We're Here for Ya, Mom!

by Tanner

Our mom is injured and feeling a bit blue. She's trying to keep up with All Things Dog Blog, her household stuff and us, too. Oliver and I are busy trying to do our part to help.

I'll take out the trash and Fetch just about anything I can pick up. Oliver can make sure mom isn't lonely. I guess it's time to check out her post on dog chores again. C'mon Oliver. We've got work to do!

It's a Dog's Life: 10 Things about Tanner

by Tanner

© Carrie Boyko

Trusting Tanner Loves his Girl

When Oliver and Xena voted to write our "10 Things" list, I voted against it. I'm just too busy for all this nonsense. But we agreed to be Democratic about it, so I'm stuck:

1. My family got me from a Golden Retriever breeder who said I was a non-standard pup that was only worthy of a dog-chow fee. I think that translates to "I was cheap". I am taller than all the other Goldens and have a knobby head. Mom likes it, so it doesn't bother me a bit.
2. I've taken more obedience classes in my life than any dog on the planet. Well, maybe. I'm super duper at Down, Stay.
3. I'm happy, curious, fearless, friendly, confident, playful, and a fast runner. Ask any of the dogs at the dog park. "Eat my dust!"
4. Mom says I'm submissive and she likes that. I'm not sure I know what it means, but she always pats my head and hugs me when she says it, so I guess it's good.
5. I walk and swim almost every day. I would stay outside all day long if Mom would stay outside too. I really like being with her.
6. I have a favorite couch that mom let's me sleep on, since I'm well behaved. I guess that means I'll lose that privilege if I don't behave, so I try really, really hard to be a good boy. I promise not to chew on another UNC hat, Dad.
7. My nickname is Houdini because I can open just about anything: chain link fence gates, my front door, our cat's door, Oliver's crate, and our high-security, child-guard gate. So much for high security, huh! It's my job to teach our visitors how to open the gate; most of them can't figure it out.
8. I trust my Mom and Toni so much that I even let them carry me on their shoulders. They never drop me. You can see my picture at the top of this post with Toni, and one with my mom near the top of the blog.
9. Some things I like to do outside are dog park visits, walks, agility practice, biking, hiking, camping, greeting my neighbors in my yard, and....
10. My 2 very favoritist things to do are play fetch and swim. Fetching in water is the bestest of all.

Can we play Fetch now?

Dog Necessities: Add these to Mom's List

by Tanner

I'm just a little peeved with mom right now. How could All Things Dog Blog publish a list of dog necessities  for a day outing  and leave off food and toys. Duh! She was yammering about emergency stuff and left food off the list. Really!

Almost as bad is that there were not any toys on that list of hers. If we're going to the beach, she better have the Chucker in the car, loaded with a tennis ball. She can't throw without it, and I can't miss out on a fetch game.

Or maybe we could work on our Frisbee skills; I need a lot of work there. Mom's friend Chris, who does lots of Disc dogging, wrote some guest posts for All Things Dog Blog a while back. You can read them at Chris Engel's Frisbee 101 Series; the links are about halfway down the page.

Floating toys for the water are great too. Mom didn't have these on her list either. That's it! I'm going to go have a talk with her. Things have got to change. See ya at the beach!

Dogs Swimming: How Much is Too Much?

by Xena

Summer days and summer nights. Sometimes we get in the pool too many times and....oopsie.....someone gets the 'runs.' When mommy took us to the doctor we figured out that we were swimming too much--especially Tanner. He drinks half the pool when he goes in it, silly boy.

Dr. M. told Mom that Tanner could swim once a day as long as she rinses him well, dries his ears out, and sprays him with a moisturizer. He thinks it smells girly, but I like it. We both like to be dried off with a towel. It's sorta like a massage. Ahhhh!

Oh well, Tanner. We can play Fetch at the dog park too. That boy can't live without a Fetch game every day. Does your dog play Fetch? My mom likes teaching Fetch. You can read her instructions at Teaching Your Dog to Fetch. It's Tanner approved.