Monthly Archives: October 2019

Just Do It!

Dogs & Other Animals, ,

So, here is the promised update on the Hounds for Hattie event that the girls and I participated in on Saturday. As you may recall, Hattie Larlham facilities are homes for disabled persons. Above are the girls, Shelby and Nikki, in their Halloween costumes and in “plain clothes”. Yes, there was a costume contest. The Hattie residents voted for the best costume. Alas, Shelby and Nikki did not win although they did get a nice round of applause. They were good sports.

Dogs Ace and Oliver were two other dogs that came to join in the fun. They competed in the costume contest, tricks demonstrations, rally, and obedience. These dogs are actually brothers from the same litter! They are Havanese, the national dog of Cuba.

Gina, a labradoodle, came to participate in the fun and thrill the residents. As well as Griffin on the left. He is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. All of the above dogs are certified therapy dogs, certified by yours truly.

Panzer the Rottweiler did tricks and won the costume contest later. There were a couple other dogs who I didn’t get pictures of, but helped to make the event a success all the same. This event was started by my friend Becky and her daughter Rachel several years ago.

Shelby says if you ever have an opportunity to participate in such an event, do it! You won’t be sorry.

Good Dog!

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals,

Zekie is learning to be a good dog. If you’ve been following his antics, you know he is quite the challenging dog. But he is eager to please so his good behaviors continue to happen more often. Here he is (on the left) near the end of our hike at Shaw Woods over the weekend. He and Shelby are holding a stay so I can get some pictures.

Oops, he got distracted and wanted to see what daddy and the other dogs were looking at. He didn’t break that stay command though. And I didn’t even have treats! Good dog Zekie, good dog.

How Many Dogs Does It Take to Shower?

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

How many dogs does it to shower? This is my view as I get into the shower.

For me, the answer is three. Three of our five dogs must be present. Baxter and Nikki do not participate. Baxter keeps an eye on the house and trusts that I can handle it. Nikki just doesn’t care what I’m doing as long as it doesn’t involve her.

Shelby, on the right, must be present to bite the bathtub faucet when the water is turned on. She started doing this back when the faucet squeaked every time we turned it on. You can’t have that faucet thinking it can squeak without repercussions. The faucet has long been fixed but Shelby stands by her tradition.

Zekie and Cassius, left and middle respectively, must accompany me because, hey, you can’t be that far away from mom. You never know when she might sneak out the bathroom window, never to be seen again. Or so their thoughts seem to go.

How many dogs does it take you to shower?

Results Not As Expected!

Cooking,

I’m usually a pretty good cook. I do well with cooking meals although baking is my specialty. Most of what I make is at least edible.

So I was not happy when I had one of those experiences recently where I followed a recipe and the results came out nothing like the picture. I have to admit the difference for actual vs. expected is pretty humorous.

There is soggy liquid around my sliced caramel apples. The apples apparently made liquid which combined with the caramel to form a syrup and slid the caramel right off, rather than having candy coated apples.

I was hoping to take these to my niece’s birthday party. That did not pan out because I didn’t think anyone wanted a bowl of caramel apple soup.

Oh well, good for a laugh!

Blessed In a Big Way

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

This face. This boy loves me so much that I can forgive him nearly anything. Zeke is what we in Rescue call “a handful “.

He has chewed his way out of multiple crates. The guaranteed one made of aircraft steel is still holding up. He has chewed up multiple metal bowls. He chased a jogger. He is not a dog for the uninitiated. And so of course I adopted him after a few months of fostering.

This has meant a two year hiatus on our fostering. It was worth it to save his life.

Zekie has shown improvement in his nearly two years with us. His leash reactivity is much better (although not 100%) with walkers and bicyclists. He is still reactive with other dogs when out walking. Oddly enough, he is ok with dogs that come to our home when he is not on leash.

His obedience skills continue to improve. In fact, he is very obedient. You just have to give commands all the time to keep him out of trouble.

Zekie is a loyal dog and one affectionate boy. He follows me everywhere. He waits for me at the door if I go outside. If he is not crated because someone else is home, he sits on the back of the couch looking out the window at the driveway awaiting my return.

This dog does everything in a big way. His excitement for walks is over the top. His desire for treats is intense. His drive for attention is beyond his control. And his ability to love is endless.

I am blessed.

Buzzard Hike

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, ,

What do you do when your hubby isn’t home but you want something to do? Take dogs hiking! Although it was hot, Cassius, Baxter, Zekie, and Shelby all had a good time.

Nikki stayed home because, hey, it was hot and she’s 12 years old.

We walked at West Branch State Park on the path along the dam. These turkey buzzards watched us from atop the building. There seem to often be a lot of buzzards in the area. They must like all the wooded areas that surround us.

The pups were all well behaved on our walk and we enjoyed ourselves despite the heat.