Iceskating for Dogs

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! Have you ever tried iceskating? It's so much fun!
I went to the off-leash park for a hike with my neighbors, Lola the yellow lab and Rosie the Maltipoo. It's been furry cold here this week (in fact, more of that fluffy white stuff is falling from the sky right now). So there were patches of ice all along the fields and backwoods trails.

Here's another:


We even found a frozen tennis ball...I tried with all my might to get it out but it wouldn't budge. Even the hoomans couldn't free it.


I thought these frozen leaves were especially pretty:


I love going in the woods with Lola and Rosie; we have so much fun together! Rosie is Lola's new sister and she keeps up with us "big" dogs just fine. She's a big dog in a little dog's body.

I'll leave you with a clip of us playing ball...who do you think was the fastest pup?!





HAPPY 2010 TO ALL MY FURIENDS!

Winter Wonderland

Hi furiends! Sorry I've been AWOL again...this time my human's excuse is something called "Krissmuss- prepurayshuns" which has been keeping her furry busy. No time for blogging. But I gave her a stern talking-to today and said I needed to catch up with my blogging buds. So here I am!

The picture above was my first experience with that fluffy cold white stuff! That was way back in early March when I was a wee pup. I really didn't mind it which is a good thing, since I was being potty-trained.

We had our first snowfall of the season last week, and Boy Twin threw snowballs for me to eat (I mean, catch!). It was so much fun.

A couple days later, my human took me back to the off-leash woods for a walk. It was so beautiful, with the ice glistening on the branches like crystals.

Remember those cool berries from my first walk? Look at them now...like whipped cream on cherries!

We saw so many doggies also out enjoying the winterscape...my human forgot to take pics 'cuz she was too busy yakking with the other humans while we doggies romped together in the snow. I love going on these walks 'cuz we both get a great workout, going up & down ridges...I'm always so tuckered out when we get home.

Does it snow where you live and if so, do you like it?

Thankful for You!

My human has been busy-busy-busy getting ready for something called "Thanksgiving". I know it involves turkey (and hopefully lots of scraps for moi!) and being grateful. So I would like to let you know that I am thankful for all my doggy-bloggy furiends! I've met so many nice pups since I started blogging in April and have really enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you.

So now you know why I haven't been posting in a while...I'm starting to figure out that before a major holiday or event like the kids' birthdays, my human gets all frenzied and has no time to log me onto the 'pee-yoo-ter. Just 'cuz she's hosting 16 people for a meal on Thursday (with 6 of 'em staying for the long weekend)...what's the big deal? Pick up the phone, order some pizza and you're done! But she won't listen to me...harumph.

Luckily, today she realized how much she's been neglecting me and took me on a fantastic walk in the woods, OFF LEASH!!! I was so excited to be free, free at last! It's a park she discovered when Girl Twin had a soccer game there, where dogs are allowed off leash on the wooded trails. I was very well behaved and didn't run off. If I got too far ahead of my slowpoke human, I'd turn around and wait for her to catch up. She was very pleased about that since she didn't know how I'd do the first time out. A couple times, we encountered some other dogs on the trail and she was glad I remembered my recall lessons.  I do much better with just one other dog; if two or more come up to me at once, I get a bit nervous.

A tree with trail markers.  I wanted to jump into the stream but my human nixed that idea!

A beautiful stone wall

Some gorgeous berries

Surveying the domain

When it gets warm again, my human said I could swim here!

All tuckered out from all that running around.

Make New Furiends, But Keep The Old...

..one is silver and the other, gold!

On today's walk, I bumped into my good buddy Garth and met a new one, Gigi!

Garth is a PBGV (Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, pronounced "puh-TEE ba-SAY gree-FO(N) von-day-ON")...aren't ya glad they go by their initials?!  That name's almost as long as my breed's name!  He is a rescue dog and very, very sweet.  He's also sweet on me, but I have to gently repel his advances 'cuz Sir Bentley is the jealous type.

PBGVs are part of the hound group, and there's no doubt when you hear Garth baying!  He protects his property from scary delivery trucks and dangerous joggers. 

After we left Garth's driveway, we noticed how many acorns have filled the sides of our road:

 They were everywhere!  No wonder the squirrels and chipmunks are getting so fat.

I was also on the lookout for our neighborhood wild turkey flock.  There are three of them who taunt me by leaving their droppings and feathers for me to find, knowing I'll go into a frenzy.  It's torture!!! 

No sighting today, tho'...sigh. 

I didn't find any turkeys, but I did find a new furiend!  Her name is Gigi and she's a 4-month old American Eskimo Dog that recently moved into the neighborhood.  My human was really taken by her.  Gigi wanted to wrestle with me and I would've played chase with her in her nice big front lawn, but her owner didn't invite me to so I stayed in my harness.  She looked very lonely and so happy to have a visitor.  She even tried to follow us home.  I hope I run into her again soon.

My Date With Sir Bentley

My human and I find Fall very invigorating...the slight chill in the air, the wind gusts, the explosion of color, a whiff of burning wood.  Puts a spring in one's step!  One of the many great things about living in NY.

Although the leaves have yet to really turn, Fall is definitely in the air, and we decided to enjoy it with some good buddies of ours.  The human half of the pair is one of my human's closest friends, Patricia of PVE Design.  She is an amazingly gifted artist whose whimsical illustrations and eye for detail never fail to put a smile on my human's face.  She does custom drawings of homes and pets, among many other things...if you're looking for something special for yourself or to give, check out her site!  She even has a blog.

The furry half of the pair is my true love, Sir Bentley.  He is a dashing mixture of beagle, poodle (I think!) and maybe some terrier.  Isn't he to die for?

We went walking at a local park.  There were lots of good smells for us to enjoy.

Check out this funky funghi!  So beautiful.  And here's a harbinger of the foliage to come!

We found an open field, ideal for ball chasing.  Our humans took us off leash (probably illegal, but we had the park to ourselves) and we reveled in our freedom.

Bentley showed off his talent for catching the ball before it hits the ground.  Sigh!  He makes my heart go pitter-patter!

After all that running around, we took some time for a little canoodling before heading home.  I'll take a walk and fetch with Bentley (and canoodling) over a candlelit dinner, anytime!

To Market, To Market...

...to buy a fresh pig, home again, home again, jiggety-jig! So the nursery rhyme goes. Well, no pigs to be bought at the farmers' market we visited this morning, but it was still nice!

This was a different one than the last one I posted about here. This market is in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, and you can see the beautiful Hudson River in some of the pics below. Not as many doggies out and about this time, and the bluegrass band was a little too loud for my taste.

I did meet another Portuguese Water Dog; this area seems to have a lot of 'em! She didn't know Bo, either...what's up with that?

The best part about going to the market on Saturday is that usually means a yummy dinner. My human loves to makes a couple side dishes from the great produce she buys, and serve it with something easy on the grill. Tonight was STEAK! I was one happy pup. I got to chew on some meaty bones...

...and I got to eat the steak scaps from the kiddies...one of the many perks of living with small bi-peds!

Saturday Means...

...the Farmers Market! We are lucky to have several where I live. I love going to them for the sights & smells, but mostly for the social scene. Lots of humans bring their doggies along to the market.

Three in a row here!

This little Doxie was so friendly.

My human ran into a friend of hers, who had her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in tow. His name is Truman and I think we're having a puppy playdate soon!

I made friends with this apricot poodle too.

Little Boy ate almost an entire pint of raspberries by himself...I only got a taste! Selfish kid!!

These lavender plants smelled divine.

I even got a doggy biscuit from a nice vendor, but I scarfed it down too quickly for my human to take a pic! D'oh! More scenes...

So here's what we ended up with at home. Note that Little Boy saved a single raspberry for Boy Twin, who returns home from camp today. What a welcome home treat, huh?! Sheesh!!

Some Finger Lakes (upstate NY) wine, fudge, bread, tomatoes, Hudson Valley cheese and full sour pickles. Oh, and the mostly eaten raspberries. Ready for the grand total? $70!! OMD! My human says she wishes she could buy more stuff at the farmers markets but she'd end up broke. I don't know where I'd have to take her to get repaired, so she better keep resisting temptation the next time we go!