Tag: dog

Categories
Uncategorized

Elvis the Dog

Elvis the DogElvis the dog passed away this morning. It was rather sudden and unexpected. He will be missed tremendously by all that knew him.

I have many, many fond memories of Elvis. He was a very gentle, kind, obedient, and probably the most loyal dog I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. His loyalty to my brother Frank was absolute and never wavered through the highs and lows of his life.

I’ll never forget just how tiny Elvis was when we picked up from the Philadelphia Airport. Though he’d grow up to be quite a large American Bulldog, he was barely larger than a shoe when we first met. I took him out of his little crate in the car and he just slept by my feet the whole ride home. His gentle behavior wasn’t just in that first car ride, but would persist for the entirety of his life. He was just a calm guy, who rarely if ever got himself into any trouble. He never ever took a piece of food that wasn’t given to him, he’d always make sure it was alright for him to do so first.

What would probably stand out to most were his looks. He had the American Bulldog face that was both gross and slobbery yet very handsome at the same time. He was instantly liked by all. He really didn’t bark too much until later in life (and when he did bark it was almost guaranteed that it was at nothing), but would communicate with whines and cries. He was easily the biggest baby I’d ever known. Scared of his own shadow, yet could pull a hole through a wall if he got too excited and misjudged his speed while turning a corner.

He loved his stuffed animal toys and would carry them with him at all times. Rarely could he be found without a stuffed animal nearby, even well into adulthood.

Elvis made it through two major knee surgeries a few years back. We even got veterinarian clinic remote treatment done for him for a few other maladies that he was suffering from. While by no means an ideal patient, he did eventually make an excellent recovery and we were all glad that he could resume his regular dog duties (sleeping, drooling, etc.).

He wasn’t much of a licker, which was fantastic considering how dirty his jowls were. Always full of slobber, a shake of his head was known to send it several feet and landing quite high up on walls. So high in fact it was difficult to fathom at times. He was so filthy and stinky, but so likable that it didn’t matter. Becoming drenched in slobber was easily worth the risk of getting close to such a fine dog.

I spent many hours protecting him from thunderstorms, lighting, stressful situations, etc. He would just sit pretty much on top of my feet (not that comfy for me) and I’d pet him until we rode out whatever scary situation was affecting him.

Our walks around Linwood were always a pleasure. While he was known to want to call it quits after only a block on many occasions, we did get around 2 miles or so for a bit. He always attracted quite the audience, with people constantly stopping to ask more about him, or waving from their cars at him. He was quite the popular walker.

I have so many great and wonderful memories of Elvis the Dog. While my family and I will be deeply saddened by his loss, I do know that we gave him the best life we possibly could and that he knew that. He was so happy to be a part of our family and to look after and protect my brother Frank while he was with us. He will be missed a great deal.

Categories
Adventure

My Guest Hutch

I was asked out of the blue if I could dog sit Hutch, a quite active young dog. Of course I said sure and figured it’d be quite the adventure and a good experiment to see if I was ready to perhaps get a pet of my own sometime soon.

Hutch is pretty crazy and energetic, this I had already known. However, there was no preparing me for that first night. The poor guy was just overloaded with change, and had probably the worst case of gas that I had ever endured. I didn’t think something so small could produce such a horrible smell for that long of a time. It was constant and at times I thought I would be stained of that smell for life. He was completely nuts that first night and I would wind up sleeping a tad over an hour and a half that night. I wasn’t too happy at that point.

At around 5:30 am I realized that I can’t leave him just roaming around my house by himself while I was at work. There was just no way this little gas bomb wouldn’t explode at some point in my house and let’s be honest most likely on my new couch. So I went straight to my parents to find a dog cage to borrow. Luckily they still had a very large cage as we’ve had some big dogs. He was fine getting in there and luckily he lasted the day ok.

We walked, and walked a lot. Probably walked 6-8 miles every day. I was determined to wear the little guy out.

Apparently his was of communicating with me would be to hump me. Most dogs bark, sit, whine, not Hutch. He has to hump me. I wasn’t a big fan of this one bit and believe he attempted to hump me well over several hundred times during his stay.

I’m not sure exactly when it occurred but he finally settled down by day 3. We kinda became buddies by then and he would nap next time me as I watched TV. Mind you, I really didn’t want to watch TV, but if it gave him a change to rest and act sane I would find something to watch.

I’d say our favorite thing was going to the Arboretum across the street from me and sit in the center on the benches. He could take in thousands of different smells and watch so many people and other dogs on the bike path go by. It was very calming for us both, and he seemed very grateful during our stops there.

A close second would be watching him run like a madman with his buddy Pip. Clearly we had the two most foolish dogs on Dog Beach, but they sure seemed to have a great time. I do believe Hutch was more obedient than Pip on that adventure.

A big lesson learned was never give your dog Seafood Chowder snacks. They came with the Hutch care kit, but apparently they were something new. Poor Hutch had the most disgusting diarrhea and gas until I would solve the Seafood Chowder mystery by the fourth day. God I wish I had known that sooner.

Though we got off to a rocky and very smelly start, in the end I’d say we become good friends. We had some excellent walks and really got to understand one another pretty well. Though a bit on the crazy side, Hutch was a good dog and it was a lot of fun having him stay for a few days.

Categories
Uncategorized

Logan

I’m not sure what led me to visit Twitter the other morning, I hadn’t really for well over a year. Not sure if I had some weird dream, but something told me to just visit and check in and see if all was well. Much to my utter shock I learned that Logan the Wolverine had passed away last month.

My stomach had completely dropped and I had to read and refresh the screen several times, each hoping that it was somehow an error or I had just read it incorrectly. He was such a nice dog, and not nearly old enough to leave this world. Even though I hadn’t seen him in a very long time, I was still deeply saddened to learn of his passing.

I do consider myself very fortunate to of been able to meet and spend a great deal of time with such a fine dog. He really was great in so many ways, and as sad as I am, I do know that he was alway given the highest treatment a dog could have ever asked for. He was as loved as a stinky, grumpy, loyal dog could have ever been, and truly had been given such a great life.

I have so many excellent memories of him:

  • the numerous times he growled at me when I unknowingly crossed into his territory (apparently this was quite often)
  • the time he sprayed diarrhea all over dog beach narrowly missing another dog’s face (still one of the grossest things I’ve witnessed to this day)
  • taking him for walks (a couple of surprise day visits really stand out)
  • having numerous deep chats with him when nobody was around or in listening distance
  • the time he ate poop and had to have his teeth brushed and face washed to take away the smell
  • faking him out numerous times while playing fetch
  • excellent games of tug-o-war
  • the times I entered without Mr. Guard dog detecting me
  • his uncanny ability at his tiny size to take up an entire bed/couch

He truly was a great guy and am so sad that he is gone. I’m so very glad I got to know him and know that while his life was much, much too short he did really luck out with the amazing life that he wound up with. He will truly be missed, but never forgotten.

Categories
Design

Building a Lego Sculpture Tips

I’ve recently completed a life size Lego sculpture of a Jack Russell Terrier as well as the head of a capybara. Using Legos as a creative platform has turned out to be even more fun than I anticipated it would be. However it can be a lot of work and get expensive rather quickly, so I will share my tips on how to build a Lego sculpture.

  1. Like any project you need to have a plan in place before you begin. Give it some good thought about what you would like to construct. Sketch something out on paper first or use the Lego Digital Designer to help you prototype before actual building. Discovering that something might not work in the planning phase could save you much time and money.
  2. Color – there is a limited color palette that is at hand. For instance, you’re going to find it to be very difficult if not impossible to find certain brick colors (good luck with purple). So be sure to be aware of any color limitations that you might run into.
  3. Amount of bricks necessary. This can be very difficult to gauge. I highly recommend using the Lego Digital Designer to assist you in figuring out just how many bricks might be necessary. I find that no matter how many bricks you have, you always somehow seem to need more.
  4. Next you’ll need to acquire bricks. You might want to start off asking people if they have some lying around that they wouldn’t mind parting with. This didn’t work out so great when I attempted, but free bricks is worth a shot. If you’re really serious you’re going to have to stock up at a Lego Store or online using the Pick a Brick. Stocking up of Brick Buckets always helps too.
  5. Now I begin the fun part, building. I tend to start with the area that will be the most detailed, then build around that. I found that approach to work best for me. Also be sure to give much thought to strength and stability when stacking bricks.
  6. That’s really it. I will ask others for their opinions and then make any adjustments if necessary. Usually end up needing to scrounge up even more smaller bricks to get more detail into the sculpture.
  7. Have fun and show off your masterpiece to everyone you know!
Categories
Design

Going to Make a Lego Dog Sculpture

I’ve decided to make a Lego sculpture over the summer. I kinda wanted to be a Lego designer growing up and somehow lost track of that one, so out of the blue a week or so ago I thought that finally making a Lego sculpture of my own would be a good idea.

I decided that I would be making a dog for my first attempt. I’m modeling it after a Jack Russell Terrier I was once lucky to know named Rocky. He’s not too big, has short hair, and I figured it’d be nice to make something in memory of that crazy guy.

The first task has been to gather up as many white and black bricks as possible. I’ve bought a few bucket sets already, found some bricks that are older than me that were still in my parents attic (so glad I stopped my Mom from throwing them out years ago now), and ordered some individual bricks from lego.com.

It’s so cool that you can order individual bricks online, they have pretty much every shape and color imaginable. Another very useful tool I found was the Lego Digital Designer which is a free download. It allows me to build virtual prototypes before ordering any bricks, so far it’s come very much in handy.

Very eager to finish this creation up and will be sure to upload some photos once it’s complete.