Were Back!!!!

Well we are back from our road trip! We have stories and have lots of pictures to share.

Yes, Hana you guessed right!

Our first destination was the annual American Eskimo Picnic held in Minneapolis, Minn at Gary and Stacy's house. And what fun it was!

Over 35 people, 57 American Eskimos, 1 white husky (that fit right in) and 2 shelties that stuck out in a sea of white fluffy dogs. ;)

Here are a sampling of pictures (more to come in later posts).

And back at the hotel afterwards where Nikki is having trouble staying awake.

More pictures to come...

OMD- You Won't Believe It! (aka The Blue Box Part 2)

Momma actually did take us with her on a road trip! Just me (Nikki) and Casper. We both didn't fit into the blue box so she let us just ride in the car.

We are having a big adventure. We will be posting more later.

Woofs, Nikki

The Blue Box- Part 1

Nikki: "OMD- the blue box is out and is getting clothes put in it"

Nikki: you know what that means- she's going somewhere.

Do you think she'll notice if I just curl up in here?

Nikki: Hey I fit perfect!

Now she won't forget to pack me.

Casper: Don't worry Nikki- I'll block the door.
She can't get past me!
I'll make sure she packs us.

Pets In the Park 2009

Hi doggies,

On this past Sunday I spent all day at Pets In The Park.

Momma only took me. Buddy, Nikki and Pixie all had to stay home. Ha ha ha.
It was a fun day.

Pets in the Park is a united initiave of 3 local animal groups: New Hope Dog Rescue, Saskatoon SPCA and SCAT Street Cat Rescue. The purpose is to have a fun day in the park with our animals and to raise money for these organizations to assist animals in need.

There were lots of trade booths and almost every both gave away doggie treats (yummy). There were demonstrations of flyball and rally-o, a silent auction, concession, entertainment, microchipping, and nail clipping and ear cleaning for dogs and lots more.

These are some of the people that were there:

There were all sorts of big dogs like big St. Bernards, Irish Wolfhounds, Great Pyerenes and this Afghan that posed for a picture.

There were medium sized dogs and there were also lots of tiny doggies like little yorkies, chihuahua's and these dachshaunds that were playing with the kids.

Gio and Romeo from Life Is Better With Sheltie Hair were there representing St John's Ambulance Therapy dogs.

This lab puppy was just too exhausted to stay awake for it all.

In addition to dogs there were also cats, ferrets and lizards present.

I got lots of treats, hugs and cuddles from many people. Here is a volunteer of New Hope Dog Rescue carrying me. I sure liked that!

I ate so many dog treats that my poop started to turn loose and green. Then Momma said "Casper, You are cut off! No more treats!

That's okay because I had already had lots ;)

I had so much fun and when I got home I was so tired I slept for almost a day straight!

It was grrrreat! I can't wait to go to Pets In the Park 2010 next year!

Woofs Casper

United Breaks Guitars

Have you seen this You Tube video?

It's hilarious!!! (and unfortunately true)

It's a song written by the Canadian band, Sons of Maxwell who witnessed United Airlines employees damaging their guitars. After a year of negotiations United Airlines has refused to compensate the band members. So they wrote this song

This information is directly copied from the You Tube information on this video:

Full Story: http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars - In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didnt deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.

United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/DaveCarroll
Video Produced by Curve Productions of Halifax, http://www.curveproductionsinc.com./

We say:

Way to go

Sons of Maxwell!!!

I hate it when big Corporate America (or Canada) takes advantage of the regular people and I absolutely hate getting bad service in a service based industry!

So far the video has had well over 1,200,000 veiws in just a few days.

And it's a pretty good song too! ;)

We are going to check out some of their other music.

Hope you liked this one!

HAPPY CANADA DAY 'EH!

It's Canada Day, and because you're a Canuck just like any other hoser in a tuque with a toonie, you can nab a double-double and chill out, or kick back with a brewski and Buffalo wings for some R'n'R, eh?

LOL

Did you get that or do you need a lesson in speaking Canadian?

Well here you go:


CANUCK-SPEAK

KD: a Canadian standard for kids and university students, Kd, a. k. a. "Kraft dinner" or "mac and cheese," is an instant macaroni and cheese product that sells for about $1 a box.

Double-double: Only at your local Timmy's (Tim Hortons), a coffee with double cream, double sugar is nicknamed a double-double.

Hoser: Calling someone a hoser is really just calling them a loser, a term made famous by those classic Canadian television brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie (check out the movie Strange Brew). In the old days, the term referred to the team that lost the hockey game and would have to hose down the rink.

Brewski: as if Canadians needed to further clarify how much they love their beer, they gave it an affectionate little nickname: a brewski.

Click: unlike in the U. S., where distance is measured in miles, Canadians go metric and use kilometres, which they casually call clicks.

Shlepping: To shlep is to move slowly or carry something clumsily; for example, "I shlepped my hair-dryer over from India to Canada only to discover there are different-sized electrical outlets here."




From http://www.vancouversun.com/Life/Learn+speak+Canadian/1749016/story.html


And here is more Canuck-Speak that we have added for your interest and fun:

Canuck- a nickname Canadians fondly use to call themselves

Loonie: $1 coin. We have no $1 bills anymore.

Toonie: $2 coin. We have no $2 bills anymore.

Ceasar: A tasty Canadian cocktail made of vodka, and Clamato juice with spices. Apparently it is an acquired taste (and Momma loves it ). See this post for more details.

Tuque: a knitted winter hat worn in winter to keep your head warm during the icy Canadian winters

Eh? a term Canadians tack on to the end of a statement or question as in "Nice weather- eh!" or "How's it going eh?"

Check your own grasp of Canadian idioms at www.canadianimmigrant.ca/justforfun/canspeak.

Happy Canada Day !

from
(l to r) Nikki, Buddy, foster dog Pixie and Casper

Coming to you from

the Great White North






http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_and_Doug_McKenzie

Rally- Oh Fun!, The V-E-T, Seeing Ditto and Pixie's Been Bad!

We went to Rally-O and oh what fun it was!

Here is Nikki.

Momma says Nikki needs lots of work especially on heeling.

Here I am with a headless Momma (LOL) doing a very nice heel.

And another.

Momma - you are not supposed to have a tight leash.

You better work on that!

Here is Buddy showing us all how to do it!

And a nice loose leash Momma!

Wow Buddy- that's awesome heeling!

How did you get your ears to do that?

Don't you usually have floppy ears?

Another thing that happened this week was that

we all went to the V-E-T for our

vax-in-a-shuns and stuff.

Nikki has been to the V-E-T an extra time too.

She has to be a conehead again because of another corneal eye ulcer.

This time it is on her right eye.

Nikki will be going to the Doggie

Opth-a-Molly-Just again too.

Once again we don't know if her name will be Molly or not.

Here is Nikki modeling her cone.

We also saw Ditto again this week.

We all love Ditto very much.

She is about to be adopted out soon from her current foster home,

and Momma wanted to be sure that we saw her before she is adopted.

We had a doggie playdate at the off-leash park with Ditto.
She was so happy to see us and Momma too.
Momma was just as thrilled to see her too.

Ditto leaped and ran and was so silly!
I (Casper) was very happy to see Ditto too.
When she was fostered at our house I hardly played with her at all.

In fact I usually ignored her.
But when I see her at the dog park I just love to play chase and wrestle with her!

We are all hoping that her new people will want to do play dates at the off-leash park too!

And then there is our current foster dog Pixie.

Pixie, Pixie, Pixie...
What is Momma going to do with you?

Didn't your previous people tell you that biting Momma is not allowed?

Momma says "Yes they did but Pixie decided not to listen.
She must have been sleeping."

This is how she sleeps.

Well that's it for now.

See ya,

Woofs from Casper

Now I Am Truly A Hunter!

See how happy I am?

That's 'cause I became a REAL HUNTER yesterday.

*Momma says we have to give a warning about some gross pictures in this post.*

So if your people have a squeemish stomach, it's best they close their eyes while all you hunter doggies and kitties read this. For obvious reasons no hammies or their people should read this post either...

So we were at Rally-O practice at an outdoor field with our teacher from Life's Better With Sheltie Hair. and her doggies Gio and Romeo. There were lots and lots and lots of gophers. They are considered a nuisance because they ruin crops and dig holes. You can read more about gophers here.

After practice Momma let us off our leashes (except for Buddy who has his running away issues if you remember this post).

I saw a gopher in the distance and took off and someone yelled:

"Casper, Go get it".

So I did.

I ran way faster than I do in agility (where I pretend i don't know how to run fast) and I caught Mr McGopher!

I started shaking him and running back to Momma with my prize. She yelled "CASPER, YOU DROP IT- RIGHT NOW!" So I did drop it.

:(

Well I was so pleased with myself. I came back to Momma and her friends with a big grin :))) . Everyone was killing themselves laughing. Momma laughed too but also had her hand on her head and was saying "Oh my God- I don't believe it". You see no one thinks I can run fast because I go so slow at agility.

At that point Nikki thought:

"Why abandon a good freshly killed gopher".

So she went running to it, picked it up and shook , shook, shook it. More laughter. More of Momma saying "Oh My God". Momma made her drop it too.

Then Momma got her camera and make me pose with my gopher kill but I was not allowed to touch it again.

Here I am trying to sneak in a quick sniff.



Here is Nikki with Mr. McGopher's blood on her cone.
Yes it's cone time again (more about that later).

And here is Mr. McGopher



After this Romeo followed me everywhere. I was his hero. He was so proud of me.

Here is where his Mom wrote all about it too.

And here is my new gopher song:

There was a go-fur here,
And a go-fur there,
Many, many go-furs everywhere...

Ole McGopher's in trouble now,
Casper's on his way ;)

Woof , woof!

Those who are not squeemish should see the post below this for an even grosser close up of Mr. McGopher. Be prepared!

A Closeup Picture of My First Catch and Kill... Warning It's gross!

Busy Taking Care of Momma!

Momma got sick and had to go to the hose-pee-tall for an aww-purr-a-shun. She is now back home and we are taking very good care of her. She is getting better every day, but we are not allowed to jump up on her. Bummer!

Questions we have:

1. Is a hose-pee-tall a tall hose that we can pee on? We hope so- we love to pee on everything outside!

2. Is an aww-purr-a-shun when we ignore a purring cat? We could ignore cats but we prefer to chase them. LOL

While Momma was at the hose-pee-tall she told Grandpa and Gramma to take us to the kennel. We like going to Joanne's kennel. Joanne has hundreds of thousands of MILLIONS of new toys for us to play with. Also there are lots of Boxers that live there and a JRT. And lots of other doggies that are boarding there too. It's a fun place! A vay-cat-shun without the cats (ok- there is 1 cat but she generally stays away from all the doggies).


You see as Momma says Gramma and Grampa are "not dog people". They think we shed too much, bark too much and they frequently complain about us. Can you believe that? Us?

Oh and it's not just us, they would say that about all of you doggies, kitties and hammies too. Actually we think that makes them "not animal people". Weird thing is Gramma grew up on a farm with lots of animals. However that's where she thinks all animals should stay...

Funny thing though, Gramma and Grampa INSISTED on keeping us at our home and they came over frequently to feed us and let us out. They even cleaned up after Nikki twice (with no complaints) because she had 2 accidents after being left in the crate too long. Oops.

We are thinking that maybe they like us more than they are saying... So we "helped" Grampa by guarding him from other dogs and people while he worked on outside home repairs.

We are going to be missing 2 agility trials and likely 2 weeks or more of agility classes while we help Momma recover. Bummer! But "First Things First". Taking care of Momma is our first priority!

Gotta go! Our work as therapy dogs with Momma awaits ;)

Woofs, Casper, Buddy, Nikki and foster dog Pixie