Go. Do. Be Dog.

Wordless Wednesday: Euka Flash

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

When we started raising our second puppy for Canine Companions for Independence, the mighty Micron, eventually we fell into a groove for this gig.

That is, we started some things that became traditions.

Like the One Year photo shoot at Flash Photography of Dayton.

So we have some shots to share with y’all of our lovely Euka showing poise amidst personality.

She just has that look, right? Like the wheels are turning in that noggin, the fire’s burning bright, she’s not one slice short of a loaf? A clever one, our Miss Euka.

Taken on September 14, 2013, her first birthday.

Ok, one outtake for you. Look! Look!, says Euka. I’m doing a Micron!

5 Comments

Posted in birthday, Euka II, photography. Bookmark the permalink.

Raffle me this

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

Oh yeah, bring it on, cotton brain, says Euka. I am the Master of Eye Contact.
[must . . . not . . . blink . . .groan]

Let’s start off today with a quick test. No worries, y’all. This’ll be easy ’nuff, like those magazine personality quizzes. You know, like if you could be any celebrity, what would be your favorite color of food? So, I’m just gonna toss out a couple or three questions and the first one is a total gimme as a multiple choice.

Question 1. Ok, this friend of mine, let’s call her Dee, won an awesome raffle prize at a pet adoption event. She is thrilled, because it’s been years upon years since she’s won anything, awesome or otherwise. What do you suppose was the most common question asked of her by friends and family in lieu of a congrats?

a) It’s supposed to be a what, exactly?

b) What the [bleep] is up with the tail anyway?

c) Does anyone else think it’s creepy how it stares without blinking?

d) Since it doesn’t have a neck, can we say it has a good head on its shoulders?

e) Hey, you wanna see how much my dog hates it? Watch this . . .

f) What are you going to do with it?

Answer: yep, the answer is f. What are you going to do with it?

Bunch of naysayers, I say. And to these naysayers, I say nay to you, because horses eat . . . wait, no. That’s not what I mean.

I mean it’s ok to be jealous, y’all. There was only one lifesize German Shepherd stuffed dog in the raffle and, dogs be good, it is now mine, bwahahaha. Or my friend, Dee’s, that is. Because Dee won the thing, right?

So anyway, here’s your second personality test question. Bumping it up a notch with a Fill in the Blank query. It’s a two-parter with that run-on sentence in there.

Question 2. Are you the kind of person that would name a lifesized stuffed dog? Let’s consider you might be, especially since you haven’t named a pet in countless years since you either adopt or raise service dogs and they always come with their own names? And when you think about it, you haven’t given a moniker to a pet dog since Sh** Jack in 1988. We’re not counting the fish, Bob II, because obviously he’s not a dog even though you did get to name him. So, what would you name a lifesized stuffed German Shepherd dog?

You can tell by the face this is a female, right? Oh, don’t go on about looking at the wrong end, because this is a stuffed animal, people. We don’t have a lot to work with here. I’m pretty much just making it up as I go along.

Well met, Cap’n Windy

And speaking of making it up, I will refer to this prize winning beauty as Cap’n Windy*.

Why would you do that, you ask? Well, because I can. And adding to that, I may just be a bit rusty in this dog naming business. But just like the gender decision, it just seems to suit her, I think.

Now for your final question. This is requires more of an essay-ish response.

Question 3. If you were as amazing as Dee, an individual who had her stars in order and could actually win such a treasure as life-sized German Shepherd stuffed dog – well, what would you do with it anyway? Any ideas, people?

No really, what would you do with this thing? I want to know. So I can help my friend Dee explain it to her family. She’s struggling here trying to justify why it should be on proud display in the family room while the kinfolk have less spectacular ideas regarding where it should be available for public appearances. Because Dee doesn’t agree that she needs an ersatz guard dog in the walk-in closet.

This is not just another way to get a fourth dog in the house, but you have to see the benefits to having this kind of thing around, right? Considering the low vet bills and lack of biological clean-up moves the needle on the Attractive Meter into the green zone. Then we gotcha the obvious.

Like home protection, of course. Heck, once I put Cap’n Windy on the front porch and started taking photos, even the neighbors started to look on edge. Ain’t nobody messing with us now.

To build on the personal protection theme, here’s an idea for when you have to drive through those sketchy areas. I mean, who doesn’t respect a dog looking out from the moon roof? Nobody, that’s who.

Oh, but it gets better from here. Finally somebody who’ll play a game of Scrabble with me without being a sore loser.

Because Jager cheats. Ok, I haven’t actually caught him, but still. He’s all sneaky, with those street smarts of his. Not keeping an Ace up his sleeve, because this is Scrabble, remember? And dogs don’t wear clothes while playing Scrabble due to the cheating. It’s in the rules. But I do suspect there could be a vowel or two under that wily tongue.

I don’t usually need help in the kitchen, the space being somewhat limited anyway. I tried putting Cap’n Windy to task to see if perhaps I could step back and do the crossword while dinner was on the stove.

All for naught, that little fantasy. All she did was stare at the peanut butter jar. Probably for the best, seeing the chicken broth and dog hair lint roller in near adjacency. I don’t think you’ll find these ingredients together on the same page in the Joy of Cooking.

At least I want very badly for this to be true.

Color me desensitized, says Euka. I think that
would be pink or something.

I do have to admit that Cap’n Windy’s destiny is still up in the air [snort windy air]. We might need to find the chick a higher calling. I mean besides desensitizing CCI puppies to novel objects and putting it on the kid’s bed so when he comes home and turns on the light, Cap’n Windy is there to say Good Evening. I hope you made good choices today. Yeah, besides those things.

What am I going to do with it?

____________________________
*Does that name nudge a long-forgotten memory, my southwestern Ohio friends? How ’bout The Uncle Al Show with Captain Windy? Remember now? She was introduced on every show with her flying on screen, cape flapping, like Supergirl only more wholesome. Yep, naming the stuffed dog after her is messed up on a couple of critical levels.

2 Comments

Posted in Cap'n Windy, Euka II, Jager. Bookmark the permalink.

Wordless Wednesday: Caption This #11

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

I SAID!, said Euka. YOU SHOULD HAVE PACKED A SANDWICH INSTEAD!

What about this looks so familiar, you wonder. Right? There’s that Déjà vu thing again – that ethereal feeling like you’ve already had a microwave meal for lunch every day this week? Or is it because you’re just collecting Lean Cuisine points to get that snappy new lunch bag so you’re willing to down one more pasta conglamerate in a frozen box even though the very thought of it makes you not hungry anymore, but it’s the only thing you packed and you do really want the special edition lunch bag so you have to at least nuke it for the box label?

Is that the feeling? Or is it because you just saw this photo a few days ago on The Ohio E’s Celebrate Their First Birthday right here on the dog blog? Which may be doubly impressed upon your memory cells because that particular photo of Emma and Euka reminded me of this one below?

And if memory services, I introduced this adorable shot to y’all in Caption This #9. A post worth a second look just for the caption ideas, by the way.


Hey Emma, says Euka. What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino? [sigh], says Emma (photo by Chris Kittredge Photography*)

And while we’re on the topic of captions, let’s put some thought into the top photo, shall we?

So what d’ya think? Yeah, I know. Euka’s just yawning in Emma’s face, like she’s been raised with no manners whatsoever. So we could take this a couple of ways – build a clever caption making a case for these two very bored dogs or instead, with a squint of your eyes, pretend that our Euka is saying something REAL LOUD.

Inspired now? Drop us a comment with your clever thoughts.

___________________________
*What do you get? Elephino. Sound it out by syllable, y’all.

5 Comments

Posted in E Litter, Euka II, photo caption, Wordless Wednesday. Bookmark the permalink.

It seemed like a good idea

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

What look on my face? asks Euka. I wasn’t gonna
break my Stay, honest. That right front foot tells
a different story, I think.

It seemed like a good idea

When you pick up Skyler* today, you’ll want to bring a change of clothes with you, I told Skyler’s mom on the phone.

Underwear, too, I added.

It seemed like a good idea, this impromptu pizza party for my little kid and his new friends. What better bonding experience is there than breaking bread together anyway? I think none.

Or I thought none. Now I know better.

You see, we had just moved into town, separating my kid from his life long friends, and then plopped him into a new school to start kindergarten. So on an otherwise bleary fall day, I came up with the inspired idea to invite over a few of his elementary school pals for a pizza and playtime.

Sounds good, right? What a good mom, so thoughtful I was. Sure, we all know the truth on this don’t we?Allow me to break down how things went deeply and terribly awry.

We can start off with my lack of knowledge about the energy level of young boys. The activities of an only child can be readily tracked. One usually knew, at least generally, where in the house he was most times. Add a six-year-old friend and it was necessary to merely bump your vigilance up to Code Yellow to make sure nothing gets set on fire or something.

But three or more kindergarten age boys in the house? It’s pure pack mentality, y’all. They share one brain and move together in a swirling mass sucking in random items and depositing debri at whim.

Now put a pizza and Kool-Aid lunch into the equation and we’ve added biological functionality to the fray, alimentary track-wise. That is, what goes in must come out.

Over excited boys plus lots o’pizza equals the Skyler Incident. In my six short years of raising a child, I had never (never!) seen anything like this. The big D it was. Spread about my water closet-sized half bathroom. The sink, the floor, the walls (!) and of course, the porcelain throne itself. I actually swooned, the room went gray and fuzzy for a second, when I opened the bathroom door to Skyler’s call for assistance. Like a crime scene with the whole splatter thing going on, only this was, well . . . you know. It’s like the kid used a paint roller or something.

Boys! I called loud enough to make them jump. Outside! Let’s play Capture the Flag! Skyler, honey, you just sit here in the grass until your mom gets here, ok?

To my defense, I did not get the garden hose out. It was just too cold for that. But that I did actually consider it for a second probably negates my defense plea.

So, I’m much better with dogs

Treats for Euka and Micron’s friends

Twenty years after this emotional trauma upon my delicate psyche, I’d like to think my party planning skills have improved. Lessons learned and all that.

But that would just be silly talk.

To celebrate Euka’s first birthday we held a party in her honor at the office this week. A combo affair, this. Micron’s fourth birthday is later this month. Sure ’nuff, we’re pet passionate folk here in the office and a dog’s birthday party is totally a socially acceptable kinda event.

And yes, people asked if this was a dog cake or people cake.
Hint: It’s a people cake. Really, you can trust me.

However, two dog parties in the same month teeters on that fine balance of Socially Acceptable and Crazy Dog Lady.

So only one party, but we’ll invite all co-workers and canine friends and make a big hairy deal out of it with cake and cookies and balloons and such.

It seemed like such a good idea.

Then as per invited, the dogs started showing up and it was kinda like six-year-olds at a pizza party. We human beans all took a step back as new stuffed toys were inspected for weaknesses then efficiently disemboweled. Squeakers nestled gently inside the polyester stuffing were pulled out and displayed proudly like the still beating hearts of their prey. As I waded through the white fiberfill stuffing to rescue canine digestive tracks from processing afore mentioned squeakers (he makes a funny sound when he farts, Doc), the various dog leashes became tangled about dog legs until Micron eventually became the official birthday piñata all prepped to hang by his ankles.

Euka shares Micron’s new toy with our VP of Canine
Communications, the esteemed Pawl Griffin.

I gotcha, Mike, I say. There, now go sit over here for a minute so I can pull Euka off of the company mascot.

But, the squeaky! cries Micron. It’s still in one of the toys! I have to get it out . . .

At this point, I’ll go ahead and admit it was my full intention to take lots of photos of the birthday action, including a group photo of Euka and Micron with their friends.

Didn’t happen. Actually, never even came close to achieving this lofty goal. Instead I have a full set of, wait just a sec and I’ll count . . . yeah, I got eighteen shots of Euka and Pawl Griffin that look more or less like a two player game of Twister (See photo above right.) Well, I suppose three players if you count the half stuffed hedgehog toy tossed about in the melee.

It’s easy to tell the people treats from the dog
treats, right? Right?

But you know what? It was an awesome time, really. A nice break in the office that enhanced our company culture in P&G Pet Care and we enjoyed watching the dogs as they wore themselves out in mindless play.

And having cake and cookies was icing on the . . . wait, I need another metaphor. Well, anyway it was another bonus for us humans to enjoy.

Oh and Reason #148 of why dog parties are better than kid parties.

No Skyler incident, thank dog. No need for a bucket brigade to recover from this party. I can pick up stuffing innards all day long, y’all.

This is a people cookie, too. But since I brought most of
it home, I prolly should have labeled it so. Hindsight and
all that.

Par-TEE … Par-TEE … Hey Food Lady, is it 2:00 yet?

Naw, I didn’t swallow a squeaker. Why?

______________
* Name changed, not necessarily to protect the kid’s identity, but mostly because I don’t remember his name. This was nearly twenty years ago, people. Ok, I’m just messing with you. I do remember his name and it wasn’t Skyler. But it does rhyme with it. Yeah, and I realize I really I need to get over this and move on, thank you.

The Ohio E’s celebrate their first birthday

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Donna Black-Sword

The Ohio E’s of the Canine Companions for Independence celebrated their first birthday on September 14, 2013. We’ve gotcha some photos of these amazing dogs on their special day for y’all to enjoy.

Let’s start with a shot of our cutie patooties at 8-weeks old, shall we?

Left to right: Ella, Everett, Emma, Euka

Then fasten your seatbelts for a fast forward another ten months to their one-year birthday. Same cuties, same stone bench.

Clockwise from top left: Emma, Euka, Ella, Everett

Ok, back in time again. Here’s Emma and Euka at their breeder caretaker’s house before they came to Ohio. Emma looks a bit distressed at Euka’s antics, right?