Moose (fka Cowboy) - dog adopted from Forget Me Not Animal Shelter 2005

We've had some changes in our home, his sister Fwirly has been diagnosed with CCD and so now it's Moose's job to help out his beloved sister. Mostly on our walks. We have Fwirly tied to Moose on a dual dog leash and he leads his sister around (with me at the end of the leash) and waits patiently for her to sniff or do her business. I can't let her off leash on her own anymore but she is still able to when tied to Moose.

In a few weeks we are moving to Northern Alberta. Moose and Fwirly are getting a bigger yard which Moose will love as he prefers to be outside. Hopefully snow in winter, Moose loves snow and especially making snow angels. And there will be all sorts of new sniffs and strolls. Moose tends to get bored with the same old routine, which is so important for Fwirly now, so it'll be a mixed blessing. We will have her sedated during the move while we fully expect Moose to 'ride shotgun' with his dad (safely from his area in the back).

Moose has had a rough time with dad already being at the other end, he is such a daddy's boy. He's very protective of me when his dad is not here so that is funny. I keep tripping over my Moose,lol. The reunion with his dad should be fun to watch. Moose still 'woo-woo's' when he really likes something. And he still turns himself into a pretzel!

Moose continues to be a joy, such an incredible though stubborn sweetheart! Moose is a real daddy's boy, nothing he likes better than going for car rides with his dad. He also loves adventures, but hates his daily walks through the neighborhood. As we can't always do an adventure, he sulks on the leash and lets the world know he's walking against his will, lol. Everyone in our neighborhood knows him and laughs when we stroll by. On our adventure days he perks up and runs ahead of us exploring the areas.

I've attached a picture of Moose, taken today. Can you see the grey around his muzzle? He looks soo sweet with it. It's nice to grow older together I find. We're all at a senior age now and we're all doing well, except for Rue, she passed away a few months ago. We were all very sad about that.

Have you ever heard how his brothers and sisters are doing? I'd love to find out.

Here's Moose, posing beside the Christmas tree! We're wishing you and the shelter people and animals a very Merry Christmas.

We can't say enough about our Moose! It's been a few years now since Arch and JD made the drive to get Moose, and we've been sooo blessed with him! He's funny, loyal, entertaining, stubborn, loving, interested, cookie motivated,THE best brother to Fwirly and the cats, and we simply couldn't imagine life without him!! And yes, he still sleeps on our bed at night! And still lives for kisses too!

Moose continues to be our love, he's grown into a goofy beautiful dog. He didn't get very tall but is strong as an ox. And oh he loves to play, snuggle, eat anything and everything, and play some more. Moose and Fwirl are inseparable, and are well known through the neighborhood as the Archer twins,lol lol. We see their friends on our walks all the time and they have to stop and visit with everyone we know. We have quite the social life, lol. Moose LOVES riding in the car, he knows that means adventure and most nights he gets his wish as we take them to the big park or to the river trail. Mind you, while Fwirly likes the water, Moose stays far away from it. Can't convince him that anything bigger than a water bowl can be fun.

One of Moose's favorite pastimes continues to be chewing. We keep our house well stocked with bones, specially the solid rawhide ones as he seems to prefer those. He also carries his Tickle me Elmo around (though Elmo has no batteries so he doesn't say anything), that's his dolly. Fwirly has a pink Flamingo that she's very protective of.

I'll take pictures again soon so you can see how gorgeous Moose is. I don't know how his siblings turned out, but Moose is certainly treasured BIG time !!

Anyway, it's time for our walk, the bunnies are out nice and early around here and we love to go 'hunting' for them. Being on the leash with mom attached at the other end means not much of a hunt but they know they can't catch the bunnies anyway,lol.

A little Moose update again.
Attached are pictures of the foster kittens we had and Moose. He let them play all over him and while excited by the kittens, when told that they were babies and he had to lie down, he did as you can tell,lol. ( these foster kittens left here at 8 weeks, we were all sad)

The weather has been changing and we had windy conditions today . Of course the leaves are starting to fall and Moose just loves chasing the leaves ! This morning hubby walked with us so that was ok , but this afternoon it was just Fwirly, Moose and me and I had a hard time keeping up with the Mooser as he ran after the leaves,lol. Fwirly is at the stage where she doesn't really chase leaves anymore, but Moose dragged both of us along. Ahhh, to be young again huh. Tonight when we had our evening walk , it was still windy and we had a blast ! This time qwe were ready for Moose and Fwirly and I nearly outran him, lol.

Moose is widening out, he's still growing taller as well, slowly but surely he's getting bigger. We've noticed that his neck and body are widening though. He's a gorgeous dog, a very independent thinker and still thinks he can lie on my chest for nap time. One of my treasured daily routines!
Moose and Fwirly continue to be glued to the hip, are very well matched and though both want the same bone to chew ( I counted the bones we have in our living room the other day, there are 15 ! But they want the same bone. Go figure.) they share blankets and toys.

Can you stand a short update, lol.
Moose is doing fantastic and is now a foster brother. We have 3 kittens (5 weeks old) who are staying with us for 3 weeks and it was encouraged for them to meet our doggies.
So this morning after feeding I put Moose on the leash and let him into the kitten room , told him to lie down and before he knew it he had 3 purring little wanna be cats climbing all over him. (we'll be taking pics as soon as the batteries are recharged, lol ) Moose seems to really enjoy it, he was so good with the kittens and he didn't really want to leave the room. But alas, kittens need tons of sleep and Fwirly still needed a turn too. Moose could barely stand it when I brought him out and took Fwirly in for her turn.
So you see, Moose has a job now too.

The attached picture was taken last week. He's not grown a lot bigger yet, he's a bit bigger than Fwirly . Moose is only 6 months old though so we'll see if he adds some more height.

Just a few pictures again so I can show off our Moose. We are in the third week of puppy training, he loves it as it's clicker training so TREATS all the time, lol. There are 5 pups total in the class, all around his age or a bit younger. It's great fun!

The pictures are as follows:

Moose and Fwirly waiting to be dried off after their morning walk.

Moose helping the cats hunt a moth that got in.

Moose and Cosmo as they are hunting each night. Cosmo is our great huntress, and she is teaching Moose how to chase flies and moths etc.

Can you stand another Moose story, lol lol

We decided to sign the Mooser up for puppy school, not that I can't do it myself ( though it's harder with two dogs when one knows how to do everything and the other thinks we're playing and bounces all over Fwirly) but it's easier if we go to puppy school. Plus we'll get to brag a bit too.

The 'drill sergeant' we took Fwirl to 3 years ago retired ( I was not really happy with his ways anyway ) and I found a new place. This is more gentle , check the site ( http://www.thecaninecrew.com/ ) .
Anyway, as I was telling Arch about it last night, and was explaining about the part where we are not supposed to feed Moose before we go but bring lots of little snacks to entice him with , Arch burst out in a loud laughing roar ! I looked at him and then he proceeded to explain that which I did know but hadn't thought about yet. One can feed Moose an all you can eat buffet, and he'll STILL want his snackies AND everyone else's too ! So Arch pictured how this is going to go down : we'll be there with our tank, sorry I meant Moose, and he'll figure out that EVERYONE has snackies , as he's really smart and can figure out things in a split second . Then he'll wobble over at top speed ( if we are talking snackies, he's really amazingly fast ) , with one of us bopping behind stuck to the leash, ram into people and dogs as he goes for the ultimate " ahhhhhh, snackies....." JD volunteered to stay home right after this delightful visual, as Fwirly would need some quality time. JD is just sooo considerate !

Arch and I looked at each other after Arch stopped laughing , and while he still had the tears on his cheeks and was holding his side, I said " I thought about this, I think it's best if YOU hold the leash when we are at puppy school, as your 'oops' face is just as innocent as Moose's so maybe we won't offend anyone. " Wasn't that quick thinking on my part??

Anyway, we'll keep you updated as to how these classes are going to pan out. Should be interesting. One thing about Moose, he likes to mull over commands and then do them HIS way. ( the other day I got him to lie down, yeah finally. He dropped himself on his side after I commanded "Moose, lie down" , and then rolled over onto his back with all 4 paws up in the air , wagging his tail and looking at me wanting his cookie. He'd been super good and I couldn't really say anything as Moose DID lie down )

This is ONE interesting dog ! And he's got the exact same expression on his face that Arch always has, I can't get mad at him . God help me, lol

All is VERY well here, Fwirly and Moose are glued to the hip every day, Moose has learned 'lie down' and we're working on 'sit',lol.He doesn't mind the 'sit' part but then when we say 'ok' and want him to continue, he looks at us as if to say "make up your mind!"
He loves all the toys we have here, and Fwirly has no problem sharing. Moose still prefers to sleep on our bed for the first half of the night, but sometime during the night he will move next to Fwirly. When the alarm goes off, Moose has figured out that we have mega snuggle time, Fwirly jumps up on the bed and Moose wants up too :)

Sobe cat continues to rub against Moose and really likes him. He seems ok with Sobe doing that. Rue and Cosmo are more 'cat like' but are back to their normal routine that they had before Moose arrived. So far we've had no hissing or chasing, amazing isn't it ?

Moose is enjoying our walks, Fwirly has been showing him all her sniffing places and we've met most of Fwirly's friends now.

We are still deliriously happy with this little guy ! He's a super sweet baby with a great personality and he fits in perfectly !