Sleeping it Off

Winnie is back from her whirl-wind Christmas tour.  We hit three cities in 5 days and everyone in our house is ready for a vacation from the vacation.  The last stop on our tour was at my in-laws who have a fantastic fenced in back yard...

In addition to lots of room to run there were 3 other dogs in tow to horse around with...

The crew consisted of:

• Juno -  1 year old, 55lb, hound/lab/other mix
• Sassy - 6 year old, 25lb, Yorkshire terrier
• Izzy - 2 year old, 7lb, pom mix
• Winnie - 2 year old, 25lb, corgi

These guys didn't slow down for a second so they spent a lot of time outside and that in combination with nearly 20 people to keep track of really took it out of Winnie.  The morning after we got home THIS is that I saw...

...up in our bed, under the covers and everything.  What a pampered pooch.  :-)

Anyway, Winnie and I wish everyone a restful conclusion to the holiday sprint and a very happy New Year!

Mobil Blog - Work in Progress

Well, we're on the road visiting family for Christmas and I've tried to post a blog via email and text.  The texting post (seen below) worked well and happened FAST!  It posted in a flash after I accidentally sent it before writing more than one line.  (The profound words "First post via text!")  No kidding, right?  But I was unable to give it a title or attach a photo... hum. 

The email method failed completely (reasons unknown) so here I am sitting at my computer again. 

The picture I tried to attach was this one:

I love Grandma's!  I love hamburger!

Winnie is smiling because we're at my Grandma's house and one of my uncles keeps giving her bits of hamburger... as if I don't know.  Anyway, we hit the road again this morning for our second city of 3 for the holiday and hopefully I'll figure this business out!  :-)

First Blog Post via Text!

The Dog Blog Goes Mobil

Yo!  Me, the hubby, and the pooch are mere minutes away from hitting the road for lots of Christmas fun and travel.  Here's the best holiday photo I've taken of Winnie so far...

Trees in the house are so unnatural

She still looks ticked I'm making her do it.  To help remedy this problem I set up Herding the Corgi to accept email and text messages and blog posts!  Maybe now I can be more frequent AND more candid.  :-) 

Have any of you done this already?  Any tips or tricks to share?  At any rate, we're going to give it a try.  If they come out really crappy I'll take them down and start over, ok?  Ok.  Safe Travels!

Throwing Balls in the House

There has been lots of talk lately on the dog-blog circuit about how to burn energy in the Winter when it's too cold to play outside.  Winnie and I make our contribution to the conversation with this wonderfully armature (a.k.a. of poor quality and somewhat goofy) video of us playing with one of our favorite toys... The Hole-ee Roller!  Enjoy!

PS I just got the Flip video recorder and it's awesome!  You'll love it.

Kibble? No, Treats.

Every morning it's the same routine:

1. Alarm Sounds
2. Husband gets in shower
3. Dog takes husbands spot for a short snuggle
4. Walk down stairs
5. Dump a scoop of kibble in the bowl. 

Today instead of eating her breakfast I saw this: 

Winnie:  I need your attention.



Amy: What's wrong with you?  You have a bowl full of kibble.  Go to it. 



Winnie:  I do not want kibble.  I'd rather have treats, please. 



(If I look at things Winnie will often follow my eyes so to make the point I look at her dish.)
Amy:  Hey, eat your breakfast so we can get on with things.



(To make her point she used my own tools against me and looked up at the cupboard where I keep her treats.)
No, treats. 

 We repeated this exchange - looking at each other and looking at the things we wanted to the other one to do and it cracked me up.  I sometimes wonder how much time I spend telling Winnie things but not listening (or misinterpreting) to her but for all the exasperating moments we've had, this conversation was pretty clear.

Do you give your dog a multivitamin?

I  have an on-again-off-again relationship with multivitamins.  I like the concept.  You know... help regulate digestion, provide you with the basics despite your crappy diet, build your immune system, so on and so forth.  But then there is all the controversy like... Can the supplements even be absorbed by your body?  How much is too much?  Do they contain any toxins?  Geesh... I could be taking these things for years!  What will THAT build up look like?  Anyway, I assume all the same questions can be said for supplementing our dogs. 

I did my own personal research on the human side of the issue about two years ago and concluded that the GNC brand was the best bang for the buck and was likely to help me rather than kill me so this is what I take.  Where does Winnie come in to all of this?  Right here.

GNC Multivitamin for Dogs

My darling pooch is an on-again-off-again eater.  She doesn't have an allergy and is medically fine.  But every few days she skips a meal.  (Keeping her girlish figure?) And I'm sure as heck not going to supplement her with TREATS at this rate.  So I give her a doggie multivitamin each morning.  This prompted me to ask all my original human-vitamin questions again... doggie style.  :-)  However, as luck would have it, GNC just came out with a pet line of supplements.  So, I got them. 

I feel good about giving them to Winnie.  I'd like to think that because she's a young adult this will help ward off future illnesses and so on.  But what do you think?  Have anyone else done their homework on this?  I guess I could ask my vet but what the heck... why don't you weigh in?  :-)

Here's a smiley corgi picture of Winnie just for kicks.

It's always something new...

Today, I poked my head out the back door to call Winnie inside and saw this...

What?  Doesn't everyone sit on the bench?

Apparently, sitting on the ground just isn't going to cut it anymore.

Dogs & PTSD

I know, I know... it's been a while since I've gotten my act together and made a quality post.  My apologizes.  It seems that as soon as November strikes I hit the ground running and don't stop until January each year.  I've had good blogging intentions mind you... I've taken HOURS of Winnie video trying to capture the moment that she unscrews the mighty Kong Wobbler but it always seems to happen when the camera isn't rolling. 



I'm so ticked I about this thing I wont even look at the camera.

Even my poor pup has suffered from my lack of free time.  We have gone on walks every day without fail until these past few weeks.  I know this girl has energy to burn so I load her down with a backpack and a few cups of kibble so she can get the most out of the exercise we do get. 

However, my real reason for posting today is because it's Veterans Day... Many of us don't even recognize the holiday but I think it's even more important to acknowledge where we've come from and where we're going since we are in fact still at war today. In honor of the day, TIME magazine ran an interesting article about Dogs and how they are helping soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Have a look. And when you're done thanking a Vet for their service, thank a dog for theirs! :-)

Party Review

That's right, take a photo of the cute doggie. 

This past weekend Winnie went to her first party!  My nephew turned one so we loaded the car and when to go celebrate.  The house was F-U-L-L of people, pets, and children... actually, let me give you the exact stats:

12 adults
8 children
2 cats
1 other puppy

Winnie, mind you, has run of our quiet house with just my husband and me to bother her so I was watchful to see how she would handle all the commotion. 

Gozzo, the King.

Winnie did really well.  She was sweet to pets and people and didn't pull any of her usual household stunts.  The only two very minor hiccups were Gozzo the cat and one other child.  Gozzo is a 20lb Russian Blue that rules the house.  Poor Winnie just wanted to play with him but he'd swat her on the nose and tell her to buzz off.  Which she did.  (Don't worry, he doesn't have any claws)  And this other child was just scared of dogs.  He would see Winnie and scream.  Then Winnie would look around her as if to say "What!?!  What are you scared of???  Should I be scared, too?!?"  Pretty cute. 

What a lovely book.  I'll read it to you.  Oh wait, I can't read English... just Welsh.

Winnie, DID help my nephew open some presents just to get a better look but I think he liked it.  He and Winnie are buds.  His grandma also has a corgi that he gets to hang out with so this house is a fan of the long and low.  I'm proud of my little fur-girl.

Halloween Costumes? How will you vote?

So this year Winnie and I are going to a Halloween / Birthday party at a friends house so I thought "If we're going to dress up, would Winnie like to join the fun?"  Maybe.  Actually, after trying to put a few things on her she really didn't like it so I came up with another idea.  Festive bandannas!  Here's a picture from the Doctors Foster & Smith Website that I was thinking of getting. 

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/dog-supplies/halloween/ps/c/3307/11828

What do you think?  What will you do?  Vote in the costume poll! 

PS Fun that they picked a corgi model, right?  :-)

A Kong Defeated

Last August I got Winnie the Kong Wobbler.  I blogged about smart dogs needing smart toys and posted a video of my little hair-ball trying to figure this thing out. 

Today, she did. 

Uh, oops. Did I break it or beat it?

This little fluff-nugget actually unscrewed the darn thing!  (In her defense I DID put a treat in there that was too big to get out but she was so fast! It's not like they were ALL to big.)  Has anyone else had this problem?

(Sorry for the grainy photo... my phone was the only thing handy and I just couldn't believe it!)

Monkey See - Dog Do

I was reading Patricia McConnell's blog The Other End of the Leash and her most recent post sports this video asking "Do Dogs Inherently Understand Pointing Gestures?”  My own expericnce has been very close to what this clip shows.  How about you?

PS The "eyes closed" bit cracks me up.  I know Winnie for sure knows that if she wants to do something she shouldn't do... she just needs to wait till I'm not looking.  It's not just my theory anymore!

All Dogs Go to Heaven

A few weeks ago our church celebrated the Feast of St. Francis with a special evening service that included an animal blessing.  Boy!  Which one of our little fluff balls couldn't use one of those!  I know it's a little late but here are the photos.  Surprisingly we had ALL DOGS at the service.  As you can see in the photo below, some of us were more excited to be here than others.  This could have been Winnie last year.  She jumped and barked the entire time.


OMG!  (Literally)  Bless me!

This year Winnie was a good girl.  I think just being older made her more relaxed.  Or maybe it was because she found a friend with turkey legs just like her!

What ARE you?  You sprawl like a Corgi but you are FAR too hairy!

In the spirit of being a little wiggly Winnie didn't really want to hold still for her blessing.  I think the priest actually made the cross upside down.  Do you think that's bad?  :-)

What's going on here?  Hey, wait a second...

All and all it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.  There was also a pet friendly reception that had some milk bones, puppy chow, kitty litter cake, gold fish crackers, and more.  Pretty cool.

Paw It Forward

Winnie and I received our Paw It Forward package full of great things from our fellow dog blogger Jenny and her pup Stanley over at Corgi On My Mind.

The package came on Monday but we've been so busy this week that poor Winnie had to wait till today to open it.  I know, how do you deny a dog a package that smells of treats?  I was a mean dog mom.  But it was worth the wait!

Listen Ma, it's addressed to ME!  I'll decide when we open it!

The first thing I saw was a card featuring a very cool illustrated rendering of Stanley on the cover and a wonderful personalized book mark with Winnie's picture! 

Finally, someone that knows what I'm talking about here!

Of course, Winnie went right for the treats. 

This one!  Open this one!

About one second after I took this picture Winnie pushed her nose in the bag and helped herself.  These were some pretty fancy treats.  Real chicken jerky wrapped around a real dried apple slice.  Gourmet! 

I don't know French, but I know delicious.

All in all we received a portable water bowl, two bags of gourmet treats, the Kong stick toy, a Natural Balance food roll, and a festive Halloween bat squeaky toy. 

Wait, is it my birthday?

Here's a close up of some of the other treats.  The squirrel cracks me up.  And the cookie looks like it should have been for me!  Ha!

The smallest bone is what Winnie normally gets... there's some perspective for you. 

Natural Balance is actually what I feed Winnie all the time.  Well, the kibble version not the food roll version but this stuff makes the BEST training food.  You can cut it up small and it's irresistible.  Try it. 

Get some. 

The other hot favorite was the squeaky bat toy.  What fun getting it so close to Halloween!  I think it sort of even looked like Winnie.  (It's the ears)

This doesn't seriously look like me, does it?

Thanks Jenny and Stanley!  We've really enjoyed our Paw it Forward package and we got to try a few things we don't have around here in our own pet stores.  What a treat!

In the Paw It Forward tradition Winnie and I will take our turn assembling a goodie box full of our favorite things to pass along to someone new.  If you haven't been the recipient of a Paw It Forward box yet and have a dog blog be the first to leave a comment on this blog with your email address and you'll be the next in line!  (Tip:  type "at" instead of using the @ symbol to avoid getting spammed.  Like this: name(at)email.com)

Here's a clip of Winnie playing with her Bat Toy.  She's a happy dog. 

A Low Bar for the High Jump

Today Winnie and I took out the Agility Starter Kit.  It's only been a few months since we got it but you know... better late than never.  Winnie spent a long day in her kennel while both my husband and I were at work so I thought "What could be a better way to stretch our legs and use are brains that to try something new?"  

I know what this means!

The first thing I did was go and get my treat pouch.  This is more or less a little nylon bag with a stiff mouth so your training treats are easily accessible and your pockets don't get all crummy with kibble.  I don't love this "clip on the pocket" model but it gets the job done.  I think I would prefer something more like a fanny pack.  I always seem to be bumping this one with my arm. 

Pish... can you say cake walk?

Next, we set up the "high jump."  Obviously, because this was our first time we set a "low bar."  :-)  Winne can jump surprisingly high for a corgi.  She can get on our bed, with a running start, which is 30 inches tall.  (I don't encourage her to do that by the way... but sometimes she can't be stopped.)  We set the bar at 6 inches just to get comfortable with it.  I put on her leash and showed her a treat then while moving the treat over the bar (and preventing her from going around the bar by holding her leash) said "over" while she jumped. 

I did a good job!

She did a good job although I could tell she wondered why she just couldn't go around the obstacle.  We repeated the jump about 10 times then I let her off the leash for a victory lap.  Who doesn't love a victory lap?  :-)

I amended this last part after Kelly left her comment asking "Was the Agility Kit worth the money?"  My long answer is in my responding comment but the short answer is this.  If you want to get started right away, get the kit.  If you are a creative person that likes to build stuff then get the book I reference in my blog post Dog Agility Step 1: Read The Book and build your own kit.  The book, however, is worth every penny.

Take Your Dog to Work Day (Unofficial)

I'm one of those people who are lucky enough to be able to come home for lunch.  This is nice for several reasons. 

1. It's a short commute to the office. 
2. I actually get to eat the leftovers we always say we're going to but never do. 
3. I don't actually need to decide what I'm going to eat until I open the frig door and look inside. 
4. I get to see my pretty pup. 

Today, I came home for lunch and after I had eaten it was time to head back to the office.  I put on my shoes and grabbed my bag and Winnie looked so sad that I was leaving I couldn't stand myself.  So, I took her to work for the afternoon.  When she saw me get her leash she was all smiles!




So am I an intern now?


She gets to take this dogie field trip about once a month.  I make sure it's a slow day without too much foot traffic or hard deadlines so if there's a problem I can manage it but so far so good. 

What do you mean I'm not getting paid?

Her favorite place to plop was in the hall between my office and my co-workers.  She keeps an eye out this way so she doesn't miss anything. 

Hey!  Don't you have work to do?

And no one could help getting/giving a good scratch.

What can I say?  They love me!

All in all, I love days like today.  :-)

Last Days of Summer

These are just a few shots of Winnie in the backyard.  It's a warm evening so we're taking advantage of it before Fall and Winter arrive.

As much as I would like to make a "Stop and Smell the Flowers" comment here Winnie was actually just investigating some bees. 

The bees

Peek-a-boo Corgi. 

Feast of St. Francis

The feast of St. Francis, for some of the Christian persuasion, is celebrated on October 4th this year.  The nutshell bio of St. Francis is that he's the patron saint of animals.  If you think about it, you've likely seen statues of him in gardens around your neighborhood before.  Anyhow, being raised  protestant I'm not the type that gets overly excited about celebrating saints but this particular observation is pretty fun for us pet owners. 


Blessing of the Animals

Many churches will hold a special service that celebrates St. Francis and also has a Blessing of the Animals.  Some are huge and some are modest.  (I heard the Catholic church in Minneapolis had an elephant from the zoo show up last year!)  But it's pretty common to have several services like this in a city.  Let's be honest here... regardless of your background in religion I think it's safe to say that we've all at one point felt a little disconnected from it.  Like the ritual and our lives sometimes don't line up.  For me, at least, this is one time when my life and my church line up.  I plan on taking Winnie to the Blessing of the Animals where I live and I thought if this was something you might like to do with your pup, I'd give you enough heads up to find a service wherever you are. 


A priceless picture of a cat hissing while being blessed.



I guess he needed the holy water, too.  The rest of us didn't get that.  :-)

Here are some more photos from 2009.  Winnie was barking so much that the priest actually ad libbed her into his sermon!  What a good sport.  I'll be sure to blog an update for 2010.  :-)

The little stinker wouldn't hold still either. 

She looked great in her Episcopal Shield leash though!

Smells Like a Bath. Yuck!

For all that dogs and humans have in common, an opinion about what smells good is not one of them.

There is something about trash, poop, and rotten vegetation that dogs (and Winnie in particular) just love.  Well to make a long story not as long, my darling little bundle of fur took a nose dive into a big pile of stinky you-know-what on our walk today.  By the time it occurred to me what she was doing I was far too late to stop her.  She had started at her nose and worked her way down her entire long, low, body rolling joyfully in poo.  Gross.

Of course, I crashed her party of one and killed her joy with a single word.  "Bath."  After the chills made their way down Winnie's spine she reluctantly made her way downstairs to the laundry tub and let me go to work.


But what did I do to deserve this!?

I wet her down and lathered her up with a "powder fresh" scented puppy shampoo and wondered... Dogs likely roll in this stuff because it smells great to them.  And if poo smells great does "powder fresh" sell gross?  Maybe a dogs reluctance to get a bath has less to do with the bath and more to do with the smell?  Who knows?  It's just a thought. 

Powder Fresh... more like Powder Nasty!

About time!  Towel me off and get me out of here!

A side note... if you don't have one of these rinse aids (the white hose attached to my laundry tub) to help squirt down your pup you are working WAY to hard.