you know it's cold...

you know it's cold when your dog is standing in front of you looking like she's smoking because you can see her breath... and you're inside.  it's 52 degrees in my house and definitely time to turn the heater on.  I've noticed how louie and ella are sleeping a LOT closer to me at night, and it's toasty warm when I'm in bed.  325 pounds of additional body heat is very comforting, but also hard to move when they get there first.  I still "trick" them with "let's go outside" to get them off the bed so I can get in and claim my own space first, but they manage to take over anyway.  I wake up in weird positions trying to jockey for position while sleeping.  love them!  this photo was taken at ellen's when we stayed there last year in the queen sized bed.  having a king isn't MUCH better.

happy belated birthday louie!

I missed posting for louie's birthday (nov. 2)!  boy am I a bad mom.  louie is now 8 too and I didn't make a meatloaf cake for him either.  it's a good thing that I spoil him rotten every day so that every day seems like his birthday.  I think we were all coming off that halloween sugar high, and I was making truffles, turtles and peppermint patties for a party I was going to.  we're going to have a belated special meal.  I did manage to get his nails trimmed, which is probably why he's looking so dejected!  love that puppy.

it's that time of year

I was just thinking back to last year at this time, when I cooked a turkey and had given the dogs all the dark meat.  not all at one time, but chopped up into their food.  I then took the 2 breasts and sat for about an hour (while watching tv) shredding them into small pieces in a bowl, so I could make enchiladas and turkey pot pie (two of my favorites when I get tired of turkey sandwiches - if that's possible).  when I was done I got up, leaving the bowl full of turkey on the back of the sofa and went to wash my hands.  now... under normal circumstances, this would not have been a big deal.  I have left a steak sitting on a plate on the sofa so I could go get something else and come back to find it still sitting there.  louie and ella are both SO good at not stealing food, it didn't even occur to me.  that ella was on steroids.  that make her ravenous.  that make her stand in the kitchen looking like she's figuring out how to open the refrigerator.  needless to say, in the 1.2 minutes I was gone, the entire bowl was licked clean and she was back on the floor looking like she was starving and ready for more.  I couldn't punish her, I didn't see it happen, and it COULD have been louie.  to this day I STILL don't know for sure it was her.  except I do.  so I cooked a turkey yesterday and gave them some dark meat in their bowls, cut the rest of the meat off the carcass and put everything in the refrigerator.  if she's figured out how to open the door I'm in trouble.

ella turns 8!!!

today my baby girl turns 8! last night was a rough one, she didn't want to settle down and was up and down all night, which means in turn that I was up and down all night. I'd just get to sleep and she'd do something to wake me up. I'm sure it was all the excitement of knowing that she'd get her birthday cake today (I don't really believe that). traditionally, I make her a meatloaf cake in a round pan with mashed potato "frosting", and usually gravy on top. this year I used the regular meatloaf pan and made a layer cake with crumbled bacon on the sides. it's fun to create and she loved it!

 I put it outside on the step since I know it gets messy,

 gave louie his in a different location.  as you can tell, after setting them down and getting a picture of ella with hers, louie's was almost completely gone!

 he did sit patiently right behind her, waiting until she was finished before checking for anything she might have missed.

 doesn't look like there was anything for him to get.  she checked the area before giving up her spot.  the plate was totally clean.

it's a fun tradition!

sprinklers, the saga continues

when the sprinklers go off, so does ella!  she'll plow through anything to get as far away as possible.  never mind that it's probably refreshing, it's pure torture to her.  she'd rather sit inside and wait for them to be turned off before she goes out again.  she'll wait very patiently, but she won't go anywhere near them.  I do have to put a leash on her when I bathe her or she's as far away as she can be (usually sitting on the sofa with bubbles in her fur).  she never liked the pool either.  this is not a water dog!

man oh man she's a pretty dog!!!  she has the greatest swoop to her nose and she's so expressive.  can't tell that I love them, can you?

zhu zhu

I'm probably a bad person, but I saw this zhu zhu pet that a coworker brought in for her daughter, and I thought it would be hilarious for the dogs!  if you don't know what they are, they look a lot like a hamster, but they go forward and back, and make really cute noises.  I bought one and came home with it and wish for the first time that I owned a video camera.  ella would have destroyed it, she loves her little stuffed animals that she can rip apart, so I kept it away from her, but I sent it in louie's path and he went insane!  he bounced all around it, woofing and pouncing and it was the funniest thing.  he finally put a paw on it and knocked it over, but still wanted to play with it.  I told him "gentle" and he mouthed it a little, but didn't destroy it.  I finally picked it up to play with another day (amazing it made it through the first play date).  he acts a little shy near it now, but I'm sure he'll forget it and be thrilled when he sees it again.  too much fun for $7!!!

sprinklers!!!

louie loves the sprinklers!  usually the first 10 minutes, I can't expect to get any coverage on the lawn, other than about a foot in front of the sprinkler, because he stands over it, chomping on the water.  it makes him so happy.  he is so water logged by the time he's done, he's exhausted and soaking wet.  sometimes he lets it just spray him in the face, other times he likes to attack it and squash the spray.  maybe it's an interesting sensation in his mouth.  who knows, he's a little different.  I'm thinking this is an excellent activity for the summer when it gets really hot!  ella, on the other hand, HATES to get wet and goes as far away as possible.  my next entry will be what she's doing when the sprinklers go on.  it's very different.  if I want to hose her down I have to catch her first, then turn on the water.  she'll let me do it, I think she feels better after, but if she sees the hose first, she goes the other way.

for the birds

louie HATES birds and I think they know it! they swoop in and torment him to no end. the last time it rained it was also very windy, and the crows who live in a big old tree a couple of yards down were in my big old tree instead, just squawking up a storm. I'm sure it had something to do with how their home was being whipped around in the rain. louie went out and was looking directly above him at the crows, and I was sure he was going to drown with the rain pouring down, directly into his nose. he did sneeze a couple of times, but wasn't ready to let the crows just be. I finally coaxed him inside with treats and closed the door. the next time he went out it had stopped raining, so he could survey all around the tree. the crows were still there, still squawking, still tormenting, but at least my puppy wasn't in danger of drowning any more.

in order to get a decent picture...

the problem of getting ella and louie to pose for pictures for easter was helped by the addition of chicken jerky treats.  the only problem with the addition of food is that it also triggers the drool mode.  that leads to less than attractive photos of rabid looking dogs.  ella has more of a drool gene than louie does.  oddly enough, I couldn't get a really good picture of the drool (I'm talking a good 6-7" line) because when ella saw the camera, she'd duck her head, and so she'd wipe her face off on the sofa.  this is just the beginning!  the other problem was the headbands falling over their noses, but none of my pictures turned out for those, they'd drop their heads so fast, I only got blurred photos.  however, look at those gorgeous straight teeth!  I don't know why I'm so thrilled with her gorgeous teeth, but I've seen a lot of nasty dog teeth in my previous career (vet tech), and she doesn't even have any tartar (at almost 8, that's amazing).  I'm impressed, and I can't take any credit for it, she's the offspring of a great line that was bred by a pro.  hope you all had a happy easter!!

security

I always joke that louie is "first line of defense".  when we were in the big house (not prison, just nearly 3x the size we're in now), we had a dog door and when I'd go to bed, if louie heard something he'd go investigate and ella would stay on the bed.  I figured they'd decided this early on in their security plan, so that if something happened to louie and the intruder got by him, ella was there to scare him to pieces.  she's so quiet (except for the snoring).  it's probably more like she's lazy, but I like to give her credit!

happy easter

  happy easter everyone!  I'll add another post later on how "fun" it was to get any decent pictures. I doubt that hugh hefner ever had this much difficulty getting any one to pose with bunny ears.  and even though her petals are drooping, ella is a flower.   pretty funny.  I hope you all have a beautiful easter.

oh hail! part 2

we had more hail the other day.  I noticed how heavy it sounded, then louie came in and was soaking wet, but very happy, so I grabbed the camera to capture a little of the excitement.  ella actually made it outside, but went pretty quickly under the gazebo, louie stood and looked like he enjoyed getting hit in the head and back.  I'm sure for most people, this isn't much, but here in california, it's pretty impressive.  of course a short time later, my sister sent me a picture of the foot of snow they got and my little hail pellets were not nearly as impressive as I thought they were. 

my fault

when ella was a puppy, I thought it was a brilliant idea to have her sleep on the bed with me.  if she had to go potty, she'd jump off the bed, which would wake me up, and I'd take her outside.  it worked wonderfully, and the hardwood floors were spared the puppy puddles.  I did the same when louie came along.  what I didn't think about was that as they grew and still slept on the bed, the queen size mattress wasn't big enough for all of us any more.  after many nights waking up clinging to the edge of the bed, I finally broke down and bought a king sized bed.  they still crowd me, but I finally started claiming a little part of the bed just for me and stopped curving around to accomodate them.  I cheat by saying "let's go outside" and when they jump off the bed, I dive in and spread out so I get some of the covers.  this is the queen sized bed at my sisters house that we "share" when we visit.  not a lot of sleep going on. 

til death do us part

I come to work pretty regularly with some injury or another.  I've either been stepped on, scratched, bumped into, whatever.  I've even come to work with 2 black eyes.  my co-workers joke that louie and ella are going to love me to death.  they have no concept of their size (louie is around 165 lbs, ella is around 155lbs) and both believe they are lap dogs.  I always say, if something happens to me, make sure you tell the police that it was unintentional, so nothing happens to the puppies!  they would never harm me on purpose.

optical illusion

years ago, when I was driving somewhere, I had ella with me by herself.  louie might have been at the vet office for one of his knee surgeries.  she had her head out one window in the backseat and her tail wagging out of the other window.  I didn't even notice it until I saw drivers craning their necks to look at her.  I finally realized what they were looking at and two different guys drove by slowly to make sure it was only one dog!

starbucks

I used to go to a starbucks that had a pipe coming out of the ground, some sort of irrigation thing, but it bothered ella so much, she would bark at the pipe every time she saw it, so I had to start going to a different starbucks.  I think her eyesight might be a little off.  she barks at leaves, inanimate objects, nothing... 
her bark is especially lovely.  her lips are so big it muffles the sound, so it sounds more like a "pooff" than a "woof" and it's very quiet.  beware the silent ones!

too funny

wow, I am finding out that I'm not much of a disciplinarian!  I had cooked some chicken and put the bones in a garbage bag that was on the floor in the kitchen and when I heard rustling, I went to find out who was snooping in the trash and found ella with her head in the bag.  when I came around the corner she pulled her head out, but had a bone in her mouth,  I hollered "ella, no, bad dog" and put my hand out.  she didn't cower, she didn't even look like she knew what I had said, but she did drop the bone into my hand!  apparently, "bad dog" is not in her vocabulary!

what's with dark dogs?

I've read articles about black dogs not finding homes from the shelters, because their faces don't show expressions as well as lighter dogs.  I don't know if that's 100% accurate, but I can tell you that dark dogs don't photograph as well.  I have the hardest time getting pictures of ella that look like anything.  when I'm sitting with her and she's looking too cute for words, I wish I could capture her expression, because it makes me laugh and smile, but I haven't been very successful yet.  we even had a photographer take pictures of the 2 of them on my sister's property, and out of a couple hundred pictures we didn't find any that really captured her goofiness.  I'll keep trying though.  I think she's shy too!

that's a big tree!

we've had a lot of rain for the past couple of months and the ground is really saturated.  last year at this time we had the same problem, and a neighbors tree came down in our yard.  even with my big dog sitting next to it, it was a huge tree.  it sounded like a truck driving through the back yard as it fell.  louie had a great time lifting his leg on this one!

oh hail!

as we've established, louie is pretty, but isn't especially intelligent.  ella is also gorgeous and tends to stand back and observe before committing herself.  when I open the sliding glass door, louie is out as quick as possible, sometimes not clearing it completely, causing me to cringe when the door starts to wobble in its tracks.  ella usually requires a little encouragement before getting up and going out.  the other day it was really pouring and then I noticed a change in the sound of the rain, so I got up to see how hard it was really raining.  louie of course came with me and thought it also meant that he should go out.  I saw the hail coming down pretty hard and shook my head and told him "no, you don't really want to go out in that".  he of course didn't answer but still looked longingly at the outdoors, so I opened the door and he went tearing out.  he got about 6 feet out the door when he started making these jerky head moves and blinking really quickly and was being pummeled by hail.  of course his first instinct was not to come back in, but to go out further into the yard to see if he could get away from the hail there.  I wish I'd had a video camera, his moves were really funny.  ella got up to see what was going on, but stood at the doorway with me and just watched as her "brother" made a fool out of himself yet again.

rain and the "brilliant one"

it's a good thing louie is pretty.  he's not the smartest dog I've ever known.  there is a broken rain gutter over the carport and it's directly in the path from the front door to the car, so when it's been raining, I have to dodge it every time I go out there. I took the dogs with me to the store since they love being in the car.  of course when I came back from the store, the "brilliant one" walked directly under it and drenched his head, but didn't move. I swear, it's a good thing he's pretty!

welcome

I'm not sure where this blog will lead, but I've been given some encouragement... so I figure I'll give it a shot and see what happens.  I have 2 english mastiff's who I find very entertaining.  ella, the brindle, will be 8 in july, and louie, apricot, will be 8 in november.  now I know that giant breeds have a shorter life expectancy, but really, I can't imagine NOT having them in my life, even if they won't be around for 15 years, and who knows, they could surprise us all!  I think the people I work with are tired of hearing all my dog stories, and although I doubt that will change, if I have another outlet for telling "cute puppy stories", maybe they won't hear as many of them (yeah, I doubt it).  one of the girls I work with gets irritated with me because I make reference to my dogs the same way she makes reference to her twins.  she was telling me one day about how they left such a mess when they were done playing, and I said "oh yeah, ella and louie do that too".  I think she's used to it now, but at the time, she was a little thrown by it.  I hope you'll stay tuned for future stories, and I hope you'll enjoy them.  I can't promise much, but I'll try to keep you as entertained as I've been for years now.  thanks for stopping by!