Pool etiquette

It is rude to pee in the pool, even if you are discreet, right? Most dogs in Fort Lauderdale know how to swim. Even if they have to do it with a life vest on to add some flotation assistance! Madison is a great swimmer, even though she doesn't have webbed feet like lots of her friends. Fort Lauderdale has 23 miles of coastline and over 300 miles of navigable waterways. That's the intracoastal, New River and all the canals. Lots of that water is full of dog-danger, too: sharks and 'gators to start with. If you let your dog swim here, you have to make sure the water is safe first!

Just a sip

A Giant Schnauzer does not just "take a drink," she drinks the whole bowl. For the well-bearded, a towel must always accompany a bowl of water. This is what goes on for a long time: A least a cup drips off her beard. Then she heads to bed.

A Giant Schnauzer on Weekends and Water

It's another February in Fort Lauderdale, we need rain even though water is all around. Some cities in South Florida have a rain deficit of almost 8 inches. And this is not supposed to look like the desert. Water, water, everywhere ...

Sunday night Man-Dad thought it was going to rain, so they stayed in for the Super Bowl. Looks like it's a dry weekend, though, which is good because a Super Bowl party in Florida means everyone outside, around the grill.

QRCode ... and that's not a dog name!

Hey dog bloggers ... you know that H-Mom is now a busy, busy lady. When Madison was little, they hung out together all the time. Madison was lucky enough to be a "gallery dog" and loved hanging out on Las Olas. H-Mom had lots of time for blogging and walking and taking photos of doggie-stuff to share with doggie friends. Well today, Man-Dad took Madison all the way out to H-Mom's office for a visit. Madison got to go inside and say hello to everyone. Then she waited in H-Mom's car and got to ride home with her. How cool is that? H-Mom works on all kinds of web stuff now, just just dog-blogging. This is one of the projects that she contributes to ... she even made the QR code tonight and wants all kinds of people to check it out and leave comments and lots of dog bones (stars?) and say wooohoooo!

PS: dogs! have your people find the "pets" section and get some early Christmas shopping done!

Halloween Worm Parade

Last night we had torrential rains in Fort Lauderdale. Seriously, we had flash flood alerts starting at 10pm and had to go out with the golf umbrella at 11:30 for the last walk of the night. It was pouring.

We were lucky this morning that the rain let up - we did our usual early morning dog park outing. But things were weird there. It was deserted, even though we were about a half hour late. H-mom was walking around, not paying much attention, and then she had this sensation that the sidewalk was moving.

Thousands of worms, encouraged by the high humidity, were on the sidewalk, moving east on a mission. A Halloween parade, for those who hate worms.

Worms don't actually come up after a rain because they are trying to breathe. They can live underwater for weeks. Super-saturated air makes it possible for worms to live above ground, and they can move without dehydrating. They breathe through their skin, so it must stay moist. Worms will "migrate" to new areas after a heavy rain. Here are some worm facts, if you are interested.

Madison figured it was best just to stay on high ground.

If that wasn't enough worms for you, here are more. It might make you a little dizzy (apologies). Madison was unimpressed. They obviously don't smell like dog treats.

Watching the Breast Cancer Walk

It's a rainy, rainy weekend. Yesterday H-Mom didn't even get out of bed to take Madison to the dog park. Lazy in the extreme. This morning was drizzle only, so we got a good hour. Breakfast was even a bit of bacon grease drizzled over Madison's bowl of kibble to make up for the boring weekend.

This time of year, a dog has to dance between the raindrops!



When we got home, we sat on the patio and watched the brave walkers in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K. It was pouring on them, but they were wearing pink and walking with enthusiasm!




This is the outlook for the rest of the day: GREY. Madison is on the sofa, and she's staying right there.

Want to see what we've been doing?

Working! (That's my man-dad!)

Life is Good -- all the time

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday, Heartdog!

Today Madison is two years old - it's quite a Barkday!

Man-dad made this photo card for Madison, but he couldn't quite bring himself to carry doggie-cupcakes to the dog bark.

BOL. Men, says H-Mom.






This is kind of cool, and it came from Dogster:

Dear Madison,

Woof woof!

We want to wish you a very Happy Birthday full of love and joy and tail wagging. We are thrilled to be able to celebrate it with you!

Madison will be profiled today with other birthday doggies on Dogster's special Birthday Stroll.

Since it's your birthday we want to give you something special, so we have given you 25 Dogster bones and one vote of 5 Paws! Dogster loves you!

Sincerely,
Your Friends at Dogster

25 Dogster bones and a 5-paw vote? Now that sounds important!

Facebook & more

H-Mom is really busy with her job now. She still hangs with Madison a lot, of course, and does the late night walk and all that kind of stuff, but she is on her computer all day a work - writing, editing, surfing - and so she usually doesn't even turn her laptop on.

So, Madison is busy with other stuff too. The dog park with Man-Dad every morning. Chillin' with the teen-H and her friends ...

and then we come to FACEBOOK, and what happens when you give a group of teens some cameras and a very tired dog:




How completely undignified and embarrassing. I mean really. But then again, they could have painted a moustache on Madison's face ...

YES. This photo is all over Facebook. Sigh.

How fast does THIS THING go?

You would be surprised, actually.

Madison found this turtle by the lake at the dog park. The thing is, turtles are not afraid of giant schnauzers. Not even a little bit.

They just turn into giant rocks. And they wait it out.

When the coast is clear, you should see them move. With their stupid looking legs and their stubby little tail wagging like a propeller. And then, PLOP right into the water.


Too bad Man-dad missed getting the photo of Madison jumping into the water right after the turtle. But you see, turtles can sink like a lead weight, and giant schnauzers, luckily, do not.

Life is busy!

H-Mom has been seriously AWOL. From HERE, I mean, not from Madison-time. Man-dad has been taking Madison to the park almost every morning, but when he can't - because he is busy now, too, REALLY REALLY busy, then H-mom gets the car and heads to the dog park at the pre-dawn crack of the new day.

A really really good run, a tug with some buddies and some time lounging in the grass and dirt makes the rest of the day okay, no matter how busy everyone is.

Life is busy, but life is good.

You know how often we don't get to the dog park? We can't remember the last time!

We know about 20 regulars at the dog park. And that is probably being very generous with our estimate. So we are wondering, with all the dogs in Fort Lauderdale, and considering the possible alternatives to the dog park, what is the percentage of lucky lucky dogs in our city. Lucky dog-park dogs, that is.

What's your guess?

Cool slab of concrete

Forget it when it's hot outside, but on a cool morning, the balcony is the perfect place to air out a giant fur coat. These cool Fort Lauderdale days are working for Madison.

Road trip

We went on a road trip - the three of us, Man-dad, H-Mom and Madison. Madison rode in the back of the truck, sniffing all the really different things out the windows.

We made two cool stops: Clyde Butcher's photo gallery and the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters. We were looking, but we didn't see a Skunk Ape. Don't say anything because Man-Dad believes. He really does.

There was no swimming though. Guess why?

Chilly Friday Swim

It's been pretty chilly in South Florida. The iguanas are dropping like flies - literally falling out of the trees, deep in a state of cold-induced suspended animation. Not many left. Manatees are hanging out at Port Everglades, looking for artificially warmed waters. Lots of dead fish washing up and weird weird weird sighting of great white sharks and other fish not usually found in Florida waters.

What a winter we have had.

Not much swimming for Madison either, because even though SHE doesn't mind a little chill in the water, Man-dad and H-Mom opt out of standing around with soaking wet pants legs by the dog lake.

But today ... it was a great day. Even though it was only in the 50's, Man-Dad took Madison to the lake. It was awesome. A little lonely (not many brave dogs like our GERMAN girl), but awesome.

H-Mom is missing Madison

So she figured out a dog-friendly little web to weave on the WEB today!

She just posted an album of all kinds of AWESOME pet catalogs on the Catalogs.com Facebook page. And she put a whole bunch of links with excellent merchandise (lots of health care stuff! Madison needs Comfortis and Heartguard refills!) with the most used pet care related Catalogs.com savings codes.

Go to Facebook and Fan the Catalogs.com page. Click on the "Special Offers" tab and see all the cool work she did today.

Isn't that nice of her? She even found something special for Madison. What could it be?

What could be BETTER than a job where you get to cruise online catalogs and SHOP?

Next step: how to get Madison's gorgeous face on a catalog cover!

(But this little guy is PRECIOUS isn't he?)

H-Mom is already working some angles. Stay tuned!

Scarey teethes

Man-dad sent this photo to H-Mom on her phone. She couldn't figure out what it is.

It's easy though, huh?

It's Madison's choppers. She is sleeping on her back with a smile on her face.

That's because she is dreaming about going to the dog park with Man-dad. And maybe finding something really really good for rolling.

Getting S*&T-faced with Man-Dad

A picture is worth 1000 words. One million words. One billion words.

What HAS Madison been doing with Man-Dad? Hanging with the guys, being wild. Getting down and ... uh ... dirty.

That's our girl, with farm-dog genes through and through. Bred to herd the cattle, guard the livestock and rustle the chickens.

Yep. That's our girl.

Everyone smiles at her and backs away now. Even the other dogs are a little hesitant to rub shoulders with her.

Squirrel Obsessed

What's a walk without stalking a squirrel or two.

Madison is of one opinion and H-mom is of another opinion completely. The squirrels? They have their own point of view, which they don't hesitate to share from a safe distance up the tree.

Prizes? This lonely pooch says YES!

H-mom entered our blog into a cool contest for dog blogs. Even though she is gone all day now, maybe her great writing and my beautiful face can win me some PRIZES to keep me busy while I am being lonesome. That would make me feel better.

So vote for the "Madison" blog right away! Here is the "magic code":

2wR2f

And here is the info that we got which is how H-mom found out about the contest that made Madison think that a whole PILE LOAD of prizes would make her feel just a little bit less lonesome:

VOTE for "withlovemadison" by going to the homepage www.TrainPetDog.com and entering the above voting code in the voting box and clicking on the Submit button.

We need at least 50 votes to qualify for Round 2. Boy that's a lot.

But ... Madison has lots of empathetic dog pals, who know how terrible it is to be lonesome, and who might just think that it is really cool for her to maybe win some prizes. We would even share!

This is my life ...

ahhhhhhhhhhh .... laying at the feet of H-Mom while she sits on her laptop.

Even though she is GONE all day. And we really miss her. And I follow Man-Dad around, like his shadow, making sure that HE is not going anywhere.

H-mom is so so busy

Madison has been hanging with Man-dad all day during the week. He is such a good dad. He gets up early and takes Madison to the dog park. And then he walks around outside with her. And he gets her breakfast and lets her sleep on the Stearns & Foster while he works on his computer.

H-Mom gets home at 6pm. Really, a bit later. It makes Madison all mopey during the day, but really excited when she comes home.

H-Mom is working on a cool consulting gig. In a week or so, she'll know if it is a real JOB job. Like a full-time permanent one with benefits and everything.

And H-Mom is kind of sad about not being home and doing all her creative stuff, and writing all day and hanging with Madison, and even bickering with Man-dad.

Change is good. We just have to keep on telling H-Mom that.

OMDog. It's still raining.

Artic Blast

Fort Lauderdale - all of South Florida - is in the icy grip of an arctic blast. Thank goodness Madison skipped her last appointment at the grooomer and is sporting a thick and curly Schnauzer coat. This weather is glorious for a giant black dog, at least when the sun is shining.

But today? Plummeting temperatures and rain all day. Dismal.

What to do, but lounge. Mope. Make long sad sighs.

While our dog park floods, sitting deserted and very very chilly.

Madison, the Aggressive Menace?

H-Mom is just burned up.

Yesterday, Madison was called an "aggressive" barker by one of the dog park regulars. There is this movement on to remove the dogs that make noise. Yes, DOG noise. It's called "Bark Park" last time we looked, and H-Mom is more than a little miffed.

Madison is a rabble rouser, a wild child, a "come let's play and be crazy this morning" kind of girl. She likes a rumble in the dirt with her buddies the Rotties, with lots of yapping and flashing of teeth, followed by a companionable ramble to the water bowl and some side-by-side sniffing or charitable tandem gnawing of the chew-toy.

But, aggressive? We think not. Madison has never bit, growled or attacked another dog. In fact, she has been aggressed upon, to which her response is a submissive belly to the ground and happy "I give" tail. And then a retreat to H-Mom.

Aggressive, we think not. If she was, you'd know it. Eighty pounds of Giant Schnauzer, with pearly whites and excellent muscle mass would not be a meek opponent.

She's a lover, not a fighter. And a bundle of energy that will happily round up the dog park dogs in the absence of a herd of cattle.

Tolerance and community? There's trouble in the playground.

Check it out: Even Chilled out Miami Dogs Bark

Dogs Bark, even Chilled-out South Florida Dogs

Dogs Bark, even Chilled-out South Florida Dogs

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After School Nap

Sometimes when the teen-human gets home from school, she heads straight to bed. And sometimes, she just hits the deck.

Madison is almost always willing to stretch out and share a couple zzzz's.

There is nothing like a giant, bear-sized paw as a pillow.

Angels on our shoulders

We, on the other hand, had something of a hellacious weekend.

(That is on the other hand from Madison's brother, who was strutting his winning ways ...)

Picture this, another normal and ordinary Saturday morning, 7am, and Madison and H-Mom are on the way to the dog park, driving our well-traveled route along a neighborhood 4-lane street, divided with a grassy median.

Like a bat out of that proverbial h-e-l-l comes a silver car, blowing right through a stop sign from a little residential side street.


And crash. H-Mom's car was on its own, rolled onto the roof, then back over again, and H-Mom just remembers the world getting really really really small, and screaming "Madison" "Madison" "Madison" over and over, until the car stopped moving. That is H-Mom's car, the white one, on its side, right where it came to a crunching halt.

It took a second for H-Mom to realize she was able to move, and she started shouting "get me out of here, kick out the window" to the people who were running over. And she looked in the back of the car, trying to see Madison, and hoping NOT to see Madison, all at the same time. H-Mom was afraid that Madison was under the car, or laying in the street.

It was horrible. You can imagine. One of the bystanders helped H-Mom climb out the back window of the Explorer. She has no idea how she managed to twist herself out of the driver's seat and through the wreck.

She was just saying the whole time, "Where is my dog?" "We have to find Madison ..." and some of the bystanders started to walk around looking for her, and some even got in their cars to drive the neighborhood.

The police got there and couldn't believe that H-Mom (standing up) was the driver of the sideways car. And H-Mom was saying "Find my dog ... put it on the police radio ..."

She was getting frantic. She had to sit in the ambulance and then Man-dad came racing up in his truck. Calls were made to friends from the dog park, and some of our dearest, dearest, dearest friends came to the accident scene and then started cruising the streets, looking for Madison. Then two Fort Lauderdale detectives, in an unmarked car, said that they would keep an eye out for Madison, and drive around a bit. The fire truck said they would drive back through the cemetery down the street and see if Madison was tucked up there.

It was amazing. About 45 minutes later (H-Mom's sense of time is pretty fuzzy here), there was a radio call to the police on the scene that Madison was found.

Man-dad got in his truck to go to the location, not knowing what he would find.

The two detectives found Madison sitting on the train tracks, the BIG train tracks, about a mile away, just barking. They called her, and she came over to them.

When Man-dad got there, she was sitting next to the unmarked police car, just waiting for him.

Madison appears to be fine, five days later. No worse for wear, a little jumpy, but already back to her routine. H-Mom is bruised and scratched, and finding glass in her ears ... and totally exhausted by the trauma of it all. But we are home and alive.

And for that, we have to thank our angels. And our incredible friends. And the neighbors. And the most incredible Fort Lauderdale police and fire departments.

What happened to Madison? We don't know if she got thrown out of the car or if she ran out the busted windows. And how she navigated street traffic, and why she finally stopped running and sat down. It is all rather unbelievable.

And H-mom is so thankful that Madison is okay. But, she laughs, Madison is no "RinTinTin."

What about pulling her out of the wreck by the shirt sleeve and licking your human's face until help comes?

This story is missing a lot of parts, and should be so much longer, but it always, thank goodness, has a decent ending. And a very special place on the sofa. For years and years to come.


Hug your hounds. Kiss the ones you love.

We are so proud! Wow!

Madison's brother is so handsome! He is amazing! We are so excited to hear (from his phenomenally proud parents) that Max has earned his AKC Championship,with a "Best of Winners" and "Best Opposite" at a show in Kansas City this past weekend.

Here is a photo of Madison's beautiful brother, with so many thanks for sharing his exciting news with us. Max lives with his humans Terry and Alma, check out their Web site for plenty more gorgeous dog moments.

New friend on the way

Madison's boy buddy at the dog park is getting a new sister! It is really cool and Madison is pretty excited too. It all happened when some friends came to the dog park with a pretty little aussie who was being fostered. She was already spoken for, but she inspired a "aaaaahhhhhh we might love another dog" comment from H-Mom's friend.

So we got a connection and the word got out. That maybe we had some friends looking for an aussie girl. And then H-Mom got an email about a female aussie, who is now 8 months old, who was returned to her breeder because the family couldn't keep her any more. And, of course, H-Mom's friend fell in LOVE with the aussie, who is named Cricket. And the friend was emailing and phone calling and photo exchanging ... and now ...

(PS we just want to say: that is a very responsible breeder, always willing to take back one of their puppies whose family doesn't work out, and connecting with lots of resources to rehome an older dog!)

Bo is getting a sister! She is coming from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, with a meeting set up in Orlando on December 11.

H-mom thinks that this is REALLY REALLY cool. It's like doggy destiny. You see, Cricket was born on her new Man-dad's father's birthday! And she is meeting her new family on her new Man-dad's brother's birthday! We think that means she was MEANT to be with Bo and Candy and Jack. It's sad that her first home didn't work out, but BOY is she going to have a wonderful new family.

And Madison is really excited to have a playmate to add to the fold. What fun the three of them are going to have.

Cricket is eight months old, but here is a photo of her when she was 7 weeks. Isn't she just the MOST precious thing in the world?

FL Owner Shocked After Dog Consumes More Than 100 Nails And Survives | AHN

FL Owner Shocked After Dog Consumes More Than 100 Nails And Survives | AHN

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Dad's the best

H-mom is at school. Again. Madison is hanging with Man-dad.

And this is starting to really rock. Today he went shopping, and got some steaks for dinner.

And check this out.

See, Man-dad rocks.

Seriously.

Terrible terrible terrible week

Madison is on strike. She didn't eat (almost) for three days. Barely drank a thing. Wouldn't sleep, just stared at the door. At the dog park, with Man-dad, she laid in the dirt pit and studied the park gate. Madison has been depressed, out-of-sorts, mopey and sad.

What's up?

H-Mom has gone back to school. She is studying to get her CIW, so she can be a certifiable Webmistress of the Internet. Now, this is a good thing.

But not for a dog, who has been attached to H-Mom every day, every minute, almost, since she first came to live here one year ago.

It's been a rough week. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, H-Mom is gone all day long. Argh. Wait until she finds a "Job" job ...

Can Madison vote for that thing called "Freelance From Home?"

A whole bunch of siblings

We went out to visit the puppies, who are now 4 months old and wiggling, tumbling bundles of fur. Madison was very patient with her little siblings, meeting each one of the five still waiting for the their new homes.

One at a time the little brothers and sisters came out from the puppy kennels and Madison kept looking like "you mean there are more of these things?"

Go Bears

I love Brian Piccolo, and I want you to love him too. Man-dad loves Brian Piccolo, he wants me to love him too. It's all about the Bears.

Why isn't there a team called the Schnauzers? The Chicago Schauzers. The Green Bay Schnauzers. The Minnesota Schnauzers. The Super Bowl Champion Schnauzers.

Water conference

Out of earshot of the humans, there was business to be done. Important business.