Welcome to the Dot and Speck blog + fun facts

Two little doggies living in Alameda, CA.

I'll give their life story in another post. For right now, here are some fun facts:

--Stats: Dot is a chihuahua about 6? years old, she weighs between 8 and 10 pounds, and is very affectionate with people but can be kind of crabby, especially with other dogs. Speck is her son, he is a chihuahua/terrier mix consistently tipping the scales at about 7 pounds. He is 2.5 years old and is a scruffy little heartbreaker.
--Food: Royal Canin Chihuahua, but they go nuts for lettuce (really) and ice cream.
--Favorite treats: they will beat each other up over Greenies. Their FAVORITE FAVORITE is Greenie Bits, which are no longer made, but I still have some left and ration them out carefully. They also love this dried duck breast stuff that I get. I give it to them as a reward for going into their crate; they love them so much that as soon as I rustle the bag of dried duck breasts they run into the crate.
--Diversions: Speck knows the word "squeaky" and LOVES playing fetch with it. Dot can't be bothered. She basically wants to eat, sleep, and lick whatever is nearby.
--Chewy stuff: Speck also loves chewing on chew toys and various bones. His favorite type are kneecaps, which are literally patellas from dead animals. He will work on one of those for days. Dot would rather eat, sleep, and lick whatever is nearby.
--Doggie trickery: Sometimes with Greenies, Dot wants to have hers and eat it too... she's been known to steal Speck's and go hide it. And occasionally if Speck has a really good bone with lots of gunk on it, she'll quietly filch it and nonchalantly take it to a corner to work on it herself.
--Dot is a total burrower. I leave blankets around the apartment for this purpose. If I can't find her, I will patrol the apartment calling her name, and eventually one of the blankets will start wiggling and a little nose will pop out.
--Dot's had a few health issues... two hernias requiring surgery in 2008, one of which was gravely life-threatening. She has a slightly enlarged heart that the vet "discovers" every time; the cause of it isn't really known at this time. As with many chihuahuas, she "reverse sneezes" occasionally, which sounds like geese honking. She also grunts and snorts here and there, and gently snores sometimes when she sleeps.
--Coloring: Dot is, to the best of anyone's knowledge, middle-aged, but she's had a prematurely gray face. She also has white paw tips. Speck has inherited both of these traits: he has white hairs on the top of his head, and white paw tips.
--"After these six, I'm done": both came from the Milo Foundation and were fixed when I got them. All six of Dot's puppies (and Speck's dad) were fixed when they were adopted out from Milo, and the owners of all are somewhat in touch but have yet to coordinate a full-gang meetup.

The "classic" picture of them, taken in August 2007-- Speck is on the left, Dot is on the right:




And now for a very important note: except for "I has a hot dog" style pictures, there will be NO CAPTIONS WRITTEN IN FIRST-PERSON ANYWHERE ON THIS BLOG! Jeez that is annoying!

-mig
(Their dad)