Somewhere Over the Rainbow

March 23, 2013 By Jodi

Today we send a Heart Like a Dog virtual hug to our dear friends Steve and Bonnie.

Their dog Cody (a.k.a. Codeman) went over the bridge on Wednesday.

Steve and Bonnie are my daughter Lisa’s in-laws. Really great people, about six or seven years ago, they adopted Cody, a retired greyhound. If memory serves he was three or four years old at the time.

Shortly after adopting Cody they retired to Emerald Isle, North Carolina a beautiful small town on the outer banks.

Not Cody, but sadly I had no photos of him.

Cody was a very amiable dog from what I knew of him. Chilled and laid back, until it came time for walks. Cody loved his walks and Steve was always happy to oblige him. Many the hour was spent walking the beautiful North Carolina shore.

Being a retired Greyhound Cody loved to run. I remember a story Steve told of thinking it was safe to let Cody off-leash one morning and how Steve had to rush back to the house to get the car so he could travel to the next development to find Cody.

We know Steve and Bonnie’s hearts are heavy today and we wanted them to know that our hearts share their sorrow.

Run fast, run free sweet boy.

Co-Hosted Follow-Up Friday, March 22, 2013

March 22, 2013 By Jodi

Welcome to the latest edition of co-hosted Follow-up Friday.

My co-hostess this week has co-hosted with me many times. I learn so much from her, and I love reading about her training sessions with her brown dawgs.

What more can I say about her that I haven’t already said?

How about thank you for co-hosting. 🙂

Don’t forget to stop by and visit the 2 Brown Dawgs blog to check out their Follow-Up Friday post.

SDS – Author’s Note

How reassuring to know I’m not the only one with spoiled dogs. 🙂 Truthfully those nights don’t happen that often, but when they do…well you know.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day – Author’s Note

I found a delicious gluten-free soda bread that complemented our meal perfectly. I timed it pretty well so the bread was still slightly warm and the butter melted.

YUMMO

Still looking forward to Sunday’s corned beef hash and egg breakfast!

Counter Surfing 101 – Author’s Note

I’ve said it before, that dog has mad skills.

For those that asked, no she did not get sick. She is known as the dog with the cast iron stomach.

When she first came to live with our pack she had a sensitive type stomach, but once she got used to having two squares a day with lots of treats and a snack, there isn’t much that upsets her stomach.

Of course, there are exceptions.

One time she ate 3/4 pound of butter, wrappers and all. I thought she’d be hurling or shitting like a goose, but no.

She did drink a lot of water and I watched her like a hawk the entire day. Finally after a few hours she vomited the tiniest bit of foam.

No, the time she really hurled was after she’d cleaned up a good portion of the yard.

Talk about vile.

She cleared the house on that one.

Tasty Cubes – Update

The dogs love the little frozen bits of whatever they’re getting but I won’t be buying any more Dorot spices. I did not realize that these little cubes contain soybean oil.

Remember the post where I told you I’d share the healthy changes we were making both in the dogs and our lifestyle? Well one of the biggest things I’m trying to avoid is Genetically Modified Organisms a.k.a. GMO’s.

Unfortunately soy makes the list of the top 10 genetically modified foods.

Many thanks to Donna, from Donna and the Dogs to alerting me to this.

GMO’s are very, very bad. You can read more about them as well as find non-GMO brands here.

More to come.

Lessons of Love – Author’s Note

I’m so happy that I can teach my grandchildren to be respectful of animals. I feel it is my responsibility as a dog owner and animal advocate to educate whenever possible. As you know, some adults are a real hard sell, but I’m a firm believer that the youth of today will make the change I want to see for animals.

One of my favorite pictures with my grandson and the dogs.

And I’m starting in my own backyard.

Let Me Take You Down…To Funky Town – Update

Thank you for all your kind words, I really appreciate the support. Part of it is I sometimes feel like I don’t know what to write about and I think on those days, I’m going to have to give myself permission to skip a post, or throw out a photo.

Every day doesn’t have to be a chapter of a book, right?

That’s it for me! I hope you have a great weekend. Many, many thanks to our friends at 2 Brown Dawgs for co-hosting the Follow-Up Friday blog hop,

get the InLinkz code

Let Me Take You Down….To Funky Town

March 21, 2013 By Jodi

Today we join our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs blog for This ‘N That Thursday.

“This ‘N That Thursday is for those times when you want to post about unrelated topics or each topic isn’t quite long enough to make up a whole post. It can be anything you want, so feel free to grab the button and join us!”

Many thanks to 2 Brown Dawgs for This ‘N That Thursday.

Nosework Class

Okay, so there’s a lot of waiting around in a Nosework class. We get that. At our very first class last week our instructor, Ariane told us, probably the hardest thing we will do is find ways to keep our dogs occupied.

I’ve observed other participants and most of them are either working, playing or interacting with their dogs. Except for this gal.

She’s on her freaking phone!

After her dog jumped around and whined, she said, “Okay Shelby” and she put her phone away.

Paparazzi could really sneak up on this one, I hope she’s not sunbathing topless somewhere.

Last week our dogs were allowed to watch what Ariane was doing, but this week our job was to distract them so they didn’t see which box she was putting the treat in, she also added some obstacles, just to throw them off.

I thought for sure that Delilah would be the dog that went through the tunnel, but she wasn’t!

Here we have Oakley who remembers which box is used and goes right for it.

I used our down time to work Delilah with her Fronts, Downs, About Turns, Catch and Peek-a-Boos. My goal was to challenge her mentally to help wear her out, since it’s not a very active class.

This is what a tired Delilah looks like. Normally she curls up tighter and opens her eyes the instant the camera turns on.

Down in the Dumps

I’m feeling a little down in the dumps today. I wish BlogPaws was closer, I need them to inject me with a little bit of enthusiasm because right now I feel like this blog is going nowhere. And that makes me super sad.

I really want to start sharing some wellness tips with you and along with that I want to give away some of the products I’m currently using. I’ve contacted three different companies and haven’t even received a no thank you.

I feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done and I can’t find my motivation anywhere. If you’ve seen it, please tell it I miss it and send it back.

This morning I actually thought about deleting the blog. And never writing another word. Ever.

Maybe it’s just the winter blues? What do you do when your down in the dumps? How do you shake off the funk?

Gotta make a move to a town that’s right for me
Town to keep me movin’
Keep me groovin’ with some energy.
(Steve Greenberg)

Heart Like a Dog

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

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Not Cody, but sadly I had no photos of him.