Heart Like a Dog

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

Follow-Up Friday

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For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!

If you like this idea of wrapping posts up on your blog, please feel free to use Follow-Up Friday.  I plan on working on a badge that you will be able to use should you choose to participate. (Thanks for the idea, 2BrownDawgs!)

Mock 10 With My Hair On Fire – Author’s Note

Some of you noted I have quite a bit of Springsteen on my playlist, what can I say, I’m a Jersey Girl at heart. 😉

Siriusly, Springsteen’s music really helped me through a hard time and I find myself still turning to the songs that made me feel so good when things were so bad.  So many of his songs still resonate with me.

My Vet’s In A Sling – Update

I think we caught this allergy really early, I noticed Sampson doesn’t seem to be breaking out with any new hives.  The few that are there appear to be drying up.

He finished his third full day of two per day Prednisone today, tomorrow he starts one per day.  I did cut him back on the Benadryl because something seemed to be making him a little uncomfortable.  I noticed he was really clingy on Wednesday night.  Since his last Prednisone was this morning I may just give him two Benadryl tonight and see how that goes.

BTW when we were are the vet’s I mentioned my little cell phone post and she said that’s exactly WHY she doesn’t give her number out.  LOL

WTF Wednesday – Author’s Note

I was heartened to hear Victoria Stillwell is calling for an investigation into the Belfast City Council’s actions.  Whether Lennox was actually euthanized on Wednesday or if he had already passed their actions were cruel and callous, bordering on pure maliciousness.

The stories I am hearing just make me want to cry.  I cannot believe people can treat animals and other human beings so cruelly.

If I were a citizen of Belfast and Ireland in general I would be calling for terminations of positions and I would be letting people know in no uncertain terms exactly what I thought of them.

Lennox may be gone, but he will never be forgotten, as cruel and horrific as this is, I pray it’s an enlightenment for many as to just how unfair and unjust BSL.

Puppy Steps – Author’s Note

Our homework for this week (besides working on the commands we worked on in class) was to start learning the take command.  I saw my opportunity when I walked in the door tonight and Delilah brought me her stuffed toy.

I said, take and held out the treat.  She dropped the toy like she was supposed to but once she knew I had treats, she wouldn’t touch the toy again!

Any thoughts on how to work through that? LOL

That’s it for me, I hope you have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Puppy Steps

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Delilah and I started our Intermediate Dog Handler Class this past Tuesday.

Never having been there before and not sure of what to expect we arrived a few minutes early.  It worked out great since Delilah didn’t get a chance to tinkle before we left the house.

The class is held at the Community Center, which appears to be a recycled school.  Our class was in what I would consider to be a gym.  The instructions said, drive around back and enter through the double gray doors.

I scoped out the situation and timed our entry so we weren’t walking in with any other dogs.  I never know if Delilah will react or not. 🙁  I choose a spot away from the door and settled down on the inner wall.

If you’ve been following this blog for any period of time you will know one of my many pet peeves is clueless dog people.  Sure enough, safely settled on the far side of the room, in bops an older woman with her King Charles Cavalier Spaniel through the interior doors.

I’m almost certain I heard the words, this isn’t good come out of my mouth.

Thankfully the instructor was right on top of the situation and quickly moved the woman to the other side of the room.

We began by working on wait, using both the hand signal and the verbal cue which we combined with front.   The front command was the release of the wait, and we were told to give the command, hold a treat out in front of us and then pull it into our belly button.  This brought the dog to a sit position right in front of you.

It worked like a charm.  Delilah was amazing working on this command.

Once we had worked on those two commands for a bit, the instructor said we’re going to learn the leave it command.

I think I’ll use your dog, she said as she looked at me.

I know I snickered.

She started with a treat in her hand and placed her hand on the floor, “Leave it” she told Delilah.

Delilah licked the instructor’s hand.

“Ignore the licking” she said, as Delilah began to paw at her hands, “Ignore the pawing” she said.

Delilah rolled over onto her side showing her tummy and pawed with one paw.

The instructor turned her head and said, “Don’t smile or laugh when they do this.”

Finally Delilah sat up and looked the instructor in the eyes.

“Yes!” She was treated from the opposite hand.

Apparently when using the leave it command you are never to give the dog the treat you are asking them to leave.

Good to know.

The whole process took a good minute if not more.  I didn’t have my camera because it was the first night and I wasn’t sure how the instructor would feel about pictures. (But I’ll be sure to ask next week.)

She worked Delilah a couple of times like this and then took her out into the middle of the room and dropped a bunch of treats, “Leave it.”

Delilah almost went for them, but then changed her mind and instead looked up at the instructor.

If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it!

Once I started working her, it took her a minute or so but once she figured it out, she was staring me straight in the eyes  and her look said, I get it. 

When she looks at me like that, I feel like we are a team working towards a common goal.

She worked great the entire class and was perfectly fine until we left and the lady I parked next to came out with her dog.  She lost her mind and started barking and snarling.

I wonder if they have a class for guarding?

I’ll leave you with a picture I took tonight when we were working on our wait/front command in the field.  I’m not brave enough to take her off leash but every time I gave her that front command on our walk, she came back to me!

Puppy steps. 🙂

She is 15 feet away from me here.

W.T.F. Wednesday

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Joseph and Margaret Trueman were newlyweds when they left Ireland for America at the turn of the 20th century.

Carefully transported in her trunk, Margaret brought the family bible.  If you turn the delicate gold-edged pages to the section separating the old testament from the new testament, you will find the meticulously recorded births of all five of her sons, as well as the death of the one who did not survive.

Margaret Trueman was my great-grandmother, I found her bible when I was cleaning out my grandmother’s basement.  The cover has seen better days, but the words transcribed inside still remain to this day.

Many has been the day when I carefully turn the pages of that old bible, running my hands along the soft, silky pages and thinking of her and the life she left behind in Ireland.

I wonder, what dreams compelled her to leave the only home she knew and travel to another country far away from home and kin.  I wonder if  America helped her fulfill those dreams.

She died when I was very small and sadly I have no memory of her.

My whole life I’ve dreamed of going to Ireland, to the family farm for visits with cousins so far removed we can’t even determine how we are related.  Settled in at the old kitchen table, over cups of tea, with cream made fresh on the farm, we will get to know each other, to share our lives and dreams.

Today I dream of a world, where pets aren’t yanked out of loving arms and condemned to die, just because of the way they look.

Hey Belfast City Council, today’s WTF Wednesday is all yours.

Lennox the dog ‘humanely put to sleep’ – Belfast, Ireland

I don’t know about you, but I call bullshit.

There is nothing humane about what the Belfast City Council did to Lennox or his family.

If you live in the ‘dog’ world, you more than likely know about Lennox, deemed a ‘dangerous breed’ by the Belfast City Council, he was removed from his family and sentenced to die.

For the last two years, Lennox remained isolated from his family, alone but certainly not forgotten.  For two years his family fought valiantly for his return but they were denied every step of the way.

Despite the fact that well-known dog trainers offered to take Lennox and bring him to the United States, the city council refused.

Victoria Stillwell flew to Ireland prepared to take Lennox on a moment’s notice, still the council refused.

No, the Nazi’s of the dog world had spoken.

This morning the sad news was released that Lennox was put to sleep.

Truthfully I’m not surprised and I’ll tell you why.

My belief is that Lennox has been gone for quite some time.  What other explanation is there for not allowing anyone to see the dog in two years, why would they refuse to allow the family to have the body of the dog?  Why did the council vehemently refuse any and all offers to re-home the dog?

Because the dog was already gone.

Whether he died from their negligence or whether they just went ahead and euthanized him before all efforts in court were exhausted, I truly believe they COULD NOT produce the dog.

Run Fast, Run Free Lennox

Sadly Ireland does not stand alone in their ignorance.  Many cities in this country have Breed Specific Legislation and it’s wrong.  A dog should never be judged on looks alone.

When will we learn to punish the deed and not the breed?

I have a dream that one day we all will be judged by what’s in our hearts, not by how we look.

Run Fast, Run Free Lennox, you may be gone but those you left behind will continue to fight.

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