Moving

The poor little guys…they just couldn’t understand ‘why’ mom wasn’t playing with them and packing boxes; the Boy was coming up sometimes with friends bringing boxes and stuff.

Poor Yogi would get all freaked out by the rows of boxes towering over him and I would have to stand right beside him while he ate.

Bella, who I am throughly convinced is our PollyAnna girl, found great joy in stepping on the bubble wrap and popping it so she could not only hear it go “Pop” but also to freak out Yogi.

They were so much company…I shudder to think how lonesome I would have been if not for them. I spoiled them terribly…they got to sleep on my bed…until they would hog so much of it that they had to be ordered off. (Many the morning that I would wake up with a sore back because they wouldn’t move.)

They both got so very protective, it was actually scary.

 

Dog Days

From Wikipedia

In Ancient Rome, the Dog Days extended from July 24 through August 24 (or, alternatively July 23-August 23). In many European cultures (German, French, Italian) this is still the period to be the time of the Dog Days.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. These are the days of the year when rainfall is at its lowest levels.

According to The Book of Common Prayer (1552), the “Dog Daies” begin on July 6 and end on August 17.

In the southern hemisphere dog days do not apply because the Dog Star-Sirius is not easily seen.

The ancient Egyptians noticed the rising of Sirius coincided with the flooding of the Nile and used Sirius as the ‘watchdog’ for this flooding.

Another interesting tidbit, the feast day of Saint Roch, the patron saint of dogs, is August 16. (Which depending upon which time frame you use, falls within the Dog Days of Summer.)

 

Firecrackers

Yogi is finally realizing that ceiling fans provide air in the summer. Now he just keeps a wary eye on them and doesn’t even do his low level growl – which is what I would consider a step forward.

We did find out that Bella is ‘gun shy’…she is terribly afraid of thunder and firecrackers and anything that sounds like a gun shot. Sometimes in the evening when we go outside for the last time before bed, if she hears the gun club firing she will not go potty and sit beside my leg.

The Fourth of July was fun….Not! Between Yogi barking at the “thunder” of firecrackers throughout the days preceeding the fourth and for a few days afterward, Bella would come and sit everytime someone would light a firecracker.

 

Smiling and Prancing

It is always such a delight to come home from work now that ‘the kids’ are here! Bella is so funny…She runs as fast as she dares then puts on her brakes and slides across the kitchen floor to the back door. She actually judges it very well! She stops right before the door and doesn’t run into it! She gets her back scratches then as I walk in, Yogi holds back then comes prancing and smiling to get his back scratches! I sure wish I could catch that on film! I think it is so cute and funny!

One evening I asked Frank if he would join me in walking the dogs, he didn’t want to. So I went by myself. Now, it is frustrating to say the least to attempt to walk two dogs that tend to pull. And impossible to get them to walk on my left together. (I kept getting tripped.) Well, we had managed to walk about two blocks with no incidents, when Bella started looking behind us, then Yogi was looking back. I turned and saw a man walking his black lab. He said something but I didn’t hear him, then Yogi took root to a spot and the man and dog walked past on the other side of the street. Well, the ugliness soon began.

Yogi started acting like a real jerk. Lunging forward and barking. Something that we have learned that Yogi does when he gets frightened is that he will attack anything close by – which is usually poor little Bella. Bella was adding her voice to the noise and I’m trying to yank them into position and gruffly telling them, “No!” (I don’t think I was shouting.) Bella is facing Yogi and he went after her. So I think I really did yell then, and stepped between them as I had no other option. At this same time the man walked by me and said, “I guess we won’t let them play together.” Ya’ <u>think</u>! I felt Yogi’s mouth hit my knee. So I think he caught himself from biting me too. At any rate, by the time I got back to the house I was quite upset, panting, and frustrated and disappointed.

I had thought they were doing so well! I felt like pond scum. So after that episode Frank now walks with me. I take Yogi and he takes Bella. He lets her walk on the flexi-leash (which I hate) and she has a great time. I have Yogi and we are, I think, making progress on our ‘heel position’. Now the majority of time Yogi will as well sit when I stop. He still wants to charge ahead so we are still working on it. He may have many issues about many things, but he is by no means stupid. He actually catches on pretty quickly.

 

Just a pic

I ran across this and it struck me so funny…I haven’t laughed that hard in ages..nearly had an accident!

 

Another week more lessons

Often during the first few weeks Bella and Yogi came to live with us, they would race up and down the stairs, as I have already mentioned.

One morning after they had ran up and down the stairs at least once (I always called it the thundering herd), Frank sat up in bed and said, “I hear calliope music”.

Now, I must confess, I was not fully awake and for a split second I thought he was serious and even went so far as to try to hear it too…Then I had the sense to open an eye and squint at him and say, “un-Huh? Where? What are you talking about?” “The radio isn’t on…and I don’t hear anything…” But before I could really get fully awake enough he said, “You know, like at the circus…”  And yeah, he was right…now they can’t race up the stairs ahead of me without me singing that little ditty.

Yogi still sometimes scares the beans out of me when I go upstairs at night and he is already upstairs in his bed…he will growl and bark if I don’t say anything.  (Which is usually, “Easy there Cujo! It’s just me.” or “Oh, shush! It’s alright, it’s just me, goofy dog!”)  Bella just usually wags her tail, which is fairly easy to see at night because there is a large white tip on the end of it. I think she thinks it’s all a game.

Yogi has been working for the past couple of weeks on accepting the ceiling fans. He is terrified of them! We can’t imagine what he thinks they are. At first he would refuse to come in the room when they were turned on…then he would try to hurry through the room. Now he will come and sit down by my chair but sometimes he will look up and you really can see the thought of “I’m gonna growl and make a scene” go through his head. So before he gets too fixated and barks I have to reach down and touch him (Caesar Milan would call it a ‘bite” and divert his attention and say, “No!” ) I really believe he is getting better about the ceiling fans. At least for the time being.

Also, we have learned that Yogi absolutely hates the rooster that is on the Ambien commercial. As soon as the commercial comes on he is growling, and then he really would get to growling and sometimes bark when that rooster would crow. But he’s getting better about that too. Now he only occassionally growls. (Bella just comes over and looks around like, “What?” “What’s going on? What did I miss?”)

 

Roller Derby fights and Alligators

As Yogi and Bella began adjusting to their new home they did some wonderful things, that I wish I could’ve caught on camera. (Bella is very camera shy.)  

It is always a race to see who gets up the stairs first, and to come down the fastest. As I was coming down the stairs one evening fairly early, both Yogi and Bella were racing down the stairs bumping into one another to slow the other down. I just know that is what they were doing! It suddenly occurred to me that it was like watching roller derby and the bumping that goes on trying to get ahead. Somehow it loses ‘laugh value’ in the telling…one had to be there.

Since it was January in northeastern Wisconsin, poor Yogi didn’t have much of a coat when he came. (Kanab is considered the ‘banana belt’ of Utah.) The way Yogi had come to be at Best Friends was that he had fallen out of the back of a truck and had to have surgery on his hind leg, so as a consequence, like anyone that has ever broken a bone, he has great sensitivity in his leg. Poor little guy, when he would get so cold outside from the snow he would hold that right hind leg up and walk on three legs. That’s when I knew we had to get inside fairly quickly. Maybe next year, we will get him little snow boots.

When Yogi and Bella first came, they thought they were allowed to lay in the bed to sleep. Well, in a queen size bed, there isn’t much room for two dogs that tend to hog the middle and my husband and myself. I found out that they would respond to the command, “Off!” said in a firm tone. So, a compromise was found.

They would be allowed to come up on the bed for some cuddles with me before Frank came to bed then they had to go to their own beds.  Cuddle time would often be a time when the two of them would goof around and make faces at one another and bite each others toes. I think it looks like two alligators with nothing but white teeth showing. I have learned to keep my hands away from them when they do that. They get pretty carried away sometimes. Yogi does a funny little nibble-thing sometimes…which sometimes pinches skin. So we have pretty much learned that is not acceptable, with my usual, “nah”!)

 

Playing for Change

I just adore this! Had to share!

 

Yogi and Bella Come Home

January 24, 2009:

Chicago O’Hare Airport: They are here! They are here! Poor babies! Quite the roundabout trip, but they are here safe and sound!

Quite a few dogs from Best Friends were on the plane but we had no difficulty finding our ‘guys’! As we took them out on two carts the freight place let us borrow, lots of people were looking trying to see what they looked like. They were so happy to be out of their crates, even if it was in the parking lot.

They were both so good about riding in the car. Yogi was staying put on the backseat floorboards, and Bella was in the broken-apart kennel. They both took turns about peeking through the seats to be sure we were there and for reassurance. From Chicago to Germantown, WI they were angels. (We were stopping by my husbands parents’ house to drop of the larger of the two kennels and get the guy a drink of water and potty break.)

Poor Yogi, he doesn’t really have the coat for Wisconsin, but he’s not letting it bother him too much. He’s busily sniffing around and stretching his legs. Bella thinks the whole thing is great! She has more hair to keep her warm.

Poor guys…running from room to room while I’m getting water…my mother-in-law freaking out over the big dogs in her house…They were really thirsty!

Finally after another walk around the yard to potty, we are really on the way home! Both Yogi and Bella are angels the whole way.

It was with such happiness that we let them out of the car and introduced them to their new home. (Of course this started with a tour of the backyard.)

They are settling in beautifully!  Ahhh….

 

Visiting Utah and Finding a Home

January 1, 2009: We spent the day flying from northeastern Wisconsin to Salt Lake City, Utah for a business conference.

It was a 5 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Kanab, but what is five hours compared to northeastern Wisconsin? Relatively close by!

We are huge fans of National Geographic, Dogtown which is a no-kill shelter in Kanab, Utah. I had been sponsoring a couple of dogs there, one of which was named Yogi. We had had shetland sheepdogs (shelties) for many years and I had shown obedience and together we earned our Canadian and American Companion Dog title. But we had been ‘dogless’ for quite a while and really missed not having a dog around. So we went with the hopes of maybe finding a dog to join us in our home.

We had four days to spend at Dogtown and I intended to make the most of it! We had managed to get a cabin on Best Friends so we were relatively close. The best part was that we could sign up and have a dog sleep over!

The first night I really wanted to have a sleepover with a lovely german shepherd I’d been sponsoring and had fallen head over heels in love with but within 30 minutes of having her in the cabin we knew that it wouldn’t work out. So, back to Dogtown we all went and ended up with a wonderful pitbull named Jackson to sleepover with us! He was a delight to spend some time with! Just a love bug!

The next night we got to bring Yogi to the cabin for a sleepover. There was initially some hesitation when I asked to take Yogi. The ‘house’ mother said, “He has some issues with men. Tell you what, we’ll bring him out past you and then once outside I’ll hand the leash over to you Frank and we’ll see what happens.” Well, Yogi came right out and never even blinked as he walked by Frank, nor did he even blink or have an issue as we took a small walk to see how things would go. So, everything was a “GO!” for us to have Yogi over for the night.

It was great! Yogi settled right in, and crawled up in bed with us (now, I’d better say here that Yogi is by no means a small dog – labrador and healer mix – 56 pounds) and hogged the middle as he and Frank did the male bonding ritual of trying to out-snore one another.

I had my mind made up…

When we took Yogi back to Dogtown the next morning we saw a beautiful mid-sized dog, black and white that we fell in love with. We inquired inside and were told she was new to Best Friends and was still in ‘quarantine’ for a few days before being assigned to a ‘house’. Her name is “Della”. Well, we must have been obvious but they asked if we would like to have a sleep over with her, and it was an unequivical “Yes!” So, they bathed her and got her all pretty for us and Della slept over that night. We both adored her. Such a well mannered girl! We knew she had to come to live with us!

The next morning, when we returned her they asked if we liked her, again, “Yes!” We would like to take Della and Yogi. And just that fast, the paper work was started and arrangement were made for Yogi and Della to come live with us!

The next couple of weeks were so difficult, someone from Best Friends came to visit us and approve of us to provide a good home for them, and then waiting on the ‘guys’ to get here. But finally, on January 23, 2009, Yogi and Della (who became Bella because I could never remember Della, and because she is beautiful) came to live with us!