Heart Like a Dog

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

Why I Love Thee Award

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Friday we received the “Why I Love Thee” award from our friends at DogDaz.

why-i-love-thee-award

As with most awards, there are some rules. Luckily for us, this award only has two!

First thank the one who gave you the award and link to their blog.  Thank you DogDaz. (BTW, she’s got a great post about BSL up on her blog today.)

Then, if you’re an animal, you tell everyone why you love your bipeds (your people). If you’re a biped you tell why you love your animal(s), or why you love animals in general, or anything you like about love.

The Mama, Honestly, I think I could write a book about why I love my dogs.  I don’t think I can sum it up in a paragraph or a sentence but I’ll try. They make me laugh, make me feel better when I’m feeling down and love me unconditionally, but most importantly they make me a better person.

Rubbies 1

Sampson, Mama takes me for nice walkies in the woods, she feeds me awesome food, she will pet me whenever I want and she doesn’t make me go to those stupid classes she takes Delilah to.  I love my Mama.

IMG_0045

Delilah, Listen, I have some flaws, we all know that.  I counter surf, pick through garbage, shred tissues, blow off recalls, eat poop.  Well you get the picture, I’m not perfect, but my Mama says I’m perfect for her. 

She named me Delilah Rose and she calls me her Second-Hand Rose because she says some person threw away a treasure. 

Quite simply she’s the best Mama I’ve ever had.

Awwwww.

Well there you have it, it’s a mutual admiration club. 🙂

The second and last bit of the award is to pass it along to another blog that you love.

This past December I participated in the Pet Blogger Gift Exchange hosted by Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes.  I was paired with Cokie the Cat.

Cokie 1 You know! Cokie the Cat, the Hollywood Insider!

Cokie and his mom Kristin have been amazing to me in so many ways and I’m really looking forward to meeting her at BlogPaws this year.

My nominee for the Why I Love Thee Award goes to Cokie the Cat and his mom Kristin.

Cokie

If you aren’t already a follower of Cokie’s, pop on over and say hello.

If your pet could talk, what would they say about you?

Sleep In Sunday…NOT

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Like most of you, we get up fairly early during the work week.  Hubby’s alarm goes off at 5:30 and mine goes off at 6:00.   Our dogs are used to getting up around 6:00 for a potty break, having a couple of treats and then heading back to bed until breakfast is served, which in our house is at 7:00.

On the weekends, Hubby and I like to sleep in.  Sampson and Delilah don’t differentiate between Saturdays and Sundays, so Hubby and I have devised a system.  I get up with the dogs Saturday morning while he sleeps in and he returns the courtesy on Sunday for me.

Except this weekend Hubby went away.  He left yesterday morning around 3:00 am.  So at 6:00 am yesterday I got up and let the dogs outside to potty, stoked the fireplace and went back to bed.

Until 7:00 at which time I was woken up with some very deep sighs…from Delilah.

Hmmmmmmmpf!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmpf!

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMFFFFFFFF!

Of course I got up and fed them.

Sometimes I really wish I wore a helmet cam.

You know a little camera on the top of my head so I could record the antics of these two.

They. Are. Funny.

Hysterically funny at times.

So this morning when they woke me up at 6:00, I got up and let them out, stoked the fire, fixed their food, fed them some cookies and went back to bed.

I brought the camera with me so I could record Delilah’s sighing.

Did she accommodate me by sighing?

No.

No she did not.

I spent the next half hour listening to her chew on a bone, while I rubbed Sampson’s ears.

Chewing 1 Don’t mind me, I’m just getting my chew on.

Chewing 2 Stop your whining, I’m a good three feet away from your ear, I’m not that noisy of a chewer.

Rubbies 1 Now that feels good.

Rubbies 2 Oh yes, chin scratches, what’s better than chin scratches at 6:30 am?

Rubbies 3 I’ll stop being so cute if you get up and feed us.

They won.

Do your pets let you sleep in on the weekends?  How do you help them adjust to the weekend vs week day schedule?

Approaching Fearful Dogs

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Neither of my dogs are fearful dogs in the traditional sense of the classification.  I say this because I think any dog faced with a new situation can be a little fearful.  Remember the pallet incident at the Mellow Mutt?

My point is I have no real experience dealing with fearful dogs.

Oh sure I’ve read about them.  In fact, I even follow some bloggers who have fearful dogs, but that doesn’t mean I know how to deal with them.

Which is why when I saw this posted on the Bringing up Bella facebook page yesterday I thought it would be good to share with others who may be in a similar position as myself. (FYI, Leslie was quoting Debbie Jacobs at Fearfuldogs.com)

“Words of good advice for anyone entering our home…

Meeting a shy dog?  Ignore them.  If a shy dog comes up to you for a sniff…ignore them.  Want to feed a shy dog a treat?  Drop it and ignore them.

First impressions matter.  If your first interaction with a dog does not create a fearful reaction you won’t have to put the time and effort into changing it.”

I wouldn’t have known this.  Yes, I would certainly know to let the dog approach me, but once a dog has sniffed me my instinct is to reach out to pet them.

How many of you have the same instinct?  Would you know not to reach out and pet the pup?

Our current house has a screened porch off the back door.  Shortly after we moved in Hubby changed the hinges so the door will swing either in or out.

During the nicer months, the back door (while we’re home) remains open so the dogs can go in or out as they please.  During the colder months, all we have to do is open the back door to let them out.

We’re lazy, what can I say.

When we first modified the door, both dogs, especially Delilah were afraid to push it open themselves.  We had to go out and open the door for them.

But after a week or so adjusting to the door swinging behind them, they realized it wasn’t THAT scary and they could push it open for themselves.

If we hadn’t been patient and let them adjust to it at their own pace, we could have dogs terrified of that door.  They’ve even learned timing when coming in one behind the other. 🙂

"Pssst....Hey Bob"

You’re right, it’s not that scary.

Do you have a fearful dog?  If so, how do you deal with the situation when introducing new people/experiences.  If you don’t have a fearful dog, did you know the proper way to greet them?

 

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