Project Hailey - More Sillies

Hailey has decided she likes to play with the ball. She likes to chase it and chew it. She does not like to bring it back.  Don't think Phod is thrilled about her taking one of his balls, but as long as he has his, he is ok!

Where Was It?

As you may remember, we were on Precious 5. Phod had found 2 of the 5, including Precious One that has a hole in it. We know 2 are under the deck and he can't get them.

We had no idea where the third missing Precious was, but we are happy to say it is back. Phod was out playing in the yard as we were stacking wood. He kept dropping his ball in the way, trying to get us to throw it. I took it away. He brought me the second, as the garage was open and he could get it, and I did the same thing. A little while later, he showed up with the missing ball. As the Man and I were busy with the wood, we have no idea where he found it. We were so proud of him for figuring that out.

Now Phod has the 3 balls. He likes them to be in the basket. He likes to pick which one he takes out. He never picks Precious One with the hole, but he checks several times a day to see that it is still there. I swear, he is counting them!

This is an older picture of Phod but is shows how happy this Precious makes him!

Pawlympics - Fetching - Hosted by Zaphod

Me Zaphod showing off my mad fetching skills!

Welcome Blogville residence and visitors. Today, I Zaphod Beeblebrox am thrilled to be celebrating 4 years in my forever home. When I saw the Pawlympics were coming, I knew there was no better way to celebrate then inviting my pals to join me in a fetching day. We all know there is nothing better than fetching! Thank you to everyone who has participated. Please feel free to take your medal and wear it with pride.

Now to the participants!

First up, showing he can handle is a stick is my good buddy Sarge.

Dougie Dog is showing off his jaw strength in his entry entitled "jaws 1 and jaws 2".

Blogville Mayorz Murphy and Stanley show their own personalities with their fetching styles.

Up on his toes so he doesn't miss it is Murphy. 

Stanley is using his head to catch Murphy's Wilson!

Beckett nailed it by catching the disc at the end of his backyard agility course! 

Keltic prefers fetching if it prevents Beckett from having the disc! (He and Hailey are the same that way fetching is only fun if it annoys someone else!)

It is a bird, it is a plane, no it is Casey fetching! 

Jessie has caught an orange ball. Better look out as that looks like my precious! 

Miss Mabel shows us all that pugs can fetch! 

My BIL Easy caught fetched himself a great toy to destroy. 

Wyatt has fetched himself one awesome stick! 

His sister Tegan has fetched a shoe. My guess is the people aren't going to appreciate this as much as they should. Maybe it is just because they want 2 shoes!

Frankie and Ernie are putting their fetching skills to great use and helping clean up after some bad litter bugs! 

Fetching in the Bayou our pals Bentley and Pierre share their talents:

Pierre

Bentley - a little reluctant to fetch

If Lady was giving the medals, Princess Leah would get gold for her pawsome fetching!

Macy has her eye on the ball!

Noodles makes short work out of his stick.

Roxy fetching the bone from her beloved Ernie. That may be as precious as my precious!

Training his human to play is Walter.

Our mayoral candidate Arty is carefully considering his fetch. 

Last, but certainly not least is Jakey. That is one big ball he has caught!

Thank you to all the fetching participants for their gold winning performances! 

Wordless Wednesday - Snuck It In (A Boy and His Precious)

Precious - Here and Gone and Here

Regular readers know that Phod is in love with his Chuck-It Ball, we call Precious. Given a basket of identical looking balls, he has a favourite Precious.

Phod with a Precious

For a long time his favourite was Precious 1. Precious 1 was so loved, he chewed a hole in it. Precious 1 disappeared last summer, but showed up again in the spring. Precious 1 was hiding in the thick bush that surrounds our house. It was found before the spring regrowth.

Phod was excited to see Precious 1, but his favourite was now Precious 3. (Precious 2  got stuck under the deck last summer). While he wanted Precious 1 in the ball basket (he checked it every day), he would pick Precious 3 to play with.

Precious 3 is currently in the bush and hopefully will return in the spring.

To ensure Phod had appropriate Preciouses available, he was given Precious 4. Precious 4 is now under the deck as well.

He keeps dropping the balls down those holes

So, we are back to Precious 1 and have introduced Precious 5. While he never loves the new ball right away and after a few days for it to become Precious. It is like it needs to go through a Precious in training program! Don't worry, we have 2 more back up Precious balls if necessary. We will keep buying replacements as necessary. Our vows with Phod include ensure you always have a Precious.

Wordless Wednesday - "It's My Precious - Get Away"

Trickster - by Phod

 I have a terrible story to tell.

Wednesday, the Lady was gone forever and ever. I thought she was never coming home. She was very late. (Editor's note - Lady was home by 6:30).  I was so worried. It was dark. Man is usually home first, but on Wednesdays he doesn't come home until very late.  As a special treat because I was so brave and waited so nicely, Lady let me play with Precious (my ball) in the driveway. My people are very mean and don't usually let me play when it is dark.

It was going nicely until Lady was a Trickster and lost it. I couldn't find it. We looked and she then tricked me inside. I thought she had Precious inside and went to look. Once inside she tried to distract me but I kept searching for it. Finally, I knew I would have to wait until morning.

Thursday morning she presented a ball. It may look like Precious to her, but I knew it was different. I wouldn't take it out. I searched and searched but couldn't find my Precious. Finally, I played with this new ball. I showed Lady it wasn't Precious as I refused to bring it in. She can't trick me.

I am hoping my Precious still turns up, but until then will settle for ball.

From the summer - as Lady doesn't have a new picture. 

(Sorry we didn't get to see everyone yesterday, Lady had a rough day at work which required a big Martini and a hot bath).

Spoiled Pup

Phod would like to thank everyone for the concern over his burrs and ball. Many of you asked if we had a backup precious. Precious 3 was the backup. However, this week happened to be my monthly pet store run. While making a list I asked the Man if we needed anything. He said "better get a back up Precious."  I went, got the food I needed and then went to the "Precious" section. Lucky boy, Chuck products were buy 2 get 1 free, and I had a coupon for another $5 off. So I bought 2 packages of balls (Precious 4-7) and a new disk for the winter when Precious hibernates as it just gets lost in the snow.

All of these items have been tucked away in a sneaky hiding place for if/when we need it.

FFHT - Living With The Obsessed

Today we are participating in Murphy and Stanley's FFTH. The rules are simple, write a post using a target sentence.

---------------------------

Phod has a ball obsession. He will play fetch until he is sick or can barely walk. We have to limit it to keep him healthy.

We keep his ball aka Precious (we are on Precious the 3rd) in a basket inside the garage door. What is suppose to happen is that while I go in to get Hailey's leash and Precious and the chucker, he is to sit and wait in the front hall.  Sometimes this happens, and sometimes it doesn't. It depends how excited he is. Earlier this week he was so excited that when I came in from the garage with Precious he started jumping around like a crazy dog and landed hard on my foot And that's why my toes turned purple. Ok, it wasn't really my toes, it was my foot, but you get the idea. It hurt like heck! Now I am extra careful to tell him to sit and wait as I am coming back in from the garage.

Phody's Bad Day

One day last week, while playing with Precious 2 (the original is still MIA) a terrible thing happened.  Precious 2 bounced deep into the bush.

Phod, never wanting to leave a Precious behind, dove in after it. He came out with Precious but also covered in burrs. He had a least 20 on his belly. Normally, it is easy to get burrs out, but some of these were very deep. I got enough out that he felt comfortable walking and brought him into the house.

I tried to be as gentle as possible, but removing them hurt my boy. He jumped and cried and hid. He broke my heart by acting like he was in trouble for his reaction. The left over reactions of my previously abused dog, angered and upset me. We took it slow and got most out. I did my best to reassure him he was not in trouble, I was trying to help.

Of course all this happened about 15 minutes before I had to leave for work, so we did our best to remove most and I had to leave him.  I found the last two I couldn't get on his dog bed when I got home. I am glad he was able to get them out himself. It was terrible to have to remove them.

I am trying to be more careful and make sure the ball doesn't bounce into the bush!

P.S. Precious 2 has gone to far under the front porch to be retrieved. We are on to Precious 3.

P.P.S.  As of Wednesday morning 9 mice had been caught.

Mischief Monday - Lady Did It

Last Tuesday, while out with the dogs in our yard, in my foggy migraine state, I threw Phod's precious (his orange and blue chuck it ball) and it was lost. I couldn't even tell you which way I threw it to even start looking in the bush. Phod frantically searched on Tuesday. He was given an all orange chuck it ball, which he lost because he refused to fetch it (I actually think he hid it). He searched for Precious all day Wednesday. He searched outside, he searched in the ball basket, he searched and searched and was very stressed every time we went out and didn't want to come in.

On Thursday, his Gotcha Day, I stopped by PetSmart and picked up a package of 2 orange and blue chuck it balls, that looked just like precious. I brought them home and gave him one. I was worried that this ball that seemed almost identical would not be a replacement for precious. (Who I guess will turn up in the fall when the bush starts to die for the winter).

Phod was so excited about the new ball, he actually threw up (I think he choked himself with it). He loves the new precious. We have put one of the 2 out and the other is hidden away, for when I, the Lady, am an idiot and loses his ball again!

Black and White Sunday - Ball

There is really no creature in the world happier than Phod with his ball Precious.

Still White Sunday

These pictures were taken yesterday evening. We still have a lot of white but . . . . . .

Precious the ball is back! After 4 months without his ball (he has had two flying squirrel discs and a frisbee) Phod is thrilled! 

The Man's team, the Ottawa Senators, won yesterday. This means they have made the playoffs. It also means at least 4 more hockey games this season. Lady does not enjoy hockey. She did go to one game with the Man this year cause she is so awesome. If she was going to pick a team, she would pick the Montreal Canadians because we live in Quebec now and it bugs the Man.