Catching Up

Hey there! Sorry it's been awhile but things have been fairly quiet in Rosendog land. I'm also experiencing technical difficulties with my tablet, the tool I use to write Ray of Life. I HATE technical difficulties and nothing I do seems to fix this particular problem, so I avoided the issue until I could think of a work around. I've downloaded an app for the blog, this is the test run so we'll see how it goes.

Anyhow, as I was saying, dog-wise it's been fairly quiet. Then this weekend happened. Jason took the critter feeding tray down because Ray became obsessed with jumping and grabbing the tray with her mouth. We were worried she'd hurt herself and eventually the tree, so down it came. Of course the jumping hasn't stopped, she is actually jumping even higher! But there's less jumping overall, so that's good.

A water lily was sitting next to the pond for re-potting after the koi dug it up. Ray thought the plant would make a good snack and while she didn't eat much, it was enough to warrant checking the toxic plants lists. Opinions vary on the toxicity of water lilies so we opted for the watch and wait method. I did check my phone to make sure the animal poison hot line was still listed, just in case. So far, so good, although there was that nasty mess she rolled in...not sure what it was, but Ray managed to find and roll in something gross in the yard and required a bath first thing Sunday morning. That was pleasant.

Ray didn't escape the weekend unscathed. She got her ear pinched under the rocking chair Saturday night. Poor baby! It was quite the little injury and we learned that ears bleed profusely. Jason put styptic powder on it and it stopped. That powder burns a bit, but Ray was a trooper through it all and hasn't bothered her wound at all. Such a good girl...sometimes!

A Toothy Tale

We've been fortunate enough to share our lives with 9 great dogs through our nearly 20 years together. Never had to worry about one chewing through our hardwood floors until now. No. 10 is proving to be a challenge as we deal with endless teething. Hopefully we're nearing the end of it though.

During Ray's last vet visit (puppy shots are done, yay!) we learned that she had not lost her baby canines although her big girl teeth are coming in. No wonder it felt like a barracuda had a hold of us-she had four extra pointy teeth up front! Well I'm happy to report that three of the four teeth have fallen out in the last week or so. Hopefully the fourth will fall out on its own as well and soon.

Ray's like a goat in the fact that she will climb on and eat just about anything. I spent a couple of hours this weekend cleaning up the yard from her scavenging and chewing activities, among other things. And the other night I pulled a tack out of her mouth. Where she found it I can't be sure, just so glad I got it out before she swallowed it! I'm constantly washing my hands from pulling things out of her mouth on a regular basis.

On a positive note: our not-so-little Sillybutt has decided it's not so bad hanging around her people. She sat next to me for a few minutes while I was writing before moving to her favorite spot on the floor.

Sillybutt on Ice

If I haven't expressed how much Raylene likes the cold, let me just cover that now - my dog is a yeti. Ray LOVES cold weather, it seems like the colder the better. She wants to stay out and play long after everyone else has come in. It doesn't matter if the wind's blowing, it's dark or snowing, Ray's out there entertaining herself, or if she's lucky, playing with Magi.

The top of our backyard pond has frozen more than usual this winter due to the unseasonably cold weather we've been experiencing. Raylene can't get enough of the ice! We've given up trying to keep her off of it. She lays on it, leaps onto it and digs at it.

But her favorite thing is to frolic with sweet gum balls - yes, the pointy, brown, pain in the butt castoffs from my neighbor's sweet gum trees. Lieu loves to chew on them as well, but never have I seen him prance and dance with them the way Ray does, especially across the ice! It's absolutely magical to watch at night under the lights, but of course I couldn't get any video of that. Too bad the Olympic figure skating trials are already over, Ray would definitely take the gold!

I have visions of her falling through the ice and having to scoop her out or worse, but it's worth the worry to watch her have so much fun. Jason assures me that she's safe, the ice is plenty solid. And when it does start melting, he breaks it up to discourage Puppy Shackleton from exploring. Then she has a grand time trying to grab chunks of ice from the pond and running around the yard with it.

The pack and their people enjoyed a beautiful day in the backyard yesterday,  taking advantage of the 60 degree day among all of the bitterly cold ones. There was plenty of chase, wrestling and stick chewing to be had. Ray also worked on her tunnel to China in the digging pit and found her way to the top of the compost bin to bark at the neighborhood dogs. Such a busy, busy girl. I took advantage of the warm weather by giving the yard a thorough poop scooping. Such is the glamorous life of a super dog mom.