STINKUM

The weather in Alabama is into a midday thunderstorm pattern now. The ground in our yard is so damp, there are toadstools growing in the dirt. We like to pounce on them and break them but Mom and Dad won't let us eat them. Under our backyard deck, the dirt is really really mu-u-ddee.

That means that me and Maggie have been muddy too. Mom says Maggie is like a character named Pigpen in a newspaper comic strip. Everywhere Maggie goes, a cloud of dirt follows her. Us Hoolies don't see that as a problem. Caked on mud keeps the skeeters away. But hoomans, even hoomans like our parents who really love dogs, aren't crazy about mud patties in the house.

So today I got took to the groomer. Maggie stays home for her baths because she doesn't like to go to the grooming salon. (And that's all we have to say on THAT subject. At least for now.) It isn't fair. I come home smellin' like I've been in a perfoom facktry and Maggie just smells like oatmeal shampoo. Last time I came home from the groomer, Buddy didn't like the way I smelled and he tried to attack me. No matter how often Mom tells 'em not to stink me up, the groomers always do. But Mom was determined today so away we went.

I got home about three hours later and I didn't want to get out of the car. This time, the stinkum perfoom was turrible. Mom had to roll down the car windows just so we could drive home without choking. This time, instead of trying to attack me, Buddy ran away from me. Maggie wouldnt even spar with me. They just left me there in the yard, all by myself.

So, I decided to do sumpen about it and I had a good couple of stabs at getting dirty again until Mom figured it out and yelled at me. "DUKE DONALD WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" 

Scratchin' off after watering the bushes

She grabbed me and hauled me inta the house and brushed the new dirt right off my legs. Then she told me to GO LIE DOWN AND BEHAVE YOURSELF!

So now, here I am. I am captive in the house while Maggie and Buddy are out there romping through the mud. That's okay, though. 'Cause I know that tomorrow it's Maggie's and Buddy's turn to get bathed. And then, with or without stinkum, they'll be captive in the house, too, probly until Monday afternoon. I figure it'll be about that long before we get cabin fever  and start some Horrendous Hooligan Havoc. And then we'll go right back outside to the mud again. 

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

HONORARY HOOLIGAN

When Maggie was a puppy, Mom called her a "wee Hooligan", which is how the name of our House came to be. That was six years ago. No one around our house is WEE anymore. (sssh, don't tell Mom I said that.)

We are not the only Hooligans around. Mom knows lotsa hoomans who live with four legged Hoolies, too. The Hooligan spirit is widespread and unstoppable!

Recently our Minister of Mischief, YumYum the Guinea Pig, brought to our attention that there is a true Wee Hooligan living in Lakeland, Florida near the 3 Grrls. We checked into that and, sure enuff! He's into evvverrrything. One look at Giz and it's obvious that he has Hooligan spirit in abundance.

SO ~ tonight it is our very great pleasure to introdoose you to the

First HONORARY HOOLIGAN.

(be sure ta sound the "H" in Honorary, just like when you say "Hooligan". That's important.)

HONORARY HOOLIGAN

GIZ

Sleepin' In

This is the way I like to spend rainy mornings.

Sleeping with one eye open

Tell it to the paw



Havin' Mom right where I want her

AAARRROOOOOOOO!    z z z z ....

The REST of the Story: the Grrls Go HOME!

The rest of the Great Rescue Run is that last Monday, the Grrls all went to a veterinarian in Lakeland, Florida. Miss Cindy emailed the chauffeurs and told ‘em about it. The vet said the Grrls are healthy -- no heartworm, no ear or eye problems, good development in hips, good skeletal development.  They have their vaccinations now.  

They went to their forever homes that afternoon. Turquoise Grrl is now called Aly. Pink Grrl is Xena. Purple Grrl is Zoey and she has already had her first grooming. Xena even slept in bed with her new family the first night.  Do you think she's going to be happy with them? They are all scheduled to be spayed within the next week. 

Things are quieter around our house, but Mom says we might have another rescue dog to Hooligan with real soon. She hasn’t mentioned this to Dad yet though.

Note from Duke’s Mom:

I’m sure you will all be happy to hear that the ADT mom of the Grrls has been rescued from the puppy mill too! We are thrilled.  She had 2 litters back to back and she is not even 2 yrs old. UGH!! She is terribly thin and needs some real  TLC. Her foster mom and the family vet have put her on a good diet and are seeing to her medical needs. Eventually she will be ready to be adopted by a loving family who will take care of her for the rest of her life. 

She will never be a puppy mill dog again.

 

This is the Grrls' mom! She is safe now, thanks to Miss Diane and to NAR.

Transportation Volunteers Are Frequently Needed.

You can help by applying at:

http://www.airedalerescue.net/  

The Great Rescue Run, Part Four

Mom says this is the next to the last installment of The Great Rescue Run and it is kinda long. Y’owl need to be sure to go potty before ya start reading, okay?

So, the parents settled us all down for the night. Jack and Sissy went to bed in the dog den. Buddy curled up in Dad’s office. Me and Maggie were in the big bedroom with Mom and Dad.

After Mom and Dad chased them around for awhile, the puppies got crated in the guest room. They were used to crates so that wasn’t a problem. But they weren’t used to the guest room or to the rain, the thunder and the lightning that was going on outside.

So they howled. And they howled and they howled and they howled.

Well, natcherly the rest of us had to chime in and teach them what howling is sposed to sound like. Pretty soon there were EIGHT Hooligans AAAROOOING at the top of our lungs! We sounded great! Xceptn I think we might have startled the puppies because after only a few seconds, they stopped singing and they didn’t make a peep the rest of the night.

Mom set the alarm clock for early thirty so she could get up and get us all medicated and fed before time to get the pups ready to go to Florida. We woke up all excited like we usually do and Maggie stopped on her way outside to growl at the door to the guest room. Mom bopped Maggie on her rear end and helped her move on down the hall. I always like it when that happens.

Just so’s you can appreciate the mileage involved in transporting the Grrls, here’s how the whole thing was organized.

Jackson, MS to Hattiesburg, MS to Gulfport, MS to Grand Bay, AL (overnight) to Pensacola, FL, to DeFuniak Springs, FL, to Tallahassee, FL, to Gainesville, FL, to Lakeland, FL. From Lakeland, Purple Grrl had to go about another hundrud miles to get to her new family. All in all, Miss Cindy at Sunshiner Airedales in Florida said she guesstimated it was about an 800 mile trip for the puppies. That’s a lot of stress. But they did fine because all the people who chauffeured them took time to cuddle them and kiss them and talk to them. One lady even rode in the back of her SUV with them while her husband drove.

Here’s a picture of the MS-ALA rescuers and drivers. That’s Miss Virginia on the left, Miss Delia is next to her, Mom is next to Miss Delia, and Miss Diane is next to Mom.

the Rescuers in the Rain!

It had been storming when the Grrls got to our house and it was storming when they left. Thunder and heavy rain was drenching the entire Gulf Coast and there were flash flood warnings from New Orleans to the Atlantic Ocean. But Mom kept on driving (she always only does the legal speed limit anyway) and even though she passed two bad wrecks near Hwy 59 in AL, Mom didn’t have any trouble getting to Pensacola.

When she got there, she met Ms Kathryn and her husband at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. The rainwater in the parking lot was ankle deep. They had to carry each pup separately to Ms Kathryn’s car and of course, everybuddy got completely drenched. The pups were smelling like… well, like wet dogs. Mom kissed each Grrl and wished them long and happy lives. Then she hugged Ms Kathryn and got back in our SUV. And Mom cried most of the way home. It doesn’t take long to get attached to dogs. That’s cause we’re Man and Woman’s Best Friends.

These are pictures of the Grrls trying to evade capture by hoomans and by the camera.

This was pretty much how the entire evening went.



Sunday night, Mom admitted to Dad that she was having separation anxiety. She *needed* to know how things were going and if the pups were okay and where they were and when they would finish their long trip. Late late Sunday night, Ms Cindy emailed all the chauffeurs to let them know that in spite of a long delay outside of Gainesville due to a traffic jam, the pups had arrived safely in Lakeland. Mom cried again, but this time it was from relief.

She let me sleep with her that night. Which is where I should sleep all the time, except that Dad has a different opinion.

But sometimes, Dad has to travel away from home on business.

                        AAARRROOOOOOOO!





Great Rescue Run, Part 3

Before we get started again, Mom says there’s no need for you all to keep jamming my email box with requests for muddy pictures of her and Dad. She says don’t hold your breath because that’s not the kind of image she wants getting’ spread around the internet. I don’t really get that. She was laughing the other night and she acted like she thought it was fun. Oh well.

So… where were we? I can’t remember so I think I’ll tell you next about that Purple collared grrl. She had really long legs (I like that in a grrl) and she was a liddle bigger than the two sisters. And she was fun, like me. She played tag with Mom and Dad. They chased her all over the house, trying to tighten her collar, but she was fast and she can jump higher than they can. I just lay on the sofa and watched the excitement. My head went back and forth: PG would run past, then Dad would run past, then PG would run back by me, then Mom would try to grab PG’s collar, then PG would jump over the ottoman and run away again. Whew! It wore me out but I laughed and laughed.

Purple Grrl

Finully Mom caught hold of that pretty purple collar with one hand and PG’s bottle-brush tail with the other. Dad came over to help. He held PG while Mom tightened the martingale.

What’s a martingale? Oh, it’s a speshul collar that’s not supposed to slip off. Heh heh heh. But PG is an Airedale. There’s never been a collar made that we couldn’t slip out of if we want to. She wanted to. And she did. Then it was run run run run through the house some more, and leaping over chairs while the parents did it all over again. (The camera was in Mom’s purse behind a closed door, sorry.)

Anyways, they gave up on the fancy-dancy martingale and got a harness to put on the Purple Grrl. It was red. She didn’t like it much but she couldn’t get out of it. Then they gave her a rope toy to play with and she had never seen one of those before. She sniffed it and cocked her head at it and put a paw on it so she could find out just what it was made of, and then she put it in her mouth and she ran into Dad’s office with it and lay down and started chewing it. Pink Grrl went right after her and tried to take it away from her, and they started tugging on opposite ends of the rope like they’d been doing it furever. Mom was so P R O U D of them and so happy their rescue experience hadn’t stressed them out too much to play. Mom and Dad took the two grrls out to potty and then brought them back in for some more playtime with the rope.

Mom offered them treats but I think I told you before that they weren’t familiar with treats. They sniffed and licked them but that was about all. Mom says these pups are going to be motivated by toys & games more than treats when they go through obedience training.

Well, those two grrls were busy with the rope and the third liddle grrl, Turquoise, still hadn’t left the guest room. Not because she was locked in there. She just stood at the doorway and whimpered for her sister. The other two would trot down the hall and try to ‘splain to her that it was okay to come out into the house, but she just couldn’t get up the courage to do it. And any time a parent went into the room to talk to her, Turquoise would run into one of the crates and hide. Mom knew Turquoise needed to go potty because she drank a lodda water when the pups first came home. And Mom was worried that Turquoise would strain her bladder by holding it for a long time.

It was sad, watching Turquoise at the door and listening to her whimper.

At last Mom said, well, maybe she will go potty on newspaper. So she put some newspaper down in the hall.

Guess WHAT? Nope. Turquoise didn’t potty on the paper.

Instead, she used it like stepping stones to get to the hall runner rug and then onto the living room rug. She had been afraid of the vinyl tile in our hallway!  None of us had even considered that, and we all felt pretty silly about it.

But really, it makes sense. The pups had been kept in crates most of their 8 months of life and they didn’t know nuthin about house floors. Purple and Pink were bold enough that it didn’t bother them, but Turquoise was more shy and Mom says T is gonna need an understanding, patient hooman to help her adapt to real dogdom.

Her bladder finully did let go inside the house but Mom didn’t say a word about that. She just cleaned it up and pretended it hadn’t happened.

Before bedtime, though, TG was following her sister around the house and she even took a treat from Dad’s hand. WOW.  She wouldn’t come when Mom called her though, she would just hunker down on the floor. Finully Mom got down on the floor with TG and started stroking her on the back. Just for a minute or so, and then she stopped and TG got up and ran away. About thirdy minutes later, Mom did it again.

And you know sumthen? Before the pups were crated for the night, Mom offered TG another treat. TG came over to take it, and she let Mom touch the side of her face evuh so gentle.

It was a good night at Hooligan House.

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

That's Turquoise Grrl on the far left. In the middle is Pink Grrl. And on the right, is Purple Grrl.

Great Rescue Run, Part Two

Before I get into the shenanigans of late Saturday night with the rescue pups, Mom wants me to tell you a little bit about each of them. She says it matters to the story.

When they first got to our house, all three of them were freaked out. One went under Mom’s car and got all muddy. Dad fussed but he knows Airedales aren’t happy unless they’re wet and dirty. This girl not only got herself covered with mud, but also her leash and her collar. And Dad’s shoes. And his pants. And his hands. I think there was even some mud on his chin.

And the puppies didn’t know about leashes so they wouldn’t walk on them. Instead, they hunkered down in the rain and refused to move at all. Mom and Dad had to pick each one up and carry them indoors. These girls are around eight months old and they weigh 45 pounds each. Heh heh heh. Wish I had a picture of Mom and Dad totin’ those muddy pups into our house! By the time everybuddy was inside, Mom and Dad looked like they had been rolling around on the wet ground with the puppies.

The puppies were very very shy and not used to being petted. But within just a little while, the mud worked its magic and the pups started wrestling and playing with each other. Just like normal Airedale Terriers.  

Two of the girls were sisters. One had a pink collar and the other one had a turquoise collar. Their fur was long and soft and curly. The third girl was taller and her fur was coarse and wiry. She had really long legs and was taller than the sisters were. Mom said she’s an Oorang like me. She had a purple collar and wasn’t as shy as the others and she was the first one to go running up the hall like Buddy does when he and Mom are playing bowling ball.

So Mom went and got a treat and held it out and told the tall girl to “Come.” And you know what? She did! She came close enough to sniff the treat and then she darted away before Mom could touch her. But it only took a couple more times until she came right up to Mom and stood still and ate the treat. Smart Girl!

The pink collar girl watched all that and decided it was okay for her to run up and down the hall with the purple girl. So they did that for quite awhile and then they went further, into the kitchen. And that’s when things got interesting.

Now, you need to know that I do not counter surf. I have better manners than that. Jack has been known to inspect the kitchen table for special treats from time to time but he's elderly and he gets speshul privilegges.  Buddy and Sissy are too short to counter surf. But Maggie… have I told you how she thinks she’s a princess?

Maggie can stand up on her hind legs and stretch them waaay out and then she stretches her whole body waaaay out and then she stretches her neck even further until she looks kind of like a snake dog. It’s really weird looking. And boy howdy, does she get in trouble for doing it! You’d think she’d have learned not to counter surf a long time ago because let me tell you, our Mom is a not pretty sight when she sees this happening. She doesn’t sound very pretty, either. But Maggie is “special”, as we’ve said before. I guess she doesn’t remember from one episode to the next that she’s gonna get her a-double-scribble in bad bad trouble for counter surfing.

Well, the reason I’m tellin’ you all this is because that Pink Girl watched Maggie counter surf ONE TIME. And THIS was the result!

And you know what? Mom didn’t say a word to that puppy. NOT ONE WORD.

She said “Pink Girl needs to have her confidence built up and reprimands are not in order under these circumstances.”

WhatEVAH!

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

The Great RESCUE Run

Our town is about 20 inches short of the amount of rain we usually have by this time of the year. Mom’s flowers are brown, the grass is brown. And it’s been so hot outside (triple digits) that nobuddy wants to play. We only go out long enough to lift our legs and then we come right back inside to the air conditioning. We’re lucky dogs. Mom and Dad rescued all of us and they make sure we are comfortable and safe from bad weather and scary things.

Some dogs aren’t as lucky as we are. Mom and Dad like to help dogs whenever they can and last weekend, they did. A lady called Mom and told her there were 3 Airedale Terrier pups in middle Mississippi that needed to go to forever homes waaaay waaaay down in south Florida. The pups weren't abused but they were neglected. They were living with an irresponsible backyard breeder who Mom said wasn't very interested in the welfare of the puppies. But there were three famblies down in Florida who were jumping up and down and begging to adopt Airedale Terriers. Mom knew she'd have to have help,  because south Florida is a long way from Hooligan House. But she said if some other hooman could get the puppies to Gulfport, Mississippi, then Mom could get them to Pensacola for someone else to help transport them south. (I didn’t know anywhere was more south-er than here, doG, but it must be really really hot down there!)

So on Saturday, Mom and Dad drove over to Gulfport and met Miss Delia and Miss Virginia and Miss Diane who brought the puppies from central Mississippi. And guess what? In the middle of the puppy exchange, the sky began to rain all over everything on the Gulf Coast. There was thunder and there was lightning and there was about 6 inches of rain. Everybuddy got wet, including the puppies. Mom and Dad drove back home through some crazy thunderstorms, and brought the pups into our house to spend the night.

the puppies inspecting their sleeping crates

We weren’t allowed to meet the puppies because Mom wasn’t sure they had all their puppy shots yet. But we sure heard them! We aarrrooooed at them through the door and they aaaroooed back at us and Maggie got mad because there were other dogs walking around in our kitchen and she growled and growled until Mom swatted her on the backside and told her to STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

Those pups didn’t know anything about being dogs. They had never seen a leash, never had a collar on before and – get this! They had never even had a treat before! Mom and Dad spent some time getting them used to treats and letting them play with our toys, and then we all went to bed because Sunday morning was going to come early and Mom was driving them to Florida and the weather was gonna be just turrible.

These are some pictures of the puppies. And I’ll write you more about them and tell you the end of the story when me and Mom get some more computer time. Right now, I feel a game of tug coming on. C’mere, Maggie! That’s my squeaky duck!

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

WRAP ME UP!

Awhile back I mentioned that ever since Hurricane Katrina, some of us Hooligans have been unhappy whenever there is a storm. Mom thinks it’s to do with barometric pressure dropping. But we can also hear lightning waaay before our hoomans do. And we can smell it too. It’s hard to splain in a dlog.

One of Mom and Dad’s friends at church, Miss Nancy, told us that she bought a Thundershirt® for her Lab/Great Dane, Willie Wonka. Willie gets storm anxiety too. Have you ever been around a nervous Great Dane? It’s not a pretty sight.

But Miss Nancy said the Thundershirt® is helping Willie Wonka. So Dad ordered one for me to try out. And would you believe it? The shirt came in the mail today and it was followed by a thunderstorm.

Mom got home with the shirt and wrapped me right up in it. It fits really really snug and puts pressure on points of my body that are supposed to help me relax. I didn’t like it at first. I could hear thunder coming and I was getting antsy and Maggie was jumping around like an idjit and I was panting and panting and trembling and Mom told me to settle down and let my new shirt do its work.

I did. And it seems to be working. We aren’t having a horrific thunderstorm but it’s a noisy one. I am sacked out on the floor between the kitchen and the TV room. Mom has tried to get me to move but I don’t want to get up. I’m just going to lie here and snooze until the thunderstorm goes away.

We’ve been having thunderstorms every day so this shirt is going to get a really really good trial. I’ll let you know how it goes. Right now, I'm feelin' the love.

aaaarrrrroooooooooooooo......

THE Best!

Dear Friends of Hooligan House,

Thank you for voting for us in the best dog blog contest a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t win the contest. We weren’t even among the finalists. It doesn’t bother me but Mom suspects that people were allowed to vote more than once. The rules didn’t say that, but they didn’t not say that, either, if you know what I mean.

So we won’t have $1000.00 to give SouthBark Animal Rescue to help them buy a van. They really really need one because they go all over Alabama to different city dog pounds and save pets that are on death row. Right now, SouthBark has to pay to rent a van every week and Mom says that costs around $900.00 for each transport from beginning to end. That’s because they save dogs that have health or other physical problems as well as pretty dogs. All the dogs go to a vet and get the best care possible before they are adopted out to new families. SouthBark has fundraisers every week and people are generous, but there’s always need for more donations and a new van is top prioriteee.

SouthBark really really needs help. Mom said if any of you reading this want to donate, even a dollar, Puh-leeeeze email  Foster@saveasoutherndog.com and get their mailing address. And thank you again, for believing in us. We love writing our dlog, yes we are calling it a "dlog" now 'cuz it's a DOG LOG. And you guys who keep reading us are the best prize we could evah get!

Oh, and that part I started with, about us losing

the best dog blog contest?

In MY opinion, the Hooligan who has the toy 

at the end of the game is the winner.

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

HOW I SPENT THE FOURTH OF JULY

I covered my face when the fireworks started.

Mom gave me a special treat she got from the veterinarian.

Mom put me in her bed.

I passed out.

 zzzzzzzzz...