Listen up!

I keep hearing all this jazz about Bully Sticks.
Bully Sticks. Bully Sticks. Bully Sticks.

Thanks to my good friend Mango,
I now know what you are all on about.




If chewing on cow pee-pees is what gets you going, that's great.
But there is a vegetarian option.

It's called, cardboard tube.



Readily available after the tin foil gets all used up.



Might not be as drool inducing as a cow pee-pee,

But it can double as a walking stick, snorting machine, or,
with slight modification,

a musical instrument.

Technical note: Cardboard Tube is pink tennis ball compatible.

The Photo Shoot

I still haven't fixed my camera lens and if I try to shoot anything other than extreme close-ups, the photos are blurry.

Kind of like this.


Because there has been a decided lack of photos on the blog of late, I am rectifying that problem by unearthing a series of photos I shot a few months ago of Sophie, Cha Cha (her BFF), and Charlot (the Bouvier des Flandres from next door).

I've posted some of these in the past, but never the whole shoot in its entirety. So now, for your viewing pleasure, I am pleased to present:

"Sitting Pretty with the Beasts"

A Wordless Wednesday Night

Updated with important legal info Wednesday morning.

Chalk one up for guide dogs everywhere!

Strass is a guide dog.

He's not one of the guide dogs above, but these guys are a reasonable facsimile of, I would guess. Strass takes care of a guy named Michel Larochelle, who is a quadriplegic. In 2005, Monsieur Larochelle was refused service at Pizzeria Napoli in Montreal, because of Strass. I guess to the waiter, a dog is a dog is a dog.

Apparently the waiter was allergic to dogs. As much as I sympathize with allergies, being an allergy sufferer myself, I really do have to say, in this case, SUCK IT UP! A dog is not a peanut and a little dog hair won't kill you. This man is a paralyzed from the neck down and his dog is an amazing beast who helps him live life to the fullest. How dare that waiter or restaurant refuse to serve him.

It took them long enough, but the courts finally ordered the restaurant to pay Monsieur Larochelle $4000. They should have ordered the waiter to pay a 20% tip on that too.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/02/26/qc-pizzeriadecision-0226.html


NOTE: In Canada, and I believe the US, assistance dogs are legally entitled to access public spaces, when accompanied by their person. I believe that if they attempt to go to the bar on their own, they can legally be denied service.

Happy Blog Day!

If you would have asked me two years ago today if I would still be writing this blog for my dog, I would have told you that you were crazy. Well you are crazy, and evidently, so am I, because here I am, two years later, bloggin' for my doggin' and here you are, reading it.
Thanks for reading and commenting and caring.
Now let's see if I'm crazy enough to go another year.

Happy Blog Day Sophie!

It is Wally T. Corgador's birthday today!

It is possible that there no more important or influential day of the year than this.
I've even heard that Monsieur Corgador's birthday has to power to change tides and the direction of tennis ball lobs.

I don't know what the Ma Ape has planned, but I am certain she canceled all classes, sent all research assistants home, and told the presses to hold up on the printing of her manifesto while the celebrations ensue.

Mr. Wally T. Corgador, Happy Birthday Baby!

XOXOXO

Update on Sophie's collar situation.

Remember this?
That nasty incident when Sophie broke her collar chasing after the cat?

Well, Ruff Stuff is sending Sophie a newer and improveder collar!



They have changed the leather and construction on their collars and they are such a great company, that they are replacing her faulty one. I'm very happy about this and they were really wonderful to deal with. I will probably still walk her on the nylon half-check collar I bought as a temporary solution. I actually really like walking her on that collar and I feel safe about it.

SO, even though Ruff Stuff has improved the quality of leather they use for their collars, that will be Sophie's fancy ass collar, and the nylon one will be her walking collar.

Because every girl needs some fancy ass neck wear, don't you think?

ONCE AGAIN

It is time to review the wackiest internet searches that brought people to Sophie's blog.

Out of the 145 listed for the past month, only two were non-pornographic.

Okay, there were not 143 pornographic searches, but only two really stood out as goofy enough to mention and so, without further delay .....

The two most wacky searches for the past month or so are :

A hushed silence falls over the room

"cat poop on the bum"

and

"dog named moo"

The room erupts with applause, and you are returned to your regular programming.

Remember Sophie's blue dog in the corner from the previous post?

It seems that Max did too.

Max also remembered to smile for the camera.

And to show off the roof of his mouth.

Sophie was so happy to see Max, that she gave him a toy,


and then stole it.

She tried to introduce it to her minty red Christmas light,

and was rather displeased to give it back.

A little bit of pouting followed,

But in the end, she was happy to see Max and to get blue stuffie dog back.

MAXOO!

He's on his way over.

P.S. Notice a bit of Sophie's blue dog in the corner. He's not really blue. Just the colour blue, and he squeaks in six places!

On this Valentine's Day

Sophie would like to say Happy Birthday to her best friend Cha Cha,
and she tried this morning, but Cha Cha just stole her tennis ball and ran off with it.

So in lieu of that, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Numero

UNO!

Sophie, being half Chesapeake Bay Retriever, cannot understand why she hasn't been called upon to participate in the Chesapeake primaries. It is clearly a mad oversight on the part of the American election system thing.

The Reference

"Look up, look wa-a-ay up."

This is from an old CBC children's show called The Friendly Giant. I loved this show when I was a kid. Even more than I loved Mr. Dress-up,* with Casey and Finnegan.

When you looked up, there was the giant with Rusty the rooster in a sack hanging on the wall and Jerome the giraffe sticking his head in the castle window. I still remember throwing a tantrum at the Calgary Zoo when the giraffes would not respond to me. It was a turning point in my life when the realities of anthropomorphism came crashing down around me. So much so that I when I finally got Sophie, many years later, I knew she would never work for the CBC.

_____




*I watched Mr. Dress-up in the 70s, but in the 90s, there was alleged speculation that Casey and Finnegan may have been gay lovers, even though there was never reference to the gender of either, they were a person and a dog, and they were puppets. Whatever the case, I don't believe that watching Mr. Dress-up f*^*ed me up any more than Happy Days, Starsky & Hutch, and the Solid Gold Dancers.

Did you see my new banner?

Look UP
Waaaay UP

You may need to be Canadian to get that reference.
Needless to say, there are no roosters in sacks up there.


A cat owner made my new banner and I love it. He might make you one too, if you help fund his Ph.D. with a substantial donation.

Introducing Lola

Lola loves trees, squirrels, walking in the woods and The Psychedelic Furs. Not sure if she barks en français, but she lives in la belle province, just north of Montreal. Another Canadian dog. And a Quebecer besides!

Beware! We're taking over the dogosphere.

What's wrong with this picture?

The dog has a blog, and I have none.
The dog gets 80 Christmas cards, and I get one.

Now, the dog gets a Valentine's Day present.

Need I even say who it is from?
I'll give you a hint. He's stalky, he's angry, and he has a mad crush on Sophie.

So back to me, for a second.
The dog gets a Valentine, and I don't even know when Valentine's day is.

My dog gets art!
I get .... well, you know what rhymes with art.

I'm jealous of my dog.
How pathetic is that?

I'm going to bleach my hair.

****

P.S. Thanks Joe!!! You're a bundle of sweetypieness, despite the angry front. And thanks Auntie Patty, whose eye for art made it all possible. Sophie would be honoured to shed in either of your houses and smoosh her nose into your eyeballs, which is her way of saying, "Hey!" And trust me, a "hey" from Sophie is huge!

Are you there DoG?

It's me, Sophie.

I just wanted to say, it was nice of you not to have sent a car down Av. Drolet the other day when I was chasing that dogdamned cat. It was also nice of you to not let than dogdamned cat take out my eyes. But I'm just wondering if maybe just once, you could think about maybe letting me get the dogdamned cat. I just want to pick it up. Honest. That's all. I won't do anything else. I promise. See what you can do, okay?

Update at the end of the post.

Bad Dog

What's missing from this picture?

You might be inclined to say Sophie's good sense, and you would be half right.


Here's how it all went down:

In Montreal, people often have to park down the street from their house, so after a big snow fall, I often take her down the street with me and tie her to a tree for a play in the white stuff, while I shovel. She's been on a tie-out before, so it's not a foreign concept to her, but certain types of memory are not her strong suit.

She was having a marvelous time. A marvelous time, I tell you, until a cat dared to saunter down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. That ramped up the quality of her marvy time in a real hurry.


Sophie bolted so hard and fast after that cat that she actually snapped her leather collar.
It ripped in two, her dog tag went flying and she was off, across the street and down the block in hot pursuit of a furry feline, who eventually had the good sense to ditch under a minivan.

Sophie found out the hard way that she doesn't fit under minivans.

The scratch on her nose is a long one, but evidently, not long enough to stop her. Had I not grabbed the scruff of her neck and hauled her back down the street, she would still be there with half her head still wedged under that van. Let's just say, Sophie is not the brightest bulb in some situations, but maybe I'm not either. Maybe she should never have been on a tie-out in the first place.

It wasn't until I got her back to the car that my heart fell into my toes. Thank god there wasn't a car coming.

Holy Moly! Should a leather collar really snap like that?

Not really living up to that Ruff Stuff name is it?

Mind you, it likely wasn't made to withstand 68 lbs of cat-induced rage.
Mind you, why not? It is made for a 68 lb. dog, after all.



I had to drive straight to the pet store for a new collar, and she hadn't even pooped yet!


She has a temporary nylon half-check collar, which is not my preference and I can't leave it on her for fear she'll catch it on something and choke herself.

I don't trust the plastic snaps on the regular nylon collars, so that's not an option. She's also been a leather chick her whole life. I just can't imagine putting her in anything else. But where do I find a rage-against-the-cat resistant leather collar?

Update: Ruff Stuff is sending Sophie a newer and improveder collar! They have changed the leather and construction on their collars and they are such a great company, they are replacing her faulty one. I'm very happy about this and they were really wonderful to deal with. I will likely still walk her on the nylon half-check collar I bought her as a temporary solution. I actually really like walking her on that collar and I feel safe about it, so even though Ruff Stuff has improved the quality of leather they use for their collars, that will be Sophie's fancy ass collar, and the nylon one will be her walking collar. Because every girl needs some fancy neckwear, don't you think?

Sophie is Bad

Bad, bad, bad.

And as soon as I can figure out how to get my camera working, I will tell you all about it.

How many dogs can fit in this house?

Sophie is not a guide dog, although she will guide me to every single scrap of discarded bagel on the sidewalk. Despite those annoying talents, I always thought she would have made an excellent guide dog in the true sense of the word. Perhaps that is why she yells so loudly at guide dogs when she's sees them. Jealousy. Envy. Missed opportunities. Dreams of what might have been.

I wonder how Sophie would feel about fostering a puppy. I just sent an inquiry to the Mira Foundation, which is more or less the French Canadian guide dog organization. I'm not sure if you can even foster a pup if there is already a dog in the house, but it is something I've always wanted to do.

Georgia in Utah

Great photo on the New York Times website this morning. This is Georgia, one of Vick's most seriously abused dogs. He should suffer exactly the same treatment that she did. Here's the article:
Rehabilitating Vick's Dogs.