More Meanness by Lee

First, my Lady wouldn't let me blog yesterday. She said something about a friend only really being in town for one day and having to go and see her. I think that is a lame excuse.

Then when she got home, she went out again. Even though my Man had been with me all day. She said something about people needing food. I was mad at her when they came back so I stole a whole bunch of chicken off the counter and ate it. My Lady said at least it was cooked.

Bad vacuum, I will save you Lady!

Our evening was not fun. My Lady vacuumed and I had to attack it. (Phod just hides when the vacuum is out).  [Note from Lady, she got to go to the beach to play before we vacuumed].


Once the vacuuming was done my people took us out and they tied us to trees about 10 feet from where they were sitting. Then they had a fire and were sitting and talking and I wasn't allowed to go near the fire. I kept getting myself twisted up around the tree. I whined some. So did Phod. After a while they took us and put us in the house and stayed out by the fire. I think that was stupid.

All in all, it was not a fun day. Today they slept in and gave me my breakfast late. Lady has said some people are coming to visit this afternoon with kids. I will hate that too.

Life really sucks here in the country.

Dog torture by Lee

My Lady will not hand over the pictures to show how she plans on torturing us soon. Apparently there is this stupid thing called Halloween coming up and she insists on putting costumes on us. We have tried them on and our lady died laughing. Phod took it ok, but I stood in rage. My Lady said she was getting even with us for doing bad things like eating the wall and her underwear. I don't think there is anything we could ever do to deserve these horrible and ridiculous costumes. They are worse then last year.

My Lady says she will share this years closer to Halloween. Here I am last year (I am sure where ever Phod was they didn't torture him like this):

Do your people torture you with costumes?

No nap for you!

On the weekend, I was desperate to have a little nap. I had a crazy week last week and knew I had a crazier one this week and thought a nap would be heaven.

It went something like this.

Lady lays down in bed. Bed becomes the wrestling ring. Man and Lady get stepped on, jumped on etc. They put the dogs in the hall and close the door. There is peace for about 10 minutes. Man is snoring away and Lady has just drifted off when the whining and scratching at the door start. After about 10 minutes, the Lady can't stand it anymore, so she gets up, puts the dogs in the bedroom with the Man and goes to the couch.

Here she and Baggy are able to catch a few zzzzzzz.

Wordless Wednesday - Nin edition

Who needs TV when

This is part of your after dinner entertainment. For some reason they tend to stop playing when I turn the camera on . . . . but it gives you an idea of life in our house! (Not like you could hear the TV if it was on).

The morning walk

Starting in October I should only have one really early morning per week. This is good, because even though I am a morning person, I find 5 am a little early.

For the last couple of weeks, I had a lot of early mornings. I had to be on the road by 6:30 (the price for living in the country, a price I am willing to pay). This meant the dogs and I were off for our walk around 5:40.

Let me just say it is very dark at this time and walking along a gravel country road with no sidewalk where people drive too fast and probably aren't looking for pedestrians before 6 am felt a little unsafe. After a few days of this, I realized I needed to get a headlamp, so I bought one. (There is no way I could have the 2 dogs on leash and hold a flash light! )

I must say, minus the few cars (and by few I mean 2-3) we see this early that make me nervous (with or without the light), it is a great time to walk. It is quiet and peaceful. The stars shine so bright and the mist on the mountains (ok, it is more hills, it is just the Gatineau Hills) as the sun is starting to peek out is beautiful. Seeing deer cross our path in the mist is  nice too (even if it means I have to hold on for dear life - pardon the pun). It is a very special time and many days that is my favourite 30 or so minutes. I much prefer the walk without the headlight, but our safety comes first and I can still enjoy the beauty with it.

Off for a walk we go!

Sun starting to peek over the hills

You know it is too early when . . .

You put the leash on the wrong dog and open the door.

Hailey realized right away she was free and started zooming. I let Phod off Lee's leashing, hoping he would herd her back.

I am very proud of my Lee this morning, she did a big run, but came back! Maybe there is hope for her yet!

It wasn't me - by Lee

My Lady went away and while I was mad and peed on the bed while she was packing, I was good while she was away. By good I mean I didn't destroy anything or pee on anything. It isn't the same without my Lady. I love my Man but he does things wrong.

Yesterday, while my Man was home, and before my Lady got back, Zaphod got into my Lady's laundry basket and ate a pair of her underwear. For once it wasn't me doing back things.

When Lady got home after midnight, we were both so excited to see her. She did a good job at loving us both in the bed and she snuggled me for a couple hours. She wasn't thrilled to be getting up to put my thunder shirt on cause it was raining and thundering and she isn't happy that one of us got into the cat food again (I am saying it wasn't me). It is nice to have her home.

I am glad that Zaphod did something bad, so everyone knows I am not the only naughty pup.

Travelin' Lady

The reality in my life currently is that I am traveling more for work. Much of this is a choice, I do work for myself, so I could work and travel less, but I know I would miss some amazing opportunities if I said no to travel. It of course has gotten a little worse since we move to the country (we are just further from things).

The biggest problem with being on the road, is I miss my dogs. That is right, I look at them before I go and I think to myself, I am missing precious moments of their short lives. Of course I know they are safe and well taken care of by the Man (just because he does things differently doesn't mean they are wrong), I just miss them.

So I sit in my hotel room this morning part enjoying the peace and quiet of a morning (that never happens at home, so it is a treat), part looking forward to my day (I am at an exciting workshop) and part feeling guilty and missing my dogs (I am resigned to the fact that the cats probably don't miss me). Life is all about making choices and even good choices have a bad side.

However, maybe being away may have some advantages. For example, on Wednesday before I left, we had a horrible morning walk (the dogs decided they both needed to try and get the horses and I couldn't get my balance and I ended up being dragged a little), Phoddy refused to go poop for me (and therefore pooped on the floor during the day), while getting something from the closet, Miss Lee jumped up on the bed and peed all over it (just after being out and peeing a lot, apparently she was mad at me). So perhaps sometimes a little distance is a good thing!  As the saying goes "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

I do very much look forward to seeing them late tonight and spending lots of time with them on the weekend! [Oh and because he will likely read this, I really miss my husband too!]

Wordless Wednesday

Frankenweenie-fy

I couldn't help it, I had to do this too! I think I captured their personalities a little with this!

Company - by Lee

2 big guys lovin'

My Lady says she was a bad blogger over the weekend cause we had our first over night house guests out here in Paradise. Her parents, also known as Grammie and the Big Guy came for a visit. I was so excited to see my Grammie. She is one of my very favourite people in the world. I just love to jump and climb on her.  I love the Big Guy too.

They had never met Zaphod, and I am a little put out that they said they wanted to take him home with them. Actually when I have had some of my misadventures, my Grammie has always thought my Lady may drive me to her house and leave me there. I don't think I would be any more relaxed there.

Me snuggling with Grammie

Big Guy and Phod played so much ball, that he threw up, so at least he wasn't perfect.

My extended pack got to see me truly anxious for the first time. Grammie said it broke her heart. We had rain on Friday night and some fireworks on Saturday. I had to wear my thunder shirt. It was horrible. Before the fireworks on Saturday we all had a snuggle on the couch. 4 adults, the 2 dogs and Nin and Baggy.

The Big Guy said next time they come they may bring their dogs, Tendra who I love and Barley who I have never met. They are big fun labs. This house and lot is big enough for 4 big dogs. My lady's city house was not. It wasn't big enough for 2 big dogs. That will be fun.

It was nice to have my pack visit.

So I am sorry we didn't get to blog over the weekend and my Lady says to tell you there won't be a blog on Thursday and Friday as she is away for training. She is sad about missing our lives, but says things will quiet down come October and we will get lots of love and snuggles.

My new life - by Lee

I feel that Zaphod has been getting far too much attention on my blog. As you will notice it is called the Hailey Chronicles and not the Zaphod Chronicles. I don't remember Gemi getting as much attention. I have hijacked the blog today to write about what I think of this new life in a new house, in a new province.

First, I would like to say, I don't think my lady has been depicting me as the angel I am. I think she may be giving everyone the wrong impression about me. So I thought French doors were needed and tried to help take out a wall. Further anyone who goes to www.dog-shaming.com knows I could learn a thing or two about really giving my people a hard time.

Moving to the country has been exciting and hard at the same time. It sounds different, smells different, looks different and feels different. I don't think my Lady has noticed all the differences.

Here are the things I like:
-way more cool smells every day
-the best sweet grass to eat
-I have turkeys and deer to chase
-I love the toads that visit every night. I keep licking them hoping one will turn into my prince.
-I get to go on lots of walks
- our new house is big and I can run around more. I like my people to see what a great player I am and I like to get Zaphod to come and play right in front of them.
-most of the time I like Zaphod, my new friend. I don't totally love him yet, but I do like to wrestle with him.

Things I don't like:
-I don't get to be off leash. I at least had our little yard and trips to the dog park which I don't get.
-Because I am not off leash I don't get to eat poop or hunt the animals I want. I have been trying to trick my lady to take me to where the poop is in the bush to eat, but she won't let me.
-it is really, really dark some nights and that is not good, it makes me nervous and early morning walkings in the dark and mist sort of creep me out.
-Sometimes Zaphod gets all the attention and I get jealous
-Rain and storms sound very scary out here and I have to wear my stupid shirt. I get so mad I can't move. My lady says this is great because then I can't destroy things.
-My Lady is out a little longer some days. She says it is because of extra driving time, even though  my man is home sooner, I think she just likes to torture me. I get very excited when she comes home and scratch her to show her how much I missed her.
-I miss my dog walker Stephanie

Overall, I don't think this is a horrible place to be. I am doing my very best to be a good girl, but it can be challenging. I am a free spirit who likes to do her own thing and not be constricted by my people.

My Lady says I should thank everyone for reading my blog, so thanks. And thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say about the new world order. Time to wrestle!

My new life - with Zaphod

Lady: Phody, I realize I haven't given you a chance to talk to people on the blog, would you like to tell everyone about your life with us?

Phod: Ok, Ok, Ok. I would, I would, I would.

Come on already!

Lady: Do you like living with us?

Phod: Yes I do. I love it, I love it, I love it!

Lady: What do you like?

Phod: I love to swim and to go outside and sniff and chase turkeys, and wrestle with Lee, and play fetch inside and outside the house, and get my belly rubbed and take up too much bed, and eat good food regularly,  and see deer and pull on walks, and play frisbee, and cuddle in bed, and play ball, and do tricks and just be with my new pack. It is a good pack. I love you all.

Lady: We love you too. Is there anything you don't like?

Phod: I don't love that waterless bath stuff you put on me to make me smell less like wet dog and I wish I could play more with the cats. These are small things and I do what you want to make you happy. I want to make you happy and love me.

Lady: We are glad you are so happy here. We love having you. You are the best dog ever (but don't tell Lee I said that!)

Phod: I am glad you picked me. Ok, enough writing, fetch time!

Wordless Wednesdsay - Beach Edition

The Mat

Last week I mentioned that we got a fancy Doggy Doormat as a present. Now that we have lived with it for a while, I feel I can write about it.

It really does seem to help. There was less sand and dirty footprints in the hall. I think some of the ones that were there came from times they didn't step on the mat.

It is a very soft mat, I enjoy walking on it and taking the sand off my bare feet.

The only issue with the mat is that it is very thick. Sometimes the dogs bunch it up and it can get stuck when opening or closing the door. But overall we like it!

Evening Beach Fun - Are you ready to rumble?

Evening at the beach - the trouble with sticks

While Phod loves swimming he also loves playing water fetch. Hailey has made a game of this too because she won't go in past her arm pits. It goes something like this. 

Come on out with the stick, I am waiting!

Come on, get me.

It is mine.

It is mine

Give me the stick. 

The game ends when Lee gets the stick and breaks it and eats part of it. The trouble with sticks is they don't last long!

Evening Beach Fun - Swimming

Most nice evenings we go down to the beach. For the next few days we are going to feature the fun we have at the beach. 

 Here are some pictures of Phod swimming. He loves to swim. While we have been working on having them tethered at the beach, we do let Phod have a little free swimming time!

I wonder how far I can go before I get in trouble

I love to swim!

The walking contraption

The Man had this idea, let's make a big coupler for the dogs with a tie out and leash.

Let's see how this goes:

Out the front door

Man holding on for dear life as we head down to the beach

Man at a stand still cause he can't hold on any more

Phod pulling so much he is walking sideways

The good: When at the beach we can let them both off tied together and they stay around. Phod can't swim as far when tied to Lee (and when he is swimming he can't pull her back into the water).

To work on: Pulling when they are walking on it. The pull a lot more than normal. They get tangled a lot (sometimes repeatedly around the same tree). You have to be fast or you get rope burn when they go around your legs.

We will keep trying and see if this can work!

A month of Phod

An outtake from our pictures. I think he is sticking his tongue out cause I am not throwing the ball!

Time flies when you are having fun! Zaphod has been a member of our pack for one month now. This means his 30 day probation period is behind us and he is ours for life. Not once did we ever think he wasn't for us. We did wonder if they would take Hailey back instead (just joking). We are very happy to have our angel.

The only issue with having such an angel, is that it makes the devil (aka Hailey Bug) a little more pronounced, hehehehehehe!

Our only "issues" with him (and I use the term lightly):  He sheds a lot, but we are hoping as he gets healthier (he was very underweight when he was rescued) and daily brushing will mean that by the end of the week the floors won't be covered in his blonde hair. (We know it is his cause he is the only light coloured pet); he likes to rip all the fluff out of the babies. We have to sweep more because of this, but given all his wonderful qualities, we can so live with this.

To Phod, may you continue to be a wonderful edition to our pack!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Adoption Day Hailey Bug

Lee having a good dig in the sand

Today marks 2 years since our Hailey Bug joined our pack. It is hard to believe that much time has passed. While she has been driving us a little nuts the past few weeks, we truly love her and are usually glad to call her ours.  In celebration of her adoption day I am going to write 5 reasons we love our bug.

1) She is full of energy. When she is happy her energy is contagious.

2) She is really, really smart. She learns tricks quickly.

3) She is a wonderful dog to take to the dog park. She listens and comes back.

4) She can be a huge snuggle bug!

5) She is so cute, especially when she is sleeping.

Our lives would be down right boring without her. Happy Adoption Day Lee!

Will it work?

One of my good friends brought this interesting house warming gift (which is exactly what we need):

Dirty Dog Doormat

Living in the country near the beach is a wonderful blessing, however it is a very dirty sandy blessing. We need to sweep the front everyday and the house is still sandy!  

The mat says "it is super absorbent, soaks up to 7 times it weight in mud and water, floors stay clean and dry and it dries 5x faster than ordinary door mats. From footprints to paw prints, the Dirty Dog Doormat is your best defense."

We got it yesterday so let's see if it works. If nothing else, it is a cute mat at the front door!

The Ultimate Dog

Getting read to throw

Lee watching

One of the Man's dreams has been to have a dog to play frisbee with. The Man loves to play Ultimate. Finally, he got his wish and got a frisbee dog! On Saturday evening the Man and Phod had a great time out front playing while Lee and I watched.          

Watching for the disc

The jump

The catch

I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, switch

I don't know what has gotten into the canine pack members but they are driving me coco bananas! I was tempted to just open the door and let them be free this morning.

Here was our yesterday:

Man was home all day with the dogs, while I was at work. There was a thunderstorm in the morning and Lee was having a panic attack so the man put her in her thunder shirt and felt it helped. We have chosen to stop the anti-anxiety meds because we didn't think they were helping and she has started having pee accidents, making us wonder if this is a side effect of this drug. We are waiting to connect with our vet.

While he was home he took them out for a long walk, he played with them outside, basically they got lots of love, attention and exercise.

We made the plan to meet in the city for dinner and a Friday night trip to Costco (it is less busy then). This saved me an hour of extra driving now that we live out in the middle of no where. This trip meant the dogs, who had lots of exercise were alone for about 3 hours.

I got home first. The man did a last errand on his way home. He had safely secured them in the basement. I came in, I put my stuff down, I let them out of the basement (and by basement this is our family room) and Miss Bug went into a frenzy. She was out of control jumping, shaking and carrying on. She scratched the heck out of my arm and butt. Not to be left out, my usually calm dog Phod was jumping (not in the same state) and carrying on. It was very hard to get them down. I admit to being the crazy woman screeching at them to get them down (it is hard to deal with both of them). What seemed like an eternity, I got them out for a pee. I then did the house inspection the only real damage was they got into the cats room and ate the food and made a mess in the litter (and by they I mean Lee as she had litter all over her face). The rest of the evening went by without much action.

Around 3:30 am we were woken to a thud sound. Turns out it was just Phod curling up next to the door. The Man got up to use the bathroom with the plan of taking the dogs out after. Miss Bug slipped by him, ran downstairs and peed on the floor. This is the second night in a row this has happened. It is very unusual that we are up in the night but for 2 nights in a row, one of us has been up and both times Miss Bug has used this as an excuse to go pee in the basement. She has never had accidents like this before.

At 7 am, the wrestling match on the bed occurred. The Man took them out again and tried to lock them out of the room. This led to the pitiful scratching at the door. I got up and let them back in. While I did not go back to sleep I refused to get up and for the next hour or so dealt with wrestling, demands for belly rubs and pitiful looks.

Finally around 9, I got up, fed them  breakfast and I took them out. It was fine until Lee, who was on leash as always, decided she needed Phod to chase her so she did zoomies around and around, while I held on for dear life. Phod got hog tied and screamed, I had to fight to get him untied and it was nearly impossible for me to get them to stop this game. Finally, Lee by the collar (and Phod pouncing her) I dragged them into the house where they have been pacing around.

I don't know if it is the blue moon, the change in weather or what, but the pair of them are driving me crazy!

Let's hope they settle down today.