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So get this.  Jaws is going to the dog show today.  Now THIS should be interesting.  The dog who cannot sit still for a nanosecond is going to stay on a grooming table for an hour.  You know those big suits that they use when training canine protection dogs?  The ones that are all padded so it makes it hard for the human to walk?  I am suggesting my human wear one while holding onto Jaws on the table.  Actually, the vision of that scene is pretty funny…

I REALLY shouldn’t tease Jaws about his biting so much.  He went to a class on Thursday night with the Terrific Tracy – and he wasn’t THAT bad.   Terrific Tracy is like the Amazing Aimee.  They both train humans how to behave with us dogs.  Aimee likes to work with puppies.  Tracy works with puppies and adult dogs – who eventually hope to compete in obedience.  Velcro dog and I have both worked with Tracy.  We have trained her all about PONs.  And she has trained our human.  Anyway, Jaws had his first Performance Puppy class.  Sounds like he is going to learn how to play the piano.  Or juggle.  He went with my human AND the little girl from down the street – who had never been to a puppy training class before.  There were several puppies in the class – two mini Aussies, a Weimaraner, a Bullmastiff, a Golden Retriever and Elroy.  His brain exploded when he first went in – but he DID do lots of things he was supposed to do.  Probably because my human was shoveling treats into him like a gambler in front of a slot machine.  And all was going well – until my human ran out of the REALLY good treats.  The freeze dried liver.  And all you “trainers” know that feeling when the GOOD treats are gone.  You dig in your pockets or the ugly fanny pack that holds your rewards – PRAYING that you can find a CRUMB of the GOOD stuff.  But no – all you have left are the REGULAR treats – and you KNOW your last card has been played.  And it was just about half way through the class that the liver ran out, and Jaws decided that was enough class.  He started whimpering.  So my human assumed he needed to pee.  But it was just a ploy to go outside and sniff the ground where 4,000 other dogs had previously peed.  He finally peed and back in they went.  And he started squeaking again.  So now my human figured he needed to poop.  So out they went again.  And he didn’t need to poop.  So back they went in again.  They started doing some work on recalls – and it was no problem because the door was behind my human.  He definitely came racing when called – and bolted around her to head for the door.  When the Terrific Tracy said that there was only a few minutes left of class, my human was breathing a sigh of relief.  She was exhausted.

And the good news?!  For the VERY first time EVER, when Jaws came home, he went ALL BY HIMSELF into his crate and fell asleep.  Really.  My human thought she would NEVER see the day.  And Frodo was relieved as well – his hairdo would stay intact for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow we will SEE who gets to go to the Show and represent the PONs at Meet the Breed.  Frodo went the last time…so i think it’s MY turn.  We’ll see.

Today is September 2.  And everyone knows what day that is!  It’s National Blueberry Popsicle Day.  Seriously.  As I’ve said before – I don’t make these up.  I guess it’s a day to celebrate a yummy summertime treat…as we quickly approach the fall.  And this tasty treat is not just for humans.  I found a recipe in Modern Dog magazine that is just for us canines – although I SUPPOSE we could share it with our humans:

Ingredients

• 2 cups of plain organic yogurt

• 1/3 cup of fresh Blueberries

You basically blend  the two ingredients – which is like a smoothie – and then you put it in in a silicon ice cube tray or even a rectangular silicone muffin tray.  You cover with foil and keep in the freezer about 6 hours – or until frozen.  And voila – a tasty, healthy treat.

And besides eating blueberry pupsicles, plain old blueberries are good for us canines.  There was a study on sled dogs who were fed blueberry supplements, and the dogs had an elevated antioxidant status.  Antioxidants are good  for protecting the body from all kinds of things – including cancer.  Nova Scotia grows LOTS of blueberries – so they are easy for us to get.  Velcro dog and I LOVE them.  Jaws has to pounce on his several times, chew it for 6 minutes, spit it out and THEN he swallows it.   And you should SEE what he does to a banana…

For anyone in our area, the Halifax Kennel Club show is on this weekend,  starting tonight.  None of us are entered in anything – we’re not well trained enough to enter our next level of obedience, and my human wasn’t up to the task of grooming us for the beauty pageant.  She’s also been going to the hospital a lot – so it’s just as well we weren’t entered in any competitions.  Which is fine with me –  the groom-athon is NOT my favorite activity.  But that being said, rumor has it that she is going to escape from the hospital if all is well, for an hour on Saturday and an hour on Sunday and SOME of us will be participating in Meet the Breed.  It’s that chance to schmooze with the public and talk about all the wonderful attributes of PONs.  One sits on a grooming table looking all fluffy and adorable while the public parades through and one’s human doles out treats to give to us.  It’s a pretty good gig.  I THOUGHT I heard that Jaws may also be going one day.  Now it’s not like my human is an expert on the breed – I mean she has had a Picard for all of a month?  But honestly, who doesn’t like a puppy?  Mind you,  Jaws may not be the best ambassador for the breed when he takes a chunk out of someone.   Not to worry.  My human will be equipped with band-aids.  And TONS of treats.

Now we get to flip a treat for which PON gets to go….hmmmmmmm……who will require LESS grooming….

They say that laughter is the best medicine.  It’s a pity my human cannot take us to the hospital with her to visit – we could no doubt entertain the entire ward…

It’s been a rough couple of weeks in our house.  As you know, I had my seizures.  Thankfully I haven’t had another – and I SEEM fine – but my human has only been half-sleeping because they happened in the night – and she’s still worried they could happen again.

And now, someone very close to my human is in the hospital.   And you know, we dogs KNOW when our humans are stressed and worried.  We can just tell.  We have a sense about such things.  And because we have that sense, we have all been behaving rather well the past few days.  I haven’t run off.  I haven’t grumbled at Jaws.  Frodo hasn’t attempted to steal food from the food bin.  Oh wait.  He did yesterday.  But just once.  Elroy isn’t biting.  As much.  We are all trying our best – to make our human feel better.  

I can’t go into too much detail here – but I know that I have readers from all around the globe – and I am hoping that you might take a minute today to say a little prayer for a special person in Nova Scotia.  It would be appreciated more than you will ever know. 

Thank you…and I hope you have a stress-free waggy-tailed kind of day.

The other day, Jaws  went for his last puppy shot.  He wasn’t overly excited with the Vet – probably because the last time he was there, the Vet trimmed his nails.  NOT a pleasant experience for anyone.  So now my human is OBSESSED with teaching him that it’s OK to have his nails cut and she is doing it gradually.  VERY gradually.  Frodo and I watched the process the other day with great interest.  We were on the other side of a baby gate – because it would NOT have worked if we were in the room.  My human has given up trying to do his nails on the grooming table.  It just didn’t work.  So.  She sat on the floor – and smeared a tablespoon of peanut butter in his dog food bowl.  Then she added some of his kibble.  She THOUGHT he would be so interested in licking the peanut butter, she could do his nails.  Bwahahahahahahaha.  She didn’t find this approach on the internet – it was her own wild idea and it clearly failed!  As soon as she touched his feet while he was eating, he said “I don’t care HOW tasty this stuff is – I’m out.”  

So then my human had to back it up – and take a different more conventional conditioned behavior approach.  Jaws was lying on the floor – and if he let her even TOUCH his foot without pulling it away, he got a kibble with peanut butter.  Then she held his foot a LITTLE longer.  If he stayed still, he got a kibble.  If he pulled away, no kibble.  After 276 tries, she then touched his nail with the clipper.  So you can see what she was trying to do.  After a few minutes she was able to do a TINY trim on three nails before they stopped for the day.  Frodo and I do not love having our nails done – but we do it without too much protesting.  I don’t remember going through the gradual process – but I guess we must have.  Getting all those treats make it worth it – in fact we STILL get treats when having our nails done.

Jaws hasn’t been introduced to the blow dryer yet.  He doesn’t mind the vacuum cleaner – he tries to attack it.   So the blow dryer should be interesting.  He’s actually a pretty bold guy.

So the saga continues.  We don’t know why I am having these seizures – but honestly, they are much worse for my human than they are for me.  This last one lasted less than a minute again, and within 15 minutes I was completely back to my wild self.  I LOOKED rather disheveled – but I felt fine.  My Vet who saw me on Tuesday was not working yesterday – but my human had a consult with another Vet who she quite likes.  The doctor said that she thinks it could be Epilepsy.   But she didn’t want to give me medication just yet – given that the seizures were short and I rebounded so quickly.  She said if I have ONE more – they will then consider putting me on something.  She said my blood work was good – and even though my liver enzymes were a bit elevated – it was not at a significant level.

My human asked what to do IF I have another one today – as the Vet is closed and it would mean a visit to the Emergency Clinic.  The Vet said I did not need to go – UNLESS the seizure lasted longer – or I had seizures occurring VERY frequently – like every hour.  And no medication for me yet.  I just wanted to know if she could give my HUMAN some medication to reduce HER stress.  

I’ve received so many good wishes and positive thoughts – I KNOW things will work out.  Thank you for thinking of me.  There are lots of theories as to why these may be happening.  It doesn’t SEEM that it was related to the antibiotic medication – as we had initially thought.  But who knows?  Time will tell.

On a brighter note – Jaws has been introduced to the DFZ by way of Velcro dog.  As you may recall, the DFZ (Dog-Free Zone) status had changed in recent months as Frodo and I knew how to behave in there.  But with the arrival of Jaws – the status has been reintroduced.  There are WAY too many cool things in there to chew on – so it’s off limits to puppy teeth.  But yesterday, while my human was helping me to look a bit less disheveled by brushing me, Velcro dog opened the gate to the DFZ and went in with his sidekick.  My human nearly passed out when she found them in there.  Jaws was just wandering around and checking things out – he wasn’t in there long enough to sample the rugs or furniture.  Next time…

Paws crossed I have a good day – AND a sleep-filled night like I did yesterday.  Ditto for my human…

And I hope YOU have a good one too!

Well Mr. Elroy has been getting out lately.  He had a Puppy Socialization class on Wednesday night.  Velcro dog was relieved he was gone for an hour – those two CANNOT stop playing with each other.  Excuse my graphic description, but Frodo tries to hump Elroy and then Elroy tries to hump Frodo.  Then they chew each other’s ears.  Then they bounce up and Elroy rips some of Frodo’s tail hair off.  It’s really quite a sight.  My human has to break it up when it gets too raucous.  I’m still not sure about it all – so I just watch.  

My human THINKS she is smart.  But clearly not as smart as us canines.

Jaws loves to be outside.  Our property is not fully fenced – it’s a couple of acres.  There is a large dog run on the side of our house – but we never use it – we prefer to be with our human!  We also have a large covered X-pen – which we never use either. It was actually WITHIN the run.  Don’t ask me why – it doesn’t make sense to me either.  Bottom line – we don’t use either enclosure.  But since Jaws likes it outside, my human thought that while she was doing work in the garden, she could put Jaws in the X-pen – on a grassy area next to the driveway.  Before the Hulk left, he helped my human carry the 10,000 lb pen (OK, maybe it’s not THAT heavy – but it helped to move it with two people) to the decided location.  Grassy.  Shaded.  Perfect.  Or so she thought.

So yesterday, while she was mowing the lawn and pulling weeds out of the garden beds, she put Jaws in the pen.  She could keep an eye on him – and knew he was safe.  Velcro dog and I were out on the deck.

My human mowed and every little while, looked over to see that he was OK.  He appeared to be playing with one of his chew toys. 

She finished her gardening and went to get the little fella – who is now taller than Velcro dog – and he was quietly working.  He was digging a hole.  About a foot wide.  He had covered his chew toys and his feet were dark brown.  His nose had mud on it.  And he appeared quiet happy with his work.  Yesterday was the day he was introduced to the tub in the “grooming” room. 
   
So I question the intelligence of my human.  We know the guy likes to dig.  But if that wasn’t bad enough, my human later went to take the garbage cans up to the road.  She figured it would ONLY take her two minutes – so she could again leave Jaws in the pen.  I can’t believe I am actually telling this part of the story.  Really?  Where are your brains woman?  Sure it was only SUPPOSED to be a few minutes.  But then you really shouldn’t have chatted with the neighbor who happened to be walking by – should you?  So you guessed it  Digger was at it again.

So now the pen will have to be moved – as it has been almost fully excavated.  There is no grass left.  So much for the great location.  And moving it will be fun – as the Hulk is gone.  This should be interesting…

Who said humans are smarter than canines?

I had a seizure.  No joke.  No beating around the bush on this topic.  And my human was beyond stressed…

It happened at 2:40AM Monday morning.  My human was asleep and she heard me making a strange chewing sound.  She quickly got up and the next thing you know, I was having a seizure.  I don’t remember much about it.  It lasted less than 30 seconds – but for my human it felt like 30 minutes.  Afterward, I was confused and I barked and growled at the Hulk – like I had never seen him before.  But within minutes, I was OK.  That didn’t stop my human from getting dressed and rushing me to the Animal Emergency Clinic – while the Hulk stayed home with Frodo and Elroy.

By the time I got to the Clinic, it was like nothing had happened.  I bounced in, happy and sniffing all the weird smells.

The Vet checked me over and of course, I was well behaved and totally back to being me.  I didn’t have any abnormal outward symptoms of anything – my heart sounded fine, I had no temperature, my eyes responded to light, I was breathing normally.  If my human didn’t report what had just happened, I looked like a perfectly healthy dog.  The Vet said to watch me for any other incidents.  She suggested I have some bloodwork done at our regular Vet – so of course my human immediately made an appointment as soon as our Vet opened Monday morning.  She likes all the Vets at our Clinic – but there is one she has known for many years – so I went to see him yesterday.  

My human had made her own diagnosis (with her honorary internet Veterinary degree) about why it may have happened.  And after the bloodwork, our Vet pretty much agreed.