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Well after all the drama and trauma, we are home. We DID have a good time. Overall. But I think her highness needs a vacation from the vacation.

So when we last left off, you heard that Einstein was hungry after his big surgery. BUT …what I didn’t talk about was the evening after the surgery. Yes- he was hungry. And yes – he ate. BUT- he was miserable. He was squeaking and crying and every time he moved he was moaning and groaning. So here we are – in the middle of nowhere again – and the fog surrounding the cabin is thick as pea soup. Not that I’ve ever actually eaten pea soup – but it’s a think humans say. At midnight, out of desperation, her highness called the emergency number they had given her. She wanted to know if she could give Einstein more pain medication. Unfortunately, the vet said no. The vet suggested a cool compress. Einstein wailed when her highness tried that. The vet said to call back if it didn’t get better.

Two hours of miserable grumbling continued. Now we should keep in mind, that this is the dog who squeaks and moans when you groom him. He’s a drama king for grooming – so IMAGINE when he has had surgery. To remove his…um…private parts. Her highness called the emergency number again. Not because she really thought the vet would have a solution- but because she just wanted to talk to someone. She was also concerned that the people in one of the other rooms of the cabin (it was a four bedroom unit- and Marvin was in one of the other rooms) would be awakened by the noise. The vet again had no suggestions unless her highness wanted to drive two hours back to the clinic – over two mountains in thick fog. That didn’t seem like a reasonable option although for 1/100th of a second she did consider it.

Instead, she carried Einstein down the flight of stairs and took him for a walk. At first, he squealed and sat down and refused to move- but then once she enticed him with a treat- he merrily pranced along. They walked a bit- and then miracle of miracles, he had a poop. Her highness prayed that would be the answer. She came back, carried him up the stairs, put him in the room and took me out. There weren’t many other guests out at 2:30 AM. No surprise there. We came back in the room, and found that Einstein had jumped on the bed, and was all comfy cozy. Her highness didn’t want to move him- so she quietly lay down sideways on the bed – with her clothes on – and they both fell asleep. Mind you, every time I walked around, or Einstein changed his position on the bed – she woke up. It was another long night.

On Sunday we drove along a scenic route and while her highness and Marvin had planned to do some hiking, that idea went out the window. They couldn’t leave us alone in the vehicle together- for fear I might lick Einstein’s incision. Even though he was wearing a special body suit and a lampshade. But you know us PONs – we can work our way into anything- so her highness didn’t want to leave us alone for any length of time. And she couldn’t take us – because the vet had recommended no long hikes. So the humans had to resort to lots of picture taking. And EVERY time they left us – for literally less than 3 minutes- yours truly would climb over the barricade they had created – and I would snuggle down on the floor of the driver’s side or the passenger side. The first time it happened, they got out to take a few shots and when they came back and looked for us in the car, her highness’ heart began to panic because she couldn’t see me. Then she found me. She dragged me out of my hiding place and put me in the back of the vehicle with cone head. But not to worry – EVERY time they stopped, I did it again. Einstein never did it – he wouldn’t fit through the barricade with the cone.

On Monday, we headed for home, but not before they had to stop at her highness’ favorite sea glass beach. They didn’t want to leave us in Ludwig – so her highness took Einstein and Marvin took me. We knew that Einstein was definitely feeling better – as he started barking at people on the beach. After all, he had been there for 10 minutes – so he now owned the place.

When we stopped to pick up the FG on the way home – he was SO happy to see us. Although when he realized what had happened to Einstein, he said he was glad he didn’t go along. He was nervous it could have happened to him. When he got in the vehicle, Einstein quickly informed him that there would be absolutely no sniffing of his surgical site. Really- no sniffing of anything. I sat on the floor by Marvin’s feet for the ride home- and the FG, who was now afraid of even glancing at cone head, squeaked and squealed for the hour drive home. Her highness was NEVER so happy to pull in our driveway.

Today, Marvin will be leaving. We are sad to see him go- he was pretty darn tolerant of us canine clowns – and all the drama of what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend. We hope we didn’t scare him off from visiting again sometime. Now he gets to return home to his family including his canine kids -,Dudley the Saint Bernard and Tucker the Boxer. Actually, from the stories I overheard this week – we are not the ONLY bad dogs in the world. No wonder he was so tolerant…

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Friday morning, her highness got up early – so we knew something was going on. Frankly, we had seen her suitcase – so we knew that some travel was coming. But to be completely honest, we didn’t know it would involve us! Well – some of us.

When her highness travels with us – she jokes that our bags are bigger than hers. And they are. When she travels, not only does she have to pack our medications, food, bowls, water, rain coats and brushes – should we need to suddenly enter a dog show- but she also packs sheets, to cover beds and furniture, towels and cleaning supplies. We need a suitcase just for our stuff.

We watched her load the car, and frankly thought that the sitter should be arriving any minute. Imagine our shock when she said “get in.” We drove about an hour and then made a stop at Aunt Glenda’s place. The FG is staying there. Aunt Glenda loves him – and her highness said it would be too much of a gong show to take all three of us on the road. So the FG happily greeted Aunt Glenda, and off we went – to Cape Breton to see the fall foliage.The colors – according to her highness and Marvin were quite brilliant. Einstein and I didn’t care- we just wanted to go on the hiking trails. And hike we did! We had a lovely time.

And all was right with the world – until we got back to the cabin where we are staying. And that’s when Einstein started acting weird. It was evident that his private area was bothering him. Remember the time he scraped that area – and he was all upset about it? Deja Vu. We are staying in a cabin at a resort in the middle of no where. So her highness spent half of her dinner trying to find the closest vet. We were about 6 hours from home. And the closest vet was over a mountain and about 1.5 hours away.

Well Saturday morning, after a night of no sleep, we headed out to the closest vet. Einstein barely wanted to eat in the morning- so you KNOW if a PON isn’t eating- things are serious. It just so happened we were having a terribly rainy day. Her highness called the 24 hour vet line and told them we were coming. The clinic opened at 9:00. We arrived at 9:02. And big surprise- there was no vet there! Why the answering service neglected to mention that fact and why the website on the clinic says they are open 9-12 on Saturdays we don’t know. I guess they are open to sell dog food….

Anyway, the next closest clinic was another hour away. So off we went to that one. The vet took one look at Einstein’s private parts and said he needed emergency neuter surgery. Her highness’ heart fell. The vet said that it really shouldn’t wait – and he would do it right then. It was just before noon. He said Einstein would be ready to go back to where we were staying at 4:00. Her highness reluctantly passed him the leash.

While Einstein was having surgery, we drove around in the rain. We actually went to a pet store- where I got some biscuits. Her highness knew I was feeling out of sorts with all the excitement- so I got lots of attention. And treats.

We picked up Einstein at 4:00. He was still drowsy, but the vet said everything went perfectly. There had been a torsion in his testicles (he would kill me for telling this) – but there was nothing else suspicious or odd. No unusual masses or tumors. So that was a huge relief. Einstein was of course, rather sore – and to top it off – it was pouring rain. He was not a happy camper. Marvin drove Ludwig back through the storm – over two mountains and through many dicey road conditions- while her highness sat in the back with us. Einstein squeaked and moaned when he got out of the vehicle- her highness lifted him out. Of course as she turned her back for 1/100th of a second he jumped back in the vehicle. She carried him out again and carried him up the 8 steps to the cottage where we were staying. When she came in – she went to feed us. Suddenly the forlorn, achy, miserable PON came to life. She was told he could have his supper – and he didn’t hesitate for one second when his bowl was put down. That’s when her highness knew he would be OK.

The vet had said we could continue on with our holiday – as long as Einstein doesn’t overdo anything. So he’ll be relaxing lots.

We are staying at a different place tonight- and then we head home tomorrow.

As we always say – never a dull moment. And let’s face it – Marvin is having a vacation he will never, ever forget. Miserable dogs and white knuckle chauffeuring. What an interesting combo. Anyone else want to come and stay with us?

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Well it’s October 11 and it’s also National Love Your Hair Day. All of us canines in this house love each other’s hair. Sometimes a bit too much. Right now Einstein is sporting gross, chewed pink feet – compliments of his own bad licking habit, and the chewing of his stylist Picardy sidekick. Her highness has to battle to touch Einstein’s feet to trim his nails, yet he will literally allow the FG to gnaw the hair on his feet. Her highness is mortified with the way they look. She warned Einstein that she is going to “fix” the mess that his stylist made. She also said something about the fact that we are ALL going to be groomed today – because we are “going somewhere” tomorrow. Hope it’s not just another trip to the gas station or the mailbox.

And speaking of hair, I’m not sure if I have ever mentioned this, but her highness is a mat freak. What I mean is that she freaks out if she finds a mat in our hair. It’s almost as dramatic as finding a tick on us. She MUST whisk us into the grooming torture palace (aka garage) hoist us onto the grooming table where she attacks the offensive mat. She despises mats….keep that in mind…

So yesterday, after we all had long walks and breakfast, she and Marvin took a drive to admire the fall colors and take 468 pumpkin photos. Better pumpkins than us. Anyway, they stopped in one town to take some photos of some scarecrows. Her highness was snapping away when she noticed a big fluffy dog. So you know she had to say hello. The dog looked kind of like a fuzzy large version of a bearded collie or maybe a small Old English Sheepdog. But she wasn’t sure- so she asked the owner what kind of dog it was. I think I might have heard her scream from 80 km away. It was a Bernerdoodle. I have talked about the doodle debacle before – so I won’t get into it again. Suffice to say, her highness was shocked but tried to maintain her composure. She petted the 7 month old jolly pup. The owner proudly announced that the dog “doesn’t shed.” Meanwhile her highness is internally holding back a trembling sensation and biting her cheeks to keep from saying anything. She pets the doodle with both hands and discovers HUGE mats behind his ears and under his chin. Of course she can no longer stay quiet – so she blurts out “Gee- he has a few mats in his shed-free coat.” “Oh yes,” the woman replies, “ his coat is awful.”

At that point her highness smiled, shoved her fist in her mouth and walked away. As the doodle dragged the woman across the field. Wonder how many thousands she paid for that shed-free friend….We would be more than happy to help style that hair for him…

So today there is grooming on the agenda. And her highness said something about “packing.” So it can’t be a trip to the gas station…

I’ll let you know what I find out.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Lots of change about to happen around here. Change can be good. But change can be hard too. Some humans are better with change than others. And even we dogs have different feelings about change. Change our feeding time, and we may NOT be happy. Most of us dogs like our routines. We had a routine when her highness was working – and now we are finally getting into a new routine. But it took quite a while to keep from waking her highness up at 5AM. Now we can sometimes even sleep in until 7!

The big change here is that her highness’ sister – her only sister – and her only sibling – is moving away. No – we didn’t drive her to it. I think she actually liked us! No – she is moving away to be with her “significant other” in Newfoundland! For those who are unfamiliar with Canadian geography- look as far east in North America as you can. That’s Nova Scotia. Then look for a big Island even further east – and that’s Newfoundland. Affectionately known by many as “The Rock.” As you might guess, farming is not their major industry. It’s a beautiful, rugged province, home to some of the world’s nicest people. True – they are often the butt of jokes by people in other parts of Canada- but probably because people are jealous of them. If you want to understand what someone from Newfoundland is like – go to see the musical “Come From Away.” It’s based on the true story of Gander Newfoundland, who unexpectedly played host to 7000 stranded airline passengers after the tragedy of September 11. Those people got to live and experience true Newfoundland hospitality. Yup – many Newfoundlanders are really that nice.

That being said, her highness is sad to see her sister go. Yup. It will be a big change. But I guess it’s somewhere new to visit and explore! Mind you, I’m not wild about a 12 hour ferry ride and an additional driving time of oh maybe 14 hours. We would need to pack LOTS of treats. LOTS of treats. Anyway, we wish Auntie Sue happiness, health and lots of cool new adventures!

Another change – a short term one is company arriving today. Remember Marvin, her highness’ colleague who escaped his family and came to visit last summer? Well – he’s escaping again -and he’ll be visiting for a week. Marvin is his code name. His name has been changed to protect his privacy. I think he’s a spy in real life. Rumor has it, we may be going on a road trip with him for a few days – something about seeing some fall leaves and colors. The colors are all the same to us canines – but if it means road trip – count me in. Her highness doesn’t have anything packed yet – the whole thing is rather sketchy. I think she doesn’t want to tell us so we don’t get over-excited.

So lots of changes here. Some fun. Some hard. Some are like turning the page on a new chapter in a book. I’m no philosopher- but I think they call that book “life”…

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Yesterday, her highness did what she hopes will be the last lawn mowing for the year. I’m not so certain – it still seems to be growing. We watched the activity from the deck with Einstein shouting out if she missed a spot. She finished the mowing and went back around to the front of the house. She took out the weed whacker and was cleaning up some edging. The next thing we knew it, we heard her anguished shouting. The FG put his paws on the counter to look out the kitchen window and see what was happening. He saw her highness doing some strange dance – and shouting. Seems she must have hit a hornets’ nest on the ground. She was stung on the ankle and on the head. Two more hornets were crawling on her arm and her pant leg. She managed to knock them off before they could sting her.

Because she doesn’t know exactly where the nest is, she will have to keep us away from that area until she can get rid of it. Well – maybe not her – but probably someone she’ll hire who knows about these things. Mind you, if our internet resources are correct – the hornets will be dying off with the cold weather. We’ll have to find out.

After the bugaballoo, she took the FG for a long walk. Then she filled our supper dishes and showed them to us. She told Einstein and me that we were going out – but we needed to come back quickly to eat. Blah blah blah. She took us out around the house and headed down to the lake. We were having a great run and sniffing the ground for bunny balls. As we started doing the loop back to the house, I was in the lead. The last time we did this – just the other day- I didn’t take the path back to our house- but headed up to the neighbors’ place. So her highness decided to stop me. She called me and I stopped and waited. She said it was ok to go ahead – thinking I would take the path home since it was supper time. Nope. Off I ran. With her in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, the good dog took the path back to the house. As her highness rounded the edge of the neighbors’ property, she spotted me sniffing in front of their garage. The neighbors were out and I timidly went to say hello. Here comes her highness- all out of breath and she grabs my bandanna. Drama queen- I was just saying hello. Her highness was chatting with the neighbors for a minute or two when she sees something at the end of their driveway. Einstein. He heard the voices and came to see what was going on. He stood there suspended. Her highness called to him – but he just stood and stared at her. I think he was confused as to why we were both there – and why he was being called over. We’re ordinarily not allowed to just go running over there – so being the “good dog” he thought he would be in trouble. He finally came after she coaxed him to come. Then he would have stayed.

On the way home, she threatened me with no supper. What a joker. She KNOWS I have to eat with my meds. And I know that too. We PONs are smart – and we don’t forget.

Today we have a rainy day in the forecast – so no long walks. Unless she gets out the rainwear… Gotta go- time to hide.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Her highness shared a photo on FB the other day that she found on the net. It was a beautiful fall scene with leaves carpeting the ground. And the caption read: Autumn Dog Poop. You know it’s out there. You just don’t know where.

Yes – it’s that beautiful time of the year, where you need to pick up poop practically as it’s being produced, or carry little flags to mark the location for pick up later. We don’t even have a LOT of leaves down yet- but yesterday, while Einstein was doing his thing, her highness was busy watching me for results. And when she went to pick up Einstein’s production, she could hardly find it.

You know those pictures of Where’s Waldo? There could be one of a yard of leaves with the caption: Where’s poopo?

It’s surprising that you can’t rent a poop detection dog in the fall to help find it. Must of us dogs could do it – but we probably won’t do it when you want us to. We would have to be specially trained to do it on command. So I actually have two money making schemes here – poop flag markers or poop detection dogs.

If you’ve ever stepped in fall leaf poop you know it’s really no laughing matter… At least to you humans….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up!

And they continue to grow. The tomatoes. Every day her highness fills a bowl. And there is no end in sight.

Now she even covers them at night if she hears there is even a remote chance of a frost. As if we haven’t had enough of a harvest already. BUT – I did get to enjoy the bounty of the harvest in a different way yesterday.

After her highness brought in another batch, she decided to take some up to the restaurant at the golf course up the road. She did that a few weeks ago- and they were quite happy to relieve her of some of the harvest.

So she announced yours truly could go along for the walk. All by myself. And if that wasn’t great enough, when I got there, I got to meet the chef. He thought I was pretty cute – and why not, I’m sweet and adorable and so well behaved. Until you live with me. So after he greeted me, he asked her highness if I could have a treat. At first her highness hesitated – as she is always afraid to give me anything out of the ordinary- for fear of triggering a possible seizure. But I just looked at her with my big eyes the way a kid looks at a parent after grandma has offered some candy. So she agreed – and get this – I got a piece of steak. Really. How awesome was that? Of course when I went home I had steak breath, and Einstein knew it immediately. He just glared at me. The FG was annoyed because he usually gets to go to the course- and he felt totally slighted. He’ll get over it.

Meanwhile, although the tomatoes are doing great, the red peppers aren’t turning red. Or orange or yellow. Her highness isn’t sure which color they should be exactly- but she knows for sure she didn’t plant the green variety. She read somewhere that if peppers aren’t happy, they may not turn color. Really. And it must be true – she read it on the internet. I suggest we tell the peppers some jokes to make them happy – like this one I found: Why did the mother pepper put a jacket on her baby? Because it was a little chili.

I’ll just leave that right there.

On the other hand, the pumpkins ARE changing color. But like I said before – they won’t win any giant pumpkin contest. I think we need to try the giant variety next year.

Today, I suggest we take up more tomatoes to the golf course. And I am quite happy to go to deliver them. Wonder what’s on the menu…

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

OK. Do we know several things. PONs like food and we do like to countersurf. Remember the time I stole bananas and ate them – peel and all? Food is not safe with us.

We also know that the FG is a picky Picard. Some food he eats. Some he tosses. Some he stares at. Some he ignores. Leaving food on the counter is not really a problem. Until now.

Yesterday morning we had our walks. We had breakfast. Her highness had some people picking up some furniture at the house – she’s doing some “redecorating” – so she’s been selling and giving some stuff away. Our good friends (and neighbors) came by to watch (and help) as some folks removed a particularly heavy item – while we were sequestered- and shouting out directions. Her highness enjoyed a cup of coffee with one of her friends after the “movers” left. Meanwhile, we were outside- enjoying the crisp morning sunshine.

The neighbor left, and her highness let us in and went about making her breakfast. She poured another cup of coffee and put her toast on the island. She went to open the deck door to let in some fresh air. Einstein and I ran to make sure there were no leftover movers on the deck. Her highness turns around and is shocked to see the FG with two paws on the counter, licking the butter off her toast. “Hey” she shouted “get down from there.” He jumped down and smacked his lips. I immediately ran over for three reasons: 1. To see what he had sampled. 2. To see if there was any left. 3. To congratulate him on the success his newfound skill. I mean, he MAY have looked at food before, but THIS was his real first lick. He’s learned the technique- so there’s no stopping him now. Well done Friendly Giant. Don’t forget who was your coach. And don’t forget to share!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

So yesterday and Thursday, her highness went out for the day. She was helping a friend who was selling antiques at a big festival about 45 minutes away. But not to worry about us. Anna came by after school, gave me my medication and let us out for a pee. She told her highness we were pretty vocal. That’s because the first time she came by to help out, we were on our very best behavior. This week she got the true behavioral sample. Her highness hopes it doesn’t scare Anna off. Nah. I think she likes us.

When her highness got home on Thursday at supper time, she fed us and took us for walks. We wanted to do something else – but it was already starting to get dark out. Have you noticed that it gets dark out much earlier already? So much for outdoor fetch at 8PM. Anyway, we kept bugging her highness- so in a moment of exasperation she announced “OK – everybody in the car.” Imagine our jubilation. She let us into the garage, opened the hatch on Ludwig and Einstein and the FG hopped in. Meanwhile, I was searching the garage for food – remember- the dog food is stored in the garage. Her highness called me but I was busy searching. She finally came to get me, hoisted me up into Ludwig and closed the hatch. I immediately jumped into the front seat. She opened the driver’s side door and I hopped out – again in search of food. She came around Ludwig, caught me and again hoisted me into Ludwig and warned me to stay in the back. This time I listened.

We should have realized that the fact that we were all loose in the back was unusual. We excitedly smeared olfactory art all over the back windows. We drove up the driveway to the road. Where could we be going? The pet store?! The vet? Nope. She drove down our road – to the mailboxes at the main road. The drive takes all of 2 minutes. She hopped out of the vehicle, careful to remove the keys. She doesn’t trust that we wouldn’t drive off without her. She gets the one piece of mail in the box, jumps in and heads for home. Nice trick. So much for an exciting destination. That was worse than just going to the gas station. Still, I suppose it beat staying home. And we did enjoy it.

Today she’s not going to the festival- so we’ll see what she has on the agenda for the day. No mail on Saturdays – so another mailbox ride isn’t a possibility. Whatever we do, as long as it doesn’t involve a comb and brush, we’ll be happy.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

So today we have a money saving tip…

I need to begin my blog by saying I love my vet. She is super nice and she puts up with her highness’ wild internet research and her 1000 questions. She always calls us back to answer questions about my meds. We truly love her. We wouldn’t trade her for all the biscuits at the pet store. Vets themselves are truly worth their weight in biscuits. They have a tough job – they treat humans as much as they treat animals. A good vet is a treasure and we are very lucky to have one. We actually like all the vets at our clinic.

We learned something about veterinary medications, though that not everyone MAY realize – and something that isn’t always evident. Between me and Einstein, we take 6 medications. Some are prescribed and we get them at the human pharmacy. The vet clinic does not even carry those drugs. Some are only available for pets through the veterinary clinic. BUT we learned that at least one, which is designed for dogs and is sold through the vet clinic is ALSO available at the human pharmacy at a substantially reduced cost. The drug has a fancy schmancy veterinary name. BUT – it also has the real drug name. And her highness was paying $99 at the vet clinic for 28 pills. As you might guess, our monthly drug bills are rather high. No wonder her highness is always looking for money making schemes! Anyway, this week, she did her homework. She got the exact same medication (with a prescription of course!) at the human pharmacy for $72. For 60 pills. Yes- 60! Um I’m no math wizard – but I think she just saved us the cost of a box of biscuits. SEVERAL boxes of biscuits!

We are not blaming our vet clinic for the cost of the drugs. The costs are what they are. You can’t get mad at your human pharmacist for the cost of your human medication. The human pharmaceutical industry is not without its own issues when it comes to drug prices! And clearly the same is true for pet meds. When your dog is taking medication, it is important to consider all the options. And that’s where people owned by pets have to do their homework. You have to be involved in your pet’s care and you do need to ask questions. That was our lesson this week!

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.