My Day Without Cats

Normally, for an event like this I'd do a bit more. I have house guests this week. So, I'm just going to post my dogs' yearbook photos. From obedience school of course! (Ok, maybe they're just from this website... lol)

 

Masha, class of 1950

 

Jared, Class of  1968

 

Donovan, Class of  1972

 

Vali, Class of  1962

Ok, on three... "Awwwwww..."

Stealing this from Jan at the Poodle and Dog Blog because it's just too cute NOT to share!

Glow ball fun!

The Poodle (and Dog) Blog is one of my favorite reads. A while back, Jan wrote that she was hosting a contest by Two Knobby Tires to give away some incredibly cool glow-in-the-dark dog toys. A little while later, she announced that I was the winner! (and there was much rejoicing among the fur-kids!) Here's what Vali spent the evening doing:









Apologies for the low quality, I was filming on my camera phone in the dark... lol

The I Love My Bad Dog Blog and My Own Bad Dog Story

This was originally started as a response to this blog, which you simply MUST go read. It's a bit long for the comments section though. So here it is:


Well, my bad dog is not quite as bad as Piney, but yeah, he's mine. For as long as I can possibly have him.

Jared is one of our four dogs. He's a German Shepherd mix, mixed with what we're not sure, but there's probably some boxer and some hound in there somewhere.

When we met Jared he was in a no-kill humane rescue. He had been in their program over a year, and they were looking for a new foster family for him, after he had already been through a couple of them. You see, Jared has a problem. He is absolutely terrified of strangers in general, but specifically men. More specifically large men. We're pretty sure he's remembering the abuse of wherever he was before he came to the rescue.

He doesn't bite. We're thankful for that. But he does do a pretty darned good impersonation of a dog who's about to bite. He barks, he growls, he lunges, he scares pretty much everyone who doesn't know him half to death.

When we brought him home, just as a foster, he had other plans. He moved right in and made himself at home. He spent the first few weeks with us hiding under the computer desk curled up on my feet. Every time the hubby came home (who definitely fits his fear profile) Jared would bark and growl and go nuts. Gradually it became less. Now he'll sleep on Grump's lap from time to time. He's still wary, but seems to have made peace.

When we have people over, they have to meet the dogs one at a time. First comes Vali, our gentle giant and friendly ambassador German Shepherd. This dog wouldn't hurt a fly. I take that back -- I taught him to hunt flies. But he's great with people and other animals.

Next comes Masha, our Siberian Husky with food allergies (minor compared to Piney's!). If there's any danger to meeting Masha it's simply that she may someday drown someone with her kisses. She's never met anyone she doesn't love.

Then there's Donovan. Donovan is my perpetual puppy. He's only about 30 lbs (small compared to the others) and has very rounded, puppy-like features. He barks, but he's so cute that noone is scared. Within a minute he's done all his sniffing and settled down, probably in the nearest lap.

Last comes Jared. Jared comes with a preface. "Don't be afraid of him," I tell them. "He doesn't bite." They assure me that they're not afraid, and I grab the leash and head for the bedroom where Jared is not so patiently waiting. Out comes Jared. He's barking, practically foaming at the mouth and trying to get away from me with every ounce of his 60-some pounds. I use the leash because his reaction is the same with or without it, but sometimes it makes the guests less afraid. And that is the key.

Every now and then a guest will be truly not afraid. Jared will bark a couple of times, the guest will stand their ground, and he'll quiet down. Then things are fine. The leash goes away and Jared goes and finds somewhere to lounge. Until they move. Then again with the barking and the craziness. It's rare that anyone makes it through an entire visit without seeing his bad side, though it has happened once or twice.


Obviously Jared is no longer a foster dog. He's won my heart. He thinks I am the world, and it's hard not to love him back. Sometimes he just comes up to me and lays his head in my lap and looks up at me, stubby tail twitching with joy. As I type this, he's laying beside me on the bed, twitching his paws in some fantastic doggy dream.

It scares me that if we lose the house (due to two lay offs within the past few months, that's a real possibility) I may lose him. If we have to go rent a place, I can't imagine that they'd allow us to keep him. He'd have to go back to the rescue where we got him. Nothing will break my heart more, so for now I'm praying that somehow we'll be able to stay where we are and keep the whole family, furry parts included, with us.

Photo Hunt: Different

For this week's theme I chose a shot of my two coneheads. I think this particular picture really illustrates just how very different the two really are... Jared (left) is very gentle, nervous, and always aims to please. Donovan (right) is cocky, hard-headed and impish. I love them both dearly, but sometimes I wish Jared would gain some of Donovan's fearlessness and Donovan would be a bit more obedient!

Off With His Tail!

Ugh, what a day. For those counting, that's two in a row. Came home this afternoon to find that Jared had lost the end of his tail... Not the bandage, or the stitches or whatever, the actual end of the tail. There was bone sticking out. So, we loaded him into the car and off we went to the vet's office yet again. At this point, she's going to have to amputate at least part of the tail. We had the option of amputating just an inch or so and hoping it heals this time, or lopping off the entire thing and being done with it. So, as of tomorrow, I'll have a dog with a docked tail. Can't say I'm thrilled with the concept, but it's better than dealing with this over and over again. He's pretty well sick of bandages and cones. I know I am. At least the day ended well.

Photo Hunt: Heavy

This week the theme is heavy. At nearly 100 lbs, I think this guy qualifies. This is my German Shepherd Dog, Vali (pronounced like volley). He looks quite imposing, but looks can be deceiving. On the inside, he's just a big ol mamma's boy!

Have a Heart for Chained Dogs

Dogs Deserve Better is running its annual campaign to send Valentines to dog owners who keep their pet chained or penned up outside. It's a great initiative and really can make a huge difference in the life of a dog (and its family!). They need your help though! They need donations, people to make and send in Valentines, coupons for dog food and treats, and addresses where dogs are penned or chained outside. Last year, they wound up with more valentines than addresses, so if you know of a dog who spends all of his time outside, away from the family he loves, please send in the address today!

Warning: this video may break your heart, but its message is undeniably true!

Puppy Bowl Sunday

Just wanted to take a minute to remind my readers that today an incredibly important sporting event will play on TV screens across the country. There's already plenty of betting going on for the MVP of the game, and serious fans have their favorites all picked out from the starting line-up, but I think I'm going with Bingo, the American Staffordshire Terrier/ American Pit Bull Mix. What, you thought I was talking about that other game? Please! This guy is gonna be much more entertaining than anything they'll have at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

The Tail Saga Continues...

And just when I thought it had been dealt with and now we would just have to wait for the stitches to come out... This morning, we couldn't find the cone to put around Jared's head to keep him from chewing off the bandage on his tail. No problem, I work in a very dog-friendly environment, so I called my boss and asked if she'd mind if Jared came to visit for the day. She said that would be fine, so I figured I could keep an eye on him today and get a new cone for tomorrow. Shoulda been easy, right? These things never are.

As I was about to leave for work, I grabbed the leash and called Jared. Jared, like most dogs, LOVES his leash. He knows it's his ticket to the world of "outside" and it means he's going to get to go somewhere. So his tail started wagging. Furiously. Yup, you guessed it, OFF came the bandage. I had no idea where it went, and I couldn't really have done much with it anyway, so I wrapped his tail in some clean paper towels, secured them with bandaids, and we left.

Stopped at the vet on the way in to the office (after calling to let the boss know what had happened and that I'd be a bit on the late side). Took Jared in to the vet and got it re-bandaged. I think it looks a lot more secure this time around. Hopefully this one will last a bit longer. In case it doesn't though, Grump got all the supplies to take care of it here at home, should it come off again.

But I really really hope it doesn't. Poor guy.

Jared's Tail Adventures

One of my dogs, Jared, had a rough day yesterday, then had to spend the night at the vet, and now has a bandage on his tail and stitches under that and will be on pain meds for a while, so he's a bit on the loopy side. If you want the full story, you can see it at Grumpamoose's blog, but I just thought I'd post a couple of pictures to document the whole thing.

Here he is, home, safe and mostly sound. Poor guy. He seems more nervous than he usually is (and he's usually pretty tightly-wound so that's really saying something!) but I don't know if that's an effect of the meds or just him being afraid of getting hurt again.

And here's a close-up of that tail. They've got it wrapped pretty well, but I'm still gonna have to make him wear the lampshade when we're not home and he's going to have to be separated from the other dogs too because they're just too curious about what's under there.

Photo Hunters: Messy

It's that time again! This week's theme is "messy" and a photo op that fit it just happened to fall into my lap. For Christmas, our four dogs got rawhide candy canes. Here's a shot of Donovan, the littlest, enjoying his:

Now, the other four dogs all managed to eat their rawhide without getting it all over themselves or anything else, but not Donovan... He had it smeared all over his face. By the time we got the camera and set up the shot, he had gotten most of it off, but you can still see some clinging to his nose:



Here's a closeup shot of his MESSY nose:

Things never seem to happen the way I expect them to.

Well, I woke up to a dead rat this morning. It actually came as quite a shock. You see, it wasn't the one I've been worried about. It was Betty, Wilma's lifelong companion. She was over two years old, so I wasn't completely surprised. I'm told that every day with a rat over two years is a gift. Wilma on the other hand, is regaining some weight and seems to be doing quite a bit better lately. Go figure. I think I've decided I'm not going to replace my rats as they go. I'll just stick with the longer-lived pets. I can't keep doing this to myself. First it was a series of mice that just weren't around long enough, and now rats. At least with dogs and bunnies a decade is not out of the question. Two years is just too short.