Beat the Heat

Do you have any idea what hard work it is taking care of two humans all on your own?  I have to keep a constant look out for potential threats to the kennel.  Although Bowmore’s hearing wasn’t too good, I never realized what a help that extra pair of ears was.

My humans have spent the last few weeks complaining about the water falling out of the sky.  I have to admit that we have had a lot of it which really doesn’t help me improve my Frisbee catching skills as Mummy refuses to throw it, citing some problem with my tearing up the green stuff outside.  This weekend has been particularly hot which you would have thought would give my ears a break from the whining, but oh no.  They complained about that too.  Do you hear me complain and I have to walk around in a fur coat?

Luckily, I met this cute chick called Bella who lives with her humans in a kennel with a big hole in the ground with water.  I of course turned on the charm so got invited over to cool off and took the opportunity to show off my swimming prowess.  She was pretty impressed but is not much of a swimmer.  She said something about not liking to get her fur wet, but man, are those California blondes hot.  Did you see the length of those legs?  She’s not interested in a casual fling and I’m just not the settling down type, but if I change my mind, Bella’s going to have to watch out.

Talisker

Becoming my own dog

A little over a week ago, my big brother, Bowmore left our kennel.  Mummy explained to me that he had taught me all I need to know to protect and care for humans so it was time for him to go and keep his older brother, Cider company.  I’ve been keeping watch at the top of the stairs just in case he changes his mind, but after hearing that the place they are at has really slow, fat rabbits and lots of gourmet bread, I’m beginning to think he won’t be returning.

Now it’s time for me to become my own dog.  I have extra responsibility on my shoulders and no big brother to run to for advice.  I just hope that I can do as good a job as Bowmore did for nearly 14 human years.

Talisker

The Energizer Bunny's batteries finally ran out

It is with a very heavy heart that I have to tell all of you that this morning we said goodbye to Bowmore to let him join his older brother, Cider.

In Bowmore’s younger days he was an obsessive frisbee catcher and would keep running until his feet bled if we didn’t stop him.  A few years ago we gave him the nickname “The Energizer Bunny” because he suffered so many major medical issues that for any other dog it would have been difficult to get through, but he just bounced back every time with the same enthusiastic energy that he had all his life.

Over the past few weeks, our beautiful boy had been having some little strokes but every time we thought we were losing him he would greet us the following morning with his persistent raspy bark, devour his breakfast with gusto and then rush out into the garden like nothing had happened.   Unfortunately, this time he just couldn’t fight through it again.  The batteries finally ran out.

Talisker wishes to continue Bowmore's work of documenting his adventures and observations of human behavior very soon, but for the moment needs to take a little time to come to terms with life without his brother to help him out.

Mummy

The Motorized Dog Carrier's Carrier

Did you know that motorized dog carriers have their own carriers?  They only need them when they’re very ill and can’t get themselves to the motorized dog carrier doctor.  Mummy’s was quite sickly when it was very young and had to take several rides on one.

Daddy’s motorized dog carrier has always been healthy and has regular medical check-ups so you can understand my surprise when it was supposed to be carrying us down town for our evening sniff recently and just a few blocks from our kennel made a big cough and refused go any further.  It couldn’t even get back to our kennel to wait for a carrier so we had to walk home which I find really quite distressing.  It’s never made us walk home before.  Daddy appears to be totally unsympathetic.  He says he chose it to carry us because it’s supposed to be a particularly strong breed and is far too young to be so sick.  I hope he’s kinder about me behind my back when I have to visit my doctors.

Bowmore

The End of the World

Apparently, according to a human almost as old as me, the world was supposed to end on Saturday around dinner time.  Nothing happened, but now the old human says we’ve had a reprieve until October 21^st.  Daddy’s really upset about this because his birthday is at the end of October and all his pack and a lot of his friends are hoping to come to our kennel to celebrate.  I think I need to find out who is responsible for this world ending stuff so I can appeal to their better nature.  I don’t think it is too unreasonable to ask them to delay it a couple of weeks so that Daddy can enjoy his party.

Bowmore

Yelping

In my long life I have developed a lot of very strongly held opinions on a variety of topics and feel that it is my duty to make sure that everybody hears them.  To do this I yelp. Yelping is something that all dogs know how to do but some of us are a little more practiced at it than others.  The trick to a good yelp is to start imparting your views to the targeted human in a quiet and calm manner.  Humans can be very thick skinned so if you get no reaction from the human, you need to ramp your efforts up until they finally start paying attention and that I have turned into an art form.

You can imagine my amazement when I learnt that Mummy has started to use her writing box to yelp.  Have you ever heard one try?  They just don’t have the vocal chords or the technique for the job.  If writing boxes think they can take over from dogs, they have a lot to learn.

Bowmore

Commando Dog to the Rescue

When Mummy is outside removing plants that are trying to live in our garden without her permission, I sometimes take the opportunity to use her writing box to catch up with current affairs which is very important when you are head of security.

This week I learnt that one of our cousins helped a group of seals catch a really bad human in a far away land.  It took the seals a long time to find him which doesn’t really surprise me.  I mean, just look at them.  They may be pretty agile in water but why would you send a bunch of fat dudes with flippers to do a job that needs agility and speed on dry land.  No wonder they had to call in canine support.  If a whole unit of commando dogs had been sent in at the beginning, the bad human would have been caught a long time ago.

Talisker