Beagle Fever

I’m not sure when it happened. It just did. We didn’t mean for it to happen. After all, prior to getting Sahara, I never wanted a beagle…until I did. Sy always wanted a Corgi, until his comment about living in the country and being able to get more beagles. The thing about his comment, I wouldn’t mind moving to the country to get another couple beagles either.

That was when I realized, we’ve become beagle people.

Though we love all of our dogs, Sahara and Toby have a special place in our hearts. Perhaps it is Sahara’s playfulness and endearing (annoying) dramatic fits. Perhaps it is Toby’s soulful eyes that just asks us to love him and nothing more. We don’t know, but the beagles have taken over.

It’s not just the humans that have Beagle Fever, Orion and Eevee have developed it as well. When the beagles bay, it means something interesting is going on and Orion and Eevee run to wherever the beagles are to see what is going on. Frequently, I see Eevee pretending to be a beagle herself and tracking scents with Sahara and Toby. We now refer the three of them (Sahara, Toby, and Eevee) as the three heads of Cerberus, or simply Cerberus.

I didn’t realize how bad Orion has it either until I was playing dog howls the other day.

We’ve been watching Mother’s dogs Ebony and Marleigh, mother’s husky puppy (more on her in another post). Marleigh doesn’t howl. I can’t get her to howl with me. So I decided to play videos of dogs howling to get her to howl. It didn’t work. I then played the howls to see if Orion would howl. He didn’t care about any of them until I played a video of a beagle baying. He stood up and watched the TV intently, waiting to see what had this beagle so excited. Once it was over, he went back to not caring about the other dog howls.

I don’t know how to explain the feeling that I had when that happened. Dumbfounded is probably the best way to sum it up. Sy and I were dumbfounded. We just witnessed our dog filter out (i.e. not even bothering to acknowledge) the noise of other dogs (huskies, wolves, cocker spaniels, and a fox terrier) and only respond to an alerting beagle. My guess is that the beagle was the only thing relevant. Maybe, in his mind, the other dogs were just talking to hear themselves talk; that their words were meaningless and didn’t apply to his current circumstances. However, the beagle has something to say; something to show; something to actually talk about. I don’t know. I’m just guessing.

Yesterday, Sy and I, even “joked” about getting a third beagle to mask that we have a BUNCH (7, well currently 9) dogs. We’d just tell people: “We have three beagles so sorry about all of the noise. They just don’t know when to quit.” No. No. No. Don’t even think about it. Don’t. Even. Think. About. It.

That’s all I have for this post. Sorry if it didn’t make any sense. I just write these as streams-of-consciousness sometimes without worrying too much about it. I do have a few more posts in mind, but with my track record, I probably won’t post anything for another month.

Anyway, until next time…if your beagles siblings tell them there is a possum in the tree, believe them. There is a possum in that tree.

Seven Forever

I didn’t take Buddy’s death as hard as I took Haley’s. I thought I would, but I didn’t. I do miss him, but it isn’t to the extent as how much I miss Haley. I miss her so much that if I could guarantee a few more years of quality of life, I would have walked to the ends of the earth to do so. Haley was part of me. She was a thorn in my side, but sometimes late at night I think of her and I wish so much that I could hug her once more. That being said, this month marks the first anniversary of her death.

So, what have the pups, husband, and I been up to. A lot. April hit us hard, but we somehow managed it. Between needing to cut down trees, replacing part of our sewer system, needing to buy a new washer and dryer, and a tornado hitting our city. Our house didn’t sustain any damage, but the people on the other side of town did. Some houses were destroyed. Fortunately, I don’t think our city sustained any deaths of people. Trees on the other hand…

We were without electricity for three days and had to conserve the batteries on our phones during the evening and charge our phones at work. It was difficult, but the nine of us survived and thrived. It was “fun” while it lasted, but I was so happy when we had the Internet again.

So, what about the pups?

We fostered a little Blue Heeler mix for a month or two. Her previous owners had to move and they couldn’t take her with them and were just planning on dropping her off at the pound. We took her in and used all of our means to find her a home, but nothing panned out. We resolved to keep her, but she and Eevee didn’t get along. They had a couple fights where we had to pull them off of each other, but then it turned into a Cold War and there was tension in the air. Stella, the foster, wanted Eevee to like her, but Eevee wanted to have little to do with her. 

So I asked around in our city to see if someone wanted a heeler. I got two responses. Response one: the lady wanted Stella as a companion to her dog whose “sibling” had died sometime ago and she thought the dog was lonely (the dog wasn’t lonely, she had daily playdates with the neighbor’s three dogs). She couldn’t make up her mind if she wanted Stella or not, and I had an uneasy feeling about the whole situation. We silently agreed that it wasn’t the home for Stella. Two days later the tornado hit her neighborhood. Her house didn’t sustain much damage or at least the front of the house; however, I realized that this was the uneasy feeling that we both had.

Response two: an older gentleman wanted a sweet pup to be his companion. He had several acres of land for her to run, but mostly he wanted her to be his ears. He was hard of hearing, so he wanted a dog to alert him when someone came to the door. Also, he wanted a dog to get along with his cat. I was leery that Stella and the cat would get along, but when they met a hiss was all Stella needed. The guy called me a week or so after he got Stella and gave me an update. Stella was doing great and was alerting him of visitors. She and that cat didn’t like each other, but they could coexist within the same room and would even lay on the floor within a few feet of each other. I consider that a happy ending.

Around the same time I was finding Stella a home, a family was getting rid of their Beagle because he got car sick and since they were constantly on the go, they couldn’t take him with them when they went. Sy and I are homebodies and since we already had three car sick pups (Luna, Eevee, and Sahara), we didn’t mind adding another car sick pup to the mix. His former owners called him Beagle, but we call him Toby, but he also answers to: Bean, Toe Beans, and Beagle boy. I vowed I would never bring another male dog into the house, but I did and Toby has been a dream. For some odd reason, his presence has been calming on the whole house. Go figure.

Like Eevee and Sahara, he loves to sing. Sometimes early in the morning, the three of them will howl and harmonize with each other. I’ve heard of wolves harmonizing with each other and I’ve seen videos of Huskies harmonizing with each other, but I’ve never experienced it personally. Now I have and it is the most magical thing. I know that sounds stupid, but I love hearing them howl.

Like Sahara, and seemingly most Beagles, he’s dramatic and makes even the smallest of offenses into a few seconds of him screaming at us. Since Sahara does this to her, we’ve learned to humor the dog and even apologize for brushing up against him without his permission. 

I’ve decided that I love Beagles. I’ve also decided that for some odd reason I love having seven dogs which is weird because I don’t like the number seven. I don’t even like odd numbers in general, yet somehow I’ve developed a thing for seven dogs. However, I think this is the last group of seven that I’ll have. This is a perfect crew. Our house is harmonious and I don’t think we’ll ever have that again. So I’ve concluded that once this pack is gone, I’ll only have four dogs: a Great Pyrnees, a Shih Tzu, a Beagle, and a Corgi. I hope that future crew will be as harmonious as this one.

Until next time, don’t ignore your instincts. That scent trail will lead to a squirrel.

Lack of Words

I have to say goodbye to Haley tomorrow and I don’t know what to say, think, or do.

End of Year Thoughts

I’ve wanted to write a post for several weeks (months), but I could never come up with something interesting to write about.

Sure, Marleigh and Eevee got into a fight because Eevee felt like Marleigh had disobeyed the rules.

Sure, Orion is still the most loveable, soft pain in the rear puppy-dog.

The beagles are still doing what beagles do and so are the Shih Tzu. Luna is…well Luna. Am I missing anyone else?

Marleigh and Eevee – numbers one and two.

Orion – number three.

Beagles – numbers four and five.

Shih Tzu – numbers six and seven.

Luna – number eight.

Yep, everyone is accounted for. Counting dogs, now that’s something we do multiple times a day. When you have several dogs, you have to make sure everyone is inside (or outside in some cases) or someone gets left outside/inside. Marleigh got spayed last week and during the twenty-four hours that she was at my mom’s house, I had to remind myself that she wouldn’t be included in the daily count. Believe me, it slipped me up. Even now Marleigh if kept separate from the other dogs so she can recover without over stimulating herself and I keep forgetting why I’m missing a dog in the back, then I remember that Marleigh is in a crate in another room.

I have an interesting story that happened last week. It was the morning after we brought Marleigh home from being spayed. I had her out front on a leash so she could use the bathroom. In the backyard, the beagles were being especially noisy. Mind you, it was almost six in the morning and their barks echoed. I took Marleigh back inside and went out back to bring in the others. Everyone came in except Orion and he had something in his mouth.

It took us about five minutes to get a good look at what he had. He’d killed a raccoon! I’m going to stop the story here for a second. I don’t mind raccoons. We’ve had raccoons living in the roof and we have co-existed just fine. However, I do know that raccoons can tear up a person (Sy almost lost a finger due to trying to catch and release a young one) and they have no problems killing small dogs and cats. So, seeing Orion with a dead raccoon in his mouth and all of my dogs were unharmed, I was pleased. I hate seeing other animals die, but my pups come first.

We managed to get the raccoon from Orion and got him in the house. We checked every dog over and over and were relieved that no one was harmed. We think that the commotion that we heard was the beagles keeping the raccoon at bay so Orion could protect his pack. Basically, the hounds and the livestock guardian dog were doing their jobs and we couldn’t be more pleased.

Another thing that surprised me about Orion killing the raccoon is that Orion has caught opossums in the past and he’s never harmed them. He doesn’t shake them, he just carries them around in his mouth and doesn’t leave a mark on them. When its safe, the possum wanders off and no one is worse for the wear. I don’t know what it was about the raccoon, but it was personal. I don’t think any raccoons are going to come anywhere near our yard anytime soon.

Other than that, life with the pups (and life in general) is pretty calm. I’m not complaining though. I’d rather a calm life than one that is busy-busy.

I have no year-end reviews. Very few resolutions. Honestly, I want next year to be like this year: calm, few (if any) emergencies, good health for my friends and family, and a couple more pups that’s it. Nothing more; nothing less. I hope the same for you, your family, and your friends.

Until next year: take care of your pack and they’ll take care of you.

RIP Buddy

I had hoped that this would be a funny post about my dogs’ antics; about how my Sahara is Drama Queen and if the puppy even thinks about touching her, she’ll start hollering. Okay maybe that’s stretching it a bit, but she yells for the simplest of things.

Or about how Molly has taken on Haley’s characteristics. Not that it’s surprising. Haley raised Molly and Clara. They’re her legacy.

Or how Eevee has been helping us train the puppy, including: going to get him when we need him, distracting him while we’re working, training him to be more chill; playing with him, and in general being an all around good girl. She’s a gem and I tell her that from time to time…but not to much. She already has a big head.

Or how Orion will sometimes tick off all of the smaller dogs and they’ll surround him and give him a long lecture about how he is supposed to behave and what they expect of him.

Or how big Orion has gotten and that’s he’s become a food snob.

Or about Frank, the wild mouse that we’ve adopted or has adopted us (not sure which) and how he likes the puppy’s food and knows when it’s his dinner time…

No, I had to say goodbye to my precious first “son.” It’s not something that I care to talk too much about, but the just of the story is this. Buddy was becoming a danger to us and to our neighbors. Buddy has bitten my husband and me a number of times, each time with the intent to cause harm.

Last night there was an incident involving Buddy, an old woman, a Chihuahua, a Bassett Hound, and potentially a little girl about two or three (I’m not sure if the little girl was outside when Buddy attacked, or if she came outside later). No one was hurt except Buddy who had been attacked with a machete. He was dropping blood all over the place and if he didn’t have his thick coat it probably would have killed him. Mixed with the fact that he was a dangerous dog and that treating his wounds would have been expensive, and after talking to a couple vets, a dog trainer, and Animal Control, we thought it was best to just put him down. I was beside him as he fell asleep.

Call me a bad person. I know I am a bad person. I also know that if he had bitten that little girl or that old lady I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself. With his declining distemper, it was a matter of if and not win.

So judge me or don’t. Feel sorry for me or don’t. Just note: I’ll miss my baby boy every single day, but (and this will probably cause a lot of people to stop following me–as if I have a huge following) I don’t regret what I did. I don’t regret that I was protecting everyone around me including my own household.’

That’s it. That’s my confession. I hope to be back soon with some entertaining tales of the pups’ antics and what it’s like living in a crazy household with a bunch of crazy dogs.

Brief Update

I’m still alive, I just took a break for a few months. Part of it was because I took Haley’s death hard. Another part was I was having some health problems and had to have surgery and spent a month recovering. The last part was I just couldn’t bring myself to write anything.

So, here’s a brief update on what’s been going on in my life. Warning: Some of the information might be TMI.

1. A few days after my birthday, Sy and I adopted a new puppy. His name is Orion and he’s a Great Pyrenees/ St. Bernard mix. He’s six months today and is over 50 pounds. He gets along with the other dogs. Buddy mostly tolerates him, but sometimes he has to get onto Orion for playing too rough.
2. I had a hysterectomy in late August (yes, I was recovering while taking care of seven dogs, including a 3 month old puppy). I didn’t realize how sick I was until I realized that I felt so much better as soon as I woke up from the surgery. Up until my surgery, I had just learned how to deal with a enlarged uterus. I adapted my life around it. I tried not to drop things because bending down was a difficult task. I called Sy or one of the mechanics at m job to help me with heavy things. Basically I didn’t do anything that would make things worse. Now that I’ve fully healed, I can go back to being myself again and I couldn’t be happier.
3. Did I ever mention that I have a new job? I’ll be here a year next month. I work for a car dealership. I clean out the repo cars and hold the property for the customers until they come to pick it up (or until 30 days pass). It can be stressful when dealing with people and I understand their frustration, but sometimes I think, “Is cussing me out really necessary? Do you think that will help your case any?” I stay calm and usually the person calms down. Sometimes they don’t, but oftentimes when I meet them in person, they’re very calm. I guess they just needed a good night’s sleep, some self-reflection, and a good meal.
4. Last week my mom had to put down her beloved Lhasa Apso named Nikky (you can read more about her here). Nikky had left us long before she was put to sleep. She had the dog equivalent of Dementia. Half of the time she didn’t even know what was going on. She just stared into space, paced, fell asleep…rinse and repeat. When I saw her last (a few days before she died) she barely recognized me. She knew she knew me, but didn’t know who I was exactly. She was in a bad state and her quality of lift was nil. Ebony, her companion for the past 8 years, looked for her for the first day or so. They often slept together and Ebony was confused. Ebony seems to be fine now, mostly because all attention goes to her. I thought she’d be worse off, but she’s fine.

I think that’s about it for right now. I just wanted to stop in and let people know I haven’t died.

Until next time, hold your humans close to you.

Bittersweet Homecoming

From the moment Haley stormed into our lives, she was the most wonderful thorn in my side that ever existed. She was tough and didn’t take anything off of anyone. As a puppy she pulled on the ears of her hound mix puppy “sibling”, hanging on until Sasha cried out and she (Haley) was made to release the other dog. As an adult, she kept all puppies coming into the house in line, exerting her dominance with a nose bite, an ugly look, or a stare that had dogs several times her size creeping off to a corner to stay out of Haley’s way.

The younger members of my current pack (Buddy, Eevee, and Sahara) never challenged her. If Haley wanted their sleeping place, all she did was stare at them until they moved, or, in other cases, she just walked up to them expecting them to move and they did. Every. Single. Time. Every dog that Haley encountered respected and obeyed her, even if it was a dog walking down the street that stopped by to greet her with a sniff. Haley was brave, confident, and stubborn and I feel that’s what got her so far in life.

The only thing Haley couldn’t beat was her allergies (which now I suspect was more than just allergies but a full-blown autoimmune disorder). Every year, it took everything for us and the vet to do to keep her alive. Every year I’d look at her red skin, watch her try to get comfortable, pump her full of allergy medicine or steroids and pray that she’d be allowed to stay with me for one more year.

She turned twelve back in February. I wanted her to see her thirteenth birthday. I wanted her to live forever. Sy and I even joked that she’d outlive us; that she was too ornery to succumb to death. That she would tell death when she was ready to go! I think we told ourselves that so that we didn’t have to face the truth: One day we’d be without our beloved Haley.

That day came too soon. Her health took a turn for the worse and not even steroids worked. Her body had turned against her and she was in pain despite pretending that everything was okay. The vet told me that we could throw money, drugs, and surgeries at the illnesses; that we could try to fight this, but there was no guarantee that she would live a quality of life. In fact her quality of life was already diminished. The nicest thing to do was to put her to sleep. So we did the next day.

I had carried her into that office many times in the past for vaccinations and when she was sick. When I walked into that room I lost it because I knew that I wouldn’t be leaving with her. Haley, on the other hand, was perfectly content in my arms and didn’t seem disturbed. She knew the vet’s office and the people. They were her loyal subjects. We all were her loyal subjects.

She yelped when they gave her the first shot. Her illnesses had made her skin impenetrable to needles and they had to force the needle to get through her thick skin. She stumbled a little and then fell asleep. A few moments later my baby dog, my thorn in my side, my Haley Baley, my Sui Tan Sour Haley’s Comet (that would have been her show name if she’d been a show dog) was gone. What was left was the little vessel that held her large personality. How could something so small hold such a large part of my life? My mom, Sy, and I held each other and cried while the vet and the assistant, tears in their eyes, quietly left. My mom left after a few moments. Sy stood aside as I put me head against Haley’s forehead and quietly talked to her, finishing with a boop on the nose–something she would have never tolerated from a peon like me when she was alive. Then we left her.

Wait no! We didn’t leave her. We left her body. She’s still in our hearts and always will be.

On Monday (July 4th) I finally had Haley’s ashes in my possession. The beautiful box her ashes are in are in a velvet-type bag, accompanied with a death certificate as well as literature on grief following a pet’s death. I haven’t read the pamphlet. I might read it one day or I might not. I haven’t decided where I’m going to put the ashes yet, so everything is just sitting on a table waiting for a place.

This entry was so difficult to write. I cried so much. I miss that little dog. Part of me believes that Haley only held out all of these years because I needed her. With her health and basically being allergic to life, she shouldn’t have seen her 7th birthday let alone 12th (she almost died when she was 6 years old due to allergy problems). I don’t know if that’s true or not. All I know is she outlived the life expectancy for a dog who was essentially allergic everything. I am grateful for the extra time I had with her.

Until next time, give your loved ones an extra lick and a boop on the nose.

Dangerous Dog Breeds According to The Delight

Disclaimer: This is going to be a long post. TL;DR: I don’t believe that any of the dogs on this list are actually dangerous dogs.

While reading Newsweek articles that reported on Reddit’s AITA, I came across an article from The Delight “World’s Most Dangerous Dog Breeds”. Being a dog lover and a person that doesn’t believe that there are dangerous dog breeds, but individual dogs with undesirable traits. The same thing goes for humans.

Anyway, here is their list of the world’s most dangerous dog breeds: 26) St. Bernard, 25) English Mastiff (dangerous mostly because of its bite PSI of 556, 24) Chow Chow (which has a 220 bite PSI), 23) Bull Terrier, 22) Great Dane, 21) Bullmastiff, 20) Kangal (bite PSI 743), 19) Labrador (really? really?), 18) Australian Shepherd (due to its herding instincts), 17) Mixed Breeds (umm…), 16) Siberian Husky, 15) Belgian Malinois (bit PSI 195…note the human bite PSI is 162), 14) Alaskan Malamute, 13) Akita, 12)Pakistani Bulldog, 11) Caucasian Shepherd, 10) Boxer, 9) American Bulldog, 8) Tosa Inu (banned in the U.K. and several other countries because of their potential for aggression?), 7) Cane Corso, 6) (Perro de Presa Canario), 5) Doberman Pinscher, 4) Rottweiler, 3) German Shepherd (19 fatalities over a 17 year period…that’s less than 2 fatalities per year!), 2) Pit Bull, and 1) Wolfdog (bite PSI 406).

Where do I begin? I guess I should begin and the beginning and when I reach the end I’ll stop (Alice in Wonderland reference). As I was reading/skimming the article, I felt that the author didn’t like dogs or big dogs, because all of these breeds are on the “larger” side (do with what you will with mix breeds and Australian Shepherd). Also, I don’t know if she’s ever had any of these breeds or was just doing research and came up with this list. I don’t know. It just felt biased to me. Of course, I might be biased because I have a Chow Chow and I’ve known several of these breeds to be sweeties. Take Boxers for example. I have never met a “bad” Boxer, spazzy ones, yes. Labradors? They can be a bit dense and weird, but not really bad. I guess I’ll start with the St. Bernard and end with the Wolfdog.

St. Bernards. I love St. Bernards. Growing up I had a St. Bernard/Great Pyrenees cross and he was the best dog in the world. Everyone loved him. Also, his name was Cujo, named after the titular dog Cujo. I read the book and have watched the movie and I feel the movie doesn’t do the book any justice. The movie focuses on Cujo’s aggression after the rabid bat bit him. The book does focus on that, but King also makes a point in adding that Cujo wasn’t a bad dog, but had a bad thing happen to him (I’m paraphrasing). I feel that this might have influenced the author some. Maybe not, but I just…I don’t know. I do know that a lot of these bigger dogs aren’t intentionally dangerous, they are just big and they can bowl over most people, the St. Bernard included.

English Mastiff. I haven’t been around English Mastiffs enough to judge their temperaments. However, I know of a lady and her family who have fostered many English Mastiffs and she loves them. They’re gentle giants.

Chow Chow. When people hear I have a Chow, they inform me that Chows are mean dogs. I didn’t trust Chows when I got Buddy, but I trusted that people wouldn’t bother me because he was a Chow. Buddy and I have a special relationship, but I would never get a Chow again. That being said, a well socialized/well bred Chow shouldn’t have many temperament problems. They just need to be exercised and socialized. I didn’t get Buddy as a puppy, but from what I read, Chows are chill puppies and that might be the reason why people don’t socialize them. I mean a chill puppy makes a good adult, right? Not necessarily. I think chill puppies need just as much socialization as hyper puppies, especially since chill puppies might not get the discipline that they need. I could be wrong. I’ll admit that I could be wrong about all of this, but this is my opinion.

Also, what’s with her adding PSIs? I get that some of these are “high,” but most don’t even come near some of the most dangerous animals in the world (Crocs, alligators…hippos…especially hippos…most definitely hippos…and did I mention hippos…no, I’m not scared of hippos, but…). When she mentioned the Belgian Malinois was 195, I had to check to see what humans’ PSI is. Not a big difference. The only difference I see is the type of teeth. Anyway, I digress (I’ll probably do that alot)

Bull Terrier, Great Dane, Bullmastiff. I haven’t had much experience with these breeds, but from what I can tell they’re generally sweet breeds. The Bull Terrier can have problems with OCD, but that’s because of years of inbreeding. I can see Great Danes being “dangerous” just because of their sheer size. A calm Great Dane can whip a person to death with their tail. Bullmastiffs…I don’t have an opinion either way, except they drool, a lot, and maybe people have drowned due to that.

This is only the second time I’ve heard of the Kangal so I can’t say anything. It’s a herding dog, so I get where it can be “dangerous”. I mean, these types of breeds were bred to kill big predators, what do you expect? Not dangerous on my list.

Labradors. No…just no. I know there are some bad individuals, but I’m not sure why it is even on this list. Mind you, I didn’t read the whole reasoning so again I could be grabbing at straws and trying to vouch for every breed on this list. That being said, I wouldn’t own a Lab. I find their personalities annoying. Of course this comes from the person who prefers independent breeds.

Australian Shepherd. Yes, they will nip your heels, but so will Heelers, Corgis, and the other breeds where that’s how they move livestock. Not good for small children, but that’s the nature of the breed. Not dangerous, just for the right family.

Mixed Breeds? I might, but don’t hold me to it, write a blog post about this. I have three mixed breeds (Clara, Luna, and Eevee) and have had several mixed breeds in the past. All have been pretty good dogs. I agree that you can’t determine the temperament of mixed breeds, but again you can’t determine the temperament of any dog. Yes, “pure breeds” have a more “stable” personality, but every dog is an individual and are influenced by genetics and environment. To put mixed breeds on this list is unfair.

To put any breed on this list is unfair. Although, let’s agree that Chihuahuas and Dachshunds are…special. I won’t call them dangerous, but they can be a bit snippy. The same thing goes for many small/toy breeds.

Siberian Husky, Belgian Malinois, Alaskan Malamute, and Akita. Working breeds. Active breeds. If they don’t get enough exercise, yes they might be irritable and hyper. That doesn’t make them dangerous.

Pakistani Bulldog and Caucasian Shepherd. I don’t know enough about these breeds to give my opinion. But they’re dogs and I love them and I don’t think they should be on this list because there’s no such thing as an aggressive breed.

Boxer and American Bulldog. I’ve never met an aggressive Boxer or American Bulldog. In fact, if Boxers didn’t have a shortened lifespan due to the genetic predisposition of getting cancer at a young age, I would have a Boxer or two. I love Boxers. They are so much fun. Their whole butt waggle is so adorable.

Tosa Inu. Banned in the U.K. and several other countries because of their “potential for aggression?” Don’t get me started…okay, I’m started. No…I’ll refrain. I don’t know much about the Tosa Inu so I can’t really say much. The same goes for Cane Corso and the Perro de Presa Canario. I don’t know enough about either breed. Yet I do know that at least the Cane Corso is used to hunt wild pigs and here in Oklahoma and Texas (it could be the whole Southwest or even the South) we have a lot of wild pigs and they are dangerous. Any breed that can hold their own against these powerful animals has my respect.

I will also take my hat off to Dachshunds. Badgers can be grumpy and Dachshunds can be feisty and can hold their own. Good for Dachshunds. Again, I digress.

Doberman Pinscher and Rottweiler. Growing up I was told that both of these breeds were dangerous. A childhood friend’s family had a couple Rottweilers (at different times) and I was afraid of them. Not because they were dangerous, but simply because they were big, playful, and could hurt us kids with even the gentlest swipe of the paw. As an adult, I’m still leery of them, but for the same reason. They’re big…says the person who wants another Great Pyrenees/St. Bernard mix. Doberman Pinschers, they’re cool and beautiful. I haven’t met too many, but they’ve always seemed sweet.

German Shepherd. The author’s fact about 19 fatalities over a 17-year period doesn’t make the German Shepherd look like a bad dog. As I said above, that’s less than 2 fatalities per year. I can’t be sure, but I’d like to think that the dogs involved in these fatalities were either untrained or ill bred or a combination between the two. I love German Shepherds. They can be divas, especially in the bathing room. Though they can’t sing like Siberian Huskies, they can be chatty.

Pit bulls. I once stopped to let a couple children pet Buddy. As they pet him, they told me that their mom told them that Chows were mean/dangerous dogs. I bit my tongue and refrained from laughing. This family owned a couple Pit bulls, both female I think and if I remember correctly they had to separate them whenever one of them was in heat because they’d fight. The pot calling the kettle black? Maybe. That being said, the Pit bulls that I’ve been closely associated with have always been sweet. I owned a Pit bull and if it wasn’t for his severe grass allergies (they were bad, all he had to do was step outside and he’d develop a rash. That was ten years ago and my then-husband and I didn’t have the monetary means to keep him well so he went back to the rescue/vet we got him from; that was a hard decision. I miss you Weber!) I would have had him for the rest of his life. I’m sure he’s no longer alive and if he isn’t Rest In Peace my dear boy.

Wolfdog. I remember a time I wanted a wolfdog. Back when I was a teenager I wrote stories about my character having a wolf dog. If I remember correctly, he was a blind, elderly wolf dog (or was he full wolf?). I was big into wolves back then. I still love wolves, but I wouldn’t own one. That being said, I’ve met wolves and wolfdogs and they require a special owner. I knew some people who had a wolfdog puppy. I think he wanted one and someone in his family had had one. They weren’t able to keep him past eighteen months. He was a digger and was restless in the city. I think they sent him to a home in the country. I don’t remember the whole story. I just remember that I once offered to train him and take him for walks and they told me they had to give him up. What was I talking about? Oh yes, wolfdogs, l don’t believe they’re dangerous, but I do believe they need a special type of owner who understands the needs of both the wolf and the domestic dog and provides for both needs.

Whew, that was a lot of typing. Until next time: give your good boy or girl and belly scratch and a kiss.

Looking Back on 2021

I didn’t blog much last year. There’s no one reason why. I spent most of the year in a depressed state where I was barely functioning. I was doing good to get out of bed and drag myself to work. I slept a lot. I really didn’t care about anything outside of my family and my dogs. Sy and my parents were very patient with me, encouraging me to take it easy, not to push myself too hard, not to do anything that will stress me out. Even when I quit my job, they were supportive of me. They knew that I wasn’t happy at that job anymore…hadn’t been in a long time.

Few people were happy with the job. We were understaffed, overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, and taken for granted. I didn’t realize until much later that my quitting caused a cascading effect and three other people left shortly after me. Instead of replacing my position, they piled my duties on my already overworked coworkers. I feel bad that they had to endure that, but I am glad I left when I did.

I was off work for six months trying to feel like myself again. I didn’t do much art, writing, or reading. I spent my time sleeping or watching YouTube videos.

Since it was during the summer months, the pups spent most of their days outside, coming in during the hottest parts of the afternoon where we napped away the afternoon heat, then back outside once it cooled down.

I wanted to do something other than just laying down, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything. It took all my energy just to do what I was (rather wasn’t) doing. Fortunately, my dad and Sy were there to help financially.

Finally, I felt the depression lifting. I got my energy back and I felt ready to start working again. Around that time a position at Sy’s job opened and I applied. Last month I started working and I love my job. I’m making several dollars more an hour than I was at the newspaper and I’m not under a lot of stress. All I must do is clean out cars that have been repossessed and hold the belongings in my office should the former owners of the cars want their property back. I have an office where no one bothers me, I can listen to music, and if I don’t have anything to do, I don’t have to force myself to look busy, although getting up and stretching my legs is beneficial.

I’m still not back to myself, but I’m getting there. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t take my medication regularly. Sometimes I forget and sometimes I just don’t want to swallow any pills as the thought makes me nauseous. I need to go see my psychiatrist soon (I haven’t seen him in about a year) and I will once I get enough paid time off accrued. Next year, I plan on taking care of my health and going to see various doctors that I have been postponing seeing.

As for the pups, they’re doing great. I have 2022 plans for them as well. I’d like to turn our spare bedroom into their bedroom, so they don’t have to share their space with the laundry room. Plus, I need to get the utility room fixed up, but it probably won’t happen next year.

I hope 2022 will be a better year than 2021 has been. At the very least, I hope I’m not in a depressed funk for the better portion of the year. I also hope that I’m able to blog more next year. I have so many goals (not resolutions) for next year and I’m looking forward to accomplishing them or at least striving to accomplish them.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next time, take it easy on yourself. You’re the only you you’ve got.

Pupdates

Don’t worry, we’re all still alive. Life has just been busy and after work I’m rarely at my computer because I spend the whole day in front of a computer. Still, that’s no excuse. I am in front of a computer all day so theoretically I should be able to carve out ten or fifteen minutes to write.

Theoretically…

So first pupdate. BF and I got married last month. It was a tiny ceremony with my parents, his mom, his sister, and his niece. It wasn’t fancy or anything, but that’s how I liked it. Short, sweet, simple, and to the point. I guess I can’t refer to him as BF anymore. I guess it is Sy from now on.

Haley has a tumor on her tail and looks a mess because she’s been scratching so much. I try to give her allergy medicine every day, but it doesn’t help that she goes outside, gets grass pollen on her paws, then comes inside and scratches. It pains me to see her miserable.

I’m going to give her a bath and send her to stay with my mom for a couple weeks so she can got see the vet that she’s seen all her life. We’ll see what he says. After all she is 10 years old.

The only problem with her leaving is it messes up the dynamics between the dogs. With Haley there, the other dogs know their places, but when she’s gone the female dogs start jostling for her position. Usually Clara won out and would boss all the other dogs around. That was before Eevee came. Eevee is a spoiled bully.

Sy and I are the reason she’s spoiled. She spent several months with us until she was big enough to hold her own, but we don’t know where the bullying came from…Let’s just blame it on Buddy because he is a jerk and tormented Eevee when she was young. I digress.

Haley’s absence will cause problems and it’s possible that the girls are going to fight it out to see who takes Haley’s spot. Then I could be surprised. Everything will fall into place and all the dogs will start deferring to Molly (the second oldest) or Clara (the third oldest).

Several times a week the dogs like to “sing” in the middle of the night. It starts off with one dog barking and then several of the others join in barking and howling. They do this for about thirty seconds to a minute then all of them stop at the same time. I don’t know how they manage to pull off the synchronized grand stop, but they do and I’m impressed…more during the day than at two in the morning.

I would love to write more because I love writing about my dogs, but I’ve got to work. The email that I’ve been expecting finally came in and I need to hunt down some documents that they want.

Until next time…drive your older siblings crazy with your need for attention.