Heart Like a Dog

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

The Post Where Delilah Amazes Me

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My Delilah is a constant source of amazement to me.  As most of you know it’s not always a good amazement either. 🙂

I had a post all formulated for tonight, in fact most of it was already written, all I had to do was tweak it just a bit and it would have been ready.

Delilah had a different post in mind for me.

Tonight Delilah was amazing and in a good way.  I’m so darn proud of her I just felt the need to share it with all of you.

Our walk.

Tonight during our walk we encountered Tia (the GSD) and her moms while they were taking a walk.  I heard and saw them before they approached us.  We were on a side path so I had Sampson and Delilah sit and wait while the Tia and her moms passed.

Delilah sat perfectly.  She didn’t strain at the leash, she wasn’t barking or lunging, she simply sat and watched as they walked by.

Our Dinner

Normally Hubby and I fix our dinners and bring them into the living room to eat while we watch TV.  Sampson and Delilah usually lay on the rug in front of the couch.  Well okay, Sampson usually lies on the rug, Delilah may or may not, depending on her frame of mind.

We always used to laugh at Sampson because we would take the dishes out of the cabinet and he would go lay down on his place.

Lately we’ve been kind of lax about them waiting in the living room, so they’ve both been hanging around the kitchen while we ready our dinner.   Judge me if you will, I know it’s bad.

Tonight I set my plate on the counter and went to use the bathroom and looked over, there was Delilah sitting on the rug in the living room.

WITHOUT BEING TOLD.

After Dinner

After dinner, Hubby and Sampson went outside for something.  Delilah sat in the doorway of the kitchen watching as I cleaned up.  Since I had a light load of dishes I decided to clean out the fridge.  I had a plastic shopping bag on the counter and dumped a bunch of food in there and put the dishes in the sink.  Since I was taking it out to the trash I decided to scoop Bob’s box as well.

I left the food on the counter and went and scooped the box, came back out and she was still sitting there.  She and I took the bag out on the porch to toss down to Hubby and then we went back inside so I could finish the dishes.  She laid down in the doorway.  This is practically unheard of in our house.

This crazy, in your face all the time, can’t behave herself dog, was spot on tonight.

When I was done in the kitchen I said, “Delilah you were so awesome, I’m throwing you a party!”  I gave her some special treats, lots of rubbies and danced around the kitchen with her.

She really does amaze me sometimes.

W.T.F./WOO HOO Wednesday

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My W.T.F. Wednesday is pretty light in terms of quantity but the W.T.F. content  is strong.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m a little behind in news and slightly scattered about writing topics down to save for W.T.F. posts.  Which is why a BIG W.T.F. should have gone out last week to the  Maryland Court of Appeals for ruling that all pit bull type breeds are “inherently dangerous.”

Yes, you read that right.  America’s dog is labeled inherently dangerous by a panel of people suffering from HUMAS (Head Up My Ass Syndrome.)  That’s like saying all 52-year-old red heads write dog blogs.

What?

Exactly.

So hey Maryland COA, siriusly, W.T.F. is wrong with you?

Punish the deed, not the breed.  Don’t think your setting any precedents here, dog lovers united will not tolerate this.  Take your head out of your ass and look around you.  Go talk to someone who rescues pit bulls, check out the Humane Society.  Some of the sweetest dogs on the planet are….yes pit bulls.

I’d tell you to open your eyes but with your head so far up your ass you’d only see your stomach anyway.

Turning from the stupidity of the Maryland Court of appeals, I found some Woo Hoo news about animals today!

The County of Frederick, Maryland is defying the Maryland COA and refuses to “Profile pit bulls into extinction.”  Instead they will address issues of aggression on an individual level.

See, not everyone with the authority to make decisions in Maryland has their head up their ass.

And yes, there are already animal activists asking the Governor to overturn the ruling.

In the ‘I’m proud to live in CT’ news, we had three great pieces of legislation pass the house last night!

H. B. No. 5409 “To facilitate the reimbursement to consumers for veterinary bills incurred for the care of sick dogs or cats adopted from pet shops, to clarify certain pet shop penalty statutes and to prohibit pet shops from selling dogs and cats obtained from substandard domestic animal mills. ”

CT pet stores are you reading this?  You can’t get your animals from mills anymore!!

H. B. No. 5446 “To allow pounds to complete and retain vouchers for the purpose of payments to veterinarians for the sterilization and vaccination of certain dogs and cats and to require initial training and continuing education for animal control officers.”

I’m not 100% sure I understand what this means, but I’m hoping it means when someone adopts an animal from the shelter or pound they will need to pay the spay/neuter/vaccination fee up front and the pound will follow-up to ensure the animal is altered and vaccinated.

I do know it will give animals control officers the information they need which should help make their jobs easier.

H.B. No. 5289 “To classify a second or subsequent offense of cruelty to an animal as a felony punishable by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or imprisonment of not more than five years, or both. ”

While I’d like to see this type of punishment levied on first time offenders, I can settle for this.  I would like to see (as Jan suggested) an animal abuser registry similar to the ones for sex offenders.

I found out last Saturday that the Labs 4 Rescue group keeps their own registry and I imagine they are not the only ones.

Did you come across anything this week that made you shake your head and say “W.T.F.”  or did you see more of the jump for joy and scream Woo Hoo news?

It's Been A Great Monday!

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Last Thursday Delilah and I did a drop-in agility class.

I was  a little disappointed with our performance.  Truthfully it has been a while since we did agility on a regular basis, which may be why Delilah seemed like she was too intent on the treats instead of on me. She would dart off course and snarf around to see if the dog before her had left anything.

I’ve been thinking I’d like to try different activities with Delilah to find something that really motivates her and that might help us get more in sync.

I heard of this new dog sport called Treibball, it is sort of like soccer for dogs.  I was checking their website out to see if there was a facility near us and as luck would have it, there is one about 20 minutes away.  I called last Friday and left a message requesting a phone call to get a few questions answered.

This morning I had a phone call from the person in charge of Pet Education and Therapy, we spoke for over half an hour.  I started off with asking if they accepted titres and they do!!

I then went on to explain the issues I’ve been having with Delilah and the training we have already completed and how I am looking for a new sport to help us develop a deep bond.

We talked about Treibball but after hearing that Delilah doesn’t really care much for fetching a ball, Audrey thought that Nosework might be a better fit for her.  Unfortunately there are no Nosework classes currently scheduled but Audrey suggested I sign up for the newsletter which will notify me when the class is scheduled.

I told Audrey how food motivated Delilah is and she recommended we start with an Intermediate Training class which is a positive reinforcement class designed to help wean the dogs off the treats.

Audrey says she loves working with labs because most owners are amazed when she can get their dog to run down the center of the room and not eat the treats.  I laughed at that because it will be certainly a day to be circled on the calendar when Delilah passes up a treat!

The kicker is that since I don’t vaccinate for Kennel Cough she doesn’t recommend we take the class offered at the Doggie Daycare, so we need to wait for the next Intermediate Class offered at the other facility, which isn’t until July 10th.

I’m really OK with waiting because Delilah’s annual check up is scheduled for June 6th, which gives me plenty of time to get the titre results and vaccinate if needed.

Positive things are happening at Casa de Stone, I’m quite excited for Delilah to learn Nosework and hope we can get good enough to bring Nosework to the Mellow Mutt.

How was your Monday?  Anything exciting to share?

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