When she’s not being a flashlight, I like to think that Bella is dressed in costume as the Cone Ranger. Accordingly, here’s a video of her in “costume” for your Halloween enjoyment (especially since I already shared my favorite Halloween song on Saturday). I’d recommend watching this one with the sound on to get the full benefit of the soundtrack. Poor Cone Ranger – life on Coney Island is full of challenges.
Hi-Yo, Salamander! Away!
Seriously, she was so full of energy last week (when I shot this footage) that her crazy was at an all time high. We’ve managed to institute some “cone breaks” into her schedule, which seems to help. While supervised, she seems to – mostly – be leaving her incision alone. She’s still all coned up at night and when home alone, however. I don’t trust her that much yet.
It’s almost time to watch Halloween cartoons! (Yes, I am five.) I do love It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown – however, for my favorite special, I have to break out the DVD player. Which one is that, you might ask? Garfield, of course. What’s yours?
Anyway, before I do that, I owe you some Halloween linkage. Enjoy…
This week’s punny pet names are inspired by my friend Coney McConerson: Conan O’Whinin’, Ichabod Cone and Cone Crawford. (I’ve also added a few new nicknames for my Coney Island friend. One of my favorites? The Cone Ranger.)
Looking for an easy Halloween treat this weekend? Try making this candy cane bark I shared over on the baking blog.
It’s time for the big reveal. What will Bella be for Halloween?
To be honest, I don’t have the heart to make Bella wear a Halloween costume when she’s already stuck in a cone. (She’s not a huge fan of being dressed up even when she’s in a good mood.)
However, the new cone appears to have a silver lining… literally. This weekend, we discovered that the cone has some reflective qualities. As a result, photos taken with a flash end up like this:
Have you guessed it yet? Keep reading…
She’s going as a flashlight!
Poor Coney Island. The insults never stop coming… I even got some of this snazzy flashlight action on video:
What’s your pet’s Halloween costume this year?
UPDATE: I just got a call from the vet – Bella’s lump was benign! Yay!
UPDATE 2: It’s a Halloween Parade Blog Hop from afFURmation!
Bella has a new cone (the Comfy Cone). She seems to prefer this one to the plastic monstrosity she was wearing on Saturday. Her navigation has improved. It also makes drinking easier and appears to make sleeping more comfortable.
However, the new cone has not caused her to develop an appreciation for life as the sole occupant of Coney Island in our household. I still catch her shooting me dirty looks on a regular basis. The fact that I keep referring to her as Coney Island and Coney McConerson probably isn’t helping matters. (When she takes a nap in the middle of the living room these days, she’s like her own little island of annoyance. I wouldn’t recommend it as a tourist destination.)
I asked Bella to watch the following video shared with me by Pamela from Something Wagging This Way Comes. She was not amused (apparently they don’t enjoy cone humor on Coney Island). However, as a not-so-proud member of the People’s Republic of Evil Cone Purchasers, I found it highly entertaining.
Thanks for sending this my way, Pamela. I love it!
On a related note, I think Bella has been deploying her cone to score maximum sympathy points. Last night, those points were awarded in the form of chicken. The cone has really upped her game in the begging department.
Tomorrow, I reveal what Bella’s going as for Halloween… any guesses? (Hint: the cone is involved.)
Bella would like to register a complaint. She has decided that “Cone of Shame” is not really an accurate name for this torture device. It’s more like a Cone of Extreme Annoyance.
I think I’m currently on her List. She keeps running into things and giving me dirty looks.
So far, she’s doing okay, other than the fact that she’s obviously annoyed. She currently has so many pills that I’m beginning to think she needs one of those pill caddies, however. (Antibiotics and pain meds plus her usual thyroid medicine.)
Looks like I’ll be having a lazy day of watching TV so that I can hang out with her and keep her from overdoing it. Could be worse…
I’ve got lots of linky goodness for you today. Before we get silly, however, I have some cool information to share with you in honor of Pit Bull Awareness Day, which just so happens to be tomorrow.
Our pals over at love and a six-foot leash have put together a special adoption event with the Montgomery County Humane Society. For a select group of lovable wonderbulls known as Little Zee’s Fabulous Four, all adoption fees will be sponsored. Once a dog in the Fabulous Four is adopted, a new one will take his or her place on the list.
If you’re in the DC area, check out the details on how you can bring one of these adorable pups home. (Even if you’re not looking for another dog right now or aren’t in DC, you can still help by spreading the word!) For bonus points, head over to Peaceful dog, where a donation will be made to the Washington Humane Society for each comment. Pretty cool, huh?
On a related note, I saw the sign below one day, and it was the highlight of my week. I’m sure the people who saw me taking this photo thought I was nuts – however, anyone who gets the reference below scores instant awesome points. (I’m beginning to think I need to join Lionel Richie Fans Anonymous. Their motto? “Hello… is it therapy you’re looking for?”)
Lionel Richie crossing
Um… moving on… looking for a treat to make for Halloween? Check out these creepy eyeball cake pops from Bakerella. (Continuing on that theme… there photos of animals’ eyes up close are pretty cool.)
If that didn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, try these awesome cakes inspired by Tim Burton. (There might even be some new eye candy on my baking blog… head on over and check it out.)
Also… I think this might be the best costume ever (although I doubt it’d translate into a pet costume).
Want to see more cute pet costumes (and vote for your favorite)? Go to All Things Dog Blog to vote for the Most Original Costume, and swing by DogTipper to vote for the Cutest Costume.
I wish I’d read this article about pumpkin carving tips before I tried to carve mine last weekend. Nonetheless, maybe it’ll help you in your carving endeavors. (Are you a pumpkin carving savant? Then you might want to enter this contest.)
This photo looks like it came from some sort of horror movie.
The video below, however, looks like it came from the best movie ever.
It’s like a remake of 8 Seconds only much more fun and without Dylan McKay.
Oh, and I know it’s No Frown Friday, but I want to keep you posted on what’s up with us today. Bella had to go in for surgery to have a lump removed this morning, and I’ll be picking her up this evening if all goes well. That being said, we’d appreciate any healing vibes you could send her way.
I’m hoping that it’ll turn out to be nothing, and that the worst part of the whole ordeal will be her displeasure regarding the cone of shame. (At least we don’t have a doggie door, I suppose…)
This week, I can really use some smiles… thank goodness No Frown Friday is here when I need it most! I also have an important zombie survival tip to share with you. But first, a few things to send you into the weekend with a giggle or two:
Your punny pet name: Tyribone Lannister. (Confused? See #2 below.)
This one has no real connection to anything else on the list… but it’s my blog so I can take some liberties right? It’s a cheese grater that looks like a hedgehog!
I don’t know what you saw, but I’m pretty sure I just learned how to survive a zombie attack – always sit on a kitchen rug so that the zombies can’t quite reach you. If only someone had shared this info with the cast of The Walking Dead.
Anyway… what are you up to this weekend? I’m going to a corn maze/pumpkin patch with friends, and then we’re heading back to my house for a pumpkin carving party. For Bella, that means extra people to pet her and give her love. I don’t think she’ll mind that at all.
As you probably know, I love a good parody (especially when it incorporates puppies). I enjoyed sharing some of my favorite dog song parodies with you last month, so I decided that a second installment was in order. Without further ado, here are five more dog song parodies for your listening (reading?) pleasure… feel free to serenade (annoy?) your own pet with these as you see fit.
“It’s My Party” by… well, lots of people,
but originally by Lesley Gore – I break this one out when Bella is
watching neighborhood dogs pass by our house: “It’s my Bella and she’ll
bark if she wants to, bark if she wants to, bark if she wants to, you
would bark too if you had seen that pooch…”
“…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears – I made this one up while on a very long walk: “Your dawdling… is killing me (and I) I must confess, I’d like to leave (like to leave). You’ve sniffed that same thing a million times… but you make me whine… and sniff that hydrant one more time.”
“What About Love” by Heart – appropriate for Bella’s favorite game: “What about tug? Don’t you want someone to play it with you? What about tug… or maybe keep-a-way? What about tug? I only want to hide the rope bone from you… you can have it back one day…”
“All You Need is Love” by
The Beatles – there’s not a lot to this particular parody (it’s really
just a simple word change in the chorus), but I do enjoy it: “All you
need is pups… pups are all you need.”
“If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies – definitely one of my feel good songs (both original and parody versions): “If I had a million doggies (if I had a million doggies), I would buy them a house (I would buy them a house). If I had a million doggies (if I had a million doggies), I’d buy them lots of goodies for that house (maybe a nice squeaky toy or a rope bone)….” and so on: “If I had a million doggies, I’d install a million doggie doors. If I had a million doggies, I’d probably still want more…”
People had some great songs in the comments last time… do you have any new dog song parodies to add to our playlist?
Well, this week’s challenge was a fun one – though in order to get Bella to chase me around, I had to rely on the rope bone. I suppose it was only fitting. It’s the common thread that connects each of our weekly challenges, after all.
I’m sad that K9 Kamp has come to an end… I had a lot of fun. What did I learn? Well, I definitely learned that Bella is motivated primarily by rope bones (although, I wasn’t too surprised by that revelation).
I also learned that I need to work on her obedience and listening skills. I’ve been kind of lax on that front – when you have a dog that’s as low key and easy to handle as Bella, it’s easy to let things slip. However, that’s no excuse…
Anyway, I plan to continue to play lots of tug with my little furball. I hope we’ll be using some of the K9 Kamp exercises in the future too.
When a squirrel interrupts a televised baseball game, do dogs everywhere freak out? (Bella and I weren’t watching… the wounds from the Braves epic collapse are still too fresh.)
I’d like to give the person who came up with that Whippet pun a high five. Fun fact: giving a high five is one of the few tricks Bella has successfully mastered. This cat approves:
