Hail to the Chief!

Meet our buddy Barack! As you can see, he's a very happy guy--even though he has been at the animal shelter for a VERY long time. :( He's super sweet and super energetic. And don't let the polls fool you, he's also super popular! We can't understand why he hasn't gotten adopted yet!!! Tell your friends! This guy's a catch!

Bon Voyage, Buddy!

We're taking our (second) Buddy to a new foster home upstate tomorrow. He'll also be meeting a prospective adopter, so his foster days may certainly be numbered. Wish him luck! Take care, Buddy, have fun and be well!

Buddy's Bon Voyage Party from 4dogart on Vimeo.

The Original Four

Our heroes, these guys started it all! Left to right: Jackson, Buko, Tsamba, with Buddy down front.

Our second Buddy

Brother Buddy preceded almost all of us: he was one of the original four (with Brothers Tsamba, Buko, and Jackson), so the name is very special to us. Now, for the first time ever, we've agreed to share the name... with another very special, senior guy.

Our second Buddy--our second houseguest--barely escaped euthanasia at the shelter. The shelter folks are kind and thought his health issues were so severe that they could spare him some suffering. Unfortunately, they didn't really have the resources to test or confirm Buddy's condition. Well, we wanted to know for sure, so Buddy visited our vet for a complete examination and a blood test... and GOOD NEWS! Buddy "just" suffers from old guy stuff (Jackson knows what that's like). He was just very depressed and stressed in the shelter. Out of it, he has become very lively and fun. He's gotta lotta livin left to do!

But Tuchuck wants to know: "Dude, what's up with those ears?!"



Buddy's story already has a happy ending. In a few days, he'll be off to a regular foster home (ours is TOO FULL!) with German Shepherd Rescue of Southeastern Pennsylvania who already has a prospective adopter waiting to meet him! Good luck, Buddy, we've enjoyed getting to know you (and our human is going to miss you lots)!

Buddy needs a home! from 4dogart on Vimeo.

Wordless Wednesday

I scream, you scream...

Even shepherds don't scream like this guy! Be glad you can't hear him over the internet!! Our world is shattered--just like our ear drums--since little Tucker came to town. We thought he was only visiting, so how come he's still here? The shelter closes in four hours, dude, shouldn't Tucker be going back now??Seriously, though, he's settled down a bit, even walked the yard with all of us (Tucker on leash). He'll probably be okay in time, but, um, time's up, isn't it?

Tell your friends to adopt Tucker! Please!

Un-pack-ing

Our human's back, and so are we! Thanks to all our friends who patiently checked in on us--repeatedly--only to find out we were being lame, er, that our human was being lame by not updating our blog.

To be perfectly honest, we're ashamed to blog about our latest activities because, well, in our human's absence, we sorta lost it, to say the least. The pic of big bro Tanner is evidence... We're very sorry to say that a bunch of us *cough*[collies!] went a little crazy one night and attacked him. For whatever reason, we went all Lord of the Flies: rules forsaken, order lost--and an innocent suffering for it. Tanner was ripped up pretty bad, but he's healing well now. His left ear will never stand again, and his debonair handsomeness has given way to a kind of goofy cuteness. (He kinda reminds us of Montgomery Clift after his car accident--though we wouldn't call Monty's post-accident looks "goofy cuteness." And Tanner seems to be bouncing back better than Monty did!)

The human was completely freaked out, and we all thought that our pack would be disbanded. Fortunately, we've pulled ourselves together, and so far, so good. Keep your fingers and paws crossed for us! Really, we were freaked out, too--how dare he leave us for so long?!

Although our pack is still intact, we've had our share of comings and goings nonetheless. For one, Uncle Kidlat came to stay with us for a while! No, that pic is not his going Lord of the Flies on Tuchuck--just us having fun with the little emperor, as usual. :)
A couple weeks back, Tuchuck also made a new lady friend--this is Luna. She spent the night at our house (no, nothing salacious! you guys!) on her way to her new home! (Thanks to Echo Dogs White Shepherd Rescue!)

Our SPCA buddy Tucker got to hang out with Uncle Kidlat, too! Tucker's a cattle dog mix who's getting all adoptable so he can go to a forever home like ours. But not exactly OURS! If you know anybody looking for a cute, high energy boy, send them to Tucker's webpage!
And, lastly, our biggest "pack" news of all: Uncle Kidlat may be getting a new baby sister! Look at this pretty girl with him... We're calling her Dulce (Auntie Dulce??!), and she's just a baby Cardi from CompAnimals Pet Rescue. She's staying with Uncle Kidlat for a week--maybe she'll like him by the end of it!

Whew! That was a lot! Sorry, guess that's what happens when you don't blog for so long. We'll try to do better from now on. We actually have more to talk about! But we'll wait til next time. :) Thanks for visiting our blog!

No fair!

(Coming home soon??)

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Butterflies are free

We've been missing our sistah Angel... who knew seven dogs could feel so much less than eight? Bro Tanner is carrying on Angel's legacy, though; he has inherited her butterfly collar! Not such a bad deal: Angel only ever wore that collar once--for a photo shoot! She woulda looked pretty in anything, but she was particularly fetching with those brightly colored butterflies around her. Now, Tanner is trying to do the collar justice--and maybe tone down that bad-boy look of his! :)

How do you speak to an Angel?

Rest in Peace, sweet Angel
July 1, 1996-May 16, 2010

Our one-year anniversary passed quietly on April 29, probably because Angel seemed like she'd always been here. She couldn't have been any more loved or any more a part of us had she been born in this house. She was certainly born to be part of us. She was sweet, she was tough, and she played the hand she was dealt. She loved to snuggle and hug, she loved to wroo wroo, and she loved food. When she got her new harness, she flew like Superman. But she always had super powers, we knew that. We miss you, girlfriend--fly on.Always something to say
First day home
Super smiling

A Perfect TEN

Oh, yeah, that's what we're talkin 'bout... but just a one-nighter! Handsome fellow, eh? This guy's Milo, and we're givin him a place for the night as he makes his way from NC to NH. He's just battled heartworm and can be quite shy, but we've seen the potential pizazz! Just look at him handle prey. Way to go, dude! Once Milo is fully healthy, he'll be available for adoption through Echo Dogs White Shepherd Rescue.
Actually, what we mean to say is that Milo makes us a perfect 10 for the night. Um, that's us eight, plus Uncle Kidlat who's visiting for a while, and Milo! We think we make a pretty good 10--what do you think?!

Oh, and just so there's no confusion, when we say "us eight," we're really talking about us SEVEN, plus FOSTER Duncan. Because Duncan's just a foster dog, okay? That means we're just fostering Duncan...

BTW, we made a fun video of Uncle Kidlat's last visit that we didn't post. If anyone's interested, you can check it out here!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Snuggle Sunday

[Yawn] [Stretch] Ahh... Haha, we don't really spend our days like this, but there seems to have been a proliferation of beds at our house this week. (Hm... Could someone be trying to make amends for neglecting our blog?!) Not that we're complaining. We enjoy an indulgently long nap as much as the next guy. And, truth be told, we kinda earned it this week. The house has been a bit crazy with comings and goings. For whatever reason, we seem to be training for something cuz we're back in full swing: agility, herding, and obedience! Training's fine and all--fun even--but the human could use a little training himself. We're talkin some serious gym time. Hear that, tubby? If we're gonna be doing all this running around, you better keep up. In other words, we'll do the naps, human will do the laps. Hahaha!
On a separate note, beautiful Sophie has asked for gory details; the following may be inappropriate for younger children...

Keep in mind that we're not into all the religion stuff, but what humans call Holy Week seemed a perfectly reasonable time to ponder our relationship to the body and blood. Um, of bunnies, of course (duh--Easter!).

One night--was it Good Friday?--the human was earnestly working, doors were open, and we were enjoying a beautiful night in our yard. Our boy soon realized that we hadn't come in to check on him for a while and decided he should check on us. He stepped outside just in time to hear the horrifying scream of an innocent being slaughtered at the far end of the yard. He grabbed a flashlight and went running. Shining the light toward the brush, all he could see was our glowing eyes bouncing up and down like wolves in a movie. Theo was in the lead, proudly shaking a kinda large cottontail rabbit in his mouth. Duncan was right behind, trying to grab the catch. Then came Tanner, holding his big, red ball (doofus), and Rousseau, not really knowing what to do. Our human screamed like a girl, and the pack raced into the house, rabbit flailing. Theo landed the prize in his crate and proceeded to rip him some tender morsels. What followed was mayhem, comedy of tragic proportions. We eventually acquiesced to being crated and allowed the human to gather himself and clear the crime scene. Um, "clean" rather than "clear would be more appropriate. Suffice it to say that whoever had hands had blood on them. And, apparently, there are really no good tools for this sort of situation.

Alas, our Easter meal was thwarted, but the entertainment was some salvation. Next time we'll order up some Chianti and fava beans to go along.
Our bunny escapade was, of course, inspired by the Peppy Sheppys' squirrel adventure (with apologies to their ma ape). On the side of might makes right, however, we'd like to support our dear friend Ethel Jean in her campaign to assume the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Ethel is black and female and probably open to all kinds of activities that would sufficiently offend conservatives--she has our vote! SCOTUS! SCOTUS! (Sorry, Otis, no more Scalias!)

Eyewatch Friday: Lookin Out

Norwood, we're still lookin out for those spring froggies. They don't seem to be coming around here. We did catch a pre-Easter bunny, though. Will spare you the gory details, suffice it to say the human had quite a bit of cleaning to do--in the house!

Anyway, as you can see from the pic, we're always lookin out for each other. Happy Weekend, everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Our little secret

In our failure to blog recently, we have also failed to make a proper introduction... let's remedy that: meet Duncan! He's our latest little addition! He's a little border collie mix who has been living with us for just over a month now. His family lost their home and ended up at a no-pets homeless shelter. They tried to hide Duncan in a little crate outside, but the poor guy had no food or water--or room to move around. When he was discovered by animal control, the officers took him to the shelter for care.

Unfortunately, Duncan was very fearful at the shelter. He scared people with his intense border collie eyes and growling. When the shelter folks realized he couldn't be adopted out directly, our human brought him home. We were dubious at first--especially Theo--but we've come around to accepting him. Still, we're just helping along until he goes to his forever home. Prospective adopters can inquire about him through the Delaware SPCA.

Duncan's done a great job learning house rules, and he totally fits in now. He's even become better about meeting new people and other dogs. He can still be kinda scary, but only because he's very vocal. He talks big, but we know he's really an okay guy. He's also really fast and has springy feet! The human thinks he'd be a great agility dog for someone!
Look at us, we're the Collie Crew!!