There Isn’t Anything He Doesn’t Like to Eat

My new baby….

Aspen has been with us for 2 months now. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. He’s fairly settled in so far. We love each other. The whole puppy thing is so wonderful in some ways and so awful in others. Aspen is smart, enthusiastic, lovable, playful and joyful. But he’s also chewy and mouthy at times, scared of water, a big licker and so happy he knocks you over. He is with me all day, following me everywhere. Although I must admit that he does love my hubby a lot. Can’t keep his tongue off of him. (hee, hee).

One thing we discovered, is that the dog will eat anything. I am most amused at feeding him fruits and veggies. So far he has happily consumed (and looked for more ) – spinach, squash, carrots, cukes, peppers, apples, bananas, swiss chard, mushrooms, celery, strawberries, blueberries and watermelon. Can’t get enough of those strawberries. Wow, this dog is a maniac.

He’s our first mix with Aussie Shepherd in him, so it’s a new experience learning the quirks of the breed that come with him. So far, not much herding, but a little bird dogging it here and there. Although, he is no match for Sparky, head squirrel chaser and varmint killer.

Overall, we’re enjoying the experience of a new dog. But, he is new, and still not replacing in any way, my princess, Casey. Funny how a dog can leave such a big hole in your heart.

 

The Little White Dog

We lost Casey. I have written before of the anguish and grief of that time. Knowing it was over, but yet having to wait. Loving her and knowing that losing her and letting go was the best and only way. And over the months, trying to add a dog to our pack, but feeling a panic and pain in the process. Still yet, as I write this, there is a hole in my heart for that missing dog. And most people don’t understand it. My husband doesn’t. Perhaps, even I myself struggle with the wondering.

One thing was certain though. Sparky, the dog left behind, certainly ached for canine companionship more than we did. His obsession with guarding the house escalated. He was not really meant to be the alpha dog – which he became as only dog. And so the journey to find a new pooch was for him as much as it was for us.

I will not detail the failures in our search or the lack on my part. But in March, we decided to extend our search beyond our city to other rescue organizations. And I found a super German Shepherd mix named Sully. He was about 3 years old and would have been a “slide right in” kind of dog. In my heart, I wanted my kids to have a puppy. Not necessarily a little puppy, but a dog who grew up and would believe that he was theirs as much as he was mine. So I was also considering a white Aussie/Lab mix (that’s what she was advertised as) named Winter. At 4 months, I thought she’d be just about right in age.

We traveled an hour to see these two dogs again and decide. As much as I liked Sully, Winter was a great pup and a part of me gravitated that way. While we were looking at her, one lady stormed right up and just wanted her. We backed off, but knew that this rescue group picked the “best” application, not the first. Since I had been in contact with them for some weeks, I decided to “go for it”, figuring if we didn’t get her, we’d default back to Sully.

We didn’t get her. But we discovered that two siblings of Winter had also been rescued and that they though her brother Aspen might be perfect for us. We agreed to go through the application process and were approved to bring him home. Only then did the waiting begin.

Aspen came down with a couple of things – Upper respiratory infection and intestinal tract issues. Three weeks later than we were supposed to, we brought him home. Finally.

And yet, our world is still turned upside down as we work with Aspen and all his puppy things. Housetraining seems to finally be done, but crate training is much more challenging and he is quickly picking up bad habits from Sparky. While we love him, our joy is subdued. Back in the furthest reaches of my mind is the memory of an old dog, whose red head I wish was resting on my foot.

 

The Gourd Eating Dog

For those who asked, my dog really did eat part of a gourd. She eats everything – well tries it. We got a couple of little gourds at the pumpkin patch to mix in with our Pumpkin grouping. All of them were laying on the porch and we went for a ride. I left the door to the porch open. Bump found the gourd with it’s stem missing and blamed it on Zach. I later found a small pile of tiny gourd pieces. Then I realized what had happened.

It doesn’t really surprise me that much. She loves pumpkin, and if we decide to carve up any this year, she will eat anything that falls on the floor.

I don’t think that’s unusual. I have heard that dogs like those types of things.

 

They Hate Me

Tonight was a painful exercise in cleanliness. I bathed my dogs. They were long past due as evidenced by the dog smell in our house that mysteriously got better when the dogs went outside.

We used to have a nice little hookup in the bathroom to make bathtime easy. Gil took it out and said, “They can have baths outside – I’ll even give them.” He gave them one bath this past summer. Really they need one every month. I think 75% of our carpet problems are from dirty dogs. Tonight I did them with a cup in the tub. They were not the most productive baths, but they got their bodies cleaned.

So into the tub for each of them. Winnie always goes first because she’s the hardest. When I finish with her, she’s like a puppy again – romping around our because she’s done. Casey is hiding, running away – anything. She doesn’t want to go in the tub. I drag her in and do her. After I finish, she’s still in misery – just standing there like a bad dog. They get cookies so that part’s okay, but really true misery. As soon as I open the bedroom door, they are off to the races.

I then clean the bathroom and the tub. When I join them downstairs, they are suspicious – giving me hauty looks, and hoping for more treats. Casey, especially, is distant – not her usual snuggly self.

By morning, they will have forgotten the travisty and again seek me out as their “mother” and number one person.

Just wait though…tomorrow we cut toe nails………….

This entry will be included in Friday’s Ark and The Carnival of Dogs.

 

Casey the Pooh

We’ve long since rearranged the office where Bump’s table and chairs were. But earlier in the year, when they were in front of the window, I often found Casey in this position. I was only able to snap one photo of it though.

Since scoping the neighborhood is high priority, free access to windows in necessary. You’ll also notice that they never got over their tendency to chew on the window sills!

Happy Friday!!!!

 

Christmas Doggies

I’ve been reading a lot of Christmas stories about toddlers and how do you handle a tree. Bump’s been a breeze so far compared to my two hairy friends. Our first Christmas with Casey and Winnie brought more anguish than our first or even second Christmas with the Bump.

Casey and Winnie were still puppies, probably around 9 months old when we put up that first tree. We never thought anything of it. But it didn’t take long for destruction and havoc to take place. The chewable ornaments were dropping off quickly. They would pull just about every ornament off and even garland. (We had passed on the tinsel because I had heard it was such a health hazard to pets.)

To combat this issue, we wrapped our tree in a bed sheet. Weekdays and overnight, I would wrap a queen size sheet around our tree, pinning it at the top and on the side with a clothes pin. It helped us a little with our sanity as well as our ornament collection.

They have not been too interested in the tree in subsequent Christmas seasons. I guess that was part of their puppyhood. Mostly now they try to avoid being dressed up in Santa hats and reindeer horns.

Bump thinks this game is the bomb. I have to hide the reindeer antlers or he’ll insist that I put them on one of the dogs and sit there and laugh. It wouldn’t surprise me if they started to go after the Christmas tree!

 

A New Pose – the Heisman

Since Casey has become such a hot item on the net with roughly 40-50 hits on this photo a day, I thought I show one of her flipped in the other direction, which is a more famous pose in our house. We call it the Heisman.

They don’t do it as much as they did when they were younger, but both of our dogs would sleep in this pose – right in the middle of the floor. One paw stuck strait out and the other tucked back, kind of like the pose of the runner on the Heisman Trophy. So that’s what we named it – the Heisman pose. (Of course, Casey pulled her paw back in right as I was hovering to take her picture.)

Now they prefer to do it curled up next to wall – which still makes for humerous dog photography.:)

This post is part of Friday’s Ark and the Carnival of Dogs.

 

Mad About the Dogs Next Door

Our neighbor got a Chesapeake Bay Retreiver this past spring – Murphy, (on left) and then adopted Ayla (on right) out of rescue this summer. Initially Murph was crated during the day, so we didn’t see much of him. Once he got Ayla, he started leaving them outside during the day.

We’ve become friends. Bump loves these guys and they like him. And, Casey and Winnie are quite fond of them as well. It took Winnie a little while to warm up, but now she stakes out that side of yard for a siting.

They really are wonderful dogs considering how young they still are. I don’t know how my neighbor feels sometimes. After eating a couch and destroying carpet, he’s having his share of frustrations. Aw those puppies…

(By the way, the title comes from a 50′s song in the movie – The Girl Next Door. I think the lyrics are – “I’m mad about the girl next door, the girl next door to me.” In other words, we’re crazy about those dogs!”

 

Watermelon Winnie

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I promised a photo of the watermelon watchers. Since Winnie is top dog, Casey kind of got squeezed out of this adventure.

We tried to grow watermelons this year in our small makeshift garden. We planted late and not much happened until around labor day when this sweet little melon appeared. Bump loved it and kept trying to get at it. We knew it wouldn’t amount to much, but let it go to see what would happen. The other day, I noticed the dogs furiously digging at the corner of the garden fence. After further investigation, they were trying to get to the watermelon. I’ve had to try and keep them away ever since. Winnie has even crawled into the watermelon side of the garden to try and get through the fence. The melon is actually in our tomato patch.

Why the melon? Don’t know. But it’s been a big attraction. She’s after it from sunrise to sunset and guards it quite nicely. I hate to see what happens next year if we actually get some melons.

 

The Best Dinners are to Be Enjoyed

When I was growing up, we had a female beagle named Lady and two male beagles named Coco and Tag. They all found repose together in a small dog pen. When it came to feeding time, the boys would pick on Lady, biting her rear end to try and get her food. She took to sitting down to eat after that. A vet told us that it was very unusual that a dog would sit down to eat.

How do you explain this?

And this?

I honestly think the guy didn’t know what he was talking about. Having worked a year in rescue, I’ve seen dogs do everything different ways. While much of their behavior is instinctual, they are still individuals.

And my two, just some seriously broked dogs trying to stay comfortable as they eat.