I love hound ears. Good ol’ floppy, velvety bits of goodness. I could sit around and pet them forever. Good thing my girls like a good ear rubbin’. They can also provide hours of entertainment, mainly in how they flop around.
Daisy’s ears do this when chasing her ball..check them out!
I hope all of y’all are having a great holiday (well, those USA folks anyway). My holiday is pretty predictable and my assistant Bella was so kind to demonstrate what I am going to be up to today…..
First comes watching the boring Macy’s parade or worse, having to watch Holiday football….
Next…wait what is that? Hope? Expectation? Yep! It’s dinnertime!
Oh dinner is good! Hope I can hold out for some desert….
Tooo full….must sleeeep….
Yep, that sums up my Thanksgiving holiday.
So, since I really wanted to get a lot of pictures of the girls and I have two of them and one camera but only two hands- I decided the hunting session should go something like this: Start Bella on my waist leash which only has a 3 foot length while Daisy was on the 15 foot training lead. I thought I’d let Daisy get some of her energy out cause I know she’d be ‘crazy for cocoa puffs’ kind of crazy.
All would have been fine if Bella wasn’t a drama queen. I don’t know where she got that trait but it sure wasn’t me! Daisy was having a blast stalking and running after squirrels but Bella did not want to follow! She had her nose to the ground and refused to participate in the family outing. She sulked, she looked at me like I hit her when I didn’t go her way and a few times she just sunk down on the ground in a good toddler-esque temper tantrum. It was hard with Daisy going one way and Bella dragging her feet.
So, I switched their places. If Bella had her own blog it would have started something like “It took Mom forever to figure out that I am supposed to get the long leash and the freedom it offers…not that other hound that lives here…” As soon as she got the long leash she was so happy, sniffing and running around. The funny thing was Daisy was no less happy! She followed where ever we went, stayed untangled for the most part and just enjoyed whatever little bit she was offered. Of course, Daisy pulled a bit more in her excitement but with her leash around my waist it wasn’t so bad. The video from yesterday was made after the switch. You can see Daisy was just as happy as a lark (and how do we know that those larks are really happy anyway?).
Thanks a million to Grannie who is dogsitting while mom had to go out of town for the night! Not that she minds….I think she secretly likes getting the coonhound lovin’ all to herself. 
Today’s title must be said in the most southern accent you can conjure up. LOL This is a video of the girls when we went ‘hunting’ at a local park. There wasn’t a squirrel in the tree but I sure had them second guessing and looking! More on this trip later.
Question to those of you who blog:
It seems the pet blogging community is a tight group, even when many of us don’t know each other. I am amazed when I’m reading comments on someone’s blog post and see a different person commenting that has a blog I follow. Do you find that too?
I’m testing out posting from my phone today. The girls like their snacks.
So this weekend I decided to try something new with the girls. We went hiking!
The girls and I do regularly go to a local park to walk around the lake there but I was hoping to go more onto a trail like hike. It was ‘interesting’ to say the least. We went to a park with a 7 mile paved loop. The plan was to start on the pavement, then cut through on one of the off road trails through the middle.
Bella had a so-so time. During the first 5 minutes of walking Bella needed to go to he bathroom and stepped off the path….right into a sand spur! For those of you who don’t have these they are little hard balls with thorns poking out in all directions. She jumped back on the path, got down on her elbow licking her paw. I managed to get it out but she didn’t want to get in the grass so she pooped in the middle of the paved trail. She was very uneasy in this new place.
Because of the sand spur I decided to stay on the trail. This trail attracts bikers. Not mountain bikers but Lance Armstrong type bikers. I kept Bella away form the side they were passing us on but then some schmuck and his friends decided to buzz us on both sides-one of them going off the trail to run by Bella. When we stopped for water her tail was tucked tight and she refused to drink which worried me (it’s still hot here). I did dump some cold water on her head (which just pissed her off I think). So we headed back.
Daisy was a champ and popular with everyone who saw her. She had on her backpack to carry our water and she walked right by me the whole time. I was lucky that the type of area this was isn’t conducive to squirrels. I could hear people talking about her as they rode up behind us. Some even slowed down to watch her walk. I think she likes having a job to do. I took her off the path 5 different times and she wouldn’t pee. Of course near the end she squats in the middle of the trail to pee!
A little bit about my sweet Bella. She is most likely a puppy mill dog. She seems to have little to no socialization. She is scared of pretty much everything like her own tail hitting something and making a noise. After having her a few months, she did improve. I got her a doggie friend and she improved even more. I started her on prozac and she continued to improve. Now she is almost unrecognizable compared to the skinny, scared dog I brought home.
This however, does not mean she is free from anxiety. On the contrary, it is still an everyday presence in our house. Daisy ignores it completely. I try to not baby her when she is freaking in general although she does come to me for reassurance that things are cool.
So, last night I was sitting enjoying Law and Order. I didn’t hear any noise and I didn’t hear Bella leave her crate. I glanced up and what did I see? Yep, Bella scrunched in with Daisy. Daisy had already put herself to bed. I am so glad she is an easy going dog. I got Bella out and she was shaking all over so I sat on the floor with my hand on her until she settled down. I stood up and was going to encourage her to get into her own crate. She wasn’t having it. After about 2 steps she dashed back into Daisy’s crate. Like any good mom, I made sure to take a picture before getting her out and into her own crate. As you can see, Daisy was unaffected by it all.
But we both fit!
Click here for a list of some random pet blogs. You are sure to find one you like! Better yet, start your own blog and join!
