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After a long day of hiking, our tongues are hanging.
And that results in serious napping time on the drive home.
And Kodiak's pillow does not seem to be moving on him.
As we were approaching the house, the humans looked out and saw this sunset. What a great ending to a perfect day.
I was just minding my own business when I heard some movement in the ground, so I had to take a close look.
I got all the way in to my ears. Can you tell?
Maybe if I close my eyes, the hu-dad will stop with the flashy beast.
The skies are clear, humidity is low, and mornings are cool.
And if you look carefully, you can see some hints of color changes.
At the top of Cataloochee Ski, snow machines are set to add to the natural snow fall and workers are preparing for guests.
Better enjoy the fresh grass now, big dog pal, snow will be covering this field soon.
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Nap time on the picket line – brought to you by The Thundering Herd.
We were out for a peaceful walk when Qannik first alerted on the vicious invader.
Qannik bravely approached but knew that he needed reinforcements.
Natasha raced to protect the Q-tip from the marauding creature.
The ever faithful right paw of the Queen, Kiska joined the battle.
But then the hu-dad said we should just move along.
We think we proved out point. Our adversary looked shell shocked.
We are forever trying to describe the abuse that we suffer at the hands of the hu-dad, but we think this incident from Sunday morning should bring clarity to any doubters still out there. We were camping and our morning routine is simple. We get up, do the necessary “business” break, take a long walk, return to the RV for some time on the picket line and watch other campers go by. While on that picket line, we get some fresh water and then, at some eternal time later, the hu-dad finally gets around to feeding us breakfast. And the horror is that he usually checks in on Facebook, reads some blogs, and eats his own breakfast – IN FRONT OF US – before we get ours. Can you imagine, pups?
So, Sunday morning, all was going according to plan. Hu-dad was eating his breakfast while we could barely hold our heads up due to weakness in our starving fashion. And then he receives a notice that our buddy, Turbo, has just posted a celebration of his 1,000th post (Congrats Turbo!). Turbo was an unsuccessful candidate for President in the last election and is now running for Congress in the 14th District of Missouri. His platform is simple and it is the way he ended his post on Sunday – Cheese and Bacon for all.
Some people will call this irony. We just call it cruel. The hu-dad posted a comment that read, “We are demanding the cheese and bacon now, though the hu-dad insists it is his and to back off.” (Oooooh, and note the timestamp of 8:59 a.m. – well past breakfast time at Chez Herd and we were still not fed). So why did the hu-dad post that comment? He took this picture right after posting the comment:
Qannik can barely raise his head from hunger, but he can sure stare down the hu-dad.
Yep, the hu-dad’s breakfast while camping is an English Muffin with scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese. In front of us. Before we have breakfast. While he is commenting on your blogs and reading Facebook. But Qannik is cute and fluffy and, well, not really threatening thanks to that whole ski jacket incident. So dad just turned his glance in another direction.
Feed me now. Or else.
Amazingly, we got fed right after this picture.
Always on duty, always on call
Just in case something tasty shall fall.
Amazingly, neither of these videos have anything to do with us except that both were emailed to our hu-dad over the weekend. We wanted to take a moment to share them with you.
The first is one of the most creative solutions to a problem we have ever seen. Cheoah may like to swim (Cheoah is, after all, the Cherokee word for Otter), but the rest of us pass on swimming. So salute to you, pal -
This second video is much longer and we realize that a lot of readers will chose to skip over it. Trust us – this is very inspirational and Mondays just call for a little inspiration.
Skidboot has his own page (with many more movies) and we encourage you to check it out by clicking here.
Have a Happy Monday.
Recently, we told you about our own personal daredevil, Evil Qanievel. Well, he has attempted yet more leaps over tremendous canyons, but this time it ended in a crash. Brace yourself for the pictures:
The beginning of the jump shows the problem, not enough spring in the fluffy paws.
Distracted by the looming shadow of the press corp, Evil Qanievel crashes into the bottom of the canyon.
As the rescue crews race to his aid, Qanievel shakes it off. All is well and he is ready for his next adventure.
Nine years ago today, nearly 3,000 humans lost their lives to 19 murderers in horrific attacks. Since over 90 countries lost citizens and since every major religion lost faithful that day, we should mourn as a united world for that horror. But we also want to tell you about some special canines of that day that you may or may not have heard of – Sirius, Roselle, Dorado and Servus.
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Port Authority Police Officers David Lim and Sirius
Port Authority Police Officer David Lim and his bomb detection partner, Sirius, a 4 year old Yellow Lab, were in the basement of the World Trade Center when the attacks began. Saying “one must have gotten by us,” Officer Lim placed Sirius in his crate and raced to help evacuate survivors. Officer Lim ran up 43 flights of steps to do his job. He was carrying a woman down the steps when the tower collapsed around him. In a miracle, he was rescued alive around 3 pm, hours after the collapse of the towers.
Unfortunately, it was not until January 22, 2002 – over four months after the attacks – that the body of Sirius was found. He had been killed instantly when the tower collapsed. Officer Lim was able to be at the site when his partner’s body was removed from the rubble, fulfilling the promise of his last words, “I’ll be back for you.” The canine officer received the same stirring tribute as others – the machinery was all halted, his body was draped by a flag, men and women stood silently and saluted, and Sirius was escorted from the devastation.
Honor Guard
Click here for a memorial for Sirius if you would like additional information.
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You may have heard of the story of Daisy, a Golden Retriever service dog to a blind man, who was on the 101st floor of the towers when the attack started. She rescued 967 people by escorting them to safety, including her owner. Mayor Guilliani gave Daisy the canine Medal of Honor for her heroics. There is just one problem with this terrific story. It never happened. Sadly, as beautiful as the story is, there was no such dog.
But did you know that there were at least two service dogs that did escort their owners to safety? Roselle escorted her owner, Michael Hingson, from the 78th floor, and Dorado escorted Omar Rivera from the 71st floor. You can read Dorado’s real life heroic story by clicking here.
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Finally, we want to tell you about Servus (aka “Wuss” – can you imagine?), a nine year old Belgian Malinois. Servus was not at the World Trade Center that fateful day, but he and his partner, Illinois Officer Chris Christensen, came to help search for survivors. On September 13, 2001, Servus fell face first about 20 feet as debris gave way under his paws. In the impact, his nasal passages were clogged with debris and he was choking. Responding as if any other officer was injured, fire fighters and police officers went to work rescuing their canine partner, hoisting him from the rubble, clearing his breathing, carrying him on a stretcher, and riding in a police car with a motorcycle escort to an emergency vet. While he survived, the injuries prevented him from helping further in the search.
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After posting this blog entry, we found this video at The Dog Files. Very touching. (Excuse the commercial at the beginning – not our style to include advertising, but not ours).
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We are always in awe of the amazing sacrifice on and after that awful day. Since this website is about dogs, we thought you would want to hear about some of the canines involved. If you want to see some more pictures, we recommend going here or here.
We will never forget.
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