Sugar & Popeye Play

Sugar Visits Crazy Lady

I'm a guest poster on Sugar's blog. Follow the yellow brick road:
http://lifewithsugar.blogspot.com/2010/03/visit-with-crazy-lady.html

Double Trouble

We dogs had a contest to see who could hogtie Foster Mum the fastest and lock her in the closet first. I won, which means I get to be blog boss today.



I'm Popeye, in case you've forgotten. And I know you covet these ears.

Crazy Lady just had major surgery yesterday and will have to go through an intense regiment of therapy afterwards, so her dog Sugar (who was one of Foster Mum's fosters) is staying with us. She's from Taiwan, just like me. We're almost twins, except I'm a manlier specimen of studliness.



Scary, huh? To know that there are two of us out there!

You know who should really be scared? Phoebe the pitbull! Her ankles will never know a moment of peace now!



Just like old times.



Why is there a picture of the dogs' asses here?



Ah, that was the picture I was looking for. Don't we all look happy here? Well, don't fall for it! That's just a Photoshop trick of Foster Mum's. She starves us on just 7.5 lbs of freshly ground raw meat and vegetables a day. Where are the dog treats I say! What, that 1 slab of dehydrated jerky doesn't count! The biscuits don't either. And carrots are for rabbits. Do I look like a rabbit?



Wait.

Now do I look like a rabbit??



And she's a slave-driver, always expecting us to perform herculean feats like "sit, " "down," "go to bed," and the very worst of all, "stay." Over and over, every day. Aren't there laws against dog labor? We're pooped!

It's not as bad for me, Phoebe, and Boomer--we're used to it now. But Sugar, well, just look at her.



She's fainted! From starvation and exhaustion!


"Uh, dude, can I get up now?"

"Pssstt, not yet! Get back down!"



Where was I? Oh yeah, starvation and exhaustion! Somebody help us get outta here while there's still time. Or better yet, send some treat relief! A couple of extra toys wouldn't come amiss either.

Uh oh, I hear Foster Mum coming. She must've gotten loose. Boomer is sure going to get in trouble when I blame everything on him.

Rolling out the Red Carpet for Popeye

Well, it's not actually red and it's not actually a carpet. But it is for Popeye. They're actually foam mats. Foam mats are often hyped as "anti-fatigue" and are said to reduce strain on the feet, ankles, legs, and back. I hadn't heard any of that when I first saw these at Costco.

What immediately came to my mind was that these would be great for Popeye. They're about a quarter of an inch thick, so fairly cushiony. Something similar to those thicker foamy type mousepads.



Our house is mostly carpeted except for the kitchen area and the walkway between the front and back doors. Those are tiled. So when Popeye hops around there, they are very hard on his bum. Keep in mind he has no fat or muscle in his rear, so his tailbone is hitting that tile every time.

We had lined the walkway with a bunch of old rugs. Aside from not being that cushioned, they were a hassle to vacuum (the ends would always get sucked up in the vacuum cleaner), plus the dogs would eventually fold them over when they ran. But they were better than nothing.

So I was excited when I saw these foam mats. We bought 18 of them. Enough to line the tile from the front door all the way to the back room.



They are great because not only do they provide a good deal of cushion for Popeye's bum, they are easy to clean, they stay put, and they are no-slip. These would be great for pets who had trouble balancing on smooth, slippery surfaces, such as those suffering from arthritis or degenerative myelopathy.



Now Popeye can bounce around with all his might when he's chasing the other dogs (somehow he's the one always doing the chasing), and I don't have to cringe everytime his butt hits the floor.

Some Very Well Trained Dogs

Of course I'm not talking about our dogs. The dogs who featured in K9 Christmas have hit the beach this time.



Thanks, Robin, for sharing this video.