Hobo was given away to good home earlier today. To repeat what I said recently...

He's cute and loving and great with children, but after a year and a half he still can't be left alone or else he chews Darah's pacifiers and toys, empties trash baskets, and sometimes still marks his territory indoors. Maegan is very sad about this but we just can't keep having this go on with Darah about to crawl and then walking soon thereafter.

:-(

We've already heard from the new owner that Hobo is doing fine, which doesn't surprise us. He was simply incapable of remembering why he may have been sad moments earlier, which made him a perpetually happy dog.

Labels: dogs

Last night I was reading an article on LifeHacker which was recommending a free webcam software called Yawcam. This is the exact same webcam software that I discovered earlier this year and which I used to run BoomerCam. A few months ago we moved some furniture around so Boomer no longer has a "perch" in front of the window anymore, but the camera has remained in operation, just pointing basically nothing. Since I've been using the Yawcam for a while, and I could recommend it to others, and provide an example of the software in action... I decided to post a comment to the article (the first comment) and I included a link to BoomerCam (along with a disclaimer that Boomer wouldn't actually be seen).

LifeHacker is among the most popular blogs on the entire internet, garnering over 500,000 visitors every day from all over the world. In less than a minute I heard a little beep sound that tells me when somebody is viewing the webcam. And then another. And another. Realizing that this was just the beginning of a massive wave of coming BoomerCam visitors, I decided to give the viewers what they really wanted. I quickly cleared off the table which the webcam was pointing to and threw Boomer's pillow on top. I then got Boomer and put him up on top. He was confused at first (and Hobo was jealous) but pretty soon he just laid down and went back to sleep.

Every time I heard another beep I would reach into the shot and wave, which was quite often. According to comments on the LifeHacker article and on my original BoomerCam blog post, people seem to like me waving to them. I later added a "Boomer is dreaming of LifeHacker" thought bubble to the shot. The beeps kept coming. At times it was as often as every few seconds. And it just kept continuing all night long, well past when I went to sleep.

My computer was still beeping constantly when I woke up this morning. Since we couldn't keep Boomer up there all day we eventually replaced him with a jack-o-lantern. And I'm now writing this blog post over 24 hours later and it's still going, and going, and going like the energizer bunny.

On a normal day my website gets about 100 visitors, viewing about 200 pages. In just the past 24 hours since I posted my comment on LifeHacker, over 800 visitors have visited my website and viewed over 1,400 pages... and still counting. Even though I get nothing out of this spike in traffic, it's pretty cool to see so many people visit.

Labels: blogging, dogs, internet

Labels: dogs

Introducing the most useless webpage on the entire internet: BoomerCam, 24/7 live streaming video of my Rat Terrier, Boomer.

After getting broadband internet access last month I decided to dust off a cheap, $10, Windows 95 era webcam that was just sitting around in a box of old computer equipment. After downloading a free webcam application (Yawcam) I was up and running. I didn't want myself to be on camera so I pointed it at the dog instead. For more information read the FAQ on the new BoomerCam page. BoomerCam will now on the navigation menu under Kitchen Sink.

Did you see anything? Post it in the comments below.

Labels: dogs, video

Every spring the rabbits show up all around our neighborhood. Being that Boomer's natural instincts are to hunt down small furry rodents, it drives him crazy whenever he looks out the back window to see rabbits in his backyard. This spring there's been a tiny baby bunny that must live in the field right behind our house because we keep seeing him around the house every few days. At first the baby bunny was scared of everything, and rightfully so. But it seems that he's learned about fences in the past couple of weeks. Yesterday we let Boomer outside without noticing that the bunny was back there. Of course the bunny quickly ran off, but strangely he stopped just a 10-20 feet past the fence and began calmly eating grass again. Even with Boomer barking at him, the bunny knew that the dog can't get past the fence. Even after Maegan and I came outside, the bunny couldn't care less that we were so close. Boomer's barks soon turned to crying at the baby bunny he couldn't scare away.

The photo above is really bad but it's funny. Those are Boomer's ears as he stares at the calm and unafraid baby bunny that's just beyond his reach. At first, the bunny was twice as close as in this photo.

Labels: dogs

Our Pug Hobo turned one year old today. It's fitting that he was born on April Fools Day.

Labels: dogs

Patty came home to find this odd site of Boomer laying on top of Hobo's crate, like Snoopy atop his doghouse in Peanuts. Boomer loves to lay in the sunshine, no matter where it lands. Look closely and you'll see Hobo inside his crate, paying no concern to his upstairs neighbor.

Labels: dogs

Boomer had a near death experience today.

I was hiking through some woods with Boomer and we came across a stream. I'd estimate the stream was about 6-10 feet across and maybe a few feet deep with steep banks. I was looking for a narrower spot where we could cross more easily when suddenly I heard a splash and turned to find Boomer had fallen in the water head first. I instantly yelled at Boomer to get out but within a couple of seconds I realized that he was actually stuck and struggling for his life. I don't know if his front paws were stuck in the soft river bed or caught under some rocks or tree roots, but his whole front half was totally submerged and he was unable to breathe. His hind legs were on the muddy bank jerking desperately to to pull himself out. As soon as I grasped the situation I ran towards him. He was about 30 feet away but the underbrush was thick and I slipped on the muddy bank, with my hand breaking my fall in to a thorn bush. By the time I looked up Boomer had somehow managed to free himself. Now his entire body was in the river and he was having trouble swimming, but at least his head was above the water. I finally got to him and helped him up get out of the stream.

He was soaked and scared, and my hand was bleeding from multiple thorn punctures. I had a hard time getting Boomer back where we needed to go because he was now terrified of even the shallowest puddles. In the end, Boomer is now fine (although he's acting like a baby) and I've got some band-aids on a sore hand. The end.

Labels: dogs, hiking

Could've bred him for money
But that option's nixed
He never was broken
But now he's been fixed

With his head in a collar
He bumps in to walls
But that's not the worst part
Hobo's lost both his -----

Labels: dogs

Pugs have literally been bred to be pampered. According to Wikipedia:

"Pugs were kept by [Chinese] royalty and were pampered and spoiled, and the expectation of such treatment is a characteristic that seems to remain with them to this day."

Our Pug puppy, Hobo seems to be no exception to these characteristics. He often flips on to his back and stretches out as if demanding his right to a belly rub. Well it appears that the Boomer has learned to take a page from young Hobo's book of how to make humans pamper you. Boomer (a hunting breed) has never just flipped over and asked for a belly rub before but he's done that several times this past week. I guess he recognizes a good thing when he sees it and learned to follow the puppy's lead.

Labels: dogs

My family out of town still hasn't seen our new dog Hobo yet and I wanted to test out Google Video so I I killed two birds with one stone. Here's a short 18 second video clip of Hobo playing with Boomer that I shot with my digital photo camera.

Labels: dogs, video

Patty came home with a new puppy, a pug she named Hobo. He's also known as gremlin and the monster because he's a tiny four pound terror who chews everything and everyone. Hopefully he grows out of it.

It took Boomer a few days to get used to him. He likes other dogs so he was immediately excited, but after a few days he's realizing that this dog ain't leaving. Now he's jealous for attention. Boomer does enjoy rough-housing with Hobo but we need to keep an eye on him because he's so much bigger.

Labels: dogs

Boomer recently made his television debut, when he was featured in a television spot to promote a canine event called "Bark In The Park." The 10 second spots will be airing from now until the day of the event on April 9th.

Boomer follows in Bear's footsteps. Bear was featured in a television commercial in New York for a dog walk event. Sadly I have no copies of that spot.

Labels: dogs

Boomer is a three month old Rat Terrier. Not much to say right now other than he's got lots of energy and I can't wait until he learns to do his business outside. Photos are in the Photo Gallery section.

Labels: dogs