Heart Like a Dog

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

For Love of a Dog

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For Love of a Dog

There was a package in the mail box yesterday and it was addressed to me.  I looked at the address,  didn’t recognize it immediately and thought, “I don’t remember ordering anything.”

I couldn’t wait to get inside to see what it was.

When I opened the package and saw the paw print paper I knew immediately it was from Sue at For Love of a Dog jewelry.  My next thought was, “I don’t remember winning a contest.”

Inside the wrapping was two boxes and one of the boxes had a little card that said,

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Jodi!”

“I thought you could use a little pick-me-up, so here’s a could little somethings that I hope will make you smile.”

“Love, Sue”

Here’s what was in the package.

Love the photos of Rudy, Jeffie and Rosie, there are recipes on the back!

Love the photos of Rudy, Jeffie and Rosie, there are recipes on the back!

 

Sampson

Sampson

 

Delilah

Delilah

Aren’t they amazing?  What a wonderful gift!  Thank you so much Sue!!

If you are in the market for some unique gifts, I highly recommend Sue’s products.  I currently have three pieces of jewelry and I’m looking to add more, the problem is everything is so awesome, I just can’t decide what to buy!  The attention to detail that Sue puts in her work and in her packaging is incredible.  Truthfully I could get an empty box from Sue and be delighted with it, it’s that pretty!

Thanks again Sue, I’m totally keeping these ornaments out and finding a place to display them, they are not being boxed away to wait for Christmas!

Snow

We are getting another big snowstorm.  It is supposed to go all through today and tonight and into tomorrow.  Of course I had to run out and get bread and milk.

NOT!

I don’t worry about not having milk or bread, do you?  If you do, can you tell me why?  I’m just curious.  My philosophy is even if we get snowed in, we will be plowed out within a day or so.  It’s not like I won’t be able to go to the store.

I worry more about losing electricity and then losing the stuff in my fridge and freezer.  Thankfully we have a generator now, so at the very least we should be able to keep our cold foods.

Speaking of snow, I took this photo during the last snowstorm.  I pointed the camera at the sky and snapped the picture.

 

Snow

I think it’s pretty cool!

Do you know what else I think?  I think it’s Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog.

Heart Like a Dog
Many thanks to Linda at 2 Brown Dawgs for co-hosting with me.  What are you waiting for?  Grab a badge and join the fun!

I’m Stumped

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Beautiful Collars

A few months back JoAnn at Sand Spring Chesapeakes did a tutorial on how to make a collar for your dog using Paracord.  I admit I was intrigued because I really love the idea of having a bunch of different collars for different occasions.

While I love doing crafty things, I’m a really visual person and I need to learn by doing.  So while I could read the tutorial, I just couldn’t figure it out, and I left a comment letting JoAnn know as much.

Saturday when I went to the mail box guess what was in there?

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 Yup!  Lookie, lookie who got collars?

Sampson’s collar is green and black, while Delilah’s is blue and purple.  In every day life, Sampson’s collar is green and Delilah’s is purple.  For their ‘dress up’ collars, Sampson’s is black with silver skull and cross bones, while Delilah’s is a purple print.

JoAnn couldn’t have chosen better colors for my dogs.

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Awe Mama, you’re just jelly of my new necklace.

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Why yes, green really does look good on me.

Many, many thanks to you JoAnn for this amazing gift!  We totally love them!!

Walkies

Sampson is still on limited exercise due to the partial ACL tear and quite truthfully, I don’t feel super bad not walking the dogs.   It’s been very cold and random days of crazy snow.

BUT on the weekends I try and get Delilah out and give her a good forty to fifty minute walk in the woods.  It’s also very refreshing for my soul.  To me, there is nothing better than walking in the woods.

I’ve been super impressed with the way Delilah acts on our walks, even though she remains on leash, she’s been very attentive to me, responding when I call her and with the exception of a  little shit snarfing, she’s been amazing.  There was one evening walk where she heeled right next to me without even being told!

Last weekend we ambled down one of the harder trails in our woods.  With the storms we’ve had the last couple of years, we’ve had a number of trees fall down and unless they are seriously blocking the trail, they lay where they fall.

There’s something in our woods that loves to crap on fallen logs.

I’m no poo-ologist, I can only identify dog and deer crap, so I’m at a loss as for what type of poo it is, all I know is whatever it is, it really interests my dogs.

I think it’s taken to crapping on stumps too.

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For a second I thought she was going to climb on the stump, but I called her away and away she came!  And I don’t know why, but I’m particularly taken with this photo. LOL

Heart Like a Dog

This is Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog hop, hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog.  Grab the badge and join the fun.

Stairway to Slumber

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Reinforcing good behavior is an important part of dog training, which is why the dogs at Stone Manor are constantly being put through their paces.

They need to sit when Mama’s in the kitchen working, they lay down when we eat dinner.  We practice recalls in the yard and when we’re walking we work on heeling.

Delilah and I take the occasional training class just to keep us on our toes and help keep her mentally sharp.  So when the Train Your Dog Challenge, hosted by Something Wagging This Way Comes, Rescued Insanity and Alfie’s Blog came up, I wondered, just what exactly am I going to train the dogs to do?

Train-Your-Dog-Badge-150x150

 

Some of you may remember that last year, I heeled Delilah with a chick pea.

I know right?  Amazing the things you can do with a highly food motivated dog.

But this year was a bust.  I had no idea what to do.  And then Sampson came down with a partial ACL tear and my vet suggested pet steps for the bed, couch and car.

How hard could it be?  We use stairs every day.  There are stairs into our house.  Stairs down from our deck.  Stairs up into the back yard.

The dogs use stairs in one form or another every single day.

This was going to be cake.

It took a while but I finally found a set of stairs that could hold a dog over 50 pounds and I set them up in front of the bed.

 

Step 1

I called Sampson in and using some treats coaxed him up the stairs and back down.  I did this about three times and each time I did it I said, “Stairs.”

The next time we went into the bedroom I said, “Stairs.”

And Sampson jumped on the bed.

I asked him to get off the bed via the stairs.

He jumped over them.

I’d bring his night time treat in and hold it in front of the stairs and he walks past them and jumps on the bed.

I’ve seen him use the stairs on his own without being coaxed, once.

ONCE!

Dammit, this is my easy dog!!

So once again, we busted out the treats.

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

He does fine when I’m coaxing him with treats, which I will continue to do at least three or four times per day.  My goal is to get him so comfortable he uses the stairs without being coaxed.

Hubby and I have decided that even when Sampson’s restrictions are lifted, we will keep the stairs.  Sampson will be ten this year and Delilah will be nine and odds are at some point the stairs may be permanently needed.

Did you participate in Train Your Dog month?  What were your goals?  Did you succeed or did you struggle like I did?

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