One Last Reminder

One last reminder, this weekend I put the redirect up again on the new website, at that time I will no longer post here.

 

Please make sure you’ve subscribed to the new blog so you don’t miss anything. 🙂

 

See you at http://www.heartlikeadog.com

The Map in My Heart

The Map in My Heart.

Just A Reminder

Just a reminder to you, the blog has moved and I am no longer posting on this site.

Please head on over to the new blog, Heart Like A Dog and sign up for your subscriptions.  I will be putting the redirect back on this blog and when that happens you will no longer receive notifications when I post.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you on the new blog.
Jodi

The Blog Has Moved

Hi there, as you may know I’ve been working on moving this blog to a self-hosted account.  Just about two weeks ago I did move it and I put this blog to an automatic redirect, which means if you typed in this blog address, it would automatically take you to the new blog.

What I didn’t anticipate was those of you who subscribe by e-mail and for that I want to apologize.  I’ve taken the redirect down and will leave this blog open for a week, before I once again redirect it.

I’m truly sorry for not foreseeing this problem and I apologize for not rectifying it sooner.

Please check out the new blog here and be sure to use the subscribe button on the side.

Thank you for following!

Jodi

Heart Like A Dog

Please visit the new website here.

Tick Tick BOOM

Thursday night Delilah and I popped into the drop-in agility class at The Mellow Mutt.

We were a few minutes early so I started my treat shopping, with Delilah’s help of course.

I was checking out the grain-free treats while Delilah tried to steal checked out a pig’s ear.  Sara’s dog, Chuck came over, whether it was to say hello to me or to tell Delilah to back off the treats, I’m not sure.  But before I knew it, they were snapping at each other.

What the BEEP?

I mean it’s Chuck, our buddy, the guy we play with ALL the time.

Chuckers went to sulk in the other room, Delilah and I finished our shopping and then we walked into the agility room.  I looked around and only saw one dog I knew, Brisco a really high-energy little guy.

I walked to the farthest corner of the room.

Dude.  I won’t lie.  That altercation with Chuck really threw me.

So there we are in our corner, Brisco is in one corner, there is a German Shepherd mix in one corner, an Akita named Boots against the wall and this couple walks into the last remaining corner with two Labs, one yellow and one black.

I thought Brisco had a lot of energy, but these two labs had way more and their mom said they’d been swimming and running earlier.  I thanked God right then and there that neither one of my dogs are that energetic.

We were up first and I wish I’d had a video, it was a great run.   All our future runs were mediocre as Delilah was now on the hunt for the treats left behind by the Labs.  In fact, when Sara took the chute up, Delilah spent a bit of time in there cleaning it up.

You can see the little brown treat between her legs, she could smell it but had the hardest time finding it.

During her first attempt at a run the black lab decided to rush headlong into our corner.

That didn’t work well.  She got a face full of chocolate lab.

Thankfully I remembered to scream LOOK, at which point Delilah’s head whipped around and the mom moved her dog out of the line of fire.

After the fiasco with the black lab I tried to keep Delilah distracted with treats.

The A-Frame was set up so when the dogs came over in one direction they could in fact run straight into our corner.

Unfortunately the GSD did not get the memo telling him to avoid the chocolate lab eating treats in the corner.

Yup, he was the next dog that got a face full of chocolate.

By the time we got to our fourth run, Delilah was exhausted and had more interest in cleaning up the leftover treats than she had in running the course again, and I was totally on edge, so we declined a fifth go.

I didn’t get a video of our run, however I did manage to record Brisco’s with his dad.

Up until a few months ago his parent’s were working agility with treats, but he loves the squeaker ball,  so Sara suggested using that instead which works a little better for him.

He doesn’t have the best form but his enthusiasm and energy makes him a joy to watch.  (Mental note to self, don’t hit the stop button quite so soon.)

The Tick Tick BOOM has absolutely nothing to do with this post, it’s a saying I heard on a show and I thought it sounded cool. 😉

Follow-Up Friday

For those new to the blog, my follow-up Friday provides me with an opportunity to update or revise a post from the previous week.

You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog.  Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you.  Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!

Clueless – Author’s Note:

Most of you commented that you wouldn’t have a problem walking with me, that made me feel better.  The reason you’d walk with me is because you all understand the importance of having a well-behaved dog.

I like my dogs to be ambassador’s of the dog world and not a reason for people to ban them.  I believe you all feel the same way about your dogs.  Unfortunately most of the dog people I’ve encountered in my little corner of the world apparently think they are entitled to let their dogs run willy-nilly.

Besides you are my friends, at least until you meet me in person. 🙂

Would You Pay? – Author’s Note

Oh my dog ya’ll, did you think I was trying to raise funds for a dog park?

I don’t have the time or energy for that!

I was thinking of what my idea of a perfect dog park would be, and I thought I’d pay to have something that I wanted.  I just thought I’d throw it out to you.

Although I did take Julie’s advice and submitted the idea to the Beneful Dream park.  What the heck, I didn’t have anything to lose. 🙂

WTF/Whoo Hoo Wednesday – Author’s Note

In my WTF/Whoo Hoo Wednesday post, Al commented on the picture of Sampson and Delilah.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If ever a picture depicted the two different personalities of Delilah and Sampson, that one does.”

I’ve said it before, these dogs are polar opposites, they are literally like night and day in every way, except for two.

They are both very loving and both very, very easy to love.

That about wraps up my week, how was yours?  Anything exciting planned for the weekend?

This ‘N That Thursday

Many thanks to our friends at 2 Brown Dawgs blog for creating This ‘N That Thursday.

Courtesy of 2 Brown Dawgs Blog

SAMPSON

I wanted to share an example of just HOW good my boy Sampson is.

Last night Hubby went outside to ‘button up the jeep.’  In good weather he likes to take the top and doors off, but has to make sure everything goes back on at night.  Sampson loves to be outside with his daddy, he sits or lies in the driveway and basically watches the world go by.

Sometimes friendly people and dogs walk by and Sampson and Daddy will step out for a visit.  Most nights Daddy ends this ritual with a quick walk up and down the street.

As soon as they stepped outside, I realized that Sampson did not have his ID collar on.  (We all know how I feel about that.)  I left Delilah in the kitchen after I’d made sure there was nothing edible within her reach.

As I opened the door, Sampson looked up at me from his spot down the driveway and I said, “Hey Big Boy, you need to have your collar on.”

I held up the collar as I spoke and he ran right up to me and waited while I secured it around his neck.

That’s how damn good and damn smart Sampson is.

I’m afraid he has ruined me for any future dogs.

DELILAH

Remember that post from a couple of weeks back, the one where Delilah’s head went through the screen after a cat?

In yesterday’s post I mentioned how Sampson and Delilah were outside on Tuesday when I got home from work.   You may recall that Delilah was on the balcony.  Hubby, Sampson and I went inside the house and were greeted by Delilah.

She came in through the ripped screen. 🙂  The kicker was that Hubby had stopped at Home Depot on his way home, but forgot to get the screen material.

The other thing I wanted to share about Delilah is this.  Last night I was sitting on my bed working on today’s post.

I was eating one of my (and the dogs) favorite snacks  – string cheese, while Sampson laid on the bed and Delilah sat on the floor both staring intently at me.

After I finished my snack, I stood up and slid my flip-flops (which had been on the floor next to the bed) on and almost hurled.  The left one was covered in drool. 😦

Do your dogs have any funny quirks you’d like to share?  Sound off in the comments.

WTF/Whoo Hoo Wednesday

Please note this post is not meant to make light of the deeds described here, only to make fun of, ridicule, bully and just plain beat the shit out of the idiots who commit these stupid acts.

W. T. F.

Well believe it or not, there were two WTF’s at Stone Manor this week and they both happened yesterday!

Hubby was outside when I got home.

I looked up as I pulled in and saw Sampson run across the lawn to greet me.  Sampson loves to be out when his Dad is working outside, Delilah who can’t be trusted to stay in the yard, greeted me from the balcony.

I love when Hubby is home when I get home because it means he can prepare the dog’s food and start supper while I get an early walk in.

I asked Hubby to prepare their food,  while I went and changed into my walking clothes.

The dogs were intently watching Dad chunk the roast.

A big WTF goes out to the canines at Stone Manor.

I jingled their collars and was ignored.

WTF?

I’m the one who takes you for a walk every, single day and you ignore me for a hunk of beef?

Where’s the love man?

Hubby’s the brunt of the second WTF.

I reached down to put Sampson’s collar on and realized he didn’t have his ID collar on while he was outside!

WTF?  I said to Hubby, he was outside without a collar?

Guess what that a-hole said?

Unlike you, I have faith in him.

News flash: I have faith in him too muther f*cker, you know why I have faith?

Because I’m the one out there walking and working those  dogs every day of my life.

Don’t ever imply I don’t have faith in my dogs.  That just might earn you a night or two on the couch.

What kind of idiot lets their dog outside without a collar?

The idiot who lives with me. 😦

WTF/Whoo Hoo

Injured Dog Rescued From Mountain.

In last week’s WTF post Missy the German Shepherd’s story made the WTF portion of the post.  Technically while it was horrible, the fact that a group of strangers came together to save her should have been a big WHOO HOO!!

I’m still on the fence about this one, only because after abandoning his dog, this jack wagon now wants his dog back.

I have a saying and it goes like this, “You can blame your parents for the first eighteen years of your life, after that you need to own your own shit.”  Yes you can quote me.

I’ll give him credit, the guy owned his shit.

And I’ll own mine, I still haven’t read all the threads on the hiking forum, but I have read this article.  Apparently the guy says he did try and get the dog down the mountain and did call 911 but was told that rescue teams only went out for humans.

I believe that.  But I also believe that there were other options available to him and that he didn’t put forth the effort that one of us would have put forth.

I get that not everyone knows about the great dog resources and support available by social media, but you have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard ABOUT social media!

Come on!  Women have been reunited with their lost children on Facebook!!

He messed up, he messed up bad.  He admitted it.  He wants his dog back.

Sorry Charlie, only the best tasting tuna gets to be Starfish.

Whoo Hoo

Whew!  My really bad WTF for this week turned out to be a Whoo Hoo!

My dear friend Donna, from Donna and the dogs posted this on my facebook page.

Three Dogs Tied to Ohio Railroad Tracks, One Survives.

I read the post with a sick feeling in my stomach and then tried to get it out of my mind until it was time to write the post.

Quite honestly, even though I read about this kind of stuff all the time, it still just boggles my mind how cruel some people can be.

If you really don’t want a dog, then please just bring it to the pound.  Even if they end up putting it to sleep (it sucks, but it’s reality) at least it’s humane.

When I sat down to write the post I did a little googling to see if maybe they caught the ass-clown who did this and I found this article.

Cleveland police say story of 3 dogs tied to Tremont railroad tracks wasn’t true.

What a freakin relief!

Although I worry now that someone has put the idea out there that some other a-hole won’t attempt to do the same thing. 😦

Thankfully this week’s WTF/Whoo Hoo didn’t leave me feeling to down in the dumps.  How was your week?  Anything you’d like to share?

Would You Pay?

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but much of my thinking about what to blog about is done on our walks.

Not only do I depend upon the dogs to provide me entertainment and material, I often times am thinking of something one of you wrote about, whether it be in a post or a comment.  If I’m not doing that, I’m daydreaming.

Here is my latest daydream, it’s for a dog park that is completely fenced in, so all dogs can be off-leash.

There would be a nice field, for fetching or playing games and a great big pond for swimming.  There would also be wooded trails and picnic tables so a person or family could go and make a day of it.

There would always be someone on duty during hours of operation and you would check in at a little gate and get a wrist band for yourself and your dog would get a matching band that would attach to the collar.  This would be designed along the lines of the bracelets used on maternity wards to prevent someone other than you leaving with your dog.

The park would offer classes, such as rally, agility, nosework, obedience, etc.

It would look something like this:

The blue circle indicates the pond, while the dark green circle is the playing/training field.  The smaller squares of green are trees, while the brown squares would be the walking trails.  The two gray lines in the front indicate the path in to the park and the large gray building to the right of the path is the guard shack.  The red lines are picnic tables.

Of course this is just a quick sketch meant to give you a general idea.  I forgot to add a large indoor ring that could be used to hold matches or indoor training when the weather is poor.

The park would definitely be a member’s only park.  There would be specific rules and regulations and all dogs would need to be friendly and you would need to sign something saying you agreed to the rules.

Here’s the question, if something like this were available in your area would you pay to belong?  How much would something like this be worth to a dog owner?

Would a park like this generate enough money to pay for the taxes and any upkeep as well as the security and trainers, or would it need to supplement by offering classes to the general public and reduced classes to members?

Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.