I'll Get You My Pretty...

I used to think when we left the house that the dogs settled in and napped the day away.  Quiet, peaceful puppies.  Gentle snoring.  Dreams of dog bones raining from the sky.  It's beginning to dawn on me this may not be the case. 

Each day when we come home the dogs go bonkers.  Barking, yelping, growling, whining, vocalizing, exclamations of canine energy.  Yes, they are exited to see us, but it is more than that. 

Layla and Addy's crates face each other.  I think they talk smack to each other all day long.  Layla probably starts with "hey bitch, you are just here temporary" to which Addy reply's "just you wait, I'm gonna take you down as soon as I get out." "Well" says Layla, "I'm skinny, so take that".  "You saying I'm fat?  I'm full figured, it's the lab in me" replies Addy.  Several times a day I imagine Mick ambles through and smirks "Ha!  Only the bad dogs have to be crated."  He knows that the slow dog is the last one out the door.  Addy will be on Layla's heels so he stays out of the melee.  All day they long they poke at each other until we roll in weary from a day at work.  

Watch out when you open those crates.  Explosions of four footed energy burst out and it's game on. For the two girls that is.  For Mick it's the sweet relief of watering the bushes and staying out of the way.  Crazy canine shenanigans.  All because someone said "I'll get you my pretty".   

Pointers Pointers Pointers

I had the opportunity to attend my first "real" dog show this past week. Granted every day with our dogs is a show of some sort.  But this show was a big one.  A National dog show featuring all English Pointers.

So here are some thoughts on it.  Wow, awesome, huge, beautiful, interesting, amusing, eye opening and did I mention huge??  Those bench pointers are huge, in comparison to the sweet field pointers we work with in rescue.  I loved it!  There is another whole dog world out there and it was a privilege to be part of it for a while.  

Now I don't show my dogs, but they show me a whole big world too.  I don't field trial my dogs, but in our fields they are winners in my eyes.  Obedience is always a hit and miss event at our house.  They keep trying to train me and I keep trying to train them.  If you ask them they are winning.  I beg to differ.

I will say the world should give out more ribbons. So many achievements are ribbon worthy.   People should definitely pet the dogs they encounter in life every chance they get. Judges probably don't know the whole story of the dogs they view and people in general should be less judgmental.   

It was great to go, an honor to meet people I've known for years in the dog world and a blessing to get there and back safely.  Makes me appreciate my doggy dog world even more.

It's Not What I Wanted.

How many times in life do we think "well, it's not what I wanted".  And at that very instant we decide we will never be happy with it.  Of course the "it" could be anything...a job, a relationship, a hair cut, a situation, you name it.

It's not like I dreamed, it's not like I asked, hoped, wished for.  Surely all the foster dogs felt that way when they ended up here.  Not that they didn't end up in a good place, it's just probably not what they may have envisioned.  Hank didn't want to be picked up as a stray, Mick didn't want to be the last of a litter who couldn't be placed in a home, Layla surely didn't want to have a chain collar so tight it had to b cut off.   We all want warm, sunny, permanent, easy, happy, rich, funny, joyful lives. Sometimes what we want and what we get aren't the same.  Sometimes we get way more than we ever dreamed, it just comes in a different package than we expected.  If we find a way to let go of the expectation we can find some unexpected beauty.

In the meantime we grow and change.  It may not be what we wanted, but embracing where we are lets in the grace.  Who couldn't use a little more grace in their lives.

I Need A Makeover

There are times a girl just needs a makeover. This is the case for Ms. Addy.  As a foster dog her complete life is a make-over.  Sometimes you have to shed the past to embrace the future.

To begin the makeover we have cast off her old collar.  Really....does a plain old brown collar do a girl justice?  It was serviceable.  No more, no less.  But did it help this little girl shine?  Not a bit.  Since we couldn't just run to the store to buy her one we did the next best thing.  We searched for a hand-me-down collar of Layla's to share with Addy.  There is something about blue and pink paisley that just makes your heart light.  Off came the old brown collar and on went the new.  A step in the right direction!

Truth be told a wider collar would complement Addy's somewhat full figured physique. But for now this will work.  A little color, some pizzazz and voila!  A new beginning.

That is just what this girl needs....  A new beginning, a new life and a new forever home.  One that recognizes that sometimes we all need a makeover.