Sleep In Sunday…NOT

February 24, 2013 By Jodi

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.

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

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

Now that feels good.

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

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

February 23, 2013 By Jodi

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. 🙂

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?

Co-Hosted Follow-Up Friday

February 22, 2013 By Jodi

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Co-Hosted Follow Up Friday Blog hop, the blog hop that let’s you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

My co-hostess this week has co-hosted many times before, I’m always grateful to have her and I always love reading stories about her Brown Dawgs.

Many thanks to our friends at the 2 Brown Dawgs blog for co-hosting with me this week.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub – Author’s Note

It’s great hearing all the code people use when talking around their pets. It never ceases to amaze me how smart our pets are.

When my pups get their nightly treat Delilah takes hers to the living room and Sampson gets his in the bedroom. There was this one night where I put his treat on the bed and went into the kitchen. He came strolling in and looked at me and I said, I set your treat up on the bed, go ahead in I’ll be there in a few minutes.

I’ll be damned if he didn’t head right into the bedroom.

What’s Yours Is Mine – Author’s Note

As Pamela stated, “Copyright is changing and bloggers need to be part of the discussions.”

Each blogger has their own idea of how they want their work shared. The creative commons license gives you many options to choose from, personally I think putting a creative commons on your blog let’s others know loud and clear what your expectations are.

What I forgot to add in that post is this picture of Sampson was included in the picture book I wrote, “And Along Came Sampson.” It’s copywritten along with the book. Did you know you could copyright pictures? I didn’t either.

I Like Sticks – Author’s Note

I was really happy to read that most of your dogs eat weird stuff and throw it up too!

Somehow that didn’t sound right.

I meant it’s not unusual for a pet to eat something it shouldn’t and then throw it up. Hey, he could be like Freighter and eat throw rugs. 🙂

One Word – Author’s Note

It’s so weird, when I first read about the one word challenge immediately Heart popped into my head. I’m touched and humbled how many of you thought it was a perfect choice for me. And I appreciate that so many of you feel I am already putting my heart into this.

Personally I can’t think of a more perfect word to focus on this year.

For those of you who chose a word to focus on this year, please feel free to leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail and let me know how your journey is going and if I can help you in any way.

I noticed after I posted this that Melanie’s blog said she would stop making buttons after January 31st. But she made mine last weekend. 🙂 So I figure it’s worth a shot if you want a button to display on your blog. If Melanie won’t make one, I’ll make one for you.

Just let me know.

This ‘N That Thursday – Update

We are truly blessed to have such a beautiful area for hiking and I’m grateful for the longer days when we have the opportunity to get out. There is something about walking in the woods that helps me decompress far better than a walk around the block does.

And yes, I’m going to seize those opportunities whenever I can.

That’s it for this week’s Co-Hosted Follow-Up Friday, many thanks to The 2 Brown Dawgs blog for joining us today.

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Heart Like a Dog

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

Sleep In Sunday…NOT