Here Here!

Since I’m back to work I’ve got to either 1) walk the dogs on lunch or 2) walk them after work.  I really do prefer to walk them on lunch, but when it’s this hot, I opt for after work.

It was still hot yesterday but thank God the humidity broke.  There’s nothing like walking in 90 degree heat with 90% humidity.  It feels like you went swimming with all your clothes on and you’re just waiting for them to dry.

My pants seem to have a mind of their own and that’s to sag as far down as they possibly can.  I seriously considered putting a pair of boxers on so they could hang over the top.

You don’t believe that do you?

Good because I would never consider that.

Where was I?  Oh yes, the walk.

I normally let Sampson and Delilah pick our walk, I figure it’s their walk too so why shouldn’t they go where they want?  I keep a pretty good eye on them and if it looks like one of them has really committed to a certain path, I gently encourage the other one to go in the same direction.

What really surprises me is how frequently they go to the same trails, all kinds of possibilities yet they still follow the same paths.  I think they are checking their pee mail and waiting to see if they will run into some friends.

We were getting on towards the end of our walk last night when I saw what I thought was a deer running through the trees off to my left.  It caught everyone’s attention and I shouted to Sampson, “No, don’t do it.”  Thankfully he followed instructions and stopped what he was doing.

When I looked up, Bruno (who the dogs know well) was standing staring at us from about 25 yards away.

I shortened Delilah’s leash and told Sampson NO.

He took off after Bruno.

Delilah whined and pulled but I held fast.

Bruno is a big dog, but he’s also a big baby.  As soon as Sampson took off after him, Bruno took off too.

Sampson chased Bruno around a really large rock and I saw Delilah gear up to go and I knew I was a gonner.  So I dropped the leash.

I figured it’s better to chase her through the woods, than get pulled along the trail…on my face.

The dogs all converged at the rock, sniffing each other and I clapped my hands and called, Here, Here, come on let’s go.

What do you suppose happened?

Yup, she came right back to me.  I did the happy dance, gave her some yummy liverwurst, praised and petted her and we finished our walk.

I don’t think I am ready to take her off-leash but it’s nice to know I can give her a small bit of freedom.

Rally Thursday

Rally is an AKC dog sport, it is basically an obedience sport, but the ‘commands’ are located at little stations throughout the Rally ring.   It  is also the sport I stewarded at last November.

There are three Rally divisions, Novice, Advanced and Excellent.  It is possible for a dog to title in all three divisions and your dog does NOT have to be a pure-bred in order to compete.

Ribbons are awarded to the top three dogs.  The highest score is 100, but the dogs are also timed.  In case of two dogs achieving the same score, the time is factored in to determine the winner.  Any dog who achieves a score of 70 or better  achieves a ‘leg’ once the dog has three ‘legs’ the dog has titled in that particular Rally division.

At an AKC Rally match, there is only one dog in the ring at a time, unless there is an ‘honor’ dog.

In the advanced Rally ring,  a ‘Honor Dog’ is expected to lie at the edge of the ring and not move until the dog working the course has finished and the Steward in charge advises it is safe to release the dog.   Normally the honor dog, is the dog who was in the ring before the current dog.  If a dog is honoring, their score is not complete until the steward advises the scorekeeper that the dog passed or failed.  The dog working the course is ‘scored’ based upon their performance in the ring.

Stewarding an advanced AKC Rally match is one of the more difficult rings to run, especially if there is an honor dog.  Not only are the Stewards required to insure all jumps are the correct height for each dog, the Stewards are also responsible for making sure each competitor is up and ready to go when their number is called.

When I Stewarded there were three of us. Besides the official scorekeeper, there was my friend Ann who made sure competitors were up and ready to go, and held their leash while they were in the ring.  I ran the stop watch and monitored the Honor Dog.   In between dogs we had to check that the jumps were the correct height and in some instances we had to make adjustments.

I can tell you it was a lot of work, and you see some crazy people with their dogs. 🙂

I like the idea of the Rally and have actually considered working Delilah toward a title.

If you would like to learn more about Rally, you can check out the AKC  link here.

Hubby and I have been on vacation all week.  Even though I’ve been walking the dogs every morning I couldn’t help but perk my ears up when Sara mentioned she was going to have a drop-in Rally class on Thursday evening.

Normally on a night that Delilah and I have training class I force gently encourage Hubby to take Sampson for a walk.  Thursday night I asked if he and Sampson would like to check out the Rally Class.

Not quite as sophisticated as the AKC commands, but it got the job done!

Sampson doesn’t really care for obedience or agility classes but I think it’s good to keep him on his ‘game.’  Of course Hubby didn’t want a little baggy full of treats, so someone kept going right back to mommy when he was done.

There was eight dogs in the class, Sara had one person start at station one, then once they were at station three, the next person started.  In this manner we got all dogs thru fairly quickly.  After two runs thru, Sara changed the course.

Sampson and his dad.

Sampson kept looking over to me as if to say,  please help me mom, you know I don’t like these classes.

I want to say we did about four different courses, it was a nice way to work on our obedience without being in a traditional classroom setting.

After class was over, Sara cut Sampson and Delilah’s nails.

Stop fighting it Sampson. 🙂

Both Sampson and Delilah are so laid back when they get their nails clipped that Hubby joked, take it easy Sampson don’t get so stressed out.

Delilah is not so fond of lying down and leaving herself vulnerable.

Have you ever tried a competitive sport with your dog?  Would you?

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!

Please feel free to grab the badge and join me in recapping or wrapping up your week.   It doesn’t matter if you do it every week or just once in  a while.

I find myself a little light on the Follow-Up Friday post today.  Do you think that means I’m actually becoming a better blogger and covering everything I need to in the initial posts.

NAH, me either!  I think I just got lucky this week. 🙂

Happy Birthday My Love – Author’s Note

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes for Sampson.  He had a pretty decent day.  I took him for a long walk Monday morning and I made sure to put some watermelon in his Kong for his night-time treat.

For some reason my posts never come out quite as good on the blog as they sound in my head. 😦  I actually downloaded a recording app for my phone so when I think of something I can immediately record it.

The post in my head was WAY better than the post I actually wrote, but unfortunately I didn’t use the recording app so it’s lost forever.  Or at least until the next time I think of it.

I do have one question for you, does anyone else get sad on their pet’s birthday?  For some reason the older he gets the sadder I am on this special day.

How Do You Train Two Dogs? – Author’s Note

Most of you already figured out it’s best to separate the dogs, I just don’t know why I didn’t think of it!

So how was your week?  Did you accomplish everything you set out to?  I know I didn’t. 😦

How Do You Train Two Dogs?

Part of the new training program Delilah and I are taking is to practice at home what we learned in class.

Here’s the problem I’m having.

Every time I pull out the treat bag, both dogs run over and sit in front of me.

I say, Delilah wait and walk about six feet away.

I look at Delilah and say front.

Both dogs run and sit in front of me.

You called?

I say yes and give the treat to Delilah.

I say Sampson wait and walk about six feet away.

I look at Sampson and say front.

Both dogs run and sit in front of me.

How do people with multiple dogs train?

I had this post all planned out and then….

I saw a video by Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes.  It seems Pamela is always helping me out with something!

Pamela was working with Honey while Cherie stood on the sidelines cheering them on.

Suddenly it all made sense!  Separate the dogs!

Why didn’t I think of this?

My house is fairly open, so I can’t gate one-off, but I can put one in the bedroom while I work the other or leave one in the house and work the other outside.

Thanks Pamela, once again you’re a lifesaver. 😉

Of course when we are out on the trail and both dogs respond you won’t hear me complaining. 🙂

Happy Birthday My Love

Eight years ago today an amazing being was born.  Little did I know when I said, “I want a golden male” how my world would change.

You made me a better person, and I say that with gratitude.

You see before there was you, there we other dogs and I’m ashamed to say, I was one of those people who said, it’s just a dog.

I bought into all the archaic methods for training and raising dogs.  Sad how small my world was, huh?

I don’t know what it was about you that made me see the world so differently.

Maybe it’s those eyes, so deep and trusting.  They seem to look into my soul and dare me to be better, to give you the very best I can.

Or the way you get excited each and every time I come home.  Even if I’ve only been gone for 10 minutes.  Your smile says, I’m so happy to see you and so glad you are mine.

Honestly I could be having the worst day in the world, but I walk in the door and you smile at me and roooo roooo roooo and everything else just melts away.

You filled a part of my heart that was missing when your human sisters left home.  You gave me a reason to get up every morning and come home every night.  Suddenly I felt alive again and like I had a purpose.

I started writing this blog because of the amazing gift that is you.  And guess what I discovered?  There’s a name for dogs like you, they are called heart dogs.

A dog that grabs a hold of your heart and fills it with so much love it feels like it might burst.

That’s exactly what you’ve given to me.

Eight years ago you came into this world and shortly thereafter into my life.  I wish I could convey to you just how profoundly you have changed my life and how very much I love you.

Happy Birthday Big Guy, here’s to eight more. xoxo

Do you have to tell EVERYONE?

The Difference Between My Dogs

I’ve frequently written about how different my dogs are.  Not just in coloring, but in personality as well.

Delilah is an in your face, demanding type of dog, if you won’t give her what she wants, she’ll figure out a way to get.

Sampson on the other hand has learned or was born with the art of patience.

Case in point.  Yesterday we had a family function.  I won’t bore you with all the specifics, but will tell you that I failed epically on the grill.

How can there still be fire in the grill when you have shut off both the burners AND the gas tank?

Beats me.

All I can say is good thing my sister likes her hot dogs burnt.

Anyway in typical Delilah fashion, she kept wandering over to the breakfast bar where the food was and attempting to scarf what she could.  Yes she eventually was successful and managed to get the top bun off a cheeseburger.

Sampson in his typical laid-back fashion went in a different direction.

I know there’s watermelon up there. Hey watermelon, get in my belly.  Now.

In my typical fashion I got up and got him some watermelon. 🙂

Persistence pays off, just be the dog.

Follow-Up Friday

You may have noticed a new badge on my side-bar.  Since I really lack creativity in the designing department I struggled with this, but finally decided on a simple theme for Follow-Up Friday.  Please feel free to grab the badge and join me in recapping or wrapping up your week.   It doesn’t matter if you do it every week or just once in  a while.

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!

2012 Goals – Check Point – Author’s Note

You were so kind in your comments and I really appreciate that, I am however extremely critical of myself and while I reviewed these goals I realized I have a tremendous amount of work left to do in the last half of the year.

I think Bob Harper might be out of the question as no amount of tweeting, or facebooking has even garnered a I’m sorry I don’t follow fans from him.

Really, who needs someone like that following them?  I can concede defeat on this goal and I shall do it gracefully, without adding Bob Harper to WTF Wednesday. 🙂

For the rest of the goals, I really need to step up my game.

Bloggers Unite For Dog Rescue – Author’s Note

Rescue is near and dear to my heart as you all know.  My dear sweet sometimes trying Delilah came to me via rescue.  This was not the BTC that I had planned, but I do so want to shine the light on these sweet dogs who through no fault of their own end up in shelters.  If I can help save one dog, that would be incredible.

Monday Mischief – Update

This mischief was totally my fault.  I could leave a plate of food on the floor and tell Sampson to leave it, but that is not the case with Delilah.  I need to make sure anything that might even resemble food to her, is put away. 🙂

The Correct Way – Author’s Note

Most of you knew the correct way to hold a leash.  Why were you holding out on me? 🙂

Julie said, I think I need you to take a picture . . I’m a visual person.  I’m with you in that boat Julie.  So here it is.

The loop of the leash goes around your thumb like so.

Begin gathering the leash.

A gathered (accordion) leash gives you better control.

As of the writing of this post I am still sitting in my pajamas (don’t you love vacations) so I cannot show you how the other arm helps control your dog.  I promise to get a picture of that later. 🙂

W.T.F./Whoo Hoo Wednesday – Author’s Note

Unless the Arizona officer was like Jim Belushi’s character in K-9, I’m fairly certain he didn’t deliberately leave the dog in the car.  I still however question his ability to remain calm and cool in stressful situations.

As for the Whoo Hoo portion, well I think Officer W serves as a wonderful example of what we as dog owners SHOULD expect from our law enforcement.

Thoughts From A Walk – Author’s Note

I can’t say with any certainty that is what the dogs are thinking, but you can be sure my thoughts are accurate.

That’s it for me, I’m off to walk the dogs.  It is currently raining and cool so I’m hoping there will be no bugs and no sweat on this walk. 😉

Any takers and thoughts on the Follow-Up Friday badge?  I’m open to any suggestions from you very creative types.

Thoughts From A Walk

Most days I use my walking time to plan blog posts or think about plot lines for my book.  The other day as we were walking I started wondering just exactly what was running through each of our minds as we walk.

I took a stab at it tonight.

We pull up to the park.

Sampson with his head out the window – I know I saw a deer just up there on the trail, where is it?

Delilah – Mom hurry up and open the door, I’ve got to pee.

Me – Sampson pull your big punkin head in the window, I want to walk.

As we get to the entrance to the field:

Sampson – Let me check the field, there’s usually someone in the field.

Delilah – Oooh, there’s a nice smelly spot in the field, I hope mom lets me roll in it.

Me – Dang it’s buggy out, what do they eat when I’m not here?

We turn right and head up the hill, Sampson is running ahead searching for deer, people or dogs.  Delilah and I trudge steadily along behind him.

Sampson stopping for a quick sniff – It smells like Brady’s been here once today.

Delilah – Why does mom keeping making me stop while she swats at me.

Me – Why haven’t I replaced that electric bug zapper, I could kill all these stinkin’ flies and stop them from biting Delilah.

We reach the opposite entrance to the park.

Sampson – Let’s run over to Brady’s and see if he’s out.

Delilah – I wish mom would drop this leash, I love running in this neighborhood.

Me – Ok, if we go around one more time, then head down the yellow and back up the orange, we should reach the car with about a half hour’s walk.

We take a left and head deeper into the woods, Sampson runs off looking for a place to pop a squat.

Sampson – Springing like a deer across the path, I pooped, I pooped.

Delilah – Hmmm someone pooped here, I think I’ll just pee on it.

Me kicking at some poop – Who the hell let’s their dog crap right in the middle of the path and doesn’t even bother to kick it off to the side.

We approach the field, this time from the opposite direction.

Sampson – Maybe someone’s in the field now, I better run ahead and see.

Delilah – I’ve got to poop, don’t worry mom I’ll cover it up.

Me – Holy smack that was close, she almost kicked dirt in my face!

We make our final turn and head down the orange trail towards the car.

Sampson nudging up beside me – Look mom I came back to you, give me a treat please.

Delilah turning around and pushing between me and Sampson – Hey that’s not fair, I want a treat too.

Me – Hang in there girl, just a few more minutes, you can do it.

We get back to the car and load up for home.

Sampson – I can’t wait to get home, the first thing I’m going to do is climb into the pool and cool myself down.

Delilah – Is it dinner time yet?

Me – My God I’m hot, I think my sweat has sweat.  I need a nice cold margarita.

What do you think about when you’re walking your dog?

2012 Goals – Check Point

Six months ago I wrote a post titled 2012 Goals, I thought it might be a good time to review those goals and see how I’m doing.

The Blog.

Subscribers. 

I wrote: The last time I published a post WordPress informed me I have 54 WordPress subscribers and 164 Twitter followers.  My goal for 2012 is to double my WordPress subscribers.

Update: I currently have 105 WordPress subscribers, and 187 twitter subscribers.  I’m quite pleased with this, if my subscriptions continue in the fashion I will reach and surpass my goal before the year is up!

Subscribers = A

Author’s Note: For some reason WordPress keeps changing the way they show their statistics, a week or so ago they began combining my facebook followers as subscribers.

When I checked the blog and it said I had 475 followers I almost fell over.  I quickly checked the front page to see if I’d been pressed.

Being freshly pressed = Epic fail.

Posting.

I wrote:  My plan is to continue to post every, single day.  If I make it, that will be two full years of daily blogging.

Update: So far I’ve been able to post every single day, and I don’t at this time see any reason for this to change.

Posting every day = A.

Product Review.

I wrote:  I would like to be able to do a product review on this blog.  Preferably a product I like, so I can write a glowing review.

Update: I’m holding off at the moment because there are certain things you can and cannot do with the free WordPress account, until I can move the blog to self-hosted, I will proceed with caution.

Product review = C.

Twitter.

Tweeting.

I wrote:  My Twitter goal is to learn to tweet.  Seriously.

Update: Yeah, I’ve tweeted some but it’s just not something that comes naturally.  My niece who is a great tweeter, says you just do it.  I haven’t figured it out on my phone and I just can’t sit there with my twitter feed open all day long.

Twitter = D-.

Twitter Followers.

I wrote:  My other Twitter goal is to get Bob Harper to follow me.   I know, it will be tough but I think I’m up for the challenge.

Update:  This has proven harder than I expected.  You’d think with a twitter name like AuntieJodi you could practically shame someone into following you!   Bob Harper, follow your AuntieJodi, I mean really, what must his followers think?  He doesn’t even follow his own aunt. 🙂

Twitter Goal Bob Harper = Epic Fail.

Writing.

Paid Writing.

I wrote:  I’m not going to say I want to get a full-time writing job, but I would like to get paid to write something.  Anything.  I don’t care if someone pays me to write a freakin’ ad on Craig’s list.  I just want to be able to say I made money by writing.

Update: I haven’t really pursued this one either.  I did enter a writing contest, which technically would have counted.

Yes it would.  But I didn’t even place.

Paid Writing = D-.

My Book.

I wrote:  I’m writing a book.  There I said it!  Now you know.  Taking a page from Donna and the Dogs, I will be posting a line at the end of each blog letting you know how many words I currently have.

My goal is to write a little bit for my book each day.  In three days I have slightly over 1.000 words, I need to pick up the pace on that, because I hope to have the book complete (in rough form of course) by the time this blog is two years old.

Update: My book has stalled, it’s not that I don’t want to write it anymore, I just kind of lost steam.  I’m on vacation this week so I hope to get some writing in.  The last time I checked I think I had somewhere around 27,000 words.  So it’s not a total loss, I’ve written 26,000 more words than I had in January.

My book = C.

Sampson and Delilah.

I wrote:  My goal for Sampson and Delilah never changes.  It is to give them the best life I can and enjoy the time I have with them.

Update: I think Sampson and Delilah are doing great, they are happy, fairly well-adjusted dogs.  They require a lot of work, but they are totally worth it.

Sampson and Delilah = A+.

How about you, have you made progress with  any of your goals, either professionally or personally?

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!

If you like this idea of wrapping posts up on your blog, please feel free to use Follow-Up Friday.  I plan on working on a badge that you will be able to use should you choose to participate. (Thanks for the idea, 2BrownDawgs!)

Mock 10 With My Hair On Fire – Author’s Note

Some of you noted I have quite a bit of Springsteen on my playlist, what can I say, I’m a Jersey Girl at heart. 😉

Siriusly, Springsteen’s music really helped me through a hard time and I find myself still turning to the songs that made me feel so good when things were so bad.  So many of his songs still resonate with me.

My Vet’s In A Sling – Update

I think we caught this allergy really early, I noticed Sampson doesn’t seem to be breaking out with any new hives.  The few that are there appear to be drying up.

He finished his third full day of two per day Prednisone today, tomorrow he starts one per day.  I did cut him back on the Benadryl because something seemed to be making him a little uncomfortable.  I noticed he was really clingy on Wednesday night.  Since his last Prednisone was this morning I may just give him two Benadryl tonight and see how that goes.

BTW when we were are the vet’s I mentioned my little cell phone post and she said that’s exactly WHY she doesn’t give her number out.  LOL

WTF Wednesday – Author’s Note

I was heartened to hear Victoria Stillwell is calling for an investigation into the Belfast City Council’s actions.  Whether Lennox was actually euthanized on Wednesday or if he had already passed their actions were cruel and callous, bordering on pure maliciousness.

The stories I am hearing just make me want to cry.  I cannot believe people can treat animals and other human beings so cruelly.

If I were a citizen of Belfast and Ireland in general I would be calling for terminations of positions and I would be letting people know in no uncertain terms exactly what I thought of them.

Lennox may be gone, but he will never be forgotten, as cruel and horrific as this is, I pray it’s an enlightenment for many as to just how unfair and unjust BSL.

Puppy Steps – Author’s Note

Our homework for this week (besides working on the commands we worked on in class) was to start learning the take command.  I saw my opportunity when I walked in the door tonight and Delilah brought me her stuffed toy.

I said, take and held out the treat.  She dropped the toy like she was supposed to but once she knew I had treats, she wouldn’t touch the toy again!

Any thoughts on how to work through that? LOL

That’s it for me, I hope you have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading!