Just Resting Up

Sometimes you just have to relax...whether you want to or not.

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here.  The record flooding continues in our area so we've been stuck inside a lot this past week.  I've been catching up on a lot of resting.  We still have our new foster, Casper, and he is still a very disturbed little guy, but he is making progress.  He can sometimes make it in and out the door on his own.  He has made a couple of attempts to play with Lucy and Sadie and he did manage to play with a toy once this week.  On the down side, he's developed an attachment to our mama that I'm not liking so much.  When she leaves the house, he gets so upset he tries to tear up things and poops the floor.  *Sigh*  He is a work in progress.  I'll keep you posted.

The new guy learns to gnaw on a toy.

So, since there hasn't been so much going on here this week, I thought I'd give you another edition of Fun Facts about Dogs!

1.  We all know chows have those cool looking black tongues, right?  Well, did you know when chows are born, their tongues are pink just like all the rest of us doggies?  The tongues turn that black color when the dog is around 2 months old.

2.  Speaking of doing a lot of resting... a resting dog takes about 30-40 breaths per minute.  A panting dog can breathe 300-400 times per minute.  You'd think we'd hyperventilate, but we are able to breathe like that in order to help us cool off since we have limited sweat glands to help with cooling.

3.  My sister Sadie and I are both herding dogs, which means we are considered to be fairly intelligent dog breeds.  Lucy is a beagle mix, so people sometimes underestimate her devious little mind.  Thankfully, we don't have any of the world's dumbest dogs in our family--the Afghan Hound.

4.  On the subject of intelligence--The average dog is as intelligent as a 2 year old child.  Yesterday, our human cousin Cohen turned 2.  He's a pretty smart little guy but I'm pretty sure I could outscore him on most intelligence tests.

The birthday boy stood there while his grandfather sprayed him in the face!  Now, I ask you, would a corgi allow such treatment?  I don't think so!

5.  You know that Taco Bell dog?  Well, you'd expect it to be named something very ethnic and proudly Mexican, right?  Yeah, not so much.  The Taco Bell dog is named Gidget.

5.  Think only mutts and rejects end up in animal shelters?  Well,think again.  Approximately 1/3 of all dogs in shelters are purebred dogs.  

6.  Back in the day, lots of dogs were named "Fido," which came from the Latin word for fidelity, or faithfulness. I'm not fond of Fido as a name but the sentiment is quite nice.  Still, I'm glad to be Lily.

7.  In the US, about 1 million dogs are listed as the primary benefiaries of their owners estates.  Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard my parents mention any sort of trust for me.

8.  Ever seen a scared dog tuck its tail between its legs?  Not only does that look all submissive but there is a chemical reason for that!  Dogs identify each other through scent, and a lot of that scent is carried through scent glands in the rear of the dog (think butt sniffing.)  When a dog tucks tail, she is actually attempting to prevent someone or some dog from knowing who she is!

Poor fraidy Sadie!  She's a chronically scared dog without a tail to tuck!

9.  Having it all--Not only are greyhounds the Olympic runners of the dog world, it is believed they also have the sharpest eyesight of the dog world.

10. Dog whiskers are used as a sensory device.  Some dogs, as well as cats, use their whiskers to see if they'll fit in a confined space.  Picture a dashchund going to ground in a hole using those whiskers as little radars to determine whether he'll get stuck or not!

Cousin Quincy, the ancient wiener dog; he doesn't do much tunnelling anymore--

except perhaps in the couch cushions.

Well, I hope I was able to give you some info that was useful,educational, or entertaining.  They say it is supposed to be dry for a few days around here, so maybe the flooding will end sometime soon and we'll be able to resume our spring romping and exploring.  Take care of yourselves, all, til next time.

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Facts for this blog post came from the following:

VetStreet

Cesar

PetFinder

mspca

FunnyFidos.com

Bark Post

fuzfeed

Flooding and Other Disasters

A ride and a hike--what a great way to spend an afternoon!

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here. Well, since mama and daddy were away last weekend, it's been a couple weeks since we've had a blog post so we have LOTS to catch up on.   

So a week ago Wednesday, Keisha the foster dog went away to get her spay surgery.  When she came home she was pretty loopy for a day so she stayed out of our way, which was pretty nice.  By Friday, though, she was back to her puppy-acting self.  That day, mama and daddy packed up early and left us to the able care of our Aunt Vicky.  We all love our Aunt Vicky, but Lucy is especially close to her.  Lucy had been having so much trouble dealing with Keisha that it was nice for her to have Aunt Vicky here to give her some special attention. 

On Saturday morning, Aunt Vicky's niece Laura (who also fosters dogs for the same rescue as my mama) came to pick up Keisha to take her to an adoption event at Petsmart.  That's where I met mama and daddy!  Anyway, Laura took one look at Keisha and thought she was the cutest thing ever (you can't see it, but I'm rolling my eyes right here.)   Long story short...we never saw Keisha again; she'll now be living forever with Laura as her mommy.  Mama teased Laura and said it took real talent to have a foster-fail with someone else's foster!

Mama and daddy came home Sunday night, smelling like our friends Morris and Sophie (they are labs who live in Missouri where mama and daddy were visiting.)  I'd like to have gone to visit, too, but I'm glad I got to be here with Vicky.  We aren't allowed to go to visit those friends because of cats--mama is afraid I'd treat them like squirrels.  I'm not saying I would or wouldn't...I like to be mysterious like that.

On Thursday, mama got an urgent call from the rescue about a little dog that was about to be put down.  In our state, strays are required to be held for 5 days at the pound to give time for owners to call for them, but if a dog is surrendered by its owner, there is no requirement for it to be kept at all.  The shelter our rescue works with keeps dogs as long as they can, as long as there is space.  Well, it seems they had a batch of dogs coming in, no space, and a little guy who was an owner surrender who would be killed to make room for a dog they were required by law to keep--unless mama would come get it and foster it.  Of course, mama said "No Way."   Right...if you believe that, let me sell you a bridge.

So mama came home with this pitiful excuse for a dog.  He's a little black thing, smaller than all of us, and I have no idea what breed he is.   He had coarse, ugly brownish-black dull fur and was afraid of EVERYTHING.  He was afraid to come in the house and afraid to go out of the house; he is afraid for anyone to walk by him; he's afraid to be walked on a leash; he's afraid to be picked up; he's afraid of the food bowl and the water dish.  It is truly pitiful.  I have never met such a scared dog before--and I live with Fraidy Sadie!

See, after a bath he doesn't look half bad.

The new guy's name is Casper, but mama says she can't bring herself to call a black dog Casper, so right now we're still looking for a good nickname.  He's terrified of all us girls, so he causes no trouble; he's certainly not going to get in the way or bother any of us.  He has no idea what toys are about and doesn't understand how to romp or wrestle with daddy. He has figured out that it is nice to snuggle up by mama and get a little scratching.  Yesterday, mama gave him a bath and it scared him so badly he pooped in the shower.  When it was all done, though, we found out he didn't have coarse, ugly hair but is soft and silky and shiny black.  I have about 98% confidence we'll be keeping this guy--mama is saying things like "no one is ever going to take him; he's too closed down" and "if he ever gets used to us it would be a shame to make him start all over again somewhere else."  Yep, whatever he ends up being called, I'm thinking we've gotten a new brother.

For the last couple of weeks, we've had rain almost every day.  Long, slow, steady rain followed by hard, pouring, drenching rain; and then light, gentle rain--and then it starts the cycle all over again.  By now, we are having huge amounts of flooding.  Our own home is in no jeopardy, except that our backyard is quite a marsh, making potty trips a trial.  But there are neighborhoods nearby that are under water.  Our Uncle David and Aunt Becky in another city were bailing water out of their house last night when their little creek overflowed its banks and started coming at them.  

Yesterday, mama and daddy loaded all us dogs up and took us to a little town near where mama grew up.  There is a dam there with a thing called a spillway that mama said would be pretty amazing to see after all this rain.  Getting started on the trip was pretty memorable as the new guy was so scared he pooped on mama, but after that was cleaned up everything went fine.  We got to walk around  at the dam and mama and daddy took lots of pictures.  The water was very high and rolling and loud; I wanted to swim in a mud hole but I did NOT want to swim in that flood water!  Wow!

Mama says back there, under where the water is calm, there is a HIGHWAY!

I've never seen water like that before.  As much as I love to swim, that's a sight to make even me stop and think about the power of nature.  Some people have been swept away around here by flood water.  Mama said even a fire fighter was drowned last night trying to evacuate some people from a flooded apartment complex.   We usually have tornadoes; this flooding business is new to me! They say 6 inches of water will knock a human off their feet--of course 6 inches of water covers half of me--and that 2 feet of water can float a car.   So please, everyone, stay out of the flood water, even if it seems pretty shallow.  

After we did the flood survey, we went to a little Sonic-type eating place and we got a nice tray of tater tots.  Even the new guy ate tater tots; he's afraid of dog food but he will eat tater tots--mama says he probably ate nothing but table scraps all his life.  Personally, that doesn't sound so awful to me, but I know it isn't healthy so, I guess it isn't the most loving thing (but I bet it tasted good.)

And last night and today, you guessed it, more rain.  I really need to get back to some intense squirrel patrol but mama and daddy get all weirded out when I get muddy in the yard, plus the squirrels aren't coming out much in the rain.  So, I'm spending some quality time stretched out on the floor or the couch, getting some beauty sleep.  

Til next time, try to keep dry!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Waiting for our 

tater tots.

                           More big water.

Random Thoughts on This Mother's Day

That is one good looking corgi right there.

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here.  How are you doing?  I hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day!  I want to give my love to all the moms out there, human and canine.  They do so much for us every day and we don't give them nearly enough appreciation for a difficult and never ending job.  Not that they don't bring the work on themselves.  I mean, they're the ones who do things like giving birth, adopting, and, oh maybe, FOSTERING??  

Yeah, fostering.  So last week, the lady from the dog rescue called my mama and she was in a panic.  It seems she had a load of dogs on their way to their various foster homes, which is a very good thing.  She had taken one little dog to her foster home and the foster family dog there is apparently even MORE bat crap crazy than my sister Sadie (is that even possible????)  The crazy dog wanted to kill the foster dog.  So anyway, the rescue lady called my mama and said the foster dog had no where to go, the fosters were full, the shelter was full, please help.  So guess what?  Right.  We have a new foster.

The new foster.  Her name is Keisha.  

Well, you know the routine around here.  Sadie was less than pleased; I had to show the newbie who runs the show; Lucy has favorite toys that were in immediate jeopardy.  Actually, this time around, Sadie chose mostly to growl softly and then ignore the newcomer.  Lucy is the one who has been most vocal in her displeasure at the new arrival--yep, mild mannered Lucy has had enough of this fostering business.  I knew it was going to happen.  After the demise of her beloved gingerbread baby toy, Lucy has drawn her line in the proverbial sand.  Daddy bought her a new toy (dragon baby) and Lucy is not about to lose it.  So, second day here, Keisha grabbed dragon baby and it got ugly.  We now have several new toys and dragon baby is safely put away.  Lucy is happy again but she will not acknowledge the new girl exists.  Pretty sad since Lucy is usually the one who plays with the fosters and tries to show them the ropes.  We told mama we were tired of the fostering but she didn't listen.  Now our house smells like pee again and we are pouting.  However, Keisha is beautiful and someone will surely want to adopt her soon.

 Left:  Keisha courts danger by playing with dragon baby!

Right:  Lucy sleeps the sleep of the righteous after dragon baby is saved from the clutches of the interloper Keisha.

So anyway, Mother's Day.  Keisha is going to the vet on Wednesday to be spayed.  Of course, all of us girls have been properly spayed because we don't do puppies at our house (and if we ever thought we wanted to, this fostering would have brought us to our senses in a hurry!)  It is SO important that all girls be spayed before they start populating the world with more puppies.  Obvioiusly, my offspring would have been remarkable, but there are just so many doggies in this world who do not have good home and who suffer from neglect, abuse, starvation and just plain loneliness.  Mama says that as young as she is, she thinks Keisha may have already had a litter at some point.  Mama says she can tell because of boobies. I personally don't go around checking out boobies; proper etiquette demands that butt sniffing is the way to go for any well-bred, well-mannered pooch.

Well, I realize today's blog post is a bit light on content, but we are having yet another storm roll in here.  This is about the third or fourth day of storms here.  Mama and daddy are talking about getting a boat.  I think that's a really great idea and would be lots of fun; Sadie rolled her crazy eyes at me and said they don't literally mean it and it has something to do with the story of some guy named Noah and a flood...I have no clue.  But, til next time, all, keep your heads above water and take care of each other.  Oh, and hug your mama!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Found this on the internet and don't know to whom the credit goes for creating it.

What is Wrong With Your Face!?!

Do you see how FAT my snout is?   UGH!!  (And that's after the swelling was way down!)

Hi, all, Lily the Corgi here.  How was your week?  Here, things were going pretty well.  Mama has been getting ready for a fundraiser for our favorite animal rescue group, so she hasn't been paying nearly enough attention to me, but I knew that was going to be temporary so I dealt with it.  Then Friday morning came along.  Daddy had gone off to work and mama's alarm clock went off so she could get ready for her computer job; everything normal.  I was lying sweetly in the bathroom floor when mama stepped out of the shower and screeched, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR FACE?"

Well, to say the least, I was offended.  As we all know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my gorgeous corgi face; how dare mama imply I am somehow less than perfect?  Thus began a long day of mama messing with my face and head--a lot.   Every time I sat still for more than a minute, mama was in my face.  If I slept for more than a few minutes, mama was waking me up with, "Lily, are you doing okay?"  I understand mama was concerned, but, geez.  

You see, my head was swollen; it appears I had gotten hold of the wrong end of a bee.  Mama said I no longer had the cute little nose and face; my head now was a solid slope from the tip of my snout to the back of my head.  Mama said I looked like a collie.  Mama kept trying to take a picture of me, but I wouldn't allow it--I think she just wanted a picture so she could humiliate me later.  After a few hours, mama thought my swelling was going down and things settled down.  A couple hours later and mama said I was re-swelling, so she loaded me up and took me to the vet.  The vet concurred that I had probably been stung by a bee...she also suggested I might have "snorted" some stinging insect.  Ridiculous woman...I'm too smart to snort anything; I don't do drugs.

The vet said I could take some Benedryl if needed but other than that, I should be fine.  She says the swelling should go away after a few days.  Mama quit stressing and made my life a lot easier.  She's still been grabbing me to look at my face a lot, but she isn't panic-stricken anymore.  Daddy has been petting me a lot and I sure like that.

Even though I didn't feel bad to start with, daddy makes me feel better!

Having this brush with with a small facial imperfection has made me think of a few of my friends who have much larger facial problems.  Even my cousin Quincy the ancient wiener dog has a face problem that altered the course of his life--he's a purebred boy who should have sold for a lot of money to someone so he could grow up to be a show dog, but since he has a huge overbite and wouldn't have been "fit" for the show ring, he ended up being my Aunt Cathy's pampered baby.

One very dear doggie with a different face is Lentil the French Bulldog.  Lentil was born with a severe cleft lip and palate that required surgeries to repair.  Lentil was luckily adopted by a kind woman who was committed to saving Lentil's life (he couldn't eat like other puppies) and giving him a great life.  Lentil is now a spokesdog who raises money and awareness for those with cranio-facial differences, both human and canine.  If you aren't familiar with Lentil, please take a look at his Facebook page "My Name Is Lentil"...he has turned his troubles into such of lot of good for so many!  

This was the tiny little face that grew up to be our buddy, Lentil

(photo from FB page My Name Is Lentil)

Another doggie who has become famous despite a face that is different from others is Tuna.  No, Tuna isn't a fish; Tuna is a dog.  In fact, lots of people believe Tuna is the world's ugliest dog, but those people aren't looking close enough at Tuna's funny, sassy, loveable personality.  Tuna raises funds for animal rescue.  Tuna has a beautiful heart and that is so much more wonderful than a perfect face.  Check out Tuna's Facebook page "Tuna Melts My Heart" and you might recognize him from books and a recent tv car commercial!

The lovely Tuna

(photo from FB page Tuna Melts My Heart)

So I realize I don't have to worry about a few facial imperfections.  I should have let mama take my picture when I was really swelled; heck, I might even have laughed at me later on!  I guess I learned a valuable lesson this week from my little insect-based edema.  

In other news, yesterday was very nice.  Grandma and grandpa came to visit so grandma could go with mama to her animal rescue fundraiser.  Grandma and grandpa always bring snacks when they visit and they were passing out dog treats like it was Christmas morning.  Aren't grandparents great?

Mama and the other ladies raised several hundred dollars for our favorite dog rescue group and that made us all very happy.  And best of all--the Royal Baby was born.  Yes, another little British royal who should grow up to love and appreciate corgis.

Today was just a nice, relaxing day.  Mama says the swelling in my face has gone down a lot.  I have had a little itching in my face, especially when it was really swelled up, but this has all bothered my parents much more than it bothered me.  Mama says I have to be more careful when I play around in the flower beds out back.  Hello!  How can I stop to be careful when there are squirrels running amok?

Til next time, folks, take care of each other and watch out for wandering insects!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Why are you petting those two?  I'm the one with the hideous head injury.