Prehistoric Emu

Mom had to go over to MY dogtors this morning and pick up some of my medication and as luck would have it MY dogtors office is right next the Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens - his backyard shares a fence with it. So after picking up the meds we headed off for a walkies in the gardens and today decided to follow the 'Little Ravine" path. We haven't been down this path before and right at the start of it was this giant bird - Mom said it looked like some prehistoric emu - it stood about 16 feet tall. The little ravine path winds its way down a ravine that has lots of wonderful little pools of crystal clear water, little creeks and all sorts of palm trees and ferns. We followed it for about 40 minutes and eventually it came out at the big lake we have visited before. We thought this was a good spot to just rest for a while although it was really Mom that needed a rest - we are like energizers bunnies and can just keep going and going and going:)

Bark Ranger Patrol - The Lake

Often after we have been to the beach we go and visit the lake and today was no different. A Bark Rangers has got to patrol every inch of HIS parks after all. Mom was mumbling something about wanting to get some nice bird photos and she remembers seeing hawks swooping in over the lake catching fish. Hmmm I wonder if I could convince one to would drop a fish right near my nose:) We spent an hour wandering around the lake but no hawks today - just these funny little guys who seemed to love walking on the reeds. Mom has never seen these little birds before so she isn't sure what they called - what we do know it they love to flap their wings and dance on the water - and yes - they make a lot of noise too.

Sun, surf and a dead fish :)

Off we went to the beach this morning and thank goodness MY park was open today. We arrived a few minutes too late to see the sun rise (the gate to the park is right next to the gate to the Mayport Navel Station and there was a lot of traffic entering this morning) That didn't deter us any though as it was a beautiful 75 degrees and we had the beach all to ourselves. First we have to go along the boardwalk over the dunes to the beach. Needless to say I was way ahead of Mom and all but galloped to the beach. By time Mom and Dweeb had caught up to me I had already found my prize and was enjoying rubbing my face all over it. For some reason Mom was not happy and said she might make walk home as she didn't want dead fish smell in her car! (half way down the boardwalk there is actually a shower for the surfers to rinse off and Mom was able to wash my face and get some of the stink off she is such a spoil sport)














Ah - this is the life, cool morning, cool sand, dead fish and the beach all to ourselves with clear blue skies - what could be better? I did also find a nice dead crab too but Mom caught me before I had a chance to partake in its perfume :)













I walked, I ran, I snuffled, I galloped and I even trotted and loved ever moment of it - Dweeb of coarse was glued to Mom's feet the whole time. Finally we reached the lifeguard stand which also happens to be our one mile marker - we know when we reach this is is time to turn around and head back the way we came. Then it was across the boardwalk back into the park where MY car was parked and a nice big bowl of water and a cookie. Perfect way to spend the morning if you ask me :)

About doggy time!

With Mom having a bout of the sickies, my toofer problems and such we really haven't been out to my parks the last couple weeks but FINALLY Mom is starting to feel better and this morning she said those 3 magic words "Bark Ranger Patrol" - dog oh dog you have never seen us move so fast. We were so happy we could hardly sit still long enough for her to put our harnesses on. Mom said she was going to take us to the beach but sadly the park was closed today for the holiday - what the dog??? The holiday was last Saturday - I am going to have some serious barks with MY park staff about this! So we didn't get to see the sunrise over the beach this morning and instead headed off to our favorite rainforest walk.

Now some of you may wonder why most of the photos Mom takes are of me - well I am the MOST handsome, I am the OLDEST and it is MY blog but the real reason is Dweeb always walks by Mom's feet - so close that if she suddenly stops he bumps straight into her. It is very rare he will walk ahead of her unless she gives him nudge in the tush, he rarely stops to sniff anything and of coarse weirdest of all - he won't leave pee-mail. He is also always on high alert - looking this way and that way for monsters and everyone wonders why I call him the Dweeb :)

Black and White Sunday

Dogs will always look up to you - not matter what you do (that's because they are so much shorter than humans :)

Happy Independance Day

On this very special day of celebration let us also not forget the estimated 400 people will die on our roads this holiday weekend and the hundreds more who will be injured. Sadly hardly anyone but their families will care or hear about them. So drive carefully and stay safe this celebration weekend.

Twinkle Toes

Here's woofing at you :)

It was my turn to go and visit Dr W. yesterday but unlike the Dweeb - I LOVE going there and I especially love Miss Amanda who gives me LOTS of cookies. She already knows my greeting woof as I walk in the door and has my cookie waiting for me - yeah I have her wrapped around my paw already :)

I went to see Dr W. for a couple things this time - one was to check on my mouth and he says it is healing up beautifully. Mom has also been worried about my funky little twinkle toes as she calls them. Some of you may not know but my front feet have degenerative arthritis in the them which has caused my toes to become deformed and grow sideways. Dr W. also noted I have arthritis is my knee joints too now but trust me - that won't stop this Big Dog from going for his daily patrols.

My twinkle toes

My lefty that points right :)

Mom was also worried because I have been limping a lot more lately and she thought maybe it is as a result of a couple things but she also wanted to check I hadn't fractured a toe or anything. The first issue is our new house is completely tiled throughout (except the screened in sun room) and that is a bit hard on my feet. Mom has put down lots of rugs but it is not the same and a nice thick carpet with padding underneath. (We are renting our house and sadly are not allowed to install carpet :( The other thing is the grass here in Florida. It is either Bermuda or St Augustine grass - we are not sure exactly which it is but what we do know is it that it has very thick spiky leaves with rough edges and I do not like walking on it at all! Dr W. checked my twinkle toes all over and couldn't find any fractures or breaks but he did say the arthritis is really bad and he agreed the hard floors and grass are not helping. He said he would be okay for me to wear my boots more often even inside the house. He has also added a new arthritis medicine and some additional pain medicine so hopefully that will help.

The last thing Mom wanted to check was my eyes - she noticed they are looking blueish and Dr W. says it is quite common in older dogs - it is a result of cornea losing some of the protein that keeps them clear and is the most common cause of progressive blindness. He says it probably makes it a little harder for me to see at night and in the day it  would be like I am wearing sun glasses. He also said we doggies adapt very easily to losing some of our sight and it will be many years yet before it gets really bad.

Dr W also checked my Thyroid levels (can you believe that Dweeb brother of mine has the same thing now he such a copy-dog). I have been on medication for mine for the last two years and my levels are holding steady which is good.

Overall it wasn't the best of news we could of got but it could of been worse and we happy it is all things we can deal with. Dr W also told Mom he will do everything in his power to make sure I am as comfortable as possible so I can get on with my Bark Ranger duties.

Double "D" and a Birthday

Shock - Horror - What do you mean I have to go on a diet?

The Mom says she has been a bit worried about me lately - see I eat a lot less then Reilly and I am a VERY VERY slow eater plus we are going for way more walkies here in Florida  than we use too in Arkansas - and Mom says I should be losing weight but in fact the opposite is happening.  I tried telling Mom it was just all my 'he' muscles I was building up from the extra exercise but she didn't believe so off we went  shaking and trembling  to see Dr W.

Now Mom and Reilly say he is a wonderful vet but you can't fool me - no way - he is big and tall and looms over a small doggie like a dark sinister shadow in the night. Sure he was gentle and told me what a beautiful boy I was and what a wonderful coat I have (one that he rudely couldn't keep his hands out of I might add!) But he wasn't fooling me....no sir reeeeee - I knew he was really a blood sucking vet vampire and I was right - cause you know what he did - he STOLE my blood not once but TWICE and then had the nerve to put a girlie PINK bandage on my leggie both times! Anyway the results came back yesterday and I have the same problem Reilly has - very low thyroid. Now we both have to take medication and mom has pulled the nasty double "D" on me - the Dastardly Diet !!!! Doesn't she know there is is just more of me to love? She says she wants to love me for a VERY long time to come and can only do that if there is less of me ...... so this is the way it has to be - sigh - you just can't reason with Mom's sometimes.

Today is also our Dad's birthday and we both totally love and adore him. Mom says we are are both Daddy Boys as he the one we go to on the rare occasions we want a cuddle :) Today we will be giving him some extra ones - Happy Birthday Dad :)

The Darwin Lite Awards

Let's hope she falls for it again and gives us 2 cookies each :)

Our famous buddy Bertie has asked us to share some examples of how our peeps are not as far along the evolutionary scale as they may think and our Mom is a prime example. Our Mom has a terrible time with numbers - especially phone numbers. Now of coarse Dad sets up Mom's phone for her so she can call someone just by name but on the few occasions she has had to enter the phone number to call someone .....well lets just say the people in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta were NOT the ones she was meant to be calling.  

Equally Mom has a habit of mis-reading things. Like the other day while driving down the road she asked Dad why the Bank was offering Free Chicken - he of coarse totally cracked up and said the sign said Free Checking!   Or reading Bearded Chicken on a menu instead of breaded - gawwooof! Mom says she could write a book about the things she has mis read over the years. Luckily for her we would NEVER take advantage of her lack of Darwin Evolution :)

PS - Mom called Dad last night to check when he would be home so she could have dinner ready - he said it would be around 6.00pm so Mom turned the oven on at 5.00 - there was just one problem - she forgot to put the food in - we could of told her we couldn't smell anything cooking but it was much more fun watching her reaction when she went to get dinner out - bbbbaaaawwwaaaahhhhh

Snake!

The Mom let us out for our morning constitutional and as she opened the door to let us back in she noticed something moving in the grass just 2 feet to our right and as she watched she realized it was a snake! It was only about a foot and a half long - black with a yellow stripe and Mom is pretty sure it was a the common garden garter snake (non poisonous). Mom didn't have the camera at hand but found this picture on Google images. We being the EVER watchful watch dogs we are didn't even see it :) It always makes Mom laugh as the first thing people she meets talk about when she says she is Australian is "ALL" the snakes in Australia. In Mom's 40 something years of living in Australia (and Mom lived in the Australian outback) she saw 2 snakes and yet since living in the USA she has seen so many she has lost count. We had a big downpour last night and we think the cooler temps and moisture probably bought Mr Snakey out. Thankfully it slithered off under the neighbors fence within seconds of Mom seeing it - but she says she will be even more vigilant than ever as the other thing we have noticed the last few days is lots and lots of baby lizards (like an inch long) they are so cute but are also the perfect snack for snakes.

Snake - what snake - we didn't see anything Mom!

Sunrise Sunday

“How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the horizon. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of Nature!”
― Arthur Conan Doyle

Do you know?

We have a beautiful tree in our front yard that is now covered in flowers and we are wondering if anyone knows what it is?  Mom has nic named it the snowball tree and the flowers look like big old snowballs.

Shopping around the World with Bacon and Fozzie

This month we are joining Bacon and Fozzie's Shopping Around the World and doing a comparison of FIVE items from two different stores.  For our comparison we are using the Commissary and Publix. Now is all fairness we must point out we do not pay tax at the Commissary - it is one of the perks Dad gets for his years in the Military. Here are our items

Items                                                               Commissary                                     Publix
Edy's Frozen Custard                                       $3.99                                                $6.49
EB Cage Free Eggs                                          $2.99                                                $4.99
Oscar Mayer Bacon                                          $3.99                                                $6.99
Jar Soft Milkbone Treats                                  $4.99                                                $12.99
Noosa Yoghurt                                                  $1.79                                                $2.49

       

POTP for Mom

Mom is having a bit of a rough time at the moment - her IBS (Irratible Bowel Syndrome) and her stomach ulcer have both decided to play up at the same time and she is not a happy puppy. It is also very HOT  here with temps hovering around the high 90's for the last two weeks. My pond got stolen AGAIN but came back again yesterday after we had a one hour downpour. Please if you can -  will you send Mom some healing vibes and please accept our apologies that we might not around much for the next few days while we take care of her.

Happy Fathers Day

Have you noticed how hard it is to find pics of us with our Dads? Mom says it is a guy thing - they don't like their photos being taken so we had to hunt through years of photos to find one of us with our Dad - but we finally did. We love our Dad like crazy and Mom says we are both Daddy boys - so Happy Fathers Day Dad.

Trying something new

One of the things Mom loves about Jacksonville is there so many more places to shop and so many new brands and things to try. This morning at Publix (a new store for her) she came across these Dogsters frozen treats for us - they  are over a dollar cheaper then the Frosty Paws we normally get and come in Peanut Butter and Mint Flavors. We tried the mint flavor today and totally loved them and dog of dog did we ever need them as the last few days have been in the high 90's! You can check out more information about them and where to by them on their Dogster facebook page. If you don't have facebook here is the list of stores that sell them.

Just a note - We are not doing a review of these treats - we are just sharing something new we found and liked that you might not of heard of :).

Comeon Mom - open the darn box!

Going into for the first slurp!

Slurp good,slurp yum, slurp brain freeze :)

Slurp slurp slurpitty slurp slurp!

Chewy.com Review - Trufood Cocochia Bakes

18 June 2015

Today thanks to Chewy.com - the best and most well known online pet food, treats and goodies store I am reviewing Wellness TruFood CocoChia Bakes with Lamb, Purple Carrots & Coconut Oil Grain-Free Dog Treats. This is the first time that "I" the Denny dog have done a review all by myself. (Mom says it is because Reilly still can't have crunchy cookies yet)

Here's the Basics

• Wellness believes in giving pets a colorful palette of the best nutrition possible, so they made TruFood with whole foods from farm, field and sea. TruFood has more of what pets need to be vibrant and happy - that's how love becomes Wellness. When you treat with chia seeds and whole-prey protein, your dog gets more than just a tasty reward. These slow-baked TruFood CocoChia Bakes combine whole-prey protein with antioxidant-rich superfoods, probiotics, coconut oil and of course chia seeds to deliver a nutritious treat

• 5 oz bag is normally $5.99 at Chewy.com

Key Benefits

• 100% natural dog treats
• A naturally grain-free snack
• Slow-baked for more raw protein
• Naturally colored by superfoods
• No artificial flavors, colors or preservatives

You can't have these Reilly!

Sniff sniff - they smell a bit odd

 
Ingredients

• Chickpeas, Peas, Tapioca, Lamb, Dried Purple Carrots, Flaxseed, Coconut Oil, Chia Seeds, Turkey Liver, Turkey Hearts, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavor, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, Dried Enterococcus thermophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus bulgaricus Fermentation Product, Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract (this is a naturally preserved product)

Taste Test

NO MOM - I don't like the smell of these!

• In all fairness I will admit that "I" the Denny dog am not fond of hard cookies - I will sometimes eat them but not very often (unless Mom breaks them into into small pieces) and these are very hard cookies -. Mom offered me one and I sniffed it and wouldn't take it. She then broke it up into pieces and I turned away when she offered it me. Now I can be pretty stubborn about trying new things so Mom even popped a little in my mouth and I promptly SPAT it out. No - no way did I like the smell or flavor of these cookies and I was NOT going to eat one.

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

• These are nice small square cookies which would be a great training treat if you like them
• For me - I just didn't like the smell of them or the flavor
• Mom crumbled one up for Reilly today and he gobble it down but there is not much Reilly won't eat :) 

Rating

• Sadly "I" the Denny have to give these a no paws ratings cause I just didn't like them all - I am a dog of discerning tastes :) but I know Reilly would give them a 4 paws rating cause he loves crunchy cookies and will eat just about anything at all :)

Disclaimer 
Chewy.com sent me a bag of  Wellness TruFood CocoChia Bakes with Lamb, Purple Carrots & Coconut Oil Grain-Free Dog Treats 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.

Bravo for Special Moments

We are joining Oz in sharing his "Bravo for Special Moments".  When we moved to Florida Mom wasn't sure how we would like the beach as we had never experienced it before. I think our happy smiles clearly show how much we LOVE our special moments sitting on the beach with Mom watching the sun rise.

Our good friend Oz is hosting a Bravo For Special Moments Photo Contest
 from now through Tuesday, June 23, 2015 on a secret page on his blog. 
It is a surprise for Bravo Pet Foods
  a blog hop Photo Contest that will be published on Thursday, June 25, 2015   
To learn more, CLICK HERE
 

Early Morning Bark Ranger Patrol

I told Mom we HAD to get up early and go and do some Bark Ranger Patrols which I sadly could not do last week because of my toofer problems. But they are all healed now and I have a job to do - so off we went. We arrived at 6.08 am and waited (and did quite a bit of sniffing) until 6.28 when the sun started to rise. As usual we had the beach all to ourselves and Mr Denny found some turtle tracks which he sniffed at sniffed at - most unusual for him as her rarely sniffs at anything. We loved watching the US Coast Guard ship cross the sunrise - they actually have one of their bases right here at Mayport. Bark Ranger duty done for today - MY beach is in perfect condition - I must say - MY park staff do an excellent job of keeping MY parks and beach ultra clean.

We have the beach all to ourselves Mom

Denny found turtle tracks !

Waiting for the sun to wake up

Here it comes Mom

The US Coast Guard was out on patrol

Perfect morning for a spot of fishing