Heart Like a Dog

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

Doggie Daycare…Day Two Hundred, Eighty

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Today was the big day; our training center opened and Sampson and Delilah went back to daycare!

It amazes me that we can be out of the habit for so long, but as soon as I grabbed the dog’s collars this morning they jumped at the chance for adventure.  Sampson has a habit of wanting me to pet him in the car, he stands in the back with his head between the two front seats and swats me with his big paw, until I pet him.

As we approached daycare I said, “We’re here” and he ran to the back and stuck his head eagerly out the window.

Puppy friends greeted them at the gate and I left them running and playing, happy barks following me out the door.

Besides running, wrestling and playing the order of business for today was putting in the dog friendly floor.  I have it on good authority that the dogs were a big help. 😉

That's Chuck by the back door.

When I went to pick the dogs up, I heard all about their day.  Apparently someone spent a lot of time napping.

Sara said the dogs were all running around and there was Sampson laid out in the middle of the floor snoring away!

I meant to take a picture of the front area, where the grooming is done and where the store will be, but I ran into my friend Dave and forgot. 🙁

I did snap some pictures with my cell phone of the dogs with their last burst of energy.

You know the day has been a success when the dogs are tired.

Delilah was flat-out in the car, Hubby always says when Delilah is laying flat, you know she is tired. 🙂

All in all, it was a good day.

Happy Labor Day….Day Two Hundred, Seventy Nine

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Today is Labor Day, which means we had a three-day weekend.  Whooo Hoooo!  It turned out to be pretty good.

Since Delilah ran off on me a couple of times last week, I’ve had her on the thirty foot leash.  This made me hesitant to take them hiking in the woods, I was a bit nervous she would run off and snag herself on something.  So early Saturday morning I took Sampson and Delilah up to the field to play with a bumper.

Delilah was so cute, she took the bumper and it was almost as if she were flirting with Sampson, she ran up to him and pushed the bumper at him then ran away, but she looked over her shoulder at him.  I got my phone out in enough time to get a quick video.

After our walk, my daughters and I took my grandchildren to the local Farm Day, where my grandson got to do a lot of bouncing in the bounce houses.  Then my daughter, niece and a bunch of friends went to NYC to see the Harry Potter Exhibition.  After the exhibit we went to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe and then caught the 10:20 train back to CT.  After dropping everyone off, I got home about 1:45 am.  The dogs didn’t care, they were still up at 6:00 am yesterday.

Yesterday was tough, I finally got my butt off the couch and went grocery shopping, then called my walking bud to see if she and Brady were free.  As luck would have it, she also had Kodak and so the six of us set out walking; in the woods.

Delilah did amazing!  It is almost like she likes having the leash attached.  Even my WB said she’s like a different dog, much calmer and more relaxed.  She did get stuck one time, but we were right there and I untangled her.  She never went too far from us, and a couple of times she looked like she wanted to go, but she returned to us every time we called her.

After our wood hike we went to the field to let them run and play a little.  Two interesting things happened here.  1) While I was giving all the dogs a bit of roast beef, Sampson snapped at Kodak.  This took me completely by surprise, because he has never been a dog that had food issues.  My WB seems to think that Kodak is a dominant dog and Sampson was putting him in his place but it did give me a little concern.  It happened with Kodak and roast beef again today; so I’m wondering if she might be right because so far it only seems to happen with Kodak.

The second interesting thing that happened yesterday was while Delilah, Brady and Kodak were playing in the stream.  Sampson was hanging with WB and me watching the dogs play.  Kodak was trying to mount Delilah and she was doing a mighty fine job of letting him know it wasn’t happening; when all of a sudden Sampson took off after them and chased Kodak off!  He has never done that before either, and I’m not really sure what that was about but it made think that he does care about her (in whatever way dogs care about each other) and wants to protect her.

Today was another day I felt very lazy but I did manage to get some vacuuming and laundry done and the dogs and I got another walk in, we cut through the woods on a deer path and Brady found a tree that is formed so water is caught in it.

Doesn’t it look like his head is stuck?

But the best thing of all happened early this afternoon.  I got a text from Sara letting me know the training center is opening TOMORROW!  So Sampson and Delilah are back at daycare tomorrow.  I know they will be so excited to go.

So how was your weekend?  Did you do anything fun?

Seven Links Challenge….Day Two Hundred, Seventy Eight

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The last month or so I’ve watched a number of you post your seven links challenge, I read all of them popping back to the posts you felt fit the categories presented.  Part of the challenge was to present the seven links challenge to seven other bloggers.  Each time I read a post that didn’t have my name in it, I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Recently my luck ran out and I was challenged by Just Ramblin’ to the seven links.  I admit, as I read the blogs participating in the challenge I did think back to some of my favorite posts, and there were a couple that really stood out for me as fitting a particular category, but I really wanted to do this blog justice, so I went back and skimmed through all my posts.  

The first two months I was voicing my opinion about a variety of things; I did not consider those, I only chose posts which were about dogs because the blog is Life With Sampson and Delilah.

I was in the same boat as many of you who have already taken this challenge because there were certain categories that I could not choose just one post.  So here is what I came up.

Most Beautiful Post  – this was hard for me, I had two that really resonate in my heart.  Happy Birthday Sampson, and  Delilah’s story, on Sampson’s birthday I tried to articulate in a letter, the love and gratitude I have for my Heart Dog, and Delilah’s story was very emotional for me to write.

Most Popular Post – Poor Punkin according to WordPress statistics the day I posted this, was the day I had the most traffic on my website.  Indeed that post had 28 comments (half of which were mine) which was the most comments I’d ever had.  Pawm Etiquette had more comments but because it was a blog party, I expected more traffic.

I don't feel well.

Most controversial post – Delilah Stone Role Model  I have very little controversy on this blog this was the closest I could come to finding controversy.  An anonymous person posted that I didn’t have my facts correct, which ticked me off.  I want people to respond and I have no problem if you disagree with what I say, but own your words and be respectful.  After that comment, I finally set about making rules for my blog.

Delilah on the See Saw

Most helpful post – this was one of those categories that I couldn’t decide upon.  I’m really adamant that my dogs have a tag on them at all times  The Importance of Tags explained my position. I also thought  New Experiences was beneficial in regards to trying to prepare your dogs for something they haven’t experienced before and  Medications, Vaccinations and Vacations explained how my dogs medical records are organized and why.

Post you are most proud of – It’s all about perspective, I thought this was creative because it told the story from the perspective of all involved.  It encouraged me to think outside the box see the situation from the animal’s eyes.

Post that didn’t get the attention it deserved – The Legacy of Michael Vick, I fully expected flack from this post, in fact I so concerned it would sound like I was taking Michael Vick’s side that I called my daughter and read her the post before clicking “publish.”  I tweaked and re-wrote and surprisingly had only 6 comments on the post.  I was certain I was going to have some negative comments or at least someone debating against me, but it was published with very few responses.

Post whose success surprised me – If you read a post and leave a comment I am surprised (well mostly excited) so any post that receives a comment is a success.

Part of the challenge is to pass the challenge on to seven other blogs; since I know many of you have already done this I will not ask you to do it again.  HOWEVER, if you would like to take the seven link challenge I am passing it along to you! 

It is an interesting journey looking back through your posts and figuring out what fits where.

What do you think of my choices? Would you have chosen something different?

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