Road Dog Tales

Meet Mr. Chewy

2012-01-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

Is your cupboard bare? Is it too cold to venture out to forage for food? Do you have more fun things to do than spend time driving to and from the store for food - like chasing squirrels, diggin' holes, snugglin' in your bed?

If any of these are the case at your house, we've got a solution for YOU! Meet Mr. Chewy! Who is Mr. Chewy, you ask? Mr. Chewy is a pet food delivery service that delivers your favorite food and treats right to your door! Mr. Chewy carries over 70 brands of dog food, cat food, treats and supplies. We were excited to see that they carry LOTS of our FAVES! Shipping is F*R*E*E when you order $49 or more. You can also set up delivery schedule so, even if you have FLAKY FORGETFUL PEEPS, you won't have to eat CHEETOS until your peeps get to the pet store! Check out Mr. Chewy's brand list to see if he can deliver YOUR favorite food and treats right to your door! You can order online - even at midnight! in your pajamas!

One of the coolest things about Mr. Chewy is his REFER YOUR FRIENDS DONATION PROGRAM. Here's how it works. On your first order, just enter the code ROAD5697 (our referral code) at checkout and YOU will receive 10% off your FIRST order. PLUS, Mr. Chewy will also DONATE $10 to our favorite charity. We love BEST FRIENDS!

All in all, we have to say Mr. Chewy lives up to his motto ~ Delivering Pet Happiness!

The Road Dogs

Disclaimer: We received a discount coupon from Mr. Chewy to use and review his pet food delivery service. We used the online ordering option and it was easy peasy. The opinions expressed are our own and we highly recommend Mr. Chewy. We are not employed by or affiliated with Mr. Chewy in any way.

FLAKY PEEPS WINNERS

2012-01-11T04:02:00.000-08:00

Peeps are a Flake was a huge success. We would like to thank each of the 25 who joined us in this very fun filled event.

Here are the winners:

3rd. Place...... PAWMETTO TREATS........ WINNER.... NOLA !! (PLEASE email Frankie for how to collect YOUR prize.

2nd. Place.... HOME MADE MILKBONE TREATS & SNACK JAR... WINNERS... RONNII, IZZY, & UJIO..... (We ALREADY have your addy and will mail your Prize Jar)

1st. PLACE.... PitBULLFrog CALENDAR... BUNK...!!!
(Please Email roaddog AT road-dog-tales DOT com or click on the EMAIL US button at the top on so we can mail your prize!)

Congratulations to the WINNERS... AND.. THANK YOU ALL for the WONDERFUL Laughs. EVERY Post was a JOY to read.

Sincerely,

The Road Dogs..... Sarge..... Frankie Furter

Flaky Peeps ETC

2012-01-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hey boys and girls! We have had a BLAST reading all the FLAKY PEEP POSTS this week. We're kinda sorry it's over! Hmmm, maybe SOMEONE wants to make it a regular features! Sarge? Frankie? anyone, anyone (apologies to Ferris Bueller). Stay tuned as the winners are revealed next week!

Even though our Mom is a total FLAKE, we couldn't seem to come up with anything AMUSING to share that she would actually LET us share. But she did something this VERY MORNING that just illustrates what an incredible FLAKE she is so we're gonna share it NOW. Even if it means NO TREATS for a WHOLE DAY! haha

So, here's what went down first thing this morning. Mom has decided to trade coffee for hot chocolate during the cold winter months. Yeah, we know, it's more fattening but doesn't make her as jittery, which is good for ALL of us! BOL! Anyway, she uses the kind in the little packets that you just add to HOT WATER. Sometimes she boils the water on the stove. Sometimes she just pops the cup of water in the microwave. It's really better if she microwaves it 'cause she tends to forget about the boiling water on the stove if she walks away and doesn't set a timer. ANYWAY, she put the cup in the microwave for like a minute and a half. *DING* She opens the microwave and gets out the cup and guess WHAT! There's NO WATER in it! Really! She FORGOT to put WATER in the cup! bwahahahahahaha Now THAT'S FLAKY!

While you're shaking your head over that FLAKINESS, we've got a miscellaneous piece of info to share. We just read this post on FB this morning and thought it might help somepup somewhere sometime who suffers from seizures. We need to say first, though, that we KNOW there are probably as many reasons/causes for seizures as there are dogs that have them. Everypup is very different and sometimes it's hard to pin down a cause and it depends on tons of different things. Having said that, we still think this post is worth reading in case it helps someone along the way. It's on our Pit Bull Frogs FB page BUT we're pretty sure you don't have to have a FB account or sign up in any way to look at this link - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pit-Bull-Frogs/311919152164343?ref=tn_tnmn. If you can't access the link, but are interested in reading the post, let us know and we'll send it to you in an email. Basically, it was determined that the cause of a little rescue pup's seizures were the Kibbles 'n Bits he was being fed at his new furever home. His food was changed and he's all better now.

The Road Dogs

FLAKY AS A PILLSBURY BISCUIT

2012-01-04T06:45:00.000-08:00

The flaky peeps posts are totally cracking us up! We can't get enough of 'em! Even though we're not entering the contest since we're co-hosting with SARGE and FRANKIE, we're gonna share a couple of flaky peep moments with you. Now these aren't nearly as funny as any of yours, but we're pretty sure we'd have to go without dinner and treats for a couple of days if we told the really good stuff. But we still think this is some slightly flaky behavior --

When Mom has trouble sleeping, she puts one of her favorite movies in the DVD player and snuggles on the sofa. Usually in about 10 minutes, she's asleep and dreaming about chasing rabbits and . . . oh, wait, that's what WE dream about. What the heck do peeps dream about??? Oh, well, nevermind. Anyway, she sleeps through the WHOLE rest of the movie and then WAKES up when it's over. So NOW, she's awake again and has to restart the movie to fall asleep AGAIN. This goes on pretty much all night until the wee hours of the morning. Then about 3:00 or 4:00, she gets in the bed and sleeps some more. We just can't understand this routine and we gotta say it kinda interrupts our OWN sleep. NOT to mention that the sofa is supposed to be all OURS when the peeps go to bed, right? But does she care about that?! Noooooo . . . So, we're just wondering ~ Does anybody else's peeps have weird sleeping habits or is it just ours???

Mom, asleep on the sofa . . . bwahahahahahahahaha - she WISHES!

Painting by Roman Zaslonov

A couple of notes: We're having some super slow-as-molasses innernuts AND some issues with STICKY KEYS. Sometimes we start typing a comment on your blogs and all of a sudden it looks like this ~

ha's oo unny! Be you on' ha aain.

So, if we happen to type "Your pees are so funny!" - we really mean "Your PEEPS are so funny!" It's happened a few times and we think we caught it every time, but in case we didn't, please accept our humble apologies.

Also, we're really concerned about our furiend Pip! Please send him the Power of the Paw so he gets better. Love you PIP!

The Road Dogs

THIS is FLAKY???

2012-01-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

Seeing as how this is FLAKY PEEP WEEK here in Blogville, we thought we would share a tidbit we read in The BARK. Just to be perfectly CLEAR, our peeps DO NOT engage in this FLAKY behavior! And to be quite honest, we were a tad chagrined to learn that SOME peeps do. We know NONE of YOUR peeps do this either, so we hope you won't be too disappointed and disillusioned to learn of this FLAKY, and let's just say, slightly DECEPTIVE behavior.

So, are you ready for this ~

"And then of course you get these people on Facebook who not only talk about their pets but as their pets. This sort of thing gives me the chills." quoted from "Drawn to Dogs" by Jeffrey Essmann

We're going to go out on a limb and assume this guy means "blogs" as well as "Facebook." But, regardless of the forum, can you BELIEVE there are SOME peeps who engage in this FLAKY behavior???!!! Doesn't that just take the cake??? Mmmmm, cake. Mmmm, cake with BACON . . .

OR CUPCAKES with BACON!

Hmm? What? Where were we? Oh, yeah, FLAKY behavior. . .

We know your peeps don't engage in the above-referenced behavior, BUT maybe that do something ELSE that's kinda FLAKY. Here's your chance to tell the world.

Post on your own blog from January 1 to midnight Eastern time January 7. Post once or multiple times if your peeps give you that much material! Tell us all about how your peep is a flake.

Comment here on our blog, Frankie's blog, Sarge's blog and the Blogville Community Calendar so that we know you've done your post. Why all four you ask? A couple of very good reasons:

(1) so we don't miss anyone!
(2) there are three cool prizes to be awarded on January 11, 2012.

Keep 'em coming!

The Road Dogs

FLAKY PEEPS AND ONE MORE SNOWMAN FOR FRANKIE

2011-12-31T16:02:00.000-08:00

We're coming out of our semi-hibernation (finally!) to co-host MY PEEP IS A FLAKE with our good furiends FRANKIE (and his PUPPY ERNIE) and SARGE! It goes without saying that OUR PEEPS are TOTAL FLAKES, especially MOM (um, sorry Mom, but it's a fact!). BUT we can't wait to read about YOUR PEEPS! We're hoping they're at LEAST as FLAKY as OURS! BOL!

The fun starts tomorrow and lasts ALL WEEK! We know you're as excited as we are to SHARE with ALL OF BLOGVILLE just how FLAKY your PEEPS are!

And, now, one more SNOWMAN just for FRANKIE! Foster dog Lucy REDESIGNED a snowman that was sitting by the TV just minding his own business when all of a sudden . . . CHOMP!!!

The whole time Lucy was chomping away on the SNOWMAN, we heard her mumbling - "This is for Frankie, take that Mr. Snowman, bwahahahahahahaha . . .

Happy New Year!

from The Road Dogs

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to all of you ~

This is what happens in places that don't have real snow!

Hope you all get lots of yummy treats in your stockings!

The Road Dogs

Calendar Giveaway

2011-12-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hey! Remember us? The Road Dogs - slacker bloggers?! We're popping in to tell you about a giveaway from our friends at Dog Tipper. If you've been wanting a copy of our Pit Bull Frogs Calendar but were hoping for a giveaway - well this is your lucky day! One lucky winner will receive their very own *F*R*E*E* copy of the 2012 calendar to drool over! Hop on over to Dog Tipper and find out how to enter this fab giveaway before Wednesday, December 21. Already ordered your copy? That's okay, you can WIN another to give away to a furiend! And don't forget to tell all your furiends to enter, too!

Here's a little sneak preview of a portion the January calendar page! You should see the WHOLE page!

Calendar Design by Danielle Greisen

And while you're over at Dog Tipper, check out all their other awesome giveaways! We'll bet you find something for efurrybody on your gift list! Thanks Dog Tipper!!!

We may be slack about blogging and commenting this month, but we LOVE all of you and we'll be back soon. After the holidays, we'll be co-hosting a super cool and fun event -- MY PEEP IS A FLAKEwith Frankie and Sarge from January 1 - 7. Click on the link to My Peep is a Flake to find out all the fun details!!!

The Road Dogs

PIT BULL FROGS 2012 CALENDAR SNEAK PREVIEW

2011-12-02T05:54:00.001-08:00

We've been MIA in Blogville a lot lately and we've been missing efurrybody so much! But we're gonna show you ONE of the things that's been keeping us busy lately.

A SNEAK PREVIEW of one page of the Pit Bull Frogs 2012 Calendar! How many of your Blogville furiends can you find???

Calendar Design by Danielle Greisen

You can find out more about the calendar and how to get your very own copy to drool over at www.PitBullFrogs.com!

Happy Holidays efurryone!

The Road Dogs

BERT'S PRESSIES

2011-11-30T04:53:00.001-08:00

You're not going to believe the awesome pressie Kayla got from BERT for winning his HAT CONTEST! We could hardly believe it ourselves! Before we show it to you, though, Kayla wants to say how very honored she is to have won and wants to thank everyone that voted for her. There were SO MANY wonderful hat pics that she is still kind of speechless that hers was picked and Kayla's not often speechless! So MANY THANKS!!!

First, there was this awesome Christmas card - isn't that just bee-yoo-ti-ful? A present in itself, we think!

On to the excitement!!!

Kayla gives it the sniff test. "Hey, that's ME on the box!"

Kayla just wants to point out Bert's EXCELLENT use of DUCK TAPE!

O-M-D!!! Look at ALL these TOYS!!!

So MANY to choose from!

She finally chooses a favorite "baby" to snuggle with

Here's a pic of the back of the box describing all the toys! See that treasure chest in the middle? We AGREE - this pressie was just like opening a TREASURE CHEST!

Kayla "hoarding" the babies

She finally decides to share and Cooper picks a racoon rope toy to chew on. He has a thing for string! Don't even ask!

And now - GUESS WHO ELSE Kayla's sharing her toys with???

Do you recognize her??? This is Phantom (we call her Lucy). We featured her as one of the adoptable dogs during Mayzie's Rescue Me Home Week! She has been hanging out at our vet's office while being treated for heartworms. She's all well now and boy, is she raring to go!!! She LOVES to play and gets along great with everybody. Cooper has even taught her to swim! Now, don't go getting any ideas - we're just giving her a reprieve from kennel at the vet's office until she finds her FUREVER home. Everyone that meets her falls in love - she has a wonderful temperament and personality. So, if you know someone who would love to give this cutie pie a home and family, let us know. She loves to SNUGGLE, too!

It's obvious BERT'S Prize Package was a HOOOOOOGE hit at our house! You know, we don't think our own pawrents have ever gotten us that many cool toys! We can't thank BERT (and VICKIE) enough for this amazingly awesome prize package! You guys are way too generous!!! THANK YOU BERT!!!

We're gonna have to apologize yet again for our lack of visiting Blogville. We are missing efurryone so much! But Mom desperately needs our help with her projects and we're going as fast as our paws can! Besides the Pit Bull Frogs Calendar (ON SALE NOW!), Mom is hammering and sawing away in her studio like one of Santa's little elves making Christmas pressies that peeps have ordered from her jewelry shop. So we can't let her get behind with that! We don't want anybody's stocking to be empty this year, right?!

But, stay tuned in the next day or two for a super special SNEAK PREVIEW of a page from the Pit Bull Frogs Calendar featuring some of our Blogville furiends that you know and love!

Gotta go pour some caffeine in Mom so she can get to work and hope she remembers to give us breakfast!!!

The Road Dogs

ONE MORE BIRD FOR SARGE!

2011-11-25T06:03:00.001-08:00

Okay, one more bird for Sarge.

Play some SKYNYRD

We hope all of you had a wonderful THANKSGIVING! We're so sorry we haven't been around to say "HI" lately, but things are heating up with some projects we've got going on and there's only so many hours in the day to WORK after PLAYING and EATING and SLEEPING. You know what we're saying??? We sure miss reading about all of you lately and hope to get around to see you soon! Hope you're having FUN!

The Road Dogs

SARGE - You Asked for It!

2011-11-18T23:15:00.001-08:00

Okay, Sarge, you asked for it! We're giving you the BIRD(S)!

Those stump grinders we subcontracted that never finished the job!

STUBBY DOG AUCTION - SPECIAL ARTSY FARTSY EDITION

2011-11-16T16:57:00.001-08:00

Mayzie is the one that first introduced us to Stubby Dog and the wonderful work they do. So, when they asked Mom if she would be interested in donating a piece of her work for their Art Auction, she jumped at the chance. After all, Stubby Dog had Mayzie's Paw of Approval. Did you know that Mayzie was one of the first Stubby Dogs?! So, we're pretty excited to tell you about this amazing auction featuring DOG ART! You know, the gift giving season is just around the corner (YIKES!) and Stubby Dog has lots of gift options for your dog-loving furiends. If you've been looking for an artist to paint the perfect portrait of you, or one of your furiends, check out this auction. Many artists have donated custom pet portraits and photography sessions.

Acrylic Pet Portrait by Ashley Reid

You'll see lots of Pit Bulls featured because Stubby Dog's focus is on being a positive force for Pitties, but you don't have to be a Pittie to take advantage of the portraits or photography sessions or any of the amazing art for sale. Just sayin'.

There are lots of other cool items up for bid, too! You'll find a gift certificate from Karma Collars and they'll even help you design your own custom collar!

Here's one of the pieces Mom created for the auction. That's the Stubby Dog logo :)

The bidding has started and continues through December 5. So you still have plenty of time to fetch a great deal!

And speaking of Pitties, we'll be taking a little blogging break so we can help Mom finish up the Pit Bull Frogs calendar soon-to-be-published. You know, she just can't do two things at once :) We'll be giving Sarge the "Bird" but will probably be kinda scarce from the blogging scene for a week or so. We'll try to catch up on all the fun as soon as we can! And if we don't get by before Thanksgiving - we wish you all a very HAPPY one!

Cheers!

The Road Dogs

AND THE WINNER IS . . .

2011-11-14T03:59:00.000-08:00

We had a BLAST during the DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL and hope you did, too! There were so many cool and super creative entries in both ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE and DUCK TAPE IN ACTION. We knew we would NEVER be able to pick the best because they were ALL the BEST! So we left it to chance or fate or . . . ASPEN! Yep, we decided to let Aspen combine her FAVORITE things - SWIMMING and TENNIS BALLS - to pick a WINNER for the ARTsy FARTsy division. We took FRANKIE'S idea and tweaked it a little bit.

First, we wrote numbers on SEVEN tennis balls - one for each entry in order of appearance. (Please, um, excuse the appearance of some of these tennis balls - we're kinda ROUGH on tennis balls!)

KEY TO NUMBERS

1 = SARGE

2=OSKAR

3 = BELLA, DAISY & KENDRA

4 = GEORGE THE LAD

5 = SUGAR THE GOLDEN RETRIEVER

6 = WYATT & STANZIE

7 = MAYOR FRANKIE

(he said he was just entering for fun, but we figured he deserved a chance at a GREAT PRIZE, too:)

Okay, are you still with us? This is a very technical and complicated process so try to keep up!

Next, we threw all the balls in our swimming pond.

Count 'em - SEVEN tennis balls

Okay, now here's where it gets exciting!

We let ASPEN swim out to fetch a WINNER!

GOT ONE!

Here she comes to deliver the winning number!

Dun-ta-dum . . .

And the WINNER is . . .

NUMBER 5!

Okay, now go back up to the top and check the NUMBER KEY - NUMBER 5 is . . .

SUGAR!

Congrats to SUGAR! And THANKS to everyone who pawticipated in the DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL and to MAYOR FRANKIE for hosting it with us! We had so much fun 'cause of all of YOU! We're going to keep the prizes a secret 'cause we don't want to spoil the surprise for the winners! Hope that's okay Mayor Frankie 'cause, um, we think we were supposed to TELL what the prizes are. But don't worry - we will tell after the winners get them!

Now, head on over to FRANKIE'S, if you haven't already, to find out who his PUPPY, ERNIE, chose as the winner of the DUCK TAPE IN ACTION DIVISION.

The Road Dogs

RESCUE ME HOME RECAP

2011-11-12T06:04:00.000-08:00

MAYZIE'S RESCUE ME HOME WEEK is technically over, but we wanted to do a recap of the adorable adoptables that we posted this week ~ just in case their furever family might not have seen them during all the DUCK TAPE FESTIVITIES. Plus, we want to thank Mayzie for this super terrific event that highlighted so many animals that need furever homes. We know her Grandpa J would be so happy and proud of her! And we're SO EXCITED for STELLA who was featured EVERY DAY last week over at Roo's. ROO'S genius plan and dedication worked and Stella got adopted Thursday! How cool is THAT?! We sure hope more animals find their furever homes real soon!

So here's the rundown of the pups we featured ~ could you be their new furever home?

MONDAY - KATIE
She is a chocolate brown and tan dachshund mix, 6 years old, and a tiny 10 lbs. Go HERE to read lots more about Katie and see more adorable pics at Katie's Forever Dachshund Rescue page!

TUESDAY - TOBY

This is Toby. He is being fostered through Save A Dog. He's a rat terrier/Jack Russell mix (approx. 1 yr old). Loves kids (ages 10+ would be best). Not keen on cats. Toby's foster mom says: He is smart, playful and very affectionate. He is great in his crate, on a leash and doesn’t bark in the house. He settles down beautifully and loves bully sticks, peanut butter kongs and his daily walks in the woods. I think he would really like to play with another small dog. He loves to chase toys in the back yard and will try to run with stuffed animals almost as big as he is, very amusing. When he gets excited he puts his ears back and crouches down and then springs up and runs in circles. He really wants to bond with his people.

WEDNESDAY - FOZZIE & SANDY

You may recognize these adorable pups from their foster mom's blog - go to Peaceful Dog to read lots more about them!

Fozzie the Frog - what a ham, um, frog!

Beautiful Sandy doin' the Frog

THURSDAY - COOPER

This totally handsome dude is COOPER and he's adoptable through New Leash on Life in Chicago - which is Miss M's (Two Pitties in the City) alma mater! he's about 1 year old, 35 pounds (but needs to gain about 5-10 pounds). We're not quite sure what breed mix he is - he has characteristics of many! Go to Cooper's NLOL page to learn more about this handsome boy.

FRIDAY - PHANTOM
Phantom is hanging out (for now) right down the street from us at our wonderful vet's, Dr. Ruth (Sun Dog Cat Moon). She's an English Setter approx. 2 years old and has been spayed. Phantom had heartworms and our super fantastic vet has treated her and she's going on one month clear of the nasty heartworms!

Phantom taking over Dr. Ruth's chair!

*UPDATE* from Friday's post: Mom and Dad spent some quality time with Phantom on Friday. They took her for a long walk where she got to sniff everything. Then they took her shopping at Lowe's. Plus, she got to go with them to their favorite outdoor restaurant! Phantom has wonderful manners, walks well on a leash, knows sit and seemed to pick up "COME" really fast. She's a smart girl who loves affection but is not "in your face" all the time. She's also curious about her surroundings and pays attention to everything. She rode in the car nicely while buckled into her harness and just laid down on the seat and snoozed after her busy day. We don't even understand why she was given up, except that maybe she didn't hunt. But, nevermind hunting, Phantom would make a wonderful companion on long walks or hikes - leashed, of course. After all, she is bred to hunt :) And she would be just as happy to curl up next to you after that long walk. Phantom would do better in a home without cats. She hasn't really been tested around other dogs or kids yet. She seemed totally okay with other dogs she saw at the vet. She didn't bark once while she was with Mom & Dad for several hours. She greeted people very sweetly and everyone that saw her loved her.

We hope you ALL find your furever homes real soon! Good luck!

The Road Dogs

DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL FINALE and LOTS MORE!

2011-11-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

We salute all Veterans today (including our Dad)! In honor of Veterans Day, we want to mention the Pets for Patriots organization. Click on the logo to learn more about this organization that is committed to bringing together veterans and homeless, last-chance pets.

Today is also the DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL FINALE and we just want to say it's been a BLAST and we want to THANK efurryone who entered a DUCK TAPE CREATION and efurryone who stopped by to check out the amazing DUCK TAPE CREATIONS! And please check out our adorable adoptable at the end of today's post!

Before we show you today's DUCK TAPE CREATIONS, this is for BERT ~ hat's off to you, buddy!

Kayla wearing Dad's favorite hat on our trip Out West

Now ~ on to the show! Our first ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE entry today comes from WYATT and STANZIE - just in time for THANKSGIVING!

We've taken the liberty of naming their creation - TURDUCKEN! We kind of, um, appropriated the name and changed its original definition :) but we think it fits perfectly for these adorable DUCK TAPE TURKEYS that can be used as Placecard Holders OR a centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table! Wyatt and Stanzie's Mom have provided a list of supplies to make your very OWN TURDUCKEN ~

Pinecones

Duct Tape

Glue gun

Glass of wine (optional)

We suggest you go easy on that wine so you don't end up DUCK TAPING or GLUING all your furs! BOL!

Great for indoor dining at a proper table OR

Outside for a picnic!

We've got TONS of pine cones around here - Kayla likes to use them to clean her teeth. Wonder if we could get Wyatt and Stanzie to create some cool DUCK TAPE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS, too?! Whattaya say, guys? How about it?

Thanks to Wyatt and Stanzie for sharing these super adorable and creative turkeys with us. Hope we get to see pics of your Thanksgiving table with these little guys on it!

And now, for our GRAND FINALE ~ our final entry comes from none other than HIZ HONOR MAYOR FRANKIE FURTER! You're not going to believe what Frankie created from DUCK TAPE - his arch nemesis - a SNOWMAN! BOL!

We're not sure what DUCK TAPE FRANKIE has in mind for this SNOWMAN, but we're betting it's not gonna be good for the SNOWMAN! Or . . . could it be that Frankie's decided to become furiends with the snowman? Maybe having a new Ernie puppy around has mellowed Frankie's feelings about SNOWMEN?! Is this a story in the making??? Guess we'll just have to stay tuned to Frankie's blog to see where this new furiendship is headed . . .

Thanks Mayor Frankie for taking time out of your puppy-raising (not to mention MAYORAL) duties to share your DUCK TAPE CREATION with us. AND for co-hosting this fabulous BLOGVILLE DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL. We sure had fun seeing all the DUCK TAPE CREATIONS! They really surpassed anything we imagined and we hope they have inspired your own DUCK TAPE ideas!

Now, we did promise PRIZES and PRIZES there will be. All the entries are so wonderful, we could never choose a "BEST" so we're gonna choose the easy way - we (The Road Dogs and Mayor Frankie), will each randomly choose (without peeking!), one winner from EACH CATEGORY - one for ARTSY FARTSY CREATION and one for DUCK TAPE IN ACTION. We will each post the winners on our blogs on MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14! So stay tuned . . . and hang on . . .

Today is also the last "official" day for MAYZIE'S RESCUE ME HOME WEEK. But, with all the amazing participation this week, we have a feeling the spirit of RESCUE ME HOME WEEK will continue and we'll be seeing more adorable adoptables popping up all over Blogville! Thank you Mayzie for encouraging efurryone to get involved and help pups find their furever homes!

Our adorable adoptable today is living right down the street from us at our wonderful vet's, Dr. Ruth (Sun Dog Cat Moon).

Phantom taking over Dr. Ruth's chair!

Her name is Phantom and she's an English Setter. She's about 3-4 years old and has been spayed. Phantom had heartworms and our super fantastic vet has treated her and she's going on one month clear of the nasty heartworms! Mom has met Phantom in the fur and says she is a sweetie! In fact, Mom & Dad are going to get up close and fursonal with her today and take her for a walk and maybe some zoomies since she's been kinda cooped up and not able to get the proper exercise 'cause of the heartwork treatment. But she's good to go now and ready for her furever home that will give her plenty of love and exercise! If you've got a soft spot for high-energy Setters and want to know more about Phantom, just email us and we'll put you in touch with Dr. Ruth and the Setter rescue that's sponsoring sweet Phantom.

Whew! This has been a busy blogging week! Hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

The Road Dogs

DUCK DUCK COLLAR and ANOTHER ADORABLE ADOPTABLE

2011-11-10T04:27:00.000-08:00

Today's ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE CREATION is from the paws of Sugar. You are definitely going to want to make one of these for yourself 'cause - as Sugar says "it's very simple and it will be a great use as an emergency collar . . . to put in our car." And guess what??? You CAN make one! Sugar has posted a tutorial for this super DUCK TAPE COLLAR on her blog! We especially love the ARTSY hand-stamped paws all around the collar. You could probably stamp your NAME and PHONE NUMBER on it, too, or any design you want!

Doesn't Sugar look bee-yoo-ti-ful in her DUCK TAPE COLLAR?

Thanks, Sugar, for sharing your super design with us and for showing us how to make one of our own! Wow, we could make one in EVERY COLOR! Think we're gonna need more DUCK TAPE! Be sure to stop by Frankie's place to see today's DUCK TAPE IN ACTION entries!

And, now, for our ADOPTABLE DOG OF THE DAY for Mayzie's RESCUE ME HOME EVENT ~

This totally handsome dude is COOPER and he's adoptable through New Leash on Life in Chicago - which is Miss M's (Two Pitties in the City) alma mater! You can probably guess which one of us picked Cooper for today's adorable adoptable - um, yeah, COOPER! This cute guy in the picture and OUR Cooper sure have lots in common. The first couple of sentences of his description would have described our Cooper when Mom found him wandering the the Piggly Wiggly parking lot -

He's about 1 year old, 35 pounds (but needs to gain about 5-10 pounds). We're not quite sure what breed mix he is - he has characteristics of many!

Here's more about Cooper from his NLOL page -
We met Cooper on a recent trip to Animal Care and Control; he was an owner give-up and we found him cowering in the corner of his crate with his tail tucked, scared out of his mind. But he made great eye contact with our intake directors and pleaded with those big brown eyes to give him a chance, and are we glad we did! He warmed up quickly and within a matter of minutes his tail was wagging, he was chasing balls, and enjoying the TLC his new friends were giving him.

We don't think he's had any formal training, but he still walks amazingly well on a leash - he doesn't pull at all! He is young and energetic, so would greatly benefit from formal training to help improve his leash skills even more and teach him all of the basic commands. He is a quick study and is food motivated, so we know he'll excel in class. He learned "sit" during an adoption event and we're continuing to teach him new tricks. Cooper would be great for an active family without young kids who he could accidentally knock over. He is good with other dogs, and loves snuggling into a friend's lap. We'll continue to update his profile as we learn more about him, but in the meantime check out NLOL's facebook page for more pictures or contact us to meet sweet Cooper today!

We sure hope Cooper gets a great home and someone that loves to throw tennis balls for him! Could that be you???

The Road Dogs

DUCK TAPE FROM DOWN UNDER AND ACROSS THE POND

2011-11-09T04:37:00.000-08:00

[Don't forget to check out our extra special adoptables today after the DUCK TAPE entries.]

We have been amazed by the DUCK TAPE creations you have submitted. And today's self-portraits are no exception! We hope those DUCK TAPE people are taking notice!

Today's ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE creations comes from far away lands!

First up, from the Land Down Under compliments of Daisy, Bella and Kendra (DOWN UNDER DAISY) share their adorable self-portrait scuplture with us.

Daisy and Bella with "Mini Me"

They tell us the secret ingredients are a toilet paper roll with popcicle sticks for legs. Genius!

And now, from all the way Across the Pond, here is George the Lad's awesome DUCK TAPE GEORGE!

We think this should maybe be the NEW Flat George.

What do you think?

Are those COOL or WHAT?! Don't they inspire you to break out the duck tape and scissors and make a DUCK TAPE SCULPTURE of yourself??? We can't even imagine how they made these without getting DUCK TAPE all stuck to their furs! Wonder if they take commissions?

Thanks Daisy, Bella and Kendra and George for sharing your super creative self-portrait sculptures with us!

Hold on, hold on, hang with us for another minute while we share our ADOPTABLE DOGS OF THE DAY for Mayzie's RESCUE ME HOME EVENT ~ then head over to Frankie's for more DUCK TAPE festivities!

You may recognize these adorable pups from their foster mom's blog - Peaceful Dog.

Fozzie the Frog - what a ham, um, frog!

Beautiful Sandy doin' the Frog

That's right, we're featuring Fozzie and Sandy today as our adorable adoptables. They're both living the good life right now with their foster mom, but she's just preparing them to go to their furever homes. We met Fozzie and Sandy when their foster mom submitted their aDORable frog pose pics for our upcoming, soon-to-be-released calendar of Pitties in frog pose. So, they're going to be famous, too!

haha - Sandy doing a "HALF-FROG POSE"

What a happy face!

Fozzie hanging with Lamar, his foster mom's dog, who obviously already has a furever home :)

Fozzie and Sandy are being well-trained and getting lots of socializing by their awesome foster mom (and Lamar :) so they will make wonderful companions for a couple of lucky families. Could that be you??? If you, or someone you know, lives in the DC area (or VA, MD) and would be interested in learning more about Fozzie or Sandy, go to Peaceful Dog Blog to learn LOTS more about them and see more adorable pics of them. And just maybe give them a furever home!

The Road Dogs

DUCK DOOR!

2011-11-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the Blogville DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL! Plus, don't forget to check out adorable adoptable TOBY- our entry today for Mayzie's Rescue Me Home Week - AFTER today's ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE Entry!

We think this is one awesome way to stake out your territory! This way-cool entry was submitted by OSKAR and was created by his boy - JOHN! The first layer is all grey duct tape, topped with the black duct tape, and then totally covered over in clear duct tape. His own personal masterpiece. And we're betting it's probably INDESTRUCTIBLE! BOL!

Oskar helping John (hmm, maybe with more DUCK TAPE creations???)

Oskar tells us that his boy, John, also created a t-shirt out of silver duck tape when he was in high school. He wore it to school and had all his friends sign it with Sharpies. Sorry, no pics of that one. But, it sounds better than a year book to us! And probably lasts longer, too! We think Oskar's boy, John, might find himself being offered a JOB by DUCK TAPE with these awesome creative skills!

Thanks Oskar (and John) for submitting this super creative ARTSY FARTSY entry to the DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL.

We'll keep it rolling tomorrow with ANOTHER DUCK TAPE ENTRY! Stay tuned . . . But don't leave yet . . .

Here's our ADOPTABLE DOG OF THE DAY for Mayzie's RESCUE ME HOME event ~

This is Toby. He is being fostered through Save A Dog. He's a rat terrier/Jack Russell mix (approx. 1 yr old) and he sends out a big HI! to Ranger.

Toby is a small ADORABLE male short-haired terrier who has a HUGE heart. This dog has a soul, you can just see it in his eyes, in his whole expression. Whoever adopts him is going to be so lucky. We wouldn't be surprised if a book was written about him some day. This is one amazing dog who is going to blossom in your home. Like many of our rescues, he was a stray, nobody's dog, unwanted. Hard to believe. But now he is loved and adored by all the volunteers at Save A Dog. Toby is sweet, affectionate and playful. When He greets his people he will try to jump into your arms for hug and kisses. He loves kids and we recommend 10 and up for him. He is afraid of cats, so no cats, please. He can be timid with some men. He is recovering from an infection in his larynx, probably caused by the intubation during his neuter surgery. He is doing great and is not acting sick other than an occasional cough. When he was rescued he was wandering around a neighborhood in rural TN and people were threatening to shoot him, can you imagine!! Toby's foster mom says: He is smart, playful and very affectionate. He is great in his crate, on a leash and doesn’t bark in the house. He settles down beautifully and loves bully sticks, peanut butter kongs and his daily walks in the woods. I think he would really like to play with another small dog. He loves to chase toys in the back yard and will try to run with stuffed animals almost as big as he is, very amusing. When he gets excited he puts his ears back and crouches down and then springs up and runs in circles. He really wants to bond with his people. He is in a foster home so we require an application first so we can arrange for him to be brought to the shelter for the meeting. Go to Save A Dog to find out more about adopting Toby and to see more adoptable pups.

The Road Dogs

LET THE DUCK TAPE FESTIVITIES BEGIN! PLUS RESCUE ME WEEK!

2011-11-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

Duck Tape Festival + Rescue Me Week = lots of fun in Blogville and, hopefully, some new furever homes for some animals. Check out adorable adoptable Katie after the DUCK TAPE entries!

We're so excited to be co-hosting Blogville's FIRST DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL with the Honorable Mayor FRANKIE FURTER! We will be bringing you the finest ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE CREATIONS Blogville residents have to offer while MAYOR FRANKIE will presenting entries in the DUCK TAPE IN ACTION category. Without further ado, we present the first ARTSY FARTSY entry from Blogville's very own COP SARGE. Sarge had us ROFBOL with this one ~

SARGE made his very own personal CHIPMUNK!

We all know how Sarge feels about the chipmunks!

He says: "I wanted inspiration and practice for my bashings. The only problem is now that the art is done, I just wanna kill it!! BOL"

Very clever use of DUCK TAPE, Sarge! That's one way to control the enemy 'munks! Thanks so much, Sarge, for sharing your DUCK TAPE creativity with us!

Stay tuned tomorrow for another ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE CREATION. Now, head on over to Frankie's place for MORE DUCK TAPE CREATIONS. But, FIRST . . .

Don't go away -

We're also participating in Mayzie's Rescue Me Home event in honor of her Grandpa J. The first adoptable dog we would like to present is adorable little Katie! She is a chocolate brown and tan dachshund mix, 6 years old, and a tiny 10 lbs. She is housetrained and crate trained and would be the apple of your eye. After spending her life outdoors (can you believe it?) her "person" dumped her at the shelter. She's living with her foster pawrents in Georgia now, but would love her very own furever home and is more than willing to cross state lines for that perfect furever family. Could it be you??? Go HERE to read lots more about Katie and see more adorable pics at Katie's Forever Dachshund Rescue page!

Katie loves walks and is great on a leash says her foster mom.

Katie's most excited to have her own bed after spending her life outdoors! She's good with other dogs (male and female), but hasn't been tested with kids or cats. Don't you want to know MORE about little Katie?

The Road Dogs

DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL - COMING SOON!

2011-11-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

All right, duck tape fans! We have pups standing by ready to receive those cool duck tape photos that you're too embarrassed to send in! Come on - we wanna see 'em!

To get you in the mood, we're going to share a personal favorite with you today! This creation was at one of our favorite music venues in our town - it's our favorite 'cause DOGS can hang out on the deck where they play music most every night! Apparently, they was a door handle malfunction this past year and some DUCK TAPE genius came up with this creative solution. We think this might qualify for DUCK TAPE IN ACTION as well as ARTSY FARTSY DUCK TAPE. What do you think?

Pretty clever, eh?

We originally posted today, Nov. 4, as the deadline to get your entries in, but you know us - always running late. So, if you're running a little behind, but still have a duck tape creation you want to share or you get inspired this weekend, go ahead and send it in Monday or Tuesday or . . . Don't forget - PRIZES are involved!!!

As if the DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL wasn't already enough excitement for you - don't forget Mayzie's RESCUE ME WEEK next week, too! We've already got a couple of cuties ready to post!

There's lots more excitement coming up in Blogville! And if you're like us and have difficulties keeping up with all the fun goings on in Blogville, Sarge has the perfect solution - the Blogville Community Calendar - all the excitement in ONE PLACE. Thanks Sarge!!! We're already looking forward to Giving You the Bird! BOL

Th-th-th-that's all for now!

Music to Our Ears

2011-11-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

Just like humans, we dogs can get stressed out and anxious about stuff, too. Some dogs don't like loud, startling noises like thunder and fireworks. Some dogs just don't like being alone, especially a new puppy. Sometimes change of some sort can make us a bit uneasy. There are lots of awesome products out there to help us, too. Some of you have found the perfect remedy - maybe it's a thunder shirt or treat that has calming herbs. But, if you've tried everything and haven't found your perfect solution, you might consider trying - music! We sniffed out this cool website and thought we some of you might be interested - Through a Dog's Ear., co-founded by Lisa Spector, who is also a concert pianist, a Juilliard Graduate, and a Canine Music Expert.

There is so much info, we're not sure where to start, but basically Through a Dog's Ear offers musical compositions designed to calm us dogs under a variety of stressful situations, including riding in a car. The Music to Calm Your Canine Companion series helps by calming your nervous system.

Volumes I, II, & III

For you and your peeps

Music to Drive By

The Canine Noise Phobia is a different series that helps by treating and preventing sound sensitivities and noise phobias. The Noise Phobia series is a collaboration between the creators of Through a Dog's Ear and Victoria Stillwell (It's Me or the Dog).

Now, we haven't used these CDs yet because, actually, we're not a really anxious bunch here, but we love music in our house and we know that we all get pretty relaxed when Dad plays his guitar for us. We also love to use natural solutions when we can, so we think these CDs might be just the thing if you're still looking for a calming remedy.

Best of all, you can listen to lots of samples of the music before you purchase. The CDs are available as downloads, too.

As an extra treat, you can get a free download on THIS PAGE (scroll to the bottom for details).

There is also a program for rescue shelters and organizations.

Has anyone out there used these or heard any feedback?

[This is not an advertisement and we did not receive compensation of any kind for this post.]

The Road Dogs

Halloween DUCK Tape Ideas

2011-10-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Having no opposable thumbs makes carving an awesome Halloween pumpkin nearly impossible! We think Wyatt & Stanzie had some, um, professional help with their cute pumpkin :) But, never fear, our furry furiends - DUCK TAPE is HERE!

Isn't that fangtastic?! Plus, you don't have to worry about what to do with the pumpkin's guts if you have peeps like ours that don't cook!

And, if you still need a trick or treat bag for all those yummy TREATS you're sure to get on Halloween, how about this DUCK TAPE candy corn bag!

And a Halloween just isn't complete without some spooky BATS, made from DUCK TAPE, of course!

Still looking for the perfect costume? We think this would work well for you and your peeps. You could be the BACON and they could be the EGG(S)! BOL!

BACON AND EGGS!

or how about

LIFESAVERS

PIZZA - YUMMMM...

Go to Art Duck-O to see how-to's for these costumes and other cool projects! We totally think some of these costumes could work for pups, too!

If you're STUCK (BOL!) on what to make for the DUCK TAPE CONTEST, check out the links above for more cool inspiration!

Don't forget to send in your entries by November 4!

DUCK TAPE IN ACTION Photos - email to Mayor Frankie at frankiefurter (AT) wildblue (DOT) net.

DUCK TAPE ART Photos - email to The Road Dogs at roaddog (AT) road-dog-tales (DOT) com or just click on our "EMAIL US" link at the top of the blog.
The Road Dogs

All About Neem

2011-10-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

You may have heard of Neem, but in the event somebody reading this hasn't, we thought we would mention it. Now we're sure not experts or medical professionals, so don't take this as medical advice! But we've had some good results from products containing Neem oil. We started seeing flea shampoos with Neem a few years ago, but didn't really know what it was and thought it was just a new "gimmick" ingredient. But NO! We think it's the real deal.

A few years ago, Aspen started getting a skin condition that we referred to as the "creeping crud." Don't worry, we don't have pictures of it. It started in her ears, then showed up under her neck and then her elbows as kind of black and crusty - YUK! There was never a definitive answer to what exactly it was, but probably some yeasty thing. It was treated with traditional medications and seemed to pretty much disappear last year when we went "Out West" on our road trip. Yay! We figured the dryer climate didn't hurt either. We were able to stop her meds and she's been looking good. Then, in the late summer we started to see a bit of the creeping crud in her ears again. We started putting prescription drops on it, then it moved to her neck and Mom decided there must be something else to use.

So Mom went to Earth Fare and started asking the guys in the herb/vitamin section what they would recommend. They mentioned Neem so she picked up a booklet they had and read about it.

UsingNeem.com

Seems this stuff is pretty amazing. It is widely used as a natural herbicide and the cashier at Earth Fare said he uses it on his tomato plants. Here's a bit from Wikipedia:

Neem oil is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruits and seeds of the neem (Azadirachta indica), an evergreen tree which is endemic to the Indian subcontinent and has been introduced to many other areas in the tropics. It is, perhaps, the most important of the commercially available products of neem for organic farming and medicines.
Neem oil is generally red as blood, and has a rather strong odour that is said to combine the odours of peanut and garlic. It comprises mainly triglycerides and large amounts of triterpenoid compounds, which are responsible for the bitter taste. It is hydrophobic in nature and in order to emulsify it in water for application purposes, it must be formulated with appropriate surfactants.
Neem oil also contains steroids (campesterol, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol) and many triterpenoids of which azadirachtin is the most well known and studied. The azadirachtin content of neem oil varies from 300ppm to over 2500ppm depending on the extraction technology and quality of the neem seeds crushed.

Mom bought a bottle of Neem Oil and a bar of soap.

She used a couple of drops on Aspen's ears and washed her neck with the soap. Within a couple of days, the creeping crud was clearing up and she stopped using it. Aspen's ears and neck still look good. She was so impressed that she started reading more about Neem and discovered Neem Leaf capsules so she got some of those, too. Now, we're all taking Neem Leaf as it is supposed to be good for skin and digestion, among other things.

Again, we're not medical professionals and you should always check with your vet before using anything as there could be contraindications! But we wanted to share our experience with you in case you might benefit from using Neem.

Has anyone else used Neem?

The Road Dogs

More DUCK Tape

2011-10-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hey boys and girls! Are you getting your DUCK TAPE pics ready for the DUCT TAPE FESTIVAL? Do you need some inspiration? Here are a couple of ideas for you musicians out there :)

And here's a little tune by Eskimo Tailor to get you in the mood ~ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Wanna see more musical uses for duck tape? Check out www.octanecreative.com

So, don't forget to send in your DUCK TAPE IN ACTION photos to Frankie at frankiefurter (AT) wildblue (DOT) net
And your DUCK TAPE ARTSY FARTSY photos to US, The Road Dogs at roaddog (AT) road-dog-tales (DOT) com

by Friday ~ November 4

C'mon - you know you want to! DUCK TAPE RULES!

The Road Dogs

THE ALL-KAYLA MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

2011-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Kayla is a "Daddy's Girl" through and through! Even though Mom is the one who adopted Kayla and got to know her first, it was love at first sight between Dad and Kayla and she gets really bummed when he's out of town, which is WAY TOO MUCH lately, as far as we're concerned. BUT, somebody's gotta pay for the treats, right?

SO, Mom decided to take Kayla all by herself on a Magical Mystery Tour to try to help get her out of her "I MISS MY DAD" funk.

First stop - WAFFLE HOUSE for BACON!

Oh, this day is already starting out great!

Then - on to PetSmart for treats and toys and whatever Kayla wants!

No surprise here - Kayla goes right for the TREATS! She's got kinda short legs, so she's stuck with whatever's on the bottom shelf. Fortunately, there was a pretty good selection and she tore into some right there in the store!

Hmmm, guess Mom's buying those! BOL

Hey, it said BIG BITE - so Kayla took one! hehe

She took a bite out of this one, too!

Can you spot the hole in the bag?

So this is the treat haul they came home with.

Something for all of us :)

Now that Kayla has her snacks, Mom decided she needs some of those educational interactive toys to keep her from being so bored. Kayla is a very smart girl and isn't satisfied with the repetitious games of fetch and fetch and fetch some more that most of us love so much. She doesn't see the point if there's not a treat involved and after 2 or 3 fetches, she just lays down and starts gnawing on whatever she's supposed to be fetching - stick, tennis ball, pine cone, whatever. We have to say, though, that she's got some very clean teeth!

We've got lots of those "roll it around and the treat falls out" kind of toys. But Mom thought she should get something not food related for a change. She had read about some of you liking the Hide-A-Squirrel toy, so she got one of those.

None of us have figured out what the heck to do with this yet.

They brought home our own squeaky toy Pumpkin' Patch and creepy crawler spider, too! You know, in case we couldn't figure out that squirrel thingymajig.

NEXT STOP - a new collar . . .

We don't get many new collars around here. Cooper and Aspen swim so much that they had to get those NO-STINK collars which are very sturdy and don't wear out. And, well, to be honest, nobody here thinks much about collars until we see all of YOUR awesome collars. Then, we kinda get in the mood to change it up a bit. And now that we look at it, Kayla had really done a number on the old one.

So, a new collar was in order -

haha Mom's not very original, eh? Same theme, different colors. Well, Kayla DOES love her treats so bones totally suit her!
And speaking of BONES . . .

NEXT STOP - the grocery store for raw meaty bones!

Our peeps aren't as industrious as Frankie's peeps, so they have to BUY our meaty bones. But, you know something? We don't mind too much!

Cooper got one, too, but he took it to the backyard to hide it :)

All in all, Kayla thought it was a pretty spectacular day and wonders why EVERY day isn't an ALL-KAYLA MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR!

The Road Dogs

BLOG THE CHANGE

2011-10-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

We usually Blog the Change about canine issues, but today we're mixing it up and Blogging the Change for Carriage Horses. We've gotten up close and personal with this issue since we live near Charleston, SC and seen the horses here working under intense heat conditions.

Heat isn't the only danger to the carriage horses as well as people when a horse slipped its bridle in Charleston

A couple of years ago, Mom got upset enough about the matter to buy a thermometer and walk around the downtown horse carriage route taking photos of the temperatures soaring to well over 100 degrees fahrenheit. Then she called the local newspaper and they did a story about it. Turns out that the location of the "official thermometer" used for determining if it was too hot for the horses to be working was located THREE STORIES ABOVE the city streets where the air is much cooler than the steaming asphalt streets where the horses work! The city code states that the horses are to be taken off the streets when the "official" temperature reads 98 degrees. So, while the street temperature might read 120 degrees, the "official temperature" was much less, which technically allowed the horses to remain working.

After about three years of complaints by local residents, the City finally agreed to install additional thermometers at street level for a three-month trial "evaluation" period of time to see if the temperatures taken at street level and the temperature taken three stories in the air differed significantly enough to warrant installing additional thermometers at street level. They brought in a scientific thermometer company, Rees Scientific, to install the thermometers and had several public meetings about this issue. Of course, the horse carriage companies were up-in-arms about the change and spoke out loudly about it. The new thermometers were set to be installed no later than August 15, catching the tail end of the hottest part of Charleston's summer.

Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, the thermometer company pulled out of the project days before the new thermometers were set to be installed. No one is saying why. But the carriage companies got their full summer in without interference from the soaring temperatures.

Thanks for reading!

The Road Dogs' Mom

DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL - NOV 7-11

2011-10-14T05:04:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't think DUCK TAPE (or DUCT TAPE, if you prefer) is AWESOME?! It's probably one of the coolest things ever invented. It's SO cool that Avon, Ohio holds a DUCT TAPE FESTIVAL every year in its honor. SO, we thought it would be super cool to hold our very own DUCK TAPE FESTIVAL here in Blogville, with our Mayor Frankie Furter presiding over the festivities and we'll be co-hosting.

To get you in a duck tape frame of mind, we're gonna share some little known facts about duck tape -

Did you know that duck tape was originally invented to help ducklings stay close to their moms, like so -

Can you see the duck tape?

Wha-? Huh? Mom's telling us that is NOT the reason duck tape was invented. Hmmmm, well how about this -

Duct tape (the WWII military version) was first created and manufactured in 1942 (approximate date) by the Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division. Its closest predecessor was medical tape.

The original use was to keep moisture out of the ammunition cases. Because it was waterproof, people referred to the tape as "Duck Tape." Also, the tape was made using cotton duck - similar to what was used in their cloth medical tapes. Military personnel quickly discovered that the tape was very versatile and used it to fix their guns, jeeps, aircraft, etc. After the war, the tape was used in the booming housing industry to connect heating and air conditioning duct work together.

Soon, the color was changed from Army green to silver to match the duct work and people started to refer to duck tape as "Duct Tape." Things changed during the 1970s, when the partners at Manco, Inc. placed rolls of duct tape in shrink wrap, making it easier for retailers to stack the sticky rolls. Different grades and colors of duct tape weren´t far behind. Soon, duct tape became the most versatile tool in the household.

Okay, that works, too.

So, on with the celebration. We thought we'd do this in TWO parts and you can enter EITHER or BOTH.

One part will be a DUCK TAPE IN ACTION contest. What we'll be looking for here are random sitings of duck tape used in more of a practical or functional way. The sitings can be at your own house or somewhere out in the world. Say, for instance, you use duck tape to keep your leash in one piece 'cause SOMEBODY chewed it apart. That would be a good entry for DUCK TAPE IN ACTION. Or if you happen to see something like this in your travels away from home -

An excellent example of DUCK TAPE IN ACTION

PART DEUX - DUCK TAPE ART will be a contest of your ARTISTIC skills using DUCK TAPE as your medium. We want you to create something using ONLY DUCK TAPE (or duct tape). You can use any or every color you want. It can be functional and serve a purpose like this -

OR this . . .

OR it can be purely decorative, like this -

Flower by QuietMischief

We don't have many rules, but we think this one probably bears mentioning - DO NOT USE LIVE THINGS in your entries. Like this, for example -

THIS IS A NO NO!

SO, are you psyched yet? Got your DUCK TAPE ideas all ready to go?

Here's where you send 'em in by Friday, November 4-

DUCK TAPE IN ACTION Photos - email to Mayor Frankie at frankiefurter (AT) wildblue (DOT) net

DUCK TAPE ART Photos - email to The Road Dogs at roaddog (AT) road-dog-tales (DOT) com or just click on our "EMAIL US" link at the top of the blog.

We'll keep you posted with details as we think of them. But, you can start sending in your pics anytime!

The Road Ducks, um, DOGS!

WORDLESS wEDNESDAY

2011-10-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

The Road Dogs

A SMILE, A PARADE AND A SUPER TRANSPORT

2011-10-07T04:10:00.000-07:00

Well, we sure did have a super fun and informative SAFETY WEEK here in Blogville. We can say for certain that we learned LOTS of important safety tips from everyone - Deputy Bert, Clerk Mona, Chief Investigator Pip, Fire Chief Bucky, Nurse Maggie Mae Deputy Zona and Sarge - for sharing all their AWESOME safety tips with us.

And a special HUGE thanks to Sarge for organizing this SUPER event.

We also want to thank all of you for letting us serve your TRANSPORT needs during the week and hope everyone enjoyed the rides and that you got to ride in your fave.

Don't forget to stop by Bucky's for a Super 'Safety Week' Parade!

And, NOW, we have a special FINAL TRANSPORT to wrap up the week in an AWESOME way. Our pal ROO put in a request for this ride and we weren't quite sure if we would be able to get it. Turns out the military was more than happy to accomodate our request and then it was just a matter of getting the lettering right and NOW we're ready to unveil it.
This is gonna make your trip home from SAFETY WEEK super fast and super safe and we're sure it will make you SMILE, which is cool 'cause this is also World SMILE Day hosted by Sugar, Maggie Mae & Dory.

Um, Mom was too lazy to find smiley photos of US :)

Now, everyone hop aboard, fasten your safety harnesses and we guarantee you'll be home before dinnertime!

How COOL is this!??

Psssst, Roo, we hope you were talking about a plane when you asked for a "harrier" and not this kind of "harrier" - BOL!!!

Harriers - hunting hounds

Thanks again, efurryone, for a SUPER FUN and INFORMATIVE SAFETY WEEK and hope everyone finds LOTS of things to smile about today!

The Road Dogs (zoom, zoom, zoom)

JAZZI'S NATIONAL TACO DAY

2011-10-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

It's FINALLY here! The day so many have been waiting for - JAZZI'S NATIONAL TACO DAY! And we're thrilled to be celebrating it with her! Mom made us some super special BACON soft tacos! Do you think we like 'em? We think these pics show how we feel about BACON TACOS!

Mmmmmmmmmmm, BACON TACOS! Can we PLEEEEEEASE have some now??? Thanks JAZZI for hosting NATIONAL TACO DAY!

The Road Dogs

SAFETY WEEK 10/1 thru 10/7 - TRANSPORT STATION

2011-10-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, we know we're running behind schedule a bit, but please - no pushing and shoving, m'kay? There are little pups that might get squished and we don't want the First Aid Tent overwhelmed before the first session!

We're so glad someone mentioned the kittehs! We DIDN'T forget the kittehs, we just forgot that they might need their own transport that is, um, STRESS FREE, if you know what we mean :) So here are a few CATS ONLY transports if you kittehs don't want to mix and mingle with the DOGS! We know they're kinda OBVIOUS, but we didn't want any confusion about what was CATS ONLY.

And we have a whole fleet of VW buses for anybody other than dogs or kittehs or anyone that wants a private ride -

Mini Coopers (Cooper made us edit this post to include them :)

So here's the drill:

We're gonna have transportation standing by 24/7 to get you to and from all the fun and educational events during SAFETY WEEK. Check SARGE'S place for all the events and updates. Then just come to our TRANSPORT STATION and hop on the ride going to the event you want to attend. If you miss your ride to an event, we will have a couple of special shuttle rides available -

Here's a list of blogs hosting events and the corresponding scheduled transport to any event that blog is hosting. You can choose a Bus or Hummer for each event or, in the case of Bucky's Fire Safety - we wrangled a REAL FIRE TRUCK for your transportation fun.

SARGE - Traffic Safety

BERT - Search & Rescue

Bucky - Safety Week Parade & Fire Safety

Zona - Trick or Treat Safety

Pip - Identity Theft

Mona - Poisonous Plant Safety

Maggie Mae - First Aid & Food Poisons

WHEW! This transport stuff isn't as easy as we thought. Hope we covered everything and everybody. Have a great SAFETY WEEK efurrybody!

The Road Dogs

2011-09-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

We've been gearing up for Safety Week by rounding up transportation for everyone to and from all the exciting events. It's gonna be a fun-filled and informative week and we aim to get you there safely, on time and in style. Be sure to visit Sarge for all the details and updates on Safety Week and for more exciting Blogville events!

A few safety guidelines before we emBARK:

PLEASE - no pushing or shoving. There are plenty of vehicles for everyone and we don't want to have to send tiny pups like Amber to the Bang-Aid Tent before the first session. If you don't get to ride in your favorite wheels the first time, there will be plenty of other opportunities throughout the week!

REMEMBER to fasten your safety harnesses. All transportation is equipped with a variety of sizes to fit anypup.

There are a few safety seats for you extra-small pups so you can enjoy the view as you travel from event to event.

We need to make sure weight is evenly distributed throughout the vehicles, SO -

BIG DOGS (over 50 lbs.) please take a seat toward the MIDDLE of the vehicle of your choice..

LITTLE DOGS (under 50 lbs.) please sit toward the BACK or FRONT of the vehicle of your choice.

We don't want any of this -

Feel free to help yourself to any of the tasty beverages aboard your transport. Just make sure your driver sticks to water while driving. REMEMBER - SAFETY FIRST!

The Road Dogs (for all your transportation needs)

ARTSY FARTSY FRIDAY - SPECIAL EDITION

2011-09-23T01:00:00.000-07:00

We are especially excited about today's edition of Artsy Fartsy Friday because we're featuring a fabulous artist whose work you already know and adore and some of you are even lucky enough to own! Can you guess who it is? Here's a little hint . . .

That's right! The lovely Asta has graciously agreed to help us get up close and fursonal with her very talented Artsy Mom today - Amarillis Kroon. Not only are we sharing some of her awesome art here, but thanks to Asta's role as a Most Excellent Assistant, we're gonna give you a behind-the-scenes sneak peek into her artistic process. So grab a cup of coffee or a biscuit and enjoy!

Now, we have got to admit that we've wanted to do this interview for some time now - ever since we first saw this painting on Asta's blog sidebar -

- but we were kind of nervous about asking. After all, Asta and her Mom live in the very sophisticated, cultural mecca that is NEW YORK --

-- and we live in South Carolina, a place whose favorite pasttime is slurping down a bucket of oysters with a keg of beer while watching football on the big screen at the local watering hole and where shoes are optional - year round! So we were thrilled when Asta wrote back that her Mom would be glad to be featured in Artsy Fartsy Friday and even answer some our ~~nosy~~ in-depth questions! So without further ado, we present a sampling of our favorite artworks by Asta's Mom - Amarillis Kroon - and interview with Asta.

RD: Are the pet portraits painted exactly from photos or is the photo just aninspiration and starting point? For example, in Michael's Buddy - did he really have on the hat or was that something she added? We love it!

Asta: All the paintings have been done fwom photogwaphs..some awe litewal twanslations fwom the owiginal photo, some Mommi play wif..it depends on what the client wequests..some hoomans want vewy twaditional paintings, othews let us use ouw imagination. When we can do whatevew we want, sometimes they awe mowe abstwact, and incloode some collage elements as well as paint. Michaels Buddy, ackshooly had that hat on, his Dad loved to take him on a boat..and a fwiend comissioned it as a gift.

RD: How long does it usually take to paint a pet portrait?
Asta: It usually takes about two weeks fow hew to do a pawtwait..

RD: We really love the Carneval paintings with the pups in the harlequin masks? Are both paintings the same pup? What was the inspiration for the harlequin mask?

Asta: hehehe, bof of those paintings wewe of my angel sissie Nowa..mommi wanted to see if she could do two of them facing each othew..one of them was bought at a show, we still have the othew and don't want to pawt wif it..nowa wowe the mask fow the photogwaph..Mommi and Daddi wewe having a dwess up pawty and she always wanted to pawticipate in any social occasion..she would sit on a dining woom chaiw waiting fow dinnew guests and behave impeccably like the most civilized woggie-pawson evew. The painting shows hew wondewfully happy and silly side and we love it too!

RD: Your Mom paints such a variety of subjects - which is her favorite subject to paint? (You don't have to say dogs!)
Asta: Mommi fiwst stawted off painting Women and loves doing them . .

but once she stawted painting Doggies, they became hew favowite..she loves theiw pawsonalities and theiw vawiety and theiw love shining thwoo

3 Puppies on a Trip

I think she will always paint all the othew things, but will wetuwn to fuwwkids ovew and ovew. Also, I think the fuwwkids bwing most joy to the hoomans who buy them, and that is a Hoooge bonus!

RD: Our Mom & Dad love to go to Art Walks and openings in Charleston, but have never been to galleries in New York. Can you give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it's like for an artist to prepare for a show? For example, in her current show - was there a specific theme set by the gallery or did you create your own theme?
Asta: Thewe was no specific theme fow this one, but most shows do have a theme.

RD: How long did it take to paint all the works in the show?
Asta: It took Mommi about six momfs to pwepawe fow this show, about half the paintings wewe aweady done befowe.

RD: Who are all the exotic, sophisticated women in the paintings?

CEO

Asta: The women in the paintings awe usually a mix of women Mommi knows ow admiwes..many of them look a bit like mommi's Mommi, but mostly they awe all stwong and not bimbos.

RD: What is opening night like for your Mom, as an artist?
Asta: Opening night is exciting and tewwifying. Finally having many momfs of wowk all togethew, well lit and up on the walls is gweat to see, and hoping that people will enjoy looking at them and maybe wanting to own one and seeing something that speaks to them is a wondewful feeling. Seeing old fwiends and making new ones, having someone who has bought befowe and comes and says they still love theiws and want mowe is the best. It's also emotionally and physically exhausting.

RD: How would you describe her style of painting?
Asta: Hmmmm, I think it's figoowative but somewhat abstwact wif the paintings of people like Egon Shiele and Gustav Klimt being inflooences..thewe is a lot of gold leaf and silvew in many of them, but the fuwwkids paintings awe mowe all ovew the place. Twying to pin down painting in wowds is vewy hawd fow Mommi..she's not as good at talking as painting. The funniest thing is when someone at an exhibit says " I know just what you wewe thinking when you painted this" (Mommi is thinking meanwhile.."no you don't, I was thinking what to cook tonight, hehehehehe")

Heat

Birches in Snow

This next painting of someone so adorable that we know you're going to fall in love immediately - just like we did . . .

FuFu the Hammie

RD: Did you know Fufu fursonally, or was he someone's pet you painted from a photo?
Asta: Fufu was a dawling Hammie wif a blog fwom Sing a Powe when I fiwst joined DWB..he was chawming and pawticipated in all the adventoowes we had in those days, he came awound in his Fufu mobile to give evewyone a wide to the fiwst Chwissmuss pawty we had and we all love him.He was the fiwst fwiend who cwossed the bwidge and made Mommi sob and make all ouw non-bloggie fwiends think she had lost hew mind cwying ovew a hammie we nevew met, acwoss the wowld, but he touched ouw heawts and also made us wealise how much we could love a fwiend we had met on line.. The painting was comissioned by all his fwiends who asked her to do it and send it to his family. Sadly since then faw too many fwiends had to leave us, it huwts evewy time, but the love and time we shawe is wowf the pain.

RD: Now, for our most important, revealing question - What is her favorite color?
Asta: Of couwse MY favowite colow is OWANGE, hehehehe

Orange Nora

but Mommi's is a mix of stwong colows on a soft backgwound..(ochre and teal, ow puwple and owange ow wed, ow just a stwong black ow white line on a silver ow gold backgwound)

Nora Lady

When Mommi paints something, she becomes obsessed wif it and stawes at it all the time..she gets up in middle of the night wif an idea how to change something and cawwies the painting into diffewent pawts of the apawtment to stawe at it. It's by the bed at night and even doowing watching TV ow something it's thewe to look at and see what she wants to change.

Overblown Tulips

Nikki walking with Mommi in Manhattan

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Artsy Fartsy Friday and we want to thank Asta and her Mom for making it super special! See more of her paintings HERE . . . And speaking of super special - Asta is having a BIRTHDAY tomorrow! Happy Birthday ASTA!

The Road Dogs

MAGIC BUS

2011-09-22T05:39:00.000-07:00

Every day we get in the queue
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
To get on the bus that takes us to Safety Week
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
We're so excited, we just sit and smile
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
The next event is only another mile
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
Thank you, driver, for getting us here
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
You'll be a Rock Star, have no fear
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
We don't want to cause no fuss
(Too much, the Magic Bus)
But can we buy your Magic Bus?
(Too much, the Magic Bus)

HOT PINK PEPTO BUS

OPEN AIR FUN BUS

TRIPLE-DECKER SKYSCRAPER CAN'T TOP THIS HOPE YOU'RE NOT AFRAID OF HEIGHTS BUS

RED WHITE & BLUE PATRIOTIC BUS

FASHIONISTA BUS

BACK TO BASICS DOUBLE DECKER

PARTY BUS

V DUB LIMO

FOR YOU MOTORCYCLE MAMAS & PAPAS

THE LOVE BUG BUS

Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus
We want it, We want it, We want it...
(You can't have it!)
Think how much you'll save...
(You can't have it!)
We want it, We want it, We want it, We want it ...
(You can't have it!)

Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus...
We want the Magic Bus, We want the Magic Bus, We want the Magic Bus...

By: Sarge

A Super "Thanks" to Sarge for the awesome cool badge he made us for Safety Week!

The Road Dogs Professional Transportation

BEARS - Oh, my!

2011-09-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, Dad needs our expert help on a project he's working on in North Carolina. We try to work in a little fun and culture between the work - like our exciting whitewater adventures. Today, we're going to show you a little bit of art and culture in the area.

Now, we know there are lots of these statues around the country of various animals and whatnot - we've seen Moose in Utah and Trout in Montana and we know there's cows somewhere and lots of others. But in Cherokee, they have BEARS! Although these bears were not nearly as intimidating as the Grizzly that Dad tried to chase down with a camera, Cooper was still a little apprehensive. Here are just a few of the 25 bears that we've captured with the camera.

Um, is that a BEAR behind me?!

I'm outta here!

FROG butt :)

Pottery Bear

Dude, don't you know smoking isn't good for you?

Sequoyah "Syllabeary" featuring the Cherokee Syllabary and Sequoyah's familiar headdress and pipe.

Now, we're not that great with history - all those dates are a little strenuous on our mentals - but Mom's always been kinda fascinated with Native American culture so we decided to take in a little history here. We were curious about the origins of the names of the Clans around the base of the Sequoyah statue. So we looked it up and made notes about the Seven Clans. Obviously, we belong to the "Wolf" Clan! Cool!

Sequoyah - inventor of the Cherokee Syllabary

That's one BIG statue - 20 feet of California redwood!

(Make this BIG to read about the Sequoyah statue)

The Seven Clans are also represented on stones around the base of the statue.

Deer (A NI KA WI), were historically known as fast runners and hunters. Even though they hunted game for subsistence, they respected and cared for the animals while they were living among them. They were also known as messengers on an earthly level, delivering messengers from village to village, or person to person.

Bird (A NI TSI S KWA), were historically known as messengers. The belief that birds are messengers between earth and heaven, or the People and Creator, gave the members of this clan the responsibility of caring for the birds.

Long Hair (A NI GI LO HI), are also known as The Twister, Hair Hanging Down or Wind Clan. They wore elaborate hairdos and walked with a proud, twisting gait. Clan members are regarded as peacemakers and Peace Chiefs would often be from this clan. Prisoners of war, orphans of other tribes, and others with no Cherokee tribe were often adopted into this clan, thus a common interpretation of the name 'Strangers.'

Blue (A NI SA HO NI), historically this clan made medicine from a blue-colored plant to keep the children well. They are also known as the Panther or Wild Cat Clan.

Paint (A NI WO DI), were historically known as a prominent healers medicine people. Medicine is often 'painted' on a patient after harvesting, mixing and performing other aspects of the ceremony. They made red paint and prepared teas for vapor therapy specific to each ailment.

Wild Potato (A NI GA TO GE WI) historically, members of this clan were known to be 'keepers of the land' and gatherers of the wild potato in swamps along streams. They are also known as the Bear, Raccoon, or Blind Savannah Clan.

Wolf (A NI WA YAH), is the largest and most prominent clan throughout time. During the time of the Peace Chief and War Chief government setting, the War Chief would come from this clan. Wolves are known as protectors.

Oh, yeah, the WOLF Clan - that's me!

Hey, this history stuff is kinda interesting. Maybe we'll check out some more!
The Road Wolves, um, Dogs

Transport Decisions

2011-09-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

We're super excited about the upcoming Safety Week Events in Blogville. We're going to be providing transport for all of you to and from events. We wanted to make sure we had an adequate fleet of transportation so nobody would miss out on anything because they had to wait.

Also, since it IS Safety Week, we thought we should have some backups, too, in case of UNSCHEDULED EVENTS - like these, for example:

You can't always predict these UNSCHEDULE EVENTS, but we can minimize their impact on the Safety Week SCHEDULED Events by having plenty of backup transportation.

Here's a sneak peek at what we've got so far ~ a fleet of Hummer Limos ~

Classic White

Girly Girl Pink (with a cute bunny :)

Rock Star Maroon

Adventurous "Curious George on Safari" Yellow

Zebra Camouflage

With nicely-appointed interiors, we think you'll be comfy as you go from event to event.

This is just the Hummer fleet. We've got lots more sweet rides for you to choose from and we'll be previewing more in the days leading up to Safety Week.

Um, does anybody think these are too over-the-top for Safety Week? Just askin' . . .

Before we sign off for today, just want to remind any Pitties who might be draggin' their paws ~ tomorrow is the last day for submitting your FROG POSE photos for the Pit Bull Frogs calendar ~ see details here www.pitbullfrogs.com. Here's a little slide show we did for the entries so far. Aren't they adoraBULL?!

The Road Dogs

ARTSY FARTSY FRIDAY

2011-09-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

Hey! Artsy Fartsy Friday is back! We found this artist's work quite by happy accident last week and fell in love. Her work is so full of life and personality - you can almost imagine these critters walking right off the page, into your living room and having some tea and biscuits with you. The creator of this wonderful art is Elle J Wilson and her shop is brimming with over 250 (very affordable) art prints for you to drool over. We're giving you a little taste of the artistic delights in her shop, but we're not gonna spoil it too much for you. Give yourself a little treat and head on over and see if you can find your likeness among Elle J's artwork. If not, we're betting she could create one for you!

Mom is particularly smitten with this little fellow and wishes she knew him pawsonally!

Click on any link or print to be taken to Elle J's online shop!

Enjoy!

The Road Dogs

Adorable "Junkyard" Dogs Need Homes

2011-09-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

When we received this photo and story for the Pitties in Frog Pose Calendar, we knew we had to help get the word out about these adorable puppies and their sweet Mama found in a Junk Yard car in Ohio. You're gonna fall in love!

Mastering the frog pose at 4 weeks old!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That guy is such a crackup!

Won't you be my new family???

How about ME???

Don't forget ME!

Okay, now that we've lured you in with adorable puppy pics, here's their incredible story brought to you by Elite K911 in Ohio who rescued Mom Sienna and her sweet pups. Contact info for Elite K911 is included if you are interested in adopting, fostering or helping these pups in any way.

And - a super bonus - a training package is included with the adoption of these pups so they, and their new family, get off to the best possible start! It doesn't get much better than that!

Beautiful Sienna & her five perfect four-week-old pups were found in a junk yard forgotten car. She was cowering in the dirty backseat of a rotten old car in a torn down junkyard. This sweet momma & her brave little pups stared up into the flashlight as she was trying to nurse her 5 four-week-old pups. Elite K911 came to the rescue on a tip that they were at deaths door.

Elite K911 is looking for fur-ever (and foster) homes or Sienna & her pups and any donations we can raise for their shots and meds.

Once they are old enough, the Pups can be separated as Sienna is still nursing them. They are now on their way to health and stability thanks to the staff at Elite K911's training center.

If you, or your Pittie-loving friends, are interested in adopting Sienna or one (or more) of her pups, contact Deni at Elite K911 for information @ 440-666-0749, North Ridgeville, Ohio. Keep up with the Junkyard Pups here at Elite K911.

And please help pass the word!

Thanks!

The Road Dogs

.

What a BLAST!

2011-09-05T05:16:00.000-07:00

What a BLAST this Back-to-School Bash has been! We just want to give a big PAWS UP to all the organizers that put this Bash together and to everyone who hosted these super fun activities and informative classes and especially to all of you who showed up to participate in all these super fun activities. And from this group of DIS-organized pups, a special thanks to Sarge and Sugar for keeping us posted and updated on the schedule of activities. Thanks to them, we think we visited each activity at least one during the BASH! And, of course, a SUPER special thanks to our Mayor, Frankie Furter for his super fine leadership and inspiration here in Blogville! He sure gets our vote!

But, boys and girls, it's not over YET! There's one more day to get your BOUNCE on here at the Bounce House. So - come on in, the BOUNCING's fine!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

The Road Dogs

BOUNCE HOUSE - DAY 2

2011-09-04T06:52:00.000-07:00

Whoa! Sorry to keep everybody waiting to get in the Bounce House this morning. There were a couple of, um, delays. First of all, Cooper just found out about the PAWM a couple of days ago and had been sulking because he wasn't going. Mom felt so bad that she ironed his bow tie and got him all spiffed up and even put on a PAWM dress herself and . . .

CRASHED the PAWM. Nobody probably noticed the ODD couple dancing the dog trot on the edge of the dance floor away from the bright lights of the disco ball - BUT they were there.

They got home super late and were a bit slow getting up this morning to ready the Bounce House for another day of bouncing fun. So that was the first snag. THEN, for some inexplicable reason, the power went out this morning for a brief time, so nobody was doing anything before coffee - which of course could not be made without the 'lektricity. Anyway, power is back on, coffee has been drunk and the BOUNCE HOUSE is open and ready for fun! HAVE AT IT!! Keep up with all the Back-to-School Bash activities at SARGE'S or SUGAR'S!

The Road Dogs

Blogville Back-to-School Bash

2011-09-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

It's finally here - the fun we've all been waiting for! Blogville's BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASH!

The BOUNCE HOUSE is OPEN for your bouncing fun - let's get this party started!!!

There are NO RULES about the Bounce House BUT a couple of friendly suggestions might prevent delays for clean up and repairs - if you know what we mean.

* Think about eating those hotdogs AFTER bouncing

* A little nail trim BEFORE bouncing is a good idea

Other than that - have FUN!!! If you bonk your head or somebody else bonks it for you, the FIRST AID TENT is nearby!

And hey! The BOUNCE HOUSE is also a COMMENT-A-THON for Sammy Andy & Shelly aka SAS, some of Blogville's favorite kitties who are famous for their hats and awesome graphics! We missed out on their auction and the Blogville Comment-A-Thon, so we thought we would do one today! SO, for every BOUNCE (COMMENT) during the Labor Day weekend, we will donate 10 cents to the SAS. These kitties and their Mom contribute so much to Blogville so help us give a little back, won't you?!

There are more activities here in Blogville this weekend than you can shake a stick at, so head on over to SARGE'S, SUGAR'S or FRANKIE'S to check out the schedule and get your game plan ready so you don't miss a thing! HAVE FUN EFURRYBODY!

HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND - THAT MEANS NO LABOR, JUST FUN!!!

CHEERS!

THE ROAD DOGS

We Got Pressies!

2011-09-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

This has been a kind of exciting week! First up - PRESSIES!
We had such a BLAST at Wyatt's County Fair / Birthday Party! That roller coaster ride was something else! AND to TOP it off - we won a BLUE RIBBON and some super special prizes for our flower entry! And that's saying something coming from Wyatt and his supergreen paw! Hmmm, now we're wondering if maybe we were the ONLY entry in the Flower Category. BOL! Well, no matter . . . we've got a BLUE RIBBON and some great pressies so we're not gonna ask any questions :)

See our beautiful BLUE RIBBON!

It says "ROAD DOGS" but the sun's so bright you can't really see that. It's hanging on our fridge now, so everybody can see it!

Now, we don't get mail that often, so we're not as clever as some of you about opening it. BUT, we do figure if it's on the floor - it's OURS! Mom did have to help open the box, but after that - we knew exactly what to do with everything!

MOM! We could use some help here!

Our photographer can't keep up with the action - blurry photos! Note to photographer: Use "action" setting on the camera next time!

O-KAY! Now we know what to do!

Kayla goes right for the treats!

She didn't need much help getting in that box! Yummmmm. . . .

Cooper goes right for the tennis ball, of course! And this isn't just your run-of-the-mill tennis ball - it SQUEAKS, too!

He proceeds to make it his own by slobbering on it so much that nobody else will touch it!

SIT! STAY! Good ball!

Taz goes for the squeaky hamburger! He LOVES squeaky toys!

Mmmm, good hamburger!

Hmmm, how did the Coop get that hamburger? OMD - he's the HAMBURLAR! BOL!

Aspen doesn't go in much for the opening of the pressies and she's totally indignant over this current humiliation!

Shepherds are way too dignified for this nonsense!

MORGAN - HELP! Why do they insist on treating us like this!? Can't we report them to someone?

Blowing a raspberry at the whole undignified episode! But she did like those treats! And she would love to play with that squeaky tennis ball if Cooper ever leaves it unattended for a minute!

THANKS WYATT!

Okay, that was a lots of pics, but we have one more. Now, everyone knows this is NOT Mom's blog, but since she's too lazy to write one of her own, we're gonna share a tiny bit of space with her 'cause this is kind of exciting for her, PLUS it IS dog related. MODERN DOG MAGAZINE picked one of her dog-themed necklaces to feature on their "STUFF WE LOVE" page in the Fall 2011 issue (just now on newstands). It's in the print version as well as the web version of the magazine and Mom just wants to say a BIG thanks to Karin over at Modern Dog for loving it!

Okay, that's it for today. We must go rest up for the BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASH this weekend! It's gonna be another BLAST and we hope everyone has a chance to stop by for a bounce in the BOUNCE HOUSE!

The Road Dogs

Getting Ready for the Big Blogville Back to School Bash

2011-08-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

We're just chillin' until it's time for the Back to School Bash to start.

The Bounce House is all spiffied up and ready for your bouncing fun!

Just a couple of quick reminders:

Remember to get your pawdicures BEFORE bouncing. We don't want to have a lot of down time while we make repairs, um, like last time :)

Try to eat your hotdogs AFTER bouncing. Ditto above for cleanup :)

Other than that, have a great time!

Oh, yeah, the Bounce House will be a Commentathon to benefit SAS this weekend. We will donate 25 cents for each comment/bounce over the weekend. You can comment/bounce as much as you like, but we're only going to count one comment/bounce per person each day. Does that make sense? If not, don't worry - just comment/bounce 'til you can't jump anymore and we'll let our accountant figure it out!

We're looking forward to all the exciting Back-to-School Bash activities! We were so busy ~~slacking off at the pond~~ preparing the Bounce House that we didn't even get dates to the Prom or send pics in to anything! And we can't even remember if signed up for any classes. BUT, we'll be sure stop by all the activities and see what everybody's up to over the weekend. It's gonna be a BLAST!

The Road Dogs

Grape Stomping and Other Bits and Pieces

2011-08-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

We've been reading about Frankie's GRAPE ADVENTURES and then we picked up the newspaper and saw that we've got some GRAPE goings on right here in our neighborhood! Irvin House Vineyards on Wadmalaw Island is having their annual GRAPE STOMPING FESTIVAL featuring ~

you guessed it - a Lucy Look-A-Like Contest, where "I Love Lucy" Fans will get their chance to don their best Lucy costume and reenact the famous 1956 episode of "I Love Lucy" when Lucy takes a job in a vineyard and stomps grapes. Also, teams of two will compete in a grape stomping contest to see who can produce the most juice from 20 lbs. of grapes in 3 minutes.

There will be music, food and even a bounce house! And guess what? The best part is that DOGS ARE ALLOWED (on leash, of course)! So, if you or anybody you know is visiting the Charleston area today from 2:00-6:00, tell 'em about the grape stomping festival. Um, don't think we'll be going, though, as it's right smack in the middle of our swimming time.

Be sure to get in on the PAWS CROSSED AUCTION. It's down to the wire and ends tomorrow 8/28! There's lots of great deals so go check it out before it ends! It's never too early to start your holiday shopping!

And all you Pitties out there - don't forget to send in your frog pose entries for our calendar! And tell all your Pittie furiends about it, too! We've already got some GREAT entries. Do you recognize this guy?

ROO

Check out more entries HERE. We want to thank everybody that has helped us get the word out!

We've been really slack about visiting blogs and commenting lately, but we've been on some top-secret missions in undisclosed locations. One of our missions is to find the Penny Mine. You might remember that we located the Ruby Mine where Frankie is reported to have found one of his beautiful wives.

BUT, we haven't found the Lucky Penny Mine yet, so Shawnee offered to be on the lookout during her hikes and she found this and sent it to us.

It looks like Frankie might have had to work a little harder to get his Penny than his Ruby! BOL

Well, it Hurricane Irene pretty much bypassed SC and we're keeping our paws crossed for the rest of the country! Be safe!

Looking forward to the Back-to-School Bash next weekend. Keep up with the latest events on Sarge's blog and if you haven't checked out the video that Mona & the Weenie produced, you've got to check it out!

Time to go swimming and then we're gonna need a nap!

The Road Dogs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!

2011-08-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

We're as happy as can be -

our furiend Wyatt is turning THREE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!

WYATT is having a big huge County Fair blowout to celebrate his third birthday! Go HERE to check out all the fun! We are having a BLAST!!!

The Road Dogs

Whitewater Adventure (sort of)

2011-08-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, we promised photos of our whitewater adventure, so here we go -

Our trip begins here in the lovely Nantahala National Forest

This is where we will wind at the end of our adventure

After we choose our flotation device

And get on the big blue bus that takes us to where we'll put our flotation device in the river

Lots of places to choose your flotation device and guide so you don't get lost

Huh? What? We can't get on the big blue bus or in the canoe thing?

How about if we hitch a ride with these folks?

Or them? Huh? They look nice and dog-friendly.

All right, then, just throw the stick!

Here's more river adventurers

There they go . . .

This dude is trying to whitewater raft without a raft! Can you see him?

haha He fell out of this raft! OR maybe they pushed him out!

Cooper swimming out to rescue --

a STICK! BOL

Aspen let Cooper do all the hard work

There a numerous little beaches like this along the river with picnic tables

Do you see the guy that fell out of the boat? Waaaay over to the right. He's waiting for his raft to make it over to him.

Fun fact: Even though it was early August, the hottest time of the year here, the water was still SUPER cold! The "Nanny" is dam-controlled and water is pulled from the bottom of Lake Nantahala so the water is in the 50's year round!

Got a snack? Watching all this work is making me a tad hungry!

Please????

Yeah, me too!

This was a new one on us! Whitewater fishing from a raft/contraption.

What will they think of next?

End of adventure.

Time for some grub!

The Nantahala is one of Mom & Dad's favorite whitewater rafting rivers - it's a pretty easy ride and the scenery is just so beautiful!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and lots of fun adventures!

The Road Dogs

2011-08-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

Wow! Things in Blogville have gotten Fast and Furious (and we're NOT talking about that movie with the musclebound guy in it!) There's auctions, there's festivals, there's birthdays, there's wedding anniversaries. We've never seen so many activities in one place since the 2002 Olympics we attended in Park City! Thanks to Sarge and Frankie for keeping Blogville up-to-date and on track with all the goings on.

Two things we know for sure --

We'll be hosting the Bounce House once again for your bouncing fun during the BACK TO SCHOOL BASH - SEPTEMBER 3, 4, 5! We're busy getting it cleaned up all spiffy (from, um, too many hotdogs before bouncing) and repairing minor rips and tears (from some of you who didn't bother to get pawdicures BEFORE bouncing). But with a little (okay, a LOT) of 409 and several rolls of duck tape, we're sure we'll be ready to welcome all you bouncers on schedule.

Also, we talked Mom into donating something for Miss Gracie's Auction on Paws of Peace. Check it out -

These are a couple of examples to choose from. You could choose a Pawprint or a Heart. You can also have a name, a word, or a dog breed stamped on the front or back. (And, yes, MUTTS is a recognized breed, too!) This would make a GREAT present for your Mom or your favorite dog lover! These disk charms are also eco-friendly and one-of-a-kind 'cause Mom makes them each individually from recycled sterling silver. And, man, is it loud when she's hammerin' those things! If you wanna bid, but have any questions, feel free to email us.

Okay, that's about all our brains can handle for the moment! We need a nap or a snack or something . . .

The Road Dogs

A Little Road Trip

2011-08-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

We took a little road trip a couple of weeks ago to hang with our Dad while he was working out of town. It was nice to get away from the boiling heat at home and climb above sea level for a few days. It wasn't a very long road trip but the weather was much cooler. And we got to take a dip in a super awesome river. We don't have lots of pictures 'cause the roads are very winding and you can't just stop anywhere you want to take a picture. And when you're driving, pretty much all you see is trees and more trees. But, you've all probably seen pics of the Smoky Mountains, right? If not, here ya go -

courtesy of the internet

We did snag a couple of photos that made of think of our Esteemed Mayor Frankie Furter. As you know, Frankie and his lovely wives, Ruby and Penny, are getting ready to celebrate their ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We saw this restaurant and thought it would be a perfect place to celebrate with a nice romantic dinner.

We think we discovered the place where Frankie may have found his beautiful Ruby.

We're still on the lookout for Penny mine (or even a copper mine).

Congrats to the three of you on your upcoming Anniversary!

Stay tuned for pics of our exciting White Water Adventure.

The Road Dogs

Calling All Pittie Frogs!

2011-08-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hey efurryone! You may remember that we mentioned a brain ~~fart~~ storm we had about creating a calendar of Pitties in Frog Pose. Well, we have finally got a new blog for the proposed Pit Bull Frog Calendar and are opening up the Call for Entries to Pitties who love lounging about in Frog Pose. It is definitely a work in progress and if you see anything we've left out, feel free to email us about it.

So, if you're a Pittie, or know a Pittie, who likes to strike a Frog Pose, get out the camera and have someone take some awesome pics of you and send 'em in. Find out more HERE or click on the FROG

THANKS for your support! And tell all your Pittie furiends! It'll be FUN!

The Road Dogs

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY SUGAR!!!

2011-08-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

Today is SUGAR's 10th BIRTHDAY and Blogville is all smiles about it! Sugar, we hope you have a fabulous birthday and get lots of special treats!

Smilin' at ya!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUGAR!

From ~

The Road Dogs

We Would Love Your Help

2011-08-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Furiends! We've had an idea and we'd sure like your input. We got super inspired when we read a recent post over at Two Pitties in the City about Wilbur, the island-hopping Pittie. We fell in love with his relaxed frog pose.

Well, one thought led to another, the way they sometimes do, and we decided that we wanted to create a calendar of Pitties in Frog Pose! Now, if you're not a Pittie, you might be saying "Whoa, just wait a minute there! Why just Pitties?! We do a great Frog Pose!" But, just hold that thought, 'cause if we can make this calendar happen, we would LOVE to do a Frog Pose calendar featuring any and all dogs. We decided on Pitties for the first one 'cause we just really wanted to show the lovable, snuggable side of these sometimes misunderstood pups so that lots of people could see it and we thought - aha! a calendar! Plus, we will donate all the proceeds to organizations that benefit Pitties - rescue, foster, shelters, medical care, education and training. We've got several in mind, including Bad Rap among others, but haven't totally decided, so if you have a great one in mind, let us know. We could donate to at least 2 or 3.

Okay, are you still with us??? Here's where you come in right now. We need a GREAT name for the calendar. We have already enlisted the help of some of our Pittie furiends and we've got some cool suggestions. We would LOVE for you to weigh in on your favorite OR to suggest other great names. We need to have the words "Pittie" and "Frog" in there in some form or fashion 'cause we want the little computer gizmos to find us when they're searching. As soon as we have a GREAT name, we'll start a blog just for this calendar project. Then all you Pitties can start sending in your fabulous frog pose photos. So, even if you aren't a Pittie, you probably know a Pittie and they would love your help!

Here are the names that have been suggested so far (thanks Roo and Mayzie). Feel free to leave a comment with your fave OR email us if you've got other suggestions about this project.

Pit Bullfrogs (or Pit Bull Frogs)
Pittie-full Frogs
Dogs as Frogs
Kissa-Bull Frogs
Bull Frog Dogs

The Frog Pit (or Pitt) - we loved this one immediately but a frog-selling website has the domain name www.thefrogpit.com, which might be confusing.
Stay tuned for more details soon! And a HUGE SUPER THANKS for your help!

The Road Dogs

Chill Out!

2011-07-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's tongue-draggin' hot around here.

The temperature here claims to be only about 93 but the weather peeps say it FEELS like 117 and they're RIGHT! We've noticed lots of you (and us) hanging inside close to the AC, so we thought we'd post something to help cool you off. At least the THOUGHT of it might help cool you off!

These pics are from the Polar Bear Plunge New Year's Day (this year) at a local beach. Now, we'll admit it wasn't all that cold, maybe in the 50's, but it SEEMED kinda chilly that day, especially compared to TODAY.

You've heard of Polar Bear Plunges, right? Yeah, well, it's not what you'd think! There wasn't ONE polar bear in sight. BUT, there were lots of strange-looking humans doing strange things. Oh, yeah, there were some dogs. Bet they were there to see polar bears, too, and got totally disappointed!

Before we show you the pics, we must warn you that there are some scantily clad humans in these pics and one that is just EXTRA strange - we'll put it last and give you another warning in case you might get, um, offended. But we've got to put him in here 'cause we think he's trying to challenge Frankie for the role of Captain Underpants and that's just not right!

But first, we'll show you the Polar Bear Plunge in action ~

(Disclaimer: Not our video. Owner's info is listed here :)

Now, we'll show you some of those nutjobs up close and in person.

Dude looks like a lady!

Close up of a totally misnamed street sign

Hey, where's everybody going?

Water . . .get me to the water!

You want a piece of me???

Can you spot Abraham Lincoln?

Okay, here comes the one that you might not want to see. Trust us, we're real sorry we had to see it! You probably don't wanta biggify this guy! Small is bad enough!

We think he may be the one of the local politicians! BOL!

So, are ya feeling any cooler???

The Road Dogs (trying to keep cool)

Owney - The Original RAILRoad Dog

2011-07-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

We think this little guy may be our new hero! Seems he might have been the original Road Dog - RAILroad Dog, that is! We can imagine the adventures he must have had! His name is Owney and he was the unofficial mascot of the Railway Mail service in the late 1800's. He is now being honored with his very own forever stamp - debuting on July 27, 2011! You can pre-order Owney stamps through the USPS. There will even be a First Day of Issue Ceremony at the Postal Museum in Washington, DC.

Here's Owney's story gathered from various sources:

Postal workers in the Albany post office found a puppy asleep on their mail bags in 1888. It seems that he had been attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and traveled with them as they were transported around the country on the Railway Mail Service train. He was considered to be good luck by postal workers, since no train he ever rode on was in a wreck.

Owney and a letter carrier

The clerks soon adopted the little dog as their unofficial mascot, and dubbed him "Owney", although the origin of his name is unclear. As his trips grew longer, the postal clerks at Albany became concerned that the dog be identified, and, if necessary returned to them so they placed a collar on him that explained who he was and where he came from.

Owney was soon traveling all over the United States via the Railway Mail Service. Owney enchanted people from New York City to Omaha, San Francisco to Boston, and Juneau to Atlanta, as well as countless small towns across the entire country just as he had the postal clerks in Albany, and people he met began to give him items to memorialize his visit to their city. Because of this, Owney collected at least two hundred tags and other mementos from the places he visited. They marked his travels by placing tags on his collar. Throughout his life, Owney accumulated over 200 tags, tokens, trinkets, and medals, many of which are now on display at the National Postal Museum; however, a comprehensive chronology of Owney’s travels did not exist.

His longest adventure began in 1895 when Owney left Tacoma, accompanied by a mail clerk, on the Northern Pacific mail steamer “Victoria.” Owney visited Kobe, Japan, Hong Kong, and switched to the British steamer Port Phillip that carried him to Shanghai, Singapore, the Suez, Algiers and finally back home to New York. Now THAT'S a trip!

Several books have also been written based on Owney and his travels.

Here's to you, Owney - you were definitely one LUCKY DOG!

The Road Dogs (thinking it's time to pull out the maps and plan a trip!)