Plenty of Kisses Pet Sitting

I’m sitting here watching two hilarious Dachshunds.  I gave all three dogs a chew toy today called a Texas Toothpick.  It’s just some sort of hide or whatever rolled into what looks like a long, fat toothpick.

Lily had hers eaten in about 3 bites, 3 seconds at the max.

DaisyMae went right to work on hers and had hers done in about 4 minutes.  She’s a pig much like Angus was.  She’ll eat anyone’s food if she has the chance to get at it.  Thankfully Lily’s food is up higher than the floor but she will sneak in and put her front paws on the top of the dish and work hard to get any food out she can reach.  I have to keep an eye on her waistline for that reason.

Max, on the other hand, has always been laid back about life.  Eating comes in that category.    He also likes to taunt those around him by holding onto his treat/food/whatever long enough for Lily or DaisyMae to notice, want it, start to drool, etc., then decide to eat it all the while giving out a little grumble/growl at whomever is getting too close.

This is what happened today.  Max brought his Texas Toothpick into my office and decided to wait until everyone else was pretty much done and interested.  When they came sniffing around, Max started in on his treat, enjoying every bite.  Lily, with all her lips and ears hanging down, sniffed at Max from above sounding somewhat like a lioness sniffing loudly.   …Max simply chewed looking up and stared her down while he continued to taunt her.  He’d let out a warning snort every now and then.   Lily finally decided the toothpick wasn’t worth it so she ambled away to find a cozy spot on the chair she’s ruined, watching for deer in the front yard.

DaisyMae settled in.  She got inches away from Max and just stared at him.  No drool, just stare.  …Max simply chewed along, watching her watch him.  I’m sure he LOVED the whole thing.    DaisyMae couldn’t stand it so she moved closer and rested her chin on the dog bed Max had chosen to enjoy his toothpick.  This put DaisyMae millimeters from Max’s treat.  He just allowed her to watch from that distance.  When Max finished his chew, DaisyMae went in for the crumbs, but found none.  She then decided she’d attack Max and the play fighting began!

What goofy dogs!

Today Sarah and I decided we’d go to the 300/302 trail system.  So I had to take the dogs in my little Scion XA to the spot.  That was a hoot in itself.  I had 4 dogs in my little car.  Lily was taking up the most space but Handsome was the noisiest!  He was whinning most of the way.  I never quite figured  out why he was whinning but he stopped when we got to the forest.

One funny thing about the drive to the forest…I wanted to assure the whinning dog(s) so I was feeding doggie junk food to them along the way. I now recognize the feel of each dog’s muzzle separate from the others!  THAT’S TALENT!!!!

Off the dogs went…Handsome was on leash for part of it but I let him off for part…until he got nasty with his sisters.   We came up to one of Dennis’ biking friends who recongnized the dogs.  Handsome never said a word!  I was so proud of him!  We came upon a second rider that didn’t know us and again, Handsome never barked a bit.  YEA!!!!  It’s funny becuase Sarah and I like that trail system becuase we NEVER see anyone!  NOT TODAY!

Anyway about half way through, Vixen and Blossom disappear.  We called and called all the way back.  Since it was a new trail system for us (we’d only been on it a few times), Sarah and I were afraid they’d get lost and not get back.  Well we were almost back to the beginning and Blossom shows up, obvioulsy knowing she had run off.  We were hopeful that Vixen would show up too…sure enough, I htink she was sitting in the car waiting for us as she came up from the area of the cars.  WHEW!  I was afraid I would have to spend the day searching for those silly dogs!

I swear this is what happens every day:  Vixen and Blossom put on their wrist watches when they see me and LIly coming up the walkway or driving up the driveway.  When we hit the trails, they look at each other and say, “Go!”  They start their watches knowing they have 45-60 minutes before having to return.  This had to be what happened today except that it was a good 90 mintues before we showed up at the start again.  It took us awhile because we had stopped to call out for those silly dogs!

All was well.  We piled into Jack (my car’s name) and off we went to get a latte at Supreme Bean.  They were good while I had my latte with Sarah and off we went home.   Vixen placed her sweet muzzle on my shoulder, Handsome pawed at my shoulder while whinning, Lily stuck her big head out the window to make others laugh, and Blossom just stared out the window wishing she was back in the forest!

When Lily and I were walking back to our car in the McCarthy driveway after taking Woody for a short walk, two heads were plastered against the front window…Vixen on the left, Blossom on the right surrounding the big plant in the middle.  What a sight!  We giggled while getting into the car to go home.

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!