Oh and one more thing!

GO GIANTS!

Memory Lane

So M and D got a new gadget today that they've been playing with for a few hours. I think they said a three in one paw-ter? (oh wait...M says it's a printer) Anyway, they say that they can scan old pictures onto the computer now. M has been wanting to upload some pictures of some of my "ancestors" (if you will). She spent all day looking through old pictures to find some and she found photos of most of her previous dogs, but not all. Anyway, she showed me a bunch of them and at first they all seemed really different than Cassie and me. Some of them looked like other dogs I've met at the dog park and some of them I had never seen anything like before! Then all of a sudden, I though I was looking into a mirror! (okay, well not totally...unless the mirror was tinted yellow and if I was a lot smaller) You'll see what I mean!

These first two family members were my Mom's childhood friends. This cute Cocker is Patches. M doesn't have a whole lot of memories of him except a few moments of playing with him and of Patches greeting her when she got home from Kindergarten.

This is Sandy-boy. He was a very loyal and sweet Lhasa Apso and M's very best friend when she was growing up. He was a sandy color when he was a pup (as seen in this picture), but after he turned one or so he turned completely gray. He was a sick boy and had problems with epilepsy. He had his first seizure around his second birthday and it continued to get worse. M and her family were able to keep it under control with medication and it helped him have good days for the next three years. After he turned five, however, his little body couldn't take it anymore and he crossed the rainbow bridge. M was out of town (across the country) when he got very sick and had to be brought to the vets. She'll never feel better about how she wasn't able to be there during his last couple of days and last few hours :(

This is Buddy. He was a good (and very crazy) collie-mix. He was extremely neglected in his prior home; he had no training, was completely unaware of how to act in a home environment and didn't know his own strength.
He was a beautiful boy (these pictures don't do him justice as they were taken right after he was taken home from the shelter). Mom can't find anymore pictures of him, but he was a good friend and lived a long, healthy life.

And then there was Hooper. This is the boy that changed everything (as M said in her post the other day). He only spent a short time in Mom's life, but he changed it forever. Unfortunately, he developed an immuno-deficiency disorder and was unable to fight off a parvo-like illness. Mom wishes that she took a lot more pictures of him during the 2 weeks he spent in her home.

And here is Amadeus! (A lot of boys in the past, eh?) What a sweet puppy face!

He grew up to be a very loyal partner, very HUGE, and VERY smart.
In fact, Amadeus was SO smart, that he went through complete training to be a bomb sniffing dog! He passed all of his tests and though M was sad to see him go, he joined the program and is still living with the same owners and trainers that he went to live with long ago. Mom has just recently made contact again with his owners (contact was lost for about 2 years) and found out that he's still a very sweet boy, though much older. He is retired now and spends his days at home laying in the sun and playing with his 2 siblings -- a lab mix named Honey, and a corgi mix named Snickers.

I know that a few people have posted about their ancestors, and thanks to the Maryann and the Brat Pack for posting the pictures of the gang a few years back. We especially enjoyed all the pics of Thrawn and Dakota, not to mention baby pics of Tucker :) Anyone else want to post pictures of your predecessors? We'd really like to see them!!

'Til next time!

Top 5 Dog Matches

Cole here again. I recently saw Sophie's mom's post about her top five dog matches, so I thought I'd try it out. I honestly wasn't expecting to have a labrador retriever pop up as a match, but guess what?

Top Five Personality Matches:

Labrador Retriever

Harrier

Briard

Golden Retriever

Swiss Mountain Dog

Hmm. Guess I did alright in choosing Labradors. Actually, Labs chose me. I wasn't a huge fan of labradors about 8 years ago. I considered them a little too common and overbred. Kind of a mindless lump of a family dog. Where I grew up, a lot of people owned so-called guardian dogs: Dobermans, Rotties, and mainly Staff. Terriers. Why anyone thought that pit bulls make good defenders against people always escaped me, but I digress. No one I knew had a lab and the ones I did see always seemed a little bit...boring. But then Hooper waltzed into my life (I say waltzed because that's pretty much what he did. He danced his way into my heart with his wiggly butt.) He was a very sick puppy from the beginning, but in the short time that I had him, I fell in love with him. After he passed, I gave it another go with my next dog -- a yellow lab named Amadeus. While I fell in love with Hooper and he was the one that made me decide to adopt Amadeus when I saw him, Ami was the one who made me fall in love with the breed. Now I completely adore labs for their unwavering loyalty, their willingess to 'go get the ball' in the freezing cold water, their drive while they're "working" (even if their job is just chasing a soccer ball around the yard), and their capacity for love. They come with their own set of challenges as all breeds do, but they've worked their way into my heart and soul and are now an addiction. I'll always be up for adopting other breeds and mixes, but it's those labs sitting in shelters that REALLY tear my heart up. Maybe one day soon, when we've got Orion's allergies and diet finally under control and Cassie has some more training under our belt, we'll head back over to the shelter or a rescue and let another Labrador (or pointer or poodle or dalmation or shepherd...who knows!) into our hearts to stay.

Finally!

The computer is ours at last! Geez, M is a laptop hog. "I'm doing boarding stuff!" is always her excuse. Well we have a life, too! In fact, we've been tagged and STILL haven't completeled it for our new friend Izzy. We were tagged to list 7 weird things about us. Well I could tell you about a million things that make Cassie weird, but I guess I'll be fair and make it three for Cassie, three for me, and then one thing that makes us both weird. Cassie can go first since she's the weirdest.

1. Mom says that sometimes I just stare off into space like I don't know what's going on. I don't know what she's talking about -- I'm contemplating very serious matters. Things like dinner and when we're going to go to the park!

2. I love cats! Orion thinks that this is really weird, but Phoenix is one of my best buds. He's like a small dog, but easier to pounce on.

3. I sit down funny. While most dogs sit on their haunches, i sit on the base of my tail so that my back arches. Therefore, it's really easy to get knocked over. Sometimes while I'm sitting and pondering about my dinner, someone will come along and knock me down! Everyone laughs!

Okay, me next. I suppose I can find a few things that make me kind of weird.
1. I go really really really crazy over my soccer balls and tennis balls. Throw it to me, throw it to me! Mom says that I'm obsessed.

2. I like to spoon. At night when we go to bed, I like put one leg under my dad's head and put the other one overhis shoulder, then rest my head on his neck. M says that it's adorable, but I just think it's really comfy. M has yet to get a good picture of it, but when she does, she'll post it.

3.I'll eat pretty much anything. The humans don't want me to because they say that some food makes me itchy, but I don't really think about the consequences when there's food in front of me. M has even found me munching on paper and cat poop. Hey! It's a delicacy.

Okay, and one thing that makes the both of us weird is:
We both have really funny barks! M says that mine sounds more like a mix between a husky and donkey! Most of the time I 'wooo', but if I'm complaining about something, it's a sing-songy up and down staccato type whine/bark. And Cassie has a really high pitched bark that turns into a howl. When we play bitey face, you can't hear anything else because of Cassie's howls and my crazy barking.

So that's our tag! Now we choose 7 other DWB's. How about Lola, Penny, and Sherm , Maggie and Mitch, River and Cubby! Have fun. everydog!

We miss you guys and we haven't forgotten about you! We'll have more news soon. Right now we're just enjoying our company - Frida.

So sorry. . .

. . .that I've kept your friends away!


It's the Mom here and it's all my fault that Orion and Cassie haven't been keeping in touch. We've got some exciting news and it's the reason why we've been away. We're starting an extended stay dog boarding business out of our home. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, and I'm really excited that we now have the land and a large enough house to do it. Preparing the house and setting things up have taken up most of our time as of late. We built a dutch door to put on the door frame leading to our back room as a more "permanent" baby gate and made a few things in the house and yard more dog friendly.

I have a lot of goals in mind for Lucky Dog (our chosen name for this boarding venture). I really would like to create a loving, stress-free home environment for our boarders -- a place that focuses and maintains the routines each individual dog. There are no kennels or dogruns and we treat each lovable pup like our own :)

I've started another blog that our clients can follow while they're on out of town. It will track the daily doings of their dogs so they can check up and have a nice chronicle of what they did while at Lucky Dog. You can see it HERE.

And you can see our website with more info on Lucky Dog HERE. We're still working on it.

AND the best thing is that we're working with the Central Texas SPCA (which is located right down the street from me). We're a donation hub for them and we're donating some of our proceeds to them (especially our grooming services once we get those going).
We have our first boarder under Lucky Dog right now :) Her parents dropped her off this morning and she's getting along well with all of us.

And here's a picture of our original Lucky Dogs:

I promise that Orion and Cassie will return soon to tell you about what they've been up to the past week or so. In the meantime, any advice or feedback is greatly appreciated!

Until next time!

Happy New Year!

Tonight I am dictating this post to my human assistant from the comfort of my warm, fireside resting place...ahhh...what a life...

Either this is going to be a REALLY long post or M is going to have to split it up into volumes. We've got a lot to catch up on! Sorry that we haven't been around much. There's been a lot of action lately and the computer was being overused for things other than blogging purposes.

First of all, Christmas was a distraction because everyone was busy running around and buying me Christmas presents. Well, that and decorating and cooking and taking pictures and visiting and going to pawties (without inviting us, no less!). It seemed like there was sooooo much to do and then all of a sudden . . . it was CHRISTMAS MORNING! Woohoo! Our first Christmas! We were so excited that we could barely wait to get to our stocking and pressies. Here's some of the stuff we got...

Oh yes...bad cuz, dino cuz, rabbit treats and HEY! Who's that peeking out from the top of our stocking?

Oh yes! It's Mr. Carrot! Just like Maggie and Mitch's friend! We couldn't wait to dig in and find all of our goodies that Santa Paws left for us!

C'mon Mom! Hurry up! (Oh and Mom wanted me to include an apology for her poor choice of tee-shirt for Christmas morning. 'It was dark and I was sleepy and I just grabbed the first shirt I could!')

Yeah! Bring on Mr. Carrot!

MMMMMM...Rabbit Jerky!

Give us some of that, Mom! Look, we're being good!

(ok, is it just me, or did Cassie grow up overnight?)

Yay!!! Christmas is the best!

Even the furballs enjoyed their gifts...although Lani wasn't quite as enthusiastic as the rest of us. She's too proper to play with toys in an undignified manor. Pssh!

Phoenix doesn't care, though.

We had so much fun on Christmas morning, that we passed out and barely noticed that our humans left to go pawty without us. They went to Grandma K's house and ate a bunch of yummy turkey and other eatables, opened some presents and played with our furry Uncles. I definitely think this whole Christmas thing is great! Especially because we got to spend a bunch of time with our humans. M says that's what it's all about!

It seems like all of you doggies had a good Christmas and got lots of nice pressies and ate lots of good eatables. How about everydog's New Year's Eve? Did your humans make you stay up WAY past bedtime and watch the stupid ball drop? I was sooooo disappointed. You see...it all started earlier on New Year's Eve...M and D were off from work, so they told us to hop in the car.

OKAY!

We went to Red Bud because it was a GORGEOUS sunny day at 70 degrees -- perfect swimming weather (told you Texas was crazy). Cassie and I spent a lot of time swimming and fetching our tennis balls until...WE LOST ONE!

We searched high and low for it...but alas...we could not rescue it. So we called off the search. I was sad, but M said "Don't worry, you're gonna get to see a REALLY REALLY big ball tonight if you stay up late enough. In NYC, they drop a ball to commence the new year!"

A really big tennis ball? Alright, I could go for that! On the way home, Cassie made friends with a chocolate lab named Brian (obviously his humans are Family Guy fans). He looked exactly like her! They were about the same age and were about the same size. It was so cute. M couldn't get a better picture because they were zooming all over the place together. You probably need to click on it to see it better.

Anyway, back to my story of disappointment. So we go home, eat dinner, do usual stuff and I'm like... "Hey Mom! When is this big ball going to drop? Phoenix and I want to see this for ourselves!"

Mom said that we had to stay up until midnight in order to see it. MIDNIGHT?!? That's taking quite a bite out of my beauty sleep, but okay. I'm game. Besides, giant tennis balls don't come around every day, now do they?

Huh? Is it midnight, yet?

We waited around FOREVER! And then finally, M said. "Wake up, Orion! It's happening now!" So I jumped up and looked at the tv. I was so anxious to see this huge tennis ball and here was my chance. And what do I see? A glittery ball. That's it. A fancy glittery ball. It looked like a CAT TOY! Then I had to watch in embarassment as M and D counted down until it hit the big 2008. Pssh!!! We stayed up for that? I was angry! Furious! Livid, even! But I couldn't stay unhappy too long. The humans said Happy New Year to us and told us that they loved us. They gave us kisses and scratched our tummies and ears. Before long, I wasn't angry anymore. Just sleepy.

We both drifted off to sleep and before I knew it, I was in a land of giant tennis balls. . .

. . . no glittery ones, either.

Santa's coming!

I know we haven't been posting lately because our humans are just too busy. Too busy?! Oh! I guess being "busy" now is wrapping pressies and hanging out with friends and family and doing fun holiday things. Pssh. Well whatever, M and D. Maybe when you FINALLY want to hang out with us, then we'll be too busy for you! ::raspberries::

We can't wait for Santa Paws to come!!! We hope you guys have a great holiday and a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

PS. I'm not very happy about wearing these reindeer antler things.

Letters to a Dog

Hi there. The Mom here. Earlier today while looking through a Pet Posting board that I frequent to find out more about rescues here in the area, I found something that made my eyes start to well up with tears. This time, it wasn't an ad posted by some person with a new job that can't take care of their shih-tzu anymore, or by someone who found out three weeks after they adopted their retriever mix that he has allergies and they can't afford to take care of him, or another 'take my dog' ad that are all too popular. Instead this time, it was someone who posted something about loving a dog for their flaws and about giving second chances. I don't know who wrote it originally -- maybe it was the person that posted it. But I thought that it deserved to get posted again where others could read it.

Letters to a Dog

Source Unknown

January 6: Dear Dog, I saw you today for the first time, just a couple houses from my own. The school bus stopped to let out your kids, and your mom opened the front door to let you run out and greet them. You are a wiggly, bouncy and happy little puppy with a full belly and a shiny coat. Your kids grabbed you up, hugged you, held you and toted you inside. Your tail was wagging the entire time. I thought to my self, how sweet, what a way to end a long hard day. I spoke to your mom this evening and she said that they got you from the Animal Shelter, and the kids named you Lucky.

March 10: Dear Lucky, I saw you today as I always do on my way home from work. You were already outside to greet the kids today, which seemed a little odd. The little girl got off the bus and shooed you away; she appeared to not want you jumping on her. The boy got off the bus and gave you a quick playful pat on the head, then smelled his hand and brushed you aside. You looked confused and sad, as you went to lie by the porch. You curled up in a tight ball on the cold ground and let out a huge sigh. My heart felt heavy that day.

March 21: Dear Lucky, I saw you today. I was headed home, and the kids got off the bus, walked to the house, and you ran out as far as you could on your heavy chain to let them know you were there. The little girl ignored you, the little boy told you to be quiet, when you barked for his attention. My neighbor commented that they needed to do something with your barking because you keep them up at night. You had a bucket of water and a bowl of food, a relatively nice doghouse, but your eyes were sad and empty. I shook my head and let out a huge sigh.

April 30: Dear Lucky, I worried for you today. You look thin, your chain heavy on your neck, your coat is dirty and falling out, you don't get up to do much anymore. Your bucket is turned over, and I have not seen your food bowl for a few days now. I spoke to the neighbor and asked about you. He said you still bark at night and he saw the man of the house throw something at you the other day as he scolded you. I shook my head in despair as I went back into my house.

June 4: Dear Lucky, My heart sank today. I was headed home, and you weren't in your yard. A large part of me hoped you got away, another large part of me was frightened at all the other possibilities. I asked my neighbor about you, and he said your family went on vacation and sent you back to the Animal Shelter. I shook my head and cried for you as I went into my house.

June 5: Dear Dog, I went to the shelter today. I found you huddled in the back of a cage that had a bucket, a bowl of food, and a blanket for you to lie on. You looked up at me as if you knew me, and my heart broke as I read your card. They did not even care enough to give them your name, and the card simply said, "male, neutered retriever mix. Owners did not want." I cried when a gentleman from the kennel said, "That's a sad one there. He came from here, you know, last Christmas. Guess they just got tired of him. He's too frightened, no one will adopt him." I went to the counter and told them I would be back tomorrow and please don't do anything just yet. They all kind of nodded like they heard that one before.

June 6: Dear Dog, I brought you home today. You were scared and untrusting, but a small part of you somewhere allowed you to wag the tip of your tail when I told you that you were a good boy and that I loved you. I gave you a new name, "Happy", because you aren't and I hope that someday you will be. You had an accident on the floor, and when I came back to clean it up with paper towel you slunk down and whimpered as if the hand was coming for you. I tried to choke back the tears when I thought of what you must have gone through in the past six months. I reached out and patted you and your eyes closed and your body went limp at such a gentle gesture. "We're going to be all right," I told you. I showed you your food, and you ate voraciously, and you marveled at the treats and toys I got for you.

December 25: Dear Happy, Good morning my best friend! You woke me, as always, popping out from under the covers on your side of the bed, licking my face to tell me it was time for our walk. We went through the living room and you sniffed what Santa left for us. I hugged you and said, "Last year you were a Christmas gift, now this year, these are all yours!" Your coat is shiny, your belly always full, and even though we found out at your first vet visit you had heartworms, you are healthy now. As we went out for our walk, we saw your old family in the front yard. They look at you each time as if they recognize you in a way, but you don't give them a second glance. --- Then I believe both our hearts stopped as we saw the children emerge from the yard holding a small playful puppy. "Isn't she just precious? We got her from the animal shelter. Hope this one works out, the other dog we got from there was so much trouble." I sighed and refrained from pointing out that you were not the trouble. You looked up at me as if to say, "Thank you, mom." I kneeled down and whispered in your sweet ear, "No, it is I who thank you."