Bath Day

So Bath day around this household for little furry guys is NOT a favorite.  This is the dogs BEFORE bath. Baxter lays his ears back and does the "dragon look", Oscar looks worried and pleading, "little old man" look.  So funny to me, so we go outside and I actually have luke warm water to bath them in.  They have to be taken by the collar and then they will jump in the bin, well, most of the time.  If not, then its the hose or a big plastic cup gets dumped on them and shampoo and then I use the red rubber brush to get the shampoo into the hair good.  Deep clean the Babies ....Check, grab ahold of them with towel BEFORE they dive into dirty clothing and comforter and couch.....not so much.

That's all I can handle today, Daddy needs to take over, lol.

The End

Well, hello again, everyone!  I cannot believe that I haven't updated this blog since we got our Dear adopted Baxter!  Baxter is part Australian Shepherd and part Border Collie, he is so sweet and funny and just steals your heart without you knowing it.  He loves attention, but is okay with sharing the limelight with his brother Oscar.  These two guys keep me busy.  All the attention to cleaning and trying to genuinely take care of them and spend time with them, well, it's hard work some days.  Yet when they just look at you with those "adoring eyes" look, or the "play with me" look, along with tons of tail-wagging, it just melts your heart.  Lately I have been recovering from a hysterectomy and the pups have been my sole company most days as I cannot get out as much as I want to.... yet.  They are really careful with me and it is really sweet to see how attuned to me they are.  They LOVE to play outside and so we have been going outside and I sit on the swing as they are playing around the back yard.  I also throw a ball for Oscar and a rope for Baxter.  I actually found 5 rope toys in the back yard that I didn't even know were there! LOL.  I couldn't believe it.  I guess I get tired of looking for them and just buy another, they are only 99 cents so I just lazily bought another instead of searching for them.  Too hilarious, huh?  I will post some cute pics so y'all can judge for yourself how cute and funny my two little furry babies are.  Great talking to everyone and please PINTEREST or add this blog to your FACEBOOK, or any site or page you have as I am trying to eventually publish a cartoon about my dogs too. Hugs to all the friends and family.

Oscar meets snow

Traveling for three days is challenging.  Traveling for three days with your spouse who has opinions about EVERYTHING is even harder.  Traveling for three days with your spouse, your beloved pet, and approximately 30 presents, 4 pieces of luggage, all the pets toys and snacks and bedding and everything you can think of to make him happy....... utter INSANITY!  Poor Oscar who is approximately 46 lbs., give or take a cookie or two, was squished into a spot fit for a chihuahua.  He would look at me with his little sad looks every single time I put him back into the car.  We had to stop three times as much, look for hotels that accept animals (God Bless La Quinta Inn), and find things at PetSmart and Petco that we didn't know existed.  For example, booties with tough bottoms so that the Osk-meister's not-so-wittle feet wouldn't crack due to the salt-laden pavement in snow country.  Oscar saw his FIRST snow in Flagstaff, Arizona and it was a beautiful and hilarious thing!  "Daddy" took him out as I was in a rush to check out the mesmerizing tiles in the ExxonMobil station.  As soon as I came back out Oscar ran back up to me all worried and whining.  I could tell he was terrified by the snow.  Poor thang!  Much more in the future about our holiday travels, and a H! appy New Year to you all. 

No need for Home Security Systems

The super thing with a dog is that there are no need for Home Security Systems! When people ask us, 
what do you have for a security system? We answer, smiling, Oh we have a furry Loud alarm system
called Oscar. Oscar is the official guardian of our home, he comes equipped with not only a piercing bark alarm, but extremely sharp teeth and legs with which to run frantically all over the house.  He especially is focused on the living room area which he guards like Fort Knox.  The Fort Knox of bones n treats. :O)  It's sooo funny though when the alarm sounds because of wild turkey crossing the front yard, or an annoying gopher that we have visiting us on occasion, one would think the calvary had arrived!  Also when the neighbors come home from work its an all-out frenzy in our living room with our little security guard dashing from each window worrying himself to bits about a possible 62r in progress (a residential burglary). He also gets concerned about people disturbing the peace and inevitably we have the neighbor with the pumpin' car stereo right next door, in Oscar's book this is a DEFINITE 415.  LOL.  Needless to say, our neighborhood, while fairly quiet, still has a number of families that move around normally, and this gets our little guard dog pretty stoked on a daily basis.  We would have to live in the far reaches of Alaska to have silence in our house.  While a bark collar has been recommended, we have not silenced our security force, yet.  :O) Till the next episode. Over and out. 

Doggiel Clothing, To be or not to be?

Okay, Immediately I bet most of the guys reading this are like, NOOOOOOOOO!  Yet we must think about this issue seriously.  If a dog is an outdoor dog, it has its undercoat and it also has been acclimated to the temperatures over a certain amount of time.  If it is an indoor dog, and you either have it groomed or groom your dog yourself, we cut the undercoat away, its gone, and what is left is comparable to wearing a t-shirt in the dead of winter.  Hello???  So people, WHY the huge problem with a coat?  Do you wear a coat, or just your t-shirt?  LOL.  Now if my brother, Nick is reading this, he has the temperature of a werewolf (above average) and was seen wearing his summer khaki shorts all winter long.  If my puppy, My Little Precious, shivers in the morning cold, I am buying him a flippin' coat! My Oscar Loves his coat.  :O)  End.

All Stuffed Animals Must Die with one exception

At one point, I started mentally tallying up all of the expense of the dog toys I was buying for My little angel and I realized I should have stock in PetSmart, Petco, and Wal-Mart for starters.  Yet I don't so I am spending a fortune.  I then occasionally started picking up a cheaper stuffed animal or two, sometimes at the store, sometimes at a Salvation Army Thrift store if it looked new.  Don't worry, I always wash them.  There are many hazards with this option too, as I soon found out.  First of all, this adorable stuffed animal has just been condemned to die an extremely painful death by puppy teeth that rival Jaws!  As I stare into  the plastic sad eyes of each animal, I pray its soul (is there one?) up to a heaven where they will hopefully get to be with a little girl or boy who hugs them.  I explain to them silently that their death is saving me money, so I think they understand their sacrifice.  LOL.  I am a bit off for my thinking patterns sometimes but Hey, everyone's a little crazy, Seal said so.  Anyway, I digress, which I do quite a bit of, even in conversation, but I am NEVER boring.  LOL.  As I hand over this little precious furry bit to Little Way-over-excited Oscar, who is hopping around like a frog trying to reach the scared little stuffed animal, I die a little inside, but Hey, Oscar loves it, and I do so enjoy seeing him smile.  Yes, My Puppy Smiles.  Shhh, its true.  Next comes the death of the ever-sad stuffed animal. First there is the licking, the sniffing, the pretending to snuggle up adorably with this toy.  The next step strangely enough is the intense smelling of the non-existent butt area of the toy.  This could go on for minutes!  Finally, with careful precision, a weak spot in the design of this toy is located, the first dreaded hole is made, and the de-stuffing takes place.  The end is near.  At this point my entire living room usually appears as though tiny white puffy clouds have moved in and are EVERYWHERE!!!  Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!  Why???  Why???  Finally, when the animal appears to be only an empty skin, Oscar gives it one last shake, then flops it down, and walks away.  Sigh, time for Mommy to clean the Living Room, aka Stuffed animal slaughter house........again.  Strangely enough, one stuffed animal has made it through nearly 10 months.  A little stuff Snoopy.  You will see him in many pics.  Oscar will snuggle with him for hours, even take little naps.  It's the cutest thing EVER.  No really, it is.  Snoopy is the one exception.  Sweet Little Oscar and Snoopy.  Maybe two of a kind.  Mixed in with a little bit of Dennis the Menace on Oscar's part of course.

Dog Toys a vicious cycle

Today started out as our typical day.  I wake up, go let Oscar out of his kennel, take him out for his morning lawn watering and greet the sun.  He begs me to play ball at 7 am, I laugh at him and we go back inside.  We snuggle on the couch for awhile, sometimes falling back to sleep for another hour or so.  Tummies grumbling we wake up for real this time and go in search of food.  Oscar chooses dry food if I don't make toast and I settle on GrapeNuts with Oscar on my arm.  Because he is ALWAYS right there.  In EVERYTHING I do.  LOL.  It is definitely my fault as I read about the umbilical cord training and thought that was how I wanted to train him.  OMG, Why did I do such a thing, aaargh!  Oh well, a little too far down the road to worry about that now.  Oscar finishes the rest of my GrapeNuts and we sit on the couch while I write my TO DO List that will never see completion today, but Hey, I try.  At least I am an OVERachiever mentally.  LOL.  I think Oscar is an OVERachiever mentally too.  Like for instance, Why does he drag out 5 chew toys and 3 bones at ONE time?  And better yet, WHY do I LET him???  Sigh.  I am not really a disciplinarian anymore.  As the oldest of 8 children I think I was burned out by the time I was 10.  :O)   I mean, does he plan on growing ANY more teeth, for the love of monkeys?  He can only chew one at a time but maybe it comforts him to have them around him?  Or maybe those bones are HIS to do list? I don't know, but then picking them all up falls onto mine.  I clean up the living room, vacuum and everything is neatly in order, then it seems 15 minutes later I walk in and there are land mines of dog toys and bones all over AGAIN!! This is when anger occurs.  At least for a few minutes.  Then I plop on the couch and we snuggle for another 30 minutes.  How can I stay mad at my best friend for long?  And those pretty golden brown eyes just melt me.  He knows it too. Every time I leave even for a few hours I come back with a toy and a treat only to find 20 of them under the couch later that week.  LOL.  It's a vicious cycle.