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According to the crazy calendar – today is Hug a Bear Day.  For us it would be “destroy a bear day.”  We know that plush animals in this household have a short lifespan.  Even our beloved bunny has to be guarded – or he could easily become an amputee.  Like the last one…

We had not played Find the Bunny in quite some time, so when my human pulled him out the other night, we all went mad.  Of course, I had to play first – because she could not stand my screaming if someone else played first.  I was a very good bunny finder. 6 for 6 tries.  However, I am not so keen about giving the bunny back.  UNLESS there is a treat – then I’m good.  After I played, it was Einstein’s turn.  The spectators are sequestered in the front hall where they can study the proceedings.  And some of the hiding places.  And frankly, I think THAT’S how Einstein found the bunny SO quickly each time.  He remembered the hiding spots by watching me.  He even got a few EXTRA turns – he was SO fast.  And then it was the FG’s turn.  Ah yes.  The comic relief.  He is AWESOME at waiting in one room while my human goes to hide the bunny in another room.  When she tells him to sit and wait he throws himself into a sit.  It’s kind of hard to describe – but he gets SO excited.  And when he is finally told to “Find the Bunny” – well furniture moves.  He races to the other room.  And he is good at finding the bunny.  BUT – he does NOT come back with the bunny.  My human has to go after him.  He figures it is his prize – and he couldn’t care less about a measly treat.  He would rather toss the bunny in the air.  And RUN with it.  
 
My human took us out for our walks EXTRA early this morning….and let’s face it – we SAW the suitcase.  We actually heard her spill the beans on the phone the other night – she is off to a “conference.”  But don’t worry, even though she is gone, I’ll still manage to write my blog – I’ll see if the dog sitter can help me.  Or I can always ask Einstein to help me – but the blog will be much more serious – he’s just not a funny guy.  Smart.  Good bunny finder.  But he just doesn’t have MY comedic side.

I guess we’ll have to behave for the sitter….say a prayer for her…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Good day.  Hopefully you remembered to turn back your clock last night – or you are up EXTRA early.

My human was TOTALLY stressed out yesterday – trying to figure out HOW she would give me my  medication with the time change.  You would think she was figuring out some MAJOR scientific equation.  If I take my pills every 12 hours – at 7 AM and 7 PM, and we now have an “extra” hour in the day, WHEN do I take my pills?  She had reams of paper with times on it.  OK.  Maybe not REAMS – but enough to give her a headache.  Clearly, math was NOT her major in university.  She didn’t want me to change my routine by a full hour immediately, so she had to figure out how she could do it in 15 minute increments.  That probably makes NO sense – BUT if she figured it out correctly, I will be taking my pills tonight exactly 12 hours since my previous pill and the time on the clock will be 7PM.  Don’t ask me what that means – but she will be happy – and that’s all that matters.

AND.  Besides the medication challenge, SOMETHING else is going on.  It began early yesterday morning with a cleaning frenzy.  A cleaning frenzy means one of three things.  Someone is coming for a quick visit.  OR there is going to be a party at our house.  OR Someone is coming to STAY.  All I know is that a young woman who works at our Vet clinic arrived yesterday afternoon.  Before she got here, my human said we needed to behave…

We were on the deck when she came in.  My human proceeded to show her around the house.  THEN she let us in.  We greeted her with much barking, and the FG tried his best to knock her over.  My human had left the door to the master bedroom open, and the FG spotted it.  He RACED into the bedroom and launched himself onto the bed.  Then he raced into the bathroom.  5 seconds later he was launching himself onto the bed again.  He was OVER-THE-TOP wild.  Then my human wanted to show her our property.  She put the FG back on the deck.  She took Einstein and me out with them – but we were not on leash.  So GUESS what happened??  You guessed it. Yours truly TOOK OFF.   My human tried to remain calm – and simply explained to the young woman why I need to stay on a leash.  At ALL times.  About 5 minutes later I came RACING down the driveway.  My human GLARED at me.  Ah yes.  We were clearly NOT making a good impression….

Anyway, the young woman left after about an hour.  My GUESS is that she may be our new dog sitter.  The one we always had for many years, (and LOVED),  retired due to a health issue.  The girl we had last November was mysteriously booked up.  At least that’s what she SAID. 

So it seems this girl will be our new sitter.  Given all the cleaning that went on yesterday, I am guessing this is going to happen pretty soon.  But I haven’t seen any suitcases yet…unless my human  is hiding them in the closet.  That’s what she did the last time – so we wouldn’t know until the last minute.  All I know is that she better be going somewhere that has REALLY good dog treat stores…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

OK.  Now here is a story that I just HAVE to comment about.  It seems Sony has produced a dog robot with artificial intelligence.  The dog barks, sits, gives paw, and can apparently investigate and analyze the environment with  sensors to determine what a human wants.  And you can have one at the bargain price of $2, 200 CDN.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/aibo-sony-artificial-intelligence-robot-dog-pet-1.4384007

Really?  I mean REALLY?  How could anyone compare that to a REAL dog?  Can he retreive?  Guard the house?  Fertilize your lawn?  Countersurf?  And what happens when the batteries run out?  Or maybe you just plug him in every night.  And so you have a power outage – and you no longer have your dog.

Admittedly you don’t have to feed him.  And it looks like grooming would be pretty easy.   He doesn’t look like he would be all that cuddliy.  Imagine sleeping with him.

I’m thinking his repertroire of behaviors is pretty limited.  How BORING would THAT be?  Can he chase a rabbit?   And disappear in the woods?

Hey – here’s an idea.   We should get one – and teach him all of  OUR behaviors.   Now wouldn’t THAT be fun?!  Stealing things.  Chewing carpet.  Barking incessantly.  Mind you – it would all come to a sad end when Elroy would dash down with him into the lake….If we didn’t destroy him before then.

Stick with the REAL DEAL

Have a good one. Pease and paws up!

So it’s November 2 – ALREADY!!   Time to start thinking about my list for Santa Paws.  And I better start behaving.  Like THAT will ever hapen.

Anyway, today is the birthday of Warren Harding – the 29th President of the US.  He only served for two years before he died in office.  Reportedly, he wasn’t all that popular.  BUT – he DID have a dog – and his dog became fairly well-known and well-liked.  Laddie Boy was an Airedale terrier.  He was supposedly the first White House Dog to receive regular press coverage. Here are some photos of Laddie Boy- check him out:
http://www.presidentialpetmuseum.com/pets/laddie_boy/

Of PARTICULAR interest to ME is the birthday cake made from BISCUITS.  I want to see if my human can get the recipe – and make it for us. That will happen about the same time that all three of us start to behave…

It looks like Laddie Boy had a house-mate- but unfortauntely, Oh Boy, a bulldog didn’t live too long… Oh boy.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

I also liked the photo of the statue of Laddie Boy – made out of PENNIES.  They no longer mint or use pennies here in Canada – now I know what my human can do with the bag she has left.  Make a statue of me.  But BEFORE I die – so we can all enjoy it.  And likely, one of us would pee on it.

So Happy Birthday to Warren.  Even though people didn’t care for you – at least you had a cool dog!  And at this point I will refrain from any further comments about unpopular Presidents and dogs…..

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

So the ordeal last night was really kind of pitiful.  My human rushed home.  She was caught in what has become a never-ending traffic nightmare lately with construction in the city – and so she burst in the door at 5:30.  She wanted to get us out before the arrival of the imaginary trick or treaters.  And when she came in, she had that momentary “should I let them loose” thought.  She had visions of Einstein and I coming around from the back of the house, and encountering Wonder Woman or Batman.  And we KNOW what THAT would have been like.  She read somewhere that if treaters are injured on your property that you can be libel, so she of course, envisioned the worst case scenario of some three year old falling over  while attempting to run from two insane, barking PONs.  But she decided to take a chance.  The FG was kept on leash – she didn’t DARE let HIM loose.

We ran around outside, did our thing and were ushered back into the house.  To await the imaginary treaters.  She fed us and then placed a big basket full of treats in the front hall.  With the door closed, of course.  Einstein just rolled his eyes at me.  The FG thought the whole thing was totally intriguing – he was obviously too young last year to remember this whole routine. 

At  6PM, there was noise in the driveway. It was three year old Rapunzel and her one year old twin dinosaur brothers – our neighbors from up the road.  My human opened the door and Rapunzel marched right in.  Luckily for her, we were all sequestered on the other side of the french door, trying to see through the olfactory art on the glass.  Einstein led the chorus and finally stopped after my human was chatting with Rapunzel’s parents for the few moments.  Rapunzel asked why were barking.  “Just to say hello,” my human lied.  Well, I suppose it wasn’t REALLY a lie.  We WERE saying hello.  AND “whatareyoudoingonourpropertyyouhadbettergetoutofherebeforeweeatyoualive.”  Not to mention the fact that Rapunzel was sporting a long yellow braided yarn wig – which even SHE admitted would have been fun to bite.  I could see the headlines – “Trick or Treater dragged to the ground by her wig – by pack of wild dogs”.

By 6:30, my human had finished the two pieces of frozen pizza she had hastily reheated – so she would be ready for the “cavalcade” of treaters.  She then began to “sample” the treats she was giving out.  OK – “giving” is a generous term – one nursery story character and two dinosaurs did not exactly require a LOT of giving.  Thank goodness she bought treats she likes.  What a coincidence. 

At 6:40, two other kids from up the road arrived.  Their mother drove them to our house.  That way if the wild dogs were loose, they didn’t have to get out of the vehicle.  My human was in the bedroom when they pulled up – so Einstein sounded the alarm.    Thank goodness they came – 2000 fewer calories for my human to consume.

By 7:50, she was pulling the sticky gel bats from the front window.  When it’s over, it’s over.  She unplugged the smiley Jack O’lantern in the window at 8:30. 

So we survived another Halloween.  With a grand total of 5 kids.  We tied our record for last year.  Thank GOODNESS she bought enough treats for 65 kids. 

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

So this year was not too tragic.  She just put those strange headband things on us and tried to make us look like we were enjoying it.  Actually, Einstein and I took some pretty good shots.  Our human had the super treats this time – the dried liver stuff. So we are actually rather joyful looking.   Smiling on the outside….

 The FG is really not into the headband thing – he’s pretty mortified by the whole Halloween thing.

He also would prefer to roll than have his photo taken.

But as we know, my human keeps on trying.  So she finally got this gem.   That’s why she starts taking shots as soon as the dreaded attire comes out at the Dollar store.  In July. 

Besides being Pet Torture Day, according to the crazy it is also National Doorbell Day.  Go figure.  Did you know that doorbells have been around since the early 1800’s?  Our house does not have a working doorbell because the weird-sized battery died over a year ago – and my human has yet to replace it.  But seriously – why waste the money?  She has three doorbells that don’t need batteries – and they are much more effective.  They generally start working before anyone who drives down the driveway even gets to the door.  Those 3 trick or treaters will NOT need to knock.

Now excuse me while I go and pack some dog treat bags in case any of my buddies show up.  One for them, six for me.  One for them, six….

Have a ghoul-ed one.  Peace and paws up!