Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally wrap up my week.

Before we get to that, some of you have said you aren’t receiving the e-mail post.  I apologize for this.  I’m currently working on it, I’ve contacted Jetpack to see what the issue is.  I hope to have this issue rectified soon.

You Make Me Laugh – August 31, 2014

Molly the Wally said, “That is what staff is there for.”

Oh yes Molly, that is exactly what the staff is there for! 🙂

Sue said, “LOL Jeffie does the same thing with toys… lounges on the couch while his minions return them to him. ”

Would you believe that’s the exact word I used when talking with Hubby?  We are his minions. LOL

Pamela said, “Years ago, I read about a study of dog intelligence. The researchers claimed that border collies were more intelligent than golden retrievers because the BCs worked longer to solve a problem while the GRs looked to their people for help. At the time, I doubted their conclusion. After all, what is smarter than getting someone else to solve a problem for you?”

I’m with you 100% on this one. He’s a very smart dog, he knows he will be taken care of.

Canine ACL Injury/Surgery

This post is a perfect example of why I need Follow-Up Friday.  I totally forgot to include one very important fact.  Due to the limited physical exercise we gave Sampson from the time he first injured his leg until his surgery, the muscle in his injured leg atrophied.  I think this was a contributing factor to his slow healing.

Have you been following the Round Robin?  If you want to but are having trouble keeping up, I am adding each post to the community page.   So far we’re off to a great start!

Jen Jelly said, “I think I probably would have waited on surgery as well because from what I understand it can heal on its own sometimes. I guess given his size maybe it was less likely?”

I am not a veterinarian but from what I understand over time scar tissue will build up.  The dog will be able to use the leg, but will probably always have a limp.

Jane Rade said, “I agree with you. Conservative management sounds very tempting but often it just ends up being waste of time and asking for furthered damage (such as to the meniscus, the other leg etc.) ”

Nothing I read told me that.  I wish I’d known about it, I definitely would have scheduled the surgery right away.  I have heard that smaller dogs have a better success rate with conservative management.

The Writer’s Process Blog Tour

Emma asked, “Good luck with the publishing part. I don’t remember, are you trying to find a publisher, or self publish?”

Ideally I’d go the traditional route with an agent and a publisher.  Once it’s done I will be letting a few people read it and once I get input, we’ll see how it goes.

Pamela asked, “But you raised a whole other question: if part of your novel writing process is exploring the idea of living on Emerald Isle, why are you writing a mystery? Is that really the life you want to live?”

It’s hard to explain without giving away a whole lot of plot.  Let’s just say the mystery pulls the heroine in. 

Jan K said, ” Good luck with the publishing part, I imagine that’s not easy?”

I suspect it’s a lot harder than writing!

Stalked on a Walk Thursday’s Bark and Bytes

Sue said, “I was beginning to think Honey Chipmunk had a death wish! Hope your stalker is not a 100% outside kitty.”

No, I saw one of the kids bringing him inside once.  Although in this neighborhood I really do wonder about letting a cat go outside at all.  Nor would I let a dog stay out for any length of time either.

Lauren Miller said, “Right now we are having a major problem with wildlife. We have new neighbors who are feeding.. It’s been pretty bad. The dogs got into a fence fight with a coyote. ”

HOLY GOD.  I would freak right out.  What did you do? Our neighbor feeds the raccoons and fox, I wouldn’t be surprised if coyotes aren’t attracted to it at some point if they aren’t already.  

Jan K said, “I had to laugh at the glasses thing. Earlier this week I took Cricket up into the fields at the farm above us. I saw something in the distance and stood there squinting to try and see what it was. A woodchuck? Would Cricket want to chase that? It turned out to be a crow….they look a lot like woodchucks, right?”

Yes, yes they do.  Just like signs look like little white terriers.  I got your back Jan!

That’s another week in the bag!  Have a great weekend!

Welcome to this week’s edition of Follow-Up Friday, the post where I highlight reader’s comments, answer questions and generally wrap up my week.

You Make Me Smile – August 24, 2014

Sue said, “So sweet. When I’m in my office working on the computer, Rudy is napping right next to me. Rarely does a day go by that something doesn’t cause me to say sh*t. No matter how softly. Rudy immediately sits at attention and puts a paw on my leg to comfort me Definitely makes me smile.”

Oh, that would make me smile too!!  Say shit for me. 🙂

Watta-Melon

 

Groovy Goldendoodles asked, “Here’s a question that came to mind as I read your story – were there a million bathroom breaks for Ms. Delilah that evening? It would have been for me… BOL”

Would you believe, no?  I fully expected her to be up at least once during the night, but she was fine!

Jan said, “We are all guilty of leaving unattended food. But any dog that doesn’t take advantage doesn’t deserve to be called a dog.”

That’s true Jan, but I have to tell you, Sampson the best dog in the world, would not have taken that melon. 😉

Dolly the Doxie said, “We’ve read numerous times that dogs love watermelon. So does mom she finally gave me a piece and it turned into quite the drama, don’t ask. Glad you like it that much! Love Dolly.”

Oh Dolly, you must tell.  Please put it on your blog!!

Frankie and Ernie said, “OMD that much Wally Melon is gonna cause the PEE SHOOTER to GO WILD… and the POOP Shooter may get in on the act … LATER…”

See, that’s what I thought too and maybe a couple of air biscuits launched in the middle of the night, but not old iron gut.

Seeing is Believing

Sophie said, “I would be hysterical, leaving Gus off of the leash for a minute on a walk.”

I’m with you there, I freak right out when she runs off.  Mostly because I’m afraid she will get hurt.  Or someone will say she hurt them.

JanK said, “I sometimes let Sheba off leash, but do the same as you….only short spurts and keep calling her back to me.”

I think when you have a dog that has run off before, you absolutely have to keep it short, let them be successful with what you are doing and end it while the dog is successful.  Far less stress for the two-leggers in the equation. 

Jan said, “With all the scary experiences you have had with her who can blame you not to have total trust that she can remember what she is supposed to do when she hears you call her name.”

You are right.  It is more me, worried about it happening again.  That last time really stuck with me, she was so zoned out, she couldn’t even hear me!

DZ Dogs said, “What has helped us is just keeping our dogs attention while off leash, once the attention is gone its hard to get back (especially terrier breeds) they get so focused that they can’t even hear us! It can definitely be frustrating at times.”

It’s easy to get caught up in something and miss that opportunity to call them back.  I have to really check around, make sure there is no-one around and no distractions so I can concentrate fully on where she is and what she’s doing.

Kirsten said, “I think some dogs will never be fully trustworthy off-leash, because they are too prey-driven or too spaced-out or too food motivated or for any number of reasons. But maybe there will be some special places where your pups can be trusted, and it’s great they’ll have some foundation skills for those times.”

Agreed. Like if I was in the middle of 100 acres.  Then I’d feel safe letting her off-leash. 🙂

Groovy Goldendoodles said, “Leo was self taught, never required training and was born with excellent recall. I’m not kidding.”

Sampson was trained from a puppy, he is usually pretty good off-leash, although he had his moments.  That’s awesome about Leo!

2 Brown Dawgs said, “Good girl Delilah. Hopefully one day she will get with the program. Look how long it took Storm to learn steady at tests….lol.”

Ah yes, Storm and the steady.  Delilah and Storm, sisters from two different mothers. LOL

Keep Spam in the Can

Emma said, “Now I have something to think about on those blogs that do always hold my comment for moderation.”

Okay, comment moderation can be different.  Some blogs are set up so any comment must be approved by the administrator.  That is different than having a legitimate comment go into the spam folder.  If you are getting an “your comment is awaiting moderation” it is probably an administrative choice as opposed to your comment being perceived as spam.

2 Brown Dawgs said, ” I still use Akismet. It seems to work about the best. I really hope leaving a comment is easy for readers and if not, I hope they let me know. On occasion my spam filter spams a legit comment, but if I tell it it is not spam, it learns the difference.”

Akismet worked fine for me, it caught all the spam.  But there was about 185 spam comments going into the spam folder EVERY DAY.   Which meant, I had to go through the folder every day, to make sure there wasn’t a legitimate comment stuck in there.  Now my spam folder is empty.  No spam comments get through at all!

Rachele Baker, DVM said, ” I always check the spam folder before automatically deleting spam – just in case.”

I would always check that spam folder too, but now I don’t have to because I don’t get any spam.  At 185 spam comments per day, if I didn’t go through it every day, it would take me hours to scan that folder just to make sure a legitimate comment wasn’t in there.

Jan said, “I always wonder why someone would spend their valuable time spamming blogs and emails and matching wits with those devoted to wiping them out.”

Somehow I think it is a program that someone sets up that does it automatically, I’m with you, I think there are far too many other great things to be doing with my time.

That’s it for me!  Have a great long weekend and be safe!