Thankful Thursday - My New Toy - By Zaphod

Even though Hailey and I caused a lot of trouble last week, with running away and destroying things from the counter, my Lady still loved me enough to get me a new toy. It was a squeaky throw toy by kong. Look how happy I was to have it! 

While I like playing fetch, I also like to try and take toys apart. 

Here I am working really hard on it. 

Here is Lee jealous that I have the toy and she does not. She says it is her blog so she should make an appearance. 

Look how regal I look with it. 

Here it is one hour later.  The toy lasted . . . .

About 5 hours before we had it all pulled about and destroyed. We still have the rope which I love.

Wordless Wednesday - Paws

Dealing with all this mischief

As yesterday's post indicated, last week was NOT a good week for me and the pups. Besides the running away incident, someone peed on the guest bed, Hailey peed on the floor out of spite while Phod was at the vet, and 2 times they got stuff from the counter and destroyed it.  We got to practice patience a lot. I really need to start to get this under control now as starting Sunday, this is a 3 dog house . . . . .

The plan:

1) Increase exercise. We haven't been walking as much because it is winter. Now that it is getting warmer, it is time to get more exercise in. We are going to double our walk time.

2) Increase mental exercise. While we are doing some training, we could be doing more. I am going to make a chart [I love a chart] and work in at least 3 training sessions per day. 

3) New toys: I am going to look for new things that will keep their minds busy. 

4) I am going to remember to breathe.

This is by our front door . . . .

Mischief Monday - Practicing Patience by the Lady

Patience is not something, I the Lady, have a lot of. I would like to say I did, but this is something I am working on. Hailey gives me lots of practice with this.

Let's talk about last Monday, Family Day.  First, while I was doing laundry, she snuck into the laundry room and had a snack from the cat litter box . . . it is my fault for not closing the door, but still.

As I was working at home (when you work for yourself no work = no money, so sometimes you work on holidays too), we went for our walk in the afternoon. This had the main advantage of it had warmed up a little and the frostbite warning was gone. It wasn't our best walk as there were fresh deer and turkey prints, but it wasn't our worst.

As we were coming around the last bend, my boot came untied. I tried to walk with it untied but decided I needed it tied. So I stopped, put the leashes under my other foot and leaned down to do up my boot.

It was at this moment that Hailey thought she saw something in the field about 500 meters away, and after screaming (her screaming not me) she took off. Phod went after her. After finishing tying my boot and saying every swear word I could think of, I headed off after them. I hoped that Hailey would be going after squirrels again. I tried to remain calm and sound so happy as I called "Hailey, Zaphod, Come here."  Under my breath I would say what I truly felt  before calling them again. As I was walking as quickly as I could, I watched them go through the horse pasture and back out and then to my horror, up the main road (which isn't that busy of a road) and out of sight.

Awww, the sun

At this point I start to run as well as I could through knee deep snow in the bush up the mountain. I hit the road and they were no where to be seen. I spot their footprints in the side of the road and start to follow them while calling as nicely as I can. Almost right away, Mr. Zaphod came racing out of a driveway toward me. This was a relief because I not only had him, I now know where Lee was. I walk quickly toward the driveway. Once I get past the huge banks of snow, I saw Lee standing in the driveway. There was another dog on a tie out there. I approached slowly and calmly for both Lee and this other dog. The other dog appeared friendly and didn't even bark. Hailey played deaf and continues sniffing around and heads up a snowbank beside this dog. Finally I was able to grab her leash.

It was a very long walk home. I could feel my adrenaline pumping and I was mad. I looked at her and said "You just won your award, I want to kill you."  I know that is not a good thing to say, but that is how I felt.

For once the dogs both realized I was very angry (perhaps the smoke from my head was an indicator). The completely avoided me for the next hour and I raged while I cleaned the house. While I was cleaning and swearing under my breath, regretting my life choses that lead me to be a dog owner, I started to think, be patient. Look at this like a problem at work.

Tune back tomorrow for some ideas I have to help . . . .

Black and White Sunday - Zaphod

Zaphod went to the vet on Thursday.

He threw up 4 times in the car. the vet says if he is car sick now, he will likely be car sick for his whole life. He gave us a sample of an expensive med ($30 a pill) to try.

Our Phod is also 60 lbs, which I think is small for a Shepherd.

He didn't love the vet but did well.

Happy Sunday!

Feline Friday- Brotherly Love

I just love it when they snuggle. it melts my heart. 

In October Baggy and Nin would have been brothers for 17 years.

They are best friends.

Outtakes from Hailey's Photo Shoot

Is there any pet over there doing something cute to save me from this?

Man, Go away Lady, I am enjoying the sun.

Sigh, The things I put up with. 

Hurry it up. 

I am not impressed

The picture from wordless Wednesday is the last one, the I am out of here one!

Exciting news: We pups are excited to announce that starting March 3rd and for the whole month our cousin Emma is going to be staying with us. For those of you who may be new or forgotten, Emma is our Uncle Chris' pup. Our Lady found her for Uncle Chris while he was serving in Afghanistan. He said he wanted a puppy waiting when he got back, and our Lady spent lots of time looking and found Emma. Emma's mom Muffin had been rescued from a huge puppy mill bust, and Emma is a Freedom dog. She is also a bit of a scamp and our Lady hasn't figured out what she is going to do with the 3 of us for a week . . . it will be an adventure!

Little Emma

Wordless Wednesday - Lee - My new Fav Picture

An Adventure - by Lee

Phod looking out the window

Dear Blogville, we are still hopelessly behind in our blog reading, but it is because we had a most wonderful adventure. [Note the pictures kind of suck cause the Lady only took her phone].

After a week of pairing the car with reinforcement, so Phody liked to go in it, Our People decided to take us somewhere cool.

Not so happy as Phod was sitting
on me

They loaded the car with extra towels, they strapped me in and left Phod loose to help prevent him from getting too stressed out. Off we went. 

We were in the car forever [Editor's Note: it was about an hour each way]. Phod threw up 3 times on the way there. He managed to get himself into the trunk, where he did finally lay down.  I was a bit whiney because the ride was SOOOOOOOOOOO long and near the end I got out of my harness. I was excited I knew we were almost at Bruce Pit.

Bruce Pit, for those of you not from the Ottawa Area, is one of 2 huge off leash dog parks. It has big field areas and treed paths. There are always lots and lots of friends there [Our Lady guesses we saw at least 100 dogs]. It is a great place to go.

Phod's first time at park

Meeting friends

I was so excited when we go there, cause I haven't been to Bruce Pit or Conroy Pit (the other really cool dog park) since we moved. I was so excited I couldn't stop jumping. I jumped so high my back legs touched my Lady's elbow (and she is like 5'7). I had a great time. I did run and sniff the other dogs some, but I was far more interested in the squirrels. The 3 times I didn't listen and come right away was because (to the amusement of other dog owners) I was trying to climb trees to get squirrels. I couldn't help it, they were teasing me and I had to try and get them. I had to go on my leash 2 times for a bit because I wouldn't stop trying to get them. My Lady actually witnessed me getting on a low branch to climb. She is sorry she missed getting a picture of this. Overall I had a great time and we got to run and play and sniff for like 1.25 hours. 

We don't know if Phod has ever been to a place like this. My Lady says he was very good. He stayed near by, he checked in, he always came when called. He did sniff a lot of dogs, but didn't really play. One dog sort of scared him and he didn't know what to do. He went up to all the people in the park for pets. He didn't seem to notice the evil, evil squirrels were around. 

Phod in trunk

He road in the trunk on the way home and only threw up 2 times. Once when we were less then a km from home (the last 2.5 km is on a windy dirt road so maybe that is why). He felt bad when he got home and clearly thought he was in trouble, but while Our People have many flaws, one thing they are great at is being understanding if we are sick. Even if it is cause we ate something we should have.

It was such a fun time. My Lady said we will do it about once a month. We were so tired we slept all evening and even slept in until 8 on Sunday!

[Editor's note: Phod was sick a total of 5 times, this is an improvement from the 7 or 8 the last time we went on a big trip. We will keep at it. He will get extra practice this week because he has to go to the vet!]

Mischief Monday

First to all those who celebrate it in Ontario:   Happy Family Day - From our Pack to Yours

Our Man has to go to work and our Lady is working from home to catch up on work missed skiing and being sick. She is still hopelessly behind in her blogs . . . . more about some of the reasons tomorrow.

Our Lady says we weren't bad enough last week for her to want to kill us (we have set the bar pretty high for that), but she is disappointed with our behaviour. The Man came home to the following on Thursday (no good ever came of one, maybe this is why the Lady wasn't sooooooo mad).

This was a box of paper. What you wan't see is we chewed the bottom corner of the box
and therefore destroyed 1/2 package of paper.

This was a TupperWare

Black and White Sunday - Lee

They picked me because

I matched the floor!  Hehehehehe!

Feline Friday - Baggy's new favourite place to sleep

"What? I should get the biggest bed."
[Note: I have no idea what was on his head . . . probably dust from sleeping behind the dryer].

A Note from Lee: My Lady had a bit of the flu and now is very busy so she has not been letting me catch up with all my blogs. The only blogs she would let me go to yesterday were the Ball blogs. She says on Saturday we should have time [to punish her, Phod pooped on the floor]. She says, while she loves blogging, sometimes it can't be her #1 priority. She says, she knows I have OCD and like to check 87 000 times a day, and it is ok to not, my blog friends will understand. They will still love me, even if I don't visit every single day.  I think she is lying. I think I should dump her.  I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. I got a bully stick, so it wasn't all bad, even if I wasn't allowed to chase the 8 deer.  If you want to read why she was so abusive yesterday visit her blog that I am not allowed to write on at: The Shaky Tree

Happy Valentine's Day

Today we celebrate how blessed we are to live a life full of love and happiness. We wish all our friends and family (with and without fur) the same.

If you haven't done so, pop over for some fun at Mollie and Ranger's.

New Award - First recipient!

Welcome to our new award. It is the "I am too cute to kill. Besides you love me award!"

This is an award to celebrate mischief, destruction and other misbehaviour by our furry (or feathery, or scaly) friends. 

The rules are simple. When you see a blog entry that you know made the owner/person/parents wishes it had been SOD (some other dog) or they had some other life, give them the award.

[Perhaps I should have called this the Misery Loves Company Award. One of the reasons my blog continued was as an outlet for Hailey's less then desirable behaviour . . .]

Now to announce the first winners.

Drum Roll Please . . .  

The first recipients are the Crew at Downunder Daisy. Take a bow, Bella, Roxy and/or Daisy! 

html: <a href="http://s1181.beta.photobucket.com/user/HaileysLady/media/Iamtoocutebadge.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x435/HaileysLady/Iamtoocutebadge.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Iamtoocutebadge.jpg"/></a>


Editor's Note: Some people have said they don't like kill, so I have made another version. Use what you like:)

<a href="http://s1181.beta.photobucket.com/user/HaileysLady/media/badge2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x435/HaileysLady/badge2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo badge2.jpg"/></a>

Wordless Wednesday - Phod the Pillow

Show off Your Waist Line

I have seen on several other blogs this campaign to Show off Your Dogs Waistline.  Obesity is an epidemic for both the 2 legged and 4 legged members of our society. I think it is important that dog owners work to keep their pets at the perfect weight, which will help keep them happy and healthy. Here we are showing off our perfect waistlines!

A very special thanks to Badger Boo for the Super Sweet Blogging Award!

Also, if you haven't had a chance, pop over to the Valentine festivities and feel the love at

Mollie and Ranger's.

Mischief Monday - The car

Our Lady is sorry she didn't take pictures, but she was laughing too hard to remember.

Background: Phod has terrible car sickness and the people have decided it is time to take this on. He has only been in the car one time since moving here. The Lady wants to be able to take him places.

The research:  Our vet recommended giving him a gravol. Our Lady read on the internet to try and give him something sweet to eat, keep the car cool, window down, keep him looking forward.

The ride:

It looked something like this. An hour before, Phod took gravel wrapped in peanut butter. Lady didn't have anything sweet to give him.

The man put the cover on the back seat. Lee got in her harness and Phod was attached by the car harness. Phod was so stressed that the Lady thought he might do better if she sat in the back with him. So Lee moved to the front. Once in the front, Lee started to freak out and tried to get in the back. Phod was freaking out trying to get to the front. Lady was laughing hysterically and Man was shaking his head. In the end, Lee got put in the house (left alone) and Phod and Lady stayed in the back.

The plan was to drive the about 2.5 km (1 mile) to the corner store where the people could return their bottles for money.
With the window open (and it was cold here today), the Lady tried to keep Phod facing forward (hard to do with a stressed out German Shepherd).
They made it to the store without a problem. It was on the way home, so close to the house that poor Phody threw up.

The Lady was able to keep Phod out of his throw up in the car so he didn't need a clean up. Lee was thrilled to have her people home (they were gone for like 10 minutes). Phod felt bad for being sick. Some throw up got on the backseat and floor of the car, but Lady cleaned it.

We are not sure who is responsible for the mischief, but we feel this is mischief.

Big question: Has anyone had a very car sick dog and if so what have they done?  We want to be able to take our Phod places.  We would be grateful for any suggestions!

Black and White Sunday - Angel Gemi

We love you and miss you Gemi

Treat Puzzle

Here is Phody, the first time seeing a treat puzzle. Lee had not done this puzzle for at least 6 months . . . (I know because I just unpacked it!)

Feline Friday - the Boss

The boss checking out my work at home.

Nin: "Get back to work."

Thankful Thursday

Ok, what we are thankful for this week.

Lee: I am thankful for the fresh deer tracks I got to sniff a lot.

Phod: I am thankful that I found one of my balls and we got to play ball outside.

The Lady: I am thankful that Lee was found safe and sound each time her off leash training failed.

What are you thankful for this week?

Wordless Wednesday - Noses

Living with an anxious dog

Hailey had an anxiety problem. She is not our first dog to have one. Our Gemi suffered from anxiety. She chewed walls when she was young and we went out. When Loki was dying she developed obsessive drinking and peeing (by obsessive I mean my 15 lb pup was putting back 8 cups of water a day). Her hair fell out she was so stressed.  There was something about Gemi's anxiety that made it seem smaller, maybe because she was smaller.

Hailey is another story. Her anxiety causes me anxiety. Her destruction knows no bounds. [I do count myself lucky that she has left the furniture alone]. Part of the problem we have dealing with this is we don't always know what is going to set it off. We do know thunder is a big cause and change. However, she can go weeks without any incidents of destruction and then one day you come home and she has destroyed something. This makes it frustrating at times.

One thing that does set her off is having people in the house. But again it is not consistent. We can have guests she doesn't know and after her first few minutes of barking be fine. [We have friends and family she is not anxious with when they visit]. We can have others that even with her thunder shirt or leash she won't settle. It is worse with little kids who run around. She stands and barks and barks and barks, which can upset the kids and make it hard for the adults to visit. We end up feeling embarrassed because she won't stop barking and sorry for her, because she is stressed and everyone gives their attention to our calm Phod. 

 Here are some of the things we have tried that have not been as helpful as we would have liked:

One of the 2 crates she destroyed

- crate training. This had been my dream, but after she destroyed the second crate (the one no dog was suppose to be able to get out of), we realized that wasn't working. 

-medication. That experiment was taken on semi-reluctantly after she ate the wall and  failed big time as the drugs seemed to act as speed and made her crazy hyper (and made her pee all over the floor).  Our Vet said we could try other drugs, but since (knock on wood) her anxiety hasn't been as bad (meaning we still have all our walls), we aren't actively exploring this.

Things that may help:

-exercise, especially when she is going to be alone. I try and tire her out with a big walk/run before we go out.

-routine: Walks same time, feeding schedule the same, just consistency in our in and out. She gets the "guilt greenie" every time we both leave the house.

-Phod - I think except the week they ate all the tupperware, not being alone helps her.

-Free access to only part of the house. They have access to the upstairs hallway and kitchen/dining room (which is a HUGE space - probably about 1000 square feet) while we are out. So it is like being crated, without being crated.

-Thunder shirt, aka the hug. While she still appears anxious while wearing it, she is not as frantic. She tends to just sit (which reduces destruction).
-Mental challenges: working on new tricks/doing training more often.
-Cleaning the environment (making sure the counters are free of the things she may be tempted to destroy)

While her anxiety can be stressful for the whole pack (and has us all practice the virtue of patience), we truly love our challenging girl. We will continue to work to find ways to help her be more relaxed. Maybe one day our girl will overcome it. 

Mischief Monday - about Phod, by Lee

Who me?

I am calling mischief on Zaphod. I am tired of everyone saying I am the rotten one. Mr. Phod is not perfect. He is not. He does some bad stuff. First, he likes to go into the laundry basket in the bathroom and chew up dirty dish clothes. These dish clothes were made by my Lady's Grandmother who died before I was here. They are special dish clothes. He doesn't get in trouble for it. [Editor's note: I had teased my Nana that I wanted 100 clothes in my cupboard before she died, so I would never have to buy another one. I got 75, so since we have a cupboard full of them , losing a few isn't such a big deal].

Second, he likes to go into the clothes laundry and take out Lady's underwear and chew it. He has ruined some. He also tries to sniff people while they are on the toilet if they let him in the bathroom. This is rude. Again he doesn't get in enough trouble. 

I call mischief on Phod and I hope Lady will notice he isn't perfect and I will not be the only dog engaged in devilment. 

Black and White Sunday - Lee

This picture was taken the first week we had Lee. I was looking through those pictures and realize we don't have many "good" ones, because she didn't really stay still!

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

We has had crazy weather this week: snow, rain, freezing rain, and sun. The temperature on Wednesday of +10 C or 50 F was a record high and is stark contrast to the coldest day in 8 year low one week before. In one day the temperature dropped from a nice +7 C or 44 F to -22 C or -4 F and the wind nearly blew us away. We caused some mischief but we will talk about that later.

One of the things we have been doing this crazy week (besides celebrating the fact that the lady was smart and bought her icers for her boots so she hasn't slipped on the ice once), is get ready for Valentine's Day.

First, in case you missed it:  Ann at Pawsitively Pets is doing a Valentine's Day fundraiser called Share the Love. For a donation of $1 she will make you a Valentine. Where is the money going? That is the cool part. At the end, everyone who donated will be entered into a random draw and one person will pick the charity that gets the funds. Pop over and help out if you can.

Here are our Valentines.

Secondly, we have been working on a new trick. It was nicer this week and cause Lee can't have as many cookies cause of her infection (which seemed to have a minor flare up Friday night, but she is ok), we only worked on one trick. We thought this may help at the ball if the band plays a song we love.

Have a great Saturday!