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 Score one for Elroy.

Elroy and Frodo have become best buddies.  The photo may not LOOK like they are buddies – but this is their weird type of play. They bite and chew each other and wrestle like crazy.  With his new ear apparel, my human has had to break up the All Star Wrestling match more than once – for fear Frodo will definitely pull the tape off those ears.  They are already looking pretty beat.

But the best example of buddies working together was the other day while my human was grooming Frodo.  Elroy was in a run in the garage – watching the beauty routine unfolding.  He was fine and then started to squeak.  Like he needed to go out.  My human thought it odd – since he had just BEEN out, but after a minute or two of continual complaining, she figured she had better take him out.  Now Frodo is generally VERY good when it comes to grooming.  I mean he COMPLAINS and acts like he is being tortured, but he HAPPILY accepts the non-stop treat distribution that goes on throughout the process.  He is also PRETTY obedient when he is told to stay.  So my human told him to stay and went to quickly take Elroy out for a pee. 

When she came back, she found that not only did Frodo NOT stay – he ate all the treats that were piled on the chair next to the grooming table.  And he was looking pretty darn proud of himself.  Thanks to Elroy.

I have finally started to like Elroy.  I even gave him a SPLIT SECOND play bow the other day – and THOUGHT about playing with him indoors.  I HAVE been chasing him outside but the indoor playing has not really started. But I DO tolerate him and it’s even OK with me if he wants to lie down close to me.  We’re getting there.  Perhaps some humans could learn a lesson about tolerance and acceptance from me…

Well, it’s Sunday – time to stare at the throw toys.  Have a great one!

We have a new dog in the house.  A very odd looking dog…  He looks kind of like a goat.  With horns.  Oh wait – it’s ELROY!

I talked before about the fact that he has been sporting the Flying Nun ears for a few weeks.  He had witch ears for a bit and then his ears returned to the nun look.  So.  He will soon be 6 months old.  And in order for those witch ears to reappear, he needs a little help.  In the form of sticks and tape.  Little did Frodo and I know that when he went off to the Vet the other day, that he would return with popsicle stick ears.  And not to worry for those who may read this and not understand the process – he did NOT have any kind of surgery to fix those ears.  They are basically braced up. 

He reportedly was well behaved while the Vet put them up but then understandably began to shake his head when he was done.  My human had visions of them being taken off before they got home – but he quickly adjusted to the weird feeling.  Not to mention the fact that on the way home, she stopped at the PET STORE and bought a special throw toy AND THEN took him to a baseball field near our house to play.  She felt badly for him.  Hey – I’ll tape my ears up for that opportunity!  Can you imagine what THAT would look like?!

Those ears will be like this for a bit.  Unless Frodo can remove them first….He goes back to the Vet next week and depending on how they look, he may or may not need them taped again.  Oh the things we dogs put up with.  

Now.  Where is that toy….don’t worry – I played with it later…

Ahhhhh.  Life in the country.  Or should I say, life in the wild kingdom.

So we know that we sometimes get field mice who decide to visit our abode in the fall.  So far we have not had much action in that area.  Thankfully – as it drives my human crazy.  And then of course, I had that run-in with the porcupine once.  Which put an end to any off leash late night pee breaks.  And then there was the killer duck this summer.  That was entertaining.  And along with the squirrels and chipmunks we have our resident moles – who have made our back lawn into a construction zone.  And if we didn’t have enough chewing by Jaws – now known as the FG, we have a NEW chewer in town.

In the past week or two, we noticed when we went down to the lake, that there were lots of wood chips around.  The first time my human noticed them, she saw Elroy chewing on one – and she panicked – as she thought he was eating a mushroom.  She pried it out of his mouth and realized it was wood.  Hmmmmm.  And then she spotted something odd.  Two trees.  That had been chewed down.  And all that was left were stumps.  What could THAT be?!

Well we have also noticed small trees floating in the water near the shore.  That could only mean one thing.  Beavers. The beaver – which is a symbol of Canada, was a popular commodity for the early explorers.  Those beaver pelts which were made into fur hats, were very profitable.  By the mid-19th century, all those fashionable hats nearly resulted in the demise of the flat-tailed rodent.  But with conservation efforts, and a change in fashion, the beaver is far from endangered.   And we obviously have at least one in the neighborhood.

If you go to the webpage for the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources you can find a page labelled “Nuisance Beavers”.  According to that site, beavers become active in the early fall, storing branches in underwater food piles near their “lodges” for use in the winter.  While beavers can create ponds as they build their dams,  they can also take down a lot of trees.  And they CAN make a mess.  We don’t really NEED a pond.  We have a lake.  And while beavers may LOOK kinda cute – they can be very nasty if provoked.  There have actually been incidents where dogs have been KILLED by beavers!  So now my human doesn’t want any of us off leash when we go down to the lake.  Great.  Time to call in the trappers.  Hopefully they take care of moles too!

Ahhhh.  Life in the country…. I think Elroy has actually met his match in the chewing department!

Have a good one!

Well. It’s over.  The world’s longest (and probably most contentious) election is FINALLY over. And I must say, like so many waking up today, I am feeling shocked.  And this is one time I don’t feel braggadocious about the fact that  dogs were right in their prediction…

Clearly the voters were tired of political rhetoric and were looking for a change.  And boy, they sure got a change…

For those who are feeling disappointed, don’t give up.  America MUST come together.  It is a shattered land.  And because your candidate did not win, does not mean you give up on your country.  And it does not mean you have lost your voice. In the words of Gandi – “be the change that you wish to see in the world.” 

I sure am glad that I’m a dog.  And that is my LAST comment about politics.  For now.  I must go and help my human as she prepares for the influx of visitors.  Before the wall is built…

This is it.  The big day.  Election Day in the US.  If you listen to the news, one poll says one candidate is in the lead.  Another poll puts the other in the lead.  Like an old-fashioned record player, it’s all in how you spin the data.  And with all the varied human predictions, it appears there have been animals predicting who will win as well.  

At an Ecological Park in China (I guess that’s a fancy name for a zoo?) a monkey, who is supposed to be some kind of prophet, was shown pictures of Trump and Clinton, with bananas next to each picture.  The monkey reportedly chose the bananas next to Trump and went so far as to kiss Trump’s picture.  I will say no more… 

At Nova Southeastern University in Florida, two mako sharks were tagged as part of research in the oceanography department.  They have been followed since September – one was tagged as Trump and one as Clinton.  The objective was to see which shark would travel the farthest, and that shark would be deemed the winner – and would predict who would win the election.  Trump did it again.  And again, the analogy between Trump and a shark – well, I’ll say no more on that one either!

In Cleveland, dogs had the chance to vote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpTFpcFGmuc
They predicted Trump.  I’m thinking that hair would be pretty appealing.  No wonder he won.

And in one of my favorite races – we had pigs.  Wearing Trump and Clinton wigs.  I kid you not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr8utEBxtkQ
Trump wins again.  My goodness, it’s hard not to comment further on this one too.

In other predictions, made by parrots and kittens, Hillary won.   Sorry, there is no analogy between Hillary and a kitten.  But a parrot….hmmmmm……..

Anyway.  Today is the day.  And tomorrow a new day dawns.   May it be hopeful…

Honestly.  Sometimes I just don’t know about my human.  Good thing we keep her – she’s not always the sharpest knife in the drawer..

Elroy LOVES balls.  We saw that from the day he arrived.  First she got him the Chuck-It ball.  Which he happily carried – and also chewed.  So then she got the infamous “Jolly” ball.  Which is still intact.  Somewhere in the woods.  That’s where it was last headed.  So THEN she discovered that he really liked the HUGE exercise ball that she had.  You know the kind – you inflate it and you humans are supposed to do some kinds of exercises with it.  The operative words here are SUPPOSED TO.  We’ve had one in this house and the only exercise it has ever seen is her moving it from one room to the next.  Or the exercise used to inflate the thing.  And THEN, Elroy discovered it.  At first he was afraid of it.  And frankly, I am afraid of it too.  Frodo on the other hand likes to push it around with his nose.  And he barks at it.  Once Elroy saw that Frodo wasn’t afraid of it, he went CRAZY over it.  Pushing it. Jumping on and around it.  Trying to pick it up…

My human thought it was cute and then realized he would probably rip it as he actually WAS beginning to carry it a bit- as it wasn’t fully inflated.  So she though that maybe if it was FULLY inflated, he would just be able to push it around and play with it.  So she took it into the garage, found the bicycle pump and inflated the ball.  She was all excited about it.  She went down to the rec room and let Elroy have the ball.  I don’t think I need to point out at this part of the story that my human is no scientist when it comes to the laws of physics.  By inflating the ball, it actually made it EASIER to break.  So you guessed it – one attempt by Elroy to grab it and the next thing we heard was a pssssssssssssss sound.  One dead exercise ball.

But not to worry – now she’s looking at giant horse balls on the internet…

Yup.  It’s a good thing we keep her.  She never ceases to amaze us….

So the other night, my human decided we should introduce Elroy to the game of Find the Bunny…

I was able to play first.  She put Velcro dog and the FG in the front hallway – but they could watch me play through the french door.  That was the plan.  She figured that if the FG watched the game – he might figure it out.  Well, as we all know, I am a Find the Bunny expert. My human made me sit and stay and she hid the bunny in various places around the house.  And I consistently brought the bunny back and gave him up for a treat.  When my multiple runs were over, she put me in the FG’s 100 lb pony sized crate.  Then it was Velcro dog’s turn.  And the FG again got to watch how the game is played.  Sometimes my human hid the bunny in tricky spots – so  Frodo and I really had to use our noses.  It may have looked like we were just running around and looking, but we were using our noses and we both found the bunny every time.  So then it was the FG’s turn.  But how to hide the bunny, when his sit stay lasts .073 seconds and if you walk away more than two feet, he’s up?  My human decided to tie him with a leash to the 100 lb crate.  That I was in.  She tied him up and said to “stay.”  Initially I feared for my life because he began to pull the crate.  But it WAS pretty heavy – and my human said “stay” – so he just stood there.

My human figured that to help him get the idea of the game – she should “hide” the bunny in another room in plain sight.  She did – in fact I think he could even see the bunny the first few times from where he was tied to the crate.  .  When she took him off the leash, she instructed “find the bunny” and he RACED off to get it.  He was very excited to get that bunny.  However – NOT so excited to give him up.  EVERY time my human hid it, she had to follow him while he was looking for it, because in his mind, the name of the game was Search and Destroy the Bunny.  One time he didn’t find the bunny – so he just raced around the house.  I’m thinking he needs a BIT more practice at this game…

He doesn’t need much practice with the dremel though, He reportedly stood perfectly for “Auntie” Glenda AKA the “Just be Calm” lady while she did his nails.  He was so good.  It’s hard to believe.  While there, he tried very hard to play with  a Bernese puppy that Glenda had bred – but she wanted nothing to do with him  I think because she didn’t know quite what to make of the FG – he’s all legs – and those ears would make any dog pause and wonder.

Well the FG is headed to see “Auntie” Glenda again today to be dremeled.  Now that’s not to be confused with being pummeled.  Ears are pummeled (with a pumice stone – that’s MY definition of pummeled) and nails are dremeled.   For a dog who is supposed to be low maintenance, Elroy sure requires lots of pampering! 

You know, I am starting to admire him more and more each day.  He is VERY clever.  And sneaky.  When my human gets home from work, we all run out to have a pee.  And there IS a bit of PONdemonium – we bark and run like cows being let out of the barn after the winter.  Everyone within a 5 km radius knows when my human has come home.  And the FG LOVES to run around with us.  And he’s fast…

The other night, after supper my human went to take something out to the compost bin.  It was just getting dark and she saw “something” right in the middle of the front lawn.  “What IS that?” she wondered.  She slowly walked over and discovered what the odd object was.  One of her shoes.  You see, the FG likes to race out of the house when she gets home and IF he has access to an open closet door, he grabs whatever he can.  And he is GONE with it.   She never even saw him take it!

He and I have STARTED to wrestle just a little.  Just a LITTLE.  I’m not quite sure what to make of all of his leaping and what I call his bucking bronco routine.  It’s quite the sight.  I think those ears give him extra air. 

Hey – did you happen to see what is on “Oprah’s favorite things” list this year?  You probably know Oprah – that mega rich television/media woman.  She puts out this crazy list of stuff every year before Christmas and people who think her opinion is incredibly valuable, go out and buy what she says.  Humans.  Anyway, this year she has a customized dog blanket on the list.  And you humans can have OUR faces put on the blanket.  The one I saw was white in color.  What a perfect clean color for a dog blanket.  Cough cough. Mind you – it is machine washable.  I should hope so.  And it’s a great bargain – only $395 US dollars.  That’s like $2000 Canadian dollars.  OK.  Not THAT much.  Anyway, I think we need one for each of us.  It’s on the list.

Well, it’s the weekend and rumor has it my human is OFF on Monday, Tuesday AND Friday next week!  Let the party begin!   Have a good one – you KNOW we will! And I will continue to work on my list.  Dremel for Elroy…

November 4.  Did you know that on this day in 1929, Richard Byrd and Laurence McKinley Gould began a 2 1/2 month journey to explore the interior of Antarctica?  Well now you know.  And of course, they did their 1500 mile journey on dog sled. Dogs actually arrived in Antarctica back in 1889.  They were THE mode of transportation – and they actually provided more than that.  According to one source – during a bad blizzard back in 1889,  men brought their dogs into their tents for warmth.  In that sometimes hostile environment, man and dog depended on each other for survival.  Just like in our household.  We know our human would be lost without us.  And vice versa.

In 1994, the last dog was removed from Antarctica because of an environmental ruling that any “non-native” species be removed to prevent the possible spread of diseases.  OK.  I get that.  But hello – humans are still there.  Just sayin’.  Mind you, I’m not so sure I want to visit Antarctica.  I’m thinking it’s even colder than Nova Scotia in the winter.  And no doubt I would be subjected to wearing my spandex snowsuit and boots.  No thanks.  Oh – lest anyone THINK we already have snow in the Great White North – the photo was taken last winter.  Personally, I’m hoping for a GREEN Christmas!

Speaking of which, it’s almost time to start my Christmas list.  I don’t need to ask for a puppy this time.  So now I’m thinking about a kitten.  Or a pot bellied pig.  I got THAT idea because there was a story in the news this week from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia about a pot bellied pig.  It seems the local police had to apprehend an escaped  pig in a residential neighborhood.  The pig’s name was Kevin Bacon.  And no – I didn’t make that up.  But Kevin was a friendly, easy-going pig – so the capture was quite uneventful – and he was returned to his home.  That got me thinking we should get one.  That.  Or a kitten.  Or a goat.  Just IMAGINE the stories I would have…

Anyway – it’s FRIDAY!  Stay warm.  Stay dry.  And watch out for pigs.  Have a great one!

Seriously.  Who do we call about making our household into a reality TV show?!  I’m sure all of you would watch!  The latest trauma and drama in our household?  Ears.

You humans are really unbelievable.  The STUFF you worry about when it comes to us dogs is just this side of crazy.  You worry about everything from how we eat, to how we poop, to how we look.  And honestly, while we also care about eating, we don’t really think much about pooping and we certainly do not care how we look.  Well – nobody in this household anyway.  Frodo and I could not care LESS if we ever saw another brush.  But obviously my HUMAN cares about how we look – so going on a grooming hiatus never happens here.  Lucky for Elroy, his coat does not require the same amount of brushing that we PONs do.  But Elroy has had a different “beauty issue” the last little while.  His ears.

Picards are supposed to have erect ears.  When they are puppies, the ears are down and then they go up around 3-4 months.  HOWEVER, when they teethe, the ears can apparently go all wonky.  And that’s exactly what we saw with the Friendly Giant.  As a baby  puppy, his ears were down.  Then at the beginning of October, his ears were both up.  Like two witches hats.  Awesome.  For about a week.  Then down they came.  And the Flying Nun look was back.

So OF COURSE my human has been reading everything she can find about Picard ears.  And she is stressing about it.  She has communicated with a number of people about it.  Some suggested trimming the hair on his ears.  She did that – but it didn’t seem to make a difference.  She fed him cheese so the calcium might help.  He loved the cheese – and so did we, but that didn’t seem to make a difference.  She thought about buying a shaver for his ears – but envisioned making a REAL mess.  And then someone suggested a pumice stone…

A pumice stone?  What do you do with a pumice stone?  Who do you call about it?  Why the Vet’s office.  Of course.  And she asked to speak to the groomer who works there.  They put my human on hold and then said the groomer JUST left.  Suuuuuuure she did – she heard it was my human calling.  So then my human asked to speak to another woman there who breeds Shelties.  This woman took her call – she must have lost the coin toss.  Anyway, she was VERY helpful and she said they sold pumice stones at the office.  AND if that didn’t work, she said our Vet is very good at “taping ears”.   My human thinks of taping as a last resort – primarily because she’s not sure the Friendly Giant would leave them taped.  She wanted to give this pumice stone a try, first.

After work, she stopped in to get the pumice stone, or what I will now refer to as the magic stone.  Because IF it works, it will be magic.  And she got it home.  And she realized she didn’t know exactly what to do with it.  After googling it and going through various You Tube videos showing dogs EATING pumice stones, she finally found one that gave her a BIT of an idea what to do.  The stone acts as a “stripping device” – pulling out hair.  So the poor Friendly Giant was whisked onto the grooming table.  And his ears were “pummeled”. Gently of course.  At first my human thought nothing was happening and then she realized fur was flying.  So she pummeled some more. And the FG got more treats.  And she pummeled.  And he got treats.  And when she was finished pummeling him – she was SURE those ears were up a BIT.  I think it was in her imagination – but who knows?  I just don’t want my human to get ANY ideas about pummeling my ears!  CAN you imagine THAT?

So now we wait to see what the FG’s ears will look like over the next day or two.  And we’ll all be waiting with baited breath.  Well, maybe not  ALL of us… 

Now.  Who do I call about that TV show?