Trip to Madison

Look who it is!

It's Romare, Keeley's best bud airedale friend.

Today we drove up to Madison for a visit.  The weather was great.  Keeley had a blast romping with Romare in his big yard and playing with his new neighbor dog, Roxy.

It was a fun day!

Keeley and Teagan as Toys

Here are some toy dog figurines in my daycare that look like Teagan and Keeley.

Daycare Dogs

Earlier this summer, I opened a family daycare in my home.  It's been quite the adjustment for the dogs. They are actually doing quite well.  I knew Keeley would love it but I was worried about how Teagan would react.  But to my surprise, she's done excellent!  It's like she suddenly had a brain growth spurt.  She knows more words, leaves the kids alone, and is pretty chill all day long.  I'm so proud of her!

In daycare, we've been doing a lot of coloring and drawing.  I never can think of what to draw, so usually just end up drawing a picture of my pups, like the one above.

Keeley, as always, likes to be right in the middle of things.  

Here he's lying on one of our sidewalk chalk drawings. 

One day, a daycare kid decided to sort out the dog toys based on which dog each toy seemed to go with.  I was amazed that Keeley and Teagan sat patiently through the whole ordeal.   Teagan got all the balls and chew toys.  Keeley got all the more unique and expensive toys.

Dogs will be dogs

This totally negates the bath I just gave her!

Summertime...

There's Teagan posing in front of my container garden.  The backyard is looking fantastic right now.  Keeley decided to skip the doggie bed and just sleep on the concrete.  He likes to sun his buns, but after a while he'll get up and move to a shadier location.

New Song For Teagan

You know we are always creating songs for Keeley and Teagan.  The latest we've got for Teagan is based on the Ting Ting's song "That's Not My Name".



Teagan's version goes like this:
"I don't know words because I'm just a dog
It's a difficulty and I'm licking with my tongue and I
I keep barking, can't keep me together
People around gotta find something to say now

Can't hold back, everyday I bark
Don't wanna be a loner
Listen to me, oh no
I never say anything at all
Because I'm just a dog you know, don't forget, no

no, no, no

They call me 'Mona'
They call me 'Ashley'
They call me 'Boo-Boo'
They call me 'Wolfie'
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name

They call me 'baby'
But I'm a lady
'Little Wolf Girl'
Always the same
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name

I never miss the catch they throw the ball
I'm the last pup standing up against my mom
Keep my guard up, always watchful, keep going
Getting worked up and standing on the table

So alone inside my crate now
Lock myself away
Listen to me, I'm not
Although I'm a pretty puppy and
Everything considered they forget my name
(ame, ame, ame)

They call me 'Mona'
They call me 'Ashley'
They call me 'Boo-Boo'
They call me 'Wolfie'
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name

They call me 'baby'
But I'm a lady
'Little Wolf Girl'
Always the same
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name
That's not my name

Are you calling me girlie?
Are you calling me simple?
Are you calling me girlie?
Are you calling me simple?"

Mona, Ashley, Boo-boo, Wolfie, Baby Girl, Little Wolf Girl, Girlie, and Simple are all names that we call Teagan from time to time.  She doesn't know words but she likes it when we sing to her and use her belly as a drum.

Guess Who Visited Us Yesterday?

It was ROMARE!  We love Romare and it's been so long since we last saw him.  He's looking so good!  He's lost a lot of weight.  Can you believe he's 9 years old?  He's got a puppy face!  Here he's lounging on mama's bed.  It was so hot outside, that Romare choose to stay inside where it was cooler instead of being outside with the people.

Unfortunately, Teagan was her normal cranky self and kept barking at Romare.  Then finally Romare must have had enough of her attitude and all he did was put one big paw on her and she shut up and steered clear of him for the rest of the day.  Peace at last!

Keeley's private beach

This is Keeley's private beach resort.  He just loves sand.  Whenever we take a walk on a beach, Keeley always gets a spring in his step and wants to play.  I say that he gets feeling a little frisky too since he aggressively tries to engage Teagan which is not normal!  Keeley acts like he's hopped up on goofballs or something.  Teagan tries to run away from him and she looks at me like she's saying, "What the heck has gotten into this guy!?!?"  I don't know, Keeley just loves beaches and sand and he even likes to play tag with the waves.  I promised him that if we ever did win the lottery, that I'd buy him a beach house.

A Horrible Walk At The Parkway Today

Since Keeley & Teagan have been such good dogs lately, I thought I'd reward them with a walk at the parkway today (instead of in our neighborhood).  I thought they would appreciate the novelty and we'd have a nice little leisurely walk.  Boy was I wrong!  These pups drove me crazy with their shenanigans!

First there was the excessive pulling (Teagan).  And then the refusing to walk forward stubbornness (Keeley).  Then they got "critters on the brain" and had to mouse around in the tall grass.

Still, at least the setting was pretty.

But then we came across this!  This used to be like the coolest tree fort just a couple of weeks ago, but now it seems someone has decided to destroy it.  :(  Why would someone do something like that?  It's such a bummer!

But we had to continue on with our miserable walk anyhow.

Teagan wanted to drink the gross river water, but I wouldn't let her.  She's got her heart set on acquiring some parasites it seems.

And here's Keeley looking completely exhausted at the end of our walk.

New Car / New Crates

Ryan got in a car crash and the Kia was totaled.  He's okay now, but if the dogs had been in the car, they probably would have been killed.  So the pup's grandma got a new car and now insists that the pups ride in crates for safety's sake.  It took them a little while to get used to it, but they're fine with it now.  Car rides usually mean they're going some place fun, so the adjustment wasn't too bad.  Plus they sit up higher now, so they've got a better view out the windows.

Dogs Against Romney

Have you seen this yet?

If not, you must check it out!  Here's a link to Dogs Against Romney.

It's all about how Mitt Romney once drove his family to vacation in Canada and put the family dog in a crate on the roof of the car!  The poor dog was so freaked out that it started to experience severe urinary incontinence. So Mitt, pulled over at a gas station and hosed off the car and the dog in the crate on the roof and just got back on the freeway!  He claims that the dog was just fine and that he lived a long life, but in reality the dog ran away when finally let out of the roof crate when they got to their destination.

The slogans are great!  Like:  "Mitt is Mean!", "I'm not luggage!", and "I ride inside!".

Comparisons

We tend to make a lot of comparisons between Keeley and Teagan. Here are a few of them:

Keeley brings the funk. Teagan brings the noise.
Keeley has a distinct sorta stinky odor to him. I can't seem to get rid of it. I'll give him a bath and within 3 days his funk is back. I've just gotten used to it, but everyone else is constantly telling me how stinky he is. Teagan has a hard time containing her excitement and once she starts barking, it's difficult to get her to stop.

Keeley is interval training. Teagan is endurance training.
When walking the dogs together with another person, the person that has Teagan is going to get an endurance workout because she wants to go full speed straight ahead the whole time. It's hard work holding her back or matching her pace, either way. On the other hand, the person walking Keeley is going to get some interval training. Keeley likes to stop and sniff things a lot but he can't stand for Teagan to be ahead of him at the same time. So with Keeley you have to do these sprints to catch up to and get ahead of Teagan. But as soon as he's ahead of her, he'll find something to sniff for several minutes and she'll get past him again.

Keeley is the warm-up. Teagan is the workout.
When I walk the dogs separately by myself, I always walk Keeley first because he's my warm-up. Without Teagan there to catch up to, it's a much more leisurely walk with Keeley. I take Teagan for her walk second because she's all about go-go-go! She always makes sure I'm sweating by the end of the walk.

Keeley is the helper dog. Teagan is the simple dog.
If you don't know about Hyperbole and a Half, you have to check it out. The posts about her 2 dogs are the best! Keeley is a lot like the smart but neurotic "helper dog" and Teagan is like the "simple dog". The post about "Dogs don't understand basic concepts like Moving" is hilarious. When the simple dog finally becomes aware of something being wrong (even though the helper dog has been stressing about it for a long time already) and starts making a high pitched noise, that's so Teagan! And then the person yelling at the simple dog, and it thinks "Sounds! U R making sounds! Me too! We R sound making buddies!" well, that's very Teagan too. We used to think that Teagan was just dumb, but now we've pretty much decided that she's probably of normal doggie intelligence, but because Keeley is brilliant, he makes Teagan appear dumber than she really is.

Teagan and her xmas doggie

Teagan's grandma got her this cute Barbie dog stuffie for Christmas. We think it's sorta looks like Teagan. I was calling it Teagan's baby but she's more interested in eating it's nose than treating it like her baby.