Heart Like a Dog

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

Idiosyncrasies….Day One Hundred, Eighty Two

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I love the little eccentric things my dogs do that make them unique.  I am reminded on a daily basis of the unfettered joy and zest for life that dogs have.  It is a lesson we can all take from dogs, just to enjoy the simple things in life.

Take Delilah for example, every morning she lies on my bed waiting for me to finish getting ready for work so I can feed them.  She waits very patiently, up to a point.  Then she deems I have spent enough time on myself and it is now time for her.  She pushes the bathroom door open, comes up behind me and sticks her head between my legs.   I reach down and pet her, rub her ears and quietly speak to her.  Then she slowly navigates her body all the way through, tail wagging happily.  It is as though she likes the closeness and security of something holding her on either side of her body.  Then she goes back into the bedroom to wait until I am done.

Sampson on the other hand normally lies in bed until I have completely finished my morning ritual.  It is then my responsibility to rub his ears and sing his morning song to him.  Once I stop rubbing, he rolls onto his back with all four paws in the air and I rub his belly.  Then, and only then will he get up.  If I rub his ears too long (in her opinion) Delilah will begin barking at me, this is her way of saying, “Enough about him, it is time for MY breakfast!”

This morning I was ready for work BEFORE 7:00 am.  These occurrences are few and far between and really throw the dogs off.  Since I am out of the bedroom, they are certain it is time for breakfast.  When I started doing other chores, they were a little puzzled.

Delilah followed me everywhere I went, right on my heals barking at me.  Sampson apparently recognizing Delilah’s method wasn’t working, picked up a ball and threw it at me. 

I picked it up and threw it back.  Sampson grabbed the ball, blew past me into the bedroom and laid on the bed as if to say, “If I’m cute enough, will you feed me?”

Our Mini-Vacation…Day One Hundred, Eighty One

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Saturday in New Hampshire was a pretty chill day for the dogs.  My sister and I had things to do, my brother-in-law had to work a half day, so Sampson and Delilah were left at home with Chet and my sister’s dogs.

Delilah, Gordy (in the back) Sampson, Bandit and J.D.

Chet did get the dogs outside into the nice big field so they could run around for  a little bit.  I was nervous that Delilah would take off, so anytime she went outside I made sure she had the beeping/vibrating collar on, but she really did phenomenally well.  She responded to us every time!!

I felt kind of bad that the dogs were stuck in the house, so Sunday I suggested taking them swimming.  We piled into our respective cars and headed to Moore Reservoir.  There were two couples with their dogs at the beach area, but we found a spot in between them where the dogs could swim.  Neither one of their dogs were swimming so it wasn’t a huge issue.  We had Delilah on a 30 foot leash because her vibrating collar is not waterproof, after a few minutes of really wanting to go greet one of the dogs, she settled in.

We started a game of fetch with the dogs by throwing some sticks in the water, the big swimmers were Delilah, Gordon and Bandit.  Sampson swam a bit but was really content to walk in the water.  J.D. doesn’t like to swim.

Initially we had Delilah on the leash; then I began letting the leash go and allowing her to swim with it on.  My brother-in-law advised us to be cautious with this as her leash could get caught on something along the bottom; while Chet and I were prepared to swim in order to save our baby I decided I would take her off leash.

Delilah and Gordon were the ones who played the longest.  Gordon is a greedy boy and doesn’t like to share sticks.  Whenever one of us would throw a stick,  there was always a chance that Gordon would get there first.  Delilah is the dog that never says never; she was determined to bring in the stick.

I thought after an hour of swimming, the dogs would sleep great last night, but alas they are like their mother and don’t sleep well when they aren’t in their own beds.  Delilah was up shortly after five this morning, I let her out and went back to bed but she was persistent and rousted me from bed right around seven.

All too soon our weekend was over and it was time to pack up and head home.  We stopped once for gas and once to let the dogs out for a potty break and stretch, but there were no complaints getting back in the car.  I think they were anxious to head home.

Are we there yet?

For The Love of a Dog…Day One Hundred, Seventy Six

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I had a disturbing text from one of my (surrogate) children today.  The ‘conversation’ went like this:

The Quiet One:  (my surrogate kid) “Irresponsible people should not be pet owners!”

Me: “Oh Jesus!  Is the animal hurt?”

TQO  “No he’s ok, well physically; he was abandoned.  My bro’s roommate found a new family for Hachiko because he needed more than an apartment to be happy.  The pound called and said they found him and he’s homeless.”

Me: “What pound? What kind of dog? How old?”

Now I’m praying, please let it be a lab because I can call my friend Ann and she will find a home for him.

TQO “He’s in Washington.  I believe he’s a year and a half.  He’s a Chow, German Shepard mix.”

Me: “Oh, if he was in CT we could do something!

TQO “I know it’s sad.”

So tell me, why do people take dogs that they 1) don’t want 2) have no idea on how to take care of 3) invest nothing in and HOW can they just give the dog up?

What can WE as dog lovers and owners do to help educate people regarding the responsibility of dog ownership?

Kristine at Rescued Insanity has a great idea to have a page where people can post questions or get reassurances from other pet owners, read her blog about it here.

Then let me know what you think and share any ideas YOU might have.

I can't imagine life without...Delilah.

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