A Fairly Good Minion

I’d like to introduce my assistant, Hero. I wasn’t particularly enthused about him when Julie and I first picked him up, but Julie’s been telling me I need to prepare for retirement and she was actually right. Anyway, Hero came to live with us in mid-December and was pretty quick to learn to leave me alone when I tell him to (most of the time) and he picked up medic alerting from me in less than a month. I don’t even have to supervise him to make sure he’s doing it right anymore. I still reserve the right to try to kill him when he oversteps his bounds, and he’s still too much of an obnoxious playful puppy for my taste, but he does his job and I’m willing to occasionally leave him a scrap of food to show my approval.

I’m pretty much fully retired now because Juli says working was making me too grumpy. It’s true that I’m older than I admit and age is catching up with me. But I don’t see what’s wrong with being grumpy! On the other hand, even with acupuncture, chiropractic, glucosamine, and Rimadyl, I tend to hurt. Juli has given me a new job as the chief relaxer. It’s not a bad gig for an old cocker spaniel, I’m supposed to spend my time being a good example of relaxing for Juli. But I miss being with Juli all the time. Hero hasn’t learned public access skills yet and so Juli is out dogless a lot, which kind of makes me nervous because, well, we all know she’s not really capable of taking care of herself. She hasn’t poisoned herself with her migraine reversal meds yet though, so I guess it’s OK. Hero better quit being such a goofy adolescent dog and get to work on that public access stuff though!

My pawrents are really weird about bowls lately.

First, last night my pawther was eating out of my bowl! He did let me lick it clean though – boy was he eating yummy food. If he’s going to eat out of my bowl, he should eat whatever I leave (oh, wait, I usually lick my bowl clean, unlike him!) That was really weird though!

Then, this afternoon, Julie got out this HUGE plastic bowl. I mean HUGE – it’s like 3ft across and filled it with water. I love to drink water, so I thought that was fabulous! Then a couple hours later, she goes and sits in it! Talk about weird! I don’t understand why anyone would want to get wet anyway, but she said it felt really good.

What will they think of next?

technorati tags:pool, dog, waterbowl

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Hammock

Cat Nap II
by David McEnery

Get Yours

When Julie started talking about hammocks, at first I thought she was talking about “Ham Hocks” – which, in case you didn’t know is another word for pig trotters, so I was excited. Then she brought home a hammock stand and found a box in a spot I didn’t even know existed in the garage with a hammock. And I found out that it’s some sort of weird human furniture. Now all of a sudden, she’s always laying out in the back yard on the hammock. I just don’t get it. Why would anyone think that laying in something that sways around is relaxing? She’s wasting all sorts of good time that she could be lazing somewhere comfortable in the hammock. My pawther thinks I don’t like the hammock because my paws could fall through when I walk on it, but I have no problem walking on it. I just don’t like the way it sways. Plus, the way it wraps around you just isn’t very comfortable. When I do get in the hammock, Julie makes sure to make it a really great experience for me by giving me lots of pets and telling me how good I am. It’s just not worth it. Especially since I’ve figured out that I can lie under Julie and still sniff what is going on with her – then I only need jump up on the edge of the hammock if I need to alert her. Also, when Julie is in the hammock, there is a nice shady grassy spot underneath. I like shady grassy spots! But I still don’t understand why humans think hammocks are good things!

technorati tags:hammock, service dog, cat, cats

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Food, Glorious Food, Glorious Glorious Food

I love good food! (What dog doesn’t?) For some reason I don’t quite understand, people get really, really worked up about what dogs should and shouldn’t eat. In particular, lots of people tell me that dogs weren’t made to eat grain, especially corn. (Julie tells me this too, but I ignore her.) Here’s what I think –

Yogurt – yogurt is healthy (pretty much everyone agrees on this one.) It also keeps my ears from getting yucky! I’m a yogurt snob – I want pure fresh natural yogurt. Yogurt should only contain milk and active cultures – whole or low fat milk is best, but if non-fat is all you have, I’ll take it. Putting corn starch in yogurt ruins it, and it’s a waste of good corn! I expect yogurt on my kibble every morning – or if for some reason you are out of kibble, at least give me yogurt. If you are out of yogurt, I’ll take probiotic gel. Otherwise, I’m going to be grumpy and slow all day. Think of it as my morning cup of coffee and hand it over!

Kibble – I don’t care that dogs weren’t designed to eat kibble or grain. I like kibble, as long as it has corn in it. This is where corn belongs! Don’t try to feed me healthy kibble that is mostly meat and doesn’t have corn in it, I’ll go on a hunger strike (except for my yogurt.) Regular Science Diet tastes best with yogurt. Beyond the pieces that get yogurt on them, I want Prescription Diet T/D. Not only is it good for my teeth, it is super yummy! (Mike-the-cat and Ben-the-bunny try to steal my T/D too.)

Vegetables – Cabbage is my very, very favorite! Other veggies are good too. Did I mention that I like corn? I love veggies! I always beg for veggies.

Meat – Meat is good. My pawther and his friends give me meat off their plates. Yum! Once my pawther brought me a whole pig trotter from when the club where he works did a pig roast. Yummy! I hear they are going to do another one soon. I hope I get another pig trotter! But I still want my kibble.

Dairy Queen – Every once in a while I get vanilla soft serve from Dairy Queen. I wish I got Dairy Queen every day! It is so yummy! Julie says it’s not good for me – but she also says it’s not good for her and she always gets some too, so I’m just gonna keep eating it!

So, I’m not an expert on dog nutrition – but I’ve noticed that people don’t eat according to what people say is good people nutrition either – so I don’t know why I should have to eat according to what people say is good dog nutrition!

Oh, and treats. I love treats. All dogs should get lots of treats – especially Zukes. In fact, I haven’t had mine yet today – hey Julie, Rich, I want my hippie treats!

technorati tags:dog, dog food, kibble, zukes, yogurt, science diet, prescription diet, T/D, cabbage, diet, nutrition

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Animal Survey (Officially for MySpace, but I blog here!)

Animal Survey (Survey for the Animals of Myspace)
About You…
what type of animal are you?	dog
what breed?	Cocker Spaniel (American or English? Not sure)
what color fur / feathers?	Black and Tan
what color eyes?	Brown
when is your birthday?	You mean my barkday? December 20, 1999
how old are you?	7
how much do you weigh?	20-25 lbs
do you have any siblings?	a cat Mike and a bunny Ben
do you have to wear silly clothes?	they aren’t silly, they are WARM! (or cool in the summer)
do you enjoy wearing said silly clothes?	Like I said, they aren’t silly. I love my sweaters when it is cold! I get grumpy if my pawrent make me take them off!
whats your favorite toy?	The ball Julie knit for me
do you work Or go to work with your mommy / daddy?	Yes, I’m a medical alert dog.
what color harness / collar and leash do you have?	Red is my signature color, but I have collars in every color I can convince someone to get me! I love collars!
what color dinner dishes?	Usually white with pictures on them
This / That
Petco / Petsmart	Both!
Iams / Science Diet	Science Diet – esp T/D I love toothy food!
tug of war / fetch	tug of war!!!!
ocean / lake	whichever one I can stay on the beach
car ride / walk	ohhh, that’s SO hard, I don’t know!
dog park / playing alone with your family	my family!
your own doggy bed / mommy or daddys bed	the big bed we all share! (but sometimes I want to be in my own bed)
tv on / off when your mommy or daddy leave you alone	don’t care
pig ears / hooves	neither, but I got a whole pig trotter once! Wow! That’s yummy!
biscuits / bones	toothy food
CREATE YOUR OWN! – or – GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

technorati tags:myspace, survey, aboutme

Two Years Ago Today

Julie adopted me from doggie jail (aka The Bonnie L Hayes Small Animal Shelter).  My life has changed so much!  Back then I hurt all the time and nobody loved me.  Now I have 2 wonderful pawrents, a kitty brother, a new bunny brother (I know, I haven’t talke about him yet, Julie has been hogging the computer),  a great job (I’m not happy without a job), hobbies, friends, yummy food, and all sorts of good stuff!  If only I didn’t itch so much from my healing cuts, life would be perfect!

technorati tags:dogs, shelter dogs, dog adoption, pet adoption, misspico

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I had moles removed again.

I had moles removed again yesterday. Usually they just burn them off, but for some reason this time they cut one out and I have staples – something about it being stuck to the skin. I heard Julie and my vet talking about this, but I didn’t really know what they were talking about, only that they were awful interested in that one mole during my annual exam. I don’t know why – some of the others were really itchy, that one didn’t bother me at all. At any rate, pretty much all my moles are gone, especially the itchy ones and the ones on my neck they nicked last time I was at the groomer. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to wear a collar because it irritates the spots they removed the moles on my neck. I love collars and I usually wear at least 2, so it’s really weird not being able to wear a collar!

At any rate, Julie got some video of me earlier today and turned it into a post on one of her blogs to help humans learn dog body language and know when we are grumpy and when we are happy.

Check it out:Understanding Dog Body Language for a Well Behaved Dog: Is this a relaxed or stressed dog?

BTW, I like staples, they are cool, kinda like the earrings my humans wear.  I had one in my nose once and I was really bummed when they took it out.

technorati tags:dog, dogs, warts, surgical staples, dog moles, dog stress behavior, dog body language, misspico, miss pico

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I’m a spring chicken!

Julie took the DogAge test for me and apparently I’m as young as I can be! Of course, that’s ’cause Julie takes good care of me and I absolutely adore brushing my teeth! Of course, I don’t necessarily agree with all of their assumptions about what is the most healthy way to live, but I guess since I still got good results, they can’t be too far off!

technorati tags:dogage

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Doggie Dash and A Dog I Actually Like!

Saturday, Julie woke me up early, which I wasn’t really happy about until she said the magic word – WALK! We got in the car and went downtown and Julie took me out of the car without my pack! I got to sniff around downtown off duty! Wow! Turns out the Oregon Humane Society Doggie Dash was downtown! It was fun, there were lots of dogs to sniff and we got to go on a walk. I also got to see some more of my first-responder friends – I got treats from a humane investigator, a motorcycle police officer and a fireman. (I should write about this part of my training sometime.)

Afterwards, we went back to the car and I got my pack because Julie had some errands to run downtown. We went to a store I’d never been to before because last time Julie was there she made me stay with Rich. It’s a needlework store called The Playful Needle. Turns out they have a store dog, an older dachshund and he is really, really nice! I was only allowed to sniff back at him when he came up to say hi, but I wanted to make friends and hang out with him! Apparently Julie really likes the store, so we’ll be going back. Yippie! I hope sometime I get to do more than sniff “Hi!”

technorati tags:embroidery, shopping

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Doggie Dash!

On Saturday, I get to go to the Oregon Humane Society Doggie Dash!  A walk and good sniffing – yippie!  Oh, and I’d love some donations – I have arthritis and had double knee surgery last year and I’m walking – that should be good for some extra donations folks! (Yeah, right, we all know I love walking, but still the humane society could definately use the money!)

We’ve been going for lots of good walks lately.  Today, we went to the vet, but it turned out we were only going in to get wormy pills (Yummy worm preventative, sadly I only get one a month because they taste really, really good!)  And then we immediately went to the dog park on the next block!  That’s what I call a good trip to the vet!  I have a great vet, but really, the dog park is MUCH better!

technorati tags:Oregon Humane Society, Doggie Dash

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