Yippee I went for a long walk OUTSIDE

It was supposed to reach 44 today but needless to say the weather person got it wrong again. But the sun was shining and mom and dad put on their heavy coats and gloves and off we went in the car down to the path along the river. Mom finds this time of year very bleak when the trees have lost all their leaves and the grass turns brown. Me, I am just happy going where my nose takes me and today it took me along a long winding path. There was park benches to sniff, trees, the gazebo, lumps in the ground, bumps in the ground, rocks and pebbles, twigs and branches......dog oh dog, I sniffed everything! There was also another dog there but we stayed well away from it as it was snarling and growling me and mom said it was mean German Shepard. As you can see in the photos there is still a little snow on the ground and ice in the river. I am off to have a nice long snooze now, hope you all had a great weekend.

For Everyone

It's a chilly afternoon and I have been bored so I have been playing on the computer. I came across this poster online a long time ago but it wasn't very good quality, so I redid it, added to it, and here it is. This poster should be printed out at least 50 times and then placed all over your home. Just double click on the image so you get the larger version and then right click and do 'save as'. You will then have the poster for yourselves that you can print out. I don't recommend sticking it on the TV though - dad got a bit upset when he couldn't see the foozball.

katie also added another one that is great.

"if you're thinking about sneaking it while I'm asleep, it's mine."

Dog Year Resolutions

I have been reading about these things moms and dads make at the beginning of each year called 'new year resolutions' and was thinking we should have 'dog year resolutions. So here is your challenge guys......to make 10 resolutions. Here are mine.

1. Go for 2 walks everyday
2. Do 2 miles on my treadmill everyday
3. Do half an hour of agility training every day
4. Do half and hour of obedience work every day (training moms is soooo hard)
5. Play tug at least 5 times a day
6. Play chase the red dot at least 3 times a day
7. Play ball twice a day
8. Have at least 5 cuddles a day (erkkkkk mom made me put that in)
9. Go for a car ride everyday
10. When it warms up again - go to the state parks every weekend.

Here are Ricky's resolutions......these are VERY GOOD

Ok - #1. Eat 4 meals a day (not
just two!)
#2. Bark as much as I want
#3. Actually start catching
squirrels instead of
just chasing them
#4. Walk off-leash every
where I go
#5. Never have to get a bath
#6. Long walks in the park
every day
#7. Never have to cuddle no
matter how much mom tries
#8. Agility practice every
day with real salmon as
the reward!
#9. Learn a trick a day with
real salmon as the reward
#10. Play tug as much as I want

There you go, Reilly! Think we can keep our resolutions? (Probably not as soon as my mom hears about this!)

Merry Wooftmas

To all my wonderful buddies and their moms and dads - we (mom, dad and me) want to wish you all a very happy and safe Christmas. We hope that Santa Paws brings you lots of goodies and that you just enjoy being together and of coarse make time for us smaller ones. I have been so lucky to have my dads 'other' hooman daughter (he has two of them) staying with us over Christmas - she came all the way from Wisconsin. (I know about Wisconsin because I was born there!!!) Oh coarse she just fell in love with me and she was so nice, she would go outside with me and throw snowballs for me to chase and she played tug with me a lot too. Merry Wooftmas everyone and a happy new bark year. Woofitty woofs and slobber kisses to all.

A little chilly

It is like -12 outside and we even ice building up on the inside of our patio glass doors and two of our windows! Dad says it is because they are crappy windows and doors - he use to work for Anderson windows so anything less than that is crappy.....or so he says. Anyway, with the wind chill (and it is blowing a gale out there) they say it is like -30. Even I don't like it this cold!. Here is a photo of the snow building it yesterday. The other picture of coarse is me sitting near our tree....there are no presents under it for me......mom said Santa Paws put all my goodies in a Christmas stocking that is hanging above the fire place. He seemed to think if I could smell the goodies under the tree I might be tempted to 'investigate them'. I hope you are all keeping warm where ever you are.

I am sooooo bored!

This cold weather is so nice for me but the mom doesn't want to take me anywhere. Just because we had a couple of inches snow and two inches of ice on the roads and its only 26 degrees....she says no every time I rattle my lead to remind her about walks. Well if she won't take me walking I will just have to spend my time on the computer and blogging. Mind you this can be fun.....look what I found today. Wow, I wish I had the markings this cowspotcow has.....I would NEVER get lost (look closely at the patches).

Then I found this one....personally I don't get it but the mom thought it was so funny. Mini moo.....what is funny about that?

I guess I can't really say I am bored...the mom does play tug with me all throughout the day and we play chase the red light a couple of time each day. We also go do some agility work down in my basement playroom every morning and I do my treadmill 3 times a day now which is 3 miles in total. Yesterday mom and I went over to Franklins (the corgi) and we took him and his mom to PetSmart with us and we had a wander around, got lots of pats and had fun sniffing at every corner. Of coarse I didn't think it was right that Franklin got a treat and I didn't !!! (They know about my food allergies so don't give me treats anymore). It didn't stop me from protesting loudly about it though. I guess the other good thing, my dad is home for the entire next week and home as in vacation. We are also having someone new coming to stay with us this week. Dad's oldest daughter is coming from Wisconsin to have Christmas with us, and the youngest daughter that lives with us, she is going home to Tennessee to visit her mom for the week. Maybe I won't be so bored this week afterall ....woofitty woofs

Snow snow and more snow

Hey mom - look at me, I sneaked out without my hat and gloves on!!! I think there is a bit of snow storm blowing out here but it's lots of fun to play in........Come on mom - trust me it's not that cold.....its up to 6 degrees today.

It is soooo cold

The mom says it went down to -24 last night and hasn't got above 0 today. That is so cold she worries about me even going out for a few minutes to do what a dogs got to do - which as we all know is BARK!!! Anyway, she decided I had better rug up a little (please mom - do you not notice I have a big heavy fut coat!!) She said she was worried about my ears and feet getting frost bitten.......and this was her answer. The hat I could cope with......but the gloves on the feet......good grief. Moms can be VERY silly sometimes.

Honorary Cowspotdog

My little buddy Ludo had his mom do some photo magic and this is what he would look like as a cowspotdog. He is very cute.

Mom has something she calls a 'soft spot' for Ludo as he reminds her of the puppy mom had before me. Her name was Bonnie and like Ludo she was a Blue Merle Sheltie with a tan face. Mom loved the little Bonnie very much and when mom got her she was very sick. The vet doctor told the mom that if she hadn't bought her, she would of died within the next day or two. (mom later found out that Bonnie came from a bad place called a puppy farm and mom hates those but she was so glad she saved the Bonnie) Anyway, mom worked very hard every day to make her better and eventually she did. Mom and dad then had to go to somewhere called Italy with dad's new job and then move to California where the happy Cows live but sadly they could not take the little Bonnie. Mom was very very upset but little Bonnie went to live at a new forever home and it was meant to be for little Bonnie preformed her own little miracle the very first day. Bonnie's new home was with a a family who had a Downe Syndrome boy. He was sixteen and had not spoken a single word in over two years. As soon as he saw Bonnie though he ran to her and cuddled her and said 'doggie" After that he started speaking a lot to Bonnie and eventually to his mom, dad and sister too. His sister was also on the track team so she would take Bonnie on runs with her every morning. Bonnie's new dad was a Pastor and he said Bonnie was indeed a little miracle for their family. My mom was very sad for a long time at having to give Bonnie to a new home but glad too that is so loved and adored by her new family. So that is the story of Bonnie, but of coarse now my mom has me and is very very happy again. The photos below are of Bonnie the day she went to her new forever home.

In keeping with the theme

The theme being cow spots! I will share my latest find MOOGLE - the best search engine any cowspotdog could use while doing all this wonderful trivia searching. Notice that the "eat more chikin" girls are back. You guys just don't know what fun you are missing out not having spots like me......so come on you creative types lets see if you can play around in a graphics program and give yourself some spots! I do not recommend spray painting spots on though.......it can be awful to wash out :)

In support of my fellow spotted friends I have agreed to support their cause!!! Oooooppppps I just remembered I am allergic to poultry!!!! That is okay, my new diet is venison (oh deer). I wonder if there is some connection between mom loving the California happy cows considering they are white and black.....and the fact that I am white and black (if you haven't seen their ads check them on You Tube) Do you think she was secretly wanting a pet cow......dog oh dog would she be complaining about 'dookie patrol if she had one of those in the back yard! They are nice coloring.....but that are not soft and furry like me, and it would sure be fun taking one of those for a card ride to the pet store!!!

Something New

Mom decided to play with my blog today....it is okay, I gave her permission. As you can see we have gone green!!!!! Mom made me this new header for my page too. (Dad called tonight and said he likes the old cowspotdog header and colors better!!!) What do you guys - old or new?

We also found some interesting trivia today which we thought we would share.

The Basset hound made famous in the Hush Puppies shoe commercials was named Biggles.
Biggles' grandson, Mr. Jeffries, earned fame as the dog with the longest ears in the world. His ears measured 11 and ½ inches each and he often tripped over them.

Tia, a 2 year old Neopolitan Mastiff gave birth to the world's largest litter in 2005. She delivered 24 puppies by caesarean section. Twenty of them survived, setting another record of the most surviving puppies.

The world's tallest dog is a Great Dane from Sacramento named Gibson. He measures 7 feet when standing upright.

Andrew Larkey of Sidney Australia, walked 11 dogs at once on leash for one kilometer.

Twelve veterinary science students from the University of Sydney set a record bathing dogs when they scrubbed 848 dogs in eight hours.

The real hero of the 1925 Serum Run was really Togo. The 12 year old husky led his sled dog team through 260 miles of blowing Alaskan blizzard to deliver emergency diphtheria serum to Nome. Balto received most of the fame because he led the final 55 miles.

The first search and rescue dog on the scene of the World Trade Center disaster on September 11. 2001, was Bear, an 11 year old Golden Retriever. He began recovery efforts immediately, working 18 hour days in the beginning.

Endal, a yellow Lab, helped rehabilitate a Gulf War veteran. He also saved Allen's life, when Allen was struck by a car and knocked from his wheelchair, unconscious. Endal pulled him into the recovery position, covered him with a blanket and grabbed his cell phone. After no response, he walked to a nearby hotel and raised the alarm.

There's a chill in the air

Mom says we are expecting a couple of inches of snow tonight....I can hardly wait. I hope it is really fluffy and white tomorrow because I need something to cheer me up. This is my "oh so sad" look because my dad is off traveling again this week. Sigh......... I just get use to him being here for a week and then he is gone again. Mom says I am a "daddies boy" because I just love him so much and miss him when he's not here. Mom also bought something called a humidifier today. Mom has long hair and I have long hair and with it being so dry we are both so full of something she calls static. All I know is that when ever she reaches out to pat me we both get zapped by some weird unseen thing that stings my nose and her fingers. I am not to sure about the humidifier thing and have been walking in WIDE circles past it, as it will suddenly make a lot of noise. The mom says it's on some automatic thing so when ever the humidity drops below a certain level it turns itself on. I am thinking though that is just another monster....one hiding in a plastic box. It certainly growls like a monster. Who ever knew that they were so many monsters in the world and that apparently it is only we doggies that can see them??

A FOLLOW ON: I got up early expecting to see snow - not so much as a flake....baaaaa humbug

Nothing terribly exciting happening

As much as I am loving this cold weather (only 12 degrees F this morning) the mom doesn't seem so fond of it. Here we were having a game of tug outside - that is her arm all wrapped up in a thick coat and gloves on her paws....ooooppps hands. It was a VERY quick game of tug and mom scurried inside complaining it was too cold. So I sat on the step enjoying the cool - that was until the BAG monster suddenly appeared and dog oh dog did I bark like crazy at that. Mom came racing to the door to see what the commotion was. She doesn't seem to understand that those plastic bags that the wind blows onto MY fence are really monsters. Did you know for example they are one the biggest causes of turtle deaths. They mimic jellyfish floating in the water and when the poor turtle eats it......they get stuck in their tummies and they can die. Luckily there are no turtles in my yard....but I don't trust them. I mean to say, if they can kill a big old turtle what could it do to me? Apart from that we did go to the pet store yesterday and mom and me spent nearly an hour there. I think I checked out every smell I could find!!! I also got LOTS of pats and one of the assistants there said I was her MOST favorite dogs that visits! Maybe mom will take me to the other pet store today.