Foto Shoot Friday (Happy Barkday Penny!!!!!)

Today we celebrate Penny's 5th birthday. This is all, of course, an approximation because when we adopted her on 11/20/2002, the Vet estimated her age at 7 months. I believe that to be pretty accurate.

If you spend a lot of time with Dog People, you may hear them refer to one particular dog as their "heart dog". They may have 2, 3, 5, 8 dogs...but one dog in the pack stands out. It's not picking favorites. But there is one dog they share a particularly strong bond with. The dog that can almost read their mind. The dog that makes them work a little harder, search a little longer, have a little more patience. The one that changes them, for the better, forever.

Penny is my Heart Dog.

All of the reasons why will be reserved for another day. I'm not getting sappy...today I'm celebrating all that is Penny!

We had the first perfect day in weeks to hit the park.

"Let's GO!"

Yes, she had to stop & pose at a few spots on the trail...for Foto Shoot Friday!

But we found a large clearing that was perfect for running

And rolling in deer poop

Big giant tongue from running

And the serious "I smell deer" face.

Yes, once we left the clearing, we ran into a herd of about 8 deer. It took Penny 20 minutes to calm herself down (and was a very clear reminder of why I don't let my dog off leash at the park!!).

But it was bliss cooling off her toes in the stream.

A quick rest stop before heading home.

At home she got to enjoy a buffalo scapula on her deck...which is pretty much Penny's favorite place on earth during warm weather.

She also enjoyed some of her favorite homemade liver brownies...which were devoured w/o time to snap a picture.

It was a perfect day...all for my little Princess Penny Wiggles.

I love you Beauty Queen.

Princess Penny Wiggles is almost 5!!

If you check out the DWB calendar on the right, you'll notice at the top of the list is Penny's Birthday!! My little girl is almost 5. Hard to believe.

I've taken a 1/2 day off of work on Friday to spend with her & celebrate...Foto Shoot Friday will be all Penny!! But here are some old pics of her I found.

"Look what I HAVE!!" is one of her favorite games.

Penny the Rock Star.

The world's cutest Steeler fan.


Penny the Grinch!

We also had a little milestone today. Our Blog has had over 1000 visitors in less than a month! Pretty darn cool!

Finally...Sherman's met his match.

If ever there was a girl for Sherman, it would have to be Dot from the Brat Pack. I watched a video of her playing with her Mom & sister Sam and felt like I was watching a spotted version of my bestest boy. She growls when she plays, she dances around the room with her toy, she snarks at her sister when she gets too close, she's "big boned". They are a match made in heaven.

She's pretty darn cute too! She smiles like Shermie.

On the home front, Lola was again, wonderful in class. She played with a Rotti puppy before going inside and was completely appropriate with him. But then she got all snarky with a very friendly pitbull during class. I can't figure this little girl out. She has improved on some things since last week...her Recalls were better, Stays were much improved, Heeling was good. She doesn't yet have a clear understanding of Heel as a position so we need to work on that and she has a new habit of coming around to sit in Front at the Halts. The highlight of the evening was the Figure 8s. We used people and dogs as posts and her heeling was really great, especially on the outside. I didn't have to ask her to hurry, nor did I have to ask her to slow down on the inside. And when it was our turn to be a post, she gave me stellar attention. During the happy Pitbull's turn, he left position at the Halt and came over to say hello to Lola. She flicked her eyes at him and then right back to staring at me...without me even asking!! No Leave It, no Lola!, no Ready?, no nothing! All on her own. That was huge and she got a giant YES!, lots of rubs and about 20 bites of chicken.

And one final note...our hearts go out to the victims and families of the VA Tech shooting. There are no words to express the sorrow felt around this country today.

How'd you get YOUR name????

The more DWBs I visit...the more creative the Dog names. A while back, I posted about how many names my dogs actually have (and they have LOTS!). But I don't think I got into how they got their name.

Sherman - ever see the Nutty Professor? The Eddie Murphy one. There's a scene where Sherman Klump's Mom is talking about him and she says "Sherman, Sherman, Sherman!" while clapping her hands and I thought it was hilarious. You only will if you've seen the movie. I thought the name was really funny & I knew back in 1996 that my first boy dog would be Sherman.

When we adopted Sherm from the Butler Co. Humane Society, he was just a number. They hadn't given him a name and after we fell in love with him, signed all of the paperwork and made our way to the car...Scott said to me "I guess this is Sherman".

He could go by no other name!

Penny - The woman we adopted Penny from had named her at the shelter. She said she was the color of a penny. To be honest, I didn't love the name. I wanted to call her Sophie or Sallie. Something that sounded better with Sherman. But Scott liked it and as he was less than thrilled about getting a second dog, I figured he should have some say in the whole process.

So Penny she is.

Lola - After Madonna had Lourdes and started calling her Lola, a bunch of celebs jumped on the bandwagon. A bunch of Lolas started popping up all over Hollywood. I knew this little Boxer puppy would be a Diva dog & deserved a Diva name. Beyonce was too long so I stole Madonna's baby name & picked Lola.

Scott wanted to name her Spot.

The Dogs of Jackman Ave - well, that's obvious!

So how did your dog get its name? Feel free to "refer to Blog" if it's a long story!

What an honor!

It should actually read "the most rotten, ornery, naughty DOG whose sweet little face lets her get away with murder OF THE YEAR".

Foto Shoot Friday

Was a big giant bust!

Saturday is my Birthday & the Dogs were very excited to see their Grandma. Too bad my digital camera is finally showing it's age. All the pics I took were Jacked! Up! (oh how I miss football!)

The Dogs & Grandma (could have been a great picture, right???)


My Xmas Amaryllis that bloomed in April!

Lola sitting on the back of the couch w/ the Xmas Amaryllis (she's not allowed to do this any other time than photo opps!)

I'm off to search for a new camera for my birthday!

It's boring & rainy!

Not much new to report. Just hanging out...

Holding hands.

Acting like a froggy...

For our buddy Marvin

The Marvelous Marvin from Scotland is quite enamored with little Lola.

He's a very handsome fella! And not only did he dedicate this Wednesday's Tail Wag to her, he sent her a poem!!

Lola, Lola, how you go girl
Lola, Lola, please give me a twirl!
You are such a sweetheart, a real photo treat!
Every picture I see, makes me want to meet!
I love your sweet face, you are just perfection you see!
I look each day on your Blog the views mean the very best to me......
Lola, Lola, I will tell you a this, My name is Marvin and I would give you a kiss!
My poetry is confused and not good, because Jeannie laughs so much at all your pictures, it distracts my poetic muse!

Wonder what parts about Lola he likes best? (pardon the rather Dr. Seuss-ish prose)

Does he like the Dot...

Or the Spot?


The jowly mush...


Or the cute little tush?


Flying through the air...


Or sittin' in a chair?


Hope those pics left your Jeannie weeping,

But we prefer Lola...SLEEPING!!!


"Are you done yet?"


You made our day Marvin!!

Always waiting...

As Lola tends to lack patience in a lot of situations, we do a lot of work on increasing her self control. It can be a tedous process but in the long run, has taught me to be more patient. She's cerainly not where I would like her to be, but she's still techically a puppy.

"I'm always WAITING!!!

To get out of the car...

To go outside...

To eat my dinner...

To chase my ball...

To get my picture taken...

It's a ruff life, I'll tell ya!"

We had the Advanced Basic class tonight & and for some reason she was pretty keyed up. I really should walk her or run her hard around the yard before we go. I suspect she'd be more mellow. She was pretty snarky with the other two dogs in class and had one minor meltdown (I define meltdown as she completely loses her mind barking & lunging & cannot refocus on me at all).

But overall, she did well. She has wonderful name recognition and attention (and having the instructor comment on that is fantistic positive reinforcement for me!). Her heeling was sloppy and she continues to swing out on the halts. Her Stays were decent...her SitStay has drastically improved but her DownStay has suffered (probably b/c I've been working on the Sits!). She only jumped on Ruth once during the Sit for Exam. Her Stand is non-existant.

We did some of "Go Wild & Freeze" and she has an incredibly fast Automatic Sit. In our house, there is a pretty strict Sit for Everything rule & She who sits first, is rewarded first. I say She b/c after at least 2 years of inforcing this rule, Sherman still doesn't get it.

During her Recalls, she held her Stay every time, which I was very pleased (and surprised by), but she only came to me 2 out of 4 times I called her. The other two she veered off to check out Ruth's dog who was chillin' in his crate. Fortunately I had a long line on her & stopped her before she reached her destination. As soon as I call her again, she came right to me. I'm pretty sure she can pass the CGC & TDI will probably test her over the Summer. Why not?

Lazy Boy!

Well, I officially have the laziest dog on the planet. Sherman has taken to eating his breakfast & dinner laying down.

Now, he's no spring chicken...but this is pathetic!

Interestingly enough, he has decided that late night & early morning should be his play time. Hey, he's had plenty of rest all day (and overnight)! I'm usually staring at the backs of my eyelids by 10/10:30 and around 11, he'll start. Squeek, squeek, SQUEEEEEK! (jump up on the bed) Squeek, SQUEEEEK! And he'll repeat this process around 5:00 am. As no one actually gets up to play with him, it's usually short lived...Thank DoG!

It's still cold here, but all the new smells of Spring are everywhere & Sherman & Penny are driving me crazy. They are dogs, they like to sniff stuff...that's part of the fun for them on the walk so I generally indulge them. I do have a seven second sniff rule for Sherman b/c he will stop & sniff every single blade of grass he comes across. Penny isn't usually bad about this but tonight she was particularly annoying.

Lola is doing better and although we did have 2 mini bark breakdowns, they are becoming easier to diffuse. She's no longer barking at other dogs barking that she can't see and is becoming much more relaxed in our neighborhood.

I had a guy pull his truck over and ask me about her.

"Is it a boy or girl?"
"She's a girl."
"How old?"
"A year & a half."
"She's beautiful...I have one just like her at home. Big American Bulldog. You gonna mate her?"
"No, she's spayed."
"Too bad, too bad...they would have beautiful puppies."
"No...no puppies for us."

Would it have been worth my time to try & explain to this guy in the middle of the street why I am not "mating" my dog? Somehow, I doubt it.

The Nose

Poor Penny. During stressful situations, she rubs her snout along the ground...shredding all of the fur & some of the skin off her nose. It hasn't happened in a while but last Saturday, I had her at class with me and she was crated for a lot of the time. She hasn't really been crated in 2+ years. She wasn't pleased.

This is the result:

(note one of Penny's favorite toys from Grandma Kay...her bucky beaver. She likes to snuggle with it.)

It looks like a dried up tick.

Meanwhile, she & Sherman haven't totally made up from their fight this week. We've been having a lot of avoidance between the two of them.


But today we went on an hour long walk and they got in some serious bonding time.

"Hey guys...can't we just all get along????"

Foto Shoot Friday!

As Easter & Spring are right around the corner (despite the fact that it's SNOWING today!), This week's Foto Shoot Friday is themed accordingly.

Sherman can't seem to squeeze his chubby butt in the doorway.

But somehow, they all fit on the landing...

My little Easter Bunny...

I hope everyDog has a great Spring Break weekend!

More bandmates!

"Hey guys...it's me Lola. I've hijacked the computer while Mom is at work. This band idea is really picking up steam!

Every rock band needs a good Bass player, so I hope the other bandmates are OK with me inviting Tadpole to join the Howling Jowls. He's not very jowly, but he apparently has the howling part covered. And style...very impressive.

And Sophie asked very nicely if she could be a back up dancer and really, who could resist a face like that?

So she's gonna get together with Sparky and work through some dance moves for the world tour.

I think we need an agent.

Bye for now!!"