Heart Like a Dog

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

Swamped – Barks and Bytes

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My dogs tend to be creatures of habit. When they head to the woods, they take the same tired trails. So I was surprised yesterday when instead of heading straight for the field, Delilah turned right and headed up the hill.

I admit to grumbling along behind her, because we had to walk UP the hill to the woods and then she just kept on going, so the first ten minutes or so of our walk was straight up hill.  But I knew once we hit the peak, the rest of the walk would be all down hill.

She surprised me again once we reached the top of that hill. Instead of taking the same trail she takes every day, she took me along an unmarked trail that’s one of my favorites.

The reason I love it so?

I call it, "The Swamp".

I call it, “The Swamp”.

Having never actually seen a swamp, I’m not sure if it looks like this or not. I’m pretty sure a swamp would have water, in fact, I’m sure a swamp would have water.

Maybe it’s just something about the trees with the way they twist that makes me think of a swamp.

Or maybe it’s just my writer’s imagination, thinking up a spooky plot line that would work in a book.

Whatever the reason, it was worth the ten minute walk up the hill.

Do you get ideas for blog posts or books when you walk? Where do you find your inspiration?

P.S. AND there was a bunch more to this post, but my computer glitched and I took that as a sign that I should be short and sweet today. 🙂

Heart Like a Dog

Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. We hope you will grab a badge from one of our websites and join us.



WHY – Barks and Bytes

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I apologize in advance to my savvy vet tech readers. And if by some crazy chance a veterinarian actually reads this and you yourself are savvy, I apologize to you as well. As a dog owner and lover, I think there are some things I shouldn’t have to explain when I’m with my dogs at the vet.

Specifically:

Why all dogs should be on leash in common areas.

One would think this was a no-brainer, no? It’s actually happened to me.

Twice.

The first time it happened was when I took Sampson in for his surgical consult. While my poor lame dog was stressed out and waiting to be seen, two GSD’s and a Pug came charging up to him after having an exam room door opened. There was a lot of loud dog noises, which ended when I screamed, “HEY!” at the top of my lungs.

Afterwards the receptionist told me, “We’ve told him they have to be on leash, but he doesn’t listen.” I told her if it had it been Delilah it may not have turned out so well.

The second time was recently at my own vet when I went in to pick up Sampson from one of his tests.

A cute little off-leash dog came running up to me while I was waiting. The woman called the dog over, leashed her up and was then called into the exam room. I asked the ladies at the front desk about it and they kind of just shrugged.

Do people in the animal industry NOT understand that not all dogs or owners are comfortable meeting other dogs?

Delilah’s titchy. Sometimes she’s fine, other times she’s not. I prefer just to avoid the situation all together. It just makes it easier.

Sampson loves other dogs, but he gets so excited to meet them, that he bounces about and pulls me. It’s just not a pretty, nor pleasant experience. Never mind the fact that if two dogs don’t like each other, and either a dog or human gets hurt, there is a liability issue.

Look...no props, no background. You call that photography?

Hey, you don’t like every person YOU meet, why should I like EVERY DOG I meet?

Last week when I took Sampson in for Physical Therapy, there was a woman standing in the doorway of an exam room with her dog in her arms, and I had to walk Sampson past her. I said, “Can you go in the room?”

I think the Physical Therapist was taken aback because she smiled at me and said, “We have to share.”

I don’t mind sharing, but I know my dog and I know what I can and can’t do with him. Not to mention, the other dog was much higher up than my dog, and they were already encroaching into a hallway which was narrow to begin with and my dog is injured.

I’m certainly not comfortable in that situation and I’m not sure how comfortable my dog is, so to me it’s best to eliminate as many risk factors as I can.

Hey, at least I asked the woman nicely, I mean, I didn’t go all backwoods hood rat on her ass. 🙂

Heart Like a Dog

Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. We hope you will grab a badge from one of our websites and join us.

Hey Universe – Barks and Bytes

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Sometimes, no matter how hard I try to be positive and have an upbeat outlook, it seems like the Universe is out to just beat the shit out of me.

Three weeks ago yesterday I was excited. Sampson had had his second ultrasound which indicated the mass on his adrenal hadn’t changed. I picked him up from the vet, brought him home and gave both dogs their walks. I went downstairs to share the news with my mom and discovered she had fallen. She told me she needed to go to the hospital, so I brought her over and it turns out she fractured her foot and some ribs.

She came home in a walking boot.

Hey Universe, I got this.

The hospital had given her dinner, so I got her set for the night and went upstairs.

All was quiet on the home front until just before bedtime. That’s when the wind picked up and we lost power.

Sitting in the dark we heard, “Beep…Beep…Beep”

And then the power came back on.

“What was that beeping?” I asked Hubby.

He didn’t know, so we closed up shop for the night.

I’m a pretty light sleeper, hearing everything that goes bump in the night, so I use a noise fan.

I went to bed, read for a bit and shut off the light. I was just snuggling down and drifting off to sleep when the power went out again.

Which means the house got quiet.

Hey Universe, I got this.

Beep….Beep….Beep. There it was again, coming from the den, right next to my bedroom. I got up and using that handy cell phone flashlight, headed into the den, following the sound.

It was a battery back-up for the computer. I slipped the switch from on to off.

Beep…beep.

Screw you battery back-up! I unplugged it.

And I went back to bed.

Except now it was so quiet, I could hear the wind whipping through the trees and the rain hammering on the windows.

I have a little travel sound machine that runs on batteries. I got up, went out to the kitchen with my cell phone flashlight and went to the battery drawer.

SQUEAK, the damn drawer squeaked. It was very loud in a quiet house. I paused, waiting to see if Hubby would wake up and come charging out thinking I was an intruder.

That’s when I heard it from downstairs.

“JODE.”

“What?” I yelled back. Then stopped, expecting Hubby to answer me.

Nothing.

I abandoned the open drawer and headed downstairs.

“Did you call me?” I called into the blackness of Mom’s apartment.

“Yes, I’m stuck on the toilet.”

(You can’t make this shit up.)

Yup, mom got up to use the bathroom and the power went out. She was afraid to get up because she couldn’t see a thing. (She now has a flashlight on her walker, just in case).

Hey Universe, I got this.

I helped mom get back to bed, went back upstairs, got the batteries for my sound machine, and got it started up.

I’ve heard so many people say they had dogs who had thunder phobias that lessened as they aged (mostly because of hearing loss). I have the opposite problem. Sampson never had an issue with thunder until recently, so when the first clap of thunder rolled over the house, Sampson came trotting into the bedroom.

Panting.

No problem Universe, I got this one too.

What’s a dog mom to do? He didn’t want to climb on the bed, so I grabbed a blanket (Delilah had the comforter) and a pillow, put the sound machine down next to my head and laid down on the floor with Sampson.

I could smell dust. Damn it, I’ll have to talk to that lazy housekeeper and let her know she needs to vacuum.

She lays on the floor one time. ONE TIME, and she complains about dust. She should see her housekeeping from my perspective.

She lays on the floor one time. ONE TIME, and she complains about dust. She should see her housekeeping from my perspective.

Sampson and I lay there, with my hand stroking his head, until he finally calmed down. And then I sneezed.

Which freaked him out all over again.

It’s okay Universe, I got this.

I finally got him calmed down. AGAIN.

This whole sequence of events started about 11:30 PM. Finally, about 2:30 AM, the last clap of thunder shook the house and then it was still.

And then the power came back on.

Sampson was quietly sleeping on the floor, I got up, plugged the battery back-up back in, turned the real noise fan on and squeezed my way onto the bed.

Apparently the Universe has a sense of humor.

 

Heart Like a Dog

Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. We hope you will grab a badge from one of our websites and join us.



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