….
6. The black Labrador, Jackson, from down the road
7. Einstein.  The FG rolls on grass – but Einstein is famous for his snow dangels.
8.  Butter.  Wonder if they’ll attempt it again this year.. 
9. The day after Easter!!! It’s a Polish holiday.
10. Einstein .  Remember he is a DRAMA KING.  So we ALL suffered.
11. A BEAR!!!!
12. The dining room carpet.  Because the FG likes to chew the corners.  Speaking of which…(to be continued)
13. Dryer lint!!!  And pillowcases.
14. It’s a term from my Viktionary.  That’s when we canines stare at a human and smack our lips after we have eaten something BAD.  And the more gross the better!
15. Another Viktionary term – it’s a verb.  It’s the action of poking at a human’s pocket when we KNOW there in a treat inside. Or even a salt grain sized piece of a treat.
16. DOG POOP!!!!!!
17. TWO!
18. Tartan scarves
19. Spanish sighthounds.
20.  MY HUMAN IS RETIRING!!!!!!

So here is the scoring:
1-10  You are a newbie.  Welcome to my blog.  We can become a bit addictive.  Partly because people like saying “glad those aren’t MY dogs…”
10-15  You have been reading us for awhile – and you clearly pay attention!
16-20  You know more about us than we know about ourselves.  And you would like to meet us – knowing that you can leave at the end of the day and not live with us. 

We have free pawtographed photos for anyone who got ALL 20.  Postage not included.  OR we will come and stay at your house.  For a week…

THANKS FOR READING!!!

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

So I am thinking this retirement thing is going to be a really good thing.  I told you about what a great day we had on Monday.  Even with the hat thing.  But I forgot to tell you the OTHER thing my human did… 

Now my human is NO gourmet.  Yeah – she CAN cook, but doesn’t always have time to make big meals.  And we know that her baking skills are pretty meager.  She depends on friends and family at Christmas time to give her baked goods so she can serve them and look like she made them.  She never SAYS she made them.   And she will obviously say something if someone asks.  But I can’t remember the last time I saw something made from scratch here.  Baked or otherwise.  So on Monday when she came back from a quick trip to the grocery store, imagine my SHOCK when she said she was making something for ME.

As you know, I take medication for my seizures.  In pill, tablet and liquid forms.  Liquids are no problem – she squirts them on my food and they are inhaled.  She could PROBABLY just pass me my pills and tablets – we know I will eat anything – but that’s kind of dicey.  

Now what I am about to say…she actually hates to admit.  But we might as well fess up – because we have a new plan.  Up until now, she has been buying those chemical laden play doh-like pill pockets.  I know.  I know.  There are other options.  Like putting my pills in peanut butter.  (The all natural type with NO xylitol).  The problem is, we end up with peanut butter everywhere.  We DO use it when we need to – but it’s a messy option.  We can put my pills in soft bread.  That works too.  But it has to be the RIGHT bread or it gets crumbly.  So on Monday, she decided to MAKE pill pockets.  Really.  Miss non-chef made me pill pockets.  And they were simple:

1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons coconut flour ( the recipe called for regular flour – but she SUBSTITUTED this ingredient.  Who IS this woman?)

You basically mix up the stuff, knead the “dough”, make little balls, take a straw to make a hole in the ball, and then put them in the fridge.  Or the freezer.

I had my first pocket that same day – and whoosh – it was gone.  Mind you, I will eat anything.  But my human thinks these are better than the other commercial pockets.  Kind of like going off junk food.

If people have other pill pocket recipes, please feel free to share them.  She told me she’s encouraged by this initial success.  Oh, it’s the little things in life… This retriement thing is going to be VERY interesting!!!

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 0. 

My human saw a meme on Facebook the other day and it made her chuckle.  It was as follows: 

Well the chunky monkey will soon be going to her new home. Who is the chunky monkey – why my niece of course.  Indi continues to grow and GROW.  Here are some recent photos – at just around 6 weeks.  Yup.  She’s a new variety of giant PON.  Is she cute or what?

Rumor has it that she has been escaping from her pen.  Perhaps my human should have warned them about Einstein’s ability to get out of ANY enclosure.   Looks like he has passed down the PONdini gene.

According to the crazy calendar, today is “Stick to your New Years Resolution” day AND it is also “Work harder” day.  They go together.  

Just when you think the battles about dog food couldn’t get any more interesting (like the whole issue of kibble vs raw), we have a NEW player on the field.  Bugs.  Yup.  Bugs.  Bugs for us dogs to eat.  You know how you typically try to rid us of bugs, like fleas and ticks – well now you can FEED us bugs.  A company in the UK is now making a dog food from insects.  The insects used are the larve from  black soldier flies – and they are mixed with oats, potatoes and natural botanicals.  Here is their website:

https://www.yorapetfoods.com/yora-pet-foods

The consumption of insects by humans is not something new.  In Cambodia you can munch on fried tarantulas and in Thailand you can have deep fried crickets.   One statistic I found said that there are over 1000 types of insects that are edible to humans.  Eating insects is seen as a way to tackle world hunger – and even the UN is looking at this concept.

Now.  What do I think about eating bugs?  Well – you are talking to a guy who eats dryer lint and chews pillowcases like gum.  Would it BOTHER me to eat bugs?  Nah.  I’m a PON after all.  Now the FG….THAT could take more convincing.  He would probably need to thoroughly examine every kibble – which really don’t look anything like bugs.  Just sayin’.  I see on the company website that they do not YET have a moist variety.  Now THAT could look more gross.  But the food is supposed to be a good source of protein, fats and amino acids and is supposed to be easy to digest.  Easier for US to digest than maybe the IDEA for some humans.

Interesting concept…chew on the idea and let me know what you think. (I couldn’t resist…sorry – hope that didn’t bug you…). 

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!  It’s Friday!!!!
Seizure free days: 33

I am making up my own crazy calendar day.  I am calling today “Better days ahead” day.  I actually had a hard time writing this blog – it seems like every time we turn around, there is something bad or sad happening.

Besides government regulations for CBD which are a combination of bad, sad and just plain ridiculous, we also have sad news of ANOTHER canine buddy going to the Rainbow Bridge- because of cancer.  We never met him – he lives in the UK.  But we have certainly seen lots of wonderful pictures of the sweet- faced PON, Solo, and his “brother” Wookie.  And when I say sweet-faced – I am not kidding.   And happy-go-lucky besides.  He was a truly joyful pup.  Although, he DID have the nickname “danger monkey” because according to one of his humans, he liked to “throw himself around, hanging over the edge of beds and sofas, knowing that his humans wouldn’t let him fall.”    Thanks to Solo’s human for this photo, which I think you will agree, shows his happy spirit…

My human feels badly when ANYBODY loses a canine kid – but there was something about Solo.  Maybe because he was just so CUTE.  Maybe because Solo was just 3.5 – and the age reminds my human about her first Bernese, Schubert – who she lost to cancer at 3.5 too.    My human followed the story of Solo’s recent health issues – and their search for answers.  And it brought back so many memories.  Their stories were so similar…. And now they are both running free…Our hearts go out to Solo’s humans.  And to Wookie….

OK.  Phew.  Now we need to focus on Better Days Ahead day.  We need some good news. 

So here’s an interesting tidbit for dog show people.   I’m not sure if it’s GOOD news (especially if you are of the female persuasion) but it IS interesting.  Apparently, they did a study in Australia about dog shows- and it was reported about in the publication Psychology Today.  Interesting that it was talked about in that publication-  I will not make any comments about dog show people needing their heads examined…. Anyway, it seems that the Me Too movement needs to hit the dog show world.  JUST KIDDING.  Sort of.  You see, the  researchers found that the sex of dogs influenced the likelihood of winning at a show!  And guess what – the BOYS won.  They looked at the data on 1080 dogs from 12 different breeds who competed in 18 shows.  They found that at the breed level of competition, boys won 62.8% of the time compared to girls at 37.2% of the time. 

An even  bigger gap was  noted at the Group level – where boys won 78.9% of the time and girls won 21.1% of the time.  That’s pretty substantial!

They weren’t sure why this happened – but one possibility was  that boys are usually bigger – so  they might “stand out more.”  Plus because girls sometimes lose their coats when they come into season, it takes longer for them to look their best.   You can read more details about the article here:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/canine-corner/201901/sex-influences-dogs-likelihood-winning-in-dog-shows

I have NO idea about whether those results would hold true in the performance events – like obedience, rally, herding, agility, drafting, fieldwork….etc.  THAT could be an interesting study.  Wonder if boys would still come out ahead?  Are we as smart as we are handsome?   Would we have an advantge? 

We three boys certainly have an advtantge over the one female in THIS house.  But don’t tell her we said so.  She is the only one able to access the dog food…so we do try to stay on her good side. Still-I dream of of being able to open that garage door.  Or the REFRIGERATOR.  Ah yes.  One can dream.  Of better days ahead….

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 32

Well, the plot thickens.  

THANK YOU to the many people who responded with suggestions, ideas and offers for my CBD dilemma.  My human hasn’t been able to answer every message- she was overwhelmed with responses.  She will try to do that today.

I know that several of you have offered to send me the product that we were using (from the US) that is no longer available in Canada.  The problem is that it would likely be seized at the border.  As I understand it, it is not legal to bring it into the country.  So we don’t want to do anything illegal.  Unfortunately, if you try and read through the government webpages about this… well good luck.  My human found a page where it stated that if you have questions about the new law and CBD, to either email or phone.  She phoned.  Several numbers.  And no one could answer her questions because the numbers were call centers. And beyond answering what day of the week it is, they were not helpful.  And not dog lovers….

BUT we ARE making some headway.  Our friend in The Veterinary Drugs Directorate of Health Canada (the one with the Sheltie) is still working on this for us!!!!!  It SEEMS some US companies are posting on their websites that Health Canada has “begun granting personal exemptions to qualifying Canadians.  And IF you are approved by Health Canada, you can import their CBD products.”  So.  Our friend in the Directorate is trying to figure out HOW to get the approval for an exemption.  So there is a light out there….