Mason and Xena

Mason and Xena! My BFF Allison and I took our corgs to the park yesterday. Xena has a tendency to bolt when she feels playful, so I began a search for a fenced in area (since Broadway, VA isn't exactly dog park central) when I thought to ask my cousin (who is playing softball now) if any field in Broadway was fenced in, and THERE WAS ONE! We went down to the Timberville park by the river and one was COMPLETELY fenced in. We were thrilled.

They had a blast, and it's the first time since I left Olive that I got to see Mason's cardigan ass play with a pembroke (or whatever he is, I'm going to say cardigan since he still looks a hell of a lot like a cardigan (for example). Since I can't prove his pureness due to being rescued it's easier to say cardigan for now, as that's still what I personally believe. I guess that's the problem with most rescues--no papers to prove it, so what can ya do? And that is my makeshift explanation of why I bounce back and forth on it, but still retain that he's a cardigan.)

ANYWAYS. Seeing Xe run around made me miss my Olive so much. As much as I still want a catahoula mix, I may end up getting a Pem from a breeder like I originally planned. I guess whatever happens happens, and as with Mason the right dog will come along at the right time. No use rushing it. :) And in the meantime I can see Xena!!!! She's such a cutie. She and Mason have the same quirks--especially the "I'm going to lay down when you say sit. Derp." and the running around in circles while playing (play herding). Gotta love the corgz.

Mason's Park Days

I took Mason and my niece and nephew to the park the other day, which is what most of these photos are from. Two are from us just taking a walk down a main road and then a dirt road. Anyways, Mason proved his teenagerdom on the park day--he was a total scamp. He ran around and would play frisbee but when the kids were running around he started following them and jogging circles around them holding his frisbee like "this is fun! We're having fun! What are we doing? Is this fun? I'm coming up there. Wait up. Where are you going? THIS IS FUN." And would not, even if I was probably on fire, listen to me. He even got on the playset and went down the SLIDE. Weird ass dog.

Anyways he's back to listening and falling over if he's in trouble as of the past few days. I took him to the park to play frisbee in the abandoned baseball field and we saw a few dogs. I need to take more photos of the baseball field--my brother played softball there and it's really neat, it's off of the main strip in Broadway which when you go behind it it just looks like this nice neat row of houses next to a road, then there are train tracks between it and the field. On the other side there are trees and a river a bridge. I dunno, it's just a really cool setting. (You can kinda tell in the first photo what I'm talking about).

Mason Walking

Just a fun video of Mason walking. His tail gets weirder by the day--first he held it up like a flag, now it's getting more fur so it's heavier and does this floppy half curl that most of the time comes down and touches his back like a scorpion tail. Also you get to see his little drumstick legs moving, which is always funny.

PetVetID Review

PetVetID is a business started by my friend, Tavia. Right now it just needs networking, so I thought I'd write an honest review now that I have my card:



What PetVetID offers is a card with all of your pets information on it, for easy access at vets and emergency clinics. I sent Tavia a copy of my records for Mason and she whipped this up--it has my name and address, Mason's breed (or what I'm guessing he is for now, he's either a cardi or a mix!), his age, sex, if he's fixed, weight, medications he may take and any medical conditions he may have.

On the back are his vaccines, card expiration and Microchip information, including his personal URL and one of those smart phone photo link thingies!:



I have yet to register my account, but basically you go register on the website and the url listed becomes the pets url for easy access to all of this information.

For 9.99 a year (to keep everything updated and current, you would need to replace your card yearly), you get all of THIS--a handy way to be prepared in an emergency for your pet. And because they are laminated cards that are the same size as your average drivers license, they fit easily into your wallet.

I would recommend these to anyone--it's a great thing to have, it's cheap and it's an extra layer of security for your pet. Please check them out! I love mine, the quality is great! Plus I get to carry around a little ID card for my dog in my wallet, and nothing is cuter than that.

Mason Sucks and a Rant

Mason went to an Easter Egg hunt today, and he sucked. He was too busy pulling and regressing in his good behavior because of all the other dogs he couldn't go say hi to to find any eggs. It was awful.

But in other news, I was talking to Cara today about how I was going to write an entry about weight earlier when I realized it wasn't really anything about myself, I was just kind of being critical of others caring about it, and I didn't want anyone to get offended--plus this a blog about myself, so I should reserve it for things about myself. I just worry that people focus so much on the way they look that they lose sight of how beautiful they are--and that's my opinion on that.

In other-other news, I got an awesome new hoodie. Target is having a sale on their men's Mossimo hoodies in tons of cool colors. I got a medium to fit over my big ol' hips, but it's cotton so I'm hoping it will shrink a bit since the top is baggy. I want to go get a hilighter yellow one too...


I guess to connect a photo of myself to the aforementioned weight discussion, since why the heck not, I know I'm not the prettiest person alive. I don't try to be. I don't wear makeup, I try to burp as loud as possible and my glasses and shoes are always dirty. I eat whatever I please and I wear tshirts more than I do dresses. But I don't feel like I need to look a certain way to validate myself--I don't care. I just wish people would not care too, because everyone is amazing and beautiful in their own way.

Unless you're a douche, in which case SUCK IT!

My Day Off

I love taking pictures of Mason playing frisbee. My parent's backyard is so photogenic with the green grass and the patches of dirt and the weeds and the shadows from the trees.

Also here's Mason and I from earlier today:

Mason in One Image (Optional: Replace Tennis Ball with Frisbee)

My Boy's All Grown Up!

I don't really have any exciting new pictures to go with this, but Mason has graduated to not needing his crate! He could've probably ditched it months ago, but I waited to be safe since we just moved into a new home.

I finally started a job at my cousin's store, so I've been gone most days lately from 10-6. Today I really wanted to get out after work, so my mom fed him and I went immediately from work to eat with Allison and her boyfriend, Evan, and then went to The Hunger Games. She put him in my room when she went to bed, and I came home to him laying on my pants I left on my bed wagging his tail. She also left him alone earlier while she was at work, and came back to him on my bed. I'm glad to know he's missing me while I'm gone!

I'm very proud of him, I'm glad he is finally calm enough to be trusted alone while I'm gone! I'm sad to say this, but he's growing up! I guess he's still technically a puppy for another few months to a year, but he feels like he's in his young adult phase. :) He's not a baby anymore! YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! Time for another!

Mason's Identiy Crisis

(Mason dealing with his identity crisis. "WHO AM I? WHAT AM I? WHY CAN'T I EAT ALL OF THE THINGS?")

I have always been of a firm belief that Mason is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi. When he was little, the vet's concurred. My discussion with a breeder went well, but it all depended upon his 1 year mark onward as to if he would fill out and look the part. Well...he isn't. He's built leaner all over--legs, chest, stomach, face, everything. His ears are still set too high.

When he was younger a lot of people asked if he was a Border Collie mix, but I didn't buy it. I've seen "Borgis" as they're called and he doesn't fit the type. Then I looked into the Karelian Bear Dog breed. It'd be a longshot if he were a Karelian Bear Dog Corgi mix, but it seems like it! He looks just like one, but with bigger corgi ears, short corgi legs and the corgi personality. Karelians even seem to have that underlying brown in their coat like he does.

At this point, that's probably my best guess. He's still my guy, and who knows what he really is, I can't prove a thing about his lineage since he came from a shelter.

Below are examples of the two breeds--a C-Myste Purebred Cardigan and a purebred Karelian bear dog. I feel like Mason is if the two of them had a baby:




After his initial emotional breakdown after I told him I suspect him to be part Karelian, or just not all corgi, he seems to be adjusting fine:

Baby Mason

So I have just a couple photos from Mason's puppy dayz. I wish I had kept his photo from when I first saw him online, he was tiny and dirty and one of his ears was floppy. But, here's 4-5 month old baby Mason, for your entertainment:









To me he just looks like the midget version of what he looks like now. I wish I could have seen him at 2 months! A couple photos feature his sister Miss Darcy Cordelia Walls-Barton, and the one with three of them at the couch features Bingley, his brother. (Mason top left, Darcy right and Bing bottom left). They were all dumped at the same shelter in the middle of nowhere Tennessee. I was originally going to pick Bingley, but he pissed on my new Marvel tshirt so I chose Mason instead. We left Bingley and went back trying to find someone to take him since it was an extremely high kill shelter. My friends who picked Darcy got one of their parents to take him, they put him on reserve and when they went and got him they said the place was desolate. When we originally went for Mason and Darcy, it was packed (at least 4 dogs in every kennel, and they were even housing them in the dog run). It's really scary.

I do have to hand it to them, the people that worked there did the best with what they were given. They weren't funded very well, but they advertised their dogs and cats the best they could, but there were just too many. When we originally came they had just gotten several baskets of kittens and tried to pawn a handful of them onto us for free! They were doing the best to save the animals, and I felt horrible for what they were given to do so. They were also very sweet--given their facility, they of course couldn't accept cards and that's all I had brought, so they trusted me to mail them the check for his adoption fee when I got home. How many places these days would do that? They gave me the greatest little guy I could have ever asked for. (Even if he was covered in 20+ ticks, fleas and had kennel cough and severe hookworms hah.)

Fetch and Frisbee

So I'd like to think I have one of the smartest dogs alive. Mason is a PRO at fetching, but he's always been afraid of frisbees. The other day I spent 2 minutes throwing a frisbee to my mom and making it look like it was the coolest thing ever while her dog ran around and acted like he wanted the frisbee (he didn't), and Mason instantly started going after it. After a few minutes of just going up to where it landed and pawing at it, he started catching it. In total, it took under 10 minutes for him to start catching the frisbee. I took him out today and practiced--he's not doing as well as he did that first time, but I'm sure it will take some time for him to get used to jumping as high as he did every time for it. Here's a video:



I was going to just write up some advice on how to teach your dog fetch, because had he not been a SUPER longtime pro at catching a tennis ball and returning it, it would have made that endeavor a LOT more difficult.

Mason learned how to play fetch at a relatively young age. Honestly those super baby days of his life kinda blur together to me now, but I remember spending a long time throwing a ball and having to go get it, and him refusing to give it to me.

The ball I used to generate his initial interest in going and getting the ball (because why would he? BORING!) Was a 2 dollar Kong squeaker tennis ball. Like most dogs/puppies, Mason is nuts about squeaky things, so he was all over it (before it got destroyed by a dog at the dog park in under a minute one day, then we moved to normal balls, which he had laying around at home and chewed on). Also rolling around a normal tennis ball to a puppy gets them chasing it short distances, and builds up interest.

To get him to return and drop--well, it sounds like a simple and basic concept, but honestly I used cheese. I was all about using cheese when he was little to get calcium to his ears so they would stand up, and now they form a little triangle sometimes as you see in that video. He LOVESSSSSSSS cheese, and I would just treat him every time he'd go get the ball, which would make him run back WITH the ball for the cheese, and then I'd say drop it when he dropped the ball for the cheese. Tons of practice and patience later and he was a pro. You basically have to find your dogs one vice--the food he will go NUTS over, and use it against him repeatedly.

Mason is a fetch FANATIC now, and I really do believe it gives him a job to do and he is more satisfied after a good round of it.

Here are some photos from the day he learned how to catch a frisbee, where he puts that video to shame.







He busted those 2 frisbees in the photos, by the way. They were hard plastic normal frisbees, both alleged for dogs but obviously not able to withstand any sort of catching. I went to check out the Kong frisbee, but at 15 bucks my cheap ass was like HELL no. So I checked out Petco's cheap frisbees and they are sort of soft and flexible plastic, and so far no busting and they seem like they'll hold up a long time and be cheap to replace. (3 bucks for a big one, 2 bucks for a mini one).

Monday Mason Fetch Photodump

A Second Dog

So I spend a lot of time drooling over various dogs and thinking about how much I want another one. I spent a long time wanting a second corgi--specifically a blue merle cardigan, but I threw that out because they are REALLY expensive (800-1000 bucks) and I'd rather wait till later in life to get another cardi. Then I was thinking a red and white pembroke, which was what I had always wanted, but being involved in corgi rescue really makes me attached to the mixes. It's sad to see how excited people get about purebred dogs needing rescue and how fast they get snatched up, but mixes rarely get commented on and I end up being one of the few people trying my best to make sure the dogs don't get euthanized.

I then thought...blue/red heeler-corgi-mix...aka Cowboy Corgi. But today when discussing that with my brother, he told me he knew someone who had a litter of purebred Heelers and they all ended up mean natured. I had always heard they were a little harder to socialize than most, but he made it sound like these guys were just ROUGH. That their working drive is really hard to contain...which made me kind of think of the fact that the only ones I know that are in homes are on farms, and the one I saw at the park was the same way--it kept picking fights with everyone. Not that I intend to breed generalize, since I know for a fact I have some wonderful friends on facebook who have raised cattle dogs and love them dearly (all of which are corgi owners, which is why after a little research and knowing this I thought that since I raised a herding dog with a SUPER high energy level that I'd be able to handle it), but I'm not sure if that is the right dog for me after that discussion.

But then I concluded; I don't know what I'm going to get. I'll know when the time comes. Right now I'd like a corgi-heeler-catahoula-australian shepherd-shipperke-white german shepherd-wolf dog-dire wolf. So who knows. But I think I've decided after a while of pondering going to a breeder that I want a mix. I want to rescue another dog, like I did Mason, but not a purebred. Mason was in danger because he was in a small SUPER HIGH KILL shelter and no one but I knew about him. But all the other purebred corgis I find get fucking FOUGHT over. And the poor adorable mixes (like one I saw the other day online) get euthanized and threw to the wayside because they don't fit some stupid standard and don't come with stupid sheets of paper. And to those who respect and follow AKC standards--I am not downing on you, I'm just downing on the fact that every dog isn't treated as being as special as they really are just because of their lineage. And every dog should be treated with the same respect. A mixed breed is just as loving and lovable as a pure bred dog from champion lines.

I like to think of the story my friend Becca told of when she found her dog--from my understanding, I don't think she was looking for anything in particular, but she found him as a puppy and knew that very instant he was hers. I thought about it, and that's much the same way I found Mason--I went in going for a red and white pem, and found him and I saw his one floppy ear and his big brown eyes and I knew he was mine. And I know that it will happen again (but this time Mason has to approve too, and this time I'm going in without any specific idea...just the thoughts in the back of my mind of my current favorite pups!)

I don't care if the next dog I get has corgi in it, I don't care if it's big, small, tall, short, ugly or cute. I just want to search and search and when I find the right dog I'll know. I'm coming to find I am total dog dork, and no matter how many dogs I see, I'm changing my mind day to day what I want because I love them ALL. Every dog is special, and when I find the perfect addition, I'll know it. And for now...Mason is quite enough love for me. It will probably be at least a year until I get a second, I just like daydreaming about getting him a brother to play with.





Or I just want a corehound.

Two of my Favorite Things

I'm going to write a post dedicated to the two things I will probably write about the most: my bike and my dog.




The other day I took Mason to see his cousin, Cash. Cash is a 4 month old pitbull, and he's adorable. I took some quick shots with my phone and instagrammed them up, and I was pleased with what I managed to catch. I can't believe that Cash is already as big as Mason, and I swear he weighs twice as much. He's ALL muscle. I can't express how proud I am of Mason and how much I love him. He's such a good dog, he's friendly to every person and every dog he meets (unless a tennis ball is involved, in which case he is all business). He's growing up so fast too, he's mellowed out a little overnight it seems and is finally not going 110% 24/9...more like 100% 24/7, so that's been a relief. I'm glad to know there's a light at the end of the cracked out puppy phase.






I also finally got to ride Beetlejuice for the first time the other day. I walked up to the top of the hill and rode around on flat ground to get used to the whole fixed gear thing, and then did something incredibly stupid: went down a hill. Needless to say, my legs couldn't keep up with the pedals because my bike weighs like 5 pounds or something ridic and I had to stick my legs out and slowly brake. It almost ended in disaster, but I really am so glad for bike brakes. WHEW. The bike itself still needs a few paint touchups (removal mainly on the logo and stem) and a new saddle, but is done otherwise.



After this, my friends Tristen, Sam and I decided to go riding in town at night around the housing and retirement home. It's kind of like a little quiet suburb area, so it was an easy ride for the most part. It was definitely different--Tristen kept powering ahead with Sam and I was doing my best to catch up, it's HARDER to pedal on a fixed gear, but once you get going, you're much faster than everyone else is my experience. I like the control with it. We rode for a while, we rode to a playground, stopped, rode to a friend's house, stopped and rode back on the sidewalk so we wouldn't be riding on a main road without reflectors/helmets/lights/etc. (Hey Memphis--up here the sidewalks are unmarred and flat as can be...it's amazing). We were going to go again tonight, but I had a shitty day and it was really late when Tristen finally asked me to go (10:30 lol). But here are the photos from that, and I hope to do it again soon but since Tristen and Sam both go to school in DC, I don't know how often it will happen. I may end up driving up to Hburg every coupla nights to ride on my own, because that was a really good area to practice my riding in. OH and the other two bikes are the ones they rode--old ass cruiser type bikes they keep there for the residents to ride. They were a hot mess, and it was really good I brought my tire pump because they were FLAT.






I'm also getting back into World of Warcraft...so I'm sure there will be a post about that soon. :D