The Right Stuff

We had a kind of scary moment in the parking lot. One of the guys who works there was talking to his girlfriend in the parking lot, right by her car. They had a dog in the car, a great big dog. And they were yelling at it to behave and get in the back seat.

Right when Madison got out of Man-dad's truck to go in and choose some dog food flavors, we turned around and the dog - a great big pitbull, like an 80 pound pitbull - was out of the car and the Pet Supermarket employee had his arms around her chest to hold her, but she wasn't leashed. "Princess, Princess, Princess," the lady was yelling. And the guy was holding Princess, but she was squared up on Madison, and she was staring.

H-Mom doesn't like that kind of dog stare. That's a fixated, some kind of s#*! might go down stare. Didn't seem to be very good store employee decision making going on, right there in the parking lot.

We went the long way around the truck, away from the pitbull, and straight down the walk into the store. H-Mom was a little bit scared. A big dog like that without a leash and a lot of energy in the air was un-nerving.

We were fine in the store. Madison eats Canidae and Taste of the Wild, in a mix of varying combinations: lamb, Atlantic salmon, duck, bison or poultry. We got what we needed and when we went outside, the car, Princess and her people were gone.

When we got home, Madison was only worried about making sure that we got the right stuff from Pet Supermarket today

Man-dad said that incident is how really bad things happen, though. In a fraction of a second, all hell can break loose.

Daylight savings nap

For some very odd reason, H-mom was up and at 'em before the sun even came up this morning. Madison was still on the sofa in the middle of a pre-dawn dream.

She was more than a little reluctant to stretch it out and head to the dog park. Daylight WHAT? There wasn't even a sliver of sun when we left the condo this morning.

Which means that this is afternoon is Daylight Naptime. And Madison is tucked up under H-mom's desk, chasing squirrels in her sleep.

Tomorrow morning will be equally odd, we are certain.

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.