Cats

It seems that the cats the humans have been feeding are here to stay... We have not yet worked out a peaceful coexistence, however. Right now, the cycle is, cats eat and sit on porch, we stare, we chase. They are kind of cute though.

This is the mother cat.


And here is me staring at one of the kittens on the chair.



She was clearly not amused...



I spent the rest of the morning looking out the windows and tracking their every move.



Mom thinks I'm more curious than anything. Bernie, however, was sent downstairs. He's a lot more than curious.

Leaf pile adventures

The weather turned cool and the leaves have really started to turn and fall to the ground. Fall is a great season for us hounds--all these smells--mold, decomposing stuff galore--yum! Us hounds have it good. The humans spent the afternoon raking while we hung out and sniffed. Here's Bernie lying in his favorite leaf pile. I don't lie in the piles, especially since Bernie likes to "mark" them...



I don' t mark, but I sure sniff. I smelled squirrel and even the cat that's been eating on the porch.



The humans get mad when I eat yucky stuff in the yard, but I'm a hound--I can't resist!



This hound sure does get tired at the end of the day, though... So tired that I decided to take up two dog beds instead of one. My humans call it "bloodhound sprawl". The photo below shows my massive paws--which lately are in the habit of socking Mom in the face while she's sleeping. It's not my fault she takes up so much of the bed. Perhaps I should petition for my own futon, like Wimsey has...



Anyway, I'm off to the vet tomorrow for a weigh-in and some bloodwork, which means the vet techs will love on me and tell me I'm such a good girl, and so on. The best part is I get to ride shotgun (I have a doggie seat belt that keeps me safe). It's funny watching people pull up next to us and seeing their reaction when they see a large hound staring at them. It takes so little to keep humans entertained...

Sunday trail adventure

We woke up to great weather this morning and the humans decided we all needed exercise, so we went down to our local trail to enjoy the pretty fall scenery.



Lots of people and dogs about--we said hi to quite a few.
Mom tried to get a shot of me baying--this is the best she could do...


Ever the photogenic hounds...



In other news, it seems that a little cat has adopted our porch. The humans have been putting food out for her and a little box to sleep in... Cat food smells GOOD! It's not on my prescription diet, though. Not sure what the humans are thinking--I mean, a cat??? When they have hounds? Bernie was quite confused when he saw the kitty (named Emma by the humans after Mrs. Emma Peel of The Avengers' fame) sitting on the fence. He sat in front of the window and barked, but didn't really go into his usual "attack" mode. There are a couple of huge orange cats in the neighborhood and we've chased them quite a few times... Not quite sure what I think about the whole cat thing.

Sunday trail walk

Hi everyone. Sorry for the long break--Mom has been too busy to download photos. The real reason is that all the crime shows are back on... Everyone knows that Law and Order and CSI would be so much more interesting if there were a bloodhound in the mix. But then the criminals would be caught in no time, leaving the networks with no substance for the shows.

I was most impressed to see the pics of Wimsey on Park Avenue. What a busy week our handsome Wimsey had!

Anyway, last Sunday we met with our friend George the lab and his human, Tanja, and went for a nice walk along one of the trails in the area. It was a beautiful day and a great day for sniffing. Lots of critter smells. The experience proved yet again that it's impossible to get a non-blurry photo of a lab. Case in point:

Anyway, we trailed for about an hour.
Here we are looking rather noble:

We hounds just want to keep trailing... while the humans want photos.

I must admit, George the lab has a pretty good nose on him (for a lab). He's a year older than I am but did really well on the walk.

No trail walks this weekend. We went to the park in the pouring rain today--I was not amused. I wore my coat but my head and ears were dripping by the time we got home. Hope it stops soon. I'd rather have snow, like Gus and Bentley.

Fun videos

Hi everyone. We got a bath today and are not amused--now we have to go back to the drawing board to get our houndly odor back...
Mom finally got around to attaching video from our day trip. The first has a story attached to it. You see, we'd just arrived at Pembroke Springs and the fresh country air proved to be very good for Bernie's digestive system. So good, in fact, that he proceeded to take a very large poop in the field. Me being a hound, and a curious one at that, wanted to investigate. Of course, Mom had other ideas about this--hence the furious barking and baying.



This is some footage of us on the trail tracking the bear that was in the area.
Enjoy!

Day trip

Hi everyone. The fall weather has been fantastic and Mom and Dad took us for a day trip to one of our favorite places on Sunday--Pembroke Springs. I snoozed the whole way there, while Bernie looked out the window the whole time. Anyway, the hiking trails were really nice--lots of wildlife smells. Apparently the innkeeper had seen a bear last week. Here we are with Dad ready to hit the trail.

Mom and me looking cute.

Some nice bits of drool going on.

Begging for cake and cookies didn't quite go as planned...

Anyway, we were exhausted from all the activity and sacked out the whole evening and next day. We barely managed to drag ourselves around the block on our Monday morning walk. Videos will be posted soon.

Under the table dog

Hounds and humans alike enjoyed the lovely weather this weekend. We all lay outside on the grass this afternoon and snoozed. By the way, a shout out to the Life with Dogs blog for awarding this blog the Golden Hydrant. I and my team are honored. Although with all of Bernie's leg lifting, he might be a worthy nominee as well :)

Anyway, while I spend mealtimes in the corner of the dining room waiting for something to drop, Bernie lies under the table. As soon as Mom and Dad sit down to eat, down he goes and spends the duration of the meal there. He is one funny hound, but I love him.

And here he is showing his lovely leg lift position--Mom thanks her lucky stars for all the acid-loving plants in our garden.