Back to normal

Hi folks - I'm back. Actually, it was only a few days where I felt out of sorts, and aside from an itchy tummy, I feel good again. I think I lost a little weight since I wasn't eating too much for a couple of days, but I've been eating well lately. Christine bought me some more canned salmon (my favourite) and I get a little bit with my dinner sometimes.

So today we took a ride out to Langley again - it was a beautiful day! But for some reason, Richie wasn't feeling well, as we had a party at our house last night. We had to stop and get some pills for him at the drugstore. I think he felt like I did a week ago - except I think he knows what caused him to feel that way - I still have no idea what happened. Anyhow, he closed his eyes for a long time... we both slept for a while in the car. We finally arrived at Christine's parents house - we went there to get this thing:

This is a "PONG table" - something about as old as Christine, but Richie was playing with this kind of thing as a kid. They spent a lot of time trying to get it through the doorway into the basement kitchen - it looks really heavy. Anyhow, you plug it into the wall, and they sit beside it and stare into the middle of the table. It looks boring, but they seem to get very excited by it. It makes some weird beeping noises, and I like to bark when they are playing with it. Silly humans.

Mischa

Why am I being punished?

Last night was a tough one for both me and Richie. So apparently I had an ovio-hysterectomy; I don't know what that means, but I do know that I was in a lot of discomfort. Richie stayed with me in the basement, and when I wasn't sleeping, he would try to comfort me. I tried to lick away the irritating feeling in my tummy, but Richie would keep stopping me.

In the morning, Christine went off and came back with this thing - believe me, I am not the life of the party with this lampshade on. I'm unable to take it off, and I also can't get to my backside anymore. What have I done to deserve this?

Mischa

What the heck is going on?

Today, Richie took me over to the vet again... I normally like going there - I get treats from the nice people there, and there's usually some other doggies there to sniff etc. But today was different - Richie didn't stay with me this time, and left me there. I had a long nap, and when I woke up, I felt really funny. Apparently, it was something called "morphine" that was making me feel that way. Somebody had shaved the fur off my tummy, and it feels strange down there.

Anyhow, Richie finally showed up, but I was feeling too groggy to give him my normal welcome reception. All I wanted to do was lie down... it took us about 10 minutes to walk the 30 metres or so back to the house. The second I got in the house, I laid down on the floor. When Christine got home, I cried and we went into the living area. All I could do was lie there and whimper or sleep.

I hope this ends soon,

Mischa

What, me worry?

Mercedes here again. Thought I'd keep you up to speed on the happenings around here. Lewis, the golden retriever, showed up here again yesterday. We were going to go to the dog park - all three of us, but when Christine got home, Richie let me off the leash, and I ran all around the neighbourhood. Christine didn't like it, but it was great fun for me. When she finally caught me, she seemed upset, so we didn't get to go to the dog park. We did eventually go over to Douglas Park later, and we got to run around and chase other dogs. We met a HUGE 5-yr old berner named Moshe - he is 135 lbs!

Anyhow, life has been pretty good here. There has been no lack of dogs to play with, and there's all sorts of stuff that I've been able to get into. Take today, for example. While Richie was upstairs working this morning, I decided to poke around in the laundry/mud room. See, Richie thought he had out-smarted me, and put "child-proof" safety catches on all the cupboards so that I can't get into them. But I managed to push open the bi-fold doors to the furnace area, and found a bag full of plastic grocery bags. Then Mischa took over and started shredding them into tiny pieces! What fun!

But when Richie came downstairs to check in on us, he didn't look too happy. He put us all outside, and put the block on the dog door. We heard the vacuum cleaner, and what I think was swearing. Anyhow, after a little while, the door opened up, and all of the plastic bags were gone! Richie led me over to the furnace room door, and pushed my nose against it - is smelled and tasted of bitter green apples - yuck! He also went into the furnace room and jury rigged some sort of thing so I can't push open the doors anymore. Poo.

When Christine got home, we all went to Charleston Park to play with the other dogs. I was only allowed off-leash for a little while, as I wanted to run after all the people jogging on the sea wall. Mischa however, went straight over the wall and had a quick swim in False Creek. Then she went for another swim in the duck pond... that didn't make Christine and Richie very happy. That Mischa - always getting into trouble. She paid for it in the end, as she got a bath when we got home!

Mercedes

That crazy Mercedes

Hey folks, Mischa here. Well for the last few days, this new berner "Mercedes" has been staying with us and it has been really fun having another one of my kind around. It turns out we are actually related - we both have the same great-grandfather, Max. That makes us kinda second-cousins. Anyhow, she's a little bit smaller than me, even though I'm not fully grown!

I don't want to be a snitch, but that Mercedes is quite the troublemaker. I mean, I know I dig holes and shred plastic bags, but Mercedes - she'll jump right over the gate to the mud room and go looking for trouble. Then, she'll jump right back over the gate and come outside with me! She also tried digging her way over to bunny's yard, but didn't get very far. She's also been jumping up on Christine and Richie, which they don't like at all. Richie used the squirt gun on her, but I don't think she gets it yet. She'll learn eventually - we all do.

Later,

Mischa

Rainy Sunday

Hi - Mercedes here again. Last night, I got put in the "mud room" when it was bed-time; there's a cool door where us dogs can get in and out easily. Mischa and I were raising hell all night, as every time I heard something strange, I would bark at it. Then Mischa, not one to bark, would start barking too! It got the point that around 3:00 am, Christine came down and put the security block over our doggie door. But I was too smart for her, and managed to push it up so that we could get outside and start barking again!

Today it has been raining pretty much all day. So aside from a walk with Christine in the morning, we've been hanging out inside, watching TV and having naps. Christine decided to bake cookies, and so Mischa and I parked out under the counter hoping something yummy would fall within our reach!

More coming later,

Mercedes

Special guest blogger

Hi, my name is Mercedes, and I am about 2 years old. Yesterday, I got picked up by Richie and Christine. I also met Mischa, their 9-month old berner! Another doggie was also in the back of the Rover - a retriever named Lewis.

"What are you doing Lewis?"

After the long drive back to their place, we all went into the backyard to play! A fourth doggie, another retriever named Idaho, came over and we had a big welcome party. We ran around in the backyard all afternoon, playing ball, sniffing and wrestling. That Mischa is a handful - she's the biggest of us all, and she never backs down with anyone. Lewis gets fixated on the damned ball, and doesn't really play - but I guess he is 11 years old, after all. Richie stayed outside with us all the while, and kept warm by the firepit. I'm trying to get Richie and Christine to adopt me, so I didn't play too much, and would stay close to his side. It's hard for him to get away when I'm sitting on his feet!

After a hard day of playing, we were noticeably pooped out. I already like this place - I get to come inside whenever I want - Mischa likes to sit out on the deck by herself sometimes, whereas I'd rather be inside with these new humans.

Mercedes