Cute or Funny?

Please visit my pal Juno who has bad sickies and needs our support.

We use something called keywords here at the Mango estate to keep track of all the photos of my large and most photogenic self.

I trust momma to apply the proper words to every picture so that I can revisit my favorites.

So in an idle moment, I looked for Dexter + cute and was surprised to see 38 different pictures.

OK, the little guy can be cute at times, but 38 is a big number, right?

WRONG! Mango + cute only got 27 hits!!!! Are you kidding me? Just look at my total cuteness!

But wait! It gets worse! When I did Dexter + funny I got 59 pictures.

I tried doofus + funny and got none! What is going on here? The labradork is totally a stupid doffus all the time!

Then, to my horror, Mango + funny resulted in 96, yes folks 96, actual photos of the Mango being "funny."

Of course some of them I think actually were doofus funny photos like this one which I just happen to be in, but am absolutely not being funny.

Clearly some mistake on the photographer's part. My face never ever ever looks like this.

Anything funny about getting yummers foodables?

I thought not.

The Mango, always dignified, never silly.

I better not hear any doggies laughing!

Mango Man! Oh yeah!

P.S. That cone monster is still here and I do not appreciate the various cone headed stuffies that momma has been shoving in my face. I am really confused. I've been spending a lot of time in the dog cave or on the deck working on my tan. At least momma doesn't close the door to the dog cave like the first night, but uses the furnitures to keep me in so I can look around. Momma says the good news is that she actually cleaned the dog cave as an excuse to spend more time with me.

I only see Pee-Wee now and then and I want to play with him, but momma says, "No no no!" and then she takes him on walkies and instead of bringing him back, she brings the cone monster. I don't know where Pee-Wee has been, but I miss him. I saw him for a little bit at breakfast, but he was grouchy and growled at me. Sob. How long is "a few more days?"

Momma's Book Review (and conehead update)

Mango Momma here. I am hijacking Mango's blog to do a book review (so scroll to the end if you just want the Mango and Dexter news).

The people at National Geographic contacted me to read and review their new book, Dogtown.

I figured, why not, since I would probably read it anyway and they were offering to send me my very own copy. Plus writing this review is a good excuse to spend time in the dog cave with Mango who still has "issues" with the cone beast.

First of all, I want to congratulate National Geographic on getting an author who can actually write a good story. So often books such as this have a lot of good things to say, but the writing is so bad I can hardly stand it.

I had never heard of Dogtown before. Dogtown (Best Friends Animal Society) is a unique rescue organization located in Utah. It is a no kill shelter that promises to provide homes to any dogs (and cats and some other things) in need even if it means that Dogtown itself becomes their forever home. You can visit their web site here.

The best thing about this book is that it made me THINK! I like that. As I read the stories of dogs with horrible backgrounds finding their way to Dogtown, I alternated between feeling that this was too big an investment in too few dogs, many of whom have severe emotional issues, and thinking that Dogtown is the best rescue organization ever.

About 20 years ago I volunteered at our local no kill shelter. At first I thought it was a wonderful mission, but as the years went on and I watched dogs come in and stay there for weeks, months, years, and become increasingly non-adoptable (most likely due to being housed in standard runs in a loud scary place) I became kind of disillusioned with the whole idea. Was this really humane?

Dogtown has the resources to provide a different experience. They have acres of land and the dogs live in communities based on their temperament. Prospective adopters are provided with cottages in order to have sleep overs with their potential pets. People can take Dogtown vacations to spend their time working with the animals.

Best of all, Dogtown will give top notch veterinary care to animals with injuries too burdensome for the average rescue organization. They also travel to places such as New Orleans (after Katrina) to help with rescue efforts and reuniting dogs with their owners. It is really an organization unlike any other.

The stories are wonderful. The book alternates stories of individual rescues and personal accounts by some of the staff. It shows how they work to rehabilitate dogs and the staff provides their voices on how they came to be at Dogtown. These autobiographical snippets are especially endearing as the people readily admit to the occasional mistakes they made in caring for dogs; both their own and at Dogtown.

That said, the book did kind of gloss over some of the issues that Dogtown must face given their commitment to provide a forever home for any dog unless severe medical issues indicate that euthanasia would be the humane option.

One story in particular talks about a dog having trouble integrating into his Dogtown pack which resulted in him being attacked not once, but twice, so severely that he required medical care. I expect there are more stories like this and I would have liked to see a bit more information about how they handle these situations. There are dogs there who are forever living in private runs due to their inability to ever be totally safe around other dogs. The book claims that these dogs do eventually get comfortable with some of the handlers, but it raises some questions about quality of life.

Dogtown's philosophy is, to my mind, extreme, but that's OK. I firmly believe that the world needs radical organizations who take hard stands in order to pull us moderates out of our comfort zone now and again.

They only include adoption stories with happy endings and don't tell me enough about how the adoptive homes make accommodations for these troubled dogs. Well, except for one story about a dog who was taken in during the last years of his life and provided with a private second floor suite in his forever home because he couldn't be around the other pets in the house.

I see the struggles that some of our blogging pals go through with their dogs and I applaud the patience and dedication they have to help their furry friends overcome their issues and find happiness. I would have liked getting to know some of the caring people who take home and love Dogtown dogs a little better. And maybe even hear about adoptions that don't go so well.

Overall, I am going to give this book a big thumbs up. It is a wonderful read and ultimately left me feeling filled with hope. That this place even exists is tremendous.

As long as I'm doing book reviews, here is another one I recommend (this one I got from the library).

Sure, the guy is no James Herriot (but who is). Even so, he writes better than a lot of dog book authors and the stories are very interesting.

Now for a brief Mango and Dexter update.

In an attempt to make the cone less scary, I tried putting the moose inside of it.

Mango was uncertain.

Here is the movie version. With me holding the scary cone monster, he is more likely to shy away than go on the offensive. With poor pee-wee's black head pointing out, we're still getting big dog. I left Dexter's cone off for a few seconds this morning while I went to get Mango for breakfast and of course he was after his surgery site immediately.

We continue to be a house divided. Fortunately, Mango spends a lot of his day in the dog cave anyway, but this is really getting old. Sigh.

Mango Momma

Dexter Day - I am NOT a Monster (you idiot)

Let me start off by saying that the Relentlessly Huge is a total idiot! I think that covers it.

On tutoring day I was very excited to get going. It was a wee bit frustrating that I didn't get my breakfast, but sometimes when momma knows I am going to be a very good dog and get lots of treats she makes my usual meals smaller, so I figured this was a good sign and eagerly climbed aboard the mastiff mobile.

See that purple thing? That is my good dog attention special toy. Another positive sign, right?

WRONG! Look where we are! Ruh roh.

I am not embarrassed to say I was a bit stressed when I learned of our true destination. Sure, I sometimes get food at the V-E-T, but on Thursday I didn't get any at all. Ruh roh.

Plus momma made me get on the scale which I didn't really enjoy. I am 75 labrapounds.

When we went into the examination room, I tried all my extra cute moves in an effort to turn the tide, but it was not meant to be.

When momma came to get me I felt pretty awful. Then of course when I got home, my idiot brother tried to eat me because of my dumb cone.

What a night. Mango got locked up in the dog cave (why that should be a problem is beyond me since he usually spends the night in there anyway) and momma "slept" on the living room floor while I spent most of the night pacing and (gasp) crying.

Momma had a very sore back the next day (sorry momma) and spent a lot of time in the sleepy room and had to take the ibuprofen.

But now I am feeling much better and back to my old self (even though I am supposed to "take it easy").

I am getting extra walkies.

Jarrod and Mickey had a couple of days off (guess they were tired), so I went out to inspect the progress on the front porch.

My walkies are different than usual.

I appreciate that momma lets me take all the time I want for sniffies, but am frustrated that we go very slowly and not far at all.

It is still Halloween at some houses.

But back home is a different story. When we get inside, momma puts the stupid cone on me again. This is really frustrating because it keeps me from examining my tutoring site.

The worst part, though, is that the Relentlessly Dumb still sometimes thinks I am a monster.

Momma and Master let him out in the house with me and my cone sometimes when they can watch.

But other times he gets barricaded in the dog cave side.

This can make him grouchy, especially when he hears my cone bang against something so I try to stay where he can't see me.

I was afraid he was going to shove the jailhouse chairs out of the way, but fortunately he is too thick headed to figure it out (actually, he could move that big chair too if he had a brain to go with his hugeness).

Of course when I get a cone reprieve, Mango recognizes me at once and is happy to see me.

He even wanted to bitey face with me yesterday, but momma said that we could not do that right now.

When my cone isn't on, momma and master are always watching me. I guess I am kind of interesting.

But when its time to come inside...

Back on goes the cone. Sob.

Dexter done!

P.S. From Momma

When Dex isn't wearing his cone, I leave it on the floor for Mango to investigate. Dex is smart enough to stay away from Mango with the cone as Mango remains unclear as to what the cone monster is, but at least last night we were able to have the boys out together. Poor little Dex went into the dog cave and Mango lay at my feet, but then Mango went to go into the dog cave and spotted the cone monster! I was right behind him. Dexter ran into the corner and growled. Mango seemed totally confused and went all stiff and gave a bark. I grabbed Mango and got him out while my husband herded Dex back into the living room and then everything was OK. Hopefully the cone monster will be gone in a few days and things can get back to normal.

Monster in the House

Oh help! There is a monster in the house!

This morning, little Pee-Wee went off for his tutoring and I thought, "Great, I will get plenty of attentions and it will be a great day."

And indeed, things started off fantastic. First I got a yummy carrot all to myself.

Nom, nom, nom. Nobody to steal it from me. Hooray!

Then momma brought out a special stuffie just for me!

What fun! I let the stuffie take a ride on my large and most accommodating back.

But then a most horrible thing happened.

Momma came home, not with my little brother, but with....

A CONE HEAD MONSTER!

See how the furnitures are all moved around? That is because whenever I see the cone headed monster I get really scared and I bark at it and try to chase it away!

Oh where is my little Pee-Wee?

Mango Man! Oh yeah!

P.S. From Momma

Mango is so upset by the cone! He seems to think that Dexter is a scary monster and is barking and lunging at him. Dexter is still scared and stoned and doesn't know what to do. They are fine when the cone isn't on, but obviously Dex needs his cone so he doesn't bother his surgery site. Poor little Dexter is just crying - I think because he feels sick and scared and doesn't like the cone and Mango is insane. Our grand-dog has our crate. Sigh.

Mango is so easily spooked. Just to give you an example, if I am standing with Mango in the yard next to the wheelbarrow everything is fine. If I do nothing more than grab the handles of the wheelbarrow I am suddenly a horrible wheelbarrow monster and he starts barking. So I guess I'm not surprised that he doesn't recognize Dex in his cone, but sheesh!

More Constructions

I was in the middle of my post breakfast meditations when Master's crew showed up and started making unacceptable banging and crashing sounds outside of the dog cave again!

Master claims to be building a new front porch on my estate, but I believe he is really just running some sort of tool time amusements park.

To investigate further, I re-enabled the spy cameras previously installed for just such an occasion.

Look! Here he is explaining the alleged plans to Jarrod. Those do not look like plans to the Mango, just seems to be some lines on paper. Yuh, I am not so easily fooled.

Then he put Jarrod to work doing most curious activities which do not seem even remotely related to a new porch.

At least somebody is having fun...

See what I mean? There are no constructions going on here.

Looks to me like they are just moving the manly tools about the interior of the barn.

Aha! I knew it! Look at Jay! Obviously a ride on the big machine was his sole purpose in being here.

Whilst others need to learn how to wait their turn. Humph.

At least they can entertain themselves.

Another long day is in store for the Mango. I can tell.

Mango Man! Oh yeah!

P.S. I think I am cured of my ouchies! I only have one more day of antibiotics and am not taking the pain meds anymore (but still take the anti in flame stories for a bit). Thanks for all your good thoughts! I KNOW it made a relentlessly huge difference.

Constructions

Meanwhile...

Mango Man! Oh yeah!

Mango's Monosyllabic Monday - Spidey Edition

I use short words

as you will see.

I say it

monosyllabically!

To say what one thinks with small words is hard. But I am quite smart with lots of words so I can do it.

This toy is great! It makes my ears flap. I think I could fly!

Hmmm... bad shot.

Dork in the air.

Keep off my deck, you squirt. I shun you.

Mang Oh! Man! Oh yeah!

P.S. Please visit my good pal, Eduardo. He has been diagnosed with a scary disease and our hearts are breaking for the little guy and his family.