Elsa's Menagerie

So, I used to just post all of my photos of my pets and my rambling about them on my main blog. But then I decided that I wanted to also be able to beg people to donate to MY KO-FI every time I talk about my cats and dogs, so now they get their own blog. (Not to guilt anyone, though. None of my animals are dependent upon my paycheck. I'm just desperately seeking pocket change and hoping some people will consider animal pictures to be a service.)

[farm-paws]

Puppies are great cause 90% of the time they’re just hanging out and you’re like ‘wow what an amazing tiny dog’ and then two seconds later they commit an unmentionable sin

[timsforeverhome]

What is it y'all say

Tuck him in Tuesday?

[teethburglar]

It’s now Tuck him in Thursday.

[teethburglar]

Him

[timsforeverhome]

And it's Tuck Him in Tuesday again :D

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

I have tucked in the boy

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

SHE WON’T GET DOWN

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

Me: //eating fried noodles like popcorn

Beast: //STARING. ENDLESSLY.

Me: ...//offers him one

Beast: //eats it

Me: ????????

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

Very dignified

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

An itchy boy

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

so, we have a dog flap in the back door so the dogs can go in and out whenever they please, and this used to mean that they would do most of their running around OUTSIDE, but for whatever reason, lately they’ve decided they can only do that outside if a human being is standing by like a lifeguard. we don’t even need to actually interact with them. as long as someone is standing out there, the dogs will chase each other around and actually burn off some energy

if someone isn’t standing out there, the dogs will go out to go to the bathroom and they’ll sort of halfheartedly paw at each other, but they only stay out for a few minutes now. very little playing actually happens outside anymore if they don’t have a supervisor. no idea why.

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

so puck is outside sleeping on the porch, because once autumn starts to set in he can happily spend 14 hours a day sleeping on the porch, but at the moment he’s asleep RIGHT in front of the door, so he’s blocking the dog flap

and sawyer is trying to get out without stepping on him, which means just sticking his head out, barking, very delicately lifting one foot, and then thinking better of it and pulling his head back inside

puck is fully aware this is happening. he lifted his head and looked right at sawyer before going back to sleep. he’s just steadfastly refusing to unblock the door.

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

in the past, we always took the corgis for walks at the same time. it just seemed to make sense. but Biscuit was always trying to be at the front of the pack, SPRINTING nonstop against the leash. it was impossible to walk him, and he was just as stressed by it as we were and started hiding whenever we took his harness out, so we stopped trying to walk him entirely.

but the other day when I had to take him to the vet’s office we discovered he’s a bit, uh ... chunky and needs more exercise. and on the way to that same appointment, I noticed something. before he realized I was taking him to the car, he just thought he was going for a walk. and he was all for it. he was raring to go and he was doing that corgi prance toward the street.

so I finally had the obvious idea: what if we just ... walk Biscuit by himself?

anyway, his foot’s basically fine now, though his toe still looks a bit gnarly ‘cause the quick is bare and he licked all the fur off before I took him to the vet, so today I harnessed him up with a lot of blueberry bribery and my mom and I took him for a walk all by himself on the flats around the house and he was a perfect gentleman. he was thrilled. I gotta start getting in shape for the eventual trip to Yellowstone anyway, so Biscuit can help with that.

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

we took Biscuit’s donut of shame off, and after three days of him not being able to scratch his neck or the back of his head, I’m pretty sure he went unconscious out of sheer bliss from me scritching his scruff for like ten minutes

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

Donut of shame

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

I had to bring Biscuit to the vet today ‘cause he?? somehow?? managed to entirely rip out one of his dewclaws??? No one was home when he managed it, so we have no idea what he got it caught on but ANYWAY

It’s mostly fine. He’s got some antibiotics and some pain meds. But! We also figured out why he’s been such an unbearable goblin lately!

He has two broken incisors. Best guess, he stole a rock that Sawyer was chewing on under the assumption it was a toy, because Biscuit likes to take all the toys, and didn’t realize it wasn’t a toy until he chomped down on it. But either way, we know now!

Now the only issue is that our vet is so backed up that we couldn’t schedule the tooth extraction ‘til November.

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

We turned the AC on

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

puck is the first dog we’ve had with half-pricked ears, and he’s reasonably long haired, which means he’s also the first dog we’ve had who can just completely make his ears disappear at will, and every time he does it is the cutest thing ever, but also every time he does it while you’re looking at him straight on, he looks like a worm on a string toy

[catdogcaaaaatdooooog]

okay so I was complaining to my mom on the phone earlier that Sawyer just has so much excitable pee. so much. like, I get that the common advice is ‘don’t acknowledge him until he’s calm, don’t rile him up’ but we DON’T. seeing us WALK INTO THE ROOM is enough to get the water works going. and he’s like six months old. I don’t think any of our other dogs have had THIS MUCH PEE for this long before, though I do understand it’s nothing unusual.

but then I guess Mom mentioned it to Dad, who texted me at like 1 AM to take all the dogs Seresto collars off and he’ll call in the morning to explain, but because my phone legitimately does not let me know when I get a text message unless I am actively using it, I only got the message a bit ago at like 4 AM. so I had to drag my vaccinated, sore, headache’d ass out of bed to go down and yank all their collars off and then trudge back upstairs to get comfy again.

if nothing else, Sawyer has a very firm grasp on bedtime. I let Puck out after I yanked his collar because he doesn’t like when people mess with his collars and going outside relaxes him, and I figured Sawyer would wanna follow him, so I let him out of his crate to do so. he came out, got a drink, and went right back to bed. he knows when he’s supposed to wake up for the day and this sure as hell is not that time, chief.

anyway I looked it up and I guess the government is attempting to get Seresto to recall their collars for being considerably less safe than previously assumed. then I washed my hands up to the elbows twice. no idea if the collar had anything to do with Sawyer being a fire hydrant, but I figure taking it off won’t hurt.