Mickey in the sun, Haiti

This is Mickey, the poop-retriever. One of the sweetest dogs that has ever lived. The girls are 11 years old, soon 12. The grey beard is starting to seriously show and that sometimes saddens me. They grow old so quick! I am giving them Glucosamine for prevention of joint trouble. As the larger dogs get older, they often develop arthritis and hiptrouble. Glucosamine can help prevent that or at least keep it at bay for a while longer. The girls are not showing any signs of arthritis yet and for that, I am thankful and glad.
A word about Haiti.
Watching the news, surfing the net, the pic's are inescapable. The devastation is tremendous and I can't begin to think what people are feeling. I watched a newscast where people were desperately looking for family members - it was so sad.
Thanks to toady's technology help is already there and more on the way. Canine search teams have arrived and are doing their job. My thoughts are with all those people and critters, the ones looking and the ones waiting to be found. What a position to be in! On either side. Hope they all get back safe after finding everyone who needs to be found.
There isn't a place or organization that isn't collecting goods and money for the relief effort. The military has already sent soldiers in to help. More are to come.
What a great country we live in! What a great and compassionate people we are! Yes, we have problems, people don't have a lot of money to spend, Christmas was a little less "presentfull" than we were used to - and still - something like this happens and we rally. We dig deep and find the last pennies in our pockets and in the sofa cushions and put them to good use. We send money, food, water, medical help and never think twice about it. How great is that? I am proud to be here and thankful for all of you who keep their hearts open and allow themselves to feel.
Keep safe and warm.

Dog poop

This morning, frost was on the ground. Great! Extreme temperatures aren't my thing, but I sure like cold better then hot. Not the least of my reasons for this is, that I am the one who picks up all the dog poop - every morning - no fail.
There are 11 dogs at my house, they all use the backyard. Can you imagine what that would look (and smell) like, if I didn't do this chore?
When I brought home my first dog, the neighbors didn't hesitate to let me know that they expected the sidewalks to stay clean. Since then I have learned that this by-product of dog-ownership can leech into your groundwater and make you and your family sick. Of course, it also attracts bugs I would rather not encounter. Bugs aren't my thing either. We are not talking about butterflies and bees, we're talking about stinging and bacteria collecting things that will seek you out to deposit their dangerous load on to. Not to mention worms of all kinds. Blach!
So, every morning, I go outside with my plastic bags and pick up poop. In the summer this can be rather disgusting. In winter however - everything is frozen! No problem if somebody had a bit of a tummy-upset the night before - it's frozen! No smell either! Or at least to me, no smell.
The frontyard girls come through the sideyard to help me. This is their time with me. I will have a basket of laundry to hang up and other outside chores to do. They help. I do my work between chasing them around and rubbing their tummies. Works for us.
Mickey (the black lab) is my poopfinder dog. She is also (if you let her) a poop-retriever. As mentioned before, these girls are the left-overs from a litter of 10 that I found by the side of the road. They were never adopted by anybody and so are growing old right here, with me. When they were little bitty puppies some of them developed the habit of eating other dogs poop. I have tried everything. Stuff you can buy and put in their food, meat tenderizer - you name it. It always only works for as long as you give it, and I don't believe in giving them stuff that really shouldn't be in their bodies. I have read over and over that this behavior is not harmful and so have decided not to fight too much with them about it any longer. Best thing to do is to pick up the poop.
Back when I was fostering, the yard was divided by a lot more fencing then what there is now. Only Grover's pen is still there. So one morning I was on the outside of that pen and Mickey on the inside. When I see her pick up poop I always make that sound every dogperson can make in their sleep -"AEAEAEHHHH!!!!!!" which usually makes her drop her wonderful find. Not that morning. She took off running and guess what - brought it to me. Layed it at my feet as if to say "I'm only helping you!" Since then she is my poop retriever and I'm pretty sure I am the only person who has one.
The pic above is of my Sheria. Her hair is wonderful and long and she is a princess.
But (which hardly ever happens, thank the good Lord) if she gets sick, all that hair is a mess. One day she had the runs sooo bad and after two times outside and a look at her back end, I knew I wasn't going to be able to clean that up with a towel. In the tub we went and scrubbadubdub my princess was beautiful again. Not an hour later she had to go again and great day in the morning, did she ever! I didn't want to have to bathe the whole dog again, so what to do? Aha, lightbulb and all that. I got an old milk-crate, put that in the tub - miracle of miracles - it fit perfectly. Stand the dog on top of the crate (and she will stand there like a model) and wash only the hindparts without getting the rest of her involved. Yeah! We did that five times that day. I still have no idea what caused her little episode as none of the others had it, but boy, was I glad when it was over! Hope this little invention will be helpful to some of you.
Stay safe and warm.

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!

Chihuahua's

My Sparky (that's him in the pic, cleaning up his bowl) came to me through Hospice. His owner had passed and there was nowhere to go with the little fellow. I have NEVER regretted taking him in. He is now about 15 years old and still my "main man". I can take him anywhere, he loves everybody and everything.
If you happen to be looking for a Chihuahua and want a quality bred AKC dog, I would like to recommend this breeder:
www.diademchihuahuas.50megs.com
http://complete.younglivingworld.com/
www.secretsofmothernature.com/complete
Liz is all about bettering the breed and she loves her dogs very much. They are all house dogs, she starts their training when they are little and they get only good food.
Liz is a very responsible breeder and I am sure you will be impressed with her website and her dogs.

Winter

It is cold and getting colder. The little dogs don't want to go outside for any reason at all, even with their little coats on.
I am not the only person with this problem, I know most every small dog owner had to shovel paths in the snow so their dogs could do their business.
I am feeding my outside dogs almost twice as much as I normally do, the last time I heard anything about that, it was recommended to increase food by 20%. Well, I don't see my girls gaining any weight, so 20% must not take the cold into account. In the mornings I have taken to putting a little bacon grease on left-over bread and giving that to the girls. They think they are in heaven and I am assured that they have calories to burn.
At least the last week or so, it hasn't rained or snowed. I have a time trying to keep their bedding dry when the yard is a muddy mess. My poor wash machine is going non-stop, washing all their blankets.
A long time ago, an MD friend of the family advised us to hang up wet sheets and towels around the house to help keep humidity up and colds and sore noses and throats down. No problem there - blankies over every door!
Can't wait until it gets a little warmer, I know the little dogs can't either!
Stay warm and safe.

Peoplefood for Dogs

One night, as I was up to my elbows in chicken grease, I had the idea that If I was cooking for my dogs, and I always had somebody in need of chicken and rice, so must many other people. Thinking about how much work it is to cook this, and then all that clean-up, I thought I might be on to something. What if I cooked and froze and then sold it to people?
The next day I found out about how to make everything legal and than started getting my licenses etc., and Peoplefood for Dogs was born.
Here is what I do:
The very friendly and helpful butcher at Vista Foods agreed to tag my order for bone-less, skin-less chickenthighs on to his own. This way I make sure the meat I use is meant for human consumption and not second grade. When I get the thighs home, I cook them. I drain the broth into seperate pots and put it in the freezer overnight. The meat is run through a grinder and stored in the fridge. Next morning all the fat that now is on top of the broth is thrown away. Then I cook either rice or oatmeal in the broth. Ready to make food!
I have a restaurant mixer and that is how I mix all the ingredients together. I refuse to sell you water, so there are only the ingredients - I do not add water for processing.
The mix is put in plastic cups, weighed and then frozen. Ready for you to buy and for your dog to enjoy!

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.