Meeting Brodie

I went to visit a co-worker at her home in Marblehead today. She has a new Berner baby, just 4 months old. He's over 40 pounds already!
It was pure joy to hold a ball of fluffy Bernerfur in my arms, bury my nose into the fuzz, and breath in a deep breath of puppy breath. Whom can resist that?!

Piles of Green Sh*t

Came home Tuesday afternoon to some peculiar looking piles of green poop on the kitchen rug.

What the *#*#$@%#*$??!!!

There were three good sized piles. And it was clearly poop. I had a hunch it was Sabrina. If Riley ever has an accident in the house, he so graciously poops as close to the door as possible, on a small, washable rug.

No, no. This must be Sabrina's work.

I go to pick up the green piles and am surprised how dry they are. They barely leave any marks behind on the rug. Good thing. I spot clean the rug. I did not try to do a close examination of the poop. Pregnancy instincts tell me to stay clear of anything smelly like that.

I let Sabrina out and two more piles of green poop come out of her. She confirms that she is the culprit. But now I am totally stumped. What in the world did she eat? She usually grazes on grass but there is NO WAY she ate THIS much grass!

I wonder about the three large green peppers I bought the other day. But no, I cooked those up and ate them. Hmmmm....

I go back in and check my Bamboo Palm tree. It's still intact. No gnawed off branches or leaves.

Whatever. I have a date with a girlfriend from out of town. I return Sabrina to the house and head out.

And hour later my phone rings. It is the Dogfather. I answer.

"What are these piles of green SH*T on the rug?!!"

HUH? I guess she had more to expel. I have no idea and am totally baffled by this mystery. Did she eat a green blanket?
When I get home the Dogfather reveals the shredded ziploc bag that once contained a pound of organic wheat grass pills.

AHA! Now that makes sense. My Sabrina turned into a horse for a day and sh*t like a horse for the day.

Nice, Sabrina. Nice.

BFF

Pics from a recent playdate with our Best Fur Friends.

A Bulldog, a Corgi pup, a Mutt, and a Flat-Coat. They all had a grand time playing with the other dogs at the park.

And the RC Goblin Strikes Again

RC="remote control"

Guess who ate up another remote control?! Luckily, I wasn't the one who discovered it. Sabrina got an earful from her daddy yesterday. I didn't discover it until this morning (after the Dogfather and Sabrina had already left for their third backpacking trip in three weeks) when I wanted to turn on my loyal weekend companion, the TV. I could turn it on but not change any channels. I began to panic.

Whom will keep me company and help the time go by this weekend?!

Luckily, there is a Comcast service center just down the street. I will be able to replace my controller today, right after I go to yoga and relax.

2nd Time Around

This is the second weekend in a row that half of our family is away. The Dogfather has taken Sabrina backpacking again. Gone first thing Friday morning and not home until later today. This is how I've using the extra time to myself.

What I did last weekend:
* Watched The Painted Veil, On Demand (loved it!)
* Dog-sat Auntie Dory's Agave for a day
* Had a breakfast date with a friend and played with their baby
* Cooked a mighty fine welcome home dinner for my trekkers come home

What I didn't do last weekend:
* Exercise
* Do housework
* Walk any dogs (Riley's injured his right knee)
* Sleep

This weekend, I decided to change things up.

What I did this weekend:
* Excercised
* Watched my neighbor's Mandy for 3 days
* Did domestic housework (several loads of laundry and vacuuming!)
* Watched several episodes of the Dog Whisperer
* Had a massage party with my girlfriends
* Slept great
* Still plan on cooking a mighty fine dinner tonight

What I didn't do this weekend:
* Miss the two of them as much
* Watch too much cable television
* Eat much (but I'm going to Dim Sum today, yay!)


On another note, in staying with the title of this post, 2nd Time Around, Riley has torn the ligament in his right knee. I took him to see the wonderful Anne Crawshaw and she didn't seem to think it was entirely ruptured, just torn. So she helped adjust his left hip a bit to realign him and then worked on his right side. Hopefully, with the proper rest, he may heal this summer without having surgery. Unfortunately, that means a lot of our baby-proofing training will have to be put on hold.

However, I must report that we have made some good gains and I am quite refreshed with hope. My girlfriend arrived at my house yesterday (for the massage party) with her 8 month old, and the baby slept right through Riley's welcome barking! Wow. He is beginning to understand that he cannot get up onto the sofa unless I have invited him. (he tried only once yesterday but got off immediately when I asked him to). He also got some baby proofing with the baby yesterday. After getting over the initial smells and noises she made, he eventually calmed and laid down to snooze happily at my feet. It was pretty funny watching him check out the baby in my lap. Everytime she waived her little chubby arm in the air, Riley flinched jumped back a foot as if she possessed great power and strength. It is very difficult for the Riley Smiley to learn that he is not going to be the apple of my eye forever, but he is learning. We just need more baby play dates!

More Ponds Closed

NECN this morning reported several ponds in NH closed due to potentionally toxic levels of blue-green algae. I did an internet search and found that this apparently is a more common occurence than I thought. Local towns have been known to shut down their local swimming holes for an entire summer. Unfortunately for seasonal vacationers like ourselves, we would have no idea if a body water is safe to swim in or not.

A bit worrisome to say the least.

Some Special Time

Last weekend Sabrina started her new job as the Dogfather's hiking partner. They headed to the local Blue Hills and did a couple of miles each day. While they were away, Riley and I took advantage of the special opportunity to spend quality time together (something I'm sure will become few and far between especially when the lil non-fur-kid arrives). He was back to being my Momma's boy. We took a nice quiet walk together, went to the full service gas station where he got two milk bones, stopped by two different pet stores where he got yummy treats, got to eat an entire meal in peace at home, and had his very own frozen yogurt cup for dessert. He was spoiled rotten!

It is actually really nice to be able to appreciate Riley as an individual and enjoy him for just him. It's been too easy to address Riley and Sabrina as a unit lately. They go everywhere together, do everything together, and are always treated as a pair.

This weekend, Sabrina and the Dogfather are away for a three day backpacking trip. And it is a little lonely at home. BFF Agave is visiting for the day, but it's been me and Riley since Friday morning. I miss them terribly and I'm beginning to feel like Riley misses them too. I can't wait to hear about their 25 mile adventure when they return.

Recent Reading for Baby-Proofing

Per the recommendation of the Berner club's training chair, the Dogfather and I have been reading two books.

Training Book 1

and

Training Book 2

While on vacation last week the Dogfather and I both poured over these two books, pointing out to each other parts of each book that we thought we needed to work on. We discussed the type of training plan we would have to follow and how well behaved our dogs would be by the time the baby arrives. We were focused. We were determined to have well behaved dogs. Training camp was about to start in our house.

Well, step Numero Uno was supposed to be: No pets in the bedroom - no ifs, ands, or buts. We were ready to banish Riley and Sabrina from our room. Establish our Alpha-ness and eventually the baby's alphaness. So we planned it out so that we could prepare ourselves for a few nights of whining and crying and lost sleep. We decided to start last night so that hopefully by Sunday night we wouldn't be suffering on a Monday morning. The author of the book said he has never known a dog to protest for more than 4 nights straight. Okee.

We came home Wednesday night to the sweetest dogs in the whole-wide world. We went on a relaxing vacation for an entire week and left our beautiful babies here, lonely and worried about us and they still love us to pieces. Riley hasn't left my side in days. I suddenly saw our jealous, baby-toy stealing, dirty-daiper eating furkids as the sweetest, most well behaved dogs anyone could ask for. I missed them so much and told them we were sorry for leaving them for so long. I promised them, next vacation, we were bringing them (which is true, it's already planned).

So we recalculated the training plans. The baby doesn't arrive until December. We have until about November before we have to banish them right?

Summertime Warning For Dogs Who Swim

Recently, this topic has been all over the Whole Dog Journal as well as our local club member lists. This is disturbing information.
Algae Article

Crosby's Story


We have always allowed our dogs to drink from natural water sources. I have usually been careful to only allow them to drink from sources with running water such as streams, creeks, or rivers. I don't worry that much about the threat of Giardia as that is quite treatable and non-life threatening (if treated of course). Plus, I generally put faith in their immune systems to take care of this sort of thing.

My main worry now is for our lil Sabrina. She has learned to love the water and will go running into the water to swim to cool off. I am not sure how much she is actually drinking but I'm sure she is ingesting some of it. There is a shallow body of water at the Paine house where we walk frequently. I am hoping it will dry up soon, although it just rained again. Sabrina will usually leave me at the trail head and head for a dip in the pond. It is usually covered in a few spots with a yellowish film. I just always assumed it was the pollen from the trees. And it probably is. But without any run off and with the temperatures rising, there isn't any reason why algae wouldn't flourish here.

I sure do hope this pond dries up soon.

Baby-proofing the Dogs

Recently, we have been realizing more and more the challenges of having a baby in the house with two large dogs.

And becoming a bit concerned about it.

So I'm calling in reinforcements. I've contacted the training guy from the local Berner club to give me some pointers. Riley has been showing signs of jealousy big time. More and more all the time. Especially since we'be gotten Sabrina. But not just jealously. Overprotectiveness. I think he's just a little confused what his role is.

Sabrina, I have no doubt will love and adore the baby (and probably drown it in sloppy kisses, not good either). She is also the one I'm concerned about stealing baby bottles and eating dirty diapers. (I didn't come up with these. These are just a few examples of naughty dog behavior that I read in Time Magazine.) Demomting the Dog

Will the baby be able to sleep through the symphony of Wroo Wroos that escalate whenever someone comes to the door? Will the baby lose to Sabrina all of the baby toys? Recall Sabrina's obsession with plastic? More importantly, will I lose my patience when the dogs waken the baby from a much needed nap or destroy a favorite toy for the 5th time?

I certainly never imagined anything but perfect harmony in my mind before all of this became so real. After all, the Dogfather and I are true dog-lovers. Animal-lovers if you will. We would never love our dogs any less, no matter what...I think?

I'm getting on Amazon right now to find a good book on baby-proofing the dogs.