My Bit of Earth

Cabbage Nibbles and Terrier Quibbles

I was at the Burrow garden tonight and discovered some chewed on cabbages.  Just a little, and just on a few leaves--not enough to make me really worried, but I'd rather nip it in the bud.

The Problem Solver says I need to start looking for wee caterpillars and picking them off.

In other news, Moe does not get to go to the community garden again on nights when watering is going to take place.  It seems his one moment of fame has gone to his head, and he now thinks ice-pick barking at the water hose is cute all the time.

Not so much.

A Thank You Note

Dear Bogart (Airedale Terrier and Handsome Devil),

Because we don't have our own blog like you do, we're hijacking Mom's blog to be sure you get this message. 

Thank you ever so much for the sample treats you sent!  We were only allowed to try the chicken chips tonight, but they were so tasty that Porter and I ate the entire package! 

If you ever need us to do more taste tests we will be more than willing to help out, and we wish you all the best in fulfilling your dream of providing your wonderful jerky to all dogs everywhere. 

Please let us know when you start selling--now that we've figured out this computer stuff, sniffing out Mom's credit card to place an order should be a piece of cake!

Thanks again,

Moe and Porterhouse

Happy Birthday Little Man!

It's so very hard to believe he used to be this tiny and cute.  And--as we said often at the time--he was very lucky to be so.  There are days being adorable was all that saved him from being sold to gypsies!

Several pairs of underwear, five pairs of shoes, at least four electronic gadgets, various and sundry pieces of woodwork, and three years later....Happy Birthday Moe!

UPDATE:  Moe spent his birthday at home, got to take a shower (which is his favorite thing, but a special treat in the winter when it's cold out), and took a long nap on Mom's tummy.  (Thank you MLK day and lovely government jobs!)  Dad (a.k.a. Sweet Husband) brought home ice cream for both dogs, which--once we blew out the candles and took it out of it's plastic cup--Moe ate in one huge gulp.  I don't know if dogs get ice cream headaches--and he didn't act like it bothered him if it did--but my head almost hurt just watching it!

A Happy Halloween T'Ye Matey! Argh!

Happy Halloween from me and Captain Moe! 

(Porter was being a typical tween-ager this year--or a stubborn old lady depending on if you're counting in human years or dog--and refused to sit still in order to be properly photographed.)

Moe is UNLEASHED!

There was a little package waiting next to my mailbox when I got home today, and when I saw the label I'm sure my reaction led my neighbors to believe I might be a little insane.

It was Moe's book!!!

About a year ago, I got an email from Lisa Wogan--a contributing editor at the Bark magazine, among other things--saying she had seen this video of Moe playing in the sprinkler on YouTube.  She wondered if I would let her include him in a book she was writing about dogs who play in non-traditional ways--i.e. not organized dog sports, just stuff for fun.  A few months later she interviewed me, Moe had a little photo shoot, and--voila--now we have the book!

And he looks so great!  I hadn't seen the pictures before today, but they turned out so well!  And he's on the very first page! 

The book doesn't officially go on sale until next Wednesday, but if you'd like a copy you can order it here. And, even if you just flip through it in the book store, leave a comment and let me know--I'm excited to see how far and wide Moe is going to spread!

Pooches Plunging

(O.K., I promise, I haven't become a total puppy blogger.  Very soon I have plans to plant a fall garden, thresh my sunflowers, attack the morning glories before they eat my house--lots of things, I promise.  But in the meantime....)

As if he hasn't had enough swimming this week, tonight we took the Wee Welshman to the Pooch Plunge, the end of year dog swim/humane society fundraiser at our local city pool.  We ran into all our friends as usual, and even managed to find our cutie little Pomeranian neighbor, Nano.  Moe had fun for awhile, but got the whistle blown when he started chasing balls into the deep end and we had to fish him out.  More pictures here.

Have Dog, Will Travel

As a wrap up to our trip I wanted to post a little bit more of my thoughts--both practically and philosophically--about traveling with Moe. 

Practically speaking, the first thing many people have asked me about was the cost.  All told, it was roughly $300, which included his airfare ($200) and a health certificate from out vet ($90) that everyone said we needed, but no one ever actually asked to see.  I can hear people gasping, "But you could have bought another plane ticket for that!"  And it's true, we could have. 

However, you have to remember that when you have pets they cost you something to leave at home too.  Moe is a little intense to really leave with (free) family, so our options are boarding him ($200) or having a pet sitter come over to walk him ($350).  And--although I generally like the doggie daycare where we would board him and I love our dog walker--I still would have worried.  When you look at the alternatives (and given that we had planned an outdoorsy vacation anyway), it was actually cost and peace-of-mind effective to bring him along.

Master Test with Drama

Today we went back for the second day of the Golden Gate Dachshund Club earthdog test.  It was the first time I had entered Moe in a master test and we were up first--needless to say, I was a little nervous.

Because I haven't talked about the master test yet, a little explanation....

This is What a Senior Earthdog Looks Like

Part of the reason we chose to visit Nice Dad and Nice Step-Mom when we did was because the Golden Gate Dachshund Club was having an earthdog trial nearby this weekend.  If you will recall (see here and here) when last we discussed the subject, Moe needed one more leg to earn his senior earthdog title.

As you can guess from the title of this post, he qualified...squee!!!   But (as anyone who does pretty much any dog event will tell you) there was, of course, much more to the story than that. 

California Moe

Vacation Day 1--Sleep.  Food.  Pool.  The Welshman is in heaven....see a video of him playing here.

The Flying Welshman

Despite a few little delays, we've arrived safely in California with Welshie in tow.  Moe did much better than I did handled the trip with his typical Welsh grace--sleeping though most of the flying parts and making passels of friends at all three airports.  Here he is with Sweet Husband in Kansas City, on the plane, in Houston, and (finally) in Sacramento.

My Last Plug, I Promise

The "Firehouse Dog" DVD came out this week, so I have to get one last proud mama moment in (well, at least until the book Moe's going to be in comes out in October....).

For those of you who are new, Moe was one of 400 dogs that won a contest on Dogster to be in the credits of the movie when it was in theaters or in a montage in the special features on the DVD.

When I told Sweet Husband about the contest, his smart aleck remark was something along the lines of, "Wow, that's brilliant marketing, now at least 400 people will go see the movie."  Alas, I think it goes a few steps further than that.  It also meant 400 people would be plugging the movie to their poor friends, buying the DVD, and blogging about it too.  (Guilty of all of the above!)

But truly, if you're into Disney-fied dog stories (again, I'm guilty), it's not a bad movie.  The Irish Terrier that plays the lead is cuter than any non-Welshie has a right to be, and the kid's kind of winning as well.  Even more important, of course, is that Moe is on the DVD not once, but twice!  He somehow made it into both the credits and the montage.  I don't think that was actually supposed to happen.  I think each dog was just supposed to be in one or the other, but, well, you know how it is--he's just that good looking. ;)

This Picture Is Just An Excuse To Advertise

Aww...it's a little Welshie burrowing in the pillows after a run in the sprinkler and a bath.  Don't you think he's cute?  Don't you love him?  Don't you want to pre-order the book he's going to be in, which after weeks of checking is finally available on Amazon and is due to be released October 31?

My Famous Firehouse Dog

Remember back in August, when I told you all that Moe's picture was going to be in the movie "Firehouse Dog"?  Well it came out this weekend, and I have it on good authority (Nice Mom and Sweet Sister) that this picture of Moe is in the credits on the right side of the screen near the end of the second song. 

Leave a comment and let me know if you go to the movie and you see him!

Moe Was On "Dog Each Day" And I Almost Missed It!

Since 2006 is the "Year of the Dog", artist Larry Merrill has been keeping a blog featuring a drawn picture of a different dog each day.  The blog is aptly called "Dog Each Day".

Months ago, I sent him this picture of Moe, hoping he would draw him.  I got a kind of lukewarm response (he gets tons of submissions, and he's only doing the project for the rest of this year) so I wasn't expecting anything.  But lo and behold, on October 22 Moe got picked.  And he looks great!

Movie Star Moe

A few weeks ago, just on a lark, I entered this picture of Moe into a drawing to be shown during the credits of a "Firehouse Dog" a Disney movie that's coming out next year. 

We got picked!  How much fun!