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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Cookie - Keepsake

Mistress made something called a "keepsake" today. It's cooling off right now. She was playing around with some white stuff that was squishy. Then she tried to have me push put my paw on it. She tried to push on my paw gently, but I didn't like it and jerked it away. Mistress finally just put one of my hind paws on it and had me shift weight onto that paw. Then she did Treader, who didn't like it and his paw impression isn't as deep as mine. Then she put it in the oven. Huh!?! She prepared the pictures of us which sahe had to print off the computer and took the "keepsake" out after 15 minutes. Here's what it looks like:
What this "keepsake" is, I'm sure glad that I won't have to stick my paw onto it again!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Treader - trampline fun

Sorry that we haven't been posting daily. We quit doing that after something happened to another blogger friend of ours and it just broke our hearts. We will not post daily anymore, but we will post often, still taking turns. Golleeeee, do I have a lot of catching up to do on what's been happenin' in the Treader world. The picture to your right is my with mistress, who is bouncing on her friend's trampoline. It all started one day when I got loose when one of the boards fell off our yard fence (mistress fixed it later) and tracked mistress to her friend's house...I arrive at the their dog, their dog Angel barking at me. Have I told you about Angel? She's an angel, all right. She's a 14 year old Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix and is very small, smaller than me. Anyway, it turns out that mistress and her friend were about to go on the trampoline. Instead of taking me home, mistress decided to take me into her friend's backyard to see if I would like the trampoline. I didn't mind it, but I would have liked it better if it wasn't for the boing boing boing bouncing. Mistress finally just picked me up and held me. I did jump off once to meet the next door's neighbor's dog on the other side of the fence. This is the neighbor's dog:
Her name is Sassy and she is an English Mastiff. Very friendly too, but doesn't like people or other animals approaching her yard. Mistress's brother caught me and put me back on the trampoline.
Mistress had another friend who joined us take this picture:
Then they had to go inside, and I had to stay in the backyard because mistress's friend's mom didn't want me in her house because her cats were inside and I chase cats. (Don't worry, there was a container of water out there.)
Here's Angel barking her protest at my presence:
Surprise surprise mistress's friend's mom had gotten some dog treats from that new pet store and Angel didn't like them, so she gave them to us. Mistress gave me one, but I don't like crunchy treats as much as soft ones because they're hard to chew, so I didn't eat it right away:
Doing my "dance" trick for the treat (and cheating, I'm not supposed to lean on something):
And finding that it's crunchy and I didn't have time to chew crunchy treats just then:

Mistress finally took me home after 10 minutes and went back to her friend's house.
When she got home, mistress gave Cookie some:




She gave me some, and I went off to chew it up. It took a few minutes. I have such a little mouth. Mistress likes to toss treats to us, so here I am...reeeaaady and a-rarin' to jump:
Then, we had to prepare for tropical storm Fay. It's been very cloudy and rainy for the past few days. The internet and later the electricity even went out for a while.
Here I am testing out mistress's (and her brother's) new telescope:
You can see into space with it!
Here I am napping on mistress's mom's lap:
And on Saturday, mistress's mom got sick with something, then last night mistress's brother, and now today mistress and mistress's dad. Yipe! I hope that I'm not next. Mistress has been pretty much sleeping all day and is not sleepy tonight, so she was able to help me type.
That be all, dog bloggers. God bless you and keep you safe.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Cookie - Today, I bring you the TRUTH about Pit Bulls

I give you two great sources. First, check out thetruthaboutpitbulls.com. Then, check out pitbulllovers.com. They have great and accurate info.

Okay, now, I'll say what I wanted to say:
First of all, the news is very very biased and will usually only report the stories about Pit Bull attacks and often lies about the breed or claims that it is a Pit Bull before they actually know what the dog is. Why? Scary stories sell, and Pit Bulls LOOK scary. Hardly ever does the news report a feel-good story. Not only that, but there are 25 different and distinct breeds that are easily mistaken for Pit Bulls.
Second of all, you have obviously never met a Pit Bull or read the breed's standard.
I've seen Pit Bulls serve as therapy dogs and service dog and pass Canine Good Citizen tests. So much for only attacking strangers. Pit Bulls actually pass temperament tests more than other breeds.
And, Pit Bulls were originally bred to work on the farm, not fight. They were used for fighting later, and it is a terrible practice. However, many Pit Bulls were rescued from the michael vick case only one of I believe 87 of them showed aggression though they were bred to/used for fighting. And another one of those dogs became a therapy dog.
Pit Bulls were considered the #1 family dog in the early 19th century. A Pit Bull mix named Captain Stubby was the first and most decorated war dog in history.
Pit Bulls, like all breeds, are not for everyone. They are extremely high energy (like a Jack Russel Terrier) and not all people can handle that. I have friends with Pit Bulls, and they are definitely not a breed for the couch potato. Pit Bulls have a tendency to be dog-aggressive, so socializing them at a young age is a must. By the way, I have met about 5 Pit Bulls in the past year, and not of them growled at me or anybody and not one tried to bite me or attack me. And guess what? Every time I was a stranger to them. I have never met an aggressive Pit Bull. I have however, met aggressive Labs and Chihuahuas and little breeds. It is the lack of rai=sing the dog right on the owner's part when any dog is aggressive. For example, most dog owners have no idea how important socialization is. Dogs who aren't socialized are more likely to become afraid. And a fearful dog is a dog that may bite. Dogs need to be socialized after they have had all their shots, ASAP. With well-behaved people and other dogs. Another example, some think that a puppy's growling is cute and unknowingly encourage it. Instead they should show the puppy that they will protect them if they need to and that there is nothing to be afraid of. As I said before, a fearful dog is a dog that may bite. Or someone having the wrong ideas about how a guard dog is supposed to act. They think that a guard dog should hate everyone to scare people away. Uh-uh. A good guard dogs ALERTS you to someone's presence on your property, watches the person closely, but does not try to attack the person without good reason. I could give other examples, but you get the idea.
I read that temperament in dogs is 35% genetic and 65% learned (molded by the way the dog is raised as a puppy).
"Pit Bull" is a general term, used to describe several different breeds. Including American Pit Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers (which are descended from the APBT), etc. (By the woof, the dog in the photos with Treader is an American Staffordshire Terrier, according to the dog's owner.) Some people think that all dogs with muscular necks and bulky heads are Pit Bulls. This wrong notion has caused many stockier-type Labs to be mistaken as Pit Bulls!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Treader again, Cookie doesn't feel like it today

Getting slack, aren't I? I used to update a lot. Anyway, when mistress got home from her friend's house tonight and brought back her Rottweiler Webkinz, I found it and thought it was mine. She layed down on the couch and I asked her to play with me. She told me that she was sorry but she was tired. She had a hard time getting to sleep last night and when she did it was around 4 o'clock in the morning! Whoa! Anyway, I picked up "my" toy and she took it out of my mouth. At first I thought that she was playing with me, but then she just layed the toy down next to her and I jumped up with her and curled up.
Mistress gets to go to the water park tomorrow. I might actually get to go later on this month. On the last day that the water park is open, they allow humans to bring dogs with them. They were going to take me last year, but the special day was on a Sunday, the day they go to church. *sigh*