{27jan2011: Mooo}

Last night Darwin and I took a walk and after a bit we took a pit stop at the Molly Moon's ice cream truck.  They have a bunch of locally made ice creams (during strawberry season they have balsamic strawberry ice cream... mmmm) and last night had a great variety.  I got Darwin a kids scoop of Vanilla Bean and I got a scoop of Salted Caramel (a little too salty for my liking, but I finished it off anyway... you can't waste!).

(sorry for the dark picture, I only had my camera phone on me)
We stood off to the side and I gave Darwin her cup.

It took her longer than I thought it would to finish it, but once the ice cream was gone she tried to eat the cup so I threw out her rubbish and we finished our walk.  
Jason says she's the most spoiled dog ever because once we got home she got a piece of raw steak (we were making beef broccoli) and some tomato slices too.  


BTW, Sirius Republic is having a collar and tag giveaway.  Check out  their blog for the details!  I know some of our friends have already placed an order with them, but if you want a chance at winning your own, check it out!

{26jan2011: wordless Wednesday}

Testing out (or high stepping) the new boots edition.

{21jan2011: Sirius Republic}

Back in December we were contacted by Jennifer from Sirius Republic to see if Darwin would want to try out their latest collar design, a 2" martingale collar.  I've always been curious about martingale collars and Sirius Republic has a great selection of prints so we quickly agreed.  Jennifer was quick and easy to communicate with and let us choose a print and it is so cute!

When the collar came it came nicely packaged with a handwritten note and magnetic calendar!  I was really surprised at the weight of the collar, mostly because of the giant D ring.

The pattern is called Tweet Tweet and is even stitched with pink thread!  Super girly!

Initially I was worried that a 2" collar would look really bulky on Darwin's neck, and I wasn't sure I'd like the look of it.  Being a newbie to this style of collar it took me a second to figure out how to get it on Dar, and then once on I realized I had it on a bit too tight.  

While it wasn't choking her it definitely looked snug, so I loosened it up and once I did it seemed much better.
Over the weekend we went to the park and as soon as we got there we had people coming up to us left and right asking about Darwin's collar, even people we didn't know stopped to ask us where we got her collar.  The Dane group who is used to seeing her in a pink collar was surprised at the change but also loved her new look.

I can't say enough about this pattern!  It's girly without being too girly, but could also pass as a boys collar.  The color looks great against Darwin's dark blue coat and the width, while intimidating at first, looks great on her.

Even Jason has come around to really like the Sirius Republic collar.  Jason's first reaction to it was that it was too big and he didn't like the pattern.  But after a couple days he's done a 180 and has admitted he really likes this 2" collar on her. 

She's been wearing it pretty consistently for almost two weeks now and it's held up well, and looks great!  It's been overcast and rainy here in Seattle, but hopefully the sun is supposed to come out this weekend and I'm hoping to get even better pictures of Darwin in her lovely collar.

Check out the Sirius Republic page to see all their designs (and other stuff too!) or you can see other fan photos on their Facebook page.

Thanks Jennifer and Sirius Republic!

{20jan2011: smile...}

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it's breaking
When there are clouds, in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile, through your fear and sorrow
Smile, and there'll be tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through
If you'll....
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....
Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....
Smile 



The dog blog world lost a very special girl, and as her mom said "she wouldn't want a lot of sadness spread among the blogs", so instead of crying we should do what Ammy has taught us to do... smile.

{19jan2011: wordless Wednesday}

Scenes from Christmas vacation in Indiana (and a day in Chicago) edition.




Bagheera! (Jason's parent's neighbor's Brindle Great Dane)






Ruby! (Jason's cousin's Goldendoodle)




***Thank you all your thoughts for Boo.  He's home resting after a quick surgery.  They found one and a half tennis balls in him!  He's going back in to the vet today to get checked out but he should heal up quickly!

{18jan2011: Boo}

Darwin's brother Boo hasn't been feeling well.  He ate a tennis ball at the park the other week and it's caught up to him.  After diarrhea and throwing up this weekend he went into the vet and got xrays taken and they can see two tennis ball halves blocking parts of his stomach/intestine and he's now going into surgery to remove it.  
Please keep him in your thoughts!

{17jan2011: Snowshoeing continue}

Back to our snowshoeing adventure!

Darwin did really well being off leash even when we passed other dogs.  I think she was more excited about being in the snow than seeing other dogs.

I did manage to almost lose my hat (it was hot so I put it in my pocket and it fell out) but some nice people walking behind us pointed it out.  I did lose my lens cap though... not quite sure how.  And we lost Darwin's tags somehow too!  Oops!

After some "off the main trail adventures" (a lot of sliding on our butts and trying to stay upright) we took a little break.  We had an energy bar, while Darwin snacked on an apple.

We all had a blast and are planning our next snowshoe adventure.

{15jan2011: ears!}

As I mentioned yesterday, we're dealing with Darwin's little cut on her ear.  Ugh.  Thanks for the tips and tricks to bandage up her ear though!

I had taken her in because I thought she had an ear infection.  She does.... in her right ear. The same ear that has the cut. Can you see where this is going?
The vet tech cleaned out her ear and showed me how to put drops in.  Of course any touching of her ear or putting things in it prompts ear/head shaking.  Coupled with the nonstop rain we're getting equals more vigorous head shaking because the princess doesn't like getting wet.  Ugh.
As soon as her cut starts to heal up, she gets her medicine put in or goes for a potty break outside and immediately shakes her head and reopens the cut. Our house is like a mini crime scene with blood splatter everywhere.  Ugh.
But the good news is I've figured out a way to bandage the tip thanks to Aly from Tally and I "Macgyvered" a decent enough way to wrap her head.  

She was bleeding nonstop Friday morning after I put her ear drops in because she kept shaking her head.  Jason stayed home in the morning with her to try and tire her out before bringing her in, and after yesterday mornings post and other emails to ask about how to tape her ears down I ran to the store and bought gauze pads, selfadhering ace bandage (like vet tape), waterproof Nexcare tape, 59cent knee high hose and a $2 fleece headband/earwarmer.  

When Jason brought her in I taped the gauze piece to the tip of her ear with the waterproof tape.  Then I wrapped the ace bandage around her head securing her right ear down.  Then I used clear bandage tape I already had to try and tape the ace bandage forward on her head.  I was going to use the knee high panty hose to wrap around everything, but it seemed too tight so we nixed that idea.  Instead we used the $2 headband/earwarmer as an outer layer.

Dar was not happy.

I had called the vet earlier in the morning to ask about the whole taping thing and they said it's okay to tape it (I could even use liquid bandage stuff if I wanted to) but not to keep the bandage wrap around her ear too long as we want her ear to air out and not trap moisture which would make her ear infection worse.  So I unwrapped her head (which kept slipping back anyway), which she was thrilled about, and luckily (and surprisingly) the waterproof tape held on the gauze pad pretty well.

BTW.  See the pretty collar she's wearing? http://www.siriusrepublic.com/" target=_blank>Sirius Republic gifted us their new 2" collar to test out and review.  I was hoping to get some good pictures of it this weekend... but now with Miss Taped Ear she'll look like damaged goods in pictures!  Maybe I can get some left side profile shots only.

{14jan2010: snowshoeing}

***Before we get to snowshoeing, I've got a question for you all. Darwin has a split ear tip (don't know if another dog nicked it or it just split from shaking her head so violently).  I took her to the vet yesterday (more on that in another post) and got a topical medicine for it. The thing is because she keeps shaking her head the split keeps opening up and bleeding everywhere.  I've been trying to tape/wrap her ears so they can stay still and heal, but all the methods I've tried have slid off.  I've tried gauze bandage strip, a bandana, and and ace bandage, but they all slip to the back of her head.  The vet tech said we could use a tube sock to tie her ears down, but I assume that will just slide off as well.  I'm going to run to the drug store at lunch and get liquid bandage and maybe a wider ace bandage... but I was wondering if anyone had tips on how to secure her ears down.  Thanks so much!!!

Now, onto snowshoeing!

Jason and I got snoewshoes for each other for Christmas and we finally broke them in the other weekend.  We received a book about snowshoeing locations in Washington and found the Lower Gold Creek Basin just east of Snoqualmie Pass.

View Larger Map

When we got there the lower part of the trail was full of families and kids sledding.  Darwin was super pumped to get out of the car and into the snow.  After passing the most crowded area we strapped on our snowshoes and proceeded up the mountain.  

There were quite a few other snowshoeing families that had their dogs along with them so we waited til we passed the more crowded spots and were further up before we let Dar off. 

The forest road we were walking on was pretty groomed so the snowshoes weren't really necessary, so Jason thought we should really get into it by going off the road and onto the soft powder.  Darwin was quick to follow him, but a little too quick as she kept stepping on the back of his snowshoes.

She'd try to run back over to me, but sink in the snow.

Of course all that off the beaten path romping resulted in a bunch of scrapes on Darwin's legs.  She left a blood trail again, though not as bad as on our Twin Falls hike.

So many pictures... this post will be continued!

{13jan2010: Bad Sport}

It's the third annual Mango Minster and Darwin is throwing her hat in the ring as a Bad Sport!  Sure she could've gone for the Shamelss Dog and Doggie Diva category as she is a Diva.
{of course my shoes match my collar.  make sure you get me from my good side!}

But her Diva ways puts her in the Bad Sport group.


Darwin has been our baby from when she was five days old.

That probably is a good reason she is so people oriented.  It also means she's very selfish with our attention or anyone's attention for that matter.  
{I was getting pets first!  I dont care if it is your mom Juneau!}

{I said get your face out of here!!!}

If we see a cute dog and try to pet it and say hi... Miss Jealous will remind you and everyone around that only SHE gets petted!  

(woah, that's a scary picture!)
And forget it if another dog jumps up on me!  Only she's allowed to do any jumping.


Darwin lives by the saying, "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine".

{that's my ball, thank you very much}

{mine}

{oh yea, all mine}

{Boo, I don't care if you say this is yours, it's really mine}

{yes Boo, this one too. mine}

{can i fit three tennis balls in my mouth?  i dont know but i'll try cause they are all mine}

{size doesn't matter, cause this toy of yours, is mine}

{Boo this is not yours, it's this guys, but still its mine}

She's like those sea gulls on Finding Nemo.  "Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine."

And of course what's hers will get destuffed.

Darwin's a great dog, but she sure does have her bad sport moments!
{i hate you all}



If you want to join in the fun that is Mango Minster, check out the rules here!