Miss Thang today received a present in the mail from our good friend Benny. It's a shirt that appropiately says "Yield To The Princess."





She wears it proudly! It's like a uniform!




If you have a moment, please be sure to visit The North Carolina Saint Bernard Rescue. Benny works tirelessly to rescue Saints in need. If you have any spare pennies, and can part with them, a donation to the NC Saint Bernard Rescue would help greatly. For those of us that are tight on cash, perhaps we can part with a few collars that are laying around or old leashes and towels...the rescue can always use these. :-)

Her owners never came forth and I think I've exhausted every effort trying to locate them. She's weaseled her way into my heart and we've got along road ahead of us together.

Now excuse me while I go eat crow. :-)

The boys taught Carmela how to properly kill a stuffed toy.





One more skill added under her belt!

Ryan and I celebrated our 5th year wedding anniversary this past week. Huzzah! Traditionally, we always go on long hikes with the crew. This year's anniversary hike was special because Carmela was able to join us.

It was a trying time for her...would she able to hang with the boys and integrate in our crew? Could she handle long hikes without us having to carry her most of the way?










There were also lots of beautiful rock walls along the trail.





Along with lots of Pugs in rocks.





























Sorry, Vinnie! Back to the agenda!



We made our way down to the lake so that the crew could cool down their paws.




























The crew had a blast and Carmela proved she could hang on our long hikes without a hitch.

Carmela is now eating raw bones as part of her raw diet. Her little mouth is able to handle bones effectively, providing they aren't too large for her to get into her mouth. Currently, she can handle quail and Cornish game hens like nobody's business. Chicken wings, however, are too large for her.

This morning, as I was feeding the crew, I got a great chuckle out of the size difference of the dogs' meals.





While we are on the topic of raw, can someone please tell my dogs that never again will I thaw whole roosters in my tub for them? This past weekend, I scored an awesome deal on a case of whole roosters. And by whole, I mean whole: beaks, heads, feet and all! We thawed them in the tub to expedite cutting them up into manageable pieces. Now, everywhere I look, I see minuscule feathers from the thawing process!




Ryan kept harassing me to take a picture of all 40 roosters thawing in the tub and post it on the blog. But I spared you all from that sight! I ixnayed his idea, because, aren't all boy ideas silly? ;-)


Ryan also manages to embarrass me at the Korean store where we purchase raw items for the dogs and I am no longer taking him with me. In our cart were items such as pork and beef tongue, chicken hearts and livers, frog legs, duck gizzards, frozen cod fish and quail eggs. I also grabbed a bottle of oyster and sweet chili sauce for when I cook since it is cheaper at the Korean store than buying it at Safeway.



The cashier at the Korean store always gives us a weird look when ringing up our items. I don't blame her! She has no idea this is for our dogs and probably thinks we are eating all of this.

Cue in Ryan..."Oh man, I can't wait to just throw some oyster and sweet chili sauce on all of this and have it for dinner! YUMM!"

I looked everywhere for a hole to crawl into, but couldn't find one anywhere. See what I mean about boys being silly?

As soon as I finish this blog post, I am making sure my will is in order.






I caught Blue talking to Carmela about turning over to the dark side. With the dark side being the side that is all about hating me. Ayyyyy!

I totally forgot I had these on my hard drive. I think I was laughing too hard that I might have fallen off my chair and bumped my head, causing a memory lapse that I had these pictures.


Gino will do anything for Ryan to play with him. Gino doesn't want Ryan focusing all the attention on Bruno, so Gino will start to emulate anything Bruno is doing while interacting with Ryan. It's quite a hoot to watch a 16 lb black Pug try to carry sticks that are larger than him!










But what's even funnier is the faces he makes while trying to swim with a huge stick in his mouth!










Quick! What's your first name? Who is our current President? What year is it? Just checking to make sure you didn't bump your head too hard when you fell over laughing at the Incredible Pulk's face!

For goofiest faces while running goes to Gino and Carmela!

Since he won't do it, let me introduce all you readers to The Corgi From Hell. He is our neighbor. Our very not-so-friendly neighbor. He likes to bark, bark, bark, bark, did I mention he likes to bark?, all day long through any opening in the fence.

Carmela went out and got herself a bullet proof vest (a.k.a. Puppia harness) like the Pugs wear.

She wanted to be just as cool. Look, she's even mastered the "Youse gonna swim wit da fishes!" look.






Actually, that's a "Go stick it where the sun don't shine!" look. It's the look she gives me whenever we are "training." And by training I mean that I ask Carmela to do something and she runs away laughing at me hysterically.


It is a size XXS. I have underwear bigger than her vest! Wait...not that my ass is big or anything. Wait...dammit, this is totally not working!!




Today I decided to try and walk all four dogs to the park. Crazy you say? I agree with you! Considering Carmela never has had a leash on her and not leash trained, I think I was crazy when I decided to do this!

We started off with everyone sitting nicely before exiting the door. Except for Carmela, because she gives the equivalent of a doggie F U whenever I ask her to do anything.





We only managed to get tangled 132 times (thanks Carmela!). Only 53 of the neighbors laughed at us. In that 53, Vinnie's included because he laughs at everything.





Did I mention it was really hot?







But then Carmela starting voguing for the camera and I forgot what a headache it was walking all 4 dogs to the park. :)





I need to figure out the kinks for walking four dogs at once. Does anyone have any tips or advice? I use a coupler with the Pugs and was trying to come up with a way to use one with Carmela also.

Now everyone is fast asleep in their crates, snoring the day away. Carmela is using her crate on her own. If I ask her to go in it, yup! you guessed it, she laughs at me hysterically and runs away. But if she's tired, she'll trot into it and nap the day away. I'll take that for now!



Continuing our theme of success, I am happy to report that Carmela is doing very well on raw.







She eats like .00000000000000000000001 ounces a day and her poops are almost nonexistent on raw. That's a plus, right?








We have yet to try any bones, but tonight, she is having her first serving.








We did have one day where she didn't want to eat anything and I thought perhaps she was being picky. I found myself trying to entice her with different foods (baby food, cottage cheese, tuna, scrambled eggs) in an effort to eat because I am deathly afraid of Carmela obtaining hypoglycemia.

I decided that if indeed she was being picky, then I needed to just offer her the food later that evening and if she refused it then, off to the vet we'd go. But she ate it like she was starving and since then, she hasn't refused a meal since. Now she's back with the appetite of a gorilla!






We also had a Spa Day. I washed all the filth and grim off of her. I also trimmed the rest of her nails back and now they are at a decent length. The good part about a dog this little is that you can wash them in the kitchen sink. The bad part about a dog this little is that you have to make sure they don't go into shock from the cold. I had to put a bath towel in the oven so I could get her back to normal body temperature quickly. See, this is why I call it Spa Day. :-)

The current flavor of the month for Bruno is an orange ball.







He carries it everywhere...










He even takes it to his bed with him...












There's no denying it, he loves his orange ball!

(Dammit, when she decided to come around and Bruno didn't move, I snatched my camera as quick as I could. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right lens! Arg! Sorry some of them are blurry!)

Get ready to laugh your ass off...

this is what my "usual" crew looks like these days.





Tiffany, you are NOT helping!! :p

On Sept. 11, 2001, search and rescue dogs were deployed to NYC and Washington DC to locate victims trapped in the rubble at the terrorist attack sites. These search and rescue dogs did not have the benefit of wearing personal protective equipment worn by human handlers. The dogs were directly exposed to numerous airborne and surface toxins during their search for survivors.

These dogs were exposed to toxic and carcinogenic dust and ash as they used their noses and eyes to tirelessly search for survivors. The air during this time was heavy with fine matter like cement, glass, fiberglass, asbestos, lead and the combustion of jet fuel resulted in many other toxins dispersed in the air and ground.

These dogs worked a total of 1,428 days (15,148 hours) and many had health issues during the first week. Many experienced fatigue, eye irritation, and respiratory tract problems. They did the work where our noses and eyes could not go.

In addition to those we have lost to this horrific tragedy, let us remember also these dogs for their efforts during this tragic time. Express gratitude for our four-legged heroes.

You didn't really think I'd leave you with a bath time post without some water shaking shots did you?! I saved the best for last!

Let's have a contest...who makes the best faces while trying to shake off all excess water. Place your bets!

Bruno's entries:























Gino's entries:






















Vinnie's entries:
















Just a warning...Vinnie would like to add that anyone that does NOT vote for him might find himself wearing cement shoes. Don't make him unleash Evil Pug on you!
\




Because he will! He's watching!

When it is over 90 degrees outside, I give The Mafiosos a bath outside. It makes clean up much easier and I can easily access body parts that need to be washed. It's not easy trying to cram Bruno's huge butt (yes, butt, not head!) into the tub and maneuvering him around is not an easy feat. So washing him outside is much easier for the two of us.

Although The Mafiosos really get baths, today one was definitely needed. In the course of trying to pee in unison on a fire hydrant, Gino was accidentally baptized by Bruno's urine. Add to to the fact that's really hot outside and we've managed to create one smelly Pug.

I felt badly just giving Gino a bath. If his stinkage must be erased, then so must the entire gang's!

This dog was about to meet the tire of a Honda Civic on a Sunday evening. Luckily for me, I have a husband that immediately stops the truck, with no questions asked, when I yell "STOP THE TRUCK! CHIHUAHUA ON THE ROAD!!"




So now she is here. I don't know if I want to find her owners. I mean, I will try, but if I do, sometime will have to bail me out of jail for assault.

You see, when I find her owners, I'm going to unleash an ass whooping. This poor little girl is rail thin and her nails look like they might as well be Lee Press-On nails. Her dew claws were almost embedded in her paw.

She'll stay here until she's recovered from both physically and mentally. She's a little bit gun shy and needs to gain some confidence.

The Mafiosos are helping with her confidence. They are teaching her that if you hang around the humans long enough, someone might drop some tasty human food.

Gino already has cried favoritism.














The Pugs keep asking if she can stay.









I keep saying "No."



Why no pictures with her of Bruno? Well, Bruno says "She's freaking me out! She's too tiny to be a real dog! She's an alien robot!"

Chillax, Bruno. I can only work on one dog's fear at at time. :p

The past week was crazy mad hot. The heat was in the triple digits for a few days straight and whenever this occurs, we head out to the river.


When we got there, it looked like a few dogs already had a party.

Having a three-day-weekend was exactly what the doctor ordered!







No more sole posts throughout the week. :-)