Christmas - the aftermath...

Waiting....

Opening presents...

Playing with new toys....

Surveying the mess...

Rumpling with Mom...

 Just what Monty wanted...

 Taking a nap...

Big smiles....

 First attempt at a video...

We hope you are all having a excellent day!

Merry Christmas!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas tomorrow!  Sam and Monty are prepared for the big day!  They've been extra good, have picked up all their toys, and have tried very hard not to bark at the door.

Sam's going to wait up for the big guy - he's pretty sure Santa needs a doggy co-pilot. 

Paws in Need

This morning our good friends at the Houston Pittie Pack lost their house to a fire.  Unfortunately, not everyone managed to get out - five of their beloved pups crossed to the Rainbow Bridge this morning.  Our hearts are breaking for our friends.

Some of our fellow bloggers have opened a Chip-In account to help them out - if you can, please make a donation - any amount will help.

Click here to make a donation.

A Dog Lover's Prayer

My prayer book's unconventional,
An Album scarred with age.
The dogs who shared their lives with mine
Stand out on every page.
The Spaniels of my childhood days,
All floppy ears and fluff;
The Dobermans who shared my bed,
Magnificent and tough.
Though some folks picture Heaven's gates
Atop a golden stair,
The precious photos... in my book inspire this humble prayer:
Lord, lead me to a sun-washed field,
Then send them one by one;
Let yelps of joy lead wagging tails as to my arms they run.
Sad eyes so pleading, paws that beg,
A symphony of barks
Invite a romp in fragrant grass to songs of meadowlarks.
This Heaven that I pray for, Lord,
Where lilacs scent the air,
Is blessed with all the dogs I've loved
Who come to greet me there

written by Toni Fulco

Melting...

Monty naps every day on the ottoman - these naps usually start around 10 am and last until about 2.  Since he is slightly larger than the ottoman, he typically starts to slide off.  Sometimes he wakes up and fixes himself and occasionally he falls completely off.  When he hits this stage, Aaron and I start making bets on what will happen and how much longer it will take... 

The view outside my window....

Sam, don't look!

I'm still at Saguaro National Monument and I thought I would share what just walked past my office window...

Do you see the bobcat?

Coming our way!

...and smiling for the camera!

Sam will never forgive me for posting a c-a-t on his blog!

Meeting Someone Special

I am travelling this week, working at Saguaro National Monument.

Normally, I get pretty lonely and miss my boys terribly.  This time, however, I got to meet someone very special! 

I got to meet Jack and the Tall Guy, from Daily Dose of Jack!

Jack is a happy, energetic pup who spent our visit telling me all sorts of things!  I couldn't keep up!  He was also on the lookout for sticks and kept insisting a piece of gum on the ground had been left specifically for him.  He was also very interested in my long hair.

Lady - there's a squirrel on your head!

Meeting Jack and the Tall Guy was definitely the high point of this trip!  Thank you guys!



Sam in the News

A while back, Sam appeared in Cliff Notes, Tonto National Monument's official newspaper.  We are happy to announce, they have also included Sam in their fall edition.  Click here to read the paper!

Monday Silliness

Target Sighted.
Laser's set to stun.
Destruction of Target in 5...  4... 3... 2...

Of course, if Sam wasn't wearing his bow tie he'd probably look more ferocious...

Thanksgiving - the day after...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We shared the news on Facebook but we want to make sure everyone knows - Sam doesn't have Lymphoma!  Turns out the suspicious lump was a fatty lump underneath the lymph node in his neck.  The folks here at "How Sam Sees It" have been celebrating ever since we received this great news!

We had even more great news to be thankful for, when we learned our good friend the Bleu also received the best of news - REMISSION!

It definitely changed the spirit of our Thanksgiving celebration!

We did find a good use for the leftovers.  As some of you know, we haven't been able to get a photo of the boys sitting next to each other.  Oh, they will set near each other, but not actually next to each other.  We think that they have some sort of strange "cootie" pact in place.

So out came the leftovers, and (ever mindful of delicate digestive systems) we attempted to get them to sit near each other.  All we managed to do was get some great begging face photos...

Is that ham?

Monty loves ham!

Close, but still maintaining their distance....

At this point I've given up - I love Monty's begging face. 

...and Sam really turns on the charm!

We hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sam's Tooth

Hi dere!  Sam here.  Sam wanting to give update on Sam's tooth.  If you remember, Monty stole it in a drive-by de-toothing!  Sam been asked "Just what did the Tooth Fairy leave you?"  Well, Sam has the most exciting present to show you!

Hi, dere!

The Tooth Fairy has left Sam his very own motorcycle!  How exciting is that?



The "SS" stands for Super Sam!

Mom still waiting for update on Sam.  Until then, Sam has some serious riding to do!

Just call me "Mad Dog"!

Sam Update

We still don't have any news on Sam.  Dr. Kerne isn't ready to come straight out and say he has lymphoma yet.  She wants to run one more test - we will know the results either tomorrow or Wednesday.  She is hoping that Sam is having an issue with a salivary gland.  You can see the spot on his neck where she needle biopsied the suspicious lump.

I'm still happy!

 To make matters worse, Monty, in a super-charged burst of puppy energy raced past Sam this morning and pulled a toy out of Sam's mouth which in turn pulled out one of Sam's teeth.  Sam had to get one stitch to close the hole left behind.

I didn't mean it....

Two more days till we find out anything - please keep paws crossed!

Sibling Rivalry

Sam goes back to the vet tomorrow for a final diagnosis - everybody please keep fingers crossed!

I'm keeping paws crossed for my big brother, Sam!

I'll admit, we decided to spoil the boys a bit and got them these MONster size rawhide chewies!

Nom Nom Nom

While Sam is managing to stay happy with his, Monty is another story...



Sigh....
(Please disregard the jumble in the background - Mom is doing "spring" cleaning!)

It's not that Monty didn't get one.  We could give Monty steak and Sam a dirty old sock and Monty would still think that Sam had gotten something better!


I've got nothing but this old, dry chewie...

Monty will now spend his whole day in his secret lair plotting on how to get Sam's away from him!

Hey!  How did you find me in here?

Please keep paws crossed for Sam.  We are going to need it tomorrow!

Whiskey

My pet goat, Whiskey, died last night.  An odd thing to mention, I know, on a dog blog, but Whiskey was part of our family.

Whiskey was about ten years old, and had been a part of the family for a long time.  He was leash trained, which was always fun when you were taking the dogs for walks.  It nearly guaranteed that someone in a car would stop to do a double take.  He protected our small flock of chickens and ducks in his early days, and had quite a love affair with one duck in particular.  One of his most infamous moments was when our neighbors dog decided to jump a 6 foot chain link fence to go after the chickens.  My dad and I had to save the dog from Whiskey, who definitely was coming out the victor.  

Whiskey, named after Cactus Jack's horse in "The Villain", was a typical head-butting, mischevious goat.  He will be greatly missed.

It's Monday!

...and that's all we have to say about it!

We hope you are all having a wonderful Monday!

Royal Canin

Royal Canin recently contacted us to let us know about a new contest they are holding to celebrate the launch of their new breed-specific puppy food!  They sent us a sample of their Golden Retriever 25 for the boys to try.  While we knew Sam would be pleased with a new food to try, we were a little bit curious about how Monty would react.  Remember, this is a boy who turns his nose up to most food!



Monty really likes it!  Our hard to please boy picks out all of the pieces from the regular kibble and eats those first, plus, he seems excited to be served breakfast and dinner! 

So, we at How Sam Sees It, give Royal Canin's Golden Retriever 25 two Paws Up!

If you'd like to enter the contest they are holding, visit their Facebook page here.  The link to the puppy contest is on the left hand side, or click the image below!

Also, Royal Canin has a great website with all kinds of interactive breed information.  Click here to visit them today!

Monty's beautiful eyes and a few nicknames...

Our Monty has the prettiest eyes we've ever seen!

I had a few curious questions about calling Monty MONster.  MONster is just one of the many fun nicknames he has, all plays on his name.  He is also called MONTYbello, MONTish, MONTYsaurus Rex, MONTenero...  anything we can come up with that uses the first few letters in his name. 

Sam's got the same collection of odd nicknames - SAMster, SAMmish, SAMsonite...

So no worries - we don't really think of Monty as a monster!  :D

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

Did I scare you?

We hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!

 

Hey, Sam!  Did you notice Mom didn't put a mask on me?

Yes, Monty - It's because you are our favorite little MONster already!

(That and he always seems to disappear when a photo shoot involves him having to wear something! - Mom :D

Sam's Birthday Party

We celebrated Sam's birthday last night with a home made cake, dog treats, and a present for Sam!  We had a little help from our friends for this party.  We got the recipe for the cakes from Finn, and the recipe for the dog treats from Helios!

I added a little plain, low-fat yogurt as icing!

Sam and Monty couldn't wait to try a bit of the cake.  

Gimme some cake!

Yeah, me too!

Of course, both boys had to sit...

...and  then the boys had permission to dig in!

Sam had his done in record time!

Yummm....  That was good!

 Monty needed a little help!

This is tasty!

After the cake, it was time for toys!

Sam was very happy with his new tennis balls!

You gonna open those, Sam?

 ...and so was Monty!