Heart Like a Dog

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

Let Me Take You Down….To Funky Town

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Today we join our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs blog for This ‘N That Thursday.

“This ‘N That Thursday is for those times when you want to post about unrelated topics or each topic isn’t quite long enough to make up a whole post.  It can be anything you want, so feel free to grab the button and join us!”

Many thanks to 2 Brown Dawgs for This ‘N That Thursday.

Nosework Class

Okay, so there’s a lot of waiting around in a Nosework class.  We get that.  At our very first class last week our instructor, Ariane told us, probably the hardest thing we will do is find ways to keep our dogs occupied.

I’ve observed other participants and most of them are either working, playing or interacting with their dogs.  Except for this gal.

IMG_4492 She’s on her freaking phone!

IMG_4493 After her dog jumped around and whined, she said, “Okay Shelby” and she put her phone away.

Paparazzi could really sneak up on this one, I hope she’s not sunbathing topless somewhere.

Last week our dogs were allowed to watch what Ariane was doing, but this week our job was to distract them so they didn’t see which box she was putting the treat in, she also added some obstacles, just to throw them off.

I thought for sure that Delilah would be the dog that went through the tunnel, but she wasn’t!

IMG_4496 Here we have Oakley who remembers which box is used and goes right for it.

I used our down time to work Delilah with her Fronts, Downs, About Turns, Catch and Peek-a-Boos.  My goal was to challenge her mentally to help wear her out, since it’s not a very active class.

IMG_4498 This is what a tired Delilah looks like.  Normally she curls up tighter and opens her eyes the instant the camera turns on.

Down in the Dumps

I’m feeling a little down in the dumps today.  I wish BlogPaws was closer, I need them to inject me with a little bit of enthusiasm because right now I feel like this blog is going nowhere.  And that makes me super sad.

I really want to start sharing some wellness tips with you and along with that I want to give away some of the products I’m currently using.  I’ve contacted three different companies and haven’t even received a no thank you.

I feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done and I can’t find my motivation anywhere.   If you’ve seen it, please tell it I miss it and send it back.

This morning I actually thought about deleting the blog.  And never writing another word. Ever.

Maybe it’s just the winter blues?  What do you do when your down in the dumps?  How do you shake off the funk?

Gotta make a move to a town that’s right for me
Town to keep me movin’
Keep me groovin’ with some energy.
(Steve Greenberg)

Lessons of Love

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My little grandchildren were over on Sunday for our traditional St. Patrick’s day dinner.  My grandson is five and my granddaughter is two.

They’re both a little shy with the dogs when they first come in and truthfully I can’t blame them.  I mean to put it into their perspective the dogs look to them like a bull or horse look to us.

And if I saw a bull or horse running full at me, I’d whimper a little bit too, even if my Daddy were holding me and telling me I was okay.

But once the dogs settle down, the kids are very comfortable around them.

Which doesn’t mean I don’t watch them, I’m constantly watching and educating them.

Watch out for the dog.

Don’t do that to the dog.

She doesn’t want you to pet her right now!

The last one was after my grandson decided he wanted to pet Delilah. Which is in and of itself a good thing.  I was in the kitchen doing something (now here’s a surprise, I can’t remember what) when he made the announcement, “I’m going to pet her.”

The assumption is if I’m in the kitchen and both dogs are with me, I’m probably working with food.  Delilah can get a little snarky around food, so my eyes were focused on the interaction.

He proceeded to stroke his hand down her back and then back up, moving her fur in a way she is only accustomed to when she is being toweled.

Delilah shifted slightly to her right.  He moved with her and continued his stroking.

Delilah moved again, again he moved with her.

Delilah barked and walked away.

At which point I said, “She doesn’t want you to pet her right now.”

He decided he would then pet Sampson.

I took the opportunity to explain to him that dogs cannot speak to us and tell us that they do not like something, instead they might bark at us like Delilah did.

I also showed him Sampson’s teeth and said, do you see these big teeth?  If you continue to do something a dog doesn’t like, the dog might bite you.  And that would really hurt.  Then I showed him a scar I have from a dog bite and explained that I didn’t get it from either Sampson or Delilah, but we should still be respectful about what dogs need and how they speak to us.

A few moments later my grandson had taken off the door-sized magnet of Sampson that I have on my refrigerator and was showing it to Sampson.

IMG_4497 I heard him say, “This was when you went to the beach in North Carolina Sampson when you had little teeth.”

It was a cute ending to our lesson of love.

It’s not just a lesson of love to prevent my grandchildren from being bitten, it’s also a lesson of love for my pets.  To be their voice and not put them in a position where they are forced to speak for themselves.

What types of lessons of love do you teach your little friends?

Tasty Cubes

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Do you Dorot?

I discovered these wonderful little cubes at Trader Joe’s.

IMG_4388

IMG_4489 Currently I’ve only used the Garlic and Basil, but I love these things!  They are little frozen cubes of herbs imported from Israel.

One cube equals one teaspoon, no chopping, mincing or crushing. I pop three cubes of Garlic and three cubes of Basil into my spaghetti sauce and it’s just perfect.

Perfecto.

At Trader Joe’s the price is $1.99, at my local grocery store it’s $2.99.

Once I’ve used all the little cubes I have a nifty little tray to do something else with.

Dog treats!

You could basically freeze anything in these cubes.

Here’s what I put it mine.

IMG_4387 This one has pumpkin.  I used a butter knife and plopped it in, then leveled it off.

IMG_4488 This one has some applesauce and some yogurt.

They freeze pretty quickly and they pop right out. (Except when you overfill the applesauce.)

I don’t know about you, but my guys are always hanging around the kitchen, and when they actually stay out of my way, I like to give them a little reward.  The problem is we’re also watching their weight so I don’t like to give too many traditional dog treats.

Besides, have you noticed all the recalls lately?  That’s right, when you make your own treats you know exactly what went into them.

Do you have trouble getting medication into your pup?  Is (s)he a pill spitter? I see no reason why you couldn’t freeze the pill inside one of these tasty little cubes an hour or so before it was due.

Presto, no muss, no fuss.

Here are some of the other things I’ve thought of that you could put in there:

Beef or chicken broth

Cottage Cheese

Peanut butter

What’s your pups favorite treat?  Do you think it’s freezable?

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