Trick Or Treat?

Hi everyone! Things have been so strange here lately! For one thing, Mama has been dressing the dogs among us up in wings, and taking us places! We've been to a whole bunch of parties. Mama tried to take pictures, but we were so busy running around with other dogs, she couldn't get any good shots. She did get pictures of our costumes. Lily is an angel (hahahhahahahahahaha!)

and Trixie is a butterfly! (Her wings are a little crooked because she rolled on them!)

 Sammy-Joe put his paw down and refused to wear a costume. He doesn't really like parties, either!

The parties were fun. But now, today, little kids just keep coming and knocking on our door! Flocks and flocks of them! They won't stop! Trixie likes kids, but they make Lily nervous, so she keeps barking at the top of her lungs! To get her to stop, Mama put some lunch meat in a bag. Whenever the kids come to the door, if Lily sits quietly, we both get some meat! Lily has lots of trouble with this concept. All she's figured out is that, when the kids come to the door, she should get meat! We think that is why the kids keep saying, "Trick or treat!" We do a trick (being quiet) and Mama gives us a treat!

We hope everyone is having a fun Halloween!

Love, Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe

What Mama Knitted

Hi guys! Its me, Lily!

So... Mama learned to knit.

Want to guess what the first thing she knitted... well, after her practice scarf... was?

She knitted a sweater.

A sweater for... me.

I guess I should try to sound a little more enthusiastic about it. I'll try it again. A sweater! For me!

I kinda do like the colors... but does it seem a little baggy in the front? 

Isn't there some sort of penguin I could donate this thing to?

Love, Lily

This Couch Is Weird!

I don't know why Grandma puts the couch cushions like this. Maybe she thinks it looks fancy, but I think it looks silly! Besides, how is anyone supposed to sit, or lay down, on it?

Oh well, I guess I can live with it.

Would Your Humans Do This?

Hi everyone! Here in Chicago it has been really nice out lately! The weather has been in the 70s and sunny! It is breezy and cool outside, and we love it. Whenever Mama is home, she makes sure to take us outside. She brings her books, her computer, or her knittung outside so we can get plenty of fresh air!
One day last week Mama saw something sad. She went to school, and walking through the parking lot, she heard someone barking! Mama followed the sound and found a car, with the windows rolled all the way up, and a little dog inside. As Mama walked closer to the car, the dog's barking turned to happy barks, like, "Hi! I'm in here! Come see me!"
It was only seventy degrees out, but Mama had noticed that when she had driven to school, her car had been uncomfortably hot and she'd had to roll down the windows. So she was worried about the little dog! First she wrote a note, saying something like, "Even though it feels cool out, it can get as hot as an oven in your car. It is very dangerous for your dog. Please don't leave him in the car alone. Signed, A Pet Lover." She left it under the windshield.
Mama went into school, still worried about the dog. She thought she could find a security guard and ask him if they could help the dog. She went into school and looked around, but she couldn't find anyone to help. She went to her class and told her teacher about it. The teacher said she'd call security, and that Mama should just get started with her work until they came. Well, the teacher must have forgotten about it, because the security guards never came!
So, durng the class break, Mama ran outside to check on the dog. Thankfully, the dog and the car were gone!
Mama thought about it all day. She wondered if it seventy degrees was considered cool enough for a dog to be left in a car, and if she was just being a worry-wart. She wrote an email to the eople at Pets Teach Us So Much, and asked them what they thought. So, they wrote about it in their blog, and they're going to discuss it in their podcast tomorrow evening.
What do you think? Do your humans leave you in the car when it is seventy degrees? Our Mama never leaves us alone in the car because she worries that someone would steal us (because we are such highly valuable dogs and cats!) but she knows many people do leave dogs in the car when they stop at the grocery store or go out to eat. We wondered, if your humans saw a dog in a car on a fairly cool day, what they would do or think.
Thats it for now! We love you, friends!

Our Awesome Playdate (and good news from Trixie)

Hi everyone! Trixie here! I wanted to share the good (and kinda bad) news with you. The GOOD news is that I went to the vet, and he thought my seizure was nothing to worry about. He said it might have been caused by a food allergy if I ate something I shouldn't have. The kinda bad news is that now I'm not allowed to have any table scraps at all, because the vet is not sure what it is I ate that caused me to have a seizure. Mama will probably still sneak me some though! Right, Mama? Please? Anyway, thanks for all your kind words and concern. I'm so glad I have friends like you!
I also have some friends in "real life." They don't have blogs, but they are still fun to play with. Today, Lily and I got to go to a playdate at a dog park! The dog park belongs to a doggie day care near here, but they let our playgroup use their park sometimes for free! Mama took lots of pictures, of course. Wanna see? Sure you do!

Here I am standing with Gibson. He's little but fierce. I loved Gibson because I could run around and play with him the same way I play with Lily! He didn't even mind if I accidentally ran him over!

Here I am walking with Gibson, and Jack. Gibson likes to play Bitey Face with Jack! I loved running around with Jack also. I didn't love when he tried to hump me. I growled at him and said, "Watch it, buddy!"
There's Jack and his little brother Kato. Kato is a chihuahua and he's even smaller than Lily! When Jack and Kato first got to the playgroup, Jack, Lily, Gibson, Dixie and I had a great time chasing Kato all around! It was all of us against him!

After all of that running around, I was so thirsty! So Mama gave me a glass of water! LOL!

Here is Dixie. Her name rhymes with mine! She mostly liked playing with her dad. In this picture she is begging for some carrots!
One of the humans brought out a bag of tennis balls! They were the same kind of Kong tennis balls that Lily plays with all the time at home! You should have seen her face when she saw them. She looked like she was in Heaven! She played with hers for almost the rest of the time, and kept dropping it right in Mama's lap to make sure none of the other dogs would take it. (I don't care much about tennis balls, but Jack and Kato love them! In fact, Jack was running around with two of them in his mouth!)

When we got home, we were exhausted! We both just lay down in the back yard and rested our eyes.

Oh, I almost forgot... there's one more thing I have to show you! You know Mama had to take a video of us playing! You can watch it if you'd like. If you can't see it here on the blog, you can follow the link here.

This was definitely one of the best days of my life! I hope I get to see all of my friends again soon!

Me And My Favorite Toy

Hi everyone! Its me, Lily, and I wanna be the star of the show today! I think I've mentioned before that my very favorite toy is Kong Air Dog Squeakair Balls.shake it! Mama took this video of me playing with my ball. You can tell in the video that I catch it in my mouth a few times. I also shake it vigorously. When the video gets blurry, thats because I'm shake-shake-shaking it! I also throw it to Mama a few times. She says I have a great throwing mouth! I could be on a baseball team, just like Snoopy!  (They look different on the website. Mama gets mine from Target, and they are all different colors!) I get so excited when I am going to get  a new ball! The first thing I do is chase it and bounce it a little, but then I must de-squeak it. Its a difficult operation that takes great fine motor skills. After de-squeaking it, I love to nibble it, throw it, catch it, chase it, and

Please realize, Mama's video taking skills aren't great! I think next time I might be better off handing the camera to Sammy-Joe! (Uh, don't tell Mama I said that!) Its a little dark and shaky... but its still great because its me!  

If you can't see the video on this page, you can also check it out here.

By the way, Trixie is going to the vet tomorrow to find out why she had a seizure. We will let you know, as soon as we can, whats going on with her. 

I gotta go now! Trixie and Sammy-Joe say Hi! I love you, friends!

Love, 

Lily

Hi From Trixie

Hi, everyone! Its me, Trixie! I just wanted to say thanks for the well-wishes and advice everyone sent last night when my Mama hijacked the blog. Apparently, last night I had a seizure! I don't really remember it. One minute I was sleeping peacefully on the couch next to Mama. The next minute, I was on the floor, and Mama, Gramma and Grampa were all sitting on the floor around me, petting me and talking sweetly to me!

I felt really sleepy and confused and I just looked up at them. I actually felt kind of happy because everyone was giving me so much attention! Even my little sister Lily seemed worried and kept sniffing me and licking me! (Although Mama told me later, Lily got scared and tried to bite me when I was having the seizure!)

My peeps decided I don't have to go to the vet until next weekend, and they don't want to give me any medicine until its really necessary. They say they're afraid seizure medicine might make me sleepy all the time and change my personality for the worse. They said if I have a seizure only once a year (which seems to be the rate since its been about a year since I had my first one) then it wouldn't interfere with my life enough to make me have to take medicine every day. Mama is mostly worried that I could have another health problem, like a tumor, causing seizures. But I doubt it, since I have only had two in my whole life! (The first one, my Mama saw, but she was home alone and nobody believed her!)

In the mean time, I have really been enjoying the extra attention my Mama and everyone else has been giving me! Mama has been giving me so many extra pets and hugs! The bad news is, Gramma gave me a bath today. Booooooooo!

Here's a picture Mama took of me a little while ago! I'm resting comfortably.

I'm still a little bummed because of the bath, but I did manage to talk Gramma out of using the blow dryer on me.

Thanks again for your friendship! It made us all feel much bette!

Love,
Trixie

Pawsitive Thoughts For Trixie, Please!!!

Hi everyone... this is Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe's Mama. They don't usually let me use their blog, but I can type faster than them and we're all a little upset right now. We needed to reach out to our bloggy friends in a time like this. Trixie had a seizure. 
I (Nicki) was sitting on the couch using the computer, with Trixie asleep on the couch next to me, and Lily chewing her bone on the floor. Suddenly Trixie flew off the couch, literally flew, as if she leapt but without using her legs! She was laying on the floor and twitching around. Lily got upset and tried to bite Trixie (I think she thought Trixie was going after her bone or something.) I yanked Lily away from her and shouted for my mom, who came and saw what was happening, but all we could do was sit on the floor and pet her and talk to her while she twitched.
It only lasted for a moment. Then she just lay there and looked at us with a dazed but loving expression on her face, like "I don't know what just happened, but how nice of you all to surround me and pet me!" 
She did have one other seizure once, maybe a year ago. She had been standing at the top of the stairs and then suddenly stumbled down the stairs as if she couldn't use her legs, and was shaking. At the time my parents were doubtful that she had a seizure, but took her to the vet anyway a few days later. The vet also doubted it and thought Trixie's legs just cramped up or something. But this time, both of my parents witnessed it and it was for sure a seizure!
They don't want to take her to the emergency vet because it just lasted a minute, so she will probably go within a few days. 
Please send us your positive thoughts and prayers that my sweet Trixie-Pixie will be healthy and that this isn't going to become a huge and terrible ordeal for her. She's just the best doggie anyone could ask for, so sweet and loving, and she's only 4 years old. 
Thanks... I knew talking to you would make me feel better! Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe say thank-you too... 
If anyone has experienced anything like this with their dog, maybe you could give us some advice too...
Thanks...
With love,
from Nicki
and Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe