Luna's Dog Blog

We are warm again

2011-01-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

It's cold outside. I know we have the whole fur thing going on but when your people keep the house at a frigid 63-degrees cold is a relative term when you are relegated to the floor during "tv time". So imagine our collective canine displeasure when the fireplace we have enjoyed for going on 12-years went kaput. Dead, cold as the snow on our noses, it just up and bit the big one. We tried to be brave but huddling next to the crappy ceramic heater just didn't do the trick.

So imagine our joy when the men from Fireplaces Plus came to our rescue. They tore out the old one and installed a new one. This one rocks. The old one was controlled by a switch on the wall we couldn't reach to warm up when the people weren't

around. This one has a remote they leave within paws length. The remote is a little complicated but we finally figured it out via trail and error. I finally understand all the opposable thumbs hype.

These are some photos of us basking in the new found warmth and keep the remote thing under your hat.

Luna & Ivy

I got skunked!

2009-11-14T21:47:00.001-08:00

Our guest columnist tonight is Ivy or as we have been calling her for the last few days - STINK:

So why exactly am I wearing this bright orange vest? Was it so the skunk could see me coming and get better aim as I was closing in?

A little background here might be helpful - The last time I wore my new vest I got sprayed in the face by a skunk. They bought me this crazy dog vest because when we walk at night my chocolate coat makes it hard for them to see me when they let me run free and play with Luna. I think it is overkill - I already have an optic orange hunting collar which they can shock the hell out of me if I get out of sight. This thing just made me a target for every skunk in the neighborhood. I never got skunked in that field before, so I am totally blaming the vest. I was just having fun chasing my yellow ball in the grassy area near the field and I caught sight of something in the tall grass - that is the last thing I remember. The next thing I remember was Todd smelling my head and cursing. I don't understand those kinds of words but I just know when I hear them they mean I am in trouble. Of course I think some of this is his fault too - he made me wear the big orange target - skunks are known for their bad aim so I was just a sitting duck in my "ruffwear". Secondly had he stopped me with the shock collar I wouldn't have gotten close to the skunk. I mean he spent two minutes shocking Luna instead. Even I am smart enough to shock the right dog and I don't even have opposable thumbs. The controller is clearly marked for Christ sake.

After I got skunked we had to go straight home and he tossed me in the tub. Luckily the vest did protect my body from the skunk stuff but my head was pretty gnarly smelling. The bath sort of helped but they ended up putting some weird mixture on my head they learned about on the computer. I guess I am not the first dog to get skunked - go figure. I guess a lot of dogs have to wear these skunk attracting vests. You think people would learn.

Now me and my vest smell better and I am ready to hit the streets in my little super hero costume - I hope my super power isn't attracting smelly field vermin.

STUMP WINS!!!!!

2009-02-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

OK so I haven't blogged since December. I have been busy laying around and trying to stay warm. It has been really cold here in January. Even by dog standards. Tonight seemed to be a good night to jump in and do some blogging. We watched Westminster tonight and were glad to see our new BFF Stump take the top prize. Stump is a Sussex spaniel from the sporting group. Since we are sporting group dogs we are glad to see one of "us" win the title. Uno, the beagle who won last year, was cute but he was no sporting dog. Howwwwllllll. Please. That act grows old. Ever live next door to a beagle. They will keep you up all night howling at the moon. The cool thing about Stump is that he is 10-years-old -- a geezer compared to most of the dogs at Westminster. Now we were not too happy when he edged out a Golden to win the sporting group but we understand that he got the sympathy vote - I guess he is sort of the Mickey Rourke of the dog world sans the freaky plastic surgery . He's the only Sussex spaniel to ever win his group at Westminster. The way we figure it. Next year a golden has to win!

Our new favorite kid

2008-12-25T08:30:00.001-08:00

We got to spend some time with Audra this past weekend and she totally rocks. She wasn't afraid of us at all. We love are a lot. Here is the video.

Cold!!!

2008-12-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

Ok it is cold outside. I get it. They are even predicting a big ice storm for Thursday. Oh joy! The panic stricken TV weather people give me the gurd but I digress. Since I am a Golden retriever I am blessed with a nice winter coat so I have no problem with this kind of weather. As for summer...you can keep your 100-degree temps I'll stay inside where it is cool. Ivy the pup just doesn't have the fur for this kind of weather. So you know it is cold outside when she sleeps with her belly to the fireplace. Wimp.

It's SNOWING!!!

2008-12-16T14:39:00.000-08:00

We love snow and today we got a bunch of it. We spent a long time this afternoon romping in the falling snow. Here are some pictures from today's play session.

Happy Holidays Photo

2008-12-07T15:45:00.001-08:00

Oh come on! Antlers? Really. Every year they stick these things on our heads and say "OOOOOOOOH. They are so cute." We look like a couple of idiots. The good news is I think we will use this on the cover of our upcoming Christmas CD, "Hounds for the Holidays." We were going to hire Annie Leibovitz but her schedule is pretty tight this time of year. We know she wouldn't make us wear antlers. Just ask Queen Elizabeth. This photo will just have to do for now.We are doing cover versions of all of Dean Martin's signature Christmas songs with a canine twist.

Latest Video

2008-10-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

We took a walk on Sunday and this is the video produced from that adventure. No one was hurt and nothing out of the ordinary was consumed. We just has a nice walk on a cool, sunny, fall morning with our trusty human. He walks too slow for us but we adjust.

Luna

We are back!

2008-10-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lapse in postings but we have been having a bang up summer. Here is our latest video.

Our Power Outage Survival Story

2008-07-25T16:46:00.001-07:00

We are glad to announce to all our loyal readers that we have survived the lengthy power outage. The lights came on Thursday night around 8 p.m. after being knocked out Monday at 6 a.m..Ivy and I are back in the creature comfort of air-conditioning after a wicked storm ripped through the Quad Cities and knocked out power to over 110,000 people and countless pets. Yes - Pets. They never mention the pets on the news. It is always how many people are without power. But what about the furries? I have a thick fur coat and it is July. Who do you think suffers more in a power outage in July than me? Ivy and I were lucky because our people snapped into action and rented a hotel room so we could sleep every night in the AC and watch cable TV. But best of all we could sleep in the bed. How cool is that? Our apologies to the hotel staff for having to clean up our hair. We were good girls other than a little shedding. There were a bunch of other pooches in the hotel not to mention a sampling of profit motivated out of town contractors who swooped down on the community to "help" people recover. We got to sniff the rock band from Texas who forgot their key and needed us to let them in to the hotel's side door. Why people want long hair is beyond me. Ivy and I also got to meet a few of the players from the Steamwheelers, the local arena football team, who live in the hotel during the season. Ivy felt the need to act tough but I ate up the attention. In the end our stay was fairly uneventful other than the long walks to find grass around the hotel to "do our business". The parking lot always seemed to have someone "interesting" meandering around. Ivy of course felt the need to give them the smimmering warning growl. Some of them probably deserved it in retrospect. I guess it was sort of some twisted summer camp for the displaced. During the day we went back to the powerless house to keep an eye out for looters. Of course had had there been looters we weren't really in a position to do anything about it while rested in our crates. I guess we would could take inventory as they carried past our bedroom door. I have posted some pictures of us "roughing it" in the hotel room.

In all seriously I have also posted a picture taken by my person as part of his job as a newspaper photographer of some of the pet related damage. The storm was very serious business and one of the local animal shelters, Quad City Animal Welfare Center, suffered serious damage. If you want to contribute their recovery here is some information: Needed donations include Purina kitten chow and dog chow, kitty litter and cash donations. They can be dropped off at the shelter at 724 W 2nd Ave., Milan. For more information on the Quad City Animal Welfare Center, visit www.qcawc.org.

My posh pal Gig

2008-06-20T15:33:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo of my posh little pal Gig riding in her person's Porsche Boxster in Door County WI. Gig is a spirited little Maltese. She looks good in that fancy car and she has an attitude to rival any of those Hollywood mutts who you usually see behind the wheel of a German sports car.

When the people are away...

2008-06-16T19:52:00.001-07:00

Here is what my people do while they are away. I have to endure the kennel for this. Uggh. I am so chewing up something when they get back. I will note that my person was smart enough to shoot the video and stay dry.

This dog is goofy

2008-06-08T08:27:00.001-07:00

A fortuitous gust of wind while getting her picture taken this morning help to create this hilarious photo of Ivy. Let's face it, this dog is a boat load of goofy. How about those ears and that tongue? I think her tongue is the only thing keeping her from going airborne in the wind. Surprisingly enough when she isn't over heated from running the tongue actually fits in her mouth.

Summer is here

2008-06-08T07:40:00.001-07:00

It was bound to happen. Summer. Yuck. The kid loves summer but she has no fur. I have fur. Boy do I have fur. I love spring, fall and winter but 90-degrees with high humidity is not a golden retriever's friend. I prefer to lay on the AC vent and watch the birds fly by but the kid keeps dragging me outside to play with our squeaker-balls. That little lab can run all day, I like the shade. I will say that I get a big kick out of her goofy tongue. Look at that photo. I think Ivy has a little Gene Simmons in her blood. All she needs is a guitar, a little make-up and high heeled boots.

Luna & Ivy: YouTube Premiere

2008-05-25T14:06:00.001-07:00

Luna and Ivy make their YouTube premiere in The Sqeaker Ball. Set to "Let's Misbehave" sung by Elvis Costello the video documents Ivy's obvious squeaker ball addiction. Enjoy

My pal Bisous on the web

2008-05-03T08:09:00.001-07:00

In an effort to promote dogs and blogs I want to direct you to my girl Bisous' blog. Bisous is a 10-month-old French Bulldog living near Charleston, SC. Now don't let the title of this blog throw you off: April Tressler's Semi-Intelligent yet Satirical Views of Life. No matter what April says it is really Bisous' World! So check out the ramblings of April and Bisous as they deal with Robbie not to mention April's pregnancy. Congratulations to April and Rob on the big news.

Another entry from .Mac: Death of an Old Friend...Bun Bun

2008-05-03T07:40:00.001-07:00

JANUARY 6th, 2008:
I am sad to announce that my favorite toy “Bun Bun” has, in the famous words of John Cleese -

'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!”

THIS IS AN EX-BUN BUN!!

Poor Bun Bun she was with me for months before Ivy arrived on the scene. Puppies don’t have any respect for favorite toys. Bun Bun lived a long life (for a stuffed dog toy) and went out in a blaze of glory (stuffing everywhere once his seams were popped open by those razor sharp puppy teeth).
However Bun Bun might rise from the dead in the near future since I think Todd has three more stashed in the closet. Those toys must be reproducing like stuffed rabbits.
Long live Bun Bun!

We are back

2008-05-02T22:29:00.001-07:00

OK, my person said .Mac was going to be easier to blog with and he was wrong. Sue me for listing to him he feeds me. What can I do? We recently found this cool Firefox add-on called ScribeFire 2.1 and it makes blogging a SNAP! Tough to do when you don't have opposable thumbs.
So me and Ivy will be returning to this site and moving our most hilarious postings from the .Mac site. OK there weren't too many funny postings because as cool as Macs are .Mac blogging is kinda of a pain for pooch like me. I like to work between a few different computers and the .Mac locked me into working on just one. Personally I like the PowerBook best but what am I supposed to do when he takes it to work? Drag the G5 tower into the kennel? I don't think so. Do you know how many cords are hanging out of that stainless steel monster? I am a laptop dog by trade but I do love that G5 speed.

I think the best post we had while over at .Mac was "New Year's Vomit". Here is the rerun:

One would think that if anyone in the family would be experiencing projectile vomiting on New Year’s Eve it would be our humans but instead it was Ivy. Ivy started puking on New Year’s Eve at bout 4 p.m. and didn’t stop until our people rushed her to the doggie ER at 6:30 a.m. New Year’s Day.
Before the 2008 visit to the doggie E.R. Ivy would be sleeping on the couch with Todd for two hour stretches and then awake violently screaming in pain. After the last episode at 6 a.m. which was followed by more dry heaves Lisa and Todd packed up the weak puppy and took her to the doctor.
Ivy was given an x-ray which reveled that she didn’t swallow a door knob or kitchen knife. The Vet, “Dr. Laura”, prescribed some anti-nausea medicine and some stinky soft food. “Dr. Laura” was pretty much convinced that despite the fact nothing showed up on the x-ray that the kid ate something she shouldn’t have.
The rest of the day we all vegged and watched bad college football bowl games on TV. OK the Michigan game was good but that Illinois game was enough to make a puppy puke.
Lisa and Todd followed the doctor’s instructions and Ivy seemed to get better. The next morning we learned the true nature of her problem. In an effort to keep this entry reasonably tasteful I will be brief in my description. After Ivy went out to do her business in the morning Todd discovered that she needed a little help ridding herself of an 9-inch section of our rope bone. OUCH!
The moral to this story is - we don’t get rope bones anymore. I liked rope bones and was never stupid enough to eat any of mine. Labs...go figure.

Luna's Dog Blog as moved to .Mac

2008-01-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

In an effort to ease production of Luna's Dog Blog I have moved the blog to my Luna-Fish Productions website . Please click here to read all the new postings from Luna about life with her new pal Ivy the Chocolate Lab puppy.

Cubs lose and my allergies come back

2007-10-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well things around the house were a little touch and go last week while the Cubs were getting swept out the playoffs by the Diamondbacks. Basically I lay low during sporting events. My people root for the Cubs, the Bears and the Iowa Hawkeyes. They do more yelling than cheering most seasons so I just chill and wait for the walk after the game. I also toss in the occasional sympathetic head in the lap to cheer them up at half-time or during the seventh-inning stretch.
My allergies came back again this season but my people got me to the vet before I lost too much hair this fall. Who knows what I am allergic to but it isn't grass. All I do know is I feel a lot better now that I am taking some doggy allergy meds once a day.
My people might be bringing home a new dog in the next month or so. Seems like a cool idea as long as it isn't some little barky dog. I'd like a chocolate lab or maybe another golden. When ever I walk in the neighborhood there are these little dogs that act all tough and bark until they are blue in the face. I just walk by and ignore them. I think that makes them bark more.

My Brother Ben

2007-02-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

My brother Ben is a therapy dog at a school in Erie, IL. Please visit this link to QCOnline.com's Multimedia page to view an audio/flash slide-show about Ben and his "Bowwow Powwow Reading Program." We are all very proud of the work he does with the kids in Barb Houseman's second grade class at Erie Elementary School. Ben is a big star but he still doesn't have his own blog! I also bet he can't catch a frisbee as well as I do. But never the less Ben is doing great things with those kids. I still don't understand how he can sit still for so long.

Finally some snow!

2007-01-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

Winter finally is back and I couldn't be happier. Snow means fun. 40 degrees in January is boring and sloppy. I am not too sure why I love it so much but I could spend hours just romping around my backyard playing in the cold stuff. I am not too sure where it comes from but is seems to always fall when I am asleep and I wake up and the backyard is covered in it. My people don't seem all that crazy about it but then again that might have something to do with having to shovel it out of the driveway.
This latest snow storm just barely covered the grass but any snow is good snow. I had a great day in the snow today. The highlight was playing catch with my Batman Frisbee (see picture) and chewing up my old red/green ball. I peeled the fuzz off it and one of my people took it way mumbling something about how I shouldn't eat tennis ball fuzz. He is probably right but I can't help myself.
Enjoy the snow!

Merry X-Mas! My Allergy is Under Control

2006-12-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

It took awhile and I had to eat a bunch of pills but they finally got my allergy under control. I think some of the pills were hidden in some bread but since I love bread so much I didn't really mind. I don't have the red bumbs in my ears anymore and the hair is starting to grow back around my eyes. I don't have a current picture to show how much better I look but trust me I'm starting to look normal again. The doctor still doesn't know what I am allergic to but it isn't snow. This picture was taken a few weeks ago when I was playing in the snow. I love snow! Unfortunately there isn't anymore snow to play in because it all disappeared. Now the yard is all muddy. I like the mud but my people seem to get aggravated when I come into the house with muddy paws. I try to look cute and eventually they forgive me. Heck I just can't stop chasing those rabbits. Once you've chased a rabbit you can't stop...sort of like eating Goldfish crackers. Of course if you catch the rabbit they don't taste as good as the Goldfish crackers...too fuzzy. Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope I get a new bone or maybe a new frisbee since I broke my last frisbee. They just don't make them like they used to.

Golden Hair Problems

2006-11-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

If anyone out there knows what might be causing me to lose some of the hair around my eyes I would really appreciate some help. I love to roll in the backyard and play outside but my people can't think of anything I might have gotten into that would cause this problem. I also have a little rash inside both my ears. The rash on the inside flap of my ears looks more like a minor allergic reaction to something. I eat Eagle Pack Holistic Select Chicken and Rice food. I had to start eating that food because I had diarrhea problems as a pup. Last weekend there were a few red sores under the hairline but once Monday rolled around they were gone. It doesn't cause me to itch my face so the hair loss isn't from scratching my face. Any help dealing with this would be much appreciated. Thanks - Luna

Great Weather

2006-08-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

The rain has finally stopped and I can get back in the backyard and run around. I was getting a little stir crazy playing fetch inside the house. You can't really get a good head of steam going running inside the house. In our house when by the time you get up to stride you'll run into the stove or the coffee table. If you have ever run headlong into a oak coffee table you know that it really smarts. This photo was taken of me the other morning after playing outside in the dew soaked grass. As you can see my feet are soaked. I don't mind the wet fur but my people seem to feel I need to be dried off every time I come in the house. I like the smell of wet dog but then again I am a wet dog.

Emmy oversight

2006-08-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

My people were watching the Emmys last night while I dozed underneath the coffee table. The Emmy people made a huge deal out of some guy named Aaron Spelling. They fell over themselves to honor his passing but where was the memorial to Moose? You know Moose he played Eddie on the show Frasier. He died this year at the age of 16. Despite Moose's smallish stature the Jack Russell terrier was a giant in the canine world. He carried Frasier to great heights on his little shoulders. Without Moose Fraiser might have failed like so many other spin-offs from popular shows. Maybe "After MASH" needed a dog to help it in the ratings? As for Aaron Spelling how many of his shows featured dogs (other than Joan Collins)? I can't think of a one. Oh sure he produced such big hits like "Charlie's Angels" and "Dynasty" but he teased us with shows like "Nightingales" which starred Suzanne Pleshette but was void of any actual Nightingales. He also produced the one episode wonder "B.A.D. Cats" in 1980. The show had Cats in the title no wonder it failed.
In my canine opinion the Emmys overlooked Moose and his contribution to TV. He was a giant in his field.

Welcome

2006-08-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. This is for fun. It won't be as much fun as chasing a ball in the backyard or chewing on a smoked pig's ear but what else is a Golden to do on a rainy day in August but create a blog? I will be posting photos and other fun stuff that are dog related. I may toss in the random geopolitical issues as they relate to dogs. I may also feature some of my pet friends and rants about cats.