Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Daily Dispatch The Bichon And CSN

As you can see Dispatch can help in using a mac computer too.. we still thought he was a poodle @ this point, not a terribly handsome poodle.  He's always had a thing about furniture as has his mother....
This was taken in August of 2005, as you can see Dispatch does sit on couches too, the back preferably.

Dispatch and I LIKE furniture, in fact I have folders on most of my computers that are labeled furniture or new furniture. 

I really like the quality of this Bedroom Vanity and the appearance.  It would go perfectly in my bedroom that is 1970s ranch meets art deco and primitive...I know it sounds funky but it's really nice.
If you have lots of children in your life they have a bedroom vanity for them too.  Check out their free shipping on some items....just check em out if you have time.
Anyway these are REALLY nice people @ the CSN stores.
AND they have 200+ stores!!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Skeeter Video, She LIVES! Old Terrier

Here are two videos I shot last night of Skeeter, the incredible old terrier dog.  Her story is here and here.  I thought I ran over her, I did run over something, may have been her tail but I think it was her, she was under my wheel on the car and I felt a little bump, I let the car idle for a minute before I took off, I'm wondering if she was that deaf, she's been weirder than usual since then.  I tried to feed her cereal and milk and sausage, I know not the proper food for a sickly dog but @ her age it's got to be easy to eat and good.  She still hates me.


You have to remember this dog waits till I get on the riding lawnmower and then runs in front of me about 20 ft like I'm chasing her, or she used to, I doubt if she does that anymore.  I swear she does this because we live by the highway and people can say look @ that horrible person chasing that POOR little black dog on the riding lawnmower....
Skeeter is a survivor, Dispatch is the only dog who has lived while we've had Skeeter and we've had 4 other dogs.
I've got a CUTE picture of a bulldog and a baby on animalsthatgivepause.com .
AND there's a story about why I hide things from my husband on Tresa's Blog .

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Natural Balance Dog Food Recall


Yesterday, consumer members of the Natural Balance ClubNB received email notification from Joey Herrick, President of Natural Balance Pet Foods, about the voluntary recall of 5 lb. and 28 lb. Sweet Potato & Chicken Dry Dog food, manufactured on December 17, 2009 with a "Best By" date of June 17, 2011.

No customer complaints have been recorded, the FDA found traces of Salmonella.

You can read a letter from the president of Natural Balance.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Skeeter Is Alive Or was 5 Minutes Ago

If you hadn't heard I ran over my adopted dog that really wasn't mine Saturday.

She came back up the driveway yesterday morning then disappeared again, she has another house to go to down the hill of my cousins, all on the same farm.

So  my husband saw Skeeter this morning laying BEHIND THE  BACK WHEEL OF MY CAR which is what started the whole thing.  I went out and she finally came around the corner. I know if I take her to the vet it will be a one way trip, I'm just not positive she's in pain or any more pain than she was in before when she's walking like a troglodyte.

So I'd cooked this HUGE ham, I wasn't sure it would fit in the turkey roaster so I got a granite-ware wash-pan off the display wall in the family room.  After I took the ham off the bone I gave the juice and leftover gristle and fat to the cats.  I took Skeeter over to the log cabin where the cats live and she ate some ham.  Then she gave me another really dirty look and waddled off.....

Saturday, June 19, 2010

I Think I May Have Ran Over My Dog.....

See the dog in the middle?  Not Dispatch the white one or Fema the gray one, the dog who is by the pickup and green chair?  That is Skeeter, she used to be my dads dog.  My dad has been dead 10 years and Skeeter was old then.  She looks sort of like a fake dog mixed with a troglodyte she is so old.

Anyway I'm not sure I ran over her but I thought I might have ran over something earlier today and she took off over the hill (OK she waddled and I tried to feed her chicken and she said bad words to me with dog esp and kept on going) and I can't find her......I was going to have to take her to the vet soon anyway to be put to sleep, she was pitiful she's like 20 years old, but I don't like to think of her dying alone but I can't find her.....we will see in the morning...this is her last known photo. She took like a minute to get up when she was laying down but maybe she didn't hear the car start which means she couldn't hear anything.   I feel bad but I took care of this dog for 10 years and nobody else would take her, she bit kids when we first got her.....she really didn't like me, she liked my husband....I still feel bad....

THE NEXT DAY...........
Skeeter came up the driveway this morning, she's been down in the farm buildings somewhere.  I haven't seen her eat or drink but she acted interested in food, I patted her down and she didn't seem to be in pain.  She's not very perky but she wasn't perky before I thought I ran over her.  You have to remember she is 140 in dog years or close to it, she's @ least over 100. 
If I don't see her eat or drink by tomorrow I will take her to the vet.  She's in her dog house in the shade and has hot dogs, cream, and water nearby..

Friday, June 18, 2010

Dog Is Tossed Out of Window And Survives, Runs In Traffic

Teddy a bichon from Hastings NZ is back with his family today.  Complete story @ Hawkes Bay today.
The dog disappeared Wednesday night from the family home.  The family has two disabled daughters and Teddy is a companion to them and is a s of therapy dog.  The family also planned on breeding other therapy dogs.

Teddy was evidently thrown from a car window and then police and his owner had to bribe him with food to get him caught but eventually he was caught, dirty and disheveled.

I once participated in an attempted dog rescue like this but I never did find out what happened because the police came but the dog was out of my sight.  I was driving down 110 down to the casinos in Biloxi MS, we lived there and I think I was going shopping for a bar-b-que grill.  My husband had left earlier and had my bichon with him.  All of a sudden I see a little white ball of fur barreling up the exit ramp.  Instincts took over,  swerve to side of road, open car door and try to catch dog as he runs by, he looked @ me like I was the most hideous thing in the world.  It wasn't my dog, it was a Maltese, he's running up the freeway, people are chasing him, everyone is stopping, I'm out running up the highway trying to get people to stop or go around so as to not hit the FAST little white ball of fur.   The dog found an opening in the fence around the highway and the police were below but I couldn't see what happened, he was never in the pound so I'm assuming they found his owners.  That little short legged white dog could BOOK.  It was funny though because almost everyone on the freeway stopped and got out and chased this little dog.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Iams ProActive Canned Cat Food Recall

This may be old news but it's worth repeating.  Iams has recalled its canned ProActive Health cat food because it doesn't contain the proper levels of thiamine.  If fed exclusively it can lead to death in felines.  Please take note!
Dates stamped on the bottom of the can are from 09/2010 to 06/2012.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Log, One Of My Heart Dogs

This is Log


He is one of the most loved dogs in my life.  He was born in 1984 I think, maybe 83, which would have made my girls 7 and 8.  His mother was a cross breed some friends from Kansas City had found and decided she needed a country home (with us?), she was a German Shepherd and Irish Setter mix.  More on her in another post but she wasn't a heart dog till she was older.  Logs father was the Saint Bernard next door.

I wish I could find some younger pictures of Log but he was a cute cute puppy.  Why Log?  Because he looked like a stump when he was sitting down when he was a puppy, solid and squat and sturdy, just a block sitting there waiting to get back up and follow you somewhere.

This picture was of a fairly young Log I think.  You are probably thinking what a horrible horrible looking dog.   He was beautiful inside.  He would do anything for the girls and I, anything.  All he wanted to do was be with us and follow us.  He never had any true understanding that he was the biggest dog and would try to crawl on our laps all his life though.  He reminded me of a giant stinky Dispatch.

He did bite some people.  Some had chased him on 4 wheelers, some he THOUGHT had chased him, Log was big and a bit freaky and people liked to tease him.  My father had a business though and the dogs were used to people coming and going.  One man was teasing the kids when Log was still growing (teasing in good fun he was a friend of the family and was surrounded by relatives and other men) and the girls were squealing.  Log decided enough was enough and went after the man.  He let the girl go and all was well in the world after that except Log didn't like that man either ever again.  That's the first time we knew Log was a little different than the other dogs.  He wasn't vicious @ all, a baby could have done anything he wanted to Log just as long as it didn't involve hurting me or the girls.

My brother probably wouldn't like me telling this story but my brother is big, over 6 ft.  Log adored my father too but he drew the line there as far as men, other relatives weren't included.  So my brother would sometimes bark @ Log.  Log would run, brother would pretend he was getting Daddy and the game was on.  Back and forth they would go and then brother would eventually feed Log a candy bar and all was forgiven (our dogs ate chocolate daily,  my dad sold it in his shop and we didn't know it was really supposed to be poison, our dogs ate chocolate ALL The time).  Like I said my brother is big and Log wasn't 100 lb I don't think but we didn't weigh him, he was WAY over 60 I know.  But here were these three, two big men and a big dog playing and playing....

One day a salesman came to my parents house.  Log wasn't particularly fond of my mother but she was part of his pack and we all lived on the same farm, I happened to be outside helping mom with the flowerbed or something @ her house.  The salesman was selling cemetery plots or burial plans, I can't remember.  Younger big and cocky man.  Well cocky for awhile.  Mom got tired of listening to the guy and told him to leave, he kept talking and mom started getting mad.  Mom was a schoolteacher and had her faults but lack of words was never one.  She started getting that tone and then was yelling @ the salesman to get back in his car.  Log had been laying under something in the shade.  The big cocky saleman became a big FAST salesman when he saw Log coming after him but the moment I told Log to stop he stopped. I admit I didn't say stop to till he was fairly close behind the salesman but the he had been told repeatedly to get back in his car and was making me a bit nervous too.

Log was afraid of storms, not badly terrified but leery.  One spring day a tornado formed close by Log usually obeyed but he decided that day he was a house dog and he was going to be an under the FURNITURE house dog.  We didn't get a direct hit but it was close.  After that we watched the dogs when there was a tornado warning, they were better than the radio and tv.

Log was a faithful companion for 12 years which is actually pretty long for a dog of his size.  One hot hot summer day we left for a wedding and there was no Log to greet us when we got home.  He was chasing us up the driveway and had a heart attack and died.

OH, I forgot to mention that.  Log chased cars.  We had several dogs and a long driveway and they chased cars.  Never could break them so we just didn't hit them and they stayed out of the way, it's a gravel driveway and most of the dogs were huge so it wasn't any great effort on the human or the dogs part not to get in each others way.  Log had another habit.  He bit car tires as he was chasing them, his teeth weren't very pretty either.  Log was a bit rough around the edges but he was a dog with a heart as big as he was.

We still talk about him often which is as big a tribute as any dog gets I suppose.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Dirty Dog

It was Monday, Monday morning to be exact. Not only was it Monday and time to rage against the machine again but it was raining. Normally the dog does not DO rain. He did this morning.
So before I even got dressed it was bath time for the dog.  He had also discovered something brown and decidedly fragrant.
So evidently I was a little harsh with the brushing and scolding because he wasn't taking brushing well.  Trust me the bichon was not really yelled @ even.  I just hold his head and say "look @ me, aren't you ASHAMED of yourself" while giving my best I am extremely peeved and don't know what I'm going to do mommy look when he growls.    So he quits growling and grovels under my neck so I PLEASE won't give him that horrible mommy look anymore until I have to change what I'm brushing and then we repeat the whole process.  Probably not acceptable doggie behavior but that's how we do it.
So I'm on the computer writing or looking @ how stuff is selling on ebay after the brushing  (countryjunque go check it out soon)   and I look over and THIS is what I see.  You see he never lays under this bench but I suppose he was hiding and invisible?  He is extremely peeved himself.  Then we graduated to this.....
Sitting by the back door on the grandkids sweatshirts they left.  I do believe he is saying just let me outside crazy woman away from you you crazy woman, did I mention you are crazy because you gave me a bath first thing this morning and it's MONDAY for dogs TOO!!
Or @ least that's what I think he said?
I didn't let him out, still wet and raining.  He has gotten mad before after I groom him if I scold him, sometimes he goes and sits in the driveway and looks toward the highway and waits for "daddy" to come home to rescue him from crazy woman.
All is forgiven now though.......I think........

Monday, June 14, 2010

Bichon Video That Daddy Doesn't Know It's A Video

The dog dances, walks, pirouettes, he does it all.  What is funny is the man holding the bone (Daddy is what we call him though no blood relation to the bichon or Mama for that matter?) doesn't know we are doing a video and he is waiting for the flash.  Silly Daddy....




Daddy has on his oldest jeans because we've been working on the yard (surprise surprise, that's extreme sarcasm BTW).  You can see the lawn @ Florence View and other interesting things.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Animal News Including Ceasar Milan Splitting From His Wife.

Ok, my dog (who is REALLY unbrushed in this old picture)
Hasn't done anything interesting today so no new videos.  He did give me his bone grudgingly and growling trying to fake me out but it doesn't work very well if he comes and puts the bone in my hand when I ask?
So we will talk about other things.
Att has a new deal to help you keep track of your dog.  (OK it's 3 months old) it's a sim card inside of a collar, pretty good idea right up there with the blinkie collar which is sort of scary in the middle of the night.

Funny Dog Pictures, OK MORE Funny dog pictures with captions, I don't think I'd seen this one before because I really don't spend all my time surfing, really.  And of course there is the lolcats or celebs for cats and other animals.

Then there is a NYC man who is accused of starving a pittbull and her puppies for the darker side of animal news..WHY?

Cesar Milan and his wife are splitting and NOBODY told me, I guess it happened like a week ago from his web page?

Just because my dog didn't do anything today Chloe the Corgi tested an Ipad.   You can see more @ tested.com.  Which currently has an iphone in a completely sealed long plastic container that perhaps is not meant for an iphone?  It's actually a tech test site which I find interesting, the phone idea not so much.



And each to his own but a wireless crate that is basically a shock collar with a mat?  Wouldn't it be almost as easy to teach the dog to lay somewhere?    I'm not much on shock collars but if they had been invented when I had the Airedale mix that could jump a 5 ft fence they would have been pretty attractive.

Dogblog  has had a series of posts on different options for pet memorials from urns to mummification.  Mugseys  ashes are still on the fireplace mantle in their little gift box type thing.  For those who are new Mugsey used to be a major part of this blog, he was a yellow lab that looked like Marley, he died the end of July last year.

On how stuff works they explain how guard dogs do their job, are trained, how we can help them and what their lives are like.

Here is a man that does beautiful pet portraits.  Read his dogs story with a box of tissues though....

Friday, June 11, 2010

Joplin MO Animal Shelter need HELP!!!

HIGH KILL GASSING SHELTER

All these dogs are SUPER URGENT at the Joplin, MO shelter.

So far this month, the shelter received 1,020 animals and continue to be beyond capacity.

Important CONTACT info you need to know:

►501c3 RESCUES can contact Lysa Buehler at pitbullangels@yahoo.com (ONLY RESCUES may use this email address)

►PRIVATE ADOPTERS please contact the shelter at (417-623-3642)


Note from the shelter manager:

We need these dogs pulled ASAP. The local boarding kennel is full and we just cannot hold pending dogs at the shelter for days. If you e-mail and confirm a dog or puppies, please have a plan in motion to get the dogs. We do not have people who transport. We ask $10 to cover the cost of the distemper combo, bordatella and deworming. Health certs with Rabies vaccine are $20, but we prefer that you get the health cert as we will have to drive the dogs to a vet; we have no vet on staff. After the Holiday, boarding MAY be available at Golden Paws for $8 day. You will ned to contact them to pay the boarding fee...they are a HUGE help to us and we want to keep this happy arrangement going!

Here is the complete photo album: http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/pitbullangels/AARC%20%20May%2028/
Location: Joplin, MO
I'm looking @ the photo album and I see some Pit Bulls but I also see spaniels, hound looking dogs, definite boxer type dogs, mixed lab dogs, an australian shepherd, one of those little white dogs that are so near and dear to my heart, a german shepherd or 20, and many terriers like Spot, sort of medium sized, inside outside dogs...Please help if you can...I got this off of facebook but I'm like really sure they don't mind..

Here's a picture of how we treat adopted pets @ our house....JUST KIDDING, this was over 20 years ago, didn't have a small bottle right then, my daughter, she takes care of animals for a living now, be afraid, be very afraid.........LOL

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Bichon Frise Gets Crazy When He Goes To Bed

 Dispatch is my Bichon Frise as you can see, he gets REALLY excited when we go to bed. He attacks my feet, he attacks my hands, he hears things and barks. He gets so excited he chokes but goes to the EDGE of the bed to cough because he has been taught not to spit up on the furniture if he can help it. I swear.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Bichon Frise Demands Something

This is Dispatch first demanding, loving, jumping, demanding, goose stepping, loving, jumping, just watch...

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Bichon Video, Possilby Most Spoiled Dog?

The bichon frise had been having issues with eating. He was afraid of his food bowl. Mistaya's mom commented that Mistaya's food bowl phobia was cured with a plastic bowl.  Dispatch still didn't like the bowl.  So we put it on a tea towel.  It worked.  I sound slightly looney in this video.  I said SLIGHTLY, OK???
This was taken on Saturday, published on Tues....I will keep you updated....dog isn't starving, husband says if he gets hungry he will eat....he did go eat the rest of the food out of the plastic bowl after the video was taken....

Monday, June 7, 2010

Bichon Video Being Loving

My Bichon Frise being loving, I think he wanted me to feed him some more or go outside.  The paper on the floor had had either yogurt and grape nuts on it or cottage cheese and raspberries.  He likes the cottage cheese mixture, the yogurt not so much....

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Bichon Video, He Goes Slightly Crazy

I swear the dog is FINE. He just had watched enough bichon videos I guess and was conveying the pack mentality? Or mama's voice howling made him go off the deep end? Watch and see. Tomorrow a HAPPY video!!  I do think Bichon Frise are more people oriented than most dogs and therefore much more interested in videos and tv's and computers?

I used to have a screen saver on my computer that had a tapestry of a horse that would get bigger and bigger and bigger in little jumps, Dispatch the bichon learned if he moved the mouse that horrible growing horse would disappear for awhile.  I kid you not.
I took this video on my phone because I think I left my camera in my husbands big truck.  I showed the dog the video on the phone and he is like "EGADS!! That thing stole my soul too!!  When will the madness stop?"  Or something like that?
Then I played the video on the computer again and he had no sympathy for the howling dog, it had lost it's charm....

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Dog Is Afraid Of Food Bowl

This is the dog.....


Here's the video of  him talking to his food a year ago.
If I hold the bowl up he will eat.  He goes in the kitchen where his bowl is and barks @ it.  Yes I could put the food on the floor and he would eat it.  I'm not a food on the floor kind of person.  He will eat out of plastic, he will also dump plastic bowls.  He is 6, he will probably face down the bowl when he gets really hungry.  BUT not until he tries to get me to hold it for him?  Not that he is spoiled, he also knows I have a supply of bones in the freezer and has learned to beg when I go to the freezer.....

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Art Of Racing In The Rain

This is a book about dogs.  Thus it goes on Missouri Books and Animals That Give Pause too.  The Art of Racing In the Rain is by Garth Stein.  I'd give it a 9 out of 10 or maybe an 8, not the most intellectually stimulating read I've had but it's a dog talking, gimme a break.  I bought this book for like $10 @ Wally world because I had to wait an hour in KC and had NOTHING to read and NOTHING to do which is a fate worse than death if you know me.

You can buy it from Amazon by clicking to your right in that handy dandy amazon box or down below.  In fact you can buy anything from amazon, anything, you are getting sleepy...back to the book review.

I love dog books.  I love books on training dogs, about dogs, by dogs, (supposedly, most of them are not trained for proper grammar) I love dog books.  This one is no exception.  I'm not saying it gives particular insight into your fido's secret life but who is to say?  So what happens in the book?  Basically it follows a dog through his years with a family, through good times and bad though this family seems to have the market on bad times cornered for awhile.  If nothing else read this book for the psycho thriller scene with the zebra........