Declaration of Dependence

DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE

I am loyal, compassionate and true.
I am your companion, and brave protector.

My job is to make you smile and laugh.
I don't care if I look silly sometimes, because I love to hear your voice smiling with me.

I don't much care for baths, but I pretty much do what you ask with little complaint.
I eat when you say, drink when you say, walk when you say.

But while my brothers, sisters and I are brave, smart and silly, we are really not independent at all.
Many of us have lived on the street, been alone, but we don't want it that way.

We depend on you for our health, happiness, safety.
To keep the burrs from our coats and the oil from our feathers.

We all ask for the privilage of being warm in winter, cool in summer, and protected from the elements and from fear.
We depend on you for everything, and we give you everything in return.

Welcome to the new 2009 edition of "Get to Know Your Pals"

Copy this diary entry, and paste it into your diary. Read then delete my answers. Then you can fill in your own! We can get to know our pals better!! Have fun!! Then send a paw mail or rosette to 4 pals and ask them to post it in their diary!!!!

Here we GO!!!!!

1. What color is your collar? My collar is sage green/brown paisley. At night time, I sleep naked, though!


2. What kind of food do you eat? I eat Science Diet, but Momma is looking at Wellness Blend so I might change. I get homemade biscuits and sometimes cheese and tiny nips of other food.


3. What are your favorite treats? The homemade applesauce/oatmeal cookies that momma makes for me!


4. Do you have a Valentine or significant other?? My Mommy is first, and then my friends Sadie and Maggie. Of course, all of my PTLF pals are my valentine!


5. Do you get Table Scraps? Just little nips every now and then.


6. What is your favorite toy? Anything I can pelt!


7. When is your Birthday?...Oct. 6 and I will be 5.



8. How many times a day do you get to eat? Twice.


9. Do you have a favorite color? Tan, white and black...oh wait...that's ME!!!

10. Do you hope all your pals put this in their diary? I do, but I know not everybody has time.

I'm Dog of the Day!!!

Imagine my stunned surprise this morning when I saw all of your wonderful notes about being selected Dog of the Day!

Thank you so much to EVERYPAW for your sweet notes and rosettes of every shape and size! Thank you to Dogster for selecting me!

This is such an honor and a wonderful surprise. I love Dogster and I especially love and appreciate all of my friends!

To Paws and Reflect

In a few hours, another year will be behind us. A whole year!

A lot has happened in the world -- some good, some bad, some fun, some sad.

Momma has helped a friend through the death of a beloved daughter.
We huddled together in Home and listened to a hurricane roar overhead in the darkness.
Then at daybreak, we joined our neighbors to clean, fix, stack and rake.
We have worried -- with all sincerity -- when our Dogster friends have been in harm's way.

We worked hard in obedience -- more successes than failures.
And I celebrated 3 years of love, warmth and safety.
I basked in the sunshine and wiggled in the grass.
We walked for miles and miles, always ending with a cool drink and a good long nap.

I am grateful for what I have -- so is Momma.
We are grateful for our Dogster friends, because we know you understand and care.
We care about you, too.

Happy New Year to you all...we wish you health, warmth, a full tummy and plenty of love.

Today is my Birthday!

I had the most wonderful birthday today! I'm four years old!

Well, we think I am. The only one who knows for sure is God, but since Dr. Helen says I was about 9 months old when Momma found me, that makes my birthday in October!

Why this day? This is because when Momma told my Grandma ab0ut October, she asked if I could share my birthday with her! Wasn't she nice to share like that? So, that is why my birthday is celebrated on this very day!

I got lots of nice presents today. I got a ball that flashes in the dark, a stuffie zebra (well, stuffed for NOW!), some rawhides, a Halloween punkin' with rope arms, a pink stuffie, and the most confusing of all...a grizzly bear that is ALREADY unstuffed! How about that? It has lots of sqeakers, but no guts........I will ponder this while taxidermy my zebra!

Momma made me a special batch of my homemade cookies, and we took a walk with my best friend, Sadie, around the lake!

Thank you all for making my day so special...I got messages, cards, rosettes and more love than I could ever hope for. My life is good, and I'm so happy you are part of it!

Learning about my "Place"

I had a wonderful lesson with my teacher yesterday! She said Momma and I are doing really, really well! One of my new things to do is "place". We had tried to do it before, but we weren't very good at it.

Teacher said the trick was to have "place" be a slightly elevated spot with hard sides, to help me understand the boundaries and not get confused. We used an elevated pet cot -- you know, those mesh beds that are sometimes used outside to keep you off the ground. Well, when momma guided up to the bed and said, "Abby place!" I hopped right up! I liked the cot, and with only a few tries, I stayed! Momma and teacher walked around, clicked and treated, walked around more and told me I was good!

Then it was time to get off, so Momma said, "Ok, off!", and I stepped down. Then we started over!

Anyway, Momma got me a cot of my own, and just left it sitting there until today. This afternoon, Momma realized something might be wrong with the air conditioning, and our repairman was available and said he would come. Momma thought this would be a great chance to start practicing "place", so she got me into position about 20 minutes before he arrived. When he came, I just layed there! I didn't even bark when he came in the house. Momma even left the room several times.

I only messed up one time -- we didn't know he was in the attic and when he made a big noise I jumped up -- but Momma told me to go back and I did! And then the repairman went in and out a bunch, and I stayed put!

Momma thinks it is because I knew she had everything under control -- I didn't need to protect our home because by telling me to go to my place, she was letting me know that everything was okay!


I just wanted to share what I learned and that I did it without question. I wasn't afraid, Momma didn't need to correct me, I was calm and rested, and I got LOTS of clicks and treats!!!!

A Perfect Storm of Trouble

WHY PROPER LEASHES ARE IMPORTANT

Momma and I got into trouble last night -- a perfect storm.

First a small dog off leash ran up to me. We did fine. Not perfect, but fine. Momma didn't expect any aggression and there wasn’t any – just me pulling toward the dog a bit.

3 minutes later, on the arched foot bridge across the wash, we come face to face with the guy who thinks it's a good idea to walk his enormous Pit on a long cotton rope from the hardware store. "Sally is friendly can they meet?" and Sally nose to nose with me happens in one fast motion.

Well, that's not the meeting I had in mind, and I have no idea who snarled first, but now we have a snapping/slapping battle in an enclosed space. Momma pinned against the railing with nowhere to go. Trying to hold me back, and the guy doing the same with his dog, and all the "what if's" racing through Momma's mind.

Momma did exactly what the teacher told her not to do – she grabbed me around my chest and held me back. But we had nowhere to turn and the Pit was reaching for me! Momma was just trying to have the smallest footprint possible.

Enter an unleashed Golden and unleashed Poodle right behind us. No fighting, but I'm spinning around looking for the next threat. Guess who was labeled the bad guy in all of this? Yep, the only properly restrained dog in the bunch. ME! Life isn't fair, and I won't imply that I didn't have a paw in this, but still...

I agree that Sally probably is a friendly dog. I know a couple of Pits that are as gentle as can be and Momma lets me play with them, but she's not going to let me engage with a Pit and a guy that we don't know. They are just too powerful.

The good news is that had this happened a week ago, I would have been wound up and jumpy as a kitten for the rest of the walk. But this time I shook it off and was calm. So this is a good thing.

My training session was wonderful!

All I can say is "wow"!

Just "WOW"!

We spend more than 2 hours with my new teacher. She respected my breed, my being, my heart. She also respected the things momma has tried, tested, liked and disliked in the past. She listened, suggested, coached, but she didn't take over.

It turns out, she had been sneaking peeks at me and Momma while we were waiting for our appointment. She said she already knew that Momma loves and respects me, but that by judging from our interview, she could see that although Momma has a clear vision of how she wants me to behave, that she also has a side that's sometimes a bit too "soft" to finish the job. Not in a mean way, but in a determine, firm way.

She said that she could see our bond and that anything is possible!!!

My session was so good, and I got so much praise! We are starting the clicker training again -- with the promise that it will not become a crutch -- and I responded beautifully. My teacher even brought in other doggies to help us create our exercises and plans.

By plans, I mean already knowing the steps that we will take when a scary skateboard is approaching, or a bad distraction.

Anyway, I'm so exhausted now that my eyes are drooping. I slept all the way home. But I'm tired in a good way!

New Lessons

Well, starting Saturday, I have a new teacher. See, I have a habit of walking along mindlessly and calm, and then seeing something chaseable and darting off like a torpedo. There's no early warning system. No pulling or excitement. Just zero to 100 from a standstill. If momma didn't keep the leash wrapped around her wrist in a special knot, well, I'd be to the end of the block and in the street before you can even finish saying my name.

I'm really not bragging here....but the thing is that I'm fast. Very fast. Dangerously fast. And when that happens, I don't listen and I don't watch where I'm going. Momma says if I ever get away from her when I'm on the chase, that I'll get hit by a car. Our neighbors thought Momma was telling tall tales until they saw it happen and were stunned. They said I could accidently break Momma's wrist or dislocate her shoulder. I don't want that to happen!!! Momma's deepest fear is that the leash will break or that I'll shoot off the sidewalk and into traffic. I've dragged Momma to the ground a few times, and it's embarrassing for both of us.

So, I have a visit with a new teacher this weekend. Momma was excited because this is the first trainer I've had that will admit that scent and sight hounds are different. Hello! Every time Momma mentioned this to the other trainers, they poo-pooed her and acted like the breed wasn't relevant. But she knew in her insides that this scent hound brain of mine is programmed to pursue prey and that I require a different training exercises to focus my attention and encourage me to listen.

The teacher explained that we need to work on something called "diversion training", as well as a more stringent obedience routine. She says that simply loose-leash walking -- anywhere I want to be as long as there is no tension on my leash -- might not be as effective for me because I need the structure of walking in a true heel position. Momma might get to try clicker training again, too. The teacher also agrees with Momma that we fox hounds are sensitive and can get our feelings hurt easily. She promises a pawsitive experience for all of us.

Anyway, we both promise to work hard. I hope you know that I'm a good girl. I just like to chase things, and Momma is trying to make sure I stay safe.

Please send your good thoughts our way as we start our new lessons.

I am more loved today than yesterday...

...but not as much as tomorrow.


"I loved you more today than yesterday
But not as much as tomorrow
I loved you more today than yesterday
But darlin' not as much as tomorrow"


I've never doubted that Momma loves me. She sings this song about loving me all the time. But something has happened...and I don't know what...but Momma says that she has this even deeper, new love for me! She just says that she sees me with new, even clearer eyes.

Is it because of reading, seeing and hearing about cruelty that has made her see my value even more? Is it because of seeing all of the animals that are in rescue organizations because they were left behind?

Maybe it's something that my wonderful friend, Flicka, said on his Gotcha Day a few weeks ago...that his job is to live his life the best he can to honor those who are not fortunate enough to have a loving home. That makes so much sense.

Anyway...Momma loves me and sees me as something to cherish. I wanted to share that with you, and let you know that your pawrents love you just as much!