Heart Like a Dog

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

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The Diva of Drama

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We’re in the midst of winter in the northeast. Thursday we had a blizzard that dumped about a foot of snow on top of the six or so we already had on the ground. The state and towns are pretty good about pre-treating the roads BEFOREa storm, but the chemicals they use on the roads, can really do a number on little paws. Add in some Arctic air, with temperatures dropping below zero, and walks can be challenging.

There have been walks where both dogs have lifted up paws, because they’ve gotten road chemicals, or snow in their paws. Sometimes they come up limping, or sometimes they just stop and wait for you to wipe their feet. After it happens once or twice, and you’ve used your gloves to wipe a foot, you come up with the only conclusion you can.

COATS and BOOTS.

One dog will wear a coat. One dog will not.

One dog will stay still while you put the boots and coat on.

One dog runs and tries to hide, or just refuses to get off the couch.

One dog tolerates boots fairly well. One dog walks like Frankenstein every time the boots go on. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Honestly, you’d think she was a house elf and I was trying to give her clothes.

It’s not the greatest picture, because I was too far away, but she thinks by hiding on the couch, she can get away without wearing boots.

I’ve reached an age where I’m particular about the battles I fight. I won’t fight the coat battle. My thought is, we move along at a pretty decent clip, and if it’s too cold, I can always cut the walk short.

But I will fight the boot battle. I insist they wear the boots on their back feet, and I carry a small dish towel to wipe front paws if the need arises.

Yesterday she tried to climb into Daddy’s lap to avoid getting the boots on. Of course we laughed. I mean you can’t help but laugh because she’s just so damn dramatic, I started calling her the Diva of Drama.

What did your pet do to make you laugh this week?

You make me laugh, (or smile). The sweet, funny, loving things dogs do that make us laugh or smile.

8th Annual Pet Blogger Challenge

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For the last seven years, Amy, at Go Pet Friendly has been hosting an annual Pet Blogger Challenge Blog Hop. It works like this: Amy posts a set of questions, and participants answer them and add their posts to the link. It’s a wonderful community building event, and the best part is, you have the ear of the best of the blogosphere to help with any issues or questions you might have.

Photo courtesy of Go Pet Friendly.

We have been participating for 6 of the 7 years, I like it because it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the previous year, what worked and what didn’t.

So let’s get to it, shall we?

Question 1) For those who may be visiting your blog for the first time, how long have you been blogging and what is your main topic?

My first post was December 1, 2010. At that point, I had no direction with the blog, I was just writing to garner an ‘online presence.’ Within the first six months, I had begun writing about the dogs. The blog has evolved over time to what it is today. A humorous look at life with dogs, with side focuses on health, training and animal welfare.

Question 2) What was your proudest blogging moment of 2017?

While I really love inserting humor into my posts, I think the posts I wrote about UTI’s, Cushing’s Disease and Endothelial Decompensation turned out pretty well. I felt almost like a real writer.

Question 3) Which of your blog posts was your favorite this year and why? (Please include a link.)

My Dog Has Morning Wood, What Your Male Dog’s Erection Might Mean. I love writing humorous posts, and if I can share some knowledge in the process, that’s a BONERus for me.

Question 4) In terms of your blog, how do you measure success?

This is really where I personally struggle. I compare myself to others, and for me, that’s a very bad thing. In my opinion, I’m never good enough, and I see others having success and that reinforces my failures in my mind.

Question 5) In what ways has your blog changed during 2017?

The biggest change has probably been my lack of blogging. Although thanks to Jodi Chick from Kol’s Notes, I think I have pinpointed the direction I WANT my blog to go in. Now I just need to find the motivation to make it happen.

Question 6) What was the biggest blogging challenge you overcame in 2017, and what did you learn that could help other bloggers?

My biggest challenge has been to keep blogging, and I’ve only done that by forcing myself to post at least once per week. Some weeks it’s way harder than others.

Question 7) When things get hard, what keeps you blogging? (Question submitted by Pamela Douglas Webster of Something Wagging This Way Comes)

It’s Jan, from The Poodle (and Dog) blog God-damn it. She says I cannot quit without getting her permission and I’m too afraid to ask.

Question 8: Looking forward to 2018, what are you hoping to accomplish on your blog this year?

I really want to try and dig myself out of this hopeless feeling I have, and start writing again, and start visiting blogs again. I’m in a pretty lonely place right now, and you all helped me with that when I first started blogging. I need to feel that community again.

Question 9) In addition to what you’d like to accomplish, is there one specific skill you’d like to improve or master this year? (Question submitted by Jodi Chick of Kol’s Notes)

I’d like to learn how to make Text/Images. Like this one.

Question 10) Now it’s your turn! You have the attention of the pet blogging community – is there a question you’d like answered, or an aspect of your blog that you’d like input on? Share it here, and we’ll answer you in the comments!

I’m sort of torn right now. As I said, I’ve tackled some of the health issues that the dogs have had this past year, and I think they were well written, and fairly well received, but I also like writing the humorous posts too, (although sometimes I think a lot of people don’t ‘get’ my humor).  So my question is, can I do both? Is there a way to hit that happy medium on the blog? What types of posts do you like to see here? Do you like the humor, the serious or a combination?

Many thanks to Amy for hosting this blog hop!

The DADO’s Fight It Out On Facebook

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One-day in October, a neighbor up the street from me hurried out of her car intent on speaking with me. It was unusual in the way that typically we are just like ships passing in the night. Calling out a “Hello, how are you?” as we wrestle our dogs past each other. As it turned out, her intent was quite sweet. She wanted to warn me there was a loose dog in the area and she wasn’t sure if the pit bull was friendly or not. She went on to tell me that they suspected someone had left it on one of the trails. *Sigh*

I filed this bit of information in the back of my mind and forgot completely about it, until the day I was walking up the hill and saw the dog round the corner of one of the houses. Of course, I had Sampson, the dog with the bad legs, who shouldn’t get excited and bounce around like he’s two. I’m not sure if the dog would have approached us or not, but as he got to the edge of the yard I said, “Stop puppy.” He looked at me, and moved on to the next yard.

Then the door of the house burst open, and the owner came out, dog treat in one hand, leash in the other, “Where’d he go?” She starts looking about, “Who wants a cookie?” I refrained from saying, “I do.” I mean, I saw the cookie, so it really wasn’t all THAT hard. She then tells me that Animal Control (that useless lump) has been looking for the dog for weeks. She tells me they’ve been ‘tracking’ the dog on Animal Control’s Facebook page. I oblige by calling Animal Control and leaving the useless lump a message, indicating the time and location where the dog was seen.

I happened to mention this to my next-door neighbor and told her I’d seen the dog and I didn’t think it was a stray. He looked to me to be in very good condition. His coat was clean, and he had a fed look about him. Not the look of a dog that’d been living on his own for three weeks.

He looks a little hot, but not like a dog on his own.

When I got home I checked out Animal Control’s Facebook page and found his picture.  (See above. I shamelessly screen shot it.)

The next time I saw my next-door neighbor, she told me that the peeps on the page were fighting over the dog. Turns out the DADO’s were having a brawl on Facebook. I couldn’t help myself…it was like a train wreck. The thread went on and on. There were hundreds of comments.

Hundreds. Here’s just a couple. Click on the image to enlarge so you can read it.  These two women went back and forth for about 20 comments. Each one kept trying to dismiss the other one.  It was SO amazing.

 

The first volley.

It was like watching a tennis match!

 

The last lob.

Animal Control admonished them a couple of times, and threatened to ban them, each one kept thanking Animal Control and then they’d turn on the other again.

I can’t tell you how many times I hit the comment button and started typing a response, but seriously…you know my success rate with DADO’s.

You just cannot argue with them. 

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