Plenty of Kisses Pet Sitting

After my walk with the McCarty Gang and helping Handsome and LIly out with their bug bites (I scratched it for them on occasion since I’m a full-service dog walker!), I decided to go see Woody WITH Lily!

I had had the opportunity to learn a few things from the master dog trainer, Dennis McCarthy, at his short lecture series on Friday evening.  …it was something about the angle of the swing and connection on the muzzle that did it for me.

Anyway, I decided I’d see if Lily and Woody could become friends.  So upon opening the Lickfold’s garage door, I walked in the garage with confidence with Lily on leash.  We opened the house door, stepped inside, and as I called for Woody to come see us, I noticed Lily’s ears pop up to attention.  Quickly recalling the “McCarthy swing,” I popped Lily a blow square on the nose while saying calmly “don’t you dare”, then followed it up with another pop for good measure.  Lo and behold, not a word, not a snarl, not a sniff came out of either dog’s muzzles when Woody came around the corner.

Being Woody, she could smell the sheer power of Lydia, TBDDWOTP*, and immediately sat down on my foot to say hello to myself and Lily.  Lily just looked at her and said hello back.  It was heaven!  I got the leash and hooked the Woodster up and we headed out the door.

Feeling fantastic aboiut my newfound abilities as a dog walker, I decided Woody’s knee was strong enough to take a quick dash into the forest so that’s what we did.  We went 3/4 of the way across the ridge off leash and back.  Woody was happily dragging her toes on the way back but clearly happy to have found a new pal in Lily.  I could see the feelings were likewise from the Big Girl.  She’s like her momma and enjoys having friends.

I think it helped the situation that LIly was already tired from her McCarthy pack run.  No worries.  I’m stoked that after Woody’s surgery and full recovery, we might be able to add Woody to my daily pack of dogs taking over the 109/129 trail!  We’ll see how it turns out but today was a blast.

THANKS TO EVERYONE!!!

*The Best Damned Dog Walker On The Planet!

How to Make a “Pupsicle”
September 4, 2008

Want to give your pup a refreshing treat after a nice long walk or a vigorous bout of exercise? Try making some doggy “pupsicles” using broth from a can or carton. Simply pour some low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth into an ice cube tray or small plastic container — you can skip the sticks — and pop it in the freezer until it’s frozen solid. You’ll have a cool, savory, low-calorie snack for your dog in just a few hours! If you’re worried he’ll make a soupy, melty mess, have him slurp his snack outside.

Today’s romp included many Olympic events. some pretty, some not so pretty…kind of reminiscent of “the agony of defeat”.

Straight out of the starting box, I had a challenging dash. Leashes tangled, dogs barked, and we clumsily visited with Molly and Shea.

Going through the gauntlet, we had a little known Olympic event called “pull, yank, yell, cuss”…not necessarily in that order. Handsome has figured out how to get out of his collar and did so. He then proceeded to flaunt it in front of Vixen and Blossom who weren’t amused.

The pulling contest topped off the entrance to the forest so I didn’t have to do much work on that one!

Handsome showed off his acrobatics by doing a jump with a twist over a hill. I judged it an 8 since his paws didn’t come down together (OF COURSE THAT WOULD MAKE HIM A CAT, WOULDN’T IT?).

There were many heats of 50 yard dash, 100 yard dash, and some rather clumsy relays that normally ended in a crash.

When Handsome attempted the long jump…coming down a hill…that was wet…he had a slide/spill…and limped…but recovered nicely. The judge was caught giggling since she saw his smiling face…just before he was surprised by the slide/fall. BAD JUDGING MANNERS! There may be a filing against her soon!

A surprise contestant came along and all contestants wanted to either take him down (Vixen…for which the judge strongly reprimanded her and caused her to sit out for a time), bark at him for thinking he could run faster than Himself (Handsome…for which he was reprimanded) or beat him across the finish line which wasn’t even in sight (Blossom…). One contestant just jumped around and acted goofy (Lily…now that’s a stretch). They all did well to stop for some refreshment (cookie) so the distance runner could go on!

We had a blast except for the trip to and from the forest.  Blossom and Vixen continue to go after each other with teeth bared.  Not sure about that.

It’s been great to walk the dogs together again. Today, Vixen and Blossom were put into time out because they were fighting like pissed off siblings!  I had to separate them by putting Blossom in the yard while scolding each of them separately.  They seemed to listen to me since it wasn’t too bad after that.

Vixen started to squat like she was going to do a #2 on the trail…something she’s NEVER done since I’ve walked her…she always has it done before or after we’re together. Anyway, after she appeared to try, I noticed she was walking like she had a corncob up her butt. She had a string hanging down! I have no clue what it was that she ate or when, but it bugged her enough that she walked funny for about 1/2 mile. I giggled at her. It finally disappeared so she was able to take care of her business somehow.

We were at the peek-a-boo tree when I heard Handsome yelp with a whimper as he was coming toward me…alone. He must have twisted something or stepped on something. I bent over to check out his paw as he was holding it up when Lily decided to blast from the muddy water and start her zoomies! Blossom and Vixen were concerned about Handsome’s paw so they were behind me. Together, the four of us were covering the whole trail.

So as Lily was winding up her zoomies, we kind of watched her pass us very closely on the side…then return a bit closer…then closer. Each time she passed us by, we all kind of just watched her and marveled at how she could entertain herself on such a simpleton level. Her lips were flopping as hard as her ears but she was having a blast!

So each time she passed, we four figured it would be her last time around and went back to Handsome’s paw. Lily was so wound up that she ended up going 4-5 times instead of her usual 2-3 times. Handsome became concerned each time he saw her coming and decided his paw was fine and wanted to get out of her way. I had felt around and removed anything I thought might have been sticking him, but he seemed to ignore it.

We had a blast. Everyone panted…except Handsome. :O)

Today was a large pack of 6 dogs.  Lily and her pals, Vixen, Blossom, and Handsome were of course there and loving the day.  Sarah joined us with Luna and Indie.  All the dogs were nearly perfect!  We had some acrobatics going on with the dogs showing off to my sister-in-law, Susan, who is here visiting with me for a week.  She couldn’t believe that these crazy dogs run off and come back to check on us all the time.  It’s safe to say the pack amazed her.

…and she didn’t hit the ground due to Lily!  She was safe but Lily was her usual crazy self.  We took a nice, long walk and really enjoyed the lovely day.  The dogs got polk-a-dotted with the muddy water, then cleaned themselves up with clean lake water, then muddied themselves up again!

It was a great day to be alive with the pack!

Well yesterday was certainly different.  It started out gorgeous and I was feeling like taking a long walk, so we did the 113-108-123 trails around the 109-129 loop.  The dogs loved the “new” smells (I realize that Vixen, Blossom, and Dasher have probably run these trails a gazillion times by now but I don’t do them often…and neither does Lily!).

What made yesterday different was that Vixen and Blossom were going at each other like they were strangers who hated each other!  We weren’t out of the neighborhood when Vixen and Blossom went after each other.  Then getting close to the trails they started an actual dog fight.  Blossom didn’t back down from Vixen’s bad temper like she normally does…but they were on leash.  The other two were just watching.

During this time, Dasher got out of his collar and wouldn’t return to me.  This was on Pennsylvania and the only car that came along was Tara’s car.  After it passed, Dasher decided to return to me.  I got him back together and we continued into the forest with me keeping V and B apart.  I wondered what would happen when they were off leash but decided since they were siblings, they would work it out.   They did.   Another incident didn’t happen all day.

I so enjoyed the beautiful day and the long walk.  The dogs came back tired and didn’t pull at all going home.  Lily was nearly dead for about 2 hours after the walk…but she loved it so much!

You should have seen the dogs running today! They were crazy and full of vim and vigor! It was fun to watch them all having fun. Handsome is looking more and more like a gazelle all the time!

LOVE THOSE GUYS!!!!!

I didn’t write on Friday but I had something funny to say.  Vixen was in a snit on Friday…all aimed at Lily.  She started off in the back yard and into the forest.   It wasn’t constant, but enough that everyone just seemed to leave Vixen alone.

Well, Lily can only take that kind of stuff for so long.  About half way back from the pond (we took a nice, long walk!) Lily was the brunt of Vixen’s temper again and when they both went up for a chest-slam during rough housing, Lily planted a perfect right hook on Vixen’s face.  It was a punch any boxer would be proud of.  …that ended the negative attention from Vixen for the rest of the walk!

It was rather funny!

Today was gorgeous and we enjoyed the walk.  The dogs heard the same words from my mouth they hear every day and it sounds like this:

“Dasher, do you have to poop ON the trail?”  Muttering to myself…”where’s a good stick when I need it?”

“Blossom, where are you?   Oh, there you are!”

“Ok, guys, let’s stay OUT of the mud today, ok?”

“Dasher, pooping again?  That’s twice!  …and on the trial again!”   Muttering to myself…”where’s a good stick when I need it?”

“This way guys, we’re not going that way today”

“Lily, watch out, you’re going to hit a tree next time you take off like that!”

“Dasher, pooping again?  That’s three times…and all on the trail!”  Muttering to myself or out loud by now…you get the picture!

“Blossom, I distinctly recall asking you to stay OUT of the mud!”

“Vixen, look at your black paws!”

“You guys, time for a treat…gentle!  Be Pretty!  Sit and I’ll give you a treat.  Good girl!  Good boy!”

“Dasher!  That’s FOUR times today!!!  Can’t you PLEASE find the bathroom out here???  It’s all around you!”  …muttering to myself…

“Time to leash up.  Good babies!”

“You guys were so good today!  Ok, let’s have another treat!”

That’s about it for me every day!  They find the mud, they argue, they jump, they run, they tree squirrels or whatever makes a sound, they miss their turns when running fast, they have a ball!

This is an announcement that I’m an AUNT again!  …well kind of!  Most of you who read anything from me know that I support our local charity, Summit Assistance Dogs.  We train dogs to help change the lives of people in wheelchairs or those who need a hearing dog.

Summit has had two litters in the past and we just had our third yesterday!  SEVEN adorable yellow labs, 5 girls and 2 boys!  I’m dying to get my hands on those little adorable babies.

I just wanted to tell everyone the good news!  Hopefully each one of these little babies will be graduating in a couple of years to a life of love, fun, and help to their human.

Jack is a black lab, young, who lives on my street. Rocky is his Springer Spaniel, older, uncle who lives in a different household nearby. I had the pleasure of caring for them yesterday and today. I took them on the same route, only two different ways. It was amazing to see the newness in the route the second day, though it was the same.

We went up the dreaded hill, the one Jack goes up every day…(but I don’t!) toward the water tower. I took them both into the forestlands since that’s my favorite place to walk dogs. It allows them to use their senses, their brain, and their muscles all at one time. Even a short walk is amazingly good for dogs. So we took a left and headed across the ridge of Cedar Glen. I let Jack and Rocky off their leashes (against the LAW!) and off Jack went. He was busy sniffing everything and anything. Rocky was even spry and trotted along ahead of me sniffing away.

Rocky kept up his excited pace the whole walk and amazed me. There were times when he slowed down and walked a bit with me, but for the most part, he was ahead of me sniffing around. Jack was up and back. He checked on Rocky, he checked on me, he checked on that smell over there, and that sound over there. But most of all, he enjoyed the “salad” the forest had to offer! He likes the grass! Whenever he’d find even a stalk of it sticking up, he’d be noshing on it. Rocky didn’t care…

So as we got to my normal “hitching post” to put leashes back on and exit the forest at the other end, they were both happy and a bit tired. They were total gentlemen walking back home and even stopped to talk to a nice neighbor who was pulling weeds and discouraging her baby son from eating dirt! I convinced her that eating dirt isn’t going to kill him since I ate dirt as a kid, too! Must have been an enzyme in my system that was missing!

Home we went where both dogs drank some fresh water and talked about how much fun they had!

We did the same route only backwards today. We headed through the neighborhood to Pennyslvania and up that way into the forestlands. Rocky was having a bit of a struggle going up this way. It’s kind of up hill but in a different way than the road to the water tower. He was happily walking behind me the whole way.

…not Jack! Jack was smelling it all from a different angle! He found the “salad” as yummy from this end as from the other and enjoyed the whole walk.

Coming down the road from the water tower on our way out, I didn’t get Rocky’s leash on him in time. As we neared the street, I put Jack’s leash on him, but I don’t think Rocky could stop! Either that or he couldn’t hear me call his name. There was a nice man walking along the street so I told him that Rocky was old and probably couldn’t hear me. He smiled (being a generation older than myself) and understood, called Rocky to him, and waited patiently while Rocky got to him. I thanked him for helping Rocky slow down and we wished each other a nice day!

When I looked at Rocky, he looked back at me as if to say, “Sorry, Lydia…I just couldn’t stop!” I smiled and gave him a knowing pat on the head. I think that hill should be leveled out more for the likes of people and dogs!

I’ll see the boys one more time today where we’ll get some serious loving in and then Mom and Dad will be home!

Thanks, Jack and Rocky, for letting me be part of your weekend!