Arnie Beats the Heat

Grabbed with the video camera on my Ipod Nano.

Dada's Birthday

A little steak for dinner. Followed up by some vanilla cake. There was plenty of helpers for the cake!

Peanut wanted up in my lap and wanted part of this action!

Stolen Toast

Arnie caught this morning stealing a burnt piece of toast.

What does your Dog Eat?

Arnie helped himself to some left overs from Canada Day. First he grabbed the veggie dip. Odd but I figured he was looking for some leftover meat. Second, Arnie grabbed a piece of cake. Again maybe he was foraging for something. Both places there had been a bunch of bratwurst floating around. Maybe there was residual smells.

Tonight I get home to find Arnie has rummaged through the last Canada Day garbage bag and taken out the jujubes. I guess to his dismay he found there was only the black ones. He ate one but left the other three. (No we don't like those either).

So to recap, Arnie has stollen:
* Veggie dip
* Cake
* Jujubes

Oh and did I mention there were 30 bratwurst's and 24 burgers sitting on the kitchen table thawing all afternoon during Canada Day. He didn't touch that. Go figure.

Do You Need Help Cooking Those Ribs?

Arnie, ever vigalent, is keeping an eye on the smoker to make sure nothing happens to the ribs. Even the heat and humidity don't discourage him.

At Least It's Not the Back Fence

After Arnie the Moocher it became clear that it was going to take a long time before he stopped visiting Dawn our neighbor.

Arnie was outside for a long time. I wondered what he was up to. I look at the back fence. Nope not circling it looking for passers by. Then I look to the side.

He's circling on a fence alright. But he knows Dawn is home today.

The Day of Visitors

No not aliens.

On Saturday we have a hole bunch of guests. Mama was at some car seat training at the WB Family. So we had their kids. We all went to the soccer practice.

Afterwards we came home and played. After a while the neighbours niece and nephew showed up. There were five kids working over the play structure. Lunch time everyone went home. While BigE and the WB Kids stayed for some special pasta (aka KD).




The kids were back swinging


Later on in the afternoon Mama and the WB parents came over. Then our neighbour came over with her niece and nephew again. This time our neighbour brought here new dogs sasha and owen.



The dogs got along great. Sasha and Arnie played while Owen quietly munched on a bone.


As it got late in the day and super was approaching I figured it would be a good idea to cool the kids down before dinner. Out came the sprinkler and it did its trick



Then finally later in the evening I was all alone on the couch.

Arnie the Moocher

Back in What Does Arnie Do All Day? I noted how Arnie liked to mooch from our neighbour over the fence. I look out back the other day and what do I see:

Even after our neighbour has gotten two dogs from a shelter he still thinks he's in the feeding order.

But then again she might come out and give me a treat. Any moment now. Any moment ....

Arnie's Walkabout

Funny thing happened yesterday. The wind blew on the fence enough that one of the set of hinges actually came off the post. The hinge bracket had pulled off over the screws. So the gate was open. Well sort of.

Arnie was out for a little walk about. From what we can gather he was pretty much taking the route we take during a walk. Little did I know that he was self walking.

Fortunately someone we knew up the street spotted him and kept him their backyard. Arnie was very happy to play with their dog.

Mama mentioned how proud he seemed to be when the neighbour brought Arnie and her dog to our place to bring Arnie home. He had a "Look! I went for a walk AND I had a play with my new friends!"

Arnie's safe at home and the fence is fixed. Although it maybe time for screws with larger heads or washers for the fence.

What does Arnie Do All Day?

Here are a couple of pics that I had forgotten about.

Now there is a saying about not feeding wild animals. Turns out my neighbour had been throwing doggie treats to Arnie. Dawn is a very nice woman, who likes dogs and Arnie. So during one weekend when some of her family was over they went to the back door to look at Arnie. Of course due to the snow Arnie could pretty much see them. So they decided to throw him some dog treats. Which Arnie was very grateful for. But then you now what happens:


Anrie can' go outside without checking to see if Dawn is home. This picture was taken weeks after the original treat throwing event. WEEKS! It's not likely to stop.

Now onto the second picture.

Want to know what a dog will do stuck in a yard covered in snow? Why steal from the composter of course. Those are hot dog buns in his mouth.

An easy supply of food that you have no trouble reaching into since the lid never stays on right and the snow is up to the lid. Interestingly he backed up around the corner as I came out the back door. Just like I was playing a film in reverse. "Nothing to see here"

Arnie's New Toy

Forgot to post his one a while ago. Man did Arnie love that big pink tube.

BigE picked out a toy for Arnie all by himself yesterday. He was determined when they went to the dog food store to get a toy for Arnie. Here is the result:
Arnie spent the rest of the evening playing with it and sitting by the back door trying to get outside with it.

The Backyard

Now I'm not saying we haven't had a lot of snow lately but I'm starting to lose sight of the dog in the backyard. The 140lb dog in the backyard.



At least I know he can't get out because his constant trolling of the fence line has keep the snow well packed

Arnie's Surgery II

As mentioned in Update on Arnie he had surgery to repair or his torn cruciate. However, after some weeks it has not healed correctly. That resulted in meeting a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy or TPLO for short.

This was a more invasive surgery that required screws and a plate to fix his joint. he home tonight and were trying to keep him quiet. Poor bugger every time he goes there he gets his legs shaved. Click here for someone's experience on tplo.

Update on Arnie

An update to Arnies Cruciate Surgery. Boy Arnie seems to be doing really well. He's already started lightly using that back leg. When we do our tiny walk out the front door for business he's dieing to go for a walk.

The incision looks to be healing really well. It was very sown up very tightly.

Yesterdays fun was removing the medication patch on his hip. It was covered in tape and quite sticky. Things weren't looking very promising until Momma remembered she had some bandage remover. Which basically looks like a wet nap. With that and 2 minutes later the patch was removed.

The big bonus was Arnie didn't pant constantly between the hours of 12:00 am and 5:00 am last night so I was able to get some solid sleep.

The Art of the Beg

brought to you by Arnie

Dog Days of Summer

It's tough being a winter dog in the summer. In a twist Arnie was actually out for a drink. But I guess Arnie saw the potential for double refreshment.

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Stupid pet videos

It's a warm and you've been couped up inside all day. Now your outside and excited. But then it's hot. In fact as you run it keeps getting hotter.

You know what lying down does seem like a good idea.

Arnie Ernie

Here is a picture of Arnie as requested (or Ernie as BigE still seems to call him). Of course his full name is Trinity of Hope’s The Terminator. Hence Arnie.

These are the "Dog people" that some of you may know of. Next time your thinking of charity send a donation their way. (Paypal, CanadaHelps, or by cheque)

Remember they are a registered charity. I.e. a tax deduction.


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Road Rash

No not road rage. Road rash. Related to our older post Dog Walk I thought it would help explain things to some reads (and tell a funny story).

Picture the family dog walk. BigE is riding his bike on the side walk on a main 4 lane road. Now in these new neighbourhoods the sidewalk is about 15 feet from the road. Mama and I are walking along side. Mama has Arnie.

Arnie spots another dog on the other side of the street and he wants to go meet him. Now Arnie is a sweetie. He just wants to go play. But when 140 lbs wants to go play it can be hard to restrain. With the help of a gentle leader Mama does the job. While our attention is drawn, BigE takes a spill. I scoop him up to comfort him and stop the crying. There's nothing really wrong.

Except when things take a turn for the worse.

Then like out of a movie Mama is yanked towards the street. While our attention had been turned to BigE, Arnie had decided to make another pull for that dog. This is where the fun begins.

Mama doesn't let go. "I couldn't let go of the dog" she would later say. What would the other person think. So she tries to keep up. And by keep up I mean stumbling along trying to run fast enough to keep up with Arnie who is in full stride. Mama's upper body is going about 50% faster then her legs. It's quite a sight.

She's able to keep it up until the middle of the road. Then trip! Now Mama doesn't come to a complete stop. I'd say she made it about another 5 ft before coming to a complete stop. All the while one arm is out stretched clinging to the leash . Of course that pulled up her shirt on one side and caused some nice road rash.

Thankfully at 5:00 p.m. when the traffic is just pouring back into our neighbourhood there wasn't a car this whole time. I ran out with BigE in my arms and scooped up Mama. Once we got to the other side then the traffic came pouring back.

I think the damage assessment was hip road rash, sore fingers and wrist, and one embaressed Mama.

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Dog Walk

BigE [To Dada] "When Mama falls down you pick her up and go get ernie. I'll stay with my bike"

Somebody remembers the "Graceful fall" episode. Even better he just assume's Arnie's gonna take Mama down.

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