The rest is in my belly.....

XOXO,

Butley

By the way...

...Tag now weighs 57.2 pounds! A 13 pound weight gain since we first got him. And he still looks lean - THAT's how much he's grown!

Tag's latest... old footage from Toronto

Official moratorium on veterinary care!

I called it first.  There will be no more visits to vet.  Not even for limping black lab puppies who can not demonstrate any other evidence of injury.  No more carefully coordinated copy cat injuries.  Nada.  No way.  I'm over it.  No more eating of foods that are not consumable by that particular species, no more yeast, no more diarrhea.  Nothing.  

I want sleep and I don't want it lying on the floor at the emergency vet's office while waiting to figure out what the exact problem is and what the exact treatment will be for any dog currently in my care (vicariously or not.)

Things I wish I knew about Butley....

Have you ever wondered how much his head weighs?  Seriously.  He drops that thing like a boom and I don't think he has the first idea how very heavy and dense his head is!  I've tried to convince him that pillows are softer than  my shoulders/hips/back back I've not been successful.  The most obvious reason to allow his habit to continue is that his resting his head on something more firm than a pillow is that it keeps his airway open and he doesn't snore.  Not that the snoring bothers him, but a quiet Butley means everybody in bed gets more rest.

What is Butley's full name?  The one he's actually earned? How is it that I'm supposed to address a dog without knowing his full name?  For instance, Roggen used to be "Roggen, Roggen, Roggen."  Cadence is usually "Dammit Cadence."  Coffee Bean was "Belligerent Bitch" (trust me, Tag has nothing on belligerence relative to Bean.  Nothing.  Seems as I raise 'em that way, though, they aren't pushovers.)  So long as I'm going to sleep with Butley for the next month or so, I figure it is time I should know his full name.

So good he crossed his eyes!

Frozen peanut butter and applesauce in a Planet Dog strawberry.  Warm bed.  Fire in the fireplace.  Movies and friends.  Who knew life could be this good?!?

Prenatal Vitamins, Baby Food....

In a normal household, these would be signs that maybe a baby was set to arrive.  But not here. No way.  In this household, these are evidence that a new puppy has arrived.  The vitamins help one continue to function (at any level) despite the vast amounts of sleep they are not getting; the baby food is to fill Planet Dog toys in the hopes that a busy puppy is a QUIET puppy.  

Butley spent the evening taste testing different types of baby food and peanut butter, ranking his favorites so that he can enjoy his own stuffed, frozen, delectable delights.  He is looking forward to enjoying all the benefits of a second puppyhood without any of the detriments.  Long walks, new toys, warm places to rest in the sun and fun games.

Todd's birthday comes early...

OK, so Ritz Camera closing 500 of 800 stores nationwide, plus Todd having been thinking of getting a new SLR digital camera, plus Tag feeling like posing a little after having had a tedious vet visit this morning, equals new pics of the boy:

Mi nombre es Che-Butley

Mi nombre es Che-Butley.

Estoy un Iowinian-izquierdista-de-centrar revolucionario, diplomatico, poeta, psiquico, existencialismo teorizador, y Americano Pit Bull lider.

Yo estoy muy borracho. No! Pero yo estoy muy guapo! Si. 

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

Tag TV

More doors opening - but this time they're latched!

Tag at Niagara Falls!

It was a hazy day and windy - so if you were anywhere near the Falls, you got a bit soaked by the mist rising up...


Tag, of course, was the subject of much affection by many passersby..


Tag thought the furry muff on the videocamera's mic looked like a REALLY cool new toy to play with...


Tag paying his respects to Nikolai Tesla - a longtime personal hero of his...

I'm seeing spiders, get them off of me!

OK, now that I've got your attention I wanted to announce to everyone that Butley is finally channeling through me. Resisted his invasion into my thoughts, thinking and doing but he (Butley), decimated my tolerance levels just this afternoon. 

How did he do this? I have no idea but just let it be known that it has happened. 

When do you know that you are a recipient of the Butley transcendentalism? 

When he becomes your icon for iChat! Thats when "when" has become when.

Butley : The Morning Ritual

Since I can only use one hand, this will be brief.

Butley now has a morning ritual, it includes a theme song and he has sufficiently endeared himself to the Shumate family.  He is quite the character.  Eric is working on a couple of videos (three?) so this will just have to serve as a prelude.

Butley is having a great time in Iowa :)

The ER follow up!

We were going to go see The Color Purple but instead we watched Nicole's hand turn the color purple. No breaks but lots of bruises and some swelling.

Nicole had grand illusions of embedding a Clicker into the cast. The medical crew was sorry to disappoint. No cast necessary.

All is well that lands well.

Executive Director Takes One

The ED of Paws & Effect got a bit over zealous while clicker training the dogs.When asked a question she commented "the click part went just fine but it was when I stumbled and fell that it all turned". When asked to explain she mentioned that clicked training was still the only way to go".

The radiologist said that it wasn't nearly as bad as she was making out to be. "enough of the mellow drama!

Actually, the ED made the nearly fatal error of running both dogs (Cadence and Seneca) at the same time. When she tripped and fell, she caught herself with at least three of her fingers but the dogs didn't get away.

Seneca went into service dog mode and provided the ED with a flask of Rum. Great trick Seneca! Now will you get me a glass of California Cool-ade.

More during the late broadcast.

Butley, Wanna go huntin' bird?

So, for our next act, we wanted to give Butley a morsel of delight from the heartland.

We paired him up with a local Pro-Guide to give Butley the full lay of the land without a doubt an experience he has never experienced.

Pro-Guide:
So "B". Have ya ever gon huntin upland?

Butley:
Well can't sayz that I ave.

Pro-Guide:
Follow me and we will get some bird.

Butley:
(thinking to himself because that is the only way he really communicates)
Is this guy for real?

Pro-Guide:
(sound in the near distance: 3 shots fired - 3 exactly as Pro-Guide missed with his first two shots due to the fogging of his pop bottle bottom glasses)
Berd down Butley. Berd down. Go get 'em Butley, go get 'um.

Butley:
(venturing way off nearly to the horizon.)
(Butley then turns and heads back toward Pro-Guide dragging something really big)

(close up shot of Butley and his trophy)
(thinking to himself).
Darn tha-twaz a biggin'.

Pro-Guide:
Uh, Butley, thats a Jayhawk!

Butley:
Yup!

The End.

While not nearly as exciting as...

Tag learning to open doors...

Butley did enjoy an evening with the neighborhood dogs.  It was definitely a "live in the moment experience," with dogs running far too fast to catch with a camera.  Cadence, Butley, Quigley and Harley make for a nice play group and, conveniently, all the dogs live next to each other.  I see how the evening will be going now that the weather is turning.

Tag's learning to open doors...

I'd put some video up of Tag's learning to push the blue dot, but I need to buy some better adhesive (he keeps scraping the blue dot off the wall). And at some point, I'll go looking for a hardware store to buy a blue switchplate.

In the meanwhile, Tag's learning to tug on a pull-toy that's attached to a door handle and to yank the door open...

What's not to love?

It's been a long couple of weeks trying to get everybody healthy, happy, rested and restored. Butley is on his second round of medication to help offset some of his allergy related ailments and requires bathing every third day with allergy shots on Sunday.  Additionally, weekly appointments with the veterinarian as Butley is on some quest to convince Todd and Angie that having a dog is, in fact, an equivalent expense as sending a child to college.  

After all that, we decided a rest was needed.  But Todd called to follow up, make a rare voice appearance in Iowa, interrupt what would otherwise be known as a nap and the pictures above are a demonstration of what Todd would have seen, had he been where I was.  Butley, head resting heavily on hip bones, listening to every word his father said; Cadence snuggled up, but having learned not to rest hear weary head any place she so desired.

We brokered a deal this evening with Butley in the hopes of restoring some equilibrium to his world, making him feel more like family and less like the outcast:  no snoring and you can sleep in bed.  So far, so good.  Except that it's 1:37 am and three dogs, two people in bed results in at least one living thing waking up, finding that it is not possible to contort yourself any further and actually sleep and relinquishing rest for paper writing.

We can try the nap thing again tomorrow.