Thursday, June 27, 2013

The world's cutest puppies? You decide.

Cavalier King Charles spaniels are pretty darned cute. My daughter has one, named Gus.

Gus lives in Toronto and we hope to see him in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, my daugher has scoured the interwebs for the very latest in cute Cavalier stuff and here is the best argument yet that they are, indeed, the cutest puppies of all.

 

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

That fine line between something and nothing.

On Sunday I spent much of my day in the emergency room. Turned out to be nothing major, but I learned a new word. Vitreous. That's the stuff in the eyeball that makes it all squishy. Sometimes the components separate (when you get, ahem, older) and this causes 'floaters', which are shadowy streaks in the periphery of your vision.

I had one occurrence on Saturday of seeing the floaters, and thought nothing of it. The body does lots of odd things, just one time, and I've learned to chalk them up to, ahem, aging. But then Sunday morning I woke up and there were floaters constantly bugging the corner of my vision. Coupled with a weird sore throat, (and my daughter will appreciate this) I imagined the worst.

Two doctors and an ophthalmologist later (so, three doctors)  I was told that us old dudes sometimes get these things and to come back if they get worse.

So now I have these things in my peripheral vision that makes me think something is there. At night they look like lightning, which fooled me this evening when we had actual lightning. And I got to thinking that someone who's paranoid could be driven nuts.

"Who's there?"
"No, there. I saw that."
"Stop following me!"

If Edward Snowden has floaters, it won't mean they aren't out to get him. 

And no one gave a crap about the sore throat, which has kind of gotten worse.



Monday, June 24, 2013

Here Purkoy, here dog.

Here is a glance at some of the names medieval people gave their pets, at least according to this site. Purkoy was a dog named by Anne Boleyn, which may have contributed to her later troubles. No one could prove treason, but it was clear she named the dog.

I think it would be fun to have a revival of medieval names for pets. I'd love to see a Jakke, a Parceval, or a Garland. My next dog?

Turgk.




Thursday, June 6, 2013

The case against Flexi leashes

This is a blog post by one Cassie Leigh-Stock, a certified dog trainer in Massachusetts, who I do not know.  I am re-posting it because a lot of what she says makes sense, and is, at the very least, something you need to consider when purchasing and using a Flexi leash.

I can attest to their propensity to tangle and jam. I have also been skeptical that the thin cord that makes up most of the leash is strong enough to hold a big dog who decides suddenly to take off after a cat. But I hadn't before considered the human suffering aspect of the devices. She has included  a warning from the Flexi lease site, that describes various injuries that can occur, including finger amputation. Yikes!.

Check it out.


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Since summer is here, let's talk about dogs dying in cars

I know everyone from Dick Goddard to your best friend, Sal,  talks about not leaving dogs in cars. Here's why.


I can barely stand how hot it is for the short time it takes for my A/C to ramp up. Imagine being a dog in the back seat for ten minutes. Or fifteen or twenty. Because you only meant to run in and pick up that one little half gallon of milk, but then you remembered you were out of cheese, then you met your old fifth grade teacher in the cookie aisle when you were reaching for that package of Double Stuf Oreos, and all of a sudden it's been 30 minutes.

Have a great, and safe summer.