43 posts tagged “dogs”

"Rescuing Sprite"

Dec 3, 2009
Post a comment

So, another tear-jerker dog book. As I stated in my last post, this one is much more "to-the-point". It is the author's recollections of his family, and dogs, and having to make the tough, end of life decisions for one of them (one of the dogs, that is). There really isn't a story to it or a plot, it was just a guy talking about his love for his dogs, but it was still a good read. My only real gripe with it is that there seemed to be some serious name-dropping going on in a few sections. But it could also be that this guy really is good friend's with these folks and that they played an important part to his coping with his grief. The problem is, I didn't get that sense from it...it really just seemed like name-dropping in the middle of a sad memoir.

If you have dogs, I would recommend this as a good read...it touches on the inevitable and as the author even says, it is nice to know we are not along in our fears of losing our favorite pals.

Oh yeah, and this one is SUPER short...he even states that it started as an essay...which is pretty much what this book is, an expanded essay.

Labs

Nov 6, 2009
5 comments

This morning as I took first Moo then Sadie out for their mid morning potty breaks there was a TON of crashing through the bushes down in the clearing. Finally, I caught a glimpse of two, very happy, very free yellow labs! LOL They both look healthy - one is definitely younger than the other. My guess is maybe mom and kid or something like that. The younger one was bouncing and jumping on the other one and putting on play moves. The older one was just enjoying being out and smelling smells.

I called to them, but they just looked up at me and then went romping off the other way. I will check around this afternoon while I am out and about to make sure there aren't any posters up looking for them. And I will check to see if they are still around this afternoon/evening...if so, I will try to entice them with some food and will put an old dog bed and some blankets on the patio for them since it is getting really chilly overnight.

Sadie wanted to go play with them - Moo didn't see them, but I think she smelled them because she got into an excited play stance too.

I am hoping they live around here and just made a quick break for it and will be back home safe and sound soon! Seeing them has made me realize that I am really not set up to help pups if they come along. I am not sure how Moo would be with another dog or dogs in her house...she definitely gets scared-agressive toward unknown people. I wouldn't have worried about dogs except after the attack by the neighbor dog, I think she is more on edge about that sort of thing now. Hopefully, we won't ever have to find out, but I'd also like to be more able to help if dogs came along that really needed it. I guess it is time to finally get around to cleaning out the garage...if I do, there is plenty of safe shelter room out there.

More backyard visitors...

Aug 21, 2009
2 comments

Last night while I was cooking dinner (at the most inopportune moment, of course) the dogs started going berserk at the back window. It freaked me out because it was the scary barking and growling they do when strangers come to the door (they bark at anyone who comes to the door, but seem to recognize some people now).

I dropped what I was doing and came to see this:

I'm seeing spots!

This pretty young deer and a couple adult deer had come right up into the yard to check things out. The one adult female seemed to be this ones mother and stayed close and was acting very protective. The other adult (I think it was also female) seemed to be more of just a general look-out.

After they headed back down the hill I went outside to check them out in the clearing and found that there was actually another adult with them who had not come all the way up into the yard. I never did get a good look though - I am wondering if it was the young buck I had seen a few nights ago down there.

Later in the evening Neil took Moo out for her potty walk and she was all sorts of agitated looking for them (I think she might think they are big dogs...I don't really know, but what I do know is that she does NOT want them in her yard. LOL) When the neighbor dog started barking at her, she took of running toward him. When she hit the end of her leash, she took a major tumble across the yard. I heard her yelping and went out to see what was up. She held her back leg up for awhile, did a lot of whining and yipping, but today she seems to be just fine. Mostly I think she scared herself and probable bruised her leg in the process. (She is know for being a big baby...if Sadie or even one of the cats plays too rough she yips and cries.)

In other news - OP has also been limping around a bit, though it doesn't seem to be slowing him down at all. I think maybe he missed the shelf where I put Bonnie's soft food one evening. I only think this because I saw him almost miss the other evening and managed to catch him. I am going to have to start putting Bonnie's canned food in the cat room too, it seems, in order to keep the silly guy from hurting himself. I did poke around at him and nothing seems to be broken. I will give him a few days and if it doesn't improve, I guess he will get to meet the vet.

And then there was squirrel...

Jun 6, 2009
Post a comment

The first squirrel to come up into the yard appeared yesterday. Sadie was SO excited - she did her little happy dance at the back door while whining and squealing. I, of course, had to come see what the commotion was about:

Oh boy!!!

and this is what I saw. A cute little critter who also seemed quite excited by the prospect of such easy, tasty treats being available. I took a bunch of photos through the kitchen window, so please pardon some of the weird reflection issues in some of the photos. When the sun came out, it made the white kitchen table reflect on the window - I didn't notice until too late.

I also got some photos of a few of the birds that come visit the feeders. None of the ones of the brown-headed cowbirds turned out, so maybe next time. And the titmouse refused to come to the feeder while I had my camera available. Someday I will catch him, though. Someday!

A Motley Crew

I was excited to capture the woodpecker that has been visiting. He moves around so much that I had originally mis-identified him as a red-headed woodpecker, but now with a photo to examine, I have discovered that he is actually a red-bellied woodpecker.

Tasty Tid-bits

The mourning doves are always lovely too...there are more photos on my Flickr page.

Since I had the camera out, I also snapped some photos of the kids. The kitties weren't very excited about having the camera pointed at them, but I still got a couple OK shots:

The dogs, however, hammed it up as usual:

Marly

Sleepy

After a lazy afternoon, Moo decided it was time to play. Sadie didn't seem to mind in the least and the two had a nice little romp session:

Marly always starts out by assessing the Sadie situation - you can see the romp session coming! The last photo is of Sadie telling Moo to take it easy. Every once in a while Marly will get a little too rough and Sadie has to remind her who's really boss in this house. You can't see it, but there is a serious, deep growl coming from Sadie.

And now everyone is back to being lazy and having a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

Dalmatian!

Apr 30, 2009
Post a comment

Sadie and Moo might be getting a new friend! (And no, I am not getting another dog.) Heh. My neighbor said that they might be bringing home a stray tonight. A very sweet, neutered, male Dalmatian who is about a year old from what anyone can guess. He has been staying with a lady who lives next door to G's office. She was so worried that the pup would get hit by a car that she has him tied up on her back patio. The patio is outfitted with a nice dog bed, plenty of running room and such...she has two dogs of her own and can't keep this guy. She found him wandering around by the street about a week ago and took him in, put signs up, the works. Everyone agrees that he obviously belonged to someone - he is neutered, he obeys commands, and likes people. Tommy has a friend checking with the local Dalmatian rescue people to see if anyone has reported one missing and tomorrow they will take him to the local vet to see if he is micro-chipped.

I am excited...if he does end up staying (which he will unless they find his owners), Moo will have someone around her own age to play with. It will also give me an idea of what it would be like to have a third dog around. Yeah, I have already offered to doggy-sit if they have to go away over a weekend or some week when I am home. I am also happy for Tommy because he has really been missing having a dog around. His golden ret. passed about six years ago now and since then he has been really busy with working and travel up until this past year or so where now he only works a couple days a week (hairstylist) and is home.

This also gives me a tiny glimmer of hope that Clyde and Mr. M may have simply found new homes...some animal lover saw them and took them in to keep them safe. *sigh* Clyde maybe...Mr M, I just don't think so. Anyway...that is the excitement of the day. I have a conference call in about 25 minutes and then I am going to go lay on the couch and wait for my body to stop torturing me.

Back to work!

Mar 3, 2009
Post a comment

Well, it is back to work today after taking almost a week off. The day has been (and will continue to be) spent wading through emails. Doesn't look like I really missed much last week. And this week is just more of the same-old, same-old. It is scheduling week, which I always abhor, but it must be done. Tomorrow I will start sending out notifications to the branches and wait for the replies of, "can we reschedule?" Heh. No. We can't.

Last night Neil took me to see Slumdog Millionaire. Great movie. Not really at all what I was expecting, though, I don't really know what I was expecting. As we were leaving for the movie, somehow both Neil and I forgot to latch Marly's crate. Probably because she was already sleeping in it as we got ready to go. So, she got to spend about four hours with free-reign of the house. Considering all she could have gotten into, the results when we got home were pretty good. She ate my birthday card from my sister...and when I say ate, I mean there is no trace of that card to be found anywhere in the house. She also chewed through the heating pad cord (which was still plugged into the wall). For that, she got seriously scolded - thank goodness we didn't come home to an electrocuted dog! And one of Neil's shoes was found in the middle of the living room (no, not where he left it). Luckily, it wasn't chewed. When I walked in from the garage, Moo was actually asleep again in her crate. Crazy.

She is driving me bonkers today - whining. "Mom! Hey Moooooommmmm! There's snow, Mom! Common...I want to go play in it!!!!" Yes, we still have snow on the ground, though yesterday it melted completely off the paved areas. And today it is slowly, but surely melting everywhere else too. It must be nice to be a dog and have no real responsibilities other than to eat and not go potty in the house. Alas, "Mom" here has to work...sorry, Moo!

And with that...I must get back to it. *sigh* I need to win the lottery so I can make my own schedule doing things that I really want to be doing.

My dogs...

Feb 22, 2009
Post a comment

...are embarrassingly obnoxious when people come to the door. I sure wish I could figure out how to get them to listen to me and stop barking when I tell them to (or at least cut it to a whisper bark). *sigh*

The poor little Girl Scout that came to the door was slightly traumatized I think.

Random update...

Feb 22, 2009
Post a comment

Dogs are both happy to be back on the NV (they told me so!). Both of their tummies seem to be much happier now. Moo is on medicine for a few more days, but after that things should hopefully be back to normal. In fact, I think the one medicine is actually upsetting her a little.

Cats are....cats. They are pretty much happy with life in general.

Work is a short week coming up (just Mon and Tues - YAY!).

This weekend was a lazy one and next weekend will be too. Though, later today I need to go run some errands.

My best friend from high school found me on Facebook yesterday and I am absolutely thrilled!!!

Home!

Feb 20, 2009
2 comments

Whew! I experienced the scariest plane landing of my life yesterday. (Even scarier than the time we essentially crash landed our small plane when I was young!!!) It was crazy windy here in Charlotte yesterday and as we were coming down we bounced around all over the place. That in and of itself never bothers me, but just as we were about six feet off the runway, the wind either suddenly changed direction or gusted and tipped the left wing so that it almost hit the runway! The pilot did a great job of righting the plane and then literally flying us down into the runway in order to get the wheels on the ground.

Even taxiing to the gate was crazy, we were bouncing and blowing all over the place.

I am just really, really glad to be home.

In doggie news - Moo had been having a heck of a time with adjusting to the CORE food. While she was at the Inn, they noticed that she had blood in her poop. I figured it was coming if the diarrhea didn't get under control (I am just thankful that it was just the upset causing it and not something she ate tearing up her insides!). They took her up to the vet there who put her on acetylator (to help aid digestion and tummy health) and metronidazole (to fight bacterial issues in the tummy tract). Apparently she had some bacterial giardia stuff going on! Poor girl. She seems MUCH better now. And, I am SO impressed with the company I found online that carries the Nature's Variety food! I had ordered it before I left on Tuesday and it arrived here yesterday via UPS ground! So, the dogs are now back on that.

For my East Coast friends looking for some hard to find pet items - Care-a-Lot Pet Supply is located in VA Beach and has a great selection of natural dog & cat foods and other supplies. (They don't carry ONLY natural stuff, but it seems the majority of their products are - at least in the food area.) Their shipping is very reasonable (especially taking into consideration that their prices are WAY lower than anything I have seen in a brick and mortar store around here). Including the shipping costs, I got a 30 lb bag of NV Salmon Prairie (which always makes me laugh because I picture fish swimming in a field of grass) for $15 less than it would have cost me to get it from the local pet store here - and it arrived at my doorstep! I am all for supporting local businesses, but unfortunately with the price hike on this food, this deal was too good to pass up. The health of my dogs is more important to me than supporting local business.

My only "gripe" is that their site isn't the easiest to navigate, but their search function works just fine and the food section is set up nicely (you can shop by brand).

Anyway, once Moo is done with the acetylator I am going to also put both dogs back on the Solid Gold Seameal supplement (along with fish oil).

Not much else to report - no team call today which is nice. It is sunny but cold here. My mom is coming to visit in May (YAY!) and her birthday is next Friday - need to get her a present. I still need to paint the bathroom ceiling (next week on my days off). I should have my new glasses next week (also YAY!).

Doggie Dental

Feb 14, 2009
Post a comment

I just did the grossest thing ever...I used the same doggie toothbrush on both dogs! Ha!

Moo had a little tartar starting to build up on her upper canines, so I got out the toothbrush. And since I was already at it, Sadie got a little brushing too. I just can't quite figure out how to get at the back teeth...I imagine I will figure it out over some time.

Both dogs totally love the doggie toothpaste (vanilla flavor). Weirdos.

According to the animals, Spring has definitely sprung. They are all shedding like mad. After spending about 20 minutes with each dog and a brush, I also brushed Bandit (for the first time ever and he LOVED it). I can't believe the hair that came off of all of them. In the morning I need to vacuum...I probably should daily, but that just isn't going to happen.