Is My Nose Too Big?

Ever since the Poodle reference came back in my DNA test, the dogs and people I know are teasing me about my long nose.



















What do you think? Is my nose too big?

Wuf Ya - Opie

Eight Things About Us!

Thanks to Ike, our Minnesota dogblogging Boston Terrier buddy, for tagging us ... we were beginning to think nobody loved us any more! Anyways, here are eight things you probably didn't know about each of us...

8 Secrets About Gomer

1. My favorite song of all time is “Who Let the Dogs Out” by Baha Men. Whenever I hear it playing I stand up and dance, dance, dance!
2. My favorite movies of all time are “Homeward Bound” and “Lady and The Tramp.” If dogmom puts one of those in the VCR, I stop whatever I’m doing and watch the whole movie from beginning to end.
3. When I was a little puppy, my favorite “safe place” was in the space underneath the night stand in dogmom’s bedroom. Even when I got too big to hide in there, I would squeeze and contort my body so that just one foot hung out.
4. Like Ike, sometimes I snore so loud that dogmom moves me … or kicks me off the bed completely.
5. I’m very afraid of Boxers… even though some of my bestest blogging buddies are Boxers, when I see one in dogson, I freak out and get scared and try to run away. And Maltese dogs kinda freak me out, too, ‘cuz I mistake them for rabbits until I get close enough to smell them.
6. When I start barking and dogmom says, “Whisper,” I do.
7. I like to steal Opie’s chew bone when he gets up to get a drink and eat the liver out of the middle and then let him have it back.
8. These are all related, so I’m counting them as one thing ...

- My canine teeth on my right side are both broken off and had root canals.

- During my very first root canal surgery, I woke up and tried to jump off the table before Dr. Visser was done working on my tooth.

- I have to go see Dr. Kate again next week to have another broken tooth taken out.

8 Secrets about Opie

1. My favorite song of all time is “Fur Elise.” When it’s playing on the CD or dogmom’s cell phone, I fall asleep. If I'm really anxious (like during big boomies storms) and dogmom turns that song on, I'm better ... even if I still hide behind the curtain in the bathtub.
2. I like to sit on the couch backwards and lay my head on the back of the couch and look out the window and dream about one day learning to fly and catching some of those birds and squirrels out there.
3. I absolutely refuse to come when called unless what’s being offered is better than what I’m doing at that moment – and what is considered better changes every moment, too, so that dogmom has to keep trying new stuff.
4. I sleep with my eyes open.
5. I love to run … even when I’m not supposed to be running ... but I love to convince humans to play “Catch Me If You Can” even more.
6. I especially like cats and children and little dogs … German Shepherds kind of scare me.
7. When I start barking and dogmom says, “Whisper,” I bark louder and louder. She has to say, "Wanna go in your crate?" to get me to stop.
8. I lay down in the corner of the room and whine and talk until dogmom figures out what I want her to do (sometimes it takes a long time!), especially when I want her to make Gomer give me my chew bone back!

So, those are 8 things about us that you probably didn't know yet. We're tagging Niko, Max and Amy at One Dog and Two Birds blog -- they just started blogging this month! (See their blog at www.balashankar.wordpress.com!)

Wuf Ya - Gomer & Opie

And The Winner Is...

Well, um, hmmm... about 50 dogpeople got one of our breeds right... and a few dogpeople got two of our breeds right... even if they guessed different breeds from the other guessers... but, nobody got three or four of our breeds right.

So dogmom is in a quandry... she doesn't know who to declare as winner of our favorite things basket... everybody who got two right ... (I mean, that's 50% right ... and as you know from reading our blog if you're half right about us, you're doing pretty good...) or everybody... or um, making us wait some more.

Even dogmom didn't guess more than half right, and she LIVES with us ... and has for seven years now! So... what should we do? Pick one of these and vote in the comments... dogmom says "Dogs rule!"

• Wait until the expanded breed test results come back this fall.
• Randomly draw a winner from anybody who guessed half right.
• Randomly draw a winner from anybody who guessed at all.

Ok - you can vote with your comments over the next couple of days...

MEANWHILE...

Here's what the DNA test shows is in us:

OPIE:

• American Staffordshire Terrier
• Chihuahua
• Beagle
• Poodle

Dogmom says that explains his love of children, his penchant for wearing clothes, and his taste for exotic foods...

GOMER:

• Pug
• Whippet
• Beagle
• Cocker Spaniel

Dogmom says that explains... well, that doesn't explain much. Since the Labrador that's pretty obvious didn't show up, they are going to retest Gomer in the fall, when they refine the test to look for American, British or German Labrador history.

Dogmom says that she believes the science behind the test is sound. She exchanged emails with people at the company, and they do hundreds of thousands of DNA tests each year... even though releasing the availability of testing to the general public only started in February this year.

But, she recommends that if you want to do the test on your mixed-breed dog, that you wait until the expanded breeds test is available this fall. At that point, they will be testing for 100 of the 151 AKC breeds instead of 38. They are constantly adding new breeds as they are able to verify them -- which is why American Staffordshire Terrier showed up in Opie even though it wasn't one of the listed verified breeds -- but the full 100 won't be available for a few months.

They also found the "glitch" in Labrador DNA by testing "purebred" Labradors and noticing some of the tests did not show Labrador DNA. Turns out, they were only testing for American Labrador DNA and there are three strains of Labradors in the U.S. - American, British and German.

So... Tosca can stop biting her foot... the results are in!

Wuf Ya!

Vote... And Pics from the Humane Society Walk

Don't forget to click the link at the left (or in yesterday's post) to vote in the contest to guess what breeds are in us. You could win a basket filled with our favorite things! (Or, if you don't have a K9 in your house, you could win a basket of dogmom's favorite things!)

In the meantime, we thought you might like to look at some of the pictures we took last weekend at the Carver-Scott Humane Society Walk to Unite Pets and People. We went and we looked at all the booths and met some of the dogs, but we didn't actually walk very far because Gomer's leg was still hurting him and he was limping a lot.

(BTW, he seems to be doing much better now!)

Anyways, here you go. Enjoy! (Click on the photos to see full size.)

And don't forget to vote!

Wuf Ya!

We Interrupt This Blog... (UPDATE)

For an important announcement...

Dogmom got our DNA test results in the mail yesterday!

Since nobody guessed correctly (ahem, including her) ... she's launching another survey to guess what breeds are in us.

That's right, not just Opie... but in Gomer, too. She apparently really wants to give away some of the dog treats and chew bones and toys that she bought...

You can click here to guess: http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?90B4D8C592D7C7.

Or, you can click the button at the top of our blog.

She said to tell you some hints...

• At least one breed that would appear pretty obvious is missing from each of our results.
• At least one surprising breed is listed in each of our results.
• Both of us have four breeds listed as "in the mix."
• Neither of us has a "primary breed" that makes up 50% or more of us.
• Neither of us has a "secondary breed" that is prevalent and makes up less than 50% of us.

So - click the link... guess four breeds for each of us... and we'll see if anybody can figure us out.

(Dogmom says good luck with that... after seven years, she still hasn't figured us out!)

You have until Monday night, May 28, to guess -- so tell all your friends, too, so they don't miss out!

Wuf Ya!

UPDATE - WE JUST RECEIVED CONFIRMATION FROM THE DNA TESTING COMPANY THAT ONE OF THE BREEDS IN OPIE WAS NOT ON THE ORIGINAL LIST OF BREEDS VERIFIED... SO IF YOU'VE JUST VOTED... PLEASE VOTE AGAIN, AS DOGMOM HAS ADDED THE OTHER BREEDS TESTED TO THE SURVEY LIST.

Big Weekend of Dog Events! -- UPDATED!

Ok. So, really there were two. But we don't usually get to go to two in the same day! We were sooooo excited AND we were really good boys! Can you believe it?

Dogmom couldn't...

Anyways... we went to the first event first on Sunday. FUREVER FUN DAY! It was at Pet Crossing Animal Hospital and Dental Clinic in Bloomington. That's where Dr. Kate is. You remember Dr. Kate... she's the one that fixed our teeth -- especially when Gomer had all that trouble with his? (She's also the one that just had to help Spidey over the rainbow bridge a couple of weeks ago... :( )

Anyways. It was fun.

First, we noticed Lisa from Top Dog Country Club. She was sitting out in the cold at her booth. But she recognized DogMom and then realized that she hadn't met us in dog before. Lisa gave us hugs... but more importantly, Lisa gave us TREATS! We liked her. You remember Top Dog, right? That's where we had our adoption day party last year that dogmom wrote about in the newspaper.

Then, we saw the guy at the Science Diet booth. And, know what? He gave us TREATS! We liked him, too.

Then, we waited while dogmom looked at some handmade jewelry. They had some doggie collar charms, but we told dogmom they were a little too fancy for our dogblood. We tried to knock over the display, but they had them tied really good, so that they just swayed back and forth...

Then, we went and visited Wendy at Fresh Air Training. And, know what? She gave us TREATS! But, she made us sit first and dogmom made us say our prayers.


Then, dogmom talked to somebody who turned out to be a veterinary student... and she asked us if we wanted to take a bath. By this time, we had gotten so many treats that we didn't care what she wanted us to do... so we got a bath from the vet students. They were giving half the money to the Humane Society and using the other half to fund some of their trips to help out on things like Hurricane Katrina efforts to rescue dogs and stuff.

Opie was really good and went to get his bath, but I started being scared and barking at the students... so dogmom came and put me in the tub and told me to be good or I'd have to go home. I was good after that... and, know what? They gave me TREATS!

Then, dogmom talked to Mr. Benda at Benda Photography... you remember him -- he took our portrait pictures with dogmom a couple of years ago... He didn't give us any treats on Sunday... but we like him anyways!

Oh... by the way... here's a picture of us with Dr. Kate (kneeling) and dogmom (red SW Metro Animal Rescue sweatshirt) and one of the vet techs/students (that Opie is kissing)! And, the dog in front belongs to Luanna, one of the volunteers at Southwest Metro Animal Rescue... we don't remember the girldog's name, but she's a patient of Dr. Kate's too... and, besides, she's cute, dontcha think?

UPDATE! Dogmom got an email from Luana (sorry we spelled it wrong before...). Luana is the girldog's mom... the cute girldog's name is SYDNEY! We wuf Sydney!



Wuf Ya!

Rainbows! And New Names For Us...

I'm still limping today. Dogmom says it's cuz I won't stay off the stairs and the bed...

Dogmom snapped this photo (well, two photos, actually that are laid on top of each other) this morning when we were doing our business outside....

That was right before a big flash of lightning and thunder crack that made Opie run into (literally) the screen door trying to get inside...

Dogmom says she's going to give us new names: Gimpy and Wimpy.

What do you think she means by that?

Wuf Ya!

If this worked ...

It's really cool! Blogger.com has introduced a mobile blogging feature that lets you send texts or pics from your phone directly to your blog. How cool is that?
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Jus' For You, Tosca-Girl!

Ok. So even though I'm in extreme pain... and I'm trying to milk my injury for all the treats and hugs and belly rubs I can get... I'll still post pictures of my "nekkid" belly for Tosca ... But, it's only because she was the first dog to post a comment on my blog...

(That, and the fact that she's totally HOT... even if she won't actually show her netherparts online...)

So... here goes... we tried to pose the same so that you can't tell us apart...

Oh, yeah, and we had to do it outside for all the neighbors to see... since Opie will only show his belly if he's laying on the grass... sorry, Cubby, no rabbit poo today...

Now... we tag Radio and Pippa and Ko and Lillie Valentine for naked belly shots!

Wuf Ya!

Gomer update

Well, Gomer is still limping around, but he occasionally will put some weight on his right foot. He will walk up and down the stairs, but not with his usual bounding enthusiasm. He doesn't wince or wimper when I palpate anywhere on his leg or shoulder.

I gave him some pain medication ... We'll see how he is in the morning.

Luv, Dogmom
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Naked Belly Tag... But First...

Yo - it's the Opester posting today.

We got tagged last night by Tosca for the naked belly photo tag. (Should have known she would have figured out who we were ...) Dogmom said I could post the pictures today... but ...

Well, here's the deal. The reason I'm blogging today and Gomer isn't is cuz Gomer hurt himself playing this morning. Clutz. Goofball... huh? Ok, dogmom, I'll be good.

Anyways, we got up and we went outside to pee and we came back in to eat our breakfast (measly as it is these days...) and we went back outside to sniff the grass and look at the bunnies and the geese and the squirrels and the birds and the...

Huh? Oh, yeah... sorry. Got distracted there for a minute.

Dogmom said to tell you that's why Gomer is the main writer for this blog and I just fill in occasionally.

Um. Anyways... when we came back inside, we went and got our cammo-star toy and our purple tennis ball and dogmom was throwing them and we were taking turns running and getting them and bringing them back. You know. Playing.

But then, dogmom threw the cammo-star and it was my turn to run and get it but Gomer took off around the corner and he ran after it. I stopped, of course, to avoid a collision of dogs and toys. Gomer didn't stop and slid on the hardwood floor and made the throw rug in the hallway all bumpy and then slid into the wall and started crying really loud.

Which is really bad, cuz he usually doesn't tell us when something hurts.

Anyway, he let dogmom look at his leg and he let her move it and hold it and rub it and everything. I thought he just liked getting the attention, so I went up and dropped the purple ball on his face to get him to start playing again. Nope. He didn't stand up.

When he did, he wouldn't put any weight on his foot. Dogmom said she's sure it's just a sprain. He walked three-legged up the steps when she went to take a shower. But then, he wouldn't come downstairs again.

Until, of course, she got out the treat jar. See, we've been on a diet and haven't gotten a lot of treats, so that was a huge motivator... even for me, who can take them or leave them.

Anyways, dogmom said he'd be ok. He's milking it while she's home. I bet when she leaves for work he'll start playing with me again.

Wuf Ya - Opie!
Oops... forgot to tell ya. We'll post our naked belly photos tomorrow!

Look! We're Fish!

Dogmom is a little slow these days about keeping up with everybody's blogs. She says it's cuz she's spending more time taking us on walks in the morning and in the evening... ok, she is but that doesn't mean she can't let us keep up with our friends, right?

We got home from Dog Pad last night... well, dogmom came and picked us up, ya know. Anyways, Tory told dogmom that Opie was an angel and behaved and didn't get into any trouble and even got to run around outside and didn't have any time outs at all.

I... on the other hand... was a complete jerk. I spent most of the weekend in time out cuz I just wasn't in the mood for all those other dogs and I didn't want dogmom to go bye-bye without us. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Anyways... Look! Here are our koi fish in Butchy and Snickers pond. We're sorry that it took us almost a week to notice that we were even pictured up there. Aren't we cute?

Know what we noticed even more than how cute we are? Hmmm? Just look at how much food our koi fish get. Obviously, Butchy and Snickers' mom isn't concerned that the Gomer and Opie koi fish will get fat. Meanwhile, the Gomer and Opie dogs are on a diet with rationed food and treats and chew bones.

What's up with that, dawgs?!?

Anyway... we stole this description from Butchy and Snicker's blog (http://butchyandsnickers.blogspot.com/). "This is Opie & Gomer: Opie is the top fish, Gomer the bottom fish. Opie is Metallic Golden Silver with Black edges on the scales. Gomer is Metallic Copper with Black edges on the scales. Both Opie & Gomer's Mama fish is Silver. These colors of fish are gorgeous outside in the pond, especially when the sun is shining. A photo just doesn't show their beauty."

Wuf Ya!

Happy Dogmom's Day!

We hope all the dogmoms and catmoms and other petmoms have the bestest day today! Oh yeah, and the human moms, too!
Wuf ya!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

We're Goin' to Dog Pad!

Heavy sigh...

We're waiting for dogmom to hurry up and finish packing our stuff....

Cuz... We're gonna go to Dog Pad for the weekend!

Dogmom's going to Ohio to see Siti (her mom) and since she's taking an airplane instead of the car, we're gonna stay at Tory's house (a.k.a. Dog Pad Bed 'n Biscuit in Jordan, MN.)

See ya in a few days!

Wuf Ya!

Who's Bed Is It, Anyways?

Ok. So dogmom is on this whole bed kick again. As in kicking us off the bed.

Can you believe it? She actually wants to kick Opie and me, the bestest dogs in the world, off the bed?

This picture shows where she says we're supposed to be on the bed. "Your spots" she calls them. It's a constant thing... all night long... "GO-mer, go get on Your spot." "Oh-peeee, move over to YOUR spot."

I mean, how's a dog supposed to get any sleep?

Do you dogs notice anything wrong with this picture?

Huh, do ya?

It's ok. We'll wait. I'm sure it will come to you...

Did you figure it out?

Here are some hints ...

Just look at all the room she seems to think she needs for herself. I mean, come on! Look how much better it is if I get to spread out more.

Geesh. We need help here, dogs. Big time!

Wuf Ya!

We Went to the Vet!

On Friday, dogmom took us to see Dr. Kelso! No, we aren't sick or anything... We go see him once a year for a checkup and get our vaccines.

We are both healthy. But Opie got some medicine to take when it storms. It's the same stuff that Dr. Burke gave him so he would sit quieter on car rides until he figured out that those are fun.

Dogmom says I got fatter. I weighed 59.8 pounds. She thinks I should weigh more like 55. I said they must have gotten us mixed up since they said Opie weighs 55.7 pounds. She says I can think that if I want ... but Opie should weigh more like 50!

I think she said this means more walks and not less food like last year when I weighed 70 and Opie weighed 60!

Wuf Ya!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Bird Invasion!

Ok. So Opie and me, well, we're sort of hunting breed dogs, ya know? (Even though we don't know yet what exactly Opie is made up of...) Anyway, if there is something around that we should hunt... well, we kind know about it, ya know? I mean, it's stinktive... or something like that.

Anyway, dogmom seems to think we should just ignore all the things that we think we should hunt....

Like the crows ...

And the robins ...

And the geese...

But how in the world are we supposed to ignore these ducks in the street?!?

Dogmom swears she saw four turkeys today on the way to Dog Pad... but we didn't see 'em and she doesn't have pictures...

Wuf Ya!

Pet Wash! = Car Ride!

Dogmom says we're gonna go back to the pet wash today! You know what that means, dogs?

Car Ride! Car Ride! Car Ride!

See, if we just get a bath... it's different. That means going upstairs to the bathroom and getting wet and smelly shampoo that dogmom seems to like and toweled off and staying off the bed till we're dry and all that.

But... the pet wash means a CAR RIDE! And TREATS! And getting toweled off. And then getting back in the car and watching the machines clean the outside of the car... that was kind of scary the first time... but now it means TREATS! And then stopping at the coffee place, where they give us MORE TREATS! And a longer car ride. And then going back home and taking a NAP!

Here are some old pictures from the pet wash. (Some of you have seen these before on our blog. Dogmom promises to take some more.)

See? It's a room at the car wash place in Savage. That's the closest pet wash to where we live. It has a tub that's off the floor and has a ramp for us to walk up (but we don't use it... we just jump.)

And dogmom puts money in the box on the wall and the water and the shampoo and the creme rinse come out. Then dogmom uses our light blue towels to dry us off. And then (we don't like this part) she puts more money in and the loud-windy-blower-thing comes on.

Then we jump down and wait by the door for dogmom to put everything back in our bag so we can go for a CAR RIDE!

Oh... in case you're wondering why we are getting more than one bath in a week... it's because we decided to roll around in the rabbit poop on the grass this morning. Dogmom doesn't seem to like it much when we do that... She says we're too smelly to stay in the house. We usually only go to the pet wash or bath on Saturdays... to keep dogmom from sneezing at us.

Wuf Ya!

Boomies!

Ok, dawgs. So, we were gonna talk about the pet wash for all those dogs that emailed us and read our post and asked what it is... and then we were gonna remind everybody to vote in the "Guess Opie's Breed" contest before the DNA test results come back (which should be sometime this week!)

But, instead, we have to talk about the boomies. We don't like the boomies. Dogmom thinks if she gives the boomies a cute name like boomies, that we'll not freak out. Doesn't work. Dufus of a human, you'd think she woulda figured out that it doesn't work by now.

You know what boomies are, right? I don't know what else they're called, cuz dogmom always calls 'em boomies. We don't like 'em. But I said that already.

You know how sometimes, not every time, but sometimes, when it rains, the sky flashes really really bright and then there is a big noise? Not when it's the other way around and the sky is growling for a while and then there is the light. Those growlies don't bother us. We figure the sky's just having a bad day and is upset cuz of the rain.

But the other ones... the ones that Crack! Pop! Flash! BOOOM! ... those are the boomies that we don't like. We don't like them at all!

Opie has a reason. A few years ago when we first moved to Minnesota and when Jennifer was our bestest dogwalker and dogmom was traveling a lot for her job... See, one day when Jennifer was walking us, some kids (big kids, not little kids) were playing around with these things that make a boomies sound. Not a big boomies sound like last night, but big enough, you know?

Jennifer called them firecrackers. She was mad at the kids and tried to walk us really fast and stay away from them. But, you know what they did? Do ya, huh? Those bratty kids actually threw the boomies at Opie! Right at him. They went Boom! Crack! Pop! Crack! Boom! right under Opie's tummy. Yup! Scared the bejeebees (and a lot of other stuff) right out of him.

So, it's kind of understandable that Opie's a-scare-ed of sudden loud noises. Dogmom tries to help him and for some things, he's better. Like, he doesn't freak out if dogmom drops a pan any more. (Of course, there are rewards when she does that...) And, he doesn't freak out so much at the construction sounds for the highway behind our house.

But boomies are a whole 'nuther story. There's no talkin' to him. There's no consolin' him. There's no convincin' him. His new way of coping is to try to get into the bathroom and when he does, he hides in the tub. Behind the curtain. Just sits there and shakes and stares at the corner. He doesn't want anybody around him or touching him or talking to him.

It makes dogmom feel really bad. I can tell.

I don't freak out quite that bad on the first one, but if there is a second one, I'm under the bed faster than agility dogs can run through the weave poles. And I'm not coming out till the sun is shining, I tell ya!

When we come out from our hiding places, we'll talk about the pet wash and DNA test, K?
How do you dogs feel about boomies?

Wuf Ya!