(46) Change I can live with...I think

I really have a difficult time when I have to change my plans for the day. When I got up this morning, I thought I was going to spend a full day working on a computer project. However,due to circumstances beyond my control,I wasn't able to work on the project. Therefore, I had to come up with an alternative plan. This takes a considerable amount of my energy. I tell myself that admitting that I have this issue, goes along way to dealing with the situation. Unfortunately, I still had the day to plan and it took about an hour to figure out what the best plan for my day was going to be. I decided that I should first take another walkabout in the yard. Today is much warmer than in recent days, in the low 70's and it is cool with a little breeze and lots of sunshine. Gorgeous. The fern are really showing themselves and the small hosta leaves are unfolding. I love to look for all of the new growth in the yard. Beeks acts like he is helping me but he just chews grass or practices his tracking skills. But we continue to work on recall.

I then decided that what we really needed was a couple of good garage sales. Beeks and I like to go garage sale hunting in the Spring and Summer. Heck, we like garage sales when ever we can find them. It's an inherited illness. What can I say. We drove around for a number of hours with little success. Only a few sales and no treasures. Don't these people know that when the weather turns nice we need garage sales?

The only thing to do was to come home and have some ice cream with blueberries and sit outside on the deck. I gave Beeks and Max each a chew and sat down to enjoy the day. Beeks behaves funny with his chew. Like he can't get comfortable or can't decide where he should lay down. He gets near Max, then gets up and moves to a sunny, grassy area then back near Max, then up on the deck near me, then back to the grass. This moving about continued for a good five minutes. I wish I could read what was gong on in his mind.

We are practicing our outdoor etiquette while we are out here on the deck. There are a number of teenage girls that are riding their bikes down the lane and generally making all of the happy sounds teenage girls make when they are together. This gets both dogs barking. I am trying to teach them that they get to stay outside if they look but don't bark. This is tough for all of us. Beeks is the alarm and Max is the welcoming agent. In other words, when I try to stop one from barking the other one erupts. They are both tethered and once I got them into a sit it was easier. They like to bark. They want to run and play with the girls. I am just so mean!

We have been watching Gracie and George in the mornings. One or the other continues to move about the nest, in a circle fashion. My assumption is that the nest building is still in process. We don't see them much in the afternoon, except to see them soar overhead like Jonathan Livingston Seagull.I saw the hawks flying over the woods this afternoon. Three of them. I don't know what the territorial range of hawks is, but there they were, three happy flying,cawing hawks.

(45) What's the Use (of the dog)?

My father sent me a 1952 article about the role of household pets in the family. This was an article published in Marriage and Family Journal. The article was a review of studies of how dogs affect the lives of family members. It was titled, Some Neglected Areas of Family Study. The title alone suggests the importance of dogs in families even in 1952. The list of 11 affects was interesting in view of the times but also in the stability of the multiple roles that dogs play in our families today. To start, the 1952 paper suggests that dogs are(I paraphrase): (1.)an outlet for our affection,(2.)"serves" each family member according to his or her individual need,(3.)the developing and integration of continuing responsibility (4.)One of the best vehicles for toilet training (5.) Sex Education (6.)Satisfactory victim of personal needs for ego gratification (kicking the dog when your down syndrome) (7.)satisfies the desire for power,the wish to dominate someone (8.) the normality of physical processes, lessening inhibitions and intimate family contacts (9.) allowing an increase in range of acquaintances, social aid (10.) effective and continuing subject of family conversations (11.)companionship each according to one's own needs.

Interesting ideas to think about isn't it? I am sure that in today's list we wouldn't want to admit that we need the dog for ego satisfaction or to have something to have power over. We might not even want to admit that we would use our pet dog as a toilet training example but... Maybe the example would present itself like..., "look Lucy, see Pumpkin going to the potty where she is suppose to go?" I do think that there are a number of the listed roles that are still relevant for our pet dogs today and I think the list can be expanded as well.

Here is my list of modern roles for dog family members.
1. Surrogate child in the family. No, I love my boys but some families don't or can't have children and dogs are viable replacements for affection and caregiving.

2. Source for outlet of affection. The 1952 article stated that the dog receives more attention and affection than any other family member. I have no doubt. Here I would add a great source of unconditional love.

3. Social transition object. When necessary I can always travel with my dog and I am never alone. Beeks is a good transition into any socially awkward situation.

4. Social responsibility... Beeks needs me. I'm his source for food, water, shelter. It's good to be needed.

5. Total source for interesting family conversations. Duh, I'm writing a blog about him huh!

6. Family safety. Who would threaten me with Max and Beeks around. They not only protect me but I feel empowered by their presence.

7. Source for meaningful work. A raison d'etre if you will. A compassion, we all need to have some passion. An inward love to focus outward. To some people the responsibility of their dog fulfills this need. We enter into it freely and we derive pleasure and from it.

I'm sure the list could go on and on, but let me stop here and suggest that Beeks does have a huge role in our family and so does Max. I have previously mentioned that Max has a different role than Beeks. I think that Max's role is one of teaching and Beeks is one of filling emotional needs. To put it another way, I learn lots of lessons from Max. Patience, problem solving, prioritizing. With Beeker, he fills the emotional needs left vacant when the boys grew up and left home. I have someone to nurture and challenge to thrive. I think they make a good team of siblings in our family.

I think the way we view pets in families has changed in the last 50 some years. We certainly treat them physically better than we use to. Most family dogs now are inside homes, instead of outside in the yard. I think we also take better care of them medically. Most owners take their dogs to the Veterinarian on a regular basis. I still wonder if we take better care of our dogs mentally. With leash laws so strict now we rarely allow our pets to have the excitement of the free run. I get all of the safety needs of our communities but I do think that Beeks loves running free when he gets a chance. Being constantly confined must have a devastating effect on a dog's mental health.

What other roles have I forgotten from the list of the modern family dog? Any to add, any to extract? What good are they anyway? Lots if you ask me!

(44) It's a Vet Party

Today was a big day for Beeks. Actually it was a big day for all of us in this family. It was the annual visit to the Vet's office day. We take all of the pets to the Veterinarian's office once a year. We like to do it up big. When we lived in the Quad Cities and had two Newfoundlands and three cats we (Brad) use to take all of them to the vet's office all at once. The Office staff loved that. No really, We scheduled the whole morning and in came the whole troupe. I think the funniest part was probably seeing Brad carrying two cat carriers (two cats in one and one cat in another)and a leash with two Newfs. The office staff probably sat inside and rolled with laughter. Here in Champaign we take Beeks and Chez in and then after Chez is finished we switch him out to the car and bring Max in for his turn. Of course Beeks gets to stay in the room and suck up all the attention he can get.

We are lucky that we have had really good Veterinarians where ever we have lived. Here in Champaign we always request Dr. Hadley. She has been with us since we first moved here and had Belle and Beau, Sunshine and Paddington. Dr. Hadley is always so kind and gentle and she lavishes all of the pets with love. Even Max. Here is the thing about Mr. Max. He is always on his best behavior when we go to the Vets office. Even when they have to take him into the back room to give him lab tests or some other manipulation, he goes so willingly and he is so cooperative. An owner always wants to have their dog be on their best behavior and thank god they all love to go to see Dr. Hadley. Well, okay so Chez might say he doesn't really like going to the Dr's office but he gets through it. Usually Chez molts while he is there, leaving a white coat all over Brad, Me, and the entire exam room. He doesn't like having his ears looked at or being given shots either. The last shot that Chez received was in his hip and it was like a pop gun. Kinda like the old small pox shots we got in our arms when we were young. Well, I think the "pop" may have scared him more than the actual pain of the shot but he let out a his heard a mile away. It's a good thing that the vet tech and Dr. Hadley are really good at their jobs cuz Chez was not happy.

Beeker loves going to the Vet. He gets so much lovey attention and Dr. Hadley is always so complimentary to him. Beeks just moves right in and noses his way into getting strokes and hugs. Check out the picture above. Is that a happy dog or what? I asked her about brushing Beeks teeth and she gave me some good tips on how to gently introduce brushing and the paste to him. We also talked about brushing Chez's teeth, but I'm thinking Beeker will be easier than Chez. She also gave us some tips on how to keep Beeker away from being interested in Max's doot. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on top to discourage Beeks from being interested. Dr. Hadley always send the pets off with little love notes too. On their exam reports she says kind things to them so that they know she really does care for them too. Even Chez... notes like"I'll miss you Chez","Max looks Wonderful", and "Have fun brushing those teeth". What a great Doctor.

After such an exhausting afternoon it was time for a walk and we all loved the exercise. Beeks wanted to run but I wanted him to practice his heeling skills, so guess who won that battle? He practiced his heeling on the walk and then when we got home he sat (on his own)in the driveway so I let him off lead and let him run. He did, he ran and ran and ran. Yep, two times around the house, around Max, wrestled with Max then ran around the house and then he was GONE! I called and called him and up he popped from the woods and ran over to our neighbor's house, around their yard and right to me, smiling like "here I am, wasn't that great?" He was soaked from running in the creek and he was in heaven. I have him drying out in the laundry room before I brush him and try to clean him up.

(43) A Flea's Chance on a Dog's Back

I was talking to my dad this AM and he told me about a book he heard about so I looked it up on line. That's because I love books almost as much as I love my dogs(relax Brad you are above the dogs). Any way, I found the book he was talking about and on the way to finding that book, I found a website that showed little clips of authors talking about their books. Something like the old Reading Rainbow book reports. The authors give little back stories to the books in order to entice you to buy their books. I liked the idea since I could hear about multiple books and decide if it sounded like something I would want to read. If it sounded boring, I could just click on the next author or book and listen to see if it was something interesting. On the page of video book clips that I looked at there were about 16 clips and there were about 2000 pages to view. I only looked at one page and it took me about 15 to 20 minutes to listen and pick the next clip. The reason I am sharing this is that out of the 16 clips I listened to 4 were clips of books relating to or having to do with dogs. These are recent books that are being marketed to the public. Imagine how many books there must be in those 2,000 pages of 16 clips each. That's 3200 new books and if there are 4 on each page that's 800 new books about or relating to dogs. How will I ever read all of them? Sometimes I get a wild hair and think that it would be great to write a book about Beeks and his adventures and relate his dog perspective to life in general. Given the plethora of dog books on the market it would have a flea's chance on a dog's back to make it. Think of all of the attention that the book Marley and Me has received and think of the odds it overcame in order to even get to the publishing stage. Amazing.

Anyway, let me share some of the book titles that look really interesting to me. You might want to check them out for good reads.

What a difference a dog makes by Dana Jennings
What a Difference a Dog Makes: Big Lessons on Life, Love and Healing from a Small Pooch (Hardcover) $13.57

Cowboy and Wills: A love story by Monica Holloway
$24.00

Love is the Best Medicine and Tell Me where it hurts by Dr. Nick Trout
Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles (Hardcover)$23.99

Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon (Paperback)$14.00

Saving Gracie
Saving Gracie: How one dog escaped the shadowy world of American puppy mills (Wiley; $21.95)by Carol Bradley

It has been raining on and off most of the day today so we have been spending a lot of time on the back screened-in porch. This place has something for everyone. The animals love to smell the outdoors, hear the birds, cars, and other animals in the area and feel the breeze on their faces. It really is a great place to be outdoors and yet out of the elements like rain. There is enough space here that I can sit and read or work on the computer and they can roughhouse or sit looking out at the chipmunks running around. All three of the animals, that is, Beeks, Max and Chez love to sit and look out, watching and listening for that unexpected sound,movement or smell. Beeks gets a little anxious when the thunder starts to roll and he moves closer to the inside door and to me. Max and Chez are unfazed. I have noticed that Chez will try to get out to the porch even when the rest of us are not out here because he can get closer to the things he really loves, little tiny moving creatures.

When the cycle of quiet returns, we seem to be in the still of the night without complete darkness. Max sleeps, Beeks quietly looks around and Chez hunches over as close to the screen as possible to see the "ground squirrel's" run down their holes nearest the house. All is well here, for the moment, until the dogs hear a nearby truck or kids walking down the lane, or the clap of loud thunder. Then let the ruckus begin!

So long for now, I'd better get started reading, so many books so little time. If you read a great dog book please let me know. It might just be the perfect Flea.

(42) Mixed Emotions or Dogs on the Run

On the Run
Its a good thing that Beeker gets his morning, afternoon, and evening romps and walks because he needs them. We take our walk-abouts in the morning, to see all the new growth and then in the afternoon he runs around the yard and woods. Again he runs around the yard when Brad gets home or after we take the "together" walk with Max and Brad. Its been windy, windy, windy, today but it has also been warm. Almost 80 degrees. The wind helpskeep me cool but with the dog's black hair it warms up fast. Max is most happy inside or in the garage on the cement floor. Beeks gets hot but cools down faster and is ready to go again. Smaller body and quicker recharge.

I was busy on the computer most of the day and Beeks was most willing to just hang ot in the hall way waiting for me to finish. He has about a 3 hour patience cycle and then he needs/wants some attention. He lets me know this by bringing me a toy and droping it in my lap. Today it worked out pretty well with my schedule and we both needed a break at the same time. Other times I have to put him off (see previous blog).

Is He or Isn't He?
I love both my dogs. Max is such a loving dog, he has those big eyes that really look at you and let you know he loves you back. Here's the thing. I spend a lot of time with Beeker outside off leash. Beeks follows me all over. If I go upstairs, so does Beeks. If I go into the kitchen, so does Beeks. I readily take Beeks with me whenever I run errands. I treat them both, when one gets a treat, I give the other one a treat. Both dogs sleep on the bed at night, however Max doesn't last long cuz its too hot for his Newfie self.
But I wonder, does Max (or any dog) get jelous? I know that jelousy is an emotion and emotions seem like a human trait. We have learned that animals cane feel fear, rage, curiosity(seeking or anticipation). So they do feel some "human" simular emotions. I know that Max gives me the "sad" eyes when I walk out the door with Beeks. Max is enthusiastic if he thinks that I am leaving the house. He will follow me and keep close to the door. He is giving me all of the signs that he is anticipating the outing and wants the adventure as much as Beeks until...the door opens and Beeks is called to leave. I can almost hear Max sigh with sadness. I find my self feeling aprehensive as I get ready to leave. sometimes I know that taking Max with us would be miserable for him, that he woudl be much more comfortable staying home, but still I wonder, am I just rationalizing? Am I the worst kind of dog owner, favoring one dog over the other? I certianly wouldn't favor one of my children over the other.

So after my own self inflicted guilt, I reexamine the situation and come up with these thoughts/rationalizations: (1.) Max has a different role(job)in our family, with different strengths from Beeker. (2.)Max has not proven himself as able to recall, or be socially behaved most of the time. (3.) Max is big and I am not able to control him if he decides to pull like a crazy dog. (4.)Max isn't always comfortable when we go out.
Again, these are my rationalizations. I know that I need to practice with Max alone, without Beeker but the question remains, does he get jelous when I take Beeks outside or show favoritism? Or does he just move on to the next moment and activity, like where the coolest place is in the house at the moment.

(41) April Showers Bring May Flowers (and Plants)

We had a whopper of a thunder storm this afternoon but it lasted only about 20 minutes and then the sun came out as the humidity rose. Beeker does not like thunder it turns out. As soon as the thunder boomed he lowered his ears and his body and crept to where I was standing. I tried to comfort him and to reassure him that the thunder would pass. Then t boomed again. This time he crept to where Max as laying in the laundry room but then his anxiety grew and he returned to where I was and crawled under the kitchen table so that he could see me and Max at the same time. I know that loud low noises can hurt a dog's ears so I felt sympathy for him. It was interesting to watch how his anxiety led him to roam around instead of hunkering down. He really was trying to find a place that would protect him and also to be near those (Max and Me) who could reassure him at the same time. Even after the sun came out and we readied to go outside, Beeks was still more anxious than normal. When we got outside and smelled that wonderful mix of dirt and rain, we both felt better. I don't think there is a better smell in nature than that of dirt after a new rain. To me that is nature at its best. What a great fresh smell. I guess Beeks thinks so too because he ran around the lot like a puppy (see pictures). As I have said before, We usually take a walkabout in the morning and in the evening. Today the difference of growth between the two walks in the same day was nothing but amazing(see pictures). I love this time of year when the April showers really do bring May flowers. I love watching each fern poke its tendrills up to the sun. I would swear that the growth is so fast right now that Beeks could hear it (being that his hearing is so good). He just can't get enough of the running and the pouncing in the woods. I allow him to run then after I walk further on, I call him to me and he (mostly)comes. My son use to call this,"attaching to the Mother Ship". Then off he goes.

Last week I purchased the Premier Twist and Treat toy for Beeks and have been filling it with Canidae Tiny Bits.Its basically the Canidae food in small treat sizes. This is the toy that the dog has to figure out how to twist the top and bottom of the saucer shaped toy in order to get the holes matched so that the treats will come out. The top and bottom of the saucer shaped toy screw into each other for filling. I shook it after I had placed treats in it and thought that since the top and bottom need to be lined up in order to let the treats out, Beeks would not be able to figure it out. I first gave him this toy in the car as something to do when we were going somewhere. I heard him working on it and then after about five minutes nothing. I assumed that he got bored trying to get the treats without success. That was that. When I got home and grabbed it to take it into the house I discovered that the toy was completely empty. Completely! The top and bottom halves were aligned and all of the treats were gone. POOF! I tried it again at home with the same results but I didn't watch him so the next time I am going to watch to see what his method is. I will report back.

Enjoy your rainy days and watching the green grow!

(40) The Feast de Resistance

It has been a wonderful Easter Day for all of us. We started the day by going to the Urbana Sculpture Garden for a walk. Beeks especially likes this park because there are new smells that he delights in finding when ever we go there. Today we noticed all of the beaver damage along the creek. Many trees have been chewed down and have created some dams along the way. The Park board has been working to unjam the creek and let the water begin to flow, but this continues to be an issue for this great park. So many trees downed and a lot of water backed up. Beeks is perfecting his art of rodent pouncing. At one point he looked like his cousin dog, Jesse James as he bounced in the tall grasses trying to catch some kind of critter. Jesse would have been proud.

When we got home, the dogs rested as Brad and I prepared for our egg hunt. It was fun to watch our neighbor girls play in their driveway in anticipation of the hunt. As you can see from the pictures, they wore their bunny ears for the event as well. They got excited as they came thru the path. Their eyes were looking to find all the colorful eggs we had placed in the yard. Before we would let them "go to it" we brought Beeker out for pictures. I'm not sure who was more skittish, Morgan and Maya or Beeker? A fun time was had by all, and all of the 46 eggs were found(We think).
The girls LOVE Chez so we decided to bring him outside after the hunt. He was so happy to just be out in the sun he didn't mind all of the attention he got. The cat does love the sun. I was surprised that as soon as the girls were finished with the hunt they were ready to explore our house. What I mean is that,I remember Easter Egg hunts, and when I was finished I wanted to see what was in my eggs, trade for other goodies and eat all the chocolate my parents would allow me. Not these girls. They were happy with the excitement of locating eggs and spending time outside. Then it was time to explore the house. Now, Morgan and Maya have favorite things to do when they come to visit my house and one of them is to play with all of my little tiny animals. I have turtles,frogs,birds,and lamas. Maya likes to line them up, play with them in imaginative ways. Today was no different. Shells are something else they like to play with. My shells get put to good use when the girls come to "Miss Sally's". Both Dogs settled down and the girls play together so well that we adults were able to spend time drinking coffee and talking! What a wonderful day.

Later Beeks and I played fetch and bring in the yard. Beeks likes to run after balls I throw but he doesn't especially like to bring them right back to me so he usually gets them and then lays in the yard looking at me sweetly. Therefore we have devised a system that allows a good game of bring and fetch. Beeks sits at a heel, I throw the ball, he fetches the ball and I call him back while holding a chew rope of another ball. He brings me back the ball so that he can get the rope. I throw the rope, he runs for the rope, I call him back, showing him the ball in my hand and so it goes. This works for him and I feel like he is following my command. It's a Win-Win situation. He's pretty worn out after about 7 rounds of this.

The feast de resistance for Beeks and Max today was the ham bones I gave them after I cut off the ham this afternoon. They were besides themselves as they sat hoping that a morsel would drop from the carving. When I actually got the ham cut and figured out that there was a nuckle bone attached to a part of the hip, I decided to give them each a little treat. A treat it was too. The drool was at full throttle by the time I got them outside. I sat watching them eat thinking, do you think they're happy or what? When they began to chew up the bone we took them away,with much resistance on their part. Both gave them up but with some trepidation on both of their parts.
This is about as good of a dog day as there can be.