Heart Like a Dog

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

WTF Wednesday

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There is nothing remotely funny in today’s WTF post.

I can’t even believe I’m actually typing this WTF post.  When I say I have a feeling of horror that is threatening to overwhelm me, I’m dead serious.  I want to cry.

There is an event that takes place at a campground in Indiana in September.  It involves live turtles and a cruel and brutal murdering.  I refuse to name the event because I don’t want my name or my blog associated with such a thing.  I am including the link to the petition here.  If you read the petition you will understand.

I beg you, please take a minute out of your day and sign this petition.  Please share it on your facebook page and any other social media you can think of.

All I can say is REALLY?  WTF KIND OF A-HOLE DOES THIS?  And brings their children there to watch it.  It’s supposed to be a family campground, WTF are you teaching your kids?

Bunch of f*cking hillbillies is right!

The petition has a number of e-mail and phone addresses to contact people who could stop this, I plan on writing to every one.  I would urge you to do the same.

I am however afraid of what my e-mail will say.

WTF In My Neck Of The Woods

Ok, I have to switch gears, if I don’t the blog will just be a post filled with cuss words.

I had a WTF moment this morning during our walk.  Do you remember the woman with the yellow lab (Norbert) and the Springer (Kingston?)  I wrote about them in the post about Delilah getting her leash caught in someone’s air conditioner.

Sampson, Delilah and I ran into them again this morning.   Apparently our walking buddy was heading in for a walk and they all went in together.

My friend said join them and so we all headed down to the field together.

And Kingston took off.

His mom pulled out a whistle and blew it and said, It usually works, he’ll come back eventually.

Yes he will.  Until the day he doesn’t.

I continued walking the dogs around the field because, well…..I’m there to walk, not stand in the field and wait for someone’s dog.  After a good three or four minutes the dog came running back out of the woods, at which point I was near a trail and said, I’m going to head in this way.

Off we went and we were joined a short time later by Kingston.

We headed up towards my friends house where we found them waiting AGAIN for Kingston.  I said, I would have text you and told you I had him if you weren’t here when we got here.

I didn’t stop my progress at all, I just kept the dogs moving as it was close to an hour and it was already quite warm.

Meanwhile, Kingston took off again.  I could hear them calling and whistling for him as we made our way back to the car.  It went on for a good five minutes.

I really wanted to say WTF is wrong with you?  Have you know care for your dog’s safety or well-being?

Besides the fact that your dog could ruin it for others by not being respectful, what if your dog got stuck, or hurt?  What if he fell off a rock or someone shot at him?  Do you think this stuff doesn’t happen?

News flash, it does.

All. The. Time.

Wake up and smell the coffee before you put your dog in such a predicament  that you can’t get him out or worse yet the authorities take him from you.

I can’t handle anymore WTF for today, the turtle murdering just did me in.

Bang A Drum

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I’m a dreamer. I have big expectations.

I get these thoughts in my head and think I can do something.  And then I don’t.

Jon Bon Jovi summed it up neatly for me in a song called Bang A Drum, that was written and performed for the Young Guns II soundtrack.

I called upon my brother
Just the other day
He said, “John I’m gonna
Die if I don’t start to live again”

I work each day and night like clockwork
Just tryin’ to make ends meet
I could kick this bad world’s ass
If I could just get on my feet

Yup, that’s me in a nutshell.

I could kick this bad world’s ass if I could just get on my feet.

I have lots of  ideas and no idea how to make them come to fruition.

This is where you come in.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my year and a half of blogging, it’s that my blogging family will help.  All you have to do is ask.

In my Be The Dog post, I indicated I wanted to take this blog to the next level.  Well that level is coming up and pretty darn fast too.

I’m planning on moving away from the free wordpress and going self-hosted.

I know, it’s scary.

Here’s the dilemma.  www.jodistone.com is taken.

I was shocked too.

Go figure.  Some chick named Jodi Stone wrote a children’s book about a ….lady bug.

No, it certainly was not me!  How could you even think that?  Me write a book about bugs!

I admit, when I was a child I loved lady bugs, until I saw a house that thousands of them on the ceiling and did you know they bite?  Yeah, I didn’t either.

No, I’m not including the link to her site, but I won’t be mad at you if you go and look.  Just come back here, ok?  I still have a problem.

So this blog is www.jodistone.wordpress.com, but what happens when I go to self-hosting?   Isn’t the blog name supposed to just add a .com to it?

In order to take the next step I need to know what’s going to happen to my blog name.  Do any of you know?  Should I just call the hosting company and run it by them?  Should I change the blog name?

Any thoughts you have would be greatly appreciated.

What's Right For Your Dog?

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Today’s post was inspired by my friend Donna over at Donna and the Dogs.

I opened my google reader this morning and was greeted by this, When Did We All Become BAD Dog Owners?

It seems Donna’s been noticing a trend of people (including yours truly) who feel guilty about the amount of exercise their dogs have been (or not been) getting.

I feel like it’s important to know your dog and know what your dog requires for exercise AND to try different things to find the perfect fit.  Not every dog needs the same kind or amount of exercise.

When we got Sampson at eight weeks old, he didn’t get  a lot of exercise.  I started taking him for walks after work but as he got bigger he became more and more of a punk, so I stopped walking him.

We tried to play fetch with him, but it wasn’t his thing.  He would chase the ball once or twice and then lay on it as if to say, I’m done.

He did like puppy play group which took place one day per week, and of course we did the standard obedience training.  That was it.   We had a really laid back, low-key lifestyle and Sampson adjusted to it.

When he was a bit older we started hiking on the weekends and quickly realized this was something he loved.  The hiking stopped for a while when Delilah joined our pack but I’ve recently taken it up again.

What I’ve discovered from Delilah’s addition to our pack is that in terms of quality and quantity of exercise, I have two vastly different dogs.

Sampson really, really loves his walk.  If he never got another lick of exercise in his life as long as he had an off-leash walk he’s quite content.

Delilah LOVES to play fetch in the water and can do it for hours, Sampson hates it.

Delilah is also very happy to take a walk, but she has a different level of energy and she also needs some mental stimulation, which is why I started taking her to agility class.

Sampson HATES agility.

Delilah, I’m not so sure, but I’m working on finding different things to try with her.

I’m always amazed at the dogs participating in our Thursday night agility class.  Last week we had an Alaskan Malamute, an Akita, two Labs, an Australian Shepard, a Pittie mix and two other breeds I’m unsure of.

Two weeks ago, I watched the Pittie’s mom struggle through the course using bits of food for motivation,  it seems Brisco only wanted to play with the squeaky ball.  Sara suggested instead of treats that the mom use the ball as a reward.  Brisco had a much better run.

This past week I happened to be next to her in class and I observed the two of them together, she was still struggling.  This guy has a LOT of energy, he’s actually quite a hoot to watch.   I wondered as I stood there, if maybe agility just wasn’t his thing.

But how do you say that to someone?

When we had each completed our runs I asked her if she had considered fly ball for Brisco or Treibball.  She had never heard of either so I quickly pulled up a Treibball video on youtube and let her check it out and explained as best I could what flyball was.

I don’t ever want to discourage anyone from interacting with their dogs, but I also believe that not all dogs are cut out for all things.  If you find something that your dog loves to do, then you should do it.

It shouldn’t matter if your neighbor next door takes their dog running every morning, it might not be YOUR dog’s thing.

Find something you and your dog both like and do it, don’t worry what anyone else is doing, the important thing is that you are BOTH enjoying it.

Just Be The Dog.

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