Follow-up Friday: Bunny Ears, the Big Head, Senior Dogs and more

I'm glad to be joining Heart Like a Dog in the Follow-up Friday blog hop again this week.  This is the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.  Hosted by FUF mastermind, Jodi, at Heart Like A Dog and co-hosted this week by Lisa at Dogs N Pawz.


Before I begin my follow-up, I just want to mention a few things. 

Love dogs wearing rabbit ears?  Be sure to come back on Sunday to see Jeffie, Rudy and Rosie in their bunny ears in honor of Easter.

Be sure to visit Talking Dogs during the month of April, because we're going to be celebrating Jeffie's 7th birthday ALL MONTH LONG.  There will be a different giveaway each week - hint: don't miss us on Tuesdays!

I have to thank Kathy Hensel Porter for the very lovely article she published this week on her Healing Rescue Pets blog about my life and For Love of a Dog jewelry business.  Kathy's doing a series of interviews with women who followed their dreams and created pet related businesses.  My interview is long, thorough, and Kathy did a wonderful job telling my For Love of a Dog story.

Finally, I have to shout WOOF at Caren Gittleman.  Here I am, just reading my Google Reader and I stumble on a totally unsolicited fabulous review of For Love of a Dog and my jewelry work.  I was gobsmacked and absolutely thrilled.  She better watch out or I'll get "the Big Head!"   Be sure to visit Dakota's Den on April 1 to enter a very special giveaway she's hosting.  I promise - this is no April Fools Day joke!

And, finally, a bit of follow-up:

Dancing in the Snow: Our First Real Video
I just want to thank everyone for their comments!  Obviously, Rosie has stolen our hearts, too, and we love watching her play with Rudy, with or without snow!  Hopefully, my skill at the "video thing" will improve as I remember where the zoom is and steady my hands.  LOL  I need to hurry up with that because Rosie is growing up fast.

Busted:  Dog Fighting Ring in KS MO TX
Last I heard, 100 dogs were seized and most were Pit Bulls.  (Frankly, I can't say much more about this story in polite company, if you know what I mean.)

March Madness: Wordless Wednesday Not
Over the years, Jeffie has learned that yelling at the television is okay and not directed at him.  He consistently is THE BEST comforter when your team is having a bad day, too!  Happily, both of my teams are in the Sweet Sixteen:  KU Jayhawks and Duke Blue Devils.  Rosie can have her cookies, I'll take my boys in blue.  (The dog daddy was for the Tar Heels.)  

Adoptable Senior Dog: Surrendered because He is Old
NEW INFORMATION!

Mac, senior Lab mix, adoptable dog. Photo: Kim Hansen

Freddie, senior Lab, adoptable dog. Photo: Petfinder

Mac, 12 year old Lab mix, and his companion, Freddie, a female black Lab, were discovered by a realtor.  They'd been left behind in an empty house that had been foreclosed.  Please, people, share these pups!

Follow-up Friday: Treats, Winners, Coyotes

I'm pleased to be joining Heart Like A Dog for the Follow-up Friday blog hop this week.

I love Jodi's idea and am pleased that I've finally gotten it together to join in! 

It's the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.  Hosted by Jodi at Heart Like A Dog, and co-hosted this week by Donna and the Dogs.

Today I have some follow-ups to more than just the past week of blog posts.

Good Dog Take Outs Treat Giveaway
We've heard from a couple of our winners who are enjoying their Good Dog Take Outs dog treats.  Tiffany reports that her dogs have sampled the Peanut Butter dog treats from Good Dog Take Outs.  Bella and Jenny love them!  Tiffany sent photos to prove it.

Kelly was hoping that her Peanut Butter and Egg and Cheesy dog treats would arrive in time for Artie's Gotcha Day Celebration and they did!  Here's Artie:

Be sure to visit Talking Dogs in April because we'll be celebrating Jeffie's birthday with giveaways!  In fact, Good Dog Take Outs new dog treat flavors will be among the prizes!


Dog Mom Jewelry Bracelet Give Away
Our celebration of my mom's birthday was a lot of fun!  Especially for the winner, Caren Gittleman, author of Cat Chat with Caren and Cody and Dakota's Den blogs!   My mom never met a celebration or giveaway she didn't love, and I know she's smiling that a dog and cat lover won that bracelet! Bark at me in the comments if you'd like me to have another For Love of a Dog jewelry giveaway and tell me what you'd most like to win!

Fostering Dogs: Kristi and Glenn Austin Q and A
Kristi reports that Jingle has settled into her new foster home in Washington, D. C. and is looking for that perfect home where she can spend the rest of her senior years.  Contact City Dogs Rescue for more information on "one of the sweetest hounds you'll ever meet."

Jingle is now waiting for adoption.

A Different Sort of Canine Wordless Wednesday
This probably merits a whole new blog post, but since I won't get around to that until next week, I'll give you an update.

Since I took those snowy coyote photos and wrote that post (okay, confession time:  I schedule posts ahead of time) we've had several more close encounters of the coyote kind.  However, these encounters were way too close for comfort and were with a lone coyote with a bit different coloring than the pair we've been watching.

This coyote shows absolutely zero fear or caution.  He just sits there, a few feet away.  Watching.

I think he's pegged Jeffie as all bark and no bite;  Rudy as a loud, inexperienced goof;  and Rosie as a delectable delight.   All true.

And me?  You know how all the literature tells you to make yourself as big as possible?  To yell and wave your arms? I was on the top of the back porch, yelling like a banshee, and definitely waving my arms.   No reaction.

Got the dogs in.  I came in.  The coyote, looking very obviously bored and feeling like the show was over, slowly meandered off to the north.

There's something very wrong here that this wild creature has absolutely no fear of any of us in any of these encounters.  I have a feeling we're approaching a "High Noon" moment.  Stay tuned...

Missouri: A Dangerous Place for Animals
Here's the deal:  I try not to think about the fact that I live in Missouri.  I've blogged about the shame I feel living in the Puppy Mill Capital.  Animal welfare is not the only issue that makes me feel that way about Missouri.

However, I do live here and so do millions of other animal lovers who have worked very hard to improve conditions and protect animals from cruelty.  If we all left, stopped spending our money here, never promoted the state... then where would animals in Missouri be?  Definitely in worse shape.

Is Missouri our home state?  No.  We moved here to provide hospice care for my mother and to fulfill her wish to die at home.   Will we be moving?  Probably.

My husband is fond of saying:  Bloom where you're planted.  He's also big on: Everybody's gotta be somewhere.  Right now we do live in Missouri and we do what we can for animals.
[rant over]

So...  that's how my week has shaped up so far!  

Join the Follow-up Friday blog hop and tell us all about your week!

Rudy is a Libra | Dog Astrology

On October 10 our yellow lab, Rudy, celebrated his second birthday.  Caren of Cat Chat with Caren and Cody and Dakota's Den commented on Rudy's birthday blog post that she was a Libra, too, and it got me thinking about dog astrology.  

Here's more about the Libra dog according to Pet Planet's Dogscopes:
Element:  Air
Modality: Cardinal
Rules: Venus
Symbol: The Scales
Healing combo: Taurus and Pisces  The Dog Daddy is Taurus;  The Grandma is Pisces
Most compatible with:  Gemini, Aquarius, Leo, and Sagittarius  Oh, dear!  I'm a Capricorn; Jeffie's an Aries.  Lucy was a Cancer;  Tucker was a Scorpio.  Skeeter?  Skeeter's a cat!

What a Libra dog daydreams about:  Peace on earth and a life of luxury  Sounds good to me!

Keywords:  balanced, calm, peaceful, beautiful, sweet, accommodating, fair-minded, charming, social  We're working on the calm!

The Personality Snapshot for a Libra Dog:

• loves to have an equal partner to do everything with And that would be Jeffie.
• has an innate sense of fair play.  True, except when there's popcorn at stake!
• loves all things beautiful
• needs the scales to be perfectly balanced
• needs social events with beautiful pooches and people
• needs peace at any price  Absolutely true.  Say "darn" with the right inflection and Rudy comes to see what he can do to make things bright and happy again.
• is all sweetness and light. 
• needs attention  In Rudy's case, this ties in with "calm" since he's still, in many ways, a puppy with lots of that puppy energy.
• needs to please others  Oh, yes!

Planet Dog Dogscopes goes on to say:

Mighty Dog Meets Aphrodite:With so much discord in the world, who couldn't use some beauty and harmony? Thank heavens for the charming and gracious ways of a little Libran pup to bring everything back into perfect equanimity and equipoise. Libran pooches are the peacemakers of the zodiac, blessed with an innate sense of balance. You'll rarely see your Libran darling display any unpleasant or extreme behaviors. Gentle as a lamb and gorgeous as a supermodel, it's as if she were born with a perfect pedigree and manners to boot. The Libran's soul purpose is to charm and compliment you, her partner for life. She will do everything in her puppy powers to please and accommodate you. You will always come first, as Librans want nothing more than to please their other half. To them, life is one grand balancing act. Their mission is to keep everything flowing smoothly. They will always avoid the ugliness of extremes.

All You Need is love:
Librans abhor nothing more than confrontation and fighting. It completely throws them out of whack. You know the saying "War is harmful to children and other living things"? This goes double for your Libran pooch. She's ultra-sensitive to conflict. A war-like home environment, discord, anger and injustice will flip her scales, so it's advisable to do everything you can to keep the peace around the home front. If you're a more tempestuous type of human, she'll happily give you a course in anger management, letting it all just roll off your back. What's worth getting so worked up about? For Venus-ruled Libra, having peace of mind is the highest virtue. Why sweat the small stuff? Life is so beautiful, so enjoyable, and so harmonious when we all just get along and love each other. Easy-going Libran doggie will teach you how to kick the trifles and petty problems with her pretty little heels. Anger is so unbecoming. This little love goddess Dog Star knows that beauty and harmony have to rule.

It's very true that Rudy is eager to please others and not just the humans.  He's a dog that tries very hard to "get it right" with the two leggers and with other dogs.   Charming and beautiful?  Well, of course!

Rudy doesn't like discord or negativity of any kind.  Just think the word "darn," and he's by your side ready with kisses and wagging his tail.  An anger management teacher?  An example of the "I love life" philosophy?  Yes.   But isn't that true of all of our dogs?  I think so.

In fact, I think I'm going to go collect some peace and love from my little Libran Dog Star right now!