Spring is here, and the weather today was glorious ~ 79 degrees in No. Calif! My dog, Max, found a comfortable landing spot to view the birds and the bees in my back yard.
Spoiler
Bench pillows and cushion purchased on eBay!
Those are some gorgeous looking kitties, Jean....love the lion cut and also love the old TV, lol
Soooo, my trip this week took me out of the heat of the Sacramento valley to cooler temps in Tahoe and then a trip to see my daughter in the SF Bay Area because I am dog sitting Abby while they are on vaca......she wasn't in the house 5 minutes before she decided to help herself to my fast food salad which I foolishly left on the table:
Does she look guilty?
I am loving all the pictures. A good looking bunch! Thanks everybody for giving me big smiles. 😁
I wanted to leave a note about how upsetting fireworks can be for pets. If you plan to go out, I hope you have a safe place for your babies. Fireworks are legal here, so it's been going on since Friday, with today being the absolute worst.
Bits is very frightened by loud noises, with thunderstorms normally being the freaks her out the most. That is, until the week of the 4th. It's the intermittent setting off of one here, a few more there, a bunch later, then back to one that causes the biggest problem. No predictability, so she gets on hi alert waiting for the next boom or pop, even though it may not happen again, for hours.
We have a thunder vest for her, which I just put on a little while ago and that seems to have helped, for the time being. I found this info graph online for people who haven't bought a thunder vest. I tried it last year, so thought I would pass it along.
Great info, savanna.....so I wondered if the "wrap" would also work for a stressed out person, so I tried it....I may have gone just a bit overboard, but it works like a charm!
@nomoaa wrote:Hidy,
Abby is cute! Bet you couldn't get upset at her, for sharing your lunch.
Just look at that little face.
Jean
.....well, a little history ~ I sold my house last year and am now in a rental until I decide what and where I want to be when I grow up 
~ the point being that I have no say in the landscape design....and it is all drought resistant lava rock 
and shrubs ~ for those that don't know what lava rock looks like, here it is:
soooo, Abby, the sweet faced doggy that nomo was talking about refuses to do her business when I take her for an early morning walk, or any walk as the case may be, and much prefers to play a game called "Hidy-Hoo, find the Poo"
Savanna, thanks for sharing the thunder vest and body-wrap tip to calm dogs who are fearful of loud noises. Glad to hear the thunder vest helped Bits get through the 4th.
Annika is unusual in that she has no fear of fireworks. Incidentally, she was born a week prior to the 4th of July -- maybe that explains her atypical (non) reaction to fireworks?? This year, the city enacted a "Safe & Sane" only fireworks ordinance, but nobody seemed to care. Illegal aerial fireworks were going up all around the city.
Annika didn't seem to mind. Despite the explosive commotion, she just went about her usual business catching Frisbees, playing ball, and sometimes just sitting down for a break to watch the fireworks. Her brain must be wired differently or something. 
She is a very intelligent dog -- knows the names of her 20+ toys and will bring the correct toy on command. Unfortunately, I have not trained her to put away her toys in her toy box. But there are Australian Cattle Dogs I've seen on YouTube that are trained to do just that -- pick up and put away their toys. Annika must be a step ahead. She knows if she puts away her toys, the games are over. So why would she be duped into stopping the fun? 
