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Poor Don.  We haven’t met Don – but we feel sorry for him.  My human met  Don on-line.  No – it wasn’t an on-line dating service.  That’s a topic for a different blog.  No – she was surfing,for someone to do a metal sign for outside our house.  A welcome sign.  Partly because we don’t SOUND very welcoming when the doorbell rings.  So she got this “idea” about what she wanted.  And somehow she found poor Don.   She texted Don with her idea and he agreed to design her sign.  Of course, you know the sign has to have a PON and a Picard.  She wanted silhouettes of the two breeds.  At first,  Don couldn’t REALLY understand what my human wanted.   So she sent him a draft drawing of HER version of what she was thinking.  Which wasn’t very good.  The sign would have probably been 15 feet around.  But from the poor draft, Don KIND of figured out what she wanted.  So he worked on his draft.  And the first draft from Don came back and the PON and the Picard were the same size.  Actually the PON was bigger.  I personally thought that was fine – but my human being the fussy one, asked that the PON be reduced in size.  Which Don did.  And he sent along the next draft.  And it looked great.  But she STILL thought the two dogs were too close in size.   So she sent Don photos of us guys and even the standard heights for our two breeds.   I’m SURE poor Don was shaking his head by this point.  Talk about crazy dog lady.  So he adjusted the draft AGAIN.   And he sent it again.   And NOW it appears perfect.

So now we wait for the finished product – which we will show all of you.

What is it with humans wanting to display our images everywhere?  Pictures, paintings, figurines, placemats, fridge magnets, socks, jewelry…. We dogs don’t wear collars with little humans on them.  Humans are just SO odd.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Well today is World Tourism Day and since we live in Nova Scotia – where tourism is a HUGE industry, it only seems right to give a plug to Canada’s Ocean playground.  I must confess – I am going to share some information from a story my human wrote for a PON newsletter a few years ago.  But I figure most of you haven’t read it or if you did, you have probably forgotten the content.  I know I did.

I decided instead to focus on one of the most-visited iconic places in Nova Scotia – the little fishing village of Peggy’s Cove – with it’s famous lighthouse. 

You can see me posing in front of the lighthouse.  It was a typical windy day.

So what is THE most terrfiying sound to a human who is owned by a dog?  The sound of the urky gurckies in the middle of the night – WHEN your dog is sleeping next to you on the bed.  You know what the urky gurky sound is – that telltale sound JUST before we throw up.  I bet if you put a human under anesthesia, and you played a recording of the urcky gurky sounds – it would wake them up.  Let’s just say my human did NOT have a restful sleep on Sunday night…

The problems all began on Sunday morning. It was after our morning walks and JUST as we were about to have breakfast,  I had a seizure.  Ugh.  We again ALMOST made it to a month without one.  Again – just a few days short.  We were SO disappointed.

So when she went to bed on Sunday night, she was wondering if I would have another one.  But this time, she was awakened by Einstein.  Who was squeaking to go out.  That’s VERY odd for him, so my human pulled on her fuzzy robe and slippers and out they went.  And he had a GOOD reason for squeaking.   I hate to be graphic – but what the heck – he had the soupy poops.  So at 1:30 he was getting a butt washing in the tub.  Poor guy.  At 3:00AM, I was sleepng next to her, sat up and began the urky gurky sound.  She bolted upright,  and lifted me onto the floor.  And yup – I threw up.  Nice.  Half on the wooden floor – half on the area carpet.  She went back to bed after taking me out.  At 4:00, Einstein again wanted to go out. So a repeat performance there.  Complete with butt washing.  As soon as my human got up at  5:00, I had the urky gurkies again.  At this point my human looked at both of us and said “WHAT did you get into?”  Meanwhile, the FG was fast asleep in his pony-sized crate – with his legs in the air.

My human can’t figure out what we could have eaten.  We DID BOTH escape the other day and dash up to the neighbor’s place – but she came after us pretty quickly.  Who knows.   All I DO know is that neither of us got breakfast yesterday.  But the FG did….

My human kept a close watch via Big Brother, yesterday whenever she got the chance.  And we were fine.   I’m not big on the meal skipping thing – so I think we’ll stay out of any unsavoury treats.  For a while anyway.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Today is September 25 and according to the crazy calendar, it is National Lobster Day.  And living in one of the biggest lobster producing places on the planet, it seems that I really SHOULD talk about the prehistoric-looking underwater creatures.

Here are some basic lobster facts, in case anyone asks you today:

• Lobsters can live 45-50 years old in the wild.  But not that long in the tanks that you see in a restaurant.
• Lobsters eat live prey like fish and worms but they also eat plant life.
• When lobsters flee – they go backwards. And they have been clocked going up to 11 miles per hour.  I would like to have watched that race.
• In North America, lobsters did not obtain popularity in dining rooms until the mid-19th century.  Before that, lobster was considered to be food for the poor.  It was said to be fed to unhappy prisoners.  And it was used as fertilizer and fish bait.  My, how human tastes have changed!
• Reportedly, the largest lobster ever caught weighed 44 lbs.  That’s more than me!
• Not anyone can just fish for lobster in Nova Scotia.  You need a special license – and they cost MEGA bucks – and are very limited.  Many are passed down in families.
• The season for lobster fishing is staggered around the province – so as no area is overfished. All year round, somewhere someone is fishing for lobster.

My human found this crazy video of a dog diving for lobster.  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/man-trains-dog-catch-lobster-35445362
One thing you should note:  this appears to be a Spiny Lobster – which does not have the big claws like our Nova Scotia lobsters do.  It would NOT be a good idea for dogs to be grabbing lobsters with claws.   If the lobster got a hold of the dog, it would not likely be a pleasant experience!!!

I checked it out – and we dogs CAN eat lobster.  But of course in moderation.  But not the shells.  And not dipped in butter.   In Nova Scotia, humans eat something called a Lobster roll.  Which is basically bun filled with chopped lobster, mayonnaise, maybe some lemon, salt and pepper.  For dogs, “lobster roll” has a different definition.  It involves finding a dead crustacean on the beach, and rolling in it.

So those are my lobster facts for today.  Now to convince my human that she should buy us some.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

September 24.  On this day in 1968, a TV news program called “60 Minutes” had its debut.  And one of my all-time favorite stories on the show was this one about Chaser, the Border Collie.  Watch this when you have the time to do so – it’s about 13 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhseg979EQk

That particular segment was filmed in 2014 – so I was a little nervous to see how Chaser and his human are doing now.  I am happy to report, they are both doing well – and have their own Facebook page AND website:
http://www.chaserthebordercollie.com/

They even wrote a book.  Given how smart Chaser is, I assume he wrote the thing himself – with edits by his human.

Chaser is a VERY smart dog.  And clearly his human has LOTS of time to train him.  That’s our excuse.  We haven’t been able to demonstrate our brilliance yet – but WAIT until my human retires.  Someday.  THEN she’ll have time to train us.  Mind you, I’m not sure where we are going to put those 1000 toys.  And it’s obvious Chaser doesn’t DESTROY toys like the dogs in THIS household.

Time to get my human moving – it’s Sunday and we know she doesn’t want to miss a single minute with us guys today.  Good thing we got her up at 5.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

According to the crazy calendar, today is National Dogs in Politics Day. And so fitting – as I recently heard about this story out of Newfoundland, Canada.  It seems that a candidate for mayor of St. John’s the largest city in the province, and the provincial capital, is none other than Finn- an Australian Cattle Dog. Check him out:

Well it’s official.  September 22 – and it’s the first day of Fall.  My human was surprised that the garden centers were closed.   Hello – I think she missed summer this year.  

Time to go and find a pumpkin. AND to get some apples.  Which we dogs LOVE.

We dogs like the Fall season for a number of reasons. 

• Cooler weather – which is lovely for walks.  Especially in the morning.
• Fewer bugs – although right now we are being plagued by these GIANT  Daddy Long Legs flying things.  They are basically harmless – BUT they are attracted to light so they hang out by the windows and doors at night. And they try desperately to get into the house.  Simply to drive my human CRAZY and to start a chain reaction of a mad woman swinging whatever object she can find to hit them – and three dogs trying to grab said object.  Especially if it is a newspaper. 
• Falling and flying leaves.  To chase.  And race around in.  Especially AFTER they have been raked into a big pile…
• That faint pungent smell of decaying leaves – which is a true sign of Fall.  We dogs love anything that smells.  All the better to roll in.
• Halloween treats.  Not that we eat the human kind.  But my human does.  And then she feels guilty.  So we get MORE walks.  Score.

So despite the fact that we have to face more photo shoots over the next few weeks – we DO consider it our FAVORITE time of the year!  Bring on those falling leaves!

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Yesterday was one of those days where my human got to see a difference between us PONs and the FG.  

It started at 3:45 AM.  I was standing next to my human’s bed and breathing on her.  She opened her eyes, looked at the clock and said “Get over it Viktor – go back to sleep.”  She didn’t realize WHY I wanted her to get up.  But she did figure it out when she finally got up at 4:45.  When it had begun to POUR rain.  You see, I TRIED to get her up BEFORE it started.  But no – she wouldn’t get up – so at 5AM she was outfitting two PONs in raingear.  As soon as Einstein spotted the coats when she came out of the garage – he ran. I got to wear the snazzy blue coat – and he had to wear the Gortex suit.  He stood like a mannequin while she put it on him.  And when she was done, he still wouldn’t move.  She put on our leashes and dragged us into the hallway and opened the front door.  She literally had to push us out the door.  Einstein is usually bad, but I was actually the bad one yesterday.  In fact, Einstein pooped almost the minute he got out the door – but I didn’t want to go.  So that meant we BOTH went for the walk.  Einstein was not impressed.  It was dark, rainy, windy and my human trudged down the road dragging two very unwilling PONs.  Every few steps, we would do what I call the “futile shake”.  You know – when we dogs attempt to shake water off ourselves while we are STILL getting wet – like in the bath – or in the rain.  Not one of our more intelligent moves.  Anyway, I finally did my thing and the moment we headed for home, our funeral pace changed drastically and we raced home.  

Then it was the FG’s turn.  And the behavior was completely the opposite.  He bounded out the door as if it was a bright sunny day.  And he was THRILLED wearing his raincoat.  He honestly liked the way he looked.  And rain – what rain?  He loves it.  When he did his thing, my human now had to drag HIM home.  He was NOT a happy camper when he had to come in.  Yup – we are two different breeds.

Thankfully today the weather is calling for sun.  And the weekend is looking pretty good.  But that means the dreaded puparazzi.  At least we get treats for that…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!
 

In order to get THE perfect shot, she will no doubt have us posing over the next couple of weekends.  All we can do is pray for rain.  Or REALLY good treats.  And after 4,362 shots, she will get three that she is happy with.  And those three are pretty cute.  But really, the other shots are the fun shots.  The bloopers. Or in our house, the PON-Picloopers. 

So to get ready for what is to come- let’s share some Fall PON-Picloopers from last year.  Check out the FG – he was just a young fella last year.  And NOTE – HE is the one acting up in these photos.  We’ll see who is the culprit THIS year.  Enjoy!

I can hardly wait for the Fall fiasco to begin….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!!

It’s nice to know that it’s NOT only the dogs in THIS household that get into trouble…

My human was talking with Aunt Glenda the other day, and she had a situation that made the FG’s visit to the neighbors seem like a VERY minor offense.  Aunt Glenda lives on a LARGE parcel of land in the country.  And her dogs – Bernese Mountain Dogs – are very well behaved.  They don’t jump on visitors, don’t tend to destroy things in the house, don’t bark out commands when they are hungry, don’t yank and pull on  a leash – they are generally very well behaved.  BUT – the other day, one of the dogs came in the house and REEKED of skunk.  If you don’t have skunks in your part of the world, thank your lucky stars.  They have this “scent” that they shoot out when they lift their tails.  It’s a defense mechanism.  Someone once said “No sewer ever smelled so bad.” Apparently, wolves and foxes don’t usually attack skunks – for fear of being sprayed.  But not us intelligent domesticated dogs.  My human knows of more than one dog who has met with a skunk.  And getting out the offensive odor is no easy chore.  Some people swear that tomato juice will take out the smell.  And if it doesn’t work,  you now have a stinky red dog.  Another removal recipe is: 1 quart hydrogen peroxide, ¼ cup baking soda, and 1 teaspoon dish-washing liquid. Aunt Glenda used a variation of the hydrogen peroxide recipe.  But even when you DO get out the smell, there is a lingering odor for weeks.

So bad enough that one dog met with the skunk, the next day, another dog came in with ode de rodent.  But even worse – this dog smelled like DEAD skunk.  Can there be anything worse in the WORLD?!  Aunt Glenda thinks dog #1 may have killed the skunk and dog #2 rolled in the remains.  Oooooooo-eeeeeeee.  That would be BAD.

We dogs love stinky things.  And rolling in them is right up there in heavenly experiences – next to an open, accessible treat jar.  Scientists theorize that our desire for outfitting ourselves in stench goes back to our earlier wild roots – and those of our ancestors – the wolf.  They THINK we wanted to disguise ourselves like our prey – so we rolled in the prey’s poop.  Nice.  And let’s face it, eating rotting smelly things is also a great past time.  The other day my human spotted Einstein and I intently smelling something near the garage door.  She came over to see what we were investigating.  A dead baby garter snake.  We thought it was cool – but her – not so much.

Anyway, if you’re having a not-great day, be thankful you don’t live with a dog who just rolled in dead skunk.  Yup.  Always look on the bright side of things!

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!