Heart Like a Dog

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

What Did You Do To Her?

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A couple of weeks back my son-in-law went out-of-town for the weekend and I told my daughter I’d take the grandchildren for the day.

My grandson is five.  He’s just getting into the video games and me, I’m a big fan of Mario, so I figured let’s see what he can do.  Turns out pairing a competitive player (me) with a kid who only wants to make his character run fast and burn his ass on lava isn’t a great combination.  Still I tried.

Me: Grandson we’re going into the castle now, do you have this?

He nods his little head.

Me: Let me hear it.

Grandson: I got this Mimi.

I can get pretty involved with Mario, so it’s probably not a good thing, kids + dogs + Mimi playing Mario.  We were all in the same room, so I figured it was okay.

Mostly my dogs just avoid the kids if they get too grabby or make them uncomfortable and I am right there explaining to the kids the best way to interact.

But I was distracted by Mario and the demon who kept throwing Luigi into the lava.

All of a sudden I heard “WOOF!” and my granddaughter started screaming.  I looked over, she was sitting on the floor in front of Delilah.

Jesus!  Please don’t let her have bit her was my first thought.

I snatched my granddaughter up and checked her over, no blood or marks.  Thank you Jesus!  I hugged her.  “What happened?”

She’s two and a half but can carry on a conversation, “Yiyah WOOF.”

“She barked in your face, huh? That scared you didn’t it?”

She nodded her little blond head. Then being the caring grandmother that I am I said, “What did you do to her?”

Blue eyes looked at me.  “Did you do something to her?”

“I pull tail.”

“Well there you go, she doesn’t like that.  You should never pull the doggie’s tail.”

See how I roll?

What? I don't like my tail pulled. You wouldn't either.

What? I don’t like my tail pulled. You wouldn’t either.

 

Actually, I think it’s highly doubtful that she actually PULLED her tail, I’m sure she reached for it, but Delilah has a thing about people coming at her feet and I suspect it was more of my granddaughter reaching and Delilah responding.

It was my fault.  I should have been watching my granddaughter instead of playing video games.  There are so many things that COULD have happened and I’m thankful they didn’t.

Still it was a good lesson for me.  Even if I’m right in the same room, I should never take my eyes off the prize.  The stakes are a lot higher than a burned ass.

Heeeeeeere’s……………Manny!!

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Today is the Tuesday’s Tails blog hop.  This hop hosted by Dogs N Pawz, showcases shelter dogs looking for their forever homes.

Of course, my heart barks (no that’s true, I had a cardiogram last week and I heard my heart and it wasn’t beating it was barking) for all dogs.

I’ve noticed as I visit other blogs participating in the hop, that we all tend to try and shine the light on the breed that has the soft spot in our hearts.  Mine happens to be Labradors.  And since I found out about Black Dog Syndrome, I’ve chosen to focus my efforts on Senior Black Labrador Retrievers in CT looking for their forever homes.

Most senior dogs that find themselves in shelters have already had loving homes and for one reason or another wind up in a shelter.  I won’t go into the reasons why they do because that will bring my stress level up and cause my heart to bark harder and then I will want five minutes……alone…in a room….with the owners.  And it won’t be to tell them what a nice dog they had.

Sorry about that, the mind wanders when you get to a certain age.

Thankfully we have a couple of great Labrador rescue groups in CT so most of the time, the dogs get pulled and placed in foster care.

This guy right here is Manny.

Manny #2: Black Labrador Retriever, Dog; Killingworth, CT

Petfinder introduces Manny as follows, “Manny is a sweet lovable senior lab who came to us as a stray.  We believe he is around 7 years old.  He has passed a behavior assessment and ready for a new home.  He just wants love.   He wants a family to love him in return for all the love and devotion he will give.  He loves children of all ages and his favorite thing is talking walks and meeting all the neighbors along the way.   If you think Manny could be your newest family member please email right away…he’s waiting.”

If you or anyone you know is interested in adopting Manny, please contact Shana LaPointe at shana2576@gmail.com.  Manny is being fostered in New England and I’m sure they’d be happy to arrange transport for you.  And if they won’t, you just let me know.  I’m sure between us and all the bloggers we know, we can figure something out. 😉

It’s Tuesday’s Tails, hosted by Dogs N Pawz

Go Check

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Ever since Delilah’s big adventure last year, she’s been kept on leash on our walks.

I hate this.  She enjoys running so much and she looks amazing while she’s doing it, yet I can’t take the chance.  She has proven time and time again that she can’t be trusted.

Remember my moment of weakness in March?

If our park was totally enclosed, I’d just let her go, but there are too many areas with access to neighborhoods and that is right where she goes.

The good news is I don’t have to worry about her running off into acres and acres of woods.  The bad news is that she is running off to people’s homes.  And I worry about people and how some of them might handle unwanted dogs.

What do you mean people don't want me in their yards? I'm cute and I'm doing them a service by cleaning it up.

What do you mean people don’t want me in their yards? I’m cute and I’m providing them with a yard service.  Free. Of. Charge.

 

In order to grant her a little bit of freedom, I’ve been working her on a new command.  Go check.

I have to be careful in what area I use this, but normally speaking it works like this.  Sampson gets his retriever on.  Explanation for those of you who don’t have retrievers….he stops, stands still and stares, before he charges off after his prey.  Delilah will stop and stare as well. I call her to me, un-clip her leash and say, “Go check!”  She darts off, thrashing through the trees, makes a wide sweeping circle and comes panting back to me.  The whole thing is over in less than a minute.

She gets her run on and I get peace of mind.  It’s a win-win situation.

Until it isn’t.

She did great when we encountered the deer. And she’s so happy when she runs and when she comes back and so I had another moment of weakness.  It was the day after the deer encounter and we had just stepped into the field.  I had her pointed in the right direction, un-clipped her and said, “Go check.”

She turned around and headed for the houses, with Sampson right behind her.

“Just remember, she’ll always come back,” Hubby said the last time she took off on me.  I tried to remain calm.  I called Sampson, thankful when he came back.  I walked across the field, calling for her, whistling, clapping my hands.  After a couple of minutes I decided I’d have to try to hike through the woods to the houses and see if I could find her.  It was raining and the field is rimmed with Poison Ivy, so I was looking for a clean spot to enter.

Sampson and I headed down a trail, but I couldn’t find a way in.  We turned around, searching the edges of the field, nothing.  I looked at my watch, 12 minutes had passed.  There was nothing else to do, I’d head back to the entrance and look for a way through down there, on my journey I’d see if I could spot her through the trees.  If I got to the car and hadn’t spotted her, we’d jump in and I’d drive over.

Who was I kidding, it’s spring in New England even though we had a late start, the trees are green and you just can’t see through trees!  Still I kept my eyes to the right, scanning, hoping.

I heard a noise and looked up, there she was running towards me.  I’m not sure if she’d given up and gone to the car or just finished her rounds and headed back.  She was gone at least 15 minutes and she’d used up her last chance.

I have no hope that she will ever go off-leash unless it’s in a fenced in area.

When do you decide it’s enough?  When do you stop giving chances?

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