Z is for Zap!

Gwen checking to see if my mom’s coffee cup was empty or not.

Yes, I do realize that the challenge ended yesterday but I didn’t get a chance to do my post. All of our household goods (furniture, dishes, etc.) were being delivered to us and afterwards we had to go shopping for some cleaning supplies and food — never did get that food shopping done. We explored the area a little, found both of the stores that I could potentially work at (was allowed to see them both before I started the transfer process). Hardly any of our boxes got unpacked last night except for the bathroom stuff and some clothes. We were on a mad search for the iron (so Andrew could iron his uniform) and sheets last night since we didn’t get to unpacking until about 8pm after everything else. Guess what today entails? Unpacking!

Anyways, enough about that for now. Here is the Letter Z:

We are considering a couple options for Gwen backyard containment. There is of course the more preferable option of fencing in the whole yard (it is only partially fenced) or going the Invisible Fence route. Both my parents and my cousins use this method with their dogs and don’t have any problems (minus when the line got cut) with it. We still want to put in a little dog run so she can stay out if we aren’t home — the electric fence would be for when we are home but not outside with her.

The other reason Z is for Zap is because I am thiiiiis close to investing in a bark collar for little miss barks a lot… Gwen’s barking and overall behavior has fluctuated a lot in the past couple of weeks with all this moving around and change. Honestly, I don’t blame her. She’s not allowed to bark inside but has taken it upon herself to modify this rule. “Allowed” is a relative with a corgi…they kind of think they can do whatever they want even when they know better. When your dog has as loud of a bark as Gwen — it carries and is forceful, excellent for herding cows — you don’t want it to bark indoors if you want to hear the tv, carry on a conversation, or in general keep your hearing.

My mom commented on Gwen’s barking the other day, “you need to do something about this barking thing.” To which I responded I know.

If we do go the bark collar route for indoors (she can bark outside if she wants) I am debating the citronella one versus the shock collar one. Citronella sprays them in the face and the other is self explanatory. We know from prior experiences that Gwen does not like to be sprayed in the face, it just pisses her off so that may or may not make matters worse, don’t know.

We do know Gwen will bark when she is trying to communicate something (apart from “a leaf fell! A leaf fell!”) like having to go outside or when there is no water left in the bowl, so I’m not sure I want to completely kill the bark…plus I like having a dog that barks at people in the yard or at the door, makes me feel safer knowing she’s on the look out! We will try the spray bottle corrections again before we go the expensive collar route.

De barking is not even a considerable option — it’s inhumane and cruel. I’ve herd of it being done to corgis and Shelties but I won’t even consider it. There are so many bad things that can happen with that too, but more on that some other time. Time to go buy some donuts for breakfast!

X is for X-cellent Day — Y is for Yappy

Today we will start backwards and do the Letter Y first!

Y is for Yappy.

No, Corgis are not to be considered “yappy dogs” but Gwen sure has been yappy lately!  Just as I type this, someone dropped something on the other side of the house and Gwen tore off in that direction barking an alarm.  Gwen has decided that since she is currently homeless she is going to bark whenever and wherever she feels like it…whether it be in a hotel room, inside, outside, in the car, or in whatever house we are currently standing inside…ugh!  It seems to be getting a little better now except for the fact that she keeps seeing things (mainly people and birds) out the window and feels the need to bark at them.  She never had that opportunity when we were in Charleston since we didn’t have windows low enough for her.

My grandparents and my parents both have sliding doors which provide prime guard-dog views.  She loves sitting there and watching outside!  She follows everyone around and has been a very good girl (minus the barking) at all the places we have been.  Today will be our (the humans) first night in our new house while Gwen stays with my parents for a couple of days.

X is for X-cellent Day

The day for the letter X just so happened to fall on Gwen’s birthday!  Which also happened to be my hometown’s heritage day parade.  My hometown has some big Dutch roots so the last weekend of April is Holland Happening, where they have a big parade, carnival, and street fair.  We all went to the parade (without the dogs).  We had a fun time, got some lunch and saw friends and family.

After all the festivities, we had dinner at home with my mom and dad and my “sister,” Dayzee.  Gwen got to meet her Aunty Dayzee and they got along just fine.  Last night they even played!  Well, as much as a young Corgi and an older Lab with a bum leg can.  Dayzee would bark at Gwen when Gwen would run by her, it was the most we’d heard Dayzee bark in such a long time!  It was really kind of cute. 🙂

Since it was Gwen’s Barkday Pawty (Birthday Party) we got some hats to put on the dogs and a “Happy 1st Birthday” banner that we hung up in the kitchen.  Dayzee was a good sport about wearing the hat and the beads that we got at the parade.  Gwen…well let’s just say that one hat just was not enough…

Aunty Dayzee Mae

Gwyndolyn Rose — 1st Birthday

One hat would slide over to one ear so we put two on her.  I mean, she already had 2 party hats (ears)!  She had one stuck on her rear at one point too, actually looked like she had a tail for once!

The humans got pie for dessert, Dayzee licked all the bowls clean and Gwen got a tiny piece of pie crust (she’s not allowed to have human food) as her “spercial treat.”

Frappy 1st Barkday, Gwen!  Hope you liked your Barkday Pawty!

Wow!  Tomorrow is the LAST DAY of the A-to-Z Challenge!  I can’t believe it!

W is for Welcome to Washington!

We made it!!!!

Today’s post will be quite short.  W is for Welcome to Washington!  Washington State is where both of us humans are from originally so it is nice to be back home.  We got our keys to our new house, checked out the barn where my horse will be moving to, and then took the ferry over to the Island where my parents live.  We are staying with family for a couple days before we get all of our household goods (furniture, etc.) which come on Tuesday.  Here are a some pictures of Gwen enjoying the grass at our new house…we will be getting a lawn mower for that beast of a yard real quick!

She found something smelly to roll in!

Gotta rub that smell in good!

This is my favorite! I was trying to take a picture of her in the tall grass standing there and then she started to do an all-body shake! Sometimes the funny looking pictures are the best. 🙂

The grass is taller than her in places!

 

 

V is for Vacation

Andrew & Gwen next to one of the Moose statues in the park at Coeur d’Alene.

V is for Vacation, because after this move I need a vacation!  To relate this to Corgis/dogs, we will consider this road trip a vacation with the dog!  I’m not sure that Gwen really likes vacations…

Today was a shorter day of driving and once again, Gwen was still in the midst of her “fun hangover” from playing with doggie cousin Rorie for three days.  In other words Gwen once again slept all day.  Since we didn’t have too far to drive today we stopped to do some fun stuff.  One of which included going to the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar which is not only a bar but also a huge gift shop, restaurant, motel, gas station, and casino.  (I probably missed something.)  It’s world famous!  This place is located on I-90 on the western border of Montana.  I’d never stopped there before but Andrew had.  We proved to be very good tourists since we purchased some things at the biggest gift shop I have ever seen, gawked at the silver dollars, and got some ice cream. 🙂  Gwen sat in the car.  We did let her out to go potty but all she wanted to do was stick her head into ground hog (?) holes.

Also, if you are a horse person and need a place to stop to water your horse or to spend the night, they have an area (corral and parking/exercise areas) on the west side of the motel at the 50,000 Silver $ place.  They’ve got water, parking, and areas for exercise.  Short stay or over night.  Maybe keep that in mind for the next time you are hauling your horses on I-90 between Idaho and Montana.  Just look for the 50,000 Silver $ sign — you can’t miss it!  (There was a sign right next to the door, had to check it out for myself and pass along my findings!) 🙂

We stopped at Coeur d’Alene, ID to get out of the car and walk around the park there by the lake.  Just getting out of the car the dog almost gave me a heart attack!  As Andrew went to go pay for parking I was left to deal with the dog.  I was reaching for something in the car while Gwen was standing outside of the car on her leash.  She was at the end of it so I tried to pull her forward but she was having none of it.  When she pulled against me she slipped her collar!  We were in a parking lot right off of a busy road of course.  To make matters worse she refused to come to me!  Normally she has great recall but of course when it really matters she acted as if I didn’t exist!  I stopped and called her name, all happy like, but she kept on trotting away from me (towards the road).

The closer Gwen got to the road the more worried I got — how could I not!  We were so lucky that there were people walking on the sidewalk next to the road.  I was jogging towards the side walk carrying Gwen’s leash and collar while calling her name, obviously I was after the little devil.  There was a couple walking on the sidewalk and the girl paused to try to pet Gwen and luckily Gwen went up to her but didn’t let the girl actually touch her.  That and Gwen’s short attention span were what kept her from running into the road!  There was some interesting smell on the sidewalk that Gwen felt she just had to sniff because when she stopped I grabbed her!

Her collar got tightened after that and I also pulled out her dog park (dirty) collar so that wouldn’t happen again since that one won’t loosen like the pretty one.  After that we did end up walking around the park and sitting by the water for awhile before we headed on down the road to find our hotel.  At that park, dogs are not allowed INSIDE the actual park but ARE allowed to walk ON THE PATH around the outside.  City ordinance.

Tomorrow we will have the keys to our new house!  Can you tell we are excited?!  We won’t spend the first few nights there until we get our furniture, until then we will be visiting my family since we have moved back home (for me) and my family is only a couple hours away.  Gwen will finally get to meet her Aunty Dayzee (my parents’ lab), cousins Bella (lab) & Tucker (Cocker Spaniel), and Uncle(?) Nemo (Poodle).

I feel that today may or may not have followed quite with the A to Z theme/topic that I chose…let’s wrap this whole thing up by saying that taking Gwen on vacation is interesting to say the least; it has been a new experience for us all.  Have you ever taken your dog (or other pet) on vacation with you??  Was it difficult?  We found that THE BEST hotel to stay in is La Quinta since they are pet friendly — pets stay FREE — and usually very clean and nice to stay at.  We also stayed in Days Inn which is a good one but they do have a small pet fee.

Oh yeah!  Gwen’s first birthday is on Saturday!!!!!!!!!  Only 2 days left!

U is for Upside-down Corgi [A&B also included]

Here is my catch up post for letters A and B!  Today’s letter, U, will be at the end after A & B.

A is for Antlers!

Antlers are one of Gwen’s FAVORITE things to gnaw on!  We have heard of the horror stories where dogs break teeth on them but they seem to be a better option than rawhides which can get all gunked up and cause obstructions in their innards.  When an antler gets too small and nubby it goes in the trash — don’t want any little doggies choking on anything too small!

There are different kinds of antlers; deer, elk, moose, and split elk.  Gwen’s favorite is the elk.  She will still chew on the deer but she just goes to town on elk!  We don’t give her split anymore since she likes to get all the marrow out of the middle and I’m afraid she’ll hurt her teeth by the way she does it.  We never tried moose so I don’t know how well those hold up.  Deer are pretty durable and seem to last the longest, at least in our household.

Gwen’s Sabertooth Look at Christmas — Deer Antler

B is for Bully Sticks!

I have written about bully sticks before and I have also shared some deals that I found on bully stick buying.  Bully sticks are awesome.  The down side to them is that they are super stinky!  I know there are some out there that are “odorless” or “low-odor” but I don’t know how they do that.  Bully sticks are all natural, 100 % beef, made from North and South American raised cattle.  We don’t give Gwen bullies everyday — I don’t think that would be very healthy — but she gets them every once in awhile and absolutely loves them!  I prefer to give her the braided ones since they last a little longer than the plain sticks but we do have a huge hoard of 6” sticks!

U is for Upside-down Corgi!

After 2.5 days at the grandpawrents’ house playing with the cousin doggies Gwen was so tired!  I took her on a short walk before we started out this morning and she probably didn’t even need to go on that except to go potty before heading out.  She curled up in her crate and slept the whole day!  She never got up to look out the window; never protested having to ride in the car or in the backseat the whole day.  It was such a nice day driving with her!  I wish we had tried to push on to Bozeman but we decided to just go with our original plans and stay in Billings, MT.  We even tried to go to Little Big Horn but we got there about 10 minutes after they closed.  We were really looking forward to it even though we (both humans) have been there before.

Gwen spent her entire day laying upside down in her crate in the car while we drove!

Corgis have a strange habit of sleeping on their backs and in the oddest positions.  If you are not familiar with them, take a moment and Google “Corgi Sleeping” or “Corgi Sleeping on Back” and you will get a little taste of their funny sleeping habits. 🙂

I tried to get a picture of Gwen sleeping today but it was difficult considering she was inside her giant crate.

This pic is a little older but shows an excellent example of Corgi sleeping positions…

We have two days left in our journey to our new home — we ended up spitting the last leg in half so we didn’t have to drive so long or hard.  Both of us are getting excited about moving into our new home and also being able to see family and friends back home!

 

T is for Trouble.

I think the title explains it all…the puppies have been playing all day long, getting into all sorts of trouble of course!  Almost all the pictures of them turn out blurry since they are in constant motion so we will just settle for pictures of snow. 🙂

 

Early morning romp in the snow.

Surveying the snow out front.

Walkin through the snow with Daddy Hooman!

This was after the snow started to melt. When we woke up the snow was down to the R/T on the side!

Post dinner time walk.

Rorie and Faline got a new connecty leash so they could be walked together.  They only got tangled around a tree, lamp post, and a sign post a couple times but they did figure out how to trip people, like Andrew. 🙂  Smart dogs!

Cool down time — chewing on hooves together. (sorry, it’s a little blurry)

The pups were tired after playing all day.  They settled down to chew on hooves while their humans played some Wii.  Even Faline joined in the napping and gnawing for a little while, though she doesn’t really like having her picture taken.  Gwen also hoarded the hooves and wouldn’t share any of them at one point.

*   *   *   *   *

And for today’s helpful tidbit of information, here is a link to a website that contains a list of things that are poisonous to dogs and also what happens if they do ingest these things.  Interesting to read and have on hand.  There is even an app for that!  The front page has a link to their app and if you click on the tab titled “Poison List” you can get a list that you can narrow down your search (i.e. plant, food, etc.) for dogs and cats both.  http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/

 

S is for SNOW! — Gwen’s First Snow!

Gwen’s First Snow Experience

Yesterday, we arrived in Denver and are staying with Andrew’s family for a couple of days.  My parents came into town to visit my brother who lives in the area also but with the impending snow they decided to only stay a day and then head out with my truck.  (Andrew’s mom &  grandpa had driven it half way and my parents were to continue the other half.)  My mom and dad did, however, get to finally meet Gwen even if it was for a short time before they headed off.  We will see them soon though and Gwen will also get to meet her Aunty Dayzee and other cousins, Bella, Tucker and (Uncle?) Nemo!

Here at Gwen’s grandpawrents’ house are two dogs, Faline and Rorie.  Faline is a black spitz of some sort (fluffy and black) and Rorie is a Terror-mutt  terrier mix.  Faline is the family dog from when Andrew was in High School and Rorie is the new addition, being only around 6 months old.  Needless to say Gwen and Rorie get along great (now) but Gwen and Faline don’t really see eye to eye, and that has nothing to do with height…

Rorie & Gwen. Look at the ears on that thing!

I tried to get Faline in the picture too but she politely declined.  I just remembered that she hates to have her picture taken….

Gwen and Rorie play like puppies, rough housing and causing a ruckus and in doing so leave Mother Hen Faline out.  I don’t think Faline really likes that, especially since Rorie is “her” puppy and play thing.  She is a bit jealous and does not hesitate to let Gwen know.  She will bark and growl at Gwen and Rorie when they are playing and they don’t tend to listen to her admonishments.  There was one instance when the pups were out in the yard that Faline was growling and barking and then Gwen paused in her wrestling with Rorie to turn to Faline to snarl at her.  They ended up in a stand off for a long moment where they both had snarly faces on staring at each other.  I think that was the point where Gwen stood up to Faline and said, “Hey Lady, if you aren’t going to do anything about it then leave me alone!”  They never went after each other, just had ugly snarl faces.

This is Faline.  She’s a Mother Hen.

As for the snow, Denver has some!  The snow is also going to make us delay leaving for a couple of days since the Challenger is not really the best vehicle to be driving in the snow…it is currently covered in snow.

I can’t believe that the A to Z Challenge is almost done!  Only 7 more letters to go!  That means 7 more days!  Well, technically I still need to do my A and B but I am planning on combining those later this week with another one.  I should’ve just done them in beginning when I had a chance to catch up (remember, I’d almost forgotten about the challenge), oh well.  Gwennie’s FIRST birthday is coming up too!  She will be turning a year old on the 27th!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS MY 100th POST!!!  HOW EXCITING!!!

R is for Road Trips and Rest Stops

I have been on many road trips but this is my third cross country road trip. Every time I have to climb back in that car I dislike road tripping more and more. It wouldn’t be too bad if we could just stop and go see things…today, for example, we kept passing things with the name “cave” and “park” in the name on the signs but since we have the dog and are trying to get cross country in a certain time frame we don’t really have the luxury of being able to stop and sight see. *insert frowny face here*

Gwen did much better today in the car than she did yesterday. She barely made a sound and was very good at all of the rest stops. When it comes to rest stops, the ones we stopped at today (mostly truck stops and a restaurant  were clean and even the human bathrooms were clean. Thank goodness! We have stopped at some pretty nasty rest stops in the past!

Here’s an example of a gross rest stop, and what makes it worse is it is the PET AREA that was gross! The human area was nice and clean. When we went to pick up Gwen from the breeder she was only 9 weeks old so that meant that we had to make a few rest stops since the trip was about 4 hours to home. You couldn’t take a step without looking and almost stepping in some yucky dog poos! Clearly some people need to learn to pick up after their dogs. I don’t care what you do at home, but in a public place, please pick up after your critters! Because that rest stop in South Carolina, right outside of Charleston — I think it was Ladson — had a very, very gross Pet Area.

After our last pit stop, we figured that maybe Gwen could ride the last hour and a half in the front with us instead of her spot on the back seat with her crate. Yeah, that didn’t last long…only about a half hour before I plopped her back in the back seat again. I was covered in dog hair and she couldn’t get comfortable and then we started to “argue.” Gwen didn’t like where I kept trying to rest my hand so she’d bark at it then get all snappy at me. If you said anything to her then she would “sass” back. She kept barking quietly and it sounded like she was talking!

We put a step next to the bed so she could jump on and off easier and safer. She seemed to really like it.

This was Day 2 of our trip, we made it to Topeka, KS. I even helped drive today! A whole 2 hours!!

Oh yeah, and we saw this car at our hotel! Look at how ORANGE it is! It’s like neon!!!

Q is for Quest

In the crate in the back seat.

Gwennie would like to tell you her story today:

We are going on a QUEST! The hoomans loaded up the big orange pumpkin chariot and said “comeon Gwen! Lets go for a ride!” And then we drove and drove and drove for like 8 hours!  It felt like FOREVER!

We had a bunch of evil rains today.  It was really, really loud and hurt my poor corgi ears. 😦

We stopped at a Chik fil a for lunch (they didn’t give me any but let me go for a potty break, thank goodness!) and at a gas station. We are in Nashville, TN for tonight.  It’s my first time staying in a hotel.  The momma isn’t so sure about me being a good dog…her thinks that I bark too much.  People keep walking by outside!  I MUST BARK!

I gots to ride in an L-E-vader [elevator] to get to our room!  Lots of peoples got in with funny suitcases and some stranger petted my head then everybody left!  There are lots of funny smells here and I keep getting into trouble for chewing on this funny carpet.  Now the humans think it’s a good idea to put me on a leash indoors.  What’s up with that?!

Now I am sitting on the bed with my hoomans.  At home I’m very, very rarely allowed on the big human bed — they think I’m going to jump off it and hurt myself.  I figured out how to get on this bed all by myself.  They were impressed but also worried I might hurt myself since I am a long backed corgi and not supposed to be jumping such big jumps.

Oh yeah, and I did NOT get car sick today!  Yay!!!  That’s a first for a long car ride.  I’m proud of that. 🙂

Sitting on the human bed in the hotel!

Day 1.  Only 2 more til Denver to visit the daddy’s family, then another 2 or 3 til we get to our new home!

P is for Princess

P is for Princess, how fitting!  Gwyndolyn Rose just happens to be a Princess!!!  

Moving update!  Tomorrow is the big day!  Last minute cleaning and apartment inspection things today.  Busy day, figured we’d get this posted early before our internets go bye-bye.