Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Thoughts From A Walk

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Most days I use my walking time to plan blog posts or think about plot lines for my book.  The other day as we were walking I started wondering just exactly what was running through each of our minds as we walk.

I took a stab at it tonight.

We pull up to the park.

Sampson with his head out the window – I know I saw a deer just up there on the trail, where is it?

Delilah – Mom hurry up and open the door, I’ve got to pee.

Me – Sampson pull your big punkin head in the window, I want to walk.

As we get to the entrance to the field:

Sampson – Let me check the field, there’s usually someone in the field.

Delilah – Oooh, there’s a nice smelly spot in the field, I hope mom lets me roll in it.

Me – Dang it’s buggy out, what do they eat when I’m not here?

We turn right and head up the hill, Sampson is running ahead searching for deer, people or dogs.  Delilah and I trudge steadily along behind him.

Sampson stopping for a quick sniff – It smells like Brady’s been here once today.

Delilah – Why does mom keeping making me stop while she swats at me.

Me – Why haven’t I replaced that electric bug zapper, I could kill all these stinkin’ flies and stop them from biting Delilah.

We reach the opposite entrance to the park.

Sampson – Let’s run over to Brady’s and see if he’s out.

Delilah – I wish mom would drop this leash, I love running in this neighborhood.

Me – Ok, if we go around one more time, then head down the yellow and back up the orange, we should reach the car with about a half hour’s walk.

We take a left and head deeper into the woods, Sampson runs off looking for a place to pop a squat.

Sampson – Springing like a deer across the path, I pooped, I pooped.

Delilah – Hmmm someone pooped here, I think I’ll just pee on it.

Me kicking at some poop – Who the hell let’s their dog crap right in the middle of the path and doesn’t even bother to kick it off to the side.

We approach the field, this time from the opposite direction.

Sampson – Maybe someone’s in the field now, I better run ahead and see.

Delilah – I’ve got to poop, don’t worry mom I’ll cover it up.

Me – Holy smack that was close, she almost kicked dirt in my face!

We make our final turn and head down the orange trail towards the car.

Sampson nudging up beside me – Look mom I came back to you, give me a treat please.

Delilah turning around and pushing between me and Sampson – Hey that’s not fair, I want a treat too.

Me – Hang in there girl, just a few more minutes, you can do it.

We get back to the car and load up for home.

Sampson – I can’t wait to get home, the first thing I’m going to do is climb into the pool and cool myself down.

Delilah – Is it dinner time yet?

Me – My God I’m hot, I think my sweat has sweat.  I need a nice cold margarita.

What do you think about when you’re walking your dog?

W.T.F./Whoo Hoo Wednesday

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Here comes another W.T.F. Wednesday where I can’t even make fun of someone.

Police Dog in Tucson Dies After Being Left in Hot Car – Tucson Arizona

The title alone is awful, another dog left alone in a hot car.

In Tucson no less!

The line under the title is worse, “Officer switched cars, forgot about his partner.”

Say it with me.

What the f*ck!

Apparently this police officer switched cars and left immediately for the scene of an accident, as he’s on his way to the scene he suddenly remembers his partner.

Gee, I’m thinking you go to get into the car and think, weapon – check, keys – check, cell phone – check, billy club – check, partner ?, um partner ?

If I worked for the Tucson police department and was assigned to partner with this guy, I’d think long and hard about resigning.

I’ve already said this once this week,  I’m in the mentalpause stage of my life.  I’ve forgotten quite a few things, most notably inanimate objects that I’ve misplaced somewhere.

Alright, I might have forgotten the kids at work once or twice, and there was that time I left my niece home on the couch while I went to the bus stop, but they weren’t locked in a hot car!

I was reassured however (she says sarcastically) by the final line of the article, “DPS is conducting an internal investigation, and Tucson Police Dept. has agreed to do a criminal investigation to determine whether there was any negligence or other criminal behavior involved.”

I’m sure, unless this guy hates dogs that he did not intentionally leave the dog in the hot car.  I would still however question his abilities to remain calm under pressure.  If he can forget his dog in a car because he is responding to an accident, what might he do should he discover say….

a tunnel full of illegal immigrants.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Switching gears to the Whoo Hoo portion of today’s post which ironically also includes a police officer.

There have been a number of W.T.F. Wednesdays where I wrote about a police officer responding to a call and shooting an innocent dog.   Have you seen this post?

Officer Responds To Dangerous Dog Call, Comes Home With New Best Friend – Baltimore, Maryland (Courtesy of Modified k9 Blogspot)

The officer (Dan Waskiewicz) responded to a ‘vicious dog‘ call and upon arriving at the scene OBSERVED the dog.

After ASSESSING the situation he determined the dog was in distress.  He called the dog to him and shared his water, then as he was driving the dog to the shelter, he decided he wanted to keep the dog!

Luckily for Bo, this officer was 1) a dog lover and 2) sensible enough to know the difference between dangerous and distressed, otherwise this story might have ended up in the W.T.F. portion of this post.

Lately I’ve been hearing at least one story a week where an officer shoots an innocent dog. Perhaps observing and assessing should become part of their training.

What do you think?  Do you think police officers are properly trained to handle situations involving dogs?

The Correct Way

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Tonight during our training class the instructor said, “Hold the leash the correct way.”

What?

Back the truck up a bit, you mean there’s a correct way to hold a leash?

Well dip me in ice and call me a popsicle, I had no idea.

But apparently one of the show-offs other students, knew the correct way, and she promptly showed off us.

Our instructor says your thumb goes through the leash and you can then accordion the leash into your hand.  The leash goes in the opposite hand of the side your dog is on.  So if your dogs heels on your left side, the leash is in your right hand and vice versa.

The leash is loose and forms a slight ‘J,’ if your dog gets too far ahead you use your left arm to control the dog.

The instructor says this works better than wrapping the leash around your fist, and also gives you better control.

Did you know this?  Why didn’t anyone tell ME?

Our instructor also fit Delilah for a harness tonight, she says it will help with her pulling.  We didn’t get outside to practice though because it was too hot.

Do you use a harness on your dog?  Have you always used a harness or did you switch?  Have you found it makes a difference?

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