Just an easy hop

Madison can now jump into the back of the Explorer. This is wonderful, because at 60+ pounds, H-Mom was beginning to have a difficult time finding an easy place to grab the girl, and an even more difficult time hoisting her into the car in a fashion that was not awkward or ridiculous looking. The valets were starting to snicker.

All sense of decorum flew out the window as soon as H-Mom and Madison started the WWF posturing to get into the car.

But now.




Madison has discovered how wonderful it is to hop up. And she is becoming a "stealth jumper." And she quickly and very very quietly makes herself comfortable. The bed. The sofa. That's a lot of dog to move "off." And she allows herself to be removed very reluctantly.



That's a space-hogger, and even in a big bed, a really big, luxurious Stearns & Foster, three would be a crowd.

Although the teen-human points out that there is only one PERSON in her bed, and therefore room for a dog.

And about the sofas. The Man-Dad points out that those two leather sofas have been a comfortable snuggling zone for three black labradors and a citified coonhound, so why not a giant, well-groomed, family-loving, showgirl?

So we have a compromise: Madison will be allowed on the sofas, but not the bed.

And Madison adds a P.S.

THESE ARE THE BEST. OMG. IF YOU COULD SEE ME GO CRAZY FOR THESE, YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT. THESE ARE SO DELECTABLE. THEY ARE SHRIMP! I LOVE THEM!

And H-Mom adds a P.S.S.

Man. These stink to high-heaven. Worse than gym socks. Worse than work boots. If you are eating these, you are definately NOT getting on the bed.

What kind of dog are you?

There is an interesting list of dog breeds, sorted from 1 to 5, with 5 being recommended for Novice Owners.

Madison is a 1. In a very cool group of dogs for "experienced handlers," and the good company of Akitas, Malamutes and Mastiffs. Among others.

Is she a tough dog to handle? Well ... H-mom is very lucky to be able to spend almost every hour of every day working with her, or knowing that Madison is with the teen-human or Man-dad. And Madison got a great start, with a veteran breeder, a very sweet mother and incredible socialization as a puppy.

But she is mouthy. She is quite a handful. And sassy. And very smart. And she really can cop an attitude.

We are living with two mantras:

1. NILIF (nothing in life is free)
2. A tired dog is a happy dog

So ... yes, H-Mom would agree that a Giant is a very challenging puppy. Someone warned that right around 3 years old, they turn into a$$holes (her word not ours!) for about six months. And if you get through it, they are a dream.

We are wondering. What number are you? Does it ring correct?

Dancing is highly recommended.

Because, look! It rained. And it's still raining! And it's supposed to rain all week.

Who cares if it's wet. And even the grass is swimming. We'll go to the dog park any way, and dance in the downpour.

Rain Dance

It has been brutally dry in South Florida. We are now in the midst of drought conditions, with warnings about wild fires and water conservation. South Florida has not had this kind of a dry spell since 1932.

On the morning news, residents are cautioned not to pull off the road onto areas of dry grass, lest a hot exhaust pipe set everything ablaze.

The palm trees are still green. And they offer a bit of shade.



There are patches of green around the heads of the underground water systems. Nice for nosing around.


Even a very short walk makes the fountains look more appealing than usual.

Full Moon Morning

Last night the moon was small, bright and full over our building. The sky was very dark, and the decorative uplighting along the Riverwalk brick path made the fig-wrapped trees look eerily possessed.




This morning, the moon was a huge glowing orb in the western sky. Madison spent her morning workout at a dog park in Plantation, a good bit further from home than our usual hangout. The park is called "Happy Tails Park," and it is beautiful, with a huge grassy lawn and lovely backyard type trees. It is more "suburban" than our regular park, which is more wild and forest preserve-like in feeling.

H-Mom can't quite shake the "cemetery" kind of feeling that the huge gates and memorials and sign stones empart. But Madison loves it there. It's kind of cool, too, that there is a separate fenced and locked area for the training of police canines. They workout there in the evenings, which would be really interesting to watch.


"Bark Park" as Snyder Park is being resodded and is closed for two weeks. No one is complaining, because the park has become not much more than a huge dust bowl. Still, we are all challenged to find an alternate outlet for dogs in need of leg-stretching, all-out rough-housing play time.

It was interesting to watch Madison make her way with a new group of dogs. She took on the role of puppy, bowing and strenuously wagging her little stump of a tail with the sheepish cower of a youngster.

This morning, she was more in the mode of a "regular" already running to the gate like the appointed official greeting committee.

Madison also seems to garnering an inordinate amount of attention from the male dogs. We know she is a natural beauty, but H-Mom is going to do some googling about first heat. Madison is quite the lover-girl and she is more than pleased to roll on her back and submit to attention. H-Mom is feeling like a helicopter parent, admonishing giggling dog owners to "keep your dog from HUMPING my puppy ..."

Giant and Mini

They seemed to know that they were cousins of a sort. The two schnauzers had an instant affinity for each other. And they lost no time in showing off together, too.

bavarian princess

H-Mom and Man-Dad met for lunch this week, and brought Madison along so that she could meet Dani, who Mad-Dad discovered is the mom of Diesel, a male Giant Schnauzer from the same breeder.

Dani is so cool. She said Madison looks just like Diesel but much smaller. And she had a gift for Madison - a blue and white bandana with the Bavarian coat of arms. The bandana was sent to Dani by her mother who lives in Germany.


"A Bavarian bandana for a Bavarian dog," she said.

true colors thursday - YELLOW!

In recognition of True Colors Thursday - YELLOW!, H-Mom started routing through the bins in the gallery, looking for a really good yellow. A dynamic yellow. A truly happy, uplifting yellow. Sunny or golden, it didn't matter.

Which involved pulling out multiple canvases, hefting some big frames around and finding Madison's comb and brush. A proper photo shoot.

Hide Me.

Yes, I agree it's predominantly YELLOW.

Is this all necessary? At this moment why do I feel like a prop
and not the center of attention?
(Monique Laxer, "Golden Sensation," Mixed Media, 40" x 30")

That's way enough. I'm out of here.
(What an unfortunate photograph. Again,
do not say anything about the size of the BUTT.)

I think my butt gettin big!

So, if you've been following Madison's weight gain chart, you might have noticed that she lagged for a few weeks, which might have been the result of being off her food for a couple days and fighting an eye infection. She was just out of sorts.

The outcome was that her vet gave orders for H-Mom to increase her food from 1-1/2 cups of Wellness/Canidae mix in the morning and again in the evening, to a full 2 cups twice a day. Not only is she growing fast, but she gets a great deal more rigorous exercise than most dogs, and absolutely more than most condo-dogs.

With the exception of a few 'slow' days, Madison has been eating every last kibble. Of course, in a very lady-like manner. No scarfing, snarfing or chowing down. Just quietly, kibble by kibble. And still enjoying liberal snacks - biscuits, dried sweet potato wrapped with duck, blueberry crunchies, a fresh beef marrow bone every few days and a sprinkling of ZEN dog treats.

And now she seems to be growing in front of everyone's eyes.

And MADISON wants to know, "Do you think my BUTT looks big?"


And how come H-Mom keeps humming the Nelly song, "It's gettin hot in here ..."

How inappropriate. Talk about making a girl paranoid. Or something. Now she is talking about having Madison audition for a part in the following music video: the "big butt" part. They could cast a Giant Schnauzer to dance in front of a mirror, suspiciously eying the offending body part.

When it's over 80 degrees

There is only one place to be when you are a black dog.

Lots of errands

This week, Madison has been assistant chauffeur, as H-Mom has been driving here and there more than usual for the past few days.

This makes for some interesting quick walks around the parking lots of strip malls, through the car wash and into the bank, among other places. Madison is a willing co-pilot, happy to drink from her bottle of water, and hang her head out the window with the seats folded down and her pink and orange Mexican blanket spread across back of the roomy Explorer.


We have spotted a few interesting things, like this white egret standing on a yellow retention barrier in a murky canal along the highway, poking through the litter floating in the shallow water.

Four months ago ...

Blue Belle

Madison with

Viviane Case-Fox, "Zero Degree Celsius," Mixed Media, 48" x 44"

in honor of True Colours Blue Thursday

Madison's Love

SBB iso SBD: prefers really big guy who can handle a wild wrestle with patience. Outdoorsy type, tolerant of small animals, with a fondness for chicken and rice poppers and not easily upset by a girl with willful, bossy tendencies. Will be wildly impressed with social skills, and if he can swim, WOW ... it's a deal.

Madison likes Nick. When he jumps out of his car at the dog park, she always runs right to the fence to greet him.



In Madison's eyes, Nick rocks. He is a big one-year old Rottweiler, with long legs and the attitude of a high school football jock. H-mom has given his dad a new nickname: Coach.




Nick loves to wrestle, will run in circles with her, either chasing or being chased, and doesn't seem to mind too much when she yaps in his ear. They start in the "mud pit" with a wrestle, take off for a chase, and then end up in the "mud pit" for a breather.

At first H-mom was worried that Madison was harassing great big, lumbering Nick, being an obnoxious giant puppy, but he keeps coming back for more, and they really seem to have fun with each other.

He is certainly large enough to put her in her place and not "take it any more." Nick is a gentle soul, a sweetheart, a push-over.

Actually, we think Nick likes Madison, too.

Goober Spotting

Guess who was at the dog park this morning?

Four more days and Goober and his mom will be moved into their new place together.

They are both counting the days.

A Star on the River

Today was boat watching duty. Madison likes to stand at attention along the river and supervise the coming and going of the mega-yachts, the water taxis and the fishing boats, both huge and modest.



Right in front of our building today, there is the most intriguing boat.

Fort Lauderdale is one of the legs on the journey of the Southern Star, a 75-foot aluminum sloop on a scientific expedition around North America to raise awareness about global warming. The boat is very different from the usual sailboats and motor yachts on the New River. The Southern Star looks like a science boat, serious in every way. Her 12-month expedition is taking her through 9 seas, 9 countries, 18,000 nautical miles and 21 carefully planned legs. Read the short entry in the logbook for today and look at the photo the crew has posted - this is right where Madison is "yacht spotter."

Little buddy

Madison had an overnight guest last night. It was very strange. This little 8-pounder belongs to Man-Dad's teenager, and she is moving to Fort Lauderdale. They got in last night, so the little dude, named "Goober," got to spend the night sleeping on the sofa with his mommy.

She is staying for a week while she waits for her apartment to be ready.

Little Goober is staying over at "Emily's Playhouse," which is the home of one our dogpark friends who dogsits.

See, Goober has a couple issues ... he lifts his leg in the house and poops on a puppy pad, and H-Mom is being kind of crabby and says that his bad habits could make Madison start "using it" in the condo too. H-Mom worked really hard to housebreak Madison so that she is PERFECT in the house, and deals very gracefully with being on the 19th floor. And she has visions of Madison grabbing a soiled puppy pad and racing around the condo with it. Remember, Madison has a very un-princess-like affinity for STINKY things.

Goober is also a bit of a barker and very protective of his mommy. He likes to sit on her lap and growl. That makes Madison bark and bark ... not good in a condo either. Man-dad said that he doesn't need security knocking on the door with a list of complaints about the "dog party" going on next door.

This little guy has all his "EQUIPMENT" too, whatever that means. Sometimes he plays kind of weird, like jumping on and not letting go. H-Mom is going to try to help the teen-human get this FIXED by going to the low cost spay/neuter program at the Humane Society.

Anyway, Madison and Goober played in the living room for awhile before bed. Madison was pretty gentle, but she is a large, overwhelming 55 pound puppy, and even though Goober held his own, H-Mom said that Madison was too much for him. She didn't want things to "escalate." (Imagine broken lamps, chewed leather sofas and the large screen tv on the floor ...)

Goober also learned the sound of the treat jar really quickly. In about 20 seconds, actually. See him begging for a snack from Man-Dad? Madison is actually looking right AT the treat jar, and thinking that she will be able to reach it all by herself in another month. HA! try that Goober!


Anyway, he'll be around. His mommy can visit him at "Emily's Playhouse," and he is going to be at the dog park every morning. For now, Madison will be sleeping quietly and not roughhousing or being inappropriate in the condo.

Then in a week, he'll be living right down the hall. Maybe they can plan some play dates. How cool is that?

stinky things and fluffly things

Madison found more than the usual wonderful things at the dog park this morning.


Among her favorite discoveries are what has become known as "Madison's stinky thing," and she finds one of them almost every morning. It is the grimiest, most chewed up, ripped and destroyed toy imaginable, something that has been abandoned by its owner and completely offensive to every other dog at the park.

This is fairly surprising for a diva-dog, but indicative of her multi-faceted personality. This princess can really get down and get dirty.

This morning, she found a macerated plastic and fabric frisbee. At least that's what H-Mom thinks it was. This inspired an hour of chase, run, prance and show-off.

After all that dirt, H-Mom takes Madison to the dog lake for a 10 minute dip before getting in the car. Madison loves the water, and she splashes, runs and almost swims.

This morning, there was a group of people already by the lake, unusual for a Saturday morning. They were sitting calmly, with a couple very friendly black labs circling, and a male and female Australian Shephard.

And a litter of 9-week-old Aussie furballs.

H-Mom says its nice to be in love on Valentine's Day, and it's nice to fall in love on Valentine's Day. Well, H-Mom loves Madison, and she fell in love with these little balls of fluff. They were little inquisitive, kissing, bundles of cuteness. This is our friend, a local dog trainer, and the new mom of the little merle girl sitting on her lap.


It was fun to pet rolley puppies in the morning, but H-Mom knows we already have enough "dog per square foot" in our condo.

Happy Valentine's Day! MUAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Working Dog in Training

Yesterday evening, Madison graduated from Puppy School. She was exceptionally well-behaved, and didn't even bark during class or sass the teacher.

She followed instructions and did a bit of creative thinking.

For example, when commanded to "Sit. Stay." she posed a perfect SIT for a minute and then just laid down.

Which meant, "of course, whatever you request. I will just PARK it until you tell me otherwise."

This was received with great praise by the teacher. She said that Madison was demonstrating complete acceptance of direction by the "leader." She said that Madison was thinking: "Fine, if you tell me to STAY, I might as well LAY DOWN because I might just be here for awhile."

(Madison was actually thinking: WHATEVER.)

And then at the end of the class, the teacher, said, "Madison, we have all watched you grow up over the last six weeks."

H-Mom was very proud. But also kind of put-off. I mean, really. Was the teacher IMPLYING that Madison had been especially badly behaved? Or just particularly diva-like in attitude?

Well, six weeks of class was over and, once home, Madison headed for her favorite place and put it in "park." Whatever.

Another day at the office