Woof Stock Portrait of Paisle

Dear Everett,
Marshal's first full day of confinement and it is raining outside. We've only been for one walk, early this morning in spitting mist, before the real rain started. We've ventured out to pee a few times since then, but no other walks.

Marshal has demolished two beef marrow bones (slices) so far, and accepted a remnant of a third. Paisle managed to wedge her beef bone slice onto her lower jaw, like a big fat bangle. She panicked when she couldn't remove it...okay so I had to maintain a calm disposition while I held her down to work it off, but the second I released her I had myself a really good laugh. Still, lesson learned and I will not give the petite Little Bean another beef marrow slice--she'll get the whole enchilada. Both Ansel and Marshal are big enough that the slices do not pose a lower jaw problem.

Paisle and I went to Woof Stock, today, in Linden Hills. It is an annual, one day, outdoor event for dogs, where vendors line the streets at 43rd and Upton, and we dog people bring the pooches to mingle and buy stuff. There were some events, and an air jump thing for children, but the weather put a damper on the outing. Thankfully, all the vendors had tents!

We visited with specialty dog food makers, portrait people, coffee shops, doggy blanket makers, dog bed designers, toy vendors, and even a few of the local shops where Paisle was welcome to enter. We met a ton of greyhounds (greyhound rescue had a booth), several Great Danes, many pooches of mixed parentage, and a Doodle that was Irish Setter colored (and equally Irish setter energetic!). It took a bit of encouragement to show Paisle there were HOT DOGS in the bottom of a small wading pool (only 7 or 8 inches deep), but as soon as she figured that out, she was in hot dog heaven! I only let her bob for two, in the spirit of sharing.

We met a caricature artist named Adnan Shati. He created the portrait of Paisle above, and I might add, it was the only one in color, AND the only one of a dog we saw him create! By the time she hopped off my lap when he was finished, Adnan's waiting line had grown significantly, and the new people in the queue each had a dog in tow.... Adnan's web site is http://www.idrawacrowd.com/. Here is Adnan, working on Paisle's portrait, while the Litlle Bean sits in my lap. This photo was taken by Paige T, one of the photographers chronicling the whole Woof Stock event:
We also picked up a new toy, for heavy chewers. It's called a Huck, and it floats! It's a Zogo-flex product, made by West Paw Design in Montana. And the packaging says, "At any time, for whatever reason, you no longer need this product, please send it back to us for recycling." Paisle LOVED its erratic bouncing and Marshal set off new volume records in protest that he could not play, so I stuffed it into his crate with him. In that small, confined space he still "chased" it around from one end of the crate to the other. I suspect that does not qualify as 'crate rest,' so I may have to steal it back from him when I give him his dinner tonight.