Feeling Hungry

I’ve been trying to convince Mom that she needs to feed me more, without very much success.  After all, the dog walker feeds me at least 4 cookies whenever she comes to visit, but then Mom just plops down a bowl of kibble at night and tells me, “You can’t have any more, you don’t want to turn into a fat corgi.”  But oh, yes, I do want to turn into a fat corgi!

So I decided to take matters into my own paws, and begin feeding myself…

The first self-fed meal was the egg under the coffee table.  It had a nice floral scent, but the outside was a little on the crunchy side and the inside had a waxy consistency.  Mom said later it was a “ceramic egg” with a “candle” inside.  I’m still not sure why she was crying about someone having broken into the house when she first saw the eggshell remnants on the floor.





This was the next night, when I went back to see if any of the egg was left.












Then she put out the Thanksgiving turkey for me.  Or I thought it was okay to eat the turkey, it really did look very juicy and delicious.  Unfortunately, it didn’t taste quite as delectable as it looked – it sort of tasted like wood with a plastic coating - and it did sting a little bit when Mom rolled up the remnants of it and smacked me over the butt, muttering something about “I didn’t even get to read it yet.”

So a few days later, I moved on to breakfast, appetizers and dessert all at the same time!  It looked like a buffet and I had my choice of ham, pancakes, cheese logs, yule logs and petit fours, so of course I had to sample all of them.  But the same as the turkey, they didn’t taste quite as delicious as they looked.  But at least this time, I didn’t leave very much that could be rolled up…   

Farmville

So Mom finally got around to helping me pull this together from a visit to the farm.  It really isn’t a bad place, so I don’t understand why she sometimes yells “I’m going to take you to the farm!” at Mr. Puff.  This farm had all sorts of animals – horses, goats and yummy appetizers chickens, as well as lots of herding toys cats and lots of evil rat-like creatures that bark dogs – and seemed like such a fun place to visit!  I even decided it would be fun to drag lead Mom around and explore the farm: 




Here’s me in front of the barns!













 






Here’s another picture of me with the barns in the background.  I was barking at something – I don’t remember what, I think it might have been a gourd that was growing too slow.












And then here’s me out in the field while I was dragging Mom we were hiking around the farm.  I look amused because Mom was standing in the middle of the field in her pajamas – when I decided I wanted to explore, I didn’t give her enough time to go back inside and change!

Training for the Hike ‘n Hound

We’ve been busy lately – or rather, Mom has been busy and she’s been dragging me along for the ride – but Mom finally had a free weekend to make good on her threat promise to take me to the mountain preserve and start subjecting me to strenuous exercise training me for the Hike ‘n Hound. I think this “Hike ‘n Hound” involves a bunch of humans and dogs walking around in the woods for a long time, and Mom says she’s afraid that my “stumpy little legs won’t make it that far.”

So when we arrived at the mountain preserve, I decided I would show her what a forced march hike looks like!  I started trucking along the trail in front of her, and I think I actually heard her panting behind me!

Here’s me taking a little breather on the trail.  The only thing I didn’t anticipate was that Mom had a much longer forced march hike than the last time in mind.  Much longer.  And she says that the hike today wasn’t as long as the Hike ‘n Hound!  So I flopped on the trail slowed down a bit during the second part of the hike.  Maybe she’s right around me needing training – I felt tuckered out afterward!

We’re tuckered out from the heat

It was really hot this past week.  Unbearably hot for a corgi like me – my paws hurt when I walked on the pavement, and they hurt when I walked on the grass, too, because it’s all crunchy now.  I felt tired after walking only a few steps outside, so then Mom would try to drag me back to the house, telling me, “You can’t pass out in the grass, you’ll overheat!  Let’s go in where you can lie on the air conditioning vent!”

So it finally cooled down a little bit, but I’m still tuckered out from the past week.  I guess Mr. Puff is, too!

Spotlight on: Mr. Puff

Yesterday, Mommy took me and the big white overstuffed stay-Puff-t marshmallow cat to the groomer to have us both shaved.  Mommy says that Mr. Puff is special because he was rescued from an animal shelter 10 years ago and that he’s a champion cat, because he won some trophy and ribbon in the Supercat competition in Madison Square Garden Years ago.

 

He’s let himself go from championship form, if you ask me.  I believe they usually call that thing hanging from his tummy an “udder”.

 

 

Mom also says he special because he’s diabetic.  He gets special wet food that’s supposed to be for kittens, not big white overstuffed stay-Puff-t marshmallow cats.  Mommy calls it the “Catkins diet”.  All I know is it smells really yummy, but I’m not allowed to have any.

 

Whenever Mr. Puff meows and whines, he gets food.  Whenever I whine, I’m told I have to wait until dinner time. It seems unfair that Mr. Puff doesn’t look like he needs any more food, but he gets yummy food, while Mommy tells me that I don’t want to be a fat corgi, that I need to stay a lean, mean corgi machine, so I only get kibble and carrots.

See, don’t I look hungry?  Please leave comments for Mommy that she needs to feed me more.

Ahh, Nature!

Mommy took me on a forced march hike through a nature preserve this morning.  She said it was only a half mile hike and was a little bit of practice for her big hike tomorrow with a bunch of other humans, but I’m not sure I believe her that it was only a half mile. 

 

First we went up…and then we went up some more…and then we turned…and then we turned and finally starting going down…and then we hit a grassy stretch and I ran back toward the car!

But while we were on the way up, we met another corgi and his human!  I was very happy to meet the human, even though Mommy keeps telling me it’s not very nice to jump up and knock my nose into other humans’…oh, wait, I don’t think I’m allowed to use that language on the blog.  But the corgi was very nice, too.  He told me he was exhausted from his forced march hike through the preserve.

Unfortunately, Mommy was a bad mommy photographer and didn’t bring her real camera or use the one on her phone very quickly, so all I have is a blurry picture of me barking at the corgi and his human in the distance.

So now that she’s exhausted me, Mommy says I can spend the rest of the day flopped on top of the air conditioning vent!

We’ve been napping!

Sorry for being a bit quiet on the blog lately!  Rogue would gladly spend all day blogging, but given her challenges with typing (that whole no-opposable-thumbs issue), she has to leave it up to mom-the-assistant, who doesn’t have the time to blog all day!

But if Rogue can’t blog all day, just what does she do with herself?

Hmmm…

Wordless Wednesday: Fishy Goes to the Giant Aquarium

Teaser Trailer – It’s Fishy In Here!

I was cleaning out the dog toy bag and found poor Mr. Fish.  I thought I would let Rogue say goodbye to him first.  Rogue didn’t really want to say goodbye…

Another installment of It’s Fishy In Here coming soon! 

(Sigh, why does she have to look so darn cute carrying that fish around in her mouth?!)

So how does a dog write a blog?

First she needs to think of a topic:

Then she needs to break out her writing utensils:

But the problem with writing utensils is that Rogue doesn’t have opposable thumbs, so they’re a bit hard to maneuver across the page.  So eventually, she decides word processing on the computer would be a better way to blog:

101 uses for corgi fur

Rogue unknowingly helped the environment today.  When I picked her up from the groomer, they had a little sign posted, saying that your dog’s excess fuzz would be donated to help clean up the Gulf oil spill.  I had seen stories previously (probably a MyCorgi.com post) about donating corgi fur for oil spill clean up, but it just never occurred to me that of course a pet groomer would be collecting tons of fur to help the cause!

(But to address a quick point: yes, I have Rogue shaved.  I’ve read that a corgi should never be shaved, because their double coat insulates them and keeps them cooler in the heat and warmer in the cold.  However, Rogue being a fluffy, she doesn’t have the same coat – believe it or not, she sheds less than the cats – and the longer coat does have a tendency to become matted.  So, every month and a half, the fuzz comes off.)

While Rogue was at the groomer, I had stopped and picked up a box of Milk Bones to refill her cookie jar.  I put the empty, collapsed Milk Bone box by the garbage can.  Rogue figured out immediately that I had brought a new supply of cookies into the house:

Strange corgi poses

I was sitting watching TV tonight, when I looked toward the end of the coffee table and saw this:

I was fortunate enough to be able to grab my camera and get a few more shots, because Rogue stayed in this pose for easily 10 minutes.  I’m still guessing as to why she decided to put herself into and then stay in this pose for so long.  Maybe she was scratching her back and fell asleep in the middle of it?  Maybe she was trying to be her own chiropractor and crack her back?   Maybe it’s just because she’s a corgi and she’s nuts???

 

 

“Why yes, I am comfortable.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Ah, there, my back feels so much better!”

What can a corgi do on a rainy day?

Truth be told, Rogue is not a big fan of water.  The only acceptable form of water is the water she slops out of her drinking bowl – otherwise, she really wants nothing to do with it.  So what can she do on a rainy day?

Well, first off, she tries to stay inside as much as possible!  It’s okay to watch rain, as long as there’s a window placed firmly between your nose and the rain.  Other favorite rainy-day indoor activities include:

• Chasing cats – well, chasing cats is fun on any day!
• Eating – this one’s fun on any day, too, but the humans are more likely to cook interesting things on rainy days.
• Watching TV – Rogue likes Nascar and football on the weekends

And then you have the ultimate rainy day combo – playing doggy soccer with the tricky treat ball while watching TV!

Yet eventually, nature calls, and Rogue does have to go outside for a walk.  When it’s raining, she either makes this exercise as short as possible, or turns it into at least a 20 minute ordeal.  Obviously as quickly as possible is the best scenario for both corgi and human walking companion.  But if the rain is coming down particularly hard, and she has just been forcibly led out the door, and even more embarrassingly, she has been forced to wear her yellow rain coat, she will mope down her head and muck around for 20 minutes as if to say, “Well, I’m miserable that you pulled me out here, so I’m going to make sure you’re soaked through as well!”

Spoiled rotten corgi?

Rogue is apparently used to living in the lap of luxury – well, at least as luxurious as you can get for a corgi living in my house.  Even though she’s always had her own dog bed, and will still camp out on her dog bed if necessary to keep the cats from using it, she quickly found that there are other, equally as comfortable places to sleep around the house. 

For example:

The Sofa

The Bed

Then last weekend, Rogue and I were out at my mother’s house.  At first, I didn’t think I’d have to worry about where Rogue would want to curl up and sleep, because she was so busying bouncing around the house that it seemed doubtful she would ever sleep.  Then the inexplicable happened – as my mother was sitting in her recliner, Rogue jumped up in her lap, curled up, and started snoozing.  Rogue could have flopped out on the floor or jumped up on the sofa where we had put a blanket for her, but no, she decided to go for the lap.
So here are the only theories I’ve been able to come up with to explain this behavior:

1. Rogue thinks she’s a cat.
2. Rogue really liked the warmth and feel of the fleece blanket, even if it was a bit lumpy underneath.
3. The dog really is a genius, because she figured the human would grow so tired of having a 25 lb. dog sprawled on her lap that she would get up, leaving the pre-warmed spot on the recliner all to Rogue!

Cats & Corgis

Back on November 3, Rogue turned 6 years old.  I can still hardly believe this fuzzball has been in my life for 6 years – why, 6 years means 4,380 feedings, at least 7,000 walks, upwards of 10,000 treats, at least $2,000 of vet bills, and I don’t even want to estimate the grooming bills!

But one constant over the 6 years has been the on-going dog/cat war in my house.  When I first brought Rogue home, Sophie growled and hissed, but I thought that within a few months, they’d be curled up together like best buddies.  Oh, was I wrong!  First, you need to understand that Sophie was a stray kitten found on the streets of Newark, NJ – in other words, she’s a tough little kitty.  And a bit psychotic.  Ok, well, more than psychotic…she is so insistent on being the center of attention that to this day (and I’ve had her 10 years) she will fling herself at a closed door just to get into the room I’m in. 

But I digress from the main point, which is that the combination of a psychotic cat who has a severe attachment disorder with a playful corgi who’s insistent on trying to herd said psychotic cat can make for one frazzled cat & corgi mom!  Rogue will try to move in on Sophie for the herd, little nub wagging away, and Sophie will commence the growling.  When Rogue crosses the invisible line, Sophie lets out a hiss and a swipe, and streaks toward some other part of the house.  Rogue, now thinking this is a game of “catch me if you can!”, takes off after Sophie (butt still wagging, which is hilarious looking if it happens to be poked out from underneath the bed!).  This is the point where the barking starts…

…and so my daily routine for the past 6 years has also included upwards of 5,000 exclamations of “Rogue!  Sophie!  Stop the fighting!!!” 




See…this is not a cat you want to mess with!

Feeling Under the Weather

This week was supposed to have been about Rogue jumping all over the vet while receiving loads of complements for being such a beautiful healthy dog.  Unfortunately, she’ll have to go back again for her annual vaccines, because she felt a bit under the weather this week.  Apparently that stomach bug that has been spreading like wild fire among humans also affects dogs!!!

The vet couldn’t diagnose exactly what caused Roguie to become sick – it could have been something she ate (because goose poops are so delectable!) or she could have caught something while at the groomer last weekend.  The end result is that I invested in a SpotBot yesterday and now Roguie gets to eat gourmet bland dog food for the next few days.  Yup, gourmet bland dog food – the vet said I could either cook her boiled chicken and rice, or they had cans of Science Diet veterinary formula.  As much as I love cooking, I opted for the cans…

…and of course this had to happen after she was bathed and groomed last week!

My, they scrub up nicely!

As you can imagine, a fluffy corgi does involve quite a bit of maintenance to keep the fur nice.  Much like a fluffy, long-haired cat (such as Mr. Puff), a fluffy corgi will tend toward the fur becoming tangled and matted.  Once the fur becomes tangled and matted, your choices are:

a) Sit on top of your fluffy corgi holding a grooming brush and a pair of scissors and attempt to brush/cut all the little tangles out yourself.

b) Let the professionals take care of it.

Option a) involves the risk of considerable harm to self.  I know this first hand.  For example, Rogue swiped my cheek with her claws the first and only time I tried to clip her nails myself – I felt fine, it just took quite a bit of explaining when I showed up at work the next day with three long scratch marks down my cheek!  Therefore, I usually go for Option b)

Thankfully we found a groomer that Rogue really likes only a few miles away.  When it’s time to go to her appointment, she charges at the garage door because she knows she’s going in the c-a-r, and once we get to the groomer, she runs in the door and jumps all over the groomer’s staff.  Mr. Puff will sometimes go to the groomer at the same time for his “lion cut.”  Mr. Puff is a bit more resistant; I usually have to forcibly stuff him in the kitty carrier, and he makes sure he has all of his paws stretched out to make it as difficult as possible.  Considering Mr. Puff doesn’t move that fast anymore, he does try to run whenever he sees that kitty carrier.

But when I get my fuzzies back a few hours later, the results are so worth the effort.  Of course, in Rogue’s case, it’s because she looks so fuzzy and beautiful (and wow, look at that butt!!!):

In Mr. Puff’s case, it’s because…well, I’m thinking pure comedic value: