Francesca's Dog Talks: Dog Park Rule #1

Hi, it's me, Francesca. I love going to the dog parks most of the time. But there are times when people don't follow the rules and that makes me mad. Mostly it makes me mad because I am the one who gets in trouble! So here's my first talk about Dog Park Rules:

Now don't get me wrong. I know I am lucky to live in Vancouver, WA where they have such nice dog parks, but please, people... follow the rules!

Love, Francesca

The Hidey Hole: Cinnamon Gets Francesca in Trouble

It's been a long week full of ice, snow and freezing water bowls. I haven't been too keen on going outside at all. When I do go out, I look for places to get out of the snowdrifts... like under the rhododendron bush and under eaves and things. I don't like to get cold and wet.

The snow covered our toys.

Today, that all ended with a marvelous burst of warm sunshine. It was sunny and it wasn't snowing. I felt so good. First, I spent my morning basking in the sun. If you get up against the fence with the sun shining on your black fur, you can get really warm. And so I did!

This is how you sunbathe in the snow!

Then I started looking for things under the ice. I found a ball and then a ripped up frozen toy. It was fun digging them out and then taunting Francesca by not letting her have one. I pranced around, ran in front of her and had a great time.

Long about noon, the sun was hitting our side deck. It warmed up real nice. I was in a feisty mood so went down under the juniper trees and started trying to dig under the deck. I was surprised. The dirt wasn't frozen! I think that's where our dryer vent is. So I continued a project that I had started before the cold weather started. I continued to try to dig under the deck. Slowly but surely I moved the dirt away. And... Bingo! I could get myself under the deck! I called to Francesca and told her what I had done. She came over and went under the deck with me. We were having a marvelous time sniffing for wild things when we heard our owner looking for us.

Whoops! Caught! We came back out from under the deck and went running up to the door. We had sparkles in our eyes and she could tell we had been up to something. We got treats for coming when we were called and then she locked us in the house. Why? Well, she figured we were up to something because of how long it took us to answer her. And, then she found the fresh dirt under the deck.

Later when we went outside, much to our dismay, we found that all the entrances to the underside of the deck were blocked off with all of her yard junk. We couldn't get to our Hidey Hole. It was starting to get cold so we gave up and laid down in the office to look like we were going to take naps. But actually we were waiting until she went into another room so we could talk.

She thinks this will keep us from getting under the deck!

We need a plan. We need to figure out how to get by all her stuff and GET UNDER THAT DECK! Because it is forbidden territory, and that makes it all the more enticing.

And it was fun getting Francesca in trouble! Hidey Hole, here we come!

Coonhound Tales Endorses Anne McEnerny-Ogle for Mayor of Vancouver, WA #vanwa

From time to time we get political here but only when it matters. So we sent our owner to the kick-off breakfast for Anne McEnerny-Ogle's campaign for Mayor. In addition to enjoying the breakfast (she didn't bring us any), she picked up buttons and a yard sign. Since we gave up trying to pound the yard sign into in the frozen front yard, we decided to have a meeting about how we can lend our support for Anne for Mayor. And here's what we decided:

And of course Francesca had to chime in. But, truthfully, she has some good points to share:

Anne is just Pawsome!

Love, Cinnamon and Francesca.