Happy Birthday, Winnie!

Winnie celebrated her 4th birthday yesterday an although there wasn't any cake she found a way to make the occasion special, anyhow. :-)

I suppose she's old enough in dog years. :-)

Needed: Treat Upgrade

So today I set out to trim Winnie's nails and to make up for my absolute incompetence for the task at hand... I made my way to the treat tub.

We keep our puppy treats on top of the frig in a would-be (if it were not broken) air tight latch-type canister. Now trimming Winnie's nails takes a bucket of treats so that she will both hold still and to make me feel better about the excellent likelihood I will screw this job up. But today, on my way from the frig to the well lit living room, the latch broke and basically two boxes worth of mini-milk bones went sailing onto the floor.

Now the amazing part of this story is that Winnie didn't immediately hit the floor to "clean up." What was my first reaction? I thought, "Wow, I have a great dog who will wait for the 'okay' before diving in." But what was the truth? Apparently, they were just not worth the effort. Obviously, I need a treat upgrade... and a new canister. :-)

Home Again Pet Rescuers

In 2010 I posted the basics of how the Home Again Pet Rescuer program works.  [ View Pet Rescuers Post ]  The subject is fresh on my mind again because:

1. I recently renewed Winnie's subscription for extra perks
2. I recently got an email about a micro-chipped lost dog in my area

I wanted to just toss out there that the Home Again service, even though good before, has gotten even better in the last several years!  They've made it really easy to help your fellow pet owners recover a lost furry-family member.  Check this out...

Facebook Lost Dog Status Update

I got an email from Home Again that a micro-chipped dog went missing in my area.  I was able to click a link in the email that automatically generated a status update in my Facebook account and I did it all from my phone! 

Does anyone else participate in this?  Is there another program that you like better?  As I said in my previous post, you don't need to subscribe to participate.  Anyone can become a "Pet Rescurer" and receive emails about missing pets it their area and help bring them home.  Here's the link:   Home Again Website 

Go Team!

Claire & Winnie Play Fetch (9mo.)

Okay so one of my summer objectives is to teach Claire how to play fetch with Winnie.  I consider the job half done because Winnie, being a sweet and attentive dog, already brings the ball to Claire!  Winnie will even drop it on Claire's lap or nudge the ball over to her from time to time.  Perfect!

Now, to get the baby to toss the ball...  As it turns out... tossing things is a motor skill not commonly possessed by nine-month-olds.  :-)  But passing things is!  I took this short video just yesterday.  Enjoy!

(Admittedly, Winnie is a little more assertive here than I would like her to be... honestly this is unusual.  I think it's because she and I just finished a pretty revved up round of fetch ourselves.  Perhaps I shouldn't expect her to down shift so quickly.)

Back in Action!

Wow, Hi!

I think I've officially been MIA long enough... and Winnie and I are returning to Herding the Corgi with a renewed determination to join the corgi community!  Man, I've missed you guys!  With the exception of following Corgi Butts on Facebook I've been really out of the loop but we're back on track now! 

Here's my mind:

1. I love my kid... she's an amazing sport and game for most things.  
2. I love my dog... ditto.
3. It's going to be awesome figuring out how to have fun with the two of them.  :-)

The Summer Goals:

1. Manage a polite stroll with both baby and dog  (Key word here being polite.  We can do it but we look like a mess, lol.)
2. Teach Claire how to throw a ball for the Winn-Monster
3. Some intentional developmental games for the babe each week (duh)
4. Some intentional developmental games for the pup (easy to back burner)
5. Mandatory 20min of speed blogging each week.  
6. Lots of general silliness

I think we can do it.  :-)  Okay... gotta run but here's some super cute pics to bring you up to speed.

Spot the Difference

This morning my living room floor looked like one of those Spot the Difference drawings in a Highlights magazine.

What's missing? Ah yes. That's better. :-)

Early Morning

We were all up pretty early at our house today. Babies needed bottles and dogs needed a scoop of kibble but what settled us all down again? Something to chew on, of course! Now why didn't I think of this before? :-)

Corgi Blog Gift Exchange

Some of the Corgi Bloggers among us decided to organize a Christmas gift exchange and it was a good idea.  Personally, I love it when we can come together in a way that is tangible like this... the "paw it forward" game is another good example.  Don't get me wrong.  I love that we support one another through discussion and charitable giving but gift exchanges are just good old fashion fun!

Winnie and I received our package just a few days before Christmas...

Our gifts were beautifully wrapped but we were so excited to open them that I forgot to take the picture!

One of our gift requests was a puzzle toy.  An ongoing personal guilty nag of mine is that I haven't given Winnie enough exercise since baby Claire arrived on the scene.  I feel a little better though at least giving her something to keep her mind busy...

"ZZZzzzzzzzz ZZZzzzzzzzzzz..."



Winnie loved her new toy.  We didn't have anything like it and she worked at it so long that she actually fell asleep with her paw still on it.  :-)

The treats are a big hit, too.  They are a super smelly (in a good way) soft snack that are perfect for breaking apart and tossing so Winnie can catch them in her mouth... yet, another little game that's quick and fun to play. 

Thank you SO much, Secret Santa for our terrific surprises!

Wordless Wednesday

Jingle Dog!

It's officially past Advent 1 so I make no apology for Christmas-ifying things... The latest of which is Winnie.

I found this super cute collar on sale at our local pet store and it even has a sleigh bell on it! I'll be honest... When Win comes bounding in from the far end of the yard and you hear that metered jingle getting closer and closer it's like a childhood fantasy come true. :-) Today, I'm living the dream with my jingle dog.

Sticking Close

Ok... I don't know about you but my (husband's) family can really fill a house for the holidays. It's nothing to have 35 people around for dinner. We sit at the table, on the couch, on the steps, and even out in the garage!

My favorite part about this? My pooch Winnie sticks close. She's not accustom to such a crowd at our place so she figures it just safer to stick by "mom." It feeds my ego, and makes my proud of our canine/human bond. Yay us. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

Today, I am thankful that my dog is so willing to share with my baby. It's sweet but gross. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. :-)

Dog Joy

I'm always amazed at how happy Winnie is to just BE with me. Here she is helping me clean the bathroom... Which I did last night after baby went to bed. Gotta love that Corgi smile. :-)

Corgi / Baby Update!

We're still here! Oh my gosh... I can safely say two thing now that I am 2 years and 9 months into dogie parenthood and 7 weeks into human parenthood...

1. Having a puppy really is a good "warm-up" to having an infant.
2. Having an infant is the hardest thing I've ever done.

I'm not complaining, mind you... both experiences have, to date, yielded huge dividends in cuteness as well as a general sense of compassion.

Our baby girl is growing like a weed and has started giving us 4 whole hours of sleep in a row this past week. Our furry girl has given up sitting with me for each of our midnight feedings. Here's a picture of Winnie chilling with us at one such feeding back in September... look in the shadows just above the sleeping baby.

*Sigh... I wait and wait but I GUESS they don't need a corgi for this.

Winnie still loves here baby. She sits with us for "tummy time" and desperately tries to "clean" Claire's face of any leftover milk drips. But is always very gentle. I'm so proud of her.

Just us girls... Mommy, baby, auntie, and me!

I'm only now starting to get a few things done around the house. (Like get a shower every other day) SO... in an effort to catch up I took Winnie to our local Petsmart Groomer for a once over. This was actually the first time she's been to a groomer (I dunk her in our laundry tub and grind her nails here at home) but she did okay! Here she is on the table getting the "Furminator treatment."

Boy... what a treat! I get yelled for getting on the table at home...

As an aside, Yes, Winnie climbs onto our table like a mountain goat is we leave a chair out and she thinks we're not looking... I REALLY hate that. We have evidence of this on two occasions once when we found nearly a dozen cornbread muffin wrappers on the floor from muffins that WERE on the table. And once when a squirrel was chattering in the window and she forgot herself, jumped up for a better look, and then jumped down when she remembered we were watching.

On another note, has anyone out there actually USED the Furminator. Those things are so stinkin expensive but it seems to have done a good job on Winnie today. I guess we'll see how long it lasts.

At any rate, I hope to get back in the habit of making more regular posts. And I've enjoyed reading YOURS from my phone... it's so much easier than sitting with a laptop as I hold the babe. Which is a lot these days. :-)

Welcome Baby Claire!

She's here!  Winnie welcomed her new baby, Claire, last week! 

Claire 1 Day Old

Here are the stats:

• 7lbs. 11oz.
• 20 inches
• September 1, 2011 @ 1:47am

Since we've come home from the hospital Winnie has been a champ!  She's been cool, collected, and very attentive.  Winnie has a very concerned look whenever Claire cries (which luckily is not over the top) as if to say "Hey!  Our baby needs something!"  And she sits up with me at all of our midnight feedings. 

Claire is a VERY good baby... the only trouble she's given us is that she's sort of a reluctant eater.  This cute little girl just gets too cozy whenever we settle in for a feeding and falls asleep!  Winnie, being the helpful corgi that she is, will sit next to us on the couch (when invited) and give Claire's feet a few good licks... this wakes Claire right up and we're good to go!  Thanks Win!

I'll try and get some pictures of the two of these guys over the next week or so.  I haven't quite figured out how to juggle a camera and a baby yet but we're learning as we go.  Thanks for all the well wishes!

New Trick! (spin)

Being that I'm less than two weeks away from my due date my energy level has been L-O-W to say the least.  Winnie has been a terrific sport. She's really given me a break by not demanding a walk everyday and just sort of keeping me company on the couch when I can't muster up the energy for anything more.  But like every dog... she needs more. 

This is the face of a dog who needs more...

My solution:  New Dog Tricks!

Brilliant, right?

I thought so, too. 

I downloaded an iPhone app called 101 Best Dog Tricks.  Now, it's actually only 10 dog tricks (a few that we would all already know such as "sit").  It's sort of a teaser app to get you to buy the book... 101 Best Dog Tricks, which I may because I like the app so far.  Here's what it looks like:



Each trick has step by step instructions, a short video demo and a "log" feature so you can record up to 20 training sessions for each trick... it's good for us people to remember that once isn't always enough to really "learn" something.  For .99 cents... I'd say great... money well spent.  

So, I waddled out to the back yard and Winnie and I started learning the new trick "spin"  Kind of a dorky trick BUT it IS something we can do together that keeps her thinking with a little outdoor play that doesn't completely poop me out.  I think this will be a good little discipline for us for a while.  What do you think? 



This is the face of a happy dog... that just had lots of treats... yum.  :-)

Nursery Update

Okay... so here's what's been going on the last few weeks. 

1. We've "finished" our basement.  (And I use that term loosely...)
2. Moved all of our office furniture and supplies TO the basement, a.k.a our new office
3. Moved all of our nursery goodies TO the old office, a.k.a. the new nursery

Whew!  Our so called "finished" basement got that way by tearing out some old gross flooring and putting in some bright new paint.  We've also unloaded a few boxes of IKEA furniture down there but don't have it assembled yet.  Winnie, rightly so, as been focusing our attention on the nursery.

This daughter of ours is already one VERY loved little girl.  Our family, friends, and community have gifted her more than she could possibly need.  So we started by taking things out of the lovely gift wrapping and putting it in like categories around the parameter of the room... Winnie had her eye on a very cute stuffed duck.  I wonder how long we'll be able to keep her from it after our little one starts playing with it. 


Herders also make great sorters... look at what I did!

Next was assembling the furniture so we actually had some place to PUT everything.


I'm not at all convinced these guys know what their doing.
  I'm going to supervise from the hall way so I don't get assembled up into the dresser... *sigh. 

When all was said and done we ended up with this...

I still need to find a themed lamp and window dressing but in all pratical ways we're ready!

... a close up of the crib.

 After painting the basement we decided that wall decals were a much easier way to go for the nursery and being that cute corgi decals are hard to find we settled for woodland creatures.  :-) 

Our official due date is September 3rd so we're only a few weeks out!  Everything has been going great - other than the usual, uncomfortable tiredness that seems to be my life now.  I'll keep you posted as our household grows by one!  :-)

Blogaversary Give-a-way!

Hey, we missed it by a few days but we JUST passed our one year blog-aversary!  It's been a really fun year getting to know some of you out there in the corgi-loving community.  We've had paw-it-forwards, donated to good causes, and made some friends. 

Happy Blogaversary!

To say thanks for your readership we're having a Blogaversary Give-a-way!  Winnie and I would like to send you one of our two favorite books PLUS one of our favorite toys.  You can pick from:

  or  

Both of these are reviewed on the "books" page so you can see what you might like better.  We'll also include one of our favorite toys, although Winnie hasn't picked it out yet.  What do you have to do?  Simply respond in the comments section to this blog post and tell us why your like to cruse the dog-blogs.  Be sure to include what book you would like and your email address so we can contact you!  Have fun!  And Thanks for reading Herding the Corgi!

'Dangerous dogs' Ordinance

How often do you guys keep up with what your city or county says about dog ownership?  If you're like me it's not exactly a pressing issue.  There's a lot of other things on the'ol "to-do" list before poking around dog related city ordinances.  There is one in my community, however, that has been getting a lot of attention lately.  The 'Dangerous Dogs' Ordinance. 

Here's a link to the full article if you want to give it a read... it'll only take 5 minutes, promise. 
http://mobile.mlive.com/advsag/pm_29311/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=lNWh1kZt

Okay,  weather you read the whole thing or not there's my synopsis... see if I missed anything.  First, the ordinance is specific to "dangerous dogs" including: pit bulls, presa canario, bull mastiffs, rotweilers and german shepherds.  Now the owners of these breeds must:

1. register their dogs and pay an additional $20 fee to regular dog licensing
2. post a sign in the front of their homes that say "dog on premises"
3. keep their animals on leash or in a 4-foot pen. 

I can't help but feel this was a really poor use of our city councilman's time and energy.  Of all the news reported, none of them identified specific issues that the city has (or hasn't) been having with these dogs so I'm left to assume that usual suspects apply but in my mind it boils down to this... poor dog ownership leads to poorly trained and frustrated dogs that THEN become dangerous. 

You guys are are informed dog owners... am I wrong about this??? WE are the people that try to provide healthy and fulfilling lives for our pooch-partners and even sometimes WE don't get our fur-balls licensed on time (if at all) is an additional $20 free really going to help this problem?  Yes, a sign warns neighbors and visitors, fine, they can have that one... no issue there.  But what about that 4-foot pen?  That's the size of a baby's play-pen.  How much more frustrated and dangerous is a 80lb dog going to be in a pen they can hardly turn around in???  

I don't like this one bit... I think a dog-education class for these dog owners would be a much better way to go.  A class that talks about healthy diets, lots of exercise, proper training... and someone to teach the class that can convince some of these people that only PROFESSIONAL dog trainers should ever be responsible for "attack dogs."  Now, instead of establishing a program that promotes responsible dog ownership all that has happened is that when a dog does cause an issue... it's that much more likely to be put-down.  Sad. 

Hum... maybe that's an idea?  Can we lobby an amendment for education classes?  I wonder... anyway... that's my rant.  Where do you guys weigh in?  Oh and here... a photo of my not-so-dangerous corgi.  :-)  This girl makes me smile. 

I don't know what you're talking about... I just DESTROYED that rawhide.  Pish, I'm dangerous. 

Dogs and Moving the Furniture

In an effort to get ready for Baby we're moving some office furniture to the basement and turning the office into the nursery.  This sounds easy enough.  Although while my husband and I pack boxes and/or haul heavy things up and down stairs in a somewhat cheerful way... Winnie seems to be very worried about the changes.  I wish I had had my Flip handy because the poor creature just sat in the doorway of the office and whimpered.  She is seriously concerned about these changes.  Which leads me to ponder the following thought...

Don't mind me.  I'm just going to sit in my corner and pout.

When Baby actually gets here how will Winnie adjust to a new routine?  Maybe we should start making more of the changes now that way it's not such a big deal.  Hum... up every 2 hours for a bottle... maybe not THAT part of the routine.  :-)