Heart Like a Dog

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

I’m Biased Towards Certain People

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I hate traveling.  Mostly it’s because I hate flying.  But there’s another reason as well.  Through the ‘magic’ of Facebook, and the era of ‘instant’ media we live in, I hear a lot about how animals are (mis)treated in other areas of the country/world.  While I know all of my readers are wonderful pet owners no matter where you live, I’m biased about certain areas of the country and one of those areas is the south.

And last week I went to Florida.

Overheard at a children’s party:

Two women were discussing their dogs and how one woman’s (woman #1) son had questioned the other woman (woman #2) about her dog.  Turns out they both had the same breed of dog.  A blue nosed pit.

Woman #1 pulled up a picture of her dog on her phone and woman #2 immediately asked, “Is she spayed?”

Woman #1 responded, “Yes, we got her from the pound.”

Disappointed woman #2 responded that her dog was male, and still a puppy.

And in my mind, I immediately jumped to, she wants to breed that dog.  She’s a back yard breeder who wants to make money from her dog.

See, I told you I was biased.

How do you stop yourself from jumping to that conclusion?

Sometimes the universe provides the answer.

On that same trip, I was visiting with some friends (who are wonderful, responsible pet owners) where I was introduced to and fell in love with Bailey.

Bailey is about five years old.  Until recently she lived on an 80 acre farm where she hunted armadillos, snakes, and many other types of small game.  Sadly she was also unprotected from fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.

When my friends rescued Bailey from a relative of theirs, she was covered in fleas and ticks, and she had heart worm and tape worms as well.  I’m sure you all know that dogs and cats with fleas can easily become infected with tape worms.

My friends treated Bailey for the fleas, ticks and worms and gave her a good home, where she is spoiled rotten.

A real “Daddy’s Girl” Bailey is so attached to her Dad that when he was in the hospital recently, she ran through the house searching for him.  Trying to help Bailey feel safe, the mom held the phone up to her ear so she could hear Daddy, but instead of helping, it left Bailey running around the house, crying and searching for her dad.

Thankfully my friend is home and all is right in Bailey’s world once again.

Meet Bailey.

Bailey

My friends also found a feral cat and her kittens, nursed them, found homes for all of them and had the mama spayed.

It is people like my friends and others like them, that help restore my faith in humanity.

The Sights, the Sounds, the Smell!!

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Spring is my favorite time of year.  I’m not sure if it’s because I was born in spring, but there is something about the new birth and the resiliency of life beginning afresh after a sometimes long and hard winter that I find simply amazing.

I love being able to open my windows and leave them open at night while I sleep, snuggled down under a blanket with a dog (or two) plastered against me.

I love the smells.  The smell of rain, dirt, freshly mowed grass and of course the flowers.

I love the sound.  I’ve really been enjoying walking Sampson early in the morning and listening to the birds whistle, warble and chirp back and forth to each other.

I love the colors.  The green of the earth contrasted against the blue of the sky.  The way the grass sparkles and glistens in the sun after a fresh spring rain, the explosion of colors from the flowers.

Hello, I'm supposed to be walking, not posing for pictures.

Hello, I’m supposed to be walking, not posing for pictures.

Yes, I love spring.

I’ve been noticing my dogs seem to be loving spring too.  So I asked them, Sampson, Delilah what’s your favorite part of spring?

Paws down Mama, it's the sunny and warm spots, perfect for snoozing.

Paws down Mama, it’s the sunny and warm spots, perfect for snoozing.

You are siriusly asking me that Mama? It's the smells Mama, the smells!

You are siriusly asking me that Mama? It’s the smells Mama, the smells!

Do you or your dogs have a favorite season?  What is it and why?

 

In Case of Emergency

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Early in the morning about two weeks ago, a house across the street and about five houses down, had a small fire.  We didn’t hear about it until we watched the news that morning because apparently the humans and canines at Stone Manor can sleep through sirens.

Thankfully the two ladies and their dog were waiting outside when the fire department arrived.

It got me thinking.  What would we do if there was a fire during the night?

I’ve thought about it before, and our bedroom is ground level.  There is a door to the back yard right outside our bedroom door and if by chance we couldn’t get to the door, we have a chair in our room as well as the bed and we could easily push one of them over to the window and use it to climb out.  We have our important papers in a fire box that is safely tucked away and easily accessible in case of emergency.  The dog’s vet records are in 3-ring binders and I’ll put those in the same spot as the fire box.

Why would we climb out a window, aren't we comfy right here?

Why would we climb out a window, aren’t we comfy right here?

Sampson and Delilah sleep in our room so I’m not worried about them running and hiding, and our bedroom is at the back of the house and the yard is fenced in, but the dogs don’t wear collars in the house.  Since I heard about dogs being stolen from their yards, we put locks on our gates.

Since the fire down the street I’ve been thinking about this a LOT.  So here’s what I came up with.

Hubby and I have added a key to each of our cars as well as a key to the locks on the gates to our fire box.  And yesterday I did this.

ICE

I took two quart-size storage bags and labeled them with each of the dog’s names.  I added a spare collar with a name tag and spare leash for each dog.  When we license the dogs in June I will add their old town tags to the collars.   Then I placed both quart-size bags in a larger bag and labeled it ICE.  This bag now rests on a shelf in the shed in the back yard.

ICE1

I recently became a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts (if anyone wants to host a virtual party, just let me know) and plan on getting an emergency bag together that will stay in my car.  In this bag, I’ll have blankets, some food and water (for the dogs and us) a couple of spare bowls, a small emergency kit and maybe a change of clothes.

So what about you? Have you given any thought to what you would do in case of an emergency?  What steps have you put in place should something cause you to leave your house quickly?  Have I forgotten anything?

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