Heart Like a Dog

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

The Post Where I Whine And Cry And Basically Feel Sorry For Myself

By

This is a post where I whine and cry and  basically feel sorry for myself.  I am apologizing in advance for those of you who care to read it and am perfectly fine about those of you who don’t.

A while back I went to a volunteer orientation for an animal rescue.  I was super excited to be joining the group because they are in the process of doing really amazing things.  I was so impressed with all of the programs they had in place and so many ways they were helping animals and helping people keep their animals.

We were asked to check off areas of interest to us and turn the papers in, we also went around the room introducing ourselves and giving a brief synopsis of who/what we were.

Somewhere in my introduction I mentioned I write a blog about my dogs.  The person in charge said she was interested in me because they were redesigning their website and the new website had a blog and they had no idea how to write a blog.

If I say I was excited for the opportunity to get my name out there a bit more and blog in a professional fashion, that would be an understatement.  I was literally over the moon.

The CEO of the organization occasionally sends out e-mails and a couple of months ago during one of our correspondences I mentioned how excited I was for the new website to be completed so I could help them with their blog.  The response was, “I am too.”

Imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail from the Office Manager on Tuesday saying “I’d like to suggest that everyone have a look at our Sanctuary construction news blog on the website: you won’t believe it.”

This is an uncomfortable situation for me.  I’m not very big on confrontation but there are so many times when I feel hurt and upset and I don’t say anything.  It is hard (for me) to be assertive about a situation without coming across as bitchy.

Naturally I was shocked and unsure what to do,  I sent an e-mail to the CEO congratulating them on the progress and then I asked, “I did have a question, I notice that you have a blog on the new website and I kind of thought I was going to be helping with that, did you change your mind?”

I knew I was uncomfortable so I was pretty sure she was as well, and I thought I bet I never get a response.  But I got one this morning.

I have no problem posting the entire e-mail but it is quite long.  Basically she said that there are two blogs on the website one is for adoptions and the other is for the sanctuary.  It is easier for the woman directly involved in the adoptions to handle the adoptions blog because it involves less work than forwarding everything to me.

The same goes for the sanctuary blog as there is a woman right in the same town who is taking video etc.  Once the project is complete she’s not sure if it won’t still be easier for the people who are on site to just continue to maintain their blogs.

She ended with “Would it be okay to wait and see how it all turns out? This is all new for us and  I apologize if we dropped the ball with you. We’ve got so much activity going on that if blogging doesn’t seem to work out there are LOTS of other ways for you to get involved.”

Then she thanked me for following up.

I haven’t stopped crying since I got the e-mail.

I know it’s petty and stupid, I know there are people who have far worse problems than this, I know everything happens for a reason.

It doesn’t make it hurt any less.

I only live about 20 minutes from the project, I was expecting I would be up there every weekend checking on the progress and blogging about it; adding their website to my blog and helping promote their cause as well as raising money to help them save more animals.

I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face.

I know many of you have your own blogs and have your own reasons for blogging.  Some of you do it for fun, just to have the experience of meeting other people through words.

Some of you do it for education, to have a place for people to learn and share the incredible experience and joy one gets from loving a fur baby.

Some of you are like me and want something more for your blog.

On days like today, I want nothing more than to shut the computer off and never write another word again.

Maybe I’m just not a writer.

W.T.F./Whoo Hoo Wednesday

By

Here is your W.T.F./ Whoo Hoo for this past week.

Please note this post is not meant to make light of the deeds described here, only to make fun of, ridicule, bully and just plain beat the shit out of the idiots who commit these stupid acts.

Manchester, Connecticut – This post kind of falls into both categories Police dogs finally receiving vests.

A while back I posted about some dog organizations that interested me, one of them was the vests for police dogs.  As you may know we had a police dog injured in our rental property due to the craziness of the (now ex) neighbor.  Thankfully the police dog wasn’t severely injured and Bobby the lunatic did not shoot at them, but at the time the police went into the house they had no idea what they were dealing with.

The police officer in charge of the case informed me that when they cut the cord Bobby had used to board himself in the attic, they heard a pop and initially thought he was shooting at them.  It turned out to be an electrical cord, thankfully for them.  Because I’m pretty sure Manchester police dogs do not have vests.

A lovely woman named Kathy Prudden paid CT-Vest-A-Dog $800.00 and never received the vests.  The owner Mark Moron Moran, has apparently done a bunk and is nowhere to be found.

How can you take money for something and not provide the product?  Especially for a dog that in all likelihood would take a bullet for you if he had to.  What kind of moronic piece of filth are you?

After reading the article though it seems like you’re in a bit more trouble than just not providing vests.  I hope when the Feds catch up with you (which I’m hopeful they will) they are using a police dog with a vest.  And when you resist arrest, which you will probably do because your too stupid to take responsibility for what you’ve done, I hope that dog wearing a bullet proof vest knocks you on your  dumb ass.

Really Mark, have you not heard of my friend Karma, she’s a fickle bitch that likes to bite people on the ass.

Think about it.

Fort Worth, Texas – Friendly Family Pet Killed By Officer Responding To Wrong Address. (Compliments of Life With Dogs)

Ok so first the cop responds to the wrong address.   The owners two dogs come running out to greet their new friend.  The owners tell the police officer “the dogs are friendly, just let us grab them and we will put them in the backyard.”  The husband catches one of the dogs but the other dog approaches the officer.

The officer thinks this dog is a Pit Bull

Looks nothing at all like a Pit Bull to me.

So he shoots and kills her.

The unnamed ball-less officer still has not offered an apology. As if that would even begin to make up for what he did.

I’m thinking someone needs to get this officer some education and quick.   One so he can learn his numbers correctly, two so he knows the difference between a dog running and wagging it’s tail in greeting from a charging, snarling I will f*ck you up dog and three at least get some idea of what Pit Bull type dog looks like.

Word of advice officer, when you deal with the public it’s a good idea to know the difference from an asshole and a hole in the ground.   I’d say everyone in Fort Worth knows who the asshole is in the story.

Chicago, Illinois – Puppy Thrown From Balcony Adopted By The Officer Who Saved Her (Compliments of Life With Dogs)

Another crappy story with a happy ending. Jamille Marshall was arrested and charged with one felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals after throwing a four-month-old puppy named Cowgirl out a third story window.  Thankfully she survived the fall with only a broken elbow.

Cowgirl  is recovering at the No Kill animal shelter and will be adopted by the officer who found her.  She will go to a loving home where she will join a two-year old sibling.

Ummmm Jamille did your mother ever mention that you shouldn’t throw anything out a window?  Specifically if it’s alive!

WTF is wrong with you?  Housebreaking a puppy does not mean you really break it.

With any luck the Chicago cops have your number and you’ll be pulled over anytime there’s a foul smell in the air.  Which I imagine in Chicago happens pretty frequently.

Pocono, Pennsylvania – Pet birds killed inside vacant home in Kunkletown.  (Thanks to Donna and the Dogs for this one.)

WTF is up in Kunkletown?  Bryana Renner and her fiance were in the process of moving into a new home, because of an increase in vandalism and theft in their neighborhood.   They left their pet birds at the old house and when they went to check on them on Saturday night they found that all but two had been brutally murdered.  The details are too gruesome for me, but I just can’t understand the cruelty of people.  I sure hope the police find these ass clowns and put an end to their bird killing days.

Now finally on to some really nice dog related news!

Whoo Hooo Wednesday!!!

Here’s the nice part about the Police dogs finally receiving vests.

That same wonderful woman, Kathy Prudden who coincidentally buys and raises these puppies before donating them to the police department, found and donated five vests, so finally the dogs are protected almost as well as our police officers.

Coco’s Forever Home

There’s a link to this story on my facebook page if you’re interested it’s a wonderful story about a young girl who fell in love at first sight and rescued a dog named Coco (who is now being called Sutton.) I could copy the whole post and put it here except this post is already quite long, so if you’re interested pop on over and check it out.

So what had you shaking your head saying WTF, or had you jumping for joy screaming, Whooo Hooo?

Exercising Challenges

By

It’s been incredibly hot and humid in the northeast the last three or four days which makes exercising the dogs pretty challenging.  I haven’t been able to find any areas of water they can swim in and Sampson is not a big swimmer anyway, so we stuck to our walks.

I generally keep their walks short in this type of weather, anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes,because I worry about heat stroke. If I have the time in the morning before the heat of the day catches up, I like to take advantage of it.  Such was the case the past couple of days.

Yesterday I decided to take the dogs down to the back part of the woods.  This is an area I generally don’t go to for a number of reasons 1) the scare I had back there last year, 2) the path has very easy access to a much larger park so there are generally more people and dogs down there and 3) the path down and back is very steep.

It was only about 9:15 am, but it was already warm and very humid.  There is a lovely little brook (when we have our fair share of rain) down there and it gives the dogs a little drink and a place to cool off.  Plus there is less sun busting through the trees which it makes the hiking somewhat comfortable.

As Kristine indicated last week, The Leaves Are Back In Town which means when you are walking your dog off-leash it’s not as easy to see approaching people or dogs.

The nice thing about this area is there are a number of options for walking, one of which is a lovely wash, that is fairly wide (in terms of hiking trails) with quite a good view of the trail ahead.

Very good visibility.

We walked for about 10 to 12 minutes up the wash, then I turned around and headed back.  I knew this would be the toughest part due to the steepness of the climb.

Luckily there are lots of stones, both small and large embedded in the ground, as well as some areas where tree roots are exposed.  I use these stones and roots as a way to secure myself to keep from slipping and falling.

Almost like stairs.

When we are heading down these steep areas, I usually say, “Easy Delilah, Easy” and she actually does very little pulling and waits very patiently for me.

On the way back up however I have been heard to say, “Pull Delilah Pull.” 🙂

Delilah is spectacular on the hills.  She is also great on the giant rocks, sometimes I actually think she is part Mountain Goat as I have literally seen her go straight up the face of a rock.

We’d been out about 35 minutes by the time we reached the top of the cliff, and yes I’m calling that a cliff, so shut it.

I swear the picture doesn’t do it justice!

By the time we got back to the car it had been about 45 minutes, that coupled with the fact that they were sniffing and exploring a new area, helped tire them out.  After a quick cool off in the pool, they each found a comfy spot and settled in for a well deserved snooze.

Whoo, that was a tough one!

 

You can say that again!

Delilah did rally a little bit later to play a couple of rounds of fetch to help us make a showing in K-9 Kamp, but for the most part they had a pretty mellow, relaxing day. 🙂

Do you modify your dog’s exercise when it’s hot and/or humid?  If so, what types of things do you do?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...