Viktorsviews. The Next Chapter.

PRESENTS!!!

December 25, 2014Leave a Comment

OK. OK. I KNOW I said that Christmas is NOT about the presents. But CHECK. IT. OUT!!!!!!!! These are for US. And there is a HUGE box that isn’t in the photo – I think it’s the dog bed. We MUST have been good this year! So much for that “Naughty” sign!!!

Baby Jesus arrived at midnight – he’s now in the manger – and Santa must have come shortly after that. We never heard him – we were SOUND asleep after all the talking we did at midnight after earlier sharing the oplatek. Actually, we were whispering because our human was asleep. We had quite the conversation – solving all the world’s problems. Seriously, if dogs ruled the world – it would be a much more peaceful place. Well. Maybe not if I was in charge…But it would certainly be interesting!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Christmas day – and I’ll tell you tomorrow ALL about what is inside these presents! Gotta go and start shredding!!!!!! It just about KILLED me to sit and take this photo!

Traditions….Wesolych Swiat!

December 24, 20141 Comment

Christmas Eve. It’s finally here. I can’t believe it! It’s a BIG day and lots of things are planned. Since I’m a Polish Lowland Sheepdog – I thought that maybe I should share with you a few Polish Christmas traditions. While my human is no expert because she has never lived in Poland – and we don’t carry out all the rituals, there ARE a few that we do in our household.

First off, Christmas Eve dinner is called Wigilia. And it’s a meatless meal. Fish is served, as are several vegetable dishes and mushroom or beet soup. But before the dinner begins, the humans share oplatek – which is a flat wafer that has been blessed. Everyone shares a piece from everyone else – and they wish each other health and prosperity for the New Year. Now my human has been doing this since she was a kid – and she did confide to me that the wafer tastes a bit like cardboard. But the sentiment and good wishes are lovely. AND – she also found out something this year that she didn’t know. In the package of wafers, there is usually a colored wafer. She always thought that was for the head of the family. And so did her mother. WRONGO. The colored wafer is for the ANIMALS or PETS in the household –which corresponds to the fact that there were animals present at Jesus’ birth. How COOL is THAT?! So guess who will be getting a piece of pink wafer this year?!!! All of us boys!!! And we don’t care if it tastes like cardboard. We’ll eat anything. She read this on the internet – and we KNOW the net CAN be wrong. But she likes the idea – so we’re sticking with it. And my human also read that if animals share the oplatek, at midnight they can speak in human voices! Look out – we know I have a LOT to say!

Here, you see me looking at the manger. Baby Jesus is missing – he doesn’t get here until midnight. Atlantic time. Christmas is HIS birthday and WE get presents because of it. Santa is basically his delivery man and Santa also oversees quality control.

Here I am. Knocking down shepherds. We have a dog in our manger scene. So I had to get a closer look.

Once upon a time, my human and her family used to go to church at midnight to celebrate the arrival of Christmas. Now everybody is about to fall asleep by 10:30 – so they now go to an earlier service. My human can sing 1.5 Christmas carols IN Polish. She has no idea what she is singing – but she heard them so much as a kid, that she memorized them. The reason she only knows half of one is because all she can sing is the refrain. Which she does quite loudly. And of course, Frodo likes to sing along.

Traditions can be nice, even when they change a bit over time. And making NEW traditions is also a good thing. The main thing to remember is that Christmas is a time to share good wishes with others –family, friends, and of course canines (!) and maybe even some people you don’t know all that well. Like some of you -who my human has never met -but who take the time to read my blog! And Christmas is not all about the presents. As I said yesterday -it’s all about the smiles…

So from our home to yours, I wish you Wesolych Swiat !!!!!!!!! A VERY Merry Christmas and a day full of smiles and wags!!!!

The gift.

December 23, 20141 Comment

Well the preparations for the big day are almost done. Frodo had his bath yesterday and when he came out the grooming room, Paxton and I pretended we didn’t know him. He looks amazing – and smells 100% better. Not that he was THAT stinky – but he is definitely easier to be around.

My human did some last minute running around and I saw her helping Santa with some wrapping. We watched from the other room – because as we know, we DO like to shred things – at least Pax and I do – so my human didn’t want to be battling our stealing behavior while she was doing what she calls “ her least favorite task in the world” – gift wrapping. She LOVES to buy presents – and LOVES to surprise people with presents – but the wrapping part – well….it’s not pretty. Which suddenly got me to thinking – WHAT CAN WE GET OUR HUMAN FOR CHRISTMAS???!!!!!!

Holy moly. I spent all this time working out MY list…and WHAT am I going to get her???? I don’t have any cash – and the credit card hasn’t come in yet. So- what to do???? I discussed it with Pax and Fro – and we figure there are LOTS of dogs in our situation. So what to do….

And then I came up with an idea – and YOU and your dogs can do it too!!! I’m calling it “paw it forward for Christmas.” We canines don’t have the money to buy gifts – but instead – we CAN give you something that costs NOTHING – and that YOU can pass on too! Smiles. It’s all about smiles. For us canines, and you can quote me… ”a wag is a smile turned sideways”. Despite our sometimes naughty behavior, we DO adore you humans. And we can show it by a big WAG. A huge wag. Which is our smile -turned sideways. That’s our gift. And then you humans can paw it forward – by smiling at someone else. Someone you don’t know. Someone on the street. In a store. On the bus. At the doctor’s office. Just smile. And think how great it is that your dog started this chain of happiness. And that, besides our never-ending devotion and our steadfast admiration – would be the PERFECT Christmas gift. Think about it…And if anyone asks why are you smiling – tell them your dog told you to. And so did Viktor. Viktor the PON.

The Christmas bath.

December 22, 2014Leave a Comment

It was inevitable. I knew it was coming. I just didn’t know when. The Christmas bath.

As you may recall, Paxton had his a few weeks ago. His was early because of the swamp encounter. I was starting to think that perhaps Frodo and I had escaped the customary cleansing of the canines, because time was running short. You know Christmas is a BIG deal when a bath is in the schedule. I guess we need to smell nice when Santa arrives – if we even let him in.

My human was kind of tricky yesterday – throwing me off the plan. We had a great run in the morning and then we had to be sequestered while she scrubbed the kitchen floor. Now THAT is a futile endeavor. I give it until Tuesday before you won’t even be able to tell that she painstakingly scrubbed all the grout on her hands and knees. Let’s see what it looks like after the big guy runs through the garden beds. It’s kind of sad to watch a grown woman cry.

But anyway, after the marathon floor cleaning, I NEVER dreamed that a bath would be on the agenda. I mean, who would THINK that our human would still have the energy after the floor to tackle ME. I had a feeling something was up when I saw her stacking up some towels. We have a grooming station in our garage – including our very own tub. When she opened the door for me to go in, at first I thought I was just going to get a brushing. When I realized the REAL plan, I made a dash for it. Running around the room. Our human tried to call me and even tried to entice me with a treat – but I KNEW what was coming. She finally managed to catch me on one of my run-bys and that was it – in the tub I went.

To tell you the truth…I actually don’t MIND a bath. Frodo told me NOT to like it – so I pretend it’s awful, but it’s not ALL that bad. At first I don’t like the supersonic jet engine dryer that is strong enough to blow a Papillon off the table, but after attempting to eat it for the first 10 seconds, I then sit back and enjoy the pampering. Here are some shots of me at various stages of beautification.

So now you KNOW my human is going to limit my walks to “on leash” exercise. Not a CHANCE she wants to bathe me again. And besides – she still has Frodo, the drama king left. There will be much complaining from him – although he WILL settle down. He just likes to put on a show.

3 more sleeps until Santa arrives! I’m all ready. And I SMELL marvelous!

Naughty.

December 20, 2014Leave a Comment

OK. Funny. Very funny. ANOTHER Christmas photo. My human thought this was a cute idea. Getting us to pose for these things may SEEM like a simple task…but guess again. And you can see that yours truly even tried to eat his sign. Frodo and I were both vying for the NICE seat on the bench – but Frodo obviously won. ..

To make up for this photo, my human took ME with her to run some errands yesterday. First we had to pick up a HUGE box at the courier office – I THINK it’s the indestructible dog bed!!! When my human opened the car door to load it, I decided I should check out the territory. I’m usually very good at staying in the vehicle, until I am allowed out. But yesterday, I just tried to sneak right by my human. But don’t worry that I would EVER get out – my human IS smarter than I think. One of the problems of having long hair is that your human can grab you quite easily as she is reaching for your collar. I did not attempt to go exploring on subsequent stops – unless invited!

Next stop was my human’s office. She is technically “off” for the holidays, but she still had to go in to do a bit of work and to pick something up. It’s been a while since I was in the office – and taking the elevator WAS a surprise. But it was fine. Then I got to meet some of her colleagues. For SOME reason, some of them knew MY name – but I didn’t know theirs. How embarrassing. I was so embarrassed that I even ducked away when they tried to pet me. I do that the first 5 minutes after I meet someone. After that, we’re generally good. Especially if they give me treats that somehow my human always carries. Anyway, it was nice to meet them and to put faces to the names…

I was quite comfortable in the office while my human did some work on her computer…

Next stop. The pharmacy. I couldn’t go in there, so watched the traffic from the car. Last stop the VET. My human needed to pick up something for Paxton – and I got to go in and be weighed. I sat on the scale like a statue. My human thought I was being good – but I was actually FROZEN because I was wondering what I was doing there! I was THRILLED to go back to the car afterwards. Our regular Vet wasn’t in. Probably still on the Round-the-World tour paid for by Paxton’s surgery. The new wing on the Vet clinic that Paxton built is really quite nice too. JUST JOKING. Sort of.

When I got home, the other boys were totally jealous. Sometimes being NAUGHTY pays off!

The elf.

December 19, 2014Leave a Comment

More attempts at Christmas photos. Will my human NEVER stop?! This time it was a shot with me and an elf. Kind of like the Elf on the Shelf.

That shelf elf guy is a big deal in the past few years. He is supposed to come out every day and watch kids – to be sure they are behaving. And he moves around each night. And kids can’t touch him. He’s kind of spooky – but basically harmless. Although some academics are complaining that the elf is evil – and it prepares kids for life in a “police state.” It also doesn’t allow conventional “play” as the kids can’t touch it. COME ON humans – it’s a TOY elf. My goodness, humans really can be crazy sometimes. Sometimes humans forget what the word FUN is. They overanalyze things. Not us canines – we love fun! Mind you – our idea of elf fun would be ripping his head off.

Anyway, for SOME reason my human thought I should take an elf photo. There was NO WAY she could take a picture with all three of us and the elf. I DID agree to let the elf near me for 30 seconds to get a few shots – but then, well…the elf ALMOST went to elf heaven before his time.

How many more days of these photos? WOW – only 6!!!!!!!!! My list was completed. I faxed a copy and also e-mailed a copy to the North Pole. I wanted to be sure it was there on time. In the meantime, I DO have to behave as I am mindful that Santa can change his mind. So I DO have to tolerate a FEW more Christmas photos….What scares me is that my human went to the Dollar Store yesterday. Remember last time? She came back with antlers. This isn’t going to be good….

Christmas baking.

December 18, 20142 Comments

OK. I like to think my human is smart. Not as smart as us canines, but still smart enough. But the other day– well.. I wasn’t so sure.

You see, she decided to bake us some Christmas dog biscuits. She found this recipe on-line quite some time ago and bought all the ingredients – so decided to give it a try.

The biscuit recipe called for overly ripe bananas, coconut flour, peanut butter, olive oil, flax seed and egg. The ingredients sounded yummy. So I watched the entire proceedings. I didn’t LEAVE the kitchen for a minute. I wanted to see how they were made – so maybe I could make them myself some time. Let me tell you – it was NOT a pretty sight.

My human likes to cook. And she can be crafty. And she attempts to repair things. But. She CANNOT bake.

First off, the bananas were not REALLY overly ripe. But she smashed them up anyway, and figured the little lumps would not be a big deal. Then she added the sifted flour and flax seed. So far, so good. Then the recipe said to add the egg and peanut butter and oil and BEAT all the ingredients. At which point she realized -uh-oh. Her beater was broken. A small but critical detail. So she stuffed as much of the ingredients as she could into her food processor. They didn’t all fit. And she turned it on. NUMEROUS times. And she kept pushing the ingredients down into the bowl. Over and over again.

Then she put the somewhat pasty, dough-like THING into the fridge for 30 minutes, as the recipe said. And then she was supposed to spoon the dough into balls onto a cookie sheet and bake. Except the dough was kind of flaky and falling apart. So she formed balls with her hands. And baked them for 30 minutes. They were supposed to form COOKIES. They came out like little golf balls. NOT pretty at all.

But. Drum roll. We still liked them! I mean seriously, you KNOW we will eat ANYTHING. And they smell awesome. And we don’t REALLY care what they look like.

So although I don’t think my human should quit her day job and open a doggie bakery, I do think we’ll keep her. After all, it was the thought that counts! And isn’t that what Christmas time giving is all about?!

Another Vik-Advisor!

December 17, 2014Leave a Comment

Time for another Vik-Advisor. Today we’ll talk about my FAVORITE thing to do – AND one of my FAVORITE toys.

As some of you know, I love to obsessifetch (v. the action of retrieving. Over and over and over and OVER again. Until the human’s arm can no longer throw the ball or toy.) Tennis balls are great – but I REALLY love a toy that I can carry. So my human bought the Chuckit Amphibious Bumper. http://www.caninehardware.comI LOVE catching this thing mid-air and it is soft and light to carry. It’s also easy to throw for an uncoordinated human like mine – although one of them WAS stuck on the roof for a few weeks until it eventually blew down in a windstorm. But she GENERALLY can toss it pretty far.

We need to have two of any fetch toys so when we race back with one, she can get ready to throw the next – and more importantly, it causes us (well me) to drop it without MUCH of a tug-of-war. Frodo automatically drops his – and Paxton well he just doesn’t come back.

So I LOVE my Chuckit. The only problem – my Chuckit doesn’t love me. Below you will see a photo of our current Chuckits. It’s almost time for my human to chuck it – into the garbage. So although I LOVE this toy…I can only give it a 2.5 PAWS rating – it needs to hold up better. And that’s NOT with us lying around and chewing on it – we don’t get to have the bumpers when we’re not retrieving.

Despite their low rating, I still DO have them on my Christmas list, because they ARE the best bumpers we have used SO far. We also have the hard bumpers my human used to use years ago when she did field training with her Lab – but I’m not CRAZY about them. I mean I’ll bring it back….but I like a softer version. So. The Chuckit is still on the list! Unless Santa finds us a different type…Hint. Hint.

He’s IN!!!!!!!

December 16, 2014Leave a Comment

He’s IN. Frodo got in. INTO the DFZ.

My human was in the DFZ doing some work on her laptop – and sitting by the tree. We were sitting outside the gate, which is secured to the pillars by the bungee cords. It doesn’t look too pretty – but it holds the gate very tight. We haven’t even TRIED to get in since these extra fortifications were put in place to protect the Christmas Explosion.Until now.

You know Frodo – he CANNOT be separated from our human. So the next thing you know, he had squeezed himself between the gate and the pillar – and in he went. He walked over to the tree – gave it a look and went to lie down by the fireplace all while my human sat there with her mouth gaping open. Honestly, I don’t know why she was surprised. She KNOWS him. Stretching a bungee cord and wedging himself in a tight area is no big deal for Frodo. He’s PONdini!

So she snapped a few photos as evidence that he was IN. Now she’s worried that he’ll get IN when she’s NOT home. And maybe he’ll hold the gate for me.

Frodo is really pushing the limits this week – first the dog bed destruction and now the mission into the DFZ. Ya better watch out Frodo – remember –“ he’s making a list…”

Yay. More presents for ME!

The Pre-Christmas Miracle.

December 15, 2014Leave a Comment

The pre-Christmas miracle. Yes. Miracles DO happen. Although, quite honestly, we canines think every DAY is a miracle. We’re happy when we get up and we’re happy when our food dish comes out. We rejoice in simple things – and think that they are quite miraculous.

Humans, on the other hand, wait for something unique and different and exciting to occur – and they call THAT a miracle. Clearly they need to take OUR view of miracles…it’s a whole lot easier.

But yesterday, we decided to give our human a miracle. Remember last weekend? And the walk from h#ll? Where Paxton ended up in the swamp water? And then needed the marathon bath? And my human THOUGHT she lost her cell phone? Because she had taken ALL three of us on a walk TOGETHER? Well. She decided to try it again…

She got up early on Sunday. First – she got our food bowls ready, but didn’t feed us. I thought Frodo and I were going to LOSE our minds. We stood there – barking with every fiber of our being – trying to convince our human that we NEEDED the sustenance in order to be able to run. Our human had a different idea – if we were hungry enough, we would all COME back home. So she did NOT feed us.

Then all the bells and leashes were put on – and we headed out – with the cell phone ZIPPED in her jacket. Basically, a rerun of last weekend.

But this weekend was different. It was a PERFECT walk. Absolutely PERFECT. We stayed close when we were off leash. Well – except for a FEW minutes when Paxton took off in the woods. And of course I followed him. As I’ve said before, my human thinks he runs away to get away from us. But of course I CANNOT let that happen. But we were not gone long – and we even came back when it was time to put on our leashes. Frodo never strayed far – the ground was wet, so he carefully trotted alongside our human the whole time, trying to avoid every puddle. Whimp.

Anyway, when we got back to our driveway, our human took our leashes off and we RACED down the long driveway to the front door. Frodo stood there and barked while I sat and stared at the door – willing it to open so I could get at those food dishes.

Waiting at the door…

It was the perfect ending to a great walk. No one needed a bath. No phones or car keys or house keys were lost. No one ran away. We didn’t bark at any neighbors. We didn’t run into any ATVs. It didn’t rain on us. It was a perfectly miraculous morning…and I think our human would agree.

I hope YOUR day is equally miraculous – in every way!