Heart Like a Dog

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

Off-Roading

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Lately when I go to walk the dogs on Monday or Wednesday, I head over to the second entrance to avoid the commotion of the LaCrosse team arriving at our regular entrance.  Last night I was bit later than normal and thought maybe most of the people had already arrived.  I was wrong.

I turned around and headed over to the other entrance.  This takes about 5 minutes since we need to go down one hill and up another.  As I pulled up to the second entrance I realized there was already a car there and the person inside had a dog.

The woman was fussing about in her car doing what I don’t know, but her music was blaring and I could see a small Cocker Spaniel type dog sitting on her lap. I waited a minute or so and got frustrated with her just sitting there, so I said too bad; we’re going to back to our entrance and we’ll deal with LaCrosse!

I basically wasted about 15 minutes trying to figure out the best way to get to our trails.

There was one young boy getting dropped off as we entered the park, I could see him focused on the dogs and walking cautiously.  I kept both Sampson and Delilah on leash and guided them off the main path.  As we got to the top of the hill I saw their friend Brady and his mom entering from their side.  I said, “Go get Brady.”  And Sampson took off.  Delilah of course was forced to wait and go at my pace.

We started down one of our paths and ran into my next door neighbor of all things, with her two small boys and her dog Gunner.  I still can’t figure out what kind of dog Gunner is.  His face reminds me of an Akita, but he is not large and he is all black.  I call him… Sirius Black.

They were all sitting on the top of a large rock and while we live next door to each other, the dogs have never met.  My neighbor says that Gunner is friendly and the only time she’s ever seen him act aggressively is protecting the children.  While I thought the woods were a fairly neutral place to introduce the dogs, I preferred to do it while Hubby was around.

My friend said, “What do all these people see in these woods?”

I laughed and responded with ,“Probably the same thing we do.”

So my walking friend said, “We’ll have to go to my place.”

Turns out she just had a survey completed and she owns a LOT of land behind her house, which is wooded, has a creek and lots of boulders!  So we went off-road. 😉

Naturally we discussed all the things she could do with that extra land she has, most of which included places for the dogs to run without running into a lot of other people.

We ended up with a longer than planned walk, but the excitement and change of scenery helped tire the dogs out.

Can I Bring My Dog?

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We’re having a cookout on Saturday.  It’s actually our Easter dinner.  You may recall I was in Florida on Easter, so I decided our family gathering would be a cookout.

I got a text last night from my cousin who asked, “Can my boyfriend bring his dog?  He’s a good dog as cool as Sampson, you will love him.  You will want to blog about him.”

My immediate response was yes!  Of course, all dogs are welcome at my house.

Then I started to think of the logistics of it.

  • People will be coming and going. Some people can only make it early in the afternoon and some can’t make it til later.  I figure this will go down in two waves.  The early crew and the late crew.
  • Hubby and I will be busy, he will be cooking and I will be monitoring the food to make sure Delilah does not eat it.
  • We will not be able to watch the dogs or monitor their meeting as closely as we would like.
  • My friend’s dog is a 120 pound Bull Mastiff…..I picture him like this:

Photo courtesy of http://dogbreedinformations.com

  • Sampson can get snarky with male dogs, especially those that are bigger than he is.
  • Little children will be running about.

I started to get a feeling.  Not one I could put my finger on, just a feeling way down in the pit of my stomach.  I thought back to the party I was at where I was the only one sober enough to drive the hysterical mother and her sobbing son to the emergency room so he could get his ear sewn back on after being bitten by a dog.

I sent my cousin a text: “I’ve been thinking about the dogs.  I hope you understand, Sampson can get snarky with other dogs especially males that are bigger than he is.  I’m concerned that Hubby and I won’t be able to keep an eye on him like we would want to and with the little ones around it makes me a bit nervous.  Could we wait on this?  Hubby and I can have you, H and his dog over when it is just us and we can see how Sampson does.  Sorry to be such a nervous Nellie…..if the grand kids weren’t going to be there it would be entirely different.  I will tell you a story on Saturday that is weighing heavy on my heart and guiding me with this decision.”

She understood of course.  If she didn’t she wouldn’t be one of my oldest and dearest friends.  And I don’t mean I wouldn’t speak to her, what I mean is she knows me and she knows my heart and my love for animals and she knows I wouldn’t make this decision lightly.

She said her boyfriend won’t come without his dog, which makes me sad but I understand.

Just as I have to do what I feel is right for my dog so he succeeds, her boyfriend feels he must do what is right for his dog.

What do you think?  In a situation such as I just described, would you have someone bring their dog if your dog(s) had never met them before?

The Optimism Of Cats And Dogs

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Yesterday I Still Want More Puppies had a very cute video of a cat.

Honestly, I don’t know where some of you find the time to do all the things you do.  If I had about 8 more waking hours in a day, (and the energy to go with it) I might be able to do half of what some of you do.

But I digress.

I changed the comment I was going to leave on that particular post, because I realized the story would be quite lengthy and it would make a good post. “-)

The year was 2005 B. D. (Before Delilah.)

Sampson was about a year and a half at the time, my daughter and her husband had just gotten married, and they moved from FL to CT and were staying with us.  They brought their two cats with them, Percy and Knuckles.

Percy was a big boy, my boy. Even though he was my daughter’s cat, he was very attached to me and Hubby.  Before she moved to Florida she was in her early 20’s working part-time and going to school full-time.  Percy spent a lot of time with us.  Then she moved and took him to Florida and he hated it.

He was very happy to come back home, but not at all happy that Sampson was now living there. Percy spent a lot of time puffed up at this intruder in his home.

Knuckles was rescued from the mean streets of Lakeland, and was still a kitten.  He rode the entire trip from Florida in my son-in-law’s lap.

To accommodate the two cats, Hubby had installed a cat door in my daughter and SIL’s room.  We figured if the dog was antagonizing them, they would at least have a safe place to retreat to.

Knuckles was/is a pretty cool cat.  He had a little foil ball that you could throw and he would run after it, pick it up in his mouth and bring it back.  It was just about the cutest thing I’d ever seen. 🙂

He did like to tease Sampson though and would wait outside my daughter’s door to get Sampson’s attention and then when Sampson was almost upon him, he would dart inside the room via the cat door.

The house has three bedrooms.  Our bedroom was at one end of the hall facing the bathroom and Lisa and Steve’s room (with the cat door) is to the left of the bathroom door.

This was a time in his life when Sampson would eagerly wait at the door, because he knew Knuckles would be out and he would have an opportunity to meet him.   He did this every morning while Knuckles and Percy lived there.

Seriously you’ve got to love a dog’s optimism.

On this particular morning, Lisa was taking a shower when I opened the bedroom door. As usual Sampson tore down the hallway.  Knuckles (as usual) waited until the last possible minute and turned for the cat door.

Seriously, you’ve got to love a cat’s optimism.

Here’s the thing about cat doors.  In order for them to work, they need to be unlocked.  For some reason on this particular morning, it wasn’t.

God how I wish I had this on video.

Knuckles, the little antagonist, turned for the cat door and finding it closed, spun in the air, twisting and turning looking for escape.  He ended up against the bathroom door.

Sampson, sensing victory, charged forward, all 90 pounds of him.

Lisa screamed and tried to cover herself, as Sampson and Knuckles burst through the bathroom door.

Knuckles was air born at the time and spinning, twisting and snarling as only cats can do and in short fashion sought refuge…..under the tub.

Sampson had him pinned under the tub and he knew it.  He bent down in a play bow, tail wagging happily, only to be defeated once again because he was too big to follow Knuck.

After that day,  when Lisa took a shower, the bathroom door was always locked and the cat door was always unlocked.

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