Happy Birthday, Shadow!

You are eight and a half, as far as I am concerned :)

Thank you for being pretty chill about our newest family member. I hope you become friends and can really play outside soon!

Happy Birthday :)

 

A quick happy birthday to Grounder who is 11…and Baby who is three months!

And to my friend Janis’s baby (toddler), Lincoln, who is 2!

Happy Seven and a Half Birthday, Shadow!

Shadow gave me quite the scare last night by wandering out of our yard and not returning until sometime in the morning. Thankfully he’s back and he’s fine and hopefully he didn’t get into too much trouble while he was away.

Today on his birthday (really his adoption day), he celebrated by sleeping in one of his favorite spots…up against the drywall in our hallway.

He was tired enough (probably from his escapades out in the neighborhood) to actually let me take some pictures of him.

And here’s just a picture of goofy Grounder and slow, tired Shadow. This is what it looks like a lot around here. :)

Happy birthday, Shadow!

Happy 10th Birthday, Grounder!

Brian was at work all day today and I was working on my living room curtains and some other things…so I almost forgot!   Happy 10th Birthday, Grounder.

You’ve been on this planet for a decade!  I’m surprised the planet has survived. :)

Grounder in the Springtime

It may be cold, nasty, and rainy out…but each day, bunnies are being born.  And Grounder thinks it’s his job to chase them.

He gets out, runs around the neighborhood, and comes home soaking wet and covered in mud.

I found him the other day inside our neighbor’s fence. When I called him, he wanted to come to me, but he couldn’t figure out how he had gotten in there, so he whined, sat, and waited for me to rescue him.  I went to their gate to bring him home, but as I was figuring out how to close the gate again, he ran off after another rabbit.  Oh, Grounder.  This is just one of the many reasons you are a pain!

It’s a good thing you are so good-looking.

Oh yes, we have an electric fence. And I love it. But it was somehow not working for a couple of days and Grounder took full advantage of it.  (We’ve since gotten it working again by the trusty unplugging-it-then-plugging-it-back-in method.  And I fully blame Grounder for its not working. I don’t know how he could have broken it, but I blame him anyway!)

When he comes home muddy and wet, I don’t even feel bad about giving him yet another bath! That’s what he gets for running off.

Oh, Grounder.

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats

I had pretty good luck with the dog treats I was making yesterday.

They were Grounder approved.

Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:

about 1.5 cups pumpkin puree
about 1 cup peanut butter
4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients really well.

Then I took handfuls of dough and flattened them out by with my palms.

A lot of people do cute things like make dog-bone shaped treats, but I just wanted something simple and bite-sized, since I mostly use the treats for reinforcement training (like making the dogs sit on the dirt-catching mat when they come in with muddy paws), so I sort of just ripped pieces apart and put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. 

I baked them for about 30 minutes.

Let them cool for a while, then feed them to your dogs!

The dogs don’t look really enthused, but I swear they were wagging their tails.

Grounder, the brown dog, loved the treats, but to be fair, he’ll eat anything.  Shadow, the black one, didn’t eat them up as quickly as meaty treats (think, Pupperoni), but he still really liked them. 

(I think I’ll keep experimenting with treats that will make Shadow sit on the mud-catching mat for as long as possible, like the meaty ones do…when I do, I’ll keep you informed! I just found another recipe that uses bacon drippings…sounds interesting, right?)

(I was inspired to make my own treats by my friend Jessica, who made them last Christmas. I roughly followed this recipe.)

Grounder and the Screen Door

We’ve had a lot of storms over the past few days.

It’s also fireworks season.

This is what happens when Grounder’s left outside unattended for an hour.

He really wants to get back inside.

Oh, Grounder.

Off to re-screen the door. Again.

Happy Sixth and a Half Birthday, Shadow!

Happy Birthday, Shadow!

You’re not photogenic, but you’re my favorite dog ever. Your sweet and great qualities far outweigh your bad ones.

You’re loving and protective, and you’re literally my shadow: you’re always checking up on me, and making sure you know where I am. I love being followed around. That’s part of why I got a dog.

You’re the doggie UN. You know how to make friends with every dog, and you know how to put Grounder in his place.  (Thank you for living with Grounder, too. I know it’s hard on both of us sometimes. But the reason you’re the sweetest is that I know you actually like Grounder. That makes you a better dog than I.)  :)

I’m sorry that you get so hot in the sun, but I find it hilarious that you’d rather lay in a random puddle than continue on our walk.

Your hair’s too long, you shed too much, and I’m not sure what you’ll do if you ever actually catch the UPS truck.  But you’re such a great dog, and I’m so happy we adopted you! It’s been a great 5 years living with you! :)

Happy Birthday, Grounder.

You’re not the most terrible dog on earth.

But you’re close.  :)

You’re destructive outside and whiny inside. You’re neurotic and annoying. You were trouble from day one.

But you (usually) listen; you’re good-looking and soft. You’re sweet and you’re tolerant of humans of all ages.

And since you’ve been living with us for the past 8 years, I guess you can live with us a little longer.

Happy 9th Birthday, Grounder.

Rex Update

I got a text from Brandon while I was at work today telling me that “Rex is back”.

Haha! He knows where the fun is! I didn’t get any pictures (since I was at work) and I’m sorry I missed him.

One of his littler owners came to pick him up…and told Brandon, “he’s always here when he’s gone for a long time!”

Ah, that’s why kids are hilarious. Yes, he’s always here. Yesterday and today. :)

Meet Fido

This handsome dog just wandered into our yard this morning and has become best friends with us.

He’s handsome and happy and well-behaved. He doesn’t have any tags on his collar so I’m calling him Fido.

He’s having a great time with my dogs!

Oh wait, I don’t think I’ve formally introduced you to my dogs yet. Here’s a picture I took of them last summer:

The brown one is Grounder and the black one is Shadow. I’ll have a lot more to say about them eventually, I’m sure.

For now, here’s more about our fun day with Fido.

He went investigating with Grounder:

He played a lot with Shadow:

And then got all pooped out with his friends:

And one last bit of cuteness:

 

Update!! After calling the various surrounding towns’ police departments to tell them about our newfound friend, his owner called and came to get him! He lives down the street from us, and his real name is Rex. We’ll hopefully be hanging out with him again soon! :)