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!

Whole New Dogs!

Jasper here! Mommy and Daddy just got back from a trip and they said it was like coming home to Whole New Dogs!
Aunt Susan stayed with us and not only did she give us MAJOR haircuts, she gave us BATHS! Usually when I need to get cleaned off I just jump in the pond, but these were REAL baths with SOAP!
Me and River were so confused we just stood there and let her lather us up and rinse us off. Then WE thought we smelled funny but Aunt Susan was REALLY happy and she kept telling us how pretty we are. Pretty? Well, anyways, you should see how fluffy I am with all the shampooing I got.
Good thing, because with all that fluffy hair you might not be able to tell that I might have gained a few pounds! From what? From eating about 300 treats in the past two weeks! Know why? Aunt Susan taught me to SHAKE, and it took a LOT of treats for me to learn.
No one is sure if I am just a slow learner or smart like a fox...and I'm not telling....all they know is after 6 years of trying to get me to do it, I now hold up a paw when someone tells me to shake. Then River has to come right over and shake too so if you tell me to shake, you better have TWO hands free and plenty of treats nearby. WELCOME HOME!
Thank you Aunt Susan! We love you!

End of an Era

Hi Everybody,
River and Jasper here. We are sorry to say that our brother Moe is gone and now it is just us golden dogs and Tundra the cat around here. Mommy says it is the end of an era - the M's - Mabel, Max, and Moe - were littermates and they were here lots longer than us so they were kind of in charge. Moe was the last one left. He was something like 14 years old and the vet said his heart was just worn out. Up to the end he still went for little walks with us every day plus his walks all around the yard plus he still had a great appetite, so that's not a bad way to go!

Of course, Mommy says part of his good appetite was all that nice soft canned food he was getting. Chicken and sweet potato - Boy did that smell good! Every day after Moe finished eating, we would run out and see if he left any little smear of his food for us. Sometimes he did!

Anyways, Daddy called Moe a big lug, because if you were a person sitting in a chair, Moe would always try to climb up and join you. He loved people, but he even liked chairs when no one was in them. Here is a picture of Moe in a chair. We miss you Moe!

Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone!
River here with Jasper to wish everyone a Happy New Year! The weather has been really warm for this time of year and we didn't get hardly ANY snow until today. Here we are! It doesn't look too bad right here but there is something like 10" of snow in the yard and it is PERFECT for running in and chasing the red Kong disc!

It has been so mild here that mommy went biking New Year's day, and Jasper even went swimming in the pond a couple of days before Christmas! I did not go swimming with him, because a couple of days before THAT the pond had ICE on it and while Jasper doesn't seem to mind the cold, there was NO WAY I was going in. To tell you the truth, I have really been enjoying curling up in my big chair. Some days I spend almost all day there!

We had a really super fun Thanksgiving with the grandkids here to visit. I got lots of extra nibbles off the kid's table, which is fortunately just EXACTLY the height of my chin. Jasper got most of his nibbles by licking the kid's faces, especially Nydus'...whose FACE is exactly the same height as Jasper's and who laughed and laughed when Jasper licked him. The kids took us for walks, too! We miss them lots.

Christmas was fun too! Our dog cousins Trixie and Ripley came over for Christmas dinner, then Trixie came to visit another day and it got pretty exciting when Tundra the cat decided to show Trixie who is the boss. Boy, I wish I had a video of THAT to post for you!

Anyways, if you want to have a REALLY happy new year, you should think about adopting a dog or even a cat from a shelter or rescue. Love, River and Jasper