Ding-aling-aling

Yesterday Mommy noticed that Digby appeared to have an infection in his you-know-what. Off to the vet they went. Digby was all full of himself thinking that he got to have a car ride that us girls didn't get to go on. His tune quickly changed once he realized where he was headed. Mommy told Mom that Digby willingly walked into the office and waited patiently for Mommy to check him in then looked up at Mommy and said "OK we're checked in....let's go!" and body slammed the door to leave. Mommy convinced him to leave the door and get on the scale, which he did quite well. After he got weighed, he again looked at Mommy and said, "OK, we're checked in and you got my weight, now, really, let's go," and headed for the door again. The vet tech came out and called his name and Digby pulled all the harder to get to the door. Somehow, Mommy managed to get him into the exam room. The little man was patient while the tech took his temperature, though, he was not thrilled. The tech explained that she would have to take Digby into the sterile room so that the vet could get a better look at Digby's you-know-what as the vet suspects that perhaps Digby had a piece of foxtail or weed "in there (between the skin)". As the tech carried him away, he gave his most pitiful pleading look to Mommy. A little while later, Digby was brought back out and the tech explained that they flushed "it" out and gave Mommy some pills that are supposed to take away any infection. Today, Digby is feeling so much better. Sister and I were less that sympathetic with him because it's his own fault he got an infection there. When he was playing with the Pit Bull puppy across the street the other day, he kept that thing exposed.... yucky!

Atka Helped

Today was unseasonably cool for the first part of July here. It was in the low 80's, which Mom and Mommy just enjoy the heck out of. Mom had to meet with some mister about something to do with the Barkery and cross advertising. Mommy stayed home with us furkids and decided to take advantage of the great weather and do some weed pulling. At first, Mommy let all three of us stay in the house while she worked in the garden. But then she heard Atka barking and worried that maybe Atka needed to come outside to pee. When she got in the house, Bratka wasn't at the door, but in the living room harassing me trying to get me to play. Since I was still exhausted from yesterday's holiday festivities, I was having none of that. So Mommy decided that she needed some help in the garden and brought Bratka out with her.

Once outside, Atka pointed out green things that she thought maybe were weeds for Mommy to pull. She was bewildered when Mommy pulled some of them and left some alone, so Atka thought she would help by digging them out herself. When Mommy cut a couple of small branches off the hibiscus bush and jasmine, Atka thought that she would help by dragging them away for her. The problem, though, was that she was pulling them in the opposite direction of the green barrel that they were supposed to go into. Mommy just laughed and gave Atka a treat in trade for the branches. But Mommy decided that Atka had gone overboard in her helping when Atka decided to take the big chunks of mulch and break them up into smaller chunks with her mouth. So Mommy decided to abandon the weed pulling for another day and put our harnesses on us so we could go for a car ride when Mom came home. Where to you ask? Well, Starbucks of course ;-)

Happy Birthday America

Happy Fourth of July Celebration from our family to yours!!

Forever Friday's by Atka

I LOVE summer time. We are spending A LOT of time outside as a family, especially as the sun begins to set. Mommy says that is the only time of day when we can all tolerate being out for more than just a few minutes at a time, although everyone agrees that we've had a very mild summer so far (odd, Mom is going around knocking her head on wood for some reason!).

Anyhow, my parents were so excited tonight as they watched my sister, Prinnie, nibbling for an hour or more on a bone toy that belongs to Digby. I didn't see what the big deal was, but they were so proud of their oldest eskie because it was the first time that she had taken the chew toy and actually tried to eat the rings around it. I didn't dare cross the invisible line that would turn that cute eskie into 'Cybil', but I waited and watched patiently for her to take a break so I could make my move. She never did - the girl is a ninja. After an eternity, it grew dark, and mom bribed us in to the house with some treats.

As for me, I had a REALLY good day. I didn't have a single accident in the house, I didn't make anything crash to the ground and break, I didn't chew up anything I shouldn't have and when my parents came home after going out to dinner, my crate was clean and dry! They were so proud of me that they picked me up, and hugged and squished me. I got a few extra treats and tons of lovin's. All in all, it was a great week.

We hope you all enjoy a wonderful celebration for our country's birthday this weekend. We will be feasting and visiting with our neighbors for our "sometimes annual" neighborhood barbecue.

Family Day in the Mountains

Yesterday was a great family day. We packed a picnic lunch and headed to the mountains. I designated myself "Mommy's Little Helper" (obviously we'd be in a world of mess if I left it up to brother or Bratka), so it was my job to help set the picnic table up for our lunch, scout the perimeter of our area and sound the alarms if an intruder - human or animal - came within ear-shot of us. After having a very enjoyable afternoon (and Mommy giving us lots of treats as part of our training as another dog and humans did invade our area), we headed in to town to do some sight-seeing. Mom spotted a horse near the road; alone, yet majestic. She pulled over and took a picture of him for all of us to see. After a bit, we headed off the mountain and back to our abode.

A few minutes after getting home, we all smelled the smoke of a wild fire. Within minutes, it saturated our valley. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from, so we all loaded back into the car and headed out on an expedition to find the fire. Just as the sun was fading into the ocean, we saw dark billows of smoke rising from the mountains to our west. Today, all is clear, so Smokey the Bear must have thrown just enough buckets of water on it to save the forest for another day.

Forever Friday's by Atka

This past week was, for the most part, pretty uneventful. My "housetraining" has been a work in progress, but I DID go to the dooor today and barked to go out. Not long after that, I forgot my training and.....wooops.......!

One thing I did was help mommy plant an herb and veggie garden. We planted basil, garlic chives, oregano, two kinds of sage, dill, cilantro, two kinds of parsley, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, peas, and strawberrys. It's only been a week, but everything is growing really well!

Mom got out the dreaded grooming shears today and called out a name. I was off in a distance and couldn't hear who she called for. I was hoping that mommy was around to stop her madness before she got the idea to cut my beautiful fur. As I poked my head around the corner, I saw she had hold of my sister. Poor Prinnie. Mommy had made her promise that she would NOT touch my hair with those cutters, but apparently she didn't make the same promise for poor Froo (our nick-name for Prinnie). After a long time, Prinnie came in and...well.....hair grows back, right??

I guess it was a pretty busy week after all. Time for a nap!!!!!

Prinnie after mom got ahold of her with the grooming clippers!

My herb and veggie garden

The End!!

Coronado Island Beach ~ Fun in the Sun

Yesterday, we went to beach at Coronado Island. Mommy thought Atka might be a water dog and love the ocean, but she was a chicken. When the waves came crashing in, she ran just as fast as brother and I did. Shortly after a big wave came, a fighter jet flew right overhead (and almost scalped us, it was so low). That was it for Atka - she cried and cried and tried crawling into mommy's arms. She wouldn't leave mommy's side for one second after that ~ the scared-y dog! We all had a lot of fun though. After the beach, we went to the parents favorite Italian Restaurant in Pacific Beach for take out. It was our first time there as a family - we were good guard dogs for the restaurant. Here are some pictures of our day....

Forever Friday by Atka

It's been a busy week for me - the youngest eskie in our family!  Earlier this week, sister and I supervised the new neighbors moving in next door.  I gave them the rules of the neighborhood and shared my barking skills with their entire extended family and friends (mom is rolling her eyes in embarrassment).

Today, mommy left some very delicious Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips way far back on the desk where she thought I couldn't reach, but she was mistaken.  I became a girl on a mission for chocolate, and scored!  I ate all but two little morsels.  After I was done, I got to go for a car ride with mommy to the dog hospital.  The doctor gave me a shot and it made me vomit.  The doctor showed mommy, and said that the amount I ate was more than a lethal dose, but that she thought they "recaptured" most of it and I should be ok.  I still don't know what the big deal was about - the chocolate tasted really good!!

Mommy has been doing some training with me on the "Wait, Stay, Leave-It and Stop" commands.  I really don't see the sense in waiting when I can charge and bully my way to get what I want, but I'm going along with it so she doesn't cry.  I haven't done too well on my house training this week either, and my parents are pulling their hair out.  At this point, they'll be bald by July 4th!  I figure I'll get to it when I want to but right now, I have other things to focus on - like training the new neighbors, guarding my brother and sister, setting up car rides with the parents, and so on.

I would like to thank my Aunt Sue, Uncle Steve, and Cousins Siku Marie and Quinn Marie for giving me my two very own special bowls with my name on them.  One is for me to nose-plow and the other is for me to eat from.  I love them both, and I love my heart family.

Here are some pics of the week......Until Next Friday.......Love, Atka


PS:  Remember me telling you about the very special lady who adopted me, and then let me come back to my forever family?  Well, she adopted a really cute little boy eskie she named Bear, and they created their own blog called "Bear's Fur-st blog",  give them a shout out and thank her for saving another eskie baby!!  Click here to visit them!

Thank You Siku Marie and Quinn

My BFF, Siku Marie, her brother Quinn, along with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Steve are the kindest people I know. They sent my family gifts to celebrate my brother's "Gotcha day", Atka's "Welcome to our family" and me for...well....being so cute(????) - yea, that's it! They also sent my parents a beautiful friendship plaque that is now prominently displayed in our living room (and well out of reach of sister, who has no grace at all and would, while doing indoor zoomies, likely crash into it if it were accessible). We are the lucky ones to have them in our lives, and we thank them all from the bottom of our hearts and paws!

Bzzzzzzzzzzz Cuts

Today was hair cut day at our house. First, mom took the buzzers to Digby, and later, she and mommy pushed the orange monster around the yard and gave the grass a cut too. I, of course, supervised both trimming sessions, and began teaching Atka the ropes on how to direct the parents to do exactly as I wished.

I must say, brother was a little frumpy before the cut, but he cleaned up nicely! Here are his "before" and "after" pictures: