Answers To The "Ask Murphy & Stanley" Questions

Thanks for the great questions.  There were a lot of them so grab a cup of coffee and plan on spending a few minutes with us. So without further ado, we give you our answers:

Reilly-Denny Cowspotdogs and Easy Rider asked:  We would love to see the view from your window....we saw a bit the other day and it looked amazing.

Answer:  We love our view and it also looks really pretty at night.  When the house was being built our builder put up a sign that said:  "House by Nilson Homes, View by God".

Me looking out window.  We have 3 windows in the living room, a large picture window and 2 side windows (that open).  This is a side window.

This is the top of the same window.

This is from the center window.  The blue sliver in the far distance is the Great Salt Lake.

Just to the left of the other view (notice same house as on top).  This pic was taken the next day.

This is the view from the front of the house when I am in my Barking Chair.  (It was an overcast day so the sky is washed out.)

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Molly The Wally asked:  OK so our question is how do make sure the staff never lets the treat box go empty? She realized this morning we are out of dental chews. Criminal if you ask me. What can I do?

Answer:  Molly, is there a place like Chewy.com that you can order treats delivered right to your door?  How about BarkBox or something similar?  If not then you have no alternative.  You MUST report your assistant to the authorities because it IS criminal!  If this is a first offense they should just give her a written warning as long as she corrects her behavior!  Also, it might be helpful if you have photographic evidence of the empty cupboards to corroborate your complaint.

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Frankie Furter and Ernie asked:  YOUR MAILBOX...... we remember when it was hit by the guy PARKING??? so he could use his phone SAFELY... a Before and After of the Mailbox would be super.

Answer:  They don't look a lot different.  When he hit the mailbox he didn't knock it down, he broke the mortar (and the handle and flag).  So in order to replace the metal part it had to be taken apart.  With the mortar broken loose from the bricks it was also no longer structurally sound.  The original brick (that matched the house) was no longer available so we had to just pick something close).  Here are the photos:

This is the new mailbox

This is the old mailbox before it was hit).

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Hailey and Zaphod and their Lady asked:  Hmmmmm, we want to know how you learned to run with your people. Thanks.

Answer:  First we went on a lot of long walks, around 5 - 6 miles.  Then when we started running with our pawrents, we started with a shorter distance and then just built up to 6 miles (9.66 km).  It didn't take very long though cuz we were already in shape.  It is impawtent to watch the doggie to see if you need to take a break, a drink, or walk through a puddle to cool off hot toes.  The hardest part was learning to run along side and not trip our pawrents and leave them crashing to the pavement.  I am embarrassed to admit I did this to mom once.  Our pawrents wear a hands-free leash so it is VERY easy for us to trip them if we make a fast move in the wrong direction.  Mom used a clicker to show me where I should be when I am running.  Mom says it is good to start running very slowly just to make sure the doggie stays in position.

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Yamini MacLean asked:  Now tell me, doods, how is that basement door working for you? Also, how high are you above sea level? The photo the other day made look like you are up knocking at Heaven's door!

Answer:  Our doggie door is still a "work in progress".  Stanley goes in and out quite easily.  I personally like it best when mom or dad walks me to the door and tells me to go out.  I usually ask them to break the magnetic seal and then will finish pushing it open.  A few times I have gone through without any help.  But I usually will not come back through it, especially without prompting. I prefer to just go up the stairs to the kitchen door.  I am training mom and dad to pay me off with our raw dog meat treats.  I do MUCH better if I know there is a pay-off on the other side.

Now for your second question. We live at 5,000 feet above sea level.  We are about 800 feet above the Great Salt Lake and 600 feet above the valley below us.  It is just enough that we sometimes get snow and the valley below us gets rain.  We are located on the bench of the Rocky Mountain's Wasatch Range (in the shadow of Ben Lomond Peak).  Our view is made even more impressive by the fact that the back of our property is a fairly severe slope.

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Soggibottom asked:  How do you get your beautiful locks looking so spectacular ?

Answer:  We just have a bath every week to 10 days and a trim every 3-4 weeks. Mostly we get our good looks from good genes.

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scotsmad  asked:  What happened to the people down the hill? Are they any nicer to their puppy?

Answer:  They do the minimum required to stay out of trouble.  T-Bone (whose real name turns out to be Gemini) spends a great deal of time in the house.  He isn't totally housebroken though, cuz we overheard an admonishment as he was put outside.  He has a doghouse for protection from the elements (the outside is unfinished wood but it's more than the other dogs ever got).  Unlike the dogs before him SO FAR he hasn't had to endure long periods of time on his chain in inclement weather.  We are trying to decide if Josh has moved out of the house as we haven't seen him in quite some time.  But it is sad to watch T-Bone just watching me and Stanley play and wishing he could do the same.

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Misaki asked:  My question is, why is my food bowl always empty??

Answer:  Your people have not been trained properly.  They believe this nonsense about doggies needing only certain amounts of food.  They have a fridge and pantry available for when they get hungry and you should too.  We suggest a gentle reminder that they are being cruel and if they don't change their ways then you will have to turn to authorities, or Oprah, for assistance.  At a minimum there should be treats on the counter so you can reach them during a counter-surf session, and a continuous feed food bowl that holds a MINIMUM of 10 pounds of dog food.  Anything less that this is just wrong.

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zooperson Lady Caroline asked:   How's the doggie door doing? I wanted to print your picture,but mom says your "taken." What does that mean?

Answer:  Please see above for the answer on the doggie door.  As for what "taken" means . . . well, uh . . . that is complicated . . . I admit I am crazy about smitten with the funny, smart, beautiful, clever, excellent mixologist cute Ruby but we have only been on one fun, fantastic, wonderful, glorious date.  At this point we have not discussed the details of our relationship.  So I guess the official answer is this:  "How the heck do I know, I'm a guy!"

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Madi and Mom asked:  Where were you born, how many pups in your litter and did you come with your names or did your peeps name you?  Oh and what colors were the other pups and what color are your parent pups?

Answer:  Me and Stanley were born near Salt lake City.  We have 4 sisters (all dark reds) and 1 other brother (same color as Stanley).  Our mom is Daisy and father is Guss.  Mom and Dad gave us our names when we were 2 weeks old.  Both my other brothers were named Stanley and at 5 weeks I picked this Stanley to come live with me in our forever home.  Mom knew she loved me and named me Murphy the same day my eyes opened when I was a tiny puppy dog.

Our litter

Our dad - Guss

Our Mom - Daisy

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Tweedles asked:  Where do you two sleep? In bed with your pawrents?

Answer:  Of course!  We started out in kennels but as soon as we learned about going to the bathroom outside we got to sleep in the big bed.  Stanley usually sleeps along the bottom of the bed but I like to move around (but mostly next to mom).  Sometimes mom and I share the same pillow.

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Idaho PugRanch asked:  Has there been any progress on the dog park proposal??

Answer:  Yes!  It is moving forward so far.  The mayor was supposed to present a plan to the city council on June 10th but when mom did not see it on the official agenda she asked the mayor if it was moved to another day.  The mayor responded to her with this statement:  " . . . upon further review our staff needed two more weeks to develop some budget recommendations for this matter, and it will be brought back on July 8th. We are actually considering some additional ideas, including a longer-term plan for a full Dog Park and needed to do some more research. Hope to see you on July 8th."  We thought that sounded really pawsitive!

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Jazzi asked: Your yard seems so cool on the hill, do you have more yard space?  Are those your pretty flowers in the picture and how do they get them that nice? 

Answer:  Me and Stanley like running and playing on the hill but we don't have a lot of space.  The grassy area of our yard is very minimal.  Our house is only on a 1/4 acre lot.  The flowers in the photo are at a nearby park and they are cared for by professionals.

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Duncan asked:  How do you gets your people to blog so regularly? Your assistants don't need to take these long breaks my mom seems to need. Is your assistant uber-organized? Help!

Answer:  Mom does 99.99% (or more) of my blogging for me.  If you ever see Stanley's name on a post or comment, that is dad assisting him.  Mom is NOT organized at all!  I asked mom for a tip and she said that being able to take photos on her cell phone really helps.  She looks at the photos to see what they are saying.  She reads our minds all the time.  Then she will often sit down and set up 4-5 days of posts at a time.

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Val asked:  We are wondering if you are still doing agility and do you think the mayor will put some agility equipment at the new dog park you're working to get???

Answer:  Yes, we still work on weaving, tunneling, and the balance beam.  We haven't been doing our jumps too much but mom said she will try and remember to get them out for us to work on.  (She is always worried me and Stanley will twist an ankle on the many holes we dig in the lawn and flat-space is a problem.)  The mayor has made comments that suggest to us that he is looking at putting in agility equipment at the dog park.  We should know more on July 8th when the plan is presented to the council for a final vote (see comment above regarding this issue).

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Jeanne Pursell asked: We would like to know how tall you guys are...and how much you weigh? We think somewhere we read you two are mini-golden doodles...is that right?

Answer:  Yes, we are mini Goldendoodles but I am more mini than Stanley.  I weigh 21 pounds and am 17" tall.  Stanley weighs 36 pounds and is 20" tall.

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Whitley Westie asked:  What are da meaning of life? Just kiddin, BOL! I are really asking what your favoritest toy is.

Answer:  Me and Stanley play with lots of different toys but my favoritest of all is my ball!  Stanley's favoritest is probably his monkey.

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Sweet William The Scot asked:  Since you have that magnificent view that goes on and on forever, have you ever seen anything strange, spectacular, weird or unusual in the sky?

Answer:  We see the fireworks from about a dozen different cities (maybe more) at the same time.  We also see various types of weather as it comes across the valley.  It is very cool to watch a storm front come past us.  We haven't seen a UFO but we're still watching!

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Golden Woofs! SUGAR asked:  We want to know more about Utah. Is it dog-friendly and special places you can take your dog.  We have to install the talking app on our phone, what is it again? 

Answer:  Utah is not what we would call very dog friendly (that would be Oregon!).  There are cities where dogs are not even allowed in parks!  We have magnificent national parks (5 of them in fact) but doggies are not allowed on trails.  However, doggies can go on trails in state parks. We see others post about Pet Expos but we don't have anything around here even close to the same caliper. The weather in Utah is typically very nice but we do have 4 seasons (sometimes in the same day).  We have very low humidity and more often than not, totally sunny blue skies.  Where we live mosquitoes are not a problem, you can go out at night, but closer to the lake there are mosquitoes.  Fleas are pretty much a non-issue and ticks are not really common (lack of trees).  A swimming pool for doggies recently opened in the SLC area but otherwise there aren't many special places for dogs.  It is unfortunate that many owners are lacking responsibility and ruining it for others.

The app is called "My Talking Pet" and is very easy to use.  It is available on Android and Apple products!

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Thank you so much for the wonderful questions!!  Maybe we should have an official day in Blogville where everyone asks each other questions!

Murphy & Stanley