It snowed!

Woofitty woof woof!!!!!! it snowed last night. I got up this morning and my green grass was missing and all the white cold chilly stuff was back. At first I wasn't to sure about it as it did feel wet and you all know how I hate to have wet feet, but then I could feel that nice coldness when I stuck my noes in it, and I was off exploring. Sadly it had all melted by this afternoon, but I enjoyed it while it lasted. Mom says it's a good thing I have a black head and spots, otherwise you wouldn't see me at all in the snow!

A visitor in my yard

Mom was just about to open the door and let me out when she saw this guy sitting on the fence. She says sorry they are not very good photo's but if she had opened the door he would of flew off. He had caught himself a sparrow and was happily eating it. Last year we saw a lot of them around but this is the first one we have seen this year. My dad is home today so I am soooo happy. He was away in North Carolina all week and it was just me and the mom at home. I took good care of her though and she took good care of me.

Visiting Franklin

Every couple of days we go over and visit Franklin the corgi. His mom is a wonderful elderly lady who had been battling a brain tumor. We are very pleased to say the prognosis is very good and she is slowly regaining her strength. Franklin was a rescue dog who is around 9-10 years of age. He was found just sitting and waiting on the side of the highway. Sadly, he had been very badly mistreated and some cruel and inhuman human had kicked him in the jaw and broken it. He had never received treatment for it and although it healed it very out of shape. He manages to eat and chew bones just fine though and it doesn't seem to bother him. He really is the sweetest dog and rarely ever barks - which makes it hard to understand why someone could do what they did to him. He has been living in his new forever home now for two years and he "the baby" adored and loved like all we furbies should be. The mom remembered the camera today so we got a photo of Franklin, it's not a great photo as he doesn't know about mom's and cameras and that you are supposed to sit still and look cute. he could smell the cookies that mom had in pocket and was more interested in those. Franklin also doesn't know how to play, which is rather sad and I wish he did, it would be fun to play chase with him. But he is my little buddy and it's okay if we just sit together or have a chew bone together.

Back to the lake and bald eagles

Yay!!!! we went back to the lake today (the one where they killed off all the fish) It's not as pretty as it is in spring and summer but there are still so many good smells and yes, even a dead dried up fish or two which for some reason the dad would not let me anywhere near and he tugged me away REAL quick when we came to a pile of horse poop!!! It was quite chilly and mom and dad were all rugged up in their coats but me I was just lovin it. I ran, I sniffed, I ran some more and sniffed some more all the time trying to get the dad to move faster so we could get to the next smell. Then mom spotted something up the trees. It just looked like two old birds to me....but both mom and dad got quite excited because they said they were bald eagles. They didn't look at all bald, in fact they had feathers all over them.....the logic of humans is very odd. Anyway, they made me slow right down which I didn't actually mind as it gave me longer to check out each smell. Of coarse mom has that camera thing but she only took a couple of pics of me and seemed more interested in those birds. Here I am above first checking out how close I could get to the water without getting my feet wet and the second one I am checking out where someone had had a fire. It smelled very good to me, in fact it reminded me of my charcoal cookies. Dad pulled me away before I could taste some to see if was like my cookies. And of coarse here is the photo mom took of the eagles. Dad was most surprised at how close they let us get, in fact we were right under the tree they were perched in. Dad said the only other time he has been close to wild bald eagles was when he was in Alaska, but he still hadn't got this close. Mom pondered over whether there was any fish still left in the lake, but then she saw some swimming near the shore, so she was happy that they have plenty of food. And remember if you click on the pictures you can see them big size. I am so happy today that I got to go for a nice long walk - but I won't mention (yes I will !!!) how funny the mom and dad looked, their noses and cheeks were bright red.....they should really consider growing some fur! Mom had to laugh at the dad though, he said he needed a baklava to keep his face warm - mom pointed out that baklava is a greek dessert and what he really wanted was a Balaclava. I don't know, a sticky sweet dessert all over dad's face would be lot of fun for me to lick off!!!! Hope you all had a great weekend - Woofitty Woofs

Mom has the camera out again

Mom had been waiting to take photo's so she could show my winter coat but she decided to take some pics anyway. I am just loving this cold weather sooooo much but I am driving the mom crazy wanting to go outside and then wanting inside and then wanting outside. She really wishes we had a doggy door but unfortunately out back door faces exactly the direction the cold winds blow from. Today she rugged up in her coat and gloves and braved the 36 degree weather to take me for a walk. For some reason the mom didn't seem to appreciate me wanting to stop at EVERY single lamp post and sign we came across. But she was good and waited while I had a good sniff at each one. I must admit I am not understanding why we are not going to the park so much when it is so nice and cold. Maybe the mom needs to grow fur like me because I am just so toasty warm. We do our agility work and I go on my tread mill a couple of times a day and we play a lot but I just seem to have so much energy lately. Mom wishes there was a farmer around here who had some sheep so I could learn to do some herding, she says that would use up lots of my energy. I am not really sure what these sheep things are but if I can run after them, then it sound a good thing to do. Mom thought it was funny the other day, she was watching the movie "Babe" and there was sheep barring on it and I liked the sound so much I kept running over to the TV and listening to it intently. Mom says it's a natural instinct.....what ever that is. I just know it sound interesting and almost familiar in a way. I wonder if any of my buddies have ever been sheep herding?

Christmas Past

The mom is in the process of making a Christmas card for a competition she is entering and we were looking at the photo from last year. We found this one and .....LOOK !!! My ears stood up back then. I wish they had stayed standing up :( Mom says I was such an adorable pupster last year.......silly mom, I am still an adorable pupster, just bigger with flop down ears now. I can not believe a whole seven dog years have past since last Christmas. Last year I had my own very own stocking hanging up and it was amazing because on Christmas morning it was fully of the best doggie things ever. I hope that happens again this year.....I sure did enjoy ripping all that paper off to get the goodies inside. Mom thinks it is a bit crazy here in the States that they start getting ready for Christmas so early. Back home in Australia she followed the 12 days of Christmas Rule. You put your decorations and tree up 6 days before the 25th of December and then take take them down 6 days after. She was always told it was bad luck not to follow this rule. I have been busy barking at our next door neighbor today because he has been up the roof stringing up some things mom calls annoying blinking lights. Mom just shakes her head and says she is glad she is not paying their electric bill. I am not sure what she means......but I kind of get the impression she doesn't like those light things.

Oh, I nearly forgot, Katie asked how I learned to go on the treadmill and not be scared. I have been playing on my treadmill since I was very very little. The mom said she started me off with my lead on, and just going at a normal pace. It also helped to have a favorite squeaky toy and anytime I started to worry, she would squeeze that and take my attention off it. Gradually she let the leach become loose and eventually just took it off. She also found a treat on the front of the treadmill would help keep my attention. But the BIG thing mom did, is made it fun. We would do a few minutes and then have a happy excited game of tug......then a little more...and more fun. Now, I just love my treadmill......I trot along at speed 3 and do a mile, then mom and I play. We do that a couple of times a day and it is our 'special time'.

Bbbbbrrrrr it's cold

It is cold and I am lovin it!. We even had a few snowflakes last night and are expecting some more tonight. I have been spending a lot of time outside just enjoying it. Of coarse when it get colds, that means we also head down to my 'play room' to do my agility training and also I do my miles on the treadmill. So I thought I would share some pics of my 'play room'. Mom has made all my agility things, the jumps, a hoop, a tunnel, my weaves poles and a chute. Over in the far corner near the window is where mom does all her painting. As you can see, we have a huge basement and this only shows half of it!!!! Mom and I will be spending a lot of time down there (down being in the basement) this afternoon as dad will be watching his foozeball team and we ALL know how scary that is. Hmmm maybe it won't be a good idea to be down there as we will be underneath where he will be jumping up and down yelling at the bad umpires !!!!!! Personally, I don't understand why the umpires are bad (they are black and white like me after all) but dad calls them a lot of bad names and seems to think they are not very smart. His team is playing only three hours away from us and he had looked at getting tickets to go to the actual game, but now he is glad he didn't as it only 36 degrees today. Well I had better go and see what the mom is up to. Hope you all have a great weekend.

White Collies and Update on Mom

Dawn and Katie mentioned they had seen a white collie that looked like me at their weekly class and yes... there are actually quite a lot of them around and they tend to have their black patches in the same place I do. The coloring is caused by the same recessive gene that caused me to have a white coat. I must say, this is one very handsome dude!!! People are ALWAYS mistaking me for either a border collie or a collie as I am quite a big sheltie - which whites tends to be for some reason.

Update on the mom - she is having good days and bad days. On the good days she does too much which causes the next day to be a bad day.......I keep telling her not to do that but the mom is rather stubborn. We did go to the leash free dog park on the weekend and it was so great, we were the only ones there and mom and dad just walked really slowly so I got a whole weeks worth of sniffing done. Mom tries to take me for a small walk each day, even if its only a trip to the pet store as she worries about me getting bored. Playing is really tough on her as she can't bend to pick up my toys....she ouchies when she forgets and tries to do that. Overall though, she says it is slowly getting better.

Dad Nittany Lioned Me!!!!

The dad came home today with a present for me.....he got me me my own Nittany Lion (Penn State) T-Shirt - and #1 - which of coarse I am :) Dad forgot to take into account how much fur I have, so it is a little tight but I still look pretty good in it. Of coarse this doesn't mean I am going to start liking that foozeball thing.....I still get so scared when dad is watching it. And the Nittany Lion is a cat and I am not to sure I like cats. Dad also got the mom the cutest "I love my sheltie" thing for hanging in the car window. It is very cool and mom will take a photo of it tomorrow. Hmmmm I wonder if any of the monsters around my house will chew on this T-Shirt?? Dad would probably be very very annoyed if they did.

And now we have a garden monster too!!!

This really has been the week for monsters at our place and today we found we have a garden monster too. Look what he did to my brand new frisbee!!!!! And....he chewed on the garden hose, mom's gardening shoes and the tree by the back door too. If it wasn't for the fact that mom knows how old the monster is (hmmmmm I wonder how she knows that????) she would think he was teething. It would seem that all these monsters follow us when we go on walks or go to the park.....which is really odd as I never see them, but mom says that is part of monster magic, that you never see them. Anyway, the mom thinks that maybe because she hasn't been able to walk so much or go to the park that the monsters are really bored. It would also seem that the monsters changed food the same time I did and they have more energy and feel a lot better - just like I do..... and they are a lot more active - just like me. I am starting to get worried about these monsters - have you noticed they do everything I do????? Well I am off for a trot on my treadmill, hopefully the monsters won't be down in the basement!

Monsters Monsters Everywhere

Oh no, our house is being invaded with monsters!!! Now we have a toy box monsters too and you won't believe it but his name is Reilly too!!!!! This is just getting a little weird that all these monsters have the same name as me. Here I am checking to see if the monster was still in the box - can you believe it threw nearly all my toys out!!!!! Of coarse I did have to take a few out myself just to make sure it wasn't hiding under any of them. Oh there is something else really odd about this Toy Monster. See that fluffy little bed. Well when I was just a wee pupster that was my crate bed...mom says I use to sleep on it all the time and that I only took up space on a quarter of it. Hmmm I think moms pain meds are making her a little gaa gaa - how could I ever of been that small! Anyway - back to the bed. Mom keeps putting the bed away in the cupboard (she was hoping to keep it for if I ever have a little sister) but the toy monster has figured out how to open the cupboard and the bed keeps ending up in my toy box again. Is that one clever toy monster? After I had checked the box, I smiled happily at the mom and said "no mom - there is no toy monster in there now" But you know what isn't fair - the mom is making ME learn to pick up my toys and put them back in the box. THAT ISN'T FAIR - if the toy monster takes them out, he should have to pick them all up and put them back in the box. And darn...... if that wasn't bad enough, the mom used logic and said she picks up after me all the time, so therefore I should pick up after the toy monster. LOGIC is just wrong I think....and shouldn't apply to dogs! The mom also said I have to say thank you to everyone for their kind wishes. Today she is feeling a little better. And for those that asked, the Chiropractor broke the mom's ribs. Her normal Chiropractor was off sick and she had to see someone else and it was just an odd combination of not not laying quite flat and being too tense. She doesn't blame him...it was as mom says "just one of those things". Well I am off to see what the toy monster is up to now and I guess I had better check on all those other "Reilly" monsters too.

Update on the mom

The mom seems to be in more pain the last couple of days then the previous few days. I think she is doing to much and she HATES sitting still which isn't a good thing when she is meant to rest. She is worrying about me too.....the tissue monster visited and left shredded tissues on the carpet, and then a sock monster visited too, it found some of dad's sock and had fun playing with those. For some reason mom thinks the tissue and sock monster are the same and they are called Reilly - just like me!!! How weird is that?????? Anyway, mom thinks the monsters are a bit bored so even though she isn't meant too, the mom and I went for a walk this morning in the hope the monsters would follow. It was very very cold and the mom had some trouble catching her breath so we had to go soooooo slow, but I enjoyed the extra long sniffing. This afternoon I have been snoozing by mom's feet, where ever she goes I go. I know she isn't feeling to good, and having me close by makes her feel better. Tomorrow we are expecting a snap freeze in the morning.....I guess winter is really heading our way. Hope you all had good weekends.

Poor mom

The mom has two broken ribs which means we can't play very much or go for walks. Hmmmmm what am I going to do. I have been going on the treadmill and that helps burn off some energy, and chasing my lazer light, that is fun too......but there are no nice smells when you are walking on the treadmill and I like my real smells and real walks.

Mom's and cameras

The mom has been snapping pics again and this is one she took and then removed the background from. The mom thinks I look sad, the dad thinks my nose looks to long and me - well I just wish she wouldn't keep pointing that thing at me. What I don't understand is why I have to try and stay still while she takes a pic when the only thing I want to do is run and play. She says photographs are memories and she wants to have lots of memories of me, so I guess it is okay.

Today I went over to visit my buddy Franklin, he lives two houses away. He is a corgi and rather old. His mom is not too sure just how old as he was a rescue dog and had been badly treated. Someone had kicked him and broken his jaw and it had not healed properly so it is rather protruding (I think that is what the mom called it). He has the best of forever homes now and so loved by his mom and is such a great old pup. My mom and dad love me too and I am so happy to have a forever home with them......so I am sending out doggie blessings to all the pupsters young and old in need of forever homes and I will keep my paws crossed for you that you will have a wonderful moms and dads soon and no one will ever hurt you, just love you.

Be afraid - be very afraid - when.........

Dad is watching the foozball. Gosh, my dad jumps up and shouts and hollers and gets all excited and angry all the same time and I have no idea why. He was watching something on that square box thing that he likes to stare at so much.......and he scared me!!!!!! I stayed by my moms feet in the other room the whole time or I was outside. I don't like it at all when the dad watches that foozball thing. My dad supports something called Penn State and this is a pic of me on his Penn State Blanket - this is how it should be, a dog sitting on a cat (mom says the nittany lion is a cat and I don't much care for cats) You can see how worried I looked just being in the same room with the dad during the game.

Today, to make up for scaring me yesterday, the dad, mom and I went to leash free park and I was having the best time until these two HUGE dogs came bounding up trying to sniff my butt. They scared me so much that I took off running and I ran as fast as my little legs could go and they chased me. Then the dad stepped in to stop them - he was my hero. He called me back to him to him and then laid me on my side and just calmed me down and the big dogs had a sniff, (which I thought was rather rude) and then they just lost interest in me after that. Dad learned that from watching the Dog Whisperer and was surprised how well it worked. We continued to walk and the other dogs didn't bother me again even though I woofed at them. Thankfully, there was no ducks today - three scares in one week is enough for any young dog!

I'll show you mine - If you show me yours!!!

Okay buddies - the challenge it out. Show your favorite toy, the one that gives you comfort, the one that you like to snooze with, the one you know by name and the one you would miss terribly if you didn't have it. Mine is an blue stuffed moose. As you can see, it has been well loved, chewed, slobbered on and tugged at. We are on the fourth sock covering and he has had just about every part of him stitched and restitched but he is still my favorite toy.

DUCK - it's a duck

I decided to take the mom to Petsmart today, just for a change of scenery. I got to woof at the parrots and guinea pigs and got LOTS of pats and loving. I wasn't happy about not getting my usual treats but everyone was saying how much bouncier and happier I am, so I guess no more treats for awhile is okay. After Petsmart mom decided the sunshine was just so nice that we would go over to the off leash park. Not a lot of people know it is there so we hardly ever see anyone else. It is so nice as there is a lake and tall grasses and a nice wide path for the mom to walk on. We had walked right around the fence line when we decided to walk along the lake edge. I was busy sniffing when all of a sudden the bushes stated rattling and there was this loud quacking noise, then woosh - this THING flew out of the bushes right at me. Dog of dog it scared 10 years out of me....it just missed my head than flapped off quaking the whole way. The mom said it was a duck but all's I know is that if I hadn't of ducked that duck would have been spattered all over my head. Of coarse when I had recovered my senses I chased after it.....telling it off very loudly in my big dog voice. When we got home I went outside to rest in the sun a little when I got another scare.....the tornado sirens went off. They were only testing them but for the first time ever I had an OVER WHELMING urge to HOWL. I had never done that before and the mom came running thinking something was wrong .......then she laughed because she said it was very odd sounding howl. I guess she didn't want me to howl anymore because she grabbed the frisbee and we played until it stopped.

Good News and Good News

My test results from Texas University came back today and they are normal normal - not normal low or normal high but normal normal. Thanks to Geo's and Romeo moms for making us aware that we need to check 'where' in the normal range our tests are. The change in diet has made a huge difference, I am full of energy, my shedding is a whole lot less and mom can feel lots of new coat coming through...of coarse it is getting colder so maybe it is just my winter coat. Mom and I have been doing the happy dance!!!

Back to normal

Since we changed my food I am please to say things are back to normal and I have TWICE as much energy as I use to. Mom is not to sure if that is a good thing as I am tiring her out with all my playing and walks and frisbee chasing. We still haven't got the results back from Texas yes, but eliminating any type of poultry from my diet certainly has made a big difference (and no jello poops since Monday!!!!) Even the Dad, when he came home couldn't believe how bouncy and full of energy I am. It looks like it is going to be a wonderful day so we are heading to the park to enjoy the last of the green and warm weather. The mom loves all the shades of green and this is one of her favorite photos. Me - I just love it because there are always sooooooo many interesting smells on it. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
woofitty woofs

Anti Word Verification Unit

I have decided to set up a campaign for "Anti Word Verification". It drives me and the mom crazy!!!! We end up having to enter those stupid letter 2 or 3 times. Why can't they use easy to read fonts, why put two "V"s right next to each other so they look like "W"s or "i"s that look like "L"s. It's enough to drive a dog to wanting to go to the vets willingly!!!!! I know....it's supposed to stop from getting spammed but it so darn frustrating especially when you loose all the stuff you just typed in as well!!! And then you have to retype it and hope you get the letters right next time!!!!!