Pippin’s Peek at the Past #4 … My Name

For today’s “Peek at the Past” I want to take you back to our post on some of the critters we’ve found around here. This same post is when I got my name changed from Neelix to Pippin!

Here are the questions for this week’s “Peek at the Past”:

1. What did the pups find in the back yard? _________

2. What was BG’s little ex-mistress doing in the picture? ________

3. What did they find in the tackroom when they went to feed the horses? ____________

For new readers/players, here are the rules: There will be 5 sessions, (this is the 4th one) and the winners who answer all questions in each puzzle correctly, will each get a Badge to display for the weekly wins. At the end of the 5 sessions, all of the winner’s names will be put into a Corgi Toss and the Grand Prize Winner will be chosen. (It was possible to have 5 entries if you'd gotten each week's questions correct.)

The Grand Prize Winner will get their choice of one of two prizes…

1. A “Little Dott Finds A Home” book  OR

2. A $15 Gift Certificate to our Country Corgi CafePress Shop We’ve added a LOT of new designs – here are a few…  Also, if you have a picture of your dog, and would like a design made, let me know, and I will work with you on it. 

   

AND

A $10 donation in your name to the Unity Thrift and Outreach Dog Rescue that Grammy’s Sister works with. They take 50+ dogs and puppies to no-kill shelters on the coast in various cities every month (over 1,000 dogs saved already) and have helped pay for over 400 spays/neuters this past year!

The following link is to a Newspaper Article about Linda Hodges (Trixie) and Unity Thrift and Outreach if you’d like to know more.  (Auntie Naunie is just to Mrs. Hodges right, in the purplish blue top.)

Remember, too, that I put on comment moderation during the game so that everyone has an equal chance of coming up with the answers. I will moderate and show the comments after Midnight on Friday, so you have until then to get in your guesses for this week’s contest! Good Luck, Everyone!

7 Week Old Pics…

On Tuesday, my babies were 7 weeks old. They are getting so BIG! Gimli and Grace both weigh 9 lbs. each, so, together, they weigh the same as I do!!! Mercy weighs 7 pounds and Neelix weighs 6 and a half pounds now.



Grammy thinks that Gimli looks a LOT like OC did at the same age… What do you think?

Mercy, as you probably saw in her “Escape!” video is a stubborn little thing. She feels that since her GrandPaw told her that she is going to stay here, then she should be allowed to be free of the box and stay with the rest of us. She gets into EVERYTHING, and has already had some bad experiences from letting her curiosity get the best of her. I’ll let her tell you about those later as I’m having her look up some info on some of the things she learned the hard way.

Neelix’s ears, as you can see, are almost all the way up. Papa is getting quite attached to him, and vice-versa, much to brother BG’s disgust. He might end up staying, too.

Gracie MAY have a home… Grammy’s sister has a friend that recently lost her corgi that she’d had for 15+ years. She may be interested in taking Gracie, but we aren’t sure yet. She wants a female, but really likes the tri-colored corgis. She says her old corgi looked a lot like Mama OC.

Grammy says the lady is really nice, but she made me really nervous and I kept trying to herd her out of Mimi’s yard until Dad picked me up. She’s only seen Gracie and Nee-Nee because those are the only two that went into town with us last weekend. Grammy’s going to take all four of the babies in this next week. She has been having a big problem choosing between Gimli and Gracie, herself, and she’s been praying a lot and figures that maybe the lady will make the choice for her.

I don’t see why ANY of them have to leave. They are totally weaned now… or at least I don’t have anything for them anymore, anyway, and we are having a lot of fun playing tag and frapping in the back yard now that they are big enough to go out during the day. Even BG tolerates them coming close to him sometimes, now.

Well, I need to get this posted so you can see their 7 week pics. They’ve also had their shots and that’s why the two were able to go into town last weekend.

Mama Letted Us Pway Wiff Gweat Anty Sadie!

Grammy has told us dat Mama used to play all the time wif Gweat Anty Sadie, but she hasn't wanted us to play wif her cause she might "hurt" us.

Grammy reminded Mama about how gentle Anty was wif her when she was little, and finally talked Mama into lettin' us pway wif her, and she is SOOO MUCH FUN!!! Mama DID come out and tell Anty dat she betta be vewy cawfoo wif us, even doe we aw protected by some gwate insurance from pet insurance comparison sites.

Tank yoo so much, Mama!!! Mercy


Grammy and I are wiped after the past couple of days, so, tonight, I let Mercy write about their play time with Auntie Sadie. After our people being sick all week, Grammy got a call that there was a family crisis for one of her sons and so she went and got three of his kids... well, her grandkids... which are 2, 3 & 5. They were all sick with coughs and runny noses, too, and the baby cried off and on all night.


I was a NERVOUS WRECK, and Grammy didn't get much sleep either. The two littlest went home today instead of having to stay for the week to a month they originally thought was going to happen, so tonight we should get some sleep! Blaze, the 5 year old, is just staying for the weekend, then she has to go back to school.


Grammy was VERY proud of my brother, BG, because he loved up on the kids (the oldest was his first Mistress) and made the crying baby laugh. Then he laid beside him and let him pet on him until the little guy finally went to sleep the first time.

Apologies and 6 Week Old Pics

We just want to apologize for skipping a couple of days of our blog. Grammy, Robert AND Papa have all been hot and barking around here for several days now. Grammy even had to go to the doctor, and it sounded like she thinks we aren’t doing out job around here because she said something about feeling like someone had beaten her with a 2x4! She must REALLY be sick if she thinks we would allow anyone in here to hurt her! Wonder if she is having hallucinations?


I PROMISE… we DID NOT allow ANYONE in here! Good grief, we’ve all been laying around her or Papa so close they’ve about tripped over us whenever they’ve had to move!
I don't know why she'd say something like that! I also don’t think it is helping that we are having a huge dust storm outside today.

Well, on to the weekly pics…

The puppies are growing so FAST! They can also run pretty fast now, and can almost keep up with me. Their little ears are sticking out from their heads now instead of hanging straight down and Neelix even has one ear that is almost up except for the tip. Mercy’s ears are up if she has her head tipped up even a little bit. Grammy thinks those two will finish getting their ears up this week.

Gimli weighs 7 pounds now, and Grammy thinks he is getting really handsome. He and Mercy are VERY good about getting out to the back door and whining to go out. Grammy put down some Puppy pads in case she doesn’t see them and open the door on time. She still has pads down around their box, too, because Neelix and sometimes Grace will use those if they are there.

Mercy’s growth is starting to slow down a bit. She’s just touching the 6 pound mark. She’s a smart little rascal, and reminds Robert and Grammy of Mama OC when she was little. She also tends to go exploring a lot further out than anyone other than Neelix, and they have to chase her down at night when they are outside so that she doesn’t get to far away and become a tempting morsel for the owl.

Neelix is still much smaller, weighing in at only 5 pounds. As I mentioned before, one of his ears is almost standing up now. His ears are more pointy and smaller than the other pups… a lot like his great-grandma, Mist. He still has his “small man” complex, and is super feisty.

Gracie fell behind Gimli in the growth chart this week and weighs in at 6 and a half pounds now. She is lightening up more in her coloration and getting redder.

Here is a picture of me with Gracie to show how big she is… almost half my size, if not half my weight. Well, Grammy is starting to bark again, so I better get off. She’s sleeping a lot more while she is sick. Hope we can get on again soon, but no promises for this week. Oh, and we will be getting behind in reading all of our friend’s blogs, too, probably, but we are keeping you all in our thoughts and wishing you all well!

Whoa… It’s a BIG world out there!

Hi all my friends out there! Today, we are going to post some of the vids we took on the pups’ first outing into the backyard. They are going out several times a day now, but this was first time most of them had been out. Mercy had been out one time a couple of days earlier for a few minutes, but this was her first time out with her siblings and everyone else.

Robert took them all out in the big laundry basket and put them on the ground in one side of the back yard. I had gone with him, but as soon as the little ones saw me, they made a bee-line for me. As I mentioned, I am in the process of weaning them and didn’t want anyone to latch on, so I RAN! After a bit, though, they decided that maybe they would look around. They feel safe by their GrandPaw, so tried to stay in his shadow at first.

Gimli came back to GrandPaw Robert after following me, but Wild Child Neelix decided that he was going to go exploring on his own…

OC came out to see how things were going with her Grandpups, and to keep an eye on Grammy.

The babies would go exploring for short distances, and then come back to their “safe places” by their GrandPaw or near Grammy, and check to see if what they were doing was ok.

After a while, most of the babies started exploring a bit on their own, but Gimli likes to stay near his Grammy and follow her around.

After Grammy got a chair to sit down on, Gimi (Grammy often calls him that now) saw me and came over to double check whether or not he could nurse a bit, but I told him “No!” and ran over to have Grammy pick me up and keep me safe.

THAT didn’t work out so well, because it gave the little “Land Piranhas” a chance to locate me and gather in force for when I was put down! They all tried to attach themselves to me, and I told them all “NO!” but Grammy also said that word, and THAT made me nervous because that usually means someone is in trouble. I went to her and tried to explain that I have to tell them that, and she apologized for saying the “N” word.

When I was over there, they noticed that Mama OC had spigots, too and headed for her. She told them in no uncertain terms, “Don’t even THINK it!” I wasn’t to happy at the language that Mama OC was using, and had a word with her about it.

They didn’t want to give me a moment of peace, so finally I decided to use the table ramp to get out of reach. I don’t know if it is to good of an idea, now that I think about it, that Robert made ramps for them to learn about because Mercy followed me up the ramp, but she didn’t get up that last step and onto the table before I decided I didn’t want her up there and made my escape.

I was gone by the time Mercy got back down the ramp, so she tried to follow Sadie, but Auntie was a bit to fast for her.

After a while, they started to get used to the openness of the yard, and went back and forth between all of us except their Uncle BG, who stayed away from them.

After about a half hour or so, Mercy came over and wanted Grammy to pick her up. She was tired and wanted to go in. She can be a real “kiss-up” when she wants something!

Grammy wasn’t totally convinced until Gimli came over and begged to be picked up, too. He did the wiggle, kiss-up thing, too, and finally convinced Grammy to go inside. I think he’s about got Grammy wrapped around his little dew-claw!

Hope you enjoyed joining us on my babies’ first outing. They are getting pretty good about it now, and both Mercy and Gimli will go to the back door and cry for someone to take them outside now about 85% of the time when they have to go potty, but like all little ones, they can’t hold it for very long once they’ve got to go, so they still have accidents by the back door sometimes. THAT always makes ME nervous because I KNOW going in the house is a BAD thing. I usually go and hide until Grammy tells me it’s ok! Now that they are eating dog food, I just can’t stomach cleaning up after them anymore.

Five Weeks Old!

This weekend, Little Bear came to visit and I even sat in the chair with him and played patty-cake with him. I think he enjoyed playing with the puppies some, but he learned quickly to sit in the chair and only play with one at a time, because of their sharp little teeth!

They really ARE little “Land Piranhas.” I love my babies, but they are eating me alive. I rarely get into the bed with them, and I’ve learned to always be on guard. Just LOOK at the shredded edges of my poor ears!

And, you can only imagine what they’ve done to my poor teats as I don’t want to put any x-rated photos up! I have TRIED to be a good Mama, but I finally decided a couple of days ago to go into major WEANING mode, so I only get in the bed once or twice a day for just long enough for them to drink enough to make myself comfortable.

Grammy told me it was ok, and that she would take care of feeding them now that they can eat by themselves. I think she was tired of hearing me cry out in pain! She can’t believe how much they eat AND how much they put out the other end! She says she FORGOT, over the past 3 years since BG and I were babies, just how much WORK taking care of Poop-PEES was.

They wake up and immediately start screaming and fussing because they have to go potty and they don’t want to do it in their Playground, so either my Dad or Grammy puts them in the big laundry basket and hauls them out into the back yard where they usually go pee within a minute or two and poopy within 5-10 mins. Last night, Mercy got out of the box on her own and got all the way out to the doggy door, but she doesn’t know how to open the flap to get the rest of the way out.

Grammy got tired of cleaning up after them indoors after several days, so that was when she decided that they would start taking them outside. She still doesn’t want to take them out at night because they are the size of small rabbits and we have some BIG owls and hawks around here. That’s why I wasn’t allowed to go out at night until I was about 6 months old, and I still don’t like to go out unless my night light that my Dad rigged up, is on.

Now for the pup’s update pictures:

Gimli is getting lighter and lighter cheeks, but his back is still staying black. He weighs 6 pounds now, but is still quite laid back.

He loves being held, kissing whoever all over the face very enthusiastically. He has a slightly longer body. Here is a picture of him on his back so you can see what he will look like when his ears come up.

Mercy is slowing down on her growth and is about 5 and a half pounds now. She knows her name and tends to be the explorer when in new situations.

She, too, loves to be held and tends to come over to people’s feet and whine until they DO pick her up. She is a VERY sound sleeper!

Neelix is staying small, and only weighs in at 4 and a half pounds. He is our Wild Child… totally feisty, attacking siblings, people’s toes and ankles, and even Sadie’s feet.

He doesn’t mind being picked up and fussed over for maybe a minute, but then he wants back down. He, too, is an explorer… even more so than Mercy, and Grammy has to keep a close watch on him because he leaves everyone else and goes off by himself to check things out.

Gracie is still the biggest and most solidly built. She weighs just over 6 lbs. and is still built like a brick—a solid, low, wide little girl. She has a bit of a temper, and will fight back if she gets ticked, like when Nee-Nee attacks her.

Next time, we will post the vids of the babies first outing. Have a great day!

Puppy Playground Continued & Contest Entry

Today, I’ll finish showing you the rest of our Puppy Playground, and, at the bottom, you will see that we are entering the last part as our Contest Entry and explain Brutus the Frenchie’s Contest.

Since the short Teeter-totter didn’t work right, he took it apart and after adding the long ramp to the top step, he left the wooden cylinder block in the box so the puppies could play with it by itself for a while, while he thought about the rest of the things he could build.

Mercy went over and practiced squirrel catching with the swinging squirrel on the other side by the food area...

Robert decided to add a small ramp to the small step, and then made a longer Teeter-Totter for them to play on. Mercy decided she wanted to check it out when he had finished THAT part...

Finally, he added a couple of rawhide chews for them to teeth on and some Pup-Pee Pads to the floor, and the little ones were ready to check it out!!!

Gimli wasn't sure what to think the first time that he got on the Teeter-Totter...




He called Mercy over and talked to her about it and she showed him how to get on...



After THAT, he talked Gracie into checking it out. Neelix came over to that side for a little bit, but he really liked playing with the swinging squirrel during most of the time we were taking THESE videos...



I think the pups' GrandPaw did a really nice job of creating a stimulating, challenging playground for his, and my, Grandpups, and they are really enjoying themselves in it. Now, he's figuring out the playground he is going to create outside where he says he can REALLY spread out!

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our Puppy Playground. We read about the following contest on our friend, Brutus the Frenchie’s Blog about the most ridiculous things people do for their dogs. The contest is to celebrate his 100th Blog Post, and we found out about it just after Robert finished the playground, so Mom thought that we would use that to enter with. (Robert says it is NOT ridiculous, but Mom said that a lot of “People” – NOT “dog people” or dogs-- might think it was.) Anyway, below are the rules (copied from his blog,) and our entry picture:

Entry into Brutus the Frenchie’s Centennial Blog Contest

We want to know what the most ridiculous thing you humans out there do for your loyal doggie companions. It might be special food or some sort of grooming or spa treatment to pamper your pooch, or perhaps a crazy ritual that you must indulge them in. If it raises an eyebrow from you, your significant other, your neighbor, a passerby, or your whole neighborhood - if it's ridiculous, we want to know about it!

So, without further ado, here are the rules for the contest we are calling: "That's Ridiculous"

1. Each entry should consist of two things: a photo (or photos) as well as a short story (a few sentences) to explain what it is that you do, and perhaps why you do it.

2. Your contest entry is a post on your blog. Please include our "That's Ridiculous" button and link to this post/our blog. It would be helpful (but not mandatory) to also post the button on your blog to help spread the word (it certainly can't hurt your chances of winning, wink, wink)! The more the merrier!! Oh, and if you don't have a blog, you can still play - just email your entry.

3. Once you have posted your entry, just let us know we need to come & get it! You may comment on our post to notify us, or if you would prefer (or don't have a blog), you can email the notice and/or the entry to hrnchardds@yahoo.com .

4. We will accept submissions until 12:00 EDT on Friday, October 16th. One entry per dog, please (for those of you with packs, each dog can have their own entry, or submit one entry as a group - humans' choice!).

http://brutusthefrenchie.blogspot.com/2009/09/our-centennial-post-and-contest-to.html

With THAT said, here is our Entry

As we’ve been showing, Dott’s Dad, Robert, built her puppies a “Puppy Playground.” He takes his GrandPaw status VERY seriously and wants to be sure that his Grandpups have as much “brain stimulation” as possible, so he made the Puppy Playground with that in mind.

He started with 2 huge boxes, and added a puppy door to get them used to doggy doors. He also created a mini agility course for the babies to play in, on and through. There are steps, tunnels, ramps, mirrors, and a Teeter-Totter in one side, and the other side holds a bed under a lean-to top, a water and food bowl, a squeaky toy, large rawhide chew (for teething), and a squeaky, swinging squirrel (sort of fishing rod style).

We had to do TWO posts to get it all in! If you want to see the beginning vids of the building and the pups enjoying their Playground, read the last post, too!

I ask you… Has the young man out-done himself or WHAT??!!!