Heart Like a Dog

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

And The Versatile Blogger Award Goes To…Day One Hundred, Sixty Three

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I had never heard of the Versatile Blogger Award until yesterday when Lexy from Gone for a Walk awarded it to me.  If I was accepting an Emmy or an Oscar I would prepare an acceptance speech.  Unlike an Emmy or an Oscar however, this award comes with requirements…now wait a minute!  Why can’t I just accept the award, make my one minute acceptance speech, pose for a picture and then go on to the after party? OOOHHH, it’s not THAT kind of award. 

Well then what just kind of award is this Versatile Blogger? Being the inquisitive soul that I am, I decided to find out.  I googled it.  I got pages and pages of links, but they were all blog sites accepting the Versatile Blogger Award. (I stopped looking after 16 pages.)  The oldest entry I could find was dating back to April of 2010. 

So I searched WordPress; and again I got lists and lists of blogs indicating receipt of the Versatile Blogger Award, but I could not find anything about how it was initiated or what the award represents.  The best I can tell is this award is presented by a blogger to a blogger; whatever the reason or purpose, I’m excited to be a recipient of the award, so therefore I shall follow the criteria for acceptance.

There are four requirements for accepting the award. 

1) Post a link back to the person who gave you the award.

2) Share 7 random things about yourself.

♥  I love research.  Most people cringe when assigned a project or task that requires research; not me.  I revel in it; particularly if the topic is something I am interested in.  I like to search for varying opinions on my topic and then form my own.  Unless of course, I have already formed my opinion and then I look for research that validates my own thoughts.  Still I like to always keep an open mind.

♥  I don’t have an athletic bone in my body. I have horrible depth perception so any sport that requires hitting something is out.  I can’t run either, in fact if I do run, my kids chant, “Run Forest Run.” Sometimes I wish I was slightly athletic so I could play volleyball at social gatherings or an after work softball game, but no, I’m not blessed that way. 

♥  I LOVE video games and tend to favor the Nintendo system.  Mario is my bro.  I could sit and play video games for hours on end.  In fact, I have sat and played for hours on end.  I also love Donkey Kong and Dr. Mario.  I have had every version of Nintendo they ever came out with (if memory serves me.)  I even have a gameboy that I use in the car for long trips; right now it’s in my bathroom (you never know when Mario will call) I had a teenager tell me I was the only adult she knew that had a gameboy in their bathroom.  Needless to say, I”m cool in her book.

♥  I have this deep seeded need to “Make something of myself.”  I have no idea where this comes from or how to control it; many times I feel like I haven’t reached my true potential. Even though I am driven to become successful, I have no idea how to do it.  I constantly second guess myself.  You will find me having posts of self-doubt and feel sorry for me posts every couple of months.

♥  I try to follow a diet that avoids processed foods; although I admit to lately being on a big Skittles kick.  I find I feel better when I am not putting processed foods in my body. I did really well with this diet for about the first six or seven months, then slowly but surely I began adding processed foods in.  I still stick pretty much to the plan when eating meals, but snacking kills me.  It started with a little ice cream, or some cheese and crackers and now I am a full-blown Skittles addict.

♥  I was an overachiever in college; if I didn’t get an A, I just about lost my mind.  The subjects I did not get an A in were;  Geography,  Astronomy and History (A-).  While I willingly admit the Natural Sciences are a struggle for me (I can’t stand instructors that teach one way and test another!) I’m still pissed at that History instructor; my work was top quality and deserved a full A.  My essay on how Sherman’s march on Atlanta was a turning point in the Civil war was brilliant if I do say so myself.  These three subjects dropped my GPA down to 3.91.

♥  I am beyond tickled that I actually have people I don’t personally know reading my blog.  I count myself very blessed at having been found by Lexy, who in turn introduced me to Kristine’s blog and in turn other blogs.  I admit at times to being challenged in the whole process and ‘knowing’ these women has been a tremendous asset to me, so thank you!

3)  Award 15 recently discovered blogs.

These blogs are listed in alphabetical order, which in NO WAY reflects favoritism of any kind.  Also note that while I may enjoy reading them, that doesn’t mean I always agree with everything that is written (see my statement regarding varying opinions in item #1.) 

Be the Change For Animals

The DogPhoto.com

I Love Rescue Animals

Achievements in Regalement

Dog Agility Bloggers

Just Ramblin’ Pier

Live. Bark. Love.

My Parents Are Crazier Than Yours.

Novel Ideas and Children

Pawsitive Life

Rescued Insanity

Sandy Says1

Sheltie Times

The Idiot Speaketh and Pedaleth

Time to Train Your Dog

 4)  Drop them a note and tell them about it. 

I should be doing this very shortly. 

A big thank you to Lexy,for honoring me with this award; I hope your faith in me has been rewarded.

Collars….Day One Hundred, Sixty Two

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Before I get into the meat of my blog, I have to thank Lexy from Gone for a Walk for awarding me the (drum roll please) Versatile Blogger Award.  There are requirements that come with accepting this award; so I will be blogging about this award soon.  I promise.

So about collars, there are at least two people I have met on the trail, that don’t have collars on their dogs.  This is perplexing to me for a couple of reasons.

Since your dog is required to be licensed, the collar holds the town license which provides information about you and your dog, should you ever become separated.   The collar also holds the rabies tag indicating to anyone who might find or encounter your dog, that the dog has been vaccinated for rabies.  The rabies tag also has your veterinarian‘s name and phone number AND your veterinarian has your name and phone number.

The other reason I can think of is, what if you have to grab a hold of your dog or separate your dog from an aggressive dog.  In my opinion, you should also ALWAYS have your leash on you.  It makes sense and it makes you a responsible dog owner.

Statues….Day One Hundred, Fifty Nine

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When I was a kid we played this game, I can’t remember what it was called, but for now I will call it “Statues.”  We would play it at dusk or just after dark and when a car came down the street and its headlights shown on us, we would have to freeze our position and stay that way until the car had passed.

Sometimes now I wish things would “freeze” for a moment; especially when we are walking with the dogs and we see another dog; I would like to be able to “freeze” either my dog (Delilah) or the other dog; until we had passed each other.

Today when we walked the dogs Chet said, “Let’s follow this trail and go on the rail trail.”  I cringed inside.  There are a lot of people on the rail trail, they are walking, running, riding their bikes, and walking their dogs…on leashes.  Delilah doesn’t do well with other dogs when she is on leash.

It took about 12 minutes for us to get to the rail trail, almost immediately I saw some people in the distance with a dog. I clipped Delilah to her leash and I asked Chet to scope it out with Sampson and let me know if the dog was leashed; it was.  Thankfully, the owner and dog headed off the rail trail;  and we continued on with Delilah on her leash.

Within another minute or two we were approached by a couple with a little dachshund, I saw them before Delilah did and I urged her off the trail onto a slight incline with a rock.  I had her sit and then from our vantage point we watched the couple and their dog pass.  I kept my hand on Delilah’s head, stroking her head and telling her “Good girl.” “It’s ok.”  “Good girl.”  I had a loose leash but I was prepared to correct her if I needed to, but I didn’t.  I rewarded her with some meat.  Then I saw a jogger with a dog approaching, so we stayed on the rock, and I used the same technique; again I was rewarded with a dog sitting patiently with me as the other dog passed.

I’m not sure what was more effective; the fact that Delilah and I were above the trail and therefore above the other dog, if we were far enough away from the other dog so it was not perceived as a threat, or that I had Delilah sit and I was calm and in control.  What I can tell you is how pleasurable it was to not have a dog growling , snarling and lunging.

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