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

You Make Me Smile – March 29, 2015

Blueberry’s Human said, “Blueberry is soooo different from my last dog Shadow. Shadow wasn’t really under foot, but she was very vocal about how long it would take me to get ready. Have you ever tried to urinate while having a dog howl/whine/bark at you? It’s very unnerving. I called it “extreme peeing”. I don’t do well under pressure, so it was very challenging.”

LOL Have you ever tried to pull down your pants to pee with a dog’s head between your legs? Delilah loves to come up behind you and shove her head between your legs.  It’s comical but is also stressful if you are trying to drop  trou. 😉

The Nose Knows

Molly the Wally said, “The nose sure knows. Here it is the foxes that are driving all the dogs mad. ”

Oooh foxes, we saw one last year, but thankfully, there aren’t a lot of those around us.

Emma said, “Bailie is tracking all the time when she is outside. She is amazing! The first full day she lived with us, Mom took Katie and I for a walk and then took Bailie out. She followed our path to a tee!”

That Bailie is one smart little dog, you wait, Emma, she is still young but once she really matures, I bet she gets lots of titles.

Leah said, “I swear Zack can sniff out a discarded slice of pizza crust on the side of the road from 2 blocks away :->”

He must be related to Delilah!  I swear she starts sniffing a crumb of bread from about 30 feet away!

My Love/Hate Relationship with Winter

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s Mom said, “You left out one of my favorites though. The way the male cardinals stand out in their bright red bodies on the snow-covered tree branches. They are soooo gorgeous, especially if the sun is shining and reflecting off the snow.”

Oh yes, the cardinals, I love those too.  And Delilah.  I love taking pictures of her standing in the snow, you can really see how beautiful she is.  Here is one of my favorites.

Frankie and Ernie said, “We can’t find ANYTHINGY to like about Winter… NOPE… NOTHING… Dark Cold Gloomy and just plain AWFUL…”

I don’t find it quite that bad, but I do admit, it wears on me after a while.

Jen said, “Well I can get all those good things about Winter, except for the snow, in the Fall here. I’m done with Ohio winters. My 5 year plan now includes moving to Texas.”

You know it gets super hot in Texas right? And they have cockroaches as big as your dogs. 😉 Let’s talk about where WE’LL relocate when I see in you Nashville next month.

Pamela said, “Generally, I find spring and fall harder than winter. Once winter comes, I know I need to wear heavy socks, lots of layers, and a warm coat. But in the spring and fall, I’m tempted to get away with less. And I always freeze.”

I can agree with that.  There are many times I think it’s nicer than it really is and find myself undressed for walking.

Elaine said, “Hate the wet, slushy underbellies too, but I really hate when my nose is constantly running and I’m fumbling with gloves, kleenex and the leash.”

That’s what they make gloves for. 😉 For me, I wake up with a stuffy nose and the cold helps loosen everything up.  (Too much information?) 🙂

Jan K said, “I especially dread the bugs coming back.”

UGH, the bugs.  They are probably the thing I hate most about nicer weather!

Lauranne said, “I have missed you so much!!”

I have missed YOU too my dear, it’s nice to see you back!!

Once Upon a Time

Blueberry’s Human said, “Firstly, I am sincerely glad that you weren’t seriously injured …Secondly, Bahahahaha!!!!!”

Hahaha, I knew you would love it, I tried to make it funny, but I did need to sit on it a few days because I didn’t find it at all funny on Monday. LOL

Lauren Miller said, “When I was stuck with strictly leash walks only, I HATED it. I’ve always struggled with loose leash walking with Zoe because the environment is way more rewarding than anything I could ever offer her. There are squirrels, rabbits and deer oh my and she couldn’t give a crap about what I’m doing. I also get the whole front clipping harness woes. They step on them and get even more tangled in them and it freaking sucks. I have not found the magic answer. We work on it as much as possible and moving back to Oregon and right next to a big off leash hiking place has seriously helped because I can just let them run free and be dogs without being dragged around.”

I think I could write a whole post in response to just this one comment.  Yes, I love off-leash myself and until Delilah started running off, that is how we worked, but like Zoe, the environment is way more rewarding than anything I can offer her.  And of course, recently she’s taken to eating disgusting things.  The last time I let her off for a minute, she ate poop.

As for the leash part, I’m thinking of modifying my leashes to work the way I want/need them to.

Kari said, “I have a pretty cool tandem leash from Xtreme pet products that doesn’t get tangled in itself… but that doesn’t keep Mia and Leo from wrapping me up in it.”

Thank you for sharing that link with me.  I am adding this to my wish list.

Sheena said, “I hope you’re going to wear that head protection in the summer as well!!!”

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s mom said, ” Maybe you should start wearing a bicycle helmet instead of that baseball cap, just to be on the safe side.”

Mary Hone said, “I saw cute helmet on Facebook the other day you could get.”

I’ve actually considered getting a helmet, honestly, it won’t be the first time I’ve worn something totally crazy on a walk.

Emma said, “Mom only falls when running and always lands face first on the pavement and it is a bloody mess”

That’s awful!  Honestly, I realize how lucky I was.  I didn’t fall in front of a car, I didn’t hit my head on a curb, I didn’t fall on my face or knock myself out or break anything.  It could have been SO much worse.

2 Brown Dawgs said, ” I have a review coming up next week of a book about how to train your dog to walk on loose leash. I am hoping there will be a discount or even a free sample.”

I’m looking forward to that review, fingers crossed for a free sample. 😉

Jan K said, ” I’ll never forget lying flat on the ground with our neighbor’s German shepherd in my face (thank God he’s friendly). I was holding onto the leash and Luke’s harness and Luke was no longer in it.”

Oh lord, I can only imagine.  Did Luke run a long ways off? 

DZ Dogs asked, “Any chance you could practice some solid walk training with each dog one at a time? …Treats and clicker really do help, we just have to practice semi-regularly to keep the dogs in the habit of walking nicely. ”

I actually have a post coming up about what I’m going to do about this.  I just have to get the clicker thing down. I need someone to show me how to train the right way with a clicker.  Any takers?

Monika said, “Once I was walking all 3 dogs I owned at the time (2 Old English Sheepdogs and Sam), and through no fault of the dogs-just stepped off the curb to cross the street, stepped into a small divot, rolled my ankle and went down like a ton of bricks and realized later than morning I had broken my leg. The dogs all looked at me like WTF are you doing down there?”

OMG!  I’m so glad you were okay!!  Yes, I always carry my cell phone and most times I carry my pepper blaster as well…just in case.

Sherrie Petrie asked, “was it Sampson that had the knee surgery ????? My girl Trixie a 6 year old Chihuahua jumped off the couch about 2 weeks ago and tore her ACL and and a seriously luxating patella so we took her to the vet because she wasn’t bearing any weight on it at all and she was put on Rymadyl and Tramadol and was told she needed surgery. So we made an appointment with the Ortho Doc for the practice and by the time the appointment rolled around she was bearing full weight and didn’t act like anything was wrong. We were told that on small dogs under 15 pounds the ACL can scar over and surgery isn’t needed.”

Yes, Sampson did tear his ACL and we tried conservative management (similar to what Trixie went through) on him and it did not work for him. My understanding is it sometimes works for larger dogs as well, I know it did for Jen from My Brown Newfies.  Well not Jen herself, because she’s a wee bit of a thing, but it did work for her dog Sherman.

I’m so glad that it worked with Trixie!  As you may recall Sampson had a very hard time with it.

That’s it for me folks, I hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Easter!