Another Ten Commandments for Dog Owners

10 COMMANDMENTS FOR A RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNER/S:

1) MY LIFE IS LIKELY TO LAST 10 TO 15 YEARS.
SPEND LOTS OF TIME WITH ME AS I WON'T BE AROUND FOREVER.

2) GIVE ME TIME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME.

3) PLACE YOUR TRUST IN ME; IT IS CRUCIAL FOR MY WELL BEING.

4) DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME FOR LONG. PLEASE DON'T LOCK ME UP AS
PUNISHMENT. YOU HAVE YOUR WORK, YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR
ENTERTAINMENT. I ONLY HAVE YOU.

5) TALK TO ME. EVEN IF I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR WORDS, I
UNDERSTAND YOUR VOICE WHEN IT IS SPEAKING TO ME

6) BE AWARE THAT HOWEVER YOUR TREAT ME,
I WILL FORGIVE YOU, BUT I WILL NEVER FORGET

7) PLEASE DON'T HIT ME. DO NOT PUSH ME TO THE POINT WHERE I NEED
TO DEFEND MYSELF.

8) BEFORE YOU SCOLD ME FOR BEING LAZY OR UNCOOPERATIVE, ASK
YOURSELF IF SOMETHING MIGHT BE BOTHERING ME. PERHAPS I AM NOT
GETTING THE RIGHT FOOD, I'VE BEEN OUT IN THE SUN TOO LONG OR MY
HEART MAY BE GETTING OLD & WEAK.

9) TAKE CARE OF ME WHEN I GET OLD. YOU, TOO, WILL GROW OLD.

10) GO WITH ME ON DIFFICULT JOURNEYS. NEVER SAY " I CAN'T BEAR
TO WATCH IT " OR " LET IT HAPPEN IN MY ABSENCE". EVERYTHING IS
EASIER FOR ME IF YOU ARE THERE.

REMEMBER, I LOVE YOU.

--Author Unknown

I'm Musical

Your result for Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test...

Musical

37% Logical, 10% Spatial, 31% Linguistic, 20% Intrapersonal, 8% Interpersonal, 76% Musical, 6% Bodily-Kinesthetic and 27% Naturalistic!

"This area has to do with rhythm, music, and hearing. Those who have a high level of musical-rhythmic intelligence display greater sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, tones and music. They normally have good pitch and may even have absolute pitch, and are able to sing, play musical instruments, and compose music. Since there is a strong auditory component to this intelligence, those who are strongest in it may learn best via lecture. In addition, they will often use songs or rhythms to learn and memorize information, and may work best with music playing in the background.

Careers which suit those with this intelligence include instrumentalists, singers, conductors, disc-jockeys, and composers." (Wikipedia)

Take Howard Gardner's Eight Types of Intelligence Test at HelloQuizzy

Penny's First Post!

Head over to Dogs on Thursday and check out Penny's first entry. :)

We Have a Kindergarten Graduate!

Puppy Kindergarten, that is. :)Here is Penny getting her diploma from Susan of K9U. After a rigorous 7 week class, she has mastered socializing with other puppies, people, and various commands, including "come when called", "sit", "stay", and the ever difficult "leave it" and "drop it". She will also walk on a leash and seems to look forward to going out for walks and on car rides. All in all we think she did really well.

Meet Penny's classmates...June is an All-American Breed dog who seems to have a bit of hound in her. Although she's a good bit larger than Penny, she and Penny were playmates, and Penny delighted in doing everything the "big dog" did.Hayley is another All-American Breed dog who had a rough start in life. Her person found her at the age of about 3 weeks, abandoned and starving. With a lot of love and a lot of attention, she's thriving, and she's quite the star student in the class.Little Lita belongs to Susan's assistant... you know I have a soft spot for red, smooth dachshunds, and Lita did not disappoint. She reminded me so much of Oscar, because she just wasn't sure about all these dogs. Didn't want to participate in all this puppy play -- she'd rather hang there with her person and be fed the occasional treat, thankyouverymuch. And she always had such a concerned look on her face. It was like she was peering over her glasses as if to say "Are you sure you should be doing all that foolishness?" Ah yes, Lita. We'll rely on you to keep all of them in line. :)

So, we'll miss Penny's classmates, but we wish all of them well. We know all of them will have happy lives with their people and will be well cared for and have bellies full of good food and good treats. And they may end up just a tiny bit spoiled.

As it should be.

It's Thursday!

...so that must mean an update on The Princess (who is currently on my list, considering she wouldn't settle down to go to sleep last night... I fear she spent the night in her private den in the master bath because she just wouldn't lie down and rest... and yeah, I feel bad about it and didn't sleep either).Penny is now 23 weeks old. On Saturday, she graduates from puppy kindergarten. We have a spot ready on our diploma wall, where her diploma will join mine, Richard's and Oscar's. She's done very well and has mastered come when called (she even ran up a hill last Saturday and did everything the Big Dogs did) as well as Sit. She's working on Stay, Leave It, and Drop It. Those last two are a little more difficult because they involve ignoring stuff she really wants but can't have.

We're working on walking on a leash. She's come a long way from June, when she would just lay in the yard in her harness, not moving. We've gotten her to walk down the road on the leash and it seems like she's actually enjoying getting out and about. She likes greeting other people who give her the proper amount of adoration, and she doesn't shy away from other dogs.

We haven't decided yet whether or not to enroll her in basic obedience, because we think we've gotten a lot of it in the puppy kindergarten class. We think that right now the important thing is to keep working on the things she's learned and to keep reinforcing them.

We're considering a short weekend trip with her to see how she does. She hasn't ridden in the stroller yet -- we may try to get it out around town here and get her used to it before she does a big shopping adventure to an outlet mall.I think this photo reflects Penny's overall opinion on clicker training. If she could, she'd use the clicker to get us to bring her treats on demand!

Dogs on Thursday!

Penny and I will now be a regular contributors to Dogs on Thursday, a blog where, interestingly enough, people talk about their dog every Thursday. :) Our intro is up there today. Our regularly scheduled blog time will be the 4th Thursday of each month, so check there for what I hope will be amusing anecdotes on The Princess.

So since it's Thursday... and The Princess is allegedly a dog... I'll share a story here. This past weekend we went to Costco and they had bags of 12 inch bully sticks for $20. Now, if you have a dog, you know that bully sticks are wonderful chew toys. We refer to them as "dead animals", because that's what they are. They're some part of a cow, and frankly, I don't want to know what part they are. The 6" bullys I had bought for her on sale were about $2.50 a pop, so I figured we could buy the bag and cut them in half and be golden for a bit.

Except... The Princess had other plans. She took the 12 inch bully, which frankly is just about as long as she is, and ran through the house with it. Then she took it up on the sofa and settled in for a chew. In three days she had whittled it down to about half size. So much for the cutting it in half plans. The big dog needs a big bully stick, right??

At least it's keeping her from gnawing on our hands...

Edited to add the picture of The Princess... isn't she just the cutest when she's napping?

25 Years Ago Today

... I married the most wonderful man in the world.

Today is our silver wedding anniversary. Truly doesn't seem as if 25 years have passed. Seems like just yesterday we were just getting out of Georgia Tech and starting our life together.

We've been through a lot... We've built two houses. Been through stressful jobs... the loss of a couple of them... and job changes that go along with building a career. Been through the loss of my dad and his mom. Started my business. Decided along the way that our family would be the two of us and whatever pet we had at the time, because that was what was right for us.

We've been blessed... we haven't faced the challenges a lot of other couples have. I hope that it's because we've kept our marriage God-centered and focused on Him and each other.

I know that I love my husband more now than I did 25 years ago when we got married, and I didn't think that was possible.

Happy anniversary Richard. I love you, and I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you.

The Drama Queen Update

It was bath day for the Drama Queen. Took her in 9 ish this morning. The cheerful folks at Dr. Weaver's, no doubt not having heard about the events of Wednesday, said it would only take a couple of hours and they'd call when she was ready.

At 11 I called to see how she was doing and how many people she'd bitten. Oh, she's fine, they said. Just a little squirmy, but she's giving us kisses. We'll call you when she's ready.

What? Giving us kisses? Excuse me? What happened to little miss "Oh you're touching me I think I'm going to die!" that appeared a mere two days ago?

At 1 I started getting a little antsy and called again to discover she was just finishing up her spa visit, so I jumped in the Hummer and drove up to get her. They brought her out complete with little pink gingham bandanna around her neck.

Little snot ignored me. Pretended she didn't even know who I was. Didn't want to leave the tech. I was crushed.

Got her in the car and headed for Chick-Fil-A, where the Magic Window produced a box of nuggets that we took home. She inhaled them and has been sleeping off her experience for the rest of the afternoon.

Silly dog.

I have a Drama Queen

So Penny has to go see Dr. Weaver for a nail trim (known here as a mani-pedi... we want The Princess to think she is only getting the Royal Treatment she deserves). We also needed to get her weighed to get the proper dose of Advantage Multi, which is what we're using for flea/heartworm prevention.

The good news: She continues to grow and is up to 8 pounds of dachshund fury. At five months, Dr. Weaver says she'll probably add about 10 to 20% more body weight when she's full grown... so we're probably looking at a petite flower of 9 to 10 pounds when she's full grown.

The bad news: She can put on a drama scene worthy of Camille. She began screaming when we got in the room at the vet's office. She continued screaming and brought it to a crescendo when the vet tech picked her up for Dr. Weaver to begin trimming her nails.

Then she bit the vet tech. I was mortified.

They switched places. Dr. Weaver held, while the tech trimmed nails.

Penny bit Dr. Weaver. I wanted to drop through the floor.

I don't think I've apologized so much in so short a period of time in my life. Of course, they laughed it off and said it was part of the job. Dr. Weaver spoke sternly to Penny and everything ended with Penny giving Dr. Weaver kisses.... but still.

Now, Penny still hasn't had the dreaded bath. We put her in an empty tub the other night, and you'd have thought we were killing her... so we've decided to wimp out and let the pros do it. I'm taking her back to the vet's office on Friday for a trip to the beauty salon.

Pray for them.