Bite of Trouble

As you no doubt have picked up in the last year or so of my blogging, Sammy and I are great proponents of law and order.  We do all we can to make sure we (and all around us) follow all the rules of not only our household but also the standards of dog nation and whatever state and country rules that may apply to us (and those in our presence).  This does not mean that sometimes our enthusiasm for life might not get the better of us.

As one example, I got my scribe good the other night (which is his excuse for not responding to my inspirations for multiple blogs over the last few days).

Before you go and judge me I want to provide a little self-defense.  Firstly, I haven’t been to the groomers for quite some time due to Sammy’s toe injury.  Secondly, my parents could take care of my nails themselves…for instance by taking me for longer walks.   Thirdly, if my dad didn’t incite me I would not have gotten all riled up and my dew claw would not claw up his arm in the first place.  Just saying.

The second “offense” had nothing to do with me…not to say I did anything to stop it – but I am innocent of abetting this crime.  This was a blatant oversight by my Dad who got busy with other things prior to picking up the packages inside the front door.  Needless to say, Sammy did his best at opening these boxes.  He is always trying to help out.  Did I mention he is quite the box eater?  Actually, it isn’t just cardboard it is all types of paper products….like a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, Kleenex, paper towels, etc.   Despite his hard work, Sammy was reprimanded by our Dad for his assistance in opening these packages.

This all reminds me of my favorite cartoon published in The New Yorker:

For this reason I demand, no DEMAND, a stay in our convictions for these so called “crimes”.

Not only that but just look at us!  Who could want to punish such beauties?  Imagine what we could do if we were allowed just a bit of time to innovate!

Mo-Tor

Galapagos

One of my parent’s dream is to go to the Darwin Islands…aka  The Galapagos.   This is mainly due to the fact that my mother really wants to see the Blue-Footed Boobies.  The brilliant dancers of the bird world.   I think that is because of my beautiful moves on our walks…I am sure.

Funny that they wouldn’t have to go that far since if they just stayed around our house long enough they would have seen them right in their own home!!!

Well not actually the blue-footed boobies but the blue-footed boo.  As in Sammy.  AKA: boo.

Just kidding.  Sammy is no bird…just a bit looney.  Hahahaha!

In fact, my parents really didn’t need to go to the Galapagos to see those birds anyhow.  As they have already seen them on a kayak trip in Ixtapa Mexico last year.  No photos from that trip when they were paddling on the Pacific or their snorkeling excursion on that trip either since Dad’s camera cut out for some reason…it may have to do with the fact that they left me at home!

They did see this one-eyed cutie who reminded them of me and that I wish that they would have let me meet.  But I guess that wouldn’t be fair to her parents.  I hope she is doing well.   I bet she doesn’t have to deal with this cold weather so maybe she is better off in Mexico!

Mo-Tor

P.S.

1.  Mom and Dad still want to go to The Galapagos.
2.  oh crap…i forgot #2.  Maybe next time…til then…love ya!

 

 

Cabin Fever

We have had some brutally cold weather around here lately.  Why is this a bad thing?

Well,

1. When it is this cold we don’t go on our two walks a day – which on weekends isn’t always the case anyhow but my parents usually have other excuses for why we don’t go then…which is not usually weather related.
2. I have to wear my coat.  Not to say I don’t love my coat but it does restrict my jumping ability.
3. My toes do get cold.  Apparently this is why we don’t go on as many walks.  Something about frost bite.   Sammy says he is not responsible for those kind of bites… he prefers the biting of steak or other meat products that have not previously, or are currently in the state of being frosted.

Luckily for us, our neighbor Charlie, built an A-One fort outside their house that he guaranteed would protect us from all assaults.  I figure this also includes any attacks from Mother Nature.

Unfortunately for Charlie and us, Mother Nature has many forms of attack…one of those being a warming trend that caused Fort Charlie to take it on the chin.   No worries Charlie.  Your efforts at protecting us are well noted.  And it was quite the engineering feat for someone even younger than me (not taking in to account that dog year extrapolation you people do) to build the fort in the first place.

The bottom line is that the lack of walks and cold weather kind of restricts my outdoor time – where I usually work out my excess energy.   But never fear, my enthusiasm for life can not be thwarted.  I have many ways of working out my pent up energy.  This might not be entirely good for our hardwood floors or the integrity of the paint job of the walls in our living room but… well a girl has to express herself.  Right?

Mo-Tor

-looking forward to spring with a happy and healthy Sammy!

Phew!

Now I don’t want you to get the wrong impression about my desire to have steak for every meal but after I heard this statement am I ever glad my parents did not win the Powerball this week.  Yeah the steaks would be good and the fact that my parents could probably spend more time with me – and work on my blog – it would do me no good if I was not around.  Now you are probably really wondering what I am yapping on about.  It is this:

I found this on the internet so I know that it must beyond reproach.

So, by my way of thinking, a kidnapped Montana would NOT get steak or more time with my folks.  And if they took my bro Sammy, well I just don’t know if I would have the stomach to enjoy those things.

The bottom line is that I am extremely happy my parents didn’t win the lottery…this time.

Next time the pot gets that big I have a plan.  Not saying it is a fool proof strategy and may not really be all that nice but when steak is on the line I am willing to go the extra mile.

See what you think.

I am going to have a standing order for one of these little guys to be my proxy:

I think there is a striking similarity to my look so if we win, and a kidnapper comes poking around, then this little guy will be sitting on the couch while Sammy and I hide in our special place.  HA!  Take that bad guys!  The biggest problem in this plan is I am afraid I might just find a soft spot in my heart for him and then I would want him to hide out with us.

Of course if he grows up and takes off after the kidnappers they might just hightail it out of town and give up on their ridiculous trade.

The flying foxes rule!

Mo-Tor

Rountine Operations Disrupted

What a strange start to the day…followed by a bunch of other strangeness.  I am a girl who likes her routines and NOTHING today was what I am used to.  Changes included:

1. A walk before breakfast.
2. Showers before breakfast.
3. Sammy and Dad getting into the car before breakfast…and then they left without me!
4. Mom feeding me breakfast – well that usually happens but not without Sammy around.
5. Mom giving me my kong and leaving me ALONE!
6. Dad returning shortly thereafter and without Sammy (you better believe I searched the garage and then gave dad a thorough sniffing to see if I could figure out what was going on).
7. Dad working from home…and NOT spending any time with me to work on my blog (that had to wait until after dinner as it turns out).
8. Dad leaving me home alone…me thinking – “what is with these people”.
9. Sammy returning with his boot still on – so the boot thing has become a norm recently but it being still on and Sam smelling like the vets office made no sense to me.
10. Dinner with leftover steak in it…Now this change is something I thoroughly approve of.

Turns out Sammy had to spend the whole day at the vet as he had surgery to remove the growth on his foot.  This explains why he still has a boot on it.  Also explains why my parents were particularly touchy with him…and by touchy I don’t mean yelling at him. What I meant is that they were petting him a lot more than normal and talking in that ridiculous goo goo voice of theirs.  As I came to find out, he had to be put under for 15 minutes – I would have thought a trip to Australia would have taken a lot longer but hey, I am just a dog – a very fast dog – but one without a complete understanding of geography.  This trip is particularly dangerous following his laryngeal surgery that occurred this summer so my parents were a little anxious – thus all the pets.  According to Sammy, everything went well – including his drive to the vet…

11.  Sammy said he got to ride shotgun on the way to the vet…that is my spot when only one of my parents is in the car.  At least I feel it is my seat as I often wander up there between the seats as they are driving.  I usually get sent to the back seat again once they get to a stop light.

Turns out on their drive they got to see a pretty nice sunrise over the vets office…Sammy took that as a positive omen.

He spent the ride home in the back seat where he does his best driving:

Sammy also told me that after he come back from down under, he made his presence known – barking up a storm…what a card!  Of course his bark doesn’t carry the same weight as it used to when he was younger and before he had part of his vocal cord tied to the side of his throat – a small price to pay for being able to breath though :).  Not all the staff at the vets was aware of his summer surgery and thought he might be throwing up.  But nope, that was just Sammy letting them know he was there.  That reminded me of the story my parents told me about when he and Banshee had their early life surgeries.  Sammy woke up quickly from his operation and started barking.  This was back in the day when he really had a strong voice.  Banshee spent most of the day knocked out but that is normal since the procedure is much more invasive for us girls (maybe I’ll get around to telling you about my experience with it some day).  Anyhow, Sammy kept barking ALL DAY.  The vet techs went in and gave him a blanket.  Turned off the lights.  Took the blanket away.  Turned on the lights.  Gave him a toy……   Needless to say, Sammy just kept speaking his mind!

When he got done telling me about his day we settled down in the dining room.  Sammy on his cool bed (although it is below freezing outside) and me on my bed looking outside.  I couldn’t sleep thinking of how strange the day was but eventually I was able to relax a bit after Sammy got done obsessing about his boot.

Well that is about it.  Sammy is back at home and I am getting a bit tired from all this dictation.  No doubt I need a good nap on the couch before it is time for our evening walk.

I am just really happy that Sammy chose to walk away from the darkness and is on the mend for some good times this spring and summer running around our yard and maybe the mountains of New Mexico!

Montana Tornado

Addendums:

12.  Counterclockwise around the block during our evening walk rather than our normal clockwise walk.

13,  Incomplete circle due to a dog off leash in their yard without their owner.  This was Baron – a beauty on our block – someone we know from our walks but since dad was walking us alone he chose to turn around and return the way we came.

14. Being picked up by dad to cross the street making a weird day even weirder.  I have no idea why he chose to do this now.  After I got on the other side of the street I didn’t have to lick out any salt that had been making me limp after crossing the streets or walking on sidewalks that people dumped a ton of salt on to make it less slippery.  Strange coincidence if you ask me.

1B.  Sorry this is out of order but it totally slipped my mind earlier.  This morning we had NO TREATS after our walk.  Now I realize this is probably correlated with Sammy not getting breakfast.  I realized I forgot this when we did get those treats after our night walk.  Hopefully this is indicative of things getting back to normal.

 

Final note.  From Significant Digits on http://fivethirtyeight.com:

115 poachers
A dog named Killer was awarded a medal for his work catching poachers in Kruger National Park. In the past four years, Killer — who law enforcement sources claim is “a good dog, who’s a good dog, yes, you are, you’re a good dog” — has aided in the capture of 115 poachers who were likely hunting endangered rhinos in the park. [BBC]

Where Did the Year Go???

First off, HAPPY NEW YEARS!

I realize that it is already 10 days into the new year and even longer since my last entry but again I lay blame on my not so motivated scribe.  Not only is he lazy but he and mom took off for a few days and left us at home alone….well not completely alone since a pet sitter stayed with us over night and fed us.  He is OK but it is not the same as when my whole pack is together.  Sure Sammy being around helps a lot but I still like it best when we are all here together.  Oh yeah.  Speaking of Sammy, we went to the vet again and the good news is his foot sore is not cancerous.  Unfortunately, though, it is not healing well so he’ll have to go in for a minor surgery.

But all of that is not the point today.  Today I turned 5 years old!!!

Unlike last year, I was not tortured with goofy hats or any sort of fake celebrations.  But like last year, it appeared as though my parents completely forgot what an important day it was.  Although they were kind enough not to go to work and spent most of the day with me – so I really can’t complain.   And they also took us for a couple of walks to let me really celebrate.

The walk was just around the short block and not nearly as long as the walk we took on Sammy’s birthday a month or so ago.  I will not hold that against my parents though because:

1) It isn’t about quantity/duration it is that they cared enough to take me at all

2) One should never compare such things in isolation.  Otherwise, you can always feel slighted and that misses the whole point of sharing and gift giving

3) It was absolutely freezing out today – although the sun was out it was not a day to be going on an extended walk…maybe it is Mother Nature I should be blaming for being slighted on my present!  But wait.  Point 2 on this list.  What was I thinking.

Aside from the walks we got some squeaky toys.  They are a blast.  Usually it is me that shreds them and rips out their little hearts but today Sammy was the one into the evisceration of the stuffed toys.  He first took the banana he was given and then moved on to the snake I got.   He really must be feeling better!   Don’t worry though.   I still had my fair share of time with the snake.  I really got into squeaking it when my parents were trying to watch TV.   Boy can I make a lot of noise when they aren’t giving me their undivided attention.

As I mentioned, it was extremely cold today.  Thus, on our night walk, I was able to wear my Sherlock Holmes jacket.   Sniffed out a lot of potential crimes on our stroll but Dad didn’t let me follow up on any of these clues as his hands were getting cold…and to be honest, my paws started hurting a little by the end of the walk.

Needless to say, I was happy to get back at home and curl up on the couch.  What a day!  Glad I am done with this post so I can finally relax.

Mo-Tor