September 23, 2012

This is my Harry as readers are aware of.  Cute little Lab Chow X.  Well just hold your horses everyone looks are apparently deceiving!  I sent away for Harry's DNA, foolish live on the edge kind of girl that I am. Got the package, read all the directions, took the swab. That was fun, it looks like a teenie tiny bottle brush that you have to rub for 15 seconds in his mouth between the cheek and gum line and don't touch the teeth, let it air dry for 5 minutes and send it off. You had to do this with two swabs.  Harry was not happy after the first pass, and less happy about the second go around.  So with swabs in hand, I register on line and pop the DNA samples into the mail box.  It takes about two to three weeks and you can track everything on a website.

So this past Friday I get an email saying Harry's results have been posted.  I quickly go the the website and this is what I found.
Great Grandparents - Saint Bernard, Collie - Alaskan Malamute on one side and Rottweiller, Cocker Spaniel on the other side of the family. Down it all trickles to Harry's parents.....St. Bernard, Collie, Alaskan Malamute Crossed with Rottweiller Cocker Spaniel.  Not a lab or chow in the mix, not even an Akita.  Ok I do kind of get the Malamute, his back legs have that look and of course there is his curly tail. but don't get the rest, especially one set of grandparents being Rottie/Cocker cross. So much for his spotted tongue and webbed feet.  Apparently Chow's aren't the only dogs with a black tongue, and lots breeds have spotted tongues.

A friend of mine is convinced that these are a bunch of guys, drunk or high, with darts and lots of pictures of animals...and you do the math.  If I was a betting person, I might consider using another company, there are a ton of them out there, who knew.  this company was supposed to be the best with the greatest number of different breeds.  Maybe too many breeds.  I still might do another test and see what comes up.

 But for now my sweet baby boy is a lab/chow X with definitely a little coyote thrown into the mix.

August 22,2012

It has been a while since I have posted.  I have the month of August off from my part time job and have been enjoying the weather, most of my days are deciding whether to read in the sun or the shade and getting up once in a while to do a little weeding. All this hot weather and the rain has made the garden come to live.  If I see another bean or zucchini.....The tomatoes are coming fast and furious, I planted Zebra tomatoes this year, when they are ripe they are a bright green with lighter stripes and really tasty, might make a very bizarre  pasta sauce however.

Mr. Harry is growing leaps and bounds, I think he might top the scale at least 60 lbs.  For a dog that loves to swim he is so afraid of a bath.  After swimming in Mill Creek all summer let's just say he isn't the best sleeping companion.  We tried once to give him a bath in the yard with a big bucket of warm water and a small bucket to wet him with.  You would of thought that we were killing him.  He took off and hide in the garage for at least an hour.  The other day we tried the hose, very low, like his wonderful foster mom suggested. That didn't fare any better, but he did stand still enough, (after a little WWF) to get a little cleaner then what he was. Or at least he doesn't smell as bad!

One night for our last walk he discovered the neightbour's chickens were nesting in the grapevine on the fence that divides the two yards, he thought he had died and gone to heaven, wow Mom I don't know really want these are, but I am sure that I really want them.  They have since picked a different spot, but every night before we begin our walk and when we end it, he has to check that maybe they might be there, he is way too smart for his own good.  Everyday is a laugh a minute with him.

Harry is truly a gift from my Oliver, but really Ollie couldn't you have picked an older dog for us. Old people young dog don't really work!  I tell Harry all the time about his big brother and so do most of the people we meet in the off leash park.....and most of them see the resemblance, just a little smaller head, the chow don't you know, or maybe the Akita:)

July 1, 2012

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Why is it that people have no problem asking stupid questions about your dog, that they wouldn't dare ask a person.  I remember walking with Oliver one day and we ran into a guy and he actually said this to me "well he's an old timer, how long do you think he will live"  WTF!!! I shot back to him without missing a beat " how long do you think you will live asking stupid questions like that!"

The other big thing is everyone seems to know the breed of your dog.  I was always asked about Oliver, because being a pure bred English Lab he was quite a bit stockier and bigger then most field labs. I got everything from Rottweiler to pit bull!

And then there is Mr. Harry, he is supposed to be a lab/chow X but being a SCARS rescue he could be almost anything, from lab/chow to coyote, wolf, badger........coming from Athabasca and the surround reserves. I have had people come up to me and ask if he is a Shiba Inu, no I explain he is a lab/chow cross.  Then they look at you and say are you sure. Shiba Inu's are little, with very pointed faces, they look a little like a fox.  The best so far is one person asked if Harry had Akita in him, and I said no lab/chow X , she actually looked straight in my eyes and said, "Well if he is a reserve dog, where would the Chow come from?"  Well where would the Akita come from!! and then said, "well you know they are all part coyote"  My friends and I that have SCARS dogs  joke about this all the time and deep down inside wish they were part coyote, but really!

What would all these people that ask these questions do if we asked the same questions about them or their children....um pardon me, but is your blonde hair blue eye child part African American.......

Just saying!

June 10, 2012 part two

Still more fun with Harry. These were taken in our off leash park, who knew Harry loved to chase rocks into the creek! Also he tries to grab all the branches and stuff that are stuck in the creek bed, some still attached to trees! Those ones he will worry away on them and then just out right bark at them.  Yup that will loosen those guys right up!

June 10, 2012

Just a wee bit of fun with Harry

June 1, 2012

First off all, where the heck did May go?

First trip to the Vet yesterday for Harry, well actually second if you count the meet and greet when I first got him.  He is a perfectly happy, healthy puppy.  The one draw back was they put us in the same room that Oliver and I were in on February 28th :(  It brought back a lot of sad memories, but now the room has happy ones again.  Of course being in a strange place, Harry had to explore every inch of the room, including the little space between the door and the floor. There's my boy flatter then a pancake trying all his might to get his little pink nose all the way under the door, I have visions of the door suddenly opening, but of course the Vets there know this happens.  When Dr. Gina, came in the do the exam Harry was just about beside himself with pure joy, up on the table, down, up, down, up....it is a wonder that the exam went as well as it did.  Ever tried looking into the ears, eyes, and mouth of a bouncing puppy, it is a miracle someone didn't lose an eye, humans included.

All the Vets and staff at Edmonton Holistic Vet Clinic are the best, and it even rains liver treats from the sky as Harry found out.  He just didn't want to leave, Momma I am getting way too much lovin' here, why would I ever what to leave!

And I discovered one of the benefits of having a healthy young dog, the bill was considerably less expensive.  And the deductible on the insurance is only $100.00 instead of $500.00, life is good.

A big thanks to everyone at the Holistic Clinic for making this a wonderful experience for my Harry! 

May 22, 2012

Why is it the biggest dog wants to be a lap dog?  Harry at 8 months and almost 50 lbs, wants nothing better then to sit on your lap, and it doesn't matter what you are doing. Of course the most favored spot is just when you have poured your first cup of coffee, turn on The Nate Berkus Show and settle in with the paper. It now becomes a juggling act, the paper the hot coffee and one heavy dog, or did I mention there is always a couple of stuffies that have to be there also. It very seldom is a gentle front paws up then back paws, it is a full fledged running start, jump on the lap!  Harry does the same thing first thing in the morning when he has to go out.  You are sound asleep and then all of a sudden this dog launches himself at in bed, never the full body slam but as much of it that can possibly be without actually getting all fours up on the bed.  Such a huge change from Oliver, who just got up and slumped his way into the bedroom and stared at your back until you turned over, big kiss then slumped back to his bed.  HA HA fooled you!

We are finding out a lot of firsts with Harry, Being born in October and up north in Athabasca, he has never (we are guessing) seem a weed whacker or a lawn mower. The weed whacker is just a big game to him and wants to chase it, the lawn mower not so much, he must save his humans from it at all costs!  I can hardly wait for his first thunderstorm.  He has two stuffies that make actual animal sounds, or did,  the first time he grabbed them and hit the right spot, he dropped it like a hot potato and barked at it, from a safe distance of course.  He won't go near it again for hours, then it would start all over again,  I now know what the insides look like of quite a few of these things, and the stuffing goes everywhere.  But I would not change it for the world.  Harry makes me laugh and cry (too much like his big brother) and is just full of pure joy.  Rescued dogs are the best.