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!