Pet Adventures

House shots, part 2

2012-01-19T13:05:00.001-08:00

House shots, part 1

2012-01-19T12:55:00.001-08:00

Arty shots

2012-01-19T12:38:00.001-08:00

What Atom thinks one should do in freezing rain

2012-01-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

J&M came over with the tractor to plow

2012-01-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

8-11"

2012-01-18T15:25:00.001-08:00

More snow shots

2012-01-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

Couple inches more

2012-01-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Good thing he's got long chihuahua legs instead of stubby dachshund legs. He's actually on top of the snow now because it's packing down (instead of being over his head).

Atom & snow over his head

2012-01-18T10:06:00.000-08:00

Nature

2012-01-18T09:58:00.001-08:00

Me & Atom not driving Willig to Portland for MRI

2012-01-18T09:50:00.000-08:00

Snow Day!

2012-01-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

Nice 4 days

2012-01-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome Hissie!

2012-01-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

And Atom in his teeny, tiny Weatherbeeta.

Atom chilling at the barn

2011-12-18T17:45:00.001-08:00

Watching a couple lessons from the comfort of my jacket.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:12:00.000-07:00

Little dogs ARE easier at horse shows

2011-10-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hot diggity dog!

2011-10-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Stampy's last slobbering

2011-10-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

Notice how smug he looks.

RIP Stampy

2011-09-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

Stampy had a great last day and got to go out without a terrible loss of dignity.
We'll miss smelly, slobbery Stampy.

Atom might be the cutest dog I've ever known

2011-09-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

AAA and PGB

2011-09-12T20:40:00.003-07:00

Adorable, Amazing Atom
and
Prolific Green Beans (and an ear of corn that was ammmaaazzzing)

Atom's first bike ride

2011-09-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

Atom's racing doppleganger

2011-08-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

A friend told me about this youtube, and I just finally got around to watching it. I laughed so hard I cried.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWpDOuVaYxo

The boys

2011-07-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

Chickens eat watermelon! So do ducks!

2011-07-24T19:15:00.001-07:00

It's so nice living somewhere that gets some light

2011-07-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

fun fowl fact

2011-07-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

If you dump old leaves from last fall (now with bugs!) into the chicken coop where grass used to be, the ladies have a field day. Even the ducks get into it.
I am experimenting with a baby pool, one step up from their current wading ponds.

RIP

2011-07-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ralph (aka Peony)
and
Poppy (aka not-Ralph)

Doctor Iron Sister!

2011-07-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

My sister just finished an Ironman in Switzerland!!! Goooooo Judith!

Atom & some poppies

2011-06-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

Janis & Michael's Running Duck(ling)s

2011-06-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

Action shots with Kappa

2011-06-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

Atom showing dignity; Stampy not so much

2011-06-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

One of Atom's distantly related brethren

2011-05-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

"The Case of the Dangerous Dachshund"
http://www.loweringthebar.net/2011/05/the-case-of-the-dangerous-dachshund.html

Atom photos update

2011-05-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is how I get about the house for sale

2011-04-30T21:03:00.001-07:00

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

These flowers really bring out the purple in his coat

2011-04-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Cuties in the car

2011-04-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Atom at 14 weeks; mastering the art of BFFs on the couch

2011-04-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

Atom & Stampy (and gratuitous "frog legs" shot)

2011-04-17T16:41:00.000-07:00

Action Atom at 12 weeks

2011-04-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

Cute Atom at 12 weeks

2011-04-17T16:33:00.000-07:00

Little Fatty

2011-04-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

On 3/15 Atom weighed 4.00 pounds.
Yesterday (4/12) he weighed 6.30 pounds.
Woo-wee! That's 50% of his starting weight.

last two for now

2011-04-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

He's sooooo cute!

2011-04-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

I am being selective

2011-04-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

More cute!

2011-04-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

Just being cute

2011-04-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

Adorable Atom!

2011-04-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

9 weeks & 10 weeks?
Action shots!

Atom at 8 weeks and 9 weeks

2011-04-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

Atom at 8 weeks with Luna

2011-03-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

Kappa napping on Stampy

2011-03-11T07:16:00.001-08:00

The Atom Family

2011-03-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

RIP Wallis

2011-03-03T12:28:00.001-08:00

Tiny Luna just 7 months ago!

2011-03-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

Atom at 6 weeks

2011-02-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

More snow

2011-02-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

Snow!

2011-02-25T08:13:00.000-08:00

Disgusting Alert

2011-02-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

Stampy pooped on the couch today, while we were all sitting there. And then apparently realized it was happening, and pooped all the way to the door, where he went outside, although he couldn't have needed to poop more.
He seemed to feel bad about it, but I feel terrible for him.

Poop problem

2011-01-25T22:33:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, Stampy pooped in the house. Tonight, he and Luna got excited when Tom got home, and they were racing around, and as Tom went to let them out, Stampy started crouching and then pooped in the house just before the door on the way out. Tom said he had a look of horror on his face (on Stampy's face). I am so, so, so not ready for Stampy to fall apart.
I have not done a post about the visit with the vet last week that said yes, it is Wobbler's, and it is coming from his cervical vertebrae because it is in his front feet and back, and that he will gradually (maybe slowly) decline until he loses bowel control, or he will wake up paralyzed one day from the neck down. There is no way to know the timing.
We put him on a small dose of steroids and used a cool laser, one or both of which seemed to help quite a bit.

What happens 2 seconds after Tom gets out of car

2011-01-23T11:24:00.001-08:00

Posse on the couch

2011-01-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

Luna happy to be home from her night at the "spa"

2011-01-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T17:11:00.000-08:00

A calm Luna is a very sick Luna

2010-12-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

http://news.theolympian.com/specialsections/Critters/20020118/25620.shtml

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/salmon.aspx

Backseat Drivers

2010-12-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

Poppy just wants to live in the bathroom now

2010-12-18T19:08:00.001-08:00

Because of the heated floors. And now this device provides her water. All she needs is food and a litterbox and she'd be set for life.

Tom driving tractor

2010-12-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

Backseat of car

2010-12-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

Poppy sandwich

2010-12-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

Snow Day (more because of Cold Day)

2010-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

23 right now, and it has warmed up!

Demon Luna - on the first of our cold winter nights

2010-11-21T20:50:00.001-08:00

25 tonight; 18 tomorrow!

For our future selves

2010-09-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

If we remember Luna as being a good* puppy, let this serve as a reminder that memory is fallible:
Today Tom gave Luna a dousing bath, which involved scrubbing her face underwater, after she carried a piece of poop into the house from the yard (Tom suspects cat poop, but possibly only because the other alternatives are too horrible to contemplate) and then rolled in it - in front of him - on the carpet.
Rolled so hard that I could hear them both yelling from the bathroom during the de-poop-ifying process.

*Ha ha - I had to go back and edit this post because I forgot the word "good".

Luna fun facts

2010-09-11T09:20:00.001-07:00

Here are some fun facts about Luna (formerly Miss Pink.)

She weighed 28.5 pounds a week ago, so she's probably over 30 by now.

She is absolutely fearless when it comes to: loud noises (jackhammers, loud cars, sonic booms (!!), vacuum cleaners, leaf blowers, heights, cars, water, aluminum cans with rocks in them (more on this later), verbal corrections. When our great dane alert-barks, she does run away at first, but then stops and is curious as to what is going on. I'm sure she will outgrow this as she's already realizing that there isn't anything to fear.

She is food motivated to the extreme, and will eat ANYTHING we are eating - carrots, french fries, jalapeno peppers (seriously), and loves, loves, LOVES salmon. Mostly dog treats.

She loves the water, in almost any form. Coming out of the hose, down a stream, she loves ice cubes, sprinklers, standing water in nasty puddles - anything.

It took her 2 days to figure out the cat doors, 2 weeks to outgrow them, and is still figuring out how she got through the doors before and not now.

She demands three walks a day, of at least 30 minutes in duration. Preferably longer.

She prefers to sleep under the bed.

She likes to chase our cats, but treats them as pack members. We've tried to correct this behavior, but the cats have resigned themselves to their fate, and we're close behind.

She loves to dig.

She has started trying to 'bury' her bones in the furniture. Gromit was an expert at this, and would routinely bloody the tip of his nose trying to move cushions.

When we go for walks, she'll elect to walk 'through' interesting obstacles like signboards, instead of walking around these. In the house, if the dog gate is leaning against a wall, she'll walk 'under' the leaning gate if she is bored. Walking around Capitol Lake, she will walk along the edge of the lake which is an elevated concrete retaining wall with about 5 feet of exposure to the water, and about 18 inches off of the ground. She has no fear of heights at all. I've never seen anything like it - it's like a child that will walk along the elevated rail just for fun.

We walked next to a jackhammer and she completely ignored it. No reaction.

Her manners with other dogs are universally submissive and interested when first meeting them, and warming up to them immediately. Her hackles are up but her tail is between her legs, ears back, and very deferential. Then the alpha-dog in her then comes out, and she likes to play. She doesn't cower - she approaches the other dogs submissively but very forward-acting.

Regarding training - negative reinforcement does not work with her! Only positive reinforcement seems to have any effect, and I really have to elevate negative corrections to 'get through' to her, but my gut tells me this isn't the right way to go with her, so we're going the positive reinforcement-clicker-training route to modify her behavior. Rewarding her for stopping bad behavior seems to be working quite well. The rocks in the can trick didn't work - she has no fear at all. None. I'm thinking of possible search and rescue training because she is so unflappable. Or agility training, or herding. Or all three.

Here is a video of Luna from about a month ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tORMHjQFV5M This is a representative sample of her reaction to water in any form.

Flashback to tinier Luna

2010-09-11T08:50:00.001-07:00

Luna and Stampy .... Playing!

2010-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

Count how many times I say "disgusting"

2010-08-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

Luna in the mud:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Tomonbelay#p/u/1/tORMHjQFV5M

Swollen Stampy face

2010-08-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

We were all at the barn yesterday, and less than 30 minutes after we got home, this is what Stampy's face did.
I think this is the 3rd time, and the 3rd worst.
I suspect it's some sort of bug biting him in the backyard.
He got 6 ccs of children's benadryl, a call to the emergency vet (which was unfortunately just static), and then 3 ccs of benadryl an hour later.
He's still swollen this morning, but not nearly as bad.

Stompus maximus

2010-08-15T21:25:00.001-07:00

Stampy's new genus and species, courtesy of Rich.

More Luna Pics

2010-08-07T17:08:00.001-07:00

Luna perfoms a trick.

Teton Pics

2010-08-07T16:42:00.001-07:00

I took a few before the sun hit the mountains or the barn - here I am with Wallis.

The first light hits the mountains and the barn. It happened in about a span of 3 minutes with perfect light.

Another shot with the remote shutter.

Pictures of Yellowstone Roadtrip

2010-08-07T16:35:00.001-07:00

Wallis at the north entrance to the park.

Just inside the park there is a pullout with this sign.

Of course, Old Faithful. It hadn't gone yet, but fortunately, had to wait about 20 minutes.

Additions

2010-08-05T21:32:00.001-07:00

She LOVES to play in the hose (especially splashing on the grass) and she super loves to play with ice cubes.

Tom's thoughts from July 21:
Having a puppy is tiring and awesome. I've forgotten how cool it is.

Stampy and Luna are fine as long as we are home with them. I left Stampy and Luna in the backyard while I started mowing the front lawn, and when I went back to check she was sitting on the chair (!) by herself, waiting for me to come back. I have no idea how she got up there.

She loves cream cheese, and wants to learn how to type.

I tried mowing the back, but she is afraid of the mower. I need you there to reassure her that it's OK. She runs in the house and goes under the bed. She'll come right out, and does this crawling thing to get out, and even when she is out from under the bed, she keeps crawling. Really funny.

She's starting to show some signs of nervousness, but I think it's because there are areas where she is comfortable now (in the bedroom, in the backyard.) I think this is normal puppy confidence.

Highlights of Luna's first three weeks

2010-08-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

She grew from 13 pounds to 18 pounds.
At my last horse show, she and Wallis pulled on Tom at exactly the wrong moment, making him touch dog doo-doo. Fortunately, I had wet wipes in the horse trailer, but I refused to touch Tom for hours and hours.
She gets the puppy crazies to try to stay awake and runs and runs and runs. She also bites when she is trying to stay awake.
She likes to go through the cat door. Because she can.
She also likes to chase cats who stupidly run away.
She really, really, really likes treats.
Her naps are shorter and less frequent in week 3 than in week 1.
She is a bit saucy, and when she's gotten in trouble and doesn't feel like being contrite, talks back.
She likes to dig. Especially the plant in the house right now.
She is not housebroken yet, even though she has been basically coddled with attention from day 1. This seems odd, since she seems pretty smart.
She likes to play tug of war.
She already understands "sit".
She had an excellent time playing with Janis's dog Carley, who is a year old retriever.
She sleeps well in her crate.
She likes going on walks, but doesn't walk so great on the leash.
She is scared of Stampy barking.
She is sort of scared, but sort of oblivious to, Willig.
She likes to chew on shoes. Especially Tom's.
She is very, very cute.

Stampy has a low thyroid

2010-08-02T21:40:00.001-07:00

For the love of god.

Luna gets the crazies

2010-07-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijspUT58lUQ

2010-07-23T10:42:00.001-07:00

2010-07-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

Luna at 8 weeks old

2010-07-21T21:24:00.001-07:00

LunaTic

2010-07-19T07:52:00.001-07:00

http://gallery.me.com/thomasjohnson#100110/Luna

Luna (the puppy formerly known as Miss Pink)

2010-07-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

She is coming from Laughing Mountain Chinooks.

Stampy

2010-04-02T18:56:00.001-07:00

With our month away (http://wademcdade.com/) from Stampy, we noticed some oddities when we returned, that I am suspicious are one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_degenerative_myelopathy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wobbler_disease

Stampy's vet visit

2010-01-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

Although Stampy's eye was considerably less swollen this morning (and the proud flesh had also gotten smaller) we took him to the vet, where he got Cephalexin for about 2 weeks (antibiotics) which will be an incredible 12 pills a day because he's so big, and one week of ointment on the gross part and in his eye 3x a day.
The vet said it could either be a puncture, a cyst, or an abscess; the cyst will come back but the other two won't. So we'll see.

One shot of left eye and one of right, for comparison

2010-01-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

Stamps' right eye got really big last night

2010-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

There is something under the top eyelid that looks like proud flesh. The other eye looks like it is swelling now too.

Stamps' right eye

2010-01-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Has a tiny bit of swelling in his upper eyelid.

Collective Cat Amnesia

2009-10-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

At 4 am, it appears that all cats appear to forgot everything they know, except for the drive to go outside. With the cat door installed, and two cats successfully using it (Kappa is on the short bus), they still come in, meow, wake me up, and then walk over so I can shove them through. It is really, really, really obnoxious.

Me and Stampy at Odin's rock

2009-09-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Tom giving Cesar Millan a run for his money

2009-09-20T20:21:00.000-07:00