Heart Like a Dog

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

Pep Squad

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True confession, I always wanted to be cheerleader when I was in high school, problem was that I wasn’t exactly athletic and no one would ever accuse me of being popular, the two criteria in my high school for being a cheer leader.

You may be aware I have two very different dogs.

So when I am ready to go to bed and I say, “Who wants to do pee pee?” I get two very different reactions.

As soon as I make a move to get off the couch, or shut down my laptop, Delilah will jump up from her cozy spot on the couch and head for the door.

Sampson who eats his 9:00pm treat in the bedroom has already called it a night.  At this point I have three choices.

1)  I can just let Delilah out and leave Sampson (honestly he can hold it a very long time, especially if it’s raining.)

2)  I can go in and literally drag Sampson off the bed, where he will reluctantly walk to the back door and casually step outside.

Or I can become a cheer leader, fulfilling my high school dream and getting my dogs to go outside in the process.

It goes something like this, “Who wants to go pee pee?”

Delilah jumps up and we walk to the back door and then I say very loudly and excitedly:

“Do you see it?  Do you have it?  Are you going to get it?  You got it?  Do you have your eye on it?  Ready?  Are you ready?  Ok.  Ready, ready go get it!”

At my first words of “Do you see it?”  Sampson has un-assed himself from bed and rushed to the door, I then finish my pep talk, and it deviates in any  number of ways, but the gist is all basically the same.  There is something outside that you absolutely MUST see.

“Ready, one, two, three, GO!”  I open the door and they burst through the doorway like speeding locomotives.

After I shut the door behind them, I usually chuckle as I pat myself on the back. 🙂  I made the squad!

Book update: I have 10,157 words!!

I'm Sorry If I Offended You McDonalds

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By now you must have seen this ad.

I got this ad from Seattle Dog Spot

McDonald’s, one of (if not) the biggest fast food chains in the world blatantly and irresponsibly disrespecting the pit bull.

Of course I called the number, and it was automated, and when I pressed the button regarding their ad, I got a recorded apology.

Yes this McDonald’s, the one with revenues of (I believe it says) 27 million dollars.  Had a recorded message apologizing for inadvertently offending some of their customers.

“In our effort to spread the word about our new Chicken McBites, one of our local markets ran an ad that inadvertently offended some of our customers. The ad was insensitive in its mention of pit bulls. We apologize. We are pulling the ad, and will review our creative screening process. It’s never our intent to offend anyone with how we communicate news about McDonald’s.” 

When I was in college I took a Public Relations class, I know who would have ever thought ME, of all people would be interested in Public Relations. 🙂

Part of the class was to look at two PR campaigns. One was successful, the other one wasn’t.

I won’t name the companies because I cannot remember the specifics of each case but they were both big name companies and both companies had to recall their products for health reasons.

The company that failed in their campaign recalled the product and then there was nothing further from the company until they had gotten to the source of the problem and resolved the issue.

The company that succeeded, recalled their product and then kept updating the public frequently as to where they were at in their investigation and how they were handling the issue to be certain it didn’t happen again.

Not surprisingly one company lost public confidence in their product and revenues fell, while the other one weathered the storm, with very little loss of revenues or confidence.

From a public relations point of view, (IMO) McDonald’s has handled this debacle all wrong.  Yes, they did pull the ad and yes they did issue an apology, but it should have been BIGGER.

McDonald’s has a platform to make a difference and they could make a difference by making a LARGE contribution to Pit bull rescue and educating the public about the proper treatment and care for animals.

But then they might have to look into their own backyards and see how the animals they use for food are treated.

How childhood obesity is running unchecked today and how many of those kids eat at McDonald’s.

Surprisingly enough when you go to McDonald’s website and ask what’s in a chicken mcnugget  they tell you chicken, tempura batter and fried in Canola oil.  Wikipedia tells a little different story.

Frankly McDonald’s, I think the pit bull is safer and I’d rather pet one of them, then eat one of your chicken mcnuggets.

I’m sorry if I’ve inadvertently offended you McDonalds.

Call me, I’ll answer my phone personally.

Book Update: It’s like a Bob Seger song, “Still The Same.”

Sometimes You Just Want Your Mommy

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We’ve had Sampson since he was eight weeks old, and we used the crate to train him.

Once Sampson was house broken he only used the crate at night.  After he started sleeping in bed with us, he used his crate when he wanted to.

When Delilah joined our pack we added a second crate.   I’m pretty sure that whoever had Delilah before us, also used the crate, because she doesn’t mind it at all.  In fact, if she’s misbehaving all we have to say is, “Do you want to go in your crate?” And she runs right in there.  She will also stay in the crate without having to latch the door.

When we moved we only set one crate up, for Delilah of course.  After a bit of time I noticed Sampson was going back inside the crate, so we set the second crate up, but we are now back to one crate.  It sits in the corner of the living room and Delilah uses it when we need her in it or when she wants it, which isn’t frequent.

Mostly the crate is used by Bob.

Last night after the dogs finished their snacks Sampson started wandering around.  He climbed down off the couch and went into the crate where I heard him scratching around.

The he walked out and scratched at the rug, he laid down but I could tell he just wasn’t comfortable, so I sat down on the floor with my back to the couch and patted the floor in front of me.  He just looked at me with his sad eyes.

So I got up, grabbed a blanket and threw it over my legs.  His eyes lit up and before I had even finished arranging the blanket, he got up and came over and laid next to me.  He put his head on my leg and I stroked his ears and he went to sleep.

Sometimes you just want your Mommy.

Book Update: My book has 6,378 words.

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