The first snow flakes of the season fell today.
I'm not happy about it.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Pet Dog vs. Performance Dog
There's a difference. A big, fat, elephant sized difference.
I never gave it much thought until today. A woman who had met one of our foster dogs over the weekend sent an email stating that we should watch how we train and socialize our dogs. It was not directed at me, I was merely copied in as the team leader. But it got me thinking.
I never gave much thought to the fact that I encourage my dogs to bite hard, and I encourage them to bounce of my body, and I encourage them to be a bit psycho. Granted, I only encourage such behaviors when I ask for them, when we're playing frisbee.
I've had TommyBoy for almost 4 months now. During this time, I have never thought to put a stop to his body bouncing. Why would I? Tommy has huge potential to be a disc dog. As a performance dog owner/trainer, thats all I see when I go to work with Tommy.
But I forget that the people who are going to look at Tommy to adopt may not want a performance dog. They may not want a dog that doesnt hesitate to bounce his entire body off theirs. Tommy has a trait that I've been struggling to pull out of my own dogs. I first saw Tony Hoard's Aussie do it. During a frisbee routine, the dog hops up and bounces off Tony's hip 3x in a row. I love it, its flashy, and Tommy does it without hesitation. Man I'd love for Frankie or Kirby to be able to whip this out during a routine! But what I dont consider as I encourage Tommy's bouncing is the people who may adopt him one day.
There is a good reason that your average person doesnt really like my dogs. And it's not the dog's fault. Its just the behaviors that I ask for on a daily basis are not appreciated by your average dog owner.
But I should think about these things. I have a Lab who is a pet dog. When he jumps on me, I correct him. When he gets mouthy, I correct him. I dont even think about it.
I never gave it much thought until today. A woman who had met one of our foster dogs over the weekend sent an email stating that we should watch how we train and socialize our dogs. It was not directed at me, I was merely copied in as the team leader. But it got me thinking.
I never gave much thought to the fact that I encourage my dogs to bite hard, and I encourage them to bounce of my body, and I encourage them to be a bit psycho. Granted, I only encourage such behaviors when I ask for them, when we're playing frisbee.
I've had TommyBoy for almost 4 months now. During this time, I have never thought to put a stop to his body bouncing. Why would I? Tommy has huge potential to be a disc dog. As a performance dog owner/trainer, thats all I see when I go to work with Tommy.
But I forget that the people who are going to look at Tommy to adopt may not want a performance dog. They may not want a dog that doesnt hesitate to bounce his entire body off theirs. Tommy has a trait that I've been struggling to pull out of my own dogs. I first saw Tony Hoard's Aussie do it. During a frisbee routine, the dog hops up and bounces off Tony's hip 3x in a row. I love it, its flashy, and Tommy does it without hesitation. Man I'd love for Frankie or Kirby to be able to whip this out during a routine! But what I dont consider as I encourage Tommy's bouncing is the people who may adopt him one day.
There is a good reason that your average person doesnt really like my dogs. And it's not the dog's fault. Its just the behaviors that I ask for on a daily basis are not appreciated by your average dog owner.
But I should think about these things. I have a Lab who is a pet dog. When he jumps on me, I correct him. When he gets mouthy, I correct him. I dont even think about it.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Aussie Birthdays!
Today is the given birthday of my 2 Australian Shepherds.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANKIE! She's 3 today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRBY! He's 2 today.
Now, since both of my Aussies are rescued dogs, I dont know their actual birthdays. But here is a brief rundown on how I came to give them each this day as their birthday.
When I first adopted Frankie from the shelter, she was appx 9 months of age. She arrived on July 13th. Count 3 months out to her 1st birthday. October 13th.
I adopted Kirby in September of 2009. He was 10 months old when I got him, I fostered him for a number of weeks and ultimately adopted him. 11 months. Count out 1 month to his 1st birthday. October. Since Frankie's was already the 13th, I decided they would share it.
Because that's just how I roll.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANKIE! She's 3 today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRBY! He's 2 today.
Now, since both of my Aussies are rescued dogs, I dont know their actual birthdays. But here is a brief rundown on how I came to give them each this day as their birthday.
When I first adopted Frankie from the shelter, she was appx 9 months of age. She arrived on July 13th. Count 3 months out to her 1st birthday. October 13th.
I adopted Kirby in September of 2009. He was 10 months old when I got him, I fostered him for a number of weeks and ultimately adopted him. 11 months. Count out 1 month to his 1st birthday. October. Since Frankie's was already the 13th, I decided they would share it.
Because that's just how I roll.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The Blue Tornado
That's the name I've settled on for him.
"Oh, but look how cute and innocent he is!"
Blah blah blah
I'll thank you to never refer to this monster as sweet or cute or innocent, or any of the other adjectives you might use to describe a tiny, half pint kitten.
This dog is none of those things!
He's crazy.
He's a freak.
He's the equivelent Hurricane Carl, in how it continued to torment the country long after it was gone.
Carl flooded my hometown a few weeks ago ya know.
He's... high octane? High voltage? High...
You almost have to be high to tolerate him.
He's a freak.
He's the equivelent Hurricane Carl, in how it continued to torment the country long after it was gone.
Carl flooded my hometown a few weeks ago ya know.
He's... high octane? High voltage? High...
You almost have to be high to tolerate him.
"Who, me?"
Shut up, Two Socks.
He torments you with his charm and his looney antics until you want to knock yourself out with a frying pan.
Then he laughs at you.
He torments you with his charm and his looney antics until you want to knock yourself out with a frying pan.
Then he laughs at you.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Over It
I'm back, for the most part. I've managed to push away most of the debilitating stresses of panic off my shoulders and resume normal life.
But now you know. This is how I react to things that threaten my well being. My only defense machanism is throw a blanket of denial over myself and hide from the world.
How does that even help, anyways?
My life is good. It's great, in fact. I dont have anything to complain about.
These are the things that make me cherish what's really good in my life. The things that make me happy and the things that truely matter to me.
When I lose control of my emotions, I seek comfort and escape from anything around me. Movies. Coffee. Friends and family. My dogs. A good book.
October 3rd, I'd messaged to my facebook that I was genuinely happy right at that moment. There was not a single thing wrong with my life. Less than 72 hours later, my life falls apart (in my head it did, at least).
How does that happen?
I keep trying to go back to October 3rd. The way I felt at that moment.
It's coming back.
We're going out of town this weekend. A mini vacation. I'm fortunate to have multiple sisters who live on lakes. Red and I are taking what is potentially the last truely nice weekend and spending it on the lake.
It won't be quiet though. We're bringing all of the dogs with. All five dogs. Including the blue psycho. Blue tornado? Blue hurricane? Two Socks?
TommyBoy.
Total we will have 7 dogs for the weekend.
Talk about stressors.
But now you know. This is how I react to things that threaten my well being. My only defense machanism is throw a blanket of denial over myself and hide from the world.
How does that even help, anyways?
My life is good. It's great, in fact. I dont have anything to complain about.
These are the things that make me cherish what's really good in my life. The things that make me happy and the things that truely matter to me.
When I lose control of my emotions, I seek comfort and escape from anything around me. Movies. Coffee. Friends and family. My dogs. A good book.
October 3rd, I'd messaged to my facebook that I was genuinely happy right at that moment. There was not a single thing wrong with my life. Less than 72 hours later, my life falls apart (in my head it did, at least).
How does that happen?
I keep trying to go back to October 3rd. The way I felt at that moment.
It's coming back.
We're going out of town this weekend. A mini vacation. I'm fortunate to have multiple sisters who live on lakes. Red and I are taking what is potentially the last truely nice weekend and spending it on the lake.
It won't be quiet though. We're bringing all of the dogs with. All five dogs. Including the blue psycho. Blue tornado? Blue hurricane? Two Socks?
TommyBoy.
Total we will have 7 dogs for the weekend.
Talk about stressors.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Comfort
I needed to blog today. Blogging, and viewing the blogs written by my fellow followed bloggers, is a source of comfort for me.
Fellow followed bloggers? Yeah.
I'm the type of person who is weirded out, wigged out, freaked out by the most random things. When it comes to my health, it get freaked out when something goes wrong.
For instance, Wednesday afternoon at lunch time, I broke a tooth.
I broke. A tooth.
I was chewing my sandwich and my tooth just broke off.
My first reaction was panic, quickly followed by denial. This did not just happen! It's a dream! Wake up! But alas, it was not a dream. A hunk of one of my molars is gone. Well not gone. Its probably still in my truck somewhere after I dropped it when my hands went numb.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in a fuzzy, nauseating mood.
Thursday morning, I went to the dentist, where I was given a hoard of good and bad news. The good news is, they can probably fix it. The bad news? The cost to fix my mouth will run me around $7000, on the high side. If they dont have to do a root canal on my broken tooth, then it will be more like $5500. Ish.
I left the dentist office and before I even reached my truck to drive to work, I burst into tears. The panic of knowing that I had 6 hours worth of dental work ahead of me. (The dentist is one of my greatest fears. I'd rather fly on a plane than go to the dentist. Those of you who know me will understand the power of that statement.) The fear of knowing that I don't have $7000 sitting in the bank to spend on my teeth. Then once those feelings had been dampened down, the sheer shame of feeling like I was going to disappoint Red. We have so many dreams and goals together. $7000 would surely shatter them all.
I was only able to make it through about 3.5 hours of work yesterday. I was so worked up over the entire thing that I hadnt eaten since my tooth had broken, which was over 24 hours. I finally went home and took a nap. Then Red came home and we talked about it. And he assured me that none of the things that we are planning for are more important than getting myself healthy. He's so amazing.
Today I feel okay. There is a thick, sickening layer of stress floating in my gut currently. I cant seem to push past it. I'm waiting for a phone call back from the dentist to tell me if they will let me do a payment plan. Until I know, I dont think the stress will go away. Once I have an idea of the plan, I will feel better about it. After this, the actual terrifying procedure will seem like nothing.
Things are not as bad as they seem. I cant seem to wrap my head around that though. I'm not dying. I'm not in that much pain. And its just money. I'll have enough eventually. So why cant I just be happy that its going to be a beautiful weekend and I dont have a damn thing planned? I get to relax.
Fellow followed bloggers? Yeah.
I'm the type of person who is weirded out, wigged out, freaked out by the most random things. When it comes to my health, it get freaked out when something goes wrong.
For instance, Wednesday afternoon at lunch time, I broke a tooth.
I broke. A tooth.
I was chewing my sandwich and my tooth just broke off.
My first reaction was panic, quickly followed by denial. This did not just happen! It's a dream! Wake up! But alas, it was not a dream. A hunk of one of my molars is gone. Well not gone. Its probably still in my truck somewhere after I dropped it when my hands went numb.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in a fuzzy, nauseating mood.
Thursday morning, I went to the dentist, where I was given a hoard of good and bad news. The good news is, they can probably fix it. The bad news? The cost to fix my mouth will run me around $7000, on the high side. If they dont have to do a root canal on my broken tooth, then it will be more like $5500. Ish.
I left the dentist office and before I even reached my truck to drive to work, I burst into tears. The panic of knowing that I had 6 hours worth of dental work ahead of me. (The dentist is one of my greatest fears. I'd rather fly on a plane than go to the dentist. Those of you who know me will understand the power of that statement.) The fear of knowing that I don't have $7000 sitting in the bank to spend on my teeth. Then once those feelings had been dampened down, the sheer shame of feeling like I was going to disappoint Red. We have so many dreams and goals together. $7000 would surely shatter them all.
I was only able to make it through about 3.5 hours of work yesterday. I was so worked up over the entire thing that I hadnt eaten since my tooth had broken, which was over 24 hours. I finally went home and took a nap. Then Red came home and we talked about it. And he assured me that none of the things that we are planning for are more important than getting myself healthy. He's so amazing.
Today I feel okay. There is a thick, sickening layer of stress floating in my gut currently. I cant seem to push past it. I'm waiting for a phone call back from the dentist to tell me if they will let me do a payment plan. Until I know, I dont think the stress will go away. Once I have an idea of the plan, I will feel better about it. After this, the actual terrifying procedure will seem like nothing.
Things are not as bad as they seem. I cant seem to wrap my head around that though. I'm not dying. I'm not in that much pain. And its just money. I'll have enough eventually. So why cant I just be happy that its going to be a beautiful weekend and I dont have a damn thing planned? I get to relax.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
