Blog Feed

According to the crazy calendar, today is something called Lucky Penny Day.  Except in Canada.  Because we no longer HAVE pennies.  And do you know WHY we no longer have pennies?  Because Canada was SO concerned about us canines – and the fact that IF we eat pennies it can result in something called coin toxicity – that they stopped making pennies.  OK.  That’s not entirely true.  Yes – eating pennies CAN be dangerous to dogs.  But Canada didn’t really stop minting them for that reason.  They just got tired of counting small digits. And they decided to “round things up.”  Or down.  And Canadians got tired of carrying around the extra weight in pockets and purses.   It had nothing to do with dogs.  But we COULD start an urban legend…

But back to pennies, and coins in general.  Because many coins are made of zinc, swallowing them can result in toxicity.  Here is a great website that talks all about coins and what happens when they are swallowed:
https://wagwalking.com/condition/coins-poisoning

When writing this blog, I found this story about a terrier who ate 111 pennies.  Yes -111.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1e81eZY1MI

It’s an old story and I don’t know if any dog since then has been foolish enough to eat more.  It is NOT a record I advocate that ANYONE attempt to break.

We had a lucky day yesterday.  Kind of.   Well – we THOUGHT we were lucky.  But my human kind of tricked us.

She got up early (well, WE got her up early at 5AM) and we had our walks and breakfast.  We noticed that SHE wasn’t preparing HER breakfast, so we knew something was up.  Turns out she was meeting an old friend for breakfast.  That’s where we dogs differ from you humans.  You can totally enjoy sharing a meal with a friend and catching up on news. A meal can last for HOURS.  If we dogs were to get together with our friends for a meal, the encounter would be over in 45.8 seconds.  At least if it was two PONs getting together.  Two Picards?   That could last longer.  While they look at one another and decide if they WANT to eat.

Anyway, when she got home, we were raring to go.  So she took us out for pees and then, much to our surprise, loaded us into Ludwig.  SCORE!  Road trip.  But she totally fooled us.  To “entertain us” she just drove us down the road to the MAILBOX. Seriously.  BIG deal.  When she saw the disappointment on our faces, she drove us to the gas station to get gas.  Whoopee. Mind you, we were so excited for the drive, it DID tire us out.  A BIT.  Our lives could definitely be made into a sitcom.  Picture the three of us going MAD as we get into the vehicle.  And my human threatening me within and inch of my life if I ATTEMPT to get into the passenger seat.  When we go on these short excursions, we are all loose in the back. For any REAL drive, the FG is in a crate, and we ride behind the crate.  Not that I still don’t try to collapse my body like a mouse to fit myself around the crate and into the passenger seat.  I’m a front seat driver.  Or I try to be – but she won’t let me.  So I was relegated to the back with the riffraff yesterday.  Good times.

Anyway – don’t eat any pennies today – but I do hope you have a lucky day.  And may your drives go further than the gas station….
Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 9

So my human is curious.  Are all PONs good retrievers?   I LOVE retrieving SO much that my human loses count as to how many times she has thrown the fetch toy.   She looked to see if there is some kind of record for the number of retrieves performed by a dog.  But she couldn’t find one.  Maybe I could win it!   Mind you, to win, any dog would have to keep going until he or she is exhausted. Einstein plays along for around 20 throws and then he carries the toy to the front door. He is letting her know he has had enough.

The NERVE of my human.  Sometimes I think I need to take her back to obedience classes.  She is acting a BIT like SHE is in charge here.  No treats for her this weekend.

It’s May 18. Which according to the crazy calendar is International Museum Day! So let’s take a look at some connections between us dogs and museums.

So we know that my human likes to take pictures of us.  Surprise, surprise.  JUST in case she forgets what we look like.  She currently has 50,455 photos in something called the “cloud.”  Let’s hope it doesn’t rain and she loses all those images.  Just wondering – where IS this cloud…. My guess is that 50, 000 of those photos are of dogs.  I am NOT kidding.

In addition to thousands of photos, my human also loves canine artwork.  So when she saw a posting by an artist on Facebook, advertising that she does digital images of dogs – you KNOW that my human could NOT pass up the chance to get some. And we love the results!

MoonCollie Art does digital portraits, caricatures of your dog, detailed portraits, logos…all kinds of wonderful artwork.
https://www.facebook.com/mooncolliearts/

Kim will be ending all of her different types of custom portraits after this week – SO, if you want to have a quick sketch done – like one of these – contact her TODAY!   And I MEAN TODAY!   This offer is over on Saturday night.  These sketches were each done for $15 US.  Kim also does logos for National Dog events – and she will be busy doing that – so portraits will be put on hold.  IF you contact her – tell her Viktor sent you!  Check us out!

Me:

Einstein:

The FG:

Kim emails you the sketches- so it is easy to do.  You just need a good photo of your dog.  I know that she is quite busy – so you MAY have a wait a bit – but it’s worth it!  And no – I am not getting anything for this plug – just the pleasure of sharing an artist’s work with you!

IT IS FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And we survived four weeks of my human at work.  She has next week off and then she works just ONE more week.  And then we are back to retirement.  More walks, extra snacks, extra belly rubs, more games of fetch….What’s another word for retriement?  Heaven.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up:
Seizure free days: 3

The other morning, after getting my human out of bed, as we PONs raced into the kitchen we suddenly halted in front of the gate into the DFZ.  For those who may be new to my blog, the DFZ – or Dog Free Zone, is the ONLY area in the house where we canines do not have free access.  That and the laundry room – which contains the garbage can which often contains dryer lint.  Because we KNOW about my appetite for dryer lint.  Anyway, the DFZ, which contains a bunch of “stuff” that my human would prefer NOT to have destroyed, is blocked by a custom designed black aluminum gate.  It has proven to hold up just great – and even PON-dini (Einstein) has not been able to breach the secure entrance.

As we were running past the gate – we suddenly put on the brakes and started barking into the DFZ.  It was 4:35 AM – so it was still dark outside – and we pushed our noses through the bars in the gate and started sniffing.  My human flipped on the lights in the DFZ, with fear that maybe a mouse had run by.  We haven’t had a mouse all winter – but she couldn’t think what else it could be. Surely a squirrel had not gotten into the house – we would have heard that, right?  She looked around and saw no traces of an intruder – and then remembered that the window in the DFZ was open.  We must have been sniffing something which had enough scent to come through the window.  Right about the then, the FG wandered in from the bedroom.  He sauntered past us, not paying attention to our interest in the DFZ, and walked into the dining room.  At which point, HE suddenly woke up and jumped up on the door to the deck, barking.  OK – clearly there was SOMETHING in the backyard.  My human flipped on the outdoor lights – but couldn’t see anything.  Besides, our place is surrounded by woods – so anything that MIGHT have been out there could have taken off in the woods.

When we went out for our walks, Einstein wanted VERY much to go in the backyard.  My human dragged him up the driveway to the road, wearing her trusty headlamp with new batteries.  She was glad she could see more than a foot in front of her.  That will last for all of a week.  She made noise to scare off any intruder – and wondered if it had been the porcupine in the backyard.     We marched along and spotted no creatures on our walk, and neither did the FG.

A day later, one of our neighbors posted a photo of a thick metal post in their yard that holds a bird feeder.  It had been bent like a blade of grass.  Another neighbor had their green bin raided and dragged several feet.  Which pointed to one thing.  Pooh is back.  It was almost a year to the day that we spotted that big black bear in our yard at sunset. 

Sure enough – the next day, another neighbor actually spotted him.  We will be sure to make extra noise on our morning walks.  Not that we don’t ALREADY make our presence known.

And speaking of bear news – did you hear about the dog in Northern Ontario who is taking bribes from a bear?  It seems that the bear “offers the dog deer bones” to keep him from barking, while the bear destroys the garbage.  It has reportedly happened three times.  Here’s the story:
https://www.wthr.com/article/bear-bribes-guard-dog-deer-bones-get-familys-trash

I’m just putting that out there  to any bears that might be reading this – because I want to mention that I CAN be bribed… Just sayin’.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 2

May 15. And it’s Nylon Stockings Day. Now THAT is the biggest waste of money in this household.  AFTER holiday attire from the Dollar Store.

In this day and age of technology and invention, why can’t they create dog-proof nylon stockings/pantyhose? And it doesn’t matter what my human pays for the stuff – whether she buys “good stuff” at a department store – or the stuff from the dreaded Dollar Store – NOTHING can withstand us canines.

When I was searching for a link between us canines and hosiery – I of course found horror stories of dogs who ate them.  Now I like to eat things – but ONLY edible things.  Pantyhose is more in line with the appetite that Paxton had. Obviously, the consumption of pantyhose can have serious results. 

I also found that around 2013, there was a BIG trend in China for DOGS to wear pantyhose.  I am NOT kidding.  I was going to post a video – but frankly, it was just TOO weird.  Wearing antlers for a quick photo is one thing.  Pantyhose – well I’m not even SURE how you would manage to get them on us.  Trust me – even my human draws the line there!

I did find a GOOD use for used pantyhose – you can make a rope tug toy!  That’s one way to reuse all those pairs that have runs in them.  Which is pretty much every pair that is currently in this house.  My human always has one or two damaged pairs – JUST IN CASE, she needs them –  if the run is in a location not visible.  For the time being.  Anyway – if you have a dog who won’t CONSUME the toy – here are the instructions:
http://kelseyskreativekorner.com/braided-pantyhose-dog-tug-toy/

I also found this short video with another use for pantyhose – they can be used to create a muzzle for a dog in an emergency situation.  Seems like a reasonable idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S45-4PIvqFI

Apparently, if you use pantyhose as a glove, it can remove dog hair from fabric.  Now THIS one we have to try out.  I don’t think my human owns a piece of clothing that doesn’t have dog hair on it somewhere.  We can make our hair stick to silk.  It’s an art.

I also saw that if you put a piece of nylon over a brush (with the bristles poking through) it makes cleaning the brush easier.   I say skip the brushing.  That makes cleaning the brush unnecessary.

So those are my nylon/pantyhose suggestions for today.  Wasn’t that was riveting info?

On another note….thank you for all your kind messages and concern about my seizures.  My human is anxious to be home with me – to get this hopefully, under control again. We are eternally optimistic.  Some days.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days:  1

So happy belated to my quirky, crazy, fussy, funny, wild adopted sibling. He has truly grown on me.  I can chew on a bone and he can be literally 10 inches from my face, and I don’t care.  He wags when he sees me and the feeling is mutual.

This past year, he didn’t accomplish much in the show world – probably because he wasn’t shown much!  My human was waiting for him to mature – and she is thinking he is almost there.  In body anyway.

He did have an introduction to one new sport – the rat thing.  And while it initially appeared that it wasn’t going to be successful (like me and sheep) he DID get the idea of the game within the hour he was there. They plan to try it again.

He has definitely matured overall – although if given the opportunity to bust through the screen door and go for a solo run, he will still grab the chance.  The irony is that when he is going for a walk with my human and he is on a leash, he stands in the doorway like he doesn’t know how to go out.  Seriously.  Some mornings she has to push him out the door.

I have trained him how to countersurf – mind you he never actually TAKES anything.  He just goes up to “inspect” the counter.

He has acquired a taste for yogurt – standing in line each morning to lick the lid and the container.   He’s still not crazy about bananas.  Some days he takes a piece – other days he recoils like the banana is a poisonous snake.  Or a lint roller.

He likes carrots – but he WILL fling them around the room.  Which can have several results: a.  he flings it under furniture or appliances, making it impossible to get;  b. he flings it and Einstein grabs it before he does.

He is still not crazy about retrieving – even after he watches me and Einstein doing our thing.  He does it once or twice – after that he thinks humans should pick up the toy themselves.

He LOVES people.  And he has been able to visit stores and has been well behaved.  I think my human should take him and let him off leash.  Now THAT would be entertaining.

He is NOT crazy about having his picture taken.  But he WILL give in when it is clear my human will not give up.  But he is a pouty model – he rarely smiles for the camera.  That being said, my human has been able to capture some candid shots of him – and those are the best kind.  He also DID smile for his birthday photo at the top.  Here are some of our favorite shots from the last year….

So happy belated to my big little brother. I really AM glad that you joined our family.  Now.  Can I have that biscuit?

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.
Seizure free days: 0. Back to the drawing board. I had two yesterday.  One while my human was at work.  And one just as she turned off the lights to go to sleep…it was a long night.