Something to Bark About

You may have recently seen an email circulating that warns of toxic mulch found at certain retailers (Target, Meijer, Home Depot, etc).  The toxic mulch supposedly contains ingredients found from chocolate (which is toxic to us canines) and has caused a few faithful companions to suddenly become ill and pass away within a few hours of digesting the mulch.  While we have not been in contact with this mulch first paw (not first hand people, we're DOGS), we do not discount the statements about the mulch causing other canines to become sick.

If you're not really sure what mulch is or is made of, mulch is shredded pieces of wood/tree bark that is processed through a shredder and then treated with certain chemicals/ingredients/dyes to make it more desirable to consumers based on their personal preferences (type/color, etc).  What we are here to tell you is that no matter the type/brand/size/color/smell of mulch, it is not good for our tummies AT ALL!!

Some of the mulch you may buy is treated with 'fertilizer' which could come from animal waste (and we have heard human waste has been used as well...seriously).  Some of the mulch you may buy is treated with dyes (to make it red/dark brown/black/brown).  Some of the mulch you buy is treated with fertilizer to help the plants/trees/shrubs/flowers grow faster/stronger/healthier.

What does this all mean to you dog owners/dog fans?  This all means that you should not allow your dog to chew on and/or consume mulch.  "Fido, fetch the stick" is so 1950's because in present times, vets and dog professionals will tell you that wood/bark is not at all good for a canine's stomach/mouth/throat/digestive tract.  Would you chew on a tree branch and swallow a bunch of pieces?  No, because it would make you sick!  Same with us canines.

Buy us a chew toy or two (we have one that we highly recommend, so ask our owners about it) instead of allowing us to chew on wood/bark/mulch.  At the end of the day, we really don't know what we're chewing on, so you cannot trust us to steer clear of mulch....this means you have to take control of the situation and watch out for us yourselves (are you listening dog owner???)

While it may be an inconvenience to watch us around mulch/bark/wood, we are certain that it will be much more of an inconvenience to take us to the vet if we become sick and/or even worse, have a fatal occurance due to digestion of mulch/wood/bark.  You love us enough to make sure we that we're not the next subject of the mass email going around warning about toxic mulch digestion, don't you?  If you even hesitated with answering that question, you should not have and if you did, go back and provide the correct answer.

Enough 'barking' at you for now....go out and enjoy the fine weather today (we already have during our sunrise run!!)

Burrito Eating Contest RESULTS!!!

A few weeks ago (well, like we've said before, dogs can't keep track of time, so we really don't know how long ago it was) we posted information regarding the upcoming burrito eating contest pitting Rocky "The Fat Man" against Desi "The Pig" in a no holds barred food consumption marathon. After making our initial post, our owners decided that maybe Chipotle burritos were not the best thing in the world for us to be eating due to the amount of spices/seasonings that some of the ingredients include. Did these mean the competition was cancelled? Of course not! Our owners are pretty smart people (they picked us out, didn't they?!?!), so they brainstormed for alternatives that would better suit our tummies.

After considering a few options, our owners decided on a homemade burrito-type meal to use for our contest. The homemade meal consisted of rice, mixed veggies (carrots/peas/beans), grilled steak, and a small amount of our regular chow (we run with one of our owners, so we need those vitamins). After making up the ingredients, our owners filled the bowls and then weighed each bowl to compare. Rocky's dish weighed in at 2.2 pounds of food and Desi's dish weighed in at 2.0 pounds of food. That would be around 8-9 McDonald's quarter pounder patties in each bowl!

Once we were in our crates, our owners each had a stopwatch and they simultaneously put the bowls in our crates and started the timers. The race was on!

Not to anyone's surprise, Rocky took a quick lead as he started scarfing down the steak pieces (Rocky is obsessed with any type of steak/chicken/pork) as Desi slowly munched away. After a couple of minutes, Rocky seemed to be shooting himself in the paw as he basically buzz sawed his way through his bowl, shooting bits of rice/meat/veggies all over his crate, which would make the clean up process take some time. Desi, in the other crate, was deliberately and consistently eliminating the contents of her bowl with a much cleaner and conservative approach.

At the 5 minute mark, the contest was anyone's to lose. In the next minute, Rocky started to clean up around his bowl and the majority of the food inside of the dish was gone. Meanwhile, Desi chomped away (laying down of course, like she does every time she eats). Rocky seemed to be losing valuable time as he messed around with cleaning up the food that he had thrown all over his crate.

At the 7 minute mark, we had a winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In an official time of 7 minutes and 1 second, Desi "D-Wiggy" had defeated Rocky "Rock Star" in a major upset of competitive eating. Not since Desi's early days (ages 4-9 months, when she was nicknamed "Pig") had Desi beaten Rocky in finishing a bowl of food. As Desi licked her chops, Rocky finished his bowl (enough to the satisfaction of the judges) in a time of 7 minutes and 50 seconds. Desi's owners were shocked that she beat The Fat Man, but nonetheless, they were proud of their little girl.

Desi then celebrated with her grand prize (a "Beggin' Strip") while Rocky wasted no time in accepting his consolation prize (also a "Beggin' Strip"). No one told Desi that Rocky and her both received the same prize even though she just smoked him in the competitive eating competition, but with a full belly of steak and a mouthful of Beggin Strip, I really don't think Desi minded that much.

Rocky handled his defeat as his owners expected, which meant he just walked into the bedroom, climbed up onto the bed, and took a nap as he laid in the sunlight coming from the back window.

These dogs really do lead a tough life....

Piggy Back Ride

As you may know, us canines in the Toes N Tails gang love treats.  No matter the time nor the place, we are very, very, very interested in earning treats for various tasks or exercises performed.  Yesterday, one of our owners spent a few minutes working with us and during that time, we were rewarded with treats.

During the end of our training session, we have an embarrassing story to tell you.  As one of our owners decided to give us one more treat, he asked us to 'speak' for us, which we did.  However, as our owner tossed us our treat (a piece of ham), Rocky fumbled the exchange as the treat hit his nose instead of his mouth and bounced over Rocky's head.  Where did the treat land?  On Rocky's back (hence, the 'piggy back ride' title of the post).

For the next 5-6 minutes, Rocky searched all over the kitchen for his treat.  Rocky searched the floor near the refrigerator, the washing machine, the stove, the cabinets....and the whole time, the piece of ham was sitting on Rocky's back.  Rocky then went into his cage to eat his dinner while the piece of ham was still sitting on Rocky's back.  After eating his whole bowl of food, Rocky left his cage and FINALLY the treat fell off of his back and Rocky was able to woof down his piece of ham for a trick he performed nearly 15 minutes ago!

While we may be incredibly good-looking, smart, loyal, and physically fit canines....we are also not perfect.  Controlling our noses during treat reception is something we definitely need to work on.

Party All Night, Sleep All Day

Now that Winter is over and Spring is here, our owners have done us a HUGE favor by opening some of the windows in our house.  Why is this such a big deal to us?  Because we're suspicious canines and with open windows, we can see all the evil, smell all the evil, and hear all the evil that goes on around us.  When you're classified as personal protection and/or guard dogs as we are (well, at least Rocky and Desi are classified as those types of breeds), then you're going to do all that you can to ensure the safety of your home and the people inside your home.

Since we have open windows both during the day and at night, we take full advantage of the opportunity to sound off at all hours of the day and night.  What does this mean to our owners?  It means that we get to party all night because we spend half the night staring out the window or whining at the sound/smell of something or just moving from room to room trying to get a better view of what we're in search of.  For our owners, this is horrible news because they have to actually get up and go to work every day.  Every second that they are awakened by us sounding the alarm is a second that they lose in sleep.

As for us losing sleep?  Not a chance.  For every extra second that we spend guarding the house at night, we make up by sleeping through the day.  Now that we mention it, right about now sounds like a good time to curl up on the couch and catch a few Z's.

That Darn Cat

A few days ago (actually, we have no idea how long ago it was as us canines have no concept of time) we mentioned that our arch-rival, the squirrel, was back in town.  We have already made our feelings known about this horrible creature, so we'll address another concern that has crossed our path.

The other concern?  A cat that has decided to take up residence in our neighbor's back yard.  Now, since we're just dogs, we don't have any sort of animal medical training, but something is wrong with this cat.  The cat makes some sort of noise at all hours and this noise is driving us CRAZY.  One of our owners told our other owner that they think the cat is in heat, but we can't take that as fact as our owners have zero veterinarian training either.

Whatever the issue is with this darn cat, we do not care.  All we are concerned about is letting this cat be fully aware of the fact that we do not appreciate it shacking up in our general smelling area.  Does this cat not understand that not only our yard, but the whole area surrounding our house (as well as our neighbor's houses) is OUR area?  Who does this cat think he is to be able to just move into the surrounding area that we have designated as our personal protection area and just set up a make shift living arrangement?

It's bad enough that we have a squirrel outside of our house to concern ourselves with these days.  Now, in additional to that ugly squirrel with the bushy tail, we also have to deal with 'MEOW, MEOW, MEOW' all day and all night.  You would think our lives are easy since we appear so fabulous and relaxed in our profile pic, but let me tell you, that is not the case.  Being a canine (and especially being part of the Toes N Tails gang) is no easy task.  Besides dealing with the daily interruptions of the mailman/neighbors/FedEx guy, we also spend plenty of time setting off alarms/warnings to these other creatures who have invaded our personal space. 

When you factor in other dogs/birds/squirrels and now a cat, it's apparent that we're much more valuable around here than we're given credit for.  I wonder if there is some sort of union for working dogs?  Maybe we should strike?  We'll look into this and get back to you. 

In the meantime, if you have a dog, give them an extra pet and let them know how much you appreciate them for all of their hard work, dedication, love, and loyalty.  As a dog owner, you probably aren't aware of just how lucky you are.

Almost Famous

If you haven't heard through the grapevine, we were invited to audition for a Purina commerical last week.  However, even though we were all invited, only Rocky made the final cut and was allowed to audition.  Since Rocky claims to be the best looking dog in the pack, it only makes sense that he was the one who made his way to the production studio.  Some of you may be wondering why Desi didn't get the call, but Desi's track record around other dogs isn't exactly spotless, so once her owners found out that other dogs may be present in the waiting room, they decided against taking Desi into the studio.
From the moment Rocky strutted into the studio, he had the crew in the pad of his paw (instead of the palm of his hand....since Rocky doesn't have any hands).  Of course, instead of introducing himself to the strangers, Rocky took the opportunity to check out the studio for foreign smells, open doors, and unattended treats.  Once Rocky made his rounds, he was ready for lights, camera, and action.

Since we only had about 10 minutes to audition, Rocky decided to pull out most of his tricks.  In a matter of seconds, Rocky had everyone laughing as he spoke a few times, gave his owner a couple of high-fives, and retrieved a ball.  Not completely satisfied, Rocky then took off for the camera and gave the cameraman a 2-3 second close-up shot (basically, Rocky was sniffing the camera lens).

For all of his hard work, Rocky left the audition with a couple of bags of treats and two vouchers for free bags of dog food.  All in all, it was a great day for the Toes N Tails gang!

He's Back

The last few months around our house have been peaceful. Since we're classified as personal protection and/or guard dogs, we take great pride in making sure that both our home and our property are not intruded upon by uninvited guests. During the winter season, there are limited opportunities for us to show off our protection skills. Yeah, the mailman comes each day (who even brought dogs treats in an attempt to make peace with us (it didn't work)) and every now and then someone else randomly appears (meter reader guy, FedEx guy, Santa Claus). However, for the most part, there isn't much going on around our place while it's cold out.

Now that Spring is here and the trees/flowers are in bloom, all that has changed. If you're still wondering what us brilliant canines are referring to, it should be no surprise that we are solely focused on our arch-enemy....the squirrel. It's bad enough that the squirrel has the nerve to prance around neighboring roofs, trees, and even power lines, but to frolic around in OUR yard is non-excusable. Who does this squirrel think he is? Does he not smell our scent around the trees and bushes? Does he not understand that the green space around our house belongs to only us?

Our only explanation for this blatant disrespect is that the squirrel is deaf. How could he not have hearing issues? Does he not hear us going berserk when he stands in our yard eating things off the ground as we stand in the window sill just a few feet away sounding our alarm? Everyone else in the surrounding houses (and probably 2-3 towns away) can hear us voicing our displeasure. We think at times, the ground shakes during our fits of rage as we can only watch from inside as the squirrel does what he pleases outside. Does the squirrel see us and know that we cannot get through the door to chase after him, so he is allowed to come and go as he pleases?

Squirrel, you have been warned. It may take a little longer than we would like, but you will face the consequences from invading our personal space. We do not know the specific time that you will face our wrath, but when it happens, it will be long overdue.

Automatic Nail Trimmer!

I can assure you that we're not alone on this topic.  It's something that we do not enjoy in the least bit.  It's something that our owners tell us that no dog enjoys, but has to be addressed.  The dirty job we're speaking of?  The trimming of our nails.

If you're having issues with trimming your dog's nails, we may have a solution for you.  Stumped?  Well, the answer to your problem may simply be walking your dog.  During the warm weather, we walk much more than we do when it's cold outside and our nails get just as much of a workout as the rest of our bodies.  The end results of our walks are that we're both exercised AND our nails get worn down.  Don't believe us?  Try a few weeks of daily walks (more than just around the block) and check out the results.  From the months of April-October, we have not had our nails trimmed since our owners adopted us due to our daily walks during warm weather.  A dog's nails will wear down on both asphalt and concrete surfaces (please be sure that the surface you're walking on is not too hot for your canine's paws as mid-Summer weather can cause surfaces to become dangerous to the pads of a dog's feet).  Walking your dog on grass may not be as beneficial to wearing it's nails down, but walking on grass is better than not walking at all.  If you dog pulls (which is another post in itself), the nails should file down much quicker/easier than just relaxed walks.  However, even with the more preferred relaxed walking, your dog's nails will wear down (just as car tires wear down even if you're a careful driver who drives normal roads/expressways).

We promise that not having to deal with trimming your dog's nails (or even worse, paying someone to trim their nails) is a desired lifestyle that you and your dog both would like to take advantage of.  And to think that all it takes is a few minutes a day of walking (something your dog will LOVE you for) is just icing on top of the homemade dog cookie!

Fourth Meal

Some of you humans probably don't give us dogs that much credit, but you probably should.  While we're laying at your feet (or in some cases, on your laps) as you're watching TV, we are taking very meticulous notes on what we see during shows and commercials so that we can keep up with the latest trends (mostly, what new dog treats are being introduced onto the market and/or what dog treats are being advertised on the TV).

One of our favorite commericals is the Taco Bell "fourth meal" commerical, because like the people in the commercials, we love to eat as much as possible and any reason to fit an extra meal into the day is a superb idea if you ask us.  Being a slick character when it comes to obtaining treats/food, Rocky decided to put the 'fourth meal' idea into play one night last week.

After Rocky's owner fed him (Blue Buffalo with a dab of yogurt on top), Rocky went into the living room to sleep off his meal while his owner cut the grass outside.  About 30 minutes later, Rocky's other owner came home and walked into the kitchen.  Immediately, Rocky went to his cage and sat.  Rocky's owner, clueless that he had just scarfed down a bowl of food, saw his empty bowl and decided to go ahead and feed Rocky since his other owner was outside.  Without saying a word (or barking), Rocky proceeded to eat the additional meal like he hadn't been fed in a month.  Keep in mind, Rocky had already eaten breakfast, a small lunch (a bowl of rice), and dinner just a few minutes prior to his second owner's arrival.

Rocky's other owner walked into the kitchen as Rocky was cleaning out his bowl.  Owner #1 communicated to owner #2 that Rocky had just been fed.  They quickly threw a game plan together that consisted of going to Rocky's cage, taking his bowl, and keeping it until the morning.  Rocky had other ideas though and as his owners came for his dish, he was putting the finishing touches on his fourth meal of the day, leaving nothing but an empty, shiny stainless steel bowl for his owner to pick up.  Rocky had his own gameplan that he executed perfectly to receive a 'fourth meal', which capped off his night.

Rocky 1, his owners, 0

Final Four

Well, it definitely looks like our talent of picking football games does not carry over to basketball picks.  To recap our picks, the Toes n Tails gang confidently jumped on the bandwagon of Kansas and picked the Jayhawks to win the NCAA tournament.  Sadly (for Kansas fans), the Jayhawks were eliminated early by Northern Iowa and knocked the Toes n Tails game out of the race early.

However, the NCAA tourney did shed some light on the Butler Bulldogs, which quickly became the fav team of our dog pack.  Even better, as the team's starters are introduced before the game, each starter rubs the head of the bulldog for good luck.  We are definitely Butler fans from here on out!

During the game, the dog pack was hoping for a 'Hoosiers' type of ending, where the heavy underdog (Butler, in this case) pulls out the win at the buzzer.  The game was heavily contested from the opening tipoff and as the final seconds ticked down, the storybook ending appears to be unfolding before our eyes in black and white (we're color blind, so we can't see specific colors of course).  After a missed free throw by Duke, the Butler player dribbled down the court and threw up a prayer at the buzzer....which hit the glass, the rim, and then bounced to the floor.  Game over and the bulldog goes home without the title.

For a second, we we're pretty down about the Butler loss.  Then our owner asked us if we wanted to go out and we totally forgot about the game (although, we did not forget to make a beeline to the treat jar after we came back in from our potty break....priorities people, priorities).