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!  :-)

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!

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.

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!

The Bark Park

Winnie and I are lucky enough to live next to some pretty cool parks.  Most of them offer some pretty cool walking trails that when you get back far enough you don't feel too bad about letting your pup off leash.  (shhhh!)

Winne on the trails this summer.

We do have one specific dog park though and I'm always a little conflicted when we go.  On one hand I want Winnie to be exposed to other dogs, learn to behave nicely around strange animals and people, and really open up for a good old fashion game of chase or fetch!  On the other however, I'm confronted with dog owners that have different standards for what "behaving nicely" means.  They don't keep a very close eye on their dogs and I sometimes feel like the trip just wasn't worth it that day. 

Being a dog parent can be tricky!  You see people punish their dogs for the owners mistake, people that just don't pay attention, and then those of us in the middle... that want to share the time with their dog and like minded dog people.  We bring toys and have conversations.  It can be a really lovely time.

Winnie at the Bark Park

Winnie with her best buddy Miguel.  Miguel moved to Texas this summer and we miss him!

My question for you guys is this:  How do you get the most out of outings with you dogs?  Do you stick to the dog parks?  Go on the lesser used trails?  Participate in organized events like obedience training?  Or take on the really risky business just taking your dog to people places and seeing how many folks complain? 

My world would be much happier if well behaved dogs were welcomed to more places and I think more dogs would be well behaved if they weren't stuck in the house all day!  But until then, this is what we've got. 

Okay... what do you do?  Be specific.  :-)

Pet Rescuers

First, let me say that Winnie does not need rescuers.  But if she did, I would seriously rally the troops.

I'm talking about the "Pet Rescuers" from Home Again Recovery, the company that microchips your pet. 

We got Winnie micro chipped the same time we got her spayed.  What really convinced me it was a good idea was that the service isn't just reactive - it's proactive.  Sure, I would seriously hope that if anyone found a lost cat or dog that they would take them to the vet, humane society, or at the very least keep them around for a few weeks and put up FOUND PET posters.  But let's be honest, not everyone even has a eye out for that sort of thing. 

What this micro chipping company does in addition to making your pet identifiable (even if she loses her collar) is that it alerts the "Pet Rescuers" in the area you are from and the area that your pet went missing.  It's great! 

Every so often (thankfully, not more often) I receive an email with a PDF attachment.  The PDF is a ready made LOST DOG (or cat) poster complete with all the necessary information:  pet photo, pet name, medical information, distinguishing marks, size, etc.  If a dog is lost in my zip code I know to keep my eye out and I print the posters and put them up in my local pet stores and dog parks.  I don't know these dogs but if Winnie ever did run off I would really want someone to do it for me. 

Why write a blog post about it?  Because you don't have to subscribe to this service to be a Pet Rescuer.  You can sign up to read the pet rescue tips and receive the emails for free.  Why not?  You'd be doing a good thing.

Weekend Travel

Independence Day weekend is a big one for travel in Michigan.  Many people head to their cabins up north or to family get-togethers at state parks.  It's a great idea really because if you ask me Summer is the BEST time to be in Michigan.  Travel somewhere warm when its cold, I say.  Stick around when is beautiful.  We live in the center of the state while most of our family lives south.  This is great news when the interstate looks like a parking lot crawling North but you're heading down the map. 

This weekend we spent a lot of time with family and friends who offered dog-friendly hospitality.  I'd like to send out a big THANK YOU to you and all of you who are sensitive to pets that travel.  Don't get me wrong.  I knew before I got a dog that some decisions would have to be made.  The big decision being "to go or not to go" if your pup can not come along.  Sometimes you can get a house/pet sitter, board at a kennel, drop the pooch off with a relative, or decide to host the event yourself.  But I am always grateful when another host says "Bring her along!"  It takes a little prep but I think its a lot of fun. 

I should have taken more photos but here's the list of Independence Day dog adventures: go for car rides, play with cats, milk table scraps from people that don't know better, run around the FANTASTIC back yard at the in-laws, play with another dog, go for more car rides. I'd like to think Winnie had a good time.  The heat and excitement defiantly pooped her out.  It was in the 90's!  (Here she is falling asleep with her ears in the full upright position.  She's tired but she doesn't want to miss anything.) 

I find it helpful to keep a travel bag packed for her that's just ready to go.  It includes:

• Food
• Plastic Food & Water Dishes
• Yard Leash
• Poop Bags
• Shampoo & Towel
• Ball
• Raw Hide Chew

It gives us everything we can predictably need to be good house guests.  We also take her travel crate into whoever's house we're staying in so we can be sure she doesn't get into anything when we're out.  I'd feel terrible if great-grandma's special something was turned into a toy while we were out to lunch. 

At any rate, the sleepy pup (now in front of the AC vent) and I had a relaxing weekend with family and friends and I'm very appreciative of those who supported the idea of my furry buddy tagging along.  Thanks!