Heart Like a Dog

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

You Make Me Laugh – December 6, 2015

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You make me laugh (or smile), the sweet, funny, loving things my dogs do on a daily basis that brings a smile to my face or a laugh to my lips.

Delilah, the way you rest your head on Dad’s shoulder while he’s driving, in the hopes of getting a bite of his sandwich…

Labrador Loves Food

You make me laugh.

I took this photo on our way to New Hampshire last weekend. We had made some sandwiches so we wouldn’t have to stop for food.

When Hubby took his sandwich out, Delilah took notice.

It really made me laugh.

Plus it’s a super cute photo, there’s no denying it. 🙂

The Sky Is Falling

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Sometimes I think the Universe has a weird sense of humor and I just have to laugh. No siriusly, if I didn’t laugh I’d probably cry.

What I mean is, it seems like I just get one thing ironed out and another wrinkle appears.

As long time readers may recall last year we struggled with Delilah chasing leaves. In fact, in one memorable adventure I wound up on my back in the road because Delilah thought a leaf was worth chasing. (From my point of view, it wasn’t.)

In the fictional story of Chicken Little a chicken is hit on the head with an acorn and starts a real fuss about the sky falling.  Now I was told that chickens were smart, so it seems to me this little chicken would do some kind of investigating, like maybe look up into the sky and see if a big ole’ chunk was missing, but she doesn’t. Instead she engages a myriad of other animals and together they all rush off to tell the King the horrible news that the sky is falling.

I know, what the hell does a chicken have to do with my blog?

We’ve had some lovely fall weather. I can’t complain, but the acorns, the acorns are intense this year. I’d go so far as to say, it’s raining acorns and has been for at least the past month.

Smashed, cracked or whole, we have acorns.

Smashed, cracked or whole, we have acorns.

We either don’t have enough squirrels in our area, or that little bastards aren’t doing their jobs, because we are practically swimming in acorns.

Sometimes it seems like the sky IS falling, and my own chicken little doesn’t understand that they are in fact acorns that are falling to the ground and rolling down the street.

When we step into the woods the first thing we hear is an acorn falling. We stop, the dogs stare at the spot in the general vicinity of where they heard the noise.

It sounds like someone's there.

It sounds like someone’s there.

I heard it too, it’s an acorn, I say.

Remember in the Wizard of Oz how the trees pitched apples at Dorothy and the Scarecrow?  It’s like that, except it’s acorns not apples and the trees aren’t actually pitching them at us.

Oh and it’s not just the woods. We have oak trees all around us, all up and down our street.

Sometimes they bounce off the roof or the deck and scare the hell out of you.

And then of course, there are the times when they drop 10 feet in front of you and start rolling and Chicken Little drags you across the street as you’re screaming, “It’s an acorn!”

Yeah, sometimes the Universe makes me laugh, but don’t tell her I said that. 😉

If My Foot Would Reach

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Sunday morning we had the most beautiful fall weather. Sampson, Delilah and I headed out shortly after 9:00. The air was cool and crisp, the sky bright blue with white fluffy clouds. As we walked I looked up to the majestic sight of a pair of hawks flying overhead.

They were too high for a good close up shot.

They were too high for a good close up shot.

The dogs had headed up the hill, probably thinking they were going to get a walk in the woods, (they weren’t), so around the block we went. The dogs took their time. They sniffed the things that needed to be sniffed, and peed on the things that needed to be peed on.

We encountered one person. A young girl with her music, singing out loud to her heart’s content.

There were no dogs.

There were no other people.

There were no distractions.

Until Sampson stopped to poop and something, (what I have no idea), caught Delilah’s attention.

I’ve mentioned this before, Delilah is a hard core puller. We’re working on it, but until we get it right, she continues to pull. So Sampson stops to poop and Delilah goes right to the end of the leash. And stands there, staring off at Dog knows what.

If I stand here long enough...she'll give me a treat.

If I stand here long enough…she’ll give me a treat.

I had a funny thought. I thought, I’m more stubborn than she is.

I have mentioned a time or two that she’s a lab, right? A chocolate lab. Actually, I think she might have some donkey in her, because that jackass just stood there, at the end of the leash for about two full minutes, with me at the other end waiting for her to give.

Sampson got so bored, he laid down in the grass.

Yo, I don't have all day.

Dear Dog, it must be something shiny.

Eventually after standing there for what seemed like forever, I had the wherewithal to stick my hand in the treat bag, which promptly turned her around. I said, “Yes!” and gave her a treat.

Finally we were back on our way.

As we rounded the turn towards home we saw the mail truck heading up the street and they pulled into our driveway (I had no idea Amazon Prime used the post office for Sunday deliveries). Hubby must have heard the truck because he came out to get the package. Since we were virtually on the edge of our property, I let Sampson off leash and told him to “Go Get Daddy”, and then because I was stupid, or hadn’t had enough coffee (or I’d had too much whiskey) I let Delilah off leash too, with the same instructions.

She headed up the lawn.

Then, for a reason known only to her (probably has a lot to do with the fact the neighbor loves to feed wildlife) she veered off to the neighbor’s yard.

The arrow on the left indicates the path she was expected to take, the arrow on the right...well you know.

The arrow on the left indicates the path she was expected to take, the arrow on the right…well you know.

I was stunned. (Which I always am when she takes off on me.) She’d been doing so good and then…so I yelled, “Delilah!” In my deepest, loudest voice and then I said, “Get over here!”

She turned and ran back to me and then, that’s when I made my colossal training mistake. As she ran back towards me, I pointed at the house and said, “Get in the house.” Instead of rewarding her and praising her for coming back to me, I scolded her.

She ran up the yard and into the house and I spent the rest of the day apologizing to her (like she knew what I was babbling about) and feeling like a jerk because I failed my dog, and wondering if I’d just undone the last two years worth of work.

Honestly, if my foot would reach, I’d kick myself in the ass.

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