The Twelve Days Of Christmas

We have a different version of the song at our house. Here it is.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:


Twelve fleecy blankets,

Eleven dogs all barking,




Ten bags of dog food,


Nine cups of yogurt,






Eight fancy dishes,


Seven brand new collars,


Six bags of biscuits,


Five kinds of treats,


Four comfy beds,


Three leashes,


Two chirping birds,


And our toy box filled with lots of new toys.

On a serious note, we received some terrible news today. Monty, our big boy and self appointed guard dog, was diagnosed with cancer this morning. He has had a cough for about ten days and last night his breathing seemed labored. He climbed the stairs very slowly this morning and didn't have much appetite. We went to the vet and I expected a heart problem. The chest x-ray showed his lungs full of cancer. We are awaiting the results of his blood work but it won't change much.

This will be our last Christmas with Monty and we plan to make him as comfortable as possible for as long as he can stay with us.

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

We're having cold miserable weather along with a good portion of the country. We don't have much snow, just a dusting on the ground, but it's very cold and the winds are terrible. Last night something crunchy was falling from the sky and this morning Rob's school was closed. The pups run around in the yard for a few minutes, then congregate by the door wanting to come in and warm up.

Last night I finished wrapping and packing the out of town gifts and they went to Fedex this morning. Next the Christmas cards were taken to the post office. Now I have a few local gifts to wrap and one project to put together. Tomorrow I want to start baking so the good holiday smells hang around the house. I'll have to block off the doorway to the kitchen or I'll have so much help I won't be able to move.

Nicki tagged me. This one is about the dogs, so I'll play along. I have to name six thing the dogs like. That's pretty easy.
1. Cookies
2. Dinner
3. Playing in water
4. Chasing each other
5. Spinning
6. Riding in the car
I tag Dianne and her gang of Brittany Spaniels.

Every night before bed I give my dogs yogurt. It started years ago when one of them was on medication and needed something on his stomach before taking his pill. It's a popular routine in our household, newcomers catch on quickly and it signals that it's time to settle down for the night.

After trying many styles and flavors we settled on Yoplait Kids in the strawberry flavor. I chose it because the kids style is thicker than the others and the dogs don't make so much of a mess. I feed them from a spoon and everyone waits for their turn. Samba does try to run from one end of the line to the other to trick me, but I caught on to that trick. I change the order sometimes so nobody feels like they're always last. I just say the name and they are ready.


Monty needs routine in his life. He has never dealt well with change. About six weeks ago I was out of yogurt so we went to the store. They were out of kids style, so I bought some regular Yoplait strawberry. When I opened it I noticed it was a lot more runny than the other so I made a note to feed them smaller amounts. We usually feed in the garage so if they do spill some, it doesn't really matter. This yogurt had tiny little pieces of strawberry in it, which I'm sure is appealing to most customers. Not to Monty!!!

Monty took a spoonful, got a strange look in his eyes and spit it out. There were pieces in it. He was not going to eat yogurt with pieces in it. He walked to the door and refused to try any more.

The next day I went to a different store and found the kids yogurt. That night I opened it and started serving it. When I came to Monty, he turned his head and refused to try it.


I tried to convince him that this was the kind he liked. No, he was not going to be fooled again. Every night for six weeks I've tried to get Monty to eat his yogurt, but he absolutely refuses to even smell it.

Friday night Rob decided to help me with the nightly routine. When Monty turned his head away, Rob took the spoon and assuring him that this was the kind he liked, he showed it to him and actually got Monty to try it. He had four spoonfuls, then went outside happily. Saturday and Sunday Monty joined the others for yogurt. I guess he's forgiven me for trying to trick him into eating that terrible stuff with pieces in it. Believe me, I will never buy that again.


Here's Monty guarding a business card that he stole off the desk. This is his very favorite activity. With any luck Fudge will approach and he can give chase, growling and barking.

With Every Christmas Card I Write

Well, there's more than one way to take a Christmas picture. We didn't do very well with the group shots. The dogs didn't want to sit quietly next to each other for the time it took to get a good shot. Instead we decided to give them individual cards.

So here are our Christmas cards for this year.

Tsar


Fudge


Monty


Norma Jean


Morgan


Samba

Friends will get to meet a dog instead of the whole pack and we still have another whole group to use next year.

Tis The Season To Be Jolly

This afternoon we had our second annual Lakeside Christmas Party. We live in the southern part of the state and we have family that lives in the northern part of the state, so we meet in between, have lunch and exchange gifts.


Today we went to this wonderful little restaurant. This place is holding a benefit for the animal shelter this weekend, so it seemed a good choice to give them our business. The staff was friendly and the food was delicious. My one regret was that I didn't save room for one of the special desserts.



The other members of the family didn't come inside. Morgan and Sky waited in the car and after lunch we went to J's house where Splash and Grace were waiting. Winston and Rusty stayed home this year.

Sky and Grace are litter mates and haven't seen each other in several months, but were happy to meet again and had a case of the zoomies all around the house. Grace is much faster than Sky and he couldn't possibly keep up. Splash acted as cheerleader, barking each time they came through the room.


Morgan came with gifts. There were new blankets for Splash and Grace.


Splash picked the tan one and carried it around the room.





Gracie modeled the blue blanket for us.

Splash realized that there were a couple bags of dog treats in the gifts and began a campaign for treats that ended with his head stuffed in Rob's jacket pocket trying to get the last crumbs.

I sometimes wonder if I have made a wrong decision in raising my dogs. Should I have been more strict or less strict? Should I have caught some behavior before it got out of control? Why didn't I pick up on something before we needed a vet visit?

There is one decision I have never questioned. Letting J adopt my puppy Grace was a perfect decision. These two were meant for each other. In case you doubt that, look at them together. Notice Gracie's smile.


I don't know if J realized that by adopting Grace, she was getting the rest of us too. Every dog breeder's goal is to place their pups in the very best home available. We all lucked out.

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel

We finally attempted a photo shoot for this year's Christmas card. I had this great idea of dressing some of the dogs in their winter finery and having them all sit together on the couch. Great idea, isn't it?

The dogs needless to say didn't grasp the concept I was going for. Here are the results of the first try.

First Morgan in her ski sweater got on the couch. She thought she was supposed to take a nap.


She rolled over and tried to get comfy.


This is what the well dressed couple will be wearing this winter.


Samba decided she didn't want to sit up next to Fudge.


Samba, Fudge and Morgan all have a pretty reliable 'stay', so I put them in position first. Morgan looks like she wants to escape.


Now it looks like Morgan and Samba are trying to slide off the sofa.


Fudge decided to stretch out. Now they all look ready to bolt.


Fudge made his escape before I could get Sky in with the group.


Sky doesn't get on the furniture, so he was getting upset when I tried to put him with the others. So we'll try getting them together on the floor.


Every time I'd get them in position Sky would walk toward me.


Now where did Fudge go?


This could have been pretty good if Sky hadn't turned his head just as the camera snapped.


Mass confusion.


Back to the sofa, but nobody wants to sit up anymore.

This dress up idea isn't working out too well. Maybe we'll try something else for our cards. Stay tuned.

Oh Christmas Tree

First you all must see what Stacey has done. She is so talented. She works with the animal shelter and makes these wonderful sock dogs. A percentage of the sale of these little guys goes to help the shelter animals. She models them after real dogs and it's amazing how they resemble the real animals. And look, she did a Portuguese Water Dog. Guess who thinks she probably needs one of these.

Every year at Christmas I would get sick. I'd have a fever and sore throat that usually turned into strept. I always felt terrible and when I was little my Mom assumed it was too much excitement. As I got older I just figured that I was run down or had been exposed to something at school, work or at parties.

The first year Rob and I were married we put up the artificial tree that he had and for the first time ever I didn't get sick at Christmas. Still it didn't dawn on me what was happening. The next year we spent Christmas with my family and sure enough I got sick. Rob put it together. I am allergic to pine oil and the live cut tree was making me sick. Soon after that allergy tests confirmed it.

Since then I steer clear of real Christmas trees for health reasons.

When we moved to this house I was so happy that we had twelve foot ceilings. One of the first things I planned was getting a huge Christmas tree. We found one that's ten feet tall and it is gorgeous, but I should have given this matter a bit more thought.

I am only a little over five feet tall, which means that I can't reach half the tree. We have to use a ladder to trim and un-trim that sucker. Even with a ladder we have to reach way out to put the ornaments on, so it becomes a bit treacherous. The top half never is as full as the bottom. I still like my huge tree. We usually put it in the living room and trim it with ornaments we've collected on our travels and things we've collected over the years.

We have a pretty big entrance hall, so I decided we needed a tree there, too. We have a straggly five and a half foot tree that I decorate with cookies and candies. Now, do you really think with eleven dogs that I use real cookies and candies? No I use resin treats. It's a happy looking little tree that greets anyone that walks in the front door.


Here's a shot from the hall that shows two trees.


I couldn't stop there. In the basement where we have the fireplace we needed a tree, too. We have a seven foot tree that we had when we moved here. It fits nicely and I decorate that one in silver and blue and with doggy ornaments that people have given us.


Last year I decided we needed a tree in the bedroom. Now with the furniture and all the dog beds and Fudge's house there isn't a lot of room for a tree, so I bought a little two foot contemporary gold tree and trim it with tiny little balls and penguins.

Next year I hope that the library is finished and I'm sure we'll need a tree in there. I'll have to think about what kind of tree is appropriate.

Over the years we've had a few interesting events with our trees. I remember the year my sister's parrot flew into the tree a couple days before Christmas and refused to come out. She spent a week in that tree snapping at anyone who tried to reach for her. I don't know who finally got her out or how they did it. I hope they wore thick gloves.

When Bentley was a little pup he barked at the tree every time I turned the lights on. Then he noticed the glass balls hanging on the branches. When we were out one evening Boo decided to take the glass balls upstairs to his window seat where he kept all the shiny things he collected. When we returned home there was a trail of broken colored glass going up the stairs. He was very sad about the two broken balls, but he had safely carried six upstairs to his place and was very proud of his shiny new stash. I hated to disappoint him, but I took them back to the tree and hung only unbreakable ornaments on the lower branches.


When Tsar and Samba were puppies they were fascinated by the tree. I was constantly telling them to leave it alone. Two days before Christmas Rob and I went out for a nice holiday lunch at a fancy restaurant. When we got home, no dogs ran to greet us. You know something is wrong when that happens. When I walked up the stairs the hall tree was lying on the floor, ornaments scattered everywhere. I called the dogs to me and when Tsar and Samba appeared they both had garland stuck in their furry faces. I knew what had happened. They grabbed the garland and spun the tree around until it fell over. What fun !!

Life is never dull when you share your home with animals.

Deck The Halls

The year before we got Fudge I took these pictures of Samba and we used them for our Christmas cards. She was pretty nervous about being wrapped up this way because she knew she wasn't supposed to touch the decorations. The year before she and Tsar had been playing with the garland on the tree and knocked the tree over when they pulled on it.

I wrapped this garland around her and put her in a sit-stay. She didn't move a muscle.

I thought she looked quite festive.


Today we played in the yard. As you can see we have no snow and no grass, but everyone found something to do. There seemed to be some great sniffs on the ground today.


Noah noticed that I had the camera and asked to have his picture taken. He and Sky love to pose for pictures. I wish the girls would now and then.


I don't often get a shot of Noah and Norma Jean together. They look so similar but their personalities are so very different.

I've got an idea for a Christmas picture of several of the dogs together but I need help with it. I can't keep them still and take the picture, too. Rob's been working all weekend so I'll have to get his attention tonight when he gets home.