For the first time ever, one of my pups came in at the right at the right weight during his annual physical. Yippee!
Hooray! Can we celebrate with chocolate cake?
I had asked Grandma and Grandpa to take Toby to his visit for me, so they got to hear all of the praise for his new, healthy weight. (Hopefully it will inspire them to not sneak him goodies.) The vet also said that she is seeing no evidence of the knee issues that had been bothering Toby. All good news. 😊
I was sitting on my beanbag chair (OK, pile of dirty laundry) when Toby barged into the bedroom and started harrumphing. Snort this, stomp that. “Mom, get off of the laundry.” Whatever. I moved aside so my obviously upset puppy could go to bed.
A few minutes later I walked out of the room and was greeted by this:
Evidently Toby had wanted to go outside to play. He got discouraged when I didn’t notice him trying to bring me my boot and his leash, so he threw himself in the laundry.
If you’re not going to pay attention to me, I’m going to bed.
This wasn’t the first time the boot/leash things happened.
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Join Bitey and Toby in more puppy fun in Dream Our World. Inside, the boys discover the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Dream Our World is available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
This used to happen a lot when the boys were together. Toby would ride his peppermint backward around the room until he inevitably ran into sleeping Geordie’s face. I would say, “And a good time was had by all” but Geordie would probably bite me.
For all the romantics like Toby out there, Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Forgot to get your sweetest something for Valentine’s Day? Then order a custom pet portrait from my shop! Tell your loved one that you ordered it weeks ago, and it will still be a little while before the paint dries. He or she will be so happy with the results that they won’t mind the wait.
Toby’s barkday was at the end of last month, but thanks to me getting sick and then the car breaking, I wasn’t able to get him any presents. This week, G & G took pity on my little boy and brought him a fresh bag of tennis balls. The down side is that now he wants to play all day every day. The up side is he he is working off some of those holiday pounds.
Get that camera out of my face and throw the ball already!
To Toby, the game is to either catch the ball or touch it with his mouth. Then it is considered out of play.
The first thing Toby does when he gets a new ball is chew a fuzz handle into it.
Like most places, it is snowy and barely in the teens here. Toby doesn’t mind going out because he has a nice pet human to warm his paws when they get cold. If the pet human tries to thaw her paws on a warm puppy tummy, though, all heck breaks loose. Toby’s pet human is grateful for the tennis ball game so they don’t have to freeze as much.
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Care to find out what Bitey and Toby have been up to? Then check out Dream Our World! Inside, the boys view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Dream Our World is available at my shop at L Bowman Studios.
No, I didn’t trade Toby in on a green-sweater-clad feline, but I did think about it.
Toby had a grooming session at the beginning of the month. Afterward, he could no longer hide the fact that Gma had been slipping him goodies over the holidays. Now he is on a diet, and he just howls and howls for food.
Toby, pre-furcut.
Toby, post-furcut.
Toby howling for food.
Evidently Toby didn’t do much better on his second visit to the groomer than he did on his first. The woman working with him said that he hates the blow dryer so much that he fought and fought her about it. By the time she was done drying him he was thoroughly exhausted and fell asleep. She had to put him in a sling in order to reach to trim his paws and tummy. Who would guess that such a sweet-faced little guy could cause so much trouble?
While Toby’s year started off with grooming and a diet, mommy’s started with two broken teeth, a broken car and a pair of broken glasses. Yay 2022.
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If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can still pick up copies of Dream Our World. Inside, Bitey and Toby have a fantastic adventure as they visit the museum of their dreams and view the world of art from a canine perspective.
Dream Our World is available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
You would think that masks would have been my friends this past year, hiding my appearance from inquiring eyes. On the contrary. If you’ve ever wondered what that stuff feels like, it is like one of those horribly painful sunburns where even the softest silk feels like sandpaper against your skin – where simply moving is agony – where you absolutely positively do not want some smart aleck little brother to come along and slap you for the sheer enjoyment of your misery. Trying to wear a raspy mask over psoriasis is actually quite painful.
Despite how much this looks exactly like one of my drawings, it is actually borrowed from the internet.
Americans are very polite about something like this. Nobody pointed at me and shouted, “Eww, that’s grody to the max!” In fact, they said nothing. If I brought up my appearance, though, they would jump in with tons of questions and healthy curiosity. Speaking as the resident weirdo, insults aren’t nice, but saying “Hey, what happened?” is perfectly fine. It’s OK to ask questions. The elephant in the room knows it’s there.
Getting to wear my unique gift from God on my face has made things harder when it comes to business. It is difficult to approach people with confidence and try to introduce them to my work. It is also more difficult to get a service sector job where you are the face of a business. While no one will admit that “fugly” is the reason for not hiring you, you will simply find that someone else always gets the job.
Have I tried medical care for dealing with this condition? Yes. The doctor charged me $300 for a 5 min consultation. Her advice? Hydrocortisone. Mmm hmm…Yup, I am definitely in the wrong line of work.
At least Real Life Toby doesn’t care about how I look.
Mom, mostly I look at you from this angle, and all I see is up your broken nose.
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Royal Purple Velvet Pillows are now back in stock! These 10″ pillows would make a wonderful gift for the whimsical child in your life – or the whimsical child inside yourself! Each pillow is trimmed with gold braid and has a silky tassel at each corner. The center is secured by two matching fabric buttons which give the pillow a pleasingly plump look.
These pillows and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios. All items are made in America and ready to ship.
Toby was so pleased with himself chewing off the pumpkin’s stem…until when he wanted to pick it up and carry it around. Then he had no way to grasp it. Did he learn? I’m sure he didn’t.
After Toby had his fun with the pumpkin, I washed it off, cut it up into pieces and froze it for him to eat later. Now the humble decorative pumpkin can help to keep my boy regular for weeks to come.
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Fixing a fancy pumpkin for your terrier? Perhaps a decorative bread cloth might make the even more festive. If your pup is like mine, he or she will greatly enjoy running around the house while shaking this new treasure.
These decorative bread cloths and many other fine gifts can be found in my shop at L Bowman Studios.
All products are handmade and here in the US ready to ship.
Where, oh where
has my little dog gone?
Oh where, oh where
can he be?
He’s back at home
hiding under the bed.
You silly,
silly puppy!
In the few seconds that I was distracted, a certain furry someone sneaked under the bed and fell asleep. As I cluelessly walked past, I found a grouchy terrier affixed to my slipper.
Since Toby has been sleeping in his kennel, we have barely had any run ins like this one, and things are much better between us. I doubt Toby realizes why, but he is a happier, less stressed out pup.
(And yes, I do need my name on the slippers so I can tell mine from Toby’s.)
Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
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Looking for a beautiful yet practical gift to give this holiday season? Consider giving a handmade quilt or afghan. Not only would you be giving a loving gift to someone you care about, but you would be supporting a cottage, American-based industry as well.
These and other fine gifts can be found in my shop at L Bowman Studios.
In case you were interested in how I taught Geordie flashcards, I’ll give a brief overview of what I did.
Initially, I was looking for ways to keep my bitey boy busy. I started with obedience training, but since I don’t like that phrase, I called it ”Doing Tricks”. When I asked Geordie if he wanted to do tricks, he would run to the kitchen to get started.
We began with the basics of sit, down and stay. Later we added beg, roll over, spin, spin the other way, crawl, crawl backwards, run a figure eight around my legs, etc. Pups like these fast-moving, physical tricks. Later you can use them to help the pup focus.
Once Geordie learned those things, we worked on “Which hand is it in?” and Left Paw/Right Paw. When I asked Geordie to touch my ”left paw”, I thought he would touch the hand that was on his left, but he knew to switch for my orientaion. Smart puppies. You can also teach Come/Back Up, Up/Down, Hot/Cold…anything that will help your dog to see that words can represent a variety of concepts.
After those tricks, I worked on Touch games. I would choose something – maybe his stuffed animal Bobo – and ask him to touch it. When he did, he got a treat. If he touched me, he got nothing, but I would give the command again. The next day we might do ”Touch the ball” until he did it well. After that I would have both Bobo and a ball, and he would have to touch the correct one to get a treat. The pup must do it right on the first try to get treats and praise. If not, just give the command again. If he/she still can’t get it, move onto other tricks they know so they don’t get discouraged.
When Geordie had trouble focusing on a new task, I would have him run through some active tricks (run around, sit, down) very quickly then immediately ask him to touch one of the toys. He was near perfect after one of these fast-paced warm ups.
It was after Geordie was used to doing touch commands that I moved onto flashcards. I think our first letters were A and G because they looked different. I taught him like we do little humans. “This is A as in Adventure. This is G as in Geordie.” He would have to touch the one I asked for on the first try in order to get a reward.
I noticed a few things about Geordie as we worked on flashcards. I tried setting the cards on the floor to let him touch them, but it were as if he couldn’t see them. I figured that dogs can’t see things well from that angle. They must rely on scent when items are close.
I also tried hanging the cards on the wall for him to touch, but again, it were as if he couldn’t see them. I don’t know if just Geordie couldn’t or if all dogs are that way.
People loved to play this letter game with Geordie. Sometimes one person would hold up the cards then close her eyes and turn her head away so she couldn’t see what she was holding. Another person would stand behind Geordie and call out letters, and he would still get them right.
These are the stages we went through. I am presuming that if you are reading this you know the basics of dog training like length of sessions and when to treat/click.
How long did this process take? Months. Geordie was six months old when I started with Heel, Sit, Stay and the like. Then we worked on the Motion Tricks and the Touch tricks. He was probably a year old before we tried our first letters.
Working like this really helped Geordie and me. I can’t stress enough how difficult of a pup he was. It took a while but I finally realized that his anger was actually frustration that he couldn’t communicate. Here I had my own canine Helen Keller.
I was much happier once mom realized I was trying to talk.
If I forgot anything or if you have questions, just post. I’m always happy to brag about my boys. 😊
The Adventures of Bitey Dog 