Dogs @ MindSay

    Normally, I don't post personal stuff on this blog. But you will NOT believe the day I've had!

   We were going by a storage unit and smelled pet urine....some jerk locked his dogs in the storage unit! HE HAD PUPPIES IN THERE! For two freaking hours!!!!!  Mom and I raced inside and called the cops, who in turn gave us the number for animal control, who weren't at the freaking phone! Those dogs could have died and there was nothing we could have done becaue those eejits weren't at the phone!

     Anyways, the guy who had a unit not far from the unit where the dogs were in told us that he had put his dogs in there at 11:30am. ELEVEN THIRTY!!!!  Well, anyways. When the scuzzball picked up the dogs our maintenance guy was out there and told him that he can't leave his dogs in the unit like that.  The guy claimed that he was going to only be gone for a couple of minutes....that's the biggest crock I've ever heard!

 

     On top of which, we had a really bad thunderstorm out here which knocked out our hot-water heater so we've had to deal with no water, and hot weather. To top off this "gorgeous" day, I found out that my exbf, Ricky, has colon cancer. :( This day is crap!!!!!

 

I was so glad that our maintenance guy handled it for us...I didn't want to be in the same room as him. When I'm livid I tend to get violent and I didn't want be sent to jail for breaking his nose.  Let's just say that I'll be doing Tae-Bo tonight for exercise!

 

+316+Another day in the life of Rebekah+

I appear to have made friend with a stray dog. He's been coming around a lot lately for about three weeks and everyone feeds this damn thing. He's getting good and fat and that's probably why he keeps coming around. 

Not sure what kind of dog he is, I assume he's a mixed breed of some kind. Big old guy, he is. He stands to about the middle of my thighs when he's on all fours. 

Anyway, he hasn't let anyone get near him, not that many try. A wild dog of that size is not one to play around with, but we all still throw him scraps we saved from our meals. 

But he came around yesterday and was wandering around everyone looking for food when he decided he wanted to play. He starts trotting all over the place... and heck if he didn't come to me and jump up on me! He was licking me and wanting me to scratch him, we even played fetch for a little while with a rolled up towel (that he promptly walked off with when he was done playing). 

I come out this morning and he's sitting there at the entrance wagging his tail when I came out. He followed me to the bathroom, then waited while I went to eat, then followed me all over for about an hour. He still won't let anyone touch him, except for me. And he appears to have gotten protective of me, too. If someone comes near me he starts growling. 

I'm not sure why this dog latched onto me. But it worries me. I was already told not to get attached because when I go home he cannot, under any circumstances, come back home with me. And the boss man isn't fond of him being around anyway, mostly because the dog isn't all the friendly and he's afraid of it biting someone. 

We named him Ragtag. We're still going to work on getting him to be friendlier with us, but at the same time we don't really want to domesticate him, either. Once we're gone, he's on his own again unless we talk the next group into throwing him scraps, too. And I'm sure they will. But still.

So Cynthia, Jade, Sue, Danielle and I were having coffee over the weekend while Danielle regaled us with her amazing apology story.  We laughed, we cried, we oohed and aahed.  We reminisced about that awesome dog.  He had been a great dog.  Truly one of a kind.  Danielle had always been an animal lover.  A wide variety of animals have come across her doorway through the years.  Some by invitation, some by stubborn refusal to leave.  Danielle’s mother had found that awesome dog.  Her mom had worked at a Home for Wayward Boys which was located out of town.  This dog was lurking around the facility and the boys were throwing snowballs at him.  He looked thin.  He was a German Sheppard mix.  Danielle got her love of animals from her mother.  Her mother brought him home.  Danielle immediately fell in love.  He was cute.  Albeit dirty.  He was a little quirky; he rode in the car backwards.  Without another thought, that stray dog was brought into their lives and there he would live out his life.  No questions asked.  No fear.  No reservations.  Just openness.  Danielle was still in high school when she got that dog.   Still trusting and open.    

That dog was with Danielle through all her ups and downs in her marriage.  He didn’t make it to meet that baby boy but he lived a wonderfully long life.  After he left this world Danielle was lost.  So she did what many of us do in the face of loss, whatever kind of loss that may be, she replaced him.  She went to the shelter; she found a puppy that looked exactly like that dog.  But a female.  A healthy choice.  She didn’t consciously know she was replacing.   She tried her very best to love the new puppy.  Danielle had her since she was a puppy so she didn’t really have any bad habits.  She didn’t get into trouble.  She was loving.   She was a cute dog.  But she just didn’t have “it” according to Danielle.  It just wasn’t the same.  Well tragically, or maybe not so tragically, this dog didn’t live a long wonderful life.  She ended up having some health issues that required her to be put down.  Sad.  Danielle was sad, but not devastated.   She had a lot going on her own life so she survived this loss. 

It’s been my experience that if you are a dog lover, you’re a dog lover.  You can’t live without a dog.  It just doesn’t feel right.  So Danielle got Alex.  Again from the pound.  This time a totally different dog.  A small dog.  She’d never had a small dog before.  She brought him home.  That dog was a menace.  He was a runner.  There is nothing worse than a dog who is a runner.  He thought it was a game.  Every time Danielle called for him, he may come back.  Or he may not.  It depended on his mood.  Danielle spent much of her time being mad at that dog.  But then again, she was mad a lot anyway.  She had a lot going on in her life.   She was with the creep at that time.   Alex “tragically” got hit by a car.  During one of his “games” when Danielle was calling for him and he was running the other way.  Everyone knew it was bound to happen.  Not a shock.  Danielle survived.  She hadn’t really liked that dog much anyway. 

So after Alex Danielle was ready to wait.  She needed a break.  She was with the wonderful man now.  She had worked on herself and knew better than to jump into anything.  But as I stated, once a dog lover, you can’t live without a dog.  So after a respectful amount of time, that wonderful man and Danielle got a new dog.  A puppy.  A purebred this time.  Not that that matters.  Just a small detail.  Well, this puppy was something else.  He was the easiest puppy to train.  No problems.  Really.  He wasn’t a runner.  He sought Danielle’s approval.   He was at her side 24/7.  He still is.  He’s the apple of Danielle’s eye.  Her constant companion.  She of course loves her kids, but that dog.   He’s special.  He’s the one.  He has “it”. 

So I got to thinking.  Were these stories about dogs, or were these stories about Danielle?  Had Danielle put her internal baggage onto these dogs or were these dogs really “not the one”?  And is there a correlation between choosing our dogs and choosing our “dawgs”.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  Danielle took that awesome dog in without any second thoughts.  She didn’t question where he came from.  She didn’t wonder about any bad habits.  She liked him.  She took him in.   Just like she had Mike.  She was young.  Not jaded yet.  She was a mess when she got that puppy.  She had no business having a puppy.  Haven’t we all had that boyfriend who was perfectly nice, perfectly compatible but somehow still not “the one”?  Is it the boyfriend or you?   Well, Alex, she got that dog on a whim.  She hadn’t thought it through.  He came from a shelter.  He was an adult dog.  He had issues.  She chose to ignore or blind herself to them.  And then was surprised that he was a problem.  And I am referring to the dog, not the creep she was with. Though they are interchangeable.     Was it that dog with issues, that dawg with issues, or Danielle with issues?  Or more likely, a combination of the 3.    Isn’t it interesting that when Danielle was in a happy place, happy with the man in her life and happy with her life in general, she found the “one”.   And he’s not a perfect dog.  He gets in trouble on occasion.  After all he is a dog.  But he’s her dawg.  And she loves him.  Both of them.    

Know yourself, know your limitations, don’t put your stuff on someone else, human or otherwise.  Be open.   And perhaps more importantly; have you hugged your dog/dawg today?

     So I'm dating a man right now who has all that life can buy for him..except of course, an honest relationship.

He has a dog that's just a pet, and is recovering from a poisoning incident. One of her hind legs is not recovering, that is the "use of"..

I know tha if she dosen't recover, he'll put her down. Would have already done so if not for me trying to re-hab her.

 

The question is, if indeed he does put her down, how do I reconcile the fact that he could have done more for her..

and if he does put her down, he wants my help getting another dog

..the really hard part is that I'm still a bit fragile about having to put Thia down last Feburary--so it's VERY HARD for me to be objective at this time..and I really need some clarity

Have you ever been driving down the road and seen an old cow surrounded by calves while all the other cows are off grazing? Well, that  bovine beauty is a "calf sitter". Yep, she keeps an eye on the little scamps while the mommies take a break and munch without interruption. Such an odd but dear practice in the animal kingdom.
I love cows. They're so docile and trusting.They eat, sleep, rear young and never complain or ask for anything.You see a little rough and tumble between calves, but generally they are peaceful and kind.

Well geese , now they're a whole different ballgame.They are easy to agitate and very vocal about it. They chase you down and bite your butt in a heartbeat. They even get annoyed with each other frequently.Their quite demanding and though they flock " together" I think it's all about safety. They take care of their babies and waddle around squawking all day till they get tired. Then then tuck their head under their wing and sleep until they're rested then they wake up and start all over again!

Turkeys, well they're just stupid. Range turkeys are pissed off at the world and turkeys raised in houses are clueless. They like to grab your shoelaces because they think they have found a "white worm" that must be eaten. They live to eat.....and to freak out. They'll spook in a heart beat and crowd to the end of the turkey house until they suffocate one another.I think it's living in those unnatural houses that makes them so nuts. They never seem to learn anything!
Wild turkeys are beautiful and  majestic. In fact the turkey was almost our national bird instead of the eagle.

Now dogs, they're much like humans.They vary in their personalities. Some are sweet and gentle, trusting and loyal. You can let them out in the yard and find them laying under a tree a few hours later. They want to curl up in your lap or by your side because their favorite place is with you.
But, others are angry, always looking for a fight.Let them out and they're gone with the wind.They keep to themselves and don't care if you ever show them any affection.
Dogs seem to display every emotion we have. Love, hate, pride, envy, jealousy,anger.
I can't imagine a world without dogs.

Now pigs....pigs suck.

I'm a goose. What are you?