May I Please Have Some Doggie Ice Cream?

SMOKY: I may have a lean figure, but I do love to eat. I like my regular meals, I love my treats, and anything special on the side I enjoy too. Rusty enjoys his food also, but I must admit that I am the bigger pig. I have been known to resort to taking food items that don't belong to me. I am working on my evil ways.

Anyway, our mom recently told us about a story in the newspaper. It seems that the latest dog fad in Austria is an ice cream created especially for dogs, called "Dogissimo." The ice cream is available at a Vienna ice cream parlor. Apparently, it gets very hot in Vienna in the summertime (sounds like here in the South, where we live). So, this Italian woman came up with the idea as a way to cool dogs off from the sizzling summer heat. She says she owns three dogs herself, and wanted to help keep them cool.

The ice cream is supposed to be fat-free, without any additives or artificial food coloring, and comes in three flavors: rice, vanilla-rice, and soy. She claims she taste-tested it on her three Golden Retrievers, but how in the heck did she come up with those flavors. I personally think flavors like: cheese, hamburger, grilled T-Bone steak, lamb and rice, juicy liver, plump hot dog - you get the drift, would have made much more tastier selections. Speaking about hot dogs, when Rusty and me are really good, and it's really hot outside, we get an occasional frozen hot dog as a extra special treat. Now that's what I'm talking about! I bet that tastes better than that fancy European ice cream! But, I am willing to do a taste test; in fact, I would willingly submit myself to tasting all three flavors, just for good measure. There is only one problem. The ice cream is in Vienna, and I'm stuck here in the Southern United States. Also, the ice cream costs $10 for a large portion, and $7 for a smaller container. I would, obviously, need the large portion to do a proper taste test. That is a large portion of all three flavors. I just don't see how it would be possible, being that our mom, the main shopper of the house is very CHEAP. She even tries to get our dog food on sale, and will use coupons when she can. She knows how to stretch a penny. Me and Rusty both, we really love the girl, but I don't think she is going to shell out $30 for doggie ice cream. I wonder if there is such a thing as a exchange program for dogs. Where I could go stay with a nice Vienna family for just say, a week, and then come back to my beloved home. After, of course, I have tasted all the fine canine delicacies of the area, including "Dogissimo."

I'm going to have to check into this as a possible option. But, if things don't work out, it least I will take comfort in that one society columnist was quoted as saying: "It tastes like steel that a dog peed on." I would, though, really like to find out for myself. Me in Vienna, I can picture it now.

Are We Puppies Too Skinny?

RUSTY & SMOKY: Our mom always worries about whether we are eating enough. We personally feel that we look great, and feel great. Yet, we must admit that the recent dog recall scare caused some changes in our diet, that did require getting used to. Our diet now consists of more dry dog food, which our mom claims is better for us. But we are sure glad that we still occasionally get our favorite canned meal, and our folks have not forgotten that we do have to have our snacks. Also, for extra special times, we get freshly cooked chicken. Now that's living!!

Our mom read the Pedigree Healthy Living Enewsletter (http://www.pedigree.com/) that arrived today. It featured an article entitled, "Can Dogs Suffer From Anorexia?" It mentioned that there are several different reasons that dogs can appear to lose their appetite:

Medical Illness (That's not us.)

Pain (That's not us either.)

Change in environment (Which does fit our situation. Our diet has changed, and it's just too HOT to eat as much as we usually do.)

Our mom seems to be more at ease. Yet, she is still keeping an eye on us. We try to let her know that we are just fine. We don't want to lose our lean and muscular figures, because then we won't be able to do all the physical activities that we enjoy. We are young, and just want to have FUN!!

Why, Oh Why, Do We Dig?

RUSTY: That's the question our mom always seems to ask. We don't know what the big deal is. She is always digging in the garden, so why can't we dig too? Apparently, she feels that her digging has a loftier purpose, than does our digging. We basically dig because we are trying to get something, we are bored, we are frustrated, we haven't had a nice long walk, or just for pure fun. When is that woman going to get it? Besides, it is a good way to get a little attention, when we feel neglected. Sometimes negative attention is better than no attention at all.

Well, anyway, our mom recently received a Puppy Scoop eNewsletter from the pedigree website (www.pedigree.com). She LOVES that eNewsletter. She was so excited because it featured an article on why do puppies dig. (Is your puppy turning your yard into a minefield?) The article outlined four main reasons that puppies dig, and ways to deal with the behavior:

1. FUN (We already told her that, she just didn't listen. We puppies have alot of energy, and we have got to get rid of it somehow.)
2. NESTING (Nothing like a nice cool hole in the ground, to deal with all this heat and humidity. That ice water she puts out everyday helps too. But when are we going to get to use our new wading pool?)
3. ESCAPE (This fence seems to be almost invincible; but, when we haven't had our walk, we give it a shot anyway.)
4. FRIGHT (We men are not scared of too much. We do get concerned, though, when our folks don't come home at their usual time. Search and rescue may be necessary!)

I hope our mom realizes now, since she isn't listening to us, that we have plenty of good reasons for digging. She may not agree with the reasons, but at least she will know what we need, if she doesn't want more minefields. We don't dig as much as we use to, but sometimes a guy has got to dig!!

Please Stop the Rain!

RUSTY & SMOKY: It's a doggone shame! All of this rain is getting in the way of our fun! We still have fun, but it seems that we spend too much time inside right now. It's much more fun outside when the sun is shining, and the grass is dry (like in these pictures that our folks posted). Then you don't have to worry about getting wet and muddy. Of course, that means our folks want to clean us up, and this rubs off all of the good dog smells we like.

We do love to walk in the rain. Our folks always walk as fast as we want when it starts raining; we think they are afraid of melting. HA, HA!

We hope the rain slows up a bit. It can rain, but just not so much. Young guys just want to have more FUN, and the rain is sort of becoming a drag. Too much time inside for us, we are the active kind of fellows!