Tonic & I Meet Again...

So Mom took that silly little rodent of hers out again... he's an odd creature I've decided. He runs about in that blue ball of his and seems perfectly content. I would be terribly bored if I had to navigate this world in a plastic ball...

He also stays up ALL night and sleeps ALL day. You know how much fun I would miss if I slept all day like he does??? A TON of fun!


All this makes me happy that I am a sheltie, not a hamster!

Mystery Solved!!!

My mystery limp is no longer a mystery!!

I went to the vet yesterday and was told that I sprained my shoulder! Yup! great job huh? Now I have to take a pill a day for the next 30 days and be careful not to do whatever it was that I did to sprain it. I will be spending the next two weeks hanging out at the grandparents being spoiled, that will DEFINITELY help my shoulder feel better!

I also got my health certificate filled out, so that means the last of my therapy dog paperwork has been completed! All we need to do now is pick out an awesome picture of myself for my badge and send in the packet!

YAY!

The Case of the Mystery Limp

I've got a hitch in my gait...

Who knows why... it happens when I lie down for a while and then get back up. But not all the time. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. It's been this way for 3 weeks... it comes, it goes. On Sunday my limp appeared while I was playing at the doggie park... first time that ever happened.

Mom took me home, and I was fine for the rest of the night. Her and Daddy did all kinds of "flexion tests" on my leg but I just fell asleep while they were moving it around. So clearly I wasn't in any pain then. They had me make turns, pivot using that leg and everything- no limp.

Monday morning I limped when Mom took me out on a walkies but was perfectly sound when Dad took me to daycare. Last night after daycare (no limping at all during the day) Mom stopped to talk to our neighbor and I laid down at her feet and when they finished talking and I got up to walk with her my limp was back! Argh!

Mom is confused. I'm only 3, I can't have arthritis yet can I? She is leaving for a work trip and wants to get me checked out (I also need my Therapy Dog paperwork completed) before she leaves so my Grandparents won't have to worry about my mysterious limp.

We won't even discuss the fact that Mommy is deserting me for two whole weeks because of work... that's a totally different pouting post.

I promised to post more of my pictures from my adventure out to the western part of the great state I call home. Here they are! Picture heavy post coming folks.. so be prepared.

Here I am getting my feets wet at Swallow Falls State Park...

And playing with a new friend...
The next day we visited Rocky Gap State Park... here I am on the trail to the Evitts Mountain homesite... this guy was a hermit and he made sure not to be bothered. To reach his place it was a 3 mile hike!

After such a long hike on what turned out to be a humid day, I crashed...

After a short dog nap... I made the trip up to the canyon overlook. Here I could survey the world...The last day we went to the Paw Paw Tunnel. This is was a great adventure, we went through this dark tunnel and Mommy and Daddy needed their flashlights. Mom said it was kinda spooky, but in a fun kind of way.

Here we are at the top of the tunnel entrance...

And here we are coming out the other side!

**By the end of the calendar year, I will send a gift to each of the first five dogs (or people!) to comment here. The catch? You gotta make the same offer on YOUR blog.** Leave a comment if you want to play along.

C'mon you know you wanna :o)

I'm a Therapy Dog Now!

Yup I am! I passed my TDI Evaluation with flying colors this morning. All Mom has to do is complete the paperwork and I'll be able to start visiting! The evaluator said I was awesome and in her comments said Mom and I were an "adorable, confident team"! Excitement! The resident who participated in our test was very nice and thought I was the most adorable thing ever. She wants me to come back for another visit :o) I think we will, especially since she is collecting stuffies to give to children when they have to go to the hospital. Mommy thinks that is a very nice thing to do and is going to donate some stuffies.

In other news this weekend... my newest little brother Tonic the hamster took his first spin around the condo in his ball. I was fascinated. Here we are hanging out together.

But then we got tired, so we decided to nap... he's a good napping buddy.

My Mommy wants me to give my Daddy a HUGE hint for Christmas...

She wants to own one of these... preferably one that looks like ME!

They are made of wool....and custom made from a photo, all you gotta do is go HERE. If Mommy gets one she'll have a mini wool me to go with her mini wooden me that she bought from Dog Bark Park!! If you want a custom wooden mini you Mommy HIGHLY recommends them!

I spent the last three days out on the trails in Western Maryland... I'll post more pics later, but I thought that you would enjoy this one of me climbing the stone stairs of the Paw Paw Tunnel... The name just screams super cool doggie place, and it is!!! Don't I look so cool?

My sister is fat...Maybe we should start calling her Maddie Fat instead of Maddie Cat!

Mom and I are in The Great KC for the weekend. The Fall weather has arrived and I am loving life! Yesterday a stiff breeze was blowing, so I did my best sheltie pose. This is what I bet I would look like if I lived on the Shetland Isles and had my own herd of shetland sheep.

Mom also took a couple of closeups in the car, she said they showed how cute I am and show my beautiful brown eyes (brown eyes that will melt your heart & make you hand over some people food!)

Sorry that I haven't written in a while but MY DADDY CAME HOME!! YAY!! He came back from the desert outpost of Washington and the wilds of Oregon just to see me! And it made me so happy! No more pouting on my window perch... its time to play tug and bark and play ball! My Daddy is the bestest EVER!

Wanna know something else that is super way cool about Daddy coming home? I got to go to the airport! Yup! Mommy and I went to meet him at the airport and I got to go inside the terminal. It was my first ride on a moving walkway and an escalator. They are such interesting things... we were moving without moving our legs. I stared intently at the floor while we rode on it... those escalator stairs are way different than the ones in our condo. Though they would be nice after a hard playday at daycare- I wouldn't need to expend any more energy to get to the top! After the escalator fun we found Pops in baggage claim, we didn't stay long though cause my feets weren't allowed to touch the floor inside the terminal. Mom was told that if they did the police would escort us out... so I had to content myself by snoozing on the ground outside by the taxi stand (its noisy out there, how's a guy supposed to get some shut eye?) and leaving "nose smears" on the terminal windows people watching while Daddy got his bag...

Before I sign off here's the pic of the trip... Daddy and his BIG TRUCK. I think its missing something. And that particular something is a sheltie in the window!

My Daddy is leaving me...

I watched him take out his suitcase, pick out his clothes and start to pack his bag. I tried to be a stowaway but he caught me...I thought I had hidden myself well enough, but I guess not. Maybe I should have covered myself up with more clothes...

Then I was excited when I saw him pack two dog toys and maybe I get to go! But my hopes came crashing down when he told me those toys were for my Pup Pals Katy and Max out in Walla Walla. Pout, I don't get to go. But Katy and Max be ready for some AWESOME toys! I helped picked them out and they are super cool!

So I have resigned myself to my fate. While Daddy is out in Imnaha, OR doing this :

I will be stuck back here in Maryland doing this:

We'll go cruisin' together...

Mom, Pops and I went on a Watermark Cruise of the Chesapeake Bay's Lighthouses. It was a pretty neat little cruise- the best part was that I got to go. I must have been pretty special too cause I was the only doggie on board :o)

Here's a quick photo display of our Labor Day adventure...

Here we are about to leave City Dock... I am keeping watch as everyone boards the ship...

Here's Mom and I looking out across the Chesapeake Bay, you wouldn't believe how many boats were out there! Sheltie Captains were in high demand... they were lucky to have me aboard!The wind was in my fur... Life Was Good!

But being a Sheltie Captain is hard work... so one must include naptime on their adventures! Here we are back at City Dock with the ship... it was a great day... can't wait to go cruisin' again!

Note From The Mommy Person: We were THRILLED with how well the cruise went. Everyone at Watermark was super nice, they welcomed Stormy aboard and seemed happy to have him there. The same could not be said from some of our fellow cruisers, they looked less than thrilled at the prospect of having to share an afternoon with a dog on a ship. I am happy to report that Stormy showed them what a joy a well behaved dog is. If he wasn't looking at the sights, he was asleep either at our feet, on the bench seat or under the bench seat right by an air vent (smart sheltie!). We had at least 8 -10 people come up and tell us how well behaved he was and how they couldn't believe how quiet he was (those of us who have/know shelties, know how awesome that comment was!). One lady even took his picture :o) What a great way to spend our day!

Support Your Local Sheltie!

Hey Guys! I'm participating in the Tail Waggin' Trail Walk on September 15, its a walk to benefit the shelter animals of Queen Anne's County, Maryland. It's a 2.5 mile walk along the Cross-Island trail that starts at 8 a.m.

If you are in the Maryland area and are interested in coming let me know and I'll get you the sign up info... all donations go to support Adopt-A-Pet, Inc which is dedicated to increasing adoptions at the Queen Anne's County shelter, providing funds for emergency vet care for the shelter animals, providing special supplies needed to care for the animals there. It's a great cause, my family has adopted quite a few of our pets from this shelter.

If you can't make the walk and want to sponsor me, you can do that too!! Just let me know and we'll get you signed up!

You can view a list of Queen Anne's County's adoptable pets @ http://west.petfinder.com/shelters/MD81.html

I'll be walking in memory of my brother Bo, Mommy adopted him from this shelter back in 1996, he crossed Rainbow Bridge in 2002, I never got to meet him but I know he was an AWESOME dog and I want to raise money so more dogs like him can find their forever homes...

Another Whitehaven post! This place was too much fun! I wanted to detail more of what I got into this past weekend, cause I know you all are just PANTING with anticipation over what I am going to say. First of all, we took TWO, count them TWO, kayaking adventures. The first was a bit tougher than the second seeing as how my superior sheltie navigation skills coupled with Pop's insatiable need for photos led Mom and I to run aground in the marsh muck. We were weren't stuck stuck just a bit jammed up because when Mom tried to push away from the shore the muck tried to swallow her paddle. Yipes! But all was well in the end and we had a good time. Here's another kayaking pic, this time Mom and I are navigating what remains of Whitehaven's Cannery. It was washed away by a hurricane.

Seeing as how it is back to school time, Pops and I took an early morning walk to visit the Whitehaven School. It looks a lot different than my school! In fact I'm not even sure if they use it anymore. I didn't catch a single whiff of crayons and construction paper so I can almost say without a doubt that it isn't used for teaching preschoolers! My Mom-Mom teaches at a pre-school and I get to visit sometimes. There are always good smells there, and they have a bunny rabbit. They don't let me play with the bunny though. I have to sit nicely and show the little ones what a well behaved dog I am. Once I even got to go hang out in the classroom for Fourth Graders while Mom chatted with one of her old teachers. His classroom was fun and he had lots of TERPS stuff posted but I missed all the smells and crumbs that came with the preschool classroom.

In a nod to my Newfy friends I just had to pose with the Whitehaven Ferry safety ring. Mom, Pops and I rode the Ferry across the river the last morning we were in Whitehaven. It's a neat little ferry, it carries three cars at a time back and forth across the river. It's free to everyone, but just make sure you get there before it closes for the evening else you will make a long trip for nothing- except for the chance to catch a glimpse of Whitehaven. It's neat to watch it go back and forth, but I wouldn't want to be the driver. I think it would get boring after a while just going back and forth in a straight line.

I also learned ferry lingo this weekend. The phrase of the day was "run the line." The Whitehaven Ferry runs on a cable that lies below the water, the cable keeps it from drifting down river (kinda like how us shelties keep the sheep moving in the right direction!) Well there are some people out on the river who do not respect that the ferry has the "right of way" and they will zoom up and "run the line" to try to get by before the ferry crosses in front of them. The danger with this is that sometimes their boat propeller can catch on the cable. Somethings gotta give at that point and either the cable breaks and the ferry floats away (VERY bad news) or the prop on the boat breaks and those silly people got what they deserved and are dead in the water. Today's lesson- When boating in Whitehaven don't run the line!!!

Greetings from Whitehaven!!

That's where Mom, Pops and I spent the weekend! Here I am posing next to the sign at the entrance to town. We stayed at this really awesome bed and breakfast called the Whitehaven Hotel. They allow doggies to come and stay in their Lincoln bedroom. It was really super cool. The hotel is located right on the water. It's a small town with only 20 or so residents but there was still adventuresome stuff for my sheltie self to get into!

First off one of the employees has a sheltie, a GIRL sheltie. Her name is Penny and you know what. She is the all the awesomer because she is tri colored too! How cool is that?! The only thing that kept us from being twins was that Penny has a lot less white than me and she doesn't enjoy playing ball or fetch. Guess thats cause she's a girl. But that's okay, at least she didn't give me any girl cooties or anything. That would have been TRAGIC. Penny and I were supposed to have a date on Saturday evening, you know wandering the woodlands watching the sunset but Mom and Dad had to go and stuff themselves at this place called The Red Roost and I missed my date. Oh drat. I'll have to keep in touch and hopefully she'll talk to me next time we meet...

But the weekend wasn't all about meeting the ladies. It was also about BOATING! Whitehaven is located right on the river and the hotel has three kayaks that guests can take out anytime they want. Here I am captaining my own ship on the mighty river. And don't worry, I was a safe boater and wore my lifejacket. It was great fun on the river, we saw fish jumping and we saw a Great Blue Heron along the shoreline. One of the employees said they nest along the shore. We didn't see any nests, but thats okay because Mom says we shouldn't disturb wildlife. I agree. Mom and Pops saw this neat little picture that sums it all up- Take only pictures... leave only footprints. That's what we try to remember on all of our trips. You should too!

Great News!!

Nick the horsie is back home!!
Someone took him because they felt sorry for him...
Bad idea folks, leave the horse rescuing up to the professionals.
If you think a horse (or any animal) in your neighborhood is in trouble call your local Humane Society or Animal Control office. They know the right avenues to correct the problem.

HAVE YOU SEEN NICK ???

This hit a little too close to home... this is not far from where Buttercup used to live!! Mommy said pass this info along so hopefully this little girl can get her horse back.

On August 20 Nick was stolen from his pasture in Fair Hill, Maryland. His owner went to bring him to the barn because the farrier was coming. All gates were closed and secured, and he was no where to be seen. No fences were down, and there was no way for him to have gone over the fence since he limped due to arthritis.

Nick is old, 28 years old, arthritic and swaybacked (that means his back dips down low, like a valley behind his shoulders, instead of being level).

His theft was reported to the Local Sheriff's Department and also to NetPosse. NetPosse is an organization that Mommy is a member of that is dedicated to bringing stolen/missing horses back home. NetPosse issued an 'Idaho Alert' to the equine community (its similar to an Amber Alert for missing children) and has created a flier for Nick, so if you are in the MD/PA/VA area, PLEASE print out this flier and post it in "horsey places". Mom says Nick could be ANYWHERE.

For more information about Nick and a link to his printable flier in .pdf form, visit his NetPosse webpage (Nick's NetPosse Page).

Mommy always tells me that I need to find a job besides going to daycare and keeping Maddie in line. My standard response is "Well I looked and there just isn't anything out there for us shelties except chasing cat cat cats and well, they won't pay me for that no matter how cute I am."

She just shakes her head. My sheltie friends Darby and Joey are also looking for work. Darby has been looking for YEARS with no luck, he reads the Help Wanted ads everyday and everyday he walks away sad because no one wants to hire a sheltie. We are smart doggies you know and dedicated and cute too!

Well there may be help for us sheltie job seekers after all, I saw this article from Florida about three racing greyhounds who found a job working for Adverdog. Basically they are hired by the hour to go socialize at special events and grand openings. They have spiffy outfits that have little pockets that hold the business cards that they hand out. I don't know about the outfit part but I would love being paid to be petted!! I could even whip out my super spiffy sheltie tricks like spins and rolling over. And I could make money to buy more Greenies! It's a win-win situation. How do I sign up??

With all the news reporting on the Michael Vick issue its easy to forget that some people will do anything for their pets. Case in point, Alex the Dalmatian's family. He fell into a drainpipe and they searched non-stop for him and when they found him 25 feet underground they dug him out! His Daddy said they weren't going to stop until they had him out. You can hear the emotion in his voice when he reaches Alex... it made my Mommy and my Auntie Beth get teary eyed.

Now thats true love.

See the video of Alex's rescue HERE.