Sasquatch, Nessie and other Oddities

OK, so when I was young I was sure that I was going to be the first to discover The Sasquatch (of course I also thought I would marry my Cousin Aubrey too and that never happened either, but I was only 4 years old then so my judgment could be brought into question over that decision), as time went by I had to admit to myself that there was likely no such thing as the big hairy, up right walking, digit possessing Ape-Man critter hanging out in the forest just waiting for me to discover him.

Later in life being of Scottish decent I became more and more interested in my heritage and what would Scotland be without our beloved Nessie. Aye the mythical (or not so mythical as I prefer to believe) Water Horse. With her giant serpentine form she rises up from the depths of the Loch through the fog of the crisp early Scottish Highlands morning; leaving tourists and locals alike tantalizing fodder to ponder, argue and dream about. I know one day I will be seeing eye to eye with the great gal.

Well here in Penetanguishene, Ontario it would seem we have our own creatures of mystery and low and behold I live each day with one of them. Yes, here in good old Penetanguishene, Ontario, we have discovered the once mythical Hair Ball Yacking Dog!

Oh yes, in all my years in the animal industry , with all the dogs I have trained, owned, cared for never have I seen or even heard of a dog which has hairballs. Cats yes, all the time cats are famous for lumbering up to their owners (preferably while company is present) giving them that sour look which says something is brewing and promptly (after emitting grotesque audio track for effect) YACK up a nasty foul smelling hairball hot dog. If you have experienced this you know exactly of what I speak....if not count yourself one of the lucky ones. Cats by nature of their grooming technique are affected greatly by this, room clearing condition, however never until Kona came into my life had I ever heard of this in dogs.

Oh dear Kona she does love to "shock and awe" me into a stupor, however, usually this is done by how fast she picks up a task or a new remarkable action that makes me flash back to her Grandmother. Apparently my dear girl has decided that I am just not easily shocked to her liking so she felt the need to "up her game".

About a month ago we were awakened at about 4:30 am to the tell tale sounds of retching, the kind that tells you get the dog off the carpet NOW or you will not like the results. We immediately think this is Radar, he tends to like to visit the cottagers next door after they have had a campfire and scavenge through the ashes for any over looked tid-bits. He has not yet put together, that this, then causes him great discomfort and an upset tummy followed closely by the retching up of his treasured bounty. I truly hope none of you are having a snack while reading this and my sincere apologies to those folks with less than an iron clad constitution.

Now, back to my tale of rare and unusual beasties.To say the least both human parties leaped out of bed from a lovely slumber and into action, Poor Radar was shocked to find himself hustled into a more vomit safe zone, while Bern went for the cleaning supplies(should have been a nose plug in the clean up kit).

I get back to the bedroom again in time for the unveiling! Yep! Right on time and I swear on cue out hurls this horrendous, massive, sopping wet projectile which lands on the floor at my feet! No bounce just a dull wet thud...then the smell hit me; I really must pat myself on the back at this point for not passing out from the odour alone, but I'm made of sterner stuff and managed to stay on my feet.


My first thought was she got a mouse, a large mouse, and ate it whole, my second was this was a stuffie of some kind she swallowed whole then I suddenly realized that this was a wad of hair! Not mine, Not Bern's but a massive rolled up hair ball not even one clump of hair it was a perfectly formed hairball of various types (in itself not surprising since we run a grooming shop).

It appeared that our dear Kona had been taking her SD job seriously and perhaps helping to clean up fallen hair from the shop floor. Though, I am making light of this now the serious side of this could have been Kona having a blockage if this hairball did not come up, so in this case up is better than not up. In light of this fact Bern and I resolved to commit to preventing her from snacking on any hair or fur that falls to the floor. So we took measures to prevent this and worked hard on the Kona Leave it the moment she even looked at the hair, in this we were a complete success....HOWEVER.


Two days ago in the early evening Kona was enjoying a nice relaxing snooze on the deck when we heard some sounds. Not sure what these sounds were exactly Bern took a look and I heard "Kona Leave IT"! Of course to this I asked what was happening and Bern told me she has either a bird or a chipmunk! OH NO is my thought of course worrying that my efforts to socialize her to other small critters had failed. We both go into action and at close inspection we discover the truth. WE STILL HAVE AN ELUSIVE PENETANGUISHENE, HAIR BALL YACKING DOG! This hair ball was HUGE when he said chipmunk he should have said squirrel, it was massive and I have no idea how she got it up but very glad she did!


This time the hair ball seemed to be mainly her hair and she does clean her self all the time she is always licking her coat. I am beginning to wonder if she didn't imprint on the kittens at the breeders home because she does clean her self like a cat. Either way we now know that dogs get hairballs however unusual and we now know we need to figure out a solution to this issue before we have a situation where it is not coming up.

I now have renewed hope that I will someday find The Sasquatch after all, I did find this elusive mythic Hair Ball Yacking Dog...As to Cousin Aubrey well I have come to learn that little girl crushes should stay in little girl musings and I already found my true love and I am sure Aubrey did also

Lisa & Hairball Kona

Kona's Buddy Sarge

Kona had a lovely surprise at work today when "Sarge" a hearing dog St. Poodle from Canine Vision placed with his partner Lou-Anne Desroches, came in for grooming. "Sarge" was a perfect gentleman and I think Kona has a little bit of a crush on him...

What's not to love like her mom she thinks a man in uniform is pretty cute and he is very fit, handsome, charming and smart hmmm sounds a little like her dad come to think about it ;). Lou-Anne is a lovely woman and we enjoyed chatting about our working dogs which led me to think, maybe we should be starting a service, hearing, guide, special skills dog handler support group...so here we go I am officially kicking off our support group and will be doing a face book group and actual get together as well monthly. This will be a great way for people who are partnered with these special dogs to talk over challenges, similarities and laugh about life with one of these amazing dogs. If you happen to know someone who has a working dog for disabilities (many programs have different titles so this is the easiest way for me to describe the general group, please do not be offended if your dog has a different title than one shown as there is no offense intended please feel free to email me to let me know what that title is for you) Please let them know about us and that we would welcome their participation and friendship. I will post the FB group once i have it set up.

Thank You Lou-Anne and Sarge for such a nice visit today and for the inspiration which led me to think of starting this.

Cheers everyone & Remember if your hot out there your fur-friend is far hotter so take care and don't forget side walks and asphalt get very hot in this heat and we humans have a hard time realizing this with our shoes on. Take a moment and put your hand on the ground every once in a while to see how hot it is on your buddy's feet, they sure will appreciate the extra effort and you will save them a lot of pain and potential injury.

Lisa & Kona

Kona 4 months old now opening drawers

I took a while to convince Kona to open drawers and doors, we have not yet graduated to doors but it will be fast coming once she gets a task it snowballs. She watched he cousin doing this and finally realized that there was a treat in the drawer every time Raven opened it. Kona's big issue with this task is that she is not a dominant dog so tug is not really a game she plays, she prefers to stick things in the other dogs mouths; her stuffies, the ball, tug rope and of course this is not limited to the other dogs when she wants to play she will try and stuff these toys in our mouths to...that is Kona's version of playing she is a big sharer. So tug was not something she really aspired to and that is the basis for this task, you want a puppy to tug first on a tug rope or other such toy and most dogs love to tug but not our Kona. She is great at sorting the laundry and even taking it out of the dryer and putting it in both machines, awesome at retrieving ANY item dropped and auto door buttons are a breeze. We all have our challenges and for Kona her challenge was the tug on doors and drawers, but a little inspiration and help from a relative and support from friends and that was all she needed to get over this hurdle...much like most of us facing hurdles in our lives. :)