Heart Like a Dog

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

Never A Dull Moment

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Some days I really struggle to find something people will enjoy reading, but truthfully most days I rely on my dogs to give me something to write about.

Most mornings Delilah is laying on the bed while I busy myself in the bathroom.  At a certain point in my routine she determines either a) it is time for her to rise and shine or b) I have spent enough time in the bathroom and it is her job to come in and help me move along.

She does this by coming up at me from behind and shoving her head between my legs.  I know, totally weird.  It looks like I’m giving birth to a chocolate lab.    Once she has her head there, it is pretty hard to make her stop.  You walk, she goes with you.   You stop.  She stops.

Cute?  Maybe.

Funny?  Not really when you are on a time schedule.

Work for “Dancing with your dog?”  Quite possibly.

Most days Sampson has turned in his spot on the bed, for a spot on the sofa in front of the fire.  Smart dog that Sampson.  Sometimes when he hears Delilah making her ruckus, he comes to peek in and see what we are doing.

Other days, they start wrestling on the bed.

Today was a combination day, Delilah came into the bathroom and walked with me (with her head between my legs) all over the bathroom.  Then Sampson poked his head in and the two of them went out into the bedroom and started wrestling.

I was in a mood to listen to some music this morning, so I grabbed my iPod and put the ear buds in.  When I was finished in the bathroom I turned around to shut of the lights and leave and that’s when I saw it.

Blood.  Fresh blood.  Little drops of fresh blood all over the bathroom floor! Lots of little drops of fresh blood all over the floor.

I shouted for the dogs and they both came running and then the real comedy began.  They know their names.  Really they do.  But for some reason when you call them and say, “Delilah sit” they both sit.  “Delilah sit” and “Sampson come” result in both dogs sitting or both dogs approaching me.

Finally I got them sorted out and I had Delilah in front of me while I checked her nails.  It made sense to me to start with the nails.  As I was checking her second paw I looked over and noticed Sampson was bleeding on his right forepaw.  Is that a word?  It is now.  It would be your forearm, you know the part between your elbow and wrist?  It was the part between his elpaw and paw.  Yeah, that’s a word now too. Elpaw.

I got a towel and wet it and scrubbed at the blood to find out what I was dealing with, it looked like a small wound, either a scratch from the woods or maybe a tooth puncture from wrestling with Delilah.  While I was cleaning at this I noticed he had blood on his shoulder too!  Thankfully the blood on his shoulder was secondary blood from the first wound, but don’t ask me how he got it from his forepaw to his shoulder, but he did.

I cleaned him up, put a little Cortaid on it and sent him on his way.   But I will keep an eye on it just in case. 🙂

Book update: I have 3,007 words in my book.

Charitable Acts

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Do you trim your dog’s nails yourself?

I used to.  My attempts at nail clipping, ear cleaning and teeth cleaning use lots of treats.  And lots of coaxing.

There was a time when I always clipped Sampson and Delilah’s nails myself.  Sampson really doesn’t care for it and hides his head with his paw or hides his head in the sofa when the time comes.  When you call him to you he will come, but very reluctantly.  I think it is because there have been a couple of times when either Hubby or myself have cut the nail too short and made it bleed. 🙁

Delilah on the other hand knows there is food involved and she will shove her way into you, completely pushing Sampson out-of-the-way.  She’s a big goof ball.

One time after our Thursday night obedience class I noticed Sara cutting someone’s nails.  I noticed she had a really nice, big clipper and she clipped even skittish dogs with no problem.

That’s when I asked her to clip Sampson and Delilah.

Keep in mind the Mellow Mutt is a doggie daycare and training facility,with a lovely little retail section.  There is a groomer at the Mellow Mutt, but she rents the space, and technically is her own boss.

Not that Sara can’t (and doesn’t do) grooming, bathing and trimming.  But her passion is training and daycare.

One day when I was dropping the dogs off for daycare, Murphy’s mom asked for Murphy to have a bath and a nail clip.  She asked how much the nail clipping was.

Imagine both our surprises when we were told by Sue, “Sara doesn’t charge for nail clipping, she asks that you make a donation to a dog related cause.”

How freaking nice is that?

Sara also still has her food donation box out so if you don’t want write out a check for a donation, you can drop off a bag of food.

After I dropped S & D off this morning I got to thinking about their nails and how long it has been since they were clipped.  So I called Sara up and asked if she would mind clipping them.

Here’s the answer I got.

“I was just laying on the floor making out with Sampson and I mentioned that his nails were looking pretty long.  He hid his paw and said, “Don’t look at them Auntie Sara.”  🙂

They both had their nails clipped today and I told Sara I would pick up a back of food and add it to the donation box.

I think what Sara is doing is really awesome and I think it’s awesome she chooses to provide this service to animals in need.

Book update:  My book has 1,646 words

A Year At The Park

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The  company I work for gives me Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday off.  While I love having a paid day off and have nothing against Dr. MLK, it irritates me that we don’t get President’s Day or Veteran’s Day off.   IMO our Veterans have done just as much (if not more) for this country as Dr. King.  But that’s not what this post is about.

I had today off.  It was a nice day off and started with breakfast with my nephew (the Veteran,) my mom, my sisters, my niece, one of my daughters and my son-in-law.

After breakfast and a quick stop at Ocean State Job Lots for some gluten-free goodies, it was time to walk the dogs.  I figured if I walked them early, I could spend the afternoon resting on the couch because I didn’t sleep so great last night.

As we walked up into the park, it suddenly occurred to me, that it was exactly on Dr. MLK day last year that I first began taking the dogs up to the park on a regular basis.  I started thinking of all the things I had learned while walking the dogs this past year and I thought it would be fun to highlight some of them.

Walking the dogs and letting them run for at least a half hour a day 3 to 4 times per week will result in weight loss.  For the dogs.  I still haven’t lost any weight. 🙁

Some dogs need to be on a leash, because they just cannot be trusted to return when called.

A dog on a 30 foot leash, even one who has lost a lot of weight, can cause a severe fall when she takes off across a wet field.

A piece of deer leg will not be given up easily, AND if you carry that piece of leg, your dog WILL be perfectly heeled at your side.

Even in woods close by your house, you can still get scared.  Especially if you have an active imagination. 🙂

Beauty is where you find it.

I’m sure there’s probably more and if I think of them I will recap them in my Follow-Up Friday post.

How was your day?  Did you have it off, or did you have to work?

Book Update:  1,268 words.

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