Living with Opposites

Today I had a great illustration in how different my dogs really are in personality. Of course, I understand this but when I have such a display as I did today, I feel the need to share.

This afternoon I gave Daisy a stuffed frozen kong and gave Bella a bully stick. They were both happily enjoying their treats. So I gathered up all their towels, t-shirts, and bedding to go in the wash. During this Daisy never looked up at me. I think she might have passingly wagged her tail at me when I came close. Bella on the other hand stopped chewing and looked WORRIED! I could almost hear her inner dialogue “Wonder why mom is taking our stuff? What did we do? Is she upset? Is she taking us somewhere? Where will I sleep tonight? OMG I don’t have a home!!!”  Yep, Bella has issues. LOL

Daisy on the other hand didn’t worry until she felt it was bedtime. Then she had her own version of issues. She went into her crate, spun around, sniffed, came out and looked at me.  Then she put her front paws in the crate, sniffing around, then looked back at me (their bed covers were in the dryer still). She did her three spins right outside her crate and laid down with a huff. When I brought her bed back in she wagged her tail happily and climbed right into her crate.

My funny girls.

We’ve Been Invaded!!!

That’s right folks…our city is invaded by pirates every year.  They come in a huge flotilla firing cannons and guns. They force the Mayor to hand over the keys to the city then parade through the streets.  The citizens are powerless to stop them.

So of course…Daisy and I had to go see what the fuss was all about! Now, I do not recommend the average dog go to a very crowded, hot parade.  Daisy and I went early and started from the beginning of the parade and walked backwards, through the staging area. This way we could see all the floats, the people in costumes, hear the music, maybe get some beads but with less of a crowd.

The only issue I really see is Daisy decided the day was all about her. Everyone loved her! I let the kids pet her, and anyone else (who wasn’t crazy drunk).  She also got a lot of treats (from me) for her good behavior and posing for pictures. Plus, with the tens of thousands of people there someone recognized her!  She is a regular celebrity! There was a lady participating in the parade who was frantically waving us over to where she was waiting for the parade to begin.  She knew Daisy from the dog park. She also asked where my other hound was (of course, Bella is way to anxious to attend a parade).

We left when the cannon fire started. It’s a little much for even the most solid dogs. (and yes, there is lots of cannon and gunfire associated with a pirate invasion!)  So here is a peek at all the things Daisy got to see today.

Hard Rock Casino! Yay big money!

Go Lightning!

Go Bucs! This is #27.

Maybe I've had a little to much to drink....

Parade going by! Love the pirate ships!

Cigars?! Those smell funny!

I shared my booty with my sister, even if she was pouting about getting her picture taken.

Wordless Wednesday

Peek-a-boo!

 

Also, I just want to let everyone know I am reading your blogs! There are a few blogger blogs I can not use my OpenID-wordpress account or a name/URL option. I have no idea why.

Dressing Up the Dog

So, I tried to write this on my WordPress iphone app. Lets just say I understand why it has such low rating. It crashed and my post is there-I can read it, but it won’t allow me to publish it, so everything must be typed again. But I’ll type it word for word so you’ll know what was going on.

 

So, I came up with a great way to stop Daisy from doing so much damage when she is scratching.  I bought her some wife beater style t-shirts and I must say she is rather cute in them.  She doesn’t mind the new clothes at all.

I took this picture on my Iphone and since we are the only folks at the dog park today I am doing something I never do. i am sitting relaxing and just letting her wander and chase squirrels-while I fit a blog post in. (Now of course you understand I’ve had to do it twice).

Wordless Wednesday

Break time!

 

I love that shiny coat!

Rainy Morning

Where I live I am pretty lucky when it comes to rain. Typically, with a little planning you can miss the worst of a downpour and many times can stay in during the whole thing. Long rainy days are rare here, even if we are having torrential daily downpours with thunder and lightning.

This morning I was not so lucky. It was already raining during the girls’ 2am walk. So, when I got up this morning it was pouring! Looking at the radar it would be hours-well into afternoon before it quit. So, I got Daisy and a poncho and headed out. Oh boy was she not happy with me! She hates the water and that includes rain. It was the closest to her tail being tucked that I had ever seen.  When I’d stop she’d lift two paws off the wet ground. If Daisy were like Bella and would hold it instead of peeing in the floor I wouldn’t have to torture her (or me) like this, but that is not my Daisy.  After a long walk she finally went and I made a b-line for the house.  She did love the rub down with a towel to get her dry.

Then came step two in my plans for Daisy today. The Thundershirt.  No, Daisy does not suffer from any sort of anxiety but I was hoping to use something I already have to stop her from itching and scratching the same places where her fur is now gone and the skin irritated.

It works-but I don’t think she is too happy about having to wear it. Once I got her in it she just sat there looking at me like “Really Mom? What are you thinking?!”

Tired Pup

I took this at a red light today. The girls and I were at a dog meetup group for 2 hours in a park. They had so much fun but Daisy decided she couldn’t wait to get home for a nap. She was laying down in my backseat.

I'll use my ear to keep the sun out of my eyes.

Saturday Morning Musings…

I  love to see my girls run.  Although both are coonhounds, they have distinct running styles.  Bella is a graceful gazelle.  She digs in, runs low, and fast.

Daisy on the other hand, clumbers along. It takes work to get her moving and her ears make running very dramatic. She runs like a car out of alignment and it is very entertaining to watch.

Sometimes though, when they are running around something clicks and they get into a great rhythm chasing each other.  Love the ears.

Thanks a bunch to Grandpa for taking these pics yesterday with his good camera. It is hard to get fast action shots with a point and shoot type camera.  He also got experience the wonder of The Cadillac of Dog Parks.

In his visit yesterday Bella actually came up to him to smell him and wagged her tail and let him pet her. I am very happy about that. Bella has a fear of men and I really would love for her to know Grandpa is no threat.

In more random news-when I was very, very young Grannie bought a bunch of pre-cut quilting squares. She never did anything with them, and now, over a decade later, I have inherited the fabric. I’m planning on making quilts for the girls to go in their crate. They have egg carton beds now. I wash the covers and febreeze the egg carton but I find they still stink a lot. Hopefully a quilt will be easier to clean. What do your dogs sleep on? Do they have a crate and any padding in the crate?

I also wanted to let everyone know I loved reading the blogs from the pet blogger challenge. I found some new blogs that are now in my RSS feed and I see some of you found me!  And now…I’m off to join the Blog Hop! I like the blog hop even though I never add the list to my blog. Copy and pasting the html code doesn’t work for me for some reason. But you can click the icon to the right to find out more.

Wordless Wednesday

I say I'm the pretty one!

Pet Blogger Challenge

So, I was looking around at pet blogs and one name in particular really caught my attention and I learned about the pet blogger challenge. I thought It’d be a good way for readers to know a little bit more about my blog.  And today’s post was born.

So onto the questions….(you can click the badge to the right for information if you are interested)

Well, most of you do not know that this blog didn’t actually start here. I had 4 whole posts on a blogspot site. I started it a couple months after Bella joined my home, but then I decided to get Daisy and a couple more months went by without me posting. The other site was really set up for one dog and in reading about blogging I thought the wordpress site might be better for me to use.

I originally started blogging because I was so happy to have a dog (not dogs) in my life. All I wanted to talk about was the girls…wait…all I still want to talk about it the girls!  I thought if I had a verbal outlet online I could find some people to read about them and I would talk about other interests in life.   My purpose is still very much the same. The only difference is I don’t fool myself into thinking it will stop the desire to talk about them in everyday life any less.  In fact, some of you very lucky people hear the stories I put on here then come back and read them all over again.

I don’t blog on a schedule. I really try for 2-3 posts a week.  I have to have something to write about or pictures to post and our lives just aren’t busy or exciting enough for a daily or even a scheduled blog.  Sometimes I feel a bit guilty when its around 4-5 days between posts. I want people to read about the girls and enjoy the stories just I like reading on other people’s blog. I see some people with so many followers!  I have two, one of them I know (Hi Grannie!). I know by my stats and those fabulous people who leave comments that others are coming by. I can understand not following a blog-I don’t follow blogs on follow buttons. I recently learned how to add the blogs I follow onto RSS feeds that go into my mail program.

I don’t generate money from my blog and wouldn’t have the slightest idea how. If anyone wants to let me in on the secret-by all means share away!

I like that with blogging I have a record of my life with my girls. I can look back and see what kind of fun, or what struggles we were having.  I like that it has opened me up to a community of other dog (and cat) obsessed people who don’t think I’m strange at for the type of life and relationship I cultivate with my girls.

A couple thing I don’t like is when life is boring and I’m not sure what to write about. I may only have a few regular folks stopping by but I want them to keep coming back!

I hope I will continue to gain an audience this coming year.  Hopefully next year Daisy and I will start agility so there will be even more to share. If I get enough followers/traffic I might even try my first give away in the second half of 2011.  Everyone likes free stuff, right?