Mom wanted to take a picture of herself dressed up to go out to dinner. She thought maybe if she used the mirror in the hall, the self portrait wouldn’t look as stilted as when she does the camera selfie thing. We thought it would be a good idea to help her. Especially, since she was wearing black and I love to shed on any black clothes I can find (rub rub rub). We think Mom should take more selfies with us. We are the best helpers.
Have a great Sunday! – Sofie Bear
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Pet, pets, postaday, selfie
Gertrude and Cuddles were not friends. Cuddles, unlike her name, wasn’t really friends with anyone. She mostly lived in my bedroom and would paw-smack anyone who got too close to the bed
In this rare photo moment in winter 2006, I caught Gert and Cuddie looking out the back door at the birds flitting in the bird bath on the deck. Somehow a common enemy brought them together.
Gertrude passed in 2007 and Cuddles in 2010.
We seal that backdoor in the winter to keep the draft out. The little solar gnome makes sure that we can see our way down the hall at night with his flickering light. I guess you could say that the cats were ‘Hanging with their ‘Nomie.’
Just another CATDogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, Bird bath, Cat, cats, caturday, DogDaz, lorianlipton, multi-cat household, Pet, pets, postaday
I don’t know this trainer, but I like his message: BarkTrainLove
I wish more people would heed this – it would make my walk with Louise so much easier. And if I turn around and go the other way, it is not because I do not like you, it is because I have a reactive dog. Please do me a favor – don’t catch up to us.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, animals, barktrainlove, Dog People, dog training, DogBlog, DogDaz, holistic vet, lorian lipton, nature, pet blog, postaday, reactive dogs, VKH
What do you think Nine and Sofie were discussing? I am sure it was something of great importance 🙂
Happy Wordless Wednesday
H
This is a Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop. Thanks to BlogPaws for the hop. Head over there and see what they are blogging about.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: animals, Best Friends, Blog, blog hop, Cat, cats, dog, Dog People, dog rescue, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, multi animal household, nature, Pet, pet blog, pets, postaday, Wordless Wednesday
Did you know that this is the earliest spring in our lives. That’s right, thanks to a leap year weirdness the equinox is 2 days earlier (March 19 or 20 depending on your timezone) than it used to be. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac equinoxes and solstices are happening earlier and earlier every year because of how leap year is calculated. When I was little it was always March 21st, this year it was on March 19. That means this was the earliest spring since 1896.
I will let The Almanac explain Why Spring Begins Early This Year
It all happens because the number of days in a year isn’t even. A year lasts 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. Call it 365.2422 days. If only the year were 11 minutes longer, or 365.25000 days, we could simply add one day every fourth year and take care of the fraction forever.
But because Earth spins a hair less than 365 ¼ times per year, we must sometimes omit that extra once‑every‑four‑year day, and that’s what creates all this fussing. Skip three leap years every four centuries and you’re accurate to one day in about 3300 years. (We even deal with THAT little glitch by skipping February 29 in the year 4000.)
A calendar that doesn’t accurately divide days into the year starts going weirdly out of sync. Seasons start happening at odd times. In the previous Julian calendar (where all century years were leap years) the annual 11‑minute error accumulated to where equinoxes were happening around March 11. The Easter Bunny was hopping around in the snow!
The present calendar takes care of everything. This leap year will make 2016 have the earliest seasons of our lives (thus far!).
But Louise and Sofie don’t know that spring was early. They just want to chase the ducks. Have a great day!
——————————————————–
This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, Cat, cats, DogDaz, equinoz, fish, Leap year, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday, Spring
Gosh, I love that dog! Have a great Sunday!
This is part of the Black and White Sunday Blog Hop. Thanks to Dachshund Nola and Sugar for hosting.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, Black and White Sunday, black dogs, blog hop, cute dogs, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, lab, Pet, pets, postaday
V created a cat gym in the living room. Noel and Mini Cooper were having a grand time. When we adopted Noel she was so sick and did not know how to play even with the simplest cat toys. Time is a wonderful healer.
I cannot imagine a life without cats!
Just another CATDogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, animals, Cat, Cat People, cat toys, cat tree, cats, caturday, diluted torti, DogDaz, lorian lipton, Multi-Cat Homes, pets, postaday, tom cat
My eye surgery went very well. My challenge now is trying to see with one eye that has the new long distance lense but still has trouble close, and the old eye that still needs glasses for everything and also has a cataract. I thought I would jump right back on the computer, but that work seems the hardest of all to see. The Doctor recommended store-bought readers to help the new eye (can’t use my regular glasses because they are too strong for the new eye). Oh my! If the doctor doesn’t want to fix the other eye soon, I will have to figure out a long term solution. But for now, I am doing my best and feel fine, though I can’t see the way I want to.
While I had surgery, Louise and Sofie went to Sonya’s, the pet sitter. They were there for 3 nights (brought them home a day early because Nine ran away and I was feeling well enough to take care of them). This was the first time since Sofie has been on the Clomicalm and the Melatonin that she has been away for me. She has been sleeping through the night without night terrors for about a month. The first few night’s home she was fine then BAM! – 2 nights in a row the night barking and anxiety behavior returned. Also, while she was gone, Sonya said she had an asthma-like attack. It is allergy season, but the Vet did not want me to give her Benadryl because of all the other stuff. Sonya did say that she thought Sofie was too sleepy and she cut back the Melatonin to 5mg from 7.5mg. Could it have been that? The short separation?
She slept through the night after those 2 events but, my luck, I had to leave on a business trip the following Sunday for 2 nights (so back to Sonya’s for the doggies). Sofie did not have any breathing problems that time. However, 2 days after she got home, she had a night terror. Clearly it wasn’t the smaller dose of Melatonin because I went back to 7.5mg as soon as she came home. Maybe the separation from me or from home? Does she go into a deeper level of sleep at home and that takes her into the terror state?
We went to the vet last week and agreed to 20mg of Zyrtec (a non-drowsy allergy med). She is sleeping and seems her old silly self. She is no longer wheezing or scratching (my other giant fear with an obsessive dog because of the damage she can do to herself). You are a lesson in balance for Mommy, that is for sure, my little Sofie Bear. Now if I can only figure out my eyes.
Someone cannot pass a pile of leaves without a good roll. – That’s my girl!
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, animals, dog, dog medicine, Dog People, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, nature, pet blog, postaday
Setting the scene: (1) All the cats at the DogDaz Zoo live in the house. We just don’t want to worry about gathering them all up at night and what could happen with the cars, foxes, osprey, etc. (2) Mom had her eye surgery a few Thursday’s ago. The next day was spring warm and sunny, so we had the windows open and the doors screened. Mom was recuperating and mostly sleeping. (Do you sense where this is going?) (3) When Mom is traveling or laid up, the doggies go to Sonya the pet sitter. They were not home.
The scene: V was in the garage in the afternoon and in walked Mini Cooper from the backyard. Mini apparently managed to slide the sliding screen open and V put her back in the house, and that was that.
The panic: But it wasn’t just Mini. Later that day, when Mom went to feed the Zoo, Nine was nowhere to be found!!!! Flash lights, calling, walking the neighborhood. No Nine anywhere. Mom emailed the community and the county website and let them know he was missing (sadly another neighbor’s cat had gone missing the day before).
Saturday: Mom is not allowed to bend down or lift things because they worry about the pressure to her eyes, so she can’t go looking under things for Nine. Though the dogs were supposed to come home Sunday, Mom had Sonya bring them early so that they, especially Sofie, could help her look. Mom talked to all the neighbors and put them on alert. When the dogs got home she started a nose search of neighbors’ yards. Still no Nine.
Everyone was worried as the weather had turned cold and it was raining. Mom did not feel his energy in the yard but knew, with her ‘spidey’ sense, that he was not far. She kept sending Sofie and Louise out to search the yard and call to him in their doggy way.
9 PM Saturday night V hears meowing from the pool area. At first Nine wanted to run, but a nice can of Friskies made him realize he was more hungry than scared and it was time to come home.
Sofie was so happy he returned. Mini wouldn’t let him out of her sight (or the cat bed). He was tired and hungry but no worse for the adventure. He sure knew how to get Mom up and moving before she wanted to be.
– As reported by Noel, the stay at home, I would not leave if you paid me, Christmas Cat
——————————————————–
This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, Cat, cats, dog, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
5 Facts about Rabbits from Smithsonian: Giant Rabbits
In celebration of the annual spring appearance of the Easter bunny on Sunday, Smithsonian Science offers these facts from Rabbits: The Animal Answer Guide, a new book by John Seidensticker, conservation scientist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, and Susan Lumpkin, freelance writer.
Image: Black-tailed jackrabbit (Photo by Susan E. Adams)
1
Rabbits are not rodents, but lagomorphs (lag–uh-mawrf), a scientific term which means “hare-shaped.” Hares and pikas also are lagomorphs.
2
Image: A reconstruction of a giant Minorcan rabbit is shown next to a modern European rabbit. (Image by Meike Köhler)
Scientists studying the bones of an extinct giant rabbit found on the Mediterranean island of Minorca estimate this prehistoric animal weighed as much as 31 pounds! The largest rabbits alive today– domestic breeds such as the Flemish giant–weigh 22 pounds at most.
3
Thanks to human introductions the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is found throughout Western Europe, Australia, parts of South America, North Africa and on more than 800 islands around the world. Today in Iberia, Spain, the European rabbit’s sole home for many thousands of years, it is threatened.
4
Archaeologists have evidence of people hunting rabbits in the south of France some 120,000 years ago. Scientists suspect even Neanderthals lived on diets made up largely of rabbits
5
A “never fail” Kansas folk remedy for reducing fever recommends making a strong tea from the dung of the wild jackrabbit and drinking it every half-hour.
(via: Smithsonian Insider)
Wishing sunshine to all who celebrate spring, whatever you call it (Purim, Easter, Earth Day…)
Your friends at DogDaz Zoo.
Tags: animal awareness, animals, DogDaz, Easter Bunny, lorian lipton, nature, pet blog, pets, postaday, Rabbit
DogDaz Zoo 