Secret Santa

Every year I do a Doggy Secret Santa with a group of dog-friends online. We all met because we feed our dogs a raw diet, but we then found out that we have so much more in common. It's really become a close group of friends, so it's nice to have these little traditions to share.

At Christmas, we have a Secret Santa exchange. The boys' present just arrived today. I must say that our Secret Santa went above and beyond this year! All of the gifts are home-made, and she is incredibly talented in the knitting department.

The boys inspected the package, but it was so tightly taped up that I had to take a knife to it to get it open. Puppy teeth just were not going to do the task in any timely manner.


Inside were two super cute boxed and a card. The card indicated that one box was for me and one for the boys (of course, the BIG box is for the dogs).


The boys got a bag of ZiwiPeak treats which was quickly pushed aside in favor of the two AWESOME home-made wool toys! For these dogs to pass over treats in favor of toys is a HUGE deal.


They didn't waste any time in breaking in the new toys. Gio went for the chub toy first.


But then Romeo started tossing around the tug toy and started a vicious game of shake-n-growl. The tug toy is super long, so it was difficult getting it all in one shot ...


So here are the blissed out puppers on each end.



And my present ... the best of all!! Hand-made socks and a super cute knitted toque! They are perfect, and I can't wait to test the toque out in the morning. Needless to say, the socks are already on my feet, and they are toasty warm.


The boys and I say a HUGE "Thank You" to Rondo and Gretta, and their very talented owner.


And, now, some more "breaking in the chub" pictures.

SORRY!

Apparently there has been some dissension among my loyal followers. I have indirectly heard complaints that the "coffee ladies at the mall" are appalled that I haven't written on the blog for over a week.

SORRY, LADIES!

I believe that some people are under the impression that upkeep on a dog blog is of more importance than upkeep on the actual dogs in said blog. With our normal doggy activities, the frigid weather, the holiday season, and my trying to gain what I have heard people refer to as "a life" ... the blog has taken a bit of a back seat. I do promise, though, that as soon as something exciting and blog-worthy happens, it will be posted here! PROMISE!

In the mean time, to appease the masses, I have some random "playing in the snow" pictures.

I will precede the pictures with a statement, a wish, if you may ...

This year for Christmas I wish for dogs that play normally.

At the present moment I have dogs that play like vicious beasts. It most often looks like a blurry blob of fur and fangs. Like this ...


And to accompany the flying fur and fangs are ear-splitting war cries. Gio, the big burly dog that he is, has a substantial and believable "I'm gonna eat you" war cry. Romeo, on the other hand, has a war cry that could more easily be interpretted as "Oh my God, I'm dying!". Together, it sounds, and often appears, as if big nasty Gio is tearing poor helpless Romeo to shreds. Though, if you hung around long enough, you would notice that it is Romeo that emerges from these play sessions with hair stuck in his teeth. Honestly, I swear it people, my dogs are not eating each other. They really do play like this ... REALLY! No need to walk swiftly past, shooting glares of disgust my way for having vicious baby-killing long-haired Pit Bulls*.

I often have to intercept such play sessions with my own "I mean business" war cry to get the vicious beasts to settle down and play quietly before we are kicked out of our "no dogs allowed" vacant school park by the residents of the surrounding apartment blocks.

Quiet play sessions are short, and frequently interrupted by barking "I'm gonna eat you" play sessions. But when they do happen, they are enjoyable.

Gio snurfles around in the snow, often breaking into a gallop to skim through snow drifts with an open mouth. Commonly referred to as the Sheltie Snow Plow.


Today, during one of Gio's snow plow excursions, he CAUGHT A BIRD! And by "caught" I really mean "found" and by "bird" I really mean "the leftover remains of a kitty snack that had a couple feathers still attached so I can be reasonably secure in saying that it was once a bird". He was very proud of his catch and tried to disguise his frantic crunching by turning his back to me. Despite first appearances, I actually am a little bit smarter than that. Luckily, we play the "drop it" game a lot, so I was able to trick him into dropping his prize by excitedly saying "drop it". Usually this means that he gets a cookie. Usually.

Recognizing that he was thwarted, he left his prize and sulked off to survey his land.

And what, you may ask, was Romeo doing this whole time?

This ...

Romeo finds no joy in exploring. Though maybe it is because he hasn't "caught" a "bird" of his own yet. So until he does, he spends most of his park visits playing "I'm gonna eat you" with Gio. And when he isn't doing that, he stands in front of me and stares. It's a little disconcerting at first, but you get over it quick enough.

* Please note, I adore bully breeds (in the capable hands of the proper owner) and have swooned over a number of them in my time. The sentence to which this footnote refers should be read with the utmost degree of sarcasm. Throw in a good ol' eye-roll for good measure.

Pet Health Survey

Hello faithful readers!

Have a spare minute on your hands? Looking to procrastinate for a bit? Then fill out a survey!

Lacey Crispigna of RawFitPet.com has compiled a survey for pet owners.

Earlier this year, she hosted a survey for raw feeders that came up with some pretty awesome results.

This new survey encompasses all types of feeding (commercial, kibble, canned, homecooked, raw, etc.) and general health of the pets on those diets. She's hoping to get an equal representation from each feeding style, so everyone is welcome to participate.

The survey is relatively short and will only take a couple of minutes to fill out. So GET ON IT!

CLICK HERE!

Cold Weather Fun!

The weather has been NASTY here lately. Well, I guess I really shouldn't complain. It is "normal" weather for this time of year, but we were very spoiled by an unseasonably warm November. Now that December has hit us full force so suddenly, it's a little uncomfortable.

-30C to -40C windchills mean that we aren't getting outside very much lately. Potty breaks are conducted in record time, then back at the door ready to come in and warm up.

But, no fear, we have been keeping busy!

I've been working on holiday cards for a couple of card exchanges that I participate in. Notably the Dogs With Blogs card exchange, but also a Sheltie card exchange and a Dogster card exchange. And a Doggy Secret Santa exchange that I do each year with a group of online raw-feeding friends!

For the raw-fed dog Secret Santa, I thought it only fitting that I package the gifts in a raw food box! Sorry, fuzzy giftee(s), there is no raw meat in that box. But some other goodies that you will hopefully enjoy! All items have been Sheltie-Approved.


Gio offered to donate his football/rope toy. But, as you can see, it is well loved. So I convinced him that he would be sad if we gave it away.


Romeo, the eager pooch that he is, helped hold the stiff cardboard wrapping paper in place for me to tape.


The boys were very proud of their wrapping job ...


Until I informed Romeo that we were actually giving the goodies away. He didn't take that piece of information very well ...


We have also been playing a lot of indoor games to keep the boys entertained and me sane. Here is one of our favorites.

Spreading Christmas Cheer

It's that time of year again. The tree is up, the wreath is hung, the egg nog is stocked in the fridge ... and the Dogs With Blogs Christmas cards are starting to arrive!

Our first is from Indiana, Shingo, Molly, and family.

And a beautiful one from Sugar!

Big Boy Coat!

This afternoon I spent up to my elbows in the tedious job of petting puppies. I evaluated a bunch of prospective therapy dog teams ... and am proud to offer congratulations to 8 new St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog teams in Saskatoon and area! Wonderful job, everyone! Fantastic dogs that, I am sure, will be bringing smiles to many faces very soon.

This evening, I was again up to my elbows in puppy fluff ... this time bathing my own dogs. Yes, it is that time of year again. I've heard rumor that some cities in the South of the province have been getting snow the past day or two, so it is likely headed up this way soon. Can't complain, really. We are normally snowed in by the end of October. But, regardless of when it comes, the "before the snow flies" bath must happen. I don't like bathing the dogs when there is snow on the ground as it is usually SO cold and the boys take SO long to dry, outdoor potty breaks pose a serious risk for pup-cicles.

Neither dog is amused by baths. Gio toughs it out like a man. Where Romeo follows the "passive resistance" route ... hanging his head down so that the water runs over his face as if to say "You try to bath me? FINE, I'll just DROWN myself then!" Yeah, he's full of drama like that.

What I noticed during the bathtime, though, really shocked me. Romeo definitely has his big-boy coat now! I've noticed he's been filling out these past couple of months. As you have probably seen in recent pictures, that fur really gets flying. But I guess I never really noticed how much hair he has until it is all slicked down by water and I'm trying to part it to get the suds out from his undercoat. It's NUTS! He definitely got his dam's coat, it's HUGE! I attack it with the FURminator, Coat King, and traditional slicker ... and can't even make a dent. None of my other Shelties, past or present, have had this much coat.

In other news, thanks to everyone that offered words of sympathy for my ankle. It is getting better. I can walk *almost* normally on it. The worst part is the random and sporadic muscle twitches. They come up out of no where and hit like a jolt of lightening! HOLY FRICK! But the bruise is really sexy, currently lovely shades of maroon and pea-soup green. Yeah, I know, you're jealous. And who doesn't love the artificial club foot look due to copious amounts of tensor wrap?

And, because I greatly dislike a blog post without pictures, here are some pictures from a few days ago of the dogs eating FREE trout.

"Mmmm Trout-y goodness"

Gio does not like trout.

"I only eat this because I like to uphold the image that I am starving to death."

"I DO! I like trout! I'll have his portion, too!"

Have I mentioned that Romeo is a weirdo?

'Tis The Season

Normally, I hold off until early December before pulling out the Christmas decorations. But this year, with my own house to decorate, I just couldn't wait any longer!

The holiday lights went up last week, and yesterday evening I pulled out the Christmas tree and adornments.

Now, I don't really do the religious Christmas thing. No baby Jesus, or anything like that. I'm just not a religious person. But I LOVE this time of year! The holiday season tends to bring out the best in people, and it's the one time of year that I tend to defrost a little, too. Don't get me wrong, I still hate crowds and society in general, but my Scrooge-ish ways tend to melt away a little and I find myself enjoying interaction with Joe Public a bit more. The feeling in the air around the holiday season is fabulous, so it is THAT that I partake in. Sincere well-wishing, sharing time with friends and family, and spreading some festive joy.

Decorating for the season is always so much fun! The brighter the better! I tend to go more for the garish, finding individual items that scream with glaring festive colors, sparkle and glitz. Then pairing it all together to form one big mess of crazy holiday clash!

The boys helped, of course.

Romeo gave his expert opinion on my color choices.

"Neon green? REALLY!?"

While Gio just wanted to get busy building the tree.

"Put down the camera and get to work, you slacker!"

Romeo helped match the letters on the branches to the ones on the center support.

"Yup, room for another F branch down here."

But that was as far as he would go. Decided it was safer to stay out of the way of "the crazy lady with the tinsel".

"Much safer back here. Much."

Gio was significantly more help, ensuring that the lights were evenly distributed around the tree.

"More lights needed!"

I was able to wrangle both dogs into helping hang the beaded garland, though!

"To whom it may concern, we HATE that you taught us how to 'hold' stuff. Signed, the dogs"

I never know how to take pictures of a Christmas tree with lights. If the flash is "on", then the tree looks crappy (ie. plastic ... which it is) and you can't see the lights. But if the flash is "off", then the picture turns out blurred. Despite the blurriness, I thought these pictures were kind of cute! Of course, I could be biased because of my most beautifulest boys.

"So festively blurry!"

Then I shattered my ankle.

Okay, so maybe "shattered" is a bit of a harsh word for the situation. I'm possibly being a little dramatic. But it hurt like a sonofa! And, FYI, apparently I turn into a trucker with Tourette's when I am injured. I am surprised the neighbours didn't call the police with the profanity being screamed in my driveway last night.

I rolled my ankle off of a concrete paving stone, heard/felt a "pop", then went down like a ton of bricks. Spent a couple of cozzy minutes in the driveway willing myself not to vomit, then crawled my way back inside.

This morning, mom took me to minor emerg to check things out. An x-ray verifies that there is no fracture, just the mother of all ankle sprains. So I am home today, the reluctant invalid that I am, practicing what the walk-in clinic doc called the "RICE" protocol: Relaxation Ice Compression Elevation. What does that spell? FUN!!

Gio is such a great helper, always right there to lend a hand.

"What do ya need ma? Advil? Ice? Alcoholic beverage? All of the above?"

While Romeo maintains his "stay away from the crazy hobbling lady" position.

"Much safer over here. Much."