The beast sleeps.....................

Yesterday was a Bugsy day from beginning to end. You've already heard about the suet block on the head it continued from there to be just a crazy day & night.
He was wired and mischievous until the very end.
Strangely when he decided to settle down for the night he made a nest of my sweats and slept next to the bed, next to me. This is very unusual behavior as he chooses to sleep in his crate down the hallway or his bed downstairs.
We were having horrible storms all night and he would pop up at various times and nudge me. Um yea I heard it too.
Today he just can't seem to wake up. Clearly his wild weekend has caught up with him.
All he does is move from bed to bed and immediately fall asleep.
Seeing that it is a dreary, rainy Monday who can blame him!

whew I iz vewy sweepy

Bugsy the gun dog

Although we will never know exactly what is in the mix we know he has some sporting breed in there that loves birds and doesn't mind a bit of noise - you know a gun dog or a bird dog.
Today someone gave DH an air rifle to check out and he started 'shooting' it (no bullets) in the yard.
Bugsy right next to him. Whatcha got Dad?
So I get an idea to have DH 'shoot' the duck and get Bugsy to retrieve it. It was going to be brilliant.
I went and got his Dokken Duck still wet from our trip to the lake earlier. Grabbed Bugsy by the collar and had him sit next to DH.
DH shot the gun.
I tossed the duck.
Bugsy ran.
The duck hit the suet block in the bird feeder.
The suet block hit Bugsy in the head.
He picked up the suet block and took off running.
Grabbed the duck while still holding the suet cake in his mouth and was off, not to be caught.
The suet block had fallen a good distance onto his head, so his head was covered in suet and seed. Including in his right eyebrow so he kept blinking.
Unthwarted he kept prancing and blinking with his suet and duck.
Presumably my hysterical laughter wasn't conducive to him giving me either the duck or the suet.
DH shaking his head, "you two are a pair."

Once I got both the duck and the suet block (which I put back in the feeder) it was time to return to our garden work.

So clearly Bugsy is a gun dog unbothered by the gunshot nor having a suet block fall from 15 ft onto his head.

Good boy!

bits and pieces

The arrival of Spring means many things - going swimming at the lake, a change from mole hunting to catching morning doves, and welcoming a new kiddie pool.
Yup we've done all three now.

Last year I was too late on the kiddie pool search and they were all sold out so Bugsy had to make do with a leaky old pool all summer. Not this year, he got a brand new bright yellow pool. Very high fallutin' now!

Then yesterday morning right before I was leaving for the day he went out and caught a morning dove. They honestly must be the dumbest birds on earth. I have lost track of how many times he has caught them and I presume the 'couple' we have are a returning couple. He never harms them but still you would think they would move on!

Lastly almost for documentation purposes I report that he is still limping on and off. It seems that 3 days in a row walking/running is the max before he winds up in pain again. I feel so sorry for my boy. He just wants to feel good again - everyday.

I finally went swimming again!!

well it took some doing but my humans finally took me to the lake again - actually it is the first time my dad human took me swimming.
He just took pictures though, my mom human was in charge of the duck.

The beautiful, smelly, floating duck -
my beautiful, smelly, floating duck!

Look how nicely I wait for her to throw it

then I have to swim to get it

then I have to swim with it in my mouth

and I bring it all the way back to mom human


This is the best game ever!

wow that wuz a loud visit!

Poor Bugsy - yesterday started with being charged by two large german shepherd dogs and ended with a loud non-stop barking dachshund house guest who wanted nothing to do with him.
Some friends of mine were driving up the east coast and I was glad to say sure stay with us. What I didn't know is that their dog isn't trained very well and isn't friendly to other dogs.
She snarled, growled and barked at him. He brought her a toy, grrrrrrrrrr. He would go away from her and lay down and she would bark non-stop. He'd come back and she'd growl.
We wound up having to keep them completely separate.
This was very stressful for Bugsy - he wanted so badly to play.
OH well big guy you did really well with the charging GSD's and even better with the unpleasant house guest.
But from here on out, you bring a dog to my house it better be one that plays!

he's flat out crazy!

happy to say we had no limping after his long walk yesterday - woohoo doing a happy dance!
We did just a short walk today (1.5 miles) and admit to wondering when or if we will ever get back to doing our thing day in and day out. Fingers crossed the day comes soon!
Upon arriving home DH was heading out for his walk and Bugsy decided to do some zoomies. Unfortunately this led to two major leg splaying spills.
It is a good thing my hair dresser has been making my highlights lighter and lighter because the gray hair is taking over!
He seemed a little confused as to how it all went awry but he wasn't any worse for the wear. Save the mud that was all over his bad leg and butt!

Then he spent the rest of the day very lethargic. Only to awaken at about 7 pm when he asked to go out, found an empty tissue box in the garage and decided to run around the yard tearing it up and giving it a death shake.
Then he found the remains of his stuffed duck toy and finished that off.
I was able to coax him back in only to have him drink an entire bowl of water leaving about half on my kitchen floor.
Just yuck!
A face only a mother could love - I assure you

making new friends ..............

and going for a really long walk on a pretty Spring day.
Some of you may recall that I believe Bugsy has lost some confidence in the last year. I mostly attribute it to feeling weak due to knee pain and then having to go through the surgery and restrictions. Whatever the cause he has certainly shown himself to be less confident and this has meant he has at times been reactive on leash.
The reactivity hasn't been consistent but I have been working hard to get my Bugsy back.
Over the last few weeks we have joined some other walkers with their dogs as we do our daily stroll which seems to distract him, he is clearly more relaxed walking in a pack.
We've also been reading "Scaredy Dog" and "Control Unleashed" and doing lots of short training sessions.
Which brings me to today. DH & I went out with Herr Bugsy and shortly after leaving our street I noticed one of the neighborhood ladies out with her two very large german shepherds. Bugsy wanted to run up and meet them but I kept him fairly slow.
By the time we caught up to them, they had met up with 3 labs so when we arrived there was Bugsy surrounded by 5 large dogs all sniffing his butt.
It was all fine and the only sadness was when we all went our own way.
It was my Bugsy of old whose greatest joy in life was meeting a bunch of dogs.
I felt such a wonderful sense of joy and relief.
Later in our walk we passed some runners and then we came upon a small dog that was slightly excited and barking. At first I didn't like Bugsy's body language - but then it softened and the tail wagged furiously so we went to meet this little guy too.
So all told we met 6 new dogs and he was wonderfully happy and relaxed with all of them.

We also did our longest walk since well before surgery. He was very tired and clearly sore towards the end. When we got in I gave him Traumeel and he rested. At the moment he is out stalking squirrels so I believe him to be fine.
When he gets up tonight for his final business of the day we will know for sure.
Hopefully the limping of last week is behind us and we are now on the path to a play date!

dew claws = thumbs, really they do

Last night Mr Bugsy was driving me insane wanting something to do. I was busy and didn't want to play.
I know shameful!
So in a moment of inspiration I decided to wedge a deer antler in a kong ball.
Aha this will sort your busy butt out.
Oh and it did for a good few minutes. It was fascinating to watch him remove it.
His successful technique included using his dew claws extensively - his thumbs I call them LOL

Unfortunately for me, having removed it once when I put some peanut butter in the ball and blocked access by wedging the antler back in, he just took the antler out and ate the peanut butter.
Oh well have to find another idea.

I'll try to get some pics or video of it, kind of cool to see him work his magic!

Edit to add this picture - had the wrong lens on my camera but you can see the grip he has on the ball - with his dew claw!


Oh and last night for the first time since last week he didn't limp when he got up
:-)

those blasted squirrels

Hey this is Bugsy writing my own post for a change. My human is always talking about my knees, I DON'T CARE ABOUT NO STINKING KNEES, I have things to do!

Like...........keeping those squirrels off the feeders.

This is what happens when I am not out there doing my job



It is flat out crazy and makes me very mad.
If my humans let me out I carefully creep up on these furry little creatures and scare them!
bwa ha ha ha
They run and scramble real good!
That is fun but I can also keep them away from a distance. Its easy I just lay down in the grass and keep my eye on those bird feeders.
Mom says the birds are good but not ones called 'grackles' so I chase them too.

Back to the squirrels - this is the look I give the squirrels to keep them away

Feels like a lake day............

After another not very restful weekend day I have had Mr. Bugs doing nothing today but he is getting VERY antsy now. He was still a little stiff-legged last night but not as bad.
It is about 65* and sunny - the lake is beckoning.
Is it worth squeezing a trip in?
15 minutes or so of unadulterated fun?
Hitting the bank and gas station on the way home?

Oh I think it is

edit!
No it wasn't a lake day :-(
The lake was closed so poor B was all psyched up and no where to go.
Fortunately a friend and her daughter stopped by which was super duper exciting - he once again got more activity than I would have liked. We'll see what he is like later...........

a day of rest - not!

I thought that I would keep Bugsy resting today to see if that helped whatever is causing him to limp.
Well you know what they say about best laid plans............
First since it was so nice out he had to spend much time wandering the yard.
Then I thought I would do some training and have him do his cavaletti's (walking over hock high hurdles)to work his mind and see if that helped his gait. He did that but he whole time he was like, "we go walkies now?"


So I put him inside so I could go for a run.
Then when I got back he wanted out.
This is how it went all day. He was like a shadow for me - I think he didn't want me to slip out for another run without him LOL
Anyway he spent hours wandering the yard and pacing and looking and sniffing.
Tonight to finish his day he went out and caught a mole. This wasn't just any old mole. He had detected it this morning but it was just outside his range (e-fence) so he just stood there pointing at it and whining.
Poetic justice that he got it tonight!

please no!

We have been so happy to be able to do normal length walks (2-3 miles for us) day after day with no apparent soreness and then bam! The other night when he awoke to go out for his end of the night business, he limped.
Wait a minute, which leg are you favoring big guy? Oh no way not the left one - gulp.
So he rested the next day, seemed fine so he had an evening walk.
When he awoke for end of the night business, limping.
head down, please no, yup favoring the left leg - the good one.
I am desperately hoping it is just sore. I cannot in no uncertain terms go through another surgery at this point, nor can he. So send us some good vibes please?

Poor guy had finally got to play with his cherished stuffed duck again and we were preparing to allow him a short playdate.

Come on Bugsy be OK - you so need to get back to having fun!

we have made it!

Last week we reached the 16 weeks post op point. This is significant for TPLO dogs in that unless there have been difficulties dogs can now return to full activity.
Slowly of course but they can really start the return to normalcy.
Bugsy has been fortunate in that his recovery has been fairly smooth with a few scares and hiccups but nothing too extreme.
He has been building and building since the day he came home.
Yesterday and today he did 3 mile walk/runs and although tired is no worse for the wear. In fact he came home today and ran some zoomies post walk and continued to be silly inside including his very first leap off the stairs -GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
It has been nice to not have to remind him to not do that but clearly we need to stay on him.
I think next week we will have our first short play date.
So all in all we are real close. Now to work on his confidence as he is lacking in it for the first time in his life.
Its always something

Dublin Dog collars

Every once in a while something really neat happens, here's one instance:
A while back I saw (in a photo) a dog wearing a neat collar and being told it was a Dublin Dog collar. Never heard of them.
Fast forward to about a month ago I was in a TJMaxx/Homegoods and saw Dublin Dog collars. Wow they are really, really nice!
And in a rare fortunate moment I see they have XS and XL (clearly why they are in a closeout store). I look at the XL and wow it sure looks BIG. Real BIG.
The size says it starts at 23". Well 23" should be just about perfect, but boy this thing looks huge.
Sure enough when I got home it was ridiculously big. That collar did not start at 23",it was more like 26".
So I returned them - um yea they were so cool I bought two.
Then I went on to the dog forum I am a moderator for and complained about the sizing. The Large ends at 21" so there is a huge gap between them.

Well will you believe this - the founder of Dublin Dog collars joined the forum and responded that they were redoing the sizes and there would now be an overlap between L and XL.
Now that is customer service!
He also pointed out that they have a 'recycling' program which goes like this:
If you donate a collar to them (which they re-gift to a needy dog) they will give you 15% off the purchase of a new collar - how great is that!

Oh and should you decide to get a Dublin Dog collar - trust me you will love it!