[PyrNet-L] CHAT: Albert's birthday party!!

[MagEBroD@aol.com]

   Well, Albert turned 1 year old on September 29th!  We had a birthday party
for him & his ten littermates & parents at a local city park. We had cake for
the humans owned by the pyrs, and I made big meatball-recipe mini-meatloaves
in cupcake cups (for doggie "cakes") and put gravy on top for "frosting" and
thin rawhides like straws that I cut in half for "candle" look!! (I left out
the raw onion and substituted onion powder in meatloaves, as raw onion is
supposed to be bad for them. Also used ground turkey instead of beef.)  They
were cute and very popular amongst our guests of honor!!  We also had doggie
biscuits, too. We had 5 pyrs there: mother Mushmellow, Puff, Sophie, Albert
and Heidi. It was interesting what different reactions they all have to
things. Albert is the clown of the group!! Everyone always gets such a kick
out of him!! He always looks like he's grinning or laughing!! And always
brimming over with love and vim and vigor!! Just one very happy guy!!! 3 of
them approached very warily and slowly. Not Albert!! He comes galloping up all
happy and friendly and just thrilled to be there and be a part of things!! His
sister and best bud Heidi came last and she saw Albert and made a bee-line for
him all excited!! Nancy's 12 yr. old daughter had ahold of her leash and it
was so funny: Heidi pulled her like she was a water-skier through a bunch of
dirt, Laura leaning back and her rump about 10 inches from the ground, feet
skiing through the dirt!! I tried to get it on film - hope it turns out!!
Funny!! Most of the pyrs growled at each other at one time or other, but never
Albert!! He's never growled at anyone in his life!! My big lovable lout!! And
goofy galoot!! Such a character!! I'm so glad he picked me!!! He makes me
laugh so and is so entertaining!! So friendly and happy!! He may have had the
most health problems, but I wouldn't trade him for the world!! (He's been fine
since mid-July, by the way!!)  It's funny, too, as everyone remembers Albert
back from his "Fat Albert" days in the litter, too. Few others stick in
people's memories as much!! Do I sound like a proud mama, or what???!!!  I
thought about getting the female that looks the most like him, because I was
worried he'd wreck my plants by peeing on them.Then heard that neutered males
usually don't lift their legs anyway. (He never has.) So went with the one
that I liked the best and that was the one that when I picked him up licked me
and snuggled under my chin and relaxed!!  A real lovey guy, yet comical, too.
ALBERT!!  Heidi, is Albert's Albert's best bud!! She's so much like him and
yet the one that was the last one picked. Go figure!!  I really liked Albert's
head shape and the head of the female that looked the most like him - Peaches
(since renamed Puff). Yet Heidi is looking more and more like Albert all the
time!! Her head is more like Albert's now. You should see the two of them
together!! They know that if they ever needed to find a home for her I'd
insist on taking her!! Would not hesitate a second!!  She'd always be welcome
here!  The one that was the dominant female of the litter is the one that
wanted to fight with everyone. Total opposite of Albert!! Albert was the
biggest pup in litter when they were little, but doesn't act dominant with
littermates at all. Most of the pups, including Albert and Heidi have gotten
biggetr than their dad already and are very close to mother's size. Mother is
very fuzzy and fluffy and they may actually be her size now and it may just be
the extra fur that makes her look bigger. If you actually push down her fur
they are about the same size. She is a working Livestock Guardian Dog and the
serious one of the group. One of her pups is a working Livestock Guardian Dog,
too. And the one that they kept is SUPPOSED to be a working Livestock Guardian
Dog, too, with her mom, but her heart isn't in it nowadays. Prefers to be with
humans and be more sociable. 
    Well, can you tell I'm a flying high on residual pyr high from then? Oh!
We wanted the cake to have 10 big pawprints on , but turned out Costco doesn't
do special orders. so they put a rainbow on it. It said "Happy Birthday to our
Pyr-fect Angels!!"  It would've been cuter with the pawprints - the HUMOR and
tongue-in-cheek-ness of the "Pyr-fect angels" part would have been evident
then!!  <VBG> LOL!! 
   We've now met most of the littermates at one time or another and both
parents. We had a Littermates Reunion in July and then most of the males came
and Heidi was only female. (6 total) This time Albert was the only male and
most of the females came! There are just a couple that we haven't met yet.
They both live out of town. One's only about 20 - 30 minutes away and the
other is about 1.5 hrs. away. Hope to meet them sometime!  Albert was the only
one dressed for the occasion, too! He had a big bright bandana on!! Love
bandanas on him!! Fit him so!!! I want to make him some hats, too! Hopefully I
can get him to keep them on!!  Tried to get him to wear a Santa hat last
Christmastime, but he preferred to chew it and shake it!! Maybe if I modify
them some, then they would stay on better, I think and if they fit better,
then MAYBE they would be less likely to try to get them off! HOPEFULLY!!! Pyrs
do look so cute in hats!!! Love the ones I've seen pictures of!! There's
always bribery, too, to get them to keep them on, I guess!!
    For his birthday Albert got his first King Kong toy and lots of treats to
put in it and a huge bone about 2 feet long and some peanut butter flavored
big rawhide bones! He's enjoying them all tremendously!! 
    
   
 :)   &   :)````   (me grinning & Albert grinning & drooling!!)
 
 Janice Vocke
 MagEBroD@aol.com
 Shelton, Washington