Dogs
Holiday fun?
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 | Dogs | No Comments
I started looking around for the holiday “outfits” that the dogs will wear for pictures when I got home from vacation. It’s not complete torture or anything because the the stuff I get them to wear is usually just something for their head or neck. I ask that they wear them for pictures, and then they are richly rewarded with treats.
Can you imagine the shock and dismay I experienced when I realized the holiday stuff is not around anymore??? Perhaps we threw them away during the big kitchen remodel. Perhaps the dogs paid someone to get rid of them…
Well, never fear, folks! I still have Beowulf’s yarmulke, and I picked up a few new items at the store on Monday. Assuming I can actually get time tonight (darn work got in the way last night) we should have pictures on Wednesday!
Photoshoot and Silliness
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | Beowulf, Dogs, Gryffindor, Indigo | No Comments
Sunday was gorgeous, so we decided it was the day to get pictures for our annual holiday card. I took pictures indoors and outside, plus random pics of dogs playing and being. Too bad I forgot to switch my camera mode over to get some of the crazy shots…
Here are some we considered for the card.
We loved the wide open Swiss mouths here.
Everyone looks cute here.
The only outdoors shot…
I wish Beowulf would have given us a smile in one picture, but he was not pleased with the whole process. Too bad I don’t have mad Photoshop skillz.
Then we let them have fun in the yard.
I find this picture of the old guy rather amusing.
Gryffin never fails to give me a good picture. How is this dog so darn photogenic?
And Indy is always quite pretty.
The only way I could describe the Swissies is Nucking Futs.
That’s all for now! Things here are quite busy leading into Thanksgiving. And then the humans leave for vacation, leaving the dogs at home with their favorite sitter.
Weekend Randomness
Monday, October 12th, 2009 | Dogs | No Comments
It was a football weekend for us, so nothing fun with pictures to show you that involve dogs. There are a couple of random bytes of info that I can share with you, though.
Indy got a nice, long walk on Saturday afternoon after the game. It was cold for me, good for her. I went to put her Gentle Leader on and noticed it was broken. The clip that holds the loop around the nose was gone. She needed the exercise, so I broke out her old chain collar and embarked on what I thought would be an unpleasant walk. I was pleasantly surprised when she heeled well, didn’t pull, and looked at me frequently for location/feedback. I was very happy, and she got lots of praise and love.
Indy is also allergy-girl. She appears to have seasonal allergies that are not being managed very well with Benadryl, so we visited the vet and got some potent antihistamines plus some prednisone. Well, we have learned that prednisone, regardless of how it helps her itching, is just not a good treatment for her. Between the low rider and Indy, we cleaned up so much pee this weekend, it was awful. She seemed to be affected about 36 hours after her first dose. We will be speaking to the vet today to determine the best way to lower the dose to wean her off, and will hopefully find an alternative treatment.
So that’s my randomness for Monday morning. I am sleepy and disappointed that today is not a holiday for MY office.
Corn Maze, anyone?
Thursday, September 24th, 2009 | Dogs, Random Stuff | 1 Comment
A Swissy person, who like me, is always looking for new places to walk their Swissy (aka Vasey), told me about this place south of Chicago. It’s called Konow’s Corn Maze, and is in Homer Glen.
This place looks really stinking cool. It’s basically a 10 foot high maze made from corn stalks. And they will let well-mannered dogs walk it with their humans. On leash, I will assume. The maze is on 10 acres of land, and has up to 3.5 miles of twists and turns through the maze.
They also have more kid-centered things to do, like hayrides, a tryke track, and a jumping pillow. (Between you and me, I’m going to try to get on that pillow. Without a dog, of course.)
They have an admission fee, but it’s not too expensive. And they have a $1 off coupon on their website, so it really boils down to about $7 per person over the age of 8.
So, we’re trying it in a week or so. It’s not around for ever. I think next weekend. If there are any Chicago-area people out there who want to join, send me a note and I’ll give you date and time details.
I’m off for a long weekend in California tomorrow, so I will not be posting for a couple of days. Have a great weekend, everyone!
Ah, the country life
Monday, September 21st, 2009 | Dogs | 2 Comments
We had some lucky dogs this weekend. We hauled out to Galena, Illinois again for a nice weekend away from the hectic life at home. (And our floors were getting redone.) For them, this means pouncing on us while we’re trying to sleep, playing with each other in fields where Indy can get up a good head of steam, hiking, and trying to get the horses to play.
OK, enough talk. Time for pictures.
Gryffin lounging after breakfast on the screened porch. (Definitely a favorite place for the humans.)
Come on, hurry up!
Rolling rolling rolling…
What? I like rolling.
Relaxing? Or waiting to pounce?
Waiting to pounce. On me.
Beowulf is getting a bit old for this, but he still enjoys the hikes. Assuming we let him go super slow.
Gratuitous rear shot of the husband.
We learned on our last trip out that Indy loves the 4 wheeler.
Grandpa did not and was quite amused when she started chasing him.
We tried to get them a little more worn out before we left on Sunday.
Then we remembered how much time the horses spend there, so there’s lots of horse poop. It’s either good eating, or good to roll in, depending on which dog we’re talking about.
For Beowulf, it’s good to roll in. Or smear your face in.
One last shot. Not the dogs, though. It’s the Mississippi River.
I hope everyone had a good weekend!
Luggage
Friday, September 18th, 2009 | Dogs | 1 Comment
Have you ever noticed how weird dogs get when they see luggage? Not just if you’re moving it from one room to another. They seem to be able to tell the difference between that and when we’re actually going to use it.
We’re heading out of town this weekend. Our dogs are lucky enough to come with. (Although they will not be so lucky next week.) I took a bag out of the closet in the room and threw it on the floor. They can’t even get in the room, and nobody was standing nearby. All of the sudden, I have Gryffin, Indy & Beowulf all standing there staring at me on the other side of the gate with that excited, glossy-eyed look that means they’re not sure if they’re coming with, but they’re hopeful.
Do we have a certain smell when we’re packing for vacation or something?
Labor Day Fun
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | Dogs | 5 Comments
It was a very busy weekend in our house. We had the first football game/tailgate of the season, a pig roast, and an awesome Cajun style BBQ at a friend’s house. The BBQ was particularly nice because we could bring the dogs. All three of them!
Indy and her friend Basja had fun playing together, which bodes well for when Basja comes to stay in winter.
Even Beowulf got a field trip, which made his weekend!
(Actually, someone was supposed to be watching him while I was playing with the other two, and he ended up having an adventure when he escaped from the back yard.)
You’d think Jodi had food to get them to surround her this way, but it was a toy.
Indy really likes to pull.
Looking for another victim.
Reggie wanted in on the action too.
I think Gryffin really wanted some beer.
Look at Reggie’s tongue!
I’ll leave you with the happy escape artist again.
Happy Birthday to Us!!
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 | Dogs | 25 Comments
We are 1 today! My first blog date was September 2, 2008. A lot has happened since then, but it seems like just yesterday that the first post went up.
To celebrate, we are doing something we haven’t done before…we’re giving something away!!!
Yes, free stuff.
Here. On Swisslickswissies.com.
Cool, eh?
A brand new, never before used (except for modeling purposes) Ruff Wear Approach Pack II could be yours. Yes, yours. It is a nice, red, size large pack.
It’s a little different than what you would find on their website. It will fit girth of 31″ – 48″.
As you can see, it fits Indy just fine!
To give you an idea of whether or not it will fit your dog, Indy is about 90 pounds soaking wet (yes, kind of small) and there was PLENTY of space left to grow underneath. There was slightly less wiggle room in the chest, but she does have a great rack. I will try to get a picture of Gryffin in it later this week, after the flea & tick stuff has been absorbed. I didn’t think it would be nice to get that all over your new pack.
So, the obvious question is how do you win it? Well, in the never ending quest to get people to comment on posts (I guess I haven’t tried too hard yet…), I think the best way is for you to comment on posts. Comments that are entered from now through 5pm CDT, September 9, 2009, are eligible. One post will be picked at random, and that person will win the pack! Cool, huh? I believe I borrowed that idea from several other bloggers.
So, comment away. If there’s something interesting about my post, mention it. If you don’t like it, mention that too. If you’d like to see me write about something in particular, I can do that as well, but I need YOU to comment about it to know.
There are what, like 6 of you out there reading this, right? So it shouldn’t be that hard for you to win.
TTFN!
Weekend fun!
Monday, August 31st, 2009 | Dogs | 1 Comment
The Chicago area weather was definitely good for Swissies this weekend! Both of them (and the Basset) had some good walks and got their claws trimmed. OK, so the trimming isn’t very fun for them, but they are more stealth now.
The cool weather made them EXTREMELY energetic. Especially Indy. So the walks helped a lot. However, I realized part of the way through my long walk with her on Saturday that I was dumb. I should have put her pack on her before I left the house and put some weight in it. She is finally 18 months, so pack hike training would be a good idea. But no…I have to forget it, which meant I had to carry the large back of treats on my own. Sigh.
Sorry, I was a slacker in the picture department.
Watch over the next few days. We are going to be doing a give away (picked from those who leave comments) for our 1 year anniversary!
Happy Monday.
Sad Week
Friday, August 14th, 2009 | Dogs, Random Stuff | No Comments
I’m going to stop dwelling on the sadness after this post. This is part of my grieving process. The slightly weird part of this is that I am grieving for dogs that I have never met, with one exception.
This week, members of the Big Dogs Porch forum lost four dogs. Four of them. Why is that necessary? They weren’t lost to old age or chronic illness. Not that it would make it any better if they were. Susie & Nonnie the Beagles passed on Monday, and I believe both were due to wounds sustained from coyotes or other animals. Buddy the Saint and Levi the Neo both bloated. Very sad.
The non-porch dog was Michelina the Swissy. She was a senior, but that doesn’t make things any easier for her family or those who knew her.
Last night, I was so irrationally sad thinking about this that I could not stand it if the dogs were in a different room from me. Every time Gryffin got up to go lie near the AC vent in the other room, I made him come back in the room with me. Every time I let them outside, I checked first to make sure the gate was closed. And Beowulf seems to be able to sleep so soundly, you can barely see him breathe. But he does. Poor guy gets woken up frequently by me to make sure he’s still alive.
Perhaps this is more a reminder to me than anyone else, as none of the humans who lost their family members this week are guilty of anything. And definitely to those awful people on Craig’s List who constantly try to rehome their dogs without even trying to make things worse. Love your dog. Enjoy your time with them. They offer you love unconditionally, so return it. And when they seem overly demanding of your attention, remember that they only have you. They don’t go to work every day and interact with people. They don’t get to call their mom or dad to say hi whenever they want. So give them attention, exercise, love, and affection. You never know when they’re going to go to the bridge.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
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