My Daisy, meeting new chamber members

I got up at 5 am this morning because I wanted to attend a chamber of commerce meeting. When I woke Polly up at 6:45, she asked me if I had a screw loose. "It is still dark outside, are you crazy?" I could barely make her move over on her perch - birds are not "live in the dark" creatures!
The meeting was very interesting and I met a few nice people. There is a new acupuncture place in the Briarwood Business Center. It's a husband and wife team named Harbour. Check them out at www.bluecraneacupuncture.com. They are very nice and animal friendly and are perfectly willing to discuss your pooches problem with you.
The dog in the picture is Daisy. She is a Chihuahua-Terrier and about 12 years old. Sometimes I swear she was born old. This is the dog who refused to go home because she liked my food better then her original owners....what guts in 14 lbs of dog!
Daisy is one of the most easy-going dogs I have ever met. She is willing to get along with anybody, so long as that anybody is not sniffing her tail or trying for her food. Her bark is her funniest feature. She sounds almost hoarse and doesn't sing like the other dogs, you know - bark, bark, bark. Hers is bark.....bark....bark. As if she has to think about it before saying it.
When Daisy licks my face it is with the very tip of her tongue, barely touching me. She likes to be snuggled but is not pushy (unlike the other Chi) and wouldn't dream of jumping in my lap. If I pick her up and put her there - that's a different story.
Daisy has attended several Humane Society events, has been to PetsMart and the PetCraze and always behaves like a little lady. I am glad to have her in my life.
Stay well and warm!

Our Joy

After some of the eleven puppies I had found on the side of the road were adopted, we got word that 3(!) had gotten away from their new homes.
Our shelter is a county facility (that's why we are working so hard to have our own) and you can not always rely on the staff to know what breeds are there. So, Kevin stopped at the shelter every night on the way home to see for himself. He never did find one of our puppies, what he did find was Joy. He would come home and tell me about this little bitty black dog that would wag at him every time he went there. The note on the door said that she wasn't housebroken and that she would bite.
The day she was scheduled to die he brought her home. Joy had acute colitis and indeed messed in the house without any kind of warning. You would too if your tummy was in that much uproar! Poor thing was in pain and never knew when it was going to hit her! The vet check provided us with the needed answers and med's, as well as the recommendation to feed chicken and rice until she was better. That's what we did. Once her little body (she has maintained a weight of 14 lbs for the last 11 years) was all straightened out, I took her to the shop where I worked at the time to groom her.
This little old (already she was 9 years old) lady turned into a two-headed dragon! I was allowed to shave her back and throat but the rest of her was OFF LIMITS! She bit me, and my friend Annette and I wrestled with her like you would not believe. Finally we succeeded to get a pug muzzle on her and things became less dangerous, if not easier. From then on one of us would hold her and the other would sneak up on Joy from behind and slide the muzzle on her little face - but you had better get it right the first time!
Non of this made me love her any more. If I could have seen a way out of keeping her... That was not to be.
I started taking her places and lo and behold, she was a people person. Strangers could approach her and she would make up to them. She has always liked men of any age. This encouraged me to take her to a Nursing Home. The activity director had to test her first to see how she would respond. Well, maybe I couldn't touch her tail but this lady sure could!
That's how her career as visitor began. Up until a very short time ago, Joy went to a local Nursing Home every night and spread smiles and good feelings along the way.
She has done Hospice work and walked for all kinds of good causes. The only thing she never did, was work with children. In her life before here, somebodies children mistreated her fiercely, to the point of breaking a rib. When children would come to visit us, she would hide under the bed.
I will have you know that she has NEVER bitten anybody but her groomer (me) and the person holding (Annette or Kevin) her during grooming.
Now she is 20 years old, mostly blind and deaf but she still takes part in our daily life. She wants to be close to us and I have devised ways for her to safely do that. There is an ex-pen in my kitchen and a small blanket beside my chair in the living room. That's where she is to be found almost all the time. I have to protect her from the other dogs, who will run her over if I don't. They all act like she isn't even there!
I am glad Kevin brought her home all those years ago. Even if, at first, she wasn't my dream dog, she is now. Her friendly little spirit and fierce independence have taught me many a lesson!
I have been trying a new drug an her and it seems to make her more aware of the things around her (Denestra). I don't know that it has helped any of her other parts but it does seem to make a difference in her awareness.

Molly had hip surgery, my first on-line order

In the beginning of February my Molly had an accident in the backyard and her right hip popped out of its socket. We had it put back in and kept her away from the other dogs for several weeks. She wasn't allowed to walk steps, so we had to carry her up and down the three steps to the backdoor. She had to be leashwalked - we had to be careful so she wouldn't tear that fragile tissue again. 2 months and 5 days later, coming up the backsteps, her hip popped out again. My world just about exploded! She was screaming in pain and - of course - it was after hours! Thank Goodness, I had an injectable sedative I could give her. The next morning went to the vet and Molly had hipsurgery. I just checked on her and she is doing fine. I hope nothing like this ever happens again!

But, there is always good along with the bad. I had my very first on-line order yesterday. It seems there are more 19 year old dogs out there then any of us know. This one doesn't want to eat, so a friend gave the owners some of my Peoplefood to try. The dog loved it and they placed an order. I went into overdrive and got to the post office 5 min. after closing time. Thankfully, the man who works there is also a fan of the food. So he stayed longer and processed my shipment so it would get onto that evenings truck. The people got it within 16 hours of placing that order. How is that for customer service? I am so very happy and excited. Let this be the start of something big!

This morning I had a very interesting and informative conversation with Anora from www.clearsightpublication.com . She is a very smart lady and gave me some good tips on how to get the business going. If I can follow through with everything we talked about, I should do great. She offered to publish an article about my business on some sites I hadn't heard of and I gladly took her up on it. I am learning that I can't do everything by myself and if there is a willing hand - grab it!