6 Things to Know About Zaphod

As we prepare to celebrate our boy's 6th birthday tomorrow, we thought it would be fun to share 6 things to know about Zaphod!

September 2012
One month after he came to live with us

1) He was found as a stray so we don't know exactly when his birthday is or exactly how old he is. When he was found it was estimated he was about a year old, so we picked the first of April to celebrate his birthday as it is his Aunt K's birthday.

Phod's second birthday

2) His middle name should be fetch because it is his very favourite thing in the whole world. He may be a bit of a fetch-a-holic. He has and will fetch until he passes out. 

3) He should be an ambassador for his breed. People are often originally put off by the thought of being around a German Shepherd (a feeling I admit to feeling before I met him) but he is the gentlest, most loving dog in the world, despite having survived abuse. People instantly fall in love with him. We even have a friend who in general is scared of/doesn't like dogs, and he loves Phod. I always say he has ruined me for other dogs! 

4) His least favourite game is "Mine". This is where the Man takes one of his toys, holds it and says "It is mine."  Phod will bark at the Man to try and get his toy back

5) His nicknames include Phod,  Phody, Roo, Roo Bear, and Buddy. 

6) It is only over the past few months (and he has been with us for 4.5 years now) that he has taken to begging, demanding love, and more consistently asking to go outside. Before he would only come to the kitchen/sniff around it, if we called him. He would wait for us to call him up for love and only in the most desperate situations would he indicate he had to go out. While Hailey is still more likely to ask to go out because she knows he has to, he is more regularly nudging us toward the door.

Reminder: It is the last day to enter our When Will The Snow Be Gone contest. Click HERE for the details! 

Reminder - Contest Closes Tomorrow!

Dear Pals,

This is a friendly reminder that our When Will All The Snow Be Gone contest closes tomorrow. Click HERE to find out the details and be sure to enter. You can live anywhere in the world! We will pick a special prize for the winner. 

(Note: given all the time zone differences, Lady says as long as she has the email entry when she checks her email on April 1st, she will accept it - this is a fun little contest so we can be more relaxed with the rules!)

Wordless Wednesday - Snuggling With Lady

Lesson Eleven - For Phenny

The faster you cooperate with the dressing up, the faster it is over. (It is proof our peeps need more to do with their lives.)

Just because it looks like you are cooperating, doesn't mean you aren't plotting your revenge.

Mischief Monday - Not A Real Precious

As regular readers know, Phod is completely in love/addicted to his ball Precious. If you look in the header you can see Precious is featured. In the winter because Precious easily gets lost in the snow (and words cannot express how stressful that is for our boy), we switch to a Chuck frisbee. Phod does tolerate this, because some form of fetch is better than no fetch, but he shows his displeasure by destroying it.

This picture was taken of Chuck this weekend. The flying squirrel was this year's, but if you look in the picture you can see previous discs. It is now in the garbage, along with all the other destroyed discs. (I have been meaning to pick them up for some time, but usually am in the garage with the dogs or with full hands).

 It may be a good thing that it is someone's birthday this coming weekend, because winter is still here, and while Precious has returned for some time in the driveway, I feel we still have some Chuck days ahead.

Speaking of winter, and maybe the end of it, be sure to enter our When Will The Snow Be Gone contest. You can find out the details HERE. We have 11 entries so far, so there are still lots of days between April 1st and June 1st to pick!

Silent Sunday - Happy Tired Boy

Hailey Free At The Park

First - we are holding a contest. Learn about it by clicking HERE

If you need a laugh be sure to check out the Blogville Arts and Entertainment Department's Comedy Film Festival by clicking HERE.

Contest - When Will The Snow Be Gone?

Hi Pals,

To celebrate spring we are going to hold a little contest!

Some information for you:
-We have had over 9 feet of snow this winter
-There is another half foot in the forecast (including a couple of inches today)
-We live in the hills outside the city
-The first winter we were in the house we had snow until the end of May, the next year it was much earlier:)

How to enter and the 'rules':

-Send an email to us to tell us what day you think the last of the snow will be gone at our house. We are including any space we mow as our yard and not all the bush.
-You can pick a day between April 1st and June 1st.
-One entry per blog.
-First come, first serve for the day! If the day you have picked has been taken (someone emailed us to guess that date first), Lady will email you back and you can pick another date.
-Entries need to be received by March 31st
-You can live anywhere on the planet earth.
-The winner will be the pal who picks the correct date or the closest date without going past it.

To enter - email us at leeandphodATbellDOTnet.


The yard last evening:

Yep those are wild turkeys!

On or around April 2nd we will share everyone's guesses (April 1st is Phod's bday so we will be busy celebrating!) We will post at least one weekly updated (maybe 2 depending on how crazy Lady's life is) to show you the snow or lack there of!

Can't wait for your guesses!

Lesson Ten - For Phenny

While sniffing the ground is very important, it is equally important to look up from time to time. It is the best way to keep an eye on the tree rats!

Don't let a blizzard stop you from hunting

Wordless Wednesday - Action!

Tongue Out Tuesday

Mischief Monday - A Terrible Trick - by Lee

Dearest Friends,

Our people played a horrible trick on us on Saturday. After only giving Phod half his breakfast (he let them know he was still hungry, he never has done that before and they ignored him), our peeps put us in the car. They said that we were going to the park. We were excited. Phod threw up, even though he had half breakfast 6 hours earlier. 

We did get to the park and we had a great time playing and making friends. 

Me and not Phod but a Phod like dog

Phod loved rolling in and eating the snow

Getting ready to play

Phod chasing me

There were a lot of dogs because it was a beautiful day - with the windchill about -5C/23F, but I admit getting Phod to chase me was my favourite thing. At one point he was laying in the snow and I was jumping over him like a hurdle. Lady says if I could be trusted at home, this could happen more often.

Anyway, after a lovely run in the snow in the sun, we got back into the car and the car stopped at the V-E-T. It was time for my annual check up.  

Waiting for Woody

In our case, check up means the vet, Woody, who is a good friend of the family, and the peeps chat, while I get checked out. Woody said I look great and to keep doing what I am doing. I needed 2 needles and needed stuff sprayed in my mouth. I was very cooperative. Lady learned the Revolution we have been on isn't effective for deer ticks so Woody gave us something different to try this year. Lady asked him when I should become a senior as some foods say at 6, and I am now 7. Woody said when I am 9 or 10. He also asked if my prozac worked and my peeps said yes, they had some left to get us started this year. The rest of the 30 minutes was spent on human chat that had nothing to do with me or Phod. I think the time spent in this horrible place should be limited to our care - do you all agree?

Phod, the Man and I waited in the car while Lady paid. Our clinic is a 24 hour emergency one, so can be very busy (there were several critical cases, the Humane society dropped 2 cats off to be checked just in the few minutes Lady was waiting). Then we drove home. Phod threw up again because Woody had given him a cookie. I told him not to feel bad as Lady deserved it for taking us to that horrible place. 

Now you know how the Lady and the Man tricked us and ruined a perfectly good trip to the park with a trip to the vet. What a terrible trick. 

A tired and angry Lee

Editor's note: While there are vets closer to us, we do drive the hour or so (it is about 50km/30 miles) to see our vet. He has been a family friend for 23 years and I trust him. When he retires we will look for someone closer, until then we will see him. Because it is so far, we try and go early so the dogs can have a run at the park. Makes the trip a little more worthwhile.

Silent Sunday - Phod In The Backyard

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Throw Back Thursday - Hailey

First, a huge shout out to Ann for designing our new header and wallpaper. She did an excellent job and was a pleasure to work with. Visit here blog HERE to find out how she can help you!


April, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - Guy Time

Lesson Nine - For Phenny

If your people haven't given you a new toy for awhile, you can make your own. Sheets and other bedding are fun to shred! 

Mischief Monday - Traitor and Cold

We have been having another cold snap. With the windchill it has been close to -30C/-22F the past couple of days. It has warmed up a little during the day (by warmed up we mean you can be outside for more than 10 seconds without wanting to die). It is actually the coldest it has been this time of year since the records began. We have been keeping warm by the fire. It is suppose to warm up some (be closer to freezing) in the next day or so. Fingers crossed!

The real mischief was caused by Lady. She went away for 87 million hours a day. She came home smelling different. She smelt like our cousin cats! She went away to a sleep over at Aunt C's. We had to stay at home with the Man. It was terrible. He took us on a short walk. He fed us. He gave us treats. He cuddled us. He made us a fire. She was out having fun and that is what we were dealing with. 

We are going to show some displeasure and make her feel guilty. 

Panda

Lupul

Human cousin Troy playing with Panda

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

In sad news our pal Socks has gone to the bridge. Sock and his family were one of the first blogs we got to know in Blogville. Our thoughts are with them all at this difficult time.

Black and White Sunday - Almost

Hailey and Lady

Silent Saturday - Zaphod vs Melting Snow

See Beautiful - Winter

While I find winters hard for many reasons, I am going to find the beauty in them today. These pictures were taken on Wednesday of this week.

New life coming out of the snow

The sky

Our side yard

Tasty Thursday - Too Long

It has probably been close to a year since I gave the dogs a kong, for  no reason other than I didn't think about it. I will try and get back into the habit of giving them more often because they love them!

Wordless Wednesday - Working At Home With The Man

Lesson Eight - For Phenny

Use your paws to help landscape the yard. Also, people love it when you take your stuffies outside and bury them and dig them up and then bring them back inside. They love sweeping extra dirt. 

Mischief Monday - Taking Myself For A Walk - by Lee

My snuggly face

This winter weather is really interfering with my routine. I really like a routine. Last week on Friday and Saturday and Sunday it was really, really cold in the morning.  It was colder than -25C/-13F. When it is that cold I can't go for a walk as it hurts my paws and I refuse to wear boots. (Lady says even if I would wear boots there are days it is too cold for my ears, nose etc.)

After a couple days of not getting enough walks, I get restless. Yesterday, it was really cold in the morning. Since it was Sunday, Lady spent the morning catching up on work and said she would take me for a walk when it warmed up. To be clear, by warm I mean -11C/12F - warm is relative when you are Canadian.

The Man was in charge of me while the Lady worked and because he was a little under the weather and didn't want to go out, he put me out in the yard by myself. To be clear, this isn't a usual thing because what happens is what happened yesterday - I took myself for a walk. The Man called and called, but I completely ignored him. He used his angry voice and I didn't care. I had been cooped up for a couple days and there were some really good smells out there.

I was safe dear friends. I didn't leave the property. I came to Man when he was on the road next to our yard. We walked back to the house.  He was mad. He wishes he could trust me (so does Lady). I wish it never got so cold so I could always go for a walk.

We had a nice but shorter walk later when Lady was done work. In the end I got 2 walks. It was a good day.

Lee