Three Tales of Cows and Childhood

I was posting on a dog forum I belong to and was telling some childhood stories about cows. I realized how much a part of my life cows have been even though we have none now and my father quit dairy farming when I was 12 and burned the fences and rolled up the wire the next day after the cows left. I'm not kidding, he said he didn't want to be tempted to buy anymore cows. He had built a new barn in 1949 when he had two barns burn in one night from lightning, uninsured, he had to pay for the new one (and the equipment he lost) somehow and supposedly that's why my mother started teaching again and my dad started dairy farming. We had 33 Holsteins or so when I was growing up, Daddy also had a fairly large mechanic business and custom hayed and farmed on the side. Milking and taking care of the cows was NOT his favorite part of the day although he loved animals too, just not cows.
Anyway there are 3 stories I remember two fairly terrifying and one merely puzzling but they affected my childhood I suppose, I got over my fears almost but can still remember the terror from the first one, the fear and then anger from the second one and the puzzlement from the third one. Also I'm not afraid of cows, the fear was only from them one time. The picture above is me in 1993 I think with my pet Hereford. My husband and I had 40 calves, big mistake, took care of them for another guy and he ended up losing money supposedly so we took care of them and fed them for almost a year for free. I'm not particularly fond of cows either but I suppose we will get some more eventually. The only thing those calves were good for was jumping fences and wandering, some days they would wake me up @ my bedroom window wanting back in with their food. They weren't supposed to be in the yard, they were supposed to be in their pasture but I never could convince them of that.
Anyway for the real stories.
The worst one was when I was probably 4, we had been to Kansas to visit my brother, I think it was Garden City Kansas and they had a zoo and an elephant named Penny. I remember we stayed in a hotel for the first time in my life and it had wallpaper with pink flowers. I don't remember the trip home, just the lights of Kansas City MO. It was early morning when we got home to the Ozarks in Missouri, probably 2 or 3 am and evidently whoever was supposed to milk the cows hadn't done it or the cows just heard us drive up and decided it was time to be milked. Whatever the case I woke up in the dark, alone. Completely utterly alone. I couldn't find anyone in the house and it was dark. I think it was about 4 am. I'd had a dream evidently and I decided my mommy and daddy were dead and I was all alone in a dark house. I was pretty sure I was going to step in a dead body, a recurring fear and dream I still have. I did a couple tours of the house crying, I don't think I turned on the lights because I wasn't sure someone wasn't in there with me and if they were was pretty positive I didn't want to see them because that would just make everything worse. We had an intercom that went from the house to the shop and the barn and I decided to call someone on it. Don't ask me why I didn't get on the phone (a crank one if you can imagine, we live in the boondocks) but often there were people down @ the shop or the barn working even @ night, I guess that was my reasoning (I was like 4 give me a break). I got on the intercom and started screaming about how my mommy and daddy were dead and I was all alone and would someone please come get me because it was DARK. My mom and dad were down @ the barn and heard me over the milking machines after awhile and they did rush up there and tried to calm me and figure out what was going on. I can still remember the feel of the hardwood floors on my bare feet (it was summer) and my careful steps to avoid any bodies laying on the floor. It's a house of doors, you can go from room to room and make circles and I did. I still dream about it.
The second one was more humorous but I didn't see it that way. I was younger, it was maybe the winter before, or a year before the first story. I was a small child, I mean I didn't eat and didn't grow. I think I was actually classified as malnourished for awhile. It wasn't my parents fault, I just wasn't hungry. So there I was 3 or 4 years old, down @ the barn in the winter, with my little corduroy coat and rubber boots on and knitted cap. I think it was snowing and I went out to the barn lot to play in it. Somehow I got in the middle of the lot where the cows waited to be milked and where they were let out after milking and I saw the big barn door OPEN. They had all been milked and Daddy and Mom were letting them OUT. I wasn't afraid of them but 30+ cows coming @ a small 3 year old look very BIG and all of a sudden I was AFRAID. I was also stuck in the mud which was actually cow manure if the truth be told, up to the top of my tiny rubber boots. I screamed and I yelled and thought surely they would stop letting the cows out. Nope they stood there and laughed!! Then I got MAD, as angry as a 3 year old can get, I believe I considered running away for the first time then. How could they LAUGH when I was about to be trampled. Then I noticed the cows weren't running over me, remember these cows were probably older than I was and knew me and I was making quite a bit of noise to boot. They parted like the red sea around me. My mom and dad laughed, finally they came and picked me up. I didn't know any four letter words then but I'm sure if I had I would have used them. Now I'm sure child psychologists would have said that was a scarring incident and maybe it was but to my parents the sight of a VERY angry small 3 year old in the middle of a bunch of gentle milk cows was really rather funny. Or @ least I try to tell myself that.
The third incident was rather mundane. My mother and I had gone to town, I was maybe 6, maybe younger, we got home and there was a cow stuck in the yard. Like up to her udder stuck in the yard. It was amazing, and my mom was MAD. Our house sat probably 30 ft off the gravel driveway where all the farm and shop traffic went everyday. I'm sure they built the wire fence to keep the cows out of the garden and off the lawn. There were 3 small gates and two large ones for the tractor to come in for the garden or if we needed to haul something heavy to the back door, which was actually the only door we used of course. When I was toddling they reinforced the gates and the fence not to keep the cows out but to keep me in, the story is I could climb before I could walk and would escape anything like Houdini, they were also in their mid 40s with a toddler which was a BIG surprise and an escaping one to boot. I vaguely remember the frustration of not being able to climb the big wire gate and the smaller ones were reinforced high, like 5 ft. Anyway the lawn was supposedly cow proof and here this cow was stuck in the yard and deeply @ that. Evidently there was a hollow space a few inches underground and the cows leg had just gone through the spring mud into it. She wasn't hurt but somehow this was my dads fault that the cow was in the lawn or so said my mother. I was fascinated by the open cave like space under the ground that I had walked on every day of my life (later a spring popped up close by and there was a rock sidewalk buried in the ground there, the combination probably contributed to the open space). I wondered if maybe the devil was under there trying to get out and he had made the hollow waiting for someone to come by, I was also wondering HOW all of this could be my dads fault? Or maybe the devil had someone I knew under there and I could get them out? So now the devil was tied up with cows, a fear of dead bodies (squishy ones, not just any dead body), and a fear of being trampled.
Like I said I've gotten over the fears but not the memories. And my husband wants to get cows, that's OK, just not Holsteins.

Kreativ Award for Animals That Give Pause!

I won an award!!!! What a great Monday. It's from my friend SquirrelQueen, @ Through Squirrel Eyes. THANKS SquirrelQueen!! It's called the Kreativ Blogger Award as you can see.


Now in accordance with tradition (doesn't that sound official?) I'm supposed to tell you about seven of my favorite things.

1. My husband who is my best buddy too!
2. My family, kids, grand kids, sibling, niece, nephew, etc. crazy as they may be I love em.
3. Reading a really good book, if it has animals in it so much the better.
4. Animals, in particular dogs, and especially my bichon Dispatch.
5. Let's be honest, sleep and naps.
6. Blogging, writing, taking pictures, painting, drawing, all my creative outlets.
7. My house and lawn when they are clean and neat and groomed which doesn't happen very often anymore.

Now I have to pass the award on to seven of my blog friends. In no particular order, here are the seven! Drum roll, taaa daaaaaa!!!

1. Thomas K-9 Corner
2. Ask Spike Online, a fun source (sometimes serious) for all things doggie.
3. Checkers the Peekapoo, we have to get some dogs on here !
4. Shopping Kharma. One of the most courageous people I know.
5 .Gary One of my first followers, thanks Gary.
6. Monaliza - Hypnotic because she reminds me the glass is half full!
7. Ian Myers Writer, because he needs to keep writing!!

THANKS SquirrelQueen I am honored.
TC

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

Fishing Dogs And Kids

This isn't absolutely about animals but it does have a bichon, a labrador retriever, a terrier and fish in it.

My oldest grandson bought a small blow up boat. They called me @ work yesterday and told me we were having a "weekend."

This is Marcus 13 getting ready to go fishing this morning. Paris the cat is watching him, Paris was named after Paris Hilton because the cat was so pretty, Paris is a tomcat. Whoops.
This is Dispatch 5, thinking he's going fishing. He did go.

This is the gang, their mother my daughter included, Sara is in the lead, she's 7, walking down what used to be a cleared road by the "branch" what we call small creeks here in MO, the pond is 1/4 mile or more away. My dad built the pond before I was born and stocked it with perch and bass, which are still there. We drove the cub cadet down the lane (discovered part of my lawn furniture that had gotten left in the woods while someone was deer hunting?) but the crossing was washed out so we walked part way.

This is Skeeter and Mugsey getting cooled off after the long walk.

This is a video of Zach 14 in his boat, Marcus fishing, and Mugsey 2 and Skeeter 12-18 (rescue dog she was my dads, he got her in 99 and he passed away in 2001, we've had her ever since, she was old when he got her) getting cooled off and of course the Bichon Dispatch 5. The boat in the water is the bat boat, about a 1950s model with wings, we were going to use it in the pond but it just sat there and sunk. Jacob kept wanting Sara to take off her life jacket so he could "save" Mugsey because Mugsey (the labrador) kept swimming across the pond and Jacob thought he might have to save him?

This road is on the pond bank and we used to be able to drive a car up here or a big pickup. The aluminum boat I really don't know where it came from but the kids say it leaks. I hadn't been to the pond for years.

This is a video of my daughter JJ, Sara and Jacob 9 fishing. Dog just wants picked up, he is in NO PAIN. He finally went off with the other dogs and then laid in the water and mud. Not good on white fur.


This is a view across the pond.

I caught one and Sara caught her first fish we think! Zach said he caught like 20 after we left, our fishing got interrupted because this big white doughnut kept coming over the fishing grounds (Zach in his boat). When Zach caught a fish he said what do I do? I told him the fish had to come in the boat with him, he managed to get it off the hook, it was hilarious though, he's in a boat in the middle of a pond with a fishing pole and paniced when he caught a fish! We caught and released because no one (me) felt like frying fish. Look closely there is a fish on the end of Sara's line.

This is the bichon after fishing.

This is the bichon frise after we had lunch and I gave him a bath and we brushed him. My SIL brought food so we wouldn't have to cook, good son-in-law.
That was our glorious Sunday, nothing special except it was almost a perfect day spent with family which is the most precious thing in the world.

Quote courtesy of Quote Garden.
I think we are drawn to dogs because they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we knew better. They fight for honor at the first challenge, make love with no moral restraint, and they do not for all their marvelous instincts appear to know about death. Being such wonderfully uncomplicated beings, they need us to do their worrying. ~George Bird Evans, Troubles with Bird Dogs

Pedi Paws and Bichon Frise Video

My daughter gave me this Pedi Paws last night. Here's the video with the Bichon and the Pedi Paws, pardon the fat white legs and remember our family room is done in early junk, blob by the camera is an antique quilt on my dad's old office chair. My daughters English Bulldogs won't let her use the Pedi Paws, my nephew wrote a hilarious email quoting the TV commercial about the Pedi Paws and then said his dog wouldn't let him near him with it. Dispatch (bichon frise) "mouths" me when I brush him and growls, this is much better. He REALLY doesn't want me doing anything with his feet, Bichon's are sort of like really stubborn poodles or giant Maltese with minds of their own so this is an accomplishment. I've had to wrap Dispatch in a towel to get him to let me cut his nails, sometimes I think I just took him to the vet or the groomer to get his nails cut and the hair pulled out of his ears. Not that I'm afraid of a 17 lb. dog, it's just one of the unpleasant things about dog ownership. You have to understand too when Dispatch was about 6 months old I gave him a bath and was brushing him out, he started the growling thing and that was the first time he mouthed me (now I glare @ him and he quits), I had never had a dog do that and I yelled @ him and put him outside. This is a little white fluffy puppy mind you, he said FINE, and went and hid under the pickup and then sat about halfway down the driveway looking toward the highway waiting for his "daddy" to come home. I went and got him and finished brushing him after a little bit but that shows how stubborn he is. Anyway watch the video, he's nervous but it went quite well with the Pedi Paws don't you think?

From the dog's point of view, his master is an elongated and abnormally cunning dog. ~Mabel Louise Robinson

Miniature Schnauzer vs Bichon

This is Fema when she was a baby, She's a miniature schnauzer.
and here is a video of the Bichon Dispatch and Fema, Mugsey the lab (as a puppy) and Skeeter the terrier are in it too. Skeeter was old in 1999 when we got her so guess how old she is now? She was my dads dog and he only had her for a couple years before he passed away and so now I guess she's my dog more than anyones.


Dispatch likes to act like he's tough but Fema and he do play honest, Fema is my cousins dog, our neighbor down the road breeds miniature schnauzers. The neighbors across the street have one too who comes to visit who is Femas brother.

Tonight my husband and I vegged out after working, we watched a Costeau special on PBS about killer whales, highly interesting that they are so socialized and watch humans like we watch them?

Bichon and Baby

In this picture the bichon frise (Dispatch) wasn't like attacking, he was just worried because the baby was making these horrible squawking noises. Husband made me cut him out of the picture. I was amazed he held a newborn but he's pretty good with babies, bichon proved to be too. He hadn't been around any newborns that I could remember, we had had a baby drought in our grandchildren, it had been 6 years since the latest additions, before that it was about 1 a year. Enough to get my baby fix in. We were a little worried because Dispatch is so attached to us. He was jealous but he was also enchanted by the baby, he's like I didn't know humans came in such small packages, when can she pet me, why does she make those NOISES? Mama went into the other room to feed the baby and Dispatch followed watching to make sure all was OK.

Baby is Zowie Jean, youngest daughters 13 day old baby. Good baby and CUTE, or is it just me?

Ten Bo Obama's on Twitter

Yes you read right, there are only 55 Stephen King's and considering King is a fairly common name that's understandable (none are the Stephen King you are thinking about). Ten matches if you type in Bo Obama in Twitter search. Twitter.com

Check it out on Twitter, I just think it's funny, you wouldn't believe how many dogs blog. Dispatch still has trouble with typing, I swear he used to turn off the screensaver with the mouse because it scared him, was the one where the picture on the screen got bigger and bigger and bigger? The picture above is him patiently waiting for me to come back in the camper in MS, he used to sit there and watch out the window for me, not approved dog behavior, perhaps he was surfing too?

Do You Worry About Your Pets Happiness?

And if you do is it a sign of caring or craziness?This is the Easter Bunny ($2.50 @ Wal Mart, he got a sheep too but I'm saving it) I got for Dispatch today, notice the similarity in the texture of the hair? You should have seen him when I got it out of the bag, we played pulley pulley with it for a bit and he mauled it then I got the leftover cheese out of the kong he hadn't been able to get out all day and he ate it on bunny. Dispatch is a great hunter you see and he is eating his prey (eating cheese on top of a stuffed animal), he also looks @ himself in the mirror and does the play bounce, he has a very rich imaginary life. Oh and BTW he's not spoiled or anything but he likes to go through the shopping bags when I get home if I put them on the floor and see which one has something in it for him!

Anyway I said something to my daughter about this one day (she has English Bulldogs) and she worries about whether her pets are truly happy too. It must run in the family?
This is the picture I got when I tried to get a close up. He needs a bath, couldn't resist the tongue, he does that when he gets nervous, my daughter says he thinks he's talking back to me and I can't hear him when he does it.
This is a better picture of him actually posing. So do you worry about if your pet is happy, is it just like us motherly types? Do you worry if your husband is happy? Your children? So why not your pet. I heartily recommend a bichon as a pet although Dispatch may have other blood in him, he has these long straight black hairs scattered down by his tail, I think he has hound blood in him, he's a little relaxed for a little dog sometimes?
BTW I decided Dispatch was happy most of the time, especially if I'm home or he gets to think he's like this fierce hunter or can go past the edge of the yard by himself but he gets scared if he gets more than 100 ft. from me.

Bichon Puppy Or What Would My Mother Say?

This is a little convoluted I know, I promised myself I would write about things I was interested in instead of what was popular. If I just wrote about what was popular I would be writing about the new dog in the White House, Bo Obama (OK I did write about him but I was interested that day). I choose instead to write about this blog. The picture above and it's reason for being here? It's one of my favorite pictures, my bichon Dispatch when he was a little over 5 weeks old exploring. The elephant ears are big granted but he was SO tiny, notice the cat laying on the sidewalk to the right of the photo scoping out the white morsel that may provide some fun in his life. Dispatch was @ that age where he made those little snuffling noises and had me instantly convinced he needed to be held most of the time. Dispatch is probably one of the main reasons this blog exists, he's truly an animal that give pause, as my husband says there will never be another one like him, he's made several people without dogs go out and get them in hopes they will provide the companionship, love, and humor, to their day that he provides to mine. If I have cheese he will give paws too, or if he's in a good mood.

I went over 14,000 views today according to my statcounter, link here if you are interested in getting it for your blog or webpage. 14,000 is quite a few views for a blog that 's really been around only since November or December, can't quite remember which and I started my other one first. Anyway I sort of gave up in January and back then I was ecstatic to get over 100 hits on a Sunday doing all the linking and blogging and commenting I could do in a day. Then I wrote a few good posts and ignored it, more hours @ work and reading more about animals and I'm lazy. All of a sudden a week or so ago I'm up to 9,000 views? I double checked with Alexa and it all seems to be kosher. Talk about renewed energy in writing?

I want to thanks each and every one of you who has stopped in to my blog, I want to thank specially my watchers and people who commented. If I don't get another hit on my blog I am still happy and content knowing that for a bit I made someone think or laugh. I would prefer you all would keep coming, most days I'm not this long winded and well witchy for lack of a better word, OK, I'm long winded and witchy most of the time but we can pretend can't we?

Why do I blog about animals? I love animals, always have, since my first puppy and the squirrel I used to communicate with everyday. I'd walk home from the school bus, stop @ the log cabin (doesn't everyone have one?) sit in the tree with the huge low branch that was almost parallel with the ground and talk to George the squirrel. My dad saw me a couple times driving by and was amazed, I never touched George, he just sat close and we chatted. My brother was 23 by this time and long gone, my dad worked long hours on the farm, my mother taught and was always gone so I talked to George. I don't know what ever happened to George but I've always had a soft spot for that name for pets and for squirrels. The tree is dead, the hollow where the stump stood is even gone but the log cabin is still there and there are still squirrels in the trees by it.

How does my mother figure into this? She wasn't so hot on animals, she did bring kittens back to life after they were nearly drowned in the rain by laying them on the warm wood stove oven door but that was her only sign that she liked animals. She did have Siamese cats when she got older, most of the time they lived @ my house down the hill. My mother thought I was weird about animals and to put it bluntly wanted to squelch anything that wasn't in her image that came out in me. She was forever saying I was getting sick from the farm cats, threatened to have them killed, it turned out to be tonsillitis. When I did get ringworm I figured out it was from the cats, I spent most of the summer in trees when she was looking for me (mama didn't climb trees and never looked up) so she couldn't see my feet till the ringworm cleared up when I was about 8 (I was also enamoured with To Kill A Mockingbird). She didn't like my dog, we won't go into those details but they are all relevant to my thoughts. She taught English Literature, she taught other things too, living in a rural area she couldn't pick and choose jobs because of distances she had to drive to work but her main love was English Literature. What always amazed me was I never seldom saw her read a book for pleasure, I have maybe 10 laying around that she read for sheer enjoyment and part of them were biographies of TV personalities? I sound rather critical of my mother I know, I will say when my dad got older and ill and I took care of him I understood why she lost her temper sometimes.

When I was falling asleep last night (I get these ideas often while falling asleep) I was thinking what would mama say if she knew say maybe 10,000 people had read @ least part of the words her daughter had written? She would say Bravo and clap and swear any writing ability I have I got from her (my dad was a GREAT storyteller, no writer but a wonderful raconteur), then she would find out I was blogging about animals and the proverbial excrement would hit the fan.

Oh and the secret codeword is labradoodle! I know the Obama's dog is a Portuguese Water Dog but I think my two dogs mixed together are a labradoodle, (actually they would be a bilab but that sounds either like they are rather weird or have a mental problem which could be true?)or it's a codeword? LOL

Funny Bichon Frise Talking Video

OK, you say dogs can't talk? Well he was evidently trying to tell me SOMETHING. Dog experts would just say he needed attention. He does this often enough I'm thinking he thinks he can talk and I can understand? You be the judge.

Oh, BTW I had been sick and this was in our office basement, my actual house isn't this messy and the dog is usually brushed (paranoid stepford housewife coming out in me, slap slap). He did have a haircut like a poodle because I thought he was one, long long story, go back here for Dispatch's story on how I figured out he was a Bichon. He just didn't make that great a poodle but he's a spectacular bichon!

Obama Dog Bo

Well the votes are in and the Portuguese Water Dog won. I do think it's rather appropriate Bo came from President Kennedy's brother Teddy since Obama has been compared to JFK in so many ways. I think it's also neat that Portuguese Water Dogs are being used for genetic study. There are only about 1000 of these dogs in the world, the breed started from 30 core dogs and the breeders especially in the United States have always tried to breed out deformities and any disease that may crop up so the bloodlines are easily traced. PWD are also good genetic subjects because they are small and large and different colors. Geneticists studying these dogs have isolated a gene that may cause dogs to be small which I think is fascinating. The story on how the PWD helps genetics research is summarized here in the La Times.

Bo is also a rescue which is what President Obama wanted, it seems he had a previous family that just didn't quite mesh with him or something. So it all turned out good except Bo is supposedly banned from President Obama's bed. That is probably true for now, wonder if it will stick? I'm sure Bo will never know that he is probably one of the most famous dogs in the world, he will just think this is the way life should be like my little white rat (OK he's fluffy and looks more like a giant q tip than a rat but I call him my white rat) thinks, he doesn't think he's spoiled, this is just how life should be!

I wonder if the Obama's will stop @ one dog? Bo might get lonely? President Obama seems to be plenty smitten with this dog considering it was a present for his children? Bo is truly and animal that gives pause and probably one that will give paws too, pun intended.

Bestow Bichon Puppy Photos At Two Weeks

Here's new pictures of Champion Bestow's Gift of Grace's litter of prize Bichon Frise puppies, and I do mean prize, read a few posts below this one to get further details about the mother and the breeder. The mama is more commonly known as Ruthy and she is a PROUD mama as she should be. Notice the little black eyes starting to peep open. Soon they will be walking and barking and doing all those cute puppy things.

For the curious they didn't get too close to the Easter Eggs, the colors on the puppies is for identification purposes. The've gone from 1/2 a pound or so @ birth to over 1 lb. If you are interested email me @ moads4u@gmail.com and I will pass your email on to the breeder.

All I've got to say besides that is AWWWWWWWW, they are simply adorable. Thanks to Diane for letting me share her beautiful babies with the world, and of course thanks to Ruthy too!

We Would Die If Mama Leaves?

Mama was loading stuff in Daddies truck, this is me Dispatch talking, the white one. It worries us when she does that because sometime she could forget to get out of the truck and leave with Daddy. Well this time it did happen? They got in the pickup and left without us but they came back after about 10 minutes. When Daddy leaves it's for a long time, many sleeps, 5 or 6 sometimes. If mama left who would feed and water us? Not to mention pet us and be there @ night to sleep with and all the essential things she does like listen when we find something interesting like the gray cat is trying to eat the cat food again. It's our cat mama says but we don't believe her. Plus the cats would probably start ruling the world if we didn't get out once and awhile to remind them we are the true rulers and protectors of the lawn @ least. Just cuz they kill snakes and mice and moles and birds proves nothing, oh and rabbits, if they would hold still we would kill them too because we are DOGS! Anyway when they got back we were sitting by the door with our noses plastered against it making sure she didn't forget and leave with Daddy and if she did she remembered US!! She didn't leave with him in the big truck but you never know. Mama told Daddy oh look when she got back, she meant us looking so worried, I could hear her because I have supersonic hearing being a bichon ya know? She had to come back in the house to get the camera cuz Daddy told her she needed a picture of that, he pretends he's macho but he's more of a pushover than Mama. Daddy bet her she couldn't get out the door without us but she did, we listen when she gets that stern voice, it's better that we listen. Anyway all is fine now. We are full and have fresh water and mama is with us.
Daddy said there was a terrier someone dumped in a town not far from here, mama is going to email the animal shelter people down there and tell them about him. Daddy said he fed him and almost brought him home. Mama asked for another bichon, Daddy said NO. Oh well, I'm all the dog anyone could want but I miss Mugsey if he's outside?

Mugsey Marley and Me Look Alike

Hi, my name is Mugsey, my mama is typing this for me, my paws are much too big. This is my baby picture. Mama says I looked so much like Marley it wasn't even funny, they hadn't made the movie yet, this was in the spring of 2007. Now everyone says I'm a Marley lookalike or look alike however you want to say it. This picture was taken about 5 minutes after she brought me in the door. Daddy said something about a yellow puppy although he kept telling mama they couldn't have another dog, especially living in a camper cleaning up after Katrina. Somehow Daddy relaxed his rules for me? There's a commercial on about some of these mugs may have bugs but there aint no bugs on me. Mama said I looked like the dog on the commercial so that was my name, Mugsey. Makes me sound rather tough don't ya think?
I have a "big" brother, his name is Dispatch, here he is on the bed, I think he's just about the best thing besides bones. He started to play with me a couple weeks after I came to live with them. The first two weeks were rough though. See Dispatch still has all his tail hair?

Dispatch liked to play pulley pulley with me, I soon learned to rip all the toys to shreds. Mama won't let me have any more except one expensive stuffed dog that I haven't destroyed because it's too well made. The face is gone though? I'll get it chewed up soon and then she will have to buy new ones. BTW there's a video of me howling with Dispatch about this age if you want to click on the videos on the right? You have to look through the other videos to get to it though.

Mama was cleaning out a camper they had in storage on a horse farm for one of my human brothers who worked for my Daddy. Dispatch told me he could make the horse eat me. It didn't but I wasn't taking any chances.
Soon after this we came back to Missouri, I was born in Mississippi under a storage container. Daddy said they rescued me. Mama reminds him I was in the air conditioned house with the kids when they "rescued" me. My doggie mama was a golden retriever and my doggie daddy was a huge black Labrador. I got my size more from my doggie mama but I'm still trying to grow! When we came back to Missouri we lived on something called a farm and I could go without a leash (what a relief) and there was another old grouchy dog named Skeeter. She's now one of my best friends but boy was she grouchy @ first. As you can see by the picture below I got most of Dispatches tail hair pulled out by early fall. It was such a fun handle, I'd grab him by it and he would growl and mama would yell, sometimes I even tried to pull him by it but Dispach is a fierce warrior under that fluffy white hair. We were playing here, Dispatch does something called a Bichon Blitz but I think he just goes nuts and thinks he's faster than me?

Mama said I was too big for Dispatch's bed and put it up on a table so I couldn't get it because I sort of liked to chew it too. Daddy came home and I had to show him I could still fit in the bed. I don't know what Mama is talking about sometimes?
All of this required I sleep. Mama doesn't like me sleeping in this chair much, I have a chair in the family room I can sleep in but she gets really loud when I take my naps in the living room?

I tried to shield Dispatch when Mama dressed him up in a tutu from Sara my human niece, she tastes good most of the time when I lick her. Anyway mama remembered the tutu she had made for Sara's first Halloween and dressed poor Dispatch in it. I was a little jealous but I really didn't want my own tutu.


Later I learned about ice and how it was wise just to lay down and not try to walk sometimes. I was tired after all this and had to sleep some more.



I learned to watch for Daddy when he was outside. See how I am camouflaged in the jungle tree? Mama says pay no attention to the unfinished window sill, she is just glad to have a wall and have sheet rock up, this used to be a garage door before I came around Dispatch said.I am guarding continuously, sometime I must hide if the danger gets too close though. Mama says I'm not nearly as dumb as she thought I was. I had an accident in the house when Mama was really tired and didn't let me outside in the middle of the night. She didn't find it till she had let me out the next morning but I knew she would be mad so I tried to go live with my best friend Fema who lives down the hill, Fema's mama is my mamas best friend and Fema is a miniature schnauzer, sometimes the schnauzer across the road comes to visit too and we all play in the front lawn. Nothing will attack then because of all 5 fierce dogs guarding the place huh?

All of this guarding and talking about it has made me tired, I have to sleep again.
I have found out that a warm human is the best thing to sleep by on a lazy Sunday morning, this is Jacob my human nephew, Jacob is good to me and feeds me human food too. We are watching a dog show on PBS, well Jacob and Dispatch are, I'm trying to catch a few zzzz's which doesn't sound like a bad idea. See Dispatch's tail hair did grow back!! I'm really not a bad dog.

Bichon Frise Puppies Pictures

Ok, folks here are the bichon puppy pictures I promised.


And here they are about a week old.



Aren't they adorable? The lady in the middle is their vet. Yes they've already been to the vet and pronounced beautiful healthy bichon puppies. The mother's name is Champion Bestow's Gift of Grace (doesn't she look like she's just so happy to have puppies?), yes champion, these are not your run of the mill bichon frise puppies. We prefer to call the mama Ruthy though or rather her "mama" does, I've not had the pleasure of meeting her or the puppies in person. The breeder is the breeder of many champion dogs, sire and dam are handpicked for the best qualities. The breeder also lectures and writes on many subjects ranging from canine care to nutrition, she also grooms and is knowledgeable about all canine subjects. But getting down to brass tacks her bichons are more spoiled than mine is basically. The dogs are raised in the breeders home and are well on their way to being socialized. Not all these puppies will be show dogs but some will.

If you are interested in one of these puppies email me @ moads4u@gmail.com and I will forward your email to her. Be forewarned though, she has the strictest policies as to where the bichon puppies go. They will go to non smoking homes and be kept inside, no ifs ands or buts. She keeps the puppies till they are 12 weeks of age and has a very detailed review of the potential owners, she is located in California. The mother dogs are only allowed to breed a limited number of times, I believe 3 but I may be wrong and the intervals are carefully spaced for optimum health of the mother and puppies.

And now here is a picture of one of the breeders other dogs, doesn't he look happy? He should he just won best of breed. But he's happy anyway just to be a bichon. His name is Champion Bestows Pillar of Strength or Rocky. He's a real looker isn't he?

So far the worst thing I've found about bichons is they make for difficult typing. The left arm is almost useless as it is the support for my dog, he is allowing me partial use of it now but if it's serious cuddle time he must be supported so he is held sitting on my lap but upright with his head resting on my shoulder. This makes for optimum viewing of the window where the cats might appear or a dog and perhaps a car may go by, if things get dull the head gets lower till it's nap time.

When the puppies are a little older I will post more pictures.

Bichon Breeds

This is a picture of my bichon puppy when he was like 6 or 8 weeks old. I know I have more, have a feeling they are on the computer I gave my stepdaughter. Anyway he was a cute little thing, if you want a dog to be a companion I can heartliy recommend bichons. In fact I'm on a bichon board which is a good place to go for information. The name is bichon.ca.

There are also a couple more web pages to tell you about bichons.

Here's a link.

And here is another.

If you want to look further. Right now I have to quit writing because my own little puffball is demanding to be let out AGAIN to play with the cats. He calls it play, they call it being attacked.

I will soon have a bichon frise breeder highlighted on this webpage, she's just had a litter of the most amazing little white Bichon frise puppies you could ever want to see.

Back to the bichon breeds. First of all my bichon may not be a pure bichon frise although he looks it, he may be a bichon poo or another cross, he was supposed to be a poodle. Long story. I've had poodles, in my estimation bichons are more human oriented although my poodles were more farm poodles than typical poodles, romped with the big dogs etc. There are 5 or 6 bichon breeds depending on if you count the Lowchen. There is also the Maltese, the Bolognese, the Coton de Teulear, the Havanese, and of course the Bichon Frise.

Actually you would think from looking at a bichon they are sturdy cute cute poodles with black rims around their eyes that make them highly expessive. Poodles aren't even that closely related and I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Maltese breed which is a close relative.

I'll expand on all of this later. Just let it be said if you are looking for a companion dog a bichon can't be beat. For more stories of my bichon look through my blog, or go to bichon.ca, you will see what demands they make on your time and wallet. As far as I'm concerned it's all well worth it.

Labradoodle or Portuguese Water Dog for the Obama's?

OK, I admit I posted this in January the first time but since the Obama's haven't gotten a dog yet ( OK, he's been sort of busy with GM and those conferences in London and Iran and all and she's been busy hugging the Queen and denying pregnancy rumors, I LIKE Michelle OK! ) but I'm dying to find out what they do choose, I still think the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon? But there are those who say labradoodle isn't a breed so they should stick to the Portuguese Water Dog? What's your opinion?

Link to the white Labradoodle puppy breeder Copper Canyon Labradoodles.

To me the labradoodle looks like a lanky bichon but maybe I am just a little touched about bichons?

The other choice is a Portuguese Water Dog, I think this is Teddy Kennedy's choice? The picture above is from the American Kennel Club, don't want to get into trouble.

They both seem like nice dogs. Good rambunctious dogs. Not foo foo dogs like Obama said he didn't want.

OK, we have a foo foo dog but he's just really cute and cuddly, let him think something is attacking mama and he turns into the tazmanian devil. One night I heard Skeeter the terrier fussing out by the bar-b-que grill. Seems a possum had made it's way under the grill, opossums are not known for their speed or being particulary ferocious so I decided I either had to get it out of there or kill it to make Skeeter shut up. I got a shovel and managed to get le possum on it and drag it out from under the grill. Dispatch wasn't very old, less than a year but when the possum came out and snarled he threw himself on it teeth barred and growling because le possum was coming toward beloved mama. Well duh, if I have a shovel and am pulling le possum toward me it's going to get closer. Opossum left the shovel and the yard with a bouncy white butt in close pursuit and a black slow butt behind that (Skeeter).
Foo foo dog also shows no mercy when confronted with strange dogs in his yard. I've seen him chase huge hounds off and a blue heeler. I'm standing there actually calling the blue heeler and Dispatch catches sight of him and it's bar the door Katie. A little white cotton fluff ball heading down the hill in hot pursuit of a VERY scared blue heeler. Just didn't make sense to me, maybe the blue heeler thought the q-tips had gone mad or it was a ghost?

Anyway all the best of luck to the Obama's with their puppy.

And if you are considering adopting go here for a list of dogs just waiting to be glad to see you when you walk in the door. There was an article in People I believe that said pets turned into shelters are on the rise but adoptions are also on the rise. Think about it. You could have a dog beside you whining to go out to his cat friends so he can chase them like I do?

Cynthia The Lost Peacock

Here's the link to the cnn story.

Seems that a peacock or peahen as she's called because she is a female is living by the Sheriffs department in Marion County OR, the picture is of a male from the national geographic website but Cynthia is a beautiful bird and I don't like birds. I admit it, I'm bird phobic.

Cynthia showed up Saturday on the property next to the Sheriffs office and the cops have tried to find her owner or get an animal welfare agency to take her to no avail. She is eating bugs and drinking from a well but people have started to drop off water for her. She seems determined to watch over the police headquarters. They say they can't keep her because the groundskeeper wouldn't like to clean up after her but she eats bugs and I'm sure she keeps an eye out for intruders, what more could they want?

We actually did have peacocks @ one time, raised them in the chicken coop till they were older and they gradually stopped coming in for the night. Coyotes are thick around here and we figured that was what happened to them BUT one day while mushroom hunting in the woods on scared the daylights out of me flying up in front of me, perhaps they survived? This was 30 years ago so I'm sure they are long gone now. But Cynthia's story caught my eye, she's such a cute bird.