Gift Bag!

My box arrived from Sweet William the Scot from winning his Name that Song game!  I would like to thank him for hosting such a cool game!  I had a lot of fun playing!

Here we are - such a good Stay!

A rope toy!!  I love it!!

A little treat for each of us!

And a close up of our Blue Diamond bag.  Just lovely!

Thank you again, thank you again!  I love it all!!

And, we want to take a moment to pray for those who innocently lost
their lives eleven years ago today.  We will not forget. 

August Barkbox!

Our August Barkbox arrived!!!

Someone was very excited about this slingshot toy!

We got some tasty treats and body spray too!

Right, like I said, this is supposed to be a slingshot toy.

We'll see if she'll let us play with it like that any time soon!

Two months of Barkbox, and we are nothing but pleased!

Finn-Speak

This is Finn speak for "Give me the Bobble"

(...since it is filled with treats)

We say she learned this out of The Golden Handbook.

You guys have things you do out of your handbook?

Finn's Chompers

She makes me laugh for a couple of reasons...

- I have to hold the hoof-thing for her.
- While she is laying down in her night-time sleeping place
- And look at those chompers!

Oh, Finn!

My Christmas Morning

First, Momma turned on a movie and it played allllllll dayyyyyyy longggg....

Then she brought out a gift baggie just for me!

A card from the Big Guy himself!!!  On rawhide!!  He does exist!

What's this?

A snowman?  That squeaks?

To the pillow!!

There's more?!

To the pillow again!

Yes, I love them all!

More?  Oh, those are for Momma and Pops...

I'll just nosh on my card...

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas filled with squeakie toys and extra treats!

Show Us Your Treat Jar & Christmas Card Exchange

After I made my rant about the Kong ball, 

I did finally go out and buy the treats that would fit.  

And Finn loves it.

Sorry about that Kong, can we still be friends?

So, we don't have a treat jar, we keep all of Finn's treats in their baggies on top of the fridge.  Sometimes when we are in the kitchen, poor Finn will glance up to the fridge...and then to us....and then to fridge...

Today we will be dropping off a bag of the treats to our local shelter, in support of Cybersibes' show us your treat day!  Even though Finn just found these treats two weeks ago, she jumps around when she sees the ball coming up and tries to gobble up those treats as quickly as possible!

And, don't forget about our Christmas Card Exchange!  If you LOVE mail and you want to get involved in the action, see the directions here!

Momma's FAIL

I was so busy buying pressies and making cakes for a certain dog's birthday 

last week, that in the midst of it, I made an epic FAIL.

One of the gifts I bought for Finn was this

The folks who bought it raved about it!  Their dogs begged them to fill it up and 

let them play with it.  So, I went for it.  When it came, I stuffed it with our usual treats, but since we're still using puppy sized treats, they fell out too easily,

 as in - fell out before I even put the ball on the floor.  

FAIL on Momma's part for buying a toy before looking for the matching treats!!!

I went to the pet store and tried to size up bone-shaped treats that would fit into the little slot and found these:

Look, perfect bone size, seemed like a healthy natural product.  And all the Kong treats I looked at in the pet store weren't bone shaped.  And therefore, I incorrectly surmised, would not fit into the bone shaped holes in the ball.

These treats I bought in the store are just small enough that they fall out a little too easily too.  Like one push with the paw and one roll of the ball and the treat is out.  

Then I went back and looked at the picture online and saw that I'm just supposed to 

buy the Kong-shaped Kong treats and stuff them sideways into the 

bone-shaped holes in the ball.  

Ughghghhggg.  Ever notice that what seems like a good idea at that instant moment in time never really turns out to be a good idea?  

I'm making three trips to the pet store for this stupid ball!  FAIL!  And, when I bought the proper treats, and tried them out in the ball, it took Finn all of about five minutes to get them out.  FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Momma's rant is over now.  We'll go back to our regularly scheduled programming of cute Finn pictures and stories next time.  She just had to let that all out.  Thank you.

More? In the Orphanage, You Want More?!

It's like we never feed her!  They are for you silly!  Oh Finn, it's a rough life you have there. 

Thank you for your comments on our last walking post.  The next time we go for a walk in a new place, I'll try to pause more and have some different treats available so it's a little more fun!  And, we'll obviously let you know how it all goes!

Toy Aerial

I spy...with my little eye...

Dad's sock, the best toy of all!

One squeaky toy, two rings, two bones, a kong, the pig's foot, a ball....

What the heck goes on down here while we're sleeping upstairs?!?

Bobbing for Ice Cubes

Watching Ice and Coco relentlessly talk about their new reality show gave me the idea a few weeks ago to give Finn some ice every now and then again to cool off.  Then today, I decided to make her work for it.  I mean, I did spoil her rotten yesterday morning when we went shopping...

Poor clown squeakie toy - he doesn't know how he wound up wedged in the corner like that.

As an aside, notice the little bench we have to serve Finn on?  That's so she won't dip her feet in her water bowl.  My kitchen floor doesn't notice the difference, since Finn slobbers extra water all over the floor, but at least she doesn't tip her toes in the bowl!

AND, this is Finn's first public video - the Howards promise to work on the background conversations, so in the future,  Finn's public can focus just on her!!  :)

Gotta Go Shopping!

I was so excited when Sarge told me about the doggie-swap happening over at Wyldechild's blog.  I just thought it was such a great idea!  And then I was even more excited when I found out that I had been paired up with Sarge - I mean, did you check out his video for the peeps-on-parade winner?!?  This doggie is pretty awesome, which I am sure you all know already!

I took Finnie shopping so we could create a great care package.  I figured it's time to make Finn as much of a pro at shopping as I am, so I let her tell me which things Sarge would like best...

It's actually kind of funny, because there was obedience training happening at the same time at the other end of the store, and I am walking around with Finn taking pictures of her sniffing out the good stuff!  I think the dogs-in-training were a little jealous.

And then I felt some guilt when a salesperson told me that it must be hard to say no to Finnie, given how cute she is and all.  (*Sigh*, it's a tough life for Finn)  I mean, I couldn't take her shopping for another doggie without letting her pick up some stuff for herself, right?  So, I wound up buying some new things for her too - - 

And now we're off to drop the swap-box in the mail and enjoy another glorious spring Saturday here!  Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Bully Sticks

She loves them!  And who can resist that face?

I was getting a little concerned about how many rawhide chewsticks I gave Finn.  I know there's a heavy debate about whether or not dogs should even have chewsticks, so I started to learn about bully sticks.  They are all natural and approved by the FDA, so I thought I would try them.  Finn loves them.  She can munch on them for an hour at a time, but there are some down points:

- They are a little on the pricey side.  An 18 inch bully stick will cost $8 at my local Petco.  

-  They let off a bit of an odor.  It's nothing rancid, but they do smell a bit.  Finn also needs a ton of water afterwards.

- They are tough for Finn to get her mouth around.  I usually have to hold it for her to get her started, and then she'll take it from me when she's ready to lay down (meaning, she's tired of standing while munching)

All that said, I wouldn't stop buying them.  Finn loves them, and how can I say no to that face?

That will re-harden once she stops munching.