Road Trip!

Hi Everyone!  River Here!  Sorry it has been awhile since we posted.  We got to go on the longest car ride ever and didn't come back for a whole month! 

Here is a picture of us on our road trip.  Dad rented a Toyota minivan and as far as we are concerned, it is the ONLY way to go when you have us two dogs plus all our dog food, dog water, dog dishes, dog snacks, dog leashes, dog tie-outs, dog beds, dog toys, and, well, you get the idea.  Plus Tundra came with us and she had her own crate for the trip and room for all HER stuff!  And we still had plenty of space!
  
Dad stowed the third-row seats and took the second-row seats out and left those at home. Then they put us in harnesses and attached our leashes to heavy-duty carabiners hooked to the anchors in the car.  It worked out GREAT because we didn't mind this at all and we could move around and lay down, and even though the picture looks like a pile of dogs and leashes, we never got tangled up.  Mommy liked it too because we could not escape when they opened the car door.

It worked so well that after we got back, Daddy went out and bought a van JUST FOR US!

One super-fun thing about Florida is that we get to go to the dog park every single day!  We saw funny dogs there, like this one.  I'm not sure but I think all the other dogs felt sorry for her!  I mean, really, who does this? How embarrassing! 

The only thing Jasper likes to do at the dog park is chase his red Kong disk, but this time there was a Dalmatian and a Portugese water dog who tried to STEAL his disk every single day! Once they got it, Jasper just walked around looking sad. Here is the Portugese water dog waiting to steal Jasper's toy:

 While we were out at the dog park, Tundra kept an eye on things at the house.  Here she is, keeping the geckos away.

Once we got home from the dog park I was ready for a nap!  Boy do I miss my big chair at home, this one was kind of tight but I made it work:

What a fun trip! But it is fun to be home too.  Look! We STILL have snow to play in! 

Don 't forget to check out other Goldens who are looking for a family to go on trips with at G.R.I.N.    www.grinrescue.org

Hi Everyone!  River Here!  Every time Aunt Cam calls the house she asks about us, and when she comes over first we bark and then Jasper jumps on her because he jumps on everyone and then Cam yells at him but then she gives us lots of belly rubbin'.   Then she ALWAYS asks someone to take a picture of all of us and finally Mommy did.  So, here is a photo of us trying to get Aunt Cam to play with us some more!   Aunt Cam always has to look for Tundra the cat, too, but Tunny usually hides or she is sleeping.  Today Cam found her sleeping!  We love Aunt Cammie!

Mr. January

HI Everyone!

Jasper here with some exciting news.   I, Jasper Yoder Jester Miller, made the GRIN Calendar!  Yup, you can now add "Mr. January" to my title!

The funniest part is how shocked River was when he saw the calendar for the first time today!  Mr. Handsome (River) himself made it in the calendar, too, though...a little photo on the September page.  I'm in that one, too!  Can you believe it?  I can't believe it!  One day I am just another cute, slightly funny-faced little golden mutt and the next day I am Mr. January. You should have seen how excited we were when Mommy opened the package of calendars she ordered.  We both jumped up and down to get a look, just like we knew exactly what they were!  Calendars of us! 

GRIN is Golden Retrievers in Need,  the organization that rescued me and River from who even knows what and placed us in the BEST FOSTER HOME ever in Ohio with Jane and Lennie, who then let Mommy and Daddy take us home to live with them in New York.  The Calendar is one way GRIN raises money to rescue more Goldens. 

Just think, you could start YOUR 2013 out right by seeing me EVERY DAY all of January, and LOTS  and LOTS of great pictures of other rescued goldens the whole rest of the year, just by ordering a calendar!

http://www.grinrescue.org/about-grin/general-info/60-newsflash-temporary-cat/499-grin-calendar.html


Here is a preview.  If you want me to autograph your calendar with a nice muddy paw print, just let Mommy know.  My OTHER good news is that my mud puddle is back in action so I am available almost anytime!

Love, Mr. January Jasper

River Here...the grandkids were here and gone and even if they tire me out, I love that they were here for a visit. I hope that they come back soon.  Why?

3. More walks!  Here is a picture of us on a walk. I got a little tired so Roen sat down with me.  Wiley Jane likes to walk Jasper because even though they call him "the crazy one,"  he is a pretty mellow walker.  Me, sometimes my nose takes over, and I have to admit I pull at my leash. 
2. More fetch! Nydus loved throwing the ball but he does not throw it very far, which is PERFECT for me, because I really don't love to run all that far!  
1. More snacks.  I scored a turkey sandwich, about 10 egg yolks, french toast, and lots more that I am NOT telling!  

Jasper's New Hobby!

Hi Everyone!  Jasper here!  Can you believe someone came and filled all my mudholes around the yard?  And it has been very dry so I can't even make new ones.  What is a mud-digging dog to do?  Start digging in the pond!
I started doing this a little bit last fall (remember the post about the rock as big as my head?)  but now I am REALLY into it!  I dig them out of the mud one by one at the edge of the pond, then bring them up on the grass and then go back and dig some more.  I bark at the water when I am doing it and It is SO MUCH FUN!  One day Mommy counted 23 rocks!  But then she said something about what words would fly when someone mowed the lawn over all those rocks and she threw them back.  Did you know words can fly?  I didn't either!  This is going to be GREAT summer! 

Road Trip!

Hi-Ho!  River here!  Me and Jasper FINALLY got to go on a road trip!  A real trip, and we stayed in a hotel and drove 2 whole days and ended up in Southwest Florida.  Whew, it's hot there.  Anyways, we want to tell you about our trip!
First Daddy bought a jail-gate so we had to stay in the BACK of the car.  It wasn't so bad.  Even Jasper slept most of the way.  The only thing I didn't like so well were the mountains and the twisty roads.  Everyone was nervous because they said it looked like I was about to lose my lunch, as they say.  But I didn't and after awhile the road got better. 
We got to sleep in a Hotel!  A Residence Inn!  It wasn't really too much fun the first time.  Jasper was pretty stressed out and he decided we should bark whenever we heard any noise at all.  Then about 1:00 am the neighbors decided to have a party in their room and Mommy stayed awake petting Jasper so he would not bark, while me and Daddy slept in the bed. Then me, Jasper, and  Mommy slept in the car most of the next day!
So, we are driving and we stop somewhere south of North Carolina and guess what?  Jasper decided he does NOT LIKE the grass south of North Carolina and he would NOT walk on it.  This lasted a couple of days, even in Florida, until he finally decided he better get used to it because the pavement is awfully hot down there!

There is a dog park in Florida called Canine Cove and we went there every day, sometimes 3 times a day. We are pretty sure we were the only dogs who went there 3 times in one day.    Mommy bought Jasper a new red kong disk so he would play at the dog park.  He did not care a bit about other dogs, but he did like to go say hi to all the people there, then he just chased the disk until his tongue was hanging to the ground.  I liked the dog park, too and I tried to make friends with some dogs, especially a pretty golden girl named Gabby, but she mostly ignored me.  Maybe she thought I was too old for her.  Do I look too old?  Canine Cove was nice but not nearly as much fun as our house.  Here is me, relaxing in the shade at the Canine Cove.   

 

So, the down side of Florida was that there is water all around, even next to the dog park, and NO PLACE TO SWIM!  The upside was that we did not have a fence at our house and you know what that means...lots of WALKS!  And I do like walks. The ride home was about the same except this time we got a 2 bedroom Residence Inn and I got to sleep with Daddy in one room and Mommy and Jasper got the other room!  It was much better than the first one we stayed at.  Dog friendly hotels are hard to find, especially for 2 big dogs like us!   It was a pretty good trip but we are glad to be home!     

Mommy's Event

Hi Everyone! River and Jasper here. Did you hear that Mommy had something everyone keeps calling an event? That sounded like FUN to us but everyone was very serious when they talked about it.

Then she explained she had something VERY rare called a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) so it was a CARDIAC event, not a FUN event. SCADs happen when the layers of one or more artery walls suddenly separate, and blood flows into the space where it tore, and then the torn part blocks blood flow and wham-o! A heart attack! Interestingly, this happens to a lot of people like mommy, mostly women, who are super-healthy and about the last people you think would have a heart attack. The bad thing is no one knows why SCAD happens to certain people!

The good news is she is starting to feel better and we get to help her with rehab!!!!!! It's going to be GREAT and we are going to be the BEST HELPERS EVER. We started out already by going for little hikes in the fields and around the pond. Here are some pictures from rehab today. Jasper on the left and River on the right!

If you have to do rehab, you should DEFINITELY adopt a dog. Or maybe adopting a dog will PREVENT you from having an "event" in the first place, cause you know us dogs DO help you to take walks and play and even relax. And everyone knows how much us goldens love petting and that petting us lowers YOUR blood pressure! A win-win!