I May Have Created a Monster

A cookie monster that is...

The other day, my daughter and I made a few batches of cookies. One of which was a batch of homemade dog cookies...

Fred rarely gets anything other than his regular dog food. He has what some may call a flatulence problem. We are all much happier when he goes without any extras in his diet.

One of the advantages to not sharing any tid bits with Fred is he doesn't beg at meal time, it's just not an issue. I like that. I really don't like being stared at when I eat, I find it unnerving.
I only make these treats once a year, mostly for gifts for the other dogs we know. Fred  gets quite perky when I make them.

"Are they done yet?"

Actually, I find them rather stinky when they bake, an aroma Fred relishes. After they cool, I let Fred be the taste tester. I then put them in zipper bags to keep them fresh. I also put the human cookies in a zipper bag.

I think I need to make another batch of the human kind...

 I can't seem to keep my mitts out of the human cookies, which coincidentally are sitting in the same area as the dog treats. So I casually walk into the kitchen as Fred is hot on my heals, and zip, zip, I sneak a cookie...then I look down and see Fred giving me his VERY best Freddy face.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for that cute little mug. Zip, Zip he gets a cookie.
Fred always follows me around the house, wherever I am, so is Fred. My little shadow. Now, however there seems to be an extra spring in his step. He has this uncanny ability of getting me to notice him.

 "Hey mom, I'm right down here, what are you doing? How about a cookie? Look at me!"

A year or so ago, I taught him how to roll over. Now, all of the sudden I've got this little dog rolling around all over the house, he's throwing everything he's got at me, sit, shake, (both paws) sit up, sit pretty, lay down,you name it, he's doing it. Constantly.

 "Hows this?"

 "This way?"

"How about this?"

"For cripes sake! Please?"

 All I need to do is twirl my finger, and off he goes rolling around the house. He gets himself stuck every once in a while, up against the coffee table, shoes, things get in the way, but by gosh, it doesn't stop him, he just rolls the other way. Sheesh! Sometimes his gears get stuck, and he just sits and spins. I find it quite amusing. (understatement, it's hysterical) He's giving his all. There's really nothing I can do but give in.
I do have one rule though, he has to eat all of his regular food before any treats come out. I think that rule finally dawned on him last night. He was working hard a trying to get my attention, to let me know he thought now was a good time for a cookie. He very loudly marched over to his food dish, as if to tell me he had indeed eaten all of his dinner, well what could I do? He got a cookie.

I sure do love my little dog!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 Here's the recipe if your interested:

The Storm

Fred did something last night that he has never done before, and it was really quite special. 
We experienced a thunderstorm last night. Here in the Pacific Northwest, in the valley anyway, thunderstorms are few and far between. So when they do occur, they get noticed.
This particular storm, wasn't very close or even remotely intense. I grew up in Ohio, and I've experienced some serious storms. This one doesn't even come close to one of those. That said, it was noticed by me, and definitely by Fred.
I had been in bed for about an hour or so when I heard a little rumbling in the background outside. It dawned on me that it was thunder, I thought it was pretty cool. Fred was under the covers as usual, and I couldn't tell if he had heard it, or not, he didn't startle or anything. Which isn't surprising, he's a pretty cool dude when it comes to stuff like that. Fireworks really don't phase him much, it's clear he doesn't like them, but he doesn't get all freaked out about it. One of the many qualities that I love about Fred.

 Mr. Cool

So anyway, I could see the lightning flicker through the blinds and several seconds later a rumbling of thunder, I was actually enjoying it. Not much time had gone by, when Fred army crawled himself from under the covers. He laid down on the pillow next to me with his head up, staring at the window. He seem unusually concerned about the storm.  I offered a belly rub for reassurance, which he graciously accepted. I turned away from him and continued to read my book while the thunder rumbled outside. A little bit after that, Fred scooched himself closer to me with his nose close to my ear and he put his paw on my shoulder. Then he took it off, lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled, and he put his paw back on my shoulder, then off again. He did this until the storm finally moved on, probably about an hour. 
It was really very sweet, and I am not sure if he was protecting and comforting me, or if it gave him comfort to know I was right there beside him. I like both scenarios really. 

Anyway, this was just one of the many, many things that Fred does on any given day that brings him ever closer to my heart, if that is even possible. 

Freddy's Beach Adventure!

Hi there! I know it's been a while, but we are very much still here. I am working on a little recap of sorts that I will post at a later time, but for now I wanted to share a little trip Fred and I took last Wednesday.

I woke up on Wednesday, and saw that the temperature was going to creep up into the 90's, I also saw that at the beach the temps were going to be in the high 70's to low 80's perfect! I looked at Fred and said "We're going to the beach!" Of course he was all for it. So I gathered a few things, not knowing if we would stay the night or not, I packed accordingly, dog food, change of clothes, not much really. Normally, I'm not much of a spontaneous person, usually a trip to the beach entails lots of planning, and list writing to make sure I don't forget anything, so this was quite a departure for me. So off we went. The beach is about 100 miles away, and it's a pretty easy drive up over the coast range and back down to sea level. It takes about 2 hours, not bad really. Fred could not settle down while we were driving, usually as soon as I hit the highway, he settles down and sleeps, but this trip he was very interested in the drive. I think he looked out the window almost the whole time, he wasn't nervous or obnoxious, I think he knew this trip would be something special. It was a fun drive!
We got to our destination which was Rockaway, Oregon, I had made the decision to stay, so the first thing we needed to do was find a place. Apparently, I wasn't the only one that decided the beach was the place to be and we got really lucky and found a cheap little room. It was only a block, actually less than a block from the sandy beach, but no view. That was perfect, I didn't plan to spend too much time there anyway. This was my view out of the window...

 

Not much to look at, but at least I could keep an eye on my car...

They were in the process of re-siding that building, it was very noisy, but I didn't care, the price was right, and I knew they would quit before bedtime and they did.  I quickly dropped my belongings into the room, and we took off for the beach. (Finally!) As soon as we stepped onto the sandy beach, I took Fred off the leash and ZOOM! Off he went.

 

"Oh boy!"

As soon as I took the leash off, I grabbed my camera, and he was almost out of view. I didn't take my regular camera, these are all taken from my phone, and to tell you the truth, I am pretty pleased with the outcome.

And back...

 Gone again...

 

And back...I am pretty sure that's a smile.

 Yep! it is

 

 "See ya!"

Running, running, running! Weee Hooo!

"Look Mom! I can fly!"

Catching his breath...Admiring the view

 More running/flying... 

Nothing but air! So fun!

This went on for quite some time, he just ran and ran and ran. It always amazes me how fast he is. His feet barely touch the ground. He was very good though, he would take off at warp speed, stop turn around, look for me, and usually run back to me or run in the direction I was walking. Always aware of where I was. Good boy! He would also run up to everyone he saw, say a quick hello, and off he'd go, small children were especially vulnerable, he sought them out, I think... He would go up to them, and as soon as they would reach to pet him, he would take off, hoping with all hope that they would chase him, a few did and that was really great in Fred's world. No one could catch him of course, but it was very fun! He was a big hit. 

I took a quick video, this was after he'd already been running for a long time and he was running out of gas. His attention was also very much on the children making sand castles, and I cut it off a little abruptly. I was worried he might destroy the fort that they had been diligently working on. Luckily he didn't, just another quick hello, and he ran right back to me. As you can obviously tell in the video, it was a little breezy too (sorry about that), but it really was a great day to be at the beach.

 

The shadows were getting pretty long, it was getting close to sunset, and another photo opportunity...

Ahhhh! I can never get enough sunsets at the beach.

"Thanks Mom, I'm really having a great time!"

It was getting chilly really fast, actually, in the above photo, Fred was shivering a little, I forgot to bring his coat, mine too (that's why I need lists...) So we headed back to the room to eat and watch a little tv.

Fred was more concerned about what the workers were doing outside.

Dinner...

Fred was a little restless all night, I'm sure being in a different place with different sounds and smells had him on edge a bit, and I don't think he slept much. To tell you the truth, I really didn't either. I got up pretty early (before the worker's anyway) and made some coffee and began to get the day started. As for Fred, well, he wasn't quite ready to be up and about.

 "Just a few more minutes? I'm pretty cozy in here".

I got everything packed up, schlepped down some coffee, (it wasn't very good) and got ready to leave, he stayed in the bed the whole time I was getting ready. 

Of course, we had to go to the beach one more time before we hit the road, and just like the day before, as soon as we got to the sand, I took the leash off, and Fred took off like a shot. Only this time he went about 100 feet and pulled up. Poor guy, it seems he was a bit stiff from the day before. He sniffed around a bit, waited for me to catch up and we had a nice quiet walk before heading back to the car. He slept hard all the way home. 

It was a quick trip, but it sure was nice to get away, if even for a short time. :)

Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday Freddy!

Today Fred is five! This birthday really snuck up on me. I haven't gotten him anything yet. Do you think he will notice? I'm just pretending I don't know. I will stop after work and pick him up a little something...:-)

 ZZZZZZZZ

 "Trying to sleep here!"

 

Not bad for phone pictures. The top ones were actually taken in total darkness, I wasn't even sure if he was in the frame.

Walking With Fred

Fred loves to go for a walk. I’m sure you’re probably saying to yourself, “what dog doesn’t?” I know Fred is not unique in his feelings about walks. It is that very fun time he gets to go out and catch up on the neighborhood ‘news”. I read somewhere, (I know I've written about this before, sorry for the repeat) that when a dog goes outside and sniffs around, it is similar to us reading the paper. He learns about the current events in his area, get’s to leave a ‘comment’ on said news, and move on to the next story, if you get my drift.  Actually for Fred I think it’s more like giving the article a quick scan, and deciding that the story was his to begin with and needed to be edited…for content.

Fred and I have not been doing very much walking lately, mostly due to the weather, and the Holidays, and whatever the excuse of the day may be for me. My bad.

 "It's cold and crummy out there. I'll be fine right here."

 He always goes with me when I need to run errands, grocery shop and what not. There are a few stores that will let Fred come in with me. Walgreen's (they love him there), Home Depot, stores like that. 

One day before Christmas, I had to go to the mall, 3 stores, and I decided to bring Fred in. I figured the worse they would do was ask us to leave and there weren't any signs saying we couldn't. Well, no one did, and it was so much fun for Fred (sort of). There actually wasn’t anything for him to read, since there hadn’t been anything written before, so he had no need to do any editing (which was a relief to me).  We went into Spencer’s Gifts, I needed to get a tacky birthday card for a friend and Fred was a huge hit in there. From there we went to Bath and Body Works and no one seemed to care. On our ventures through the Mall, there were many children waiting to see Santa so Fred got some attention from the kids, he enjoyed that very much.  At one point, we needed to go upstairs and I realized the escalator was out of the question, I had too many things to carry and I couldn’t hold the handrail and carry him too. So we found an elevator. I pushed the button and we waited, Fred looking up at me wondering why we were staring at a door for no particular reason, then the doors opened up and Fred’s eyes got very big. We walked in, he hesitated at first, but went along. I hit the button and the doors closed. What happened next was nothing short of hilarious. I am pretty sure Fred thought we were having an earthquake or something, because his legs suddenly splayed out beside him, he got as low to the floor as he possibly could and his eyes bugged out (more than usual). 

Poor guy, luckily it was over quickly. Of course, I was laughing hysterically when the doors opened, and Fred v.e.r.y. carefully emerged from what ever that thing was and we went on our way.  He looked back once, maybe twice. I bought whatever it was that I needed to buy upstairs. 

Naturally, we still needed to get to the lower level to get to the car; I decided to take the stairs. That turned out to be a little easier said than done. Fred has no problem getting up and down the stairs here at home, as a matter of fact, it seems to turn in to a race, every time I have the need to go up or down, he has to win, he has to be first. It’s fun. He has his missteps here and there, but we don’t talk about those.

So, there we were at the top of the stairs in front of Sears. These are cement stairs and they have a light colored strip on the edge of each stair, I appreciate that, and it does make them easier to see. However, not for Fred, I question his depth perception, mostly because he can’t catch, and I don’t think he ever looks directly at me, if fact, when he does look at me I am not sure if he’s actually looking at me, his eyes go in different directions, like a lizzard. I guess it is the nature of the breed. I’ve seen some Boston’s that can catch anything at all, Fred just isn’t one of them. So I think when he saw those stairs, he had no idea what he was looking at, an optical illusion of sorts for him. He, very carefully, took a step forward. It was as if he was sticking a toe in the water to test it, and his foot kept going down until it reached the next step, he did this for about 2 or three, probably four stairs, then he got into the rhythm of the steps, and he trotted down, pretty good, a bit unsure, but he was fine. What an ordeal.

I am surprised he even gets into the car with me sometimes. He never knows what kind of and adventure we may go on. It must be weird to be Fred.

I hope everyone  had a nice couple of holidays. Hopefully going forward, I will blog more than I have lately. I just haven't had much to blog about. Maybe writing this will help get me back on track. Thanks so much for stopping by, it means a lot to me. :-)