It's Weenie Time!

After work...most days...I spend a little time on the deck with the weenies.

Here is Franklin...he's panting because it was so hot out...like mid 90's.

He's a full grown lovely boy now! He's over two years old.

He is very very sweet and gentle. He's very attached to me. Likes to be near me at all times.

He's an easy dog. He comes in when I call now and the only thing he is crazy about is squirrels 

but I never have to worry about him trying to get out. He seems perfectly content in my backyard.

When I had Newman I was constantly scared that he was going to find a way out or hurt himself doing

some daredevil thing. Franklin is full of fun...but he's not hell bent on destruction. 

He's a happy little guy.

I tried to get a photo of his full body, so you could all see how handsome he has become.

He has a very nice tail but his ears are a little funny. 

The hair stays short on the tips and is long on the tops.

Many of the photos turned out like this because he kept trying to come up and kiss me while I was shooting.

I haven't shown Harvey in awhile. He is much thinner than he used to be.

Here's a photo of how he used to look....

Very adorable but very fat.

He's is still chunky...but he has lots more energy now and can run and jump a little.

He's lost weight since I started spoon feeding them.

I don't leave food out for him to eat when he wants any more.

Still adorable.

I began this diet after discovering Violet is allergic to grain and chicken.

She had a terrible sinus infection and cough last year that just would not go away.

Many trips to the vet did not solve the problem.

The vet said it was just chronic and nothing to be done about it.

Well, I switched to canned food just because I'd run out of their normal dry.

That canned food was beef only. 

Mom had brought it when she came to stay with me.

After a few days on that food...Violet was so much better!

The coughing stopped and way less snotty nose.

Recently, I went grain free too and she's 100% again.

She has always sneezed a lot in the spring and summer but last year after she caught kennel cough 

from Franklin...she was sick most of last year.

I wonder why my vet didn't think to suggest it could be a food related allergy.

Her skin was itchy and broken out too.

Now it seems obvious.

Anyway, I wanted to tell about it here in hopes of helping anyone else that has a dog 

with a constant cough, runny nose and itchy skin.

Try taking chicken and grain out of their diet.

Poor Violet, she is not very photogenic. She is much more beautiful than this photo shows.

She is very hard to photograph too...she doesn't care about having her picture taken at all.

Newman used to stare right at the camera and I'd get lots of good shots of him.

Funny how some dogs like their picture taken and some don't.

Sally doesn't mind although she wiggles too much when close up. 

She is probably thinking about rolling in something in that top pic.

She likes to do that a lot.

Here she is being good. Such a silly girl with a silly smile.

Sally's lost weight too....Franklin has gained a little which is fine but poor Violet has 

gained several pounds. She used to pick at her food but since I changed it

she wants to eat lots of it. I think she knew it made her sick and ate as little as possible. 

That's what's up with the dogs.

Nothing much up with me.

Which is good....it's good when things are dull...don't you think?

Nothing bad happening...and that is good. 

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Harvey the Hero

Yes, It's True!

Harvey Bing a Ling a Ding Dong Dog

Yesterday, Harvey saved Franklin.

You know....Harvey has not been that thrilled with Franklin since he came to live with us.

He likes him ok, but he gets mad at him when he gets near the food especially when I am around.

He also gets jealous if Franklin gets attention from my Mom (his Grandma) and snaps at him.

Harvey never snapped at anything before Franklin came.

Harvey loved Newman the most and you can tell he still misses him.

So yesterday I let all the weenies out while I got ready to go to work.

They'd been out at least 30 minutes when I heard Harvey barking very loudly.

He doesn't usually bark during the day.

He prefers to stand on the deck at night and bark at nothing.

But these are not ferocious barks....more of a Hey! Hey! Hey!

But yesterday I should have known there was something wrong because he was barking

very excitedly and a lot. A whole lot.

He was barking like he does if he sees a dog near their yard.

Violet barked some too in a high pitch...which is her I see something bark.

I don't know what I was thinking. 

I was running late getting ready for work and I just didn't think.

So I'm in the bathroom putting makeup on and doing my hair and Harvey comes 

running in the house in his little roly poly hoppity way.

He came into the bathroom and barked at me several times and then ran back out

through the kitchen to the backyard.

I followed....to see what he was upset about.

When I got to the backdoor and looked out...I could see the gate was wide open! 

Someone had opened the gate...probably when he'd started barking in the first place!

I have no idea who could have done this. 

Harvey stayed on the deck barking. 

Violet came back in through the gate...I don't know where she'd been.

(Sally was hid under the bed during all of this....that is where she is whenever things get exciting.)

And Franklin? Franklin was out on the driveway sniffing all around.

As soon as I went out to the driveway...off he went...nose to the ground.

I chased him a few houses down and finally grabbed him when he stopped to smell something.

He was WAY easier to catch than Newman ever had been.

Newman was impossible to catch.

So I scooped him up and carried him back to the yard.

Harvey was on the deck...no longer barking.

I said, "Oh Harvey! You are such a good boy. You saved the day!"

"You saved Franklin!"

He wiggled all over and smiled. He was very proud of himself.

He really was.

He did a little happy dance and wagged his tail and smiled.

He really had come in the house to tell me something was wrong and to get me to come get Franklin.

Isn't he smart?

So I don't know if he was telling on Franklin to get him in trouble or letting me 

know so I could rescue Franklin. Either way....it was pretty smart of him.

If he hadn't come and got me, it would have been another ten minutes before I'd gone out and 

Franklin would have been long gone and Violet might have decided to go too.

So thanks to Harvey all are safe....he really is a Hero.

I'd like to kill whoever opened the gate.

It was not me. 

I always double check that the gate is latched and we'd been out earlier and it was closed.

But I was so thankful that all were ok and in a rush to get to work...

I was late now...

that I didn't think very much about it. But now...I'm kind of freaked out by it.

Here's a few pics of Harvey's backside. It's so funny because he is the shy one.

He is the one that doesn't take initiative. He usually waits to see what the others are going to do.

He doesn't ever get into trouble.

But yesterday, he was the one who decided -

 To Go Get Momma!

Violet and Harvey snooping around the backyard.

Read here about the other night Harvey was a hero.

I'm so proud of him.

And maybe he likes Franklin more than I thought he did.

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Sally

Sally

Sally Ann Sue Rogers Stacy

So hard to get a good photo of Sally. 

She is constantly on the move.

Once she settles down...she'll happily sit in your lap for hours and hours.

But she's one busy dog when she's outside.

Sally's name just seemed to get longer and longer as she's lived with me.

She started out as Sally Ann Stacy

But then I added Sue to it because Sue is my sister's middle name and she is the 

reason Sally lives with me. 

Then I added Rogers to it because there was a very sweet woman 

in the little town where I grew up and her name was Sally Rogers.

She was the maid of honor at my Grandmother's wedding long long ago.

She used to babysit my sister and I sometimes.

At some point I just added the Rogers into Sally's name as tribute to her.

I always say Sally was raised poorly.

She grew up in a trailer park. And that is why sometimes she doesn't know better.

My sister who has some questionable friends, called me one day when she was driving 

back from a weekend trip to someplace several hours away.

She said she'd been with the sweetest pie bald dachshund and the people who had

her did not want her.

She said she was afraid of what might happen to that dog.

I asked why she hadn't thrown her in the car and brought her to me.

She said she was afraid to for I'd told her not to bring home stray dogs...

but I didn't mean unwanted dachshunds!

So I gave her gas money to go back for her two weeks later.

The people that had her were just tired of her. They just did not want her.

Can you imagine?

So late on a Sunday night...my sister brought her to me.

Her eyes were all bugged out and she held her ears back with worry.

She had fleas and worms.

I bathed her immediately and she's never had a flea since.

A visit to the vet got rid of the worms.

Her original name was "Patches". I have never uttered that name.

I called her Sally the minute I saw her because I just thought she looked like a Sally.

And she learned that name in like 15 minutes. 

Like she'd never had another. 

Sally is a night owl.

She is always last to bed at night.

If she is in the bed when we go in there...she gets up and runs around the house.

During that time she eats and tears up things.

She was probably about 9 months old when I got her and very very skinny.

She's almost a chunk now. Well, not really. She could lose a pound or two.

But nothing like Harvey.

She was very nervous here for just a few days and then settled right down.

But the next time my sister came to visit a couple of weeks later, 

Sally looked very frightened. 

She bugged her eyes out again and held her ears back.

I think she was afraid that my sister was going to take her back to the terrible place she used to live.

She did this the next few times my sister came to visit.

Like she just knew this new life was going to end. 

But then she finally came to feel secure and began to be happy to see my sister.

She finally realized I was not going to give her away.

So I said that Sally is a night owl and she is a morning sleepy head too.

The others get up to go outside and she stays in bed.

When I get out of bed...she goes further under the covers hoping not to be bothered.

I usually don't wake her....I let her get up whenever she decides she wants to.

I totally understand because I'm a sleepy head in the morning too.

She is the sighing-est dog I've ever seen. She is constantly sighing.

When she gets all comfortable...she'll let out a big sigh of contentment.

She does this all day long....like hmmmmmmmmmmm......I'm so happy.

Her only bad flaw is that she loves to tear up bed clothes and clothing.

This is exasperating.

Like chew big holes in them.

I've lost so many comforters to her. 

The quilt currently on the bed looks like swiss cheese.

On any given day I never know what color her poop will be.

I'm pretty good at keeping things up and away from her but if I slip in anyway,

I'll soon find blue or red poop.

Like over the past month...I've been distracted.

I found blue poop and wondered what thing of mine she'd eaten.

Sure enough...I found one of my dresses on the floor of the closet with big holes in it.

I've pulled panty hose out of her butt. 

It's really terrible. Very dangerous.

And I try so hard to keep it from happening.

Thank goodness somehow we've avoided any intestinal blockage so far.

As with all my dogs Sally has her own song.

Her's is 

Sally Wally Doodle All the Day

Oh that little spotted dog she isn't, isn't any good

Isn't, isn't very good 

Isn't isn't any good

That little spotted dog she isn't, isn't any good

Sally Wally Doodle all the Day

Sing, Sally Wally Doodle all the Day

 Sally Wally Doodle all the Day

That little spotted dog she isn't, isn't any good

Isn't, isn't very good 

Isn't isn't any good

That little spotted dog she isn't, isn't any good

Sing, Sally Wally Doodle all the Day

I don't know that she likes her song very much.

All my other dogs, I sang their songs to them as little tiny puppies.

Newman would drop everything when he heard me start to sing his song

and turn to listen to me sing it. 

He knew it well and liked to hear me sing it to him.

Sally loves Harvey and Harvey loves Sally.

Violet tries to ignore Sally.

She just does not care for her. 

She never has...she looks the other way when Sally comes up to her.

She moves if Sally lays down beside her.

Fortunately, Sally seems unfazed by this and goes about her merry way.

I do wish I'd had her as a tiny puppy but I don't think she could love me any more

than she does. 

I used to get so tickled at Newman because he was always planning his escape into 

the big wide world. But Sally would never run away in a million years, she's seen

the big wide world and it wasn't kind to her.

She's happy right here.

One time all four dogs got out.

Harvey never left the yard and Sally immediately followed me back into the yard.

Violet went off to find a man and Newman....well Newman went off on an adventure.

Sometimes I open the gate and try to encourage her to go through it.

She shakes her head....no way....I'm not going out there.

I think she knows a good thing when she's got it.

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