Dogs
Happy Anniversary to Us!
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 | Beowulf, Dogs, Indigo, Ozzy | 25 Comments
That’s right, it’s Swiss Lick Swissies’ anniversary! I’ve been blogging, along with assistance from dogs and a few guest posters, for two whole years!
Calm down. I’m worried you’ll throw your back out or something…
Now, I know you’re happy for me and all, but you really should be more happy for yourselves. Because if you remember from last year, anniversary time means FREE STUFF for you!
What is this free stuff, you ask? Well, it’s a 2 Hounds Design collar*! They are without a doubt my favorite place to get fabric collars. Indy has a couple and Gryffin did too – I imagine his will fit Ozzy one day, but I think he’ll probably need his own too. They are well made, and as a company, they do a fair bit to support rescue organizations and donate to osteosarcoma research at OSU.
And, yes. I know Gryffin had hemangiosarcoma, not osteo…but cancer research is cancer research. And cancer sucks.
So, here’s what you do. You need to comment on my blog posts. Any comment made on blog posts from today through 5pm central time on Thursday, 9/9/10, are eligible to win! You can comment multiple times, although the comments must actually have some sort of content to be valid. If all six of you go absolutely nuts and there are freakish amounts of comments, I will give away more than one collar.
So, start looking at 2 Hounds today. There’s plenty of time to get that nice, fall collar (see Ozzy’s pic from yesterday). Or maybe you want an every-day martingale. There are some really cool collars available!
If I had to pick one, I think Indy might get the Freesia-Copper-Floral collar.
Or maybe Ozzy would get the gorgeous Arabesque-Sapphire collar.
Start commenting today!
*Collar must be valued at $50 or less.
Ozzy updates
Friday, August 13th, 2010 | Alex, Beowulf, Dogs, Gryffindor, Indigo, Ozzy | No Comments
You know, it occurred to me that I’ve been posting lots of pictures lately, but I haven’t given too much detail about life with Ozzy. I’m sure you all love the pics, but I think I’ll just talk about him and how he’s doing. It may come out as one giant stream of consciousness…my apologies in advance if it comes out as goo.
Ozzy is a fantastic dog. To be honest, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. He’s a well-mannered (well, usually), happy dog. He has a fantastic appetite, hasn’t chewed on stuff he shouldn’t (unless Indy counts) yet, and has been very easy with house training.
Actually, I jokingly mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I should rename the blog to “The Daily Swizzle” because on average, that’s all we get. We’ve had a few multiple-accident days, but he will go for four or more days without having any at all. He knows he’s supposed to go outside, and he has very good control for a Swissy. He just hasn’t figured out how to tell us he needs to go. We are pretty good at watching his signals, but we don’t always get him out in time. Of course, it happens during or post play, right when we are trying to usher him to the door. He’ll get there soon, I think. (Or is it I hope?)
Ozzy is doing very well in our household in general. I do believe I’ve mentioned before that Indy loves him, but it’s important to note that I believe Beowulf, the old curmudgeon, actually enjoys his company. I have caught them cuddling and – gasp – playing just a little bit.
His socialization is going quite well. We have completed four weeks of Puppy K, and I believe he is the star of the class. Perhaps that’s what happens when you actually work with your dog on the basics before class starts, and when you work with him daily when it’s going. I could be wrong.
There is one thing about him that worries me. While Gryffin was a great dog for obedience because he WANTED to please us, Ozzy is just plain smart. The obedience comes quickly, and he enjoys it. But I have a feeling he’s doing it because he wants to and he likes it, not because it makes us happy at all. The reason this is worrying is because this is how Alex was-extremely smart, frequently extremely obedient, but cunning beyond belief. While I say I’m worried partially in jest, it’s not all funny-although I don’t believe this is the end of the world. Put Alex’s mad skillz into a dog that will likely end up near 140lbs and tall enough to graze counter tops, and you can see why we might have issues. I guess this means training, training, and more training.
In other news, the small puppy (we brought him home at eight weeks and around 13lbs) is no longer small. He’s around three and a half months old, and weighs in at 37lbs. Our vet met him this week and believes he’s around a quarter of his eventual size. We initially thought it was possible that Ozzy may end up on the smaller side, but we have since revised our opinion. Please send help.
That’s all for now. I hope all three of my readers have a fantastic weekend! Stay cool!
Playtime for everyone!
Monday, August 2nd, 2010 | Beowulf, Dogs, Indigo, Litter Mates and Swissy Friends, Ozzy | No Comments
While someone was playing around in Vegas this weekend, I took the opportunity to socialize the dogs and introduce them to new situations. Are you at all convinced that I was super glad to be at home for 4 days with a puppy that doesn’t like to sleep past 5:15am? I should probably work on my delivery.
Despite my sarcasm, I did actually have a nice time at home with the dogs. As you already saw, Ozzy and I spent some time with puppies on Thursday. On Friday, we went over to Indy’s sister’s house for some play time.
Vasey and Ozzy had some fun first.
Vasey trampled her human’s plants.
She was kind enough to show Ozzy how to do it.
Indy and Vasey had some “adult Swissy” play time, which included running around like crazy dogs.
Indy rolled around while Ozzy cuddled.
Vasey thought that looked like fun, so she tried it too.
Why is it all Swissies love to roll around on their backs? There was no raccoon poop or anything…
After we did that for a couple of hours, we went home to recharge for Saturday. That was the big day, as it included our first ever trip to a house with a pool! I was hopeful that after Indy’s introduction to water in May (Lake Michigan at Bark in the Park) that she might be someone who enjoys swimming. So we tried to lure her into the pool. (All Saturday pictures courtesy of Jodi and Clare May.) It’s setup for dock dog diving, and has a nice ramp.
(Please ignore the lady in the bathing suit.)
She went in very slowly her first time, but was completely willing.
Although once her feet were off that ramp, she was not too pleased. She enjoys water, but likes her feet to be on solid ground right now.
See?
But I didn’t keep her in long. She was able to get out on her own, and wasn’t too upset.
She actually came back on her own a second time and went most of the way into the pool with a float coat on. She was most of the way down the ramp on the third try, but then changed her mind. I’m not sure if she was distracted or what, but I was very happy with her.
I did bring Ozzy into the pool for a “swim,” but I did not let go of him at all. He wasn’t entirely pleased, but wasn’t entirely upset either.
(Again, please ignore the funny looking person.)
We also met Toby the Swissy (who won our pack giveaway last year!) and his humans, in addition to our hosts Leonbergers, cute mutt Huntley, and new ESRA foster, Sierra.
None of the host dogs are worried about the water at all, as you can tell by the lovely and damp Cleo.
Thanks for looking!
Things you wish breeders did…
Monday, June 28th, 2010 | Dogs, Ozzy | No Comments
I’m starting a list. It’s kind of a silly list. And it’s short now with only two things on it. It will get updated over time, I’m sure.
1. Walk the puppies on a leash. Maybe they do, but every Swissy puppy we’ve ever picked up gives us the WTF look when we put them on one for the first time. Although it is kind of cute.
2. Let the puppies visit you while in the can. Yes, I know that’s kind of a weird request. But since there are only 2 humans in my house, we both have to have Ozzy with us in the washroom from time-to-time. He’s with me in the mornings when I shower and get ready for work because Dan is not up yet and I can’t have him running around. And he was in with me on Saturday when I was doing my business. The toilet paper spinning around freaked the heck out of him and he tried to scamper under my legs. Again, very cute. But is it perhaps avoidable?
Have any silly requests like this for your breeder(s)?
Swissy prep
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 | Dogs | No Comments
As I mentioned, we are in Swissy puppy preparation mode. The little bugger comes home tomorrow… We are excited, stressed, and tired, but it’s all good.
We decided the our house needed a bit of an overhaul, so we’ve been working hard. We shampooed the carpet upstairs repeatedly trying to get rid of what our incontinent Basset had done. I think we had the main breakthrough (at least in odor since you couldn’t see anything) last night when I used the Simple Solution cleaner meant for carpet shampooers. It did an absolutely fantastic job!
We also worked on the wood floor in the dining room – another area that has fallen victim to the dogs in our house. The polyurethane in a few places had worn away, so after trying repeatedly with enzyme cleaners to get rid of the smell, we decided it would be best if we fixed the floor. So we scraped, cleaned, stained, cleaned, and polyurethaned the floor, and we’re ready to go.
We’ve been placing some area rugs around the first floor (cheap ones so we don’t mind if they’re ruined) to allow for better traction with soft puppy paws.
And, this may be the most important thing….
We charged and replaced batteries in all the equipment that takes pictures or video, so we are ready to go!
Check back for puppy pics!
Galena Weekend
Monday, April 26th, 2010 | Dogs | No Comments
I will first get the disappointing news out of the way.
There are no pictures. That’s right, none.
The weather was cloudy and raining pretty much the entire time we were there. Not good for pictures at all.
I’ll admit I was a bit nervous or apprehensive about going. This was our first trip in 7 years that we took without Gryffin. He was always such a big part of our lives that I really wasn’t sure how it would go without him.
Oddly enough, it went really well.
Indy and Beowulf were actually fantastic in the truck on the ride out. I’m used to Indy being great in a vehicle, but not Beowulf. The sleeping part of the trip worked extremely well. Beowulf is usually on the bed (Alex would be there too…), and Indy and Gryffin would find places on the couches behind us as we use an air mattress out there. It would be normal to be woken up with a punch/kick/paw to the head/throat/you name it. That was Gryffin’s thing. Or he’d wake up and smack his lips for 20 minutes. While it certainly goes without saying that I would rather he’d be alive and well with us, the weekend went really well. I really didn’t expect it. Although I didn’t expect a disaster, either.
Yes, I was a little sad now and then. But it really seemed that when I was sad, Indy and Beowulf would do something incredibly cute or cuddly to make me happy.
It worked.
UGH!!!!
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 | Dogs | No Comments
Guess what happened to me this morning?
Come on, guess!
OK, I can’t hear you, so I will just assume you’ve thought about it for a second.
I. STEPPED. IN. DOG. POOP.
WITH. BARE. FEET.
I can’t come close to describing the horror of this morning. After stepping in loosely-formed dog excrement, I hopped across the house on one foot to the kitchen, wiped off my foot with paper towels, hopped into the bathroom there and started the shower. Lucky for me we have a removable shower head, so I was able to clean off my foot (it got between my toes) without requiring a full shower.
I did seriously consider going back to bed until tomorrow to start fresh. But honestly, I’m not sure that would help wipe the horror from my memory.
*SIGH*
Words
Friday, April 16th, 2010 | Dogs | No Comments
I read this morning that dogs can learn about 250 words. I’m not sure if that’s true for Indy, but I started thinking about it. I think Alex understood full sentences, but the others definitely know words. I feel compelled to list them for some reason.
Food
Eat
Walk
Truck
Down
Sit
Stand
Come (well, maybe)
No
Good
Bad
Treat
Quiet (again, debatable)
Out
Stay (on a good day)
Ride
Paw
Hmmm, that doesn’t seem to be 250. I guess you can add their names to it. Then maybe some phrases. I’m not sure how many of the words they know, or if they understand the cadence or tone.
Do you wanna go for a…
Who wants to eat
Who wants a treat
Sit pretty
Time for dinner
Kennel up
I’m curious what other people’s dogs know.
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.
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