Lets see what I can do today . . . I 'met' another blogger, Betty of Joy in Our Lives. She left a very nice comment on my blog a few days ago, and I thought that she sounded like a wonderful and fun person. I checked out her blog and Boy, was I right. She has a house full of fur children, a great husband and a family that won't quit! I will be following her, and I have listed her in my sidebar, check it out.
My fur kids might not be rescue animals, but they've come to me - I did not look for them, so in a way I did rescue them. I have also had many that have crossed the Rainbow Bridge, and I know we will make quite a commotion when we all meet again.
This post wasn't meant to be sad . . . (as I sniffle at all the memories) but a celebration of all the varied lives that have touched mine. I've had a huge volume of cats through the years, but only 2 dogs. I had Tramp when I was 12 or so. He was literally a Heinz 57. Happy, fun and very lovable. When we moved from the house we lived in, we gave Tramp to our neighbors so he could have a yard and family full of kids. We moved to a small apartment and Tramp would not have been either happy or welcome there.
SueAnn is my current dog type companion. She is now 7. I got her 2 months after moving here to Oregon. At best we figure her birthday as 9-11, and the birth year was 2001. I needed a 'good' memory of that day, and SueAnn has been GREAT! She is part Lab and part Hound. Her nose and voice are Hound, the rest is small black Lab. She has the most expressive face and ears. The ears are floppy, but when she is really listening to something they sort of come up.
She is medium-large at 56 lbs, has a long tail like a whip and smiles and 'talks' to me. She has left bruises on my legs from her tail - I can't believe it doesn't hurt her when she hits anything with that tail! When I say she 'talks', she really does! Not words, but kind of low noises - not barks, she's been told to use her "inside voice" and will kind of "woo,woo". You have to hear her to believe it. And she can keep it up until she gets what she wants (mostly). There are times when I tell her "NO", and she will walk away totally deflated. Makes me laugh, but then she'll get her treat anyway - I'm well trained to follow orders!She is very afraid of gunfire and thunder storms. Living here in the Southern Oregon Cascades, there is some sort of hunting season going on for most of the year, and SueAnn does NOT like it one bit. If it is off in the distance and only makes a 'pop' she will look to me to see if she should panic or not, but if it is loud and close by, she will come running to be let in, or try to climb on my shoulders! I can sometimes diffuse the fear by asking her "Did they get it?" with an excited tone to my voice, but that doesn't always work. She also dislikes/fears thunderstorms and the summer is fun here - we get our share of them too.
She is on medication to help calm her, but she is still not happy with the sounds. She does not go ballistic like she use to, but she still wants to hide and be in a safe place. I've got a kennel that we tried using, but she doesn't like to be confined either. Aarrrggghhh! I take each incident of gunfire and thunderstorms as they come, but I never know how bad she will get. Desensitizing has been tried and doesn't work - the sounds are not normal, they are recorded and she knows the difference. She "feels" thunderstorms hours before they get here - atmospheric pressure and all that stuff. She will start walking around with her tail sooo tucked that she looks like she doesn't have one, and will stay so close to me that if I stop she will either step on me or I on her! I wish I could help her deal with this, but I don't know what else to try besides more medication and I don't want a doped up dog. Any one have any other ideas?
Sorry this got so long, but that's my SueAnn . . . well, parts of her anyway.
. . . and Christmas is only 14 days away, yup 14 days, two weeks away, that's it. Then you can breathe for a while and start on next year!!!! LOL
I will leave you with this: I try to be the kind of human my dog thinks I am.
(((Hugs))) everyone!
4 comments:
SueAnn is beautiful! You are right about her expressive eyes and ears...what a love! Thanks for the kind comments and for checking out my blog. This is so much fun making new friends through our posts.
Second comment: I saw your comment about Jalama. I'm still trying to figure this whole blogging thing out. I can't respond to your email notice...don't know how to reach you other than this. You are one of the first people who knows where Jalama is. We love to go the week before Memorial Day and the week after Labor Day to avoid the crowds. Glad to know someone else who has been there.
Well, duh, I hit the button twice...now you have four comments on the same post..sorry for cluttering up your blog.
Well, I can count on you, Yvette, to count Christmas down for me! :)) Ranting is good and sometimes just necessary. I am more of a cat person but I like dogs a lot, too, and SueAnn is lovely.
I guess by now we are down to 10 - TEN - days ... oh dear ...
Fondly,
Kerstin
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