Heart Like a Dog

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

Be The Dog

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Back in April, Pamela over at Something Wagging had a post titled, You Can’t Do That! Oh yeah? Watch Me.

In the post Pamela made the observation that there are so many people who tell us what we cannot do.  Pamela stated “Well I like surprises—people and animals that do awesome things because they don’t know they’re not expected to do them well.”

Then she posted a video of a St. Bernard doing agility.

I know.  Not normally a dog you would associate with that sport.

But here’s the kicker, the St. Bernard has no idea that the agility ring isn’t designed for large dogs, he just knows that it’s something he enjoys doing.  And he does it quite well I might add.

In the comments I noted in response to another blogger’s comment, “it’s much harder trying to do something others tell you, you can’t, then doing something when you just don’t know better.”

I ended the post with, “Be the St. Bernard.”

Pamela said it was a lovely mantra.

A couple of weeks ago Pamela had another post, Don’t Worry About Messing Up Your Hair, in which she noted dog’s aren’t self-conscious like humans are.

A dog doesn’t care what it looks like after rolling in that mud puddle, the dog just knows that the mud puddle looks fun.  After this post I noted perhaps the mantra should change from Be The St. Bernard to Be The Dog.

Dogs have a way of living in the moment, it doesn’t matter how their day went, if you come home and say want to go for a walk, the dog seizes the opportunity.

The dog has no idea of what it can’t do.  Can’t isn’t a word dogs understand.

After listening to today’s keynote speaker, Lena West via the live stream from BlogPaws 2012 Conference I’ve decided I need to take can’t out of my vocabulary.

There are a number of things I need to do if I want to take this blog to the next level.

If I want this blog to live up to its full potential, I need to seize opportunities.

I need to be the dog.

Follow-Up Friday

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For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!

Hot Car = Dead Dog – Author’s Note

Your comments gave me so very many ideas, I just don’t know where to begin.

Julie over at The Daily Dog Blog made an excellent poster, “When is it too hot for your dog.”  This poster has lots of great information on it and Julie has made it easy to print off.  I made about 10 copies that I intend to put in my car, just in case.  I also will be stopping at the Dollar Store in the next few days to pick up some thermometers like Jodi Chick suggested to have on hand should I come across a dog in a car.

I did have a thought about making a video but I’m going to need a bit of help on it.  Can any of you who do video-editing suggest an inexpensive program I could use to edit video?

And rest assured it does not require me locking a dog in a car!

WTF Wednesday – Author’s Note

To answer a couple of questions left in the comments.

1) I am 99% sure Hubby does NOT read this blog.  (There is of course always the tiniest chance he will, but I won’t hold my breath.)

2) Delilah does NOT sleep with an eye mask.  Sampson however will.  Once I put one on him and left the room and a short time later he came out without it.  When he was done sleeping he just took it off.  LOL I love that dog.

The Pupperatzi just won’t leave me alone!

It Won’t Kill Them To Miss A Day – Author’s Note

Some of you agreed with Mr. Reluctant in the comments, don’t worry I don’t hold it against you. 🙂

I will say that knowing my dogs, I know how much their daily walk means to them.  The other night when we walked around the block Mr. Reluctant looked at Sampson and said, “Look how happy he is to be out walking.”

With that being said, there are certain times such as weather or time constraints when a walk just isn’t possible.  In that instance, it is my job as the caregiver to provide them with something stimulating which will help them release their pent-up energy.

This is especially true with Delilah, I’ve found the better exercised she is, the better behaved she is as well.

Despite the heat, we will manage to exercise the dogs, whether it be in physically or mentally.

That’s it for us, so how was your week?

It Won't Kill Them To Miss A Day

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But it might kill them if you walk them.

That’s the conversation I had with Hubby last night about walking the dogs today.  Let me just say that Hubby’s not that big on walking the dogs.  Most days I walk them myself, in the park/woods at the top of our street.  Some days he will join us, but most times when I ask (even on the weekends) he prefers not to do it.  If I have a day where I can’t walk them at lunch or after work, I will ask him to walk around the block with me after dinner.   Most times he does this reluctantly.  It is only about an 18 minute walk, but it’s better than nothing.

Yesterday was the first day of summer and the eastern half of the country kicked it off in a big, hot, way.   Here in New England it reached into the upper 90’s and it was extremely humid.  Too hot even for my little grandson to start his first day of baseball. 🙁

There was no way I was going to walk the dogs at lunch.  I debated going to work late and walking them early but in the end decided to shoot for an around the block walk, after dinner.

We ventured out about 8:40 pm and it was still hot, so hot that both dogs were panting half-way thru the walk.  Back into the air conditioning we headed.  Delilah was still panting an hour later.

About 10 PM the dogs headed out for a last potty break before bed.  When I opened the door, it was still like opening an oven door.  I have no idea what the temperature was but it was ugly.

Once everyone was settled in bed, I debated our exercise for today.  Temperatures are expected to reach the high 90’s if not into the 100’s.  Since my niece is graduating from High School at 6:00 pm my choices for walking the dogs are very limited.  There is NO WAY I would walk them in the heat of the day, which leaves later in the evening with Mr. Reluctant or first thing this morning.

As the opening lines read, Mr. Reluctant feels it won’t hurt them to miss a day of exercise.

I disagree.

I opted for a quick 20 minute walk first thing this morning.  We were at the park at 6:40 am, and it was already 73 degrees outside.  Both dogs were panting by the end of the 20 minute walk, so we went home and I had them lie in the bedroom with the air conditioning on to help cool them off, and wait for their tummies to settle before getting their breakfast.

I’m not sure what time we’ll be back from graduation tonight so eating their breakfast a little late will work to my/their benefit, and I figure when I get home I can work a little with them on training.  Specifically Delilah on her drop it command.

I’m pretty sure she ate part of a potato in the field this morning.

How do you make adjustments to your exercise schedule when the weather just isn’t cooperating?

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