Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Toasty

Smart dog.

The morning routine

Mischief is a crate sleeper. When she wore a cone a few weeks back, she wasn't a crate sleeper, she simply didn't fit. Once that cone came off however, she went back to sleeping in her cubby. When my alarm goes off each morning, I get up to turn it off the first time, and I let her out of her crate. This is where she goes when I climb back into bed and wait for my alarm to sound a second time:


Oslo is not a crate sleeper. He's not consistent in where he sleeps, and moves around quite a bit in the night. He'll usually start under a bedside table, move to an armchair, then another armchair, against a wall. I'm lucky I'm not a light sleeper. This is where I found him one morning:

As I eat breakfast, they're usually pretty calm. Some mornings, they take advantage of some cuddle time while I sip cup #1 of coffee, the world is good:



Saturday, July 24, 2010

Marking one's territory

No, I'm not going to write about peeing on posts. Dogs mark their territory in other ways as well, or maybe we should call it dominating. I couldn't help but laugh the other day when I walked in my room and found this:


Mischief's blanket, removed from her crate and placed on my bed. Her keen ears heard some sort of ruckus going on, and she came to make sure the message was understood:

That's The Ball under her paw. I think she's trying to say, "There's only one bitch in charge here.". You can bet that blanket went right back in the crate once the photo op was done!

You may remember the post a few days ago about letting the dogs eat together. That didn't last long, a snarl was expressed the next day and the fence went back up. However, today, I understood that they really do enjoy eating together in harmony. After setting up the crate and putting the food down, I went to do something else. I came back a couple of minutes later and saw this:


Notice that someone opened the door, and their bowls are touching! I let them stay that way after all that effort. Especially because our new friend Fred the Blue Frog was resting quietly during chow time. Upon a second return for clean up, I walked in on "dessert", sharing the last few bites of each other's bowl. [insert warming of the heart here]

Field Trip!


Today Oslo's Nan called and said she was on her way to pick us up. We all hopped into the van, and off to her house we went. The pups have their own preferences on how to enjoy a ride in an automobile:


Nan's house is one of Oslo's favourite places in the whole world. It was Mischief's first trip out there. We had some extra company, Jerry, who is visiting with his mum. Jerry saved the day by finding the ball that was lost under the deck, if Oslo could talk, I'm pretty sure he'd say something like "my hero!"

It was a hot day, and Mischief was really enjoying the cool grass, nothing like finding a stick in the grass!

We got into a little game of catch, the anticipation of a ball flying through the air is brutal:

I call this one "Give me a boost, I'll get it!". Team work is their specialty:


Off they go!!


It was a hot one out there, and the grass provides some coolness, but it doesn't take long before a shady spot under some trees starts to call them over. After this, it was pretty easy to call them inside for a nice long stay at the water bowl:


Satisfied snouts:


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The coveted ball

A few months ago we were at a park when Oslo discovered a ball in the melting snow. The spherical orange and blue rubber may as well have appeared with a halo over it. That ball went everyone Oslo did for two weeks. It put a damper on sniffing every post that we passed, but that was ok. He had The Ball.

As time passed, his obsession with the ball decreased slightly, but it continues to be the favoured among the collection that he has. Last week, it was lost under the bed. I knew it was there, as he would wake me up in the middle of the night with a slight whimper. Oslo is not one to whimper. This only happens when The Ball is under the bed.

Today, hitting my limit of fur and drool covered feet, I cleaned the floors. As the broom passed under the bed, it scooched The Ball out from underneath, and back into the canine jaws of the apartment. This is bliss:


Of course, they didn't want to leave me out of the joy, and insisted on playing right next to me while I sat watching Mad Men, en francais:

"Cooommmmeee onnn, play with us!!"


This went on for a while, if you're in the market for a ball, check out the Chuckit section for this one!:






A post not for the faint of heart

I've picked my fair share of random items out of a dogs mouth. In the city it's usually a french fry, a twig, maybe a Tim Horton's bag, nothing bad at all.

My mum probably takes the cake when it comes to taking something out of a dog's mouth, when one windy day over Christmas she saw something dangling from Oslo's mouth to realize only as she took it out of his mouth that it was a used condom...

I thank my lucky stars that we never had to make a trip to the vet to remove a fishing hook from Oslo's digestive system, as has happened twice to his buddy Fudge in Spain. The worst thing that he picked up off the beach was a used feminine product. That was pretty disgusting though.

Why am I talking things that we really want to forget about? Having had Mischief for only a month, what I've seen come out of her mouth includes:

The little rubber nubs from the door stoppers, you know the springy kind that keep your doorknob from making a hole in the wall? Twigs, leaves, grass, socks, blankets, shoes, the list goes on. Yesterday I saw her pick something up on our way inside. I had her drop it once we got upstairs, before we went inside, so that I wouldn't find this new object of interest on my pillow. *phew* it was one of these:


Yup, a foam earplug. A used foam earplug. There was a dance involved as I sprinted to the trash and scrubbed my hands thoroughly.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The New Kid on the Block

My shoulders have been pulled quite a bit lately, so I didn't take the camera on yesterday's evening walk. We had strange weather yesterday, rain, sun, followed by torrential downpours, followed by a bright and sunny evening.

On my way home from work I ran into the latest puppy in the neighbourhood, Lokey, or Loqui. He's a Bernese Mountain Dog who is growing like a weed. He was about half the size two weeks ago. Apparently not the biggest fan of walking, but loves to play, and chew your hand. I couldn't resist taking a picture:


Isn't he handsome?!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Lazy Sunday

It's warm out today, but not stinkin' hot. There's a little breeze, so off to the canal we went for a walk. We took our time and made a few stops on the way. A little rest in the grass while we watched the world go by:

Boating season is in full swing, Mischief enjoyed watching the boats make their way through the locks:

We made it down to the river and then came up via Parliament Hill. Senator Mischief:


The water bowls were refilled upon arrival home, and now the pooched pups are sprawled out, taking a well deserved nap. Sweet dreams!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Another hot one

It's still hot here. The dogs are coping fine, the city is starting to smell like every dog owner has thrown "picking up after your pet" out the window.

On Friday, Becky came over as we had plans to go to Bluesfest. She was very gracious in helping me beat the heat, as I had to pick up a bag of Oslo's food:


I had to take a picture, seeing as the bag of food weighs more than he does! Mischief was still excited from The Greeting, and was trying to get in on the action of taking a picture of Oslo with his bag of food. I cleverly distracted her by holding a shoe above my head. She was in awe:


The four of us headed out for a walk to the park. Mischief had an irresistible desire to snack on a twig. I think this shot shows Oslo's attitude towards the twig-snacking:

The pooches had a great time at the park. I don't want to jinx anything, but I have to express how pleased I am that the pair of them come sauntering over when it's time to go, and don't resist getting the leash on. It's probably the heat, once it's cools down they'll be back to their old games.

Don't worry, there's no lack of games around here. The walk home from the park consists of stopping at every patch of grass not to sniff, but to sprawl out and pant. This is one of Mischief's favourites, to the point where one can't even drag her away:


That doesn't stop the want to play! An example of the shenanigans that go on in the heat:


Ahhh...nothing like a jowel chew on the cool grass!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

My Little Helpers

Life with a dog is not clean. Life with two dogs? Forget about enjoying the feeling of bare feet on freshly cleaned floors for more than 5 minutes. Forget about trying to get that last dog hair off of your dark coloured clothing. Forget about a glass coffee, table, because they get under there and sniff upwards with their wet noses.

Oslo and Mischief are an active pair half the time. They appear to have found balance between play and rest, at the beginning it wasn't so, playing non-stop for what seemed the full day. They run around, wrestle, chomp each other's jowels, play tug of war, chew on a single ball together. Rather than fight the losing battle of keeping them off the furniture, we cover the furniture with sheets, and do a lot of laundry.

Somehow, these two coordinate their chill out time while things are being cleaned:



Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The greeting

When you open the door in this apartment, it's usually followed by chaos. It's better if you don't have anything fragile, smells delicious, or are wearing a garment made of delicate fabric. There is jumping, drool and tail wagging all before you manage to get the door open enough to step in. It's probably one of the top reasons why dog people are dog people.

I have to admit, I get pretty into the greeting. I accept the licks and give some scratches in return. Maybe I throw in my own version of tail wagging while egging them on with my "Hi puppies! Puuuuuuhppiiiiieeesss!" Followed by hello sung a few times in the jingle that's stuck in my head at the moment.

As a result, the camera only comes out a couple of minutes later, so here are the pooches today, post energetic greeting:




Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Parks, dinner, and...oral hygiene?!


This blog is for those of you out there who know and love Oslo, and at the moment, Mischief!

I'll try to update our daily adventures, as these two are always coming up with new things on their own.

It's our first week of just the three of us as J has gone back to Spain. We're all being extra daring this week, getting to work late or leaving early, bringing the work home, trying out new eating habits, and smelling new poles. ;)

Today we had thunderstorms in the afternoon, but by 5:30 they were over so we headed off to the park:


The pooches are always excited to get to the park, and Mischief is no longer the newbie, she's knows the way in:


There are usually at least a few urban friends hanging around, but these two love to horse around together:


After getting home from the park and chilling out for a bit, it was chow time! Over the last few weeks, we had avoided the only puppy attitude that the pooches had towards food by setting up a crate so that they could eat together, but still have something between them so that they could eat in harmony. As I said in my last post, we're trying out new eating habits. I was feeling pretty daring, so I put the two bowls down, with no barrier in between. The result? Success!


They even went so far as to leave one another a taste at the end:


While I was cleaning up and thought that they were taking a nap, I heard the familiar sound of canine jaws lovingly chewing away at something, I just couldn't figure out what it was. So I turned the corner and...


Yes, my friends, that is in fact a toothbrush. It had been hanging out on the bottom shelf in the bathroom waiting to fulfill it's destiny as a nook and cranny cleaner. Sorry nooks and crannies, looks like you'll be hanging out with your friend dirt a little longer!

Now that our pearly whites are nice and clean, it's time for a last walk before we hit the hay!