Best … Tag … Ever

So while I was taking pictures of Tucker waiting for his mama to finish laying down his cheese trail, I got a closeup of his collar, prominently featuring his Boomerang tag.  Specifically, this is the Boomerang CollarTag, which is a sturdy stainless steel plate engraved with up to four or five lines of text, depending on the size of the tag.  They slip on to the collar and then pretty much stay put; they don’t jingle, they don’t hang from a little metal loop, and as far as I can tell they never wear out.  (This one is about six years old.)

Of course, if the dog loses his collar he loses his tag, but other than that these tags aren’t going anywhere.  In fact they’re pretty difficult to get off even when you’re trying to remove them.

Soak Up The … Shade

You’re never too old to lounge around in the warm grass …

Branching Out

So yesterday I found out that the studio where we’ve been taking ballroom lessons for the last six years is switching from Arthur Murray to Fred Astaire, which has more franchise opportunities in California.  Not only that, but they’re going to be opening a new branch studio here in our city within the next month or two!  What does this mean?

• We’ll only have to drive four miles to get to the studio, instead of 45
• $500/year savings on gas!!!!
• Less crate time for Dennis on lesson nights
• We might actually go to the weeknight events, group classes, and dances (which are currently known to our instructors as “things we don’t tell you about because we know you’ll say no”)
• A new curriculum (we get to pick up where we currently are rather than having to start over again)
• A new instructor, although he’s one we’ve worked with before and really like
• Evening classes will include free views of the sunset over the Pacific Ocean

Okay, so this is very thinly dog-related, but we’re still very excited about being able to cut out that big drive every week.  And Dennis is too!

skunkalishus three

*koff* hello nice reederz its *koff* dennis the vizsla dog hay gess wot *koff* i finaly got to meet the *koff* skunk owt in the bakyard tonite i ran owt and *koff* there it wuz and it lifted up its tale and *koff* sprayd me rite smak in the face i cudnt even open my *koff* eye for a wile it was so stinky i hav to say its *koff* not at all wot tucker and trixie led me to *koff* ekspekt to be onnest i didnt like it much at all

my sister trixie wuz *koff* owtside too but she didnt even try to go get the *koff* skunk and i sware she wuz laffing at me wile mama cleand me up *koff* im starting to think maybe she wuz conning me the hole time she wuz *koff* telling me that chaysing skunks wuz fun yes ive definitly lernd my lessun wen it comes to skunks *koff* yoo shood always aproach them from the front i will *koff* try that nekst time and i think it will wurk better ok bye

*koff*

Follow Your Nose

So yesterday, I went to the park with my wife and Tucker to help with Tucker’s scenting; and by “help” I mean I sat and held Tucker’s lead while my wife went around laying a trail of mozzarella bits and hiding a sock full of string cheese, which is the “jackpot” at the end of the trail.  (Also, I “helped” by discouraging her from marking the trail with flour, on the theory that after we left, somebody would come along, see the flour, think it was anthrax or ricin or something, and call in a HazMat team.  I think I annoyed her a little, but at least she isn’t going to get carted off to jail.)

Anyway, my job was pretty easy.  Sit.  Stay.  Good boy.  Tucker’s job was a little harder.

Dining In

“Waiter, I need a napkin.”

Hing A Hong

So, having earlier embarrassed myself by listing the silly nicknames we have for the animals, I thought I would humiliate myself further by admitting that I also sing to them.

forbidden

hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay wot is up with this messaj i am getting wen i try to visit my nice frends at blogspot

dada sez googul is beeing paranoyd i dont no wot that meenz all i do no is i cant visit sum of my nice frends rite now so i am verry sad oh well i gess i will hav to amyooz myself in sum other way i think i will go lik myself for a wile its not as much fun as it yoozed to be but it stil helps pass the time ok bye

A Brief History Of Tucker

It seems there’s been some concern about whether or not we have been able to get help from Tucker’s breeder regarding his condition, so we’d like to assure any interested parties that we’ve been in regular communication with them for the entire time we’ve had Tucker (i.e., his whole life). He has always been a perfectly fit and healthy dog, so when he began exhibiting these odd symptoms, one of the first things we did was get in touch with them to find out if any of his brothers or sisters or any other dogs in his line had developed something similar. (None have.)

In our opinion, we couldn’t have asked for a better breeder. They have always been helpful, interested, informative, and supportive, and even stopped by to visit Tucker out here in California when they were in the state for an event. (That’s a long way from Toronto, Ontario!) We apologize if we gave anyone the impression that we have not been able to reach the breeder or that we posted the video of Tucker because the breeder has been unhelpful, because nothing could be further from the truth. We would have no hesitation whatsoever about getting another dog from them, and I think that pretty much says all that needs to be said.

skunkalishus too and a haf

hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay i saw the skunk i saw it i saw it i saw it!!!

my sister trixie the mutt wuz barking at sumthing in the yard of the emty howse next door sum peepul yoozed to live their but then the man from the bank came and kickd them owt ennyway i went to see wot my sister wuz barking at and i saw this!