Happy 4th of July Weekend From The Irish Brothers!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It's been a while since the Doods and I "blogged", so I thought it was time for an update. Two weeks ago my hard drive "crashed", and it's been a nightmare ever since. I lost everything....my own fault because the only thing I had backed-up were my videos. I lost 1200 pictures...yes, all my puppy pictures are gone. All the pics of our trips and the grandkids are gone. My laptop went to the Apple Hospital for a week and came back to me like a whole new computer. So, that means several days of "set up". When I finally got everything set up, I brought down my DH's and DS's computers. They were not happy to say the least...but mine worked fine, so what's the problem. We finally got all that straightened out. During the crazyness I bought an IPAD so I would at least be able to function....of course, that also had to be set up and synced with the laptop. I have been living in the Apple store. Well, now everything is fine again, except I have no pictures or favorites. It's time to start over. I was able to recover all my music, so that's one good thing.

Life is good with the Doods...always interesting. They had some sort of stomach virus last weekend, so we had to bring the "Green Machine" out of retirement. I cleaned rugs for days....still some spots I just can't get out. Time to get Stanley Steemer back in here...we're on a first name basis with most of their guys. But, the Doods are feeling much better now. I really think Murph is wishing he was still sick....he loved that chicken, rice and pumpkin.

Murphy is into a challenging phase. He has decided that he's going to be the "boss" of everyone in the house, and is pushing some buttons. He had been heeling perfectly until a few days ago when he decided it was okay to just go anywhere he wanted. He is huge and incredibly strong, so that isn't going to cut it. We're back to really serious training, and he did much better yesterday. My trainer isn't doing any formal classes for the Summer, but I'm going to try to get her for a couple private lessons now, and then put him into the intermediate class in the Fall. It's strange because while he's trying to be independent, he's also very needy at the same time. He wants to always be on my lap...can you picture this big guy on my lap. It just doesn't work, and it gets him frustrated. While I've been typing, he's tried to climb up on my lap several times. He is really such a sweet, loving boy, but with an "iron will". He's nothing like his quiet, compliant brother. They have such totally different personalities, and I love it.

In another week we are going to Newport for a few days, and I'm going to have to board the Doods. I'm sick about it already, but the plans were made and everything paid for months ago. I had counted on my daughter to take the boys, but her year old Golden is very ill. He had a large tumor removed from his head this week and they're waiting for the biopsy results, but it doesn't sound good. She has four sons under 10 and is trying to take care of a very sick dog, so she just can't take my guys too. They will be boarded at our Daycare. Guinness knows it well, but Murphy has only been there once. I stopped sending them since Murph because they got plenty of socialization right at home. We have the option of having them together. They have good size pens which would allow for both of them to be together. I just don't know if that's a good idea all night....maybe too much togetherness. I'm still thinking about what would be best for them. Anyway, I know I will be a nervous wreck the whole time we're away. The people at the Daycare are wonderful, and I know they won't mind if I call to check on how they're doing. We're not that far, so we could come home if we need to....DH would really "love" that!

There's been so much going on over the past couple of weeks that Guinness hasn't done any Therapy work. I miss it, and I actually think he does too. He loves all the attention he gets at the Alzheimer facility....he'll sit on their laps forever. His disposition is perfect for this. I'm not sure about my "big guy" as a therapy dog, but you never know. Once I get him through the "teenage" phase, maybe.

Guinness has finally learned to lift his leg to pee! This is huge....he did it for the first time on a walk with DH who was so proud! He walked in the house with a big grin and couldn't wait to tell me about our "big boy". It's so funny the things that get us excited these days.

I've got to get busy over the weekend taking pictures. I have to start building up a "library" again. The Irish Brothers hope everyone has a great (and safe) 4th of July weekend!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Happy 4th to you & your crew, Jane! I'm glad the boys are feeling better. Congrats to Guinness (and your DH, heehee) on his new grown-up accomplishment! Tell Murphy if he doesn't straighten up and fly right, I'll send JD there to show him he isn't as big as he thinks he is!
I'd board them together and see how it goes. I hope you can enjoy the trip and not worry too much about the Irish brothers...they'll be fine. I'm waiting to hear how Murph does with the fireworks this weekend.

[Leslie and Halas]

Sorry about all of your pics. But at least you got an iPad out of the whole thing. I hope your daughter gets good news about her golden. Back when my parents and I had 2 huskies, we had to board them sometimes. It made all the difference in the world for the 2 of them to have each other there. I don't think they shared a space, but they were right next to each other. They did much better together than either of them would have done alone. I know you'll worry, but I'm sure they'll do fine.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Oh, I also have some albums "out there" in cyberspace on Picasa and Kodak. Another way to store them offsite, so to speak.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I'm sorry to hear about the pictures but Nancie's idea is a good one. You and Nancie are lucky gals with the IPads. I back up my pictures to a flash drive and I think I'll do it again tonight! The doodles will be fine at the Daycare, if you were closer you could bring them here : ) Have afun weekend.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I have the 3GS iPad and love it! I can leave my laptop home when I travel and do everything I need to do on the iPad. :)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Nancie, that's a great idea about copying my puppy pictures back onto my computer from DK. I hadn't even thought of that! The day I got my laptop back I bought an external drive that is backing everything up every hour...too bad I didn't do that before. Allyson, I love my IPad - I'm having a great time in the "App Store".

I think I will have the boys start out in the same pen and see how they do. If they're on each others' nerves the Daycare can move them. Thanks for the input everyone!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Oh Jane, that is just heartbreaking about your photos. Are you 100% sure they (someone) could not retrieve them? I have heard fantastic stories about photo retrieval. My PC got the "blue screen of death" and I had all my daughter's wedding photos on it. I hired a guy to come and see what he could do for the computer since it wouldn't turn on or anything. He worked and worked on it and got it going in the "safe mode". From there he was able to find my photos and lucky for me, I have an external hard drive, he was able to off load them all to the drive. I just wanted to jump up and down and kiss and hug the guy!!!! He went above and beyond because he knows how much photos...especially wedding...mean to someone.

I have since made it a habit to burn my photos about every 6 months to DVDs/CDs. Or at least off load them to the external drive. In fact, I need to do that now!!! One thing that you can do is to go to your DK page and you can click on each photo and save it back to your computer. Very time consuming but at least you will have some pictures of the "boys" from their earlier days to look back on.

As far as the leaving your boys, maybe you could start out with them sharing a pen and alert the people to observe how it goes. If not, then they could split them up to be side by side. I have a dog ranch that I send Gracie to and it gives me such peace of mind. I know she is running, in the water, playing ball and is out and free all day with other dogs. I wonder if there is anything like that in your neck of the woods for future situations?? I had to Google and Google but I found it!

Congratulations to Guinness...such a big boy now (for such a little boy...ha ha). Is Murph lifting yet? Have a great vacation and your boys will be just fine. Nice that they have each other too.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Yep I want an ipad too. How do you like it Jane?

[Camilla and Darwin]

wow, sorry about your computer crashing. I HATE not having access to the computer or internet. I moved this last week and didn't have the internet for 5 days. It stunk. I had to go find wireless signals in random places with my laptop. So glad to have it back! I am way jealous you have an IPAD... I want one pretty darn bad. Darwin is kind of going through the same stage as Murphy. He's still a pretty good boy, but is really challenging us on his recall as of late. It's pretty troubling. I love thinking about huge Murphy trying to climb on your lap... what a funny boy!

[Kevin Poole, Penny & Ozzy]

I have an external hard drive with my Mac that I back up to once a month. I figure that way, both pieces of hardware are hardly likely to crash at the same time. How funny that you recovered your music which is easily replaceable, and not your photos...That really sucks.

Penny stays overnight at daycare occasionally too, and she thinks nothing of it, although they don't crate them where Penny goes, they just have a big room together in the house and they sleep like a pack.