I was in the bathroom this morning getting ready for work and listening to the dogs wrestle.  Sampson and Delilah are very verbal when they wrestle and if someone didn’t know better, they might think they were fighting.

Their play usually involves a lot of “Arghhhh” and growling, and this morning there was even some barking.  There is also play bowing and laying on their backs, twisting with joy.

Their play doesn’t usually last very long, maybe for five or ten minutes, but the sounds of them playing fill my heart with joy.  Many times when they wrestle at night Hubby and I just stop what we are doing and watch them, it is that joyful for us.

As I was applying my make-up, listening to them play I thought back to last night’s post about what a fantastic job Delilah did on her walk and how their antics had provided me with basically a year’s worth of blog material.

I thought wow, she’s doing good on her walks and decent on her recalls in the woods, what am going to be blogging about?

I heard the sound of something being ripped, and even though we buy them inexpensive toys that can be torn apart I always like to check.

Good thing.

Sampson's Bed

Yup, that’s Sampson’s bed, the one he occasionally sleeps on.  At one time I had two of these but you know how beds go.  The dogs dig at them and eventually they wear out.  I had noticed it had a small hole in it a couple of weeks ago and a bit of the stuffing had been sticking out, but I didn’t think anything of it.

Apparently Delilah had noticed it too.

I guess you’re stuck with me.

Book update: I’m still at 12,303 words.

My experience with dogs that are chained is if the opportunity ever presents itself, they will take off and go exploring.  Gunner is no exception.  As far as I can tell he is not a mean dog, he never barks at my dogs even though the two fools are barking their heads off at him.

I really don’t know what kind of dog Gunner is, I know he is black with longish fur and probably a bit smaller than my dogs.  If truth be told, he sort of looks like a Grim from Harry Potter.  Siriusly.

Last night he got loose.  I could hear my neighbor out their calling him, but he didn’t care, he was too busy enjoying his freedom.

Hubby and I were planning on walking the dogs around the block when he got home.  I was kind of nervous about Gunner being on the loose and running into him on our walk.  Since Delilah can get so snarky on her leash, I try to avoid other dogs.

Luckily for us we didn’t run into Gunner, BUT the dogs in the house with the invisible fence were out, at least the one that likes to run back and forth barking, you know the one who gets Delilah’s dander up.

Thankfully when the dogs are out their porch light is on which usually gives me the heads up.  Although sometimes we can’t see the dogs until we are almost upon them, because the part of the yard that runs along the road is in shadow.

Delilah you may recall is on the 30 foot leash, so I pulled it in and gave her maybe about 12 feet.

Normally even when the dogs aren’t out she lifts her head up and looks over there, looking for some action.  I try not to yank her instead I will try to guide her toward me with the leash and say, “This way” or “leave it.”

I just have to tell you how damn proud I am of her, the dog was barking and running back and forth and she looked over and I said, “Leave it.”  She turned back to the grass and even though the hair at the base of her tail raised up a bit, she walked calmly away.

No barking, no yanking, no growling.  She just walked away.

Yup, I Tebowed right in the road.

Book update:  Still at 12,303 words.

2 Brown Dawgs tagged us yesterday, and said, ‘no pressure’ and I thought this should be easy, but I don’t like the way my answers sound and I can’t seem to transition the closing!!  PFFFFT.

Describe yourself in 7 words.

Sampson: Handsome, loveable, easy-going, patient, kind, loving, laid-back.

Delilah: Impetuous, excitable, food-driven, high-energy, loveable, beautiful,  funny.

Jodi: loyal, honest, funny, loving, insecure, imaginative, tired.

What keeps you up at night?

Sampson: Nothing keeps me up at night.

Delilah: Nothing keeps me up at night.

Jodi: The question is more like, what DOESN’T keep me up at night?

Who would you like to be?

Sampson: Do I have to be somebody else?

Delilah: I’m happy with who I am.

Jodi: Someone who can make a difference in this world.

What are you wearing right now?

Sampson: My furday suit.

Delilah: My purple necklace and brown fur coat.

Jodi: Pajamas.

What scares you?

Sampson: Walking across a railroad bridge.

Delilah: Pallets of food.

Jodi: The scary way I see this world heading.

The best and worst of blogging.

Sampson: Mom likes it, but she spends too much time on it.

Delilah: I’m like Switzerland, neutral.

Jodi: The best is all the great friends I have made, the worst is the pressure I feel to try and make it successful.

The last website I visited.

Jodi: 2 Brown Dawgs to get these questions.

What is one thing I would change about myself.

Sampson: I’d like to be a little smaller so I could be a lap dog.

Delilah: Run faster.

Jodi: I’d like to lose about 15 pounds.

Slankets yes or no.

Um…none of us knew what those were, so I googled it.

Sampson: No

Delilah: I don’t have one, but I’d use it if I did.

Jodi: No, if I’m cold I use a robe or a blanket.

Tell us something about the dog that tagged you.

We were actually tagged by three dogs!  Thunder, Storm and little Freighter, some awesome Chessies.  We’re jealous of them because they get to do a lot of fun hunting things and spend lots of time outdoors AND they have a cabin they go to for vacation!

The last bit of the game is to tag eight other blogs, I’m not sure if these blog have participated already or not, so if you have I apologize and if you haven’t I look forward to your answers.

Vizsla Inspiration

Affurmation

Frankly Speaking

Kol’s Notes

Life with Arie

Whiskered Paintings

I Still Want More Puppies

The Cvillean

I can’t wait to see what these awesome bloggers have to say!

Book Update: 12, 303 words.

The dogs were all excited to be going somewhere in the car, so I said to Hubby, “Now what?”

“I guess we go to the high school.”

Trouble was, I hadn’t dressed for walking outside in the cold and only had on jeans and a three-season jacket, luckily for me I had some light gloves and a ball cap in the car, as well as a 30 foot leash, so off we went.

Our high school has a football field surrounded by a running track and it is fenced in, but it has a number of gates.  We decided to go inside and do one walk around the track to make sure no-one else was there and that all gates were closed.

I kept Delilah on the leash for the first lap and after we had ensured that we were alone and all gates were shut, I gave her the “free dog” command.

After her initial running burst, she stayed fairly close by me probably within 15 to 20 feet and I was very pleased that she came back to me each and every time I called her.

We did about 5 or 6 trips around the track,  just enough to give them about 1/2 and hour and then we headed home.

Cold and wet, but happy.

Book Update:  My book has 12,303 words.

He was a free grazer.  I know, I know, but really he was fine with it.  He would pick at his kibble a little here and a little there but the majority of his food he would eat right before bed.   I would put him out for the night and he would come in, walk over to his food bowl and take a little bite, look at me, wag his tail and continue this way until his bowl was empty.  It really was adorable.

Until we started letting him sleep in our bed he would sleep downstairs in his crate.  Hubby used to get up really early and he would take Sampson outside for a potty break and then Sampson would come back in bed for a snuggle.

He would stay in that bed all morning if I would let him.  We could snuggle up and I could sleep until 8:30 on a Saturday morning after Hubby had left for work.

Most week day mornings you would hear me calling him like you would your child.  “

Sampson, time to get up and go outside buddy.”

“Sampson Stone!  Get up.”

Somedays I would have to drag him out of bed, just so he could potty before I left for work.  At the time we lived in a duplex with my mom on the other side so she would always come over and give him an outside break in the middle of the day, still I wanted him to go out before I left.

Then Delilah joined our pack.  Delilah was an early riser.  I mean really early.  As soon as you moved in the bed, she jumped up and was ready for the day.  I told you, Delilah embraces life.

Slowly Delilah has come to enjoy a sleep in.   During the week Hubby gets up before me, he showers and then goes to pack his lunch, and the dogs go with him.  He usually treats them for sitting nicely and when she knows the food is gone, Delilah comes back to bed.  Sampson may or may not come back to bed, but he does lie down somewhere, either on the couch or the bed.

The weekends are a different story.

Sampson is usually the first one up.  He wakes us by one of two ways.  He either comes to my side of the bed and thumps his head down once or twice until I get up.  Or he gets off the bed and swims on the floor.

If your dog doesn’t do this, consider yourself lucky because it is hell on the carpet.  Basically he lies on his side on the carpet and takes his front legs with one fluid motion and brings them down towards his back legs.  It makes a scratching noise and tears the fibers of the carpet.

This is the manner in which he woke me up at 6:40 this morning.

Hubby and I have come to an agreement where I will get up with the dogs one weekend morning,  and he will do it the other.  In this way we each get a little sleep in time.

I pulled the short straw this morning.

So I got up, put their necks in some water, started the coffee and went to tend the fire.  It was while I was down on the floor, in front of the fire when it happened.

I felt a heavy object graze the left side of the back of my head, when I turned to look I saw Sampson’s Kong.

Yes, the lovely boy got me up at 6:40 on a Saturday morning and wants to play for a whole two minutes.

In trying to engage me, he tossed his Kong my way, and it grazed my head.  Thankfully for me, he doesn’t have the greatest aim and missed the middle of my head which really could have thrown me off-balance and considering where I was sitting could have caused serious damage.

That is what I call, a Kong Gone Wrong.

Book update: My book has 12,303 words.

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!

Who’s Eating The Cat Food – Author Note

Sampson that little stinker, keeps returning to the gate after he has eaten his own meal.  I’ve taken to putting Bob’s food farther into the room (and less accessible to Sampson) and as I do this I give the gate a kick with my foot to ensure it stays in place.

It makes me wonder if he’s still hungry or just trying to take advantage.

The Importance Of Business Cards – Author’s Note

Most of you have business cards, but what I found out from the lovely Dr. Rayya is you can get a free barcode made that you can put on your business card.  When someone with a smart phone scans your card, the barcode will take them directly to your website!

I guess my decision has been made and I will be making business cards that focus primarily on this blog.  But here’s the twist (of course, there always has to be a twist.)  I’m thinking of self-hosting the blog so I can focus more on trying to make a little money from it (not from you of course!) so maybe I will only order a small amount of cards.  At least until I determine where exactly this blog is headed.

My Little Diva - Author’s Note

Many of your comments stated how impressed you were at Delilah’s ‘down’ stay.  I want to be really clear on this.  I wasn’t out of her site for more than a few seconds.  From the store to the end of the training room where Delilah was is only about 60 or 70 feet, it is a long, rectangular place with store in the front, grooming in the center and training in the back.

Delilah usually does well enough in her ‘down’ stay (when I can get her to ‘down’) to allow me to walk around the training room, this is in a controlled environment.

We still struggle with her ‘downs’ at home, but I am working on that with her Kong.  I have been ‘downing’ her when I open the freezer and I make her stay while I walk away and out of her sight.  I am slowly increasing the time I am away and she is doing well with it.

Don’t for a minute think I can get her to down on one of our walks.

It. Would. Never. Happen.

Hug Award - Author’s Note

I mentioned when I presented this award to Kristine at Rescued Insanity that I would request a link to Shiva’s Tim Horton’s incident.  If you have not already read this post, let me warn you.  Make sure you have neither food nor drink in your mouth.  Yes. It is that funny.

Our First Shivie – Author’s Note

I found out today that Kristine’s birthday is tomorrow, so please pop on over and wish her a Happy Birthday.  Oh and guess what?  It’s a big one.

That’s it for us, we hope you rocked your week!

Book update:  My  book has 12,303 words.

Well as you can see from the title I’ve been awarded “Shiva the Dog’s PerSeverance Award” from Kristine and Shiva over at Rescued Insanity.

Perseverance Award 2012

When Kristine established the ‘Shivies’ last year, she gave the award to ten dedicated bloggers.  This year she dedicated the ‘Shivie’ to ” People who have sacrificed their very sanity for the love of a dog.“

And she awarded it to us and nine other incredible blogs.  You can check out the complete post here.

When I was in college my favorite class and the very last one I took to complete my degree was Interpersonal Relationships.  I missed the very first class because we were away on vacation but I had e-mailed the instructor to let him know why I would be absent.  Yes my kids called me a brown-noser, but I chose to think of it as….um…interpersonal relationships.

This class was very diversified and there were some students much younger than I was, in fact I might have been the oldest in that particular class, but that isn’t the point.   The point is we got to talk about relationships and get to know each other by sharing thoughts, opinions and feelings.

This may come as a surprise to you, but I was very verbal in that class.  I know, I surprise myself sometimes too.

The instructor had devised awards for this class, he called them “The Stoneys” and I loved it because well, my last name is Stone. Duh.

The Stoney’s had something like five different categories (I can’t remember what they all were now) but the twist was the instructor didn’t choose the students to present the awards to, he let the class choose.  He passed out a sheet with each category on it as well as a sheet with each student’s name on it and he asked the students to choose which among their peers was deserving of each award.

For the last class of the semester we had a potluck supper and we all gathered in a conference room to celebrate our successful completion of Interpersonal Relationships.  At that time, our instructor presented the Stoney Awards.  Before he began his presentation he made a little speech where he said that the class chose exactly the way he himself would have.

Imagine my surprise when the instructor presented “Contributed the Most to the Class” to me.  I was stunned, humbled, flabbergasted, excited, proud and honored all at the same time.

The Stoney

And that is exactly how I feel about receiving the Shivie.

Kristine says the Shivie is for “People who have sacrificed their very sanity for the love of a dog.”

Ok, ok, she does at times drive me to the brink of insanity. No, not Kristine, Delilah!

But the thing is I don’t feel like I am doing anything different from any of you would or have done, including Kristine herself.

I mean, yes there are days when I truly wonder if Delilah will eventually be my downfall.  Whether it be by driving me to insanity or physically killing me, I’m not entirely sure.

Hubby always says, “She is one dog that is happy to be alive.”  And that is true, Delilah embraces life, she runs head on full throttle at it.  Her attitude is “bring it on.”

There are many days where I have to laugh at this zany, exuberant, jumping, crazy dog because if I didn’t, I would put my head down and sob.

I waffle between thinking she is mildly retarded to down right dumb to just excited to have someone who wants to spend time with her.  I can’t help but love her, because she gives me no other choice.  She demands that.  She has that “You will love me and you will have fun doing it” attitude.

Life isn’t always easy and we have to find our joy and laughter where we can, Delilah brings both of those things into my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kristine, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful award and I only pray that someday Delilah will be as good as Shiva.

Because I am probably going to blather on and on over each award, I intend on blogging about one today and one tomorrow.

The first award came from our dear blogging friend Misty Shores Chesapeakes it is called Hope Unites Globally and is also known as the HUG award©.

“The HUG award was initiated by Connie Wayne at A Hope For Today, which promotes hope, love, peace, equality, and unity for all people.”

When you check out A Hope For Today, you will see the Hug Award© also has what I’m going to refer to as a motto that says,

Hug the hurt.

Kiss the broken.

Befriend the lost.

Love the lonely.

Do you find that as beautiful as I do?

I like to think I apply those traits in my life as often as I can, but so many times I feel like my resources are stretched too thin and I don’t have the time, energy, finances to do all that my soul wants to do.

Most times I feel woefully  inadequate to even write a daily blog, never mind heal the broken.

There are many reasons why a person could receive the Hug Award© but this one really resonated with me, “The HUG Award©is for people who have a hope or an expectant desire that the work or talents they use in things such as blogging, public speaking, charity work, etc., will make a positive impact on the world.”

I’d like to hope at some point in my life, my actions or words will make a difference for someone.

That someone stumbling across this blog will read about Delilah’s exploits and will find hope that they too can live with a dog that at times does exhibit some wild, crazy behavior.

That someone will read my words and have hope that they are not alone, that there are others who will offer you encouragement and support when you need it the most.  Which is something I feel I receive from you on a daily basis.

The award can be passed on (but it doesn’t have to be) it does require linking back to the original site, which I have done and I also need to leave a comment with Connie, letting her know who I am passing the award on to.

You are all so deserving of this award because at some point in time, you have given me hope, but I am going to limit my choices to two.

Kristine at Rescued Insanity.  Honestly, Kristine gives me so much hope and inspiration.  Her whirling dervish known as Shiva has done things that I don’t think Delilah in her wildest dreams would think of doing.  (Seriously, I’m going to ask Kristine to link the Tim Horton’s incident.  It is priceless.) But does Kristine give up hope?  No, instead Kristine works her dog, she finds new experiences for Shiva and she finds so many valuable blogs, training guides/books/tutorials that I sometimes wonder where she finds the time to write a blog, nevermind train her dog.

Pamela Douglas Webster at Something Wagging This Way Comes.  Pamela is another blogger that inspires me.  Pamela inspires me to be a better person.  Pamela has the rare gift to see both sides of a situation but better yet, she has the intelligence and finesse to simplify the facts and present them clearly and concisely.  If ever I am unsure of what to do, or what’s going on, I check out Something Wagging to see what Pamela has to say.

Pamela is currently using her Golden Retriever, Honey for the “Puppiness Project” based upon Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project.  Every Tuesday Pamela posts about something that makes Honey happy and how Pamela can learn to live as happily as Honey does.

Thank you again to Misty Shores, I am truly honored and touched by the HUG award.

Book Update: My book has 12,000 words.

First I have to tell you, I’m not very good about setting time aside to actually work on training my dogs, which is one of the reasons I really, really like our Thursday night drop in obedience class.

I also think it’s a really great opportunity to expose and work the dogs around other dogs.

Last Thursday we went to our drop in obedience class after having missed it for about a month, for whatever reasons health, weather, a soldier returning home   it had been a long time since we’d gone to class.

Hubby goes with me and he works Sampson, while I work the Diva.  Apparently even though we do make the dogs sit, down and stay at home, someone forgot the rules in obedience class.  It really didn’t take her TOO long to go into a down for me, but she had a real problem ‘staying.’

Anytime I would walk away and she would follow, I would turn around and gently lead her back to her place.  We’ve got a real great group of people in that class so a couple of times she got up and someone would take her leash and stop her.

I’m the only one in the class that carries a treat bag on my hip (and trust me, all the dogs know it!) And I was running pretty low on treats and basically had to let her lick the bag to reward her, so during a ‘stay’ command, I took the opportunity to run out to the store in order to grab a sample bag of kibble.  I’ve been using Taste of the Wild in my treat bag and I’m telling you, if I could figure out how to get my dogs to stand on their heads, they would do it for this kibble.  They like it THAT much.

I’m sorry, I do digress at times.

Delilah happened to be on the far end of the training room in a ‘down stay,’ and Hubby and Sampson were at the front of the training room, so if you were looking at the shop as a long rectangular room Delilah would be at one end, I would be at the other and Hubby and Sampson would be about half way in between.  Also at the far end of the room was my friend Dave with his dog Molly.

I had put the kibble in the bag and was throwing the wrapper out when I heard Molly, for no apparent reason let out a noise, which if I really think about it, sounded like a howl.  Whatever it was, it scared the Bejesus out of my little Diva who with no mommy to reassure her she was ok, sprinted across the room for daddy.  Needless to say the entire class burst into laughter, while I walked in saying, “What?”

Yes, my dogs DO make me laugh on a daily basis.

Book update:  My book has 11,324 words.

In the midst of all the chaos that comes with my weekend, I try really hard to get the dogs out for a couple of nice long walks.  Most of the time I try to get them out for at least an hour each day.

I am really looking forward to the longer days when I can come home and grab them after work and take some long walks, while Hubby stays home and cooks on the grill.

I can’t always connect with my walking pal during the week (at least not right now) but on the weekends whenever possible, we try to get the dogs all out together.

While she only has Brady, she very frequently has her friend’s dog, Kodak.  All the dogs get along pretty well with the exception sometimes of Sampson whose been getting a little bit snarkier the older he gets.

Saturday we had all the dogs out and walked them around the woods for an hour and twenty minutes, it was awesome.  It’s nice to have someone to chat with while walking and I hate to say it because I’m afraid I’ll jinx myself, but I really feel Delilah does much better with a larger pack of dogs.

When all the dogs take off through the woods chasing a herd of deer, nine out of ten times Delilah is the first one back after being called.  She’s been doing so good I’m actually considering cutting her leash down to fifteen feet.

When we aren’t walking with the other dogs, I hold her leash in certain areas and in other areas I let it drop, for the most part she is always in my sight and if they get too far ahead of me, I call them back.

She’s been pretty good about returning and I am very generous with the treats.  I’m a firm believer in treating and I don’t care if I have to carry treats with me all the time as long as my dogs return when I call them.   Judge me if you want, I’m tough.

So here’s my question, I’ve never trained a dog using the long leash before.  Have you?  How long did you keep them on the long leash?  Did you slowly cut the leash back or did you just stop all together.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Book update:  My book has 11,023 words.