Category Archives: Dogs & Other Animals

Training and Walking

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, ,

I have heard it said that racing greyhounds can’t or don’t sit. They are even exempt from the sit during Therapy Dog testing. Our retired racers have always learned to sit, some better than others. So I have started working on teaching Cassius the sit command. I put him into the position and praise like crazy. We will have to wait and see if he catches on like the others have.

In my renewed effort to walk dogs regularly, we have been walking this week. I always take Zekie because he has so much to learn to be a “normal” dog. He is doing excellent on his sits, downs, and stays. It will soon be time to work on these commands with distractions at a distance. But when it’s just us, he does great.

See how well Zekie holds his sit-stay. I couldn’t keep Cassius in a sit, but he did do a stand-stay. I’ll take it for now. He at least stays still enough for a picture.

Cassius was confused as to why were not going inside though. He thought since there was a door, that we should enter and see what there was to see. Zeke kept his sit but seemed puzzled as to what Cassius was doing. So was I, Zekie, so was I.

All these shenanigans were apparently very exhausting. Of course Cassius is originally from a racetrack in Florida so the cold may have played a part in wearing him out too. Cassius came home and felt the need to take a nap. A tired dog is a good dog. Good boy, Cassius.

New Adventures

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I am enjoying my first week of retirement. This morning I decided to take Zeke and Shelby for a walk down the road and back for some exercise and some training. We walked down to the township park which is about 3/4 of a mile away. On the way we stopped occasionally to practice sits, downs, and stays. The picture above was taken while practicing stays in front of the local church. They had this pretty garland up for Christmas and I thought it made for the perfect photo opportunity while we were working on holding a sit. The pups did very well, especially considering that the recycling truck was emptying dumpsters just a few houses away. Shelby was not a fan of the grinding and banging but she did hold her stay.

We live in a small, rural community and apparently people are active in the morning. I never knew this because I was at work. On our way home a lady opened her front door to greet us as we passed by on the street. When she first saw Shelby, she thought her dog got out because she has a sheltie too. Once she realized it wasn’t her dog, she opened the door anyway to introduce herself and say hello. We talked for several minutes and I’m sure we will talk again as we had lots to say.

The dogs and I walked a short distance farther and another lady driving by in a van stopped to say hello and introduce herself. She said she knew where we lived and that I had visited another nearby homebound neighbor with two of the shelties before. We visited for a couple minutes then went on our separate ways. I learned that she also lives nearby.

What a lovely morning getting to meet two neighbors that I had never encountered before. I think that I am going to like this different life outside of the work environment. It is foreign to me but that just means it is a new adventure.

This is Zeke shortly after we returned from our walk and training. When the lady stopped in the van, he wasn’t sure if this was ok or if he should protect me. I told him it was alright and as the lady and I talked, Zeke relaxed. He was a good boy. This was a relief because he can sometimes be reactive to people or dogs that he does not know. But his response this time was just right. All the activity and decision making apparently wore him out. He needed a nap, so crashed on the living room couch with his head on the pillow.

I can’t wait to see what adventures tomorrow brings!

Kindness

Dogs & Other Animals

On my last day of work before retirement, I was given a couple of precious gifts from my coworkers. These gifts showed that they really did know me and appreciated who I was. One was an oversize mug (yay, lots of coffee and tea) that says Rescue Mom. Along with some kind words saying how she loved that I fostered and rescued dogs and to keep helping those puppies. Never fear, that is my plan! The best part of this gift was that this lady “gets” me and likes me for who I am.

The other mug was from a coworker who had helped me make sure that customers were fulfilling their requirements and doing what they were supposed to do. The words that I was to be missed were greatly appreciated. One of the Bible quotes on the mug he gave me seemed selected for me at this time of change in my life. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way in which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” How appropriate, as I enter this new phase of my life and decide where my life will take me after retirement.

I will remember these coworkers and their care and their support of me every time I use these mugs. Their kindness goes far beyond the day and the simple act of giving these gifts. They gave me a bit of themselves to take with me. May you all be blessed with such kind words and acts in your lives.

Zekie’s New Adventures

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Zekie’s life just got immeasurably better. I am retired officially as of today. Zekie suffers from severe separation anxiety that we have never been successful in treating. We tried training, behavioral therapy, holistic medicine,  prescription drugs. None of them have made a difference. We have only been able to contain him, and that has not been without extreme challenges.

Now Zekie won’t have to deal with me leaving every morning and being gone all day. At least not unless I get a job sometime down the road. Any time that I go away should only be for relatively brief periods of time. I can also be here to work on more extensive training with him and see if I can get control of some of his other behaviors.

He is an extremely smart dog. This has not always been to his or our benefit. Yesterday I went out to the pasture to bring the dogs back inside. Zeke grabbed the frisbee and was taking it to the house. I asked him, what are you doing? He stopped and looked at me. I told him, leave that outside. He put the frisbee down. I told him, go put that back in the pasture. And so he did. He picked the frisbee up, ran out and put the frisbee down inside the pasture fence, then followed me back to the house.

If a dog is that smart, there must be some way that I can communicate to him that we will always come back, that he is not being abandoned. It is just up to me to be smart enough to figure it out. But while we are working on obedience training and emotional health for Zekie, I get the pleasure and joy of hanging out with him and the other animals everyday.

Life is good. Peace be with you.

 

The Three Amigos

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Since it gets dark so early now, we never made it for a walk today. So, we took the three boys out to the pasture to play and expend some energy. This helps keep them out of trouble and provides entertainment for them and us.

The girls, Nikki and Shelby, wanted to stay inside.

The boys got to frisbee and play with the jolly ball. Zekie wanted to know if I wanted his frisbee. As you can see, frisbees have a short life here. We keep this one for Zekie because he thinks the goal is to disassemble them. He has become a good catcher though.

Baxter takes things very seriously and would never, ever hurt a frisbee. He will let the other dog have it rather than rip his prized frisbee.

Cassius will often catch the frisbee, but his favorite is to chase and chew his jolly ball.

So, although there was no walk, a fun time was had by all.

A Quiet Weekend

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This is one of those weekends where I have no plans. Ha! Then why am I so tired?

After the obligatory bathroom cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, and dish washing, I decided to try making my garlic breadstick recipe into dinner rolls in preparation for the upcoming holidays. The rolls came out quite well. They will make a fine addition to this evening’s dinner of cavatelli. At this point, I did stop and read for a while. A girl has to have her priorities.

A bout of insanity struck and I decided to clean some more. I washed the dogs’ bedding from their crates. Then I thought what am I going to do, put Nikki’s freshly laundered bed back in her smelly Vari-kennel? So I hauled it into the bathroom, disassembled, scrubbed, and hosed it down.

Time to sit down now, right? My brain was too busy for this. It thought, you are out of granola, you should make a batch. Homemade granola for breakfast is a delicious thing. But…

since the oven is already heated up, and we are out of dessert, I should make that pumpkin gingerbread coffee cake I have been thinking about. And so I did.

As soon as I finish that load towels and make the pasta for dinner, I am sitting down! Boy, I hope I don’t have another weekend with no plans for a while. They are exhausting.

Etsy Site Coming Soon!

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I will be retiring from my job of 32+ years at the end of the month. What does this mean for my immediate future? I will soon be opening an Etsy site as well as spending more time on the blog!

I intend to focus the blog a little more on the country lifestyle. Don’t worry, there will still be plenty about dogs. But since my life won’t be tied up with a full time job, at least for a bit, I should have more time to spend on home based endeavors.

The Etsy site will have arts and crafts as pictured, for sale. I also plan to have gourmet dog biscuits available. Other items are still in the planning stage. Perhaps bandanas that slip over dog collars.

I will keep you apprised as the site gets closer to going live. This next chapter in my life promises to be full of change.

I can tell you, Zekie has been waiting and waiting for me to stay home with him. If every dog has his day, Zekie’s is coming soon!

Reminiscing About Foster Dogs

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

I was in the process of organizing old photos today and came across some of a few of the dogs, but by no means all, that we have fostered over the years for Northeast Ohio Shetland Sheepdog Rescue. I thought you would like to see them too.

Bear

Booberry

Buttons aka Winston

Geri

Gracie and Zoey

Zoey aka Selah

Mack

More pictures of foster dogs will be shared in a future post. They all went on to wonderful homes.

Just Do It!

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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.

Happy Halloween!

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Shelby and Nikki are getting in the spirit of the season as Halloween approaches. They participated in a costume contest at a special event for some of our friends from Hattie Larlham. The facility provides care for persons with disabilities. More about the event later.

Happy Halloween!