Nature Friday - The Hill - by Lady

There is a very steep hill about 1 km (.62 miles) from our house that we use to walk up. Now we don't as it is too far and too steep for my old dogs, so this summer I have been using it as a training walk on my solo walks.  The hill itself is about .4km/.25mi. After a few months I finally made it to the top!

Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this hop!

We are taking a short break from the blog as I go on a solo adventure. We will be back soon!

Dear Vet

Dear Vet,

Lady says you are a nice person but I don't think I agree. You said my ears were filthy. They were so dirty, you had to test them to make sure they weren't infected. You told my people to clean my ears daily.

I have not made this chore easy.I have screamed, I have fought, I pulled. They kept doing it (but only every other day because I was bad enough I made it terrible for them). 

One of my ears is clean and the other is getting better. I have gotten slightly less resistant to this. 

I am not happy with this recommendation. 

I do not think we will be friends.

Not your pal, Hailey

Wordless Wednesday -Party Time

 

Trouble on A Tuesday - The Most Terrible Day - by Phod

 Dear pals,

I must admit that my life is usually pretty good. My people take good care of me. I get to sleep in the closet a lot. However, one day last week I had the most terrible awful day.

It started out ok. After lunch, Lady left the house for maybe 50 minutes to go on a solo walk. I was asleep in the closet when she left. 

When she returned, as soon as she opened the door the scent hit her.  While she was out, I had a little problem. I went downstairs and managed to walk and have diarrhea that coved about 12 feet. Lady scrubbed and cleaned and had to open all the windows because the scent lingered. 

My tummy continued to be unsettled for the rest of the afternoon, but fortunately, we were able to get outside.

That evening, during my post dinner stroll, we stopped to chat with Callie's people. I was having a nice time catching up. I was a little mad at Callie's Man for being away and didn't really want to talk to him.  He would go to pet me and I would turn away. Suddenly, out of no where all these wasps appeared where I was standing. As Lady was trying to move me, I stepped on a wasp. It hurt! Callie's Man gave me a lot of love. He and my Man checked my paw. It stung and I limped home.

While I wasn't happy about being stung, what happened next was worse. My people tried to ice my paw. I did not like this. I kicked the ice out, making the floor slippery and then slid and fell and it was horrible.

My paw felt fine by the next day.

Needless to say, I don't need a bad day like that again anytime soon.

your pal, please keep the ice to yourself Phod

Happy Birthday Dear Man!

 Today we celebrate a milestone birthday for our Man. He turns the Big 5-0!

Please join us in wishing him a very happy birthday!

Nature Friday - Random Shots

 Thanks to our dear friends Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event.

Here are some random shots Lady took last week

Her poor sunflowers after the storm

Hints of summer ending . . . .

From the Ghost Ship adventure

Perimeter Patrol - by Lee

 Dear pals,

If I am honest, there is one really good thing about getting old. I get a lot more off leash time now. Lady says it is because I can't run and jump as fast. I got in the bush once this summer, and got stuck and didn't like it. I am likely only going to wander next door and the neighbours are happy to have me visit.

One of the things I want to do 1-2 times a day, is what Lady calls my perimeter check. I walk around the edge of the yard, checking things out. Lady usually follows me, just to be sure. She doesn't 100% trust me. I can't imagine why?

your pal, the patrol pup, Hailey Bug

Wordless Wednesday - My Heart

 

The Celebration - by Phod

 Thank you to everyone who took the time to wish me a happy Gotcha Day. 

Lady was out a lot of the day, but when she was home, she sang and sang and sang. 

It wasn't all bad, because at dinner, I got a special treat.

Lady got special puppy donuts. She sang while we waited for them.

Because it is good to share, there were 2 and Lee had to wait too. 

Lady says the look on my face, made her laugh. I was done waiting. 

I picked my cookie and then took it and ran to the other room to eat it in peace!

your pal, with a full belly, Phod

Mischief Monday - Annual Check Up and Weather

Friday was the dogs annual check up. I admit, I was a little nervous because at last year's Hailey had her first major neurological event at the check up (what a coincidence). So Man and I took them together.

The check ups went fine. Lee now joins team Librela. Her ears are a bit dirty and need some cleaning. Phod's skin has cleared up nicely and his ears look great. For their ages, they are fine. 

The mischief happened on the drive to the vet.

Before it all went wrong

Before it went crazy!

First, it was pouring rain (more about that in a minute). Less then 10 minutes into the 25 minute drive, Lee pooped on the back seat of the car. Before we could pull over to clean it up, Phod stood in it and then sat on it. I had to clean this up as best I could. Then a few minutes later, after we starting driving again Phod threw up. I admit, I laughed and laughed and laughed. We got to the clinic and got everyone settled to wait inside. I tried to clean the car up a bit better (knowing what needed to happen was a good washing of the dog seat covers) and returned to the clinic to join the rest. We were sitting there and the Man looks at me and goes "is that sh*t on your leg?" - yep somehow I had gotten the dog poop on my leg. This just made me laugh harder. I can't wait until I take them both alone next month for their Librela shots!

Wanting to go

On the list of the day's patients

Later in the day, after a lot of rain (apparently up to 4 inches in a day, record breaking numbers), Man and I were heading to the city to do the Escape the Ghost Ship that got stormed out  the previous Saturday night (a thunder storm had rolled in and it was not safe to be on a boat - we drove home in hail). We got to drive through flooding, caused by Hurricane Debby. 

This is what the road about 10 minutes from our house usually looks like.

This was taken about 24 hours after the next picture

This is what we drove through.

Should we have turned around? Probably!

On our way home, it had gotten higher and worse. At the barrier, they told us we had a 50-50 chance of being able to get home that way. We may need to do a 1.5 hour detour. We knew a back road through the mountains that we had to use during previous flooding. Fortunately, that 15 minute or so detour was open and we were home in good time. By the morning the 4 feet of water (that is how high it got) had receded and the highway was open again. 

(We technically didn't escape the ghost ship - there was a little cheating at the end by a team member that got the amulet - although our team - who were all just other random people there, got very close and much closer than the other group).

Special thanks to June and Ann for featuring Hailey in their animal feature last Friday. You can check it out HERE. 

Nature Friday - Walking in a Spider Web - by Lee

 Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this events.

Some mornings, when I am out on patrol, I have noticed ground spider webs. 

Perhaps this inspired the song?

Do you have grass spiders where you live?

Your pal, Lee

Funny Habit

 Hailey has a funny habit. As we are in the process of changing foods, we have mixed the old and the new ones together. 

She likes to take pieces she doesn't like out of the bowl (ideally Phod's side if he doesn't finish it)

then proceed to try and bury this "bad food" on the floor.

Note: She eats most of both foods, it is just some pieces of the old food are not acceptable to the princess. However, sometimes after burying the offensive piece, she will eat it. 

Wordless Wednesday - Boring

 

Happy 12th Gotcha Day Phod!

Lady: Happy Gotcha Day Phod

Phod: You are not going to sing are you? I hate it when you sing!

Lady: Sorry bud, I am going to sing to you all day. But first, I want to tell you the story of how I came to be the luckiest Lady alive, and have a Phod in her life.

Phod: I am not sure if retelling this story is better or worse than the singing, but go for it Lady, because I know it will make you happy and there is nothing I love more than making you happy.

A picture of Phod from the first year he lived with us

Lady: Ok, here it goes. In the spring of 2012, Man and I decided it was time to move. We were thinking about what part of the city to move to, when one day the Man said "Don't say no. I want you to think about it." So I of course immediately said no, and then he said "What about moving to the Quebec side? We could have trees, and hills and water." Now as you know, I don't really speak French and had some concerns, but I asked "Can I have another dog if we do?"  And the Man said yes. So we started a search for a house in Quebec and another dog. 

Phod: How did you find me Lady?

Lady: I was looking at all the rescues, and the rescue we got Hailey from. I reached out to them. At first, they said, read the profiles. Then Lady said, "I do, but it is hard to know who is a good fit. I want the opposite of Hailey." The woman who ran the rescue said there was a once in a lifetime dog, a very gentle soul they had recently taken from a shelter. If her dog wasn't so territorial, she would take him. He was a shepherd mix probably about one and a half named Zaphod. 

Phod: So, if another dog didn't need to be an only dog, I wouldn't have found you? 

Lady: Our lives would all be different Phod, but you would have been loved. We arranged to meet you and took Lee to a park with a fenced space near your foster mom's. You two played and got along well. We were sold. 

Phod: I am very handsome and sweet, so I can see why you were sold Lady. 

Lady: Then we were moving and we moved on August 2nd. Around this time we got a call saying that they were dropping a dog off not too far from us and if we were really interested, they would bring you on August 6. We were a little nervous, having just moved and people being worried about us getting a Shepherd mix. Sadly, this breed has some prejudices against it. But we took the plunge and said ok. You came. You walked into the house, looked around, lifted your leg and peed on our bed (the only time you ever did this) and you were home. And everyone who was nervous about us having a Shepherd mix wasn't the moment they met you.

Phod now

Phod: I am glad that I helped show people that it isn't the breed, it is the dog you should judge. I am sure the rescue people were nice and would have been great, but I am really, really glad you said yes Lady and picked me. I am glad Hailey is my sister (and not just because her behaviour has made anything I do look good in comparison). I love her and you and Man and the lake and the bush and the neighbours (who I miss a lot right now because they are on vacation), and Grammie and the Big Guy and Emma and Uncle Chris and Aunt C and her family and well almost everyone I have met, and my Precious even though I don't play with her anymore, and sleeping in the closet and well I love almost everything. I don't love the car or the vet. 

Lady: Phod - we love everything about you and we are so happy to be celebrating 12 years with you. 

Happy 12th Gotcha Day Zaphod! 

Mischief Monday - Why Make It, if You Don't Want Me To Use It? By Lee

Dear pals,

About once a day, I try (sometimes successfully) to use the path through the bush between our house and Callie's. Mostly, I go over when I have to poop because I like to poop on Callie's lawn. Lady and Man say that is jerky. They also say the cut through is to visit and do things like run deskunk shampoo over after Callie gets sprayed, not just to wander through when we like. Apparently Callie's yard is not really part of ours. 

I ask, why did the people make it, if they don't want me to use it?

You pal, the adventurer Lee

Nature Friday - Solo Walks

 In times past, when the dogs were younger, we use to walk 2-3 km (1.2-1.8m) in the morning. This summer, we are walking about 1 km (.66m). While this is what the pups need, and I appreciate they can still walk this far in their golden years, I have noticed a difference since I have been walking less. So, I have implemented the solo long walk several mornings a week. After walking the dogs, I put on a podcast or audiobook and take myself for a walk. It isn't the same, I miss the pups, but I do feel better.

Here are some pictures from some recent solo walks.

Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event. 

Throwback Thursday - Zaphod

As next week we celebrate 12 years with Phod as part of our pack, I thought it would be fun to revisit pictures from his first few weeks with us today. Phod was somewhere between the ages of 1-2 when he joined us. He had been found a stray and was underweight. He has always been a gentle soul. 

From his first night - he just wanted to sit by the door

He always loved the lake! 

My sweet boy

Come back next week when we celebrate 12 years with Phod!