Category: golden retriever

anti-winter humour photo project on FB


Today in honour of how bleak the grinding, bitter, ferocious winter has made me feel, I fought back with an anti-winter humour photo project on Facebook.  I set up a Facebook page for Grace the golden retriever who lets me stay in her house.

See https://www.facebook.com/Gracethegoldenretriever

Grace will offer photos and advice on being a dog and being a human.

CHRISTMAS 2013 GRACE WITH TOY NUMBER ONE

first swim of 2006


first swim of 2006 by gnawledge wurker
first swim of 2006, a photo by gnawledge wurker on Flickr.

from my flickr posting in 2006: “I dont know why but this year Shakey was less interested in starting the swimming season. In the past he and his sister would have gone in even with the remnants of ice on shore. At any rate, yesterday he went for his first swim of the season. He also managed to find the skeleton of a large fish, a muskellunge.

I am always amused when he finds a dead fish washed up on shore and goes and rolls on it. I understand that this is to mask his scent. The only trouble is I have this mental image that forms of a couple of bunnies in the woods, a half mile from shore, sniffing the air. One says to the other, “Gee, I wonder what a dead fish is doing walking into our woods.”

It was 22 C. yesterday, warm enough for shorts for me. On the other hand, a few days ago the temperature dropped for two days and we had highs of just 2 above freezing. We have a curious Spring in these parts.”

Shakespeare passed away at age ten years and three months.  He was a wonderful dog and we miss him.  The dog in our lives now is Miss Grace, who is four years old and still very much a pup.

looking down to Grace who is lying under my leg against the couch as we watch TV


she is my best friend, don’t tell the cats I said that.

Grace takes a break from her work to look out at Georgian Bay


The typewriter in the foreground is a 1960s vintage West German made Olympia.

We had some trouble yesterday and are still waiting to see the final result. This summer has been a bad one for neighbours choosing to light fires either for decoration/nostalgia or to get rid of gardening residue. Either way if the wind cooperates, the cottage turns into a smokehouse. My sister has asthma and the smoke bothers her a great deal. Two days ago, the wind angle and the smoke worked together for maximum effect and to counter its effect she put on a particle mask. I finally went over and told the neighbour that the smoke was really bothering us and her specifically. He apologized and doused it. It is amazing how smoke clings. I will long remember her with mask on taping garbage bags to cover the window air conditioner unit since it was right in line with the smoke to prevent more infiltration. At the end of the evening she put the mask in the waste basket in the bathroom.

Yesterday, while my sister was out working in the garden, Grace got annoyed to be left inside, began barking a great deal. My sister came in and found half of the mask on the floor and some other stuff from the garbage. The mask is mainly paper with a cloth elastic band to go around the back of your head, and has two tiny staples to hold that band in place. It also has a a thin malleable metal band which is there so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose to ensure a tight fit. She looked everywhere but no elastic band, staples or metal strip could be found. Conclusion: Grace ate them.

So off to the vet. We brought along an intact mask to show the vet. Xray showed the staples. No sign of the metal strip. But Grace’s stomach was full of food and it might have concealed it. Bottom line, if she starts vomiting, we are in trouble and likely she will need surgery. Or she may simply pass these things through her system.

Sometimes owning a dog can be very distressing.

Today we will buy a new waste basket for the bathroom, one with a lid that can be locked.

We still have a baby lock on the handles of the doors of the cupboard under the kitchen sink where we store cleaning supplies, like Windex and Comet. As a puppy she found that plastic thing interesting and gnawed on it a little. I must confess I feel a sense of triumph whenever I manage to unlock the baby lock to get in there.

Grace seems fine. God I hope she is going to be allright.

the wonder dog goes to the vet


Shakespeare, the wonder dog, was showing a few odd signs today so we took him to the vet.  He got a physical and turned out very healthy for his age, ten years.  They took some blood and we got a call that all was right with that and with him.  He did something odd today on his second walk, he chose to sit down on the way home twice, something he normally doesn’t do. His nose warm. It has been warmer but not that warm. But no fever.  So our wonderful golden retriever is A-OK.

the late Diamond dog and Shakespeare and the trumpeter swans


the late Diamond dog and her little brother Shakespeare and  the trumpeter swans swimming in front of my home on Georgian Bay about four years ago, this is one of my most viewed photos on flickr…we see trumpters now and then each season but there was just one day when they were curious about the dogs and swam near them, it was a memorable day and I was lucky to have the right lens and a loaded camera.