Have you ever seen a Maltese with an eighties hair do?
Now you have.
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Category: Animals
I wake up and the first thing I see is Freya wedged between two pillows, staring at me. “Hello mother, I’ve been watching you.”
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Stitch Murphy Faces
I am amazed by all the different looks that this cat has. Sometimes he is Crazy Cat and sometimes he is Grumpy Cat.
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Labrador Train
I took Loki into work one day because he was drinking an INSANE amount of water and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t diabetic (I might be a little paranoid when it comes to the animals sometimes… just a little). Well, Loki’s blood sugar and other tests were completely normal but he got to hang out next to this adorable female lab puppy. Loki and her kept sitting in the same positions it was too cute. If I had enough property and money I would have a pack of labs. Just the thought of having my own giant pack of labs makes me smile and giggle.
I just finished taking care of my mom’s dog Darla at my house while my mom was out of town. She is on the left couch pillow above Stitch Murphy and next to Freya. Its funny how the little girl dogs do some of the same exact things. Darla can be somewhat dog-aggressive but when she is with my dogs she’s an angel and never shows aggression of any kind. I like having her over for extended visits. When you have three dogs already, throwing another little one in the mix is hardly noticeable.
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Fireworks & Pet Safety
After every 4th of July I hear of dogs who escaped from their home or backyard because they were scared and/or panicked. Do not let this be your dog. You would be surprised how many dogs can find a way out of their enclosures outside or climb a high fence when they really want to. The safest place for pets during 4th of July celebrations is indoors. For pets who are properly crate trained, the crate can be really helpful as a calming tool. There are also things called thunder shirts that some pets respond pretty well to. Thunder shirts are designed to hug pets and produce a calming effect. It’s likely too late now to get but there is also a pretty effective prescription mild sedative out there called Acepromazine. Sometimes Benadryl can make pets sleepy but as long as a pet does not have any drug sensitivities I would highly favor the prescription sedative for its efficacy.
I’m really lucky, my dogs could care less when mortars or other fireworks go off near our house. I didn’t know how Freya would do with fireworks because this is my first 4th of July with her but she has done great as people (including myself) have been setting off fireworks all week. When my dogs do become frightened of something I just stay calm and assertive and try to redirect their attention with a command or a toy.
I hope everyone’s pets do well today and are safe!
PS. This is one of my co-worker’s dog, Zoey. She is an amazing Aussie and loves to do agility with her mom.
We took an afternoon walk and the boys found a hole and took turns digging it up some more. Upon reflection, I’m not sure if it is appropriate to allow them to be digging on someone else’s property but they are SO freakin cute when they dig.
Loki and I went for a walk just before sunset and we stopped to stare at the gorgeous Jacaranda tree. The blooms on the ground are almost as beautiful as the tree itself. They just transfer their colorful, unique natural status to the otherwise ordinary pavement.
A gorgeous Jacaranda tree picture after the jump!
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We Are Siamese If You Please
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Tested On Humans First
The co-founder of Paul Mitchell, John Paul Dejoria, has created a line of pet care products including this foaming shampoo and various wipes. He was recently a keynote speaker at the American Animal Hospital Association’s (AAHA) annual conference. I heard great things about his lecture and I just think the “Tested On Humans First” tagline on these products is pretty cute.
I really like the waterless foam shampoo, the feel and smell of it is really nice. I currently use a good spray conditioner on the pets in between baths, but I’ll try out the JP foam shampoo and see how it goes. As far as the wipes go, they’re good but I simply have no need for them. There are also some tea tree oil scented products that I think smell great, but I’m not as keen on them for fear that they might encourage pet owners to believe that tea tree oil has mystical powers that will cure any skin ailment their pet has or might have them think they don’t need to visit a veterinarian.
I didn’t receive any free stuff or money for writing this post.
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Dobie Selfie
On the left is Drake, and I am in love. Drake is a 112 pound Doberman who is tall, lean, and gorgeous. Drake’s nuclear family consists of two dads who seem equally as sweet and interesting as he is.
When it comes to bigger dogs, Labrador and Golden Retrievers are one of my favorites but I really like Doberman Pinschers. In general, they are smart and sweet. Despite their seemingly intimidating stature, they are usually good with people and pets.
On the right is Gar’s dad’s former Dobie, Daisy, with Loki and Rowan at our home. She was a lot of fun to be around and was so cute with our dogs.
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Hug Your Cat Day
Yesterday was national hug your cat day (real thing) and I was trying to get a photo with both my cats but they were extremely unhappy about the event. I just wanted one picture with both of them to add into a collection of photos that I had compiled for a cute little project for the day. I could only get this one photo before kitty jumped ship. It was bullshit, normally they are so nice and snuggly with me and the one time I ask something of them they tell me to fuck off… I guess that’s cats for you.
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Republic of Dog
I had Loki at work with me and decided to get a picture of him sitting under his own picture in one of our exam rooms. When I looked at the photo I laughed inside, imagining it as a propaganda poster for some authoritarian regime. Yet, Loki is too nice for an authoritarian regime so this would have to be his presidential photo for the venerable Republic of Dog… or something like that.
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Nobody Here But Us Cushions
Rowan likes to snuggle down deep into the cushions.
Stitch is so sweet to everyone, people and animals included. I have way too many pictures of him sleeping
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Grumpy Stitch Murphy
Stitch Murphy sometimes tries his hardest to impersonate grumpy cat.
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Naughty Row Row Tricks
A couple of days ago, while I was working from home, Rowan pulled paper towels out of the trash that had I used to soak up beef fat and began eating them. I’ve had my new trash can for four months and thought it was impenetrable. It is tall and has a lid heavy enough to keep Rowan out, or so I thought. What pissed me off most about this is that Rowan jeopardized the kitten. Stitch Murphy was sitting right next to him trying to join in on the fun. By now I know that Rowan has a stomach of steel and is in no way prone to pancreatitis but he could’ve made the kitten really sick. I yelled at him and he ran to the bed and did this pose. I really can’t stay mad at him for long, he is uncommonly cute.
I’ve been thinking that, when you have a little dog who is as food motivated and hyper as Rowan, it is like being the parent of a toddler who never grows older and is hell-bent on eating anything that remotely resembles food. Part of my relationship with Rowan involves discovering and putting an end to his food retrieval techniques. For the longest time, I kept bread, rice, and tortillas (since I use these items pretty often) on a waist-high rack that is in my woodblock island in the kitchen.
Well, one night while I was sleeping (this is before I began locking Rowan in the bedroom at night) Row Row perfected the method of standing in the lowest rack of the island while nudging food items through the space between the wood slats to the end of the rack and, finally, getting out of the island and standing on his tip-toes to retrieve the food items from the edge of the rack. I woke up in the middle of that night to find Rowan just finishing off a bag of corn tortillas. He had already eaten an entire loaf of onion dill rye bread and half a bag of uncooked rice. FYI, uncooked rice just goes right through them pretty much unchanged. Before this incident, Rowan got some uncooked rice but I couldn’t figure out how and I didn’t know that he ate the rice until I saw his rice poop the next day.
Anyhow, I took Rowan to the emergency clinic that night to induce vomiting and he ended up being just fine. I called them when I was leaving to find out the cost of these things and to tell them what my dog had done. When I walked in the door the receptionist said, “That little guy ate all that? I thought you were going to bring a lab in.” No, my lab was still sleeping like an angel at home. Then, and I’m really not making this up, Rowan shit on their welcome mat.
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Stitch Murphy
Stitch Murphy (aka Stitch, Stitch Murf, Murfles) is the most recent addition to our family. All I can say about Stitch so far is that he is incredibly playful and sweet. He loves the dogs, and acts like them a lot of the time. Stitch is obsessed with food, there is no food item that he has not shown interest in.
I tell Freya (aka French Fry, Frenchie, Fryers, Frey Frey) that she is a slut (in a nice way of course) a lot because she is constantly trying to lick me. Let’s be honest, Freya is not very smart but she makes up for it by being sweet. She is incredibly sweet. She even licks Rowan’s eye boogers and Loki’s hanging mouth drool.
Rowan (aka RowRow, Rogan Bear, psycho pants, chi-coo, door-stop, turkey) spent his childhood living with drug lords on a coca farm in Colombia. This fact is completely reflected in his personality. Rowan has two modes at home, he is either acting like he just hit a crack pipe or he is sleeping. I cannot even begin to tell you all the mischief he has caused in our household. However, Rowan is extremely cute, so it’s impossible be angry with him for more than a second.