Dogs Love Peanut Butter

Dogs love peanut butter, and I love to feed it to them! It is so much fun to watch them lick their lips and the roof of their mouth. It sure keeps them busy for a while. Plus they will love you forever. Haha, isn't she funny to watch? Her face looks all crooked and silly.

More New Puppies

I work at the best place. People try to be supportive of each other and encourage each other's interests. Today when I got to work, I had two little surprises looking up at me from my keyboard. Aren't they adorable? I need to find names for them. I think one looks like Snickers and the other looks like Boo Casanova. Click on my link and see what you think.

Snickers couldn't wait to meet the new additions to the family.

I.thought for sure she would want the one that looked like herself. It could have been another new baby.

First she sniffed the two new puppies.

But look, it's the Boo Casanova look alike that turned out to be her favorite! Look how gently she picks it up.

New Puppy for Snickers

We went to the pet store this afternoon and surprised Snickers with a new toy. I had it in the bag and before I could get my coat hung up Snickers pulled it out and claimed it as her own.












Bob had to work to try to get the toy away and cut the tag off.














It squeeks as though it were alive! I wonder how long that will last? This one came a spare squeeker just in case.














Off Snickers runs to hide her new baby! Catch me if you can!

Dog Rings

Snickers loves to play. You could almost say she lived to play, except she also lives to eat, to be petted, to snuggle, to hunt.....

Snickers could pull your arm off with these ring toys. Bob loves to just tug on them with her. I won't tug because it hurts my hands. I hold my hand down the way Bob is, but I won't take the ring. I wait for Snickers to place it in my fingers. Once I have it, she lets go and I throw it for her. She plays with each of us differently depending on how we like to play. She doesn't care who plays or how, she just wants to play. Isn't it amazing how much strength she has in her legs?

Snickers Takes Care of Mom

Yep, mom's got a sore nose from yesterday's clunk. Snickers is keeping a close eye on me. She seems to be able to sense the bruise. She likes to put her paws up on my shoulder and lick my face. When she isn't doing that, she is curled up in my lap either watching for intruders or watching me.













Don't worry, Snickers. I'll be fine.














Can you get any cozier than this? Happiness really is a warm puppy.

Snickers Lands a Knockout Punch

I learned a lesson today. Don't bend over your dog to give them a kiss on the top of the head while they are still excited to see you. OUCH!! Snickers jumped and moved her head up at the same time.
Mom got nailed right in the nose. No pictures today, I'm busy with an ice pack trying to get the bleeding to stop.
I guess every winning fighter earns a prize. Snickers will get a chicken chew strip to get her out of my hair for awhile.

A Death in the Family

This was a very sad day. Snickers decided to kill her baby. That's right, she figured out it was a stuffed elephant and not a real baby and tore a hole in it's head. Then she pulled all the stuffing out. I found bits of the filling all over the parlor. I can't believe she finally did this.
She had eviscerated every one of her toys within a month of getting them. But the elephant, she has had for almost a year. She has taken this baby outside to go potty, to the food and water dishes to eat and drink, and even to bed when it is time to sleep.
What happened to make her turn on her baby? I think it is my fault. I put the baby in the washer and dryer and made it all sweet smelling and soft. She no longer recognized her scent on the toy. Could it be she no longer recognized it as her own? Bad me. Too bad, so sad. We need to shop for a new baby.
I always thought that if you found a baby bird outside a nest that you shouldn't touch it, but instead should leave it for the mother. I learned that this is not true. Birds will keep their young if returned to the nest quickly enough without injury. But if the baby is left too long and the body temperature is too low or the baby bird is injured, the mother recognizes that the baby will die and will push it out again to make room for the surviving young.
Nature will win, if we let it.

Rat Terrier and Snow

Good thing Snickers only has to worry about getting three cold feet! She looks like she is about ready to come in the house and warm up.












Doesn't it look like a crystal wonderland?












It is still snowing in this picture. The world looks so peaceful from Snickers' back yard.

Snow In Snickers Yard

Snickers finally has some snow in which to play. She is enjoying hunting for mice and calling her dog friends to play. Harley came over but was running so fast I couldn't get a good picture. Snickers loves to play with that big Golden. What a gentle giant!

Puppy's Bath

Saturday's are a good day to get the laundry done. Today, I took Snickers' baby and gave it a bath along with the towels. When it came out of the dryer, I gave it to Snickers. She sniffed it, gently took it from me, and ran into the parlor to place the baby behind the chairs in a sunny spot so it could warm up. Isn't she a good mama? She stands close by her baby so I won't take it away for another bath.

Snickers' Stair Fun

Snickers is such a silly dog. When we get home we have to follow the same ritual every single time or Snickers cries like a baby. Is she spoiled or does she need the ritual to feel secure, or am I a human trying to get into a dog's brain? I finally followed Snickers command and ran up the stairs to put her on the bed and rub her tummy. Then I ran downstairs and filled her dog dishes with food, a treat and fresh water. Then I ran back to the stairs and played doggy hide and seek between the stair rails.














Come to think of it, who's the one that has all the brains here? Sounds like a good life to me! Where's my tummy rub?

On a different note, everyone seemed to enjoy the miniature quilt I posted. Is there any interest in an a little class with Snickers, or would you rather I stuck to just Snickers?

Snickers and the Miniature Quilt

Remember the little one inch fabric squares Snickers and I cut out a while back? Well, here is the product of one of our ventures into quilting. I gave this miniature to my boss for Christmas when I was her Secret Santa. It was so much fun to make. I was very happy to be able to give it to her.

Snickers was a little funny about posing with me. She is still a little timid when around new objects.

Snickers Pads

Because Snickers is a three legged dog, we try to keep her pads in good condition. This can be hard when it gets cold and icy. We finally are back to our good cold snowy Wisconsin weather. We received about 4 inches of snow, and when there is snow, there is ice.
















I needed to put a little salt outside on the ice around the walk. I use as little as possible, but sometimes, you just need to bite the bullet for the sake of safety. I don't want to risk falling, and I don't want Snickers to fall. I've noticed that she will like her paws to remove salt and snow which can further damage her pads. I've tried using these little booties with pads, but she doesn't think very highly of them and would just as soon they disappeared.
















I check Snickers pads for cracks and use warm water on a towel to rinse them at least once a day during this period. If Snickers pads show any sign of cracking I like to use udder balm or Vaseline at night to soften them. Udder balm is readily available in Wisconsin, it is used by dairy farmers to put on cow's udder's to keep them in good condition for milking. It is also a popular hand lotion for men and women alike.

Snickers Edible Garden

My brother is blogging about creating an edible garden as his yard rather than having grass and plants that you need to water. He has an interesting pole bean garden against his house, and pineapples and ginger along with fruit trees. My girlfriends think he needs to also grow edible flowers like nasturtium.
Snickers really doesn't care too much about those plants. But she loves peppers, she likes to dig up bulbs and tubers. Her idea of an edible garden is lots of bunnies running around, mom turning the dirt and finding worms to munch on, dad putting out bird seed so there are birds to hunt (the birds are too smart for Snickers) and lots of tree squirrels and field mice to catch and shake. What fun!
I think by watching Snickers at work, it might give us an idea of what we might have eaten when we lived in caves.
Check out his link to your left at Robert Brinkmann's Garden Blog.

Snickers Finds Snow

Oh, Dad. Do I have to wipe my feet when I come in out of the snow?













So what do you think? Should we go for a walk or take a nap?













Ok, nap works for me.

Hooray for Snickers!

We had much work to do today; shopping, and visiting relatives. We decided again to see if Snickers was comfortable alone in the house. She has been with us for over a year and we have left her alone periodically for longer and longer times. Today she handled it for four hours! This time her hiding place was curled in her bed. She was at the front window watching us as we pulled away, and when we came home, she ran to the front window and watched us when she heard the car pull in to the driveway. But this time she was barking and scolding us! Bad parents!

Snickers' Early Spring

Snickers found some lilies coming up. We have lilies scattered throughout our gardens. Some bloom in the spring and some later in the season. It is still too early to see green. The weather is expected to get into the 20's this weekend.













Where did that bunny go?













We found a wild geranium greening out. Snickers and I need to get out this weekend and give these babies more cover. I didn't spread out straw this fall expecting a mild winter. I didn't anticipate this much early growth. Snickers added some of her personal fertilizer to one of my bed we planted with bulbs. We found a couple bulbs had been dug up and munched on.

Snickers' Daisies

On Snickers' quest for critters she discovered that the daisies are greening out.















We heard the weather man talking about the warm winter weather in Wisconsin. He said it was a combination of global warming and an unusual northern flow to the El Nino winds. Just west in Colorado they are being buried in snow. Today we got rain mixed with flurries. Look out daisies! You should still be asleep!

Snickers Sniffs out Sedum

Snickers found sedum shoots in various places around the yard. I usually like to keep the dead foliage throughout the winter as cover for the critters. But the shoots are so big, I am risking cutting them down so I don't damage the new growth later on. Although my husband is enjoying the golf, I don't like the warm weather right now. We need to have prolonged hard freeze to kill theinsects that seem to be growing more abundant.














The shoots are quite large already. I don't normally see this until sometime in March when the weather warms.














I wonder what will happen when (if) we get the cold weather and snow that we typically see? I covered these green shoots with the cut dried foliage to help protect them.

Climate Change in Snickers Backyard

We have heard quite a lot about climate change recently. Is it happening, isn't it happening, is it the fault of humans, and so on. Climate change is truly a cyclic phenomenon, you need only to look at the history of the planet to know this. But I don't think there is any question that the imprint of humans and their use of carbon based products is having an affect in accelerating the process of climate change. There is so much we could do to minimize the imprint we are making. Do you know that right now in the State of Wisconsin, we have a company that dumps mercury as one of its byproducts in manufacturing. This company wants to convert to a process that does not use mercury. It is asking the state to freeze its electric bill for ten years so they can afford to pay for this conversion. The state "powers that be" are actually arguing about whether or not they should agree to this. Maybe I'm being short sighted, but doesn't it cost the state a whole lot more to pay for mercury cleanup in our soils and streams? What is the cost to the fishing industry, the Great Lakes, tourism? What are the health care costs to children born of mothers who eat mercury polluted food? I could go on.













Anyhow, here we are in the first half of January and we are documenting buds on our maple trees.














We also found buds on our elderberry bushes. There are many new shoots popping out of the ground with fresh leaves. You may need to click on the pictures to enlarge to get a better view.
Snickers and I hope the weather gets much colder to kill some of the bugs that are dormant out there. We hate mosquitos. West Nile Virus has become very deadly for the birds and other animals.

Snickers the Rat Terrier Finds the Scent

The weather was so warm this weekend that Snickers and I went for a walk around the yard to check things out. She took me for a good sniff around when she caught the scent of some small critter.













She stopped by the downspout as if to say, "Okay, I found the critter, now what are you going to do about it?" We have seen many ground squirrels come and go in these spouts and have caught some in those humane traps. When we do, we transport them miles away so they don't move back in. If Snickers got hold of them, there wouldn't be anything left! (She practices on her toys).

Snickers Hiding Spot

We needed to get up at 3am to have Adriane at the airport for her flight. We decided to leave Snickers out of her kennel. We do this occasionally to see how she will tolerate it. She seems fine for short periods, but then tends to stress out and make a mess. We hadn't been able to find her secret snuggle spot until today. We returned home about three hours after we left and found a nice warm spot on the love seat in the parlor. As soon as Snickers heard the car door slam, she became quite excited, but was not destructive while we were gone. Was this because it was an early run, or is she becoming more secure? We'll need to continue to explore.
My neighbor just rescued a yellow lab. They have had it for several weeks now. He is two years old and came house trained. He wasn't sure how the lab would behave when left alone, and so first started with a confinement to a hallway, then a small room, then several rooms and now the dog has the run of the house. He has never had an accident and is not destructive. The only issue is that he didn't want the dog to sit in his recliner and so has been putting a large heavy pillow on the recliner to keep the dog off. Every day, he comes home from work and finds the pillow up against the front door and the dog has been in the recliner.
I think they both know which seat is the most comfortable in the house! We look forward to introducing Snickers to our new neighbor.

Snickers the Three Legged Rat Terrier and Toby the Maltipoo

I thought you would enjoy watching the three legged rat terrier in action. Don't blink or you will miss her. She is racing around with Toby, the Maltipoo. They are about the same size and are racing around to see who ends up with the favorite bacon strip chewy toy instead of the plain rawhide. I'll give you three guesses who the winner is! Snickers doesn't know she only has three legs!

Time with the Girls

This was a fun day for me. Snickers has been so busy keeping watch over everything that she was pretty worn out today. My daughter and son-in-law came in late because they were visiting as many people as they could fit in. Snickers woke up and groweled loudly to be sure we were awake. We helped her check everything out and when we knew it was family coming home, we all went to bed.

The girls all got up early. Snickers got fed and watered, then she promptly fell asleep in her kennel.

Off we went to get our hair redone. We all got cuts and colors and looked like new women when we were done. All the guys think they are now married to someone else!

What a fun day. Tomorrow my son-on-law leaves to fly back to Arizona. We have one more day with our daughter and off she goes. It is always hard to say good-bye.

Party Dog

Snickers loves entertaining and being entertained. As a matter of fact, she thinks it is mandatory that she is at the center of attention whether it is a human or another dog that is doing the entertaining.




Hey, don't forget to include my baby and me in the family picture!

Come on big guy! You can be rougher than that!

Come and get it, Toby!