Heart Like a Dog

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

Snarky Dogs

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We had our first play date with another dog at our house yesterday. 

I was a little nervous as to how Delilah would react, so we wanted to introduce the dogs in the best way possible.  I’ve heard all kinds of ways to introduce dogs, but this is what we decided to do.

Since the new dog, Pheebs was female we introduced Sampson first.  As I’ve mentioned previously Sampson is very good off leash so Hubby brought him outside and made him wait while our friend got out of the car.  Then he released Sampson to welcome our guest.

Then Sampson noticed Pheebs in the car so our friend opened the door and Pheebs jumped out.   After a quick greeting, she started running around the yard and then she ran up to the front door where Delilah was waiting.  When she approached the door Delilah started gnashing her teeth, barking and growling.  🙁  This really wasn’t a surprise because Delilah tends to be snarky with other dogs when there is something between them.

I opened the door and Delilah came charging out, but after a quick few seconds where both girls stood stiffly still sniffing each other they were off and running.

I opened the gate to the back yard and all three dogs ran inside, where they continued checking each other out.  Then we opened the door from inside the house and they all came inside.

As it turns out I didn’t need to worry about Delilah at all.  She and Pheebs were fast friends, they played like Sampson and Delilah usually play.  Everywhere Delilah went Pheebs was right behind her.  🙂  It was so cute.

Sampson was the snarky one. 🙁

Small Successes

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I wanted to share with you a small success Delilah had last night in our walk around the block.

You may remember there are a couple of dogs contained by an electronic fence at one of the houses we pass when we take our neighborhood walk.

One of the dogs is quite docile and just stands/sits there watching, the other dog loves to run back and forth along the border barking.  This sets Delilah into a fine mood and gets her lunging and barking on the end of her leash trying to get at this dog.

I entice her with treats as I continue to walk but obviously the leash gets taut and I end up pulling on her, which I don’t care for.

 We approach the house on the opposite side of the street and as we do I am ever watchful, when I see the outside light on I know the dog(s) are out. 

Last night I decided to take Delilah on the 30 foot leash so she had a bit of freedom. As we got closer to the house I could see the light was on so I began wrapping the leash around my arm. 

I mentioned to Hubby, “I don’t see a dog.”

Hubby murmured back, “He’s out there, just watching.”

Delilah knows where this house is and the closer we get, the more antsy she gets.  Last night however she was intent on something on the ground and she stopped to piddle directly across from the house.

I had seen the dog though, so I stepped in front of her hoping to block her view. 

I failed. 

I could tell by the look in her eyes that she had seen the dog.  As soon as she finished her business she made to head on over and give a not so friendly hello, but before she could get to the end of the leash (while it was still somewhat loose) I said, “Leave it, it’s ok” and calmly kept walking.

She turned and headed in my direction.

Then she hesitated a second and turned once again to confront her frenemy and one more time I said, “Leave it,” and kept walking. 

Once again she returned to me, but this time she didn’t turn back and we continued our walk without further incident.

This morning Kristine at Rescued Insanity had a post called “Failure Isn’t Always What It Seems” where she shared examples of a failure turning into a success and she asked her readers to share instances where they had done something similar.  I had been planning on sharing this as a blog post anyway and it didn’t dawn on me until I started typing that I had a perfect example here.

If I hadn’t failed in blocking Delilah’s view, she might not have had the opportunity to succeed at making a choice to walk past the other dog.

Following Kristine’s lead I will ask you, have you ever had an instance where a failure turned into a success?  Did you view it that way at the time or did it take you a while (like me) to realize it?

Social Media For Social Good – Happy Birthday Dear Delilah

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As usual I’m late to this party.

I’ve mentioned before, sometimes things aren’t quite clear to me when I read about them.  Hence, not knowing what I was supposed to do for this event, my post is a bit late.  But none-the-less, I am here!

Two Little Cavaliers and Pamper Yourself In Pink are hosting a Social Media Blog Event.  Bloggers sign up to promote their blogs on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.  On specific days (12/14, 12/18 and 12/22) these 30 bloggers will have posts that will contain links to enter the contest.  Follow the instructions in the blog post by going to the link and entering the contest. (The free WordPress account won’t let me add the script myself.)

The money paid by these bloggers will be split 40/60.  You can enter the drawing here.  The winner will receive $112 cash AND $213 will be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice!  How exciting is that?   Please go check the link out and enter to win.  What do you have to lose?

Before I knew I was supposed to be blogging about this event, I had planned a post for Delilah’s birthday.

Yes, today is my darling Delilah’s sixth birthday, or at least this is the date we have chosen as her birthday  since we don’t really know the date she was born.  When we adopted her in May of 2007 our vet told us she was maybe 18 months old, going back 18 months to December we chose this date to celebrate as it was my grandmother’s birthday and she was very special to me.  The vet’s office lists Delilah’s date of birth as December 1st.

We celebrated her birthday with the family on Saturday.  Pizza and cake for the human partiers and raw food and special cookies for the canines. 🙂

I thought it should have said 'Princess' since Sampson's cookie said 'Prince' but I didn't make them.

 

I handed my niece the camera and said she's fast. My niece gasped Delilah gobbled up that cookie.

 

Seeing she was the birthday girl, she got her bag first.

 

My sister spoils them, so Sampson got a bag too.

 

They sure got a lot of loot.

A brief history.  Delilah was adopted by us from American Lab Rescue, she came to us from a high kill shelter in Louisiana via a converted horse trailer from her foster family in Tennessee.  You can read her story here.

Hubby always says, “Delilah is one dog who is happy to be alive.”

She greets and embraces life head on, whatever is thrown her way she is up for the challenge.

Her enthusiasm for life is amazing, everything she does is with her whole being.  Nothing is half-assed with this dog. 🙂

I could stand to take a few lessons from this gal.

Funny, sweet, frustrating, impetuous, enthusiastic, challenging, silly, stubborn, loving, these are all words I use to describe my girl.

So today on this special day we call your birthday I’d like to say thank you Delilah for all the joy and laughter you have brought into my life.  I am grateful to whoever looked at you and said, “We can save this girl.”

You make me a better person Delilah and for that I thank you.

Think of the lives you can save simply by entering this contest.  Who knows, the donation made on your behalf just might give someone else their ‘Delilah.’

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