Category Archives: Dog days

Dog days

Luka, the graduate

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We passed! We passed! We made it through puppy school! Without ever having to sit in the corner with the dunce cap!

Tonight was our last night of puppy class and we had our big test, every pup got a bully stick for passing with flying colors, got a silly graduation hat, and then had their pic taken. What fun!

We’ll be going back in another month or so to start the intermediate class and until then I think we’ll have some practicing to do. We really enjoyed the experience and I can’t say enough good things about the program at PetSmart. I’m not so nuts about other things they do, but this was worthwhile and fun.

I’m sure Luka will miss the doggy friends he made (especially Whiskey), but hopefully some of his classmates will be in the next level. The opportunity for them all to socialize and play in a safe environment was the most important aspect of the class, I think.

This last is a pic of all of us – just five dogs, but lots of people! Really, it was great to see the kids working just as hard as their pups.

Dog days, From the field, Whatever

Play date?

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I’ve overheard parents setting up *play dates* for their kids for the last few years and have to hide the smirk on my face, but when a stranger tried to arrange a playdate for their pup with Luka I didn’t know what to think! I feel like it’s bad enough that we need to schedule playtime into our kids already overscheduled lives, but are we to do the same for our pets? Whatever happened to turning the kids (or dogs) loose in the neighborhood to amuse themselves?

😉

Truthfully, I don’t believe it’s wise to do either. Mostly I think we go too far to pamper and shelter our kids as much as we do. Granted, I don’t have kids, so what do I know, but we all survived our childhoods, didn’t we? Do we need to do the same to our pets? Can you believe that I had a stranger chastise me for having Luka at a street fair a few weeks ago because it was warm and “his feet must be burning up on that hot pavement!” Well gosh – get the animal cruelty people after me!

These same people would likely turn a blind eye to the homeless person they see each morning at the train station or the elderly relative struggling to maintain their independence. Do you realize that Americans spend 40 billion a year on our pets – to pamper them and send them to doggy day care and to feed them premium holistic food? Yet we have no sympathy for the underemployed, the children who live in poverty, or the elderly. Is it just me, or are our priorities fouled up?

I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to spoiling my pets, but at least I think I recognize it for what it is. The NY Times article points out the hypocrisy in the choices we make – spending money to buy Halloween costumes for our pampered pets while countless other abandoned or unlovable pets are euthanised in shelters each year. Shouldn’t we extend our concern to members of our own species just as willingly? Or perhaps more so?

Maybe it’s only the (newly minted) social worker in me coming out. What do you think?

Birds, Dog days, Seasons, Snapshots, Wanderings

Great Bay Marshes

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I often think I’m spoiled to live where I do, with so much beauty within an hour or two of driving. The ocean is just minutes away and I suppose that makes me take it somewhat for granted. At this season of the year, I don’t think there’s much more beautiful than the salt marsh. The seaside goldenrod is blooming, as are the big white bouquets of the groundsel trees. The really large marshes are a bit of a trip for me – Delaware Bay or south to the barrier islands stretching from Barnegat Bay to Cape May.

A return visit to the decoy show on Sunday left with me an hour or two before heading home to explore the salt marsh at Great Bay near Tuckerton. I wasn’t looking for birds, just enjoying the scenery along the 5 mile road into the pristine marsh, passing salt ponds and little inlets and channels along the way. I found a sandy beach before the first bridge where Luka could run through the shallows while I studied the skies and the passing Monarchs stopping to feed on goldenrod. There was a noisy flock of Boat-tailed grackles near to a ridiculously-narrow wooden plank bridge and a few Great Egrets stalking the marsh grasses. I was surprised not to see more of them – one of the little creeks close to home has had at least 3 dozen egrets feeding in the early morning when the tide is right. I keep reminding myself to stop and photograph them before they’ve gone.

For those of you coming to the Fall Weekend – Tuckerton and nearby Brig is within driving distance from Cape May and may be worth a stop if you’re coming from the north. I don’t usually stop here on my way south to Cape May, prefering instead to head west to the Delaware Bayshore and visit the marshes there.

I wonder if this will be anyone’s first chance to dip their toes into the Atlantic Ocean – Susan? Lynne?

Dog days, Wanderings

Decoys

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Ducks in every size, shape and color were on display today at the decoy show; we even spotted a few disguised as pirates! We were somehow lured by this innocent-looking flotilla into buying raffle tickets to benefit the Tuckerton Seaport Museum; with luck the duckie with our name inside will be first across the finish line tomorrow in the race at Tuckerton Creek.

We had a wonderful day and are tired in that good way that comes with exercise and plenty of fresh air. Our wallets were properly exercised as well (I’ll have some treasures to share later) and Luka (unofficially voted as the cutest Lab pup at the show) met at least a hundred other dogs and was petted and fussed over by loads of people. Have I mentioned lately how much this dog loves meeting people and other dogs?

The show runs through tomorrow – I’m even thinking of going back for a few hours – I still have some money left!

Bunnies, Dog days, I like to make lists

Peeper’s top ten reasons bunnies rule

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Certain astute blog readers have noticed the lack of bunny-related posts here lately. Peeper the Bunny is also acutely aware of the extent to which this household has gone, quite literally, to the dogs.

More specifically, little Luka has taken over near every moment of leisure that used to be devoted to the spoiling of bunnies. Of course they’re being fed and petted and cleaned up after, but play and snuggle sessions have been relegated to the dark of night when the pup is sound asleep and I’m forced to tiptoe out to the bunny room in fear of waking the sleeping beast and undoing the night’s work of settling him in for bed. I’m not singing Luka lullabies yet, exactly, but bedtime seems to have become more difficult the last few weeks.

The bunnies, in the meantime, are content in that way that only bunnies can be. It’s in those moments of peace, when the house is dark and finally quiet (read free of barks and whines) that I am most content also, and glad for the gentle affection of my long-eared companions.

Peeper’s list just states the obvious: bunnies and puppies are very different animals. I have to thank my lucky stars for Buddy’s constant gentleness with the bunnies, but he was a mature dog of six years when I brought my first bunny home. I imagine that the bunnies must not even recognize this growing and yapping streak of black fur as the same type of being as the generally quiet and always obedient dog that Buddy was.

Peeper’s Top 10 Reasons Bunnies Rule:

10. Bunnies are civilized and use pooty boxes; they do not require near quarter-hourly *walks* nor must their *business* be picked up in blue plastic baggies.
9. Bunnies don’t do *tricks* for treats, nor are they expected to be *obedient*. They simply get treats for being cute.
8. Bunnies have good taste. They like fresh lettuce and crisp fruits and vegetables and they have naturally fresh breath. Lord knows what Luka’s had in his mouth!
7. Bunnies are self-cleaning and don’t require the indignity of an unnatural *bath* with the garden hose. Bunnies do not roll in unmentionable things.
6. Bunnies save *humping* for members of their own species. Puppies are not nearly so selective in their *affections*.
5. Bunnies know how to be subtle. Puppies do not. Enough said!
4. Bunnies do not wear their hearts on their sleeves and do not give their hearts to just anyone who comes along offering a cookie.
3. Bunnies dance gracefully when they’re happy, puppies tend to fall all over themselves with joy and are anything but graceful.
2. Bunnies chew up useful things like telephone cords and computer wires. Puppies chew indiscriminately with no proper sense of revenge.
1. Bunnies are quiet. They live and love in near silence. If you’re close enough and they trust you, you might hear them grind their teeth when petted or hear a gentle whuffle, or maybe an angry grunt or a thump of their strong feet, but mostly they do nothing to draw attention to themselves. Puppies, on the other hand, are all about getting attention.

What have I left out? I know there are some readers who have both bunnies and dogs… what are some of the biggest differences you notice?

Dog days, Remembering, Wanderings

Girdled

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Were my desktop PC working, I’d have edited this pic in PhotoShop to crop out Luka’s *girdle* and focus your attention instead on his sweet face. Yet, maybe showing you the whole scene helps to account for the goofy look on his face, I don’t know. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to take off his *no-pull harness* before we started swimming lessons, but once it did occur to me we were both already good and wet. Cedar Creek in the Pine Barrens proved to be a great place to practice, with a gentle current, water that’s shallow and clean, but cold!

gir·dle noun, verb, -dled, -dling.
–noun 1. a lightweight undergarment, worn esp. by women, often partly or entirely of elastic or boned, for supporting and giving a slimmer appearance to the abdomen, hips, and buttocks.
2. a belt, cord, sash, or the like, worn about the waist.
3. anything that encircles, confines, or limits.
4. Jewelry. the edge or narrow band between the upper and lower facets of a gem.
5. Anatomy. the bony framework that unites the upper or lower extremities to the axial skeleton.
6. Architecture. an ornamental band, esp. one surrounding the shaft of a column.
7. a ring made about a tree trunk, branch, etc., by removing a band of bark.

–verb (used with object)
8. to encircle with a belt; gird.
9. to encompass; enclose; encircle.
10. to move around (something or someone) in a circle.
11. to cut away the bark and cambium in a ring around (a tree, branch, etc.).
12. Jewelry. round

-from Dictionary.com

Calling the harness a *girdle* is something of an inside joke with my husband and I, as well as a sweet reminder of our Buddy who passed away this summer. I used to make him wear a sheepskin-covered seatbelt harness when we rode together in the car, and we always referred to it as a *girdle*. Buddy mostly hated it, but it helped to calm him in the car while doing nothing for his figure!

Dog days, In the neighborhood, Seasons

Rambling and grazing

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I’m counting on someone out there recognizing this flower; it’s blooming in all the weedy places right now and I haven’t been able to come up with a name. I spotted this patch on a weekend walk with Luka through an overgrown pasture full of goldenrod, milkweed and thistles.

We had actually been walking on a dirt road around the pasture, but took a detour through the middle of it when I heard insistent osprey calls from the treeline in the distance. I wonder if it wasn’t a youngster recently left to fend for itself. Of course, it flew from the perch as we approached, but along the way we came across these flowers and many scattered piles of deer poop which Luka found just delicious! I swear that pup has to put everything in his mouth – thank heavens we haven’t wandered across any dead animals yet!

I don’t have the enthusiasm for identifying wildflowers that I had in the Spring and wonder why that is. I find myself noticing berries, mostly, and trying to guess which animals they’re meant to feed. It took me a while to realize that the ground-level clusters of red berries I’d been seeing were the fruits of Jack in the Pulpit – who eats them, I wonder? The viburnums have set fruit that will persist for months, yet the red dogwood berries are long gone by mid-September. The starlings see to that over the protests of the local mockingbirds. Fallen apples litter the ground, tempting deer and puppy the same, as Fall ambles our way.

Dog days, Pastimes

Puppy kindergarten

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This little sweetie is Ciao Bella. Luka seems to think she is his personal squeaky toy. We’ve been going to puppy class on Tuesday nights for the last month or so and haven’t been made to sit in the corner with the dunce cap, yet!

This is Sam, our trainer. All the puppies seem to love him – I think that’s because he always has a treat in his pocket for the well-behaved pup. He’s tough to please, but his experience as a canine police officer comes in handy with the unruly pups. That’s Ciao Bella at his feet.

This is Whiskey – he’s the same age as Luka and is so well-behaved. He’s Luka’s favorite playmate.

Luka and Whiskey became fast friends – they wrestle and chase one another. I think Ciao Bella is that little brownish blob under Luka’s feet – oops! Whiskey is the only pup in the class that’s similar in size to Luka and big enough to push him around. I love to watch them play together.

I don’t know what type of dog Skippy is, but that’s her hiding under the chair while Luka torments her. She’s funny – shy with the other dogs during playtime, but she loves to distract them (especially Luka) during the *lesson* with barks and a flirty ear shake. She and Luka regularly compete for who can bark the loudest while poor Sam tries to teach. She comes to class with her mom and at least 5 little kids – none of whom even try to keep her out of trouble. Tonight she went for a swim in the huge water bowl!

The little black pug whose name I can’t remember – she’s a sweetie too. Luka likes to chew on the side of her face.

So far we’ve learned Sit, Take It, Leave It, Down, and just tonight – Come! Whiskey seems to be the star student in the group. Luka is just a goofball, true to his nature, but we’re having fun.