Well, it’s official. The first ever Around the Hydrant poll closed this weekend, and “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” came in as the least-favorite Christmas carol by two votes. Just edging out Barbara Streisand…by a nose (couldn’t resist!)
Makes the timing of this article from the Chicago Tribune perfect.
Looks as though another media research group embarked on a mission to determine radio listeners’ favorite and least favorite holiday tunes - in an effort to help the 366 stations in the U.S. currently playing only Christmas music determine what will keep listeners tuned in.
‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’ was widely disliked, but it also was loved by many others, with very little middle ground. Elmo Shropshire, 71, half of the duo Elmo & Patsy…says the song has sold ‘well over’ 10 million copies since San Francisco radio station KSFO first aired it 28 years ago. Shropshire told The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi: ‘A lot of younger people say it’s not really Christmas until they hear it.’
After spending Thursday night running through 9 inches of new, fluffy snow, and trudging through the 8 inches of wet white stuff that fell overnight Saturday, I’ll bet he’s singing “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”!
Slim chance you missed its release yesterday, particularly if - like me - you’re a Yankees fan working in Boston and your coworkers don’t want to let you forget you’re invading their turf. (Apparently some Yanks were named…)
While much attention has been drawn recently to human athletes turning to illegal means to be the best in their sport, I have an example of illegal doping in dog training - an oft overlooked offense:
Pretty shocking, right? Porter took three puppy kindergarten classes, and all he can do is sit and stay. Who are these people fooling?!
Many thanks to Ryan, and his feline friend Dexter, I’m sure, for passing this one along!
…and my first walk on sidewalks carrying 6+ inches of fresh, unshoveled snow, alongside drifts twice as high, while being dragged by an eager, happy puppy who - we learn today - LOVES the snow.
I don’t know that I’ve ever loved being a dog owner more than during the 30 minutes I just spent out with him in the snow. Except, maybe, the time he was at the beach…
6 inches of snow is a lot for a dog whose shoulders only come about 13 inches off the ground, so I wasn’t sure how he’d react. But he loved it, and didn’t waste a single minute outside. This was his gameplan:
Run off main sidewalk area to bellyflop into soft, deep snowbanks.
Stick head right into the middle of said snowbanks; quickly jerk head upwards to watch snow fly off head. Repeat 2x.
When tired of walking in deep snow, wait until Jessica walks past. Then jump from footprint to footprint to avoid deeper areas.
Bark at snowplows. Repeat, as needed.
Make snow yellow - everywhere.
Eat snow when needed. Avoiding (thankfully) yellow snow.
Come home, dry off, pass out.
Hope to get some pictures of this up soon. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy the latest from Porter’s Vermont pen pal and friend, Atlas (Thanks to mom, Michaela, for this one!)
Toilet paper, Tissues, Paper towels, Notebook paper, Magazines, Letters, Paper Bags, Wrapping Paper, Cardboard, Paychecks (thankfully only record of them, thanks to the Direct Deposit gods), Greeting Cards, Receipts, and Coasters.
I don’t get it. I was prepared for most things about taking care of and cleaning up after a dog. I wasn’t ready to pull receipts for my expense reports and used toilet paper (no way around it - that’s gross) from his mouth.
It doesn’t always stop at paper -Yesterday I found him chomping on petals from a fake poinsettia I’d dug out of a box of Christmas decorations from the basement this weekend.
This is nothing new. He started his love affair with paper when he was teething, about five or six months ago. At that time, my neighbor, Lisa, explained that her dog - the now extremely well behaved Tegan - used to grab paper towels when he was teething. He never ate them - just chewed on them to “itch” his gums.
That made me feel slightly better. I always wondered if eating the paper would be bad for him. Since we seemed to be able to recover most of it from him mouth before ingestion, he’d be fine!
I’ll never forget the moment when I found out he was really eating it.
September 22, 2007 at around 1:30 a.m. I was walking Porter after we got back from our friends’ wedding. He got into his squat to make “number 2″, I said “good boy; hurry up!” to encourage him…
He basically pooped a couple packing peanuts:
Certainly didn’t smell like packing peanuts, but my poor pooch pooped a fascinating combination of kibble and paper napkin - that looked a little like styrofoam.
It’s happened a few time since, and yesterday’s poinsettia experience renewed my curiosity - and concern - about whether Porter’s random snacking habits were normal - and what exactly happens to dogs when they ingest random things…
But the thing that really made me feel better? In my search I came across a story about a puggle pup and his efforts to, um, pass a foot-long shoelace. (Thanks for that image, Sewing Mom!)
I’ve yet to pull 12 inches of anything - paper, Christmas decoration or otherwise - from his butt. And for that, I count my blessings.
So far, it looks like you’d prefer the Dogs to Babs or Grandma meeting her demise with the reindeer… But there’s still time to cast a vote. The poll, now found in the sidebar (on the right), will remain open until Saturday night.
Or you could call me Coco - a 5-year-old Shih Tzu…
Not kidding. Coco (pictured above) and her Christmas list were just an example of the extravagant lengths pet owners will go for their furry friends in an article from the Associated Press yesterday:
“U.S. retail sales may be weak, energy prices way up and housing prices way down, but experts say pets largely defy such economic indicators. Caring owners are no more likely to stiff their beloved animals for the holidays than Santa is to leave rocks in every stocking.”
Americans are expected to spend $48.7 billion on their pets this year. That’s twice the amount of a decade ago, and, incidentally, nearly twice the GDP of Kenya and some 119 other countries.
The article includes some particularly posh pet offerings, including fancy leashes, a Pet Murphy bed and personalized clothing. But the examples are nothing compared to some of the over-the-top ideas from PupStyle.com, the “Original Snobby Dog Blog”.
If you’re really looking to spoil your four-legged child this holiday season, PupStyle directs you to custom-built sterling silver dog collars from VintageDogs.com:
The price tag? $2,400. But hey, it includes engraving.
Love the holidays? Love Dogs? You’re not alone.However, The New York Times this week reported findings from a recent survey that showed quiet a few folks would prefer if the two weren’t combined… At least when it comes to Christmas Carols.
“America’s least-loved Christmas song is a Danish recording of ‘Jingle Bells,’ performed in dog barks. The song…took last place in a test of 579 Christmas recordings, performed by Edison Media Research. Edison played the songs for a national sample of 200 women aged 30 to 49, recruited via e-mail, who said that they either liked or loved Christmas music.”
Additional info is available from Edison here.Now, one might argue that Edison has not truly identified “America’s” least favorite Christmas carol, considering they only asked women aged 30-49.I, for one, am curious to know what other Americans think. So, I’ll ask you - is the Singing Dogs’ rendition of “Jingle Bells” your least favorite holiday tune?Check out the poll below to tell me what you think of the bottom five songs in this year’s survey. **PLEASE NOTE - as of December 11, poll is available in sidebar**Which one’s the worst? If there’s another song you’d prefer not to hear each year (Dominic the Donkey, anyone?) feel free to add a “write in” vote with a comment….Porter can’t use a computer to vote, but wanted to weigh in nonetheless. See below for his reaction… I’m thinking he could do without the Singing Dogs at Christmas.
So last night… I’d just finished watching the second-to-last episode of America’s Next Top Model from my DVR (good job, Jenah!!) and changed over to live TV to watch Project Runway. During a commercial break I saw a promo for “The Shot”, a new-ish show that pits top fashion photographers against one another in a Top Model-like competition.
I wasn’t exactly feeling any lack of reality programming in my life or on my DVR.
Until…
While waiting to see who’d be “out” this week , I signed online to check some of my favorite websites. It was then that I stumbled across this post on the BARk Blog:
“Project Runway for dog lovers! With Animal Planet’s latest reality show in development, 12 groomers will get their chance to cash in on the reality show sweepstakes… [Animal Planet] is looking for dog stylists ‘with creative flare and personality to match.’ The prize: Fame and $50,000!”
Um, ya. I’ll watch that.
Per BARk, additional info is limited at this point, save for a few posts on realitywanted.com and Craigslist. So I have no idea when it’ll start, or even have a title to throw into my DVR for the day it does debut.
I’m looking forward to it…and hope it arrives soon. Maybe give me some new ideas for Porter’s next ‘do :o)
Naming a dog is tough work. Can you quickly yell the name across the dog park to get his attention? Will he confuse it with a command? Will you be embarrassed to yell it across the dog park: “Smelly?!! Here, Smelly!!!”
There are always the old, conservative standbys. BARk Blog recently highlighted a new list of the top ten dog names, which showed that Max, Bailey, Lady and Duke are still going strong. But, with our first dog, we were looking for something you wouldn’t hear every day. Nothing crazy. Just something that was a little unique.
Something you hear every other day, maybe.
A few days before we met and brought him home, Gordon and I sat down and brainstormed some names for our new mini schnauzer. My husband, Gordon, a homebrewer and beer aficionado, suggested Porter, a type of dark beer.
And after we saw our puppy’s dark brown eyes that were so hard to distinguish from his surrounding black and gray hair, we knew Porter would be a great fit for our new puppy . (My friend, Michaela, recently got one of the only pictures of him where you can really see his eyes.)
The name seemed meant to be after we learned that Porter’s dad’s registered name was “Music Man”. Thinking ourselves pretty clever, we made Porter’s “official” AKC name “Coal Porter” after the great composer and songwriter. Sure, we know it’s “Cole”, but Porter’s salt-and-pepper coloring…charcoal, if you will…makes our spelling “clever”.
Now, regarding the title of this post. We’ve met quite a new few neighbors and passersby since we got Porter, and, while we often don’t know their names and they don’t know ours, one of the first questions they ask is “What’s your dog’s name?”
His name is Porter, we say. But what comes next varies depending on who asks because, as many know and most might assume, what you name your dog says as much about you as it does your dog.
Is Porter a “Porter” because we love beer or because we love the Great American Song book? We could argue both, but, as you can tell from this post, it’s a long story. Instead, it depends on who asks and how we stereotype you, sadly enough.
If we think you like beer, Porter’s named after a beer. And if not, well, he’s not. Don’t want to make the wrong impression, after all… Is that wrong?
So now that you’ve heard my story - and I’ve let you in on both sides of it - those of you out there with dogs, let us know who they are and what they’re named after.
Don’t worry, if he’s named Smelly, I won’t judge :)
Puppies can be rambunctious and Porter is no exception. He loves greeting visitors with a loud bark while his tail wags impossibly fast, and spends many of his evenings running around the apartment, dragging his favorite chew toy along the hardwood floor as he goes. That’s just the calm, quiet days.
This past Friday, Porter enjoyed his first cab ride as we went up to Somerville for a small gathering at a friend’s place. It was a great night for him — exploring a new place while meeting new friends, all generously handing out treats and belly rubs.
He’s a people-dog.
Which may explain why he started to act up when, as the night wore on, the treats and belly rubs came less frequently. The fact that he couldn’t find a dark spot to sleep didn’t help his crankiness.
Was it time for us to go home? Did he need to go for a walk? No - we have a little trick up our sleeve for instances just like this.
Porter has a doggy “hoodie” that his “dad” (my husband, Gordon) and I got him for Halloween this year. The skull and crossbones costume from an awesome online dog store has doubled as his gear for those cold, late night walks.
It’s also now our party saver and the cure for a cranky puppy.
All we have to do is pull the hood of his sweatshirt up over his eyes, and it’s like turning out the lights to go to bed. It’s instantaneous - without fail, Porter immediately lays down and goes to sleep. Even in a crowded, noisy room.
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