Directions?!?

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  As many of you know, as Working Breed pups, Dave and I need and have many, many jobs here at Ao4 Headquarters.  One of the hats I wear (so to speak) is that of navigator.  Mom just ... how to put this nicely? ... is navigation-challenged, so I help her get from Point A to Point B.  I can always get us to where we're going ... or at least to somewhere fun!

So ... a week or two ago, Mom wanted to go to some place that was way out in the country where she'd never gone before.  Dad strongly recommended she take me - for what should be obvious reasons.  Here we are, heading out:

"Zimmie?  Do you want the ..."
"Directions?!?  I don't need no stinkin' directions!"

Please.  Google Maps has nothing on me.  Let's just drive!

And ... drive we did.  And drive and drive ... and drive ...

"Of course I know where we are!  Are you kidding?"

We turned up an unpaved road, and after a while, we found this little country church:

Pretty, isn't it?  And Mom did some cool special effects on the photo with her iPhone.

Oh.  No ... that's not what Mom was trying to find.  She was trying to get to somewhere else altogether. I told her if we'd just stay on that unpaved road, we could reach her desired destination ... but for some reason, she gets nervous driving on unpaved roads in a little sports car where you can't really turn around for miles on end ... and so ... we found a gravel drive near the church and turned around.

"Seriously, Mom.  We were almost there - I just know it!"

We'll try again soon - Mom mentioned something about taking Dad's SUV next time.  Works for me - as long as she takes me, too!

Even though we didn't exactly get to where we were going, we had a great time.  Isn't that really what's  important here?

Play bows,

Zim

What A Bunch Of...

Ha roo, pups and kit-cat pals!  It's me, Zim, here with the rest of the pix from my very cool trip to the fair/rodeo instead of Serene Scenery Sunday.  Hopefully, you'll find this just as peaceful!  Yesterday, I showed you my horse friends - today it's all about the bulls!

As with the horses, we walked around the pen nice and easy for a while, letting the bulls get used to me and to see if they'd mind if I came over.

"Hey, you guys!  What's shakin'?"

Some of them started to follow me, and I took that as a sign they'd like to be pals.

I'm giving my signals that I'm a quiet, unassuming guy here

The guy in the center of that picture above was especially interested in meeting me; we got a little closer:

"Ha roo, new friend!"

He didn't hesitate coming over to me at all.  What a friendly guy!  I complimented him on his color scheme.  I mean - if I was a bull, don't you think I'd look like him?  What a cool guy!

Down in the corner of their pen, there was a brown bull standing all alone by their water cooler.  I thought I'd mosey on down ("mosey" -- that's how you talk when you're at a rodeo!) and hang out with him.  He looked lonely.  Here's a video of my stroll down there:

(If that doesn't work, please click here.)

Yep.  All of my new bull friends followed me down there.  It's what happens when I'm around other animals.  They like to come over to see me.  Mom says it's one of my gifts - some kind of magnetism that lures all other animals to me.  Whatever.

Here I am by that lonely bull I wanted to see:

"Hey... you aren't who that cool 'El Solo Toro/Lonely Bull' song was written about, are you?"

I had to ask.  Dave would never forgive me.  He loves that kind of music.

Mom thought he looked "pretty" and "soft".  Mom?  Really?  I mean... he's a BULL!  I don't think he'd appreciate that description!  Bulls are rugged and manly and ... check out this guy:

Now that's a lot of bull!

Ha roo roo roo!

"Sorry.  You guys hear that joke a lot, don't you?"
"It's ok, buddy.  It's an occupational hazard."

These two cream-colored bulls came over to meet me:

They were just as friendly as can be!  A friend of theirs came over ...

"Is this your first time in the Little Apple?"

...and I got into a good, long conversation with him.

On down the line, I met these two guys:

"What's with the chapeaux, mes amis?"

I asked them about the apparatus they were sporting on their horns.

"Can you take mine off for me?!!?"
"Now don't go getting our new friend in trouble!"

One of them tried to get me to take it off, but I didn't think that would be a good idea.  I looked to the side, doing one of my calming signal things instead.  I wasn't about to take it off for him, but I also know better than to provoke a bull.  Especially one behind a flimsy fence with a lot of other bulls.  (Apparently, his person puts the hat on them to protect their horns.  Or something like that.)  

Anyway - did you see my cream-colored friend intervening for me?  Wasn't that nice of him?!?  

"Is he alright?"
"Don't worry about him, Zim!  He'll be OK."

I thought I'd move on over and spend more time with him before we headed home.

"Thanks for watching my 6, pal!"

Yes, I did get very close to him.  We were both -- well, we were ALL -- nice and calm, and it was a pretty wonderful moment.  A serene moment, if you will.  In fact, to wrap up my visit and to as a proxy for Serene Scenery Sunday ... I'll leave you with this:

Friends!  Snooter to snooter!

I hope you enjoyed coming to the fair and rodeo with me - and that you liked meeting my new horse and bull friends!  I had a wonderful time - and I think my new pals did, too!

Play bows,

Zim

That's Fair!

... and Rodeo!  Ha roo roo roo!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim!  As Dave mentioned yesterday, the Riley County Fair and Kaw Valley Rodeo are in full swing!  Dave knows how much I love to commune with other animals, so he said he'd guard the house while Mom and I hit the fair grounds.  Is he a nice brother or what?  Mom and I headed out in the morning, while it was still cool.  Relatively cool.

Here we are, arriving at the fair grounds:

"Oh, BOY!  How exciting!"

There was lots to see!  I'll show you part of the pix we took today and part tomorrow.  Let's get over there!

The first guys I got to see were some horses!

I walked by very calmly, just so they could get used to me and to see if anyone was interested in meeting me.  They had a nice area for beverages, so I thought I'd hang out over there.

"Meet you guys by the water cooler?"

I don't like to stare directly at animals when I first meet them.  That can be viewed as aggressive, and I don't like to scare anyone off.

It might not look like it to you, from the picture above, but I was communicating with those guys right in front of me.  (Mom has no qualms taking me places like this because I am very well-mannered.  She knows I wouldn't do anything to startle or tease the penned animals!)

"Are you guys staying hydrated?"

I reminded my new friends about staying hydrated.  That reminded me ...

Slurp, slurp, slurp...

Even though it was cool out and we weren't going to be walking around too long, Mom brought my canteen full of water for me.  It was very refreshing!

Let's look around a little more!  

They had lots of smaller animals in the covered areas, but I opted not to go over there.  "Why not?" you might ask?  Out of solidarity.  Check this out:

That's right - a "No German Shepherds" sign.  Can you believe that?!?  Well, then I won't go over there, either!  Ha-rumph!


Mom and I walked back over to where my horse friends were.  Here are some shots she took of them:

What a beauty!

Mom liked this grouping!

My friends at the water cooler!

And for today, we'll leave you with this guy - he was totally in his Zen Zone:

"Zzzzzz..."

I'm not sure if he was totally asleep, but he was one relaxed horse!

Tune in tomorrow for the rest of my adventure!

Play bows,

Zim

Photo Finish Friday

Woo, everypup and everycat.  It's me, Dave.  This week's Photo Finish Friday post is a collection of a few unrelated photos of Zim and me from the week.  They didn't really fit anywhere, so we though we'd share them with you now.

Here's Zim helping Mom make the bed the other morning:

"No need to thank me, Mom!  I'm a Working Breed.  It's what I do."

Mom says no one can turn a 3 minute job into a 20 minute job quite the way Zim can!  Is that dedication or what?!?

Here I am from last night, watching Mom watch TV:

"Hi Mom.  Mom?  Hi Mom."

Does anyone know what "I've lost all feeling in my leg" means?

If I was going to cut my own jazz CD, and if it had serious schmoopy songs on it, I would use this for the cover art:

"Candlelit Jazz, After Midnight" - by Dave

In other news, the Riley County Fair and Kaw Valley Rodeo are in town.  We know it; we can smell it!    The only question is ...

"When do we get to go?!?!"

We'll let you know how it pans out!

Have a great weekend!

Luv,

Dave

Indoor Football

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim, here with more about what I did after my long vet visit the other day.  After a short nap, an even shorter walk (it was mega-hot), and a bite to eat, it was time for some fun!  Football sounded good, only Mom has this crazy rule about "no footballs in the house". Yeah ... well, Dave, Dad and I decided to play anyway, only without the ball.

"That works, right?!?"
"Come on, Zim!  Me and Dad against you!"

Tell me that doesn't sound like fun!  It was great!  So great, in fact, that I'm switching over to cartoon mode like I like to do.  Let's play football!!!

"You're going down, Dad!  Ha roo!!!"
"Blue 92!  Blue 92!  Woo!  Woo!  Woooo!"

Dad was the center and Dave was the quarterback.  I was the entire opposing team.  

Dave did a quarterback run (probably because he didn't have any  retrievers  receivers to throw to) and scored!   It was a great game!

For the next round, us guys took on Dad!  Since Dave did such a great job as quarterback during the first game, we decided he should hold the same position on our all-Sibe team.  We had a special trick play all set to spring on Dad!

"Red 47!  Red 47!  Ha woo!"

As you can see, I was in the GO mode as soon as Dave finished the snap count!  Then we launched the play!

"Got it, Dave!!"

That's right - the ol' Statue of Liberty Play!  As Dave went back to pass, I ran up behind him, took the ball from him and ran up the field with it!  We completed our play before Dad knew what hit him!  We stopped to mug for the camera like football players like to do:

"Hi, Mom!"
"Hi, Mom!"
"Dave, I think I'm the one who's supposed to tackle Zim, not you..."

Dad's got a different notion about football than we do.  Ha roo roo roo!  Oh, and note Dad is the only one not looking at the camera.  Bipeds!

We played another round of the tall guys against me - 

Dave doing a quarterback sneak!

- I'm not sure who won, but I know we all had a blast!

I wish you all had been there with us!  I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind.  I mean - it's not like we were playing with a ball - right?!?  Ha roo!

Play bows,

Zim

Wordless Wednesday

Play bows and luv,
Zim and Dave

Good Morning!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me - Zim - back, as promised!  Here's the bottom line on yesterday -- I had my BIG Senior Care vet visit.  In the Senior Care Program, we go in twice a year (unless something else comes up, then it's more often).  Both visits are very thorough, but the BIG one is incredible.  They do all kinds of stuff.  My appointment started at 0900 and we left around 1500 - so that should give you an idea of how involved it is!

A couple years ago, Stormy blogged a complete run-down of what really happens at the Senior Care appointments - the yearly and the 6-month one.  Please go ahead and read that for all the technical stuff.  Here's what happened of note at my yearly ~

When I checked in at the front desk, there wasn't much going on.  We got there a little early, and the vets and senior students were still on rounds.  Mom let me pick where we'd sit and wait - and I naturally chose a position where I could see everything that was going on!

"Yeah, this is perfect, Mom!"

I just love watching everyone come and go.  Sometimes people stop and tell me how handsome I am or scratch my ears.  That's really cool.  I also love that it's wide-open out there - no crowding, no invasion of personal space!

The Lhasa Apso I mentioned yesterday was already there, but no one else had checked in yet.  I thought I'd offer my services as the official Greeter to the hospital!

"Good morning, and welcome to the Kansas State University Veterinary Health Center!"

Yeowzers, is that ever a muzzle full!  I greeted one happy little Beagle (silently, by the way, and gave him lots of space) then settled in to wait for the next client.

Before anyone else checked in, my Senior Student came out and got us.  She was really nice - very confident and professional, yet friendly.  She helped me feel calm and relaxed!

Since Mom knew we'd be there quite a while, she brought a canteen full of water for me.  It was nice and cool in the exam room, but I did get a bit thirsty.  In between tests, it was nice to take a beverage break.

"The blood draw was easy; but all this holding still stuff is horribly challenging!"

I thought I'd like a potty break, too, and usually they let me take one.  Yesterday, though, they needed something called a "sterile sample" and I heard things like "Sorry, Zim, free-catch won't do it" and "How about another drink of water?".  I should have remembered ... click here for the ol' water ploy ... I should have remembered!  (And I should have held out for treats in the water!)

So ... my Vet and Vet Tech flipped me verrrrrry gently onto my back and the Senior Student tried to do a cystocentesis.  (Some of you might not want to read this part -- but that's where they get a long, thin needle and stick it through your belly into your bladder to get a urine sample.)  If you read the link in the paragraph above, you'll know that I have a small bladder.  My student was really great and I didn't feel a thing (she was so gentle!) - but they couldn't find my bladder.  I thought I had won that round, when someone (MOM!) said she was pretty sure I would also cooperate for Option 2 -- catheterization.  (That's where they insert a tube through your ... let's move on!)

For privacy purposes, we don't have photos of that.  Apparently, both my student and I did very well and they got what they needed.  It really wasn't a big deal -- except for having to flip onto my side, which I did NOT want to do!  Oh, sure, I often CHOOSE to lay on my side, but have someone TELL me to, and it's totally different.  Seriously.  It's all about control!  I can't help it - it's in the Siberian Husky rule book.  But the Vet and Vet Tech were once again very gentle with me ... so it's all good.

In totally unrelated news, here's a photo of my Vet Tech's pant leg:

Revenge of the Siberian Husky

Ha roo roo roo.  Hey.  Shed happens, right?  (Sorry, Beth.  No hard feelings?)

Another part of the Senior Care visit is taking blood pressure (BP).  Usually, they shave your wrist a little and put a cuff on a front leg - and monitor it there.  (Click here to see how that goes for Dave.)  Now, some of us have a really hard time relaxing when someone's touching our feety-feet ... and so our vets have a solution for that, too.

Tail!

Yep.  They take the BP on my tail.  Because clippers and I have a bad history, they did the cuffing and clipping way before they needed to take my BP -- so that I could get back into my Zen of Zim Zone.  Once everything was pretty well wrapped up, they said Mom and I could just relax in the room for a bit then they'd come back in and see about taking my BP.  Here I am, finding my happy place:

"Zzzzzen of Zzzzzimmmm..."

As you can see, I was in the Zone!

Everything went pretty well!  I didn't need any kind of sedatives at all for the x-rays, cysto, catheterizing, or anything else.  So far, it looks like all the reports are mighty good for a 12.5 year old!  I'm a little on the thin side again, but given how hot it's been, that's not a big surprise.  A long, exhausting, but really good exam day - and then home!

Chilling at home!

So that's why I was so late posting yesterday.  And of course, I had some things to tend to after I got home.  You know -- a quick nap, a really late lunch, an incredibly short walk (I think it was 106℉/41.1℃ ... I've stopped looking), then some fun with Dad and Dave!  I'll share some pix of that in a day or two!

Special thanks to everyone at the K-State Vet School for the great check up!

Play bows,
Zim

We're Late!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats!  It's me, Zim.  Sorry Davy and I are so late posting today - I had a very full morning and afternoon!  Us guys have a few things to take care of now ...

"So... there was this cool Beagle and a little Lhasa Apso  ... "

...then I'll fill everyone in tomorrow.  We'll do some blog catching up then, too!

Catch you on the flip side!

Play bows,
Zim