Heart Like a Dog

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

A Really Good Recall

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As you know, I’ve really been struggling with Delilah and her recall.

I think for the most part it is my fault, I think I have sullied the word.

For whatever reason Sampson’s recall is come, Delilah’s is here, but they respond to many things.  Number one being their names which I think is good,  but a lot of times when we are walking I say this way or et eh.

I’ve had some success with getting her to return with the front command, which I think is perfectly acceptable for a recall.

I’ve really been working her lately with the here command.  Of course she is still on the 15 foot lead so she doesn’t have much opportunity to get too far away.  I try to call her back to me at least once every five minutes or so.  I also say it very loud with a slight hint of panic in my voice.  I figure if she ever gets too far away, my recall will be consistent. 😉

I’m really good at the 15 foot on leash recall.

Last night I found a sure-fire recall.

We were in the back part of the woods on one of the steeper trails.  For some reason the spiders back here love to create little tight ropes between trees.  Maybe they like to have parties at night, I’m not really too sure.

I am sure that I would like them to make their little tight ropes a wee bit higher.

I’m sick of catching them across my face.

Every once in a while one of those little suckers gets really industrious and builds a web across the trail.

I don’t mind that so much as long as they aren’t occupying it when I cross it. 🙁

Yeah, I don’t like spiders.

At. All.

Last night there was a web, right across my path.

And it was occupied.

The spider was pretty small, but that doesn’t really matter to me.

I still don’t want it crawling on me.

Did I mention I don’t like spiders?

In my shock, I dropped the leash and prepared myself to do battle.  Oh and I also screamed a little Ahhhh Ahhhh.

Wouldn’t you know it, Delilah came running right back to me?

Then I used the end of her leash to smack that tight rope out of my way, while the spider grabbed his prey and ran.

You don’t have to run little spider, I don’t want your nasty old bug.

The things I endure, all for the sake of my dogs.

Thoughts From A Walk

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Most days I use my walking time to plan blog posts or think about plot lines for my book.  The other day as we were walking I started wondering just exactly what was running through each of our minds as we walk.

I took a stab at it tonight.

We pull up to the park.

Sampson with his head out the window – I know I saw a deer just up there on the trail, where is it?

Delilah – Mom hurry up and open the door, I’ve got to pee.

Me – Sampson pull your big punkin head in the window, I want to walk.

As we get to the entrance to the field:

Sampson – Let me check the field, there’s usually someone in the field.

Delilah – Oooh, there’s a nice smelly spot in the field, I hope mom lets me roll in it.

Me – Dang it’s buggy out, what do they eat when I’m not here?

We turn right and head up the hill, Sampson is running ahead searching for deer, people or dogs.  Delilah and I trudge steadily along behind him.

Sampson stopping for a quick sniff – It smells like Brady’s been here once today.

Delilah – Why does mom keeping making me stop while she swats at me.

Me – Why haven’t I replaced that electric bug zapper, I could kill all these stinkin’ flies and stop them from biting Delilah.

We reach the opposite entrance to the park.

Sampson – Let’s run over to Brady’s and see if he’s out.

Delilah – I wish mom would drop this leash, I love running in this neighborhood.

Me – Ok, if we go around one more time, then head down the yellow and back up the orange, we should reach the car with about a half hour’s walk.

We take a left and head deeper into the woods, Sampson runs off looking for a place to pop a squat.

Sampson – Springing like a deer across the path, I pooped, I pooped.

Delilah – Hmmm someone pooped here, I think I’ll just pee on it.

Me kicking at some poop – Who the hell let’s their dog crap right in the middle of the path and doesn’t even bother to kick it off to the side.

We approach the field, this time from the opposite direction.

Sampson – Maybe someone’s in the field now, I better run ahead and see.

Delilah – I’ve got to poop, don’t worry mom I’ll cover it up.

Me – Holy smack that was close, she almost kicked dirt in my face!

We make our final turn and head down the orange trail towards the car.

Sampson nudging up beside me – Look mom I came back to you, give me a treat please.

Delilah turning around and pushing between me and Sampson – Hey that’s not fair, I want a treat too.

Me – Hang in there girl, just a few more minutes, you can do it.

We get back to the car and load up for home.

Sampson – I can’t wait to get home, the first thing I’m going to do is climb into the pool and cool myself down.

Delilah – Is it dinner time yet?

Me – My God I’m hot, I think my sweat has sweat.  I need a nice cold margarita.

What do you think about when you’re walking your dog?

Persistence Pays Off – Just Be The Dog

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Last week I wrote a post about Sampson and his efforts to get to the field on one of our walks so he could greet some fellow hikers.  Sampson not being a projective thinker had no idea once he reached the field the hikers would have moved on.

I let him lead us to the field, but he was disappointed that they were no longer there.

What I didn’t write about was how at the end our walk, the hikers Sampson was so eager to greet were just exiting the field as we approached.

His persistence paid off.

My topic now turns to poop.  Listen, if you are in my inner circle you talk poop.  It’s that simple.  Poop happens so you might as well talk about it, chuckle about it whatever.  It’s a fact of life.

When I’m walking the dogs I keep a good eye on them while they poop.  Since they are on the raw diet their poops can be really hard.   Sometimes I swear it looks like Sampson is pooping sand, it’s that dry.

One of my friends who feeds raw told me her dog’s poop was so hard, it hurt Lily when she pooped.  Ever since then, I’ve kept a good eye on them to make sure they aren’t uncomfortable.

Last night during our walk Delilah was trying to drop a deuce.  She has a tendency to squat, drop, walk etc.

Delilah assumed the position and I saw a little gopher pop its head out, but then it went back in.  She took a couple of steps and tried again but still nothing happened.   She looked at her backside (I’m not sure if she was trying to scare it out or what) and tried once again.

I pulled out my cell phone and called the vet.

Luckily I got right through and the gal on the end of the line was able to send a vet tech back to speak directly with the Dr.

While I was waiting for a response, Delilah kept trying.

It took her a couple of minutes but she eventually showed that turd who was the boss.  But she only passed the one.

Meanwhile the vet tech came back on the line with this juicy tidbit, Dr. Soutter said to try to run Delilah a little (it was hot as blue blazes out) and if I felt comfortable I could reach down there and pull it out.

(No thanks, I’d rather pay you $50 to do that.)

I mean if it was a matter of life and death, of course I would have done it, but she was persistent and kept at it and it paid off.

I did take her down to the field and ran for about a minute, (siriusly it was hot out) and of course I kept an eye on her to make sure she pooped. (She did this morning.)

Persistence pays off, Just Be The Dog.

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