A public service announcement

Hi, I am Hailey. You may know me from my blogged adventures. I am here to talk to you today about a very serious issue – the very evil rodent - the squirrel. I feel it is my duty to inform you humans that these creatures are trying to take over the world.

As a dog, I am privy to information that your species is missing. When they are making that “cute” chirping noise, they are actually communicating and planning their attack on the world. They are also taunting us dogs who are the only creature that appears to be able to understand what they are saying. Earlier this week at the park one squirrel said to me “It is coming soon, the day we rule the world and there is nothing you can do about it you stupid beast!”

Here are some other important facts to know about squirrels which further prove they are out to get us:

1)      There are over 200 species of squirrels according to National Geographic (I think by diversifying they are trying to appear less dangerous and divided. But be warned the flying squirrels air attack will be coordinated with the ground squirrels land offensive).

2)      Squirrels have been living on the planet for at least 36 million years, which has given them a very long time to plan their attack.

3)      Their main weapon, their teeth, grow every day of their lives, meaning they only becomes more dangerous.

4)      Most can gestate in 33 to 60 days meaning that they can repopulate much faster than many other creatures (especially humans)

5)      They are known as the cleanest rodents. I believe they do this to try and trick humans into believing they are cute and sweet, but really they are just biding their time to attack.

6)      The world wide population of squirrels is unknown. I believe they are hiding their numbers in order to have a surprise attack.

The next time you see one of these evil creatures, do not offer them a peanut; do not call them cute; do not swerve to miss them when they run across the street in front of your car (which is a ploy to cause you to have an accident and decrease your numbers); do not stop your dog from making one a snack. Instead starve them or run them over. If you do not, soon they will take over the world.

I leave you with a quote from Dug the dog from the movie Up. I really think is communicates my message. “A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to store acorns for the winter and now I am dead." Ha! It is funny because the squirrel gets dead.”

This picture taken from Google images shows a squirrel at a secret training facility.

b

Thank you for attending to this important message. Eliminate the squirrels!

Agility 3

Thank goodness this isn’t a competition because if it were Miss Hailey Bug would be the loser! Things started off great. She remembered the obstacles and confidently did them.  She took on a new obstacle, the A frame without hesitation. She learned how to do a u-turn well too! She was doing great and then what will be forever know as the Great Cookie Spill of November 2010 occurred.

The teacher spilt her bag of cookies all over the A-frame and the floor in the middle of the room. Miss Bug apparently has an amazing memory for where cookies are (she always checks out where they were last class) and for the next few courses she would do an obstacle go for the cookies, do an obstacle, go for the cookies. She was by far the worst in the class (and yes we feed her well!). This made it impossible to do a nice run.

As we were working to overcome this true obstacle and then something equally as bad happened - a new dog enters the premises while she is in the middle of her run. These people were 25 minutes for class and were not following the do no bringing your dogs in early rule. All the dogs were very distracted by this at least. The lady was asked to leave, which was good, but kept walking by the glass doors so Miss Bug would keep running to see her.

Between the cookie mess and new dog, as well as her excitement to be there (and she actually bit me when I was giving her a cookie one time), it was not the most fun.

There was one really cute moment. The teacher brought out a toy on a stick and Lee was chasing it and catching it. Another dog who she is sort of afraid of because the other dog isn’t friendly came over and was playing and then Lee grabbed it and took off through the tunnel with it, came around, jumped on the tunnel and was trying to get this dog to play. I guess making friends with AJ over comes some of the other issues of the day.

There is always next week, and perhaps if her owner loosened up and just had fun instead of trying to be a perfectionist, things might go better!

Steps to taking Nin to the vet

1)      Curse while you are scraping the ice off the car

2)      Bring the crate upstairs while Lee is outside so when she comes in she can bark at it

3)      Scoop Nin up and put him in the crate

4)      Try and get Nin out while keeping Lee in and not closing the door on Lee’s head

5)      Realize you forgot to block upstairs to have to go back in and repeat step 4

6)      Listen to Nin cry for the 25 minute drive to the vet. Turn the music up loud!

7)      Take Nin out and try to keep him still on the scale (he weighs 5.5kg)

8)      Have to catch Nin as he is now free in the clinic and is running around

9)      Snuggle Nin in the waiting room

10)  Remove Nin hair from up your nose because he is majorly shedding because he is scared

11)  Allow Nin to wander around the waiting area a bit because there are no other animals there.

12)  Be totally surprised when you call him back and he comes back

13)  Go into the room to wait for the vet

14)  Be embarrassed when you take him out of the crate and he has a big cut on his ear from where Gemi attacked him earlier in the day

15)  Help the vet hold him still while she examine his teeth (as he is purring while she is examining him)

16)  Wait for 10 minutes for an estimate for dental work

17)  While waiting watch Nin jump off and on the examining table and laugh at him trying to figure out how to get on the counter

18)  Try really hard not to laugh out loud when the vet says it will be $2000 to have the tooth removed

19)  Put Nin in the car

20)  Pay and pick up cat food for sister’s cat

21)  Listen to Nin cry the 25 minute drive home

22)  Arrive home and let him be free.

Nin was very good but is happy to be home!

That was disgusting

We lived with a dying dog for a long time and at the time I thought the vomit that came out of him was the foulest smelling stuff on the planet. Tonight I found out I was wrong.

I was having a quick power nap on the couch this evening after an unexpected environmental allergy attack. Drew was watching TV. I wake up to Drew yelling at Hailey to get on the floor. She was throwing up. Fortunately, he got her on the floor where she preceded to expel the foulest smelling vomit on the planet. So my new couch was saved (although we did pay a lot of money to get it protected, but not a test I want to take!).

Lucky me – I  got to clean up the vomit. I am actually glad I am quite congested to help mask the smell. We have no idea what might have triggered this. There was a lot of dirt in it.

Unfortunately, Baby was lying on the ground by the couch and got a vomit shower. We are now seeing if Baby can survive the washing machine.

No pictures were taken, it was just too gross!

Freedom

Containing the beast has not gone well (see previous blogs for the evidence). She hasn’t stayed in two crates or the kitchen. So what do you do when you need to go out and you can’t contain the beast? Closes as many doors as possible, pray and leave the dogs free in the house.

This method of hope and pray,  increases your stress when you are out. The images of what may be happening at home did cross my mind repeatedly through the day. My heart rate rose as I put the key in my door. I opened the door slowly. I found myself tiptoeing into the house, peaking around the corner (after I got mauled for going out by both the dogs). I was pleasantly surprised. Trip one out, the house was 100% fine. Trip two, a pee accident but no other damage.

The secret to our success may be to let the beast free. Time will tell! Keep your fingers crossed for me (and my new couch!).

Containing the Beast

Containing the beast is our biggest challenge. This week she has done an amazing job at bending her crate. It is almost unusable. I am confident that if she had another day in it she would totally get out. Monday, she did this damage.

Note the damage to the top and bottom



Close up of the damage at the bottom





The carpet damage

The mystery to me is the hole in the carpet. 

Did she reach her paw threw and dig it or did Miss Cricket try and help her escape (as we had left the door to her room open to see if this helped)? I am wondering if you can get a crate that would be strong enough for a werewolf or a polar bear. Maybe that would contain her!

Upon realizing that she was just going to get out of the crate, we tried her in the kitchen.

Try one – she got out no damage

Try two – she got out no damage

Try three (with swinging doors closed, chairs to block her way) – she got out no damage but one huge mess.

Poor Drew came home today to a huge mess.

Hailey got out of the kitchen, went to the basement (the gate that usually blocks her access was trying to keep her in the kitchen) and found this cat nip toy.



The grey on the couch is nip



Close up of the nip



Nip on the floor

While Drew was cleaning up the nippy mess, the dogs were outside. Not to be left out Gemini came in with poop all over her head. We have reason to suspect her head may have been under Hailey’s bum while she was pooping. So then he had to give her a bath, she was not happy.

All in all a quiet day at the zoo!

We had no idea how much cat nip was in one of those things until she pulled it apart today.

Walk Aborted

Ah, winter is coming. The first day of freezing rain, my least favourite of all the weather mother nature throws at us in this part of the world, is here. I was optimistic when we first set out this morning. Somehow we made it down the ice covered stairs, across the slippery drive way to the ice covered sidewalk. At the sidewalk we were able to walk on the grass. When on the grass the ice at least cracks and you can get some traction. Then we hit the road. I thought perhaps if we got on the road it would be less icy. I was wrong and after slipping and sliding a couple of houses I decided this was an accident waiting to happen and we turned around and made it back through the icy obstacle course. Somehow I wrenched my knee in this, making me extra happy to have cut it short.

Lee found the frozen ground very interesting and she wanted to sniff, lick and eat it!

Now of course my punishment for not being able to go for our 5 kms is dealing with a crazy dog all day and I am working at home for a lot of it! Maybe it will be safer later!