Heart Like a Dog

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

Holy Pinata Batman!

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Many many moons ago, I wrote a post about exposing your dog to new experiences.  If you missed it you can read about it here.

The bottom line is if your dog is experiencing something for the very first time you can never be truly sure how he/she will react.

Case in point.

Last night I wrote about my niece’s eighteenth birthday party which was held at our house.  In this post there was an adorable picture of Sampson looking at my niece as she readied herself to pummel her Pinata.

What are you doing with that stick, T?

What I didn’t write was what happened after she took her first whack.

Sampson barked and got up and came to stand with me, my sister and my nephew.  He actually placed himself between my nephew’s legs.

Taylor whacked the Pinata again and Sampson barked again and that’s when I brought him into the den to join Delilah.

As I explained to Hubby, I’m not going to ruin an eight-year-old dog by having him scared by a Pinata stick.

Normally Sampson is not afraid of loud noises.  Last year I laughed when a particularly loud clap of thunder shook the house and Sampson jumped up and tore outside to lift his head and bark at the sky.

I’ve only ever seen Sampson afraid of one thing and that was an old rail road bridge we encountered on one of our hikes.  As we approached the bridge we noticed the walk way beside the tracks looked like a grate.   Sampson approached it, put one foot on it and trembled like a leaf.

We tried encouraging him and praising him but he was afraid so we turned around and headed back.  We did not force him to confront his fears, we just let it be and made a note to be careful around grates.

I will tell you, he was none the worse for wear with the Pinata episode, once the candy had been divided up, the dogs came out of the bedroom and Sampson was once again comfortable.

Cuddled up with his new friend, Hannah.

Can you stay with me? No-one pays any attention to me here.

Book update:  My book has 21,227 words.

P.S. I am struggling mightily trying to comment on some blogs.  I have left comments on DogDaz, Pawfect Friends, Paws Abilities, Rescued Insanity and Laurie Bartolo Photography to name a few.  Would you please check your spam folder and see if they managed to make it in there?

Simple

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How is it that sometimes the simplest things are what brings the most pleasure?

After a nice walk yesterday morning, Sampson spent the afternoon just enjoying a spring afternoon.

Our neighbor was outside working in his yard and apparently Sampson felt Kevin needed company.

I have to tell you, some of my favorite pictures of Sampson are of him outside, just enjoying life as we all should.

Enjoy what’s left of your weekend and make the best of your week!

Expect The Unexpected

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A few weeks back I wrote a post about responsibility, if you missed it you can read it here.

My intention this morning was a half hour morning walk and then another half hour, forty-five minute walk this afternoon.

Alas the best laid plans……

We were joined this morning by Brady and his mom, and then shortly after we were joined by three more dogs.

Just dogs.  No person.

The dogs were the ones I wrote about in this earlier post.  But their human was nowhere to be found.  I’m pretty sure I heard her whistle a couple of times, but she never called for the dogs, and she never showed her face.

There are two entrances to the park. We noticed a vehicle at one entrance, which is the one Brady and his mom use.  The next time we approached the area, there was no vehicle.  But we still had two extra dogs.

Both dogs had collars on, but there weren’t any tags to identify them.

I called them:

White Dog

And

Brown Dog

At first I couldn’t place the dogs, but eventually I remembered the woman and how the two brown dogs (not to be mistaken for the 2Brown Dawgs) had taken off on her the last time.  I thought maybe she had parked at the entrance I use, so I told my friend I would try to take the dogs with me and see if she was waiting.

She wasn’t.

I didn’t know what to do.  I text my friend and asked her if any vehicles were up her way.

There weren’t.

I then asked her for Brenda’s number so I could call and let them know I had two of the dogs, but Brenda didn’t answer.

The white dog left, but the little brown dog stayed near me and took little bits of kibble from me.  I tried to get him into the car so I could at least bring him home and put him in the fenced yard, but he wouldn’t do it.

I put Sampson and Delilah in the car and started walking back up the hill, hoping I could get the dogs to follow me, but the brown dog wandered off too.

Since they didn’t answer to white dog and brown dog, there wasn’t too much I could do.

So as much as I hated it, I got in my car and left.

About an hour and forty-five minutes later my friend text me and said they WERE Brenda’s friend’s dogs and they were at home, safe and sound.

I’m not kidding when I say this woman LEFT the area, without her dogs and was gone a minimum of an hour.  Not to mention her dogs have no form of identification on them!

Sampson and Delilah ALWAYS have a tag with their name, my name and my cell phone number on it, even in the house.

Because you just never know!

When we were in the process of trying to sell our old house, during one of the showings the prospective buyer let Sampson out.  OUT.  Not in the yard where it was fenced, no out in the front which was very close to the busy street.

Luckily for us our neighbor saw him just walking around and was kind enough to get him and put him inside the fence.  Thank god we didn’t have Delilah at the time because that would have been a whole different story!

If our neighbor hadn’t seen him, at least he would have had a tag with a phone number to call.

What about your dog, does your dog have tags?  What kind?   Do they wear one all the time, or only when you are out?

Oh and Happy St. Paddy’s day, we had a yummy corned beef dinner!!

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