Category Archives: A Dog's Life

A Snowy Playground

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When I woke up and realized it was snowing, I grabbed my camera and this is the first photo I took of the snow flakes.

Following up from my last post about moving, I will announce that we made the trek north and arrived safely! Besides the 25-hour continuous drive, car-egging incident, wildfire set-back and two other major traffic jams that forced us to u-turn in a grassy median, it all went swimmingly. And I have to give a huge thanks to my parents who helped us drive the moving truck cross-country. The whole do-it-yourself moving method is more work and headache, but by us packing everything and using the help of friends loading up the truck, we sure saved a lot of money and probably will have some pretty lasting memories to say the least.

Currently we’re settled in a farm house (yes, on an actual farm!) until we find and purchase our permanent address. So the months ahead will be just as exciting as the last couple. We’ve only chosen a handful of boxes to unpack along with our clothes, to avoid any unnecessary packing–we’ve had our fill. As for friends and family, it has been exciting to be able to make plans and see them without purchasing a plane ticket. Small things you might take for granted seem so wonderfully convenient, like being able to drive our very own car to a restaurant instead of borrowing someone else’s while in town.

One piece of the puzzle that was missing was the snow. I, a lover of snow, looked forward to catching the tail-end of winter (for Wisconsinites that’s kind of a joke) and getting to “play in the snow” a little before spring set in. But, with the mild winter the Midwest has been having, I began to think that maybe we wouldn’t be seeing much aside from a few flurries. And then I went to sleep the other night saying to my husband just before I shut my eyes, “Why won’t it just snow?”

And I woke up to this, a beautiful invitation to play in the snow…

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A Dog’s Life: “Ultimate” Frisbee

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Let me start by saying Bailey loves the frisbee, but the way she plays frisbee is a bit odd. It’s less about catching it in mid-air and retrieving it, and more about running in all directions, finding it, and then tackling it to the ground like a living creature. Exhibit A:

labrador playing frisbee
“Alright B, get ready…”

labrador playing frisbee
“Look to your right B!” Yeeeaaahh, she has an issue with looking up.

labrador playing frisbee
“Alright, good job! Bring it here.”

labrador playing frisbee
“Bailey, the frisbee is not for eating!”

labrador playing frisbee
“Let’s try this again…you catch it and bring it back, okay?” That face seems promising.

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A Dog’s Life: Keeping it Solid

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Dog eating pumpkin

So what’s happening in my world, keeping me from posting on this lovely blog? Well, I could tell you work, but let’s not go there. Why don’t I tell you about the other part of my life that’s becoming a real time-sucker. It’s an upset stomach.

The “upset stomach” is not a people stomach either. The furry friend you’re used to seeing here on this blog seems to have baffled us once again. Bailey has been dealing with an upset stomach for weeks, maybe even months now. Yes, we took her to the vet and after a couple hundred dollars in prescriptions and recommendations, the word we don’t speak anymore, the “D” word, is back again. The baffling part of all this is that her temperament is pretty normal, and her upbeat and wacky self is always ready for a wrestling rematch in the dining room. So that’s a good sign. The down side is that she’s almost skinny enough to walk down the doggy runway.

Could it be the water? Food? Lawn chemicals? An allergy? Stress? I’ve read about them all, and switched a couple things around in her diet including feeding her a little arroz con pollo each day- her fav. That all seemed to help, until I had a lapse in judgement and gave her a rawhide bone- whoops! I paid the price for that mistake.

Then I took it a step further and changed her food all together to Natural Balance, sticking with a couple spoonfuls of rice mixed in. That seemed to “plug” the situation. But I could tell it wasn’t solved. I have a feeling that although we take her on a run a few times a week, the change in my schedule is affecting her. I’m home later, her eating schedule is off and her walks are becoming a little less frequent. That could have something to do with it.

I did a little more online reading and kept coming across people mentioning 100% pumpkin, and that it worked for their dog. I thought that it couldn’t hurt to try it, so I grabbed a can, gave her a couple tablespoons in her next meal and voila! We’ve got a solid one, folks! It’s been about a week and things are looking up every time I look down at the grass. So for now, pumpkin is on the menu!

A Dog’s Life: Throw Me a Bone

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What is it about bones that dogs love so much? Well, I’m not sure. It would be comparable to us chewing on a large, hard, tasteless rock I suppose. But to them, bones are probably one of dog’s seven wonders of the world. It could have to do with relieving stress or tension, but seriously, what does Bailey have to stress about? Or, it could be simply their nature to scavenger and chew on just about anything, and that I could believe. We’ve also always had this theory that B was a cow in a previous life because of how much she “grazes” outside, and so when we bought her a cow femur it wasn’t surprising that she fell in love with it.

A Dog’s Life: Springtime Fog

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Where I’m located, spring (and some would say summer already) is upon us. The days are warming up to 80 already, and the mornings have been consistently foggy. I can’t say that I mind swinging open the curtains each morning to find the field behind our house a pretty misty white or yellow as the sun rises, and surely Bailey doesn’t mind it either. I’ve noticed that it’s harder to get her to come in with all of the interesting smells the fog must bring. Yes, another summer is almost here…