What Dogs Will Do for Their Owners

Saturday night, Lindsay and I decided to have some fun with Swift. I noticed a couple of scratches on her arms, and she said they were from Swift. His nails get so long that they turn into very sharp talons. A few weeks ago, I attempted to cut his nails but only got one paw done (and I made him bleed!). I figured it was time to try again.

I pulled out the "dog box" that holds all of my grooming supplies, along with random toys, costumes, etc. After I got Swift's nails down to a manageable length, Lindsay and I began to go through the dog box. Swift and Kool were pretty excited to see what was in there. They seemed to know it was their stuff.

Well, we attacked Swift, and this is what happened. We put every single piece of dog clothing on him. If you're familiar with the TV Show Friends, it reminds me of the episode where Joey puts on Chandler's clothes. "Could I *be* wearing any more clothes?"

He took it pretty well. I was kind of impressed. I think I am now officially a crazy dog lady.

Tweet

A Hike-ful Day

Mid-January, we went on one of our monthly Greenlake walks with our meetup group, Adventureweiner Club (TM) of Seattle. There hadn't been a walk scheduled for 2 months because of the weather and the holidays, so it was nice to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones.

Ardie is just the most precious wire-haired dachshund.

Kool looking for some friends

Swift says, "I see them!"

It was still a little chilly and rainy out, so everyone was dressed up in their coats and sweaters. I was surprised with the turnout - probably about 20-30 people were there with their dachshunds. I think most people missed the group and were excited to hang out again, like us. As much as it rains in Seattle, some people still get snooty about the weather, so that's why I was glad to see as many people as I did.

The Group
(Can you spot us next to the man in the red jacket?)

The Fearless Five
Sienna, Swift, Kool, Chester, and Gretel

After the 3 mile walk around Greenlake, a few of us went to lunch at the KISS Café in Ballard (a "dog-friendly" restaurant.) You can read a review of our time there over at You Did What With Your Weiner?

After lunch, we headed over to Discovery Park. I've hiked this park a total of 3 times now, and each time, I've taken a different trail. And the last two times (including this trip), I was so totally exhausted afterwards. Luckily, this time we had already eaten lunch. Last time, my sugar got so low, I almost passed out on the way home. Anyway, Discovery Park is also about 3 miles, but it isn't flat like Greenlake. It's much hillier, and there are even steps in some areas.

Kool, begging for a treat on one of our breaks

I'm walking 4 doxies!!

You can see the lighthouse we walked past

Walking 3 miles on the paved path around the lake and another 3 on rocky gravel and sand proved too much for Swift. He rubbed one of his pads raw, and it began to bleed slightly. He began to limp, but being the brave boy he is, he didn't complain. I didn't even realize he was in pain until I saw him limp. We ended up carrying him out the last half of the hike. (My friend Jessica was gracious enough to help carry him!)

Swift, loving the attention he's getting from Deb

No need to worry about Swift. The walk and hike exhausted both him and Kool, so they just rested and slept that day and the next. Swift's paw was completely healed after two days. This just shows we need to get our bodies back in shape and ready for our next trek with the Adventureweiner Club!!

Tweet

Wordless Wednesday #15

A Study in Dachshund Picture Taking

Practical Application

Result

(Please excuse the blurry camera-phone pictures!)

This is a Blog Hop!!

Tweet

Catch Up: New Year's Eve

As mentioned before, this post will help you play catch-up with our comings and goings during the past few months! Next week, you'll start to see more recent content! Yay!


My boyfriend left shortly after Christmas to visit his family in Indiana. I was spending yet another New Year's Eve alone. I had been spending a lot of time with Janis and Lindsay (as evidenced in the last couple of posts), and we had bought a Groupon deal together to go on a tour of Pike Place Market. It was the first time we had spent any time together without the dogs, but we still got along fabulously! So I decided to invite myself to their house for New Year's Eve. I casually asked Lindsay, "So what are you guys doing for New Year's?" They weren't doing much, so I subtly suggested it might be fun to do something together or something with the dogs. Somehow or another, I got myself invited to their house. (I know I thought I was super-slick, but I'm sure Janis and Lindsay knew what I was doing all along!)

I brought the boys over to Lindsay and Janis's house, and Janis made a delicious dinner of crab cakes and pear arugula salad. We all had a blast, drinking wine and watching the dogs play. I brought one of Swift's new extra small Kong tennis balls. He and Tag had "fun" trying to keep it away from each other.

First, Swift had it

Then Tag tried to keep it away from Swift

But Swift didn't give up

Swift eventually got distracted and began to play with "orange man." This did cause some problems, since orange man is one of Tag's favorite toys. Swift loves orange, so he apparently thought he owned orange man. I don't think Tag appreciated Swift trying to kill orange man.

Swift looks so vicious!!

Even though we had a couple of skirmishes, the dogs all started to bond.

Lindsay and I with all 4 dogs playing a puzzle game

Tag and Kool bonding over rawhide

Kool and Tag, best buddies

Soon it became contest time - who could be the cutest?

Tag went first. Amber barked her approval for her brother.

Not to be outdone, Swift showed off his skills in front of Tag

We called it a tie. Just look at those four adorable faces.
How can you choose just one?!

Swift is such a little lover. Lindsay is his new best friend. Every time we see her now, he runs over and wants to give her love. But on this night, he refused to give any kisses.

"Nope. No kisses for you!"

The dogs got a special treat for dessert. (So did we, but dogs can't have Black Forest cheesecake!)

Kool licking his doggie ice cream, unaware he has some on his nose!

Well, we pooped those pups out! Swift and Kool were out like lights before the ball even began to drop!

Sleeping doxies are the sweetest!

Tweet

Wordless Wednesday #14

Like my teef, ma?

Tweet

Catch Up: December 2011

As mentioned before, this and the next post will help you play catch-up with our comings and goings during the past few months!


December was full of all sorts of activities. I'm sure lots of you had a very busy holiday season, as well. I got my mom a webcam for Christmas, so unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures Christmas day, as we were busy using the cam on Google Chat. The boys love Christmas, and they really like helping me unwrap my presents. I wish I had gotten a few pictures of them with the wrapping paper!

Regardless of the lack of Christmas-day photos, I do have others to share. Swift and Kool got to visit Santa for the first time this year! They got to wear (read "were forced to wear") special holiday collars. I absolutely adore this picture of the boys. I'm definitely framing this and putting it up next Christmas.

Swift and Kool with Old-Fashioned Santa

We also joined a new meetup group called Pups 'N Pints. The group goes to a dog park to have fun and play and then heads to a dog-friendly restaurant or cafe for lunch or beer or coffee. The first meetup we went to, we skipped the park (it was a very muddy day) and just met everyone for lunch at Norm's Eatery & Ale House. Norm's is a bar in Ballard, well-known for allowing dogs. Its namesake, a golden named Norm, was there the day we showed up, wearing a Santa hat.

We knew that Santa was going to show up at Norm's, but we had no idea the kind of turnout Santa would create. It got crowded and hot really fast. We snapped a few pictures of the dogs with Santa and took off.

Hipster Santa (it was Ballard, after all)

After we left Norm's, we headed for University Village, an outdoor shopping mall near the University of Washington. Who knew most of the stores were dog-friendly? (Apparently, everyone but me!) The dog-friendly ones are indicted by a sticker in their window. We wandered around a bit, but we started to get chilly since it was December, and UVillage is an open-air mall. We stopped for one quick photo with all the babies.

Left to Right - Amber, Swift, Kool, and Tag

I think Swift and Kool are starting to get the hang of posing with their buddies. I love Swift's expression - he is just staring right into the camera. Tag, as usual, looks like he's too good for this, and Amber and Kool are looking up (maybe at a treat hanging in the air??).

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Tweet