New Lovies

Last week when I went shopping, I found two Christmas bears marked down to $3.00 each at Marshall's. They are brown bears with wings, angel bears maybe? and each one holding a Christmas wreath. I couldn't pass them up at that price and they came home with me for the dogs. The bears are about the same size as Emme.

Although both dogs went wild with excitement when I brought the bears into the house, Emme quickly got bored with them. A real lovie to Emme is Big Mama Gorilla, nothing else. Rudy on the other hand is in love and he has one or the other with him most of the time. So we left one bear at the lake house and brought the other back with us to Wooster. Now Rudy has an angel bear in each house.

More Fun to Roll than to Stand

Rudy had a lot of dead hair in his coat after staying at the kennel for a week and a half. Ken wanted to take Rudy to the back yard to brush out some of the hair. Rudy was delighted to go outside, but couldn't resist the snow. As soon as Rudy hit the back yard, he delighted in rolling in the snow. Ken tried valiantly to brush Rudy as he was rolling but it was difficult. It is easier to stand in place when you don't have inches of tempting snow under your paws.

The World is my Popsicle

Emme loves to eat snow. She especially loves to eat crunchy pieces of ice/snow mix. I am not sure how good ice cold snow is for her stomach, so I try to limit her "natural Popsicles." When we take her outside to do her business, Emme has to spend a great deal of time eating snow before she produces. When she goes outside to play, eating snow takes precedence. Forget the ball; bring on the snow!

She is in heaven with last week's snow fall. It remains on the ground and has melted and frozen into hundreds of little chunks. The whole backyard is Emme's Popsicle.

I Don't Do Bandannas

Emme is not used to wearing anything around her neck when she is in the house. When she goes outside, we put on the collar and leash, but when she returns to the house they go in a basket on the porch. With her long hair, we avoid tangles and hair rubbing off by not keeping her collar on 24/7. We also read that you should never put a dog in a crate with a collar on to make sure they never could get caught and choke. So no collar in the house.

When she goes to the groomer, she always returns with a seasonal bandanna around her neck and she is usually insistent that it come off immediately. Today she came home with Valentine's hearts on her bandanna and so far isn't fussing about it. So I quickly took a few pictures. Usually, Emme is insistent that she doesn't do bandannas.

Back to Real Life

We have just returned from vacation. Ken and I spent a week at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. I took a week-long class in quilting from Mary Lou Weidman from Spokane, Washington, and Ken took a week of Woodturning from Troy Bledsoe from Social Circle, Georgia. We had a wonderful time and I took many photos. This week of school was preceded by a weekend in Asheville, North Carolina, visiting the Biltmore Estate and was followed by a weekend visiting nieces and nephews in Georgia and North Carolina. While we were away, Emme and Rudy went to "Puppy Sleep-Away Camp" for eleven days. Now we are all trying to get back to real life.

The dogs are back at home. Many loads of laundry have been washed, dried, and returned to dressers and the closet. A trip to the grocery store will have to happen tomorrow or we are going to wind up eating canned soup, cereal without milk, or steamed vegetables. The cupboard is pretty much bare.

It didn't take the dogs long to remember all the routines. They remembered better than we did. We picked up the dogs at noon yesterday and by nine o'clock, everyone was ready for bed. So we went upstairs to our bedroom, forgetting about giving Rudy and Emme their "bedtime snack." Rudy has a sensitive stomach and sometimes throws up if his stomach is empty for too long, so we have started holding quarter cup of his evening kibble to give to him just before we go to bed. Well, we forgot last night. But Rudy didn't. We settled into bed and Rudy started whining, propping his chin on the mattress and generally being a nuisance. It took us a while, but we figured out that he was telling us we had forgotten the snack. So all four of us got up. The dogs got their snack. We couldn't give Rudy a snack and leave out Emme, so both dogs get kibble. Then we returned to bed. The dogs remember our routine better than Ken and I do. What does that mean?

Stuck in the Basement

Rudy likes to go downstairs in the basement, especially when Ken is working down there. Periodically, however, Rudy doesn't want to come back up the basement stairs. The stairs are open and we don't know if that is the problem. Maybe they look scary to him. We have wondered if it is a problem with his joints that he doesn't want to do the steps, but that never hinders him from going from the first floor to the second floor. Sometimes he bounds up the basement with no trouble. Other times, he stands at the bottom of the stairs and whines and barks. It is nearly impossible to convince him to come back up the stairs.

We have tried calling him, offering him a treat at the top of the stairs, and just leaving the light on and the door open and waiting for him to come up. These techniques seldom work. Rudy just stays at the bottom on the stairs, whining and barking.

Two things have often worked in the past. If we say "Do you want to do for a ride?" or "Do you want to eat dinner?" Rudy will sometimes dash up the stairs. Recently we have discovered the ultimate solution. When Rudy is whining at the bottom of the stairs, refusing to come up to the first floor, all we need to do is ring the doorbell. Rudy cannot resist finding out who is at the door and he runs up the steps. Every problem has a solution. The doorbell is the solution to getting Rudy back up stairs.

The Treat Dance

Emme is so funny when she gets a treat. She has to do the "treat dance." She hops up and down and lunges at the treat. Sometimes she lies down in front of the treat and just silently stares at it. Often she will pick it up and toss it around. Only after she has extracted all the fun out of the treat does she settle down to eat it. This is truly food as play.

Her Safe Place

Emme has a "safe place" in Ken's arms. She loves to be held by him and insists on it periodically. When she gets up in his arms, Emme spends a few minutes licking Ken's fingers or reaching up to smell his face and then she settles down. When she is really settled in, she has her paws tucked into his arms just so. Ken holds her against his chest with her weight on both his arms. She would stay there forever. He holds her until one of his arms falls asleep. Emme's favorite times to cuddle in Ken's arms are right after we have finished a meal and when Ken is in his office working on the computer.

At mealtimes, she is more than content to lie quietly on the rug near one of us. After we are done eating, she seems to know. I don't know if it is because we don't rattle silverware or if we change the way we converse, but she knows that we are finished. She comes up to Ken and whines to be picked up. So up she comes and she rests in her safe place until we get up to do the dishes.

When Ken is at his computer she asks to be picked up. Ken obliges and has to figure out how to continue entering data into Quicken or play Scarab Solitaire without disturbing Emme. I think sometimes, he just gives up, turns on a video podcast and sits in front of his computer with Emme napping on his chest. Everybody needs a safe place.

Back From the Groomers

Yesterday Emme went to the groomer...again. I love having a Bichon and would choose Emme all over again if I had the chance, but there is no doubt that the Bichon Frise has a high maintenance coat. I have settled into a routine of taking Emme to the groomer once a month. That is more often than I go to the hairdresser! I go every five weeks; Emme, every four.

I have been keeping her coat cut short all over. Her body has always been cut short, but I have tried a variety of face cuts. I am happiest with her hair cut short around her eyes and mouth. I love to be able to see her dark eyes and if her hair is not cut short enough, it creeps over her eyes within weeks. I do trim Emme around her eyes in between groomer visits, but I like her face hair to start out shorter. It is also easier to keep her clean around her mouth when it is cut short there also. She gets less food caught in the fur around her mouth.

So I keep her in a "puppy cut." The benefit is that Emme looks clean and cute. The downside is she never looks like the photographs of a Bichon because those pictures are all of adult dogs in a "show coat." Their hair is much longer and is groomed to perfection. So the Bichon photos never look like my Emme. But since I know that true beauty comes from within, Emme is my beautiful Bichon.

So, Where are the Treats?

I keep treats for Emme in the closet in my sewing room. Her favorites are dried sweet potato chews. We started with a bag of "Sam's Yams Sweet Potato Dog Chewz" (frontporchpets.com) that we got from the kennel. The chews looked like slices of the sweet potato cut long ways. They were very hard and required a lot of chewing. We stopped giving them to Rudy because instead of chewing them, he broke them into large chunks and bolted the pieces down. I was afraid that he would hurt himself with the jagged pieces of hard dried sweet potatoes going through his intestines. So I moved the sweet potato chews upstairs to the closet in my sewing room and a few times a week when Rudy was downstairs I would break off a piece of a chew and give it to Emme. When she got the treat, she would do the "treat dance," play with it, pounce on it, throw it up in the air and finally chew it for a long time. She got the chews so infrequently and had such small pieces that the bag lasted two years.

We finally finished the bag and I wanted a replacement. I went back to the kennel and they had stopped carrying the dried sweet potatoes. I looked on line and found a holistic veterinary practice in North Canton that carries Sam's Yams. We stopped there a few weeks ago and instead of buying the same size treats I had purchased originally, I got a bag of "Bichon Fries Sweet Potato Dog Chewz," perfect for my Bichon Frise. They look like crinkle cut french fries but they are orange and very hard. I snap each one in half or thirds, so I think these will last a long time too.

Every time Emme comes into my sewing room she stops at the closet to remind me what is stored on the top shelf. She doesn't get a treat every day, but hope springs eternal. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Christmas Ornament as Dog Toy

Yesterday morning I spent some time taking down Christmas decorations which included taking ornaments off a small tree I have in my kitchen. I thought I had carefully put everything away but after lunch when I was washing dishes, I heard Emme playing with something. She was having such a good time, throwing something up in the air, pouncing on it, and pushing it under the table. I decided to check which toy she was playing with and found it was a NEW toy. One of my Christmas decorations, an embroidered snowflake, was being repurposed. It went from ornament to dog toy. I hated to destroy Emme's game, but I grabbed the ornament off the rug, flattened it out and put it away to let the dog spit dry. One less toy. Too sad.

Dog Walls and Speed Bumps

Emme and Rudy like to nap as close to us and possible. At breakfast, they usually choose to lie down next to one of our chairs. This causes some difficulty when we get up to refill coffee or to make breakfast. It really slows us down as we carefully climb over the canine members of the family.

Emme is smaller and we refer to her as a "speed bump." She slows us down, but we can maneuver around her. Rudy is larger and we call him a "dog wall." Sometimes it is easier to go around him than to step over him. This morning, the dog wall expanded with the addition of two lovies. This morning we had "dog wall plus."

I'll Bite Your Nose

For the most part, Emme and Rudy are extremely gentle with their stuffed toys. Occasionally a toy gets pulled apart at a seam if they play an extremely rough tug game, but for the most part, their stuffies last for years. Periodically, I take the toys in need of mending upstairs to my sewing room, mend the split seam, throw them in the washer and dryer and they are good to go for another long time.

Rudy likes to grab a stuffed toy, wrap his paws around it and mouth it, almost like he is nursing. He has never ripped up a stuffie, torn one apart, chewed an ear off, or severed a limb.

Emme also "loves up" the stuffies the same as Rudy, but she also loves to bite the noses, ears, and any tags that are sewn into a seam. So we have many stuffies that have been mended on parts that stick out. One of her favorite chew spots is the bill of the heron stuffie. I have repaired the toy by running lines of machine stitches over the end of the bill many times and it is still in service. A little used, but still good.

Where's Emme?

You would think it would be hard to loose an active, lively, white puppy. Sometimes it seems Emme is all over the place and easy to see. She usually is right next to either Ken or me at all times.

Occasionally, however, Emme decides that she is going out on her own to explore. She often chooses to do this in the evening and usually the destination is the second floor. One of us realizes that Emme is not in the immediate vicinity. We call. She doesn't respond. She never does. We search and often find her upstairs alone exploring our bedroom or my sewing room. She doesn't seem to get into any trouble. She just seems to get wanderlust and needs an adventure.

Yesterday at breakfast, we didn't see Emme. We called. We looked all the first and the second floor. Then we realized that she was tucked under the cabinet in the dining room. Right next to us. Of course. After she stuck her head out and we located her, all was well. Where's Emme? Right next to us, as always.

Always Room for Jello

For the longest time, we have given Emme and Rudy "dessert" when they finish a meal. We say "There is always room for Jello." Then we take a tiny puppy biscuit, about 3/4 inch long, snap it in half and give one piece to each of the dogs after they sit nicely in front of us.

A few days ago, I asked why we do this. When did we start and why do the dogs get "Jello?" Neither Ken nor I could remember how it got started. It just wound up being a part of the meal routine: they each get a dish of food, piece of cheese with a pill in it, and then "Jello." There is no reason for the dessert. The size of the piece of puppy biscuit they get doesn't constitute any nutritional value; it is far too small. They should be full all ready from the meal they just finished. But now, of course, getting "Jello" is part of the unchangeable routine.

So I decided to stop giving them "Jello." The dogs know that we are doing things wrong. They are incensed that the meal ends without Jello. They watch us to make sure we haven't forgotten something. They do a nice sit in front of the treat jar. They don't like change. Don't we realize that there is always room for Jello?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Emme, Rudy, Ken and Mary Lou

Kangaroo Dog

Emme is in love with life and without being too obnoxious about it, she is excited about every part of her day. She is so excited to get up in the morning. When she sees Ken, she is so happy, she wiggles every part of her body. When I pet her, she enjoys it so much she moans.

Rudy on the other hand is much more laid back. There are two times however that he gets so excited he hops up and down like a kangaroo: when he is about to get food and when we are getting ready for a ride in the car. When Ken brings in dinner, Rudy gets so excited that he hops up and down as Ken is putting his food on the floor. Rudy doesn't jump up on anyone, he just hops up and down in place. It is like an 80 pound Labrador retriever has discovered some kangaroo genes. When we are getting ready for a ride in the car, he is so excited, he hops up and down all the way from the kitchen, through the laundry to the garage door. Some things are just too exciting.

Darling Clementine

Emme never begs at the table because we have never given her food from the table, ever. That is she never begged at the table until a few days ago.

Neither Emme nor Rudy get tastes of human food from our table. But when I am preparing food in the kitchen I always have two buddies with me. Both Emme and Rudy lie on the floor, doing a good "Down Stay" and after I have finished preparing food, I often give them tastes of fruit and vegetables. I am careful to give them only small pieces of carrots, green peppers, apples, bananas, grape tomatoes, cucumber. I never give them grapes, raisins or chocolate or anything that could be a danger to them. They seem to have this all figured out: tastes in the kitchen before meals, nothing from the table when people are eating. Until lately.

Recently, Emme got a taste of a Clementine and fell in love with them. The next day when we were eating a snack of Clementines at the kitchen table, Emme came up to the table, took one whiff, and whined, loud and long. She never begged at the table before. Maybe she didn't realize how good people food could be. She didn't get any taste of Clementine from the table and she hasn't begged since. Even the best doggy manners have their limit and I think that limit was passed with the smell of Darling Clementines.

Sleeping in with the Girls

Usually Ken and Rudy get up about 6 o'clock and Emme and I sleep in until 6:30. When "the girls" get up, the house is warm and the coffee is made.

Yesterday morning, Rudy decided that he wanted to sleep in with the girls. Ken got up as usual and after he left the bathroom, he called Rudy to go downstairs. Still tired from all the Christmas festivities, Rudy decided to stay sleeping in the bedroom. Ken went downstairs by himself and Rudy waited and came downstairs a half hour later with Emme and me. Rudy is no fool. Sometimes it is better to sleep in with the girls than to get up early to a cold house.

Merry Christmas

Yesterday we had a wonderful Christmas day and the dogs were really good. It was a smaller group than usual, just eight of us: Ken and me, his parents, one of his sisters and her husband, and another brother and his girlfriend. The married children (son and nieces) all had other commitments and did not travel to Wooster this year.

As usual, when people came to the door, both dogs had to bark and act generally crazy. Ken put Rudy on a leash and I held Emme for the first few minutes. Then we let them go to say hello. Both dogs went from visitor to visitor to get petted and then they settled down quickly (the dogs, not the visitors). The rest of the day, Rudy and Emme were on their best behavior. There were presents and food all over the house. Neither dog got into anything they shouldn't. They visited, got played with, and most of all, got petted. They didn't steal any presents, eat any "people" food or knock over any drinks. They couldn't have been better behaved.

After the family left, the dogs both laid down on the rug and fell asleep. They were absolutely exhausted. Being good is a hard job and yesterday they did it well.

One Sick Puppy

Emme has been sick and although she is well now, the experience has been disconcerting. A little over a week ago, she just stopped eating. She spent almost all her time napping. She wanted to be held or to lie on our legs. She was not herself.

When meal time came, she stayed in the living room rather than running into the kitchen to watch meal preparation. She refused tastes of Rudy's cheese and she wouldn't touch her kibble. Finally, we got scared that she was eating nothing and both Ken and I took turns sitting on the floor, feeding her one kibble at a time. With that, she ate some, but not all of her food. Her behavior was so unusual, no playing, no chewing, no "blitzing." We knew something was going on, but could not put our finger on what it was. She smelled "sour," not at all like a normal Emme smell. Ken would look at her big black eyes and declare that Emme had "sad eyes."

On the third day, we took her to the vet who examined her all over and could find nothing wrong. Her mouth had no sores; her teeth were fine; her lymph nodes were good; her temperature was normal. We decided to just "watch and wait." Well, we watched her getting sicker. We added a quarter of a Pepcid tablet twice a day in case it was an acid stomach. We mixed a tiny amount of tuna with her kibble to make it more attractive. She began throwing up each afternoon and then she turned a corner. She started to eat again. She began to play and she seemed more normal. Now ten days later, she is well. She is eating and playing as if nothing was ever wrong.

So we don't know what was the matter. She was one sick puppy for a while and now she is well. I don't want to repeat this again.

Scary Smart

Both Emme and Rudy are smart dogs. They observe and pick up things that are uncanny.

They both have a sense of time that is amazing. They always know when it is time to eat or go to bed. It is a good thing that we are creatures of habit. They know the exact order of things at their meal time. They know which dogs gets which pills, before and after the meal.

When Ken and I are getting ready to leave the house, they know that we are leaving, because they recognize click the lock on the back door makes. They hear that sound and they both run to their crates with no command from us. Rudy knows that he is going for a ride in the car if we leave his collar on after he has gone outside to "hurry up." If we take them out in the car, both dogs know when we are arriving home. Rudy recognizes the bumps on Oak Hill before we even get to our street. He gets excited and stands up eager to get home. Emme recognizes the house as we enter the garage. She tries to stand on my lap and look into the garage. They both know the exact routine we follow before we go upstairs to bed.

But recently Rudy has outdone himself. When I am finished playing my Nintendo DS and shut down the machine, it plays the same ending music. Rudy has learned to recognize the music and knows that I am ending my game and will be going on to do other things. He jumps up and is eager to participate in whatever comes next. So I decided to get around this by turning the sound off. Now when I am ending the game there is no music to clue Rudy. Instead he has learned to listen for the sound of the stylus clicking in place in the side of my DS as I finish playing. So now he gets all excited when he hears the stylus click into place. Scary smart!

The Quilt Gene

Emme loves quilts. This weekend Ken wondered how God knew to give Emme a quilt gene so she would fit in this family so well. When Emme sees a quilt, she dashes to it to lie down on top of it. If one of us puts a quilt over our legs, Emme wants to be on top of our legs and the quilt. Emme loves to find a quilt abandoned on a couch or chair. She like nothing better than to snuggle down into it. And heaven is when someone walks over and covers her with part of the quilt. Life is good.

Emme, Come

Emme has a disconcerting habit. When I can't see her and call "Emme, come" she interprets this a command to freeze in place. She doesn't come. She doesn't make a sound. She just waits. She usually follows one of us everywhere and so over time we have shut her in our bedroom closet after getting dressed, left her out in the garage after we have taken out the garbage, and shut her out on the porch after we have taken the dogs outside. When we realize that she in not by one of us and we call, "Emme, come." She is absolutely quiet. So we have to do a search and find. We comb the house and she waits silently. She doesn't come; she doesn't make a sound; she just waits.

This morning we were clearing the dining room table, washing the breakfast dishes, taking out garbage and bringing the Christmas tree upstairs from the basement. I went upstairs to check my email and Ken remained on the first floor. Then we realized that Emme was not with either of us. Of course, I called "Emme, come." Sometimes I can be a slow learner. Of course, she froze in place and didn't make a sound. So Ken and I searched the house and garage. Finally we found Emme sitting on the seat of my chair at the dining room table just waiting for us to find her.

We need a new system.

Favorite Emme Photo, Number 14

Emme in the kitchen.

Foot Dog

Emme is such a love sponge that she loves to be touched anywhere on her body. She loves me to rub her belly, pat her head, stroke her back, or tickle her ears. It is all good. She loves to be touched with any part of my body, even my feet. She especially loves when I have on PJs and bare feet. I rub her with my feet and she is delighted, even sneaking in a lick or two occasionally. She loves to lick toes.

Rudy on the other hand is very specific about how he is touched and with what. He freaks out if you touch him with your foot, even accidentally. If he is lying near my feet and I change positions and touch him with a bare foot, sock foot, or shoe, he quickly hops up and moves. Being rubbed by someone's foot is not for him. We got Rudy when he was three years old and don't know what his early experiences where with feet. We had no indication that he was abused, mistreated, or handled with anything other than kindness when he was a puppy. But he has a thing for feet. He does not like them touching him.

So, I rub Emme with my feet and I never rub Rudy with them. Literally, different strokes for different folks.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Emme, Rudy, Ken and Mary Lou.

Favorite Emme Photo, Number 13

Emme at the lake house on the old deck by a sweet potato vine in one of Ken's planters. This photo was taken in September 2007.

Favorite Emme Photo, Number 12

This was the photo I had posted in my hospital room when I was there for 17 days in March. It helped to have Emme "with me."

I Love the One I'm Near

When Emme wants a lovie, she always goes for Big Mama Gorilla. Rudy on the other hand is fickle. His favorite lovie is the Really Big Lovie but he is like the words to the song from the play Brigadoon: "When I'm not near the one I love, I love the one I'm near."

If the Really Big Lovie is not right at hand Rudy will pick up another lovie. Sometimes it is the Canada Goose, the Yellow Teddy Bear, the Pink or Blue Bunny, or even, horrors, Big Mama Gorilla. He is particular about size. The stuffie has to be big enough to cuddle. He wraps his paws around it so the smaller ones won't do. But any of the bigger ones will work. He is not discriminating. He loves the one he is near.