Happy Halloween

This is so humiliating...

Well, our Halloween costume parade got rained out over the weekend, and I have been summonsed for jury duty today, so luckily for Finn, she will not have to wear her costume too long today.  Pops certainly isn't going to make her wear it!  But, I think she looks so cute, don't you?

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!

Christmas Card Exchange!

Who's ready to get into the holiday spirit??  I'm helping out Jazzi's Momma this year in organizing a Christmas Card Exchange.  If you'd like to be a a part of it, please sit your human down and have them send us an email.

If you live in a state A-L, send your full name, blog, snail mail address, and email address to Hound Dog's momma at hounddogmom(dot)jeakins(at)gmail(dot)com.

If you live in a state M-Z, send your full name, blog, snail mail address, and email address to my momma at marianne(dot)d(dot)howard(at)gmail(dot) com

If you live outside the USA, send your full name, blog, email address and snail mail address to Schnauzer Day's momma at schnauzerdays(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

We're including email addresses in case you'd like to keep it green this year!  Also, we are welcoming all types of holiday cards in the exchange, so if your peeps celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Festivus, you can participate!

Our deadline is November 19th!  Make sure to send us your info by then.  The master list will be sent to you by November 21st.  And no worries, we will not be sharing your emails or home addresses for any other purposes.

Have fun!

Wordless Wednesday

To My Hubby

Happy Anniversary to my hubby, who checks on Finn's blog regularly.  I love you.

Here we are on our wedding day...

... and at a stop on the Ring of Kerry on our honeymoon.

Just wonderful memories of this time...two years ago...sharing this special day with family and friends and then traveling around Ireland together for a couple of weeks.  

All pre-Finn.  :)  

Home Improvement

Last week we mounted railings for our staircase.  Finn did not approve!  Look at that face!

We're guessing she'll be a lot happier when we get the stairs carpeted - 

a change she can actually munch on!

The Underbite

When we first went to pick up Finn, we were told that we would never be able to show her because of her severe underbite.  Not that we had any intention of ever showing her, but I always remember the point the woman made about showing us her teeth.  We can see her underbite when she's relaxing sometimes, and it just makes us giggle.

Nothing like Finn being Finn.  Love you girl!

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.

The IQube

I wanted to share our experiences with Finn's new toy.  I bought this IQube after some of you fine folks suggested Finn's brain needed a little stimulating while we were at work.  My one concern about buying it was that some of the reviewers said it was too easy for their dogs, but I figured we'd give it a try...

We introduced Finn to the game, showed her each ball, that they all squeaked and that we were putting them in the cube.  We did this about three times.

So, at first, Finn just brought it around from room to room.

Then she gnawed at the openings where she was supposed to be 

digging for the squeaky balls.

Then she tried to push the balls out of the slots instead of trying to pull them out.

Then she almost gave up.

Then at last, a small victory!  One of the balls is out.  I can't really foresee Finn ever trying to get the other balls free while she can squeak and play with one.  I even started to hide the one ball she got out so she would go dig for the others, but she caught on to me.  She loves the munching and the digging in something new though and she hasn't destroyed it yet, so everyone is pleased!

Birthday Cake Recipe

Now, I'm not one for cooking.  I honestly can't believe that I searched for, found, shopped for and baked a birthday cake for my Finn.  But, it was so unbelievably easy and she loved it.  I mean LOVED it.  After we gave her a piece, she climbed back on top of the stove to eat the rest out of the pan.

Here it is...Doggie Birthday Cake

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup shredded carrots
1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda together.  Separately mix the honey, peanut butter, carrots and egg and then combine with the dry ingredients.  Pour into a round 8 inch pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I'm ONE!

Here's the cake Momma made!

Here I am about to tackle my new toy!

Here's the ridiculous birthday princess head band they made me wear!

I have a feeling it's going to be a great weekend!

Rock-A-Bye Baby...

Yep, she falls asleep in Pop's lap...

It's World SMILE Day

Assessing the Situation

As most of you know, I am privileged  to be able to bring Finn with to work everyday.  It's wonderful therapy for not only me, but the rest of the office.  We go for some exercise in the morning, I bring squeaky toys and puzzle toys and treats in with me, we go for some shorter walks throughout the day.  Thing is, at some point throughout the day, she can be seen looking like this:

BORED.

Don't get me wrong, every day she can also be seen at some point like this:

NOT BORED.

But I get a little worried that she needs a little more stimulation throughout the week.  Any ideas?  I've been reading some articles on doggie boredom and activities you can do with them to keep them entertained, but they don't keep these things in mind: we're essentially indoors and in an old house, and you know, I'm at work, so I actually have to get work done during the day.  I'm just looking to switch it up a little...

This Video Is Called...

"No, actually, I'm not ready."

Let me watch tv, lady...

Finn Discovers a First Sign of Autumn

I'm looking forward to letting her run through piles of leaves, hopefully real soon...

A Blessing

Wow, today was an awesome day!  I knew this week would bring the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, so I was looking around for a church which would provide a service to bless all animals.  (St Francis is our patron saint of animals and ecology.)  Luckily we found a local church providing this service in a neighborhood not too far away, and we were happy to receive the blessing.  There were so many other dogs, some cats, some bunnies and some little ferrets there too!  And, in usual Finn fashion, she made a new friend, Reilly.

I think she was slightly confused about why we were in a yard with other dogs and we weren't letting her run free, but we did calm down after a little while.  That is, until the priest came over for the blessing itself, and Finn just wanted to play with him.  Sorry about that, Father.  He seemed to understand.

A great way to start morning, it made us feel great the rest of the day.