Mom Made Steak

It's Music.

That puppy is a pain my back side. Mom made steak and there were some leftovers, so she said we could have some. I love steak it is my favorite treat.

Mom put all the bowls down, and Shaker gobbled his up. I savor mine. I take a piece out of my bowl and take it to my spot on the couch and eat it slowly. But as soon as that stupid puppy, you know the one Mom calls Shaker Baby, finished his he got into my bowl. Mom caught him pretty quick, but he still got a couple pieces of my steak. The nerve of that puppy, eating my steak! I was really mad and Mom could tell so she cut me up some more steak and kept that blankety blank puppy away from my bowl. Good thing because I was going to take that puppy out!

Talk to you later,

Music

Who's the Red Headed Step Child Now?

Hey it's me Shaker Baby. (Yeah Mom says it's official my lovey pet name is Shaker Baby. She calls Russ, "My Ruff Ruff and Music is Musey so I am really happy to be officially Shaker Baby and not Butty!) Anyway not why I write...

I slept in with Mom this morning while the big dogs got up with Mom Kathy. When Mom rolled over and saw I was still sleeping with her she said, "Oh Shaker Baby you are a good dog." Hmmmm take that Ruff Ruff!

So Mom said, "Shaker Baby you get to go on a big dog walk with me all by yourself." Wow I was thrilled, and she put a big dog leash on me. Well she put the big dog leash on me because I ate my Hawkeye collar last night. But seriously folks can you blame me? Did anyone see the poor poor pitiful performance my Mom's beloved Hawkeyes put on yesterday during the second half of the homecoming game?

But anyway, we started out the door and Music followed. Yes Music followed without a leash on. Now you would have thought that Mom would have made her go back in the house but NO she told Music she could come she just had to have her leash on. So my big dog alone walk with Mom was spoiled by Music. Oh well at least it wasn't Russ--he is a big attention hog.

Well that's the news from home. See you around the pond.

Shaker Baby

Russ is Gaining Weight

We are 4 days from moving so posts until the move is over will be scarce. But the good news is Russ is gaining weight. He is up 2lbs! Yeah! I have been at this all summer and we have finally found something the darn dog will eat. (A post for a later date when I have more time is everything we tried--it is quite a list)

But this is what works--twice a day I mix hamburger, eggs and cheese and then fry the mess in butter and the add a bit of high quality kibble and he likes it! Yeah Mikey likes it.

Russ Here

Russ here.

It's been a while since I posted because Mom is way more protective of her computer these days. She still doesn't think that it was funny that I ate the keys, then ate the replacement key board cord, but heck my other Mom stepped on her computer and broke the screen. I mean really don't you think that would trump me eating a few measly keys and cords. Shaker got a hold of the charging cord and ate the covering in several places before Mom caught him, so now she has patches of electrical tape all up and down the cord. Anyway it all adds up to Mom not letting Corgis and people near her computer.

Well anyway, it is not why I write. Mom says we are moving to a big new house with lots of space to run around inside and out. She says that we are so far away from the road that I won't see dogs and people walk by so I won't bark at them. Wrong! I can hear people and dogs a mile away and I will still protect my turf.

Mom has been making me this really great food--hamburger, cheese and eggs all fried in butter. She says it stinks but I think it is really good stuff. Finally, she figured out what I like. It really took her a long time, but you know humans even Moms just aren't that smart. Mom says I am starting to put on some weight and I am looking pretty good.

I really like having Shaker around the house because he is very playful. We run and play all day long. My favorite game with him is "keep away." I pick up a really cool toy and then make him try to take it away from me. He is pretty good at it and even sometimes gets the toy. Shaker really annoys Music---ooooooh weeeee she gets really mad at him because he is always trying to lick her face. Then Music gets mad at Mom because Mom says, "Music be nice he is only a puppy." I'll let Musey tell you what she thinks about all that but it isn't good. My only complaint about Shaker is his morning habits--man that dog gets up early.

Well Mom said I was growing up and not getting into too much mischief, so I decided to steal Grandma nail file and the spool of thread she was using. Boy was it funny watching Grandma and Mom look for those things. I watched from the bed, and Mom kept saying "Russ get down here and show me where you put the thread and file." Finally I showed her they were under the bed.

Russ out!

Mornings

Our morning routine is somewhat dictated by Shaker. He has the puppy bladder and needs to go out sooner than the big dogs, so when he wakes up we make the great trek down the stairs and outside. Now mind you it is usually too early to even consider staying up, so after they make "outside potty," we head back to bed. Usually, everyone snuggles down for a nice morning nap, except today.

I have no idea what got into Shaker but he decided morning nap time was actually romp and frap time. Russ played with him for a couple of minutes but then gave him the--"dude it is time to snuggle with Mom time--give it a rest" snarl. Personally Musey and I were pretending we didn't notice that Shaker was on a terror until...

I feel him bite my nose and put his boxing glove size paw in my ear. ( I wish to pause and thank the SumJammin breeding partnership for sending Clifford the giant brindle Cardi to my house.) Any who, there is no ignoring his royal lugness climbing over my head grabbing tufts of my hair on his route. As I am yelping in pain, Music gives me a look like "can we send him back now?" My response is no we just have to teach him some manners. She gives me another look like--"ya right let me know when you make some progress."

So he is literally lying across my neck when I roll over to meet his eyes. Can you just picture it? I look deep into his oh so innocent big brown eyes and say--"this will not do." He then leaps off my neck and lands on Russ. Well Russ has had enough and puts his front paws on Shaker so he can't go anywhere. Well let me tell you, Shaker thought very little of this and put up a howl. I made Russ release him and I swear both Russ and Music gave me a look of "have it your way but you control him or we will."

I pulled Shaker up close to me in hopes that him feeling my heart beat would settle him, but no dice. I'm thinking, I know that I went through this with Russ--what did I do? Ah yes, bring toys to bed. I set out to bring really great toys to bed, but Shaker is not content to play with toys by himself, he wants interaction. Now this is great news for bringing up a performance dog, but not great news for quiet snuggle time in the morning.

Well stay tuned we just have to see who prevails--Russ, Music and me or Shaker!

What Will the Dog Eat?

Okay what exactly will Russ eat? Yesterday he liked liver sausage, but today he does not. He ate a cheeseburger fried in butter this morning but this evening I made the mistake of adding some kibble. He doesn't like cheeseburgers with kibble. I cut up a smokie hot dog, but guess what? Yep you guessed it he doesn't like smokie hot dogs. Who ever heard of a dog that doesn't like hot dogs?

I tell you what when I was researching the Cardigan Corgis all the "press" talked about the importance of feeding program so that "your Corgi didn't become overweight." Three articles referenced a 50+lb Corgi who cold barely move with the clear cautionary tale being--"don't over feed your always ravenous puppy". You have to be kidding me, I practically have to have entertainment available during dinner just to get him to nibble around the edges!

Who ever heard of a skinny picky Corgi?

How Embarrassing?!

I've noted before that Russ is currently skinny, well way too skinny. Our vet was here today and he weighs 29lbs, and he should weigh about 33 or so. She wants me to put 5 lbs on Russ and at least 3 on Music. Well, frankly folks that is easier said than done!

So we decided to try cheap hamburger, cheese, liver sausage, summer sausage...you get the picture. Now it is not like I have this stuff on hand so off to the HyVee I go. I loaded my cart with such delicacies as 73/27 hamburger, shredded full fat cheese, eggs, hot dogs, summer sausage, liver sausage and butter to fry the whole mess up in.

After I checked out and they are bagging these goodies up, the cashier hands me a print out generated by the register that steers me to the American Heart Association web site. This handy dandy little register tape encourages me to use the AHA web site to build a heart healthy grocery list. I tell you what I could have just died of embarrassment! Then I made the mistake of telling her that the food was for my skinny show dog. That was the moment that I got the "you have to be kidding me" look from the HyVee cashier!

Well the picture is of one of Russ' special burgers frying in butter, and my ever present kitchen companion Shaker. FYI--Shaker doesn't need to put on any weight. He is 18.3 lbs. When Russ was his age he weighed 12lbs. My vet says he is not overweight, but she giggled and commented that he was going to be a very big Corgi! Sigh.

Poor Poor Pitiful Puppy

Remember the whole ALPO thing from an earlier post? Well I bought some cheap ALPO food in an effort to find something-anything that Russ would eat. Well Russ liked it, so I brought a can or 2 home. Yesterday morning, Kathy split a can between the 3 Cardi residents and let's just say 3 out of 3 liked the taste but 2 out of 3 expressed systems displeasure.

So after running a bunch of errands, we came home of find a great big Music accident in the dining room and well Shaker let's say had not been able to hold it in his crate. Kathy didn't realize the extent of ALPO incident, so she picked up Shaker to take him outside. As soon as she was outside she immediately became aware that she had remnants of the ALPO incident on her shirt. Oh my...can you spell unhappy?



We all came back inside where upon Kathy went to change her clothes and I dumped Shaker into the bath tub. For a dog that totally loves water, he certainly didn't think much of the bathtub. But he officially smells good again.



But all of this is just a back drop to the real story. With the whole stomach upset caused by the ALPO, we withheld dinner for Music and Shaker. (Russ got a Whole Meal bone and was a happy dog.) So this morning, Butterball --ooops sorry I mean Shaker, was absolutely sure he was starving to death, and if we didn't feed immediately he was going to wither away to nothing. Yeah yeah--I know that Butterball isn't going to melt away but well you have to know him...check out the video.

Shaker finds evil in the Root Beer can

Shaker is finding his own brand of silliness to be sure. This morning I found the goof ball in the pantry routing through the pop cans. He drug an A & W Root Beer can out of the pantry and apparently decided it was pure evil. He is growling at it, pushing it around, and generally attacking it with abandon.

I caught a little bit of it on tape.

A Break for Some Football

Russ is working on his crazy dog routine, and I know it is because he is not getting enough of my attention. This morning on our short walk he decided he was going to herd me, and thank goodness I had jeans on, because the little *&^% (oh I really mean bugger) bit my ankles and calfs in an attempt to move me where he wanted me to go. So we had an interesting discussion shall we say on the way home!

So after a full but productive day, we had half and hour before dinner was ready and I took everyone outside for some playtime. Music made it immediately clear that she had no desire to be outside with the football crazy boys and went inside to watch from the safety of the kitchen door. Shaker, on the other hand, was game. I tell you what, Shaker has a real "put me in coach" attitude.

So Russ, Shaker and I were in the back yard having a rousing game of football with Russ' new John Deere nerf football, and it wasn't 5 minutes before the "new" football looks like it has been through a war zone. It was trashed, but believe you me Russ will be playing with it for some time.

Well everyone came in hot, tired and very happy!

I'll Get Ya Out Guys

Hey it's me Shaker Baby or that's what Mom calls me most of the time.

We went on this really fun weekend and I got to see all my siblings well except a couple that went someplace called forever homes. Anyway we were having fun playing outside, eating these bone things, and playing in the rain. Oh the rain was the best, it rained and the kids left us all outside to play in it. It was great!

Well when Mom and Aunt Cindy came home they decided we all needed to go in crates to dry off. How stupid was that? They should have just left us outside, but NOOOOOOOO they stuffed everybody in crates. Now before they could catch me, I started working on getting my brothers out of the crate. I am really good at it and if Mom hadn't nabbed me up I would of had them out in a flash!

What a Weekend

We broke out the RV for the last show weekend of the year in Rochester, MN. It all began on a dirt road in Iowa where Nick and I picked up Cindy, Meredith, 4 puppies and a Moose. I should have know when I couldn't get the RV to Cindy's house and we had to load at a cross roads that it was going to be quite a weekend. Well we weren't even back onto the highway before puppy Frank was under my seat. Oh I should mention that is where Russ rides. So the first hour was consumed with tussle, tussle, move resettle until they both decided there was indeed room for two under the Captain's chair. Other than running out of Nature's Miracle before arriving in Rochester the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

We established base camp, then Cindy and I set out to set up grooming space. I should mention that we left the children to fend for themselves. Immediately upon our return, Cindy throws something away and notices a toxic chili spill. Of course, Shaker was the first one in the mix and ate goodness knows how much in the few seconds that it took Cindy to grab paper towels and start damage control. (For those of you keeping score--that's 2 for the dogs, 1 for Nick and 0 for the grown-ups).

We all hit the hay at a reasonable hour, and I am thinking yeah we can sleep in a bit because we have a late Cardi show time. WRONG! Sometime in the night, Moose decides my bed is more comfortable that Cindy's pull out couch and makes the great Moose launch onto my legs. I heard him coming so the landing wasn't too big of a surprise, but boy oh boy is he a big boy. He stays with us for much of the night, but at 'O ridiculous:30 he decides he misses his mom. When he leapt off the bed, he woke up Shaker, who woke up Russ, who woke up the puppies. Fantastic, so we take the whole motley crew out to the x-pens. Thanks Moose I owe you one. (That's 3 for the dogs, 1 for Nick and 0 for adults)

We leave the puppies in the x-pens while we are at the show, and at some point it started raining. It never occurred to me that the kids would leave the puppies in the rain, but alas they did. So we dry dogs, put out snacks, and start pouring wine for our 10+ guests. Good thing Sherilyn has reflexes of steel or the wine, crackers, Amana sausage, cheese and tomato bruschetta would have been on the floor. Yes, 5 puppies, a snack tray with wine glasses is a recipe for disaster. (That's 3 for the dogs, 2 for Nick and 1 for the humans. Thanks Sherilyn for scoring one for the home team.)

We head to bed knowing we have an early show time but every time I would settle I heard one of the puppies make a sound that curled my hair. That's it I can't stand it anymore and put Frank in bed with Russ, Shaker and me. (Dogs 4, Nick 2, Adults 1)

Next morning dawns early with the same routine. We head to the show ring without any of Russ' normal bait, because Mr. Picky Pants has decided he prefers Ball Park franks to anything worth eating. Don't get me started on this one, because the night before I picked up two cans of Alpo just to see if he would eat it. Oh my goodness, I can't believe it--we feed only top quality Whole Dog Journal approved foods and my baby Russ prefers Alpo! I think this was about the time I got accused of treating my other two dogs like red-headed step children. (Apparently I wasn't concerned enough about Shaker eating the chili and beans and I confess I left Music at home. But in my defense, Shaker is a garbage gut, and Music respectfully requested to be left on the couch for a quiet weekend) (Dogs 5, Nick 2, Adults 1)

This next paragraph should be prefaced with "no dogs were injured in the escapade." After packing up, and getting about 1/2 hour on the road, I hear crash! What in the world? Cindy jumps up and says "oh its a little wine spill." "Do I need to stop?", I ask. "Nope" is her reply "we are good". Okay, so I drive a few more feet and hear "maybe you should stop." So I pull over to the side of the road and I hear "their goes my sock." I come to a complete stop turn and glance back to a Sea of Cranberry wine. My first thought is where are the dogs? Can you believe it 7 dogs in the RV and I can't see even one. I have no idea where they went and hid but not a trace of even one dog while the toxic clean up team of Cindy, Kim and Meredith use 3 bath towels, now toast, a roll of paper towels, and untold amounts of 409 and Nature's Miracle to get the job done. I have to tell you I laughed so hard my ribs hurt today. (Dogs 5, Nick 2, Meredith 1, Adults 2)

Well the camera was buried all weekend, so the only pictures are in my mind. The ones posted to the blog today are what my puppies look like today--wiped out but happy. (Oh Music always looks as content as can be when she has her favorite spot on the couch, Russ hasn't figured out that he doesn't fit in his puppy bed anymore, and Shaker well he's just even tempered but always ready to go Shaker!)

Dog Deep on my List

Russ is so deep on my list it may take him a month to recover. I should probably tell you why...

I am peacefully drinking my coffee and hanging out with Musey while the boys are having a grand romp through the house. They are weaving in and out of boxes, jumping on furniture and generally having a grand time when I hear the distinctive sound of someone whizzing.

I knew it is Russ because Music was sitting next to me and Shaker was/is incapable of that volume. I launch myself up, yelling Russ NO! Now I was assuming he did the dirty deed in the family room near the boxes so I head toward the kitchen to pick him up and take him outside.

As my feet hit the kitchen floor, I land in the puddle and BAM I am laying on the kitchen floor like a bad yard sale. Yep, I slipped in a puddle of pee. Russ, Music and Shaker all came over to see if I was still alive. Alive--check. No broken bones--check. Mad--check!

Satellite II

Okay we've noticed that there is nothing much on TV so we put some duct tape on Shaker hoping for better satellite reception. Now seriously....

Shaker's ears have been giving me fits. Cindy helped me tape them the first time and he laid on his back squirming until he got the tape off, so I let it go a couple of days and then retaped them. Well he accepted the tape much better the second time. But when I took the tape off his ears looked more like Yoda than a Cardi. Sigh... Cindy suggested I talk to Connie of Davenitch Cardigans about the ear thing.

Connie or I should say wonderful Connie, said "come on over" and I'll look at his ears. She said his ears just needed a little shaping, and applied a piece of duct tape around the center of his ears. Here's the thing, by listening and watching I learned a ton about Cardigan ears. A big thank-you goes out to wonderful Connie!

I wasn't consulted

It's Music here. As you can see I am sitting in Mom's spot and I don't intend to move.

I have been holding back a bit but it is time to make my voice heard. While I was a Camp Cindy my Mom brought home one of the puppies from camp. His name is Shaker. Here's the rub people, I wasn't consulted. She just went and got one of those puppies.

Oh he is cute enough and I like little puppies a lot. You know the kind, little and furry, but not crazy active. I don't mind giving them baths and making sure they make it inside when they are little but seriously this 12 week plus stage is a real pain in my hind end.

Shaker waits until I am just nicely sleeping and then he jumps on me. I mean really a girl needs her beauty sleep. He also takes up all of Russ' time so he doesn't play with me anymore. Mom suggested that if I wanted to play with Russ I could join in the play. No, I am not going to play with Russ when he is playing with that puppy.

Well I guess I'll just have to snuggle up with Mom until Russ bores of the puppy.

Saying goodnight,

Music

Russ is Home

Russ had to work this weekend, and I couldn't go because of family obligations. We were at a birthday party on Saturday and home on Sunday. Wow was it ever quiet around here.

Shaker and Music are not barkers with out Russ around. Shaker (aka Shakes and Butty (Butterball) definitely missed his pal Russ and got into more stuff without Russ around. Let's just say the roll of paper towels will never be the same again. He tried play with Music, but her opinion of puppy play is less than positive. At one point, Shakes is climbing over Musey and she just snapped on him. The poor boy didn't have a clue.

So on Sunday afternoon when I brought Russ back into the house, my mother-in-law exclaims, "I knew you were home because I heard Russ!" Yep, Russ is home and I couldn't be happier. I missed the little bugger like none other. He is loud, opinionated and a hand full to manage, but he is my buddy and I would have it no other way!

Here's to enjoying all of 4 legged friends with all their varied personalities!

Hey Take Me for a Walk

Hi my name is Shaker. I am the little puppy in the house. Mom says I am a sweet boy and clever too. I taught myself how to walk up the stairs today. Mom says I am not allowed to go down the stairs and so far I decided to listen to her.

I am really good at a lot of fun stuff but I am especially good at jumping up and grabbing leashes off the hooks. Once I get the leashes down I like to run all over the house dragging it behind me. Mom thinks it is pretty funny.

Corgi Free Zones

I can't find my camera in all the packing mess so we are going to the archives until the blooming thing shows up again.

In our house we have purposefully created some "Corgi free zones" or CFZs so that the cats have a safe have to rest and relax. But cats being cats, they are pretty good at creating their own CFZs. The cats are living high in the boxes right now.

The other picture was taken while Fred and Moose were still at the ranch. Fred and Russ herded the cats behind the amoire. Quite a feat, frankly, if any of you folks have tried herding cats it is not easy task!