Snooter Hanging, Day Two

Hello to all! Ao4's mom here, ready to give this snooter hanging tutorial another go. Yesterday could have gone better, but today is a new day. Now where was I? Oh, right. I had just decided to change Step One of the great snooter hanging maneuver to include camera, bribes, and gorgeous model who is NOT teaching her own on-line "cooperating" for photos classes!

Let's get a model who is equally gorgeous, but who is ... a bit more willing to consider requests from a mere biped. So to speak.

Ammy!

As I was saying yesterday, show your model the treat, tell her, "Wait!", and bring the object you want to hang on her snooter close. As you slip the object over her snooter, hold the treat up, so the object won't slip off. Then... "Ammy! Ammy?!?"

"Ammy! Look over here, please! Cookie!" Hmm. "Cookie, Am!!!" No, I think I need to further amend this.

Mrrrrph!

I'm changing Step One to include camera, bribes, and gorgeous model who isn't teaching her own on-line classes about NOT cooperating for photos OR who is such a good student in those classes! Please join us tomorrow for another attempt.

Thanks for reading!

Mom of the Ao4 (Stormy? You're still laughing, aren't you? Ammy? Are you giggling? Come on, girls, cut me some slack!)

Snooter Hanging, Day One

Greetings, everyone! It's me - Mom of the Ao4. I feel really honored that Stormy turned the blog over to me for the next four days. Thank you, Storms; I'll try my best to do you proud!

Many of my fellow owned-by-Siberians friends have asked how in the world I'm able to get the guys to do the "snooter hanging" as seen at this link. It's really pretty simple, though there are important steps to follow! Let's get started!

Obviously, the first step is to grab your camera. Digital - because you're going to have to do a lot of snapping to get "the" picture. Next, grab some irresistible treats (I recommend Happy Hearts Dog Cookies, made by the mom of Maya Marie, Missy and Bella!) and a gorgeous model.

Step one: camera, bribes, gorgeous model (Stormy!)

Show your model the treat, tell her, "Wait!", and bring the object you want to hang on her snooter close. (In this case, I'm using my newest Hold the Phone! Bag.) As you slip the object over her snooter, hold the treat up, so the object won't slip off. Lightly hold the snooter, too, as your model might not be thrilled with what you're doing.

OK, there's a real good chance she won't be thrilled with what you're doing. Umm...

OK. We need to back up. I'm going to have to change Step One to include camera, bribes, and gorgeous model who isn't teaching her own on-line classes about NOT cooperating for photos! Please join us tomorrow for another attempt.

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow will go better, I'm sure of it!

Mom of the Ao4 (Stormy? Please stop laughing at me! Please?!?!)

Turning Things Over

Woo. It's me - Dave. Zim was so focused on thinking of who to give the Cool Cat Award to yesterday that he forgot to tell you something. This may sound scary, but we're going to turn the blog over to Mom for the next four days. Khyra lends her mom her blog for Musikh Mondays (or as Ammy calls it, Musikh Mom-days... woo!) and nothing bad has happened. Based on that, we think this will be OK. Stormy and I will be right next to her, monitoring her, so there's nothing to worry about.

Oh... why are we turning it over to her? Well, a lot of the other pup-moms have asked her how she's able to get us to do the snooter balancing thing. It's an art form, and takes some practice, but Mom is going to show you "just how easy" it is to get us to do it. Stormy is "ha roo roo roo-ing" already. I don't know why.

See you in a few days!

Luv,

Dave

The Cool Cat Award!

Ha roo, pups! It's me, Zim! My best kit-cat pal (BKP ... or is that PKCP?) Huffle Mawson presented me with an award! It's called the Cool Cat Award, which is soooo fitting, 'cuz she IS a cool cat! In fact, she's the coolest!

Here it is:

She said the award is for pups and kitties who are very cool and do awesome and fun things on their blogs. THANKS, Huffle!

Huffs said I could give it to 5 other bloggers. I gave a lot of thought to who I'd like to pass the award to. Here I am, working on my selections:

Hmmm... who to choose...

Wilbur and I must think a lot alike, because he is presenting it to a lot of the bloggers who came to mind. After much deliberation, I decided to give the Cool Cat Award to the following bloggers:

Eva & Brice. I just met them and thought they were MIGHTY cool. Eva's real light on her feety-feet like a kit-cat AND she's in the Cat Pack. It seemed like a good fit! (Also, Amber helped me choose, and she pointed out how handsome Brice is. I have no idea what that has to do with the award, but hey. Whatever.)

The OP Pack. Dakota, Phantom and Thunder are very new to blogging, but I've corresponded with them for a long time. They're very cool. Thunder and Phantom even play the piano. You usually only see cats do that!

We're very new to reading Beau's Sunday Sermons, but I really think what he does is awesome - so Beau, I'm giving this to you, too!

My fourth choice is our buddies over at the Daily Echo. They are always doing cool stuff, and Meeka just displayed a very cool-cat approach to having his dad mess with his feety-feet.

Last, but certainly not least, I'd also like to share the award with Frankie, the bee-woo-tiful white Siberian. She's very graceful, agile, and she hangs out with a Lab just like I do. (Ha roo roo roo!) Seriously, though - she's into hunting bugs and lizards and ... um... cats -- but I'm sure she's just joking or means the evil ones like Huffle's brother Salvador!

Congratulations to everypup and kitty! And many, many thanks to my BKP/BKCP Huffle!

That Huffle... she's just so COOL!

Play bows,
Zim

Sunday Salute - Sitka, Tia, and Cornelia Marie!

This week, our Sunday Salute goes out to our very dear friends Sitka and Tia - and their new sister Cornelia Marie!


Cornelia Marie just joined the family yesterday! Isn't that exciting!?! Sitka blogged to you about her last night from Memphis. We are so happy for the whole family and wish them every happiness!

Congratulations to Sitka and Tia on their new sister, congrats to their mom and dad on their new little bundle of joy, and congratulations to Cornelia Marie as she starts her new life at home! We salute you ALL!

The Army of Four

Sitka's Big Day is Here!

Ha roo, pups and cool cats. It's me - Zim. My girlfriend, the bee-roo-tiful Sitka, has a very exciting day today! That's right... her "ship is coming in", so to speak. She'll be text-messaging her BFF Khyra and me along the way. They have quite the drive ahead of them, but when she isn't taking her turn at the wheel or engrossed in navigating, she'll check in with us.

I'm going to keep a close eye out for her messages.

Or at least a snooter out for them. Ha roo roo roo!

SAFE TRAVELS to all of my friends who are on the road this weekend!!!

Play bows,
Zim

Stormy and Dave's Photo Shoot

Ha roo, tail wags and meee-ow pups and kit-cats! It's me - Stormy. For reasons known only to us, Dave and I have been chumming around lately. You know, hanging out, napping, that kind of stuff. Together. More than usual. Mom is fascinated with this new trend and decided to take advantage of this by taking some pictures of us posing together. Posing? Ha roo, I think not.

Here's how the session went. Think of this as Cooperating for Photos 2, your next on-line class at the Stormy Zoluschka Kryschtal School of Siberian Studies.

For Photo 1, Mom told us to get next to each other and sit. I did the "next to each other" thing, but I wasn't going to sit. Neither of us would look at her.

Photo 1

She asked and asked and asked me to sit, so I decided I would. Only because I was getting tired. I moved away from Dave, of course. And still, we refused to look at the camera.

Photo 2

Dave wanted to look at Mom SO badly! He hadn't seen her in like 2 minutes and even though she was talking the whole time ("Sit, pups! Please!?! Stormy! Davy! Look at me! Sit!" and other nonsense), he didn't look at her and it was just eating him up. In Photo 3, I was telling him to resist the urge.

Photo 3
Don't do it, Dave. Don't give in!

See how sad he looks? It was hard for him, so I came up with an idea. I told him we should do an Eyes Left, and while diverting his gaze from one side to the other, he'd be able to see Mom in his peripheral vision.

Photo 4

That worked pretty well. In fact, well enough that Mom gave up. Sibes 1, Mom 0. Ha roo roo roo!

Tail wags,
Storms

My New Toy

Hi everypuppy, it's me - Amber! I hope everypuppy is having a happy summer.

Look! I have something to show you!

It's one of my new toys. My very handsome friend Brice gave it to me. Oh, sure ... Mom says Brice and Eva's mom and dad brought it (along with some other things!) for all of us to share. But I'm sure Brice would like me to have it. Sigh. Brice.

Have I mentioned how much I like him and how handsome he is lately? Sigh.

It makes me smile just thinking about having met him!

Thank roo for the VERY fun toy, Brice. (And Eva... and your mom and dad!) It's a VERY fun toy and I think of you every time I get to play with it and it makes me VERY happy!

Love,
Ammy

We're Siberians... and We're Here to Help!

Ha roo, everypup and kit! It's me - Zim! It's been really hot out, so like I said the other day, once we get our exercise in, we just sort of chill out all day. We ARE a Working Breed, though, so if there's a job to be done, you can count on us to help!

Yesterday, Dave and I were hanging out, looking for something to get into. I mean "looking for something to do". Yeah. That's what I meant. We were looking for something to do. Anyroo, Am was sitting by the door to the bedroom. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was watching Mom make the bed. WHAT?!?! Without ME?!!? That's one of my specialties! I had to go help!

Sometimes, she puts this gate across the doorway. Something about "being in a hurry" and "not wanting to turn a 3 minute job into a 20 minute one". I think that means she doesn't want me to work too hard. Fear not, Mom! Dave's going to help, too!

I called Dave over and we got right to it! We helped fluff everything for about 15 minutes, then let Mom pull the quilt up.

Looks a little crooked, Mom. Does it look crooked to you, Dave?

She squared it away - with our help, of course. Dave and I had to rest afterwards.

Dave and me - and a job well-done!

Remember, we're highly-trained members of the working breed class, so don't just jump in and try this yourselves without careful study and preparation. Bed-making can be quite the exhausting task, you know!

Play bows,
Zim

What's Missing?

Woo, everypup and Huffle. Umm... and Tia and Wilbur. Oh, and Girl Girl. And ... well, ALL of you! It's me - Dave.

Can anyone tell me what's missing from this picture?

That's right. Mom's foot. She isn't spending nearly enough time with me lately. I've had to resort to using her empty Crocs for a pillow. Woo.

Luv,
Dave

More About Denali and Ruby

Hey. What's everypup and kitty up to?

Oh, yeah. Sorry. It's me. Zim.

It's going to be another scorcher out there today, so Dad exercised us early and now we're basically ... well, you know. Doing one of the things we do best.

Anyroo, I read all of the comments on our cool Salute to Denali yesterday. Our pal Amici said that he didn't see a link to a blog and asked us how we met! We sort of "met" (though not in Siberian) through Mom's bag blog. Denali's mom left a message on that and Mom wanted to contact her but didn't know how! She asked her SiberMal pals if anyone knew her - and lo and behold, Meeshka's human woman does and put them in touch! Isn't that cool? Denali's mom and Meeshka's human woman met through their rescue activities and volunteer work for Karen Ramstead's racing team!

Unfortunately, Denali and Ruby don't have a blog of their own, though we are willing to post stuff for them any time! Their mom works on the computer for her job, so would rather get away from "the box" in her time off! Or as she said, "the dogs would rather go somewhere and do dog stuff, like wading in the creek or chasing geese into the lake!" Sounds good to us! Ha rooo!

I better get back to guarding the high ground. Stay cool, everypup!

Play bows,
Zim

Sunday Salute: Denali!

Our Sunday Salute goes out to our friend Denali of Pennsylvania! The Salute also ties in nicely with many of the comments Dave received on his post yesterday. Many of our readers agreed with Dave that the bipeds who make Yoplait yogurt really need to use a more snooter-friendly cup. How are we supposed to be able to lick out every last bit of that yummy treat? Denali to the rescue!

We received a great email from Denali shortly after Dave put his post up. He told us, in part, "Use your paws to hold the Yoplait! ...Dewclaws do help, of course....." And he sent us this great picture!

Denali - showing us how it's done!

Isn't that great!?!? Denali said, "Mom sent a copy of the picture to Yoplait back in 2003, so it is pinned up on a bulletin board somewhere at Yoplait HQ! Apparently they have lots of pix of people and 'others' enjoying their product. At the time, they would not accept digital pictures, so Mom made a print and mailed it. She got a nice thank you letter. (I was hoping for some free yogurt...)" Well, yeah. That's the least they could have done! We hope your mom gave you more yogurt!

Denali knows we believe in Safety First! here at Ao4 HQs, so he wanted us to remind our readers that pups should be supervised when given what he called "non-Kong treat containers". We totally agree! Denali and his pack-mate Rubina don't chew up non-edibles, but they're supervised anyway, just to be sure!

Denali has taught Rubina - or Ruby - a lot of things, but she doesn't hold her own cup. She gets frustrated and leaves it for Denali. Woo. That's a bonus! Denali said Ruby's M.O. is to scream until someone helps her with whatever she needs; he relies on his many physical talents.

Denali is a rescued Siberian who lives in Pennsylvania and works as a certified pet therapy dog at a big pediatric hospital! He regularly visits sick kids to cheer them up and comfort them. His mom and dad are very proud of him for doing this, as you can imagine -- he truly earns his treats! He has a very impressive group of "letters" after his name: CGC, TDIAOV. (TDIAOV is Therapy Dogs International Active Outstanding Volunteer - Denali has made over 150 therapy visits over the course of 6 years!)

Denali has some other rather special "skills" his mom didn't think we should mention. We, however, thought they were outstanding. Those skills include, but are not limited to:

• A. escape tendencies when left alone or confined
• B. agility training - seen as a way to improve his natural climbing, running and problem-solving skills and applying them to point A.
• C. being among the fastest dogs at the dog parks, even at age 10.

His mom told our mom, "I must say, though, that his training and the commands he learned do help with the pet therapy work since he has to maneuver around a lot in the hospital. Before he started getting arthritis, he would leap onto kids' beds (with their permission and Mom's command). The kids would be grinning because they had a husky on their hospital bed--how cool is that???" We don't think it could get any better than that! Ha rooo!

His mom also said that Denali had lots things to learn when he came to his forever home and brought a lot of emotional baggage from being a stray --but how to snuggle was not one of them! (We're Siberians... it's what we do.) She also said, "And he takes treats very gently--I absolutely trust him to not grab at the teeniest child's hand or IV tubes or whatever. But I do not trust him to do a recall if he ever gets loose in the hospital!!" Oooh. Yeah. That whole "recall" thing ... also part of being a Sibe. Nothing personal. Ha roo roo roo!

Denali told us he was happy to share the yogurt-licking tip. We were so anxious to share it with our readers and really appreciate Denali sharing his MANY talents!

A look at Denali's tongue - an important part of the eating Yoplait technique

Thanks again, Denali! And for all you do, from sharing yogurt-eating tips to your important therapy work - we salute you!

The Army of Four

Coffee Quilt!

Woo, everypup! ...and catcats, too. It's me, Dave - Guide Dog for the Color Blind. I was reading my good friends Guinness and Shiloh's blog the other day - they're over at the Stoutino Inn and Foster Kennel. Their mom is helping teach a quilting class to the kids at their mom's library! Isn't that cool? She posted a picture of her first effort on Guinness and Shiloh's blog - and woo, does it look great! She said she wished she had me help her pick out colors, but I really like what she came up with. It reminds me of WATERMELON, one of my most favorite things!

She also mentioned she has started buying coffee-themed fabs! Woo, Mom collects those, too! I thought she was going to make something for Zimmie, since he likes coffee so much, but apparently one of our non-fur cousins does, too. Mom made this quilt for her; I helped pick which fabs to use, of course. Here it is:

It's a pinwheel type of quilt. Here's a closer look:

That non-fur cousin really likes color, lots of color, so I had Mom use the really zippy ones! (Mom also made a coffee-themed bag for her; you can see the Becca Bag at this link. It's not colorful, but it's coffee-themed.)

Anyroo, that's our coffee-themed quilt, Guinness and Shiloh's Mom! I hope it will inspire you!

I also just helped Mom make some new coffee-themed topper curtains for the kitchen. Zim likes them a lot; maybe his best kit-cat pal Huffle Mawson will, too!

Hmm... then there are the funky coffee-themed placemats Mom and I made ...

I'm thinking Zim isn't the only coffee lover around here! Woo! I've helped Mom with lots of coffee projects!

In case you're wondering ... Yes, it is tough work being Mom's Guide Dog for the Color Blind, but the pay is good.

Mmm... lemon cream pie!

Note to the Yoplait bipeds: Could you please come up with a more snooter-friendly cup? Thank woo.

I better get a nap in; I hear Mom and I are going to be starting a new project today. Woo.

Luv,
Dave, GDFTCB

Independence Day 2008!

Happy Independence Day!

Each Fourth of July, we celebrate the birth of the United States as a free and independent nation.

Please take time today to remember those who fought to secure our independence and those who keep us free today.

Freedom isn't free!

The Army of Four

Summertime

Hey everypup and kit-cat. It's me, Zim. It's summertime.

Need I say more?

Play bows,
Zim

Our Visitor!

Woo. It's me again - Dave. Remember I told you I was expecting a very important visitor yesterday? Everypuppy was right - it was Holly! Here we are:

HOLLY!?!? Is that WOO?

I couldn't believe it! I had a LOT to tell her, and filled her in on everything. It didn't take long before she did this:

We agreed that Khyra would have something to woo about that! Check out her bee-woo-tiful face in this shot:

Then she told my mom she was ready for her close-up:

Ha wooooooooooooo!

Zim met Holly next.

Hey, Holly. Wanna know a secret?

I'm not sure what he told her; I guess it's still a secret! Here they are, enjoying the shade together.

Zim and Holly

Ammy was next up. She wanted Holly to feel at home, so she pinned her ears way back for her...

Holly, look! I have Malamute ears!

...and did the Malamute look. Then she started giggling, of course! Holly's laughing, too.

Hee hee hee!

(Mom didn't get Holly's mom's permission to post that photo, so she fuzzed her face out. She doesn't really look like that! Woo.)

Stormy batted clean up, so to speak (Joe Stains will like the baseball reference!) and came out last. Here they are!

Storm and Holly

I think Storm was asking Holly if she felt like cooperating for a photo, because this one is next on the camera:

Hollybollyboo and Stormy

They look pretty, don't they? Speaking of pretty, Holly took a tour of our gardens. Here she is, looking pretty up in Mom's favorite area:

I chose the brick paver color, in case anypup was wondering.

It was in the 90s out there, so after our meet and greet and the garden stroll, Holly came in and got cool in the Library.

She liked laying on the tile floor; it's super cool! Every time Mom tried to get a picture of her laying down, she got up, though. Ha woo. Way to go, Holly!

Thank woo, Hollybollyboo, for coming down to see me. I mean "us". And thank woo to your parents, too - and for the yummy treats you brought! I can't believe I finally got to meet you! Ha wooooooooooooo!

Luv,

Dave

Big News!

Woo, pups. It's me, Dave. And it's the day I've been waiting for for years! I couldn't believe it when Mom told me the news.

Really, Mom? This is too good to be true!

Guess who's coming to see me today!?!? You'll never believe it! It's too good to be true! I'll tell you all about it later. I can't focus. Do my ears look straight? Is my collar on OK? How's my breath? Woo.

Luv,
Dave

Hanging Out

Woo, everypuppy, it's me - Dave. What an exciting week and weekend we had - now it's time to regroup a bit! We took Mom and Dad on early morning walks today, then decided to go hang out on the deck for a while since it was relatively cool out.

Amber was giggling and telling jokes to Storms.

Hey, Stormy! Where does Oswald eat breakfast?

I think Stormy rolled her eyes... but she couldn't resist.

I don't know, Ammy. Where DOES Oswald eat breakfast?

Am responded with, "At the I-HOP."

Ha roo roo roo! Hey, Dad, did you hear that one?!? "At the IHOP." Ha roo roo roo!

Too bad Dad and Mom couldn't understand what the girls were saying; that's a pretty good one! I would have laughed, but Zim and I were otherwise engaged.

Don't we look scary? Woo. Here's a good one, below, of Zim trying his best to look fierce:

Pretty good. You might think he was a wild coyote about to jump some prey or something. What he was really doing was saying, "Hey, Dave, time out. Could I get past you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure, but hurry back!"

He needed a break. And saw the "prey" that most interests him.

Mmmm..... Starbuck's... Mmmm...

Yeah. The kid needed a coffee break...

Oh, yeah. Thanks, Dad!

...then we got right back into the game!

Woo! I love having a kid brother. Especially one who's always Zimstigating something!

Stay cool, everypup.

Luv,
Dave