Nine Naturally Wonderfull Things About Norbert--A Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop Post

I like a bit of mongrel myself, whether it's a man or a dog; they're the best for everyday.  ~George Bernard Shaw

 
Today is Norbert's guestimated ninth birthday (we know he was born in July of 2002, but not the exact day).  So in honor of his ninth birthday, and just like I did for  his brother Tubby's 10th birthday,
I am making a list of wonderful things about Norbert.  (Of course its very hard to keep the list to just 9.)


1) He is 100% unique. All dogs are unique and anyone who reads this blog knows I don't have anything against pure-breeds, I love them and I share my life with four of them and I am sure I will share my life with many more.   Still there is something wonderful about the complete uniqueness of a Heinz 57 mutt.    I don't know whats in Norbert's mix, and I don't care, I like mystery of it,  All I need to know is he is one fantastic dog.


2).He is Loyal.   Tubby would go off with anyone who had a Snausage handy, though he might regret it later.  Norbert though, is very loyal to his mom and dad.  He always sticks right to her side and never likes to leave our company, even for a treat.

 3) He's grown into his adorable big puppy feet:  Norbert was the cutest puppy ever with the most adorable snow shoe sized feet that he tripped right over when we went to pick him up at the Staten Island CACC.

He has grown into his feet very nicely. 

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 4) He Loves to Nap: Norbert lives to sleep in or take an afternoon siesta.
 He has to be coaxed out of bed some morning with the rattle of his leash, and sometimes even after hearing that he would rather stay in bed.   Anytime, anyone wants to take a nap Norbert is more then eager to cuddle up.

 5) He is a good brother:   Norbert loves his siblings.   He doesn't always love dogs he meets on the street, but once  a dog joins the family, they  have a life long friend in Norbert.   He loves to cuddle up with the pugs and to play with Bob.   When Bingo was nearing the end of his life Norbert spent hours grooming him.  Here is one of my favorite pictures of him, taken by Champion Pet Photos, with his baby brother Bob.

6) He loves cats:   I already said Norbert was a good brother, and he is, to our cats as well as our dogs.   The cats love cuddling up on him and 7 years ago when we brought home our cat Ernie, who had just had surgery to amputate a broken limb, Norbert kept a close on him during his recovery.

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 7) He Loves to Play and  is Careful not to loose his Toys: Norbert's prized possession is his red cuz--

 Actually we have several red cuzzes, but Norbert knows which one is his favorite, he loves to chase it, chew on it, carry it around, and he never looses it.

8) He is Protective:  Norbert is a friendly dog.   He doesn't instantly love everyone though, he waits for his mom and dad's ok first.  He has a nice loud bark that lets us know when everyone anyone is around, but he never barks for no reason.   We all feel safe with Norbert around.

9) He Loves to Travel: The happiest day of Norbert's life was when we got our car.   When we lived in Manhattan he only got to ride in cars when we visited his grandparents, but that didn't stop him from trying to drag us into a few taxis!   Now that Norbert has his own wheels he loves nothing more then to jump in the car and go on an adventure with his family.






Please remember to check out all the great blogs on the Saturday Pet Bloggers Blog Hop.





And remember to check back here next week for Norbert's birthday party recipes.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th!  It is important to feel very American today, so we began the day with the most patriotic walk in Jersey City--Liberty State Park.  Which has a  view of, you guessed it, the Statue of Liberty. 

We wanted to look festive so Norbert, Bob, and Dr. Zira wore their flag  bandannas from Melody Lane Designs and Tubby and Ping wore their 4th of July outfits from the now-defunct Mia Pia's closet.

Of course you have to have a nice icey treat on the fourth so when we came home everyone had some pupsickles mom made.  Here is the recipe:


Blueberry, Carrot, and Banana Pupsickles

•  1 banana
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup plain fat free yogurt 
• 1/2 cup carrot juice 

 Blend everything together in the blender and pour into Popsicle molds or ice cube molds.

  Freeze overnight.  Enjoy!

Since mom and dad wanted frozen treats of their own for the holiday mom made ice cream sandwiches with strawberry ice cream and  a recipe for Chocolate Cookies based on one from the Epicurious website.   (She highly recommends using Scharffenberger chocolate.)    Yum!

Tripple Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches 


Ingredients:
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped finely
1/2 cup flour 
3 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 tbsp instant espresso powder (optional)
1/4 tsp baking powder 
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.


Melt the 10 ounces of chocolate in the microwave.  Do this  50% power and make sure to check the chocolate very thirty seconds and stir it.    You need to watch very carefully to prevent burning.  Cool the melted chocolate 10 minutes.


Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Then beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed until its crumbly.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat until the mixture is creamy, about five minutes.  Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and beat until blended.  Stir in the dry ingredients being careful not to beat, they should just  be combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.


Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to scoop out balls of dough roughly a 1/4 cup in size onto the baking sheets.  Space the balls of dough about 2 inches apart and flatten them slightly.   Bake 16 minutes and rotate halfway through.  Remove cookies from the oven and cool completely.  Its a good idea to make these a day in advance and freeze them in a Ziploc baggie but its not absolutely essential.   Serve with vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry ice cream.




We hope everyone had a wonderful fourth.

Warrior Poodles-Who Would Have Thought, Canine History with The Urban Hound. Also Saturday Pet Bloggers Blog Hop

The urban hounds love a good natured battle, after all nothing beats wrestling with your friends.  The snow in particular seems to bring out Norbert and Bob's warrior sides (don't worry they were just playing, even during the last pic, which admittedly looks pretty scary):

Maybe its just to hot too wrestle in the summer time.  


Anyway today marks a big day in battle doggie history.   When we see the poodle:

Most of us think of glamour, hair cuts, dog shows, and companionship.  Those who are more educated about how intelligent, athletic, and active these dogs are think of rally-0, agility, hunting, and therapy dog work:














(links for images  therapy poodle link, agility poodle link, hunting poodle link,  rally o poodle link)



But when we think of poodles--we don't usually think of battles or war.   Well, we are wrong.   It turns out that one of the most famous warrior dogs of all time was a poodle.   


link to picture

Today, July 2, marks the anniversary of the Battle of Marston Moore.  This battle was fought during the first English civil war in 1644.  During the battle Boye, a hunting poodle, owned by Prince Rupert of the Rhine lost his life.

During his life Boye was a very famous, and very feared, canine.   He accompanied Rupert into battles and there was a great deal of negative propaganda about Boye put out by the Parliamentarians, the group that opposed Prince Rupert and the other Royalists.    Among the rumors circulated about Boye where charges that he was a witches familiar, could turn invisible and thus spy on the Prince's enemies, was a shape shifter, and even that he was the Devil himself.   The Royalists however loved Boye and adopted him as their official mascot even giving him the honorary rank of Sergeant-Major-General.

 
 link for image

Sadly during the Battle of Marston Moore Boye escaped the Royalist camp and chased after Prince Rupert into battle.  The battle went badly for the Royalists and Boye was one of many soldiers who lost their lives. 








By all accounts Prince Rupert was devastated by the death of his dog.   Perhaps Boye was a magic charm for the Royalists because after his death they were defeated by Parliament and from 1649-1660 England was a republic.   Prince Rupert survived the war and was employed by the King of France to fight the Spanish during the thirty years war.
After the death of Parliamentary leader Oliver Cromwell in 1658 England fell into disarray.   Prince Rupert returned to England to fight for King Charles II.  This time, even without the help of a magic poodle, the Royalists where successful and the monarchy was restored in 1660.  Prince Rupert died of natural causes in 1682 at the age of 63.

Now that you've had your history lesson take a look at all the wonderful pet blogs in this addition of the Saturday Pet Bloggers Blog Hop. 

Please read through the updated rules before you enter your link. Thank you in advance for your understanding. To those of you I haven’t emailed back I am sorry. I will do my best to go through my emails and get to all of you this weekend.

Its another edition of Saturday Pet Bloggers Blog Hop brought to you by Two Little Cavaliers, Life with Dogs, and Confessions of the Plume! Welcome to all of you joining us for the first time we are so excited to have you and welcome back to our regular Hoppers.

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Urban Turtles-Migrating at JFK

Clearly we are not turtles---Even though Tubby dressed as Godzilla last year for Halloween

and Godzilla is some kind of green lizard thing and thus Tubby thinks maybe a little bit like a turtle.


Also when mom was a kid and wasn't allowed to have dogs, the traumatic horror of her childhood, she had a long succession of turtles for pets.  Most given the staggeringly creative name of.....Shelly.   Since that time mom has been very fond of turtles and happy to stop and look at any turtle she chances by, she loved seeing turtles on logs when we used to walk in central park, even though we never got why it was a big deal.  An animal that just sits there lying on a log when it could be smelling things or looking for snacks, what gives?


So when we heard the news about urban turtles delaying flights at JFK airport, we had to pay attention.  We particularly love that the Post calls the turtles sex crazed, they have to find the sex angle for any story.  This from the paper classy enough to be famous for this headline, we warn you look at your own risk!

Anyway, the turtles are walking across the airport because they are looking for higher ground to lay their eggs.   It happens every year apparently.  Flights where delayed two hours before the turtles where all rounded up.  At leat none of them where hurt, turtles live a long time so maybe one of the Shellys was among them.  Here is a video of the turtles doing there thing from ABC news:

Schools Out for Summer

Today is the last day of school and as I'm not working summer school--the hounds will have a stay at home mom for two months.  I plan to make some really great summer memories (like the ones in these photos and this video)-Here's to the dog days of summer....