We're Okay!

Sorry guys, I know we've been gone for like, forever. And it's totally uncool because so many neat things have happened! We made a new friend in Malaysia, we went to the Newf.net get together in CT, we met Randi's mama and papa, (OMD!), we have been to the beach and Pooka has totally recovered from his butt-surgery! Also, our parents had a party and we weren't invited.

Not. Cool.

We had to hang out in our bedroom for DAYS while they ate and drank and danced. All those sniffs unsniffed! All those people unslimed! It was really depressing.

But we are getting back into the swing of things. Promise! Although it is hard because now the air outside our house is crisp and cool and we want to be outside taking naps and not INSIDE typing things. We are so glad that winter is back! Anyway, after we've had a good long talk with Photobucket about how long it takes to upload photographs, we will have LOTS of neat things to tell you about.

Lotsa Licks,

Nanook and Pooka

Nike. How Could You?

Okay sure, you say you aren't endorsing him again...but you're clearly willing to have him represent your products on the public stage.

Un.Cool. Here is how we feel about you giving Michael Vick free merchandise.

1. Angry. We're seriously annoyed, Nike. Why on earth would you be willing to have that murdering cretin model your athletic gear?







2. Worried. We're concerned that kids and other impressionable people will feel that your endorsement, in goods if not in monetary contracts, means that the crimes he committed are easily forgivable and ought to be forgotten. But so many dogs lost their lives at his hands that we will NEVER forgive him. And we won't forgive you either, Nike.





3. Depressed. We were really hoping you guys would make a stand about the kind of conduct that is, and is not, acceptable from rational adults. He made an incredible number of poor decisions and he acted with wanton cruelty and disregard for life.







The fact that you don't appear to care about that makes us want to bite something. Or someone.



Personally, we'd like to tie him up and leave him someplace dark and scary, with lots of biting insects.

We won't forgive Michael Vick, Nike. And we certainly won't be buying any of your merchandise!

Cancer? I hardly KNOW her!

The vet just called to say, "I've got good news!" No sign of malignancy in the biopsy. Pooka is officially cancer free and is going to be just fine!

Whoooooooo!

Pooka's Famous!

A while ago Pook posed for an ad photoshoot. The lady who designed our new dog bath wanted a new advertising shot. Since I had my sore paw that day, and the Mama said forcing me to pose for a photo shoot with an owwie paw would be WAY too Crazy Stage Mama, POOKA got to be the model. Boo.

We got an advance copy of the October/November Design NJ magazine, which featured the Show Home at Sheep's Run, and guess who has his very own full page spread? He's even on the website. Lookin' good, little brother...

Update on the Pook

Hey y'all - the Mama here. Pooka is home safe and resting semi-comfortably. His eyes are a bit itchy and he's not crazy about his stitches, but he can't reach them (not that flexible) and his appetite is very good. He was a bit woozy and weird when he first got home, but a drink, some food and a long nap have really perked him up.

Thank you for all of your well wishes and crossed paws! The biopsy has been sent to a lab for analysis and we'll know more in 48 to 72 hours. I'll keep you posted.

Pooka's Behind Takes Center Stage. Again.

Well, actually usually it is MY tush that is front and center on everyone's minds...because it is FABULOUS...but this time Pooka's tushy is having its turn.

Please forgive the graphic photo, by the way - and a warning: this post is going to be pretty disgusting. Women and children may not wish to read it. Anyone eating something might not want to read it either.

Here's the story. A month ago the Mama was watching Pooka run, which is always a pleasure, and she noticed a white spot under his tail, below and to the left of his anus. She called him over and investigated, and found a patch of skin that was a little raised, like a bee sting. When it didn't go away after a day or two she took Pooka to the vet. The vet stuck a needle in it, (HORROR!), and put it on a slide and eyeballed it but said he hadn't gotten enough cells to be able to say for sure if it was cancer or not-cancer. He didn't think cancer was very likely though, so he said to keep an eye on it, and bring Pooka back in if it got bigger. So every day, for the past month, the Mama has been looking at Pooka's behind. Hah!

Well, on Saturday she looked at it, and she nearly fainted! It had grown! Boy had it grown! It was like, the size of an egg! (Mama's Note: It was. It was huge. It was horrifying. I totally freaked out.) So the Mama totally freaked out, and yelled for the Papa. He came and looked, and HE totally freaked out. The Mama said, "it looks like it is seeping something." And she got a piece of paper towel, wet it with warm water, and swabbed at the spot to clean it up. Only when she did that, it totally burst! And not just a little burst, either. It positively fountained! It shot clear across the room! It also shot clear across the Mama. (Mama's Note: Most. Disgusting. Moment. Of. My. Life.) The Mama sat back on her heels, said, "Oh my GOD!" sat in shock for a few seconds, and then ran for the bathroom. She had to clean it out of her hair, you guys. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

(Mama's Note: *incoherent sobbing* I washed my hair five times that night. Five times. This could ONLY happen to me. The smell, the smell, the horrible smell!!!)

I was there, so I know what it looked like. Mostly it was a clear yellowish serum, but there was this dirty whitish-brown exudate as well. Like from a pimple. Only grosser. The Mama was in the bathroom for a WHILE. Then she came out and called the vet. Only here's the thing - we were in VIRGINIA! You know, Virginia, on the buffalo farm, hiking and swimming and having a fabulous time? Well, Pooka's behind sure put a damper on things. And not just because the Mama couldn't take us swimming that afternoon because she was busy washing her hair.

(Mama's Note: I relived that moment over and over again all afternoon long in my mind, you guys. In slow motion. Oh god oh god oh god.)

The vet was able to fit us in first thing in the morning on Monday. So the Mama, the Papa, Pooka and I spent all day Sunday driving back home from Virginia. Pooka's Magical Exploding Butt ruined our vacation! Okay that's an exaggeration but there was still a lot of hiking and swimming left to do, in MY opinion, and we didn't do it because we had to transport His Royal HindEndness back to civilization. Hmph.

Anyway, we got back to New Jersey and he had his appointment yesterday morning. The Mama had started to calm down a little bit after doing some google searching on the subject of exploding butt boils - she was thinking it was probably just a sebaceous cyst and nothing to really worry about. But when the vet saw it, then HE freaked out! He took a needle again, (seriously, what is the deal with vets and needles? Is it some kind of weird hobby?) and he got some more cells, and he stuck them on a slide and then he practically ran out of the room. He told the Mama that the rate of growth of this thing was very concerning. So then she started to freak out AGAIN. Only she had to be brave and upbeat for Pooka because he's a little sissy boy at the vets and he starts crying if he gets worried. Or sees another dog that looks worried. Or smells the smell that a dog makes when they are worried. Or thinks about anything. The Mama has to distract him by asking him to do his tricks and stuffing treats in his face to keep his mind off of where they are and why. Personally, I think that's ridiculous. I mean, I'm always happy when I go to the vet, and THEY TOOK MY TESTICLES AWAY! So what does HE have to be upset about? Seriously? Well, up until now, anyway...

Moving on, the vet came back after looking at the cells and he appeared much calmer. He said the worst case scenario, and the thing he'd been worried about, was seeing mast cells on the slide, because that would mean that Pooka's butt had a mast cell tumor on it, and it would be very tricky to operate and remove it because it is so close to his anus and you really need a big clean margin when you cut those out because they are bigger than they look. But he said he hadn't seen ANY mast cells on the slide, and he had been expecting to see LOTS of them, so that was a very good thing. All he saw, as a matter of fact, were red and white blood cells - evidence of an infection. Which we'd basically already known since when Mount Vesuvius-in-the-rear had erupted on the Mama, it had erupted white blood cells. Good times. He took Pooka's temperature, (no fever), and then he seriously investigated the area. The Mama told him she'd given Pooka's tush a bath that morning as a favor to him. As someone else has pointed out, that is the canine equivalent of always wearing clean underpants.

So now the doctor told the Mama that it might be a sebaceous cyst, it might be a basal cell tumor, or it might be a perianal adenoma. Although he said he rather doubted the last one since Pooka is so very young. The options were to leave it alone, do a course of antibiotics, and see if it went away on its own, or to remove it. The sticky bit about leaving it, of course, is that if it gets any bigger, and it's NOT just a sebaceous cyst, that removing it in the future would be really hard since it would have gotten even closer to his important bits. The sticky bit about removing it is that Pook has to go under anesthesia, which always makes the Mama nervous, and it IS in a tough spot to operate on. Then the vet asked the Mama how she felt about it. She said she felt terrified - mostly because if she decided to leave it, and it WAS cancer, she'd never forgive herself. So the vet said, "well then we're taking it off."

So tomorrow my little brother Pooka, (whom we have been affectionately calling, "lumpy butt"), is going to have the lump removed, in surgery. Now he'll have a legitimate reason to whine when he goes to the vet. But to be honest, you guys, I really wish he didn't have to go. Cross your paws for him please!

Hiatus.

Hey - Nanook here with a status report. We've been on vacation! Okay not really. Or at least, it has been more of a STAY-cation, but we've been avoiding all things internet for a bit. Mostly because we don't have any new photos to show you guys, and we always think posts without pictures are a little boring.

However, we have got a really neat post in the works, about the amazing things that can happen when you are a dead sexy newf with his own blog!

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of me and my Papa having snoozy cozy time together.

Lotsa licks,

Noodles (and Poodles)

Did You Miss Us?

Hey y'all, Pooka here.  Sorry we've been gone for sooooo long guys, but there is a very good reason for it.  We were baby sitting!  And it is really hard work so we didn't have time to blog, even at NIGHT because by the time the babies no longer needed sitting on, we were EXHAUSTED.  

For the record, human two year olds?  Yeah, they never stop moving.  Like, ever.  I mean, I'm a CANINE two year old and I stop moving ALL THE TIME.  Sometimes I "hold down the floor" for hours and hours.  But human two year olds?  Not so much.  And they have a deadly fascination with bodies of water!  Nanook and I were on our guard the WHOLE time.  

We should never have let our humans put in those two koi ponds.  They are like deadly kid magnets.  Mosquito zappers for toddlers, if you will.  It required every ounce of our Newf rescue instincts to keep the wee ones safe.

If we let our guard down for a SECOND, this happened!

Oh my god!  Who has eyes on the baby?  WHERE IS THE BABY!?  CHECK THE PONDS!!!  If we discovered a situation like this, you better believe we got in there quick and regulated.

"I want three points of contact with the ground at all times, kids!  THREE!  Your tush counts as one!  I want to see hands gripping something sturdy!  I want to see feet in the water only!   Atten...HUT!"

"Fiona, that's only TWO points of contact!  Don't make me come over there!"

With two toddlers, two newfs become necessary.  Luckily, we ARE two newfs.  I mostly watched the little girl, because I'm Pooka and that's just how I roll...and Nanook kept a weather eye on Adrian.  

We're not exclusive in our affections, so I gave him a paw with Adrian every so often.

"Dude.  There are FISH in this pond!  Did you know there were fish in this pond??!"

Another important duty - guarding kids that climb trees.  Seriously, they could totally fall out of there and get hurt!  We glared at him and told him to come down, but he ignored us.  So Nanook got close enough to provide him with a soft landing if he should fall.  Heh.  A "VERY" soft landing, if you know what I mean.  Heh.  Heh.  

I mean that Nanook is a little fat.  That's what I mean.  You guys got that, right?  It'd be like landing on a fringed pillow.

I also guarded any and all explorations of the gardens - keeping an eye out for rabbits, deer, and other deadly creatures.  They are wily, and you just NEVER KNOW.  Look at the innocent way that that croquet ball is just lying there.  But at ANY MOMENT, it could strike!  Babies must be protected.  It is a 24 hour job.  We are only on duty about 8 of those hours though, because the rest of the time we are sleeping.  Obviously, in order to be our best - to keep our instinctive response to danger honed RAZOR sharp - we require lots of beauty rest.

With all that said though, there are limits.  Any toddler venturing this close to the bee hives is ON HIS OWN.

That's just nuts, right there.  

...woo woo woo...

That's the mournful moose howl of Pooka.  He only does it when he hears police sirens, but it is an amazing sound and someday we hope to capture it for posterity.

In the meantime, I thought I'd tell you guys all about my trip to Canada back in May, because let's face it, I haven't done that yet, because I'm a bad Newf.  A bad Newf, but a FANTASTIC snuggler!  You might remember hearing about the trip from Pooka, who was a bit upset about it at the time.  

So, here's the deal:  back in May the Mama and I drove ALL the way to Gananoque, Ontario - to visit the 2009 Canadian Newfoundland Specialty.  That's a dog show that only has ONE sort of dog at it.  Can you guess what sort of dog was invited to this show?  That's right:  MY kind of dog.

Woo.

We hit some major traffic on the road right outside of Syracuse, NY.  Evidently they're doing a lot of road construction there, or at least, they were back in May.  Sorry again that this is so late guys.  I blame The Move, and The Mama.  Anyway - major traffic.  But it broke up shortly after we passed through Syracuse, and then we met up with Bojie and Bojie's mom Meg at a rest stop just south of the border!  Bojie was all, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and he attacked me.  But he was only trying to play, not being mean.  He was really, really excited.  Like, REALLY excited.  Like, so excited that maybe he has a nervous condition or something.  Or needs A.D.D. meds.  He nearly knocked his mom over and he totally tangled both of us up in his leash and I was like, "DUDE!  CHILL!  I HAVE TO PEE!" but he could not relax.  His mom finally sat on him so I could get a drink and visit the bushes without him tackling me.  It's nice to be loved, but not when you have to go to the bathroom!

Once I had gone to the bathroom I was way more open to wrestling etc, but it was time to get back in the cars and finish the drive.  We reached the hotel in pretty good time, and didn't have much of a problem crossing the border into Canada at all.  The official at the crossing asked if The Mama had anything to declare and she said, "besides me and the gigantic dog?  Just some clothing and a toothbrush.  Oh, and his dog food."  Since it was in a sealed bag it was okay to bring it, evidently.  The Mama would have been annoyed and amused if it HADN'T been okay to bring it, since I eat Orijen food and it COMES from Canada.  She would have been all, "What?  It's good enough for us Americans but you won't take it back???"

Anyway, we got into the hotel room and got settled, and unpacked our water bowls and brushes and went for walkies around the place and sniffed LOTS of sniffs that told us that there were a lot of other Newfs around.  It was very exciting.  And almost immediately we ran into our buddy Max, and his brother Marcus, who is actually Pooka's REAL litter brother!

This is Marcus. Doesn't he look EXACTLY like Pooka?!!

We think it's pretty crazy, how much they look alike.  And Marcus does the tea kettle whistle when he swims, too!  CRAZY!

This is Marcus' adopted brother Max.

And this, of course, is my Best Friend Fur-ever, Bojie.

You can see how totally BFF's we are in all of these pictures.  We do EVERYTHING together!  We guarded the picnic basket from all the other Newfs while our Mamas watched the obedience competition and the draft competition on the first day of the show...

Bojie was really worried about the responsibility of guarding the food, but I told him there was NO ONE ON EARTH better at watching food than me.  I am a CHAMPION food watcher.  And eater.  But since I'm on a diet I've gotten really good at just STARING at it.

Man, guarding picnic baskets is hard work.  And just watching those other Newfs in the obedience competition was EXHAUSTING.

...zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

The Mama says it does not get much cuter than what we did next, sitting nose to nose with the tips of our paws touching.  "Wonder Twin Powers, ACTIVATE!"

We even rescued sticks together.  The SAME stick.  

Bojie almost sank me cuz he had his head so far out of the water that he pushed my end of the stick down...but I wasn't mad because he's my best friend.

....blub blub blub...

Besides, I wanted to share my stick with him.  The stick HIS Mama was throwing was embarrassingly tiny, for a Newf to rescue.  I mean, he did it and all because where there's a Need then there's a Newf, but...

Well it just didn't look right.

Anyway, we watched the obedience and draft trials, and then we had lunch, and at lunch we totally met up with all our American and Canadian buddies!

There was Buddy and Docker and Ariel and Ozzie and Stevie and Murphy and Max and Marcus and oh so many others.  It was awesome.

There are lots of funny stories about our trip, like how our Mamas made the hotel room so cold that they were freezing, and I climbed up into my Mama's bed and lay down on top of her to save her life and keep her warm...and how she sent me over to BOJIE'S Mama's bed to save HER life because Bojie is not as savvy as me when it comes to sitting on people and keeping them warm.  Or like when The Mama and I went to have a photoshoot with Sandra, who is a really good photographer, and Bojie got so upset that we left that he broke away from his Mama and came tearing after us, but when he caught up with us he forgot what it was he had intended to do, so he just kept running and he nearly ran right into the big Hotel Laundry room where all the hotel staff and maids and stuff were washing sheets and he freaked them right out!

Or like when we were swimming and a big family group came down to the beach where we were swimming and Bojie ran over to say hi and they all started screaming and the parents all picked up their kids and put them on their shoulders and they all got kind of wet but nothing else bad happened and his Mama and my Mama both almost had to change their pants because they were laughing so hard...but maybe we will save those stories for another post.

And there are more pictures but it's late and I had some extra steak in my dinner tonight as well as green beans and my tummy is so full that I just HAVE to sleep, you know?  So if you want to check out the extra pictures, click here!

Videos...

To the Manner (Manor?) Born

Hey guys.  Nanook here, to tell you ALL about our new(f) home.  Or, maybe, just to show you some pictures of us.  I guess we'll see how it all pans out.  

So check it - a few months ago our people started saying things like, "are you guys ready to move?" and "we hope you like the pool" and "NO EATING THE KOI FISHIES!" 

The last two statements had our undivided attention, I can tell you that much.  I mean, first of all...did they say POOL?  And second of all, what the heck is a koi fishy?  We were very intrigued.

The next thing we know, we're being brought over to this other house and we're walking around it and Pooka is a nervous wreck but I'm totally cool because that's how I roll...anyway Pooka calmed down after the first few visits.  We weren't spending the night, but we were "helping" our people carry things and put things away and especially by smelling every corner of everything and testing all the bathtub faucets to be sure they worked and produced delicious cold water for drinkies.

But we didn't think that the other house was the house we were moving to, because it was kind of big.  You know, it was the kind of house that small poofy yippy dogs live in - dogs that wear diamond pendants on choker collars and have little outfits that match their owners' clothing, and have bows in their fur and get pawdicures.  We call them Yippy Yuppy Puppies.  And frankly, we're not Yippy Yuppy Puppy material.  We're big, and we're hairy, and we drool.  People in nice clothing RUN from us.  So we were pretty sure this wasn't the house we were moving into.  Pooka didn't really care if we were moving there or not; he immediately began peeing on everything outside to mark it as his - even if it wasn't!  I guess he figured he would give the Yippy Yuppy Puppies that would live there someday something to think about.  But it turns out, we totally WERE moving to that house!  Holy COW!

Um.  Does this make us Yippy Yuppy Puppies?  Be honest.  

Pooka is meditating on what it means to be Yuppy and Yippy.  Puppy he's still got down pat.

It didn't take us long to find the Koi Fishies.  There are TWO ponds of them!  TWO!  Full of Fishies!  You know what I think about that?

Sushi.  That's what I think about that.

They look DELICIOUS.

"Yeah yeah mom, we hear you.  No eating the fishies...no matter how delicious they look..."

Pooka is more interested in the Pooka Pool anyway.  

"Could someone open the gate, please?  My tongue is HUGE..."

What do you guys think?  Do we look like we were born with silver bones in our mouths?

Do you guys think we could do an episode of Doggy Cribs on MTV?  

Whoops!  We hear The Papa calling.  Gotta run.  

Lotsa Licks, 

Nanook and Pooka

Lifestyles of the Newf and Famous