The Letter K

This post is brought to you by the letter K. It is part of a letter game started by our pal Reilly, the kowspot dog (hush, we'll spell kow however we want to and this is a letter K post).

K is for Kangaroo an animal that lives in Australia in a land that it is already tomorrow, when it is yesterday here. They hop on two legs and carry their pups in a pouch. A kangaroo puppy is called a Joey. You may remember our pals Kanga-Pup and Little Roo, when we talked about Ekka and drank Pawsters and Kennel Brew. Reilly's Mom is Australian and Charlie lives down under there too.

Kanga Pup and Little Roo

The Pawsters and Kennel Brew have Kangroo pictures

K is for Kennel a place we sometimes do sleep. It is our shelter our refuge when things are khaotic. We feel safe in our kennel and find at times treats.

Young Essex in her Kennel in a Miami Hotel

K is for Kipling, Dog Dad's favorite author. He wrote books and poems and was born in Bombay, India in 1865 in the country our friend Oorvi calls home. There was The Jungle Book, The Man Who Would Be King, Kim, Just So Stories and Captain Courageous. Then of course there were his poems: Gunga Din, Recessional and of course If-. In a 1995 BBC opinion poll, If- was voted Britains favorite poem. If- is the poem that Dog Dad chose to live his life after he first read it when he was a young pup in high school many, many dog moons ago. Kipling crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 1936.

Kipling in his study, 1895 from Wkipedia

K is for Knight a man dressed in armour that is brave and is true. In Merry Old England a place Ludo calls home, there lived the most famous King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. There were many orders of knights to include Templar, Hospitaller, Teutonic and Malta. The Knight is a game piece in Dad's favorite board games, chess. His favorite chess game was four-handed. Four sets of pieces and players on teams. White & Yellow vs Black & Red played on a board shaped like a cross.

Knight statue and chess pieces

K is for Krivan a mountain in the High Tatras in a land called Slovakia. Mount Krivan is the second highest mountain in the High Tatras and was selected to be one of the images on Slovakia's euro coins. The picture below Dad got from a very good friend from the Czech Republic, when he worked at Fort Belvoir.

Mount Krivan

We have posted five things about the letter K and our turn has ended. We pass on the letter game to two of our friends. To Charlie we pass the letter H; and to Tosca, what else but the letter P as in Perfect. To they can pass this game on to one or to two, while we thank the Great Dane we are through.

Essex & Deacon

Sleeping Dogs....

Josh and Jessie issued the challenge to post some of your funniest sleeping pictures. Reilly, the Cowspotdog accepted it; next our cyber-paw pal Ludo posted his pictures. Dad unfortunately had plenty of sleepy dog pictures. Sigh, guess it is our turn. The dogmanity of it all.

Essex & Deacon

January 2004 - Puppy tired, Essex at 10 Weeks.

January 2004 - Somebody turn off the lights!

February 2004 - This toy makes a good pillow.

December 2006 - Deacon at five month fast asleep.

February 07 - Deacon is on some good drugs.

February 2007 - Bookend Collies.

July 2007 - Sleeping on her back.

September 2007 - Same pose as third photo.

June 2008 - Back to back Collies.

August 2008 - Deacon sleeping on his back.

Surprise Note

Dear Essex & Deacon,

Bet you never thought you would hear from me again. Your number one cousin has returned to Holmhaven. I decided to follow in Deacon's path and try out several homes. I'm having fun playing with the other young pups and surfing cyber-paw space trying to find a good home. You know one with a fenced yard to play in.

In the meanwhile, I having fun playing with the other Collies and barking with the other collies. Oh, Buddy and Ebony wanted me to bark at you.

Woofs and licks,

Number 1 Cousin

Number 1 Cousin - He sure grew

= = = = = =

Dearest Number 1 Cousin,

We are really surprised you returned to Holmhaven. While we are happy to hear from you, we sure hope you find your furever family. No need to follow Deacon's path. This was Deacon's third home and he came here when he was five months. We will say you sure are a pawsome looking Collie in your picture.

Let us know when you find your furever family Cousin. Tell Buddy (Deacon's dad, Essex's brother) and Ebony (Deacon's grand-mutter, Essex's mom) that we send them plenty of woofs, sniffs and licks.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

Fifth Picture Tag

Our pal Ludo tagged us. You are to open a document or file folder,click on the fifth folder and then the fifth photo. Post the photo and describe it.Then tag 5 other bloggers. The fifth folder photo our computer is this:

Cassi and Deacon exchange greetings.

This is a photo from October 2007, up in Northern Ohio. Deacon and Cassi are meeting for the first time and are just saying hi to each other.

The five bloggers we are tagging are:

Abby & Aiden
Madison
Pacco
Kess
Jake & JH

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

Neighbor Dogs

On the other side of the fence is our neighbor dogs. We sometimes chase to one end of the fence to the other with them. Other days we bark at each other. Mostly though we mind our own business.

First there is Vinnie, a super friendly pupster. Vinnie is always happy to see the Collies outside and loves people. Next there is Prince, who is a decent pup and likes hoomans too. Prince and Vinnie play tug and games in their yard. Next is Emily, who is a barker and growler. She even bares her teeth at Auntie Essex. We just look at her and bark, chill out Emily.

Vinnie looks up to Deacon

Vinnie sure is a pistol

Prince and Deacon sometimes play chase

Emily likes to growl and bark

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

CPDT Dog Sitter

Cyber-paw pals we are happy to bark that Dog Dad arrived home yesterday. The weather was brisk in Baltimore. Dad said that Dakota and us would have loved it. Dad wishes he could have visited Dakota's pal Colby but didn't know the puppy's family. Do you think Colby named after cheese? Dad barked at us that at the BWI Airport on the way home, he met a smooth collie that looked a lot like Tatum. He only talked to the Dog Mom for about ten-seconds. The Mom was amazed that Dog Dad knew about Smooth Collies. Pshaw, we trained our Dad well.

Then we told Dad about our adventures. We met Red and his Dog Dad at Angel Paws several weeks ago. Red's Dog Dad must be a pretty important hooman because he has letters in front and behind of his name. Red's Dad is LT Joel Walton, CPDT. CPDT stands for Certified Pet Dog Trainer. They helped us watch the house and drove us to the Dog Park.

Joel, Deacon, Essex & Red at Angel Paws

Joel has written two books: "Positive Puppy Training Works" and "Labrador Retrievers for Dummies." Dad hasn't read any of the books but he has talked quite a bit with Red's Dad at Angel Paws. Joel lives with over 20 Labrador Retrievers in Prince Fredrick, Maryland but comes down to Key West during the winter. Essex liked Joel right away and was very relaxed when Red and Joel came in our home to Dad's amazement. Do you think it might be because Joel looks like Santa Paws? We sure think he looks like him.

We were very well behaved while Dad was away. Deacon and Red played a ton, especially with Deacon's tug toy. Essex warmed up to Joel and even let him sit on the couch with her. Since Dog Dad talks so much with him and Essex approved we we decided to provide a link in case any of you were interested in learning more. You can read about our Dog Sitter and his two books at http://joelwalton.com/. Now Collies don't need a book, because we know how to train our owners properly.

Dog Speed,

Essex & Deacon

January Moon

Full moon over Key West, 11 January 2009

Well yesterday was suppose to be the bestest full moon of the year. We look up in the sky, Arooooo, and the moon was big and bright. We just had to get a picture for everyone.

Dog Dad is going on a trip to Baltimore tomorrow for a couple days. Now as luck would have it Dog Dad met Red, the Labrador retriever's Dad, Joel Walton. Red's Dad is spending the winter here in the keys and has written a couple dog books. One on puppy training the other on labrador retrievers.

We'll let you know how everything turns out when Dog Dad gets back from Baltimore.

Dog Speed

Essex & Deacon

Note From Cousin Howie

Essex & Deacon,

I haven't barked at you two for quite some time. I think we are going to become a two collie family. Yep, another Holmhaven puppy might just adopt my family. I think it will be a lot of fun teaching a young pupster the Collie way. Plus it will give me someone that speaks dog to bark at.

Howie's new paw pal

Essex any advice on how did you break in a pupster? You did an pawstanding job with Deacon from what has been barked my way.

Woofingly yours,

Cousin Howie

Cousin Howie

= = = = = =

Howie,
Oh my dog, it is so pawsome to hear from you after all these dog moons. We are so glad you are doing well.

You should have an easy job breaking in the pupster. You won't have a juvenile pup-linquent to break from bad habits. You can start the pupster out right and train him the collie way. We hope to see a picture of the two of you together soon. We think that would be so pawsome. Don't be a strange-dog, keep in touch. If you are ever in Key West look us up. We would love to have you visit us.

Dog Speed

Essex & Deacon

2008 Review

We wish all our cyber-paw pals a barky New Year. We hope 2009, the Year of the Ox is much better than 2008. We look forward to a pawsome 2009. For us 2008 was a star-crossed year. We went through some of life’s rough spots, but there was some good things too. Now the Key West Collies recap 2008.
= = = = = = = = =

18 January – We head on an emergency road trip north to Ohio.
20 January – We play in the snow for the first time.

Essex the Snow Queen

21 January – Grand Maw crosses the rainbow bridge.
22 March – Great (Great) Uncle Bobby Crosses Rainbow Bridge.

Great (Great) Uncle Bobby

23 March – The Dog Hero of Santiago, Chile: An unknown dog pulls another dog from a highway after it was struck in traffic. We first see the story in December.
29 April – Sun Halo over Key West.
10 June – One Year Blog Anniversary.
26 June – A huge tree limb crashes down during big storm by Grand Paw’s House.
15 July – Our 100th Post.
2 July – Gomer and Opie start drive for Gemi’s surgery, which is a success.

Gemi

8 August – The beginning of the # 1 Cousin saga.

No 1 Cousin

13 August –Cash, a German Shepherd, is reunited with her hooman Mom and son. Cash guarded the skeletal remains with her Dog Dad for about six weeks.
18 AUG – Tropical Storm Fay passes over Key West and the Collies.
7 September – Hurricane Ike evacuation.
9 September – We meets Deacon’s previous family.

Deacon at his previous home.

10 September – German Shepherd dials 911 and saves his dog dad.
26 SEP –Hooman rescues his dog from the jaws of a shark.
27 OCT – No 1 Cousin not coming to Key West.
12 NOV – Oorvie crafts a Collie Clock for us.
15 NOV - Grand Paw admitted to the hospital.
30 DEC – No 1 Cousin tells us he found furever home.
31 DEC – We find out Grand Paw is getting worse. He won’t be to his house to live any time soon.
While it has been a tough year on us, we faced it as a pack and weathered the storms. No matter what happens, we look forward to 2009.

Dog Speed and may the Great Dane watch over you always,

Essex & Deacon