Entertainment...

Mamma Heartbeat here. Thought it would be fun to show you what we do when we are bored around here.

This will be the theme for the week.

When the pups get bored in the back yard, they chew. And chew. And chew.

Usually, the toys in the yard are quite enough entertainment. But occasionally this happens...

That used to be more like this...

And then we have our sweet little Lilly...

And no- I don't know why she has bannished herself to the corner. Remember, her vision is questionable so maybe she doesn't care. Of course, after I took this picture I just had to snuggle with her on the couch.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "Entertainment".

Please help us!

Be sure you sign in via the Pepsi website or via your facebook account and THEN vote!

Just a dog...

One of my favorite all time poems has been put into a video format. Enjoy!

WOW!!!

Mamma Heartbeat here! I stumbled across these videos on another blog and wanted to share. WARNING! Get your hankie...

Puppies, Puppies, Puppies

So you wanted puppy pictures did ya? Well I've gottem'!

And they are ccuuuuuuuuuuuttttteee!!

First up is Calhoun. Even at 4 weeks old, he knew he was the Boss!

And here he is at about 10 weeks or so. He had to stay with my parents for a weekend because I had to travel unexpectedly for work. He had some fun in their hostas!

Since Lucy's Gotcha Day came at about 8 months, we don't really have puppy pics. That's okay though. She's still our littlest baby...

And here we have little Nikki! She was probably just over 12 weeks here. Her litter- the N's and McIver's litter- the M's trained together. The M's are about 2 weeks older. A couple of the L's were here as well. They were probably about 7 months old. We held "puppy walks" in downtown. What a sight!! Ten or fifteen little Germie's walkin' in a line on Saturday morning. Look at that "sit"! Good girl!

Next up is McIver. What a cutie! When his ears stood straight up, the actually touched at the tips!! He was probably around 6 weeks or so. We are still waiting for him to grow into those ears!







Last but not least, I wanted to show you all a little devil from the "P" litter!!! Her name is Paddy and she is a funny little thing. She was born last and not breathing. Luckily, quick thinking and action saved her. And now... we swear the girl has brain damage!!




Her nickname is Paddy with the Personality!! I fell in LOVE with her in the picture below. She slept in my lap like this forever!








Cute Factor= 10

So I hope you enjoyed the puppy pics! I don't have any digitals of the kittehs! However, I can assure you that they were little bundles of joy...

Happy Tuesday!

Awardie

Thanks to Those Elgin Pugs for the awardie!

Now to 7 things about us! Oh brudder wheres to begin? I hand dis over to Momma.

1. Lucy eats her blanket to soothe her anxieties.

2. Calhoun eats yogurt out of Momma's cup.

3. Nikki grunts like a bear in her sleep.

4. Harry likes to sleep in a basket on the kitchen table, although he is NOT
encouraged to do so.

5. Lilly has "kittens" in the middle of the night by dragging socks and
underwear and arranging them in a cirlce by Momma and Daddy's bed.

6. McIver used to get VERY car sick (and make Daddy gag).

7. Calhoun made a poo in a condo at Kiawah Island before we even got
the suitcases in the door. Classy!

Okays, dis be Lucy again- we have made so many new friends. We would likes to pass dis awardie on to all our followers dat haven't got it yet! Momma says dats da nicest ting to do!

Boys Will Be Boys

Lucy here and boy oh boy do I gots a story to share! DIS is what Momma came home to yesterday and I am happy to report dat I would never do such a ting. However, I witnessed the whole ting and I knows who did it!!!

First of alls, dere was a jail break of epic pro-portions!!!

Wanna knows who did dis?

MCIVER!!!!!! My boyfriend! I like a bad boy...

Isn't he handsome?

BUT Momma doesn't so much. She'd rather have a sweet boy...

But dis ting ain't sweet either...

Don't let dat face be foolin' ya!!! Calhoun was an ACK-Sesory to dis devastayshun.

Lilly be hidin' under da bed wif da dust bunnies...

She say- Boys and DOGGIES are beneath me...

In da ends, we are very tired. Dats Calhoun up top to the left, with Nikki beside him wif her big goofy tongue, den ME sittin' da floor bein' good and finally, a very sleepy McIver!

I'm just tired froms writing dis post...

Have a great weekend everyones and we shall be back Mondays wif more adventures!

Love & Licks,

Lucy

Paws of Prayer

In honor of a request made by the Fiesty Three we join the Paws of Prayer...

We have had so much sad news in the DWB community lately. We are furry sad about
Bear Bear and Dr. Dre. We are also furry worried about our furiend Phantom. We
asked Moms, if she could help us do something about it. She suggested that we
start a DWB prayer chain for all of our furiends. So, please join us in the Paws
of Prayer circle by posting to your bloggies!

It Takes a Village to Raise McIver

Mamma Heartbeat here...

So I am officially INSANE. McIver is with us right now. We LOVE this dog and so does our pack.

The situation is that DFA has been building facilities on our director's land. When the projects are completed, she deeds the land to DFA- a non-profit. As a result, her actual house has been the last to be constructed. She has just sorta resided in the buildings while everything was proceeding. By the way, this is part of transitioning from Dogs for Disabled to DFA. So right now, our devoted and half-crazy director is living in an RV with 7 dogs. It's not quite as bad as it sounds because the DFA properties include kennels and many dog-friendly facilities. BUT it has essentially driven her to the "brink".

Most of the dogs that don't make the "cut" for service are easily adopted out. We don't sell them. However, we will happily accept a donation to the program. Furthermore, if the adoption doesn't work, they come back to DFA. Very rarely, because of our breed lines, do we get a dog like McIver. BUT that is one of the issues with breeding for service. DFA does not want to contribute to pet overpopulation. As soon as we know a dog will not become part of our breeding line, he/she is altered. In fact, we promote responsible pet ownership in every way we know. We have taken in strays that are abandoned in the country and trained them to be therapy dogs. These dogs now live with professional therapists and help children every day. When a dog is born into or adopted into DFA, he or she is ours for life. End of story.

McIver is such a particular boy, he has only bonded with about 5 people in his life. My husband and I happen to be 2 of them. So he is very limited as to who can take him. When we adopted him out the first time, his adopter spent many days with our director just feeding him hot dogs and bonding over obedience commands. So McIver will be with us. We have been guaranteed free boarding and we already get a good deal on bulk dog food through DFA.

Bottom line is that we got him when he was 12 weeks old, trained him and made the very difficult decision that he should be released from the service program. We feel very responsible for him. He's part of our pack no matter how much I didn't want to be the crazy woman with 4 dogs.

And my husband is the most amazing man in the world. He knows he has married a country girl stuck in the city. His first clue was when I said I wanted a goat! I wear a suit and heels M-F from 8 to 5 and literally play in the dirt the other time. When I called him in a panic yesterday, he said, "okay, we'll get him tonight."

Thanks dear blog friends for listening to me freak out!

Mamma Heartbeat

PeeS- my camera battery was dead last night!

Momma Heartbeat is DESPERATE!!!

Our first service dog trainee from Dogs for Autism was McIver. He turned out to be a very peculiar dog and was released from the program. He went back to our director who found him a home. However, the 20-something year old didn't listen to what he was told and returned him. The 20-something year old was very experienced with Germies and we thought would've been a good match.

At any rate, McIver's peculiarities include being a major homebody. He has NO desire to be away from home and what he knows. It makes him very uncomfortable.

He also has NO clue why God made "little people" (children). He is very uneasy around children.

And finally, he just wants to be left alone. He isn't one of these dogs you take to PetSmart to show him off. When people come to your house, he must be crated in a back room. He likes it that way and that is what matters.

He wants to be at home, preferably a farm type setting with lots of land to roam. The land should be fenced because people easily mistake our black Shepards as coyotes or wolves or something and well you know what that can lead to.

He LOVES sticks. He is incredibly well-behaved and, frankly, an easy dog if you follow these simple rules. He listens and wants to please his "person". He is good with other dogs and cats. He is very mellow and incredibly faithful. He's never suffered any trauma or abuse as he was born into our program. The pictures below are from before he turned 1. He will be 2 in October. Since I took these pictures, he developed little brown spots under his eyes. Very cute.

I want him back. In fact, my husband and I were heartbroken when he was released and we had to switch dogs. However 4 dogs would probably be overwhelming. Our program director already has several Germies and we want someone that will love him and work him like he would enjoy.

Can you help me get the word out? He is a very special guy and deserves a very special place in this world.

PLEASE HELP MY COLLEAGUES WITH THEIR TRAINING

DFA is one of the 1,000 Grant Applicants that was accepted by the Pepsi Refresh project for the month of August. What this means is that if we are one of the top 6 projects with the most votes on August 31, DFA will be awarded $50,000. I can't explain to you HOW much this is needed!!!

What we need you to do:

1. Send us any and all ideas you may have to promote this project
2. Re-post to your FaceBook or Twitter followers
3. VOTE daily!
4. We're drafting an email that we'll send to you later today that you can forward to all of your email contacts.

RULES FOR VOTING:
1. You get 10 votes per day, but those are for 10 different projects, they can't be all for DFA - So - yes we're selfish - but don't vote for other projects with your other 9 votes!!!
2. You must be 13 or older to vote
3. You must be within the United States to vote
4. DO NOT VOTE FROM MULTIPLE EMAIL ACCOUNTS SO YOU CAN VOTE MORE THAN ONE TIME DAILY!!!!! If you do, they will delete ALL of your votes for the entire month.

HOW TO VOTE:
1. Go to this link
2. Create a Pepsi Refresh Account
3. Share your "vote" on your FaceBook account with the provided link on the voting page
4. Text Message: 101480 to Pepsi (73774)

To learn more about Dogs for Autism, please visit our website here or find us on FACEBOOK.

Thank you so much. My colleagues and I love our jobs helping children in different ways but we can't do it without all our volunteers and lots of greenpaper donations!!

Love and Licks,

Nikki