Viktorsviews. The Next Chapter.

Black Friday

November 27, 2015Leave a Comment

You humans. You are just so interesting. Today is “Black Friday”. It’s a day when people line up to buy things at bargain prices. And today is also “Buy Nothing Day.” Yup. Some people go crazy spending money. And others do JUST the opposite.

My human was not going to line up in the wee hours of the morning to go shopping. No point in putting her life in danger. Imagine her tombstone reading: Died by trampling while bargain hunting.

Now don’t get me wrong – we all enjoy a good bargain. But to go to extreme lengths to get it seems crazy. Although I DID see that the pet store had some GREAT bargains on Dog Toys. I think THAT would be worth standing in line for. Wonder if I can borrow the car?

Speaking of the car – my human has been driving around a land aircraft carrier the past few days. Not just a “landyacht.” A land aircraft carrier. Our car, Harold, has been in the shop getting a new bumper. He had to get one after my human was rear ended a few weeks back. The massive vehicle she was given by the insurance company is a BIT much. She was practically crying when driving home from work the other night. Everything in the vehicle is touch button/electronic. Somehow she got the air conditioner BLASTING – which was NOT what she wanted as it was freezing outside. And she couldn’t figure out how to adjust the temperature. She just kept repeating “I want my little old Subaru back. I want my little old Subaru back.” I bet Frodo would have a great time in that rental vehicle – he loves to push buttons. But not likely he will get the chance. Taking us wild things in a posh vehicle would NOT be a good idea. That new car smell would be gone. QUICKLY. Not to mention the olfactory art we could leave on the windows. My human doesn’t want to take any chances with us and is begging for Harold to be returned. It sounds like it won’t be until next Monday. Harold has a few issues with rust that were not evident until they removed his bumper. Poor Harold. We miss him.

So the National Dog show winner was a Skye Terrier. My human was talking to her mother on her way home from work, and her mother said “it was a shaggy dog who won.” My human said “was it a PON?!” Her mother said – I don’t THINK so – but it WAS shaggy. Maybe it was a PON!“ When my human looked up the winner she saw it WAS a shaggy dog. But not exactly a PON …..Maybe next year!

OK. Enough babbling on. Time to celebrate FRIDAY!!!! Whether you call it Black, Red or Yellow -it’s here again!! We call it “more time with our human!!” Life IS good. Oh. And if you DID get great bargains on dog toys – and you want to share – I will be happy to send you my mailing address.

Thanksgiving. Again!

November 26, 2015Leave a Comment

Today is a HUGE holiday in the US. It’s Thanksgiving Day. We get to celebrate Canadian AND US Thanksgiving – since my human is a citizen of both countries! Turkey dinner times two.

And today, as is tradition– millions of people will be watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City. The parade began back in 1924. The first giant helium balloon to appear in the parade was a CAT. Felix the Cat. Back in 1927. But do you know what balloon has appeared in the most parades? Snoopy! Of course. Because he is a DOG.

Everyone awaits the end of the parade because a special guy appears. Santa. He’s always at the end. Except for 1933 when someone had the idea to put him at the beginning of the parade. I guess it wasn’t such a GREAT idea, since they never did it again.

And when the parade is over, that’s not the end of the excitement. And I’m not referring to football games. I’m talking about the National Dog Show, in Philadelphia! How appropriate that humans should have a special show with DOGS on Thanksgiving. Seven new breeds will be introduced this year – the Bergamasco, Spanish Water Dog, Miniature American Shepherd, Lagotto Romagnolo, Berger Picard, Cirneco dell’Etna, and Boerboel. Looks like several of them are herding breeds. I’m personally partial to those breeds –because we PONs are in the herding group and I think we all are kindred spirits. Mind you. I don’t really like sheep….

But besides the parade and sports events and even a dog show – today is a day to be THANKFUL. A day to be grateful for so many things. And some things we may not think about…

For a example – be thankful for the fact that you have the ability to readthis blog! Not everyone can.

Be thankful that you have a computer or other electronic device that you can read this blog on. Not everyone does.

Be thankful that you have the electricity to run your device. Not everyone does.

Be thankful that you have been owned by or are currently owned by a dog. We bring so much joy to your life. Most of the time…

Be thankful that you woke up this morning to celebrate a new day. Not everyone will….

So take a moment to give thanks for all you have – including your loved ones – two legged and four legged.

Happy Thanksgiving – no matter WHERE you live! Now. Pass the turkey!

Solitary confinement

November 25, 2015Leave a Comment

So what’s the latest news around here? Well. Paxton is in solitary confinement. For his own protection. Protection from me. And Frodo….

I think I mentioned the other day that my human noticed a cut on Paxton’s ear. She WONDERED why Frodo and I were OBSESSED with licking him and on closer inspection, she saw why. So she put some ointment on his ear, thinking that would keep us away. Fat chance. We like to lick. She even tried some bitter stuff. Yum. We are not to be deterred.

So she decided she would have to sequester Paxton any time she was not around. So he stayed in the rec room while she was at work and we PON twins were upstairs. She kept putting ointment on his ear – and it was healing nicely. She was even taking him with her in the bathroom when she took her shower each morning. From what I hear – he was fascinated with our human standing in this clear box, getting wet. We didn’t get to see – because we were not allowed in the room.

But the day before yesterday she didn’t take him in the bathroom – thinking the ear was healing well. Uh. It WAS. When she came out of the bathroom after showering, she saw Frodo. But Paxton and I were not around. She came into the hallway, and found me standing with my front legs on his back, while thoroughly cleaning that ear. Yup. I did it. And the ear was raw again. So Paxton had to go back in solitary.

So yesterday morning, while she going to take her shower, Paxton was with her in the bathroom. Frodo and I were NOT impressed. We wanted to be in there too. So JUST as my human was about to step in the shower, she heard all heck break loose in the kitchen. Barking and banging and clanging – it sounded like a war going on. She realized what was happening and grabbed her phone to record a short snip of the the sound. She came out to find FRODO barking like crazy, and playing bowl hockey with his metal food dish. He was batting it all around the room and barking at the same time. Here’s a SHORT recording of the mayhem. Remember – this recording was taken from another room. With the door closed! dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64680588/Frodo.m4a

The truth is – Frodo was QUITE annoyed that Pax got to go in the bathroom again. So he decided to be quite vocal about his opinion. I just sat there innocently. For a change.

My human has to watch us when we are all together – because if she turns her back for even .046 seconds, one of us is licking that ear. We’re JUST trying to make it better. But she doesn’t see it that way.

Paws crossed that it heals quickly and Pax can come out of solitary. Mind you….sometimes I think he might ENJOY the solitude….

Celebrate your Talents!

November 24, 2015Leave a Comment

November 24. Today is Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day. Hmmm…So WHAT are some of the unique talents of the dogs in this household? Let’s see…

Frodo has a unique talent for being able to rest his head in THE most uncomfortable spots. On a chair rail. On the edge of a table. He can sleep comfortably anywhere. He also has the unique talent for being able to read my human’s mind. So when she attempts to take a photo of him in the weird positions – he can figure it out before she even comes near with the camera. And he moves. So I don’t have great photographic evidence of his strange talent – but trust me – the guy is a contortionist. He is also a very talented escape artist. Combine his contortionism with his clever ability to figure out how to get IN or OUT of any enclosure and we have a true Pondini in our midst. That’s talent!

Paxton? His unique talent is pulling a cart. The one he has is not really big enough for him to pull Frodo and I around – I think he needs a wagon. He is a talented draft dog. But he does what my human calls “freestyle draft.” He goes where HE wants with the cart. And not always where my human wants him to.

And me? What’s my talent? Rabbit chasing? Social greeter with porcupines? Ability to use X-ray vision to see into the room where the dog food is stored? Ability to CAREFULLY sneak onto my human’s bed when she is asleep – and not wake her? Ability to put on THE most adorable expression when I have done something wrong? No wait. My talent is blog writing!

Sometimes we neglect our unique talents – and we don’t always share them with others. If your talent is singing, belt out a tune – even if it’s in the shower. If your talent is drawing, doodle something today – maybe a picture of a PON! If your talent is dog training – teach Fido a new trick! All of us have the talent or ability to make someone ELSE feel good. Tell someone how nice they look. Thank them for their service. The important thing – no matter WHAT YOUR talent – make sure you use it today!

Fibonacci Day

November 23, 2015Leave a Comment

November 23. Fibonacci Day. I must confess – I had NO idea who or what Fibonacci is/was. It sounds like a cross between some kind of disease and an Italian dessert. But no – Fibonacci was at Italian mathematician in the Middle Ages. His real name was Leonardo Bonacci. Fibonacci for short? Anyway he did some stuff with number sequences. Check him out on Google.

Did you know that there have been studies to see if we dogs can do math?! And of course they found we can. To test our math skills, researchers showed dogs a piece of food. Then they put it behind a barrier. So the dogs couldn’t see it. Then they showed the dogs another piece of food. Which they also placed behind the barrier. Sometimes they secretly removed one of the pieces of food. When they removed the barrier – the dogs would STARE in surprise that one of the pieces was gone. The dogs had “counted” the pieces and knew one was missing. So they could subtract. In the same way, the researchers sometimes secretly put an EXTRA piece of food behind the barrier. And the dogs also stared when the barrier was removed – because they could see (and add) the extra piece. So from this experiment, they concluded that we dogs can add and subtract. I could have told them that. Heck, I can tell if Frodo gets more pieces of kibble in HIS bowl than I do. And I DEFINITELY know if one of us gets an extra treat. I certainly don’t need a calculator for that!

So go out and celebrate Finonacci today. And don’t forget to give your dog an extra treat. We’re counting on it! Pun intended.

National Start Your Own Country Day

November 22, 2015Leave a Comment

November 22. Today is National Start Your Own Country Day. I’m not joking. So I started thinking, if we canines started our OWN country, what would it be like?

First off, we would need a flag. Something with a pawprint works. A grey background with all different colored pawprints. To represent ALL the different colors we canines come in. No matter WHAT the breed or variety. The country of K9 would be ALL inclusive.

The national language? Simple. We all speak woof. That’s the cool thing about us dogs – we all speak the SAME language – so there is never any misinterpretation about what we are communicating.

Governing body? The Top Dog rules. Any dog has the CHANCE to be the Top Dog. But often, it is the OLDEST dog in the country. We respect our elders – and we look to them for advice and direction. So our Top Dog would not be some young pup.

National sport? Chasing things. … Cats. Balls. Sheep. Ducks. Rodents. Or Z’s. Some of us are true couch potatoes – and some of us like to move.

National dish? Apples. It accommodates any vegan citizens – and most dogs seem to like them. Oh – and in our country, food dishes would be refilled WHENEVER we want them.

The country of K9 would be leash free. Brushes would be banned. And attire would be COMPLETELY optional – particularly holiday attire. It is UNLIKELY most canines would opt for holiday dressing – but we must be accepting of those who DO enjoy it. Those few.

I’m not sure exactly WHERE our country would be located. I think it has to be some place that has four seasons. Because some canines like warm weather, and some like cold – we again need to be inclusive. One thing I DO know, our country would have LOTS of trees. Lots and lots of trees. To pee on. Oh and for environmental reasons of course.

So there is the START of our country. We of course, WOULD allow humans in our country. We would allow them to live amongst us and follow our rules. And to bring us food. And clean up our poop. And play with us. And provide shelter. And to give us treats and toys.

Hey. Come to think of it – we are ALREADY doing THAT part….So maybe we DO already have our own country….worldwide…Think about it…..

Resolutions. Revisited.

November 21, 2015Leave a Comment

Wow. The year is really going by quickly. I mean it is almost US Thanksgiving and the next thing you know, it will be Easter. JUST kidding. Of course the next big thing is CHRISTMAS!!!! Time to start working on my wish list.

But I started thinking. Before I do THAT, perhaps I should look at my2015 New Year’s resolutions to see how I am doing. I wonder how many HUMANS actually carry out their resolutions? Heck. I wonder how many humans can even REMEMBER what they were?! So here’s my list. Let’s see how I am doing. I figure if I look at them now, I still have time to accomplish them – if I haven’t already done so.

1. Get my very own Facebook page. I have my own blog, so I think it’s time I get my own page on Facebook. And my goal is 14 Likes by May.ACCOMPLISHED!!! And 147 people like me. 113 of those are my human’s family. 20 are MY friends. The rest are people she made up.

2. Stop running off into the woods. OK. That’s probably a bit lofty. How about stop running off into the woods for more than 10 minutes. Hmmm. I’m not quite sure I accomplished this one. Especially that night I went to visit the porcupine…

3. Stop counter surfing. Hmmm…again maybe a bit much. How about stop counter surfing when there is a full moon.. This one I DID accomplish. I NEVER counter surfed. When there was a full moon. For example – when I stole the dog sitter’s sandwich last week from the counter, it was a NEW moon. So check this one off the list.

4. Do not chew on the new dog bed. When my human is watching. Another one – accomplished! Remember the $10,000 steel bed my human bought for us LAST Christmas? It is STILL intact! I think we could do commercials for these beds. NO DOG BED has ever survived this long in our house!!!!

5. Do not lick Frodo or Paxton’s face. If it is dinner time. Accomplished. I never lick their ears while eating dinner. Ever. The other 23 hours and 58 minutes of the day – it’s a different story…

6. Do not steal bones or toys from Frodo or Paxton. Especially when I have already hoarded all the other bones and toys….OK. ANOTHER one I need to work on. But honestly, I thought all the toys were for ME!

7. Do not look longingly at the garage door where the dog food is stored. Every 10 minutes. I’ve got this one down to every 15 minutes. More work to do…

8. Make every effort NOT to knock out my human when I am jumping repeatedly while waiting to go out the front door. No black eyes SO FAR this year – so I consider this one accomplished.

9. Do not chase rabbits or foxes…. on the third Thursday of every month. Accomplished. Wait there WAS the third Thursday of April. Oh and July. And September. OK. Maybe this still needs work.

10. Agree to poop in the rain at least once a month. OK. Semi-accomplsihed. I did do this in May. But not since then….

So overall, I’m not doing TOO badly. A couple of things to work on. I still have 40 more days.

Now to start working on the Christmas wish list…

In the dog news.

November 20, 2015Leave a Comment

Time for some dogs news.

Remember my run in with the porcupine? Well. Apparently the results could have been worse. MUCH worse. Three dogs in Saskatchewan, Canada decided to “investigate” a porcupine. The oldest, a nine-year old was the first to encounter the moving pin cushion and only got a few quills in his chin. But the two younger dogs, a 19 month old and 9 month old, ended up in MUCH worse shape. One had tons of quills in its chest and it almost died when quills pierced its lungs and heart. The third dog had more than 1000 quills in his face. 1000!!!!!!! Between all three dogs, the dogs’ human had a veterinary bill of over $10,000. Holy moly. And my human thought we three were bad!

I also read some interesting statistics this week. 1000 pet owners in the US were surveyed. Did you know 95% of pet owners buy their pets a Christmas gift? The other 5% are Scrooges. 50% of owners have a social media account for their pets. Guess I’m in that stat. And 45% of owners admitted to dressing up their pets in costume at least once. Only 45%? We are dressed up for every holiday. I’m waiting for the dreaded reindeer antlers to come out any day now. I’m just thankful that she hasn’t managed to find turkey costumes for Thanksgiving.

Well it’s Friday. So three days ahead with our human. And she’s going to spend every waking minute with us to make up for being away last week. As least that’s MY plan! Have a great weekend!

The picture of health

November 19, 2015Leave a Comment

Well. My human found ANOTHER one of those lists. This one listed the 33 most healthy dog breeds. And GUESS what? PONs made #5! NOT bad! It’s those tough Polish genes. We were beat out by the Pharaoh Hound (they should be healthy – they’ve been around since King Tut’s time), The Redbone Coonhound (remember- I wanted a Coonhound!!), the German Pinscher (don’t know much about these guys) and the number one dog – the Saluki (if I’m not mistaken, they’ve been around since King Tut too!).

And speaking of healthy, some of Frodo’s health tests came back and they had my human jumping for joy. Remember those X-rays? Well apparently those radiologists at OFA rated his hips as EXCELLENT. That makes two dogs in this house with Excellent ratings. Bucket Head also has Excellent hips. I have never had mine X-rayed – and now I don’t want to. The pressure of competing with the other two is just too much.

And Frodo also had some weirdo test for his eyes. It had lots of letters and a number. Oh yeah – the rcd4PRA test. It’s a test that looks at one form of eye problem that can develop in dogs as they get older. PRA can actually cause dogs to go blind. Anyway – his results came back as CLEAR. It had my human singing that old Jimmy Cliff song – I Can See Clearly Now. Honestly. She can be pretty corny sometimes.

Frodo also had his thyroid tested – which was fine and he passed a cardiac test too. His patellas were also fine. I didn’t even KNOW what a patella was. Sounds like some kind of Italian pasta. What’s up with all this stuff? Is he going in the Olympics or something?! I heard he is going to go for some kind of surf test too. Or was it CERF? Apparently he went surfing before – and he passed the test before. But he’s going to do it again. I thought he didn’t like the water!

So my brother can jump around with the best of them and it looks like he will be able to continue to see where he is going – once the hair is out of his eyes. I keep trimming those bangs – and I continue my work on his asymmetrical ear look. He’s very patient with me.

So he’s smart – he has obedience and rally titles, healthy and pretty darn handsome – he even has some kind of championship beauty pageant awards. I can’t believe we’re related. But then, he doesn’t have a blog – does he?!

Quality control trio

November 18, 2015Leave a Comment

So. Our human is home. And she has already forgotten that story about the ham sandwich. Or I like to think she has.

Despite my standoffish behavior after my initial frenzied response when she came in the door, I DID hop up on the bed and snuggle right in when she went to sleep. When Paxton came near the bed, I stood up as if to warn him that I was there first – but my human, who was not yet FULLY asleep – QUICKLY reminded ME that I needed to be POLITE – so I let him come over. All was fine and I got comfy cozy again.

Last night after she got home from work, it was dark out so we didn’t go for a long walk. What’s with this dark in the morning and dark at night thing? I’d like to blame it on humans but I’m thinking this one is a Mother Nature thing. So because it was dark, we got to take turns playing with a NEW fetch toy. One of the guilt gifts. Which was fun. While it lasted…

I went first. I have the most energy – so I get the longer fetch game before my human slows down. She realizes though, that this “being first” DOES cause me to think I am the Top Dog at times – so I THINK I may not always be first in the future. Anyway, the new toy was a looped rope thingy with a tennis ball attached. My human was so happy to bring it out. And we were ALL excited to try it out. It was “organic and made of hemp and a healthy toy.” Perhaps. But not exactly a DURABLE toy….

I was first. I WILDLY retrieved it numerous times, spinning and playing tug and having an absolutely GLORIOUS time. Until my human noted the tennis ball was disintegrating. Quickly. So she went and got scissors and removed the ball. We continued to play until my tongue was hanging out and she was sweating. A lovely pair.

Next in turn was Frodo. He had a BLAST. And he QUITE enjoys some obedience training in between retrieves. He enjoys a good tug as well – but he is quick to release the toy when my human tells him to. Me? Not so much. Maybe THAT’S why the ball disintegrated?

Next came Bucket Head – who bounded off to retrieve in the rec room – which is aptly named. For Paxton, rec does not stand for recreation. It stands for WRECK. He rearranges furniture when he goes to retrieve. And as for tugging…well, the looped rope was now no longer looped. He saw to that. After several rounds with Pax, my human trudged upstairs with the “new toy” which promptly found its way to the garbage.

I wonder if we could get a job testing dog toys? Seriously. If any toy can withstand the three of us, it can withstand ANYTHING. The quality control trio. That’s us.

So the big treat was fun while it lasted. Mind you – she DID also bring home some tasty edible treats as well. Speaking of which, excuse me while I look to see where she put them! And I check on-line for quality control jobs…