Public Service Announcement!

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals,
Dgos-Baxter and Shelby
Baxter and Shelby

Looks like Baxter is telling Shelby “Hey, did you hear? Dogs must be licensed! This must mean we’re smart, huh?”

The deadline for purchasing your dog license for the year is January 31. The fee is set by the Commissioners of each county. The fee in my county is $15.00 per dog. If you do not purchase by that date, the fee is doubled, unless you just got a new dog or puppy

I am a certified evaluator for a therapy dog organization. As part of testing, I am required to ask to see proof of a Dog License. It is the law to have your dog licensed and of course no group wants to certify a dog that does not meet law requirements.

I thought knowledge of Dog Licenses was a common thing. Apparently I was wrong. On at least three separate occasions, I have asked for proof of licensure, only to have the person tell me they were not aware of it. Despite the fact that the email I send out to everyone before testing mentions that you must bring proof of rabies shot AND dog license. I am not sure what they think this means. Or perhaps they do not read the information I send them. It could be that they were just trying to pull the wool over my eyes and thought I would make an exception. One person seemed truly befuddled by the license concept though, saying she had never heard of such a thing.

It made me wonder. Is this only a local thing? So I did an on-line search.  It turns out that nearly all states require you to license your dog. So I am doing my part to make you aware of this. Dog licenses may be purchased at your local Dog Warden’s Office and sometimes at other select locations. Check on-line for a list near you!

Look At This  Reading Role Model!

Dogs & Other Animals, ,

Shelby and I participated in the Reading Role Model program through United Way this morning . We went to a local elementary school and read books to kindergarteners. The theory is that if kids don’t read by third grade, they are less likely to graduate from high school . 

I knew that Shelby would do ok but I wasn’t sure how well she would take to it. She did GREAT ! ! !  And she was quite a hit with the kids, as well as the adults . We read a book about Therapy Dogs and another one about various kinds of pets . The kids were very well behaved and had lots of questions .  Shelby rolled over to entice the kids to give her belly rubs while I was reading . The closer kids were happy to oblige.

After we were done reading to our class , we were asked to visit the other three kindergarten classrooms so they could see Shelby too. I told the last class about the Read To A Dog program that many libraries have and the teacher decided they should read the poem they had been working on as a group to Shelby .  I had her sit at the front of the classroom while the kids read to her. By the end, she was sitting there looking at all the kids and giving them a huge smile! It was definitely a proud momma moment for me.

We had a great time and I can’t wait until we can go back and read again next month!

One of Those Days

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, ,
Dog, Cat, Sleeping
Lacey & Cassius the Greyhound

Did you ever have one of those days that did not get off to an auspicious start? Yesterday was such a day for me. One of those days where you think, I should have stayed in bed.

I got up yesterday morning and the house was cold. We finally got fuel oil on Friday but then the boiler would not start. Not quite as dire as it sounds. We also heat with wood and had been doing so throughout the fall. However, on Tuesday morning the fire had gone out overnight because no one got up in the middle of the night to add wood. Also not the worst thing in the world because it’s still warm enough that the house doesn’t cool off very fast.

So I got up, put the dogs out for their morning constitutional, and set about laying the wood and kindling for a new fire. I let the dogs back inside. The new greyhound Cassius came from a racing track in Palm Beach, Florida. He thinks any temperatures below 70 degrees are unbearable and that we are abusive. Never mind the fact that he has a sweatshirt and we cover him with blankets.

I went back to light the aforementioned fire. I was crouched down arranging the kindling and lighting the fire. The end of my robe was trailing on the floor as I worked. Apparently, unbeknownst to me at the time, our senile, 16 year old cat Lacey came along behind me, saw the end of my robe lying on the floor and decided that it was a good place to pee. Lacey does tend to pee in creative places these days because she cannot remember where the litter box is, but this is a first.

I must be making progress in goal of becoming a more calm and peaceful person because I did not even get mad at Lacey at the time. I realized that she is old and senile and we are just happy to still have her with us. However that did not stop me from jumping up to clean up the mess! Now when you stand up after having your garment peed on, the voice of experience here, gravity tends to take effect and you end up with cat urine running on the floor. So… After getting the robe out of the picture, I got paper towels to clean up the mess. I was in the other room disposing of the towels when I heard the smoke alarm going off. We always leave the door on the wood burner open for a bit so the fire can get enough oxygen to get burning good. Then we close the door on the wood burner and the fire starts the fan and the heating process. Well, with running around taking care of “the pee incident” I never got back to close the door and too much smoke came out into the room.

So I grabbed a chair, jumped up, and removed the smoke detector so as not to awaken my sleeping husband. I really did NOT want any witnesses to this whole fiasco. Did I mention that I start work at 6:30 in the morning? So it was quite early when I was having all this fun. In the end, no harm was done. I got the wood burner heating again, the smoke dissipated, and I put the smoke detector back up before I left for work. My robe got washed when I came home from work and we were status quo again.

By the way, the repair company is coming to get our boiler furnace running again today, and I am still glad that we have Lacey to share our lives with. All is right with the world.

Friendship 

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, Thoughts On Life

This is how happy I am after hanging out with friends at our Sheltie Rescue meeting today. They are some of the kindest, most big hearted people I know.

Over the years we have learned that we have many things in common, even outside of the dog world, which is what brought us together in the first place. We share many similar interests; hiking, cooking, gardening, crafts, and a minutiae of trivia that keeps our minds busy.

We even care about each other’s families. One of my dear “sheltie friends” asked to put my mother-in-law on her church prayer list. 

And of course this love and caring extends to each other’s pets. How could it not? This was the nucleus of what brought us together. At the illness or passing of a dear family member of the furry persuasion, the condolences start pouring in, be it kind words, cards, notes, emails, the support is there. When someone has a loss, we all grieve.

But mostly the times are happy and we share love and interests of life.  What a blessing to have friends like these ! 

Kammie Comes Home

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

This is our foster girl Kammie the sheltie. She came to us in April. She ended up at a local shelter because her owner had died. A volunteer there took pity on her and took her home for a couple weeks because she was so sad and sickly, not adjusting to kennel life well. After a couple weeks on antibiotics for possible kennel cough, she was transferred to us at Northeast Ohio Shetland Sheepdog Rescue. A wonderful volunteer transported her to me since she was coming from a fair distance away.

Kammie is an easy dog to have around. She is 8 years old and quiet most of the time. She spends the majority of her time indoors curled up in a corner sleeping. She loves to spend time outside with our other dogs. She takes delight in barking at the others and playing referee during games of frisbee.

You may wonder why this beautiful girl is still here. First she needed more antibiotics for a respiratory problem, a possible relapse of the kennel cough. At the time Kammie arrived at the shelter, she weighed 59 lbs. She should probably weigh about 35 lbs. By the time we got her, she was down to 54 lbs. Now  she weighs in at 42 lbs! Yay Kammie! She was diagnosed with low thyroid. She receives pills for this twice a day, hence her new svelte shape . 

It was then discovered that Kammie had a bladder infection. She received antibiotics for this, to no avail. We tried a different antibiotic. Still no luck. At this point a culture was grown to see what antibiotic would work. There was only one oral kind that would work. After all of this, the poor girl still had blood in her urine. At this point the vet requested an ultrasound to look for another cause of these urinary troubles. It turns out that  Kammie has 3 tumors in her bladder. Two look to be malignant and the other is likely benign. So poor Kammie has terminal bladder cancer. She was not eating as well anymore and not as active.

She now takes a medicine made for humans that is an analgesic and has the side effect of slowing tumor growth. She was not eating as well and was more lethargic.  She has definitely perked up since she has been on this medication. She eats all her food again and is back to rowdy playing . 

The vet diagnosed her with a probable 3 to 6 more months. Kammie will live out the rest of her life with us and as a ward of NEOSSR. Even if we found someone who was willing to adopt her, we don’t think it would be fair for her to have to transition to another home at this late stage of her life. So this is Kammie’s last stop. She is home.

Good News for Nikki 

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

It turned out to be a good day for Nikki one day a couple of weeks ago .  I should say it turned out to be a good day for me. 

I thought Nikki was 11 years old now . She  is a failed foster. She  was  a foster dog but we decided to adopt her. I was going through my dog health records file and found Nikki ‘ s intake information from when she came into rescue. It turns out that she is only 9 years old! We get so many dogs into our rescue ,  at last count we have fostered over 45 just at our house,  I must have gotten her age confused with one of the other dogs .  She is one of the few dogs that we did get records with so we do know her age.

Just like Christmas ! We will get more years with Nikki than we thought ! 

Blessings

Thoughts On Life,

Clay Art-Heart

Blessings are all around us, we just have to be aware of them.

My coworker flipped his calendar to November and it is still October. You may wonder how this could possibly be a blessing. Maybe I’ve just lost it? I think not. (At least not because of this!) The calendar has people, organizations, or groups to pray for each day.  And a monthly picture of someone in need of prayer. It is quite a worthy calendar. I appreciate this calendar.

However the picture for October was of someone undergoing some type of water torture. I suspect it was water boarding but I am not knowledgeable about such things. The picture was unpleasant and I walked by it every time I left my desk. One day last week I peeked at the photo for November and commented, “Oh good, the photo for next month is not as distressing” and gave a little chuckle.

This week, with an entire week of October remaining, I notice that the calendar is flipped to November. It was not pointed out to me, just done as a kind gesture.

To be sure, the poor gentleman on the calendar was worthy of needing prayers. I just happen to be sensitive to these kinds of things and they become imprinted on my mind.

What a blessing to have such a compassionate, caring office mate. May God bless him, as well as the gentleman in the photograph, and his tormenters.

Peace Be With You

Dogs & Other Animals, Thoughts On Life, ,

Dog-Greyhound, Friends

I was just reading something that was written by Jane Goodall, of whom I am a big fan. She stated that she was born loving animals. No wonder I am a big fan. I can relate to this and understand it completely.

One of the first tv shows that I can remember watching is Captain Kangaroo. My favorite character? Mr. Moose. My favorite Saturday morning cartoon? Tarzan. I didn’t want to be Jane, I wanted to be Tarzan because he could talk to the animals. My favorite superhero? Aquaman. Because he could summon the animals for help, under water no less! Seeing a theme here?

Growing up I always had my own dog, independent from my dad’s hunting dogs. I used to beg my mom to let me bring her in the house. My mom just told me that dogs didn’t belong inside and that when I grew up and had my own house, I could have all the dogs I wanted in it. I don’t think it is physically possible, or wise, for me to have as many as I want. But we do tend to vary between 4 to 6 or 7 dogs at any one time, depending on the number of foster and visiting dogs residing with us. Not to mention the cats, current count is four.

For years now, instead of killing spiders, moths, etc. in the house, I try to catch them and release them outside. We try to live trap destructive rodents and release them elsewhere. I don’t like to kill things or being responsible for killing them if there is another option.

I don’t remember ever not being this way. I don’t understand people who don’t like animals. Animals are fellow beings on this planet with us. I tend to look at these people with puzzlement and realize that we are never likely to more than acquaintances because they don’t “get” what is my biggest passion in life. I wouldn’t say that I love animals more than humans. We are all living beings and deserve respect. Loving one does not exclude the other. Although I must say, I am often more comfortable around animals than people.

Peace be with you. And all forms of life.

The Last Hurrah 

Country Life, Gardens, ,

We know winter is creeping this way but we still have flowers to enjoy right now. It is so warm that I am sitting on the patio with a book. One of my favorite pass times. I want to make the most of this opportunity. 


The snapdragons are still in bloom. 


As are the regal trumpet flowers. 


A self seeded celosia.


And the mandevillas.

I think this qualifies as the perfect October day. So my friends, my wish for you is that you may have an equally brilliant day.

Cassius, Day 24

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Dog, Greyhound, Cassius

Twenty four days in and I can’t imagine how we ever lived without this boy. He has added a tremendous amount of life back into our home.

He continues to learn our ways quickly.  He has progressed from “you have food, I will eat it”, to “maybe I can take this while they aren’t looking”.

It didn’t take long for him to discover the comforts of couches and chairs. Now we are working on “move over”.

Cassius is the goofiest dog we have ever had by far. If that big dopey grin doesn’t put a smile on your face, there’s no hope for you.

We are in love!

Greyhound, Dog, Cassius