Heading Up and Moving Out

Hello All! We are going to Gramma's house for Christmas - so I thought i would prod my human into one more post before we leave.

I wanted to share some pictures of my humans - including my new guy. Here he is scrunching my ears when we were hiking this fall. We do a lot of cool trips to waterfalls and other pretty places and most of the time my humans make sure I can come along. My favorite part of any trip or for that matter any day, is when Don does some serious ear scrunching with me!
This fall my humans went on a trip (without me *SIGH*) to New Hampshire, where they attended the Loon Mountain Scottish Games and Festival. Since they both have ancestors from Scotland - they dressed up fancy and went to dinner.

My humans are pretty cute and they are taking good care of me - I'm excited to be going to Gramma's this wee and I hope to have lots of good pictures! Gramma said she has even more snow than we do out at her house! Woo Hoo!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Some 'splaining to do...

WOW - where to start, I know my human has been neglecting my blog, but I have spoken to her and she has agreed to amend her ways. As Ricky Ricardo on TV says - I have "some 'splaining to do"!

First off - did you guys hear about the ice storm that happened outside of Boston?? We were at Don's house when the storm barreled through and here are some photos of what happened!

Trees down in Westford MA
Traffic problems here too

Those trees are in my walking path!

Well enough of that and on to other news - yesterday was my SIXTH BIRTHDAY! I got a BIG rawhide treat and a new stuffed toy and even got a special decorated doggie cookie. It was a great day and I appreciate all the warm wishes from my furry friends!!

The other news I have is that my human is getting married this coming April. Ever since Thanksgiving she and her "fiance" have been doing wedding stuff - BLECK. I hate all the lovey dovey stuff, but I am excited that TWO humans are going to buy me a new house with a yard and everything. Who knows maybe I'll even get my own room!!

So I am very sorry that we have been away from the blog - but as you can see I was hard at work match making! How could my new guy no fall in love with me, and my mom isn't too bad either!

My mom has sworn an oath to help me post more really soon. Have a great day everyone!!

Love, Dory

Gramma Bound!!

I'm ready to go - but sadly my human and her guy have to WORK and we can't leave until tomorrow afternoon!! PHOOEY! I told my mom that this work stuff is really cramping my style, not to mention my social calendar - but then she reminded me that if she didn't work she wouldn't have money and without money I wouldn't have a house and all the kibble I can eat. So hi ho, hi ho Mom - it's off to work you go!!
While the humans toil away I can fill the hours until we depart by daydreaming of romping in Gramma's super awesome yard and playing with my pals Mac and Mollie!!
So Gramma - Mom, Don and I will see you tomorrow night - tell Uncle Harvey to be prepared for some ear scrunching and let Mac know I am ready to romp in the yard!! (Oh and Mom made it clear that I was allowed on the good sofa for picture taking pictures only - she is such a party pooper!)

Wishing all my doggie pals and their humans a great weekend - see you when we get back from New York!!

We would love him...

My human read me this story in the Boston Globe all about a dazed and confused seal. Apparently the cute fella hopped aboard a sailboat and had to be chased away twice. The news report said that out on the west coast there is an issue with the algae.

"Marine mammal rescuers said the animal is likely suffering from the poisoning effects of a toxin found in algae. Such unusual behavior is a red flag for domoic acid poisoning, said Amy Traxler, coordinator at the San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network in Friday Harbor. Domoic acid is a neurotoxin that occurs naturally in algae. Marine mammals affected by the toxin can display erratic, aggressive behavior and often become disoriented, said Mieke Eerkens, spokeswoman for Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif."

So hey seal dude, if you can, just swim on over to the North Atlantic, specifically Salem Harbor in Massachusetts - we are very seal friendly. All my human and I can say to you is that to paraphrase the immortal Bugs Bunny - we would keep you and love you and pet you and name you George!

For the full story, click here!

On the water

Okay my human is possibly the goofiest person in the world. We went boating this weekend and here she is on her "float" as she calls it. I get to go swimming, but I don't have a float - totally not fair. I also think it is very funny that I get to swim around free as a bird and here she is with a leash attached to her raft!! HA HA! Now you may be saying Dory - where is the picture of you in the water - well I have nervous humans. My Mom and Don said they need both hands free when I am in the water, they said they don't want me to be swept away - I just think they like relaxing too much on the boat!

The weekend was nice, but Saturday and Sunday there were storms in the afternoon so we had to cut our trips short.

Stormy skies over Beverly, Massachusetts - the view from our boat.
Cool clouds - Salem Harbor.

The weather moving in - scary even though it is miles away. That's the story from Boston this week. No specific plans for next weekend yet, but whatever we do I'm sure my humans will be keeping me busy.

Thank heavens for the weekdays! My humans have jobs to go to and it is the only chance I get to rest! A Lab needs her beauty sleep after all!!

Call of the Wild

My humans took me camping this weekend - WOO HOO it was fun!! Here I am guarding Don's truck - at least that's what they told me! We cooked out, went on hikes and sat around the camp fire! Here I am playing with my friend Stephanie - she gives lots of good petting! Her parents are friends with my humans and they brought their house camping too!
As you can see in the back ground - lots of people camp. There was even a dog that looked just like Joe Stains! I was so confused! Here are Don and Stephanie participating in my favorite activity - petting me!!
I am also in charge of guarding our house! Mom says it's a camper not a house but to me anything with a bathroom, bedroom and kitchen is a house. Stephanie even trusts me to guard her bicycle too. Even my humans had a good time and went on a hike to take pictures in the woods. My humans need to get a life - no pictures of them together but plenty of shots like this silly one!

Oh and for those of you who asked - I couldn't go to the Scottish Games last week because it was in the 90's and humid and my humans were afraid I'd get overheated or worse. I stayed home in air conditioned comfort and was very happy when they came home and cooked out!

Have a great week everyone - my humans say boating is on the schedule for this weekend! I think Miss Sophie La Brador was in Marblehead looking at my boat - I can't believe I missed her!!!!!

I wanna be SCOTTISH

Labrador, smabrador - I want to be Scottish!

My Mom's ancestors were mostly from Scotland and so are her new guy's family! So for fun, my humans went to Scottish Games in Northampton, Massachusetts this weekend and they saw all kinds of really cool stuff! There were men in skirts playing the bagpipes and tossing around all sorts of stuff.
And there were all kinds of Scottish doggies there too! Some of them even got to play with sheep and ducks!!
I would look AWESOME in a kilt - PLAID is my color!!!
Three cheers for Scotland - just call me Dory the Scotland Retriever!

High Seas Labrador

AHOY!!!
Dory here reporting from Hawthorne Cove Marina in the heart of Salem, Massachusetts!
Last weekend was all about hiking and fireworks - this weekend - shenanigans on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. We saw lots of other boats...
Lots of lighthouses too and we even got to go swimming - Wooo Hooo!
Here I am aboard the Halosydne - our little boat! Nothing beats a great day at sea!!!!

I'm back...

Okay - my human was distracted! I have forgiven her and she has guaranteed to post once a week. Crisis averted.

So what have I been doing - well boating, hiking and spending time with my people. On the 4th of July we went for a hike and saw lots of neat waterfalls - here is one of them.

And here I am at another - gazing at the beautiful Massachusetts scenery!

So not to fear, aliens have not kidnapped me and you don't need to call the coast guard! My human and her new guy have been keeping this Lab girl busy, busy, BUSY!

Oh and Happy Belated Fourth of July everyone!!!!

Wordless Watery Wednesday

Camping

Okay dear readers - I haven't fallen off the face of the earth just yet. My human has been super busy and when she is not busy with work we are spending lots of time with her new guy. This weekend we went camping in the woods of Massachusetts and had lots of fun!!
I got to go hiking on trails....
Explored rivers....
Had a cool drink by a waterfall....
And we got to see and spend time around beautiful things like this waterfall. Camping was fun, the new guy has a camper which is kind of like taking along a vacation house on wheels. Even though we had a "little house" we still got to have a campfire and Don made me hot dogs and Mom gave me a really tasty toasted marshmellow. All weekend while camping my humans gave my lots of good ear scratches and loving because I was such a good camp dog.

I'm hoping that now summer is here that my mom will be less busy at work and more helpful in typing for me. I also hope we get to go camping more too!

It was a FOUR PAWS UP Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey guys - Dory here, doing my own typing while I review resumes for a new (and more reliable!) typist for my blog. I am excited today because we are off to Gramma's house this afternoon. By this evening I will be frolicking with Mac, Mollie and Zach, getting my ears scrunched by Uncle Harvey and cuddling up with Gramma. This is a picture of Gramma giving me lots of love!
Since we will be away - I wanted to take this opportunity to say Happy Mother's (and Gramma's) Day to my super awesome Gramma. She's the greatest Gramma ever. She loves my mom, looks after Uncle Harvey and is the bestest doggie mom to Zach, Mollie and Mac.

Three cheers for my Gramma - Hip Hip Hurray, Hip Hip Hurray, Hip Hip Hurray!

Oh and this one person, well she takes me everywhere she can, includes me on boat trips, buys me good food, gets me lots of snazzy collars, provides me with a ton of toys and gave me a great home - she's an okay dog mom too!

Liza here, interrupting this post - on behalf of Dory, Mac, Mollie and Zachary we would like to wish my mom a very Happy Mother's Day!!! See you tonight!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the doggie and human moms out there - even though sometimes we forget to say it, YOU ROCK!!!

2fer Wordless Wednesday

(Annisquam Lighthouse - Gloucester, MA - 2008)

(Sunset on the Annisquam River - Gloucester, MA - 2008)

Help Wanted

It's a Movement!

Dory the Good Will Amblabrador... Working around the world to eradicate Black Dog Bias and Discrimination!

A chat with Mom...

So Mom and I were chatting today and this is how it went:

Liza: Dory there was a really interesting article on "Big Black Dog Syndrome" on CNN.com yesterday, would you like me to read it to you?

Dory: WOW they named a syndrome after me? Is that bad or good? Do I get royalty rights? Did they use my picture?

Liza: Dory - slow down, "Big Black Dog Syndrome" is a term used because most people are fearful of and reluctant to adopt big black dogs.

Dory: So is having a syndrome like having my own month, you told me back in February it was Black Lab Month and I never got any cards and no presents - that was a total disappointment...

Liza: Oh good grief, Dory I told you February was Black HISTORY month, NOT Black Lab month! You never listen to me.

Dory: I mean you know how black labs are special, so if I have my own month AND my own syndrome I at least expect treats!

Liza: Dory, do you want me to read the article to you or not?

Dory: Does the article mention me specifically?

Liza: No, it's about how many great black dogs go homeless because of bias against big black dogs.

Dory: I got a great home, not to mention a loving family and I get to go for boat rides - you mean there are black doggies who don't get that?

Liza: Yes Dory, this is an important issue - we need to be goodwill ambassadors for "big black dogs" so that others can find good homes, just like you did.

Dory: HMMMM - I like it Dory the Amblabrador. It has a nice ring - do I get a crown or something, maybe treats???

Liza: ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some reason at that point in our chat Mom left the room? Go figure. Anyhow check out the article at CNN.com.

Please help spread the word that
BLACK LAB is BEAUTIFUL...

UNCOOPERATIVE!

Hi everybody.... Dory here!My human has been uncooperative! I want to blog, she has to work. I want to blog and she wants to go on dates! I want to blog and she says she needs 8 hours of sleep each night!

PHOOHEY!

On the upside dating means me and Mom go hiking and spend time with the world's best ear scruncher -well actually second best next to Uncle Harvey. Mom's boyfriend even let's me help cook when we go over to his house, but just like Mom this guy sticks to the no treats at the table - NO FAIR!

Here is one of the places we like to hike - it's very pretty...And here I am helping with the cooking!!! I am the official kitchen supervisor...Notice Mom is NOT helping with the cooking - but it's okay cause afterall she is busy petting me.

Anyhow, the weather is getting warmer, boating season is coming closer and love is in the air - Mom may be uncooperative, but she does lots of fun stuff with me. Oh and tomorrow is opening day at Fenway -

GO SOX!!!!!!