SPOILED!

SPOILED! And no, for once, I'm not talking about myself! I would never say that *I* was spoiled! Laugh Laugh!

Trekkie, though I love her to death, is SPOILED. Wow! I mean, I know she's the eldest of the pack (excluding Mom and Dad, of course - because they are way to old to be considered!) but does that mean she should get everything she desires??

Just a little bit ago, Mom shooed everyone out of the kitchen and then put down a bowl of food just for Trekkie. WHAT?! You mean we can no longer sniff and drool over Trekkie's food while she thinks about whether or not she's going to eat it? That's not fair. Because if we are quick enough and startle Trekkie, she jumps away from her food and then WE get it instead. YUMMM!!! But noooooooo, Mom and Dad are now insisting that Trekkie eat by herself. Spoiled I say!

And, Grams and Gramps love her best too! Sure, Gramps takes me for walks every day and takes me to my vet appointments, but they give all their leftover dinner to Trekkie. Trekkie eats very well I'd say! And all because she's SPOILED!

I'm so happy when the neighbor kids come over to walk us and brush us! But they spend more time on - you guessed it - Trekkie! Oh, sure, she's got a longer coat than I do and it tangles way easier... But I'm the almost baby! I should be spoiled! ME! Because I'm, well, ME!!

Awwwwwww heck. Who wouldn't love and spoil this face!! Smooches to my lady love!

Hope you all  have someone to spoil you too!!
Alf

GIMME IS FOUR!!

<Tick Tock Tick Tock>

Know what that is? That's the clock ticking on Gimme Laugh Laugh!! That's right, Gimme had a birthday recently and she is now 4-years-old!

She has achieved quite a lot in her four years. At her very first show (an AKC show) she went Reserve Winners Bitch. From there, she just got better and better until she racked up an AKC Championship *and* Grand Championship *and* her Rally Novice title. In UKC she has achieved her Championship *and* Grand Championship *and* her Rally 01 title. She is also an International Champion through IABCA! Wow! She has done a lot in her mere four years of life!

And in May, she of course gave birth to my new best friends forever: Stig, Star, Bueller, Louie, Mercy, Marty, and Val. I love when they come to visit!

Mom tells me she has much more in store for Gimme over the next year or two. She will continue to special her in both AKC and UKC with the hopes that she will get a Group Placement and/or a Best in Specialty show win. That would be so cool! But she also wants to complete Gimme's obedience title(s) (Beginner Novice (BN) at the very least and then hopefully also her Companion Dog (CD)). So, while Gimme has created some very big footsteps for the rest of us poor schmucks to follow, she still has a lot to go herself!! Laugh Laugh!!

Kisses to Gimme on her 4th birthday!! Mwwwwwuuuuuahhhhhh!!!

For all my internet peeps, I hope YOUR birthday in 2013 is special and awesome!

Alf

Gramps

So, we've had some extra humans in the house lately. Dad's Mom and Dad (Gramps and Grams) have been living with us. It's been kind of fun, actually. Grams is kind of boring and doesn't do much (although she does give us table scraps!! YUMMMM!!! Laugh Laugh!!)!

Gramps, on the other hand, is pretty awesome. He's still very active and loves all of us pooches. Of course, he loves Trekkie best (who wouldn't??) but he's always willing to spend time with the rest of us.

Gramps drives a GMC Envoy. Wanna know how I know that? Because Gramps took me to the vet today! I've been doing an experimental treatment for my elbow hygromas - those are those big fluid filled icky things on my elbows. A local vet is trying cold laser therapy for them instead of the usual bandages and/or draining and/or surgery. I have to go to the vet twice a week for at least 3 weeks (maybe more). Because Gramps is bored, he volunteered to take me to the vet for these appointments. It was SO awesome! Of course, Gramps had a bit of a problem getting all of my 148 pounds into the Envoy... but he managed it!!

I love Mom's Dodge Magnum... it's really comfy. But Gramps' Envoy is so windowy. I was able to watch all the world go by. I sniffed all around the inside of the Envoy too! They brought Charlie their bird with them when they moved here to Colorado and it smelled so different! Fascinating... Laugh Laugh!!

At the vet's office, Gramps got me all checked in and then he took me back to the exam room. It is so funny when they do the cold laser therapy!! Laugh Laugh! Because it is a laser, they have to put goggles on everyone in the room. And that includes me!! Being the calm handsome stud that I am, I don't fight the goggles at all. Dad went with us to the first appointment and he told me afterwards that I looked like an alien (with buggy eyes). They kind of remind me of old-time aviation goggles which is why I don't fight them. They make me look even more manly than I already am!

Once we get home, I sack out for the rest of the day. It's exhausting being me!

Hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas with a warm place to sleep and humans to give presents to!

Alf

Not a Puppy Anymore!

Well, it's finally happened! All those cute puppy antics I did when I was just a teeny tiny baby... aren't so cute anymore! They don't work!

It used to be that I could ignore Mom and Dad when they wanted me to go outside and potty by rolling over on my back. Then they would give me a tummy rub! Yippeee!!! But <SIGH> not anymore! Now they just try to get me to actually go outside. But I'm sleeping!! I don't want to go outside. NO! Don't disturb me! And still they keep calling me name. And eventually it turns into that tone of voice. You know the one I'm talking about. When the first syllables get extended and the voice gets lower... <sigh>. Yeah. THAT tone of voice. That's when I know I had better get up and go outside. Guess I'm not a puppy anymore.

And they make me sit for my meals! Used to be, I could dive right in as soon as they started putting the bowl down. I'm a big, handsome, growing boy. I need my food! Laugh Laugh!! But not anymore! Now, I need to sit and wait until the bowl hits the floor. Dad makes me give him my paw. Mom makes me wait to eat. Sometimes it's even seconds and seconds she makes me wait! FOOD! FOOD NOW! <sigh>. Guess I'm not a puppy anymore!

Thankfully, they still let me up on the bed! Laugh Laugh! Those are good times! I don't stay up there long; it gets far too hot. But Dad still plays undercover alien with me. He thinks I don't know what he's doing, but I do! He puts his hand under the covers and then tries to attack me with it. I end up barking and barking at him! Laugh Laugh! I guess I am still partly puppy!!

So, I've learned today that Mom is the disciplinarian, and Dad is the playmate! And he wonders why we (any of the dogs) don't listen to him. Laugh Laugh! Of course, we fool Mom. We only pretend to listen to her. When we can get away with it, we certainly don't! Laugh Laugh! It's such good times!

Happy Undercover Aliens to all my internet peeps!
Alf

In Memory - Mr. Fox

It was a sad day at our house yesterday. To better explain, I'm going to turn the blog over to Mom. She would like to type this up herself.

As has been mentioned in this blog by Alf, Fox has not been feeling well lately. We thought we were over the worst of it when he began eating again. Unfortunately not :-(  Although he's been eating with a very good appetite, he has been having other problems. His rear muscle tone was considerably weakened when he got sick and so he has been having problems controlling it. Additionally, he began walking and standing on the tops of his feet instead of flat.

On November 30 2012 - his 8th birthday - Fox gave up the fight. When we got home from work, Fox was not standing and could not be coaxed into standing using food. Using force, we did get him to stand and go potty, but as soon as he came back in he lay down on his bed and wouldn't get up again. Just as concerning was his lack of appetite. If he wasn't even going to try to eat, we knew he was telling us to let him go.

We finally got Fox into the van and headed off to his last trip to the vet. At the vet, they brought a gurney out and we loaded him onto it. In a very spooky way, it was another sign of problems that he didn't even mind the ride on the gurney. Every one at the vet clinic was very kind to us and Fox as he was helped across the Rainbow Bridge.

We miss Fox terribly but he is now out of pain and running free.

June 1 2012 - Best Veteran in Specialty

  

Getting some love from Mom 

New AKC Champion - May 2008

First AKC point - July 2005

New AKC Rally title -  June 2009

Head shot - January 2012

June 1 2012

November 2012

Getting ready for Christmas - November 2012

Easter - 2012

Just chillin' - April 2012

In Memory of Fox (aka Mr. Fox, Fox Man, Dude, and the hated Foxie):
AKC/UKC/IABCA CH Glaciers Voyager Fox RN BN CGC CHIC
Great Dane Club of America Versatility Award
November 30 2004 - November 30 2012

Giving Thanks

Yesterday was the American holiday of Thanksgiving. A day that is for giving thanks for what you have and appreciating the good in life.

The family - including Mom & Dad and Dad's parents - had a nice dinner of fried turkey, sweet potato pie, green bean casserole, stuffing, and croissants. Too much food for just four people so we dogs got some too!

In the spirit of thanks, I thought I would go around the house and find out what everyone is thankful for this year:

• Mom is thankful for family, friends, and us dogs (of course!!).
• Dad is thankful for enough money to be comfortable, if not necessarily wealthy.
• Fox is thankful for a comfortable place to lay down during the day.
• Trekkie is thankful for the sun to lie in.
• Gimme is thankful for humans who give her food and attention!
• Alf is thankful for the cool temperatures of a Colorado winter.
• Val is thankful for large yards to play in and young kids to play with.

And so from all of us here, we hope you had something to be thankful for yesterday and throughout the year!!

Na zdrowie!!
Alf
 

Where Have You BEEN??

Hi-diddly-ho, neighborinos!!

It's been a busy couple of months! Trying to think of things to blog about can be draining. Who cares what I had for dinner? It's always the same anyway Laugh Laugh!

So, a couple of months ago I thought I would try to have a "guest" blogger take over occasionally. I thought Mr. Fox would be perfect to get us started. Unfortunately, Mr. Fox began getting ill and the whole house fell into a funk. Mr. Fox didn't want to blog, and after asking and asking Trekkie, Gimme-Mom, and even Val, no one wanted to do it! Wow.

So here I am again, trying to catch up. As I said, Mr. Fox has been ill. He's feeling a bit better now but certainly showing his age. And BOY has he gotten really grumpy! Don't try and ask him for anything. He'll just growl a "NO" at you. I sure learned my lesson! It was a long slow road to recovery, but he's back to eating now so I think Mr. Fox will be around for a while yet.

Gimme-Mom has gone back to the showing thing. Something I still dearly want to try but can't yet. Gimme-Mom has been doing pretty good, even garnering a Best of Breed at one show! She tells me she didn't even make the cut in group but she was so happy to be back out showing!

Even Val was out showing before she was old enough! She went with friends Loren & Brian to something called "The Nationals". It's a place where members of one breed get together for a couple of days (or up to a week!) to show in conformation, obedience, agility, Futurity, and Top 20. Val wasn't old enough for most of the events so she and her brother Marty went for Futurity. Their new friend Josh showed them there. They had a ton of fun but brought home no ribbons. Of course, now that Val is old enough to show (can you believe she is six months old already??) there are no shows. She'll have to wait until February. I want to go to Nationals one day. Maybe in 2013 when the Saint Bernard Nationals will be in Nebraska. Something to look forward to!!

Because Gimme-Mom and Mom have been showing a lot again lately, there hasn't been a lot of time for Trekkie or <gasp> ME! And then Mom does nothing but complain about "school" all day long. When I try to ask her what "school" is she doesn't really respond. I had to look it up at dictionary.com:

1. an institution where instruction is given, especially to persons under college age: The children are at school.

2. an institution for instruction in a particular skill or field.

3. a college or university.

4.a regular course of meetings of a teacher or teachers and students for instruction; program of instruction: summer school.

5.a session of such a course: no school today; to be kept after school.

NO wonder Mom hasn't been around much! She's been institutionalized Laugh Laugh!! Just kidding. Actually, Mom has said that she is trying to learn to be a better business-person and earn her degree in the Associate of Applied Science - Business at Community College of Aurora. She has a lot of homework this first semester because one of her classes turned out to be a fast-track class (didn't start until mid-October and is complete mid-December). So, we'll just tip-toe around Mom for a little while!! 

I'll leave you with a picture of my buddy Val and me when she got back from Nationals. She was gone almost 2 weeks!! It's a fuzzy picture but I think you can see I missed her Laugh Laugh!

Until we meet again! Hopefully next week!!

Alf