Dogs
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.
Insurance, Part 2
Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | Dogs | No Comments
Just in case anyone was wondering, I have come to a decision regarding insurance, at least temporarily. And part of it is from reading the thread “have I doomed my dog” on the Swissy Forums.
Drum roll please…
I have decided to stay with insurance. I am going to evaluate a few others (we currently have Embrace) to see if there’s something better available for our current needs, but I’m keeping it around for the time.
I think that I will start a slush fund/bank account in addition to the insurance. After all, I have 2 older dogs that are not insured, and would cost quite a bit to get there. Gryffin is over 6, which is just shy of being a senior canine, and Beowulf is almost 13. So having an account to pay for the additional care, plus money for things like shows, is a good thing.
Ramblings of the Crazy Dog Lady
Monday, August 10th, 2009 | Dogs | No Comments
I am the Crazy Dog Lady, just in case you were wondering.
I did a lot of fun, random things this weekend. So I figured I’d just ramble a bit. Read at your own risk.
Friday was great! It rained, which was annoying, but we had some friends from Big Dogs Porch over, some with dogs, and some without. Indy, Gryffin & Beowulf got to hang out with Basja the Dane and Rufus the Saint. The rain caused the dogs to be lazy, so not a lot of play. But the humans did take a trip with all dogs to get some ice cream. I had a comment from my neighbor the next day that they loved the “dog parade” that went by her house on the way home.
Saturday was fun for the humans. Hubby and I went to Goombay Bash and left the dogs at home overnight with the dog sitter. They had tons of fun without us. They never seem unhappy or anything when return from a trip, as long as we use this particular dog sitter.
Sunday morning, we stuck around in the city for a little bit after breakfast. We went to go meet Bosley the Swissy and help him and his human. You see, Bosley, who is just over a year old, has not really had the opportunity to ride in cars. His last trip was 6 months ago, and he cried in the cab all the way to the vet. So we thought we’d help him and his human out a bit since we were right there. We drove over and had the air conditioning blasting, not only because it was in the 90s out, but we wanted to make it a nice, cool and happy place so Bosley would want to jump in. Bosley was happy that these new people gave him love, treats and a squeaky toy. After his human got in the car on one side, I was able to persuade him to join her on the back seat. We drove around for about 15 minutes, then we let them go. I’m very glad we were able to help, and we’ll have to try again the next time we’re down!
On a completely non-Swissy related note, I would like to pass on my condolences to two of our Big Dogs Porch friends. First, Dreams Red, White N’ No Blue, aka Susie the Beagle, passed away today from wounds sustained in a coyote attack. Second, after a long and valiant fight, Buddy the Saint Bernard was lost to bloat last night. Both families are hurting, so please send them your good thoughts.
Happy Monday.
Insurance
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 | Dogs | 2 Comments
Before Indy became a member of our family in 2008, we had toyed with the idea of getting insurance for Alex, Beowulf & Gryffin. When I looked into it further, I found it was really only a viable option for Gryffin, as the other two were old, and premiums would be high while the plans would not offer much of anything.
We decided to get coverage for Indy. I researched for about a month or so, looking at the various companies and policies that were out there. Some companies considered Epilepsy and Bloat to be hereditary, and they are rather common issues with Swissies. I found a couple that would cover those, plus others that we were concerned about, and we eventually went with Embrace. I have not needed to use it once, but I’ll bet we would if we didn’t get a policy.
We’re currently at the point where we are reconsidering the policy. It doesn’t cover preventative and annual visits. It also doesn’t cover spay and tacking, which we will likely do in the not-too-distant future. (At least the spay.)
We’re considering starting a “dog fund” bank account. We’d take the money we send to Embrace every month plus a little extra and deposit it into a new account. We’d use it for dog health, show or other event fees, or the purchase of a new animal. Really, whatever comes up that is dog related. I like this idea, because of something were to happen to Dan or me, we could have this account as a “trust fund” of sorts that would be used after we are gone to continue to care for our animals.
The other option is emergency-only insurance. The ASPCA offers emergency only, as do other providers. The ASPCA’s covers injuries from accidents, and any most things associated with them. (Diagnostic procedures, medicine, lab tests, surgery, dental services, x-rays, and hospitalization.) It will not cover anything with an illness.
So the question is do we take the gamble and cancel the Embrace policy? I feel like Murphy’s Law would take over and she’d get ill.
More on the decision as it’s made.
Weekend Fun
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 | Dogs | 1 Comment
We were able to get out to Galena, Illinois (border of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa on the Mississippi if you’re not familiar) this weekend for some relaxation. The dogs came with us of course, and the servants of Indy’s sister, Vasey, met us out on Saturday for the day.
It looked like rain at first, but it just kept the temperature a little cooler (albeit more humid) until after we had finished our morning hike/play session with the dogs.
We let Indy & Gryffin loose in the riding arena for a bit.
Then we went to look for the horses.
They were more interested in food, so we wandered over to a clearing that’s away from the highway to let them rampage a bit.
Even Beowulf rampaged a bit.
Then we hung out at the house again and waited for our friends. Dan needs one of those straw pipes or something.
Gryffin loves to pose for pictures no matter where we are.
Then Vasey showed up.
Then everyone started getting silly.
Especially Indy.
We hiked around the property-up and around some hills, over a little stream-and ended up on a hill that’s a fair distance away from the road. So we were able to let everyone off leash again for play time. But they were pretty warm, so there was not much playing back there. They did pose for more pictures, of course.
Vasey is such a pretty girl. Just like her sister.
It looks like Indy’s pouting here. Not sure why.
More posing.
I got them to run every once in a while.
I could get used to having 3 Swissies.
Funny face from Beowulf, caught on camera!
Back at the cabin, Vasey was trying to get beer.
Then we got them to play more again.
And then we let them crash in the house so we humans could go watch the sun set on the Mississippi.
Happy Monday!
Happy Friday!
Friday, July 31st, 2009 | Dogs | No Comments
We’re off to Galena in a few hours. Well, after I get my much-deserved 80 minute deep tissue massage and our new appliances get delivered.
So next week, we’ll have lots of new pictures! Indy’s sister is meeting us tomorrow, assuming we don’t get crappy weather. And our Saint Bernard friends, Reggie & Maxine, will be out for a visit too!
Talk to you soon!
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