The Princess Pawdicure

Many years ago I bought some dog nail polish from the RSPCA online store. I tried it on Barbie, but she really freaked out as soon as I opened the bottle. It's a quick dry formula and it smells worse than any human nail polish I have used!

For some reason I decided that I would try to paint Mouse's nails. Not only are her nails a pretty white, but she is so tolerant she lets me get away with just about anything.

The first time I did it, I only did the front two paws. She obviously didn't like the smell but she stood nicely for me and let me put it on. She then went and rubbed her face on the couch as if that would get rid of it.

I did a training session with some yummy treats to distract her and she was fine when it had fully dried. Of course she posed nicely for a few photos.

The second time I did it was because a friend of mine who is moving away gave me all her nail polish. I did mine blue and Mouser's again with the pink nail polish. She didn't seem as bothered by the smell the second time, so I did all four paws. It was a great hit at daycare the next day!

The nail polish doesn't last forever, but it's pretty good considering! Mouse has more nail polish on her nails now than I do left on mine and she runs around on hers!

A hike at Bell's Rapids

Winter and spring are the best times to go hiking here in Perth. Once we get past November many places get too hot and inhospitable. One of these places is Bell's Rapids, located in quite a steep little valley. We have had some good rain lately and the rapids were pumping when we were there. It was Mouse's first time but she really seemed to enjoy walking up the steepish trails with loose rocks.

Mouse is very agile and sometimes it's hard to keep up with her. Bender is great off leash in the bush and never goes far, so I walked both the hounds while N could take photos. Bender just enjoyed trotting along with us at his own pace. When we take his leash off he looks with a look on his face that says 'really? are you sure? wow! awesome!"

Bender took the opportunity to sniff and pee on everything. Mouse likes to pee on stuff too, but Bender really takes it to an extreme. 

Even though it was a fairly mild day, Barbie sought out water wherever possible. She took sips out of every puddle we walked past, and then she discovered a small stream near the trail. She tried to convince us we should follow the stream instead of walking on the rocky, hot trail.

After we climbed up the hill we had a rest. They all found a flat spot to lie on. Mouse, as usual, had to be as close as possible to her sister.

We came across some horses on the trail, they are not Mouse's favorite creatures. I heard their riders chatting to each other first, so we put Bender back on the leash. I took Mouse far off the trail and made her sit and wait for them to go by. She let them go past and was really good until they got further down the trail, then she barked at them a couple of times. Mouse always has to shout. We are still working on it. 

Some of the trail was quite overgrown and I wondered what the horses thought of pushing through this kind of vegetation. The dogs didn't seem to mind. Of course everyone had to be checked over for ticks when we got home!

I hope we make it back to Bells for a couple more hikes before the weather gets too hot for it. The dogs were nicely exhausted afterwards and it's one of my favorite winter places. 

Everything is Awesome!

Hello all, It's been a long time since I have updated the blog, so I'm not sure if we have any followers left!!! I have been very busy with Mouse, Barbie and Bender. We are fast approaching Mouse's first 'gotcha day', but the next celebration is Barbie's birthday in a couple of weeks. I will make an effort to get back to updating the blog, but in the meantime, here's a summary of Mouse's life with us so far...