The Amazing Technicolor Dog Coat

I made the mistake of saying to Chris “I think Dory needs a winter coat.”

New England weather is notorious for being nice one minute and freezing the next. Sun, turns into rain, which then morphs into a blizzard – I’ve seen it happen. So with this in the back of my mind I noticed while brushing Dory she doesn’t have what I call an under coat. Don’t get me wrong she has a beautiful coat of shiny black fur, but some dogs also have this dense under coat that really protects them from the elements – Dory is just not one of those.

So I’m starting to worry about the undercoat thing then I notice that she seems to be seeking snuggly spots a bit more now that the temps are dropping and of course this leads me to ponder – does Dory need a doggie coat??

Well when I finally said it out loud Chris gave me the look of death. He indicated that no self-respecting Lab or Lab-mix would ever be caught dead in a “fru-fru” coat.

I have tried to convince him that it wouldn’t be as bad as he thinks!! I had no intention of something over the top, just something functional and feminine. (He scoffed at the feminine part of that discussion)

So of course, I have now spent hours looking at every sort of dog coat imaginable. There are so many choices, I fully believe dog coats must be a key factor in our global economy.

The coats range from silly to sweet, fancy to utilitarian, fleece to neoprene. I have no idea what I am going to do or what type of coat I should get, but as a doting doggie parent you bet your bottom dollar I will make sure Dory is warm and toasty once the snow flies!

Pizza! Pizza!

Dory and I have finally awakened from our turkey induced coma and decided to have pizza for dinner.

Now I know it sounds like we have pizza alot and honest we don't - but it is Dory's favorite food thing in the whole world. Never in my whole life have I seen a dog go so bananas over one particular food.

Tonight was no different, Dory had her traditional doggie food dinner, a romp in the yard, we ordered a small pizza, pepperoni and mushrooms and from the time the door bell rang she became a wild thing.

She could stare down a serial killer if he had a slice in his hand - I'm not kidding. Not since Garfield loved lasagna has an animal had such a love of an italian food. She loves pepperoni, sausage, onions, ANYTHING on a crust with sauce and cheese.

Tonight (and I pray my vet does't read this) she got her very own slice and is now peacefully sleeping. More than likely she is dreaming of a pepperoni with extra cheese!! Hey maybe we can make her a "Birthday Pizza" - only 16 days and counting until our Divine Miss Dory turns 4!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night...

We just wanted to wish all our blogging Dogs With Blogs (DWB) friends, our friends from Labs4Rescue and everyone who makes this blog so fun to write - a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
We love having all of you (especially our Ohio State University friends – you know who you are) as part of our online circle of friends! So go out have some pie, spend time with those you love and reach out to friends who are far away during this very special time of year.
We will see you all when we get back to Massachusetts – the home of Plymouth Rock and the very first Thanksgiving in North America!!
As Dory pointed out to me on our visit to down to Plymouth, MA – even Plymouth Rock has a crate!!!

Are you ready for some football...

Dory here and whew - another busy weekend.

This was really a football weekend. Mom is a huge fan for what she calls "college ball" and Dad loves the "Pros". Mom has been excited all week because the "big game" was going to be on Saturday. Mom spent all moring cleaning and making food "YUM", Dad was out and about running errands but at 3:30 we were all settled in and ready to go. I had my University of Michigan collar on and the pigs in a blanket were very aromatic.

Mom was all excited and sang "Hail to the Victors" and shouted "GO BLUE"! Hopes were high that the Wolverines would win. Mom says going to Michigan was a family tradition going back to my great, great grandfather!! I have no idea where Michigan is but it sounds impressive and from what I've seen during football season kind of loud too.

Unfortunately Mom's team, Michigan didn't win, she was sad, but she said there is always the Rose Bowl - I'm not sure what the Rose Bowl is but I hope it's filled with piggies in a blanket!!!

Sunday was Dad's turn, the Patriots were playing football against the Packers. This game went better because both Mom and Dad were happy. They had tacos today and of course Dad was good enough to share a little taste with me.

This evening Mom put on my "Thanksgiving collar", it is kinda brown and doesn't really enhance my natural beauty, but it made Mom happy. We are headed back to Gramma's in New York on Wednesday for what Dad calls Turkey Day. I am very excited to be seeing my furry NY friends again - I will have to tell Mollie about the Piggies snacks - they were VERY yummy!!

Time to eat the donuts....

Okay, Dory and I go visit my mom for a few days, and as a gesture of kindness we decided to bring back a gift for Chris. He was home alone for several days it was the least we could do.

So Dory and I get up early so we can beat the crowd at our favorite place, Lakeside Farms in Ballston Lake, NY. So we drove over and got a dozen of their famous Apple Cider Donuts, thinking this was a great plan, and it was a great plan because when we got home Chris was thrilled we got the donuts and seemed to enjoy eating them - until this morning.

Now, Dory and I have a different relationship than Chris and Dory do. I am clearly the Mom/rule maker/disciplinarian and Dory and I practice our obeidience skills every day together. We are a team, but I am clearly the leader,for the most part anyway. Now Chris is the chronic good guy, he is like Santa giving out treats, cuddling on the furniture and playing rough in the house when he shouldn't with her. He really enjoys being the hero, good guy, treat giver - but today he went over the top!

Dory and I went out this moring as we always do and when we got back in the house, Chris was getting ready for work when all of a sudden I see him feeding Dory one of the donuts we got for him. I was appaulled there he was breaking up the donut into pieces and playing catch with Dory right in front of me!! Good grief!!! Here was a special gift being used for doggie treats!! Maybe it is a guy versus girl thing - perhaps "Men are from spoil the dog land and women are from attend obedience village"??

I love Dory but she did not need a cider donut today. It's hard being the rule maker - sure I want to break down and give her her own dish of frozen yogurt when I am having some, but I know better and I want her to be a good citizen, a well behaved guest and a healthy dog.

Some people say that having a dog is like having a child - and I think in some ways that is very true. What they don't tell you is that having a dog means everyone (except you)in the house turns into a child too?!

Be right back...

Hello all! Dory and I are spending a few days in Upstate New York visiting "Gramma" and Uncle Harvey.

Don't worry we will be back soon. Also we are having trouble with our "Notify List" so please be patient with us!!

Dory sends her love and wet slobbery kisses. - Liza

Collars, collars everywhere...

Today's blog - courtesy of Dory Blue Young

Whew - finally my people went back to work and I got some rest today. Mom is out right now and it is just me and Dad tonight.

Now, I have something to to confide to my blog world audience, I think my mom has gone nuts!! Every time I turn around I have a new collar!?

Since my arrival my mom has had me in a sail boat collar, a daisy collar, lobster print collar, a pink and green flower collar, a lime and pink polka dotted collar, a red collar, a University of Michigan collar(go Blue), a Harvard University collar(go Crimson), a Halloween collar, a Patriots football collar (go Pats), a Red Sox collar (go Sox), a "summer collar" and a "fall collar". That's not to mention the gental leaders, the chain collar, and various harnesses!

I love my mom - but my heavens do I have to have so many, as Mom calls it, "wardrobe changes"?????? I think I heard Dad gumbling because Mom ordered a "winter" collar and a Christmas collar the other day. I think he said if Mom brought home another collar he was going to have to build a closet just to store them in!!!

On the positive side, whenever Mom changes my collar I get a treat, lots of petting and she tells me how beautiful I am. I suppose a girl has to put up with a little inconvenience if she is going to look her best every day. I'll have to tell Dad not to worry, I'm good at helping with tools and a collar closet will be an easy project - there is no stopping Mom when she is on a mission.

Oh Christmas Tree...

WOOF! Dory here, I am sure tired, so I am relaxing with my two friends Ducky the mallard and Woody the wood duck. Mom is doing crafts and Dad is looking at his fantasy football stuff so I thought I'd take a moment to show everyone how we spent our morning.

All I can say is MAN - WHAT A BUSY WEEKEND!! Yesterday we went up to see the boat and instead of going out and seeing fishies and sea gulls - we just hung out at the docks. I was so surprised to see our boat go up on the trailer and get pulled right out of the water. Dad says that the boat is going away for the winter. It's kind of bummer because I like cruising around and having everyone wave at me, I even started to like Dad's smelly fishies that he catches. Oh well, Mom says it will seem like no time at all and the boat will be back out on the water.

I was very tired after all the excitement yesterday and I thought Mom and Dad would be too, but boy, they were up early again this morning and off we all went in the car!! I had no idea where we were going but Mom seemed very excited and said it would be our first Christmas all together!!

Now I seem to remember "cousin" Mollie, my doggie friend in New York saying that Christmas was a great because there is lots of food everywhere and lots of family visiting, so I was surprise when we ended up at a farm today. I checked around all the trees but there were no snacks to be found. Dad suggested taping a flag to Mom so she wouldn't get lost - apparently this was an issue last time they were looking at trees.

We walked all around and stopped occasionally, staring at trees for no reason at all. Mom and Dad were talking up a storm about size, branch sturdiness, etc. Mom seemed very concerned about was the tree shaped appropriately. Finally these two humans got their act together and found the "perfect tree"!! They paid the farmer and said they would pick up the tree in December.

Mom said to me that it will be colder and possibly snowy when we come back to get the tree from the farm. I'm a little concerned about the "COLDER" - because it is pretty cold right now to this girl from the south!! I'm also going to have to say something to Mollie when I see her next week - I thought when our humans have Christmas we got treats - she said absolutely nothing about TREES!!

I'm going to take a nap now, but here is a picture of me and mom at the tree farm.

Sad day in Salem...

Today was boat haul out day. For all the non-mariners, simply put it is the day Chris hauls the Kanaloa, our Parker boat, out for the winter to be stored.
Needless to say it is a sad day for all of us, for Chris no more scuba diving until spring, for Dory no more fishing adventures and sea gull gazing until late March and for me it no more freedom driving around on the ocean. We will miss the Kanaloa, but look foward to a full new season aboard her with Dory along for the hijinks on the high seas.
Goodbye Kanaloa - have a nice winter's rest and we will see you for launch day March 30, 2007!!

by liza2767

Yippeeee!!!

Today rated high on the hectic scale! I had to go in to the office for an important meeting, Dory had a follow up vet appointment for her ears, I came down with a sinus infection and I had a doctor appointment and then Dory went with me down to Providence, Rhode Island to visit our friend Michael who cuts my hair!!! I think today met the definition of "crazy busy"!!

Anyhow - BEST NEWS OF THE DAY: The vet says Dory's ears are 95% better than they were two weeks ago. There was only a smidge of the remaining yeast infection on the swab slide and vet said she could see clearly down in the ear canal and everything looked great.

WHEW

Believe me when I say even Dory audibly sighed with relief when she heard the good news. All that we need to do now is finish up her meds this next week and do weekly cleanings going forward. Ear infections aren't fun for man or beast and the Young family is glad this episode has come to a fairly quick and happy ending.

So, while Dory isn't very fond of what Chris calls "Health Care" activities, ear cleaning will become part of our regimen - joining the already Dory-dreaded tooth brushing and nail clipping.