Ossi and Gimli

Look what Ossi got for Christmas--everything he never wanted. On the left is a very wary and sleepy Ossi. On the right is the Dawg house's new foster cat Gimli.

Gimli was brought in to take care of the uninvited mousy guests that Ossi couldn't get to because he can't fit under the bookcase.

Gimli was rescued from a local pound after being found wandering the cold street. As you can kind of see from the photo, this cat was all skin and bones upon arrival.

After 1/2 hour of exploring, Gimli showed Ossi who was boss when Ossi came in for a curious sniff. Only slightly worse for the wear, sporting a few claw marks in his nose, Ossi has since steered pretty clear of the cat. They are, however, learning to live with each other a bit more each day.

B-Dawg is a big "Lord of the Rings" fan which is why the cat's name is Gimli. When we picked the cat up, we were told it was a neutered male. Last night, the cat finally got comfortable enough to submit to a belly rub.

Here's a riddle for you: What has four legs, two ears, one tail and six kitty nipples? Whoops, that would be our GIRL cat Gimli.

We're hoping that soon our Ossi boy and our Gimli girl will be curled up together napping happily, but we also think that may not be on tap for this holiday season :)

Happy Howl-i-days!
Ossi (and Gimli too)

The Most Spoiled Puppy of the Year

Ossi aka "Burrito Boy"




Since it has gotten colder and the snow has started falling, Ossi has spent a lot of time "burrito-ed" up on the couch in his blanket.

He loves the snow--loves to go outside, romp around and stick his head into it. If you make a snowball and throw it, he'll even chase it and try to retrieve it for you (good luck with that). But, inevitably, he will stand by the door and bark to come in because he's cold. After being toweled off, he heads for his spot on the blanket on the couch. He curls up in a little ball until someone comes over and "burritos" him up. It seems to be his favorite thing ever and, once he's warm and cozy, he dozes off with a doggy smile on his face. Every time B-Dawg and L-Dawg look at their "Burrito Boy" all curled up, we shake our heads--we have the most spoiled puppy of the year.

Happy Holidays to all and to all a warm blanket!
-Ossi

The Tale of the Sprained Tail

Poor Ossi boy! Some time between last Saturday and Monday night, he sprained his crazy tail. But it took a long time to figure that out. B-Dawg and L-Dawg knew something wasn't right because his tail wasn't wagging and he was chewing on his bum.

At 1:30 a.m. Monday, we heard barking from the resident watchdog. He usually only barks in the middle of the night if he hears a weird noise (i.e. once part of the fence fell down--he alerted us to this). B-Dawg went down to see what was wrong and Ossi wouldn't come out of his crate. Weird.
After awhile, he coaxed him out and got him to come upstairs where Ossi promptly hid under the bed. Weird--never done that before. After more coaxing and finally just pulling him out (dust bunnies and all) we got him to hop up in bed where he curled up by our heads and refused to move. Super weird. Ossi is NOT a cuddly dog.

In the morning, Ossi wasn't any better so we called the vet and they said to bring him in to have his "glands expressed". If you're not a dog person and don't know what this means, look it up. L-Dawg isn't going to explain it...it's gross. At the vet, they found out that Ossi had "expressed" one of his glands on his own, but they had to do the other one. Problem solved, right?
Wrong.

The next day, Ossi was still not himself. No excited tail wags, just lethargic clinging. We started missing the old Ossi! Back to the vet where they poked and prodded and determined that he probably had sprained his tail. Wow--who knew? He got some deeeelicious pain medicine and, while he still can't roll over and is a little hesitant to sit, he's getting back on track. That tail was wagging away again today.




A classic Ossi photo showcasing the ever-wagging tail

The Neighborhood Dog

This is Bandi. Bandi is the neighborhood's dog. Bandi is also known as the neighborhood "problem dog". Actually, it's Bandi's people who are the problem. Poor Bandi never gets walked or exercised and his people are really a bunch of kids who never seem to have *any* adult supervision so, of course, Bandi is a little neglected. Lucky for Bandi, everyone in the neighborhood kind of takes care of him and watches out for him--especially when he gets out of the house and runs around which is pretty often.

Ossi and Bandi are pretty good buds. Bandi LOVES Ossi, gives him kisses on the mouth and follows him around like a little brother. And, like a good big brother should, Ossi tolerates Bandi's presence and chases him around until they both collapse from exhaustion. As you can see from the photo above, Bandi got out of his house and showed up at Ossi's house. Before his people came to retrieve him (which they sometimes don't so we call Animal Control--someday someone will tell the family that they perhaps are not responsible enough to own a dog) it started to rain so the boys came inside where Bandi was like Velcro to Ossi.


Ossi chilling in a canoe during a Chain of Lakes canoe outing. He'd settled into the trip here--he wasn't this calm when the water was choppy and was ready to be a dog overboard then!

A Cor-GIRL-Dor!

Ossi and his new Corgador GIRL friend Tasha

















Ossi has had a big week so far. On Monday, Auntie Susanne came from San Fran and GMaw Kerstin and Auntie Eva came to visit from Sweden and to sleep over. On Tuesday, B-Dawg and L-Dawg took the whole circus to Frontenac State Park and to picnic at Lake Pepin. As everyone was walking to the car a man rode past on his bicycle and skidded to a stop. "Can I ask what kind of dog you have there?" he said excitedly. We're pretty used to this question and then usually we wait a few minutes while people place their bets..."Basset Hound/Golden Retriever?" No. "Jack Russell and Lab?" No. We told the nice man he was a Corgi/Yellow Lab mix, but before we even got the -low Lab out he was saying it right along with us. He said, "No way! We have a Corgi/Yellow Lab named Tasha and I've never seen another dog like her before. She's right down the path at the campground, will you stop by so we can see how they measure up?" How could we say no to that offer?
Tasha is a 7-year-old Corgador girl adopted from somewhere in Wisconsin a few years ago. She and Ossi sniffed but seemed no more interested in each other than they would be in any other dog. They didn't seem to understand they were cousins (or so we decided). We also met Tasha's "brother" 7-month-old Sammy the Jack Russell/Beagle mix who Ossi quickly showed who was boss by pinning him to the ground. After Ossi and Tasha strutted around on their stubby legs together for awhile and we all laughed at the weird coincidence and similarities, we were all on our way with a story to tell and pictures to share (see above). But not too many pictures because that would have required them sitting still together for more than 2 seconds which didn't happen.

Also, the day before the Swedish circus came to town the air conditioning went out at Ossi's house. Just an hour before his guests arrived, the repair man came and saved the day. However, in the day and a half it was 85 degrees in the house, Ossi found the perfect hiding spot to stay cool. Hang out near the bar in the basement on the cool tiles underneath a table. Nice.

A New Hiding Place

An extremely dusty and muddy Ossi in from the rain

Remember that nursery rhyme "The Old Woman that Swallowed a Fly"? Well...we've got our own version. B-Dawg has a motorcycle, the motorcycle has a storage trailer, the storage trailer provides a hiding place for Ossi and his toy Alf...and on and on.
Well, today it is raining. During a brief let up in the rain, L-Dawg let Ossi outside and what came inside was a different dog. A dusty grey snout and muddy black paws (as you can see).
As mad as L-Dawg was that she had to thoroughly clean Ossi and wipe his muddy paw prints off the floor, it was admittedly really, really hard not to laugh at him, especially since he knew he was in trouble.
I think B-Dawg and L-Dawg are going to have to find a way to discourage Ossi from hiding Alf under the trailer that hides the motorcycle...






Uh oh...I'm in trouble

Nude Dude

As you can see, Ossi got a haircut today. He got the "Lab Shave" look and we are now calling him the Nude Dude. We forget how giant his head is until all his hair is shaved off. He's been strutting around waiting for one of his girlfriends to be outside to notice his handsome new 'do. Hopefully it won't pick up summer dust very easily and we'll be able to see any ticks before they burrow in.
Below is a picture of Ossi and his squirrel toy, Alf. We call him Alf because when we say, "Get the squirrel!" He races over to the bird feeder and looks for the *real* squirrel that hangs out there a little too often. Alf is his favorite toy ever. He's full of dirt, is stinky (not unlike a real squirrel) and Ossi likes to grab him and shake him until he's "dead". Better Alf than the real bird feeder squirrel. L-Dawg is pretty sure she couldn't handle that.

Happy Birthday #3

Ossi's wild side--chomping on the mother of all bones

Happy Birthday to Ossi--he's three! He got a clean bill of health from the vet at his yearly check up. He was vaguely disturbed by the shots (jumped off the table into L-Dawg's arms) but was MOST offended by them taking his temperature in his bum. How rude!
However, he recovered quickly and in the lobby met a new Corgi friend named Duncan. This is the first time we've seen Ossi interact with a Corgi (half of him). Duncan was stubbier (if you can believe it) and had even more of what we call "wombat butt" (a flat bum) but they got along swimmingly. AND, the best part of dog birthdays, Ossi got a stuffed squeaky squirrel named Alf. He loves it so much. He runs around with Alf outside, shaking him back and forth trying to "kill" him. Better Alf than a real squirrel from the bird feeder.




It's not a great picture, but
it's Ossi (wagging tail on right) and
his little girlfriend Molly the Weiner
Dog (wagging her head on left)

Ho Ho Ho...Happy Dog-mas

The "Humunga-Tongue"

Ossi had a great Christmas--see above. No, B-Dawg is not pulling Ossi's tongue out, they're playing a game with the Humunga-Tongue toy. It's a toss up as to what is Ossi's new favorite; the Humunga-Tongue or the Hurl-a-Squirrel G-Paw Jimbo and G-Maw Susie got him. He went after the Hurl-a-Squirrel like it was made of bacon! Speaking of bacon, one this is for sure--Ossi goes CRAZY for the bacon treats he got from the aforementioned G-Paw and G-Maw.

Before Christmas, Ossi got many visits from many friends, both human and animal. One friend he wasn't so friendly with was Liam. The one-year-old little fellow reached out to touch Ossi's nose and Ossi gave him a not-so-friendly finger nip. No harm, no foul, but now we know Ossi doesn't think the old "nose beep" trick is so funny. Ossi and Liam were back on "speaking" terms when Ossi was behind the glass doors and Liam could look at him like he was in the zoo...and vice versa (as you can see below)