Keeping 3 dogs quiet when people keep coming up to the front door of the house is a major feat. (Keeping Sofie quite, ever, is a big job.) I put the ‘baby’ gate at the top of the stairs to keep them away from the door, but they still can look over the ledge and watch the action. Charles actually came through the bars (like the cats do) on the side. I guess I will have to block that section too next year. You can see Sofie hiding behind the fountain watching me. I am sure it doesn’t help that the skeleton dog and cat are outside the front windows. Looking out the side windows which have prism glass, I would bark too.
Charles, the Mugwump, here. I need to talk to you about the trouble I am having with my humans. Being so adorable, as I am, and only 15 lbs., everyone wants to dress me up. Case in point, this little devil costume that Peanut bought me for Halloween. Now, I am not complaining (too much) because I get tons of attention that the other dogs don’t (because I look so darn cute)…. but REALLY… the Devil?
Shouldn’t she have made me “Conan the Barbarian” or some other superhero? Mom says she had to talk Peanut out of turning me into ‘sushi’ for Halloween. Oh well. I guess the Devil isn’t that bad after all.
It is getting dark earlier every day and sometimes Mommy doesn’t get to walk us until after the sun goes down. She is afraid that zombies and cars are going to hit us, so she has us flashing and shining in the dark. How do you stay safe when walking in the dark?
Mom has started her Halloween decorating. She is debating whether she needs to buy more skeleton dogs because there are 3 of us. What do you think?
We think she has enough scary stuff already. Do you know the name of the plant that Sofie is chewing on? It’s called ‘BLOOD GRASS.’ Ha Ha Ha Ha. It is invasive and will soon take over everything if we let it. Sort of like us. We animals at the DogDaz Zoo sure take over everything. And that’s the way we like it.
Charles loves Louise. If she sniffs something, he sniffs it. If she pees on it, he has to pee on it. He follows her so closely sometimes that it bothers me, because he fits perfectly under her torso which freaks her out, and because he doesn’t move when she is peeing, which grosses me out.
Something very interesting must have come down the center of the road last night and since the dogs’ smellers are 25X more powerful than mine, they know what it is, but I sure don’t. Sofie is usually my street sniffer and mostly it is right in the center. Sometimes I have to pull her to the side so she doesn’t get run over by a car. The only thing I can think of is that it must be the foxes who walk down the center ridge (I don’t know why) and maybe they pee as they go.
With 3 dogs, it is very easy to run out of hands or feel like you are on a medieval rack when everyone wants to move along (in different directions usually) and you need to stop and pick something up (after getting a bag out of the pouch, unfolding it, and bending down… you get the picture) My answer is a CHAIN GANG (but a happy one not a bunch of prisoners). Since Mr. Charles wants to keep going and nothing stops him, I loop him onto Sofie’s lead. Then Sofie holds him back (since he is a little afraid of her) and I loop her onto Louise, who in most cases will stay when I tell her to. Louise is the heaviest and strongest of the 3 so I can keep control down the line.
Sniff and pee – Pee and sniff – What kind of mischief did you get into today?
DogDaz remembers and salutes the victims and survivors of the September 11th Terror Attack
I visited Ground Zero at the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial while it was under construction. I am standing by the giant man-made waterfall with the names of the victims around the outside. It is very humbling and very eerie. Let the world practice peace and make war no more. – Lorian
I discovered this place where I can get nice dog and cat toys at a good discount. I actually went in to get some new drinking glasses, because too many have broken and I needed new ones (but I digress).
Knowing my charges as I do, Louise got a stuffing-less Squeaky Skunk, Sofie got a flat bat looking thing that crinkles, and Mr. Charles got a rope and ball. They were so excited and each played with their respective gifts for about 10 minutes. Then, we went outside for a while.
When we returned to the living room, Charles started doing what he does best – toy hoarding. First, he stole Sofie’s crinkle thing – she was distracted so she didn’t put up a fuss. Then he moved onto Louise’s skunk (which appears to be his new favorite). Louise was a bit unhappy, so she went over to her pillow and moped until I rescued skunk and gave it back to her.
The other dogs’ toys are always more fun. Charles ends up sitting on a pile of everyone’s toys so only he has them.
At DogDaz Zoo, I try to control the amount of food that any animal eats in a day based on their size and energy level. I parse out all kibble in the morning into containers and then give a portion at each feeding, making sure that there is some left over for evening in-house play. The dogs have several toys to chose from (1) a large feeding cube (mostly used by Sofie), (2) a medium feed ball (which was too big for Charles, too little for Lulu, and Sofie doesn’t like it). So I got, (3) a little feed ball (for Charles, who can’t figure it out), (4) a big rope jug (that Louise LOVES), and (5) a spinner (currently only Sofie’s survived because Louise ate hers – bottom is rubber).
Everyone waits, impatiently, in the evening for play time. I used to wait until 8 PM or so to do this, but now they have started demanding play time earlier and earlier. Sometimes, I give in and they have playtime only 30 minutes after dinner. What’s the difference, it’s all their food anyway.
Charles gets a special treat in a puzzle bowl with some kibble, because he is either too lazy for the feed ball, or just doesn’t want to lower himself to work for it. He loves a teeny tiny Busy Bone (r) and will gobble it up as soon as he finds one under the kibble.
We have lots of food fun at the Zoo. What kind of mischief did you get into today?
I am not sure Mini knew that she was the focus of attention when she chose to hide behind the front door this morning. Sometimes I wonder if the cats know that their tails are sticking out under things when they hide. At first, when I saw the group hovering, I freaked. On occasion, Black Rat Snakes have found their way into the foyer and I thought that was what they were all looking at. On closer observation, it was too fluffy and moved slowly (which the snakes don’t do when they are in the house).
Mini must have felt all these eyes on her tail because she started to pull it back behind the door with the rest of her.
No animals, or tails, were hurt in the moment. Thank goodness.
Keeping 3 dogs quiet when people keep coming up to the front door of the house is a major feat. (Keeping Sofie quite, ever, is a big job.) I put the ‘baby’ gate at the top of the stairs to keep them away from the door, but they still can look over the ledge and watch the action. Charles actually came through the bars (like the cats do) on the side. I guess I will have to block that section too next year. You can see Sofie hiding behind the fountain watching me. I am sure it doesn’t help that the skeleton dog and cat are outside the front windows. Looking out the side windows which have prism glass, I would bark too.
DogDaz Zoo 