How to Give Boo a pill!

Okay, so rain is FINALLY moving in, and Boo just really stresses out over thunder way too much. When discussing this issue with the vet, she suggested the over the counter stuff first. Great- chewable pills---easy, right? WRONG!

So, I look at the radar this morning and see storms off to the west. To try and make sure that the pills have time to work, I head to the kitchen to give Boo his pills. I try, at first, to hand him the pill- hoping that it will smell like a yummy piece of steak and take it! He sniffs said pill, and turns his head to the side. Shunning the treat offered him. (Which, honestly, I expected.)

So, I dig in the refrigerator for something Boo will eat. He won't touch cheese, or bread, or anything starchy. I finally spy the left over pepperoni. Hooray! Meat! Right up Boo's alley!

I break the pill in half and wrap it in a piece of the pepperoni and hand it to him. He sniffs the pepperoni, and turns his head to the side. Great! Well, he's too smart.

He knows he's being set up. So I decide to take a different tactic. I get a piece of pepperoni without anything to "taint" it and tear off a piece and offer it to him. He pulls his lips back and takes the piece of meat between his teeth and spits it on the floor, sniffs it, then decides it's okay and eats it. To further entrench that it is not a trick, I give him another untainted piece. This piece is gobbled up more readily than the first. Thinking I have him fooled, I hand him the piece with the pill in it. One sniff, and the nose goes in the air.

We stare at each other- me trying to convince him through osmosis that the pill is REALLY good. I can see by the look in his eyes that he is NOT buying it. I do, of course, have 3 other poodles surrounding me that are more than eager to take the meat, the pill or both.

I decide that we've had enough pussy footing around, and decide to go with brute force. I wrenched his mouth open and insert pepperoni wrapped pill onto his tongue and then hold his mouth shut. We lock eyes again- competitors in an epic battle of wills. I pull out all my tricks, rubbing his neck and blowing in his nose. All this is supposedly supposed to make the dog swallow. All it does in this case is make him mad. He appears to swallow, and thinking I had won, I loosen my grip. I am rewarded by the wet and soggy pill landing on the top of my bald foot. The pepperoni, however, found it's way into Boo's gullet.

Another brief session of attempted osmosis gets me nowhere. As a last ditch effort, I put a few pieces of kibble in his bowl and crush the pill into a powder and sprinkle on top of the food. I find some chicken broth and coat the whole mixture.

Giving in to my persistence, Boo nibbles delicately on the mixture, taking frequent breaks to give me that look that says, "don't fall asleep, bitch!"

Now, we can only hope that after all this, the pills will work!

Night Time Agility fun!

Here's some video of night ASCA trial this past weekend. I hope you enjoy the footage. (Warning, I finally figured out how to put MUSIC with my videos! Opens up a WHOLE new set of possibilities!

First up is Kyra. This was a GREAT Jumpers run!

Some of Boo

Hemi got to play- though he was for exhibition only!

More Hemi Video

These videos are sort of mixed up, and are from several classes from the last month or so. Enjoy!

Hemi works well with distractions even!

Another good one! Watch this footwork!

More fun sequences!

One more fun one!

Peek-a-Boo

Or, would that be, Peek-A-Hemi?

Do you know what happens when......

You leave 2 sisters unattended. And bored? Well, I do. And, I'll let you in on it as well. So, it's Saturday afternoon- the shop is quiet, and we're sitting around staring at each other. Gene decides to go out back to take the trash out, and returns with the statement, "I found a dead body out back". He carries in his hands this poor sickly plastic Army man held together with duct tape. My sister and I looked at each other, and it began. So, here's the news story we came up with:

Duct Tape Killer Strikes Again!

by: L. Laine
At approximately 3:15 am, a dead body was found in the alley behind Dirty Dawgz Dogwash in Mansfield, TX. There was a blood trail leading from the body to teh dumpster where the alleged murder weapon was found.
The victim appears to be a homeless man, dressed in surplus army gear, including worn out combat boots and used black gloves. As with the other victims, the torso was wrapped in duct tape.
Police are currently searching for an extra large female who was reported to have been seen smoking a cigarette behind the strip mall around 2:30 this morning.
The CSI department in Arlington are currently running DNA and fingerprint analysis on items found at the scene.
Detective Brass refused to comment on the ongoing investigation, and there are no known suspects at this time. This is the fourth vicitm of the named "Duct Tape killer." The first victim was 45 year old Randall Lycke found at a local dog park. Victim number 2 was identified as 37 year old Tony Smythe of Grand Prairie, Tx, and was found in the dumpster behind Starbucks. The third victim was an unditified black male believed to be in his mid thirties to mid forties. He was found outside the Dallas Zoo, behind the brand new Moose Exhibit, causing a delay in it's grand opening scheduled in May.
Police are asking anyone who may have information about the murders to please call their anonymous tip line at (817) 555-9110.

And, here are the crime scene photos:





So, keep this in mind. I don't care how old youre children are- never leave them unsupervised if they are bored!

Life's A Beach!

My darling husband surprised me with 3 glorious days off at the beach! Not just any beach, but Gulf Shores, Alabama (part of the Redneck Riviera). It's a lesser known beach, but one of the prettiest beaches in the world! See what I mean?

The sand is not only white, but soft. It's a really fine grit, and soft on the feet. (No big chunks of shells to poke you in the feet!) If you've ever been to Destin or Panama City Beach, it's the same beach. (Just less crowded!)

When I landed, since Mom & Dad were driving up, Suzanne picked me up at the airport, and I hung around with her for a few hours. She offered to entertain me until Mom & Dad got there, just in case they were later than my flight. As it turns out, I was the last one in town, but that is a post for another day! :) To see Suzanne and her wonderful dogs, go to www.sonicagility.blogspot.com. Suzanne and Sonic are leaving next week to go to Belgium to represent the USA in International Team Agility- we wish them all the luck in the world! Go Get 'Em Sonic and Suzanne! Also joining her is Suzi with Sonic's older brother Jib, and another local agility team of Elizabeth and her pyrenean shepherd Hemi. 3 Great dogs that will represent the USA well!

The view from the Condo was AWESOME! (Not to mention the glorious sounds of the ocean!)

Monday, we spent all day lounging around in the sun. Here's Mom & Dad chilling on the beach!

Tuesday, Dad & I did some deep sea fishing! We had been with this tour before, and brought home more fish from that trip then we could handle. This trip was to be no different. Here's Dad enjoying the view on the way out to the fishing hole!

Here's our fish on the cleaning table- the fish were not as large as our last trip, and about 1/3 of what we caught had to be released, as red snapper was not yet in season. But, it was just as fun to catch them! The dolphins stayed about 2-3' off of the bow the whole fishing trip. Tried to get photos, but was too busy catching fish!

The catch consisted of vermillion snapper, white snapper (Or, blue nose snapper), and trigger fish. The biggest haul was on the blue nose snapper. Dad caught 2 Luna snapper, but since there are not many of those in the ocean, we let them release those. Also, I caught a nice sized moray eel- about 2' long- made a mess out of the lines before we got him up!

There was also a boat that was named after me- and even spelled the same! Tried to convince the owner it was my boat, but with no luck! (Oh, well!)

Day 3 was once again spent lounging on the beach, watching the gulls. Funny thing is, they've been fed so much by humans (a big no-no, btw!), that you can't eat without one of the little buggers eyeing your. (Or worse, squawking at ya!). I had a small bag of cheetos, and this little guy came begging.

When I didn't give him any, he called in reinforcements!

The sandpipers were cool-they didn't care much for the human grade food, but really enjoyed any dead or dying crabs that floated up in the surf!

Now, back to reality. It was a great 3 days, even if I did get a little sunburned on day 3! Thanks to a great hubby!

Bed Bounce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bed Bounce, as with other activities in our house that we seem to have no control over, originitated with Hershey..."The Queen". It started years ago with just the 2 girls, on Saturdays, when we had a chance to sleep in late. The morning would creep in, and one of us would yawn, or stretch, and Bed Bounce was on!

Bed Bounce consists of the dogs, one at a time (sometimes together) jumping up onto the bed (usually onto the human inhabitants of the bed). Then, pushing off of said human lumps to leap off the other end. This is followed by a pause to see if we are ready to get up and serve breakfast.

Bed Bounce was not embraced by Boo. His preferred method of protest of delayed payment of breakfast is to curl up as close to the mother figure as possible and breath sighs into the ear. But, once Bed Bounce gets into full swing, Boo finds himself on the wrong end of the bouncing, thus joins in with the other two.

Hemi, on the other hand, has taken Bed Bounce to a whole new level! He doesn't just perform the bounce, but his burrows his head into the crook of the male human's neck and proceeds to lick and nudge. All the while the other three are leaping on and off of the bed.

The rules of surviving bed bounce are few but simple:

1.) The fetal position is the safest position- this prevents internal injury when a 40-50 lb poodle lands on the soft spot (full force) of the human gut.

2.) Stay as quiet as possible- if you acknowledge bed bounce, game over, you lose.

3.) Protect long hair- any long hair trailing on the pillow will be stepped on by poodle feet.

4.) Bury your face in the covers- this protects the face from being drowned by one or more of the poodles.

It's best to end bed bounce as early as possible, or better yet, prevent bed bounce by rising early on Saturdays.