Happy birthday and all that

So now the Human Assistant says today is Alizé's birthday. She's 9.

Alizé's kinda weird for a stray. Lots of times there's no information about them. Like with Poo-Poo. And Sally. And especially Timber.

But Alizé's first people had her micrcochipped right away. Not actually her first people, who were probably a puppy mill. Or her second people, who were clerks in a pet store.

But her first real people. They got her microchipped. And when H.A. called the microchip company, they had lots of information. About the chip, anyway. He didn't write down everything. But it was like, the day the chip was made, when it went to a distributor, when it went to the vet's office ... lots of stuff.

He's squinting at his notes now. He wrote down that it was shipped in February, 1990. He thinks that means shipped to the vet's office. And the vet put the chip in Alizé in March, 2000. The chip sat around, wearing out, for 10 whole years!

Anyway. The microchip company also said that Alizé was born 11/10/99. So there you go.

It's also the birthday of the Continental Marines. They started up in 1775 and shut down in 1785 after the war was over.

Then there was a U.S. Marine Corps. They kinda cheat and use the Continental Marines' birthday as their birthday too.

Wanna know something strange? Today's also the birthday of two airplane designers. And I don't mean Wilbur and Orville Redenbacher!

Anyway. There you go.

ⓣⓤⓒⓚⓔⓡ

For what it's worth, today's also the birthday of the father of the AK-47. So there you go again.

Adopted! Adopted!

HOORAY !!!

The family that had Mystique on trial adoption from MaxFund finished adopting her yesterday!  YAAAAYYY !

I was very worried that she would come back here! The trial was supposed to be for two weeks. ("More or less," says the Human Assistant.) Today is three weeks. And H.A. emailed them a few days ago to ask how things were going, and he never heard back from them.

H.A. and the shelter people say the family is very nice. The one thing was that they don't have another dog for Mystique to play with. And she loves to play! H.A. put 16 pictures on her dogster page. In 14 she's with another dog. In 12 she's trying to play with that dog!

This is my favorite picture of Mystique. It looks like Jaeger is being fierce and the puppy is scared. Heh! But she loved for him to chase her. She would bug him and then run. Again and again.

Anyway, the family said that they know lots of people with dogs, and Mystique will be able to play with them.

And now it's all official and everything!

Also, a few days ago the lady that trial-adopted der Jägermeister made his adoption final too!  YAAAAYYY !

(H.A. says he'll put more pictures of Jaeger on his dogster page, but it's too late tonight. He also better work on my dogster page! He has pictures of me now besides that one my foster mom took. And I've been here nearly a whole year!)

Jaeger is the dog that H.A. thought might come back. He's giving his new mom trouble about escaping from her back yard. H.A. thought Jaeger didn't escape from our yard except right at the last. Two days in a row Jaeger jumped the fence and ran around front when H.A. left the house. Jaeger wanted to go for a ride!

But a couple of days ago the next-door neighbor said he had seen Jaeger get out, too. I don't know how many times he did this. But neighbor said Jaeger jumped our fence to go from our back yard to the side yard between our houses. Then he jumped their fence to get in their back yard.

(There are lots of bushes in the way, so he didn't just go over the fence between our yards.)

Neighbor said then Jaeger ran laps around their back yard. Ran and ran and ran. They watched him. H.A. was very embarrassed! But neighbor said it was okay. They liked watching him. Then they told Jaeger to go home. And back he came! Over one fence. Over a second fence. Back in the back yard, with H.A. none the wiser!

Heh. He could almost have qualified as a Siberian Husky with that trick! Except for the obedience thing. I would have had to work with him on that. Labs!

But anyway. Jaeger's new mom wanted a friend for her dog Lila. She (the dog) is mostly a Treeing Walker Coonhound. I never heard of it either.

And I haven't met her. But H.A. says she's a pretty good size match for Jaeger. He's very tall! Taller than me.

H.A. says Jaeger stands 26" at the withers (at the base of his neck). Lila isn't as tall, he says. But not a shrimp. Which is good. Who wants shrimpy dogs?

(Just kidding, Princess Minky!  ::big Husky grin::)

Early on the mom said Lila adored Jaeger and followed him around. But Jaeger just wanted to explore and stuff.  [Sounds like an average guy and gal.  -- mr_ed]  After some time passed, the mom said she found them snuggling on the couch, snuggling on the bed.... Ish!

(Kat, I forgot to answer your question. No, I don't snuggle with H.A. Not even when he's feeling icky. Especially not when he's feeling icky! Who wants to be around people who feel icky?)

So now the alpha girl dog (according to her mom) has an alpha boy dog to keep her company while the mom's at work. That's much better than him being here and acting like he's afraid of me and not walk past me to get outside to do his business. And then standing next to me when we're all outside and getting me annoyed and stuff when I'm not feeling good.

So that's five doggies I've gotten out of the house:

• an Aussie Cattle Dog mix (H.A.'s daughter's dog);
• a Mini Poodle H.A. felt bad for and pulled from a county pound;
• a yellow Lab/Retriever that wandered down our street;
• Jaeger; and now
• Mystique.

One every other month or so? Not bad work, I'd say! But the Human Assistant better not bring home any more!

-- photo of Treeing Walker Coonhound from Wikipedia

Five questions

The Human Insistant says I have to announce that October 9 is officially Leif Erikson Day in the U.S. (But not because of anything Leif Ericson actually did on October 9.) You can probably read more about it on his blog. (H.A.'s blog, not Leif Erikson's.)

If for some strange reason you want a Viking name for the day, try here. I am Jörund the Clumsy. Hmmpf. I don't have thumbs, you know! Gremlin is Þóra the Comedy Sidekick. (Pronounced like Thora.) That doesn't sound like a Viking name to me.

The Human Assistant cheated and tried different things. The one I like best is Eirík the Berserker (for mr_ed).

I wonder if Vikings had dogs. They must have. Don't you think? But you never hear about them. Something else dog related ... October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. The ASPCA is having a photo contest you can check out.

There are interviews going around! After Sky was interviewed on his blog, he kindly agreed to ask me five questions:

Sky:  1. You recently told us about strange pets that people keep. If you have any pet, what would it be and why?

Tucker:  Oh, that's a hard question! I do like stuffed toys! But I don't think a little furry pet would be as good. I'm sure H.A. would take it away forever after I chewed on it a while. Maybe a monkey that would find the dog food and treats and bring them to me. But it better not try to ride on my back!

Sky:  2. You've mentioned a lot of countries in your blog, i.e. China, Brazil, Egypt, Australia, and Russia to name a few. Have you ever traveled? If so, where and if not, where would you like to go?

Tucker:  I've had six different homes. But I've never traveled otherwise. It would be interesting to see where Siberian Huskies came from! Too bad people don't agree on where that was. Most of all I would like to visit Turkey to see if it tastes as good there as it does here!

Sky:  3. Your profile tells us that 4 poster dogs have lived with you at Mr. Ed's. Which one was yor favorite?

Tucker:  Fooey. Jägermeister, Mystique, Poo-Poo, and Sally. Plus his daughter's dog Zot. They were all nuisances! You can see them on Mystique's dogster page.   [Links to their own dogster pages, and to Gremlin's, added Oct. 14  -- mr_ed]   Well, Poo-Poo the Miniature Poodle mix was okay. She was very quiet and didn't bother me. Maybe Poo-Poo is as old as Gremlin, thirteen years.

She was a stray and got stuck in a crummy shelter all filthy and everything. It took her a while to liven up. Actually she was kinda cute when she started dancing on her hind legs for treats! Just when her personality started to come through, she got adopted to a good home. Good that it wasn't my home so she couldn't bug me!

Sky:  4. If you were human what profession would you choose?

Tucker:  I would be a taste tester in a meat factory! Somebody has to make sure those cans of meat are okay! I'll bet there are lots of people who want those jobs, though. So I could also be a ride checker to make sure that cars ride okay after they're built or fixed.

Sky:  5. With all the grapes in the garden, we can't help but wonder if H. A. will make wine from them. If he does and serves it with cheese--Which will you beg for? Wine or Cheese?

Tucker:  Sometimes H.A. tells Gremlin not to wine. And I like water okay. So it would be cheese for me!

Thank you Sky! If you hadn't asked, I wouldn't have thought of these things. Maybe somedoggy would like me to interview them. There are rules. Many of us have trouble with rules. But it's a game! Even Sibe games have rules. And I didn't make them up:

• 1. If you are interested in being interviewed, leave me a comment saying, 'interview me.'
• 2. I will respond by posting five questions for you. I get to pick the questions.
• 3. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.
• 4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview somedoggy else in the same post.
• 5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

It sounds easier than it is! Try it!