Camouflage Dog

Didn't you know that not all dogs are white, brown, grey. etc ? Nope, some service dogs need to be camouflaged, just like this guy, he will be in my shop ready to go to a happy home. Where he may or may not blend in

Another one for the Rainbow Bridge

I just learned some sad news today - Eco's father who was only about 10 just passed away, here is his story:

The Underside of a Dog

This is what it looks like when Eco is standing on a platform of playground equipment and I am below her:

Good thing she doesn't drool!!

Slipper Thief

Well no sign of that diamond and I have to say it's not without effort. My sweet dance instructor (who was recovering from surgery) plus several students and other instructors turned the dance studio upside down and even combed though the vacuum bag. I was so touched by the number of people who helped me look for it.

I  too stood outside for about twenty minutes feeling my way through all the dirt from my vacuum and numerous people have offered prayers and hopeful stories reminding me not to give up; stories about finding missing stones years later in the lining of jackets or pockets or other tough to find places. But still, nothing yet.

I will keep looking of course, but my hope is fading. For now I will have to get used to seeing only my wedding ring on my left hand (first world problems eh??  I know, I know)

And speaking of things lost, today I was outside for a bit and when I came back  into the house  I couldn't see my slippers. What the heck? I know I had them on before I went outside! I had only taken them off about 20 minutes earlier. Then I realized what had happened.....

Thanks Eco.... Does your dog do this too? Mine frequently lies on cast off articles of clothing... it's like she aims for it. Silly pooch. Too bad she hasn't found my diamond yet.

Opinion Poll

Ouf! What happened to last week. I don't even have anything written on my calendar from Wednesday to Friday and I have no idea what I did besides work those days. September is tough for me because I feel like I can't waste a single second outside because the cold and rain is coming soon.

This weekend I did some rearranging of the garden furniture and I really it now.  In fact, I like it so much, I am angry with myself for not doing it sooner.

I also took out the hedge trimmer and smoothed out some ivy walls as we seem have have had a sudden growth spurt - maybe they are preparing for winter too?

On Thursday I was playing with Eco in the yard - she likes to play with a hard plastic ball in her pink pool - she spins it around and around and around and has a great time doing it. I even taught her how to push the ball back to me when she flips it out of the pool. The problem is the neighbour's dog whines when we play. What can I do? It's not my fault he's whining? I even put a board up against the fence so he can't see us. All was well and good, Eco and I were in the middle of our playing when my neighbour sticks her head over the fence and says "Are you doing that on purpose?" She proceeds to give me shit. I'm not going to lie - my first reaction was to be pissed off - so I took Eco inside.

I have since moved the pool and play area to the opposite side of the yard and we are trying to accommodate her request but part of me is still pissed that her dog's problem has become my issue. Plus, being an over-40 adult I really don't like getting in shit from someone else - do you know what I mean? I think the issue is more about HOW she did it and not WHAT.

your comments?

Dog signs

Last night. I had the sh#t scared out of me - Jp and I were deeply engrossed in one of the last two episodes of Orange is the New Black when we heard Eco making some odd noises down the hall- her nails were clicking on the floor in a weird way. So I got up to go down the hall to check on her and I practically ran into my stepson in the hallway. Now this might not seem like a big deal to you, but I hadn't heard if he was coming this weekend and I didn't know he had a key to our house.

Poor kid, I think he got the sh#t scared out of him too- I am very sure he is not used to having someone scream in his face.

And once again dog owners, in hindsight If I had paid attention to Eco, she would've told me all I needed to know. You see she heard him come in, so she happily ran to the front door to greet him, and she was so happy to see him that she was prancing around him when he came in. If I had noticed the way she left our bedroom, I would have known exactly what transpired. Good girl!

I relate to this quote...

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog, they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and maybe I will become as generous and loving as they are." ~ Unknown

Exercise Obstacle # 1

This cartoon really hits home because it's happened to me a gazillion times. There is no way I can lay on the floor to do exercises without my No.1 fan wanted to be even closer to me!

And, if I'm trying to practice dance - she will lay smack dab in the middle of the little area of floor I was trying to move it.

It really teaches me how to be SUPER aware of my surroundings!

Wake Up - Dog Style

Eco sleeps in our room and doesn't wake up before me- well if she does, she fakes it until I put my feet on the ground. But The Kid sleeps in and Eco loves to give him kisses when he's sleeping(more like a full face and ear wash). He doesn't get this friendly style of wake up:

But I must say, no matter how sound asleep he is, he's never been mean to her - he just moves his head and gently pushes her away. A testament to his good temperament?

I should ask my brother if this works for him - as a teenager he was notoriously difficult to wake up, including talking convincingly in his sleep - but my other brother and I knew better and we'd keep trying to wake him up until he was up. We also learned to duck his swings as his hand would come out to punch us! Sheesh, our mom should've given us a medal or something - that was a lot of work.

Anyway, he has two big dogs now, and I'm sure they've figured out how to get him out of bed

Tragic Outcome for 6 dog families

Last week there was a alarming story about a dog walker who had 6 dogs stolen from the back of her truck when she went to use the restroom. All week long we've heard stories about the quest for their return. People had been posting the photos asking others to share, to keep an eye out for these 6 missing beloved dogs.

Then last night the truth comes out. The dogs had not in fact been stolen, but they had all died from heat exhaustion in the back of her truck. You can read more about it here. The dog walker had lied and made up  the whole story about the theft -pretty convincing too.

Sadly those families are now all without their canine companions. How absolutely horrible this is for them but I can't imagine the horrible deaths those dogs had to endure. What a tragic story for everyone.
I need to go give Eco a hug now.

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." ~Buddha

Sh*t Dogs Say

This is one of the best dog portrayals I have seen:

Wasn't that a great video? 

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Birthday Message to my Dog

Today my sweet little dog, Eco, turns 5 years old. I just can't believe how quickly the time has gone by.

Eco at 7 weeks

Eco at 3 months old

I'm sure my family would remind me that the first two years seemed long since she was still in training. And the first year took a while - especially with all those sharp pointy baby teeth. But she has blossomed into the sweetest companion and friend.

Eco at two years old

The most common words I hear people say to describe her is  "sweet" and "puppy". Many can't believe that she is five years old. Actually I can't believe she's 5 either - where did the last 3 years go? Besides daily walks and play sessions, a few trips to the vet, several swims in the summer time, monthly baths and a multitude of tricks.

Eco can: sit up and beg, wave, roll over, play day, bark, whisper, spin, twirl, walk backwards, cross her legs. She knows the names of her toys and can retrieve them on command placing them in my hand. She can follow hand signals from a distance and can do a series of tricks before getting her reward. She doesn't bark when someone knocks on the door and she doesn't steal food in the kitchen.

In fact, the other day a piece of bread was sitting on a plastic cutting board which was sitting on top of the toaster. The cutting board slipped off the toaster landing on the counter but the piece of bread rocketed to the floor. Eco walked in the room and discovered it first but sat down and looked at it until someone came in the room and told her she could eat it. Granted there was small puddle of drool by her feet, but she did not gobble up the bread. I wish she'd do the same for cat poop outside - but she can't - which makes her almost perfect, but not quite. Just the way a dog should be, otherwise they wouldn't be able to give us our daily chuckle.

Thanks for being so sweet and so soft and for making me laugh everyday Eco. And Happy Birthday to you!
(and now the voice of my husband is in my head, mocking me, saying "she can't read!")\

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Wanna know about her name? Back in 2009, my dog Jazz had  just died after a 5 month battle with cancer. Our funds were depleted from the cost of cancer treatment. I wasn't sure  how long it would be before I could get another dog. And then we received a rebate for our Toyota Yaris - an Eco/Environmental Levy because it was an efficient vehicle. The cost of the cheque was the exact amount we needed for our puppy! And that's how Eco came to be a part of our daily life.

My breakfast view

This is what I see when I am eating my cereal in the morning: 

Unfortunately it's Raisin Bran so I can't share with her. 

She usually has her feet on the rungs of my chair, which is even cuter...

Feline Bullies

My dog doesn't really know what to do with cats. 50% of them run and 50% of them freeze. Of those that don't run, their deep growl is rather scary so she usually gives a frustrated bark and then runs away. A couple of times cats have wacked her - including that one who stalked Eco and spanked her! 

For little 10-15 pound beings they sure can have control! Watch this compilation:

Do you have a bully cat? 

I'm so relieved

On Sunday afternoon I noticed that Eco had put herself in her crate, which is unusual as she usually likes to be with us. I kept an eye on her while I cooked dinner but noticed she was lethargic. When Jp tried to give her some after dinner snacks, she didn't want to do anything for them and would rather walk away. Since it was Sunday evening and she had no other symptoms other than being cold (which is also odd for a big old labrador) I put her bed near the fire and slept on the floor beside her so I could be there if anything changed.

In the morning she was still withdrawn but she went to the bathroom as normal and ate her breakfast as normal. I decided without other symptoms the vet probably would tell me to monitor her - maybe send her home with an antibiotic. So I just kept a close eye on her. By about 3pm my usual Eco returned. Wagging her tail, giving us kisses, wanting to run and play. She was back. Down for 22 hours with some sort of bug, but now she has returned.

Let me tell you, I am so very grateful to have my happy, energetic dog back. It's one thing when she's like that from old age, but in the middle of her youth - I didn't like it!

Speaking of Dogs

Remember how I mentioned the other day about resetting Eco's internal clock? Well, I had forgotten all about Daylight Savings Time!! Now, she's waking up at 4:30am! Dang it!! I guess I can expect at least a month before I can sleep in. (sigh) the things we do for our beloved furry family!

And speaking of dogs, I'm a wee bit excited about this dog I made for my shop:

Just a quickie phone photo - since I broke my good camera. He has button eyes, a felt nose and a gros grain ribbon for a collar plus he has wires in his legs to make him posable. I plan to made some other colours/breeds too. I think he'll make a cute Christmas decoration so I think I'll add a thin red ribbon so he can hang in a tree. What do you think?

Dodged a "bullet" last night

When I came home late last night, I let Eco into the backyard for her "business" when she takes off chasing something, then I see it - a very large skunk! I frantically call her back, and does come back to me - not as fast as I'd want but fast enough I guess because she didn't get sprayed! I still cannot believe that she was not sprayed. Maybe the skunk was in a good mood last night, or forgot it's superpower, or already unloaded on something else - I don't know.

I just know that I am EXTREMELY grateful that she did not get sprayed last night.

Now between a hungry bear roaming the neighbourhood looking for fallen apples and the skunk it's almost not even safe in one's own backyard. And since the skunk incident, I've been going out in the yard first to ensure it's safe and clear for me dog! I just can't take a chance with a skunk!

How do you reset a dogclock?

After getting up at 5am all summer long, my dog is waking me up at 5:30am every morning -even on weekends! How can I reset her clock? In the summer, she'd always be asleep until I woke her so I assumed that she had no internal clock. Now that I'm trying to sleep in until 6am -because it's too dark in the morning for our dog walk what with a bear roaming around the neighbourhood eating apples that are still on people's trees - Eco's up at 5:30 and I can't sleep in.

I guess she does have a clock after all...and who says dogs don't like routines? Sheesh! 

Eco with her Leatherman Tool, ready 

to help out in the yard! 

Providing for Patty

"Most people I've met who weren't kind to animals weren't kind to people either. Kindness is kindness. Simple as that."
--Ricky Gervais

If you're an animal lover and live near Detroit, you may have hear about this horrific case of animal abuse   - Patty, a little rat terrier found stabbed and partially skinned alive  - read more here. I've been following Patty's progress since she was found and she's doing very well despite the extent of her injury - she is fortunate to have been found and turned over to a wonderful team of people who are giving her round the clock car, and has raised money for her care (and possibly other animals as well). A reward of over $10,000 has been offered but so far no one has come forward - not the abuser nor the original owners.

Providing for Paws is also helping to take care of her. Here's what she looks like this morning, about 10 days after being found:

A sweetie isn't she? It's so sad that people would inflict such horrible damage to an innocent little animal, but even more sad that they also do it to children and each other. I never will understand violence, I just hope that people get the help they need. But what would be a fitting punishment to the person who did this? It's really unmeasurable. Doesn't someone want to do the right thing and turn someone in?

Acting!

Since it was early morning I was on high alert for bears and so during my early morning walk with Eco I was scanning the area listening and looking for early signs of any predators when suddenly my attention was called to Eco who looked like she ate a bad bug. She shook her head and seemed to scrape her tongue on her teeth and then produced a foamy 'moustache' as she tried to rid her mouth of the taste. I decided to turn back to home in case she had some reaction as I had no idea what had gotten into her mouth but by the time we were home she seemed fine.

However, later that day Eco was sick and she was sick and she was sick And then she was sick for another 36 hours. After the first 24 hours I was was sure she was over it and I fed her normal dinner but she was sick again, so the next morning I thought I'd better skip her meal. I know if I was that sick I wouldn't want to eat breakfast. However for a dog - and food loving Labrador at that - skipping a meal is serious business. Eco did her best to communicate to me that I had forgotten to feed her. She sat next to her bowl and waited. She sat between me and the bowl and would look and me and look at her bowl and probably wondered how I could suddenly be so stupid and miss all the hints she was giving me. Every time I entered the kitchen she did her best to draw attention to her and her bowl. I felt really bad and wished there was some way I could communicate to her that this was best for her. Around mid morning I decided I'd give her a couple tablespoons of chicken broth and some cooked rice. And then a little more a couple of hours later as I waited for our chance to see the veterinarian. Luckily she held that in.

When we got to our vet appointment, I gave a full accounting of the past two days of events and the vet  examined her thoroughly and decided that because she wasn't vomiting or exhibiting any other signs of illness and Eco hadn't had access to any puddles (for Giardia) we'd assume she had a case of gastroenteritis and gave her some antibiotics and some probiotics to help her tummy recover. Which she did and all is well.

But I have to say that that little dog deserves an award for Best Actress as she did all that she could to remind me that I hadn't fed her. I only wish I could've communicated back to her why I couldn't give her food.