Clean Up By The Dairy Case!

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cam.  I know Maggie has told you about some of the jobs we do here at Ao4 Headquarters.  There is one job I happily volunteer for.  One that I blogged about the other day.  That's right - helping Mom with her yogurt!

As soon as I hear her get a container out of the fridge, and trust me, it doesn't matter where I am in the house - I'll hear her! - I come into the kitchen and stare.  I'm not pushy, I'm not vocal; I just stare.  And I know when Mom is almost at the bottom.

Mom:  "But I'm not quite d--"
"Yes.  Yes, you are!  Look into my eyes..."

Again, that's part of my super power - knowing when she really IS almost done.  And having a face Mom can't resist.  Because then ...

That's right! Time to dive snooter-first into the yogurt container!

Dig in deep! Get every bit of that tasty goodness!

And to ensure I get every single bit ...

That's right - I have some mad clean up skills!

How about all of you? Do you know your way around a yogurt container?

Cammie!

PS: Don't worry - Maggie got to clean a little spoonful's worth off the lid! She has to do her part, too!

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Mags and Cammie!

New Leash Design And More!

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie!  Sunday, Mom asked me to join her in her Studio.  She apparently had an idea for a new leash design and wanted to consult me on it.

"So, Mags ... what if I ..."
"Yeah, whatevs.  I've got my PICKLE!"

I mean really.  I don't get to play with my pickle very often.  I needed to concentrate!

Before I knew it, Mom had the new project all sewn up (ha - get it?) and she asked me to come outside for a test drive.  Check it out:

Me and my cool new leash!

It has a double strength handle, so it's cushioned a bit for Mom or Dad's wrist, then see those strong-boxes?  (The X looking things.)  Between every other one, there is an additional "hand hold" so Mom or Dad can shorten it up.  Here's the first one:

"Oooh!  Birdie!"

Or Mom can make it even shorter with the next one:

I was being very good here, but if Mom did need the extra control of a shorter leash, she'd have it.

I thought that was mighty slick right there, but wait!  There's more!  Mom ordered a heavy-duty walking belt!  She had consulted with a bunch of her friends who also have Siberians and she decided to go with a belt from the good folks at White Pine Outfitters.  They also recommended a climbing strength twist-lock carabiner, so she got us a couple of those, too!

Everything was here at Ao4 HQs by Monday, so Mom tested out a few things.  She could just loop the leash handle through a carabiner to fasten it or make a loop of the handle of the leash and hook the carabiner through that AND the leash handle.  Whatever.  Here's Cammie modeling that:

Cam, hooked up to the hands-free belt

Mom's not sure she really needs to do that.

That evening, Mom hooked both of us girls up and we went for a short walk!  Here we are, starting out:

"I'm not going to have to pull a sled or something, am I?"
"This is so AWESOME!"

Mom hasn't made Cammie a special leash yet, but will within the next couple of days.  She wanted to see how mine worked out first.

Dad came on the walk, too, so he could intervene if there were any problems.  He snapped this shot of us:

"Hey, wait.  Did I miss something?"
"Hurry up, Mags!"
"On by, Mags!"

We did GREAT, so Mom took us girls out alone this morning.  (Due to her torn rotator cuff and a slow healing process, she hasn't walked us without Dad in quite a while.)  In addition to the O-ring where our super-strength carabiner is hooked up to our leashes, there is a D-ring on each side.  Mom used one of our cute carabiners to hook up the little "bag holder bag" she made:

A look at the belt on Mom

Even less for Mom to carry!

Cam and I had TONS of fun on our walk!  Here's a shot of us heading up the last hill for home:

"What a FUN walk!"
"Amen, Cam!  A-MEN!"

Oh, right. I have no idea why my leash is shortened up to the shortest length. No idea whatsoever.  It's not like we kept jumping each other and Mom needed more control or anything.  And if it WAS like that, it would simply be because we were helping Mom test the system.  Yeah.  That's it!  Just helping test it out.

We love getting new walking gear - it will mean even MORE walks, which is a great thing!  We'll be sure to show you Cammie's new leash once Mom makes it!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wait! Is That ... ?

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  I was just about to start writing today's blog post when...WAIT!

"Is that a yogurt container?!!?"

It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing.  I will know you have yogurt.  I'll just know.  And I'll be right there for you, every step of the way.  It's one of my super powers!

Who's up for a little sharing?

Cammie!

Serene Scenery Sunday

Greetings to all, it's me, Mags.  It's Sunday - and you know what that means, right?

A day of rest.

Have a great one!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Household Chores

Greetings to all, it's me, Maggie!  As you know, Cam and I are Working Breed pups.  That means that if there's a job to be done around here, you can bet one of us will be involved.  One of my tasks this weekend was to help Mom change the sheets and put a new quilt on the bed.  I decided my contribution would be ... to supervise.

A good supervisor provides the right mix of encouragement, constructive criticism, and motivation!

Encourage:

"You're doing great, Mom.  I'm here for you."

Toss in a little constructive criticism to help your worker do even better than she thought she could:

"You call that square cornering the sheets?  You can do better than that!"

And find the right motivation!  Everyone's is different!

"Yes.  Yes, you can play with my GoughNut toy when you finish!  Until then, it stays right here!"

It's tough work, supervising, but it comes naturally to me.

"I don't always watch Mom make the bed,
but when I do, I make sure I have my GoughNut with me."

The fourth and fifth steps of supervising are inspection ...

"Hmm...  let me test this baby out!"

And finally praise for a job well-done!

"This is so nice I had to share it with Cammie!  Way to go, Mom; great job!"
"Nice work, Mom!  You deserve a pear."

Mom said something about having to straighten everything back up after Cam and I jumped down. I don't quite get that. Do you?  I must have supervised her into wanting to do a really perfect job!

I hope all of you have some time to kick back this weekend!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Looking For Birdies

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie! Out here!

"BOOM!"
"Hello!"

Mags and I are out on the deck with Mom this morning, looking for birdies.

"Oh.  Right.  Birdies.  I'll tip-toe!"
"See?  We're helping!"

We're being really quiet so we don't scare away any birdies.

"There's one behind you, Cam!"
"Thanks, Mags!"

Maggie is very good at spotting birdies!

"In the tree, Mom!"
"Ooh, look, girls!  A little finch!"
"Birdie!"

It was a little House Finch.  They're awfully cute little redheads!  Mom didn't get a shot of him (something about not wanting to point her camera at the neighbors' house), but it was nice to see him in action!

"Hey!  Wanna see another redhead in action!?!"
"Sigh."

We moved on to other activities shortly after Mom snapped that shot with her iPhone.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Cammie!

Power Chewer

Greetings to all!  It's me, Maggie.  As most of you know, there are toys in this house that are "Cammie Only" toys.  Apparently, I'm somewhat of a power chewer.  The only toys that stand up to my teeth 'n' jaw action are my GoughNuts rings and sort of my Starmark ball.  (I destroyed the other Starmark toys, so Mom keeps close tabs on the ball.)  Those are the only ones left out all the time for us.

ANYWAY, when Cammie gets her special toys (Mom gets them out of the Toy Vault - aka, the pantry), I get special toys, too - only mine are tougher!  The other day, I chose one I used to play with as a puppy:

"I'll play with this one, Mom!"

Yep. My KONG Traxx!

"Ohhhh, yeah!  Love that 'super tough' rubber!"

I used to love this thing!  I used to spend hours on end playing with it.  

"I love time with my special toys!"

This was just like old times!

"Oh.  Hey.  How did that happen?"

Yep.  Just like old times ... only apparently "hours on end" go by a lot faster now.  I think they take 5-10 minutes.  Oops.

It's still fun, though!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Wordless Wednesday

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Quality Toy Time

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie!  The other day, Maggie was racing around the living room playing with her Squeaky Blue Hippo and I got to spend some quality time with one of my "Cammie Only" toys.  It was wonderful.

"I love playing with this toy!"

Just having a nice chew ... then taking time out to admire it.

Legs and Toy, still-life by D'Azul's Girl From Ipanema

It was very relaxing!

"So much fun!"

Just me, my toy, and ...

"Hello?"
"La la la la la la... not done playing with this yet, Mags."

... a visit or two from Maggie.

Cammie!

Tight Places

Greetings to all, it's me - Maggie!  As many of you know, I love to den. One of my favorite hang-outs is in my really cool chair fort in the Breakfast Room.

"Ha-roo!"
"Hello, everyone!  I have the day off from blogging, but wanted to say hello."

On special occasions, I get to box:

"Love this one!  It's a keeper!"

Sometimes, I wedge myself between Cammie and whatever's nearby:

"Mfffft.  Ooh.  Nice!"
"Zzzz..."

And one of my all-time favorite tight spaces was between the laundry hamper and the door to the Laundry Room:

"How did you find me in here, Mom?"

That's right, "was" - as in the past tense. Why? Well, remember in the latest boxing news? That second box? It was for a new laundry hamper system. Mom and Dad put that in the closet in the Master Bedroom, then moved one of the ones in there into the Laundry Room, and moved the white hard-sider into the garage for our towels. So now, no more shoving the hamper over and wedging myself in all nice and tight. What's a puppy to do!?!

"Adapt and improvise!"

That's right - make the best out of a new situation!

"Not bad.  Not bad at all!"

That cross-bar down at the bottom does make a nice head rest. Not as comfy as the one in my really cool chair fort ...

"Zzzz..."
"Zzzz..."

... but it'll do.

I do love a nice tight space!

Yours sincerely,
Margaret Thatcher

Serene Scenery Sunday

We have no idea why our mom finds this so serene, but here's what we've got for you today:

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!

Cam and Mags

Tag Changer

Hello, everyone!  It's me, Cammie.  I thought I'd tell you about something Mom got for me this week - it's called a "Tag Changer".  I thought that's what Mom does ... but apparently with this, she can change our tags from one collar to the next without totally trashing her fingernails.  Here I am, modeling mine:

"Hello!"

Can you see it hooked up to my collar? Here's a look at it in the packaging:

Your tags hang right on that mini D-ring, then the whole thing snaps around your collar, sort of like a mini collar.  We wear 1"-wide collars and they fit perfectly.

Mom has seen other tag holders, but not ones that stand a chance of holding up to ... oh, I don't know ...  not saying this would happen, but let's say if someone has a tendency to grab me by the collar and/or tags and wrestle with me.  This could stand up to that sort of wear.  Ahem.

Speaking of Maggie  In unrelated news, Maggie got one, too. Here's a look at both of us:

Maggie and me, modeling our new tag holders

You can see hers a little better, can't you?  Let's get a close-up of hers.  Maybe if Mom held the camera lower or if ...

"How's this?"

Right.  If Maggie got a little higher.  Good work, Mags!

Our tags sit up a little higher on our necks than when they hang from the D-ring on our collars, so they aren't as tempting as before.  You know.  If someone is looking for something to grab.  Not that that would happen.  Mom also likes that there is a reflective strip on it. Every little safety bit helps, right?

Anyway, this isn't a paid endorsement or anything, it's just that Mom bought the Tag Changers and really likes them, so we thought we'd tell you about them.  And so far, they're holding up to  lots of abuse  normal wear and tear (for Siberian Huskies).   

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Cammie!