Yoshi playing with the latest Wiggly Giggly ball cover - Mr. Crab

[TorchTheWitch]

Here's what Mr. Crab looks like from the front...



And from the side...



Here's some photos of him playing with it. He just came in from slopping in the mud as it's been raining steadily for two days now, so yep, he's all mucky...











I finally figured out how to do video on my camera! So, here's a brief one of The Goofy One...

[Curmudgeoness]

1. There's that butt up in the air again.

It makes me laugh every time.

Mr Crab is pretty cute......how long will that last!

[TorchTheWitch]

2. For some reason he finds that position comfortable

And he does it all the time. Far more than he sits like a normal dog with the proper end on the ground. Actually, of my three Akitas he's the only one that sits normally at all though only on occasion. My other two never sat. They'd do a sort of side ass position for a few seconds before either laying down or standing back up again that was sort of like resting on one haunch with the back legs kind of stretched out to the side. That's why I had so much trouble teaching either one of them to sit though they could and did learn everything else. I always figured that "sit" was such a failure with them because they never really ever sat anyway. I always wondered if there was something about their physical construction that made regular sitting not so comfortable for them. Yoshi does sit on rare occasions, but like the other two he tends to either be standing up or laying down... accept for all those times he's doing the butt in the air thing.

For some reason he doesn't try chewing up any of his ball covers anymore. I used to have to repair or even rebuild them all the time. Now all I do is minor repairs if I didn't sew on appendages solidly enough or forgot to use the heavy duty thread and used the regular thread. Since he does that shaking thing with them by grabbing an appendage they're the parts that tend to get the occasional tooth hole but more usually the thread sewing them to the main body brakes and unravels. Like, right now I need to sew a leg back on his ladybug and a wing is dangling by a few threads on his penguin. He's really rough on them, too. When he has one outside he shakes it up so hard they bash into his shoulders (though he doesn't seem to notice) and flings them around sometimes really far. Just a couple of days ago right before those couple of days of endless rain he flung his lobster so hard it went over the fence and landed in the neighbor's yard. Thank goodness it was late at night, so I snuck into their yard like a thief with my little key ring flashlight to get it.

I think I'll do a spider next since I have also this left over black material. I have an idea for an elephant, but I don't know if they have the material in a gray color. I can't stand it if I don't have some project to work on, and I'm running out of things to do. I really need something tedious that will take months, but I think I've already beaded or embroidered everything I can think of.

On Edit: Forgot to mention.... does the video work? It's the first time I ever tried to do that with the camera, and the first time I ever tried uploading to YouTube. It works for me, but I just wanted to make sure that it does for other people as well since I chose the option that supposedly only lets people you give the direct link to to see it.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Yes, the video worked fine.

It was cute.

I noticed that the videos on another thread (I think you posted), with Akita pup. That pup also put his butt up in the air the same way. That is apparently an Akita thing.

[TorchTheWitch]

4. I know my other two did it when being playful

But only for a couple of seconds. Yoshi sticks his bum in the air like that all the time and hangs out for a few minutes sort of like the opposite of what most dogs do when they just sit... goof ball. I can't seem to get much of him on film since he always runs up to me and sticks his nose right on the camera lens. I'm actually surprised I got almost a whole minute of him before he noticed the camera.

Once again the weatherman lied to me and said we were just going to have light snow showers today, but I opened the door to let Yoshi out, and we already had a good 4 inches or so, and it's still coming down. This is the first time in his short life of experiencing only two winters where we've had anything more than a dusting. Why or why did I not think to get the camera out???? All he's ever known of snow is light dustings or the big piles scraped off the ice skating rink that they dump behind the building. He's being a lunatic all over the yard especially when I was out shoveling... eating it, dragging his tongue through it for yards, chasing his tail, attacking his feet pretending they're 4 small animals to chase, rolling around and wiggling on his back in it, burying his head in it, and his latest thrill is discovering he can make a big mound out of it by using his chest as a plow while running with his back legs. And I missed it all with the camera!!! Now he's finally pooped himself out and is just laying on the top step under the awning watching it fall out of the sky. Something tells me he's going to want a REALLY long walk later.

I just knew we were going to get a substantial amount since my knee has been aching a bit, but even I didn't think we'd get all this. Thank goodness I assumed the weatherfool got it wrong again so I went to the store for some essentials for at least a few days. So far the township is staying true to form and forgotten our street is here needing plowing, and it's a pretty steep up hill grade.

Dammit, I've got a mouse again! I haven't had any for well over a month at least, but one of the little shits just ran past me and under the printer table. Little asshole is going everywhere except in the traps.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Too bad you didn't have the camera.

I am sure that Yoshi was funny.

What do you bait the trap with? I will say it again, a dab of peanut butter with a chocolate chip in it. They just cannot resist it. I have been using this for years after lots of experimenting. Living beside a field in an old house, I get a lot of mice.

[TorchTheWitch]

6. I use just peanut butter

So I have to hide them where Yoshi can't get at them... he's already chewed three traps to bits just because he can smell the peanut butter in there. I've never heard about the chocolate chip though. I should try that, but since I'm not allowed to eat chocolate because of it being a contradiction to my meds I hesitate to have it in the house. The worst thing is that I can have a wee bit of chocolate, but if I had it in the house I know I'd eat it all. Maybe I'll get a chocolate chip muffin and save most of the chips and use them for the traps... I normally throw most of them out anyway since I think they go overboard with them. I love my hot chocolate though, so I do that for my small amount of chocolate allotment per day.

I never had a single mouse here until last fall. Come to think of it I think it's because there's no outdoor cats around here anymore. Psycho Kitty disappeared for some reason the summer before last, and that fall pretty much everyone on our street have suddenly been getting mice. That cat was so weird. It loved to hide under the big pine trees and than jump out at people, stand up on its back feet and wave its arms around at you and then run away. Even when you expected it to pop out at you acting loony it still always took you by surprise.

We went for our walk early tonight since Yoshi wasn't wanting to wait... he just had to get out there and mess up everyone else's snow. I hope it's still there or at least most of it is tomorrow, so I can try getting him with the camera. It's supposed to get warm again with rain so I don't expect it to last, but then again I have to remember that everything the weather idiot says is the opposite of what actually happens. What's so cool about their thick coats is that a mountain of snow can fall on them and doesn't melt. Once he shakes it off he's basically dry.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Poor Psycho Kitty.

First for being psycho, and second for disappearing.

I really do swear by chocolate in the traps. Every mice I catch has a bite of chocolate in his mouth. The peanut butter is not what they go for, it is what helps the chocolate stick on the trap. I don't know what you can do to get just a bit of chocolate. Find a friend who will give you one Hershey's kiss? If you were close by, you could have a few of mine....but you are not close or you would not worry about snow melting.