Heart Like a Dog

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

Don’t Count Us Out

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In last Sunday’s (August 16, 2015) You Make Me Smile post,  Jan said, “I liked the posts of yesteryear when she led you on some hilarious misadventures. Funny for us, not for you.”

I responded with “Oh trust there are still adventures, don’t count us out yet. “

These aren’t epic. Like her running off and getting her leash lodged under the concrete of a central air conditioning unit (Part 1, Part 2 )or walking into someone’s garage to check for food, or even knocking me into the street while she chased a leaf.

Still I hope these might be enough so you don’t count us out just yet.

Petals in the wind – Some of you may recall I was helping my sister care for my aunt who passed away in June.  My sister (having cared for her for many years) and I sent a lovely bouquet of flowers to place in the casket.

After the service I brought the flowers home and placed them on my fireplace mantle, where I let them sit, and sit, and sit. Eventually as the flower petals dropped to the floor, I determined it was time to toss them.

I kept one flower. It was a yellow rose and I was drying it so I could press it. I set the flower on the dining room table, where it stayed. For about a month.

Last week I came home to find the stem and the ovary (I looked it up. Holy shit, who knew flowers had ovaries?) on the floor. The petals were gone, eaten by a hungry chocolate lab.

Two petals, the ovary and the stem, that's all that's left.

Two petals, the ovary and the stem, that’s all that’s left.

Thanks for eating Aunt Edie’s flower Delilah!

Here’s the big surprise. I didn’t even call the vet.

Sunday Funday – Sunday Hubby made breakfast. (It’s been a long time since he made breakfast and I was quite excited about it.) Of course, he was rushing to leave the house and so the pans and utensils sat on the stove where he left them.

I was running out myself and had seen Delilah eyeing the stove, so I moved what I thought was everything into the back of the sink, where I was certain she wouldn’t be able to reach them.

I ran to throw a quick load of laundry in, so it would be ready for the dryer when I got home. I stepped out of the laundry to discover this on the floor.

That's my small, very sharp Santoku knife.

That’s my small, very sharp Santoku knife.

I siriusly checked her mouth for blood.

Breakfast of Champions – Yesterday she jumped backwards so high, she was able to get a lick of her food from her food bowl being held at about the five foot level.

Tempting Fate – Yesterday during our afternoon walk, I took her off-leash in the field. I held my hand out to her in the “wait” command and started walking away. I got about 15 feet away and she ran right up to me. Considering all the times she’s run in the opposite direction, I couldn’t be mad. Instead I treated her.

Three minutes later when we entered the woods, she took off down a trail the kids made. She stood on the rock, staring out at the great unknown, with all of it’s delicious and intriguing smells and noms.

“Don’t do it” I said.

She squatted and peed as if to say, I only had to pee, geez what’s your angst about?

Still with us Jan? We good? If not, check back with me on Thursday when I fill you in about our STOP command.

Finally, I’d like to send some love to my friend Sue at My Golden Life, her girl Callie went to the bridge yesterday, our hearts are with you my friend. 

Run fast, run free Callie.

The Umbridge Pen – Barks and Bytes

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Is that a dog barking? I thought to myself as I left the coolness of the supermarket and headed back out into the August heat. I stopped, straining my ears to listen. Nothing.

I continued to my car breathing a deep sigh of relief. As I opened the door a huge wave of heat hit me in the face, I’d only been inside for 15 minutes, but in the dog days of August, 15 minutes was more than enough. Honestly, I hate going to grocery stores in the summer, 9 out of 10 times, I see or hear a dog that has been left in the car.

I put my groceries on the floor, started the car and turned to my head to the left to make sure the way was clear, and locked eyes with a sweet little pitty mix in the car next to me.  As she stuck her little nose to the cracked window to sniff the air, my heart started pounding.

Son of a bitch! With shaking hands I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my local animal control only to discover they were already closed.

I backed the car up to a spot directly behind me, and dialed the police department.

There’s a dog in a car at my grocery store, I explained to the officer that answered the phone.

Is the car running? He asked in return.

I really can’t tell, I responded.

I gave him the make, model and license plate of the car, as well as the location they could find it, and I headed to the gas pumps.

I deliberately chose a pump where I could keep an eye on the car, so I could direct the police if need be. And then I waited watching the clock.

It had been ten minutes since I’d called the police and I had no idea how long the dog had been in the car before I came out of the store.

The car in front of me moved, so I switched into drive and moved forward. In those few precious seconds it took me to move my car, the owner came out of the store, got in her car and drove away.

I filled up my car, then called the police and let them know she left. I passed the cops as I left the complex. All told it was over 20 minutes from the time I called, until the time a cop finally responded.

Ultimately, I was grateful that the temperatures were in the low 80’s as opposed to the temps we’ve been having this week.

We’ve all shared the graphs and the graphics, and still we are constantly hearing about dogs being left in hot cars.

What needs to happen for people to understand that dogs don’t belong in cars while you shop? And what will it take for the cops to take this siriusly?

I’ve given this a lot of thought lately and I am considering carrying a small, flexible dryer hose in my car, so in these situations I could pipe some of the air conditioning from my car into the other car to help cool it down.

Or maybe I can bring a bat, brick or other owner window smashing device to help free a dog from a hot car.

If I had my way, I’d make the person sit in that hot car for the same amount of time and in the same conditions they left their dogs.

Of course what I’d really like is a Dolores Umbridge pen, and I would make them write, “Dogs die in hot cars” until the message was clear.

Without that special pen though, maybe a blunter message is needed? I turned to Delilah, the dog who tells it like it is.

A public service announcement from Delilah.

A public service announcement from Delilah.

Do you think they’ll get the point?

Heart Like a Dog

This is the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog Hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. Grab the badge and the linky code and join us!

Please only link up blog posts and as a courtesy to the other hoppers, please add the linky to your post and/or link back to the hosts’ blogs.

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8 Photos of Happiness – Barks and Bytes

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I’ve been tagged by three different people to participate in the 8 Photos of Happiness project hosted by Ariel’s Little Corner of the Internet.

Rules and explanation for participation:

  • Thank your nominator/s and link them in your post.
  • Link to the creator (Ariel’s little corner of the internet)
  • Post your 8 photos of happiness;
  • The photos can be anything that represents a moment, object, place or feeling that makes you happy.
  • Pop in a brief description of the photo, why you chose it or let the photos do the talking!
  • Spread the happiness and tag up to ten other bloggers!

Now before we get to the photos, let me give thanks and pay homage to the peeps who nominated us. Paved by Pawprints, Clowie’s Corner, and My Brown Newfies.

I spent almost an entire day going through photos. You can probably find some (if not most of them) somewhere on this blog, but I like the idea of having my favorites all in one place.  Some of them are pictures of the dogs being happy, while others have deeper meaning for me.

Chocolate Lab with eye mask

Who doesn’t love a dog in an eye mask?

This photo makes me happy because it screams to me of trust. Delilah was pretty aloof when she first came to us, and the fact she not only let me put the eye mask on her, but she kept it on while I took the photo and then stayed in the room with it on for a few minutes…it showed me we were doing something right.

Muddy Golden Lab

A muddy dog is a happy dog.

I love this photo of Sampson. There is a muddy little brook that runs along one side of the field where we walk. In his younger days, Sampson would run back and forth in the brook, submerging his face, then he would roll around in the field. Just watching him was a joy to behold. In fact, you can see a video of it on my Youtube channel HERE, if you’re interested.

Water fetch with chocolate lab

She looks so serene and peaceful in the water.

Delilah loves to swim. Besides food, I’m not sure there is anything that brings her greater joy. She’s not a big fan of fetch on land, but throw a toy into the water for her, and she dives right in. Again, and again and again.

Off leash walks

Once upon a time our walks were relaxing.

I love walking and I love walking with the dogs. This was before a million other people started walking their dogs at the park and before Delilah started taking off on me. Looking back on this I remember how much joy we all got from our walks.

What lies ahead

I don’t know dad, seems to me it’d be better to use the bridge.

Speaking of walking, before Delilah joined our pack Hubby, Sampson and I used to walk every weekend. This is one of my favorites, as Hubby and Sampson contemplate the path ahead of us. This one is also bittersweet, because it reminds me of a time when I wasn’t alone in caring for the dogs.

Ocean swimming

Sampson’s not much of a swimmer, so I held him.

This picture was taken when the entire family went to Florida for our daughter’s wedding. Hubby and I stayed the week after the wedding to enjoy some R&R. One day we rented a boat and went out in Tampa Bay. We found this little cove where the water was clear and calm and we could get out and swim. You can tell by my smile how happy I was.

the joy of a dog with a bone

You can see how happy and relaxed she is. It took a long while, but we made it!

It took a while, but Delilah really started to relax and let her fun personality shine through. In this photo she rolls around on her back with a bone in her mouth. This dog who was so aloof with people and barely wanted to be touched, is offering her belly up for a rub. Another reminder to me of how far she’s come.

Smiling Dogs

That’s a grin if I ever saw one!

Last but not least. I love when a dog smiles. Some people will tell you that dogs don’t smile. Show them this picture because there’s no mistaking that grin.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this exercise as much as I have. Now I’m supposed to nominate a bunch of others to participate as well. I hate that part of these challenges because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, SO I’m nominating all of you who haven’t done this yet!

It’s a fun thing to do and don’t you want to have all of your favorite photos in one place?

Well don’t wait, get cracking!

Heart Like a Dog

This is the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog Hop hosted by Heart Like A Dog and 2 Brown Dawgs. Grab the badge and the linky code and join us!

Please only link up blog posts and as a courtesy to the other hoppers, please add the linky to you post and/or link back to the hosts’ blogs.



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