Dogs » Born In A Zoo

roadtrip

Dec 102011

I’ve been wanting to get professional photos of me & the dogs taken together like ever since I acquired a dog.

This year … in less than a couple of months … we did it twice. The first time was for a fundraiser for the animal shelter. Today was just because.

Just because:

I wanted to see how my dogs would react to a camera other than mine
They needed to get out of the house
I wondered how all 3 of them would be in the truck for a 45 minute drive (each way)
Sandy has 2 autistic sons & is strapped for Christmas cash
Sandy has taken fantastic family photos of people I know
She has dogs & has photographed them

The trip today for the photo shoot amazed me. All 3 have never been in the truck at the same time together for more than 7 blocks (to go to the groomer) and fight like crazy for the best seat in the truck (on the armrest). They behaved well today & actually napped both there and back. The picture taking was a little crazy because Della couldn’t sit still … just when she’d find a spot where she was sitting or laying nice the camera would click & she’d jump up.

I can’t wait to get the proofs! I was able to choose the best of the shots (over 30 taken) to pick for the picture package.

The one photo that I thought would turn out the worst: me looking down at the dogs while blowing Della a kiss and Annie & Suzzie were looking away from the camera. It captured our life exactly … chaos + love. Not posed, just us.

3 dogs on the loose!

Around The Zoo, Dogs 1 Response »

Dec 032011

Today when the mailperson arrived, she knocked on the door. I was expecting it because I had something I had to sign for. No sooner than I got the words out “can you put your foot on the gate to hold it shut” that all three dogs ran out of the house out were out the gate.

Suzzie is never difficult to catch. She just goes to pee on both big trees & then is easy to catch.

Annie is sometimes a problem. She didn’t run today. She hasn’t visited NeighborDad’s yard in a while and sniffed that place out.

Della. Oh, Della. She’s a runner. I refused to chase her because that makes her run worse. But … I was walking fast down the block IN MY PAJAMAS to see where she was headed. At the end of the block, she jaywalked across the corner of a normally busy street. A guy in a maroon truck with a trailer attached to the back saw Dell & then saw me. He pulled his truck into the middle of the intersection & yelled at me “what is it’s name?” I told him and he yelled “Della! You get back home!” Della turned around and headed back home. Not without trying to take another detour though. The guy in the maroon truck pulled up along side her & yelled again “Della! You get back home!” She ran into the yard.

Annie was already in the house & I heard Suzzie harassing Bear (the HUMUNGOUS big black dog next door). I was able to scoot Della in then shut the door before grabbing Suzzie to bring her in. In the meantime, the Good Samaritan drove away before I even got a chance to thank him.

Thank you, mister in the maroon truck, for your random act of kindness!

Suzzie’s 1st family get-together

NaBloPoMo, Suzzie 3 Responses »

Nov 272011

I’ll preface this post by saying that some things I mention may bring some weird google searches here … if that’s you, please move along.

Suzzie & Della are both kitchen hounds. If you walk into the kitchen, they are hot on your heels & then waiting for food to drop. A few times since Wednesday I’ve had to gate them off in the living room. They were getting so annoying & the “oh poor me” yelps they’d let out when you accidentally stepped back onto their paws.

At dinner Friday night, Jeanne was the first to mention how wet Suzzie’s chin was. I didn’t think much about it because she had her food & water just before family getting here. After everyone left, LilBro was settling into the food-induced coma. I was waiting for the dishwasher to hit dry mode (I don’t like to let the dishwasher dry them… uses too much energy & dries with less spots by just opening up the door & let the air do the work). Annie & Della found their snooze spots. Suzzie could not get comfortable & find a spot.

I took her to bed with me after the dishwasher door was opened. She had a fitful sleep. LilBro got up to go to the bathroom at 3am. He heard me talking to Suzzie and telling her that I wish she could tell me what was wrong with her. Every place she laid down to try sleeping left huge drool wet spots on my bed. Her beloved Packers neckerchief was even soaked so much that she let me take it off her. I was thinking it was a combination over being over tired & maybe grabbed a scrap off the floor that didn’t agree with her.

Besides the drool & some sneezing, Suzzie was acting normal. It was after I fed the dogs their morning meal that Suzzie started to get bloated & her belly was hard when I rubbed it. I told LilBro “I think she’s constipated. I’m taking her for a walk to see if that helps. I can’t afford an emergency vet visit. The other two are gonna be pissed off at me. Keep them happy.”

Suzzie, the dog that gets tired walking around the block, walked for 12. And she pooped 3 times. I am happy that I brought the normal amount of poop bags with me that I would do when walking all three. We got caught in the rain two blocks from home & I asked Suzzie if she could run for just two blocks so we didn’t get soaked. She did. We dashed in the front door & I dropped her leash while telling LilBro to take it off & dry her. I ran out the back door to the alley to drop the poop bag in the garbage can.

Guess what? That worked. No more drooly, uncomfortable dog. No more hard bloated belly. She crashed out for the rest of the day & slept well all last night.

Oh … LilBro is happy too that she finally pooped. She was letting out some really raunchy stealth farts before the walk.

pictures with Santa

Dogs, NaBloPoMo 1 Response »

Nov 192011

This is a picture of a picture. I’d love it 100% if Suzzie didn’t blend in to Santa’s belt.

Through facebook I found out that there was a fundraiser for the local animal shelter. It cost $18 for the sitting to have your pets photos taken with Santa. It didn’t matter how many pets you had or how out of control they can be.

Della peed on the floor. She still has issues when she sees a blonde woman. Annie was being her protector by giving her kisses & not letting people near her until she was ready. Suzzie just sat on Santa’s lap the whole time enjoying the petting.

The pictures turned out amazing considering the chaos.

PeeEss: the reindeer looks photoshopped. It’s not. It’s an aluminum one but the pic of the pic makes it look like that.

Suzzie has an owie

NaBloPoMo, Suzzie 2 Responses »

Nov 172011

When I rescued Suzzie, her nails were so long they were completely curling back on themselves. I don’t know if they had ever been cut.. My groomer & I agreed to slowly clipping them to a manageable length and expected an occasional one that would bleed. Today we had one that bled quite a bit.

I put one of my footie socks on her & secured it around her leg with a hair tie. I did it to keep her from running around & getting blood on the carpet or furniture. She doesn’t like the sock so she just laid down & took a nap. It looks like getting her to settle down helped the bleeding stop because I don’t see any coming through the sock.

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