Heart Like a Dog

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

Lists…Day Two Hundred, Eighty Nine

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As you may know, I am currently participating in the 31 Days To Building A Better Blog challenge over at BlogPaws.  By default you will be discovering and learning the same ideas and techniques as I am.  This particular challenge is designed to do two posts per week for 15 1/2 weeks as opposed to doing one task a day for 31 days.  We are only into our second challenge so it’s not too late for you to head on over. 😉

Our second challenge is to create a list on your blog.  I do at times use lists, I have for the ABC’s of a Dog-a-holic, as well as my Seven Links challenge. My Follow-up Friday posts are also in the basic shape of a list.

Pets are in and it was only a matter of time before the tourism industry decided to cash in on it.  Nowadays many rentals houses as well as hotels are pet friendly.  There are also some restaurants that are pet friendly as well.  So without further procrastination, here is my list touting the benefits of taking your dogs with you on vacation.

1)  Cost Effective – Generally speaking you would be driving instead of flying, so you are saving money on airfare.  Also think of the money you are saving by not paying someone to come to your house to feed and walk your pet, never mind the cost of placing your pet in a kennel.

2)  Exercise –  I don’t know about you, but having to walk my dog is a good excuse to get me up and moving, besides isn’t it great to have a pal to walk on the beach with?

3)  Companionship – You always have someone to do something with, whether it be fishing

Or bird watching (in Delilah’s case that would be bird chasing)

4) Conversation starter – I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met simply because they stopped to comment on what a beautiful dog I have.  Really is there anything cuter than a dog on a golf cart?


5) Separation anxiety – I hate being away from my dogs and I know they don’t like me being away either, if they come with us no-one misses anyone; and Delilah doesn’t destroy the house while we’re gone.

6) Quality care – Let’s face it no-one takes better care of my dog than me (at least in my mind)  when my dogs are with me, I don’t worry about them because I know they are safe and well taken care of.

If you’ve never experienced the joy of having your pet with you on vacation; I urge you to consider it, it may take a little more planning on your part, but the benefits to both you and your pet are well worth it.

I Have To Laugh….Day Two Hundred, Eighty Eight

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Delilah love food.

I mean Delilah really LOVES food.  If I rang a bell every time I fed her, she would become the classic Pavlov’s dog and salivate on command.

Take last night for instance, I was sitting on the bed eating cheese and crackers while I wrote this blog.  Sampson was stretched out next to me on the bed and Delilah was sitting on the floor beside the bed.  Every few minutes, I would take a piece of cheese and break a couple of tiny pieces off and feed it to the dogs.

The very thought of getting that tiny piece of cheese, made Delilah salivate.

I can stare her down...

Delilah becomes so crazed when food is around, that she almost can’t focus on the task at hand.    When I started clicker training, she was so obsessed with the hand holding the food that she wouldn’t even look at my other hand.  I sent a question to a blogger who does clicker training and asked what she would suggest for a dog that gets so excited with the food that she can’t focus.  The trainer suggested using food that wasn’t quite so exciting.  I didn’t have the heart to write back and tell her I was using green beans. 🙂

I’ve been working really hard with Delilah to sit while I am preparing her meals; but all bets are off once I pick the dish up to bring it over to her.

When Hubby takes the garbage out, he walks over to the sink and opens the cabinet door; Sampson walks over to the outside door because he gets to go outside.  Delilah walks over to the cabinet and looks for anything she might scarf out of the garbage.

If I really sit and think about it; I get really sad because I can only imagine what kind of life Delilah had before coming to live with us.  It breaks my heart to think that she might have gone without food for a long time or that she had to pick through garbage to eat.

So really, I have to laugh at her silly antics around food, because if I didn’t I would surely cry.

Ooops, Delilah wants her snack.  Gotta go.

 

31 Days To A Better Blog…Day Two Hundred, Eighty Seven

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Last month on the Blog Paws site Dawn Miklich asked it anyone was interested in participating in an exercise; 31 Days to a Better Blog.   This exercise is actually based on a book of the same name written by Darren Rowse, who is a professional blogger.  Check out his website here.

Of course I said yes, because really that is my goal in writing this blog.  To become a professional writer.  

The first task, is to write an elevator pitch.  You know, in 200 words or less what you would say to someone you were trying to “sell” your blog to.

I have a hard time with this.  I find it difficult to talk about myself or the things I’ve done.  I think it’s because I’m afraid of sounding arrogant.

I call it tooting my own horn and I don’t care for it at all.  So I struggled with my pitch, the truth is most things sound much better in  my head than they do when I write them down.

So here’s what I came up with.

Life with Sampson and Delilah, the 411, is about my daily life with two dogs who are as opposite in personalities as any two dogs can be. l share the challenges and joy which come from living with and loving two very different dogs and all the crazy stories that come with it. 

Whether you are looking for some light-hearted stories to make you smile, or something more serious like training tips you will find this blog has a little bit of everything. Come join me on this crazy ride called Life with Sampson and Delilah, the 411.

That’s it.  I know it’s not right, but I’m not really sure what it needs.  One of the comments was to tell a little bit about what makes Sampson and Delilah so different. 

How’s this? 

Two dogs.  One calm, well-trained, easy-going male.  One excitable, food-driven, impetuous female.  And the dog mom who loves them both like crazy.  Join me in my trials and triumphs as I balance life with Sampson and Delilah.

This is where I second guess myself, if I can’t even figure out how to make an elevator pitch, how in the world am I going to improve this blog?

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