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So yesterday morning while my human was eating her breakfast and the FG and I were vying for attention by sitting at her side and either pawing at her or attempting to get on her lap, my human was petting my head and suddenly she said “OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  She jumped up from the table, and whisked me into the garage AKA grooming torture chamber, and lifted me onto the grooming table.  She outfitted herself with her trusty headlamp used for dog walking in the dark, and instructed me to stay still.  And sure enough – there on the top of my head, was a TICK.  A TICK.  Seriously.  I thought those guys had gone into hibernation for the winter.  If that’s what they do.  Go figure.  None of us has had a tick since the summer – when we OFTEN ran off into the woods and were playing in the tall grasses.  And even then, I think we had MAYBE three ticks in total between the three of us all summer.  So IMAGINE how disgusted we were to find this freeloader.  Well, I didn’t even really realize he was there – and I didn’t feel much as my human got out her trusty tick removel tool and extracted him from my noggin.  She then placed the vermin in a plastic bag and then in an act of total violence, smashed the tick to smithereens with a rock.  Talk about overkill.  Literally.

So I decided to look up information about ticks and see if they have ANY redeeming qualities.  I mean really, what is their purpose, besides spreading disease?????  From what I gather, the buggers have been around since the time of the DINOSAURS.  The oldest know fossil of a tick is supposed to be 90 Million years old.  In the ecosystem, ticks are food for some animals, reptiles, birds and amphibians.  Apparently guinea hens find them delectable, as do opposums.  Ticks carry a variety of microorganisms and that’s supposed to be part of the whole circle of life thing.  And they are helpful to those viruses and bacteria that they carry.  Good for the virus.  Ticks supposedly help to control animal populations like other predators do.

So the tick public relations firm touts that ticks are basically part of the ecosystem and  it’s  their role to help maintain balance.   I think it’s stretching their value.  Sorry I just don’t buy it.  I think the earth could get along QUITE well if all ticks were annihilated.   But I don’t see an easy solution to this – so I propose we get some guinea hens.  Or an opposum.  But not both as the opposums would probably eat the guinea hens.  We don’t actually HAVE opposums in Nova Scotia –  and as I understand it, they are considered a nuisance in many areas.  They get into the garbage, and bird feeders and they can carry rabies.   OK, so maybe the opposums are not such a great idea after all.  Guinea hens.  That’s what we need.  I will put one on my Christmas list.  OK – two because just one would get lonely.  Wonder if I can order them on-line…

In the meantime, bring on the snow!  But just a little….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

Well, it’s Black Friday and according to some, the official start to the holiday shopping season and a day of big sales.  Mind you, it seems like the last 2 weeks have been Black something – every store seems to have been promoting sales for days now. 

My human would much rather shop on-line than battle line-ups with people in the cold.  And admittedly, IF someone is looking for something specific (like a new warm dog-walking coat), there ARE bargains to be had right now.  But it’s also interesting that often the VERY thing she wants- that is on sale, is not available in the size or color she wants.  BUT, the full price items are all available.  Go figure. 

And since it’s that time of year, I thought I would review a few products that we canines may (or may not) want to put on our list for Santa…

First off we have the Pet Selfie stick.  It’s basically a squeaky ball that you attach to your cell phone in order to get our attention when taking photos:
https://poochselfie.com/
I’m afraid I am giving this a Paws Down.  Because while you MAY get one or two shots of us when you first use it, let’s face it, we will QUICKLY catch on, and learn to ignore it.  At least the dogs in this household.  Not that I don’t like to retrieve things – but unless the thing suddenly self-propels the ball, we will quickly start to demonstrate picnore.

Next we have the automatic self-propelled fetch toy.  The machine will launch balls after your dog drops the ball into the device. 
https://goifetch.com/
This concept is pretty cool – and it could keep some of us dogs entertained, once we are trained to use it.  I wouldn’t advocate for use indoors with us…that could get pretty crazy.  Personally, I think the exercise that my human gets from throwing the ball is good…but given that some humans could have trouble throwing a ball – well I will give this item a Paws Up.

Next we have an indoor potty for dogs.  Seriously.  It’s basically a hunk of sod that is delivered to your house – so your dog can pee and poop indoors.
https://www.freshpatch.com/
Strange – they don’t take any returns.   OK. OK.  I understand that this could work for dogs living in an apartments/highrises – and could be good for seniors who can’t take their dogs out….But I guess it’s just a bit strange to me.  We dogs DO need to get outdoors.  Mind you, on rainy days, we PONs might appreciate this product.  But can you imagine having three of these things in our house? Not to mention dogs who like to dig…Nope – I’m giving this one a Paws Down.  Sorry Sharks.

Next we have the Kong frisbee. Or Extreme Flyer.
https://www.kongcompany.com/products/for-dogs/rubber-toys/extreme-rubber-toys/extreme-flyer/
OK. I like this one.  Kong makes some pretty indestructible toys – so I’m thinking I would enjoy fetching this.  I give this a Paws Up – and I’m putting it on my list!

I shouldn’t even show you the next item – as it looks like they are so busy taking orders that you may not get your gift for Christmas.  But if you don’t mind waiting, these pet pillows with our photo are pretty cute:
https://gomineofficial.com/
I think it would be cool to have our image on a pillow.  Mind you, if we got a hold of it, we would probably destroy it.  They also make jewelry with our image!  I give these gifts Paws Up.  Mind you – they are more for my human than for us.  But we might as well give her something…

Those are my reviews for now.  No doubt other cool things will come along in the weeks ahead.  And really, my favorite items on my Santa list are edible items.  ANYTHING edible.  

Have a good one!  Peace and paws up!

November 24.  And the fourth Thursday in November.  So what does that equal in the USA?  Thanksgiving!  And the holiday this year is predicted to have the most travellers in 12 years.   Sources say that 50.9 MILLION people will travel more than 50 miles from home – with the majority doing so by car.  And if you are in the group travelling by plane, expect that waits could be long as almost all flights are FULLY booked.  Whatever you do,  don’t sleep in and miss your flight!

It is estimated that over 44 MILLION turkeys will be consumed today – as more than 85% of Americans have turkey as the main course today.   The average American is said to gobble down 3000 calories on Thanksgiving day – with 50 million pumkin pies consumed across the country.  Whoa.  I wonder what the average dog eats on Thanksgiving?  We canines CAN have a bit of turkey – but not too much as it could cause dietary “issues” later.  And hold the gravy – for sure.

I found this commercial video that depicts dogs having quite the holiday feast.  It  just bugs me that a CAT is at the head of the table…..  Check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhg7Xm4FXAY

But what I really found interesting was THIS video – which shows how they filmed the commercial.  Some pretty patient people and obviously, very well behaved canines!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guBWYqJv1DY

So Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family in the USA.  And no matter where you live, be thankful today for the many good things in your life.  Humans often tend to focus on the negative things in life – and what they don’t have… But take a minute today to think of the many things that you DO have – like even the ability to read this blog (!)  and remember to give thanks.  Oh and don’t forget to give thanks for your dog – and maybe give him or her an extra treat – just to show your thanks!

Have a good one!  Peace and paws up! And thanks to you for taking time to read my blog!  I truly appreciate it!

Yup.  A rainy night the other night..  AND we got to play “Find the bunny.”  Let’s just say that the FG plays his own version of the game.  Check it out…

Ya gotta love him.   Oh and he DID eventually Find the Bunny in Room #1… All the while Einstein and I were screaming at him….

And speaking of bunnies.  My human was wondering why we haven’t seen many around lately.  And then she spotted THIS visitor in the backyard.  

Who knew?  On this day – November 21st, in 1837, a guy by the name of Thomas Morris – who was in Australia, jumped a skipping rope 22,806 times.  I’m not sure who I feel more sorry for – Thomas and his obvious lack of something better to do, or the poor person who had to count for him…

Which of COURSE, led me to see what I could find out about DOGS jumping rope.  Here’s the dog who has the record for the most skips with his human – at 58 jumps togther.  And he looks like he is actually enjoying it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYo__2Q7USY

Now here is a video I found from 2011, when a record number of dogs (13) broke the record for skipping together…
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy96TGlOq28

Interesting that both of these records were set by dogs in Japan.  Must be something in the food.

Can you IMAGNE my human trying to jump rope with any of us?!  Heck – she can barely skip  rope by herslf, let alone with one of us.  I could see a VERY serious accident occurring were she to try this with one of us…  Mind you, it would make for a good blog…

Have a good one!  Peace and paws up!

This is a tale of a good idea – with a bad result.

So Friday after work, my human stopped at the grocery store to pick up something for dinner. And as she wandered, she spotted some frozen soup bones.  She happily scooped up four and after getting the contents for her meal, proceeded to the check out.  The rather glum looking clerk asked her if she found everything.  And my human – the cheerful-dog-owner-on-a-Friday-night explained that she had.  As the clerk scanned the bones my human asked “Do you know what I call those things?”  The clerk slowly looked up and stared at my human and said in a less than enthusiastic voice, “Soup bones?”  My cheerful human exclaimed “No – I call them Peace and Quiet.”  The glum clerk just stared at her and of course, my human went on to say that they were for us – and how during our bone fest, she would have some peace.  The girl just shrugged her shoulders and the woman behind her in the line chuckled – she was another dog owner.  The girl then went on to say she didn’t have a dog, but she knew that the Dollar Store sold all kinds of bones and rawhide treats.  My human figured that the girl wasn’t quite ready for the lecture on the dangers of Dollar Store dog treats laced with all kinds of toxic chemicals.  Nor did she explain that the ONLY dog related items she would ever purchase at the Dollar store were poop bags or dreadful holiday attire.  My human just responded with a cheerful “Is that right?’

When she got home she fed us and took us out and made her own dinner.  She told us she had a special surprise for later.  We knew what the surprise was – we had seen her taking them out of the bag, but we feigned surprise when she pulled them out after dinner.

Now keep in mind, this is NOT the first time we have enjoyed soup bones.  BUT – when we have had them in the past, my human gave them to us for a SHORT period of time.  Like 15-20 minutes.  She would then take them away, refreeze them and bring them out the next day.  And that was the plan.   HOWEVER….she had a really busy week at work last week.  And after dinner she was really tired.  She sat down on the couch in the DFZ, while we were in bone heaven and she quickly dozed off.  For about an hour.  She woke up with a start and we were all still chewing away.  She scooped up the bones and we all collapsed after the chewing frenzy.  Little did she know she would be scooping something ELSE the next day…

On Saturday, we had good walks and my human told us she was going to see her mother for a few hours.  The FG was sequestered in his pony sized crate and Einstein and I had free rein.

When my human returned after about 3 hours, she opened the french door in the hallway, and Einstein burst out into the hall.  She wasn’t sure if he was concerned because he had DONE something – OR because he was escaping something.  Hard to know – but when my human walked in, she realized she should have brought in a team wearing hazmat suits.  Ah yes.  The poop trail left behind when one or two have eaten too much marrow from soup bones.  It was hard to know who the culprit was – without DNA analysis. 

She cleaned up the disaster as we all watched.  Hey – when ya gotta go, ya gotta go.  Needless to say, none of us got the bones on Saturday night…but no worries – we were all fine in the poop department the next day.  And the smell from disinfectant is starting to fade…

Ahhhhh….the best laid plans….The moral of the story?  Set an alarm when feeding marrow bones – at least FRESH bones….and if you don’t – have LOTS of cleaning supplies handy….

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

So a new study just came out in Sweden, and the results indicate that humans owned by dogs have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.  So they have a lower mortality risk.   Now the benefits of owning a pet have been touted for a long time – but as with any research, there are always limiting factors.  One would assume that if you are owned by a dog, you get more exercise – which is good for cardiovascular health.  But did the people with good activity levels already, choose an active dog breed purposely?  They also wonder if by living with a dog,  human are exposed to more bacteria – and this somehow changes the microbiomes in the human’s gut.  This adjustment in the human system may somehow make humans more resistant to certain “bugs.”  I knew all that dirt that we drag in had a good purpose.

The study indicated that the lowest risk of cardiovascular disorder was seen in humans owned by hunting, retrieving and scent hounds.   No mention of herding breeds – but I think our activity level still fits the bill.  Heaven knows my human gets LOTS of walks because of us.

More research needs to be done – but who knows, maybe someday people will receive a prescription for a dog instead of a drug.  And then we need to get the insurance companies to pay for that prescription!

Of course, you know on the flip side….given our SOMETIMES less-than-exemplary behavior – my human thinks we actually RAISE her blood pressure.  Which we probably do.  And THAT’S why we try to get her to take us out for MORE walks.  Yup.  We have this all figured out.  Just call me Dr. Viktor.

Bottom line – we canines DO help humans in SO many ways.  And the benefits go both ways…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.