My Weekend at the Swiss Lodge

Hey pals- sorry I have been MIA so much lately. This weekend I was actually in MIA (that is Miami) visiting my lady friends Swissie and Jetta.

Their peoples went out of town and normally they would come and stay at the Moose Lodge but this time me and momma went to the Swiss Lodge.

You see my Swissie is a lady of advanced years and has had troubles with her back end as long as I have known her pretty much. But about 2 weeks ago she suddenly could not really walk at all and even when she could stand up and not fall over she could not really even reach her beak down to pick up her most favorite thing in the world... squatter stuffies.

Her mom took her to see the doc and not only did her back end have bad troubles but her back bone was starting to fuse together. To make matters worse they found she has some giant lump on her spleen and they don't know what it is. Her mom knew that there was no point in worrying about her innards if her legs were not going to work and we were all really scared that she might have to get over the bridge and without me even getting to see her again. But momma told her mom to see if my knee hospital could help and she saw a nice doc who gave her prednisone and now she is up and trotting around again! Well sort of... her people built her some ramps (you can see in the pic that it even works for mooses) to get around the house and had to cover every square inch of floor with mats so she would not slip and there is no way she could make the long car ride to the Moose lodge because she is a stubborn lady and would just try to stand up in the car and fall down. So that is why we went to see her.

The sad news is that we don't know how much longer the prednisone will keep her going and if her spleen troubles could send her over the bridge even before then. So momma says I might never get to play with her again because even if she is ok for a few months she probably would not be strong enough for any moose play. But at least we had a nice visit and I got to see her again.

She is a smart lady too and definitely has her people wrapped around her paw because she has gotten them to spoil her with things like raw beef marrow bones!

I can always find a leftover bone or two in their yard but on this visit they were absolutely everywhere! There are at least 5 in this photo of me in the yard and that is not counting the one in my beak!

I had at least one with me all weekend! Momma says she is pretty sure I will not be invited back because of the disgusting drooly mess I made on their mats. I could not help it though, there was no place without mats so I don't know what she expected me to do!

Oh, and I guess it would be nice to say that I also had fun with Jetta. She is a nice lady too but she is very quiet and never gets any pictures taken of her because she is either sleeping and just looks like a fuzzy black lump or she is sucking up to momma and looks like this photo. She keeps momma company while Swissie and I play so that is nice of her!
So pals, if you would cross your paws that Swissie's bones and spleen will keep working for as long as they can I would really appreciate it. Momma also says that your people should give you all lots of love and spoil you with marrow bones and such while they can! I say that you should enjoy your friends every time you see them in case you don't get to again. Sigh.

Hope you pups are watching the puppy bowl today. Momma is cheap and canceled the tee vees so I am just going to nap and dream of last years game. I hear there are chickens this year and there is a camera strapped to a puppy's head? I bet there will be lots of puppy butt shots with that one...

Wordless Wednesday: Sheepish Moose Edition

BONUS: Zombie dog out for brains!

Ok, that is actually my lady friend Swissie who has been feeling quite poorly of late but sent me this pic to show she is still her frisky self!

My new pal (and foster roomie) Lucas!

My bestest play pal ever, 'Tiny Hound' (aka Willie), went to his new home! I was really sad to see him go because he really knew how to play.

Since I was totally bummed Momma took me up to Miamis to visit my girlfriends Swissie and Jetta. Not that I can't handle two ladies by myself, but I thought it might be fun to have a wing man so momma and I stopped and picked up Lucas on the way.

Lucas is a homeless labbie that some nice people found wandering around and they wanted to help him so they called Lab Rescue to see if we could find a home for him.

He is a fun guy for sure but like so many other foster buddies he is way more interested in momma than me.

He does like to play with toys at least so maybe there is hope for him but if I try to tug with him he just lets go. No fun for me!

Mostly he sits by momma and does his cute act and momma falls for it hook, line and sinker! She goes around snapping pictures of him every few seconds like he is America's next top model or something! She didn't even get mad when he chewed a hole in one of her shirts!

Momma has assured me that I am still her so handsome boy and the goodest hound ever though so I guess it is ok that she is swooning over some new guy!

Besides... I am still way taller than him heh heh heh...

p.s. Yes, he is my new roomie until he finds his forever home!

Call me Señor Moose!

Momma has been calling me Señor Moose again. She first started calling me that about a year ago when the vet mistakenly labeled me a 'senior' and after some discussion it was decided that as a gentleman residing in a spanish speaking area (Miami) it is only natural to address me with the courtesy title of "Señor" so that is clearly why the vet and now momma are calling me that. It is definitely not related to my being a labradog of advanced years.

Sure I recently turned NINE years old but I know for a fact that you are not a senior until you are 55 years old. Momma tried to say I was 70 people years old because she found this chart (she loves graphs...Geek!).



But I took a quiz on the internets (what could be more scientific?) and it said I was 38.4 people years!

She is always taking inventory of my grey hairs too. As you can see in the first photo I do have a few more grey furs than I used to. But just the other day momma noticed the appearance of a small patch of grey on my beak! Do you see it?

It is in with my whiskers... It is tiny but momma thinks it is most curious since it appeared so suddenly and has all black furs around it...

Whatever! I  am still younger than Señorita Swissie (11years old!) ...

... and Señorita Jetta 9 years + 4months (3 1/2 months OLDER than me!).
Plus I can not help but mention that in my birthday post I got lots of comments about how I don't look 9 years old. So that is proof that I am Señor Moose not senior Moose!

A real pill...

My lady friends Swissie and Jetta are visiting again! We love having them visit the Moose lodge but lately momma has noticed that they are quite the pill poppers! I take some pills too but as a card carrying labradog it is my policy to eat things first and ask questions later. Momma gives me something & I eat it no problem! I do prefer a sort of topping on the white one, you know maybe a little cream cheese to help it go down but I will eat the fishoil one plain and really consider it a light snack!

Jetta (also a card carrying labradog) has the same policy, however momma says Swiss Miss is a real pill when it comes to taking her pills. Momma has to really hide them all the way and even still Swissie will spit it out and lick all the good stuff off! There are these things called pill pockets out there but it is expensive for a doggie who would need 4 of them every day! There is also this stuff that is like edible play doh for dogs but it is pretty expensive too (and they stopped making it anyway!).

So momma remembered that people sometimes make edible playdoh for kids and maybe that would work for us so she tried out the recipe.
She puts peanut butter, bee juice and powdered cow (at least that is what is on the box!) and mixes it all together!

From momma:  it is equal parts dried non-fat milk, peanut butter & honey. I have found that more dried milk may be needed depending on the peanut butter you use. A table spoon of flour can also be added if it is still too sticky! you should be able to form it into a ball without leaving a big mess. It is much less messy than regular peanut butter or cream cheese and does a better job of really hiding the pills- espescially the large glucosamine & fish oil capsules. It needs to be stored in an air tight container but will last a long time. 

Here I am showing Swissie how it is done!
Swiss Miss can't feel the pill so she gobbles it up no questions asked.If she keeps it up Jetta and I are going to make her an honorary labradog!

Momma also has another trick too that is even wayyyy better than that but may gross out some of you peoples. She will stuff a pill in one of the holes that are already in a chicken heart! She says they are "nature's pill pockets". Hee hee whatever, even Swiss miss does not question a chicken heart! Total yummers!

Is anybody still there?

Momma has not helped me blog much lately and she has not read me news of my pals nearly enough so I wonder if everyone has wandered off? Summer is kinda lazy busy here at the Mooselodge so that is why we have not been around much. I know what you are thinking... "Um Moose... summer was over ages ago" but see, here in Florida Keys summer lasts until they start putting up halloween decorations, then we know it is fall. Then when chirstmas stuff appears we know it is winter then when the easter bunny appears it is spring. Any other time is summertime!

What have we been doing? Well, one big change is in kibbletime.... or rather suppertime. You see, I managed to convince my momma that I am a wolf and as such I require MEAT and BONES for dinner.

So momma has been spending all of her free time out hunting chickens and pigs for me! She is an awesome hunter too. I don't know how she does it! She takes a couple of sacks and a square piece of plastic out and comes home in less than an hour with like a hundred chickens! So what used to be kibble time is now supper time and it only happens once a day instead of twice. But dog alive it is a really yummers once a day so I don't mind!

Aside from that my girlfriends Swissie and Jetta have come by to visit a few times. I have been quite the ladies' man lately so Khyra said I am turning into a Huge Heifer whatever that is!  (No Moose, she said Hugh Hefner!)

Momma said that with all of my Squatter bunnies it is sorta like the bunny ranch too!

There has been lots of fun though. This weekend they are here and we got to watch this awesome movie on the Tee Vees with dogs in it. Swissie went a little nuts over it!



You should see the actual movie we were watching here: http://www.okgo.net/dogs/
There are 12 doggies and a goat in there!

On the girls last visit momma got me a new stuffie and Swissie went a little nuts about that too as you can see here! I was too scared much of a gentleman to steal it back from her so I let her keep it.

I know it looks like Jetta is never around but that is because she is always napping! Here she is snuggled up with momma!

Half beak!

On tuesday momma, Mandy and I hopped in the car and momma took me to my girlfriends' house in Miami and dropped Mandy off at the vet for her nose job (as Jack put it!) and then momma went to see her family up north. We are all home again so figured I would update you all.
First off- I have yet another new contraption called a seatbelt. ugggh. Totally not cool!

Second- Mandy had this hideous lump on her beak so she had to get a nose job to fix it. Momma said it is called a 'rostral mandibulectomy'. Whatever... I was calling her 'half-beak' but momma said that is a kind of fish and also not very nice. Really she looks pretty much the same.

You can see that she is missing a few toofers and some beak when she is smiling but even then momma thinks she is still a pretty girl. And on the up side she finally is able to produce a respectable amount of drool! Momma is less impressed by this though.

The doctor who did her nose job said that it was not as bad as it could have been and sent part of her beak out to be tested for bad sickies. We will know next week sometime so please keep your paws crossed that she is sickie-free!

Third- Momma was bummed that I went to my girlfriend's house instead of driving north but there was another travel-sized doggie there named Shadow (my cousin) who did a good job of preventing doggie-withdrawl.

I did get lots R & R in with Swissie and Jetta though so I had fun!

Camp Coconut

Hey blogger buddies! In case some of you noticed I have been MIA lately that is because I am actually in MIA.. Miami that is! I am visiting my girlfriends Swissie and Jetta whilst Momma is off globe trotting! She is in a place called Curacao which she says is a lovely place but it has terrible internets so she has not been able to visit any of my pals and I have had my paws full with my lady friends and have not been able to make blog rounds either!

I am having a great time though. Here I am with Swissie after a lonnnng walk. We were wiped out but you should have seen their Momma who had to walk 3 of us pups at the same time! 

She was pretty exhausted too! Here I am hogging the girls' bed. Both of them usually share it but I like to spread out and unfortunately they could not be accomodated once I had made myself comfortable and poor Jetta had to sleep on the floor!

Some of you may know that I love coconuts... well since we moved to the Moose Lodge I have not had any coconuts, but check out what my girlfriends have ALL over their yard... COCONUTS! I busted one open and had some milk and delicious coconut the other day. This place is awesome! Momma will be back from island hopping next week and wanted me to tell you all that she will stop by then!

Visitors

My girlfriends are here! They got here Thursday night and we got to play all weekend but they are going home in the morning.

A friend of Momma's also came to visit this weekend so there was a lot of sitting around and gabbing about things other than me so I would have really been bored if my ladies weren't here!

Momma has tried to get a pic of all three of us but she is just not interesting enough to get us to all look at the same time! Whose fault is that? She has lots of these where no one is looking though!

And she has some where Jetta is waiting patiently for us to drop our toys and join the photoshoot. She is really not good at this whole photog thing!

Mostly she took pics of Swissie anyway because she is a total clown! Here is a video of Swissie doing her favorite thing!

Here is another video where Swissie is being funny. If she sees even a still picture of a doggie on the computer, even if she is way across the room she gets all excited. Of course that is my handsome self on there but momma says not to get too full of myself, she will do that with any doggie on the computer!

Momma has been totally preoccupied lately and I know you have all heard it before but she says that she does not always have time to leave my thoughtful comments for me and has even fallen a bit behind in reading and posting but we are still here and visiting when we can!

Geeky computery note from momma: In case some of you are not familiar with Fan Pages on Facebook 'becoming a fan' is about the same as 'following' in blogger terms and it is very different from 'friending' someone. If you are a fan all I (and other fans) can see about you is your profile name and what the general public could see if they google your name and click on your facebook profile so it is much less personal than friending where I would be able to see photos and write on your wall. It is really like a mini-blog that is easier to update in some ways because they are just quick little posts.
 P.S. I also got tagged By Alfie and Darwin Thanks pups! Moose is honored that you thought of him!
P.P.S. Speaking of Darwin, she went for an MRI today to see why she is having back troubles. Please keep your paws crossed for some good news!