Food Obsessed

I haven't really ever talked much about Kale on here, because, well, he is the second. And that is just the way things go. Here is a list of things you need to know about him...

1. He loves food. Probably more than anything else.
2. He loves to swim.
3. He loves to run.
4. He loves to go to doggie daycare and play with his friends.
5. He understands that Kabo is the alpha.
6. He loves to snuggle.
7. He loves to "play" with Sampson, and Sampson often "plays" back.

The reason why I got Kale when I did was because I knew that Kabo was getting older and I wanted to have another dog that had all of his good attributes. Kabo doesn't run away when off leash, stays in our yard, knows a bunch of tricks like sit and down and wave, and generally knows when to leave a person alone. (If you pet him, he will be your best friend. If you don't look at him, he'll have nothing to do with you. For at least a few minutes. He does eventually try to win over even the hardest of non-dog-loving hearts.) Everyone who knows Kabo loves Kabo. And I knew that I would be raising this new dog in a totally different environment than we raised Kabo. I know that I wasn't solely responsible for his awesome-ness, so I knew that I needed help with a puppy.

When I went to get Kale, there were still six other puppies left out of the twelve in his litter. I was able to witness feeding time, and it was basically a black puppy eating frenzy. They were polite, no growling or such, but pretty much went in a circle around the bowl, perfectly synchronized, scarfing down as much food as they possibly could before any of the other puppies got more than their fair share. The first time I met him, the breeder brought him up from the kennel area and I attempted to see if he liked me. Because really, I liked him, he was a puppy, what was there NOT to like? But he seemed more interested in what was in the kitchen than me or any affection I might give him. He was sniffing at the counter and didn't want to be anywhere near the living room, where we were sitting on the floor. When we took him outside, the story completely changed, and that is why I chose him to come home with me...because he chose me.

Now, a year and a half later, Kale's favorite room of the house is still the kitchen. When the kids eat at the bar, he is positioned between them, staring up, just waiting for something to fall. He considers the chairs fair game if the food doesn't make it into the girls' mouths, and willingly cleans them off, whether the girls were going to eat that bite or not. When we eat together as a family, and especially when we have guests, I have to put him in the laundry room, because he literally cannot help himself. He knows that he shouldn't beg, yet he inches closer and closer to the table until you look down and his nose is right next to the hand which is holding your fork.

I've tried making him stay in a certain place, but to be honest, it is a lot of work. I have just a couple of minutes to eat my food as it is, and spending that time taking him back to the same spot over and over just isn't what I am generally in the mood for at 6pm. I used to crate him, but wow, he was really annoying with the crying. I have also since taken the crate down. So we deal with it. To the laundry room it is, unless his manners are working for him that day and he doesn't annoy me too much.

I feel like I should mention that no matter what brand of food, nor how much he gets, he always. wants. more. He gets almost four cups of food a day, which is more than the recommended amount on the bag, and that amount is for un-sterilized animals who have higher metabolisms. So yeah, he isn't starving. Around five o'clock, him and Kabo start to stare me down and follow me around, just so I won't forget to feed them. Not that I ever forget to feed them, OK, maybe just once.

Sam and Charlie LOVE to help feed the dogs. Charlie especially. She sees me pick up the dog bowls and she'll scream at me and cry if I don't let her put at least one of them down. She is very serious about the whole matter, s-l-o-w-l-y leaning down to put dishes in their designated spots. Since she loves to feed the dogs, I suppose it is only natural that she also loves to play in the dog food. Kale's food is in a container on the landing in our garage, which means that Charlie can just wander out there anytime she wants and attempt to pry it open. Usually she can't. The other day she could.

What followed was an experiment I had been wanting to try, but couldn't find enough excuses to do so. Charlie filled up one of the dog bowls to the very top, almost perfectly level. She then "accidentally" dumped it out onto the floor. It was probably eight or ten cups of food, and Kale heard it hit the ground. He was cautious at first, looking at me since I had let out a loud exasperated "Charlie!" when I heard the food spill. I looked at the food, then at Kale, he looked at me, then at the food, and I sighed and said, "OK." He dove.

He didn't have the same desperate drive to get all the food in his mouth as quickly as possible, especially since I think he knew I wasn't about to sweep it all up. But that damn dog ate every last kernel of dog chow that was scattered across the floor. He thoroughly checked underneath the refrigerator and obediently allowed Kabo to have a few bites when he approached, and I was so relieved that I didn't have to sweep up yet another mess.

But it just confirmed what I thought, if I accidentally left the top of the tub open, he probably would eat the whole damn thing. The first six months of Kabo's life I could barely get him to eat half of what was recommended, and even since then, he's never been so worried that he won't get fed. Kale, I guess it is just that survival instinct kicking in...eat as much as you can while it is there. Even if you know more is coming in 12 hours. I supposed that is juts one of the downfalls of being one of twelve.  

June Update

After being gone from blogging for so long, you would think that I am just bottled up with all sorts of things I need to tell you guys. And really, I AM! I just don't remember ANY of them at the current moment. I wish I could narrate a blog while driving, because honestly, that is where I come up with my best shit.

Speaking of shit, that is all I can think about right now. I'm really not one to go into detail about poop, OK well, my poop. (My kids...that is an entirely different story.) But let's just say that I am at work and I had Chipotle for lunch (YUM!) and my colon is reminding me that perhaps that was just not the best idea.

Workaholic and I went to Puerto Rico last month with another couple. And you know what? We had a great time! OK, so we didn't get wasted, and it rained a lot. But we sat on the beach and played in the ocean and went to the rain forest and I ate lobster. And some guy driving past us in a car randomly told us to fuck off. I would totally show you a picture except I put all of them onto my crappy desktop at home and I can't get them off. So there is that.

Kale is doing well. He is very tall and gangly. And I've been taking him to doggie day care once or twice a week. Which is a gift from heaven. Because he runs out to the car afterwards and CAN. NOT. WAIT. to get home and take a nap. Yes! He walks very well on leash (usually) and can sit. He knows what "kennel up" means, and generally has pretty good house manners. And he only has an accident every once in while.

But yeah...I haven't taught him any cool tricks. Which is to say that I haven't taught him any tricks.  By this age, Fonz was a friggin' champ at stay, but poor Kale's training sort of falls to the bottom of my list. That and I feel like unless he picks something up right away, I am a failure at training. Which is total crap. But I keep telling myself that I will do it tomorrow. And I will. I promise. He'll know how to lie down, and stay, and shake, and shake it out, and roll over, and take a bow with the BEST of them. Soon, I promise.

Did you notice that SUMMER IS HERE!!!?? OMG!! It was almost a hundred degrees here this week, but today I don't even think that it is 70. And rain. OMG, the rain. My yard is a forest because the poor grass hasn't been mowed. BUT STILL! Summer is here!!

Since summer is here, my usually busy life has gained momentum and switched into high gear. We spend much of our free time at the cottage, and Workaholic spends more free time than he has renovating our new cottage. We picked out tile last night, so we are SO CLOSE. It will still be the end of July, if we are lucky, before it is done. 

And here is where I get spoiled and whiny...I miss my husband. Yes, he is spending 6 months working his ass off (as are his brother and his dad) in order to give us a kick-ass place to vacation. And it will be awesome. But these have been some of the hardest months of my life. I have a house to take care of, and two kids, and two dogs, and a cat. Plus a full-time job. And I have more help than I care to admit. But all of that can't replace my dear, sweet, wonderful Workaholic.  (can you tell I haven't seen him much??)

There have been times when he has been gone for a week, or more. And it is definitely not unusual for me not to see him for 3-4 days a time. Talking on the phone is hard, because he is so busy, and when he isn't running, he is dead asleep. We've communicated mostly by texting lately. Let me just say that Puerto Rico was a bit of a life saver.

And the girls...oh my, the girls. Charlie is crawling now. Which is awesome since I am not the one responsible for watching her all day. She is going to be the type of kid to see what happens when she sticks her finger in a light socket. Actually, she has already tried. She has not yet fallen down the stairs, but really, just give her time.

Sam is turning into quite the older sister. By that I mean the bossy independent LETMEDOIT older sister. She know knows how to open the door, and last week decided that she wanted to go for a walk. And be damned if she was going to wait for anyone to go with her. I wish I would've taken a picture of her strolling down the sidewalk, away from our house, pushing her miniature pink Graco baby stroller. By herself. Last weekend, on more than one occasion, she decided to go visit the neighbors. So she did. She waltzed right over, and went into the house, and opened the fridge, and demanded orange juice. Then she went into someone's purse and found a piece of gum and their iPhone. Because that is how she rolls.

I know that Sam is just a typical toddler. Perhaps even an "easy" toddler. But for goodness sake. Some days I wish she understood when I say, "Child, when I tell you that you cannot have a juice box, that DOES NOT MEAN go grab a juice box and sneak off into the garage to drink it. And I am sorry that you are afraid of the potty, but in all seriousness, you can CHANGE YOUR OWN DIAPER. Please start pooping on the toilet! It would make all of our lives just a tad bit easier."

I am not bragging, but Sam is super smart. She need only see how something is done once and she can figure it out. She can shower by herself and offers to help me out in the bathroom. (Let's just say that when she "becomes a woman" she will have no problem knowing what to do with a tampon.) She is also quite adept at taking the lid off of her sippy cup. No matter how tight it is screwed on. Normally, this is not a problem. But the other day she went to take a swig of milk that must have been in her bed for a couple of days (yes...I allow my daughter to sleep with a sippy cup of milk, oh the HORROR!) and of course the milk had curdled. So she takes off the lid and pours it out onto her bed. Thanks...I needed to wash the sheets anyway. And after re-reading that story, it occurs to me that maybe she isn't super smart if she tries to drink 2 day old milk.

Charlie is becoming the tough younger sister that she needs to be. She recently fell and whacked her head pretty hard. A couple of days later she fell while crawling and hit her head on the corner of the kitchen cabinet in the exact middle of the goose egg on her forehead. And she didn't even cry. That's my girl. She is a happy little girl, in that awesome stage of becoming her own little person. Kind of like with Kale, we haven't worked with her on all the fun baby tricks you teach your oldest kid. She sort of waves bye-bye, but she doesn't know "so big!" yet. She does have fake coughing down though. And she thinks it is the funniest thing ever. She is only about 4 lbs less than Sam, so I definitely look forward to the day where she takes her big sister DOWN.

I know there is much more I could ramble on and on about. Our new K is working out well, although I do miss my old K. I think that I always will, but at least now I can think about her without tearing up. We haven't Skyped yet, but I hope to figure that out this weekend.

I promise to try to be better about blogging. (If any of you are still out there reading this.) There are lots of rants that I want to post sometimes, but am afraid of hurting someone's feelings. So there is that. Or maybe I'll just stop caring and give ya'll something to talk about.

Fun, Sun, and Puppies??

For the past 32 years or so, I have been very conflicted. I can never make up my mind about anything. And when I do, and I am set on a decision, it often turns out to not be the best one.

For example, we went to Mexico for our honeymoon. I was set on a room where you could walk out to the pool. No changing my mind. We get there and the room smelled like mildew. We didn't complain or make them switch rooms, so every time we came back from somewhere it hit us again. Bad decision. (That being said, I was also set on NOT going to Mexico for our honeymoon, and let someone change my mind. Should have stuck to my guns.) After talking to a couple of people, I found out that a lot of the poolside rooms on the first floor had this problem.

I can't think of any other really good examples right now of where I should have not listened to my gut, but I know there are tons in my past. The reason why I am bringing this up now, is that there are a couple of things I would like to do, but can't decide if I should or not. And if I do, am I making the right decision? And if it is wrong, will it just be another example of how I am an idiot?

Firstly, we are looking at taking a vacation. My friend at work was looking at deals on resorts and found this one in Puerto Rico, and mentioned it to us. My other friend mentioned it to her husband, who did all the research and really wants to go. But she is kind of iffy on leaving her kids. So I mention to Workaholic that she wants us to go on vacation with them, and he has decided that we are going. Which sounds great, right? But it is still going to cost money, and then I think that maybe for that much money, where else could we go and have more fun? Is this resort the one we want to go to? Are there any others for as good a deal or are better? Should we go someplace where the airfare is less and we can get a direct flight? See my dilemma??

The other thing I cannot make a decision on is actually a major life change. Getting another dog. I am not sure I am up for it, but I also would really like a younger dog to keep Fonz healthy and active, as well as hope that he can impart some of his wisdom on the new addition. Plus, I have realized since Sampson joined the house that I love it when the dog, cat, kids, and boy are all together and we are one big happy family. Another dog would just make us a little bigger and happier. But here are my issues...

I want a Flat-Coat Retriever. I saw them first while watching the Westminster Club dog show a few years ago. They look like Fonz, but black. And the AKC standard for their character is this...


As a family companion he is sensible, alert and highly intelligent; a light-hearted, affectionate and adaptable friend. He retains these qualities as well as his youthfully good-humored outlook on life into old age. The adult Flat-Coat is usually an adequate alarm dog to give warning, but is a good-natured, optimistic dog, basically inclined to be friendly to all.

The Flat-Coat is a cheerful, devoted companion who requires and appreciates living with and interacting as a member of his family. To reach full potential in any endeavor he absolutely must have a strong personal bond and affectionate individual attention.

Umm...sound like anyone we know???? (hint...his name is Fonz)

Let me be clear...I am not getting a replacement dog. I am not preparing myself for the inevitable day that my Fonz leaves me for the Rainbow Bridge. I simply believe that I am a good home, and now is a good time to add to our family, in the furry friend sense. (as opposed to the two-legged variety)

However, last month, I stumbled across a website of a breeder that I had found a few years ago and realized that she has a litter planned for this year, puppies would be ready in April. Perfect timing!! And then I called her...

Basically, she told me that since I have 2 small children and do not have a fenced in yard, I would be a terrible home. She was afraid that my children would "traumatize" a puppy. And she somehow got in her head that I am anti-invisible fence, since Fonz is boundary trained and doesn't require fencing of any kind to stay in his yard. (Yes, I realize this sounds unbelievable, but he is. I would be more than happy to install invisible fencing at our home. And at the cottage.) This woman made me cry and also made me afraid to contact any other breeders.

But let me tell you something...I am a KICK ASS home. Here is why...

1) Someone is home all day. Either me or the girls' caregiver. (Who happens to love dogs, and puppies) Not many people can say that. Who aren't stay-at-home moms. With small children. Who can traumatize puppies by touching them.

2) I used to teach puppy kindergarten. Which means that I know all about clicker training and positive reinforcement, as well as STRONGLY believe in puppy kindergarten as well as agility and other obedience classes to increase the bond between dog and owner. Oh yeah, Fonz is an AKC Canine Good Citizen as well. And, I am still in contact with my old trainer. Even though I moved away. So any questions could easily be answered with an e-mail or phone call.

3) I used to do agility with Fonz. And I would like to with this new dog, seeing as how Fonz has arthritis that I don't want to aggravate by having him jump all the time.

4) I would also like to train this new dog to be a therapy dog, to use with children. Oh wait...will children in hospitals traumatize a well-trained adult dog??

5) We have a cottage. On a lake. That we go to EVERY weekend. With friends who not only LOVE dogs, but love MY dog. Who think that my dog is kick-ass. And awesome. And think that I deserve all the credit for making him as well-behaved and awesome as he is. (BTW...I do.)

6) I have a big yard, both at home and at the lake. While it is true that neither yards are fenced, and cannot be, I believe in responsible dog ownership as well as safety, and would install an underground fence to keep my new dog safe.

7) When I go on vacation, I don't board my dogs. I have family or friends take care of them. Sounds like such a small thing, but it is just an example of how I take care of my pets.

8) My best friend? Is a vet. As in veterinarian. As in...I have a vet on-call should anything terrible happen. (you know, with the small children) Even if my best friend wasn't a vet, the clinic where I take Fonz and Sampson know me because I take such good care of my pets. Bi-annual blood work, x-rays to check for arthritis and hip dysplasia, and yearly dentals. Again, I am awesome.

So Gail, you ask...you seem to have the utmost confidence in yourself and why wouldn't you just contact another breeder to see if you can get a Flat-Coat from them?

Here is my response to that...I am not even sure I should get a purebred dog. I know all about the bill in Missouri that shuttered the doors to hundreds, if not thousands of (puppy mill) breeders. There are millions of dogs out there that need a home as awesome as mine. And I have even found a couple online that I am not entirely opposed to meeting.

I am afraid, however, of getting a rescue that I cannot make my own. Who may come with their own special set of issues that I cannot change. And I know it is silly, and Jennifer would kill me for saying it, but I just feel in my heart that getting a puppy where I can start from scratch is the best for me and my family.

That being said, this breeder traumatized me. And I am scared of being told NO again. I know that Flat-Coats are not just black Golden Retrievers. I truly believe that Fonz has the heart and personality of a Flat-Coat more than he does of a Golden. That (and health) is the most important to me. I think that getting another Golden would just set me up for disappointment.

Flat-Coat breeders are like many other breeders of lesser-known pure bred dogs, notoriously protective of their dogs. Not that this is a bad thing. Unless you are a good home who is being told no.

With all that out...my other fear is that I am inherently lazy. Would I really do what it takes to make a new puppy a great dog?

For that answer to that, I can thank my parents.

They bred into me the fear of doing something wrong.

I know how high the stakes are for proper training and early socialization. And so I know that I would do what it takes. Getting up early, forsaking an hour or two of sleep to go to class or take a walk. Or run. Maybe this dog will get me to run. Maybe this dog will inspire me to get into shape.

Here is my utmost fear...that I will make the wrong decision. That I go through the process of finding a good breeder and getting a puppy and realizing it was somehow a mistake. Or that I decide to get a rescue and wish that I had gone with a puppy. My past experience with myself where I set my mind to something seems to lead only in disappointments. A trip doesn't go as planned, weekend plans have to be changed due to unavoidable circumstances, or an afternoon shopping trip has to be aborted. (Yes, the last thing can and has ruined my day...of course, that was pre-Pristiq.) I think I just get my hopes so high that things will go the way that I want, and I am not sure how to handle it if they don't.

I have wanted another dog for years. For the first time in a long time, I am looking seriously at the possibility. I have done my research on Flat-Coats, reading books and websites and going to the IKC dog show in Chicago to talk to breeders. I just wish that I had the confidence to make a decision and stick with it and be confident that it is the right decision. I am not exactly sure where I am going with all of this, as I say in many of my blog posts. Any suggestions? What should I do, dear readers??? Help a girl out!

A Little Knowledge Goes a Long Way

I received this in an e-mail from a woman who spends every waking moment trying to save dogs' lives. She is a Transport Coordinator for several rescues across the country...in layman's terms, she begs people on a weekly basis, every week, to help get dogs in need from one part of the country to the other. Sometimes the trip is from Kentucky to Chicago, most times it is much, much further. This article was posted on craigslist, even if you don't have a dog/cat, and never intend on getting one, please speak up if you hear a friend or co-worker or random person at the mall saying that they are going to dump their pet at the shelter. Or encourage people to rescue instead of buying. This article is not an exaggeration...don't fool yourself.

I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will. First off, all of you people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would stop flagging the ads on craigslist and help these animals find homes. That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it’s dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses: "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".

Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.

If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal and making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.

Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down". First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 shelter workers depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a shelter worker who we call a euthanasia tech (not a vet) find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. You see shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks and don’t forget the board of directors needs to be paid too, so we don’t spend our funds to tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug, we just put the burning lethal drug in the vein and let them suffer until dead. If it were not a “making money issue” and we had to have a licensed vet do this procedure, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and then euthanized, but to do this procedure correctly would cost more money so we do not follow what is right for the animal, we just follow what is the fastest way we can make a dollar. Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia’s so even if it takes our employee 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get the vein that is what we do. Making money is the issue here not losing money.

When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? Or used for the schools to dissect and experiment on? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right!

I hope that those of you who still have a beating heart and have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head, I deal with this everyday. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and start educating the public. Do research, do your homework, and know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet. These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore. Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they are these days. Animal shelters are an easy way out when you get tired of your dog (or cat), and breeders are the ones blamed for this. Animal shelters and rescue organizations are making a hefty profit by keeping this misconception going. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about taking their dog to a shelter, a humane society, or buying a dog. For those of you that care--- please repost this to at least one other craiglist in another city/state. Let's see if we can get this all around the US and have an impact.

Woof

So Workaholic listens to the radio a lot, because he drives a lot. (sometimes, I think he drives just for the sake of driving, you know, to listen to the radio…because he drives that much) Anyway, he heard on the radio yesterday a story about someone who paid for the following experiment.

A researcher took 2 groups of dogs, and put them on opposite sides of a room. One group, the dogs were taught a trick using treats, and were continued to be given treats every single time they did the trick. The other group, the dogs were taught a trick using treats, and then the treats were abruptly stopped. The first group of dogs continued to do the trick every time they were asked, and the second group of dogs? Here’s the groundbreaking research that someone paid for…they eventually stopped doing the trick…once they realized that they would no longer get a treat.

Can you say NO SHIT??? Has this person ever owned a dog??? Maybe I should start “doing research” with my dog and my friend’s dogs and see how much we can get paid.

The other one that Workaholic found interesting, although again, for me, it was a huge DUH, was that dogs get offended. If you take two dogs, have them sit side-by-side, and have them perform the same trick, and only give one dog a treat, eventually, the second dog will become so offended that he will never perform that trick again. Hell, my dog gets offended if I ask him to get off of the bed. Doesn’t mean he won’t get back on the bed, but when he farts in my face and huffs his way down, I am pretty sure that I have hurt his feelings.

I don’t know who did this incredible research, or why, or why they didn’t just interview any dog owners, or ask to borrow their friend’s dogs, but I thought it was an interesting way to spend some money. Maybe the guy just wanted to play with dogs…in which case, I totally understand.


UPDATE on yesterday’s post: My best friend Drew Brees lost last night, in overtime, by a stupid field goal. Which means that my other Purdue pride-and-joy, Kyle Orton, won last night. What amazed me when watching the game is that it is obvious that Drew just throws the football too damn hard, because no one on his team can catch it, even if it is thrown directly to them. My favorite part of the game though, was afterwards, they showed Drew and Kyle talking, and then there was Joe Tiller!! Don’t get me wrong, I think Joe should have moved to Wyoming a couple of years ago, but all Purdue fans should be proud of where the program was when he got there and where he took it. So…if anyone finds or sees the picture on the internet of Drew and Joe and Kyle that was taken after the game by someone (I saw it being taken on TV) can you pass it on?? It’s got to be a pretty cool picture…and I want one. So thanks!!