Friday, July 29, 2011

Thanks for the Poo

Anyone who owns a dog knows the smell. It assaults you as soon as you enter the house and the hunt begins. Where is the gift that is not really a gift, but a nasty little surprise?

I had this experience today. Ohhhh nooooo... For a fleeting moment I hoped my nose was mistaken. Of course I was wrong. But, and there is always a but, this time there is cause to celebrate!

Maybe I should take a moment to do the happy dance, because certainly I have the smartest dog/dogs in the world. It doesn't matter who had the poo's, truly it doesn't. What matters is that they were courteous enough to go down stairs to the cement basement floor instead of using the new carpet. Yep, thems smart dogs.

Thank you, thank you, thank you who ever you are. I'm sorry for you not feeling well, but I'm eternally grateful you believe in selective pooing. Good dog Hank or Mick, Smelly Dog. You know who you are and I love you.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Say Cheez


There are many different types of dogs, well, duh. Let me try to explain. There are adorable skittish dogs like Sophie, there are stoic English gentlemen with monocles like Mick, there are "treats OMG liver treats" dogs like Pete, and then there is Hank.

Hank is the epitome of joy. He eat, sleeps and breathes joy. Although most times when I photograph that I end up with pic's of a dufus. Proof that what you see and what you get are sometimes worlds apart.

Perhaps when there is that much joy exuding from you it just comes out in shades of dufus. You don't have to be controlled, or diplomatic, or wear a mask. You let your guard down and just be. If just being, and being joyful at it, involves being a little cheezy and a dufus. Sigh me up. I'm learning from the Master.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Weeds, Work and other stuff

We've had our little Sophie visiting us this week. The only thing better than updates and photo's of a foster dog in their new home is to have one visit! She is still an early riser. Thankfully she is so stinkin cute. Once you get your sleepy eyes open you can't help but love her. I've loved her anywhere between 4:30am to 6am this week.

I realize if I kept her awake from 7-10pm, she'd probably sleep better for me. Trouble is I don't have much energy during those hours and dig the peace and quiet of lazy dogs in the evening. It's a mixed blessing.

We have been working like crazy people to get our house up on the market. This week the sign when up! Phfewwww.... I've had lots of conversations in my head about this. Such as "windows? how do you get so dirty". "Paint? who gave you permission to peel?" "Garden? Oh, I'm so sorry I've neglected you". "Weeds, you flipping buggers, who said you could grow this fast"? "House, I'm sorry we have all pretty only to let you go". "Home, you've been very, very good to me and I love you".

It's really bitter-sweet. Life changes are sometimes. You have to let go of one thing to receive another. Dang, I suck at that sometimes. Maybe we all do.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Shades of Cool

Let me just say this. Mick is a cool dude. I heard it first from his foster Mom, long ago. She was right, he is cool, classy, subdued, and debonair. At least he is when we do our pet therapy visits. At home, he is part cool, part clown, but we understand that.

Here is the deal, there were two dogs doing the therapy visit today. Mick, who is an English Pointer and Rosie who is an English Bulldog. England would have been proud of us today. The more unusual breed usually draws all the attention. Not a problem. If it's a giant breed, Mick goes invisible. If it's a toy breed, Mick goes invisible. People are enchanted by the unusual. He's cool with that.

But sometimes the other dog is a tough act to follow. Miss Rosie is a looker any day of the week. Paws down she draws attention. Today, besides her winning personality, she was wearing a pink polka dot swimsuit!! Omg, if I had a body like that (and maybe I do) I could never wear a pink polka dot swimsuit. But she did and people went gaga over her.

I'm pretty sure there is a rule out there somewhere that says you can't really dress up a pointer because they are so cool just the way there are. Mick is happy with that rule. He'll take understated cool and leave the over the top to Rosie. They can both pull it off.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Roller Coasters


Some people love roller coasters. Me, not so much. There is nothing exhilarating about it. Dread going up, terror going down. Not to mention nearly meeting my lunch coming up at the same time. No fun.

I admit to feeling like life is a roller coaster right now. It's all good, I know it will turn out all good, but it just doesn't feel good right now. In response I get weepy. Man, how do we turn the faucet off??

Hank is concerned about my emotional status. When he's not asleep, outside, or eating that is. Mick is possessed by the bunnies who have taken up residence in the fenced vegetable garden. Fenced gardens are both a blessing and a curse.

I wish I could be subtle about stress. Like that is gonna happen. I wish the crystal ball was....well....crystal clear. This too shall pass, I do know that. And I will wonder what all the turmoil was about.

For now, I'm about as worked up as Mick is to get the bunnies in the garden. We make quite a pair. Thankfully, Hank is showing us that napping is better way to approach life. It's a rough job, but someone has to do it.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Names

It dawned on me I put too much thought into dog names. Perhaps I need to keep it more simple.

A friend had pointers named Joker, Crusty, Bumpy, and Hoser. If I had done that we would have had Tooth Pick, Gnarly, Unpredictable Bitch (UB for short), Allerg-i-girl, FunkyLip, Bones, Shy Guy and Chicken Little.

Dang, I missed the boat. I'm going to have to rethink the whole naming process. Dopey, Grumpy, Nasty, Schmuck, Lazy, Frenzy and Doozie all of a sudden have great potential. Of course, it's a good thing people aren't named that same way.

The best part is that even silly names like that can become terms of endearment. Or maybe, we'll stick with a semi-tradition name, and have some colorful nicknames. Oh, wait, we do that already. Right, Mr. Hanky???

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Vows

I do, I do. Or what to do, what to do. Or I have dogs, therefore I am.

Having just said the I Do's, the I Will's, the in good times and in bad I admit to having vows on the brain. For the record, we did giggle through our vows. I was getting emotional, feeling weepy and then Reno made a little face at me. That is when the giggles happened. I laughed, he laughed, we couldn't stop laughing, then we couldn't even make eye contact without cracking up again. Not that we didn't take those words seriously, we do! Sometimes laughter just happens.

But I digress.....making the big "M" commitment got me thinking about the commitment we make to our pets. The same rules apply. In good times, and in bad, in sickness and in health, 'til death do us part. That means when they are cute and when they are disgusting. Yesterday Hank had a little dead rodent. He couldn't decide whether to consume it or roll on it. I made the decision for him even though it grossed me out. Yes, if Reno was around I'd have pulled the "I can't do that" card. But he wasn't so I did. I vowed to keep Hank safe, and in this case clean, and I did.

I have dogs, and a hubby, so I made those commitments with an open heart. Luckily he is as committed to the dogs as I am. It's a day in, day out promise to love, honor and clean up an occasional rodent. I will, he will, We Do!