Snickers' Best Friend

Snickers has been very busy over the last couple of months. She helped me get an "A" on my final accounting class, and worked with me on my first marketing class. I finished the class today! Poor Snickers is getting tired of all this schoolwork.

We are having a beautiful snowy Christmas season. Snickers' friend Toby is visiting while his humans are off to sunny Florida. They don't know what they are missing.

Snickers and Toby are working hard to get to know each other. There is a lot of playing and fussing and snuggling. Snickers is definitely the boss of the show. She has been very busy teaching Toby the house rules, especially the one about the new guy not being allowed to eat anything. The humans have had to step in to be sure that Toby gets his fair share. Just to make up for it, Toby makes sure he gets lots of hugs and pats from those same humans.

Sometimes Toby thinks he is still at home and pretends he is the Prince of the household. Snickers lets him think that, because while he is busy playing Prince, Snickers is able to steal off with some of Toby's chew toys. So many chew toys, so little time!

Sometimes, after going for walks with the humans, there just needs to be a little quiet time before the chasing and "All-Dog Wrestling" begins again. After seven inches of snow, it takes a lot of energy for those little legs to make it through.

Toby's legs are a little shorter than Snickers and so he is able to sneak under the bed faster than Snickers. Snickers follows Toby, but gets stuck because it takes her longer to get out with only one rear leg for traction. In the meantime, Toby jumps on the bed to get a prime sleeping spot. After a few nips and a little scolding, all is forgiven. Best Friends Forever!

We hope everyone has a very Joyous New Year!!

My Dog, the Angel

Happy Halloween to all our friends! We are still out here mired in Financial Management. So far, so good. Two and a half weeks to go and we'll be done with the financial classes. Hooray!

Adriane and her husband Matt are visiting this week. Snickers got dressed to celebrate Halloween this year. She didn't like it very much, but the kids had fun giggling at her.

Dog Food, Chicken

Snickers has been eating home made dog food for about two months now. The vet was concerned that Snickers not become overweight and that the food be cooked completely. So far, so good. Snickers seems to be thriving. In the past, she would skip meals. I don't blame her. I wouldn't want to eat the same thing all the time, especially if it came from a bag.











Now Snickers gets fresh food mixed with kibble for crunch. She dances and begs for her meals, and licks her bowl clean. I have noticed that her fur is no longer course, but has become soft with a decrease in shedding. We give her a multivitamin once a day to replace the supplements contained in the dry dog food. This batch is a mix of chicken, sweet potatoes, and apples.











Just take a look at this happy dog!!

Dogs Play Games, Too

It has been too long since we have left a message! We have been working hard getting through our Statistics class. Ugh! But we finally managed and came through with an "A". I can't believe how much work this is while working full time. I wish there were more hours in a day.

Snickers has been very busy guarding me while I am busy with homework. She keeps a close watch and never leaves my side. Sometimes she watches from her little bed, and other times she lays outside the door. Sometimes she will post guard on the stairs watching the front door for intruders. So far she has been able to keep them all away. Good Snickers!

We have a week off before the next class starts; Financial Management. This is supposes to be the most difficult of the three math related classes. I thought that I would take these three one after the other. Then, if they were too difficult, I wouldn't be wasting my money on the easier classes in case I flunked out. So far so good. Wish me luck!

Here are Snickers and me having a little fun with some friends Friday night. We were the big winners! A whole $1.50. I need to let Snickers help me more often. Take a look at my lucky earrings. They have diamonds, clubs, spades and hearts sewn on them in beadwork. My sister Patty made them for me. She's the best!

Gardening with Snickers

Snickers is so proud of all her hard work helping to fertilize the flower patch.








Her work isn't done, yet. She keeps herself busy looking for ground squirrels, and other critters. She discovered the wolf spiders dragging their egg sacks around over the ground and thought they might be a new toy. I discouraged her and busied her with a game of catch.

We are very lucky that Snickers is willing to share her garden with us.

Aren't the violets and lilies pretty together? Thanks, Snickers!!

Accounting for Managers

Snickers has been very busy guarding me while I have been studying for my Managerial Accounting Class.

Yep, she takes this VERY seriously.

Nope. No getting past this dog.

Look out! She's there for me!

Oh, no. Not another garden picture.

Hey, what's going on here?

Snickers Gets HomeMade Dog Food!

We have taken the plunge to reduce the amount of packaged dog food Snickers eat. Snickers had a routine Veterinary appointment, so we talked about home made dog food for Snickers. We were cautioned that we would need to be very careful about keeping Snickers weight down. It can be easy for a dog to gain weight when eating a home made diet. Another warning was that we would need to take extra care of Snickers teeth because she wouldn't be eating the crunchy nuggets.

So, we purchased a "finger cot" style toothbrush that fits over our finger. We have some fluoride free chicken flavored toothpaste to use with the toothbrush. Another caution was not to brush the inside of the teeth until we were sure Snickers wouldn't bite!

Making the dog food was easy. I weighed out 60% meat protein, 20 % fruit and vegetable and 20% grains and legumes. I didn't use onions or peppers. First I put the ground meat into a slow cooker until the fat cooked off. Then I drained as much fat away as I could. I added the vegetables, fruit and grain and cooked until everything was soft. Then I used a potato masher to roughly mash and mix it all together. I froze small portions so I could take a days worth out each night to thaw in the refrigerator. Everyone should talk to their vet before they try any homemade recipes. You, the dog and the vet all need to be comfortable with what you are feeding your dog.

Snickers just loves the food. We are carefully watching her weight to see if she will put any pounds on. Doesn't she look silly getting her teeth brushed?

Hey! How did this garden picture get in here?

Cats and Dogs

My sister Patti has CATS!! Can you believe it? Not a dog! Snickers would probably not get along with cats. She does fine with other dogs, especially if mom is not around. If mom is around, Snickers needs to go into protect mode and not let other dogs near.

Otherwise, Snickers loves to play with dogs. But I think Snickers might want to eat a cat. She is always busy hunting and keeps a close watch on the wild grey cat that lives in the neighborhood. Patti has a very large golden cat named Leo. He is the boss of the cat kingdom at Patti's house. Isn't he a beauty?

Bathtime for Snickers

Snickers tried to hide when she heard Dad running the warm water in the basement, but no success!












It's bad enough a girl has to get a bath, but to post it for everyone in the world to see! Oh, the indignity of it!













Uh oh, it looks like Dad is using that sweet smelling shampoo. That means Snickers will need to find some perfume to roll in when he is done.













What do you think Dad. Are we done, yet?












Ahh. This is the best part! There's nothing like a warm snuggle with Dad.

Snickers Celebrates the 4th of July

We had a lot of fun celebrating the 4th of July at Venitian Days on Brown's Lake. My brother-in-law organizes the boat parade and we were invited to join them on the lead boat as we paraded around the lake. The theme was American Heroes. His boat was celebrating Lewis and Clark. I played Sacajaweia. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures.

A Daisy A Day

Snickers has been so helpful by donating fertilizer, that I thought you would enjoy seeing some more of products of her hard work. I love daisies. Snickers seems to like them too. She keeps her eye out for those naughty ground squirrels and bunnies.

When she is helping with the marigolds and petunias, she discovered that this is where the mother robins like to bring their babies. She did some pretty hard sniffing while we were out here. There are so many wolf spiders in the ground hauling around their egg sacks, I think it is a matter of time before Snickers gets a bite on her nose.

Golden Retrievers Love Rat Terriers

Snickers loves it when Harley comes to visit. She always has to do the sniff check to make sure it's really Harley.


Yep, it's Harley. Playtime! People are so much more complicated than dog's are!

Dachshound vs Rat Terrier

Snickers and Ralphie are at it again! Ralphie is such a handsome dog, but he thinks his good looks make him the irresistible.













Snickers loves to play with him, and when they are together, they love to run and nip and jump on each other.

















But whenever Ralphie decides he is the boss, Snickers has to let him know that he really isn't. Ralphie is 5 pounds heavier than Snickers. I can't help wondering what would happen between them if they were together for more than a day or two. Snickers is pretty tired by the end of the day after all the reminders that she is the boss. Would she tire out and just give up?

Ralphie and Snickers Say GoodBye to Jody

We had a going away party for my niece Jody. She is moving to St. Louis. Snickers and I will miss her. I've been lucky enough to work with this exceptional person for the last several years. Snickers loves her because she takes care of her when we go away on vacation. Jody isn't in these pictures because she is too shy, but we all love her and say good-bye. We wish you luck!

No More Stuffing

We lost another baby today! I was surprised to find another baby, unstuffed! I'm not sure why Snickers makes up her mind to rip up her babies after weeks of taking care of them like puppies. It is a mystery to me. She is so gentle with them, right up until the dasterdly deed.

We can't get mad at her because she is still good with all the rest of the toys. The house is littered with them. It is as though we had our own baby in the house.

How can a dog this cute be so naughty?