Houseguest II

So Lucy has been here a day. It's been okay. The Human Assistant is happy there's a dog sleeping on his bed again.

What's the big deal? I'm up there about half of each evening. Seems like that should satisfy him. But no, it has to be while he's asleep. When he wouldn't even know there's a rattlesnake in bed with him! Or a rhino. Or something.

Shu Shu Cocker Spaniel	Lucy Someotherkindof Spaniel

Anyway, Lucy's some kind of Spaniel or Spaniel mix. We haven't studied on it. But we know she's not a Cocker Spaniel like Shu Shu was.

You can see that Lucy's taller than Shu Shu. She has to have a taller picture. Shu Shu was 15.5" tall at the shoulders. I think. Lucy is 21.5".

She acted squirrely when H.A. measured her. Like she was some kind of wiggly squiggly puppy. She's 9.5 years old! Same age as me! Silly girl.

Milk-Bone break	Hey! Get outta there!

H.A. tried hard to get pictures of us all together. Passing out MilkBones didn't work. I took mine to a different room.

Out in the yard Lucy was either right next to the H.A. or off exploring on her own. Finally he told her to go see what I was doing.

I was minding my own business.

And the neighbor's business.

Which is my business.

The green things stacked flat on the ground next to the fence are where somedobby tried to dig under.

H.A. never found out who did it. And I don't remember.

::big Husky grin::.

He says that all the green things are pieces of "composting bins."

He hasn't used them in the year I've been here.

Except to block the fence.

So I don't know what they're supposed to do. Except block the fence.

Which only some of them are doing.

Lay there and look ugly and be slippery to walk on when it snows or sleets, maybe.

Like it was when he took the pictures outside.

In the last one there are some white dots on my coat.

It was barely sleeting.

It was falling like water but had some ice, too. Kinda weird.

Anyway, Lucy came over and poked around. But she didn't come to the fence.

I kept an eye on her. But it was okay.

Later I had some apple. But I didn't have to growl at her or bark at her or anything.

Lucy seems okay. For now, anyway.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

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-- "moar funny pictures" frm icanhascheezburger

Little Devil is outta here!

​ The call came in this morning. Shu Shu's adoption is approved.

They signed the papers over lunch. She'll be disrupting another home by tonight.

THANK  DOG !

Shu Shu is the​  ≋ Spaniel from Heck ≋ !  Last night she made me bite the Human Assistant - hard! The danged little ... female dog!

There I was, politely bugging H.A. for supper. He started "playing" with me, down on the floor making stupid noises back at me and grabbing my paws and stuff.

It looked like Shu Shu was going to join in the play. Then she attacked me! H.A. was right there and was pulling us apart only I didn't know the fight was over.  CHOMP !

He's going to see if he can get his hand well without going to the emergency room this time. Wish him luck!

This afternoon Shu Shu was doing something, I don't know. Prancing around, maybe. Gremlin barked at her. She doesn't like rowdiness around her.

Shu Shu attacked Gremlin! Maybe it was like a Husky Roll, where you just have to jump on somedoggy to show them you can. Anyway, it was over fast. Gremlin rolled on her side and Shu Shu backed off.

Scared us all, though.

I'll tell you what - Shu Shu ain't no dainty little princess from Lady and the Tramp! She's turning into a controlling little ... female dog!

Later, I was eating an apple and I snarled at Shu Shu to stay away. She wasn't coming toward me or anything. And she was around 10 feet off. So I was just letting her know, y'know?

She froze, leaning toward me. Stubby tail straight back. Then she slowly started to take a step toward me....

What's her self-image, some kind of Pointer/Attacker ‽‽‽

I thought Cockers were "renowned for their friendly, faithful, playful, quiet and affectionate natures"!

The Human Assistant yelled  NO !  and she sat at his feet and looked up with big brown eyes and wagged that little tail....

GAAACK !  Fortunately H.A. wasn't fooled. He's smarter than he looks! Sometimes.

Go back up to the photo and look at the mouth on that other Cocker Spaniel. Isn't it a little too big for just quietly and obediently retrieving birdies?

Yeah. I think so too.

-- photo of English Cocker Spaniel from Wikipedia
No Animals Were Harmed® in writing this blog. Promise. Not in any of the actions described, either. Except the human animal, of course. Those are the breaks.

Meeshka would approve

I have a great scam going! It's such a good one that I'm not going to stay upset about not celebrating the anniversary of me coming here!

The girls are on a kibble strike. I don't know what Gremlin's problem is. She'll probably get a trip to the vet because of it.

She gets bored sometimes. But usually only for a meal or two, says the Human Assistant.

Shu Shu, well, who knows? She won't eat what she brought with her. She won't eat our excellent stuff.

And the H.A. is annoyed that he doesn't remember which excellent stuff we have at the moment.

Heh. He likes to get a different grain-free food each time. That way we don't get sensitized to what's in them by eating the same thing for years and years.

And that's fine. But ya gotta remember what you had last time so you know what not to get next time. Humans - sheesh!

H.A. thinks Shu Shu may not be very hungry because her thyroid is low.

I didn't know you could move them around!

But he says that's what the vet said. You learn something new just about every day!

But anyway, here's the deal. H.A. pours three bowls of kibble. I lie down and thoughtfully chew what's in my bowl. Gremlin wanders off.

Shu Shu looks at her bowl. Looks at the H.A. Looks at her bowl. Looks at the H.A. He points to her bowl and tells her to eat her food. She looks at it some more and he wanders off. Shu Shu follows him.

Right about now, even chewing every bite, I'm done. I stroll toward the water bowl.  Oh!  Look!  Shu Shu's bowl is full!  I stick my face in it and gobble as fast as I can. (The human's words, not mine.) By the time the guy gets to me, I've had two or three good mouthfulls.

He picks up Shu Shu's bowl. I go back to wandering toward the water.  Oh!  Look!  Gremlin's bowl is full!  I gobble, H.A. grabs, I go drink water.

By now I'm up at least a third of a bowl. But wait, there's more!

Now the guy feels guilty that I have a nice full tummy (hah!) while the girls are "starving." So he gives them some stinky stuff. With half a serving of kibble mixed in.

"Stinky stuff" is something like canned venison or green tripe or maybe some rehydrated raw food.¹

Tonight he thought he'd get away with just pouring some stinky water from a can of tuna on their food. Shu Shu was very interested! But most of the kibble she picked out of the bowl, she set back down on the floor.

So he broke down and mixed a little of the meat in with their kibble.  SNARF SNARF  There it went!

Now, is the Human Assistant able to give wonderful, smelly, highly nutritious food to two dogs and ignore the third?  Is the Pope Jewish?²

Isn't this great?  My regular food. Plus extra food that I can be dominant and steal.  Plus stinky stuff!

The only annoying thing is that when we have smelly food we don't get extra treats later. I don't know why that is.³

Otherwise, what a good deal!  This is one case where having other dogs in the house benefits me!  Especially my dear little foster sister Shu Shu.  ::Husky Hugs::  Oops, sorry. You okay?

The H.A. is really determined to get her eating kibble. He keeps trying and failing. Until he dishes out rations of smelly stuff.

This is so cool! I've been trying to learn tactics from Meeshka. She uses Loki and Sam to get what she wants. I think she'd approve of the way this works!  ::Big Husky Grin::

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¹mr_ed:  Yes, it's just a tad bit hypocritical to claim the dogs are grain-free when I give them a food that has grains as its first two ingredients. I'll gladly give my rationalizations to anyone who's interested.

²Hint: NO!

³mr_ed:  Because I hide their medicine in the stinky stuff instead of needing to bury it in peanut butter or small pieces of deli turkey or the like. Shhh!

-- photo of Shu Shu by Nicole Howard
-- image of human glands from Wikipedia

Gotcha-versary

Quick note - the Human Assistant and I feel much better about Ringo's adoption after he met with the man on Wednesday. More in a later post.

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Now the Human Assistant tells me I've been here a whole year ... as of last Sunday!  ::big pout::

He did nothing to let me celebrate. So today I ate three apples in a row! (Plus maybe some he didn't see.  ::Big Husky Grin::)

Here's a video of me finishing up the last one. (It was getting to be suppertime, and I didn't want to stop in the middle of eating an apple to come inside for kibble.) Don't worry, it's only 14 seconds.

Congratulate the H.A. - this is the first time he tried the "movie" option on his digital camera. Eisenstein he ain't.



I'd think he would make a big deal out of remembering when I got here and not make me just eat apples by myself to celebrate!

Thanks to me he got his daughter finally to take her dog Zot! I helped him find homes for Poo-Poo, Sally, der Jägermeister, and Mystique.

Especially Jaeger and Mystique!

Double especially Jaeger! Big black dogs are hard to find homes for. And when they're fence-jumpers, well...!

I even went to MaxFund to meet Ringo off-leash. To make sure he could come here in case there was, dog forbid, some emergency at the shelter and he had to get out of there for a while. (We ignored each other.)

So I feel underappreciated. Here I am giving Gremlin and H.A. the benefit of all my Siberianness and helping clear out the extra dogs, and I get nothing.

Okay, I don't hang out in the same room with the H.A. like when I got here. But I was really sick then. My nose was really runny. And when a running dog's nose runs, humans can't keep up with it! And I coughed and sneezed and snorted and snorkled like crazy.

The rescue said I had "old-dog cough." My vet's x-rays said pneumonia and plam ... plum...  [pulmonary eosinophilic infiltration  --  mr_ed].

That. Plus stitched-up bite wounds and sunburned fur. And I'd been moved at least 6 times.

None of which I asked for! So, yeah, I was a little clingy at first. But he should be happy that now I'm lots more independent like a healthy Sibe.

Oh, and another thing! Helping Shu Shu get adopted! A Sibe's work is never done!

Oh. H.A. says we had green tripe with breakfast. That's true.

Can we have something else stinky tomorrow? Whaddayasay, boss? More tripe? Canned fish? That mush that has to sit and de-evaporate that I might be able to get my nose into when you're distracted? Huh, huh?

::Big Husky Grin::  He's smiling - I think that's good news for the nose!

G'night!

Day of discovery

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a few days! The Human Assistant has had headaches and icky tummy again. I don't know what it is with him. He finds the energy to do some things during the day. Then when it's night he can't concentrate.

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Before I get to the topic, could everydoggy please spare a thought for Shu Shu? She was spayed Tuesday.

The H.A. says this is major surgery even though it's routine. It went fine. H.A. will have to tie her down to keep her from jumping up on the couch. She wasn't hungry when she came home. I don't understand that!

She groans a little when she turns from lying on one side to lying on the other. Otherwise we think she's doing okay. We'd just like things to stay okay. Taking her to the clinic makes the H.A. take time away from paying attention to me!

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On Monday the H.A. had a big Day of Discovery! Bigger than Columbus landing in the Americas. He didn't even know what hemisphere he was in!

The Human Assistant started his day by reading email. He discovered that Ringo's adoption is in danger of falling through.

At least, Ringo's new dad said he didn't know if it would work out. He said this on Sunday, two days after he got Ringo.

He found that the dog was difficult to train. The man was diligently trying to get Ringo to walk strictly at heel. By his side, not a bit in front of him. Something very good for obedient breeds to do!  Heh.

Then H.A. went to the MaxFund shelter. He discovered that the 600-word "memo" he wrote for them on what Sibe adopters need to know had disappeared into thin air.

At least, nobody said they'd seen it. And neither had Ringo's new dad. Obviously.

H.A. had hoped that the shelter's adoption counselors would read the thing to help them screen applicants. He put in there that somebody who doesn't have experience with Siberians should commit to learning about us really fast!

Even before the "memo," H.A. had written in Ringo's bio:

... we have to go to special homes where they know about our breed or are willing to learn!

Everyone should have seen this.

Can you tell that I'm upset about Ringo's adoption? So is the H.A. But he's contacted the new dad to see if he's willing to change his expectations and accept a normal, healthy, active Siberian for what he is.

Anyway. Then H.A. took Katrina-dog Pearl for a walk. He discovered that she can put her nose in his hand and lift it up, asking to be petted.

The top of Pearl's head, and her neck and shoulders, are touchy places on her. So this was a surprise!

He thinks he also discovered that she can play. He's pretty sure that she play bowed after mouthing his hand twice when their walk was over. In the year that he's visited Pearl off and on, he's never seen her act like a happy dog.

Well, except that recently she wags her stub when she sees him come to her kennel carrying a leash. I guess she barks at most people.

And except for sitting on his foot a couple of times in the last month. I've heard that this is a Rottweiler way to say that they are yours and you are theirs and don't move because they're standing guard for you.

Or something like that. I don't quite understand it. Sibes are a working breed, true. But we're not into possession and protection trips.

After the H.A. finished his walk, he discovered that it was the right front tire that had been planning to blow out on him. Not the left front, like he thought.

Then he discovered that he still didn't have a jack that was tall enough to get a new tire on the Cherokee. (Duh!)

And then he discovered that he didn't have that block of wood he uses to raise the jack just enough to barely slip a good tire onto the wheel. And then he discovered that he had enough magazines floating around the car to do the same job as the wood.

But wait! There's more!

He then discovered the can of citronella spray¹ that had been missing for a couple of months. It got tossed way in the back and rolled under the spare tire.

Wow, was that a big day for the Human Assistant or what? And I had a discovery of my own ... a mouse in the kitchen!

At least, H.A. says it's a mouse. I haven't seen it. But its noise is making me crazy! I can't get to it, so I just go back in the garage and go back to sleep.

G'night!


¹ Formerly known as DirectStop. Webpages for it are hard to find. Here's a holster and a testimonial - from someone in Denver, even! The H.A. buys the stuff at PetCo.

Shu Shu is official

The Human Assistant went to the MaxFund shelter Saturday. Ringo was finally adopted.  YAY!!!  So H.A. can't threaten to bring him home anymore.

"old" Ringo	Pearl	Ringo again

Of course Ringo would be over our fence and down the street in a flash if he was left in our yard unsupervised. So it would have taken lots of rearrangement to have him here.

Nikki the photographer was there. They took new pictures of Pearl. A kinder, gentler Pearl with a woman hugging her. They hope this will encourage people to adopt this Katrina victim who's been in a shelter too long!

Even at the shelter people have been afraid of Pearl. She did have behavior issues on top of health problems when she came from New Orleans. But nobody knows how Pearl would do with other dogs. H.A. just happened to have Shu Shu along....

So while one volunteer was holding Pearl's leash, H.A. held Shu Shu so they could sniff noses. H.A. says Pearl was kinda friendly, actually. He's pretty sure she recognized him. Pearl seems to like H.A. ... I'd better not hear any mumbling about bringing her here!

Anyway. He took Shu Shu to MaxFund to see if they would take responsibility for her. There's no room for another dog at the shelter. But he said we would foster her if they'd just take her on.


The H.A. was counting on MaxFund to accept Shu Shu. Fortunately, they did! So she's officially a MaxFund dog now. He filled out MaxFund paperwork, and Nikki took a MaxFund picture, and Shu Shu got a MaxFund tag and shots and next week will get a MaxFund microchip and spaying. (At the MaxFund clinic).

I'll post Pearl's and Shu Shu's new pictures when they're ready. Meanwhile, H.A. spent lots of time trying to make a few more of his own presentable. They aren't very good. But since he put the work into them he insists that they be posted.

They're also all on Shu Shu's dogster page. He's going to try to fix a couple of them so they look better.  ::shrug::  She's just some little flop-ear, for dogness' sake.

So that's all for now.

-- photos of Pearl and Ringo by Nicole Howard

Asking for trouble

Here's Shu Shu snoozing on a pile of pillows on a couch.

The pillows don't even have covers on them.

In some houses this would be asking for trouble!

But even I could get on them and not get in trouble.

Even if I shedded a ton of my furry self.

The Human Assistant figures dogs can't get in trouble for things that are his fault.

Usually he thinks that, anyway. Though it may not be the first thing he thinks!

But when Shu Shu pooped in the house ... I got in trouble for that!

The H.A. hasn't figured out what to do about me blocking the way out of the house. So I didn't get in big trouble today. But he gave me that look that says he'll think of something one of these days.

Shu Shu is in heat. Not that I care, but she is. (Okay, her pee smells very interesting. But that's as much as I care.)

So H.A. can't let her run loose when he leaves the house. That would be asking for trouble because we have four-foot fences. It wouldn't take der Jägermeister to jump them and come into the yard.

(H.A. doesn't have many pictures of Jaeger on his dogster page. There are more in Mystique's dogster photo book.)

Anyway.  Minky, the Human Assistant says he's asked MaxFund if they'll take on Shu Shu. But he hasn't heard back yet. We hope they will because it should get her a new home faster.

Now, here is somedoggy who was really asking for trouble!

(See her tail in the first picture? The Human Assistant is no reincarnation of William Henry Jackson, never mind an Ansel Adams Jr.! Not even good enough to be a member of the Weegee Fan Club.)

This is another of his "famous" Slo-Time nonvideos. But a short one.

He took these pictures in March. Mystique didn't live with us yet. So she wasn't a huge nuisance yet.

Her person worked two jobs and had no way to get home at lunch.

Mystique was three months old in these photos, but the guy adopted her when she was only two months.

What was he thinking??? A puppy left alone for all those hours???

He couldn't let her chew the house up and also do all her pottying in the house! So she was in a crate.

So H.A. took us doggies who lived with him to visit Mystique one at a time. He would just turn us loose in the back yard and watch.

So he could have stopped this very annoying behavior. But he took pictures of it instead!  Sheesh!

In that next-to-last photo Mystique's ears are down and back. Most of the time they point straight up. But she was acting scared. Oooh!  The Big Bad Siberian is gonna get me!

(She did this with Jaeger, too.)

So what was she doing exactly 5 seconds later? I had the H.A. check the time in the picture info. Five seconds later it was, Play with me Uncle Tucker!  Chase me!  Wheee!

Hmmph. She was asking for it, all right. But people thought she was cute, so I didn't play rough Sibe games with her. Pull her around by her tail, roll her, stuff like that.

We got email from Mystique's new people today. They like her. They even had somedoggy else's people take her for a few days, and those people didn't want to give her back.

So there's no risk of her coming her back here, thank dog! Maybe she and Shu Shu would play together. Which sounds okay, but it would be one more dog who might want my apples.

And that would be asking for trouble!

Shu Shu is here

I thought the Human Assistant was going to lunch. He takes a long time for that. But he came back too soon for lunch, and he had this dog. Shu Shu, the Korean Cocker Spaniel. Or whatever....

"Yup, it's a crate."	Shu Shu pawses

Sure, she doesn't have to stay in the crate. But H.A. keeps me in my crate while she strolls around the house checking things out. Gremlin just sniffed her back end and that was that.

Squirrel?  What Squirrel?	"Just where are you going?"

Then H.A. let me out, and I had to investigate. Shu Shu sniffed my behind, which I don't allow. Then we were sniffing noses, and I was all stiff-legged, and this little dog growled and barked at me! She barked at me!

My ears shot up so high that they almost touched each other!

"Okay, just stay away from my apple."	"Guess I told her!"

I guess Shu Shu's okay for now. She didn't want my apples. Even when the Human "Assistant" stole one and cut it up. (He gave me bites, of course.)

She didn't want to eat much of her supper, either. So I snuck over and started in on it. Darned H.A. - he saw me and shooed me away.

Shu Shu looked through the front window and barked at people on the sidewalk. So that's pretty good (unless she gets too yappy). She's on top of things. But she cries for her mommy. That will be a little hard.

H.A. says he asked the person he knows whether he should hold onto Shu Shu and wait for the other woman to leave her husband. Or him to leave her. Person #1 said that person #2 said that the husband has already threatened to do that a few times. And they've been married only a few months.

Human stuff is complicated. But H.A. was told to just go ahead and find Shu Shu a new home. Which will be good for me. I don't need any competition for attention!

So that's all for now.

No new animals yet

Tuesday I almost had a cow, but Wednesday I didn't even get close to a deer. The Human Assistant saw one, though.

A friend of his came to the house. They've known each other for 46 years. I was happy we had a visitor and jumped around and talked to him!

But they left Gremlin and me and went to a park! Without dogs!

The thing is, they went to a memorial service. It was for the mom of another friend they've both known for 46 years. So dogs wouldn't have been respectful. Plus, no pets allowed in the state park. While they were sitting there in the park, friend #1 says, "See the deer?"

The H.A. looked and looked in the trees. Then he saw its white behind move. Yup, there's the deer. If he had a good dog nose it wouldn't have taken him that long to find it.

It was a beautiful day even if I had to spend the afternoon inside in a crate. Friend #2's mom would have loved the day, H.A. said. She was a hiker, skier, snowshoe-er, and wildflower encyclopedia.

There are tiny patches of snow in the shady spots here at the house. And there were in the park, too. Little spots of white. Deep blue sky. Tall red rocks and yellow cottonwoods and red oaks.

It's hard for a doggie to describe. We don't get the months of deep snow like where Siberian Huskies come from. (Obvioiusly, since our snow of a few days ago is already gone.) And H.A. says it's bushier and flower-ier where there's more rain.

This is where the high prairie meets the foothills. The fall air is cool and the sun is warm. Want to sunbathe? Want to trot around the yard without getting muddy? Want to pick up an apple and chew on it in the garage? All good. Especially since a day like this makes the humans happy.

And dog knows, that makes a dog's life easier!

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English Cocker Spaniel	Golden Retriever

No Shu Shu yet. The communications from Human Assistant to other person to third person didn't get through in time for it to happen on Wednesday. So, Thursday.

But H.A. said he saw a picture of Shu Shu. It was on a cell phone. A fourth person's cell phone. With all these people, why doesn't she have someplace to go besides my home?  ::sheesh::

Anyway, he says the picture was teeny tiny.¹ But she looked kinda Golden Retrieverish to him. With Spaniel ears for sure. Color kinda between the English Cocker in the left picture and the Goldie on the left in the right picture.

But it was a teeny tiny picture. And H.A. doesn't know anything about those breeds, anyway. So it don't mean a thing.²

Minky & Bros., H.A. doesn't know the person with the dog. But he'll mention it to the person who knows the person with the dog. Does it take time for the woman to realize this about a man? They must have married not long ago.

I gotta rest up now in case we get a four-footed visitor.


¹ Kinda like Pomeranians.  ::big husky grin::
² If it ain't got that swing.

-- photos from Wikipedia

Not another dog!

diane, we get 12 kinds of apples from our tree! Red and yellow; big and little; and not mooshy, a little mooshy, and very mooshy.

My favorites are the red (not mooshy) and red (a little mooshy). In the last week or so we just started getting bigs. I'm not very used to them. But I like them! That was a big red (not mooshy) in yesterday's post.

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I just about had a cow when the Human Assistant said he's probably bringing another dog home tomorrow!

See, he knows a person who knows a person who has a dog. That person married a guy who doesn't like the dog.

I'm okay with that. I don't like the dog either, and I've never met her! (Any dog that arrives after me takes attention away from me. Bad dog!)

But the guy does bad things to the dog. The doggie jumped on the bed to be with her mama, and the guy threw her (the dog) against the wall.

This is NOT GOOD !!!

::SIGH::  We'll do what we can. But she better not be here long! Her name is Shu Shu. She's a three-year-old Cocker Spaniel from Korea. H.A. says he doesn't know whether she's an English Cocker Spaniel or an American Cocker Spaniel.

American Cocker Spaniel	English Cocker Spaniel

Seems to me she would be a Korean Cocker Spaniel. But I guess there isn't any such dog.

We'll see what happens.


-- photos from Wikipedia