Cheddar Collies

Cheddar Collies

We hope everyone is having a pawtastic weekend. Grand-Paw keeps improving. His voice is weak, and he is going through physical and speech rehab. He is positive and every one is telling us he is quite a pawsome guy. We knew that already.

We wanted to share a picture of our Cheddar Collies. To answer Jake and JH, yes you can make make Cheddar Wire Fox Terriers (WFTs). Though they don't have quite the nice ring as Cheddar Collies. The place we got our cookie cutters had 78 different breeds. We don't mind sharing the site with our cyber-paw pals. If you e-bark us, we will send you the hyper-link. To e-bark us, either press the picture with the two collies on the right or type in the address. No we don't own stock in the company, Dog Dad just likes baking stuff.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

Happy Thanksgiving

We want to wish all our pals out in cyber-paw land a safe and happy Thanksgiving. We hope your hoomans give you plenty of attention and treats. We are starting to smell some of those wonderful holiday smells.

Dad is making some human treats flan and pumpkin-cup cakes. After that cheddar collies for us and our pals at Angel Paws. We sure are looking forward to those.

Several years ago Dad's sisters made him a calender. The below is the photo they chose for the month of November. Essex is about six-months old, so it was taken many dog-moons ago.

Happy Thanksgiving Every Paw

Dog Speed,


Essex & Deacon

Once, Twice a Lady

Dad told us yesterday that Lady I, Lady II and their Dog Mom wanted to wish us Happy Thanksgiving. We really liked their Dog Mom, she could even make Essex's tail swish and Essex is only that way with only a few of people. Their Mom had to leave them with their Dog Dad in northern Florida for a year. She misses them a lot and all three of them always treated us nice.

We got to do our sniffs before Dad went on vacation in October. The Ladies snuck up by Dog Dad to get petted. We think they like him a lot. Then of course Collie People are like that. If there is another one around they will find each other.

Grand-Paw is doing better. He is still in the hospital but doing a lot better now. We sure hope to get to see him again. He is a pawsome guy. We think have convinced Dad to make us some Cheddar Collies and some other dog treats for Thanksgiving. Stay tuned to see if we are successful.

Essex & Deacon

Lady I takes a breather

Lady II poses for the camera

The Four Key West Collies
Lady I, Deacon, Essex and Lady II

Distracted

We have been distracted the last four days cyber-paw pals. On Saturday, Grand-Paw (Dog Dad's Father) was admitted to the hospital with a low grade fever. When we called on Sunday, he could only say a couple sentences. We were worried.

On Monday when we checked in with Dog Dad's brudder and sistahs, they told us Grand-Paw was going to get a cat-scan, MRI and some blood work. They relayed that Dad was talking better. We are not sure what type of cat was did that scan, but we hope it is like Rosie and not some strange cat. The cat-scan showed Grand-Paw had a hemotoma about the size of a golf ball near the frontal lobe of his brain.

Deacon: I think it was a goofball.

Essex: It was a golf ball size silly. That is one of those little white balls that people hit with a big stick, so that can go after it and hit it with another big stick.

Deacon: Sounds like a goofball to me.

Today, we found out he is talking and doing much better. Grand-Paw turns 90 next week and is a World War II veteran. He is a nice guy and loves giving us scratches behind the ear. We are hoping for a quiet Thanksgiving where we spend lots of time at Angel Paws Dog Park.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

KW-Collie Time

Our good friend Oorvie made us a totally pawsome clock. We love it. Thank you so very much dear friend.

Oorvie was quite wise in cutting the Gordian Knot and choosing the type of Collie in the clock. Instead of going with a Tri-Color or Sable and White, a Blue Merle was chosen.

Back on 26 September Ludo awarded us the friendly blogger award. Dad had forgotten about it and we had to nip him on the ankle a couple times. Thank you so very much Ludo. There are no rules to giving out this award, other than you can give it out to others you feel deserve it.

Any one who reads our post is welcome to this award. However, we would recognize three that have helped us with our blog and answered many a computer question.
1 - Oorvi, a kind soul that has honored us with a wonderful clock
2 - Tosca, a witty funny Collie, who started us blogging and spent many hours explaining how to create a blog.
3 - Gomer and Opie, who have provided good computer advice and have made us smile many a time.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

War Dog Memorial

Bougainville - 1943

Last year we barked about our paw-fathers and paw-mutters that served in the Great War (WW I). This Veterans Day we bark about those that served in the South Pacific during WW II. The official US Marine dog during WW II was the Doberman Pinscher. Their first action was during the landing as Bougainville on 1 November 1943. These Devil Dogs detected mines, went on patrol, performed sentry duty and sniffed out the enemy. They saw combat on Saipan, Iwo Jima, Guam and Okinawa.

The 2nd and 3rd Marine Platoons on Guam used more War Dogs than all the other areas of combat in the Pacific. While during their duty on Guam 25 of our paw-fathers crossed the rainbow bridge in 1944. One Devil Dog named Kurt saved the lives of 250 soldiers when he alerted them to Japanese troops. Most of these dogs were buried in the Marine cemetery and marked by simple concrete graves that were each indented with the dog’s profile.

Marine and wounded Dobe
Guam - 1944

Guam War Dog Cemetery - 1944

At the wars end 549 dogs remained. Military Brass argued these dogs were killers unfit to return. They were wrong. The Devil Dogs were detrained and only four found unfit to return to civilian life.

War Dog Memorial

Fifty years later a new War Dog Memorial was dedicated to those dogs that never left Guam. The inscription on the memorial reads as follows:

25 Marine War Dogs gave their lives liberating Guam in 1944. They served as sentries, messengers, scouts. They explored caves, detected mines and booby traps.
SEMPER FIDELIS.

Kurt--------Yonnie------Koko-------Bunkie
Skipper---Poncho-----Tubby-----Hobo
Ni-----------Prince------Fritz--------Emmy
Missy------Cappy------Duke-------Max
Blitz--------Arno---------Silver------Brockie
Bursch----Pepper-----Ludwig----Rickey
Tam (buried at sea off Asan Point)

Given in their memory and on behalf of the surviving men of the 2nd and 3rd marine war dogs platoons, many of whom owe their lives to the bravery and sacrifice of these gallant animals.

Vacation Photos

Finally, the long awaited vacation photographs. Things have been hectic around our home. The pool is green, unpacking from vacation, Dog Dad paying those nasty bills, mowing the yard, catching up on emails, reading our friend's blogs, the World Series and of course visiting Angel Paws.

While we were on vacation Charlie gave us an Autumn Friends Award. Thank you so much for that wonderful award. Charlie, we saw a few pumpkins that either of us could have fit inside. There were only a few leaves changing color though. We would like to pass the Autumn Friends award to Gomer & Opie, Tosca, Reilly and Maximillian the Valliant.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

Autumn Friends Award

from Charlie - 14 OCT

Essex, Hattie, Cassie and Deacon watch the treat

Cassie chilling out

Essex checking things out

Deacon and Cassie at rest

Essex and Cousin Clyde lying down

Cousin Clyde ready to take a nap