Lawn Chairs, Not A Good Door

So, it's mud season in Montana. That means a lot of muddy foot prints to clean up. I use rugs at the front door and that catches most of it. What is left, is usually wiped off on the rugs I have inside the doorway. Rugs are fairly cheap and easy to replace.

My back porch, my sanctuary, my bright spot in the woods, is painted light cream to bring in more light and warmth. It's my favorite spot in the summertime. I had rather it not get covered with little muddy paw prints that I can't wash off until we hook up summer hoses again.

I had the great idea of blocking the small entry way of the porch, with a lawn chair. I was sure the dogs would not push it out of the way and enter the porch. And I was right. They did not push it out of the way. 

JJ ran through it, getting stuck between the canvas seat and the metal base carrying it about 8 feet!  She was stuck so tight, Dan had to cut up the seat of the chair to free her. It wasn't pretty. You could tell she was embarrassed. I was too. 

Got to get a gate to put up.

Boone, The Gordon Setter, and The Brazil Nuts Incident

This is Boone. You met him in the last post. Here's the other mishap, published from Luera's email, with her full permission.

Luera's email:

I want to pass along a little mishap that happened today.  Boone got into some Brasil nuts and ate about a half dozen or so.  Within a two hour span he was at the vet because his whole face swelled up and he got sick and was very lethargic-didn't even want to get up from the floor.  He got a shot and the vet ran charcoal through his system to make sure everything was out.  He's okay now but boy that was a little scary.  The doctor said that he'd only heard that Macadamia nuts were poisonous and nothing about the Brasil's, however there is a mold/fungus that sometimes covers the nuts and it is poisonous.  Another expensive lesson for 2010 and it's only March.  He said to watch him with peanut products too.

Boone, The Gordon Setter, and The Beef Bone Incident

Meet Boone. Boone recently had a very scary incident and his Mom, Luera, shared the story with me. This is actually, the first story of two, for Boone. Poor guy. He's  had a pretty rough start to 2010. The story below was written by Luera, and sent to me in an email. She gave me full permission to print it.

         A lesson to be learned about giving our dogs bones. 

            Something that we have all done.

        From Luera:

We've had our first mishap for 2010.  My mother thought she was being a great "grandmother" and had saved bones from a round steak for the dogs.  Yep, it happened!  Boone had a great time until the bone flipped under his jaw and got stuck.  I tried working it off and logistically it should have flipped back the way it came.  But by the time he allowed me to try his tongue had swollen a bit and it and the lips were getting pinched.  It was President's Day weekend and finding my vet didn't happen (his emergency line went to a clinic in Post Falls).  Fortunately, North Idaho Animal Hospital was on the spot.  They knocked him out and sawed it off.  He suffered nothing more than some skin irritation.  I suffered a minor heart palpitation as I signed a check for what amounted to a $250 doggie treat.  Lesson painfully learned!