It Always Brings A Smile

It snowed, it snowed, it snowed! For some reason the first snowfall always brings a smile to my face. There is something about it. I guess there is just so much anticipation for the start of winter just as there is for spring. I never realize how ready I am for winter until it snows. This year winter was late...I know for all of you lower 48ers this seems a tad on the strange side. I remember my freshman year of college there was snow the third week of September and it stayed, see nothing to complain about. It's always fun to see the dogs run outside and greet the first snowfall as well. I swear there was a little more hop in Sadie's step this morning. I suppose it's not unrealistic to thing her feet were cold! Now comes the cold, the slick roads, and the high heating costs, but it'll be worth it, until February. And then spring will come, in May.

I Had A Date With My Dog

I had a date with Sadie tonight! It was our forth agility class. Today we learned to spin. I know, sounds glamorous. I did learn something tonight though...that agility is great because you don't get tested on the previous class lessons...the bad thing is, you don't get tested. I only say this because, if you don't practice, then your dog doesn't get better. However, you have to be your own motivator, because their really isn't any failing (unless you consider not graduating). I need to start working with Sadie more, but at least now we have a list:

• work on the beginnings of a front cross
• work on the spin
• work on stays
• remember to say "wait" and not stay

Sadie is a great agility dog, I'm really the one holding her back.

I Know You're Out There

So, sort of contrary to what my "no comments" tab tells me, I know that I have visitors to this blog because of the counter. If I do have faithful readers, or just a visitor who happens upon this site every once in awhile, I'd love to get feedback. I'm sure there are plenty of readers who have animals. I'd love to hear stories about your little ones. So, every now and then, leave me something to indicate how I'm doing...even if you hate what I've written. In my case, no news is no good, and bad news is better than nothing. But to those you do read, thank you!

What the ****?

And that's putting it mildly. First, take a look at Sadie, how vicious does she really look? Take a good hard look.

Now, to be honest, I did pick a pretty cute picture, and as a disclaimer, she is my little baby. But I do know that she is no angel, and that she can be a bit protective. Now the point of this all. I took the dogs to work today. I am well aware that Sadie barks at people when they walk by the car. I've also had all of my coworkers tell me that it wasn't a big deal, to quite worrying about it. "She's just doing what dogs are supposed to do, barking is how they communicate." That said, the following note was placed on my windshield (no editing on my part took place):

"Please don't part these dogs here. They are loud and act vicious to people who pass by. You are giving a bad image to all dog owners and especially those who have to bring them to work. Please park you car on the outskirts of the parking lot where few people pass, not always in the center, where everyone passes by. Thanks. P.S. Your dogs bumped on your hazard lights (how appropriate), and they act so vicious that I don't dare stick my arm in to turn them off, so your car may be out of batteries by the end of the day."

Okay, here my problems with the note:

1. The note was left open, facing everyone who wished to read this tyraid.
2. There was no name, no contact information. I believe this is cowardly. Had the person been nice, and respectful, I would have loved to chat with them to find out more information. Instead I'm left questioning how inappropriate her behavior really was.
3. I am a good pet owner. And anyone can attest to that. I love my dogs and take really good care of them, that's why there were in the car and not in a kennel for nine hours today.
4. How the heck does this person know I don't have to bring the dogs to work? And, to be honest, no one really has to bring their dogs to work, they just prefer not to kennel them all day.
5. I don't always park in the center of the lot. To be honest, this was the second time I've done this.
6. How awful is it for a person to be thankful that the hazard lights were turned on.
7. And why would anyone, under and circumstances, other then the dog dying, put their arms into a strangers car. I think this part of the note sounds pretty smug.
8. The fact that they obviously believe I'm a bad pet owner.

Things that I like about the note:

1. They remembered to say please twice.
2. They remembered to say thanks.

I really wish that I could have had a civil talk with this person, who I think is a student, and a female. Now I'm left to my own inner anger about the whole thing. Later that day I had someone I knew, and the dogs did not, walk by the car. Sadie acted like I thought she would, bark at him until he passed the car. During this whole incident the windows were all the way rolled up with the doors locked. I know that I wouldn't have felt so threatened that I would have had to write this note. I just think this person handled the whole thing completely wrong, and next time should have the balls to do the right thing: leave a short polite note asking me to contact them. Do you all feel like I'm out of line? Let me know. It's okay, I promise I won't bite.

First a Quilt, and now a Curtain?

My mom and one of our longtime family friends drove up to visit me this past weekend. FYI, I live 350 miles away, and they came up for the weekend. Takes a special person to do this trip three or four times in the summer. Don't see them in the winter, no one wants to test their luck with the road. Anyway, this isn't this point. Mom was up here the beginning of September with my sister. The two of them politely informed me I was making a quilt for this girl we knew who was pregnant, who just happens to be the daughter of the woman that accompanied my mom this weekend....follow? So, I spent the beginning of the month quilting, whipped out this adorable blanket in two days. Then this weekend my mom informed me that I was going to make a curtain to go with the quilt. When asked why neither of these two women made the curtain...well, it's all so simple of course, they don't know how and don't want to buy a sewing machine, so why not drive for seven hours? Crazy, I know. But I do love the company. On the second day they were here they take out the fabric, and wallah, they didn't buy enough. And as it turns out, luckily for me no on in town carried enough fabric so I was able to relax (sort of) the rest of the weekend! I had a lot of fun while they were here, and unfortunately this will be the last trip of the year...mom got snowed on they way down.

Yeah for Sadie!

I have recently enrolled Sadie in agility classes...you know, the dogs that can go over A-frames, jump, and go through hoops, that sort of stuff. One of my ex-coworkers does agility and she had worked on me for a year to try it with Sadie. I didn't know if I had the time, or was willing with the money commitment. I decided to start training with her at home with the basics, and she had so much fun. Sadie is extremely food driven, which makes her extremely easy to work with, she is extremely motivated to please, and is pretty intelligent. All and all she is going to make a good agility dog (I think, as I am sure we all do about our "kids"). I just need to keep an eye on myself, and keep me motivated. So far we've had two classes and Sadie has done very well. She already knew a lot of the foundational stuff that we had to work on, so we're busy building on that and making it stronger. I have to teach her a trick, and so we're working on "dead cockroach". It's a bit of a challenge just because Sadie needs to lay on her back with her paws in the air.....not something that comes natural. I think after two weeks she has it down pretty good...once again, just working on it to make it stronger.

Lilie will probably never do agility. She is much less motivated, which I do like cause I can be pretty lazy. When I first started working with Sadie, I was surprised how eager it made Lilie to work. She does get really jealous when I work with Sadie, so I do a few easy things with her that are easily rewardable. So I guess that my life isn't all work with no play. I do sometimes enjoy the rug rats that I have!

There's Something About Leo...

And it ain't pretty. Leo is our two year old cat whom we rescued from the animal shelter in Michigan. We loved him, cared for him, and have even paid his vet bills and provided him with many expensive meals, and he has yet to thank us. I know what everyone says about cats, "Oh they're so independent, isn't it nice!", or "Cats are soooooo easy to take care of, they practically take of themselves." I wish that were true. Leo is motivated by one thing only, food. All of his behavior stems from this one true passion. Here are a few ways husband and I have altered our lives/adapted to Leo so far:
1. Safety locks on all of our lower kitchen cabinets, and one up high that contains all of our bread/chip type items. We are so far ahead of the game when we have kids.
2. Listening to constant whining (I call his incessant meows whining) for a minimum of thirty minutes prior to every feeding. Many of you may be wondering why Leo has to call attention to the fact he needs food. Well, Leo isn't capable of making good food choices, i.e. he eats everything in site, so to keep him from being obese, he gets feed twice a day, once at 6am the other at 10pm. Don't worry, he isn't actually starving, he weighs a healthy 15 pounds.
3. Large paint cans that I have to lift off of the tubs we keep dog and cat food in.
4. For those faint of heart, don't read this. Due to the situation outlined above, Leo wears a shocker collar at night. Trust me, I thought long and hard about this, I too felt tremendously bad for him. But after a year of getting woken up at 4:30am to scratching at the door, tugging of the door, and yes, even body slamming the door, I decided that getting enough sleep to deal with him far outweighed the guilt I had about the collar.
5. Allowing the cats on the kitchen table and counters. Leo is the first animal that I have ever dealt with that absolutely doesn't care about cause and effect. No punishment (besides animal abuse, and even, who really knows) deters him from doing bad things. I had to make a choice between my own mental well being and having to wash to table/counters every time I wanted to use them, or pulling my hair out of frustration. Fortunately for me I chose mental health and now the cats have the run of house.
6. Being one of those pet owners who spends lots of money on expensive food. Through no fault of my own, and this totally being husbands fault, we have two cats that are both on prescription food, for the rest of their natural, 14 years left, lives. I find it hard not to put a price on love, but I do it every day.
7. Vacationing. Hopefully one day we'll find someone generous enough to want to handle the special needs of all our animals, most notably Leo.
I'm sure there is more I'm missing, and if I remember I'll let you know. But I think I've left you enough to chew on at the moment.

Poor Sadie

Sadie has some how hurt her nose. I noticed yesterday that the hair by her nose had somehow been torn out. She has an open wound. It is getting worse. I am trying my hardest to block the maternal instinct in me that is telling me to rush her to the vet. I know that she doesn't need to go and this will pass, but I feel bad for my baby. Hopefully neosporin will fix the problem and she'll be good as new. Just another day I guess. My mom tells me the only reason I find all these things to worry about in regards to my pets is directly related to the fact that I'm not busy with real children yet. She's probably right.

Back to it

Okay, so I know that I've been absent, basically for the life of this blog, but I'm back. And here it is, right down to the nitty gritty. This morning Sadie had another accident on the floor, I know, again, there seems to be a pattern to this. So, my husband and I get that all cleaned up, and to work we go. I come home (he of course will not be) and I find that Sadie has popped in her kennel. Now, I want you to know that yes, I do in fact feel for her. For a dog to defecate in their personal space, where they can't get away, I know that she wasn't feeling well. However, I do feel for myself as well. And I feel bad for myself because now I have to go wash the blankets and kennel in the front yard in the rain, then bring the dripping wet mess inside and wash the blankets in the washer. All of this and a not so good day at work...what will be next?

On That Note

After writing the last blog, I was reminded of other stories involving roughage. Sadie once ate all the strawberries off the vine and my sister-in-laws house. Last night on our walk she went up to a raspberry bush and had a sweet snack. There you have it, more evidence of the goodness of fruits and vegetables.