Non-Cairn Pals

My wife takes Fergus out to our nearby park (Stern Grove, San Francisco, CA) around dawn everyday. Fergus plays fetch in the empty tennis court and gets to do his morning constitution. The tennis court is fully enclosed by a 20 foot high cyclone fence and latched "doors". This AM, 2 coyotes engaged Fergus in a fence chasing session, all 3 running back and forth along the cyclone fence. Fergus doing his best to chase them off by charging the fence, doing the Cairn Shriek and generally making a racket. Diana got Fergus on his lead and made herself "Big" as they suggest, but the coyotes weren't impressed. They eventually sauntered off to find easier prey. This was…

If you recognize me from the random times I pop-in here, and leave an epistle . . . you may recall that my Toto is my second Cairn, and my heart, and that my husband's heart goes to his Weimaraners, and have since he was a little boy. He's never not had a dog, and if there was more than one, you could count on one of them being his Weemie. He can rattle off their names, in sequence, and tell you what was special about each one. When we lost Rupert (to cancer) after the first of this year, we had decided he would be the last Weimaraner. Strange how things go. The end of the week, we'll be bringing home a 5-month-old Weimaraner puppy, that as fate would ha…

https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2022/11/30/dogs-spend-their-golden-years-at-this-pet-retirement-home.aspx?ui=71f16187e5c7ee09130d94919091ad633889e7a9a348db56b9f3ec7dee216d8c&sd=20181110&cid_source=petsnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art2ReadMore&cid=20221130Z1&cid=DM1290251&bid=1657320256

My goodness. Don't know what I'd do if I lived here with a cairn terrier! https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47216387

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Cheers

Apparently any pet is eligible. Now I *really* feel like a slacker for not training my dogs better.

I had to share this video of two lovely Keeshonden doing brace obedience for the first time. Their owner decided to enter them in brace class more or less as a lark, and oh my were they fantastic. The judge said it was the best brace she personally had ever judged.

How can anything so small survive our -40...every winter it never stop amazing me! Little stick legs with no fur or feathers on them! We leave lots of various seeds out including suet and we have a constant bird buffet happening. Downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and many more feathery friends....even the rotten old magpies which of course Sam does his best to chase off, get in on the action.

Sore Loser?

I am exhausted...Rosie absolutely detests having me groom her....that includes everything from trimming to clipping. She has never been good at being clipped , she won’t tolerate stripping for one second, however since she had a procedure at the cardiologist which required having her side and chest shaved, it’s almost impossible. Amazing how a 20 pound dog can be so strong..and Rosie who is very sweet turns into a Tasmanian devil. So after the first few days of her coat looking like it’s been attacked by angry rats, it grows out a bit and is passable ....either me or her should have a shot of good Scottish 🥃 and as she isn’t allowed I will have to have her shot.😘 …

We adopted Billy (aka Billy Jack), a 7-year-old *mostly* JRT from the Humane Society last weekend. Here he is, standing where no dog has stood before, on our porch windowsill. He's a handful but Nattie is really warming up to him. Yesterday he "defended" her from a bigger dog at the dog park (a large female dog in the big dog section on the other side of a fence). She now thinks Billy is her hero. Interesting times ahead!

My wife and I have a Yorkie (Grizzly) that will be 16 in September. He's had bladder stones and has been on UD dog food for years. For about the last year or so his nose has been really dry. We changed him over to the Royal Canine UD and his nose seemed to improve but now it's dry again. I've tried several things, snout soother, Vaseline, Neosporin, but can't seem to get anything that works. Does anyone else have any experience with this? It doesn't seem to effect him but at the very least it would seem to be uncomfortable.

We had to say goodbye to Ziggy today. Poor little guy was wasting away, had terrible arthritis and had obviously given up the fight. He had one last walk with Nattie this morning and got to mark all his favorite spots. Then we went to the vet and he passed peacefully. Ziggy came into our lives as a rescue with a twisted leg who had been rejected by two homes. We adopted him as a companion for Buffy, our previous Cairn. It was a rocky relationship at first but they grew to depend on each other. When Buffy passed we got Nattie. Buffy had been an alpha who ruled with an iron paw; Nattie is much sweeter and more timid, and she allowed Ziggy to be the alpha for the…

Well not exactly my heart but my Scotty Rosie’s heart. A simple dental pre check turned into a scary diagnosis. ECG and ultra sound turned up arrhythmia....a heart that doesn’t beat on time like it should. No outward signs at all but there it is. More tests to see what we are up against. All I can say is yeah for pet insurance.! So unexpected but I will do what is best for my sweet girl.

At last ...sunshine, warm mornings (meaning above freezing here in Alberta this time of year ). Rosie enjoying her bone.

Our Shih Tzu/Silky mix, Ziggy, has been living with Cushing's for several years. We've been following a holistic approach, giving him supplements recommended by our vet. He's also 12 years old and has arthritis, so we have pain meds that he takes as needed. We give him both the supplements and meds with his food and/or with treats. In the past few weeks his appetite seems to have disappeared. Previously, he was obsessed by food and never passed up a meal or treat. Now he sometimes doesn't eat his breakfast until lunch time (when DH tosses a little something extra into his bowl), and even then he often doesn't finish it. He has become suspicious of treats and sniffs…

Us here... relentless cold weather .🥶

Bird seed attracts rodents, so to make a long story short, I no longer feed the birds. However, I do try to provide a water source. https://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=2060 excerpts below Though food is scarce in winter, dehydration can be a bigger threat to birds than starvation. Fewer non-frozen sources of water exist. Though birds can eat snow, it takes much more precious energy for a bird to eat snow and warm it to body temperature than it does for them to drink unfrozen water Water is not only important for hydration, but it also helps birds preen their feathers. Without proper preening, birds' feathers won't stay positi…

My neighbour has two adorable Bichons . One Just diagnosed at nine years of age with cancer ...no hope of recovery. This should not be happening..why are we losing all these wonderful pets to this horrible disease years to early in their lives. Something is very wrong...is it the water, the food over vaccination ? We all try to do the best we can for our pets but obviously it isn’t working. It must be horrific for the veterinarians having to euthanize this steady stream of suffering animals. No wonder suicides among veterinarians is rising drastically. Feeling sad, angry and frustrated that this is all to common a disease inflicting our animals. Just needed to make a…

Betsy has a sister! Abby has been with us for about three weeks now and is settling in very well. The shelter had named her Vera but she’s learned her new name quickly. She’s about 8 years old but has the energy of a 2 year old. We now go to the dog park as a family for an hour a day. She’d chase a squeaky ball until she drops dead if we let her. Only issues have been with crate training (she’s taking a while getting comfortable with being left alone) and some leash reactivity but she learns quickly and has responded well to behavioral training. So far the girls have been coexisting well after a little bit of boundary setting. Betsy is now a little bit more pla…

Via the AKC a brief article about a book about senior dogs.

Ruffy and I arrived at the local dog park Halloween Parade just in time to witness a hilarious skirmish between Golden Retriever pup; Charlie, dressed as a groom, and mixed breed, Debbie, dressed as a bride. Debbie's bridal veil was completely in tatters, most of it shredded, the remainder in Charlie's mouth! It was a hilarious sight, definitely picture-worthy and I could kick myself for not having my camera ready. Happy Halloween everybody!🎃

I'm sure I have mentioned Bob the mailman (or BTMM) as we refer to him. He has been delivering our mail for 15 years and is a huge dog lover. He brings the dogs treats every day and has always been the highlight of Buffy's and Ziggy's day. They have learned to identify the sound of his truck and the telltale 'clink' of mailboxes as Bob makes his way down our street. By the time he gets here Buffy is usually squealing with delight (Ziggy is just waiting for the treat). It has become a daily ritual but has now come to an end. Sadly, BTMM has retired after 22 years. We had a neighborhood retirement party for him yesterday. During his 22 years with the USPS, Bob took …