Saved By A Golden Retriever

Have to post this...

Just when you think you've seen it all, a dog goes out and saves three little baby tigers, abandonded by their birth mother. Read the whole article here.

The Bow Haus

Dan and I have had our dogs together for 4 years, and in all this time, I've never been forced to end a phone conversation because of their barking... until yesterday. We came home last night and were welcomed as usual by two very hyper and excited hounds. It's the same homecoming we get every time: they greet us at the door, jump up and down and do circles around our legs, and then they run off into the living room and wrestle with each other, as if trying to show us all the energy they've saved up for our return.

Last night I made the mistake of answering a phone call from my mother while the boys were dutifully at each others throats. Usually they'll play around like this for a couple of minutes or so and then get tired, but yesterday their fight kept escalating, and their growling and barking at each other became so loud that I finally had to tell my mom I couldn't hear a thing she was saying and I'd call her back.

What I should have said is this: "Hold on a second mom... Boys, go to your room! Haven't I told you to be quiet when mommy's on the phone?"

One of my readers sent me a link to her own pet furniture company Den Haus in Seattle, Washington. I love the collection, especially the Bow Haus, and wanted to share it with you. This pet crate is designed to double as a stylish den for your pet and a functional piece of high end modern furniture. Having pets doesn't mean your house has to go to the dogs! With furniture from Den Haus you can keep your home in style and your dog happy.

Morkie On The Rocks

Daniel and I rode our bikes over to the Lake Harriet Bandshell last night to see a Neil Diamond Tribute Show by Karl Commers. Yes, you read that right! I am a huge Neil Diamond fan, whether it's hip to be one or not. I grew up listening to him every day and I think his music is the only reason why my mother survived her first 10 years as an immigrant and her rather tumultous marriage to my father.

2 years ago my mom and I got tickets to see Neil at the Target Center, and I'm not ashamed to say that it was one of the best shows I've seen. Yes he's cheesy, yes he wears sequin suits, yes he's popular with a much older crowd... but he's GOOD! And I can't help but be a fan.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get tickets to the Neil Diamond show at the Excel Center a couple of weeks ago, so when I found out about this tribute show yesterday, there was no way I was going to miss it. I packed a picnic, a bottle of wine (should have packed two, Dan cashed the first one 15 minutes into the show) and a throw blanket, grabbed Daniel, and despite some hesitation, left the dogs at home. We don't have a doggie carrier for our bikes yet, so we would have had to drive in order to bring the boys along. Parking can be pretty tough around Lake Harriet, and I'm not even sure Gus and Charly would have been able to appreciate the concert.

Plenty of other people brought their dogs though. After a couple of songs and plenty of wine, Dan was limber enough to approach our neighbors about their friends. He found out that all three of their little dogs were designer breeds. One was called a Morkie (a Maltese Yorkie Cross), the other a Shih-Poo (you guessed it, a Shih Tzu Poodle Cross), and the third was a Whoodle (a Wheaton Terrier Poodle Cross).

I've found myself questioning Charly's identity several times. We know Gus is a mutt, some sort of Pit Bull mix. But Charly has papers and they say he's a Pure Bred Miniature Schnauzer. Yet he looks pretty different from most Schnauzers I've met. He's quite a bit bigger and has incredibly soft fur. I've had people tell me he must be a Schnoodle (Miniature Schnauzer Poodle Cross), but to be quite honest, Dan and I think he's a Schnau Wok. That's a Miniature Schnauzer crossed with an Ewok. If only he were a true Mini Schnau, I could have fit him in this awesome Pet Pack Carrier and biked over to the concert with him on my back.

Post Script: First person to name the Neil Diamond song in my title gets a free Neil Diamond i-Tunes download. Come on, you know you want it!

Leave It To The Japanese

Dan has to take Gus to the Vet this afternoon. We share a car that I generally get to drive to work, while Daniel takes the bus, so today he kept the car and dropped me off downtown, and I get the pleasure of busing home.

We left this morning at 8, and we took the boys with us, since they love car rides. You should have seen the commotion as they wrestled each other for shotgun. It was so funny. Poor little Charly just got trampled by Gus, and then had a difficult time making the jump into the car, so Daniel had to give him a little boost.

It's interesting how different Charly and Gus are in the car. Gus wanders all over the place. He paces back and forth, settles down only for a few minutes to rest his head on the the front arm rest, then gets back up and takes Charly's spot, then moves over to the window, and then finally lies down lengthwise taking over the entire back seat, and leaving his brother with less than a foot of room.

Charly on the other hand hops into the car, sits right down, and stays in the same place the entire ride, unless Gus makes him move. And no matter what, Charly always sits sideways, so that one side of his body is pushed up against the back seat. He seems to love the vibrations from the moving car, somehow they're comforting to him.

I think part of the reason why our dogs love car rides so much is because usually when they they get in the car it means they're going somewhere fun, most likely to a dog park, or better yet, grandma's house. I'm pretty sure they were disappointed today, when they realized they were just taking me to work.

Check out this 2005 dog friendly car concept from Honda Japan! The W.O.W. (Wonderful Openhearted Wagon) has a special crate for dogs in the glove compartment and a bigger crate pops up from the floor in the back seat area and can be folded back into the floor when it's not needed. For even bigger dogs, just buckle them up with a special seat belt to the floor. The W.O.W. even comes with removable, washable, rollout flooring and stain resistant fabric seats. What can I say... Bow Wow!!!

Sugarbush Squirrel Does It Again

I write this blog for fun, and I try not to worry about my traffic too much, but sometimes I like to check out the numbers. Google analytics allows me to track how many people view my site each day, where they're coming from, how much time they're spending on the blog, and what pages they're reading.

One of the most useful analytic tools is the traffice sources tool, which lets me see how my visitors are finding House and Hound online. Some of my traffic is direct, but most of it is from referring sites or search engines.

Daniel checked my House and Hound analytics last night and found some hilarious information. Turns out that the most common google search query leading to House and Hound are the words "sexy firefighter". 15 people have wound up on my site looking for hot male bods, only to find this! In fact, if you search the words "sexy firefighter" on google, House and Hound comes up 6th!!!

Love these boxers from The Gap! Just bought Dan several pairs. He'll love me for it...

Triple Espresso

Ever feel like you have way too much going on, and you want to be everywhere at once, but you can't? I feel that way today. I've been watching the Aquatennial Tennis Tournament for the past weeks, trying to catch an hour or two of tennis and get some work done at the same time. The final matches were played today and I had to watch the women's singles championship, even though my conscious kept telling me to get back to work.

Tonight a friend of mine has an art opening, but we've also been invited to dinner at Dan's sister's house. I'll be at the American Textile Center right as the doors open at 6pm, and I'll head over to Naomi's half an hour later.

There's another event this evening that I really wish I could go to, but it's hard enough to be at two places at the same time, let alone three. Corazon, a stationary and gift shop is opening their new dowtown minneapolis store, and hosting a semi-regular Dog Party! There will be dogs (bring your own!), food, music, and fun. The party starts at 5 and goes till 8pm.

Homecoming

I picked up my boys yesterday. They'd been at my mom's house since Monday afternoon, and I can't describe to you how terribly we missed them, and how incredibly excited I was to take them back home with me. I practically sprinted out of my German class at 8:30 last night, and had to try my very hardest not to speed down I-94 at 75 miles and hour. I tend to have a lead foot, and I've spent the past year and a half battling my speed demon. Gus and Charly were, as usual, happy to see me, and not at all reluctant to hop into my car for their shuttle ride home.

I like this very modern pillow design from Lila Paws at Luxury Pet Department. Add some pup style to any black and white interior, without taking the edge off.