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So here are a couple of words from my Viktionary.  See if you can relate to any of them!

 I hope your day is full of good learning experiences!!!

July 4.  Happy Independence Day to my American family and friends.  In honor of the holiday, let’s do a little quiz on just a few “Made in America” dog breeds…

1.  This tuxedo-wearing black and white dog hails from New England.
2.  This husky breed was valuable during the Gold Rush in the 1800’s.  They are native to the 49th state to join the Union.
3.  These dogs were said to have Newfoundland dogs in their ancestry.  They are hardy retrievers from Maryland.
4.  This white fluffy canine is said to be a cross from the German and Italian spitz.  Their nickname is the Eskie.
5. This feisty little dog is said to have originated from the Smooth Fox Terrier, the Chihuahua and the Manchester terrier.
6.  These herding dogs originated on ranches in the western US.  The name of these dogs may think they are from a country “down under.”
7.  This sporting dog is the state dog of Wisconsin. Their name indicates that they clearly don’t mind the rain – the way that Einstein and I do!

Let’s see how you did…
1.  Boston terrier
2.  Alaskan Malamute
3.  Chesapeake Bay Retriever
4.  American Eskimo Dog
5.  Toy Fox Terrier
6.  Australian Shepherd
7.  American Water Spaniel

There are other breeds – including the Redbone Coon Hound, the American Staffordshire terrier and the Catahoula Leopard Dog. And then of course, we have one of my favorite dogs – which came from Germany – but became VERY popular in the US.  Which one?  The HOTDOG – of course!

Have a good one.

The day began with POURING rain.  I mean POURING like standing-under-Niagara Falls-rain.  JUST imagine how happy Einstein and I were when my human opened the door yesterday morning.  I was outfitted in my snazzy blue raincoat, and Einstein was wearing the gortex body suit.  He lost the coin toss.  But let me tell you, we were still wet when we came home probably because yours truly refused to poop.  I find it hard to poop when wearing a coat.  Einstein went almost IMMEDIATELY so he was NOT happy with me when he was forced to walk along with me.  He was WAY behind my human walking down the road.  We were both walking like two sacks of potatoes.  Our gait improved SIGNIFICANTLY on the way home.  

The FG didn’t really care too much about the rain.  Although I THINK it was the first time he actually wore a raincoat – so he was initially suspended when my human put it on him.  Then of course, he tried to eat it.  Outside he walked and every ten feet would stop and shake himself off.  Walk, stop, shake.  Walk, stop, shake.  Luckily he pooped relatively quickly.

Yesterday was a long but good day in the learning experience department. We keep hoping for those good days.

Last night, my human took each of us for a another walk but this time, the rain and clouds were gone.  Now we experienced the fog. We quite enjoy the fog.  You can’t see far in the distance, but with each step you take, you CAN see things.  Fog can make the world seem blurry and out of focus – but you KNOW it will lift.   And maybe today, we’ll feel that sunshine again.  

Enjoy our fog dog photos.  

Thank you again for your support – and please keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming…

 

So yesterday we canines were not particularly helpful to my human during this time of learning.  We have decided to get away from the “challenging times” focus and instead call this a time of learning.  It’s a time of learning in many ways – about the medical system, about strength, resilience,  hope, friendship, family, and faith.  And well, while we canines SHOULD be helpful during this time, we were ….ugh….not so helpful yesterday.  BUT – we did provide comic relief.  AFTER the fact.

My human is running on less than 6 hours sleep these days – and she is pretty much on the go from 5 AM when she gets up to walk us, until midnight.  Or later some days this week.  She is juggling quite a bit.  And she’s a pretty independent person who hates to ask for help – but yesterday she KNEW she needed to take up a friend’s offer for help.  Today is the start of a long weekend – and most stores are closed today.  Including the store where she gets our dog food.  And that store is also closed every Sunday.  My human THOUGHT she had enough food to get us through the weekend – but she wasn’t sure – so she asked a friend if she or her husband could pick up two bags for us – as my human knew she couldn’t get there yesterday.  The answer was a quick yes – and when my human came home, two 40 lb bags of food were waiting in our hallway.  

When my human got home yesterday, she let the FG into the fenced run for a quick pee and let Einstein and I out to bark and attack each other as if we hadn’t just spent the whole day together.  We did our thing, then my human took the FG out on a leash for a walk in the backyard, with Einstein and I running free.  My human knew we wouldn’t take off in the woods – as we were hungry for supper.  We all came back in – but before she fed us, she decided to put the bags of food in the storage bin in the garage.  But of course, she could only carry one 40 lb bag at a time.  She took the first bag in and was gone 23 seconds.  

She came back and stepped into the hallway and her head exploded.  There was a 40 lb bag of dog food, with a HUGE hole in the side of it, pouring out food like a giant win on a slot machine – with two PONs acting as frenzied vacuum cleaners and one Picard standing and staring in AWE.  My human SCREAMED and grabbed us by the collars and shoved us out of the hallway and shut the door.   There must have been 20 lbs of food spread out on the floor.  We did hear some rather colorful language as she cleaned up the mess – while three starving canines watched her with noses pressed against the french door staring into the hallway.

After the fact, my human DID have a chuckle.  And truthfully?  That’s really what we boys were aiming for.  It wasn’t about the food.  It was about making my human laugh.  Sure it was….

Anyway – have a Happy Canada Day. Whether you live in Canada or not, eh.

We saw some other rays coming through the clouds yesterday – and they make you realize that even SMALL things can make challenging times so much better.  A kind word or gesture.  A message.  Just a smile.  Sometimes humans need to think about how a little “nice thing” can change someone’s day.  

And then of course, if one is having a difficult time, focusing on or being grateful for GOOD things is important.  Like the PPPs. 

PPP stands for several good things in our house.  

For example, PPP can stand for Precocious PONs and Picard.  Yup that’s us.  And we ARE a good thing.  Sometimes. 

Another thing is Picture Perfect Poop.  I’ve talked about this before.  People who are owned by dogs obsess about our poop.  When we go.  How we go.  And if a dog has been having issues, PPP can brighten a human’s day.  Heck, even if a dog ISN’T having issues, humans are usually happy about PPP.  Seriously.  Hard to believe – but true.

And of course we have the other PPP- Painful Puparrazi Photos.  Especially during the holidays.  In our opinion, not so good – but humans seem to enjoy them, so we humor you – AND they brighten your day.

And lastly we have the Power of Positivity and Prayer.  This is a BIG one to focus on.  We saw it yesterday – and again thank you for it – so much.    You will never know how much it can mean to someone – and how it can help those clouds to part.

Have a great one.

Sometimes life is hard.  Just plain old hard.  The skies look grey.  And dark.

But you know, if you fly in a plane above those clouds, the sun is shining…even if we can’t see it from the ground.

Things are hard here right now.  And we need your good thoughts and prayers.

We’ll share when we can…

It’s June 27 – and it’s also the birthday of Helen Keller.  In 1980, on the 100th anniversary of her birth, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the day, Helen Keller Day – in honor of the famous American lecturer and activist for the disabled.  Helen was born with the ability to see and hear, but lost both senses to illness when she was 19 months old.  Helen met Alexander Graham Bell – who was working with deaf individuals at the time, and he suggested she work with a teacher by the name of Anne Sullivan.  Anne taught Helen to communicate though sign language – by spelling words in her hands.  The incredible story of their relationship and her ability to effectively communicate, despite the fact that she was blind and deaf, has been the subject of books, play and movies.

And while you may know those facts about her, what you may not know is that she had a special relationship with dogs!  She had a number of canine companions in her life and when she wrote about what she would do if she could suddenly see, she wrote the following:  “I should like to look into the loyal, trusting eyes of my dogs…whose warm, tender, and playful friendships are so comforting to me.”

The following link tells all about Helen and the dogs in her life.  I want to share it, as the photos are quite wonderful…
http://www.perkins.org/stories/helen-keller-a-life-with-dogs

It looks like Helen’s dogs were quite well behaved. Note there are no PONs or Picards in the photos…

But speaking of good behavior… the FG is REALLY starting to become better behaved.  Remember how he used to drag my human down the street?  Well, not that he NEVER would do it – BUT now she just stops, he stops and comes back to her side and walks with her quite nicely.  IN FACT, at times he is almost TOO close.   He could make her walk into the ditch at the side of the road – he pushes her so much.  I mean he is walking like he is glued to her.  Again – I wonder who has trained who….

Anyway – it’s Tuesday.  Have a good one!

So there was a murder committed in our garage on Saturday.  OK.  OK.  Not a REAL murder.  But it did sound like it.  Saturday was “grooming day” for all of us.  And let’s just say that Einstein gets a BIT dramatic when brushing is involved.  And especially when his coat is – how do I say this – a bit “tangled”.  Perhaps it is due to the foggy weather we have had lately.  While it does wonders for skin, it wreaks havoc with coats.  Top that off with the fact that the FG and I LOVE to lick Einstein’s head and ears – and well, you end up with a very tangled dog.  And although my human TRIES to be gentle in detangling the mess, sometimes she does need to tug a bit.  And you would THINK she was pulling off his toenails!  Now I am really good – she can tug and brush and even work in “delicate” areas and I don’t care.  She’s doling out the treats every 15 seconds – so why complain?  But Einstein moans and pants and lets out the occasional yelp for good measure.  And of course, the instant she stops, he pops up like nothing ever happened.  I should add that grooming Einstein is a bit like the sport of calf roping.  First she has to catch him to get him to come in the grooming torture room aka garage.  Then she lifts him and places him on his side.  And he squirms to get up.  His squirming went on for about the first 20 minutes until my human had enough of the wrestling and firmly said “knock it off!!!!”  He stayed in place for the next 5 hours.  OK.  It wasn’t 5 hours – probably closer to 2 hours.  And yes, he still got a break probably every minute or so with a treat.  She had done my grooming first – which lasted about an hour.  

June 25.  Exactly 6 months until Christmas.  Time to start my list.  And this year, there will be only one thing on the list.  Good health.  For all my family and friends.  Because IF you have that,  the rest of the “stuff” is gravy.  Sometimes we tend to forget about that.  If you wake up and you feel good, the day is yours to create.  OK.  So that’s my list.  For now.  I might add a bone to the list, because the “good health” thing is a bit abstract for Santa to bring down the chimney.  And we don’t want to take away the guy’s job.

So let’s review the past week.  I wrote about the alien tick – and to make matters worse, he had a roommate.  Which my human again discovered on the FG.  He was promptly removed, put in two plastic bags and placed in the garbage can outside which contains the bags of dog poop that are picked up by the garbage man.  The tick.  Not the FG.  My human was in SUCH a state when she found this one, she wasn’t thinking straight.  She probably should have flushed him – like the last one – but she instead threw him outside.  OF COURSE, she later regretted her decision – but wasn’t about to go searching for him through the other bags in that can.  And let’s face it – he has probably been gassed to death in there.  Although I have heard that the buggers are pretty tough. 

I hate to write this – but I had another seizure this week.  But we are adjusting my medication again – and HOPEFULLY this will do it.  Like I said, don’t take good health for granted….

And in lighter news – my human posted this video of the FG and Einstein. 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gdDKuk2lXI

As you can see – Einstein is a VERY patient dog.  But lest anyone THINK that he is being taken advantage of – TRUST me – HE IS THE BOSS.  Here is another SHORT example of their playing.  My human didn’t include the part with them racing around the kitchen.  And attempting to hump each other…  While the first video may look like the FG is a bit pushy – you can clearly see that he DOES respect Einstein!  Einstein starts coughing part way through – because he has no doubt swallowed a fair bit of Picard hair at this point.  But the body postures really show that these two guys are pretty comfortable with each other. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8Pihq_VZ8

I just watch the two of them and roll my eyes.

So that’s the news from this front.  And remember – if you feel good today – make the MOST of this day that you have been given.  It’s the best gift of all!