Bouncy Day

Hello - it's me the DENNEEEE and I am just feeling so much better. Mom and Dad say they can't believe the difference my medication has made. I can go walkies with Mom and Weilly and not be scared of everything, I don't "look" worried all the time now and I am pretty sure all the monsters have the left the house - the ones I was always looking over my shoulder for. Mom says I "LOOK" happy now. Mom and me play lots more outside now.....I did play before but not for long because of the garden monsters - but they seem to have left too now. And you can see the medication isn't affecting my energy - I am one bouncy boy! Of coarse there is this awful "HEAT" monster hanging around which makes spending much time outside very hot for a fluff butt like myself - I sure wish that one would leave. Mom and I only play outside when the sun first comes up and it is cooler. Today that heat monster is being very mean and we are going for 103 today and tomorrow. Weilly and me have the air-conditioning up high and hope you do too if you are somewhere where it is hot - stay cools buddies and drink LOTS of water too - Mom says that's important. Oh do you see the stripe in my tail - I just have one bit of brown on my tail but you don't normally see it because it is on the underside.

Apple Cucumbers

It has been so hot here we really haven't been doing much of anything apart from staying cool. Yesterday it reached 103 !!! The one good thing about the heat though is that it is ripening all our veggies. This morning Mom and I picked apple cucumbers and tomatoes. Now for those that don't know - these are apple cucumbers but they are only called that because they are round like an apple. Taste wise - they are the same as an ordinary cucumber. Dad says he thinks they actually taste better and he LOVES them. That is an apple cucumber right at the front - it is sort of yellow striped. Mom has grown these for years back home in Australia although the ones she grew back there were more honey dew melon color - but the same size as an apple. Tonight Mom is making a chicken salad with these - eeeerrrmmm mom I will just have the chicken - you can hold the salad part for me.

Goose and the stick

We got up super early while it was coolish and headed off to the park. We did stay in the shade of the trees though as it was still pretty warm. Mom kept grumbling because when she takes us walkies normally all she gets is photos of our butts - hey you go to the park to sniff - not take photos Mom!!! We did give her one good photo though - just to make her happy.

We then saw this weird goose that was black and white and when we saw the stick we suddenly thought Goose + Stick equals our buddy Goose who LOVES his sticks. You would love our park Goose - there are sticks everywhere! Mom tried to get us to hold a stick for the Blogville Olympics but we just spat it out and looked at Mom as if she was CRAZY. Why would we want a wood thing in our mouths - yuk! Mom tried Goose.

We also saw this EVIL creature at MY park. It hissed and spat at us - what foul demon is this we thought and in MY park!!!! Then we remembered that LOOK - we have seen it before........yes!! This is for sure an evil spawn relative of Allred - well we dispatched it quick smart - a few good barks and growls had it scampering to the bushes - that will teach you --- you C.A.T ---- stay out of MY park !!!!!!

Thursday Treasures #1

Mom was going through a DVD of vintage ephemera she bought and came across these awseome old vintage labels. There are A LOT of them with all different doggies and (some kitties too) so we are going to share a few each week.

This week we salute the scotties and share a little story. Mom remembers these two little black and white scotties from the Black & White Whiskey bottles because her Mom had a little brooch with them on and on that brooch hung two more little Scotties which actually came off a bottle of Black & White Whiskey. Seems way way back in the day when you bought a bottle of Black & White whiskey - around the top was a little plastic pair of black and white Scotties. Here is a picture mom found of the brooch - it was made from celluloid plastic in the 1930's. They actually have one for sale here at Rubylane. Mom wonders what happened to the little Scottie brooch - maybe Aunty/Sis back in Australia still has it somewhere?

These are public domain images so feel free to copy them if you want them.

Wordless Wednesday 06/20/12

Way to hot!

We really haven't been doing much of anything apart from staying cool - this past week it has been in the high 90's and today we are going for 101 ! Worst of all - it is going to be like this for another week! Mom is not happy and her flowers are shriveling in the heat - yeah so are we MOM!

We managed to get a bit of garden in the pictures...here I am much MORE interested in what is going on OVER THERE then looking at the flashy beast.
Okay Mom - I will look at the camera - but be QUICK - it's hot out here!
And lastly - some of our gladioli - our yellow ones are just starting to open but are singed already from the heat. I keep telling Mom I will "water" the plants for her but for some reason she won't let me near them....what gives with that?

And the winners are

First Place goes to number 15 which is Lassiter, Chase Benjamin


Second Place goes to Number 6 - Sasha

Congrats everyone and thank you to all that entered.
Winners -Please email us your mailing details to cowspotdog@mail.com

THE ENTRIES

1. Katie ------ Sigh - have you ever seen such a beautiful girl checking out pee-mail http://dawnking.interspike.com/?p=14328

2. FINN - Finnackles busy checking out here finds http://finnhoward.blogspot.com/2012/05/peemail.html

3. Mitch and Molly - http://northfordmaggie.blogspot.com/2012/05/peemail-competition.html

4. Beckett and Keltic - (Helen) - new spots are the best to check! http://helenshomeworld.blogspot.ca/2012/05/pee-mail.html

5. Khyra and Khousin Merdie - Noses to the grindstone we see- http://khyraskhorner.blogspot.com/

6. Sasha - http://chicamom85-sassysasha.blogspot.com/

7. Oskar - scored big time on a visit to the vets office http://oskarsblog.com/?p=645

8. Susie and Sidebite - http://susieandsidebite.blogspot.com/2012/06/pee-mail.html

9. Tank -
http://tankcolnar.blogspot.com/2012/06/west-side-doggy-story.html

10. Sarge - looks like he 'bearly' made it :) http://sargespeaksout.blogspot.com/2012/06/pee-mail-event.html

11. Declan - http://www.declansdogsblog.co.uk/2012/06/2nd-annual-peemail-competition.html

12. Sam & Pipen - http://hobbithabitat.blogspot.ca/2012/06/home-is-place-where.htmlv

13. Sam - http://mydogsam01.blogspot.ca/2012/06/peemail-competition.html

14. Eva - http://sheltiebeauties.blogspot.com/2012/06/pee-mail.html

15. Lassiter, Chase Benjamin - http://www.lassiterchase.blogspot.com/2012/06/pee-mail.html

16. Barnie - http://www.bordoggyterrier-barniesdogblog.com/2012/06/pee-mail-competition.html

A walk through our garden

So many things are blooming in our garden - we thought we share some and hopefully brighten your day. Mom went a little crazy this year and bought some big pots and then got packets of seeds and mixed them all and spread them around in the pots - so now our deck is covered with "wild" flowers as she calls them. The Wuzster thinks they are pretty good for snacking on.

Make sure you click on the pics - the details in some of them like the Asian Lilly is AMAZING. Mom admits she isn't sure of the names of all of them - but they sure are pretty.

My HAPPY boy

Blog from Mom today

I am amazed! That is the only way to describe the difference in my little Denny since we started him on Clomicalm. For the first time EVER he actually came to me by himself wanting a cuddle! He no longer backs away when you reach out to pat him, he no longer barks like crazy at every new or different thing. I can take him for a walk without him looking around terrified the whole time and he is starting to focus more when we do some training routines. He is also eating less now that he doesn't have all that nervous energy to feed. He just IS a much happier more relaxed little guy now.

I know I have mentioned how he was scared of everything but I really can not begin to describe how bad it was - he reacted for all the world like he was abused dog - fearful, scared, terrified at times, timid, worried all the time - it was like he was constantly looking over his shoulder because 'something' was going to get him and he was always on edge. Now, we got Denny at 10 weeks of age so I KNOW for certain he was never abused - a few stern warnings is the most he has ever received - so why he was behaving this way was such a mystery.

YES - shelties can be hyper and shy and timid - in fact one of my previous shelties was that way so I knew there was a difference here.....but this was definitely beyond that. It was breaking my heart to see my little guy so fearful of living and although it seemed extreme we had to try something - so after much discussion with the vet we decided to try this anxiety medication as he thought Denny's problem definitely seemed to be more a chemical imbalance. I should mention though that the 'normal' things lots of dogs get scared of - like storms, thunder, sirens as such - they don't bother Denny at all. We had a huge thunderstorm last night with thunder clapping right overhead and lightening flashing at every window.....and all the doggies just slept through it!!!!!

Clomicalm is actually one of the few anxiety medications made specifically for dogs and cats and has worked wonders for Denny. It hasn't made him sleepy or drowsy in ANY way, he still plays like crazy with Jackson and I actually see him taking time to sniff at scents now - something he has never shown any interest in previously. All round - he is just a much happier and normal doggie now.

Mish Mash Monday # 7

The EVIL Eye look ! YOU are not going to take MY photo flashy beast!

Dingo Bed

Some years ago Mom bought ME (Reilly) a dingo bed. Made in Australia these are a trampoline bed for doggies. What she didn't know at the time is that I do not DO doggie beds something it took many bed buying episodes for her to realize. The only bed this boy wants or need is the nice cold floor - tiles preferred and an air conditioning floor vent a MUST.

So we have a collection of beds scattered through our house and garage that never get used - until the DWEEBS came along. Both Cousin "IT" and the "Wuzster" LOVE their beds and have been putting ALL of them to good use.

In particular they both LOVE the dingo bed that we have outside on the deck and they can often be found out there sunning themselves (What self respecting sheltie like to sun themselves for dogness????. Thick heavy coat + hot sun = a BIG NO NO! They are dweebs after all ......so enough said I guess.

Did you all notice?

After figuring out I could still use the blogger interface (which I much prefer) when they updated blogger some weeks back - I noticed this little message when I logged on this morning. So now we are not even going to have an option - We HAVE to have the new interface. THAT SUCKS! When will companies realize that New & Improved - doesn't always equate to better? The new interface is a real pain in the buttskee when it comes to putting photo's just where you want them.

It's enough to make a dogs hair fall out I tell ya!!!! - oh wait! That is already happening.

Hmmm lets add 2 = 2 together here and get 3 - Cause now I know why my hair is falling out - it is all bloggers fault !!!! They stress this poor old doggie out making all their silly changes. Of course my hairs started falling out when Wuzster arrived - so maybe it is his fault!!!!!!!!

And talking of the Wuzster - check out his "dainty" little paw action while we were at the park yesterday. Ewww my paw is getting dirty - Ewww my paw is getting wet - WUZSTER!

Oh and for those that notice (darn your good eyesight) MY paw was up because I spotted a squirrel and was ready to pounce - what a shame you can't see that :) :)

Helpful information

For those that may not know - blogger actually does have set amount of storage set aside for each blog - which means if you upload large photos (without resizing them) you are going to VERY quickly run out of space. Keeping them at 1000 x 750 pixels is perfect, they are big enough to see easily and do not take up a lot of space. With photo's this size you should be able to keep your blog going 5 or more years. Also when uploading videos - always do it through a second party such as You Tube. Loading video directly in blogger also takes up vast amounts of your storage.

Now we recently came across an awesome FREE little program that will resize your photos for you and do a either one at a time or a whole lot! We REALLY like that you can do a whole lot at once. (NOTE : It doesn't do fancy editing and isn't a paintshop or photoshop type editor - it just resizes photos for you.) The other great thing about this program is it can watermark all your photo's for you - this is like a hidden copyright. One more great thing - it keeps your original high quality photo and makes a copy into a smaller size and it is EASY to use.

The program is called Light Image Resizer 4 and it is free from here.

http://www.obviousidea.com/windows-software/light-image-resizer/

or

http://download.cnet.com/Light-Image-Resizer/3000-12511_4-10529104.html

WARNING - Be very careful about reading the boxes as it installs - if you do not not untick the boxes it will install some other free software that you may not want and also the BING toolbar. Like I said - READ CAREFULLY before clicking the continue button. It is a bit of hassle we know - but the program itself REALLY is worth it if you spend about 30 seconds unchecking those boxes.

Wordy Wednesday - Our FAVORITE Cookie Bribery

Now we know that many of you Mom and Dad's use bribery to try and get us to 'sit pretty', 'look cute' and 'look at the flashy beast' but we wondered exactly what they use?????

For us - it is the BEST - homemade fresh cookies!!! The smell itself has us drooling while they cook and then Mom makes us WAIT yes WAIT (this is canine torture in the extreme!) while they cool down. Mom found this pawsome doggie cookies recipe last year and she makes them all the time for us - the ginger in them is very good for sensitive tummies (looking towards the Wuzster). So give your Mom or Dads the big sad eyes look and pass them the recipe....maybe they will make some for you too.

Is it something we did ?

Last week we had 268 followers and this week we have only 176.......did we do something to make you leave us??? It is probably just another one of bloggers glitches - but it makes us sad to see some of buddies missing from the list.

In other news - Mom for some reason is super excited about these little guys we keep finding on our deck amongst all the flower pots she has on there. They are little tree frogs! Actually they are large tree frogs - this guys is about 2.5" in length. We are not sure if they are native to this area or arrived in some big potted ferns she bought recently. Can you imagine she actually likes these things and won't let us poke at them with our noses - not that we would want too - eeeeewwww frog cooties!!!! -I mean to say...... look at it, all green, slimy, sticky feet and NO HAIR !!!

We don't like them AT ALL - and you know why????? They make a sound that has us racing outside every time we hear it.

[MOM] the best way to describe it - is a if you can imagine a bird making the sound of a dog barking !!! The boys keep thinking there is a new dog in their yard and are not happy ! We must have some pairs cause the froggies are doing a lot of call courtin!

Some updates

We thought we would share some updates today.

Reilly - Itchy scratchies - It has been 6 months now I have been on those nasty allergy injections - mom has never missed a dose and I get those dreaded WEEKLY baths in the special shampoo and tablets for when it is really bad plus that icky spray.

Sadly we have to report that to date it hasn't made the darn bit of difference. The lady vet did say it could take up to 12 months - but we had hoped we would see maybe an inkling of improvement. My furs is very thin now and I have lost all my rough around my neck but Mom says I am still her beautiful boy. I do have a big fluffy butt though as I can't scratch at my back leggies so the furs there hasn't fallen out as badly.

Denny - Hello It is me too! I am happy to say I am feeling MUCH better. Yesterday Mommy, Me and Weilly went for a walk around the block and I actually did good. I was still a little scared but nothing like I normally am. Mom says she hasn't noticed any change in my energy - I am still a bouncy boy and Jackie and I still go crazy playing - but she says I will actually focus on her for a few seconds now when she talks to me. She says she does occasionally notice a sort of glassy far away gaze in my eyes but she doesn't think at the moment that it is a bad thing (she says she will watch that carefully and make sure it doesn't get become too often) and that I am just "taking time to smell the bones" Weilly does that a lot - he seems to be in his own little world sometimes (hmmm Mommy does that all the time too but she calls it meditation !!!)

Jackie - I am much to cute to have any problems although "Other Mommy" is getting a bit upset with me for pooping in the house. (Something that has started only in the last two weeks) I usually leave a little message right by the doggie door. Hey I am like 3 inches off the ground and I don't like going out in the morning and getting my toes and tummy wet in the long grass - can you really blame me???? It's the Other Mommies fault - she should mow the lawn more often !!! I have also been having a battle with those nasty tick things. My Mommy takes to me to lots of new places and that is where I am picking them up - Reilly and Denny haven't had any! We don't know why as I have had all my medicines and get weekly baths but those little critters keep getting on me and biting me. They do die because of the medication but they leave little sores where they bite me and mess up my PERFECT cuteness.

Mish Mash Monday # 6

Thought for the day - Never bite off more that can chew - in one sitting :)

MY wind chimes

We noticed that quite a few of you mentioned MY wind chimes in a recent video we made. It took Mom a long time to find just the perfect ones for ME as she tends to think she is a bit of a connoisseur of such things.

The story goes like this - at the end of last year we went for a drive to a small town about an hour away from where we live - and when we say small town we mean SMALL. It basically consisted of a couple of antique shops and something they called a restaurant that DIDN'T allow doggies!

One of the stores actually turned out to be something Mom called a curio shop and they even let me come inside and wait by the counter while Mom and Dad had a look around. It was the kind of place that sells this, that and everything and some of it looked like it had been there a good 20 years! Right at the back of the store Mom found a display of wind chimes and of coarse had to start ringing them all. It was love at first chime! The chimes are made by the Corinthian bell wind chimes company - each set is hand tuned and as Mom says they are THE BEST she has ever heard.

Sadly she didn't buy the chimes and even thought she loved them they were kinda of pricey and Mom was a bit bummed about that. As luck would have it about a week later mom got a 40% off coupon to a store here in town that she hadn't before to before - so she thought she would go and check it out. Imagine her surprise when right there in front of the the store was a display of Corinthian Chimes. After spending 20 minutes ringing them all - she found just the right set and used that 40% off coupon. We have the 50" set and they are magical and best of all - they are made in the USA !

So if you are looking for a little music for you garden or want to keep the bad spirits from entering your home (mom read something about placing wind chimes by your door to keep negative energies away) then save some pennies - or find a coupon - and treat yourself to some of these.

This is the link to them and you can hear samples of them ringing too. Just click on the photos and the next box that appears has the sound clips on it. http://www.windchime.com/corinthianwindchimes.cfm?source=googleaw&kwid=corinthian%20bell%20wind%20chimes&tid=exact&gclid=CK3W7aiUs7ACFVLCtgodym9bWg