Heart Like a Dog

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

Don't Talk To My Dog

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I’ve lamented over the loss of our field in previous posts. The LaCrosse team has commandeered it from now until June.

Not only do the dogs lose the use of the field, the presence of so many people at the entrance to our park presents severe challenges.

I’ve decided the best way to manage the situation is to walk the dogs on my lunch break whenever possible and make sure their Saturday walks are taken later in the day, after the team has vacated the field.

Last night I made an exception for my walking friend, who hasn’t been around lately due to work constraints.  I figured since the LaCrosse team’s schedule says 5:00 pm, I would be safe taking the dogs up around 5:30.

I read the schedule wrong.

It actually starts at 5:30.  Everyone was just arriving.

Mr. Social just couldn’t contain himself, he was casting summoning charms left and right trying to get someone, anyone to notice him.

As I was standing there trying to figure out I was going to strong-arm two dogs through the throng of people, he finally managed to get someone’s attention.

“Well hello” the woman said, and that was it.  I had two choices, run along behind Sampson or be dragged over and risk falling.

I followed Sampson and said to the woman, “It’s really better if you don’t speak to them, it keeps me from getting dragged.”

She chuckled and said, “I know.”

My inner bitch said, “Then don’t talk to my dogs.”

Honestly what the hell is wrong with people?  It’s not like I have two little Chihuahuas.  I have two full-grown labs!  They’re big, I’m not!  Well ok, I’m a bit bigger than I’d like to be, but you get my point.

Normally I won’t acknowledge a dog without first looking at the owner and asking.

Why can’t everyone do that?

What do you do in that situation?

Do you speak up and come across as a bitch or do you bite your tongue?

Inquiring minds want to know.

What's Going On?

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Last week I wrote a post, Expect the Unexpected.  I asked if your dogs wore collars in the house and what you thought about it.

Opinions vary as to whether a dog should wear their collar in the house.  There is definitely a choking/strangling hazard especially if you have more than one dog and they interact with each other.

But there is also a very real risk that a dog can either escape or accidentally get out of their house or yard.

Last Tuesday Hubby walked out the door and left his keys inside.  We’d had some really nice weather and our bedroom windows were open so I happened to hear him outside our room asking the dogs ‘where mommy was?’  Like they could have told him. 🙂

Well he asked me to let him in and I did, then I went about my business of getting ready for work.  The dogs decided they wanted to go out so I opened the door and left it open a crack so they could come back in without disturbing me.

I was just about finished when I wondered…where are the dogs?

I went to the door and Sampson was just lying there waiting, but Delilah was nowhere about.  I stepped out on the deck and called her, looking up into the backyard but I didn’t see or hear her.  Something made me look to my right and the gate was open.

My heart just about stopped.  I immediately looked over into the neighbor’s yard and sure enough there she was foraging for nuts and anything edible.

I figured it was breakfast time so I wouldn’t have a problem getting her back, I called “Delilah, Delilah breakfast!”   She looked up at me and walked around behind the house.

I ran to the front and called her again and she ignored me.

I ran into the house and grabbed the bowl of food and ran back out to the front.

“Delilah, breakfast!”

She looked up and ran toot sweet to me.

Luckily for me she didn’t wander too far, but if she’d gotten farther than the neighbor’s house, I could have had a serious problem.

Strangely enough, Pamela at Something Wagging had a post The Year of Living Dangerously – What’s The Real Risk? where she mentioned her husband had left the back door open at lunch and her Golden Retriever, Honey had gotten out into the back yard.  Thankfully that is where she stayed.

The next day I read My Dog Ran Away Last Night t by Lauren at Life With Desmond.  Somehow Desmond became an escape artist and managed to get outside their stockade fence.  After a frantic sprint around the block, Lauren managed to safely retrieve Desmond from the neighbor’s yard.  You have to read it to believe it.

As if that wasn’t enough the very next day Kim at Life At Golden Pines had a post Out Of Sync And Unusual.  Kim came home from work on Friday to find her dogs upset.  Upon closer investigation Kim discovered three screens had been removed from windows she’d left open for the dogs to enjoy the nice weather.  Apparently someone had tried to break in.

Delilah’s little adventure combined with these three other stories reinforces my decision to make sure my dogs have name tags on them at all times.

Delilah and her identification 'necklace.'

It also makes me wonder, what in the world is going on?

Have you heard or experienced anything weird going on with the dogs in your world?

What's In A Name?

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This technically should have been a Follow-Up Friday post,  but it was pretty long and I felt it deserved its own space. 🙂

A little background, please.

Last Saturday I wrote ‘Expect The Unexpected.’  In that post I made mention of a woman named Brenda.  I’ve mentioned Brenda before, she always walks with about six dogs.  Many times she has other people and their dogs with her as well.

Brenda trains dogs.  I have no idea what her qualifications are, but her methods are if you don’t pay attention to me, I’ll leave you.  Brenda is friends with the woman who owns the dogs I wrote about on Saturday.

The stage is set.

Flash forward to this past Monday.

I pulled up at the field to walk the dogs and encountered…the LaCrosse team.  Yes, it’s that time of year when the town LaCrosse team commandeer the field.  This means both dogs walk in with me on leash and I keep them on the upper trails so they don’t bust up a LaCrosse practice/game.

I got Sampson and Delilah almost all the way up to the top of the hill and noticed someone walking in with a pack of dogs.  The dogs saw mine and started running at us at which point I always drop the leash.  Far better for Miss Delilah to meet and greet others on the playing field to keep her from reacting.

Sure enough as I got closer it was Brenda.  Included in her pack was a small dog and her little puppy and he was a real cutie.

I said, “The LaCrosse team is down in the field, it’s that time of year when we need to check the schedule before coming out.”

Brenda said, “Like that will happen.”

Ok, whatever.  I’m just sayin’ if you don’t want to worry about your dogs running off and jumping on some four-year-old you might want to do some planning.  But who am I?

Brenda had entered the ‘loop’ which is fairly small but allows you pick up two different trails.  Coincidently that was where I was headed and I didn’t see an issue, but apparently she did.

She said to one of the dogs, “We’re going to have to wait.”

Ok.  Again.  Whatever.

She decides to head down the wide path towards the field with her entire pack of dogs, except for…puppy.  Who decided he liked my pack better.

Meanwhile I’m trying to get my dogs on the trail and puppy is right there, jumping at my dogs saying, “Come on let’s play.”

Brenda is still walking down the path.

I don’t know what to do.  Do I stop and wait for her to come get the puppy or for the puppy to figure it out or do I keep going with the puppy following me?

I’m unsure.

All of a sudden from down the path I hear “F***!”

Here comes Brenda, “F***, I’ve got F***ing 20 f***ing minutes to take a f***ing walk.”

She gets to the top of the path and points in front of her and says, “Get your little a** over here” and then to me, “Excuse my language.”

Excuse your method of dog training is more like it I thought to myself.

The scary thing is, she calls herself a dog trainer and oh yes, she has the business cards to prove it.

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