Thank You Lassie and Benji and Mom

In one of those odd quirks of fate our Mom and Lassie and Benji's Mom share the same birthday (next week) and Mom was surprised when she got a parcel today and inside was a birthday card for her and a Cowspot Cow for ME (Mom says I have to share with the Dweeb but I don't think so) It has funny crinkly sounding feet which I like and Dweeb will just destuff it in moments if he gets it - so it is MINE MINE MINE. Mom smiled heaps cause she doesn't usually get anything on her birthday except for what Dad gets her. We always offer to share our treats with her but she never seems to want them for some reason. Anyhoo - thank you Lassiter and Benjimin's Mom you made our day :)

Snoozervising Done !

Do you remember the painting that I was snoozervising under a while ago - well Mom finished it thanks to all my hard work! This in Ringo (he's in the background) and Riley (in the front).

Riley crossed over the rainbow bridge recently after living a long and happy life and his Mom wanted wanted a special memento of him - we sure hope she likes it.

Oh Oh - And BIG Thank You

We just got a box with 3 bags of treats in it - only we don't know who sent them.  I am hiding my blushing face behind my paws. We must of responded to post about them only we don't remember whose blog it was on and we feel bad about that - but thank you thank you - to who ever it was.  We do know the box itself came from Hill Ideal Balance and there is a bag each of  Soft Baked Natural Chicken and Carrot, Duck & Pumpkin and Beef and Sweet Potato treats.

Now we are going to paw-it-foward and give these to our local humane society who are still recovering from being broken in to and having all their food stolen (why anyone would want to steal 600 pounds of dog food, cat litter and cleaning items is beyond us)  and  taking it from a humane society makes those peeps lower than low!!!!

So again THANK YOU to who ever sent them and please excuse our Mom's old memory that she doesn't remembers who's blog we were on. - we have spent the last few hours looking back through many blogs and couldn't find who it was :(

The Reilly Fraction - Episode 3

We know you have all been waiting - and here it is that soft hitting, useless information TV show - "The Reilly Fraction"

A very special request

Dear Friends

We have a very special request.  Some of may know about our big Aussie buddy Rory (the great dane) and how he had s spinal embolism that caused his not to be able to walk and scared his Mom and Dad and sister dog Stella half to death (he is now getting better thanks to all their loving care)

Well a couple of days before that happened back in December it also happened to our Dad's niece Andrea. She is a very beautiful 15 year old and basically lost all movement from the neck down when it happened. It occurred very quickly - she was at school and suddenly got a bad headache and by time she got to nurses office she could barely stand. They call her Mom and by time she got the school she could barely move at all and they rushed her to the hospital. She spent Christmas in hospital and then was moved to a rehab hospital where she has been slowly been getting some movement back.

Now Andrea is also legally blind....(although she can see a little) and just before Christmas she also got her first ever little dog who she has been missing a lot. So we thought we would ask all our dog blogging and other buddies if they would send her card each to cheer her up. That is all - just a simple card. If you would like to paw-it-forward then please email us at the link to the right -----------------------------------------> if you would like to send her a card and we will give you her mailing address. We do ask one special thing.....please write your message BIG so she can read it easily.  So come on pals - lets get those paws busy and make one very special, beautiful and brave young girls day a lot brighter :)

Red Light Fun

One of the things we LOVE to do is chase our red laser light. Dweeb really focuses on it and Mom says he reminds her of a 'cutting horse' the ways he weaves back and forth. When it is warm we play outside and Dweeb races from one end of the yard to the other chasing the light. Me I just run round in circles barking loudly. Notice how we both stay on the rug - we don't like running on the wood floors as we slide around to much on it. If you haven't tried it - give it a go - it is lots of fun.

Pawing it forward

These treats Mom - we know these are good!

We hit the pet store today and we were on a mission - oh yes we were!!!! Yesterday some TOTALLY despicable people broke into our local humane society and STOLE - YES STOLE their supply of dog food plus their washing machine and dryer. You can read the story here. So we took our coupons that we got from Dakota  and "I and love and you" plus some more coupons we found online and $100 Mom had made from selling her stuff and off we went to Petco. We were able to get 3 - 50 lb bags of food and 5 bags treats + the 5 bags we got from "I and love and you" to give to the humane society. They were so happy to receive it and we are so glad to be able to help plus we got lots of hugs and cuddles from the staff there.  Pawing it forward makes a doggie feel so good :)

This one Mom - it smells so good!

Well don't just stand there Mom!

Thank you Dakota and "I and love and you"

Last week we commented on a giveaway that Dakota was having and we won! Oh dog we were excited because we thought we would be getting a packet of bison bully sticks so imagine our surprise when a big box came. Mom opened it and out came packet after packet after packet of goodies. These are made by a company called "I and love and you" - yes it is a funny name but my dogness these are wonderful treats. This is what they say about their treats and food:

• "The free range, cage free and wild caught protein in our single ingredient treat and food and all come from right here in the USA.  Free ranger bully stix come from happy grass fed cattle in Brazil, and the ridiculously tasty free range venison jerky is from New Zealand. All our biscuits are oven-baked in small batches and are made right here in the USA with GMO free ingredients. None of our products contain these potential allergens. We prioritize only premium ingredients, often making our formulas with only high quality grains or completely grain free. and no ingredients come from China"

Needless to say we are two very happy puppers and can't wait to try all the different goodies we got. Thank you so much Dakota and "I and love and you" They also sent us 2 - $5.00 coupons and Moms says we are going to "paw it forward" and go and buy some of this food to donate to our local humane society plus donate the some of the treats we got too.

Winter Wiggle It and Drool Time

The crazy weather continues - yesterday we had a beautiful 60 degrees (today it is 30 and COLD!!!) but we did get to go on a long walk through the forest yesterday. Mom said we needed to get out butts moving - so we did :)

Then we we got home Mom had a HUGE surprise for us GIGANTIC HUGE YUMMY beef ribs. These are really good because the bones are hard and don't splinter. In fact we don't crunch or eat the bones at all.... we just have lots of fun pulling the bits of meat off  and grating our teeth on them which helps to keep them nice and clean. Thanks Mom - we had a pawsome walk and the ribs were totally mouth drooling delish !

Under the weird and wacky ideas heading.....

Seriously Mom - we aren't even dead yet and you are planning what to do with us!!!! Mom saw this over the weekend and just loved the idea.....We would literally always be in the heavens :) What do you think?  (It's a longish video so grab a cuppa and sit down to watch)

Art Critic or Muse?

Have you noticed we doggies love to sleep in odd places?

Here I am quite comfortable under Mom's art table - of coarse with me snoozing here she couldn't do any work on the painting she had started. I told her I was being her muse - her inspiration - channeling my inner sheltie into the sheltie painting she was working on. Oddly enough the painting is of a doggie named Riley who crossed over the rainbow bridge recently and "I" Reilly am here snoozervising over it.

Of coarse I could be just telling Mom - hey pay some attention to me instead of that thing above me.

What do you think?

Little Rays of Sunshine

We are having weird weather at the moment - 58 on Tuesday, 33 on Wednesday, 54 on Thursday and back down to 35 today.  It is mean though because it is so bright and sunny and looks warm but it is too cold outside for the Mom even though we are loving it.  So we are keeping Mom company in the sun room while she works and she says we are her little rays of sunshine - blah Mom - you sure know how to embarrass us !

Chewy.com review - Nutro Crunchy Pomegranate Treats

16th January 2014

Today thanks to Chewy.com we are reviewing  Nutro Crunchy Pomegranate Treats Now if you haven't checked out the Nutro collection of fruit flavored treats - you should - they have a huge variety of products to choose from and gosh are these delicious! We have tried the blueberry, apple and banana  and love all of those too. Mom says these pomegranate ones smell so good she is tempted to taste them herself - we told her we would nip her on the butt if she tried!

Here's the basics

• Ingredients - Whole Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Pomegranate, Chicken Meal, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols), Natural Pomegranate Flavor, Natural Flavor, Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract
• They are made in the USA
• Available from - Chewy.com
• Cost 10 oz bag $3.99 
• Company website : http://www.nutro.com
• Treats Page http://www.chewy.com/dog/treats-335/nutro
• The treats are about 1/2" big and crunchy

Taste Test

• Seriously WE TOTALLY LOVED THEM - these are some of the yummiest treats EVER!!! Even the dweeb who usually takes treats so delicately (the wuzz) GOBBLED - YES GOBBLED these down so fast I couldn't even steal some of his like I normally do
• They are the perfect size for us and great for training.
• We loved them being crunchy but they are not really super hard crunchy -  just nice crunchy

Positives

• Made with real pomegranates
• 100% Natural ingredients
• Made with healthy whole grains, such as whole brown rice and oatmeal
• No wheat, no corn
• Made in the USA
• Chewy.com is an online store that offers quick and speedy delivery right to your door and has the whole range of  Nutro Products

Negatives - Kind of - Sort of - Maybe - Not Really

• Not a one - they are totally pawsome!

Rating

• Without a doubt - we give this our 5 paws rating. Why 5 paws - well because my 4 paws are the most IMPORTANT and Dweeb only gets a 1 paw say in the matter :)

Disclaimer : Chewy.com sent us a packet Nutro Pomegranate Treats of the in return for an honest review.  We were not paid or compensated for our review in any other way and our opinion is  purely our own.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh my BIG dog !

Black Russian (Mixed Color)

We saw this posted on facebook yesterday and
just had to share because we had never heard or even seen this breed before. This is a Black Russian Terrier (although the AKC do not class it as a terrier - it is in the Working Dog Group as of 2004)  It's heritage is Rottweilers, Airedales, Newfoundlands and Russian Ovcharka (another breed we hadn't heard of!) Yikes - can you imagine if this crawled onto your lap wanting or cuddle or even worse it wanted to sleep on your bed !!!!

Now the normal Black Russian is indeed all black and weighs between 100 and 150 pounds and up to 30"  tall but as you can see it is VERY common for them to get even bigger !!! They live between 12-14 years which is really good for a big dog breed and they are excellent guard dogs. GULP !!!!! can you imagine having that jump on you, knock you down and be standing over you and barking in your face!

And while we are talking of big dogs - we want to say how sad we were to read that the BIG Dog with an even BIGGER heart - Miss Honey - the Great Dane - left us on this world and headed over the Rainbow Bridge. Run free Honey - we know you have so many wonderful friends there waiting for you.

This is the Russian Ovcharka

Standard Black Russian Terrier

Beaver Buffet - Revisted

Mom said we needed to go and check out the beaver issue at the park and we are happy to report they seemed to have moved on as we didn't see any more damaged trees. If you missed the blog about the beavers you can see it here and see ME on TV !!!!  What did make us sad though was to see they chopped down all the trees the beavers have gnawed on. We knew they would of died anyway, but it is still sad to see them go. Here I am checking out what has happened you can just make out all the stumps where the trees use to be. Dweeb of coarse was scared - when isn't he - he was convinced a giant beaver was going to come out the water and start gnawing his legs off - I wonder who put that idea in his head (says Reilly looking all innocent) !!!

Of coarse we had to stop for some photo's. Mom loves this big old tree with it's gnarly roots spreading everywhere. Even though it is warmer then yesterday it felt colder because of the blustery winds....I must say though, I quite enjoy having my furs ruffled :)

Got my 'HAPPY' face on

Mom says I had my "happy" face on today and she was right!  We went for another long walk this morning and dad came too so we had our own leads again. Not that it really makes a difference - the Velcro Kid is still glued to my side most of the time. We started off in MY big park went along the long path to the lookout then down the hill into MY smaller park. The sun was shining, we had clear blue skies again.













We walked through the wildflower garden but as you can see there is not a wildflower to be seen anywhere. Mom said it all looks kind of sad. Dad spied this wheelbarrow thing and can you believe it - he said "that would make a good photo" - What the dog!!!! DAAAAAAAAAAAAddddddd you know we hate photos and here you are encouraging the Mom to take more and make us pose!!!! It was a wonderful walk though and we are happy tired doggies now.

Finally - Walkies !!!!!!!!!!!

The weather has finally warmed up enough for the Mom to take us walkies without her freezing to death :)  Of coarse a bit of cold wouldn't bother us at all ......but with the Mom's arty-ritus the cold gets in her bones and makes them ache real bad. Not today though because it was a lovely 53 degree with clear  blue skies and we ended up walking for like 87 gazillion miles!!!!!!! We started off at MY  big park (the one around the lake - notice the sign !) and then followed the path over to MY small park - (the one with the walkway in the trees). The path in places was covered in pine needles and Mom kept saying how beautiful it smelt. Blah - pee mail smelled much better but Mom wasn't interested in that. We had so much fun and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer and guess what Mom said - she said will go on another LONG walk. We even dragged to Dad on the walk with us which meant I didn't have the Velcro kid attached to my side the whole way. (When dad goes with us we have separate leads) Happy happy dogs !

Yumbo Cookies !

Mom has been experimenting with some dog cookie recipes and this one we REALLY like one. We have called them Yumbo Cookies.

Ingredients
1 egg
1/2 finely grated apple (squeeze juice out - I just put it in some paper towel and squeeze)
1/2 cup finely grated carrot
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt ( it helps dry them out)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use rice flour because of Reilly's allergies)
You may need to add more or less flour depending on the humidity at the time.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease or line baking sheets.
2. Stir together the egg, salt, apple,carrot, banana, and honey in a medium bowl; blend thoroughly. Stir in the flour mix well. Turn dough out onto a floured board and roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter, place on prepared baking sheet.
3. Bake biscuits in preheated oven until dried and golden brown, about 30 minutes, depending on size. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
4. Store in a sealed container.

A Variation
You can also add 1/3 cup of peanut butter if you want too - you may need to add a little more flour if you do.

If you are looking for dog bone shaped cookie cutters check out Amazon as they have a huge selection - click here to see some

The Reilly Fraction - #2

Time again to catch up on all the doggie news - make sure you turn the volume up

A timely reminder

If you think the cold can't really hurt a dog - think again. This is Naki’o  and he lives in Colorado. Last year he lost ALL of his paws to frostbite  and now has four prosthetic legs. Amazingly he is able to run around normally on them .....but this could of been so easily prevented !

Please keep to furbabies inside when it is cold and make sure you keep them warm if they are outside even if it is only for a short time.

Also please remember that not all dogs have double coats. Certain breeds of dogs including wolves, collies, shelties, sheepdogs etc  have double coats - the fluffy coat underneath traps the warm in and the outer coat keeps the snow etc from getting close to the skin. Short haired dogs DO NOT have this and can lose heat VERY quickly. 

We are LUCKY to have double coats but even with that Mom will only let us out long enough to pee and poop when it is cold.  Remember if you yourself are not willing to go outside in the cold without a coat then neither should your dog - especially if it has short hair!

And another story that just came on our local TV - seriously what is wrong with some people ! This little sheltie mix  named Peanut who lives in Indiana was found FROZEN to the ground. He legs, tummy and tails were frozen and he couldn't move.  They are trying to get the owners to surrender him to the humane society as he is also severely underweight. We hope they throw the book and the whole darn library at despicable people who 'owned' him! Mom wants him to come live with us but they already have a huge list of people wanting to adopt him :)
http://www.kait8.com/story/24389710/deputies-rescue-dubois-co-dog-frozen-to-ground?clienttype=generic&mobilecgbypass&utm_content=buffer22e3f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer 

And lastly we have the most heartbreaking and heartwarming video we have ever seen. Please please watch it.  Warning - Grab the tissues (mom blubbered like crazy over this one)  but  tears of joy and sadness seeing how much love this amazing dog has. We have decided to make this group "HOPE FOR PAWS"  our "cause of the year" to help so a percentage of anything Mom makes and sells will be going to help them.

Mom's have weird ideas of.....

Really - the Mom has such a weird idea of being BORED. Yesterday with the temps only being 8 degrees outside she gave us BOTH a bath, then blow dried us and brushed us out. (Don't worry, she wouldn't let us outside for hours until we were completely dry - the woman is crazy but not THAT crazy).  It took 11 towels to dry us off - which of coarse then had to be washed and dried too. After all the brushing it lead to the rug having to be vacuumed because for some reason there was suddenly hair all over it (doh) and the wood floors needed steam cleaning because wet paws prints suddenly appeared all over it (more doh). Check out our sparkling white coats - you need sunglasses to look at us we are so bright!!!!

After she finished torturing making us pretty she finished painting 2 sweat shirts, made  30 cards to donate to a Sheltie Rescue group and started on 2 t-shirts she is also donating to the same group. She then made a quiche from scratch, spaghetti and meatballs for Dad's dinner, a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and some carrot/apple/banana cookies for ME us. She then had to vacuum the rug again because cookie crumbs suddenly appeared on it bawwwaaaahhhh bawwwaaaaah.

Seriously Mom - WILL YOU PLEASE SIT DOWN - you are making us tired following you around but how about a couple more of those cookies before you do.

For those of you who asked - YES there will be more additions of "The Reilly Fraction"  and of coarse I have an Aussie accent - I have been listening to Mom telling me what to do for the last seven years haven't I????

And check this out - Mom just braved the 13 degree temp this morning to take this gorgeous sunrise !

The Reilly Fraction - Where the Spinning NEVER stops!

This is what happens when Mom starts going stir crazy on cold winters days. Turn up the sound and have a chuckle :). Oh mom used an app for the iPad called "my talking pet" it is only 99 cents and super easy to use.

Musing on Monday 2014 Edition #1

Reilly PhD (Profusely Hairy Dog) here today with a bit on Monday Musing - Did you know

It’s rumored that at the end of the Beatles song, “A Day in the Life,” Paul McCartney recorded an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs and he did it  just for his Shetland sheepdog.
Source: PBS

(Shows how dumb PBS are - he actually had an old English sheepdog - not a sheltie! - Guess all sheep dogs look the same to them :)

Still - it is pretty darn cool .......well not as cool as the temps around the USA today.  Brrrrrrr stay safe and warm everyone.