Dog Diaries #2

What is a Cane Corso?

The above photo is a typical cane corso. Dark colouring, clipped ears and tail, and very large. The first thing to know is that cane is not pronounced as in candy cane, though many people do say it that way. It's actually pronounced can-nay. This pronunciation derives from the breed which is part of the Italian Mastiff family.

The cane corso is a great protector and guard dog. A full grown adult male can weigh from 100-140 pounds. They have a short coat that can be black, grey, fawn, or a mixture. Corso's are intimidating dogs, but they are also affectionate and gentle. They are intelligent, eager to please, and intensely loyal to their family. However, they are also assertive, and stubborn.

This is our Midnight Rambler, at four months, experiencing his first snow. The look on his face says he didn't like it, lol. 

At four months, Rambler already weighed in at 40 pounds. At his current growing rate, we expect him to be near the average of 110-120. His colouring is a slate grey with lots of fawn ripples throughout. 

As growing puppies, they have very lanky legs. Our nickname for Rambler is Little Moose because that's exactly what he looks like, a baby moose trying to stand on stilts for legs. He loses balances easily so we have to watch that he doesn't run across the tiled floor or his legs will fall out from under him. He has already hurt himself once.

Though may people have their corso's ears and tail clipped, we will NOT be doing that. Rambler has the cutest face and those droopy ears are part of his charm. And he loves to chase his tail.

It is true what they say about the corso wanting to be the leader and will test his boundaries on a daily basis. Rambler doesn't like to be corrected, and while he is stubborn, he is also extremely affectionate. He loves to snuggle and nap with our five-year old lab, and he loves to cuddle next to us. His favourite thing is sitting on my lap or feet. He needs to constantly be near me, which is good and bad.

In this post I wanted to share a bit about the breed, but in my next post the fun begins...or not so much fun. Coming soon, I will go into the chaos of puppy behaviour.

Sitting Pretty #CA0037

With the colder weather upon us, I thought I'd share one of the cards I designed last week.

I titled the card 'Sitting Pretty' because this beautiful bird is taking a moment out of its day of collecting berries to sit on a branch dusted with snow.

Sitting Pretty (#CA0037) is part of my greeting card collection. And visitors to my blog are getting the first look at it because it hasn't even been uploaded to my 'Darlene Fredette Designs' website yet!

Remember to take a moment out of your busy day to enjoy the world around you.

Dog Diaries #1

The Beginning...

Welcome to the beginning of a new adventure in our house. It started on August 28, 2023, when I received a text from my daughter saying her boss brought a puppy into work. My daughter sent me pictures and asked if we could adopt him...

Let's roll back the tape a bit. 

We currently have a five year old Yellow Labrador named Keefer. Keefer was a busy puppy. He got into everything. He wanted to eat everything. He was a handful. He wasn't a bad dog, just a busy dog. He didn't like to be left alone and he would howl to the heavens at night. My daughter would sit in his pen with him at night until he fell asleep. He didn't like to go outside alone...and he still doesn't, lol. We thought Keefer would lose the 'puppyness' once he was neutered, but nope, he was still crazy. Keefer didn't actually mature until he turned three, and let me tell you, those were three long years. Don't get me wrong...I love Keefer and he's my baby, even at one-hundred pounds. He's a great dog. It was just a long process to get there.

I said I never wanted a puppy again. I love dogs and I would welcome another dog someday, but I would adopt one that was at least a year old.

Fast forward to August 28.

I told my daughter that puppies were a lot of work and a big responsibility. I tried my best to stay firm to not wanting a puppy. Then she told me his story. He was adopted from a man who we believe owned the mother. The family who adopted him had two young children who were mentally challenged. I'm not sure why this family thought a rambunctious puppy would be a good idea. The children were pulling and picking at the puppy and he started nipping at them, which dogs will do to defend themselves. It's their natural instinct as is with most animals. The family decided to get rid of the puppy. My daughter's boss is a friend of the family and took the puppy, but she wasn't able to keep him. As well, the man who owned the puppy was a fisherman and out fishing for the next several weeks. My daughter fell for this cute puppy, as did I. I couldn't see him go to a shelter or to someone who might mistreat him, but were we ready to go through the puppy stage all over again?

Fast forward a few days to August 30, 2023.

From the first photo above, it's obvious we adopted the puppy. And here he is.

This is Midnight Rambler, but we call him Rambler for short. 

When we got him, the family had called him Loki, but my daughter's boss called him Pugsley. We decided to stick with our Rolling Stones theme. Keefer is after Keith Richards (Keef is the nickname that Mick Jagger calls Keith). And we also had a Jagger (our yellow lab before Keefer). I wanted to call him Charlie Watts, but Midnight Rambler seemed a little more fitting for this little pup.

Rambler is a Cane Corso (pronounced Can-nay). The family didn't seem to know when he was born, only that he was seven weeks old when they got him. The fisherman was unreachable, so we are unsure of his actual date of birth. I did some research and judged his age by his baby teeth and according to when they fell out and his adult teeth came in, he was born the first week of July. I'm going to pick a date so that we have a day to celebrate his birthday.

There is so much more of Rambler's story to tell, but I'm going to pause and share our up-and-down journey in a series of posts. Coming soon will be a post about our first few days of being new puppy owners!

Weather Files#1

Just say no to snow!

Welcome back to my welcome back message I wrote on August 30. I said I had returned to blogging, but little did I know we'd be adopting a puppy and my life would be turned upside down. More about the new puppy in a post coming soon.

I want to talk about what happened yesterday. It snowed! We had about 10cm fall throughout the day and the temperature hovered around zero. It was cold and dreary. Some people say the first snowfall is so beautiful...well it is, if it's late December or early January. It's technically not even the winter season yet. It's still Fall. 

After a crappy Summer of high humidity, wild fires, and flooding, Fall was welcomed. And what a season it's been. Lots of sunshine and above normal temperatures. Fall is soon becoming my new favourite season.

Yesterday's snowfall was such a shock to the system after having sunshine and a temperature of 23C on Saturday. I hope it's not a sign of what's to come. I was hoping we'd have a mild winter. I have my fingers crossed that yesterday was just a little blip and that Mother Nature remembers it's still Fall.

Today is sunny, but quite chilly at 3C. Me and the dogs still went for our morning walk and after lunch we sat on the deck and enjoyed watching the sun melt the snow.

About those dogs...if you want to know more about them, be sure to check back as I'll be sharing pictures!