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

Before we begin, just a reminder that tomorrow is the Pet Blogger Linky Showcase. I will be highlighting three posts (sharing the linky love) and will post the link for this week’s party.

You Make Me Laugh – July 10, 2016

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s Mom said, “When Callie had her first ACL surgery a few years ago, I bought one of those orthopedic crate pads to put on the cement driveway for her to rest on while she, Shadow, and I hung out in the back yard. What did she do? She got up and went over to the grass and laid down in it instead.”

Aren’t they funny? You can do your absolute best to give them a comfy spot and they’ll choose something else.

Emma said, “We like to do the same thing to our Mom. She buys a fancy new expensive bed, we sleep next to it on the floor.”

LOL I bought a nice new bed for the dogs and the minute I brought it into the house, Delilah tried to destuff it. Thankfully, she got past that.

Jan K said, “Sheba especially likes to lie on the hard floor, though she will occasionally use the beds. Luke prefers the furniture if it’s available, but Cricket likes to lie in the beds a lot. Right now she’s in one of the beds and her head is hanging off the side though!”

OMG that stuff makes me laugh. I took a picture of Sampson like that, head hanging off the bed, passed out cold.

Jan said, “The Poodles would never sleep on a floor. Read “The Princess and the Pea.””

The Poodles are smart!

Jen Gabbard said, “The only place Laika will lay on her bed (that we’ve found thus far) is when it’s pushed up next to the couch. If it’s 3 inches away forget it. I don’t know why, and for awhile I was pretty sure she just hated the bed. But nope, she uses it all the time now that it’s in the proper place according to her.”

It’s funny, they each have their own little personality quirks, just like humans.

Hawk a.k.a. Brown Dawg said, “BOL! I sleep on the floor if I’m too warm…but I definitely prefer my big fat comfy beds!”

Sampson will go to the floor if he’s too warm too, except in the winter. But I think he’d agree with you, fluffy beds are best.

What the Hell Was That?

Well ya’ll were so much smarter than I was, because a firefly never crossed my mind for one minute. (I’m going to blame it on the fact that I was half asleep.) 🙂 We used to catch fireflies when we were kids, but I hadn’t seen one in SO long, I actually had to consult the Google to see if it was a firefly.

I did catch it and set it outside, so I hope it found it’s way home.

I numbered the correct comments and random.org says the winner is number 3, so Genevieve I will be getting a bag of treats out to you and Cupcake!

Some of my favorite comments from this post:

Blueberry’s Human, “I don’t know what it was…but note to self: don’t read post titled like yours nor keep on reading it when the post cautions you are not going to reveal the answer until days later – ESPECIALLY RIGHT BEFORE GOING TO BED!…I am blaming you for what I know will be a sleepless night full of me hearing and seeing things real or imagined and the poor performance at work tomorrow that results.”

LOL you should know better than that by now. 🙂

Zelda was the first one to guess correctly, “Mom sez it might be a lightning bug. Do those taste good?”

I don’t know Zelda, I didn’t taste it, not even a lick!

Taryn said, “You didn’t say what color the flash was, and certainly a lightening bug has a slower, more yellowish pulse than a camera’s pre-flash, but since it moved, I’m sticking with bug!…You tell a great story!”

THAT was the weirdest bit of it, to me, when it was flashing, it looked white. Which is why I never thought Firefly, because I remembered them to have a warm yellowish light. And thank you, I’m glad you like the way I tell a story.

Jan K said, “Every detail of this post cracked me up, because I act the exact same way if my hubby leaves town! I haven’t done the tea kettle thing, but that’s a darn good idea. You were so brave to open the curtain, I probably wouldn’t have been that brave. 🙂”

Thank you, I thought it was a good idea too. Sometimes I wedge chairs under the door handle, something I stack boxes in front of it, this time I had a tea kettle. It worked and made me feel comfortable enough to sleep. Honestly, I try NOT to look out windows, but I had to know that that flash was!

Emma said, “Mom isn’t usually scared at night but at camp up north last fall, she saw a flashlight in the woods in the middle of the night going down the road but no other campers saw it, and no one admitted to being out. It did scare us.”

Um…that would scare me too Emma. Very freaky.

DogDaz said, “I had as much fun reading the comments, as I did your spooky tale. At first I too was thinking lightning bug, which is plausible. Maybe it was a click beetle? Or maybe you left something on the porch that was reflecting the moonlight (or streetlight) and then flashing in the wind. If the dog does not stir, I do not worry. BE safe.”

I absolutely have THE best commenters on the internet, and I enjoy reading them as well. Good advice about the dogs not stirring, I never even thought of that!

Monty, Harlow and Ramble said, “I have no idea what it might have been, but I need to tell you – I am the exact same way at night, especially when I’m alone. I don’t look out windows, I can’t sleep – are we related? LOL!”

It’s weird, when Hubby is home I can go to bed and not think twice about whether I locked a door or not. BUT when he’s gone? I’m locked up tighter than Fort Knox and I lock everything behind me! As for being related, do you want to be? 😉

Maybe It’s Me

Again, I have THE most awesome readers. You all left some really amazing comments. There were so many, that instead of highlighting them here, I’ll respond to them directly.

After calming down some and spewing it all out in this blog post, I’ve realized there probably wasn’t much else I could have done. I still feel bad that I didn’t protect Delilah, but a couple of you mentioned shooting that pepper blaster and going forward, it is going to be my first reaction, instead of my last one.

I thought about the situation good and long and discussed it with a couple of friends. After those conversations I decided to call Animal Control. I explained what happened and told him it was more for protecting my dog than for getting the other dog in trouble. My concern would be if the dog had gotten bit, the owner could try and blame it on Delilah.  I also told Animal Control that the town crew was up there and he was going to take a ride and see if he could find someone who had seen the altercation.

I will never feel good about any way I handle a situation with an aggressive dog, but I think I will go for the pepper blaster first. I also had a nice suggestion from Dachshund Nola to carry a walking stick. This has been something that’s been on my radar for a while, so I think I’ll try and check into that.

My biggest concern of course, is Delilah. Many was the walk where she looked for a fight and I’ve worked SO hard with her and we were finally at the point that I could get her past just about anything, even the lunging GSD that we occasionally run into on our morning walk. My hope is that this one encounter hasn’t set her back.

Again, I thank you all so much for being there for me and being such an awesome and supportive community. I hope you know that any of you can share anything here that you want to. You will find a warm, welcoming and caring community who are very willing to help.

Have a wonderful and amazing weekend.

Jodi 

 

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

You Make Me Laugh – July 3, 2016

Meagan Maher said, “Ahh labs or slabs as they’re sometimes known when they overeat. They seem to have stomachs with bottomless pits.”

LOL I’ve never heard them referred to as ‘slabs’, but I do agree, she is a bottomless pit!

Emma said, “She sounds like my cat bro Bert. He never stops searching for food either.”

I’ve accepted that is who she is, but I still get sad thinking in might be what she went through before coming to us. Then again, she’s my first full-blooded lab, so I have no idea if it’s ‘normal’ or not!

Sue said, “LOL I’d take that as a sign she’s feeling better!”

She IS definitely feeling better. It was weird, she really had no signs until THAT morning when she peed then kept trying to pee. It came on SO fast.

Jan said, “She sounds like my little rescue Chihuahua who must have had some hungry days in her past and like Scarlet O’Hara vowed, “Ah will nevah be hungry again.””

Bah ha ha, yes, just yesterday I found her wearing the drapes…

Jan K said, “Too funny, but I love that it means she is not nervous at the vet’s office.”

She is NOT. She may pant a bit at times, but for the most part, she loves my vet, even when they draw blood or stick their finger in her bum. 

Cupcake said, “Purses are where moms hide GUM. I found some once, but Mom said the word, “Sorry Charlie. Dream on.””

I bet that was disappointing but gum can be very bad for dogs Cupcake. Mom was only thinking of you. 😉

2 Brown Dawgs said, “Hey that is a good thing. Can’t be too sick if thinking about food. 🙂”

She apparently wasn’t. LOL  It was definitely strange, but then again, that’s my Delilah. 🙂

Peyton said, “They do think about food a lot. When my wife rattles the cat bowls you need to get out of the way.”

So cats do it too? Delilah jumps backwards when I’m carrying her dish to her spot. Twice this week she’s knocked Sampson down. 🙁

Ding Dong the Walk is Done

Emma said, “Humans do so many things that we dogs pick up on! We learned to sit when Mom’s phone rings on a walk, all on our own. We read you humans so well, but you humans don’t read us very well. We don’t mind. We know who the smarter ones are 😉”

You guys really are smart! You’ve got us trained to walk and feed you. 😉

Taryn said, “We have a nice home theater down in the basement. The boys love going down there because they always get a chew to enjoy at the start of a movie. Then they go to sleep for the duration. So now when we show them the Redbox DVD they head down the basement stairs quick as can be!”

See how smart they are? 

2 Brown Dawgs asked, “Dogs are amazing. I wonder what would happen if you changed to ring again? Would he still know to turn around or is it the chime that tells him it is time?”

I’ve been watching him since that happened and I think it has more to do with me talking to him, then the chime, BUT I’ll keep watching and then I will change the tone to see what happens.

Lori said, “Good job, Sampson! Now YOU ring a bell to make Mommy bring you dinner!”

He doesn’t have to ring a bell. 🙂

Throwback Thursday – Lessons Learned

Siriusly, who doesn’t love a dog in an eye mask?

Jen Gabbard said, “Some things are worth burning your tongue for indeed. We don’t have those remade oven pizzas very often, but when we do I burn my tongue every single time because apparently I can’t wait a couple minutes for it to cool down… You’d think we’d learn after the 7th time or so, but no, not me.”

Ha ha ha, I never learned those lessons either! 

Jan K said, ” I imagine that was the last time you stayed in your sister’s bedroom?…We have allowed company to sleep in our bed in the past, and the dogs are usually happy staying with us wherever we are. Though we always closed them in the room we were sleeping in so they didn’t really have a choice!…It is fun to look back at those old posts and finding things we’ve completely forgotten about!”

It WAS the last time. LOL My dogs are like yours, usually very content to be wherever we are. I’m not sure if it was actually us being in that room, or the fact that the dogs were in there that was the issue. But two of her dogs were not very happy about it. 

Throwback Thursday seems to be a hit. Here’s what some of you said.

Sue said, “LOL Love those photos of Delilah and Sampson catching up on their beauty sleep! And I love that you re-posted this.”

Thank you. I admit, some of the earlier stuff is just dribble, but there are some good ones too!

Taryn said, “I like TBT because I am a late-comer to your blog and missed the early ones. Please keep up the reminiscing!”

You got it!

Alexa88 said, “ditto what Taryn said.”

Thank you.

Monika and Sam said, “Since I’ve been only blogging for a couple years, seeing your early stuff makes me realize how much I missed out on from one of my favorite bloggers! Keep the oldies a-coming, Jodi-we love ’em, you and your pups! ”

Oh thank you, that is SO sweet. (I’m actually quite fond of you all as well.) 😉

Well that’s it for me folks, have a great weekend!

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

You Make Me Smile – June 19, 2016

Meagan Maher said, “Merlin likes to sniff grills and tyres too. He doesn’t pee on the tyres, just squats next to it. He also backs into trees and then squats.”

Does he pee when he squats? Or does he just squat? Delilah sometimes LIFTS her leg to pee on trees. LOL

Emma said, “Oh you guys read my mind! My first thought when I saw the photo was a nose work dog.”

You’d think she was looking for a hide, wouldn’t you? 😉

Sue said, “Interesting where she’s sniffing! My crew always sniff the tires … probably hoping for the scent of roadkill?”

She sniffs tires too. And the wheel wells. But this time, it was all the front.

Cupcake said, “I sniff an occasional car, mostly near the driver’s door (NOT professionally like Emma). Mom suspects it’s McDonald’s-related.”

Alexa88 said, “lily is a ground sniffer mostly. at the park she sniffs bushes and trees for messages from other dogs. leaves a few of her own in reply…jodi, have thought of you and your family often through out this week.”

Both my guys are ground sniffers as well. Thanks for thinking of us Alexa, we appreciate it.

Jan K said, “No car sniffers here. Delilah is just figuring out where those cars have been – she knows which ones came from nice places like New Hampshire!”

Well your comment gave me an idea, so I started watching WHICH cars she was sniffing. Like are they all from out of state, but no. There doesn’t seem to be a method to this, although who knows what goes on in that chocolate brain of hers.

Monika and Sam said, “Sam will sniff tires on ocassion-maybe it’s actually ‘special’ pee-mail and Twitter feeds showing up in unexpected spots. The OES’s however remembered every. single. cat. that went under cars in the ‘hood and therefore had to be NCIS’ed every. time. we. passed. They were true detectives, Sam however is just a pee-graffiti artist. 😉”

Hahaha, Sampson remembers where he saw people or animals too and always gets excited as we approach them. Silly dogs.

Jen Gabbard said, “I wonder if there’s some rodents camping out. Laika gets obsessed with certain cars as well, and one time as she was sniffing around the tail pipe we saw a mouse scatter away. Scared the shit out of me & of course made Laika even more determined to inspect every damn car for for weeks.

Holy crap. I never thought of that. Gah, whatever it is, I hope it’s small. Two weeks ago there was a chipmunk in the road. In. the. road. Just sitting there as still as could be. (I’ll have to post that photo because Delilah really wanted an up close and personal.) Any time something moves at me, no matter how small, I WILL scream like a girl. One time at our old house I opened the cabinet at like 5:00 am, (with only a night light on, mind you) to get a cup for coffee and a teeny, tiny spider smaller than the head of a pin charged me. At eye level. I won’t even tell you how long I screamed for or how long the hair on my body stood on end. 😉

Close Encounters of the Feline Kind

Monika and Sam said, “You know, I thought I was the only person who thought that cats seem to flip off dogs that aren’t all that keen on them with their little paws. I mean, they sashay around just out of reach and flip their tails like some sort of Burlesque routine all the while giving some poor upright heart failure (or worse) trying to corral what seems like 300 lbs. of sheer power and force trying to get at said cat.”

RIGHT?!?! It’s not just the cats in my neighborhood either! The squirrels and chipmunks are just as bad. I think they’ve all lost their little critter minds.

2 Brown Dawgs said, “Luckily we do not have any kitties in our neighborhood. We have bunnies. They are trouble too.”

Ah yes, we’ve run across one or two of those as well. Most of the time if they are super still my dogs don’t see them, but I do. We even had a groundhog run across our path once. That was a first.

Mary Hone said, “Cats, the bane of every dog and dog owner. I think they KNOW, they are causing trouble and act all innocent.”

I think you might be right. Cats are a unique breed…

Beth said, “Barley is usually pretty good about cats, but when she does show interest, I just remind her, “You have one of those at home. Leave it” and she trots right back along with me. There’s one bold kitten in our new neighborhood, though, that charged across the street and started going down the sidewalk straight towards us. I thought for sure it would turn around or veer off into a yard, but it just kept coming. Barley was so surprised for a cat to run at her like that that she had no idea what to do and just kind of yipped–and then the cat went into the yard.”

Sometimes I talk to them. “Have you lost your mind? You DO realize this dog is ginormous, don’t you? Run, run away you stupid cat.” My favorite is the squirrels, “You better run squirrel.” Bonus points to anyone that can tell me what movie that quote is from.

Emma said, “We would like to chase cats outside too, but cats are fairly boring and we prefer squirrels and wabbits. That being said, Bailie is trained to chase down and capture cat bro Bert. If he is in our dog food bowls, she may get him, and if he runs out the back door into the yard Mom says “get the kitty”. Bailie then races out after him, tackles him, and hold him down until Mom gets there. Bert is fine with it all. Those two are buddies.”

A ha ha, I love that Bailie can catch Bert, that’s some skill to have!

Jan said, “There is a cat that once chased the five of us away from their house. I have never returned to that neighborhood. I was tempted to drop the leashes and let the dogs have their way with the cat, but was more afraid that the cat would beat them up.”

Ugh, so tempted too! I’m also concerned that one of them would get hit by a car too. But I am tempted some days, sorely tempted.

Callie, Shadow and Ducky’s Mom said, “The only cat in our ‘hood belongs next door. Occasionally, when the girls are inside, I’ll see him in our backyard. As long as he’s not bothering the nesting boxes, I’ll leave him alone. But if he disturbs “my” birdies, I go out and chase him out of the yard myself.”

As long as you’re not running and barking at the cat. 😉

Blueberry’s Human said, “It’s a funny thing…ever since I have had Pistachio (since March I think) – Blueberry has had almost zero cat encounters in the backyard. Although, Blueberry did manage to catch and kill a bird yesterday…but not before it had a chance to peck her and draw blood within a quarter inch of her eye ball. I’d hate to think of the damage that would be inflicted on her if she caught a cat. (PS – I didn’t sit there watching her murder a bird. She came into the house with blood near her eye and later on, I found the dead bird and put two and two together. I’m crazy, not cruel.)”

Oh Lord. Blueberry, whatever will your mom do with you? Glad she wasn’t siriusly injured and yes, I do know you aren’t cruel, just crazy. 😉

Jen Gabbard said, “Dude some cats are assholes and like to mess with dogs, I swear. We have this idiotic black & white cat whose favorite place to lounge is outside our sliding glass door in front of Laika. And yes it’s pure chaos the entire time. I’m pretty sure that cat is going to give my dog a heart attack one of these days when she wakes up from napping herself just to see a big old cat that close by.”

Right? What the hell is wrong with that cat? The chippies do that to Delilah, stand right outside her window. One of these days she’s going to get the drop on one and then I have no idea how that will shake out. You need an air horn. 😉

Delilah’s Annual Check-Up

Emma said, “I now get the senior panel done.”

I’m not sure I know what a senior panel is Emma.

Rebekah said, “It’s good to know about grass being sweet this time of year, because I have noticed two of mine munching on grass as well, when they don’t normally do so.”

I wondered about it, because she is very particular about which grass she eats, so there must be something to that theory.

Taryn said, “At their ages, I no longer do vaccinations other than the legally required Rabies.”

Exactly. Except because where we live with all the raccoons and stuff, our vet recommends the Leptospirosis, if we lived in a differed area, maybe we wouldn’t get that either.

Well that’s it for me folks, but before I close I’d like to know if anyone is having trouble commenting? One of my out of the states friends is having trouble and I’m wondering if it’s WP or something else. 

That being said, if you CANNOT comment, please use the form on the contact page to let me know, or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks Meagan for hanging in there!!

Have a great weekend everyone!