Friday, November 4, 2011

Happy Autumn!

           Moxie is just stopping by to say Happy Autumn Everybody

    As you can see, due to the cooler weather, she gets particularly happy at this time of year.  : )

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Sweetest...Dog....Ever

I have to share an incident that happened just recently to show just how smart and caring our dog CAN be. haha

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Moxie is very good about recognizing patterns and routines. I usually go shopping and run errands during the day, and am at home by the time David comes home from work.

One day, I was delayed, and so I had to do my shopping at night. It is very unusual that David gets home before I do and that I stay out later at night. Moxie knows this, and she was disturbed. David said she continuously paced around and kept looking at the door and at him. As time went on, she got more concerned. Finally, in a last ditch effort to get him to come to his senses, she went over to the phone (sitting on the coffee table) and bonked it with her nose. This was an intentional move by her. I don't think she knows what the phone is, but I think she did recognize from the past that it is an instrument we can use to check on each other. And she further knows that she lets us know she wants things by bonking them with her nose.

David did go ahead and call me, and yes, I was ok. After he hung up the phone, and told her I was ok and was on my way home, she calmed right down. But I must say she managed to impress both of us! And I got quite the exuberant greeting when I got home.

Thanks for watching out for us Moxie!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Shedding Season


Every spring and into the summer, Moxie starts shedding, and shedding, and shedding, and....

It really is quite impressive the amount of hair she gets rid of each year. Just to give you an idea, I have included two pictures from last year. What makes these pictures more amazing is these were actually taken toward the end of Moxie's "shedding season" last August. And if this is what we get out of her toward the *end* of the shedding season, imagine what comes out at the height of it. haha The second picture is how much of her hair I get out from under the refrigerator at this time of year.

David is really quite fascinated by the fact that you can probably sit for hours and just pull tufts of hair out from her undercoat. Brushing is a never-ending job. After 20 minutes of brushing, hair is still coming out in bunches, but Moxie has lost her patience! We brush her outside for obvious reasons, and when we are done, it looks like a small animal could have been slaughtered. lol

If only we could learn how to spin it and sell it as a "new" exotic yarn -- it would be really soft and warm, that's for sure. Anyone interested in some "Alsatian wool?"

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Moxie's Latest....


We haven't been here in a while because...well...to be honest....there just didn't seem that much new going on to report. Each day blends into each other, much like the one before. But here is an update anyway:

Moxie is now a 75 pound mature german shepherd. She is very strong and capable of dragging Jenni across the front yard (don't ask how we know this -- aargh!) She is very aggressive-sounding to our neighbors despite our best efforts to train her they are all right. She goes into a "zone" it seems like that is very hard to snap her out of. It is nice to have a dog that is so protective of me, David and our home, but we'd like her to chill when we tell her it's ok. One of our neighbors comes right up to her and she shies away from her then. Big tough dog. But we are still embarrassed by her actions....work still in progress.

She has mostly grown out of her puppy ways. She still loves to play and greets David very enthusiastically when he comes home from work. I have to wait in line. haha Her favorite games are laser (she has a bit of an obsession with it really) and fetch. She is very good at recognizing patterns in our behavior and habits and responding accordingly.

After many times of being surprised when Moxie met us at the door, even though we had shut and locked her kennel door, we have allowed her to stay free now when we go away and during the night. She has *mostly* behaved herself thus far. There was an incident when I came home to find one of my leather gloves wet, thankfully not damaged. And there was also the morning I came out to find one of my envelopes of coupons dangerously torn up. Fortunately for Moxie, the coupons were still in tact, even though the envelope wasn't. Hmmmm, I wonder if she saw her life flash in front of her eyes. hahaha We do still close the gate between the bedrooms and the living room to keep her and Kiko separated, when we leave the house.

Speaking of Kiko, we have made wonderful progress with the two of them. It's only taken two and a half years! They can now be content within feet of each other, which is a whole lot better than it used to be when they couldn't even tolerate each other at one end of the house to the other. Ok, mostly that was Kiko, but who can blame him. I'm sure from his vantage point, she looks huge and menacing. David still has dreams of them spooning together on a cold winters night, but ahem....we'll have to see about that one. Still, it is very nice to have Kiko feel like he can be a part of our evenings by stretching out on the couch like he used to do.