It's growing!!!!!

The hole in the yard is getting bigger!!! It's a perfect spot for Lola to chase her balls around.

And the dirt pile is expanding too. Great for digging...

And keeping watch over the yard.

"Alright squirrels...just try to sneak into the yard on my watch."

The road to recovery

Thank you to all of our good DWB buddies for all of the good thoughts & vibes! We are so lucky to have such a great group of folks looking out for us.

Sherman is doing a lot better. He looks ridiculous (I've been calling him Cyclops), but his wound is healing nicely. I've found 2 or 3 more spots on his head where what I thought was dried blood, has scabbed up.

But he's back to his old cheery self...at least with me.

Penny's leg is fine. She was limping a lot on Friday & but after a dose of pain meds, she was running around the yard on Saturday morning. The tooth holes have closed and are just little scabs now. Today is the first day she's acting normal around me. She's been very standoffish.

Sherman & Penny didn't acknowledge each other for 36 hours. They are now tolerating one another, although he growls at her anytime she approaches me. Not to worry, he's not getting away with that. I get up & move and ignore him when he starts...that's the crap that got him in trouble in the first place.

They have never been good buddies. They fought constantly for the first 6 months and at least once a month for another 6 months. They got to the point where they tolerate each other. And we had no fights for at least 2 years. Sherman's always been the instigator...Penny puts up with a lot. Usually it's over food (Kongs, bullies, marrow bones, dropped cookies) & Sherman is a real PITA. But when she decides enough is enough...she does not back down. It was a pretty even match before and usually ended without any bloodshed. But he's getting older, and slower and more grouchy and he can't back up what he could before.

So, in this case, he started a fight he couldn't finish. This was not Penny's fault...she was defending herself. And he just won't get into his stubborn little head that she's not gonna be the first to wave the white flag...ever. Hopefully, he'll figure it out soon!

Thank you again to everyone for all of the support! It means more than you know!

Friday night in Pittsburgh

It started out as a gorgeous Friday night in da 'burgh. So it was a bit on the warm side...I like it hot & muggy (typical Pittsburgh summer weather).

Lola was chasing her big blue tennis ball...

Sherman was digging up new cool spots to lay in...

Penny was chasing squirrels up the big Oak tree...

And the old folks rested when they got too hot.

(WARNING: Graphic pictures ahead. No joke.)

Scott & I were shooting the breeze on the patio, talking about work, enjoying a few end-of-the-week libations...

Penny & Lola were flying through the yard having a grand old time. Sherman was resting peacefully beside Scott. Penny flew onto the patio for cover and bumped Sherman at the same time Lola flung herself at Penny.

Sherman jumped up in a rage & went after Penny. Penny fought right back, with more force than Sherman could muster. Scott jumped up & tried to break it up (they were right behind him). I always do everything wrong in a fight (jump in & try to break it up by grabbing collars). I tried to get to Penny when she grabbed Sherman's head, locked on...and shook. Hard.

Back to my old habits, I reached for their collars. Scott had Penny & I tried to move Sherman out of the way, but then she broke his grasp & went after him again. I grabbed the loop on her martingale and lifted up. Her front feet were off the ground & she was still trying to get to Sherman. Penny is not a dog that will give up, ever. She never has been. She had a slight moment of clarity & looked at me dead on. I told her to get inside & marched her into the bathroom to check her out.

She had 2 big puncture wounds on her legs. She had bitten her tongue & blood was coming out of her mouth. I took her upstairs & cleaned her wounds and gave her ice cubes to lick. (I should mention that Lola was with Penny the whole time. She never tried to jump in to save her & never was part of the fight, but Penny is clearly her priority & Lola never left her side till bedtime.)

I went down to check on Sherman & asked Scott how he was. "He's suffered the worst of it, but he should be OK." I took him into the bathroom where the light was better to check him over. He had 2 puncture wounds, on either side of his mouth that were bleeding. He was licking at nothing & I thought he might be going into shock (I watch WAY too much Emergency Vet Interns!). He also had a dime sized hole, right between his eyes. I pushed the hair away & saw that it was very deep & you could see his skull. Hmmm. Is my Vet closed????

I am so lucky that my Vet is 1/2 a block from my house! They were open & know (and love) Sherman well. I told them what happened and they told me to bring him right back to be seen.

My little Bubba was so brave. They shaved the spot in between his eyes & both sides of his face. He didn't make a peep. They asked us to leave the exam room while they gave him a local anesthetic and stitched up his wound. We heard him squeal the whole time....broke my heart. But he suffered through like a champ & didn't complain about the pink stitches he received.

These are pics after his stitches! We're calling him Franken-Sherman (yes Tucker...we stole that from you!)

Don't show these pictures to Dot! Puh-lease??? She cannot see me like this!

And poor Penny's leg...she's not putting any weight on it and is taking antibiotics too.

She's very pissed at us & basically spent the night like this...ignoring her people. We did, after all...take Sherman to the Vet.

Oh, & let's not forget Scotty's wound breaking up the fight. Massive, huh?

1, 2, 3....Waaaaahhhhh!

Lola is just very confused & preferred the comfort of my lap.

If all of our blogging buddies could send us some positve thoughts, healing prayers and/or some optimstic outlooks...we'd really appreciate it!! We'll take all we can get here on Jackman Ave!

My new cameras

So I mentioned a while back that I needed to get a new camera. My old one was a Kodak EasyShare. It's completely idiot proof and being that I'm a techno-idiot, I love it. But it's pretty basic, has no zoom, no sound on videos, amazingly slow shutter speed.

I failed to mention that I had already bought a new camera but had yet to use it. It's actually a really nice one, a Canon PowerShot S2 IS.

But it's SO out of my league! It has so many bells & whistles that I have no idea what to do with and I'm so inimidated by the stupid thing, I haven't used it at all!! And it's huge!


Sooooo, I went out & bought an Canon Elph, which is so much more user friendly. And little.



My plan was to sell the Big Powershot on Ebay, but then I started playing around with it this weekend & it's actually not as bad as I thought. The pictures are great and maybe I'll take a photography class or something.


So now I have my fun little camera & my big obnoxious camera.

I was playing around with the b.o. camera this weekend...taking pictures of the dogs on the front deck...fiddling with the zoom & the various settings. The pictures turned out OK.

And I shot some video. Here's what I learned in doing that:
1. You can take a picture while filming video!
2. Pressing the shutter button does not stop the video from shooting.
3. I sound like an elephant when I walk up stairs.
4. I always sound ridiculious when talking to my dogs...not just when I think I'm making a movie.
5. Sherman pooped in the yard (he very rarely does that!).
6. I talk to myself.

Anything I missed?

Yard work!

What the heck is this giant hole in my yard????

Scott is digging out an unused portion of our hillside & extending the patio. This has created the ultimate doggie playground. He's taking all of the dirt he's removing& leveling out parts of the yard.

There are portions of the yard the Dogs are allowed to dig & portions they are not. You will hear me yelling "GET out of there!" and they know they've been busted.

Pardon the screen in this video. Lola thinks she in trouble and she tries to divert my attention from the digging by biting Penny. You can really see what an ornery little thing she is. Poor Penny has to put up with that on a daily basis.

What? I wasn't digging in nuthin'!

All about US!

We've been tagged by Wally , Scubee & (Penny's future sister-in-law), Lady Kaos to post 8 random/interesting things about ourselves. As there are 4 of us, we each get to divulge 2 things. I'll let the Dogs speak for themselves.

Sherman:

1. ~sigh~ Like Wally, I was once on diet dog food. Once & for all people...I am BIG BONED! That food made my pee turn to blood so I had to change. I like my new food better anyway.

2. Mom & Dad thought I was a year old when they adopted me. HA!! Gotcha! I was closer to 5 or 6. Do I know how to market myself or what???

Yep...I'm THAT GOOD!



Penny:

3. My official job is to wake up Scotty on the weekends. I wait all morning because he's lazy & likes to sleep late. But then Mom decides he been sleeping long enough & sends me upstairs to wake him. I jump right on top of him & love to step on these special Jewels he keeps saying he should keep in a Cup when he sleeps. Then I snort in his face & nibble his nose. He pretends like he hates it.


4. When I was littler, I got attacked at the dog park & all of the skin on my left side was ripped right from my body! That's why I have a scar on my side & had to give up my modeling career.

And I could have been a star...

Lola:

5. I love to stare at myself in the mirror and will sometimes growl & bark at my gorgeous reflection. Sometimes when I'm playing with my ball, I will catch sight of me and stop so I can admire myself. It makes my nubbin' wiggle really hard.

6. I LOVE to snuggle. I have to be touching Mom, Dad or Penny at all times when we lay around & relax. When I watch TV with Mom at night, I have to lay as close as I can. Sometimes even right on top of her.

Penny is my favorite to snuggle with.

Me:

7. I'm a reformed cat person. I still love cats. Sherman was supposed to be a cat. Funny how fate works.

8. I'm allergic to dogs. Actually dog saliva. None of the Dogs (or anyone else's dogs) can kiss me anywhere on my face, neck, hands or arms or I break out in horrible hives.

It looks like pretty much everyone else has been tagged for this game. But if you've somehow been overlooked...Tag Yourself!

Happy Memorial Day!

We know we've been tagged, but it's been kind of a crazy weekend. We're working on it!

In the meantime, we wanted to wish everyone in the States a very Happy Memorial Day!

Take a moment today to give thanks to the soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Their valor and sacrifice made possible our freedoms, our values, our very existence. ~A. Lincoln

Frosty Paws!!

We've been having a beautiful, albeit hot, May. The temps have been in the 80s & I LOVE IT! I decided it was time to whip up the first Frosty Paws of the year.

I keep it simple...yogurt & PB. That's it. Yeah, I know...FF yogurt & PB is like getting a Diet Coke with a Big Mac. But they eat yogurt with their food & Sherman needs all the help he can get.





I nuke the Peanut Butter first so it mixes easier. I know, it looks like baby poop.

Stir in the yogurt, spoon into containers & freeze!

Voila!!! Healthy Frosty Paws!

When she gets toward the bottom, Lola just shoves her whole head in there!

Sherman says Yum-O!

And even the picky princess gives her lick of approval!

Wishing all of our friends in the States a happy, healthy & safe Memorial Day!

Michael Vick is an A$$hole!

And so is Clinton Portis. This whole thing makes me want to puke. Or cry uncontrollably.

I am ashamed to say that I'm wishing very, very bad things on these jagoffs. But...should the Steel Curtain grant my wish, I can't say I will feel one shred of sympathy.

Enough said.

Goofy Google Searches

Recent Goofy Google Searches that brought people to our Blog:

1. Peanut butter and cheese for boxer dogs

Yes please.

2. Pic of mating dogs tied together

Um...Eeeewwwww!!

(and no, I'm not making this up.)

3. Are Boxers cute dogs when no longer pups?

You tell me.

(thanks to Ruby's Mom for hooking me up with Picnik).

4. Boxer furminator

Furminators are for Shermanators!!

5. Boxers running with bicycles

I'm going to assume they mean for exercise...but Lola & I hit the open road on our bike last summer.

Thanks to all who voted for Penny's new collar. I couldn't decide on just one, so I'm getting You Look Fabulous & Vintage Mod BOHO! The Mod one will look good on Lola if it doesn't show up on Penny. And I'm getting Lola the Pink Polka-dotted one.

Sherman says he's WAY too masculine for any of those collars. He's gonna stick to being a Wolf (or a Turtle).

Collars

Th Ao4 had a little discussion last week about their collars. Coincidentally, I've been in the market for some new collars for the Dogs.

All of my Dogs wear martingale style collars because I've seen one too many dogs slip right out of a flat collar. This makes it impossible, yet can't choke them. And I really like Lupine collars because they really hold up. Penny's collar is 3 years old & looks brand new. But, they are really stiff & it's a giant PITA getting Lola out of her collar every morning now that she's being crated again.

This is Sherman's current collection of collars: The Wolf collar is the most fitting as Sherman is really a Wolf. He has a turtle one for summer when Sherman is slow as a turtle, a black gold collar he wears during football season & a very manly silver collar that just looks good with black fur.


It's almost summer...that means it's Turtle Time!!

Lola's collars are a bit more feminine...she usually sports pastels or purple. The one on the right with the little daisies on it is my favorite but it's trashed.

Right now she's wearing Ruby Cube (sounds like Ruby Blue!)



And poor Penny, I love her in red but all the collars she has are so masculine. I'm in the process of trying to fem her up a bit.

Cool print, but she looks like a boy.

I found a great site that makes really cool collars, Retro Pet and am going to order Lola & Penny new ones soon. Anyone wanna help me out & throw out a vote for a fem collar for Penny? I'm thinking You Look Fabulous , Vintage Mod BOHO, or Groovy Baby.

Any other online stores I should check out???