That's My Daddy

Nothing feels better than an ear scratch from daddy

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here, wishing Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!  I am not ashamed to admit that I am a complete daddy's girl.  Don't get me wrong, I love my mama, but there's nothing like the relationship between a girl and her daddy.

My daddy does lots of things for me.  He takes me to the dog park and takes me on adventures.  He gets me food and buys me toys.  He gives me ear scratches and brushes my hair.  Daddy says he spends half his time filling our water bowl. 

Daddy always brings fresh water for us when we go for drives.

A great daddy will drop everything to take care of his babies. Yesterday, mama let us stay out in the yard while she ran to pick up some take-out food.  Daddy was gone for the weekend; he'd gone to Tulsa to help grandpa with a model train openhouse so mama was going to eat Indian food since daddy hates it.  Unfortunately, the food took longer than expected and we had to stay outside longer than we should have.  When mama got home and put us back in the cool house, I had some sort of seizure.  It was totally scary!  My sister Lucy has seizures but hers are different.  The seizure stopped and mama got me cooled off quickly. As soon as mama called daddy and told him about my problem, daddy hopped in the truck and drove straight home.  Mama had told him that I had recovered nicely and was doing okay, but daddy didn't care--he wanted to get home to see me for himself. 

Daddy came home to be sure I was okay; he's a good daddy.

Daddy takes us on hikes.  We go to different state parks and check out all the sights and sniffs we find along the way.  Sometimes I feel sorry for daddy (and mama) when we go on these hikes because all of us are rather wild walkers. We know how to behave on a leash, but when we see and smell all those enticing things, we forget our walking manners and start pulling and twirling around each other and causing all kinds of trouble.  If there is a body of water, whether a raging flood, a quiet lake, or a stagnant puddle, we are going to wade and/or swim in it.  Then when daddy helps me up in the back of the truck, he gets all muddy and stinky.  Taking me on a hike is an adventure in itself.

Daddy wrangling my sisters on a hike

Daddy goes away every day and I wish he'd stay home and play with us, but mama says he has to go to work so he can make money to buy us food and toys and such.  I don't understand the whole commerce idea, but I guess if daddy is going away to benefit us, that's okay with me.  But sometimes daddy goes away and it's not for work and I feel he should take me along--he goes to bowl and he goes to play disc golf.  I'm very sure I could sit nicely in a chair at the lanes and cheer him on, and get lots of attention from the other bowlers.  And I'm very sure I'd enjoy a day at the park barking at the guys throwing those discs (don't expect me to go chasing those things; that kind of behavior is not for a lady as refined as I am.)  

Despite the fact that daddy leaves me home more than he should, he really is a super good daddy and I love him very much.  Even when he pays attention to my sisters instead of me.  Even when he pets the foster dogs instead of me.  As long as he doesn't do it too much.  After all, he must remember, I'm his #1 Corgi Girl!

Happy Father's Day to my daddy, and to all the great dads out there!

Til next time,

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

Me and my daddy...and an intruding foster dog

Lily the Corgi Presents Fun With Flags

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here!  Sorry this blog post is a day late.  My secretary (mama) was out of town on Saturday doing a job and then yesterday she seemed to think she didn't have to do any typing for me because it was her birthday. Pfft!  You just can't get good help anymore.

Mama's birthday falls on a day called Flag Day here in the US, which is a day to recognize and celebrate the good old red, white, and blue--or for me, the sort of grayish stipey thing.  I'm not sure what all the rage is about flags, but I understand that flags are meant to sometimes show that a person or country or perhaps a doggy has possession of an area...and I am ALL about showing possession, so my interest was caught.

As it turns out, dogs and flags have a pretty solid connection.  As we all know, dogs have long served under their countries' flags in time of war and have conducted themselves proudly and honorably in that service.  Likewise, dogs regularly serve as police officers to help human cops keep us safe. If something bad happens and one of these hero dogs, military or police, dies in the line of duty, they are entitled to a funeral with a flag draped coffin just like their human counterparts.  This shows the peoples' respect for the service these K9 heroes perform each and every day.

Left:  The flag draped coffin of a K9 soldier killed in the Middle East comes home.
Right:  The funeral service for Oklahoma City police K9 Kye, killed in the line of duty.

Across the pond, as they say, there is a long association between the corgi and the British flag.  Since the corgi has been the preferred breed of the British monarchy for the past 75 years or so, you can well imagine that there are a plethora of depictions of our wonderful breed alongside their flag.

Quite the regal looking pair, sitting before their flag!

There are some places which seek to celebrate critters on their flags--the state of California has a bear on their flag while Wyoming's flag sports a bison.  Several of our great states put a big old eagle on their state flag.  Alas, no state has a corgi.  But...up to our neighboring north, the Yukon Territory in Canada has a flag which contains the image of a DOG, namely, a malamute like our late brother Claude the husky/malamute mix.

I think their territorial song should be howling.

I was not familiar with the flag of Wales, the country from which corgis originated, but I figured there should be corgis on it, right?  Wrong.  The Welch flag is green and white with some large mythical dragon creature on it.  Now doesn't that seem silly to anyone but me?  We corgis are the most important thing ever to come out of Wales and still they use an imaginary animal for their flag? What's up with that people?  Seriously.

You know what I'd like to see?  A bacon flag.  Now that would be a flag.  Rich, aromatic, popular, and always in good taste (hehe).  

I could get behind this flag...behind it, all up in it, whatever 

way you want to look at it, just so I get a bite!

Just a few more thoughts about flags before I move on to the couch.  I read a story last night about a guy who got sick and tired of irresponsible dog owners in his nieghborhood.who would walk their doggies and let the doggies do their stinky business all around but never clean it up.  The guy contacted the police, the home owner's association all to no avail.  Finally the guy decided the only way he might have any influence on his rude nieghbor was to make the transgression so public that an outcry was raised.  So the guy got a bunch of little bright pink flags and began going around the neighborhood placing flags in the dog, um, piles that had been left behind.  I just pictured a whole neighborhood with pretty pink flags waving in the breeze!  The story didn't have any word on whether this helped the situation for this guy or just made him feel better.  But I DARE you to try not to think of doggy poop next time you see a little pink flag somewhere!

Okay, folks, I realize this post today has been light on corgi content, but I just couldn't get my mind off all the Flag Day stuff.  Now that I've written all about it, maybe I can move on with my life--at least until July 4th when all the flags will be waving and the fireworks will be flying.  Til next time, take care of each other and remember to have fun with flags!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

The pictures this week came from various internet sites including:

Pinterest

KFOR.com

playbuzz.com

nydailynews.com

I have no ownership of any of the images in this blog (except the one taken by my mama) and have not knowingly reproduced copyrighted material.  If I have done so in error, please advise ASAP and I will remove the offending photo.

Lily

Yikes, It Got Hot Out There!

Where did spring go and why is it HOT?

Hi, all, Lily the Corgi here.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  Here, we're enjoying our backyard a great deal more than before.  My daddy has this very large, very old, very loud thing he calls a lawn mower that he would drive around the yard from time to time; its purpose was the cut grass and terrorize doggies.  Over the years, this thing was still quite terrifying but it did a worse and worse job at cutting the grass.  A couple of weeks ago, daddy finally admitted the old loud thing had given all it had, so he went to the store and got a new lawn mower.  This one is smalller, quieter, and bright red--I think that makes daddy feel like he's going faster.  This new lawn mower has been cutting our grass so nice and short, it is fun to go out in the yard to sniff and explore again!  I still don't like that we have to go in the house when daddy drives it, but the parentals say it can be dangerous for doggies to wander around when the lawn is being mowed and, of course, Sadie would probably be so scared she'd just fall over if it came near her.

With the nice trim lawn, we've been wanting to spend a lot more time outside because, well, we're dogs and dogs like to be outside.  Okay, not all dogs.  Our foster dog, Casper, hates to be outside. He only goes out for the absolute amount of seconds necessary to do his toilet affairs and then he wants right back inside.  He doesn't want to stop to chase squirrels, visit the neighbor dogs through the fence, or bark at the birds at their feeder; he just wants back inside. I, myself, would stay out all day if I could because there is just so much to see and do and sniff out there.  

Up until just a week or so ago, we were having serious spring weather--tornado warnings every day, flooding that reached Biblical proportions, and temperatures that still got quite chilly.  Yeah, well, spring is OVER and it is HOT out there!  Hey, I'm an Oklahoma dog; all my siblings are Oklahoma dogs, even our foster is an Oklahoma foster; we are used to hot and humid summers.  One summer, we lived in the Texas panhandle and it was wonderful; even when the temperature was very high, there was no humidity and it felt so nice outside.  Well, now we are in Arkansas, just a few miles from Oklahoma and it is humid.  And hot.  And miserable.  And did I mention hot and humid?

People do this thing called sweating.  My mama sweats right in the back of her head; in the summertime, it seems like her hair is constantly wet.  Daddy doesn't really have much hair, so he has a lot of sweat on his bare head; he looks funny!  Mama says sweat looks sort of yucky but it helps them stay cool in the hot, humid weather.  I think sweat makes them taste salty and I lick them when I have the chance.  Mama says dogs don't sweat, except for the very bottoms of our feet.  She says the foot sweat makes our feet smell like corn chips and tells me I have Frito feet.  Fritos are very good, so I think this must be a very nice scent for the summer.

Check out my Frito feet--go ahead, take a sniff!

But if we can't sweat except a tiny bit on our toesies, how in the world is a corgi girl supposed to keep cool and fresh when it feels like we've been dropped into a South American jungle?  (Mama says I need to get over myself; she's actually been in a South American jungle and this is NOT the same. Whatever, mama; talk to the Frito scented foot.)

First of all, doggies pant.  When a dog pants, the rapid exchange of air helps cool our bodies.  A panting dog may take breaths 300-400 times a minute--that's a lot!   Corgis look especially cute when we pant because our tongues are quite long and hang out extra far; a corgi can pull off an adorable look even when overheated!

That tongue should be enough to cool off anyone!

Dogs can also relieve a little heat by dilating blood vessels in the head and ears.  I suppose that means a dog with really big ears is a really cool dog!  Hehe, that's a joke--I'll be here all week; don't forget to tip your waitress.

We doggies depend alot on our humans to keep us cool in the miserable hot weather.  My mama gives me ice cubes to crunch and I love them.  Some people have the idea that ice is bad for doggies, but that really isn't true.  There are misconceptions that eating ice will give dogs stomach bloat.  According to Dr Tina Wismer, the director of the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center, this is an old wives' tale that simply has no basis in truth.  She does warn that if your doggy is an "aggressive chewer" he/she could accidently chip a tooth, but if your dog doesn't get crazy about it, an ice cube or two should be perfectly safe.  Dr Wismer does caution that a dog who appears to be suffering from heat exhaustion or heat stroke should NOT be given ice or ice water, but should be covered in cool cloths and rushed to the vet immediately.

Dogs also appreciate frozen treats.  Pupsicles, Frosty Paws, whatever you like to call them, you can't go wrong giving your dog a tasty frozen treat made especially for him/her.  You can buy these frozen treats in the store, but my mama makes us frozen goodies at home by freezing beef or chicken broth, or freezing a mixutre of plain yogurt, honey, and peanut butter.  Just pour those things in an ice cube try or a Dixie cup and pop in the freezer; a few hours later...frozen bliss!

Some doggies love to cool down with a good swim.  I personally would just swim and swim all day; some people thing corgis aren't good swimmers--and some might not be--but I am a swimming superstar!  Our dog park has a little lake and lots of doggies take a dip there on a hot day.  Last year, mama thought that since Lucy and I liked the lake, we'd enjoy a little wading pool.  Neither of us like it, however.  I don't know why; maybe we're just holding out for a trip to the dog park!

Swimming at the little lake in our dog park

The best way to keep your doggies cool is to keep them where you are comfortable.  If it is too hot for you to sit out in the middle of the yard in the blazing sun, chances are that's not good enough for your dog either.  At home, under the air conditioner or fan,  is the spot doggies crave.  If a dog must be outside, be sure it is in the shade with ready access to a lot of fresh, cool water.  And never, ever, ever, as long as you live, forever, no way, no how, should you leave a dog (or child) in a vehicle on a hot day.  

The good news about hot weather--it has to end sometime.  The bad news--where I live, that may be in November!  Treat your doggies, and yourselves, to a frozen treat, a refreshing swim, or just a day hanging out under a nice fan.  Remember to watch your dogs and your people for signs of getting too hot, keep hydrated, stay cool!  We want you around to enjoy a visit with us for a long time to come!

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

This is our current foster, Casper.  He hates to be

outside and prefers this spot right under the ceiling fan