Heart Like a Dog

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

What Happens When The Mama Goes On Vacation?

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When I left for my mini vacation on Thursday, I had planned out  Sampson and Delilah’s exercise routine.  I scheduled my flight for later in the afternoon, so the morning would be available for a nice long walk.

My flight left Orlando early Monday morning, so I would be home in enough time to get them up to the field/woods for a half hour or so before the LaCrosse team over-populated the area.

Friday was a daycare day and Hubby had it off, so that left Saturday and Sunday.  I asked Hubby, “Will you walk the dogs?”

He said he would.

Due to certain circumstances his time was limited this weekend (that’s the other story I have for you, but I’m still waiting for the official report so it has to wait.)

He ended up with walks around the block.

As usual when we walk around the block, Sampson is off leash and Delilah is on the 15 footer.  We always have a leash with us just in case Sampson needs to be leashed.

When Hubby walked them on Sunday night he said there were quite a few people out walking so he leashed Sampson and shortened up Delilah’s leash.  As he was approaching the house with the electric fence he saw the two dogs running towards him.

He said that it actually went quite well, the two dogs approached Sampson and Delilah, one was yellow and one was black, they both were older.  The black one is usually the one who runs back and forth as we walk by.  Hubby said Delilah and the black dog sniffed each other and one of them snapped at the other.  He said he thought Delilah actually got a little ‘pushy’ with the other dog and the dog snapped at her, but he couldn’t be sure.

After the dogs all sniffed each other, the other dogs kind of followed Hubby, Sampson and Delilah.  As they approached their house their owner came out with their collars and the dogs said, “No way.”

They took off.

Hubby said the owner chased the dogs for a while, and then he got in his car to try to catch them.  When Hubby reached our road, he saw the dogs in someone’s yard, the owner pulled into the driveway and the dogs ran off again. 🙂

Two thoughts…..

One : What’s the point of an electric fence if you aren’t using the collars?

Two: I wonder now that the dogs have ‘met’ if they will still be running back and forth when we walk by?

Disbelief

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Did you ever have one of those days?

It started off fine, then a few harsh words from a co-worker and my mood had changed.

I went to my google reader to check out what my friends had to say and I found “Long Term Shelter Dogs : How Long Is Too Long?” at Talking Dogs Blog.  The post made me weep and I feel so sad for this beautiful dog, Hailey that I’ve cried on and off most of the day.

Hailey

Eight years old and she’s spent all but two months of it in a shelter.

I tried to leave a comment on the blog saying I was going to check with my friend at Labs 4 Rescue to see if they could find a foster home for her but I’m having trouble commenting on some blogs so the comment isn’t showing up.

I asked Hubby at lunch, “Please can I get another dog? I just want to try to find her a good home.”

He said no and he’s right, like many of you we struggle monthly to meet our obligations.  Another dog and all that goes with it just wouldn’t work right now.

But Hailey hung with me, darting in and out of my mind all day.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to take Delilah to Obedience Class tonight or not.  I waffled back and forth, finally desperation to see my friend and talk about Hailey pushed me out the door.

When I pulled into the Training Center the lot was full, we were the last ones in and it was packed.  Fifteen dogs all told.  And a number of them were new dogs.

I tried.  I really did.

First there was the new beagle (I think) mix that went at Delilah, who naturally caught me off guard and went right back at her.  The leash snapped my fingers and I lost my shoe trying to keep Delilah from chewing her up and spitting her out.

Then there was an excited pitbull mix that couldn’t seem to focus and kept going after other dogs around her.  Sarah had her in the center of the floor, helping her to settle down and not react to the other dogs.

Depending on which way we were walking I had to Boston Terrier type dogs in front of me and two yellow labs behind me and vice versa.  The guy working one of the yellow labs kept repeating his commands, “Sit, Sit, Sit, Sit, Sit, Sit, Sit” until I wanted to scream at him and say, some day you’re going to wonder why your dog doesn’t sit when you say sit!

There was a Doberman Pinscher who has been there before.  The first time she was there Delilah wanted a piece of her.  Just before the break the Dobie started getting vocal and I said to Delilah, “We’ll leave at the break and I’ll take you for a little walk.”

I know you get it when I say you could feel the tension in the room.

I’m sure it was me and my frame of mind, but I couldn’t take the chance of setting Delilah up to fail or lose the great progress she has made.  So I left.

Oh and yes my friend from Labs 4 Rescue wasn’t there, so I still haven’t talked to her about Hailey.

Can you say anything to me in the comments that will help me wrap my head around a dog in a shelter for eight years?

I just can’t believe it.

What's In A Name?

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This technically should have been a Follow-Up Friday post,  but it was pretty long and I felt it deserved its own space. 🙂

A little background, please.

Last Saturday I wrote ‘Expect The Unexpected.’  In that post I made mention of a woman named Brenda.  I’ve mentioned Brenda before, she always walks with about six dogs.  Many times she has other people and their dogs with her as well.

Brenda trains dogs.  I have no idea what her qualifications are, but her methods are if you don’t pay attention to me, I’ll leave you.  Brenda is friends with the woman who owns the dogs I wrote about on Saturday.

The stage is set.

Flash forward to this past Monday.

I pulled up at the field to walk the dogs and encountered…the LaCrosse team.  Yes, it’s that time of year when the town LaCrosse team commandeer the field.  This means both dogs walk in with me on leash and I keep them on the upper trails so they don’t bust up a LaCrosse practice/game.

I got Sampson and Delilah almost all the way up to the top of the hill and noticed someone walking in with a pack of dogs.  The dogs saw mine and started running at us at which point I always drop the leash.  Far better for Miss Delilah to meet and greet others on the playing field to keep her from reacting.

Sure enough as I got closer it was Brenda.  Included in her pack was a small dog and her little puppy and he was a real cutie.

I said, “The LaCrosse team is down in the field, it’s that time of year when we need to check the schedule before coming out.”

Brenda said, “Like that will happen.”

Ok, whatever.  I’m just sayin’ if you don’t want to worry about your dogs running off and jumping on some four-year-old you might want to do some planning.  But who am I?

Brenda had entered the ‘loop’ which is fairly small but allows you pick up two different trails.  Coincidently that was where I was headed and I didn’t see an issue, but apparently she did.

She said to one of the dogs, “We’re going to have to wait.”

Ok.  Again.  Whatever.

She decides to head down the wide path towards the field with her entire pack of dogs, except for…puppy.  Who decided he liked my pack better.

Meanwhile I’m trying to get my dogs on the trail and puppy is right there, jumping at my dogs saying, “Come on let’s play.”

Brenda is still walking down the path.

I don’t know what to do.  Do I stop and wait for her to come get the puppy or for the puppy to figure it out or do I keep going with the puppy following me?

I’m unsure.

All of a sudden from down the path I hear “F***!”

Here comes Brenda, “F***, I’ve got F***ing 20 f***ing minutes to take a f***ing walk.”

She gets to the top of the path and points in front of her and says, “Get your little a** over here” and then to me, “Excuse my language.”

Excuse your method of dog training is more like it I thought to myself.

The scary thing is, she calls herself a dog trainer and oh yes, she has the business cards to prove it.

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