Why I love the UPS man

Kanga got a package this afternoon, and I officially love the UPS guy now. He left me not one but TWO treats with the package!

Getting the treats from Owl.

Soccer with Dr. Celery and Owl

I got Dr. Celery and Owl to play soccer with me the other day.

We had lotsa fun!

Another Kind of Rose

The Lent Roses are blooming, which is most appropriate for the time of year. We have three varieties of Lent Rose in the garden. Which is your favorite? I'm particularly partial to tri-color roses, Lent or not...

Oh yes, these are snowdrops not Lent Roses. They are blooming too and are very pretty!

 

 

 

 

 Love,
Rosie

A Tale of Two Beds

Something you loyal readers may not realize is that I have not one, but two beds. This is of course, somewhat unusual, and as you may imagine, there is a good story behind this circumstance.

This picture was totally posed for this post. I was running around barking after eating my dinner and Tigger got me to lie down on the bed with a treat.

This is my blue bed. It came into my life when I was just a wee little puppy who slept in a crate. Kanga picked it out for me because I needed a bed and the picture in the PetEdge catalog showed a Bernese Mt. Dog on the bed. I really like my blue bed. It is currently situated at the foot of the stairs, a most convenient location. From that spot I can guard the front door, keep track of who goes up and down the stairs and guilt trip  the humans when they walk by the top of the stairs and see me looking sad and abandoned at the bottom of the stairs. (I am banned, cruelly banned, from going upstairs.)

This is my brown bed, also known as the sofa. You can't really see it in this picture as it's located under a.) me and b.) my loon blanket. I got this bed when I was around 1 or so and it used to be blue. You see, Tigger made herself a bean bag chair and thought that it was quite nifty. So did I.  Conquerors write the history books, they always say and note who's writing this post. It ain't Tigger's blog now is it? To make a long story short, my sofa was only Tigger's bean bag chair for less than a week before I started using it so much that she agreed that it rightfully belonged to me. It remained a blue bed for about a year or so, and I used to have a grand time ripping out the stuffing about once a day or so. Some of the stuffing is packing peanuts. I thought that they always decorated the floor beautifully. The humans disagreed. They have no artistic taste, but don't tell them that... Anyway, at some point the humans got really tired of my interior decorating skills and my bed was starting to smell like me (a good thing in my opinion, but a bad thing in the humans' nostrils). So, Tigger made a thick brown cover for the bed and there was a grand emptying of the blue bed and washing of the original cover, before the stuffing was put back in the blue cover and the brown one put over that. So now I have a brown bed/sofa.

My sofa is also located in an excellent location. It's in the family room, so whenever a movie/TV gets watched I can lie in comfort on my bed. It's next to Roo's desk so I can supervise her school work and offer advice (the answer is always "Rosie deserves a treat."). Also in the morning I can hide out there until I'm ready to greet the day, which is often at a time slightly after the first human (usually Tigger) is ready to rise and shine.   Usually I start sleeping on the blue bed at the bottom of the stairs at night but I move to the brown one sometime in the middle of the night.

A Trip to the Park

Kanga's at work today, Roo and Owl are off robotting. Again. Hmmph! Leaving me with just Tigger to keep me entertained. This is very sad. I really like having ALL of my humans around, you know.

Anyway, the thing about Tigger is that she does know how to entertain me and have a good time with me. About 10:30 she said the magic words. "Rosie, do you want to go to the Post Office?" I'd been napping, but as soon as I heard that sentence I bounced up ready to go to the P.O.  Off we went, I feeling very, very excited to be going on a lovely outing. As Tigs got back into the car after getting the mail she said more magic words. "Hey Rosie, ready to go to the park?" It was almost too good to be true! I gave a little woof of assent but still couldn't believe my good fortune. The PO and park in one outing?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

As the Rosiemobile turned onto the road that the park is on, I got a little excited, but not as excited as I might. You see you have to go on the same road to get to the park as you do to go to the vet's... I'm always a little nervous though that we'll turn left and not right at a certain place and well, go to the vet. But, I wasn't too concerned as Tigger had said we were going to the park. Once we turned right into the park, I got REALLY excited and started woofing and woofing and woofing and didn't stop until I was out of the car. I love the park.

I had a great walk sniffing and watching and well, walking. It was lots of fun!  The only sad part was that there were 5 dogs in the Bark Park and I wanted to go play but Tigger wouldn't let me and so I had to flop and put my head between my paws and look very sad. Then Tigger pointed out that we could go see the pond if only I would stop being sulky pathetically heartbreakingly mounful, and I recovered my good spirits because I like the pond in the park. It's not as nice as my pond, but it's pretty nice. So, after going to the pond we walked back to the car and drove home.


WWFN!
Rosie

We forgot the camera, but this post wouldn't be complete without a picture of me somewhere in the post.

On my bed. With my loon blanket.

Skunk Cabbage on my woods walk

We have hardly had any beautiful snowy time so we do have some beautiful flowers in the woods.

Skunk Cabbage Flowers

They will turn to huge leaves later

Sniffing by the stream

Dipping my toes in the stream

WWFN,
Rosie the naturalist

Soccer time!

I realized that all of you faithful readers may not have had a chance to see me in action when I play soccer, and I wouldn't want you all to be deprived of that any longer. I'm a kind dog like that. So, here's how you play soccer with me.

1.  I take Tigger outside and we play for a little bit. Then I flop and look beautiful and get my picture taken.

The best soccer players always wear bows!

1 b. It's been a good game if you opponent's shirt looks like this.

Hehehehe. My paws are pretty effective at getting mud on Tigger.

2. Because Daddy is 570000000 times better at soccer (and stick!) than Tigger I ask him to take me out as soon as Tigs and I get back inside. It works! Woohooo!!!!!!

Heading out to play with Daddy! Yay OWL!

3. Have Daddy throw ball and then I chase it. I catch it with such finesse and grace. Then I run and Daddy chases me.

Hmmm. I was getting a wee bit distracted here by someone going by on the road.

4. Repeat step 3  3700.654 times. Minimum. Make sure that Tigs is getting some good action shots.

Now that's some action  there!

5. Switch to playing stick.

I love playing stick!

6. Come in happy but exhausted after creaming Daddy in yet another game of soccer and stick. (I love you Daddy!)


WWFN,
Rosie Paws!

Happiness is...

... walking my girl (and Kanga -she took the picture) on a loverly fall day.

Leaf time!

Here are some pictures of me raking leaves.  (Tigger's note: Umm, I was the one raking she just supervised. Just for the record.)

Isn't my tail cute sticking out of the leaves?

Then, when the hard work was done, I had to play soccer, naturally. After all, a great soccer star like me needs to keep her game in form. Leaf piles are, by the way, excellent places to flop with one's soccer ball.

And yes, my paws are really that cute in person...

One mustn't forget the importance of chewing on a good stick.

All in all, last Saturday's raking was lots of fun!

Waiting for Roo

Oh my darling, o my darling Roo-Roo Tine, you are across the street again oh my darlin' Roo-Roo Tine.

Roo. Please come home. NOW. 

 

 

 

What a look of longing. It should break your heart Roo Dear.

(Explanation: The Roo has a early morning sitting job across the street, and the Rosie is always upset about her being over there. Hence these pictures of her looking morose. )

Busyness

Well folks, sorry for not updating here this week. It's been a busy week in the life of the Rosie.

What have I done this week?In no particular order I've...

1.) ...barked at trick-or-treaters on Monday night. Why wouldn't Kanga let me go see them? I don't know, but I was annoyed. A.N.N.O.Y.E.D. So I barked and was mad that I was shut in the family room.


2.) ... rolled in something that I thought smelled wonderful, and the Kanga thought was not so wonderful. However, I have the superior nose *ahem!* so obviously I was right. She does have charming snow boots though.

3.)...eaten some tasty meals. Whatever it was that I snarfed down while playing stick with Tigger in the yard today was delish, absolutely delish!

4.)...taken some splendid naps on my bed. It's soft and comfy.

As you can see, it's been quite a busy week for me so far!

BAAWGB,
Rosie

Canine Health and Nutrition For Beginnners 101- Why the Food Pyramid is Wrong

Well, folks, it's that time again. Time for the most. strenuous. college. class. ever. Today we're talking about why the human food pyramid is wrong, wrong, WRONG.  I think you get the idea.

Anyway, in the first place, the food pyramid is specie-ist. It implies that you should eat more plants than animal products. This is ridiculous. In this country, we believe in equality, so isn't it BIASED of the government to insinuate that plant-based foods are better than animal-based foods. In fact, maybe there should be retroactive policies correcting this injustice.

This leads me to my second point.All food is good, and different people have different tastes. Who is the government to say that any one food is better than another. ALL FOODS ARE CREATED EQUAL, but some are more equal than others.

This photo is symbolic. I symbolize myself, and the bone symbloizes the Food Pyramid.
Basically, I'm showing what I think of the FP.

Next class, we'll revist health, and learn about brushing your dog's teeth.

WWFN,
Rosiekins

How to get Tigger to Do What You Want...

Well folks, it's still raining today. Since clearly the weather fails to listen to me, I thought that I should talk about someone who does listen to me and how I get her to do my bidding. You may find these tips helpful if you ever meet Tigger.

1. Bark. A lot. Make sure you use the appropriate bark for the situation. Tigger is quite good at discerning what my barks mean.

Me. Barking. In the snow. Last year.

2. Use your "Puppy Eyes." That sad, mournful look. It especially helps if you do The Eyebrow Maneuver and slowly raise and lower your eyebrows one at a time.

Doesn't that face just make you saaaaaad?

3. Roll over on your back and wave your legs in the air. Tigger recognizes the universal belly rub sign.

Rub that tummy please!

4. Sidle up to her and paw her. She gets that this means, "Hey!! HEY!!!!!! HEYYYYYY!!!!! YOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!!!!!" and will respond appropriately.

Ok, ok, ok, so this isn't quite the same as #4... but I liked the picture. :)

5. Huh. Maybe I shoulda mentioned this first. It's the most important part. You have to be me, Rosie, to get her to do what you want. You see, other dogs, she has an especially soft soft spot for me. Oooooppppssss. Guess I shoulda mentioned that little catch before.  Guess no one else can use these tips...

BAAWGB,
Rosie

Canine Health and Nutrition 101 for Beginnners- Getting to the Good Stuff!!!

Okay, so Roo says that Getting to the Good Stuff sounds more like a song from the oldies station than a college lecture, but she's only in Highschool, so what does SHE know (Roo says: Hey- watch it, BUB, I'm the one who's helping you write this thing.) (I love you too, Roo). 
ANyway, we're going to get to the best part of this course now. That's right- it's time to study Canine Nutrition.  I'm going to include descriptions, recipes, and pictures of my meals in these posts, but right now we're going to review the Canine food groups. Get out your notebooks and pencils, and start taking notes. NOW. 
*assumes professorial attitude*
We dogs have a food rectangle, instead of a food pyramid, because we like too many foods too much to rank them.  See Figure 1.

     The Canine Food Rectangle

Brea  Meat!!  Fruit Veggies

                           Bread!! Meat!! Fruit Veggies    

                         TREATS!!!!!!!

Figure 1. I'm sorry it's kind of a weird size and shape.

Now we will analyze the food groups.

Bread: Encompasses all bread products, oatmeal, and rice. Very yummy.

MEAT!!!! : Animal muscle. From dead animals. I love meat. Need I say more?

Fruit: Part of a plant- the seed covering. SOme are yummy, some not so much.

Veggies: The roots, leaves, or stalks of a plant. ALso used to describe some savory fruits like tomatoes and cucumbers. I like some of these.

TREATS: the most important food group. THe yummiest. It includes anything yummy my humans give me which is not part of a meal.  They can also consist of special foods that I don't get alot being part of my meal.

That's all for today, folks.  Study Hard!!!!

WWFN!

LOVE, ROSERDOO

Here I am chewing my bone. I just LOVE Christmas!!

Canine Health and Nutrition 101 For Beginners- FIRST QUIZ!!

Howdy there, folks!
I hope y'all've been studying hard, 'cuz it's time for that dread of all college students. THE POP TEST!!!!
Oh, come on, out from under the desks, chairs, and tables.  If you look me up on grademyprof.com, I get lots of good ratings for being an easy grader.
*************************************************************************************
INSTRUCTIONS: Leave a comment with your answers. Please be sure to sign your comment. For the multiple choice questions write something like 0) Z. 0, Z, 0z, or pretty much any other combination will work. :) GOOD LUCK!!!!!

1) Which of the following is true about exercise?
      A. It will make your dog thin
      B. It will supress your dog's appetite
      C. It will make your pooch pudgy
      D. None of the above
      E. All of the above (including D)
2)  Explain the importance of not giving your dog too much exercise. Please limit your answer to 10- 10x10 to the 10th words.  Answers over the limit will have a deduction of 10 pts. per word.
3) True or False: It is important to your dog's mental health that you be the one in charge.
4) Explain in a 1-9999 volume (320 pages to the volume, 150 words to the page) why bathing is harmful to dogs. ALTERNATELY, choose which of the following options on the same topic is false.
    A. It will make all her fur fall out
    B. It will rid her of her lovely natural scent
    C. It will mentally scar her for life. FOR LIFE, I TELL YOU!!!!
    D. None of the above.
    E. ALL OF THE ABOVE
5) Explain the importance of treats in the life of dogs.

EXTRA CREDIT:
Is normal Canine arterial refill time
A) 0-2 seconds
B)1-2 seconds
C) 3-5 seconds
D) 1-2 minutes
E) This is a trick question. There is no such thing as arterial refill time.

How many treats should I get every day?

ANSWERS WILL BE POSTED IN A DAY OR TWO. STUDENTS WHO POST THEIR ANSWERS AFTER THE ANSWERS ARE POSTED WILL GET NO CREDIT. :):):):)

I like to help Roo study!!


Love, ROSERDOO!!                                                                                                                                                  






 

Canine Health and Nutrition 101 for Beginners- Class 3

Welcome back to Canine Health and Nutrition 101 for Beginners.  Today we're going to discuss one of the biggest evils known to dogkind. That's right. THE BATH.  Just thinking about it makes me hide in my brave cave (Roo's note: AKA, under the coffee table). Now, you may not realize this, but this is one of the most popular and worst misconceptions that humans have about dogs.
Misconception: My dog smells AWFUL.  It must have to do with that stuff she rolled in yesterday.  I don't know what it was. I guess I'll have to give her a bath to get all tha dirt out of her fur.

Reality: Even human research admits it: Dogs have a keener sense of smell than humans. I think that that stuff smelled wonderful, and anyway, I wasn't rolling, I was getting a DIY backrub.  It's like a spa- a sweet scent, plus a backrub. Aaaaaaaaah, bliss. But I digress. As I was saying, the stuff I rolled in used for my massage smelled rreeeaaally good to me. And I'm the one around here with the better sense of smell. Ergo, I smell lovely.
Also, that's not dirt in my fur. It's a combination of little bits of food in case I get hungry, and powdered sticks. All you have to do is just add water, and you get instant playtime.  At least, that's what Cousin  Lily told me, but I haven't noticed it yet. But since Cousin Lily would never lie to me, I guess I just haven't figured out the perfect amount of water yet.
Finally, Bathing washes away my fur, which means that I lose some of my crowning glory everytime my humans bathe me.  If they give me too many more baths I'll be as bald as a mangy Mexican Hairless Dog's tail. EWWWW!!!!!

 I'm working on a test for next week, so study hard, and review those notes.  If you have any problems, contact Tigger.  She's the SIL tutor for this class.

I will look at you like this if you a) have food I want and you aren't sharing, b) attempt to bath me, or c) fail the test next week. :)

Love to all,
Roserdoo

Canine Health and Nutrition 101 For Beginners

Tigger started back to college on Monday, and I thought that I would take inspiration and teach a college class my self.  Therefore, I, one of the world's leading authorities in Canine Nutrition, have undertaken to debunk some of the most popular myths concerning this interesting vital field of paramount importance.

The first myth I will explain deals with making sure your dog doesn't become over weight.
Myth #1) Dogs need lots of exercise.  The reasoning goes- if dogs don't get enough exercise, they won't burn a lot of energy  and (according to my family) dogs who don't burn enough energy can't have  a lot of treats or they will become pudgy.
 Reality) No one else in my family has a P.H.D. (Pretty Hungry Dog) degree in Canine Nutrition from Misz Nabby's Skule of Helth Syence. If they did, they would know the truth.  As I learned in Logic in Exercise and Nutrition Studies and Research 101, their reasoning is faulty reasoning. You see, actually, if I exercise too much, I'll burn Kilocalories (Tigger, did your heart just swell with pride at my scientific accuracy, or what?!), and burning Kilocalories makes me hungry, which makes me eat, which will make me pudgy.

That's all for today's lecture, folks! Stay tuned for our next class, and study hard.  You never know when I'll give a pop quiz or a test!:o
Love & Schloops, Prof. Rosie


Roo's note: Nabby is Tigger's bear.  She has a sparkling, lively, and somewhat eccentric personality.  A self proclaimed genius of the first rank, she may write some guest posts for My Life as a Rose.

                                                                      NABBY!!!!

Nabby and me at my PHD graduation from her Skule of Helth Syences

Warning: These opinions are solely those of Professor Rosie Zidane (last name) and do not embody the advice of any licensed vet I've ever met, or whose dog care advice I've read (and I've read a fair amount).  Please be advised that your family vet should be your main resource for dog care advice. We are most definitely not responsible if anything bad happens to your precious pooch as a result of following Rosie's advice. :)