Mischief Monday - Sharing

Hi friends, hi friends, hi friends!

First, I miss you. The Lady was really not home this weekend and she didn't leave me the computer password, so I could not visit. I am so sad to not get to visit. Looking at Lady's life, it may not happen this week either. Lady is too busy, too, too busy! 

Now on to the mischief. Although I am not sure it is (is it really mischief. Styxy would never cause mischief. 

As Lanie mentioned, she doesn't always eat all her food right away. She used to gobble it up. Now she doesn't.

Tigris and I have discovered this.  It is not good that Tigris is getting extra food. It is good that Tigris will go downstairs into Lanie's room.

The other day, the Man caught us trying to eat Lanie's food. He said "no, no, no, that is Lanie's food."

He put it in the tree with her. 

I knew Lanie was my BFF and would not mind me sharing, especially because it had my favourite food, Prairie Red. 

your pal Styx, who likes to share

Mischief Monday - Check Up - by Tigris

Dear people I don't know and Lady says you are my friends, but because their might be dogs out there and I am not sure about them, so I am not writing pals.

Last week, Lady got the bright idea to stuff us in our carriers and take us to a place called the vet. 

Styx and i showed our displeasure by singing the we hate this song for the entire 25 minute ride.

When we got there, after the clinic sorted out the actual spelling of our names (Lady and Man picked names that are hard for people apparently - perhaps more on names later), we were taken to an examination room.

Here we were mercifully let out of our carriers and allowed to explore.

Explore we did. We were all over that room, that had great shelves. I came down when needed and Styx needed to be brought down twice.

The people there were fairly nice (couldn't keep their hands off us)  and said we were beautiful. 

The summary:

-We are both in good health and are long cats.

-Styx is likely 2 and not 4 like the shelter said (which Lady thought). 

-When the vet was examining Styx, I didn't take my eyes off them. I was totally watching, ready to attack if she treated Styx poorly.  I am really bonded to my Styx. 

-Rude - I need lose a little weight. I have already lost .44lbs since coming to live with my new servants, I mean the Lady and Man. 

I gave Styx a bath while we were waiting

-I have a bit of a cold and the medication that most cats like, I hate and you have to force me to take.

-Lady and Man can now start switching us to a higher quality food. The shelter, meant to be a temporary holding place, uses whatever food we will eat and is donated etc. because they know how stressful it is to be wrongfully imprisoned. There goal is just to make sure we eat. This may help with my weight as well. 

Apparently, I do not need to be subjected to this torture for another year. 

Can we go yet?

So that was our adventure and I have forgiven the people for this, mostly because there were yummy treats.

Tigris

Mischief Monday - Constance 4 - Nature 1 - People Zero

In the ongoing saga of becoming people who compost, Constance continues to be winning the battle. She has gotten into the bin 2 more times. She has tried others, but some of the crazy things the Lady and Man are doing are slowing her down. She is still trying and we are confident her numbers will continue to climb. 

Last Thursday, we all set off for our morning walk. Lee was unusually terrified (she is usually only terrified at night due to the fireworks) and would not go. Lady took her back to the house (the Man coaxed her to do her business) and she and Phod continued on their walk. 

When Lady and Phod got back, Phod started rolling in the grass on something. In hindsight, Lady had spotted this spot on the way out, but it hadn't registered in her not awake brain. When she looked at what Phod was rolling in, she realized it was something dead . . .  She calmly got Phod off it and went to the house. She called the Man. She said she needed him to come here, he said why, she said because there was a dead animal in the yard.

She was very helpful while Man got the shovel and rake and picked up and threw the dead racoon into the bush. She did not scream. She took pictures. 

We know this is not our Constance, because 2 nights later, Constance struck the composter again (for her 4th time). Or maybe it was Constance's ghost!

Looking back, Lady wonders if Lee was so scared to go out because she could smell whatever left the racoon in the yard. We may never know. Lady really needs to get a trail cam!

Mischief On A Tuesday

On our long walk on Saturday, Hailey found some poop on the side of the road to roll in. She didn't enjoy the clean up that followed when we got home.

Phod continues to blow his coat. After 10 minutes of brushing, it looked like it had snowed!

Lady has not allowed us to visit you all like we (and she) would like. With work and getting ready for the holidays she is feeling like there aren't enough hours in a day. Also, with the new blogger lay out, our computer won't let us always access our reading list! Sigh! We are trying to read more than we comment. Know we are thinking about you all! 

Mischief on a Thursday - by Hailey

This week has been so full of mischief so far, we can't even wait until Monday to tell you. I have had nothing to do with the mischief so I will report it.

It started after the traitor Lady returned on Sunday. The house was peaceful and then suddenly there were people climbing up our roof. We barked and barked and barked and barked. The Man went out and up the roof too. We had to bark for 20 minutes. Then the people got off the roof and the evil ladder left.

[Editor's note: The neighbour had said he would be over to sweep the chimney. He came over with a friend and they went right up. The Man joined them for the annual roof inspection, clean out the gutters.]

Then on Tuesday morning as Lady was about to leave for work, we all heard a rattling under the sink. Lady like a complete wimp bravely opened the cupboard and saw it was full of mouse poop. She was sort of brave when she set the trap. She let the Man know. All day we heard them. 2 mice were caught in the trap and one was in the humane trap. When Man opened the cupboard we could see them. We weren't allowed to have mouse appetizers for dinner. That is just not fair. In the evening another mouse was captured in the humane trap and by morning a 5th in the humane trap. This brings our mouse total to 22.  2 of those I am very proud to report I caught.

There is even more mischief, but  Phod wants to tell it, so we will save it for another day.

More Mischief

Since I didn't get my mischief Monday post done last week, I thought I would share a story from Labour Day weekend.

Uncle Chris and cousin Emma came out for a sleepover. A few hours before Emma was to leave, I thought it would be nice to get a picture of all 3 pups. I knew this would be a challenge, but I got the cookies and the camera and started to try and pose all 3.

Somewhere in the chaos, it may have started when I tried to physically prompt Emma to sit, she became   terrified and started to pee all over the kitchen floor. So instead of 3 I ended up with:

2 distracted by the pee

And one who really wanted a cookie!

Mischief Monday - The One Where Lady Forgets

Last week, after my poor Hailey Bug was sick because of the ketchup, I went through the treat cupboard looking for a treat that would be easy on her tummy.

As I was going through, stuffed in the back, a bag with the Valentine's toys I had bought them and completely forgotten about.  You can see from the picture, I had even bought one for Emma, as she was here for the holiday.

I know you are all thinking, how could I not have gone in the treat cupboard for 3 weeks? What kind of blog writing dog owner am I? Our counter has a container for greenies (the daily morning treat) that didn't need to be refilled. There is also a cookie jar with cookies and at least 3 or 4 part bags of treats. The pups have had enough treats, they just haven't need a refill.

The pups were thrilled to get their toys. Because Hailey was sick she picked first. She picked the purple one holding the heart (on the right). Phod got the red one and the little porcupine has been tucked away for Miss Emma. (We will see if I remember to give it to her!)

Mischief Monday - Who has Seen the Wind?

Before answering this question a little Canadiana for you all. Who has seen the wind is a novel by Canadian author W.O. Mitchell. It was written in 1947 and is a Canadian classic. It was on my grade 10 reading list. I don't remember the story, I only remember thinking it was boring. Perhaps my 15 year old self just didn't appreciate it and maybe someday my adult self will revisit it.

Anyway, back to our story.

Who has seen the wind?  

Hailey has and she has decided it is evil.

It all started last week. It was extremely hot here for a few days about 30 C (90 F) with the humidex 40 C (over 100 F). We don't have a/c so the house got hot. When the temperature fell, we opened all the windows to let the house cool down. The Man, the Lady, the Phody and the cats thought this was wonderful. But Hailey did not.

Thursday night, around 4 am, it got windy and she was up scared. Normally when she is scared she just wants to go and hide but the wind makes her want to pace and get love. So between 4 am and 6 am, she had the Man, the Lady and the Phody up. We were all very tired on Friday.

Fast forward to Saturday. The Lady has a few moments to grab a power nap. It is beautiful summer day, temperature in the mid 20 C (70 F) with a beautiful breeze. Really the perfect summer day. All the windows were opened. Lee did not like it and wanted to be loved and snuggled, so it wasn't much of a nap.

After our failed nap we went outside. At first Hailey was very happy tied to her tree, sniffing and ground hog hunting. Then the wind, paired with a loud bang (likely something to do with the neighbours tractor) resulted in a completely stressed out dog.

Stressed out Lee on the front lawn - note the tail between her legs (the picture sucks as it was taken on my computer)

Hailey has decided the wind is evil.

Given her level of anxiety in the summer (thunder, wind, fireworks) we are again considering medical intervention to help her cope. She is really just a mess.

Mischief Monday - Yard Patrol

Before we get to our mischief post, we want everyone to know about a special event going on over at Mollie and Alfie's. Mollie and Alfie are trying to put together an auction to help Angel Mabel Lou's people over at http://creekhiker.blogspot.co.uk pay for her medical and funeral costs. If you can help in any small way, go over to Mollie and Alfie's for all the information.

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Today's mischief comes from the paws of Zaphod. It is unusual for him to be our mischief maker, but occasionally he causes a little bit of mischief.

On Saturday night we decide to have a bonfire. While in general the dogs don't enjoy being outside with us at the fire, they don't enjoy being inside alone either, so we usually bring them out for a bit and then take them in. Hailey is on leash or tie out during these, but since our Phod is usually a rock star, he gets to be free.

As dusk was falling, Phod heard something in the bush and off he ran!  Fortunately, because he is a pretty good boy, he was only gone for a few minutes and I could hear the dingle of his collar most of the time (when Hailey wasn't screaming, "Why does he get to run free and I have to be tied up?"  so loudly I couldn't hear anything else). We have no idea what he was chasing, but a very happy boy returned! At least we know we were safe!

Happy returning Phod

It is peak black fly season here now. To find out if our K9 Kelp spritz helped, come back tomorrow!

Mischief Monday - The Fence that Just Appeared

Recently, after a walk in the woods, the Man was throwing the ball for Phod down our private road. The ball rolled under the horse fence and of course Phod went with it.

"Man, we have a problem, a fence has appeared."

With some coaxing Phod went back to where he went under and with some help came out. He was a little confused but happy he had his ball. 

This kong rope toy has been in this tree on the road for months. It is really stuck. We have had some very windy days and yet it has not budged! 

Mischief Monday - Hope to reduce this with Project Hailey

I am calling it Project Hailey. It is my attempt to work extra had with Hailey to help her with her issues. The issues I am hoping to address are her anxiety and her pulling on walk. These are things that are always on the back burner but I am kicking it up a notch because Hailey's anxiety increases over the spring through the fall and in the fall she is going to be spending some time with Grammie and the Big Guy while we are traveling.

The Project so far contains the following pieces.

1) Increase Lee's exercise (physical and mental). We have been having our big walks even though it has been raining every day. I got myself a fantastic rain coat to make this better. We are also doing more walks in the woods (tomorrow we will share our yard). I am also working on ways to build commands in these walks. Things like climbing the picnic table. In general, we are just trying to be outside more! And of course working on training in the house.

2) Walking nicely. I am experimenting with getting her to walk better. I bought an Outward Hound hands free leash to make our walks nicer. The issue was when not in her harness, she pulled so hard she broke it (it is fixable fortunately).

The view when she is pulling of the harness

The harness we have she can step out of, which isn't safe, so then I had to buy another harness. I got a Lupine no pull harness. This harness is excellent. So excellent, I have ordered Phod one (with Hailey not ripping my arm off, I didn't notice how much Phod does pull). I have yet to try the new harness on the hands free leash. We are trying one thing at a time. I hope these things will help make her a better walker so my parents to hate me the whole time I am away!

Lee modelling the new harness, and yes I got one that was the same pattern as her collar!

We will keep working on Project Hailey and hopefully help get our girl into the best place she can be.

Mischief Pays Off

First, let me say that Lee had a very good week. The thunder shirt and access to most to the house seems to have helped (knock on wood).

Second, let me say that I have reinforced her mischief of destroying the one dog bed, which she didn't like, by buying a replacement bed.

Lee, rolling on her beloved new bed.

From Lee: "This proves that crime does pay!"

Mischief Monday - Time in the Crate

After last weekend's redecorating, we made the decision to put Lee in the crate again when we were out. This is a risk because Lee has destroyed 2 crates in the past getting out. We put her in her thunder shirt (day 1 and 2, Man forgot day 3), gave her some chewies, and in she went.

Day 1 and 2 were fine. She wasn't happy, but she did ok.

Day 3, things went not as well. The Man came home and Lee had pushed out the bottom and the crate and was able to pull the beds from outside close enough to destroy them.

This is the blurry picture the man sent me from his phone.

She also had a cut on her nose (one she reopened on her bunny hunt on the weekend, but seems to be doing ok now).

We have changed our plan. She has to wear the thunder shirt when we are out. I know she hates it, but she seems to be less destructive in it. Also, we are working on blocking the garage door when we go out, so she can't rip the wall up more. We will see if this helps. If it doesn't we are going to have to have the meds talk again. Sigh!

Fortunately, I am only working out of the house 3 days this week, so that will give her less time alone!

Mischief Monday - Deja Vu

Saturday was a lovely day. It was the nicest day so far this year. We opened some windows to let the fresh spring air into the house. Man and Lady also had plans in town with friends Saturday afternoon, so after a walk down Lee's favourite street, lots of exercise and play, we went to town.

We came home later that afternoon to a disaster in the front hall.

Besides chewing the paw wiping towel, Hailey,

chewed up the leashes that I had not put in the drawer (thankfully I had an extra pair at home, will pick up another extra set next trip to the pet store):

and tried to get out the garage door again:

The damage is not as bad as the last time this happened, but is still upsetting. We know it was Hailey and not Phod, not just because of her history, but because she was the one with drywall on her paws. We have no idea why this happened. The window was open, did something sound louder? The last time this happened, August 2012, we had just moved into the house, and there was a terrible, terrible storm while we were out.

It feels like a defeat and it is going to take us some time to figure out what to do to further help our girl.

Sigh!

This post is completely my fault. Last Tuesday I took the dogs out. My arm was feeling a bit better that day. I had Hailey on the tie out so that I could play fetch with Phod with my right hand. Lee was doing a great job at staying in the yard. Then she started to eat poop, so without thinking I picked up the tie out with my sore left arm. I couldn't hold it, so I let go. When I let go, Lee realized I couldn't hold her so she decided to run away.

From Sunday - still lists of snow

Now if she had run down the road, it wouldn't have been good, but I might have been able to do something about it. Instead she ran down the hill in our backyard. I wasn't dressed to go get her, so I brought Phod in, put on my snow pants and boots and attempted to go the hill to find her. The problem was the snow was so deep I sunk to my waist. I got stuck in a hole. I had to use both my arms to pull myself out. I lost my boot in the hole. I tried to crawl or go on my bum, but I realized I couldn't do it. In my attempts to get down and then back up the hill, I hurt my arm some more (I think I added a sprain of the wrist to my bad bruise).

I came in the house, regrouped for a minute, got my phone, got Phod and went back out to find her. My hope being Phod would track her.

We get into the driveway and Lee started barking. While she had taken off down the hill to the right, she ended up on the front yard of the neighbours to the left. I was able to get to her because our neighbours snowmobile had left awesome tracks I could walk on. Hailey was caught on a huge hunk of snow. I got her and we went home.

Hailey only goes on leash when I take her out. I just can't trust her. I have to accept that maybe she can't be a free dog. This is hard, but maybe it is the way it needs to be to keep everyone safe.

Mischief Monday - Ice 1, Lady 0

Friday was a warm and wet day. It was 6 C (42 F). Snow was melting. Things froze up on Saturday and without thinking Lady went out the front step and landed on her butt and left arm. While the left arm doesn't appear broken it is extremely painful (it is really bruised) and she has a limited pain free range of motion with it.   For example she can only type with one hand, which is sooooooo annoying.

She is hoping with rest it will heal soon! We apologize in advance for not leaving as many comments. We will be visiting!

What did the dogs do when lady fell and was yelling and crying:
Phod stood annoyed chuck was not being thrown
Lee actually ran back to check I was ok.

Mischief Monday - Dishwasher wars

First let me start by saying, neither the Man nor I are very handy. We try, but aren't that successful.

Now of all the chores one has to do to keep your house in order, dishes is the least favourite for both of us. It is the one that gets left the longest. We are people who really need a dishwasher. We have also had bad luck with dishwashers. We had problems at our old house and starting last summer, we started having problems at this house. The problems got so bad, that since around Christmas we haven't had a working machine. To say it has been awful, is an understatement. It has made me so grumpy . . . . .

Finally, several weeks ago, we had the money for a new machine. We researched lots of machines to find a great one in our price point. We ordered it. I worked from home on Thursday so it could get delivered. I was so, so excited. I thought to myself, I can install this, so started the processes.

Nin in the dishwasher box

Problem one: We needed a joiner for the hose. Man picked one up at the store on his way home.

Problem two: Man cut the drainage hose and had to go to another store to get a replacement.

Problem three: The joiner for the hose fit but it kept leaking. We realized we needed plumbers tape after the local stores were closed (we live far out of the city and really didn't want to go back in). Fortunately the neighbour (who is totally handy by the way, he built his own house) had some.

2.5 hours later, 3 trips for supplies and a lot of HBO words, we had the sucker ready to run.

Lee taking her turn in the box

Imagine the horror when part way through the first run we got an error message. A look in the book showed it was the worst message to get. For some reason the machine is getting too much water and shutting itself off. What is weird is this seems to be happening at the very end of the rinse cycle (or near the last rinse) as the dishes are actually clean but really wet. While it may not be good, we are using it as we wait to get the repair guy to come and look at it. I can't live any long without a machine.




Hopefully we will have a fully working machine soon!


Where were the pets during all this fun?
Baggy slept on the couch.
Nin got in the box.
Phod hid by the front door.
Lee tired to help.

Mischief Monday - St. Patty's Day!

We have had a lot of mischief going on. First our internet decided to take a break from winter and not really work for all day Sunday. Next, it is the coldest St. Patty's Day in history at -21 C (-5 F).

The biggest mischief has been Hailey's new habit. Twice in the past week and a half she has made the choice to jump up on the human bed and pee all over it. The first time happened as I was getting ready for bed. I can't remember when she had last been out, but she hadn't asked. Usually the pups go out around 8 and then before Man goes to bed (around 11) unless they ask. The second time was last week. She asked to go out. Before we could get up to let her out she had run and peed on the bed.

So now, our bedroom door stays closed at all times. Sigh.  She does do a great job at coming up with new tricks and life with her is never boring.


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May the luck of the Irish be with everyone today! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Mischief Monday - Should have gotten 2 of those

Emma destroyed most of the toys when she was visiting so last weekend I picked up 2 different toys. Turns out I should have gotten two crocodiles. For the first time in a long time, even Hailey loved the toy.  Play time looked like this. 

Look what I got!

You can't have it

Lee maybe you want to play with the new cow, it is cool too

Finally it is mine! 

The cow has not gotten much play time, but the croc has been played to death. After a week, this is what was left:

I think for the amount of play this toy got it was worth the $5!

Mischief Monday - The Blower

We are very fortunate to have a wonderful beautiful and huge fireplace to help heat the house in the winter. This year, after a series of snags, we were finally able to have a blower installed. For those of you who don't know about fireplace blowers (I didn't until recently), it sucks cold air in, heats it above the fire and blows it out. The other day in about an hour and a half of running it, it raised the temperature in the house 3 degrees. It sounds like a loud fan when it is on.

Here is how the dogs feel about it:

Hailey: "I hate it. Turning it on ruins my life."

Zaphod: "It is scary please turn it off. I would rather be cold."

Yep, turning it on causes mischief according to the dogs!

Lee enjoying the fire when the blower is off (and yes she is half on and half off her bed)