Vacation

I recently went on a short vacation, and as I got out the suitcases and started packing up, the dogs soon realized that we were leaving, and they were going to the petsitter.  This was their reaction. 


But how will I survive without you??

 

I know something's wrong, but I'm not sure what.

  

Please don't send me away again!  I love this couch!

 

Wait a minute... everyone is upset just because you're leaving us for a week?

 

Here, let me help you pack your bags.



I mean... I'm so sad.. I'll miss you Mom!

How to be a Successful Blogger

This is a guest post by Ziggy The Great The Dog.  I'm here to share a few secrets on how to have a successful blog.  First and foremost, have a mom or dad that will take the time to share all of your stories online.  This is crucial, because there are a lot of other dogs and cats out there that have very interesting lives, but no way to share them with the rest of the world because their mom or dad won't take the time to write or take pictures.  If your mom or dad does not blog about you, consider finding a new mom or dad.  Oh wait, mom said that wasn't nice.  Instead, consider asking them repeatedly until they give in and create a blog about you.  Sad puppy dog eyes also work sometimes.

Once your mom or dad has started a blog, it's important to give them a lot of writing material.  Otherwise you may find that they don't write very often, or even worse, they write about other things instead of you!  To make things interesting, you should try something new at least once a week.  Here are a few suggestions:

a) Develop new hobbies, like drinking or dancing.

b)  Try new foods.  A few of my favorites are bananas and bird seed. 

c) Get your mom or dad to take you interesting places, and don't let them forget their camera!

d) If all else fails, become creatively destructive. 

Then, remind your mom or dad to write about you by looking pointedly at the computer.

If this doesn't work, grab the mouse and run around until someone catches you and takes it back. 

If all else fails, you may have to take extreme measures. 

A few holes in the computer case should convince your mom or dad that everyone will be happier if they will just sit down and start typing.

Remember, the more interesting things you can come up with to do, the more successful your blog will become, so don't be afraid to experiment!

Merlin

I adopted Merlin a little over a year ago.  He was just a kitten, sitting in a cage at a shelter, surrounded by many other kittens and cats.  He chose me, and I chose him, and even though I am a "dog person", Merlin has captured my heart like no one else ever has. 



Due to pet restrictions, Merlin is temporarily living at my parents' house.  To make things easier on them, I bought some nail caps for Merlin's front paws.  This would prevent him from scratching up any furniture, without causing him any distress.  I was impressed at how well the nail caps work.  They also make him look quite stylish, don't you think?

I was a bit worried about how Merlin would adjust.  He was used to living with a lot of other animals and only two adult humans.  At my house he'd run and hide from guests.  So then he went to live in a house with no other pets, two adult humans and several young children.  I did what I could to help him adjust - gave him a safe place to hide in an empty bedroom, used Feliway to lower his stress, brought his favorite items from home and purchased several more items that I thought he would like.  It didn't take long before he settled in and then quickly took over.  Now he thinks he owns the house, and probably will hate to come back to a house filled with other dogs and cats and with no children to entertain him. 

That's how he sees it, you know. The kids are there just to play with him. They make the magic laser light appear to give him something to chase. They also run through the house carrying his favorite ribbon, and throw cat toys throughout the house for him to pick up and carry around in his mouth.

He's not going to like coming back home to just me and a bunch of other pets.  Sure, the dogs keep him busy by chasing him now and then, but it's not the same.  I won't be able to live up to Merlin's expectations, and he won't be able to continue to live the lifestyle that he has become accustomed to.  I just hope that he can forgive me someday. 

Ziggy Plays Football

I always suspected that Ziggy was a football fan.  Every time my husband would turn on a football game, Ziggy would be right there by his feet.  But since there was always food involved, I couldn't be sure if it was the football game or the food that interested him.  Until yesterday when Ziggy found a stuffed football, and I found my answer. 

Ziggy loves football.  He tried out every position and every play he's ever seen on TV.  First, he practiced hiking the ball, while giving the opposing team his best tough dog glare. 

Then he tried out being a receiver, catching long passes thrown just over his shoulder. 

He worked on his running game for awhile. 

He practiced his best feints to avoid the defense. 

And when the other team got the ball, he got a chance to practice his fumble recovery skills.

All in all, Ziggy is quite the football player.  Which may explain why he has so much fun running at people or other dogs full-speed and knocking them down.  I thought it was too much puppy exuberance.  It turns out it's just another chance for Ziggy to practice his football skills.  I think he'd make an excellent left tackle. 

Ziggy and the Photo Shoot

I decided I needed some new pictures of Ziggy for the adoption website and Ziggy's Fan Page, so at the last adoption event I took some photos of Ziggy wearing his "Adopt Me" bandana. The photo shoot went something like this.

Ziggy looks the wrong direction and ignores me for awhile.

I decide to wait him out.


Ziggy turns around but refuses to open his eyes.

More waiting on my part.


Ziggy sits down in order to better show off his stomach muscles.

I think about going home and doing some situps.


I move to the side and Ziggy tilts his head in a pose that would be adorable if he would stop closing his eyes.

I pretend to ignore him so he'll open his eyes again.


He gets up and walks away.

I use the opportunity to fix his bandana so people can actually read it. I wonder if that will encourage anyone to actually adopt him.


I back up and snap a quick photo before he has time to get his eyes completely closed.

I celebrate the possibility that I may finally have a useable picture.


Ziggy sits back down and closes his eyes again.

I wait.


He then lays down and continues to keep his eyes closed.

I contemplate taking a quick nap.


Ziggy then opens his eyes and I take another quick photo before he can move.

I decide the pictures are good enough and end the photo shoot.


Ziggy is rewarded for his excellent  mediocre less than enthusiastic performance with a trip to the Super Storm Drain.

Wordless Wednesday

Ziggy Goes To An Adoption Event

You might wonder why I'm writing an entire post about Ziggy going to an adoption event. After all, he's been going to adoption events for almost a year, and this adoption event was not much different than the rest. But some of you may not be familiar with pet adoption events, so Ziggy wanted to share the experience with you from his point of view.

Ziggy: Thanks, Mom, I'll take it from here. I do believe I'm an expert when it comes to attending adoption events. Let's start with the clothing. Many of us are forced to wear either adoption vests or bandanas or other accouterments to let people know we're available for adoption. I'm not sure I understand this cruel practice. After all, how many other dogs are hanging around in pet store parking lots with people who are wearing T-shirts with the name of a rescue group? The only dogs there that are NOT for adoption are all inside shopping with their parents, not forced to stand around outside begging for a new owner. The bandanas of shame are just one form of injustice that we face every day.

Next there are the pictures. Mom goes a bit crazy with the camera some weeks. This past week during the event she actually attached my leash to a nearby telephone pole and forced me to stare directly into the sun so she could get some good pictures for the adoption website. See how I'm squinting? She didn't care - she just kept taking pictures, and didn't even bother to reward me with treats for my time spent modeling.

Oh yeah - Mom just reminded me that instead of treats she rewarded me by letting me visit the Supreme Storm Drain. I have to admit, that made all the modeling time worth it. There were some very interesting smells in this drain.

In spite of the difficulties that we rescue dogs must put up with at these adoption events, there are some benefits. First, we get a lot of attention from people walking in and out of the store. This gives me the opportunity to play one of my favorite games - grab the bag or purse of a passing customer and see if I can find anything to eat. Second, every once in awhile the rescue group or Mom buys me a bone or a toy. And that makes these adoption events all worth it. So now I'll turn this post back over to Mom, and go enjoy my bone.


Mom Ziggy's Foster Mom: Thanks Ziggy. But you left out all the important things that happen at adoption events, like the dogs or cats that find their forever homes, and the people who donate to help with all the rescue dogs' food and vet bills, and the new friends we make.  Maybe next time you can write about those things too.

Ziggy Dresses Up For Halloween

Local Readers: Please don't forget that All Paws and Snuggle will be holding their annual spaghetti dinner and silent auction event this coming Sunday, November 7th!! The event will be at the Elks Lodge on Tom Ginnever in O'Fallon, MO. You can find out more at the Pawsta for Pets website.


As an update from my last post - all three of the adorable dinosaurs puppies have now been adopted. And a friend sent me some pictures she took of Ziggy as I tried to dress him up for Halloween. I thought you might enjoy them.

Ziggy the Alien

Ziggy stomps on my foot and tries to bite me in retaliation for turning him into an alien. 

Ziggy tries to escape so he can beam up to his alien spaceship.  Isn't his curly tail cute?

Ziggy with his devil cape, trying to chew up the leash in order to escape the crazy lady who keeps putting costumes on him. 

Ziggy realizes his best strategy is to put holes in any costumes that he is forced to wear, thus requiring me to either purchase each costume or stop dressing him up. 

Ziggy's strategy works, and I finally settle for dressing up a photo of Ziggy instead.



Trick or Treat

We had a very interesting adoption day last Saturday. The trick-or-treaters were out in full force.

There were pirates...

Kylie the pirate

and dogs wearing skeleton ties.

Am I scaring you?

Taffy was too afraid to wear a costume,

Let's pretend I'm invisible...

 but she managed to gather enough holiday spirit to consume some pumpkin bread!

In addition to more pirates... 



I'm Pirate Binky!



there were adorable little dragons! 

 

Why be a puppy when you can be a dragon?!

 

Look at me, breathing FIRE!



Even dragons get sleepy sometimes.

Of course Ziggy was there, but he refused to wear any of the costumes I picked out for him.  I was sure he would like the shark costume, but it turned out to be too small.  So we tried the crab costume, and the alien costume, and even the devil's cape.  I thought each one was appropriate but he disagreed, so in the end Ziggy did not dress up, and as a result, I refused to give him any pumpkin bread.  Don't feel too sorry for him - he's probably allergic to it anyway.

Housing Saga Recap and Play Time

For those of you having trouble keeping up with my housing saga, here is a recap:


Four years ago my husband and I bought a house in a subdivision that has a lot of rules. One of those rules is that only two pets are allowed. At the time we had no pets so didn't really think about it. Then we adopted Remi. Then I decided to start fostering. That led to many more dogs. And cats. Then we adopted Noelle and Merlin. Then my subdivision board had their lawyers threaten a lawsuit if we didn't get back to only two animals. So I had to give up fostering, and send Merlin to live with my parents, until I could find another place to live. I thought it would only take a month or two at most. After all, we weren't ready to sell our current house - I was just going to buy a cheap house/trailer somewhere with no restrictions so I could keep fostering while we fixed up our house and waited for the housing market to improve. Buying a cheap house that was not in a subdivison was harder than I expected. I had multiple contracts on homes but they all fell through for one reason or another. So three months later, I'm still waiting. I have a contract on a home (the log cabin!) and hope to close in the next month. In the meantime, my long-time foster dog Ziggy decided he would like to stay with us, and since no one else would take him (wonder why?), we took him back. This meant we were still over the two pet limit, so Remi went to stay with a friend of ours. Then Remi decided he would like to come back home, so we managed to get an extension from the subdivision to allow us to keep three dogs until the end of the year. So now we have Remi, Noelle and Ziggy. Merlin is still at my parents house (sorry Dad!) and I am hoping that I am able to move before the end of the year because I miss my cat and I miss fostering! In the meantime, life with Remi and Noelle and Ziggy is never boring. Here is a short video of them playing in the backyard.

Ziggy Helps with Chores

You've all seen amazing dogs that know all sorts of tricks, right? For example, here's a link to a video of one very smart little dog:
http://www.tvkim.com/watch/518/kims-picks-an-amazing-little-helper

After watching this, I decided to teach Ziggy some tricks so he too could help around the house. Imagine my surprise when I found that Ziggy was a natural. No special training was needed - he learned how to do the following chores with practically no help from me!

Trick #1) Hold the dustpan while I sweep.

I didn't say he was holding it anywhere near where I was sweeping. One step at a time.


Trick #2) Remove any stray pieces of pasta that are dropped while I'm cooking so I don't step on them.

He's a very safety conscious dog, you know.


Trick #3) Change the station on the TV remote.

In spite of the fact that Ziggy is excellent at this chore, I haven't yet taken the time to photograph it, so I substituted this picture of Ziggy with a toy so you can imagine that the toy is a TV remote in order to see how he does it. Get the picture?

So that is how Ziggy helps with chores around the house.  He's quite a dog. I am sorry for any of you that don't have such talented and well trained dogs. Your life must be so much more difficult without a dog like Ziggy to help out around the house.