Louise and I went for our morning walk last Saturday, and had a bit of an adventure. As we explored a nearby field Louise managed to step on some sort of a stinging nettle. I'm not sure if that is what it is called, but this thing had very sharp and long spikes that made it almost impossible to remove. It looked like a piece of cactus.
Louise usually keeps up with me on our walks, so when she stopped and sat down, I suspected something was up. She was clearly favoring one of her back paws, and it didn't take long to see the green, spike covered pod attached to her.
There was no easy way to remove the pod, so I had to grab it and pull it off. This involved holding the dog still, and unfortunately, also impaling my fingers on the spikes in order to get a good enough grip on it to remove it safely. After removing the pod, I then had to inspect her foot to remove any spikes that were still attached. There were a few.
After that, we paused to take our breath and I snapped a few pictures of the area. Just as we were about to leave, I noticed that Louise had managed to find ANOTHER pod, this time stuck to her other foot. She was less willing to cooperate this time, since she knew what I was going to do. Still, I managed to get her free of spikes and also decided to carry her out of the field to avoid further adventure.
I'll post a picture of the cactus-pod-thing on my other blog. If anyone knows what kind of plant we stumbled onto, I'd love to know.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Raincoat
Last night we had rain for the first time in quite a while. So for the first time in months, the raincoat came out of the closet. Not that it was entirely neccesary, since the rain had stopped by morning. But things were still wet, and someone-who-shall-remain-nameless has a nasty habit of rolling around in wet grass and bushes, so it was decided to use the raincoat. While putting it on, we discovered a slight problem: with the new harness we got for Louise, there now is no place to attach the leash when the raincoat is on. This was only a minor problem, as it is generally quiet enough on our street that we can do the morning walk without the leash.
This next shot was an experiment to see if the camera could take a good picture while we were walking. I consider it to be a partial success, as the right parts of the photo are in focus. Generally speaking, Louise doesn't mind either the harness, or the raincoat, although she does pause every few minutes to adjust. (she does this by shaking her coat)
We did run across one of our neighbors on our walk today, and got the usual reaction when she saw Louise in her rain gear. She laughed and said Louise looked adorable.
This next shot was an experiment to see if the camera could take a good picture while we were walking. I consider it to be a partial success, as the right parts of the photo are in focus. Generally speaking, Louise doesn't mind either the harness, or the raincoat, although she does pause every few minutes to adjust. (she does this by shaking her coat)
We did run across one of our neighbors on our walk today, and got the usual reaction when she saw Louise in her rain gear. She laughed and said Louise looked adorable.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Dogpark
Ahh, the dog park. Believe me, this is one of Louise's favorite places. Always a great spot to meet other dogs, or at least to leave messages (if you don't own a dog, don't ask about how they do this.)
This is such a popular spot with Louise that we can't even mention 'dogpark' unless we intend on walking her there that moment. We have started to refer to it as 'the DP' instead. The nice thing about this park is that there is a section for families, with a playground, etc. and an ungroomed section for dogs. The dogs are allowed to dig holes, run off leash, generally play and sniff around in a relaxed manner.
This next shot was taken the same day, on our morning walk. Louise had just met a young dog named Max. They played chase for a while, until Louise admitted that she couldn't keep up with such a young and energetic dog. His longer legs complicated matters even worse for her. But she was a good sport about it, and chased him for several minutes just for the fun of it. Before our walk home, I gave her a chance to rest. Since the grass was still damp, she felt the best way to cool off was to roll around in it.
This is such a popular spot with Louise that we can't even mention 'dogpark' unless we intend on walking her there that moment. We have started to refer to it as 'the DP' instead. The nice thing about this park is that there is a section for families, with a playground, etc. and an ungroomed section for dogs. The dogs are allowed to dig holes, run off leash, generally play and sniff around in a relaxed manner.
This next shot was taken the same day, on our morning walk. Louise had just met a young dog named Max. They played chase for a while, until Louise admitted that she couldn't keep up with such a young and energetic dog. His longer legs complicated matters even worse for her. But she was a good sport about it, and chased him for several minutes just for the fun of it. Before our walk home, I gave her a chance to rest. Since the grass was still damp, she felt the best way to cool off was to roll around in it.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Title Shot
You may recognize this photo from the banner. It's probably my favorite picture of Louise and I thought I would post it today.
It amazes me how many people who meet Louise ask me if she is vicious. Either there are some nasty pugs in the world, or people have the wrong idea about these dogs. My experience with Louise is that she is not aggressive toward people. She does sometimes get upset at other dogs, but usually only if they don't want to be nice to her.
The other thing to keep in mind is that even if she did have a nasty temperment, she isn't well equipped to really hurt someone by biting them. Pugs don't have long, sharp teeth to inflict damage on people (or other dogs).
The truth of the matter is that Louise craves attention from people. Being aggressive towards humans is the last thing on her mind. Getting pets, treats and acceptance from people, well that is pretty much what motivates her on most days.
It amazes me how many people who meet Louise ask me if she is vicious. Either there are some nasty pugs in the world, or people have the wrong idea about these dogs. My experience with Louise is that she is not aggressive toward people. She does sometimes get upset at other dogs, but usually only if they don't want to be nice to her.
The other thing to keep in mind is that even if she did have a nasty temperment, she isn't well equipped to really hurt someone by biting them. Pugs don't have long, sharp teeth to inflict damage on people (or other dogs).
The truth of the matter is that Louise craves attention from people. Being aggressive towards humans is the last thing on her mind. Getting pets, treats and acceptance from people, well that is pretty much what motivates her on most days.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Introducing Layla
This little pug is Layla. I don't have a lot of information on her, but can tell you that she enjoys sitting in the driver's seat of a car, has the occasional beer while playing poker, and has been caught chewing on things not hers.
UPDATE: Rae, her owner has this to say about Layla:
Not sure what to mention other than the fact that she is a miracle puppy. She has quite the medical history. She had an extra blood vessel growing between two blood vessels. The vessel that takes unoxygenated blood from the intestines to the heart and the vessel that takes toxins and nutrient rich blood from the intestine to the liver to be filtered out were connected. This meant that the unoxygenated blood was going to the liver and it was dying and the toxin blood was going to the heart and causing heart damage and brain damage. Thousands of dollars later and after a
"shunt" surgery-she's good as new. We were told we should put her down 'cause she peed blood-and I mean almost pure blood for 3 months prior to surgery. We weren't about to give up on our little girl. They did the surgery and also removed a bladder stone half the size of her bladder -when she was only 6 months old. She is now 10 months old this Thursday and a
fire cracker!
Other than that she's a beer drinking stunt-driving little devil!!!
Rae
"Hey, give it some gas, will ya?"
You can see the occasional update on Layla here, on Rae's blog.
UPDATE: Rae, her owner has this to say about Layla:
Not sure what to mention other than the fact that she is a miracle puppy. She has quite the medical history. She had an extra blood vessel growing between two blood vessels. The vessel that takes unoxygenated blood from the intestines to the heart and the vessel that takes toxins and nutrient rich blood from the intestine to the liver to be filtered out were connected. This meant that the unoxygenated blood was going to the liver and it was dying and the toxin blood was going to the heart and causing heart damage and brain damage. Thousands of dollars later and after a
"shunt" surgery-she's good as new. We were told we should put her down 'cause she peed blood-and I mean almost pure blood for 3 months prior to surgery. We weren't about to give up on our little girl. They did the surgery and also removed a bladder stone half the size of her bladder -when she was only 6 months old. She is now 10 months old this Thursday and a
fire cracker!
Other than that she's a beer drinking stunt-driving little devil!!!
Rae
"Hey, give it some gas, will ya?"
You can see the occasional update on Layla here, on Rae's blog.
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