Princess Saturday

Dogs, dogs, dogs.  I just love ‘em.

While I’m still glad that I sold my pet-care company, I do miss being immersed in all things doggish on a daily basis.  I’m immersed in my dogs’ lives on a daily basis of course, but the broader, species-wide love-fest is what I’m missing.  I’m not sure how to remedy that right yet.  Maybe I’ll just write a dogalicious post each day for the next thirty days?

Writing about dogs makes me happy – so why not?

During our 4th performance of Our Town at the Nannie J. Lee Recreation Center in Old Town Alexandria last night, I exited through the auditorium doors with my fellow castmates to be greeted by the most lovable doggy-face I’ve ever seen in a public building.  Her name was Princess and her owner said the vet said she was a Shiba Inu.  I suspect there was some American Staffordshire Terrier and German Shepherd Dog in there too by her looks.  Although she was relatively short in the legs and longer in the torso.  Her disposition was charming and soothing.  Her owner was quite proud of her and clearly adored her.  Still it bugged me a bit that he’s a “backyard breeder”.  Although I didn’t ask, or even make any comments about her litters, he assured me that he thoroughly vets all those buying her pups to make sure they’re good homes.

Her eyes were big and pale brown and she would have let me nuzzle her for the remainder of the show.  But then I heard the applause in the theater and realized that the theater-goers were about to descend for intermission.  Like Cinderella I ran down the hall and into the green room, with a whispered “love you” to Miss Princess.

From now on, I’ll do my best to keep my camera with me and post pics of the dogs I meet!

Thanks for Teaching Me How to Find Joy

I’ve often looked back on my years as the owner of a pet-care company w ith wonder and a sense of nostalgia.  Although I loved the business side of things and the animals in our care, I sort of figured that the reason, the real reason I started the company was because I just had to get out of the corporate rat-race and start living on my own terms.

Now I think that the truth is I had a lot to learn.  About life, spirituality and compassion.  The animals that were in my care, particuarly in those early days, are still teaching and reminding me of lessons about being part of this planet.

Sadly, another dog is sick — one of the very first clients I had.  Along with  her “mom” I’m hoping, praying and even choosing to believe that it’s all a bad dream and that the cancer hasn’t spread and that the funny, exuberant and joy-filled, ball-chasing, wall-climbing dog I met more than 5 years ago is really just fine.  As far as WE can tell — she is.  And if that’s what she wants for us, we’ll be there for her when she needs more.

In the meantime, here’s my big thank-you to Gracie, the wonder boxer-mix bear-dog.

Dear Gracie

Thank you for teaching me

*that there is no such thing as too much exuberance or joy in living;

* that if you can’t laugh at yourself, don’t even bother trying anything new;

* that making friends is part of the point of being here on Earth;

* that it’s okay to make your wants and desires clearly known;

* that compromise truly is the better part of valor;

* that knowing what you love and going for it full throttle is always worthwhile (even if no one else understands your obsession);

* there’s no such thing as too many treats;

* going for what you want in whatever way works and then seeking forgiveness is a viable option;

* laughter is never overrated;

* unconditional love is the whole point;

* there’s always another adventure around the corner;

* it’s good to be the princess

 

I love you

Peggie

Progress?

Deuce seems to be moving forward.  Although I still see jaundice in her sclera and frankly – -she’s different.  She is funny still, but more reserved.

She’s apparently also got some bloodhound in her DNA because although I’ve ground (pulverized is more like it) her pills into various bits of cheese (think cheese ball at thanksgiving) she’s not eating it.  She acts hungry every few hours and will dig into the bowl and pick out bits of turkey and rice and then lick some cheese and look up at me like “tsk tsk tsk, you poor human with your sub-standard sniffers.  How do you manage?” 

She’s still not interested at all in her former favorite treats or her kibble.

I’m making a follow up appointment for her next week (will be back to pilling her the “old fashioned way”) and seeing what the blood results tell us.

Anyone else with knowledge about the liver and things that are little known about canine livers in particular?

A little camera shy

How do you Pill Your Dog?

Learning from each other

Deuce taking pills = a comic dance routine around the ever so expansive space in our new home. She’s great at eating the cheese, peanut-butter, turkey, yogurt that surrounds the pill and then gracefully spitting the pill out onto the linoleum.

The flourescent light seems excruciatingly loud and blaring when I’m down on my knees cajoling and praising and holding a snout closed – two brown eyes looking mournfully in my direction.

She used to take pills easily and effortlessly. Now they’re the bane of her existence.

I suspect it’s also because she’s still working on her appetite. The dog that used to wolf down whatever she could get her jowls near now daintily picks her way through the gourmet broccoli, brown rice, ground turkey and a sprinkling of kibble covered in turkey juice.

This is to be expected, right?

For five years I owned a pet-care company and wrote columns for regional and local papers on life with dogs – covering topics like giving pills, vet-iquette, and crate training. I also explored the world of alternative and holistic medicine – sharing my and my client’s experiences in a public forum.

When I sold the company in 2008, I hung up my pet-writer hat to move forward with my hand analysis and soul coaching business. I’ve missed the easy camaraderie with animal lovers, the genuine outpouring of ideas, and support. So it seems, with Deuce’s illness, comes another gift. I get to write about dogs again. I’ll be writing more often here and working to provide you with not only real life insights into life with a pack – but will point you wherever I find solid, useful information that can enhance your love affair with your dog(s).

 

Support and Thanks

What an amazing outpouring of support I’ve received since sharing the story of my sick little Deuce!  After sending my brief email yesterday afternoon I received a dozen heartfelt emails and a half-dozen calls from friends and subscribers just letting me know that you are thinking of us. 

Your prayers, good wishes, Reiki and other healing energies are so appreciated and so far, seem to be working!

While my girl isn’t completely out of the woods yet, we still don’t know what caused this reaction in her liver and are treating it as an unknown infection, she’s recting  positively to the meds and is keeping food down.

Deuce is sleeping at my feet right now and I couldn’t be happier to have her underfoot than I am today.  Despite her excessive tail that lies threateningly close to the rollers of my chair, she’s beside me and seemingly concentrating on healing.  I’ve tried to take some pictures of her but to be honest, all you see is a black blob as she’s wedged so tightly under the desk beside the wall and my chair.

This incident has really helped me focus on the gifts and lessons my animals (and yours) bring to our lives.  For instance, until Deuce got sick, I think I was in limbo with my work.  Hanging onto some not-very-effective limiting beliefs had me holding back – and hedging too many options in my business.  I’d just been clearing out some of those thoughts when Deuce got sick.  (For those of you following along — clearing out toxins is what the Liver is meant to do — and with Deuce’s illness it became VERY clear to me what negative effects can come from holding onto toxins!)

For those who say, “it’s only a dog” I have no response.  Anything I could say would seem snarky or self-indulgent or snobby.  I can only say that without dogs in my world, I’d be a lesser person.  I’d be only a person.

Thanks to those who have asked if you can help defray her medical costs without investing a hand reading – I’m grateful – there’s a donation button at the bottom of this post for you.

Once we get through this health crisis for her I intend to look into setting up a fund of some sort to help other people who may need help covering medical costs for sick pets.  I’m working through the details now and hope to have it set up early in 2010.  You can check back here on the blog or read my ezine to find out more! Oh, and I’ll be posting Deuce updates and pictures here throughout her recovery.

Of course, I also want to thank Dr. Lisa Marsico at Del Ray Animal Hospital for listening to me and really hearing me when I described Deuce’s change in eating habits. If she hadn’t been on the ball during that “regular” check up — Deuce could have gotten much worse!

Mice and Werewolves and Rabbits oh My!

The dogs and I made it to Williamsburg without incident.  Deuce spent the majority of the trip on the front passenger seat.  That is until she started doing the “OhmygoshIhavetopeerightnow” dance.  Watching her try to get off the seat to a suitable place nearly cracked me up.  Since I was driving on I64 I started saying, “now Deuce, hold on just a minute, let me find the next exit.”  All the while thinking about my chances of pulling over to the side of the highway safely, leashing two dogs and getting them into the woods.

We ended pulling into a unpaved cul de sac beside a local hospital.  Clearly there was a great deal to smell, but all was well and we tumbled back into the car for the rest of the ride.  One potty break and no sick dogs makes for happy travels.

Last night on our walk, (there are very FEW street lights in Ford’s Colony where my parents live) we came across — heck I nearly stepped on — a frog in the middle of the road.  The dogs were busy trying to sniff out rabbits and voles and all I could do was look down at the little guy and send him some mental images of jumping back into the woods — If I almos stepped on him imagine what could have happened with a car.

Morning came early as Deuce was none-too-happy with me sleeping on single person cot all night.  As soon as light started seeping through the windows she was in my face with her cold nose and her tail was despearately beating on the chair beside me.  Once my eyes open that dog doesn’t let up til I’m out of bed and on my way to get her and her sister out for a walk.

Again, this is a great foreign land for the girls — and there are numerous rabbits and cats to be found in our stroll.  One rabbit amazed me at his (her?) determination to remain frozen in place as we walked by.  Her (his?) buddy took a leap of faith that I had control of leashes and took off across the street and into the nearby woods.   So all in all there are 2 cats and 3 rabbits that eluded our pack.

I wonder if that’s why I dreamed of mice and werewolves last night?

Hopefully I’ll have some pictures to share soon.

The mouse near the house

We have a mouse.

Well, not exactly a domestic mouse, and he/she isn’t actually in the house.  But the mouse lives out in the front porch/fence area.  I haven’t seen him but Michael has.  He apparently comes out and forages the birdseed that’s fallen from the feeder onto the mulch and cedar chips.

Deuce is compelled to chase this mouse, to sniff him out.

She can see him out the front window and this makes her nuts.  Two paws up and a snout pressed against the window like an eight-year-old watching the first snowfall of the season.  Except, unlike the 8 year old Deuce drools.  All over the deep sill.  She’s slobbered all over the window sill, and no matter what I strategically place in front of the sill to keep her from jumping up there and staring, she goes through, over, under or around it.  She wins.  She makes me smile as long as she’s not whining or crying so what the heck.

But now, she’s sitting in front of the closed front door and staring at the door knob.  Quietly, patiently and with undeniable determination.  She’s pretty sure that if she stares long enough that door is going to magically open.  I know it’s because of the mouse.

I don’t want her to catch the mouse, and I doubt she will.  He seems pretty smart for a little guy and well, he can certainly hear the sticky door each time I open it.  It hasn’t taken any time at all for him to figure out that when the door opens a big, black, four-legged, swinging-tailed carnivore comes racing toward his home.  I think if that happened to me on a regular basis, I’d be talking to the realtor about getting out of dodge.  But not our mouse.  He appears to be in for good.  So the daily routine contineus and I am amused.

But no, I’m not getting up this second to open the door, only to have to repeat the process when she’s on the other side of the door — 37 seconds later.

No Walk today

Michael offered to take the dogs out today because I needed to leave early and hea out to Bethesda for BlogHerDC.  I’m pretty psyched about being here — trying to learn how to be better at this blogging thing!  Ultimately, I spend most of my time on the Awaken Your Soul blog - since it ties into my business.  But a day in the life of a dog-lover is always close to my heart.  So I’m here. 

Have been thinking about really focusing on the everyday ness of me and the girls.  We’re purposely non-political — I don’t watch the news.  I think the real “news” is what happens in between the talking heads and the media mongers.  There are hundrds of thousands of people who just live each day and aren’t 100% affected by what’s going on “out there”.

So it’s a rambling blog day — sitting in meetings at Blogher — more of a recap tomorrow

Morning Musing

During the weekend the girls and I had several great walks.  There were tons of squirrels to be chased and Kiera is showing slight improvement with her gastric distress.  The times with the dogs are meant to be slow-down times.  I’m often distracted — thinking about my business, deadlines, books I’m reading, bills to be paid and whatever is going wrong with my brand new phone — so creating a ritual of walking the dogs has to be more than just another chore to knock off the long list of chores.

After all, I chose these amazing fuzzy four-leggeds to be a major part of my life when they were only 8 weeks old.  My choice was based on the fact that they were not going to be surrogate children in case I couldn’t find the right guy (although, decidedly the furry ones are treated as well as I would children); and the fact that they are living creatures with needs, nuances, personalities and moods.  They weren’t put here for my ego (that’s for sure!) and therefore I needed to find a space and a way to honor them.

Walking with them is one of those ways.  I try to focus on the scents of nature, the loamy earth in the dew-laden mornings and the steamy stillness of  a late afternoon.  I try to observe my dogs without putting expectations on them.  And I try to to be open to possibility — letting the dogs linger, or explore a new street.  And I’m successful about 40% of the time. 

I’m a type-A personality and I tend to pack wee too much into my daily life, so sometimes I’m grumpy when the girls let me know it’s well past time for their walk.  I push away from the desk, find my sneakers amid a jumping dog and a well-behaved one sitting in front of and staring directly at the front door.  I head out, baggies in one pocket and two leashes in hand and say, apologetically, “Look girls, this is going to have to be quick.”

Then I stop and wonder why I’d rather be sitting at my desk instead of outside on a sunny, blue-sky, 70 degree afternoon with two independent, funny and unconditionally loving dogs.  Where are my priorities?

That’s the way it goes.

Today’s morning musings as we meandered through the waking up neigborhood, observing others on their walks and jogs and waiting for the bus included ideas about marketing, finding time for friends and how sore I still am from yoga on Monday!

I’ll be back soon to fill you in on this afternoon.

10 Legs Walking

This blog has been created for the sole purpose of reflecting on my life, with my dogs.  I do some of my best thinking and reflecting and manifesting while walking with Kiera and Deuce.  This is my quick-capture journal of what happens or crosses my mind while we’re out together.

My dogs are my joy, my distraction and my curiousity.  They know what I’m thinking and they dumbfound me (often in the same instant).  I’m trying to learn from them, while trying to keep a handle on what makes our household run most effectively (note to Big Dog Kiera — the household runs poorly when we’re all waking up all night).