Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Happy dog on a hot day


Happy dog on a hot day
Originally uploaded by iTripped.
This photo was taken on the day we returned home from our vacation. Louise was pretty happy to see us, and had to show us all her favorite places at the farm before leaving.

This is a typical pose for her when she is getting warm, or is just happy. I expect to see her in this pose later this afternoon. We plan to go swimming in the lake, which she really likes.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Introducing Winston


Winston 015
Originally uploaded by iTripped.
Louise is happy to introduce another pug, this one with a somewhat famous history. His name is Winston Pugsley Hawken, and as you can see by the photos, can be something of a jokester. For those of you who don't recognize the character in the black and white photo, that would be the one and only Winston Churchill. This dog is obviously well equipped for costume parties!

Winston is also quite a bit taller than Louise, but she does prefer the big dogs, so that is okay by her. Just so long as she can keep him in his place, that is.

Sadly, I must report that Winston suffers the same affliction as Louise. Yes, that is right, he also lives with a cat. To make matters worse, this cat's name is Churchill. I can only imagine the amount of teasing that poor Winston has had to endure from other dogs, living with a cat. Louise sends out her condolances.

Winston the Pug

Playing fetch with Rocks

Louise really enjoys her walks, and for a dog that is no longer a puppy, she is still very playful. One of the things she likes to do is play fetch, but with a twist: She prefers to chase rocks, and the goal isn't to return the rock to me, but rather to carry it off to a spot of her choosing.

Because her eyesight is not so good, she prefers it if I throw the rock along the road, so she can hear it bouncing on the pavement. I really need a better camera if I am going to capture her chasing after the rocks but trust me, it's an entertaining sight to see.

Once she catches up to the rock, she then struggles to pick it up. I think she was a street cleaner in another life, because she seems intent on moving the rock away from the road, and onto a patch of grass, where she will then sit beside it, or play with it some more. For this reason, we try to choose rocks that are big enough that she can't swallow.

Which reminds me - Louise managed to scratch one of her eyes about a week ago. We woke up, and her eyelid was swollen shut, and the eye itself was inflamed. We took her to her vet and they did all sorts of tests. The eye drops and occular lubricant we have been using seems to have cleared things up nicely - the inflammation is gone, and she is acting normal. There are still brown patches on her eyes, scarring from possible sun damage, or as a result of her condition of dry eye. (This is what we originally got the occular lubricant for.)


As for Louise letting us put stuff in her eyes, it's a quiet struggle. We mostly accomplish it by offering a suitable bribe. (ie. she gets a treat after we put in the occular lube) It's getting to the point now where she gets excited if we bring out the eyedrops because she knows she will get rewarded afterward. Which is good, because we don't really want to have to fight with her to put in the drops.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Who needs beauty sleep?


Louise without makeup
Originally uploaded by iTripped.
Things are not always what they seem. This picture is an example of that. Usually, at the end of our walks, Louise likes to race up the stairs so she can turn and face me. Only this time, I surprised her with the camera. So don't be fooled, she really isn't looking mean in this photo.

The eerie glow to her eyes is merely reflection from the flash, nothing more. Louise wanted me to clear that up for anyone viewing her blog.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Bad Habits


Tug of war
Originally uploaded by iTripped.
Recipie: One part dog, two parts children, a half measure of supervision. Mix well and leave it alone for about 15 mins.

What do you get? Two boys playing with a wet dog, all enjoying themselves immensely. You also get one grandmother happy not to have to chase her grandkids for a few moments.

In addition to that, you also get the kids teaching the dog some bad habits, like pulling on her leash, tug-o-war style. Our trainer advised us that this was not a good idea unless we were going to train the dog to do guard duties. The big problem with it is the dog starts to think it is more dominant over the person playing with it, especially if it wins. Once a dog thinks it has dominance over a person, it starts to think that it is calling the shots, and will not listen as well as the owner generally would like.

But for us, the 10 minutes of play probably had no ill effect. And it was fun watching the silliness.