Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally, just wrap up my week.

You Make Me Laugh – March 13, 2016

Cupcake said, “So brave and so sweet. I mostly stare straight ahead and go to my happy place in my head. I also shiver a lot.”

How does your mom stand it Cupcake? I bet she laughs a lot. 🙂

Monika and Sam said, “Those easy going pups are the best. One of the sheepdogs used to try to ‘eat’ the air coming from the dryer if she couldn’t escape the infernal noise. Sam just sulks. Can’t decide if he hates water or the blow dryer more. 😉”

I think that would make me laugh, unless she was scared. Then I’d feel badly for her. 🙂

Emma said, “I’m the same way. Mom blow dries my ears and beard a lot and I just sit there and wait for her to finish with her nonsense!”

You are easy going like Sampson Emma. It’s very nice.

Elaine said, “I might be looking into doing this for Haley too since it seems to help a lot.”

From what I understand from the Physical Therapist, the underwater treadmill is THE best thing for the CCL recovery. I think it works best if you can combine it with some cold laser therapy as well or even some PEMF.

Alexa88 said, “usually hubby and I take lily to the vets together. one person to take lily in to the vet while the other, usually me, stays in the waiting room. thus able to explain to people in the waiting room that its our dog they hear and no she’s not in pain or having her leg taken off, she is just having her ears checked. I’m serious. that’s how much she hates the ear scope. we have had her from a tiny puppy so we know no trauma ever took place.”

Oh the poor sweet thing! I wonder why she hates it so?

Julie asked, “How did hydrotherapy go??”

I think it went very well. He’s had it twice now, the first time we kept the time down, but on Wednesday he did 10 minutes and didn’t seem to be tired afterward!

Pamela said, “That look on Sampson’s face in your picture? That’s Honey’s exact look when we lowered her off the side of the boat into the dinghy.”

One of resignation? LOL

It’s Always The Last Place You Look

Meagan and Merlin said, “The treat on miss D’s back reminds me when i was playing fetch with Merlin and the ball bounced and landed on his back and he was spinning in circles trying to get it and it stayed there til he stopped spinning. I wish i had that on video lol.”

OH MY DOG! I wish you’d gotten a video of that too. I bet I would have wet myself watching that!

Sheena said, “Daylight savings time has never bothered me, but I did hear yesterday on the radio it is the biggest day for accidents while driving!”

I also heard that there are a lot of heart attacks with the time changes as well!

Emma said, “We vote to abolish the time change nonsense! As for walking in the dark…did you not get the memo about the current correct way? Always wear black and keep your back to the traffic and the dog out in the street…people just have no common sense anymore! We always face traffic, and have our neon blinking lights on, so we cannot be missed. I guess if you have a death wish do whatever, but we prefer to live and walk safely in the dark.”

Oh no! I must have missed THAT memo. I usually FACE the traffic and keep the dog (or child if I’m walking with a child) on the INSIDE. Silly me. 🙂

Jan K mentioned the link wasn’t working and said this, “I am SO with you on DST…it takes me a week to catch back up on my sleep, no matter which way it goes.”

Thanks for the heads up about the link, I fixe it! It takes me a long time to catch up with sleep.

Monika and Sam said, “As for kids nowadays…there is no explanation. We have created an entire population where rules don’t matter and heaven forbid we stifle their ‘creativity’ for fear of wrecking their precious little tender souls. Blech. Yeah, I’m becoming that “get off my lawn!’ kind of lady apparently. :-)”

Shit sister, you’re preaching to the choir on that one. 😉

Mary Ann said, “I don’t like DLS either. It keeps getting harder for me to get adjusted. I almost missed my bus stop last night because I fell asleep!”

Oh my gosh!! Thank heavens you weren’t driving. 🙂

Jan said, “I always imagine one senator saying to another: “If we can make the American people switch times twice a year we can make them do anything.””

He he, you are probably right on that one!

DZ Dogs said, “And yes, my mom taught me to face traffic while walking and I do it when I run too.”

You HAVE to! How else can you see what’s coming at you?

Hey Universe – Barks and Bytes

Melf said, “I hope mom is okay and you caught up on some much needed sleep. The universe needs to say “I got this” for once.”

Mom is hanging in there. Still not able to walk or care for herself though. The Universe was good to me with the no change on Sampson’s adrenal, so I try not to complain too much. 🙂

JanK said, “Oh geez, the universe does like to mess with us, doesn’t it? Who needs sleep anyway, right? But your first sentence….well, you know I’m the same way as you about the positive outlook and stuff….the universe is really messing with us right now too. I’ll fill you in once we know how the story ends (don’t worry, it’s nothing life or death or anything like that).”

Oh gosh! I’m on pins and needles now. 🙂

Sue said, “Real life is often stranger than fiction 🙁 Hope your mom is recovering with speed and you’re able to get some rest. Rudy suddenly became afraid of storms (lightning and thunder) last year and I’ve spent a lot of nights up with him. I’m hoping he’ll grow out of this fear (Jeffie did).

Sleep? I hear it’s over-rated. 🙂 Oh I hope Rudy outgrows the fear, it’s so horrible to watch them afraid.

Misty Shores Chesapeakes said, “Not to laugh at your expense but the way you describe some of the events did make me smile…oh the pictures that run through my head!”

Laugh! PLEASE! I tried to make it comical when I wrote it. (I’m not always sure I succeed.)

Pamela said, “Y’know, in the cosmic battle of life, I’d put my money on you every time. :-)”

Oh Pamela, thank you for that confidence. I wish I had even a tiny bit of it. 🙂

Taryn said, “It’s a good thing you have your strong sense of humor for times like that! Plus, it’s blog fodder. :-)”

Truly if I didn’t laugh, I’d be a freaking puddle on the floor, and it does help me in finding stuff to write about. 🙂

Well that’s it for me folks, have a great weekend!

Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally just wrap up my week.

You Make Me Smile – March 6, 2016

Emma said, ” I love to sit in my front window and watch, but I often fall asleep there too.”

Do you have a bay window, or a window with a seat in it? Our old house had that and I do miss it.

Jan K said, “Luke and Cricket both love to lie on the top of the couch in the office and watch out the window. Sheba prefers to go outside on the deck and lie on the steps to watch the other side of the house from there. I guess they’ve got most of it covered!”

Sheba is like Sampson, if he had his choice, he’d lay out by the front gate or in the front yard and watch the world go by.

Cupcake said, “I watch out the window all the time. Who else will protect Mom from evil mail carriers, noisy lawn guys, deranged kids riding skateboards, the putt-puttering golf cart, and people walking by minding their own business? She’s lucky to have me.”

She sure is Cupcake, she sure is.

Taryn said, “My guys, and Wilson especially, have the neighborhood comings and goings down to a precise schedule. He knows when to get in the window to watch for his archrival, the akita from across the street. They hear the UPS guy from a couple blocks off!”

Aren’t they funny? They don’t have watches, but yet somehow, they just know!

Julie said, “There is a kitty across the street that comes up to our windows and it makes Cocoa crazy. She does not like kitties!!”

LOL it sounds like my guys. If the cat is in the house, most of the time they tolerate him well, but let us see a cat on our walk, or have a cat in our yard and all hell breaks loose!

Alexa88 said, “I often sit on the porch right beside lily. she will move right up to my side and lean on me. Like a big warm hug.”

Oh my, that sounds so wonderful. I love it when my dogs snuggle up to me.

Is It Just Me?

Taryn said, “I’ve had that happen many times. I’m actively trying to get out of the way and the DADO is actively trying to catch up. I eventually get grouchy, stop and sit my dogs, and let the ass pass. They get a nasty “my black dog is NOT friendly” snarl out of me and I get an ‘Oh, mine just wants to say hi, he’s so friendly……..’ If they continue to push it, they get what they get!

It’s so frustrating. You work so hard with your dogs and then clueless people just muck up the whole thing! With Delilah being such a large dog, I worry about her hurting a smaller dog. Although the animal control officer has told me that as long as she was on leash, she wouldn’t be in trouble. Still that’s a risk I’d rather not take, you know?

Lauranne said, “It is not just you I lost count of the number of times things like this happened to me and BD. One of my favorites was when I very obviously crossed the road to get away from a man and his dog and they decided to cross the road to come and join us just as I was passing a parked car leaving BD and me trapped…I think in the end I had no option but to turn tail and run.

Ugh, I hate that! I will dart into someone’s yard without a second thought. LOL I am constantly looking and plotting ways to get away from dogs/people on our walks. Just in case.

Emma said, “No, doesn’t happen to us much around here. Would love a video of you and Tigger jogging up hill, though!”

LOL one of these days I’m going to get that Go-Pro camera on me, so I can video it. I suspect a lot of people would subscribe to a YouTube channel with Delilah and her crazy antics.

Jan said, “There should be such a thing as Dog Rage with stories of DADO having awful things happening to them from responsible but deranged dog owners.”

Right? The sad thing is, it’s probably the dogs who end up paying for their owner’s stupidity.

Lexy said, “I used to run into that a lot with my neighbour’s (very very dog unfriendly) beagle. People seemed to think that because he was small and calm-seeming, that I was, I don’t know… lying about his being not friendly. He would literally play bow and act friendly right up until another dog was within teeth distance, and he shredded another dog’s ear once because his owner got surprised by someone sneaking up on them. When I ask someone if their dog is friendly, and they start with, “ummm… well…”, I don’t let Gwynn meet them. If your response isn’t ‘hells yes!”, then it’s “No, we don’t want to meet you”, i don’t need to know that your dog only likes black german shepherds who were neutered in the past 6 months, or get grilled about whether my dog is old/young/male/female/fixed/etc. I really want to know the end of your story! Because I really can imagine you stalking back down the hill, snapping “SIT” (and the dog listens, because you’ve got boss-voice on), and then telling the woman exactly what’s what.

LOL OH, if only I had the courage! I typically try NOT to have confrontations because my experience has been that most people really aren’t open to being educated about what they’re doing wrong.

Monika and Sam said, “Hahahah! I snorted chai all over my screen with the image of ‘lighting that woman up like a grill in springtime.” What a vision! After I stopped laughing, my reaction became WHAT THE [fill in the blank] IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE?! Sheesh. And for the record, trust me running downhill is much harder on the knees plus the ‘brakes’ don’t work. at. all. because of this thing called inertia.”

Ba ha ha, I love when my humor comes across. Sometimes I’m just not sure if people are finding it funny or not. As for the downhill bit, I have to agree. I was thinking of that yesterday on our walk, I thought it’s easier to be dragged uphill, than down. 😉

Mary Ann said, “On the bright side, these things make for interesting blog writing and reading. :-)”

Well thank you, I try to make it entertaining. 🙂

Misty Shores Chesapeakes said, “Naw, not just you. I think most of us have been there and here is my theory…responsible pet owners notice the not so responsible pet owners more than the average person because we just can’t believe they walk upright.:-)”

I think your theory is spot on.

Jackie Bouchard said, “Ugh. This has happened to me a lot! I feel like turning around and yelling, ‘Are you BLIND? Can you not see that I’m exhibiting all the universal signs of trying to flee?!” Like, I’m speeding up, I turned and went a different direction, I keep glancing back at you then picking up my speed. WtH??”

Oh I hear you!! I want to scream, “Are you stupid?” But I’m usually running so fast I can’t talk. 😉

Dachshund Nola said, “My favorite thing about small dogs is that you can just pick them up and move on. People are dicks!”

That would be a great benefit to having a small dog. And you are right, people are dicks.

Meagan and Merlin said, “It’s not just you. I was walking Merlin on the foreshore and i see a couple with their tiny dog so i move out of the way to let them pass. Oh no they drag their dog over to mine and this little dog growls at Merlin and they said something along the lines of “it’s always like that” but they on purpose dragged their reactive dog to mine when they knew it was like that.”

Don’t you want to say, “Buy a vowel, Vanna! Stop trying to make your dog into something its not!”

KB said, “I certainly have met my share of clueless dog owners. Because Shyla can be so fearful, I don’t let her meet dogs who appear like they might be overbearing or aggressive. However, I can attest that I have no stories as funny as yours. I’m sure it was terribly upsetting while it was happening but you turned it into a hilarious story.”

I hear you and think you are wise to protect Shyla that way. And thank you, I try to shine humor on the crazy situations so other people with challenging dogs don’t feel so alone.

Barks and Bytes – March 10, 2016

For those that missed yesterday’s post, I had a brain fart and forgot to wrap up the story. LOL So, what actually happened was this….Once Delilah and I got out of the dog’s sight they stopped following us. Whether the dog lost interest or the person turned the dog around, I don’t know. I siriusly considered dropping Delilah at home and then going up to the park and punching her in the face.

Lauranne said, “Is it wrong that I am a little bit gutted that you didn’t go back and punch her in the face? She’s gotta learn somehow! :-)”

HELL NO! If you had written that post, I’d have wanted you to punch her too. LOL

Jan said, “I think a good face punch would have been in order. Negative reinforcement works well on stupid people.”

I want to like this comment a million fucking times!

Well that’s it for me folks, thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally just wrap up my week.

You Make Me Smile – February 28, 2016

Emma said, “We make ourselves right at home no matter where we are.”

That’s awesome Emma, I think you girls probably get out and travel a lot more than we do, which may be one of the reasons you relax so easily. 

Sand Spring Chesapeakes asked, “So cute, is your mom still living with you?”

Yes, my mom has a small apartment in the downstairs of our house, so we used to visit a least two times per day. Now that Sampson is not doing the stairs, I leave the dogs upstairs when I go. I hope that in a couple of months, he’ll be feeling well enough to go back downstairs.

Monika said, “Sam is always looking for any opportunity to score a nice comfy warm bed, be it on an actual bed or on the sofa (the proof is always in the messed up pillows). That dog is shameless. Clearly, the D-dog is no ordinary fool. 😉”

Oh Sam! Does he ‘steal’ your spot on the bed when you get up to use the loo?

Making Sure Your Dog’s #TummyWorks

Thank you to everyone who commented and shared this post on Facebook, please make sure you tagged either me personally, or the HLAD page, because WordPress doesn’t give me the option of seeing who shared it. I have noticed a couple of you have already.  And if you haven’t entered for a chance to try this awesome new product out, there’s still plenty of time left to enter! 

Jan K said, “My hubby would probably kill me if I added another supplement to the mix right now.”

I hear that Jan! I need a list just to keep track of everything for my guys!

Jan asked, “Are we disqualified if we don’t have digestion problems?”

Absolutely not! Why wait until you have problems? A probiotic is a great supplement for any diet!

Dianne said, “I’ve recently read about the importance of adding probiotics and enzymes to our pets’ diet, particularly as they age.”

That’s absolutely right! Personally, I feel like they’re important at almost any age. They help to regulate the ‘good’ bacteria in the gut and I think as we age it becomes even more important as the body goes through the aging process.

Oh The Places You’ll Go – Dr. Seuss Day

This was just such a silly post. It’s been rolling around in my head for the last couple of years, but last year I missed Dr. Seuss day! I watch the places my dogs potty and it makes me laugh, so I snap the photos.

Caren Gittleman (who publishes her own tribute to Dr. Seuss every year) said, “This was soooooooooooooooooo fabulous that it needs to be YOUR tradition to post this EVERY YEAR!!!!”

I’m glad you liked it! I loved yours too! (You guys can read Caren’s HERE.) I like the idea of running it annually, BUT I do have quite a few more photos, so maybe I’ll change it a teensy bit next time. 🙂

It’s a Small World – Barks and Bytes

Cupcake said, “Mom had that idea in her head for Sampson – to drive him somewhere and THEN do the 8 minute walk for a change of scenery. Your brain told you the same thing as hers.”

Great minds. 🙂 I was actually thinking of driving him up to the OTHER entrance to the park, so he could get some sniffing done on the upper trails. I think he’d enjoy that. 

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s Mom said, “And I love looking up during our bedtime walk through the yard and seeing all the stars in the deep-navy-blue sky. Even the clouds are pretty at that time of night.”

I love that too. And with the upcoming time change (WHY? WHY? Just do away with that stupid Daylight Savings Time!) I’ll be back to seeing the that on our morning walks again. At least for a couple of months.

Beth said, “No matter how hard I’ve tried, I cannot make myself a morning person–especially if it means dragging myself out of bed before the sun is even up to be able to catch that sunrise.”

Believe it or not, it’s gotten easier as I’ve gotten older. I think it’s mostly because I don’t sleep as well as I used to.

Sue said, ” My preference is sunrise. I’m an early riser and when Jeffie was a little puppy, he and I would go outside (for him to pee right away) and sit on the back porch steps and watch the sun rise together. Sweet memories…I’ve been wondering… so, so glad to see Sampson has gotten to go to the park! Hmm…wonder which he would choose: a walk in the park or that steak? 😉”

THAT is a sweet memory Sue. As for Sampson he says both!

Dachshund Nola said, “I’m definitely more of a sunset type of girl – not only do I despise getting up at sunrise, I find sunset lighting to be so much more intense and vivid.”

I do love me a vibrant sunset. Here is a photo I took off the dock of the house we rented in St. Petersburg, FL, when my daughter got married. It was our last night in Fl. October 2005. 

It is one of my favorite sunset photos. Not touched up at all.

Julie said, “This reminds me of my Daisy. She hurt her back in her later years and the doctor said no walking or running and it was something we did every.single.day. But she had medicine and rested and one day we were sitting on the porch and she looked so depressed. Like it was no life for her without going on the trail. So I put her in the car and drove to the trail. It was only 1 mile and I drove so slow and the minute we got out she was SO happy.”

What a sweet memory! It takes so little to make them happy and they have no understanding of why their world has changed, if we can do something sweet like that, why not?

Well that’s it for me folks! Don’t forget to enter our TummuyWorks giveaway! Catch ya on the flip.