Woodland Agility

What dogwalk? Aren't we on a dog walk?

Now this is an obstacle course! (This is "selective logging" behind the neighbors' place)

Pause table, pause rock, whatever.

Duke: Wait, are we supposed to sit or what?

Maggie: I sit where I want.

Synchronized Sleeping

When Calvin & Hobbes Grew Up

Calvin and Hobbes

 We have all of the Calvin and Hobbes books by Bill Watterson and used to read the strip when it was originally in the paper. There is even a Tumblr page  at http://calvinhobbesdaily.tumblr.com/ which puts up a classic strip each day.

The Mr. and The Dude

 A few people have mentioned that The Mr. and The Dude look like Calvin and Hobbes all grown up.

The Dude

Giant Tiger Laser Vision activated!

I think Calvin would go to the New England Metal and Hardcore Fest this weekend, maybe we'll see you there! The Dude is definitely mellow as Hobbes and would prefer to nap at home.

When Griffin met Maggie

Maggie's Stalker

Griffin and Maggie

 For some reason Griffin is obsessed with Maggie. It could be because we brought her to meet him at Buddy Dog when he was a puppy. He was so excited to see her at the farm after my parents adopted him that he kept barking at her and wouldn't leave her alone. Some things never change....

Oh no, it's heading right for us!

If I don't look at him he might go away....

In Dad's Garden

ToughHound Collar Review

Maggie: Hey Griffin, is that a new collar? 



Griffin: Yeah, want to see up close?

 Duke: Woo hoo!

Maggie: Um, you guys are going to stop, right?

  Last November I received an email asking if I would be interested in reviewing the ToughHound collar. The ToughHound personalized collar was provided as a review sample and is available for purchase at the Dog Bark Collar store.

The collar looked really durable, with a custom engraved stainless steel nameplate and all stainless steel hardware, so it was perfect for Griffin, my parents' Giant Schnauzer. The collar is only available in a buckle style, which is why we ordered it for Griffin instead of Maggie or Duke, as we only use martingale/limited slip style collars for them. 

How do you like the natural look?

   Griffin spends as much time as possible outside with my Dad on my parents' farm, rolling in the grass, jumping in the ponds and running through the fields and woods. The fact that the "ToughHound non-porous surface drys quickly, will never absorb offensive odors and makes removing mud just a wipe away" made it a great choice. The collar has a leather like texture but is much easier to keep clean.

Collar may be larger than it initially appears.

 The only problem is that I didn't read the sizing directions on the website correctly, which state to "Measure your dog’s current collar from the center of the buckle to the current sizing hole. Select the closest number in the drop-down for size." A 24" collar is 24" to the second hole, so the overall collar is actually 29" long, which was a little bit too large, even for a Giant Schnauzer. 

Okay, so you can fit your hand and 4" of fluff, what's the big deal?

 It's hard to see the Midnight Black collar on the black dog, but it is available in 8 different colors, from Espresso Brown to Sunshine Yellow. The other collars available on the website were bark collars, which are designed to offer a correction/punishment whenever a dog barks. Although Griffin can be a barking maniac when playing with Maggie and Duke, my parents would never consider using negative punishment to train him to stop barking. He's a great watchdog, which is not something they would want to train out of him.

I've got my eyes on you. (not like you could tell!)

The collar took a few months to come in, the normal delivery time is said to be seven days. I had almost forgotten about it when I received an email asking for my shipping address. They said that the initial response to the collar promotion was so overwhelming that they were behind on orders. I was initially hoping to get it in time for Christmas, but I can't be too picky about a free collar! I just hope the service is better for paying customers.

The price of the collar is $29.95 plus shipping, which seems a little high, but not unrealistic considering the stainless steel hardware and custom engraved stainless steel nameplate. There are 13 different fonts available, and there are up to 4 lines with 14 characters available for personalization.

Who's got a big neck and little pointy head? Not Griffin! (Definitely Duke.)

It's not a collar that I would use on Maggie or Duke, as they both have large necks and fairly small heads, so a buckle collar would tend to slip off. I would not recommend leaving the collar on a dog that was unsupervised, as it doesn't seem like a dog with normal proportions would be able to get out of the collar if it got caught on something. None of the ToughHound collars have a breakaway clip, so you wouldn't have to worry about the collar letting go if a dog suddenly pulled towards a squirrel!

 It seems like a great collar for big active dogs, and I'll be interested to see how well this collar stands up to a summer outdoors on Griffin!

Dinner with Doug



Doug with his favorite meal of green beans, mmm hmm

 Doug is a vegetarian lizard, he loves salads, fruits and especially green beans. He's a Solomon Island Skink, also known as a monkey tailed or prehensile tailed skink, since he can hang from his tail like a monkey. We've had him for about 13 years, skinks can live to be in their 30's!

Y'all wouldn't be lookin' ta take my green beans, would ya?

Sarge's blog is having an Amazing Exotics event hosted by Shelldon & Beachnut, so go over to their blog and enter or just check out who else has entered! Dachshund Nola had a link on her blog, she has a bunch of cool goats in her family! Wonder if there will be any other lizards there?