Elbie, Hoover, Dodge & Friends!

[koalathebear]

O poor Roo! She looks so pitiful - sometimes I wonder about our dogs. They have shelter and they choose to curl up in the rain or on a doormat instead of in their kennels. Perhaps she knows how cute she looks like that!

[wuffles]

I've left both dogs outside today despite the rain -- the pergola looked pretty dry this morning so I put the crate out there and left a bone, Kong and treat toy. Hopefully Ava stays in the dry bit instead of the wet garden bed. I'm taking her to the vet this arvo to have her stitches checked because I'm a paranoid mummy, and she is refusing to let me look at them. As soon as I go anywhere near her belly she runs away and hides which is making me very sad as she usually loves belly rubs

[Max#1]

Oh Ruby looks so sad out there! Sometimes they're just clowns aren't they? They do the strangest things!

Wuffles - hope it goes okay today with Ava. I'm sure she wouldn't be doing anything if it was going to cause her pain - so she's probably feeling pretty good! (and if you don't like barking, then flyball is definitely a no-go!)

I can't think of what to say about the dogs in the pound. Its just heart-breaking.

[koalathebear]

Ruby's photo reminds me of this one of Elbie. He has a kennel with a trampoline bed but he chose to look pitiful and drag the door mat to the middle of the courtyard:

[Niques]

I really hate being woken at 4 in the morning by the sound of a retching puppy. It scares the life out of me. He threw up yesterday morning after breakfast and it didn't fuss me at all - there's just something about mid-night vomitting that makes me think we should run off to the emergency vet. Yesterday I assumed he was just running around too much after having eaten, but now I'm not sure. He was crunching away on something this morning when re-eating his vomit before I let him out so I'm thinking there was a chunk of bone in his gut that was too big for him to digest. Except now he's re-eaten it

I love the poor, deprived puppy photos Makes you wonder why we bother with the comfy beds and crates.

[Niques]

Ever think you've got the wrong dog? I had an old Springer spaniel follow us home from the park this morning. Saw her coming a mile away and tried to evade her but halfway home she caught up with us and James found that he mysteriously could not keep going in a forward direction. I ended up needing to practically drag him the rest of the way. I found it exhausting. He, on the other hand, kept his face pressed to the glass, tail wagging, for the hour or so until her owner came to pick her up. I plonked myself down on the couch and she fell asleep at my feet. ...which of these two dogs do I prefer? Of course, that was after she whined at the door until I let her in and then proceeded to wee on the floor. But shhhh, I'm ignoring that

Her lovely owner brought him a bone for putting up with the houseguest so he's finally gotten the intruder out of his mind.

Isn't it sad that that's the day's great excitement for me? ;) Although, I nearly forgot, my boy cocked his leg for the first time today! I was oddly proud of him. And he immediately whirled around when he finished to check that his mark was high enough up the tree.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Niques

[wuffles]

Niques: I totally agree that waking up to doggie retching noises is the worst I'm sure Sir James will be fine, I could tell you some horrible vomit tales but KTB would probably be repulsed by her own thread, so I'll leave it up to your imagination They seem to have stomachs of steel sometimes!

You probably won't be so excited about the leg cocking when you can't go for a walk without every single item along the way needs to be peed on OR THE WORLD WILL END

Ok, so. I came home from work today, went to unlock the back door and there were two smiling doggie faces. Wait, what? Didn't I separate them this morning? "Someone" *cough*Ava*cough* had managed to open the gate between the pergola and backyard. I can't even imagine how much fun they had seeing as they haven't been allowed to play for four days. I really hope Ava wasn't screaming and carrying on all day trying to get to Satch

The gate. To open it, she must have somehow lifted the lever all the way up and pushed Thank dog we have locks on our external gates!!!

Hellooooo?

Ava's "prison" - I think she had some help redecorating.

The good news is that the vet says Ava's stitches look ok and are not infected. A little red and swollen which is consistent with being an active little monkey, but her temperature was normal so that's good

[KumaAkita]

Just a fleeting visit before boarding the plane....

Niques- I agree with wuffles, just wait until James has to pee on EVERYTHING!

Hope everyone has managed to stay sane in the rain... Apparently Kuma spent the day in his kennel keeping nice and toasty. Smart little munchkin...

KTB - hope Papa Koala is ok.

Yay for accommodating qantas staff who bumped me to an earlier flight!

[Niques]

Ava's "prison" - I think she had some help redecorating.

Look how proud she is! She could get away with murder with a face like that.

[Clastic]

Thought I'd just share this pic... pups were separated today to see if Mars will be more 'needy' without Pepper there to keep him company and care a touch more about me.

Well, somehow he found some paint and decided to add it to his coat. (doG knows why Mum has paint in the backyard...!) Luckily it doesn't look like he tried to eat/lick any.. *phew*

I don't even know how the paint spewed out of the tin, the lid was closed.. but now I have a slightly pink dog!!

ETA: I think I know how there was paint but the tin lid was closed! The lid musn't have been closed properly and with all the rain, the water got into the tin and filled up and overflowed out... duhhhhhhhh!!! How could I have not figured it out earlier!

Edited November 15, 2010 by Clastic

[Max#1]

Regarding the paint, and the opening of gates.... with dogs - where there's a will there's a way! I'll never forget coming home to Max as a wee puppy, and finding him escaped his 1+m pen, on the dining table, in a basket of washing.....

[lilli_star]

Wuffles, you have one (or two! ) smart dog (s)! Maybe you need to set up a webcam like KTB did to see how they did it! :D And doesn't Miss Ava look proud of herself! Glad the vet gave her the all clear. If the stitches cause more irritation than the wound itself, they might take them out early like Roo's vet did.

So, yesterday Roo played the poor little matchgirl routine by laying in the yard in the rain fast asleep. Today she MORE than made up for it! ;) It rained here pretty much all day- not heavy, but that fine, misty, constant drizzle. Because of the rain, I didn't take Roo for a walk this morning, and when I left for work, I sprinkled the other half of her breakfast on the grass with some chicken and her Kong, and off I went. I was a bit late coming home today because I had to go to the post office and supermarket and when I looked out into the backyard, I could see that Roo had been doing some digging and Cow (toy girl cow from Big W that wears a dress/apron- she is Ruby's favourite outside plush toy) was just outside Roo's shed with a couple of clumps of fluff. Uh oh, I thought. Surely she hasn't torn Cow...then I remembered that her rope ball had a small rip near one end, so maybe she'd pulled it out. So after unpacking the shopping and grabbing a plastic bag to put the fluff in so Roo wouldn't eat any, off I went to the backyard. However, nothing could prepare me for THIS

Oh my gosh- she went crazy in there! ;)

So I started picking up the fluff and was getting a bit worried because I know that there was a squeaker in the ball, and I couldn't find it. Picked up all the fluff, checked what was left of the ball- nothing. Not in her blankets, not in the shed, and I couldn't see it outside. I was just starting to panic slightly and wondering who to ring first- my sister or my vet when I did another sweep of the yard and found it near a hole! PHEW!!!! It may be missing a bit off the top- like the lid? I don't know. But the rest of it, while obviously slightly munched upon, is in one piece. Obviously, someone went a little stir crazy in the rain today, so I took her for a walk to hopefully tire her out.

This is how much fluff I picked up- not counting what was left in the ball!

Also, please give your respects to Duck's foot- missing since Saturday night.

I, errr, "found" the foot during my search for the squeaker :D

[wuffles]

Wow, seems like a lot of dogs had fun today :D

[koalathebear]

**Ooops - photos corrected. Clearly I have many photos named 'ears'**

Wow, everyone has been so prolific today!

First of all,

has been adopted! I was really chuffed to hear that because he's been languishing with Kate for ages and no one had been expressing any interest in him because he was a bit bland ... Apparently the family adopting him mentioned his music video and said that he "looked innocent but secretly naughty..." :D

Niques: We've been woken up twice by Hoover retching and once by Elbie retching. It's the bizarrest sound in the world - makes it sound like something from an episode of Supernatural ... like some kind of monster is trying to climb its way out of my puppy's throat into this world. Not a good sound. Like you, we always have the dilemma of whether we let the puppy re-eat the vomit or whether there's a good reason puppy threw it up so we should be taking it away Sometimes, puppy takes the dilemma out of our hands and just gobbles it up as we stand there staring at him like stunned mullets.

I love the poor, deprived puppy photos laugh.gif Makes you wonder why we bother with the comfy beds and crates.

Exactly! Hoover and Elbie would lie on the back step all day if we let them. At least Hoover uses the outside crate and kennel sometimes - Elbie usually shows zero interest.

It sounds like you almost ended up with a second dog today, Niques although perhaps next time you get followed home, you should specify that only house-trained applicants need apply!

wuffles: I am ok reading about gross things. I just feel quite revolted when doing poo picks or standing there with a bag of poo in my hand. Feel free to describe away. I LOVE that photo of Satch peeking through the gate. It's very artistic and tells such a great story. I also love how characteristically happy and completely unrepentant Ava looks in her photo. Definitely not a sign of guilt there.

KumaAkita: Safe flight ... hope it's not too tiring ... Will you be able to have a break from travelling soon? Thanks for your thoughts about Papa Koala.

Clastic: Oh wow ... Mars is now a Quad-Coloured Border Collie! You've created a new colour craze!!! He looks so pleased with himself!!! OH wants to know why the paint is pink. On a more serious note, I'm glad that the lack of paint around his mouth indicates that he didn't ingest any of the paint!!!

Max#1: Any photos of that? The thought of Mini Max in a washing basket full of clothes is quite adorable.

lilli_star: Seriously .... I think you probably rival MavericksMission now in terms of Impressive Destruction Wrought By Dog!!!! First of all, Roo had an impressive number of toys there. Second of all, wow she was certainly busy! Third - is that lab butt I see in the bottom right hand corner? Also, please accept my condolences for Duck's foot. May he manage to adapt without the foot the way Poor Badger copes without tail and head ...

As for my monsters, OH warned me that there had been Changes afoot and when I came home, I saw a strange shape/shadow ...

Was that Hoover or some kind of mutant German Shepherd Dog?

Look closely at the top of the bush ...

More closely ...

Are they prick ears?

Yes, Hoover's ears have finally Kelpied out

He's not entirely sure how he feels about the new ears

He'd look quite handsome and Kelpie-ly if he wasn't still a bit bald on head and flank ...

Edited November 15, 2010 by koalathebear

[koalathebear]

The Kelpie Ears inspired him to do the Kelpie Crouch

Here you can see his 'agouti' fur patterns on the back of his head

Here he ponders his new ears some more

Here he has Evil Overlord ears

Pensive Ears

"I Haven't Grown Into My Ears Yet"

[koalathebear]

Elbie was jealous and tried but failed at making his ears Kelpie Out

So he decided to point instead. He held this position for ages!!!

The Flying Kelpie

My monsters

Edited November 15, 2010 by koalathebear

[Max#1]

KTB - congratulations. Surely one of those photos must be titled 'all the better to hear you with...'. And what was Elbie pointing at? I can only imagine it was Hoover's ears behind the bush!

And sorry - no photo of Max in clothes basket. I was too shocked to think to take a photo - when I'd come home and walked into the room and looked at the pen and saw that he wasn't there my heart nearly stopped, then it took that moment for my brain to click and for me to look around the rest of the room....

LS - it sounds like you had a few of those heart-stopping moments yesterday too!

For interest... here's a link to some flyball photos..

http://sherbrookephotography.smugmug.com/F...091650986_rujCR

[Niques]

Congratulations are due to Master Hoover on his achieving vertical ears The second last photo is adorable.

The flyball looks like so much fun! I love the flying swf - very cute

[Max#1]

The pug was probably crowd favourite.

Though the little bc x (he's mostly white, with black spots) was on our team, and was the one with the penchant for carrying more than one ball at once.... really funny!

[KumaAkita]

Greetings All! After managing to get on an earlier flight, we were delayed due to weather and then got caught in a long queue of planes trying to leave! oh well, home now for a few days. Off to Sydney on Thursday and Melbourne on Friday. I've calculated that since I started in this job at the end of July, I have been away for 21 days and had 7 nights away from home. So much for minimal travel!

Got home to a dog who'd slept ALL day so he was full'o'beans! running in and out of the house... silly idiot... dragging mud onto my nicely cleaned floor!

Have had a wonderful weekend. Took Kyojin on his first actual walk yesterday, and another one again this morning. We just came back from the dog park where we met up with another DOLers two Malamutes. Every Sunday arvo a big group of Huskies and Mals meet there. I think he really loved having a good run with other dogs of his own kind. Poor little thing's exhausted now though!

Kuma loves "running with the big boys" but it tires him out sooooo much. He will sleep the rest of the day when we get home from obedience classes

Ava's "prison" - I think she had some help redecorating.

The good news is that the vet says Ava's stitches look ok and are not infected. A little red and swollen which is consistent with being an active little monkey, but her temperature was normal so that's good

ooohhh Ava... had a fun time decorating, didn't you darling. Couldn't be mad at that face!

Yay for no infection

- Mars decided he needed some 'ink' ;)

I was looking at these photos last night, the OH looked over my shoulder and asked "what the hell is that??? that's some mega damage!" I explained it was simply an afternoon's work for Roo ;) Man, she's got some toys! Makes me think I'm depriving my poor boy.

EARS! Yay for Hoover... they are fantastic ears...

I'm not going to make Obedience again this week. I'm not too devastated... I don't think Kuma will be either. My in-laws arrive on Friday night for the weekend, which will mostly be spent gardening, so he'll get lots of attention and work... I won't be putting him though the assessment for Bronze, but will probably come along on Assessment Night for the frivolity.