Thoughtless Thursday: Dog-Friendly Holiday Decorating

Hey Everyone!

As we've been decorating for the holidays (Mom loves making our place look festive), we've had many drawbacks and failures over the past years.  Us furry family members LOVE messing with the decorations.  They're just so exciting!

Mom also told me to just look at the lights, rather than trying to nibble.

With these things in mind, Mom said she's changing her "game plan" for decorating this year- she said she's going to make sure that she prevails in her decorating (aka that we don't rip all her stuff down like last year)!

Things she's doing differently:

• Better ways to hang things up.  The last 2 years have been an enlightening wake-up call that cheap adhesive hooks DO NOT WORK when your cat hangs on the garland (she's looking at you, Thor).  Therefore, Mom will be using more durable hooks (maybe 3M? Or actually drilling in little metal cup hooks?)
• Making the "Christmas Village" cat-proof.  This has been tradition- Mom has a cute little ceramic village that lights up, with little roads, lights, and people.  For the past 2 years though, "Catzilla" has made his appearance.  He terrorizes the village, knocking the people over and sleeping in the middle of the "town square".  When the pieces fall off the table, it's a perfect deal, because then I can eat the pretend hay bales (styrofoam with sawdust-looking stuff glued to the outside of it)!  Sweet!  Mom's going to make sure that everything is secured, wires are hidden under a blanket of white felt, and that everything is closer to the wall so that it won't fall off.  We can't change the "Catzilla" part, though.  He might be here to stay. ;-)
• The Christmas tree will no longer be a "walk-up salad bar".
• Using battery-operated candles in certain holiday candle holders.  

I leave the fake trees/garlands alone.  My kitties, however......

What do you do to keep your furry friends safe?  Discuss!

- See more at: http://www.ruckustheeskie.com/2014/12/thoughtless-thursday-48-petbox-november.html#sthash.QIo1n5TA.dpuf

Thoughtless Thursday: Trimming the Tree!

It's official!

Our tree has been put up!

The tree, all trimmed!

This was me next to the tree last year:

Mischief at 11 weeks old.

And this is this year's picture of me next to the tree! :D

However, my little kitty siblings have been up to no good already.  They sleep IN the tree.  More pictures to follow!  Do you behave around the humans' holiday decorations?

- See more at: http://www.ruckustheeskie.com/2014/12/thoughtless-thursday-46-craycray-in.html#sthash.0PVdlbJJ.dpuf

Thoughtless Thursday: DIY Clicker Bracelet!

Hello, Sadie Nation!

Today, we thought we'd do another craft posting.  They're too much fun to just leave out in an imaginary crafting cloud!  Keep in mind that Mom is not a professional beader, but just does this for fun, so it might not be the perfect process or result!

So, this past summer, Mom and I were signed up to do a "Comfort Dog" class to get me certified with Possibility Dogs.  We thought it would be a great experience for me, as my Mom has worked in a nursing home in the past, and currently works with special needs children in a public school.  There's a dog in the special needs department that works with one girl, and Mom thinks it's so cool to have her around.  Someday, her pipe dream is to bring me to school, too, but I need more obedience training and certifications before I pitch my idea to the school.  So, this class was going to get me to listen better and learn how to be as comforting and therapeutic as possible!

Unfortunately, the class was at 6pm every Friday, which made attendance really tough for us.  Mom worked a different job over the summer, and didn't get to come home until 5, and then the whole process of packing my things up, packing me up, and driving there got to be too much.  Plus, let's be honest, Friday is for playing and spending time outside, too.  I thought so!  We had to stop the training, but we plan on starting this again sometime in the future.  Maybe when I stop being the class clown, because I am pretty notorious for that in obedience class!

For the class, our trainer required we use a clicker.  I've never seen one of these clicky devices before, but they're pretty cool.  Well, at least I think so, because every time that thing clicks, I get tasty grub.  Good deal!  Mom always kept losing the clicker, because the one we received is pretty small.  It got lost in her purse constantly.  She decided she could make a bracelet for it so it would always be on her wrist when we were doing our training!

Things you'll need:
Flexible beading cord OR elastic
Cute beads of your choice (ours are an assortment of glass beads)
Clasp (ours is called a "lobster claw")
Jump rings
Round beads (2)
Crimps (2)
Needlenose pliers or beading pliers
Scissors or a wire cutter if you are using metal wire
A clicker, of course!

An example of the wire we used- flexible, but sturdy

Picture of the jump rings, clear seed beads, and lobster claw

In the tutorial, Mom will use pink beads, and no clicker since we only have one! :)

First, we started off by grabbing all our materials, and placing them on a soft piece of fabric so that our things wouldn't roll around if we dropped the project.  Mom's learned this the hard way.  Oops.

Once we have everything laid out, the next thing we did was take the lobster claw and attach it to one end of the wire.  We did this by attaching a jump ring to the lobster claw.  Now, the next few parts get a tad confusing, because it's all about stringing things in the correct order.

For the next part, Mom put three items onto the string: a crimping bead first, a small round bead (or seed bead) on second, the jump ring with lobster claw on third.  We made these into a loop by taking the end of the string and putting it through the small round bead and crimping bead one more time.  Once the loop was made, Mom used the pliers to squish the crimping bead, sealing the end of the bracelet.  Now we can start beading!

The next part is Mom's favorite part: the actual beads.  They're way more colorful and exciting than putting the components on.  So, this part is ALL up to you!  You get to pick the beads/findings/etc that you want to use to make your bracelet pretty.  We used blue and green glass beads since we had a bunch here.  One thing you shouldn't forget, though, is the clicker. ;-)  We put ours in the middle of the bracelet, but you can put it anywhere!  We didn't have an extra clicker for the tutorial, but just pretend it's a bead and string it onto the wire.

Once you have all your pretty beads on your string, it's time to seal the other end with a clasp to use with the lobster claw.  We used another jump ring, round bead, and crimp.  Again, put the crimp on first, then the round bead, then the ring.  Make a loop by stringing the string through the round bead and crimp, then press the crimp shut with the pliers.  We didn't clip the wires from the end yet in these pictures, but you can clip them with a wire cutters or scissors to make it look neat.

And there you have it!  A clicker training bracelet that's pretty and useful!

Don't want to make the bracelet yourself?  Maybe you can sweet talk my Mom into making you one ;-)

Chow!

- See more at: http://www.ruckustheeskie.com/2014/11/thoughtless-thursday-43-righteous-hound.html#sthash.8dIXzn6m.dpuf

Thoughtless Thursday: The "Eve" of #Howloween Eve

It's a bird...

It's a plane...

No!

It's.....Sadie?

We've been trying out some silly outfits the past few days- Petsmart had a great clearance on their Halloween "get-ups" and so we thought we could spring for a few.

How did Bosses to get me to stay so still, and keep the silly hats on?

1. Patience. Getting a 1-year-old crazy dog to sit still is an art within itself.  A crazy 1-year-old dog with a foreign hat on its head?  Even more tricky.  There were plenty of outtakes for these photos, I promise!
2. Lots of T-R-E-A-T-S.  I don't work for free. Bosses had to make sure the little green bag with the goodies inside was full, and flowing freely!
3. Practice! Bosses have been trying to teach me that it's perfectly okay to be wearing something silly on my head.  I really wasn't a fan of the party hat from my birthday, either.  However, once the hat started dispensing TREATS from it, it became a little less freaky.  And...everytime I wear a silly hat, I get even more treats!  If I keep it on for more than 1 minute, more treats.  So on and so forth.  Maybe this hat business isn't a bad thing after all!

How do you get your fluffy friends to wear costumes and other things?  What's the best costume you or your fluffy friend has ever worn?  Discuss!

Chow!

- See more at: http://www.ruckustheeskie.com/2014/10/thoughtless-thursday41-pre-halloween.html#sthash.686g3ia7.dpuf

October Adopt-a-Shelter Dog Month- On Fostering a Dog

Boss wrote this one a while back, on her old blog.  She thought it was a good one to share, and thought that everyone would enjoy a little "warm fuzzy" feeling after reading about so many happy endings, as our buddy Kaiser (now known as Geno) will be embarking on his happy ending on Friday.  Take it away, Boss!

"I think I mentioned this in my first post of 2014, but I thought I'd write a longer post about this for all the dog-lovers out there. In September of last year, the hubster and I decided to volunteer at the local Golden Retriever rescue, and wow- have we learned a lot.  There is so much more to dog ownership than I ever have realized.  Even though I grew up always having a dog, I feel like I still have only scratched the surface in terms of experience.  Here is what S and I have learned in the past 9 months:

I have always had a love of dogs, and always had a dog when growing up.  Our first dog (that I can remember) was a mix of a few different breeds and was named Honey.  Despite her name, Honey wasn't always sweet.  My parents bought Honey out in the country as a small puppy, before they had children.  She was the typical puppy- energetic, a tad naughty, but knew some tricks and my parents loved her.  Then, they had two kids, and Honey wasn't "the world" to them.  Honey developed very aggressive behaviors, including resource guarding.  Honey was sat on, ridden like a horse, but she maintained her composure for many years (after reading many articles on child etiquette with dogs, I realize that this is very inappropriate for children to do to dogs).  My little brother and I were always reminded to not bother her while she was eating, and let her do her own thing.  Add moving to a new house into the mix of stressors a few years later. We were all playing in the yard one day, and my brother accidentally stepped on her tail.  She immediately whipped her head behind her and bit my brother in the face, ending up in a visit to the ER.  He ended up recovering from the attack, but it was evidence that how you interact with your dog is so important.  

After Honey died of cancer, we adopted our next dog: the polar opposite.  Rocky was a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix.  And oh, what a joy he was!  His personality was a perfect fit for our family, and everyone adored him.  Rocky was a very cherished member of our family- we often called him our "red-headed brother" (since he was a dark red golden color).  He didn't run away, he walked beside you, he was very obedient, and also very loyal.  You could see the best of both breeds shine in his demeanor.  He never needed a leash at the cabin, he rode on the pontoon with the family, he enjoyed rides in the car, he never resource guarded, and loved cats.  The only thing he didn't like?  Swimming.  Odd.  Rocky hung through the best times and the worst of times.  During my parents' divorce, even Rocky was being fought over.  He was a senior dog at the time, and was quite literally a piece of glue in our family.  He got a tumor on his spleen during the finalization of their divorce, and died peacefully before the papers were signed.  I guess he knew that the time was right.

Sweet Rocky, and his one ear that was up

Cue 2013- S and I = newlyweds, and were considering adopting a dog (I have been begging for a dog ever since Rocky passed away).  I am head-over-heels in love with Golden Retrievers, so we picked the local Golden Retriever rescue.  I saw that they needed volunteer foster families, and since S was a little unsure about owning a dog, we decided to foster to make sure that this was what we wanted to do.  So, we got trained in, and we picked out our first foster dog- Cody.

Cody, our first foster dog

Cody is a beautiful 5-year-old Golden Retriever mix, who traveled all the way from Georgia to spend the rest of his happy days in Minnesota!  He was on a euthanization list at the shelter there, and so Mobile Mutts (a volunteer transport group) helped him make his way up here to RAGOM (Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota).  When we picked him up, and he instantly was a ray of sunshine.  His tail was wagging, his ears were perky (well, one was- he had one ear up and one ear down, just like my Rocky), everything was beaming happiness!  He even went camping with us in the fall and liked taking naps near the campfire!  He had a case of what we thought was kennel cough, but when the antibiotics were over, his cough still had not resolved.  Unfortunately, Cody became a bit too interested in our two kitties, and he went to another foster home.  There, they did more medical tests and they found out that he had two different types of bacteria in his lungs.  He went on more medications, and he eventually got better and was adopted by a lovely family, where he has another furry friend to play with and all the toys he could ever ask for.  I love to hear that there are so many happy endings to these stories.

Cody, on our way to his first camping trip!

Our next foster dog was a completely different breed (no pun intended)- 12-week-old Harley, a Black Lab/Border Collie/Who-Knows-What mix.  His mom and all 10 of the puppies were abandoned in a foreclosed house when the pups were 2 weeks old, and so RAGOM decided to help them out to find them homes.  We picked Harley up when he was 12 weeks old.  He was a cutie!  I mean, look at his ears.  How can you not love that!  And I can't forget- he is full of energy!  He has a great demeanor, and was a true "velcro" dog- he never left your side.  He was a quick learner, respected "most" boundaries, and was a very happy-go-lucky dog.  He was adopted by a young guy who, when Harley is old enough, will take him on runs around town.  After he went home with his family, I felt a big smile on my face, knowing he'd be happy in his forever home.  While I get quickly exhausted by the herding dog breeds, getting our next dog was a little breath of fresh air!

Harley is friends with Willie, too!

Harley, our second foster pup

....And then there was the dog we couldn't live without- our little Sadie Bear.  She and quite a few dogs came from a retiring breeder in Iowa.  The dogs who came from here lived outside their whole lives- friendly, but very shy.  What the organization thought was going to be 2 litters of puppies and 5 females and 2 male adult dogs turned into 41 puppies, 5 females, and 2 males!  Many of the female dogs were pregnant when they were surrendered.  Sadie (then known as JJ) was one of the litters that was born in Iowa.  The volunteers and foster mom of "the little family" spent hours upon hours around the clock working to socialize these dogs (let alone clean up their messes)!  There were eight pups in Sadie's litter, and when we went over to meet them, Sadie immediately went to S's lap and slept in it.  After that, she was S's little girl.  So, we adopted her.

Little Sadie, around 9 weeks old

And from then on, she has stolen our hearts.  We'll foster again in the future, because Sadie always loves the company of furry friends, but for now, we're just fine loving on our little fuzzball. :)  Ahhhhh, now I'm feeling warm fuzzies.

Momma,Sadie and two of her siblings at a playdate

I'll probably post all the time about Sadie and her adventures, because quite frankly, I can't get over her cuteness.  And, I love dogs.  They always have that way to scoot right into your heart.

If you have ever considered volunteering with a dog rescue, I recommend it- whether you help with fundraising, event planning, training, home visits, transporting, or fostering- everything is worth it.  Knowing that you're helping for the greater good for someone or something who needs it is very rewarding.  Or if you can't commit to volunteering, donations are always welcome- even $15 can help a dog get a vaccination!"

Thanks, Boss!  Ahh, those warm fuzzy feelings are flowing now.  Enjoy your day!  What is your rescue dog story? :)

- See more at: http://www.ruckustheeskie.com/search/label/Thoughtless%20Thursday#sthash.8BJGydGi.dpuf

Thoughtless Thursday: DIY Doggie Bed

Good Morning, Every"paw"dy!

If you have read my past posts about my crafty Boss, you'd already know this!

But if you haven't, here's one thing: Small Boss is really crafty.  Her creative mind is always flowing, and she loves to make me new things!  If you have a little bit of sewing knowledge, you can definitely make your furry friend a doggie bed.  Here are the various ones she has made!

The first bed is for my kitty siblings, Thor and Allie.  Bosses got these guys off a free Craigslist ad almost 3 years ago when they were 9 weeks old.  Since they cuddled together all the time, Bosses decided the kitties needed a bed.  I don't blame 'em, maybe they should get another one so they stop encroaching on my bed!  Ugh!

My kitty siblings, Thor and Allie, when they were babies.

Aren't they cute?

Typical kitty sibling Thor...letting it all hang out.

Cuties in their kitty bed!

Sorry.  I digress. :)

So, that was the kitty bed.

The second bed was made for me.

Napping on the pre-made materials when I was a tiny thing

Willie and Me in my huge doggie bed!

Modeling my HUGE bed.

I can really stretch out in this thing!

The third bed was made for my friend, Willie.  His Bosses got a bigger place to live, so naturally, he needed a bed for both levels of their townhome!  Small Boss made him one for their living area.  Rumor has it that he loves it!  I made sure to sit in it while Boss was making it so that he could smell me all the time when it got to his house. He he he.

The fourth bed was made for, well, me again.  Boss has been experimenting with different shapes and sizes to see which bed I would actually sleep in.  So this time, she made a super fluffy rectangle.

Being a good little "momma" to my baby friend, Jax.

Chewing on a bone on my fluffy dog bed.

The fifth bed was made for my other buddy, Jax.  He went home with his Bosses and needed a puppy bed!  So, our family gave him a "welcome home" kit, which consisted of some of my little puppy toys and a fluffy little bed he could call his own.  I love my little puppy friend- I needed to let him know how much he meant to me!  :D  I tried to sit in his bed.  Not quite as successful- it kept my rump pretty cozy, though.

One of my good buddies Jax in his little puppy bed. So sweet.

Boss made these using some simple Geometry.  She drew out a couple sketches of what she would like the bed to look like, then she made these shapes into different "pieces" of which to sew together to get the 3-D shapes she needed.  Can you tell that Small Boss ditches me Monday-Friday to work in 4-6th grade Math class? ;-)

After she got the pieces cut out, she sewed the outer tubes together, as well as the bottom liner portions together.  Once those two portions were sewn, she assembled them by sewing the tube to the bottom liner portion, leaving a 5" portion open so that she could stuff each spot.

She stuffed them, and then hand-sewed the hole shut.  Voila!

Do you think they turned out alright?  What shape would YOU pick?  Or better yet, would anyone like her to make a detailed tutorial? :)

- See more at: http://www.ruckustheeskie.com/search/label/Thoughtless%20Thursday#sthash.HcMlCwWn.dpuf