Smelly Holidays

Hi everybody, it's me again. Mom has been busy getting ready for Christmas, so she lets me write the blog. Besides I have lots of interesting things to tell you.

Today we were very busy dogs. We made Christmas cookies. You start with stuff called dough. It smells great, but you can't eat it until it's cooked.

Mom did the measuring and Dad helped her mix because she has a sore hand. We helped by licking the spoon.

Tsar wouldn't lick the spoon because he thinks everyone is trying to poison him. What a goofball!

Dad did the rolling out part because Mom doesn't like to do it. She says she gets bored. How can you get bored with cookies?

We helped by keeping Dad company.

Even Tsar was interested in that part.

Then Mom put the cookies in the oven and we had to wait and smell them cooking.

Finally they were done. First we made dog cookies. Two kinds! We made apple peanut butter cookies and gingerbread cookies. Oh wow do they ever smell good!

After the dog cookies were done we made people cookies, gingerbread ones. Mom has become very hungry for gingerbread lately so we made some just for her and look what we made...

Portuguese Gingerbread Dogs!

We made lots of them so Mom can have all she wants. 

Making cookies takes a long time, but after dinner tonight we each got to have one of our own homemade Christmas cookies and they were sure good.

Fudge's Shopping Advice

Hi everyone in Blogland.

Isn't this a great time of the year? The big truck men keep coming to the house bringing boxes and some of them are for us.

One of the best things is all the special food that is around the house at this time of year. There are lots of good smells and super tastes, like turkey and especially cookies. We love cookies, both dog kind and people kind.

Today I want to give you some ideas for gifts if you haven't finished your shopping. Every year we give our Dad a gift from us dogs. Mom helps us, but they're all things we think he should have. Here are a few of the things we've given Dad in the past. We can't tell you what we're giving him this year because then it wouldn't be a surprise. Right?

A shirt that shows that he belongs to us is always a good gift.

It's great to go for long walks on cold, snowy days, but remember that humans don't have thick fur and they get cold. If they get too cold they only go for short walks. If you want a nice long walk think about giving your Dad a warm jacket.

Humans don't have very much fur on their hands or ears either, so this might extend your walks.

We love to go for rides in the car, especially to the park, the lake or the ice cream shop. A long time ago we gave our Dad one of these car compasses so we would find our way without getting lost.

Last year we updated that gift with one of these. Now an invisible lady tells us how to find the ice cream shop. Neat, huh?

Our Dad is an artist and one year Mom got him lots of art supplies, like paints and brushes. We got him one of these things so he could learn how to make pictures of us. I don't think he's ever used it, but I'm not sure. Dad makes abstract paintings with lots of lines and splotches, so maybe that's what we look like to him.

We don't give Mom gifts at Christmas, but she says we're her best gift of all, so that's a good thing. Even if you don't do any shopping, be sure and give your Mom and Dad a kiss and a cuddle. They like that stuff. Your pal, Fudge

Strange Human Behavior - Part Two

Hello again everybody, Fudge here.

I'm afraid I have an embarrassing situation to discuss with you today. It will point up how humans really aren't quite as superior as they pretend to be. Let me explain.


In our house we dogs have three water bowls. One is in the garage, one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. Mom makes sure that they all have cool clean water in them all the time.

Our humans also have several water bowls in the house, but they keep them in little rooms with doors.

When we were all puppies, our Mom and Dad showed us that it was important for us to go outside to pee or poop. We sometimes thought the carpet would do, but they convinced us that we needed to tell them and they'd take us outside. Now this is just fine with us, we like going outside unless it raining really hard.


But our humans, and other humans that visit us aren't housebroken. They pee in their water bowls. Yes, it's a shameful thing to admit, but it's better to get these things out in the open. Now I ask you, what kind of animal pees in it's water bowl?

We like to go in the little room with the humans and observe this strange behavior and once I decided that I would try to please Mom, so I lifted my leg and peed on her water bowl. She told me that it was bad, but I thought she must have misunderstood, so I tried it again the next day. Do you know what she did? She put that horrible belly band on me so that I couldn't pee till she took it off. I really hate that thing, so I never did it again. I guess humans don't like to share their water bowls.


Once Mom caught Norma Jean with her feet in the human water bowl, playing in the water. After that Mom started closing the doors to the little rooms where they keep their water bowls. Now we can't go in there anymore. It's too bad because they have paper to shred in those rooms and that's lots of fun.

Anyway, I've confessed our shameful secret and I hope you don't think badly of our humans even though they've never been housebroken. We keep trying to tell them how pleasant it is to pee on a tree, but they don't seem to get the message.

Have you ever heard of such behavior?
Fudge

Strange Human Behavior - Part One

Hi Everybody. I'm here today to discuss some very puzzling behavior  from my our humans. This is not new behavior, but we dogs have discussed it and we just don't understand why they act the way they do. Maybe some of you have seen the same strange things in your households and can enlighten us.

This is the situation. In our house we have several of these things.

These things usually sit quietly on the table or the desk and they don't bother anyone, but occasionally they make a funny noise and then our Mom or Dad stop whatever they're doing and go pick them up.

They hold the things up close to their heads and start talking. There's nobody else in the room, so we think they're talking to us even though we don't understand most of the words they're saying.

To show that we're paying attention and want to carry on this conversation, we start barking.

When we bark, Mom and Dad tell us to be quiet, so we stop barking while they talk. Then when they pause and seem to be waiting for us to answer, we bark again. This does not make them happy and sometimes Mom goes into the bedroom and shuts the door so we can't hear what she's saying.

So our question is, why are they talking to us with that thing against their heads and why don't they want us to answer? Do your humans do this, too? What do you do? We'd love to hear your explanations of this bizarre behavior.

Your pal, Fudge

An Unwelcome Guest

I'm afraid the Grinch has been here. I think he's taken up residence here.

As you all know, about ten weeks ago Morgan tore her cruciate ligament. She's been on rest and pain medications ever since and she's doing well.

About three weeks ago Samba started showing pain in her back foot. Dr B examined it and thinks it may be a tendon injury. She's on rest.

Two weeks ago Bailey started limping. I gave her something for it and after about four days the limp went away.

Thursday morning when I let her out of her crate she was holding her right back leg up and wouldn't put any weight on it. I started giving her something for inflammation and pain. She's now putting weight on the leg, but is limping again.

Bailey has an appointment with Dr B on Monday morning.

Then yesterday morning when I called Tsar to get up for breakfast, he screamed in pain. I checked him over and couldn't see what was wrong, so I gave him his arthritis meds and watched him. He stood and sat hunched up and tried to avoid lying down. If he did lie down, he'd scream in pain when he tried to stand up again. I gave him some pain medication at bedtime.

This morning we called the clinic first thing. Dr B wasn't in, but Dr Missy saw him and my boy has a bulging disc in his back. Tsar is on rest, pain meds and muscle relaxants.

I've tried to be a good girl all year, so why has the Grinch moved into our house this Christmas? Four of my ten dogs are currently on rest and meds for leg and back injuries. This is not what I wanted for Christmas.

A Musical Interlude

Today in the spirit of the season, we'd like to entertain you with a special song.

Oh, you'd better be sweet,

You'd better be neat.

You'd better not bite,
Or get in a fight.

Santa Paws is coming to town.


Don't chew on a sock,
Or bring in a rock.

On walkies don't tug,
Don't poop on the rug.

Santa Paws is coming to town.


He watches when you're playing,

He sees you chase the cat.

He wants you to obey the rules,
So do it, that is that.

So be a good pup,
Or just do your best.

Try really hard,
He'll take care of the rest.

Santa Paws is coming to town.

Keeping Busy

I still feel a little like this, but the ideas are starting to come back into my head and translate onto the blog.

I'd been busy knitting sweaters and toys when suddenly last month the tendonitis in my right hand started hurting. A lot. I was feeling the pain in the palm and radiating up my middle finger. It got so painful that I couldn't even lift my coffee mug with my right hand. I knew it was time to stop knitting and let my hand rest, but I can't seem to sit without my hands being busy, so I tried some cross stitching. Fortunately, that didn't hurt and so I've been stitching some holiday designs.

I did these little fellows just because I thought they were cute. They were also fun to stitch.

Next I wanted to do a Santa design, but there are so many cute ones to choose from, so this is what I chose.

This one reminded me of my trip to Russia.

 One of my favorite designers for Santas is 'Mosey And Me'. I've made a couple of their designs before but this was probably the most labor intensive one so far. I ike them because they're not  the pretty Santa that we're used to seeing, but they're kind of schmucky old men who look down and out, but kind.

 Last night I was going thru my patterns to find my next project and I found two more Santas by Mosey and Me, so they'll move to the top of my to do list.

I also want to test my hand with some knitting so I think Morgan might appreciate a new sweater. With  arthritis in her legs, it might help keep the old joints warm. Wish me luck.