Brittany and Beagle News

Our dear friend Jane recently gifted Mattie the greatest toy ever!  It is called Hide a Squirrel by Outward Hound.  It gives a dog the fun task of pulling all of the six squeaky squirrels out from the plush log.  Upon receiving the gift, Mattie read the tag of the toy and decided the purpose of this toy is literally to hide the squirrels.  If the front door is left open, she will sneak the squirrels outside to bury them. On the very first day of play, three of the six squirrels disappeared.  Bobbi found Mattie moving one dirty squirrel she’d dug back up.  The next missing squirrel was found by Bobbi when she sifted through a fresh mound of dirt in the woods.  To this day, one squirrel is still missing.  Mattie is kind and shares her toy with Trooper.   After dinner every night, he will go bark at the squirrel log which is kept on the shelf.  He generally ends up bringing the squirrels to us to throw in place of his usual ball. 

While in Birmingham, we discovered a wonderful dog park in the city of Alabaster.   This dog park was the 2nd Beneful Dream Park created in the nation.  The Beneful company held a contest to submit your idea for a dream dog park.  Jenny Wilson, of Alabaster, entered the contest and won the $500,000 park for the city!  The park has artificial turf, splash pad, tunnels, hoops, and a miniature football field.  Trooper and Mattie had a blast during our visit.   The coolest part was meeting all the different dogs and owners.  One gentleman was excited to see two brittanys arrive for a morning of play with his own brittanys.  We can’t wait to return! Be sure to scroll down and watch the video of Trooper.

Travels took us to Florida this summer.  This trip included many “firsts” for our family.  We experienced our first Airbnb stay in a cottage on a farm outside of St. Augustine.  On the farm we encountered many critters, the first of which was a guinea hen Mattie spotted the moment she jumped from the car.  Turkeys, rabbits, birds, and ducks made this a spectacular sensory experience for Trooper and Mattie.  The most fun we had was on the first morning when the dogs were ready for their walk at 5:30.  Greeting us in the dark, as we exited the screened in porch, was one of the free-roaming donkeys on the farm.  Other adventures on this trip included a visit to the Fountain of Youth, strolling shops, a visit to the Spanish Military Muesum, a trip to the beach, and many dining experiences.  St. Augustine is the most dog friendly town we’ve ever visited.  Bringfido.com is a wonderful site for researching dog-friendly places in any city you wish to visit.  Please check out some of the most memorable photos from our trip.  Click on each thumbnail photo to see the entire photograph.

Each day, we take walks up the driveway, to the field, and back through the woods to home.  If we run enough, we’ll take a nice nap.  Today, our toy pheasant took a nap with us!

Since retirement, Bobbi has been experimenting with some new recipes in the kitchen. Guess who seems to always be on hand as official taste testers?