The move to WordPress.org is complete. This will be our last post on this site.
To find us now please go to either rbuedpets.com, chubbswalk.com, or chubbyswalk.com.
Any of those will get you there and you will find my same brilliant insights and observations. I hope to see you all there.
See you soon,
Chubbs
Chubbs here. I just wanted to update you on the move. We are still working on getting the blog moved, but when it is up and running you will find me at rbuedpets.com.
We are also thinking of shortening the name of the site to Chubb’s Walk, or Chubb’s Dog Walk. I will keep you updated on the move. In the meantime, here are a few more of my favorite family photos.
The mutants run off some energy.
Hi, Chubby here.
I was just going to post some family pictures this week but I have some exciting news to add to the photos.
Ron and I are moving this blog over to Ron’s website, rbued.com, in the next couple of weeks. This will allow us to have more control over some of the technical features. We think that this move should allow us to improve the look and feel of the site without changing the overall focus.
I am not very tech-savvy so I am not sure what effect this might have upon your ability to find me. I will be looking into that this week and hopefully we can make this move go seamlessly and painlessly.
I apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause and hope that you will find your way over with us. We are in hopes that this move will allow us to bring more value to your visit.
Thanks for being patient and sticking with us. Please feel free to offer suggestions that might enhance the experience.
Here are those photos that I mentioned. They are some favorites from our current household.
Over the past couple of weeks, I introduced you to my step-brother, Murphy the malamute. This week I thought you should meet a couple of characters that joined our family just a couple of years ago. Rusty and Scooter.
I call them the mutants. They look similar to a dog but more stretched out and squashed down like little four-legged caterpillars.
I’m not trying to be mean here, I love my little brothers like, well, brothers. But they are funny looking. (Don’t tell that to them, everyone lies to them and tells them how beautiful they are. People are so kind.)
Rusty and Scooter are long-haired, mini-dachshunds.
Interestingly enough, though Murphy joined our family in Germany and was born in Austria, he is an American breed, one of the oldest.
The two mutants, however, are a German breed, the name translating into German as Badger dog.
Yes, the larger version of the dachshund was bred to chase badgers from their burrows, while the smaller version like Rusty and Scooter were used to root out smaller prey such as rabbits and prairie dogs.
Rusty and Scooter think they are that tough. They are the noisiest little yappers that I have been around…as long as they can hide behind me or our people when an actual threat might present itself, such as a cat or an unexpected noise.
Dachshunds are more common than I had realized. I guess it is like buying a VW Bug. You don’t notice them until you have one and all of a sudden, they are everywhere you look.
Dachshunds, in my experience, are very high maintenance pets. They require a lot of attention.
They have a strong pack instinct that can be a problem in groups.
Rusty and Scooter are fiercely loyal but are aggressive and sometimes are a menace to smaller pets. Luckily they are smaller than most pets. They are not great with kids unless the kids are well trained.
As you might guess, living with the mutants is stressful at times so if you are considering adopting one you will want to do some research and be sure that you have the patience.
Don’t Get Me WrongI love my little brothers but if you want a dog that you can relax with, and not worry too much about, you might want to get a Lab.
Talk to you soon.
Hi, Chubbs here.
I promised some more info on the Malamute breed and some ideas of what it is like living with a Malamute like Murphy.
Murphy has so much hair, a double coat, that you would think that when he got wet he would stay wet. Not so.
His fur sheds the water and when we go in for a swim my short hair stays wet longer than Murphy’s.
That same thick fur seems to shed from him in a constant stream of course hair that ends up everywhere and in everything. You can comb him out completely and in an hour you could do it again and get just as high a stack next to you.
And there will still be hair throughout your house.
Murphy has a lot of energy. He takes off running and good luck catching him. Just ask his human, Nate. Murphy just loves finding an open door and breaking out of prison.
Murphy loves his humans, Nate and the three kids, ferociously. Even Ron, who is Grandpa, gets close scrutiny when he is rough housing with the children.
Murphy is curious about everything, and he loves to dig.
He can be a one dog wrecking crew, or he can be the most gentle dog you ever encountered.
Last summer, after arriving from Germany, he was personally responsible for the destruction of the BBQ patio and the garden pond. He went through two pond pumps by dragging them out of the pond.
He then decided to eat parts of all of the floating plants from the pond before digging up the hot peppers in the garden and dining on the tomatoes.
In other words, Malamutes are big and they are rambunctious and they like to get into mischief when no one is
around. They do not like to be left on their own and will find ways to entertain themselves that you do not want to come home to.
But they are smart and loving and loyal and hard workers. They require a LOT of attention but they will steal your heart that first day. The trouble will all be worth it if you know beforehand what you are getting into and can prepare.
More to come on living with Murphy.
I wanted to Introduce you to the newest member of our family. He is an Alaskan Malamute.
Murphy actually joined the family a little over a year ago while Ron’s oldest son, Nathan, was stationed in Germany. They came home to stay with us for a while when his tour ended until moving away for work.
They are returning for the same reason and so I thought I would learn a bit about his breed in order to avoid some annoying incidents I experienced while he was first here.
I did some research (well, I have no opposable thumbs so I asked Ron to help me out with the research) and found some interesting facts that go a long way toward explaining Murphy.
There is a lot to recommend him as a family pet.
Much the same as with Lab mixes, but you just can’t beat a good lab mix for a companion.
Just saying.
Talk to you soon with a little more about living with a Malamute.
Don’t forget the dog treats.
Hi. I’m Chubby. I am a Lab/Shepherd mix and just celebrated my seventeenth birthday September 1st. My good friend and walking companion, Ron, normally writes this blog, but he is working on several other projects at the moment and so I suggested that I take over for a time.
I do plan to keep the general tone of the writing but we will be focusing more on some of the health concerns and social issues involving myself and the more than 150 million cats and dogs that now share this great country with you.
Now you may be surprised that a dog such as myself could even be writing a post, but recent studies have shown a canine capacity to learn language and even to recognize some rudimentary spelling. (Don’t try and sneak v.e.t. past me.)
I may even have a few thoughts from time to time about some of the silly things that you humans are prone to doing. How some of you can get by without a dog to keep you out of trouble is beyond me..
So, give me a chance. I might surprise you.
Agree to Disagree
I hope during this time of great political divide and discord that we can remember that I do not have to agree with you in order to love and care about you and to want the best for you.
I believe that, in fact, I will be a better friend to you if I do not agree with you all of the time. And likewise you to me.
Too often we surround ourselves with people that think and act as we do and thus cut ourselves off from the learning experience that other opinions can bring.
Over the years we look back at the views and the decisions that have put us where we are and marvel at the naiveté that drove some of those actions. And while most of us would not change the results I think that we can see the easier route that could have led here had we listened to some opposing views.
And yet we still seem to meet opposing ideas as though the bearers of such are heretics and should be excommunicated from decent society.
As the political rhetoric increases in this particularly nasty campaign cycle I would ask my family and friends to remember what is important in your heart and measure whether differing views about material things should trump the idea that love is stronger than hate and that you will garner more support and more results by embracing those around you no matter their political registration and ignoring the self-serving calls to hate and separate that these candidates for our highest office have decided to engage in. If they can divide us, they are the only winners. They reduce us to their level. Which is what they need to survive.
“Love your neighbor as yourself,” applies even to those who disagree with us.
We’ll be okay as long as we care about each other.
Muhammad Ali passed away yesterday at the age of 74.
He provided my generation with an amazing ride on his coattails as he conquered the world of boxing and then just went on to conquer the world, with his magnetic personality and drive to be the best.
He did not do everything right, but he got enough of it right that the impact that he had will reverberate for years to come.
He inspired generation and helped change the world of boxing and then the world. He emerged as an enigma and exited an icon.
You will be missed, Muhammad Ali.
I have long been a critic of the man-made global warming theory, but I am beginning to think that opposing the premise is not really conducive to my overall values and the future that I work toward..
I still do not think that our activities have much to do with the rising of the temperatures; instead I think that it is likely caused by natural fluctuations that have been cycling far longer than we have been here to take note of the phenomenon.
I do not totally reject the idea that we may have some impact on the climate but as yet I have not seen the evidence to support that premise.
Sometimes the amount of money invested has a lot to do with the results. Following the science often turns into follow the money.
Science should not be either a democratic process or a profit oriented endeavor, but an untainted search for the truth. It is not an attempt to prove or disprove, but a mission of discovery.
My concerns rest more in the manner in which we poison our environment and do irreparable genetic damage by using the world and its population of humans, animals, and plants as a laboratory, thinking that we have a better idea; that we can take what God has wrought and improve upon it.
This may be a result of our allowing the corporations to pretty much monitor themselves.
What has changed about the fox guarding the hen-house, that it can become our standard for sponsoring research?
Now it is hard to find a river that runs pure, a grain that is genetically unmodified, or an honest man in a position of power.
Chubb's "My Walk In The Woods" 